19800430 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.17.9

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 30, 1980 in Los Angeles, California. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 4, Chapter 17, Text 9.

Translation: [The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura,] at the time King Pṛthu was enthroned by the great sages and brāhmaṇas and declared to be the protector of the citizens, there was a scarcity of food grains. The citizens actually became skinny due to starvation. Therefore they came before the King and informed him of their real situation.

Purport: Information is given herein concerning the selection of the king by the brāhmaṇas. According to the varṇāśrama system, the brāhmaṇas are considered to be the head of the society and therefore to be situated in the topmost social position. The varṇāśrama-dharma, the institution of four varṇas and four āśramas, is very scientifically designed. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, varṇāśrama-dharma is not a man-made institution, but is God-made. In this narration it is clearly indicated that the brāhmaṇas used to control the royal power. When an evil king like Vena ruled, the brāhmaṇas would kill him through their brahminical powers and would select a proper ruler by testing his qualifications. In other words, the brāhmaṇas, the intelligent men or great sages, would control the monarchical powers. Here we have an indication of how the brāhmaṇas elected King Pṛthu to the throne as the protector of the citizens. The citizens, being skinny due to hunger, approached the King and informed him that necessary action should be taken. The structure of the varṇāśrama-dharma was so nice that the brāhmaṇas would guide the head of state. The head of state would then give protection to the citizens. The kṣatriyas would take charge of protecting the people in general, and under the protection of the kṣatriyas, the vaiśyas would protect the cows, produce food grains and distribute them. Śūdras, the working class, would help the higher three classes by manual labor. This is the perfect social system.

Jayapataka Swami: Maharaja Pṛthu was enthroned to protect the citizens. That is the duty of the king, to protect the citizens. The duty of the brāhmaṇas is to engage in self-realization to guide the society in religious principles and especially to guide the king who is responsible to manage the society. The brāhmaṇas are not subject to the limitations of the king’s law. They are above the king’s law. But they have to act according to religious principles. Should they act outside of the codes intended for brāhmaṇas then, they are subject to being punished. But the king cannot control the brāhmaṇas, he respects them as his superior advisors and spiritual masters.

So, this brahminical culture was going quite well for millions of years. And in the brahminical culture simply the brāhmaṇas and the vaiśyas and the śūdras, they were all live very simply in grass huts. In fact, except for the kings, no one else would basically live in big palaces or brick houses. It was unnecessary. Climate was nice, simple living - high thinking. There was no necessity.

Even today actually grass hut is in many ways more comfortable than the brick and stone house. When Śrīla Prabhupāda was living in the grass hut at Śrī Māyāpur in 1972, at that time our construction had begun 72-73. And he pointed to the concrete-steel structure rising on the eastern side and said that, “Building is in the mode of passion. That building is in the rajo-guṇa and this grass hut, this is in the mode of goodness. This is perfect for practicing spiritual life. This is all that one needs. We can simply live by the side by the Ganges in such a grass hut and chant, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare (Devotees chants). That is enough. That is all we need for ourselves. But in order to preach, in order to attract people to the shelter of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, therefore we must construct these big buildings which are in the mode of passion. Because who will come in this Kali-yuga to this grass hut? But if we have guest house, temple, if we have facility, people will come. Therefore, we are building these structures. Not for our own comfort, not for our own living, but to attract the neophytes, to attract the new devotees to come and reside in the holy dhāma.”

So Prabhupād, he liked very much the grass hut. Grass hut has very thick roof, it is cool in the hot summer, and it is warm in the winter. It is very nice insulation. Specially with thick mud walls, one feels very comfortable. In fact, in the hot weather the concrete buildings become very hot. You can put your hand on the wall, it will be heated. But the grass hut with mud wall, mud is always cool. And over the mud one places cow dung, little cow dung with water made into slurry and that is spread over the floor and the walls. And it appears freshly plastered, very smooth and it is a natural repellent, repellent for flies. Flies do not like to land upon it. So, in every way, is very sattvic, very good, very aesthetically pleasing and it immediately makes one’s mind peaceful.

So, in those days, the brāhmaṇas would live in such houses. Everyone would live in such houses except for the kings. In fact, even till today, the name of the bricklayer in India, bricklayer, mason is known as rāja-mistry. Rāja means king and mistry means craftsman, the king’s craftsman. Because the bricklayer would only work for the king. Only king would be that ambitious to use a bricklayer and build the brick house and palace and castle and so on. So, he was exclusively the rāja-mistry or the king of all mistris, the one who worked for the king. No one else required a bricklayer because they lived in mud-houses. For them they used the gouramis or the bamboo craftsmen.

So, when the anthropologists and historians, they looking for the traces of the great civilizations, of course they find very few and they find a few palaces and they wonder that therefore there was no human beings beyond 3000 years that had any intelligence. They are all Neanderthal, or whatever they call them, you know. So, this is simply their illusion. That they are not understanding therefore literally millions of years there had been intelligent, far more cultured people than we have today living on this planet. But their standard of living was on a higher platform. They believed in simple material facility and philosophically, psychically, mystically, spiritually they were far advanced and cultured.

There are temples in South India which are standing so long that no one can say. There are some temples which are coming from the time of Maharaja Kulakṣetra. Mahāraja Kulakṣetra is definitely… as well as Rāmacandra from Tretā-yuga. Kulaśekhara was from the Satya-yuga.

The story is that, one of the Kulaśekhara of the Deity of Padmanā… Padmanākṣa, lotus eyed, Padmaṇākṣa. He sings a prayer that let my mind be attracted to Your lotus feet just like the lotus are attractive to the swans. So, Mahārāja Kulaśekhara, his temple we can find about 30 miles from Tiruchirappalli.

One sage…One sage was worshipping those Deities and he was immediately promoted to the Satya-loka. That Maitreya or someone…I forge... exactly… which sage was worshipping I forget now, must not be Maitreya. And he was immediately elevated to the Satya-loka. Lord Brahmā sent down his vimāna and he was whisked away. And so, he requested Kulaśekhara to take care of the Deities. So, then Kulaśekhara Rāja who was a great king and devotee, he worshipped those Deities.

The Deities of Śrī Raṅganātha are personal Deities of Rāmacandra which were taken then by Vibhīṣaṇa, the younger brother of Rāvaṇa, on his way to Śrī Laṅka and by the tricks of Gaṇeśa, They and Lord Brahmā, They are still today at the Śrīraṅgam island in the center of the Kāverī river.

So, these temples, they are standing there for millions of years and they are going under reconstruction and addition, but the main temple rooms, are there solid stone and the Deities are there for millions of years. So, and those times, simply the temples and the kings’ palaces, these were the only things which were. And kings’ palaces were not maintained because they were always warring. The ruins of king palaces in Vijayanagar in Karnataka, they are still standing since thousands and thousands of years.

So, in this way, it is a bewilderment how historians come up with these formulas saying that there is no civilized people. When the Sanskrit literature like the Bhāgavatam give us the atomic theory in Sanskrit and so many things, we can just understand that they are talking through their hat. So, we simply accept the Vedic evidence and not the scientists’ and the historians’ concoctions based upon the way they like to see things in terms of Darwin’s theory and so on and so forth.

The brahminical culture during the time of Lord Caitanya in the Kali-yuga had undergone tremendous changes. They had become very rigid. They had become very stifled in their concepts. They were claiming simply by birth right that they were brāhmaṇas. Therefore, when the Mohammedan rulers came and started sprinkling water, then they would not accept them back, anyone who is sprinkled. It was such an easy thing to convert someone. If you simply took some water, drank in it or drank from it, or spit in it, if you are Mohammedan and sprinkle it on somebody, he was considered to be contaminated. He went to the brāhmaṇas, said ‘What is the cure?’ They said, “There is a cure. You take lead and you boil it and drink it. Then you will be absolved of your sin.” So, this was a very wonderful cure which very few people were eager to accept (laughter) very readily. Although some did, even. So, most the people, the lower-class people, they saw that, “These brāhmaṇas are so envious of us, and they are not accepting us back and on top of that the Mohammedan rulers are offering us such nice facilities, so, alright, let us stay Mohammedan.”

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He came in such a time when there was a lot of stringent caste considerations amongst the brahmins, brāhmaṇas. So, before Lord Caitanya came, of course in the line of Śrī Madhvācārya, there was an understanding of Kṛṣṇa. Of course, Kṛṣṇa…, Uḍupī temple in South India established by Madhvācārya. Madhvācārya was a worshipper of Kṛṣṇa. And he translated the Bhāgavatam and gave his commentary or gave his commentary in Sanskrit. The followers of Madhvācārya however up until about 550, 600 years had not entered into the actual understanding or the active propagation of what is Kṛṣṇa’s relationship with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. That was first revealed by Mādhavendra Purī.

Mādhavendra Purī, Śrīpād Mādhavendra Purī, he came as a forerunner to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and introduced, by his own realization and by the scriptural evidence the worship of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. And he was completely absorbed in worshipping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. He had many disciples of which the prominent disciple was Īśvara Purī.

Īśvara Purī was not the prominent disciple in terms of constant association, in terms of high learning. There were other people who considered themselves more advanced in learning, who considered themselves more intimate. But Īśvara Purī was very eager to get the mercy of Mādhavendra Purī. So Mādhavendra Purī, in his, he would every day go and have his nature call at a particular place and Īśvara Purī would go that particular place after he finished and cleaned it up personally with his own hands.

And, of course Mādhavendra Purī’s stool smelled just like roses. They were completely pure because of the purity of Mādhavendra Purī. But other people were not eager for such a service. They were happy enough to prepare the prasāda or do the other things. But they just more or less avoided that particular service. While Īśvara Purī he was very eager to take the most menial position with his spiritual master. So, he was looking at every chance he could get for doing the most insignificant menial service for Mādhavendra Purī. And in the end of Mādhavendra Purīs’ manifested pastimes, he was absorbed in so much ecstatic symptoms that even where he would lay, he wouldn’t get up for anything. He would so, those… that was also cleaned up Īśvara Purī. So, in this way Īśvara Purī, he actually got the full blessing of Mādhavendra Purī for his complete humility and surrender and service. And therefore, he was so fortunate as to be the spiritual master of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

So, today is a very wonderful day. Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, actually by his mercy, one can become immediately enthused with pure devotional service. He is the one who has brought first the worship of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa into this world, as a forerunner of Lord Caitanya who introduced it on the broad scale. But Lord Caitanya allowed Mādhavendra Purī to manifest that first and give His devotee therefore some special recognition.

Mādhavendra Purī was never interested in personal recognition. He would always in fact, he became very famous as a great devotee and so crowds would come to have his darśana. And he would always have to run away because he did not want to get so much attention. There was no organization as such to protect people on those days from… no private quarters. It was a different time, a different situation, and when that many people came crowding, then, it was a disturbance for one’s devotional service. Because most the people wanted some quick blessing so that they can have…

I remember I was walking down the street in one town and one lady came, right in the middle of the street paid her complete full daṇḍavat. I had to stop, you know, she is like, laid right across the road. Then jumped up, you know, grabbed my feet and she started wailing and saying, “Please, please, my sis… my daughter has got a stomach disease you have to cure. Please give me the blessing.”

You know, and then you know if you don’t give the blessing you know, the magic… I have to give either some talisman or blessing or something, then, you are on the quarterback tackle. So, you can understand that there are all kinds of people. As soon as there someone in India, they advertised as being a sādhu, then all kinds of people come to get blessings. 90%+ are for blessings which have nothing to do with spiritual life. So, it becomes a great disturbance in many ways for the active preaching.

So Mādhavendra Purī, he would avoid the big crowds. He wasn’t interested in recognition and cheap fame. But if someone was sincerely serious about spiritual life then he would impart it to him and engage him in Kṛṣṇa's service. And of course, we know that he was so intimate that the Deity would personally give orders to Mādhavendra Purī and send him to different places and engage in His service.

Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha, the name Kṣīra-corā came of course when Gopīnātha stole some kṣīra for Mādhavendra Purī. So, very wonderful pastimes. These are also should reinforce everyone “What is the position of the Deity?” It says that guruṣu nara-matiḥ, and the vigraha-śilāsu (arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīra), and if we think that the mūrti is made of stone or that the guru is an ordinary human being then it says we are residents of hell. That the Deity is Kṛṣṇa and the Deity reciprocates with His devotee.

I remember Śrīla Prabhupāda, one time he entered into the temple and he asked the pujārī, after darśana that, “How are the Deities?” And the pujārīs… “How are the Deities feeling today?” And the pujārī looked little bewildered. “That you do not know! Pujārī must know how the Deity is feeling.” That pujārī should be so sincere that the Deity will reveal His mind. Since the pujārī is revealing his mind to the Deity, the Deity will reveal His mind to the pujārī. Just like, when Sanātana Gosvāmī was worshipping his Deity, He said, “Why don’t you give me a little salt in the bread?” Because he was just making the wheat balls and throw them in the charcoal as they were. So very kind of austere type of what do you call? Canon balls. (laughter) So Deity was saying that, “If I could just have a little salt. I know that you are very poor, butter is very difficult to come by, but a little salt!”

Sanātana Gosvāmī said, “If I start giving salt then the next thing will be butter, then You want vegetable and then I have to get a job. (laughter) There is no end to it. So, You should just excuse otherwise it will end up with, I won’t be able to perform the other services, I have to write, I have to serve my guru’s order, I have to excavate these holy places so many things. If I have to go out and get salt and everything then it will be very difficult.” So, of course then eventually Lord Kṛṣṇa sent one salt merchant with a whole shipload of salt. So Sanātana Gosvāmī could at least put a little salt in His bread. And of course, the salt merchant was stuck and by Sanātana Gosvāmī’s blessing he was able to be freed and he built one big temple for Madana-Mohana.

So Deity is of course for a non-believer, for an unfaithful person, he may not be able to understand that Kṛṣṇa is there, present. But actually, He is present. It is not an idol. When the missionaries went to India, their whole intention was to crush the hindū-dharma. Great scholars like Max Mueller and others their intention was to translate the Vedic literatures into English in such a way that people would become completely, completely contaminated by a crisis of faith in their own culture. They would translate ‘mūrti’ as ‘Idol’. And when you look in the English dictionary ‘Idol’ it would say an imaginary form made up by pagans for worshipping, you know, so on and so forth. So, by the words they would use in translating the Vedic texts, they would try to, they were trying to break up the basic faith in Vedic culture. So of course, there are many instances we know how in Orissa, one Deity walked all the way from Vṛndāvana to Śākṣī-Gopāla. The city itself is now named Śākṣī-Gopāla. Walked all the way to Orissa, nearly 1,000 miles or maybe even more than 1,000 miles just for His devotee. And there are so many instances.

So we should understand that Kṛṣṇa, Rukmiṇī Dvārakādīśa, Guru-Gaurāṅga, Nitāi-Gaura, Jagannātha, Subhadra, and Balarāma, They are actually present. If we are not able to see that, we are not able to understand Their intention, that is our misfortune. We should lament that. You see.

Generally material life we lament when a husband or wife, speak harsh words to us, we lament when we are not getting some nice situation for eating, sleeping and so on. In these things we lament. But actually, devotional service we also lament that we are not very advanced in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that we are not able to please the Deity, please our spiritual master. But that lamentation, that anxiety is actually blissful because it is a real consideration. It is based on love.

Actually, every devotee should become so advanced that by the mercy of the spiritual master, the Deity will be kind enough to bless that devotee fully. Even give personal advice. It is nothing unexpected. It can easily happen. The Lord is independent, He can do what He wants. But of course, it is nothing that we can imitate, nothing we can force. We simply have to serve, washing the floor, doing our service and serving the Deity. And when the Deity is pleased, then He can begin to advise. “Don’t fan Me in that way, a little bit to the left. Today the sweet rice had salt in it, but it was made with great devotion.” whatever… (laughter)

So Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, he was a preacher. He didn’t have any initial temple. He was very eager to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So, he left Bengal and he went, walked all the way down. As he approached, he approached the devotees in Bengal and they said “You have to go down to Orissa. That is where Lord Caitanya is.”

So, he went all the way down to Orissa by walking. It takes some time. And as he was going, finally he reached Jagannātha Purī. He saw there was a tumultuous crowd everywhere. People were crowding outside the temple and the doors were shut. And he came and he asked, “Where is Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu? I want to have His darśana.” And after walking so far, people said, “You do not know?! You do not know?! Lord Caitanya has left, He is gone. He just entered into the temple. He never is come out. That is why all these people are here. This is His disappearance ceremony. He disappeared from this earth. His līlā is finished. That is why everyone is crying and weeping that no longer we can have the darśana of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.”

Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, he was completely shocked. He fell unconscious. Then he went and he tried to find “Who can advise me? Who can? I want to study Bhāgavatam.” They said, “Well Gadādhara da… Gadādhara Paṇḍita, he is present, you can learn from him.” He said, “I will be very pleased to instruct you in Bhāgavatam. But our Bhāgavatam is no more. We have been reading Bhāgavatam and by the constant tears flowing from our eyes as we are reading the pastimes of the Lord, our Bhāgavatam is completely washed out. So, we know the things by heart basically, but we cannot instruct. You see. So, you should go to Navadvīpa and there they can re-write the Bhāgavatam and bring a Bhāgavatam back here and then I will teach you”. Because at that time Navadvīpa was were all the paṇḍitas were, all the big brāhmaṇas were in Navadvīpa. If you wanted to get a Bhāgavatam, you just walked up to Navadvīpa and then got it written for few months and then walk back. Very convenient! (laughter) You can understand that those were reading the Bhāgavatam are very great souls. So Śrīnivāsa Ācārya set off back for Navadvīpa and engaged some brāhmaṇas and they had wrote the 18,000 ślokas of the Bhāgavatam on tāl-pata, palm leaves.

Then with those palm leaves, again he departed back for Purī. When he reached Jagannātha Purī again he saw there was a big festival, but everybody was crying. Then he said that, “What is this?” And they said, “You don’t know! Gadādhara dāsa has just disappeared.” Come… again he was completely crushed. He had come all the way and just before he reached, Gadādhara dāsa had wound up his pastimes. So, then he tried to find out that “Who is there that can instruct me?” They said, “Now everyone is gone. If you go to Vrindavan there Rūpa and Sanātana.” (Aside: That time one brother was left, I forget.) “They are still there. If you go to them then they can instruct you.” Rūpa Gosvāmī.

And then Śrīnivāsa Ācārya he walked to Vrindavan, walking with his Bhāgavatam. Walking to Vṛndāvana there he saw outside the temple, another huge crowd, big kīrtana, people crying. Rūpa and Sanātana, they disappeared. This time he was just completely like a madman, wailing, crying, “How will I learn the Bhāgavatam? Everyone is gone, everyone is gone.” He completely just fell unconscious. He woke up and he was in the house of Jīva Gosvāmī. Jīva Gosvāmī instructed him in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So, during that time Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja also he was writing and completed the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura and some other devotees like Rāmacandra, when we say Rāmacandra saṅga…, Rāmacandra Kavirāja, there are eight Kavirājas, twelve Gopālas.

So, four, five devotees, they were heading with the big trunk with Bhāgavatam on the top, Caitanya-caritāmṛta on the bottom. And they are heading back towards Bengal. As they are going, they entered into Bengal and there was one king in Bankura, this is people say. This is, this part of the story is according to the way I have heard it from other Vaiṣṇavas. That… This king had some astrologer who was very expert in finding out when the travelers coming, they carried some treasure. So, he did his calculation and he said, “There is four–five sādhus coming and they have with them most valuable thing! Most valuable treasure!” So, the king sent out his soldiers who go as bandits, dacoits. And while they were asleep, they stole away the trunk of all the scriptures from the bullock cart. And when Śrīnivāsa Ācārya woke up, he was crushed.

Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura separately went to Dhenur where he met later with Jāhnavī devī. Jāhnavī devī was in charge of the preaching for some time after Nityānanda had assigned her and that’s another story. Narottama Ṭhākura’s kīrtanas were introduced at that time.

Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, he was determined that “I have to find Caitanya-caritāmṛta.” I mean Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja had spent such a… his complete old age, so much effort. He is bringing this Caitanya-caritāmṛta had never been exposed to the Bengalis in Bengal. This is the first edition coming back, it was stolen. Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, he knew that how much the devotees in Bengal were… would be eager to get this literature, and it was stolen. He was just completely in separation.

So, he went to the king. There, he saw that, his trunk was there. And while they opened it up, saw there were some books. “Eh, Books!” Closed the trunk. So, he said that, “Don’t you know what these literatures are?” And he said, “Well our paṇḍitas are reading but we don’t find much in it.” And he said, “What do they say, your paṇḍitas?”

They opened it up and on the top Caitanya-caritāmṛta had come. So, they started to read and give their smārta commentary. And Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, he started saying that “These people are not actually very learned.” And they got very upright, the brāhmaṇas. “How you can say?”

“What they are saying, you know, sounds nice, but it is not authorized.” So, then they say, “What do you have to say? You are talking so big.”

So, then he sat down and started to give his lectures on Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the Bhāgavatam. And everyone was completely amazed. “Who is this person?!” And he goes on preaching Jīva Gosvāmī’s, by his mercy expounding all the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. The king surrenders to Śrīnivāsa Ācārya and says, “You are my guru.” So, he set up his Śrīpāṭ, his Śrīpāṭ at Viṣṇupur in Baṅkura district and became the king’s guru and established the whole district in pure Vaiṣṇavism. From East Bengal, Narottama Ṭhākura sent some disciples to Manipur and they established Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism in Manipur. In this way the preaching was going on.

So, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya is one of the great ācāryas in our line. It is his appearance day today. He actually brought the Caitanya-caritāmṛta from Vṛndāvana to Bengal, to the devotees. And we can see that in his lifetime, there were so many obstacles for him to get, find a spiritual master. He was so eager, but every attempt he made was by will of providence, it was thwarted.

But he never gave up his determination. He was firmly fixed that “I must learn the Bhāgavatam from simply a pure devotee, someone empowered by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” He could have hired some professional brāhmaṇa. He could have sat down and try to read it himself. No. He didn’t want that. He knew, “I must hear it from the lips of a pure devotee.”

Practically he was walking through the end of the world, through the jungle, there is no proper road, he is carrying these on leaves, it is a huge affair. It is not like carrying, you know, you can imagine, we just carrying our Bhāgavatam that already weighs so much. Book distributors develop calluses on their shoulders. He is carrying it simply written out by hand on thick palm leaves.

One must get the shelter of a spiritual master and be engaged in service and receive instruction from the spiritual master. Śrīla Prabhupād was so kind that he came to the western world. The devotees are so kind, they go door to door to inform the people, “What is the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu?” Therefore, it is easy for them, easier for them to find a spiritual master. But “Who is bona fide spiritual master?” That is what is hard. So, the actual qualification one must be empowered by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Actually, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, there are so many times he got so close, yet misses as good as a mile. Just missed. We see ultimately Kṛṣṇa had in store for him, his spiritual master. Greatest scholar of our… of our time, of our sampradāya, Jīva Gosvāmī. One must not give up his determination to get the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. Bhaktisiddhānta was refused by Gaura Kiśora. “I will not give you initiation. Who am I? I am just a poor, illiterate, you see, devotee. I don’t have so much learning as you. I can’t give you initiation. You are very intelligent, educated, what can I teach you?” The spiritual master tests the disciple. Kṛṣṇa tests “Is he actually sincere?” If without testing one is insincere that is not a goodner. One should be tested. One should be willing to undergo any test Kṛṣṇa gives either before initiation or after initiation. That is the refinement of devotional service.

Śrīla Prabhupāda here in Los Angeles, Śrīla Tīrthapāda gave a little story in London, how he had cleaned Prabhupāda’s quarters. And he was thinking that “I have cleaned these quarters first class.” This is maybe someone else. He gave two different stories. One was the cleaning the quarters,” Well, I did a very good job.” Actually, this was told by Yamunā through Tīrthapāda. And Prabhupāda walked in the room and then one corner of the room there was some… something. He said, “I want a stapler.” He never used a stapler before. But she was feeling very proud that, “Now I have done wonderful service for Prabhupāda. I cleaned the room up very perfectly. He will be very pleased. I will get some praise.” He said, “Where is my stapler?” “Stapler?!” They had tear the whole place apart trying to find a stapler. They can’t find it. Finally, they find the stapler. Prabhupāda takes out the stapler and then he puts his finger on the stapler and says, “What’s this dust?” (laughter) “You nonsense! You rascal! You don’t know how to clean anything properly?!” Completely destroyed her. (laughter) She walked out. “Really, I got the mercy.”

Tīrthapāda told this story how he was in a similar situation, he thought everything was very nice, he was doing nice and Śrīla Prabhupāda came and asked Tīrthapāda to open the window. Tīrthapāda opened the window, but the mechanism which keeps the window open was non-functional. So, when he opened the window then “boom”. So, then he was standing holding the window for a while trying to think “What to do?” And Prabhupāda said, “Every time I come here this window never works! You nonsense! You can’t even maintain the window, you are going to maintain the whole āśrama!” and on and on and on. He said, “Put my cane under the window and keep it open.” So spiritual master, his duty is to train the disciple in devotional attitude. What is that service attitude?

Actually, to get chastised by the spiritual master is a higher blessing than to get praise. Praise actually is not good. If one is being praised by the spiritual master, the disciple doesn’t like that. He knows something is wrong. If one is being chastised that is very good, very healthy. That is the actual mercy. Because our tendency immediately we think “How wonderful I am doing! I am doing such wonderful service for Kṛṣṇa” and that means that our service attitude has gone down to practically nil.

Service attitude means no matter how much you do, you are thinking that, “I did not do well enough. If I just had a little more time, I must have missed something.” Always you are complete anxiety thinking how to improve, how to do better, the desire to serve. So, the limit of perfection is unlimited, it is infinite. Limitation is the time or something else, but the eagerness of making it even better, that is the basic higher intensity of service attitude. So, the spiritual master has to sometimes crush the advanced disciples with criticism to develop their service attitude. That is particularly the position of the guru or the spiritual master. Not others. That is the spiritual master’s position.

Of course, in India, Śrīla Prabhupād, he would always, at least in Māyāpur, I don’t know in other parts. But in Māyāpur, we would have between 12 and 48 hours. He would come and say “Oh, very nice. This nice step.” We were holding up. We knew we had 12 hours, he give us like, first of all to encourage us. And then at one any given point suddenly the axe would fall. “What is that garbage? What is this garbage? Everywhere garbage! Everywhere I am asking and they are saying ‘Jayapatākā’, they are saying ‘Bhavānanda’. Why no one else can take any responsibility here? Why this is not right? Why that?”

He is walking he said, “So the floors are clean? Why these ceilings are dirty?” Look on the ceiling, there is a… there is a spider web. The spider… just they cleaned the ceiling the spider just laying the new web. (laughter) “You can only look down! You cannot look up? This is not Kṛṣṇa’s mandira?! You cannot clean? You want to simply… I am giving my blood all over the world. I am simply going and the book money is coming and you simply want to see the whole thing crumble? How will things go on? Not even cleaning the ceiling.” What thing will hit the eye that is inspired by Kṛṣṇa. But that was our special mercy, that of course now we miss.

Now Governing Body Commission, you can always be anxious that they may chastise us. Although we never want to do something to be chastised. But that is the principle of spiritual master. He has to chastise. He has to instruct. And Prabhupāda after a day of instruction, he would call us in and then build up our shattered consciousness. He say, “You are so tolerant. I am so…”, what is the exact word he used I can’t do it justice.

He said, “I am always criticizing. How do you tolerate? I am always criticizing. But that is my position. Thankless task, spiritual master must find out what is the defect in the disciple. If there is no defect, then he will be already pure devotee. He will already be at the perfectional stage. So spiritual master means, ‘Where is the defect? Where is he not surrendering? Where is he not dedicating his life to Kṛṣṇa? At what point is he failing to be completely surrendered? He has to pull out the weeds.’” So, when you pull out the weeds, naturally the roots are grown into the soil there, it may hurt, agitate the soil. Someone has to pull out the weeds. We have to be expert in pulling out our own weeds. But the spiritual master he is also expert in showing, “How to pull out weeds? What are the weeds that have to be pulled out?”

So today of course, we are remembering the weed that was pulled out by, of this whole universe by Narasiṁhadeva, and when Prahlāda Mahārāja prayed to me, said, “The only thing I am worried about is that I have a weed in my heart.” The seed of desire is so strong that should be pulled out. That is what the devotee should be fixed upon. “Not What am I doing for Kṛṣṇa?”. What am I not yet able to surrender? What fame, adoration, distinction am I still harboring? What sense gratificatory desires am I still attached to?” and so on.

The devotee should be looking where is the seed of material desire to… I can pull it out. When it comes, “That oh! This is the nonsense, get out. Hare kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare” And if one gets the mercy of his spiritual master, gets the mercy of senior Vaiṣṇavas, he should take it as mercy.

Mādhavendra Purī was sent by Gopal Deity, “I am feeling headache.” He has no money, Mādhavendra Purī. He says, “You go down.” The Deity says, “To South India, to Mysore, (he is in Vṛndāvana) walk down to Karnataka and bring me some sandalwood.” And how much sandalwood, He tells him, an immense quantity of sandal wood. “My whole body has to be covered.” So that’s a very big task. And Mādhavendra Purī immediately sets off, walks, how many months, we don’t know down to South India, somehow collects up, fills up a big load of sandalwood, has to fight off thieves and dacoits. When he heads up, he goes via Bengal to avoid the mountains, via Orissa. There, of course Kṛṣṇa said that, “Alright, you just cover the sandalwood on the Gopīnātha Deity and that will satisfy Me. There is no difference.”

So, whether the test is given by Kṛṣṇa Himself or by the spiritual master or by Kṛṣṇa in our trying to get the spiritual master, we see that if someone is sincerely determined that, “I will find the Absolute Truth, I will become established in pure devotional service, nothing can stop.” It doesn’t mean that all you have to first be a pure devotee and then I will start to. You have to desire “I want to be a pure devotee. I want to be situated in pure devotional service.” And then nothing can stop the progress of that. Just like the river is flowing, in Māyāpur the river is flowing to the ocean. They try to dam up the river, especially when they build the Indian dams, and they all break. Nothing can stop these rivers. If it doesn’t break it floods and goes around. But it is going to reach the ocean one way or the other.

We have to have the desire that “I want to reach the ocean, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, the ocean of devotional nectar, no matter what Kṛṣṇa puts before me. That I know that this is simply to purify me. This is simply to qualify me to be eligible for that mercy.”

Wherever there is an obstacle, Kṛṣṇa also gives the solution. He also gives the strength to overcome. So, we remember the previous ācāryas like Mādhavendra Purī, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Prahlāda. We see that they…there is difficulties. That’s why the some people say, “Why become a devotee? Even all the great devotees there is always difficulty.” That is how Kṛṣṇa shows, “Who is a devotee?” When there is difficulty, he doesn’t waiver, he doesn’t stop, he goes on. Then everyone can see, “Oh he is a devotee!’ In spite of so many difficulties he continued, he just stuck to his service. He didn’t lose faith in his guru and Kṛṣṇa.” That is what it means mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. They are all doing the same thing, they are determined, fixed.

Thank you very much.