19880616 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.3.17

The Following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 16th 1988 in Atlanta Georgia. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Canto 5, Chapter 3, Text 16. 

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

śrī-śuka uvāca
iti nigadenābhiṣṭūyamāno bhagavān animiṣarṣabho varṣa-dharābhivāditābhivandita-caraṇaḥ sadayam idam āha.

Translation: Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: The priests, who were even worshiped by King Nābhi, the Emperor of Bhārata-varṣa, offered prayers in prose [generally they were in poetry] and bowed down at the Lord’s lotus feet. The Lord of lords, the ruler of the demigods, was very pleased with them, and He began to speak as follows.

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

aho batāham ṛṣayo bhavadbhir avitatha-gīrbhir varam asulabham abhiyācito yad amuṣyātmajo mayā sadṛśo bhūyād iti mamāham evābhirūpaḥ kaivalyād athāpi brahma-vādo na mṛṣā bhavitum arhati mamaiva hi mukhaṁ yad dvija-deva-kulam.

Translation: The Supreme Personality of Godhead replied: O great sages, I am certainly very pleased with your prayers. You are all truthful. You have prayed for the benediction of a son like Me for King Nābhi, but this is very difficult to obtain. Since I am the Supreme Person without a second and since no one is equal to Me, another personality like Me is not possible to find. In any case, because you are all qualified brāhmaṇas, your vibrations should not prove untrue. I consider the brāhmaṇas who are well qualified with brahminical qualities to be as good as My own mouth.

Purport: The word avitatha-gīrbhiḥ means “they whose spoken vibrations cannot be nullified.” The brāhmaṇas (dvija, the twice-born), are given a chance by the śāstric regulations to become almost as powerful as the Supreme Lord. Whatever a brāhmaṇa speaks cannot be nullified or changed in any circumstance. According to the Vedic injunctions, a brāhmaṇa is the mouth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore in all rituals a brāhmaṇa is offered food (brāhmaṇa-bhojana) because when a brāhmaṇa eats, it is considered that the Supreme Lord Himself eats. Similarly, whatever a brāhmaṇa speaks cannot be changed. It must act. The learned sages who were priests at Mahārāja Nābhi’s sacrifice were not only brāhmaṇas but were so qualified that they were like devas, demigods, or God Himself. If this were not the case, how could they invite Lord Viṣṇu to come to the sacrificial arena? God is one, and God does not belong to this or that religion. In Kali-yuga, different religious sects consider their God to be different from the God of others, but that is not possible. God is one, and He is appreciated according to different angles of vision. In this verse the word kaivalyāt means that God has no competitor. There is only one God. In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.8) it is said, na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate: “No one is found to be equal to Him or greater than Him.” That is the definition of God.

Guru Mahārāja's Elaboration:

Here is very important instruction by Lord Kṛṣṇa to the brāhmaṇas. The brāhmaṇas spoke to Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person: "please come and be present", then Kṛṣṇa came. What they said that happened, they said: please give this King Nābhi a son like you. When they said it, now he is in a difficulty as how to fullfill it. There is no one like me. The only one like Me is Me. I am the one without a second or equal and that is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the one without a second, he has no equal, no competitior. Here we can see the importance of the brāhmaṇas. The brāhmaṇas gained this headed because of their remaining in the transcendental platform or atleast the platform of pure goodness. Also, because the brāhmaṇas follow the spiritual junction and they are established their knowledge in Brahman or the Absolute Truth. Therefore, what they speak becomes true. The Vedas said that brāhmaṇas are the Head and Mouth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The kṣatriyas are the Arms, the vaiśyas are the stomach, and śūdras are the Feet. All the parts of the body are needed for the society to move. But in order to get your arms cut off, you can survive for few days or weeks. But the problem is your defenses, someone can give you problem and the mouth indeed. Without the head, the body is dead. Ofcourse all the parts, you can say without arms, without feet, without stomach you can't go very long either. So, everything is essential but espescially the brāhmaṇas function is there to give direction. brāhmaṇas are supposed to be truthful. This explains in the text, you are all truthful. Brāhmaṇa only speaks the truth as he speaks what heard from his guru, the śāstras, from the lives of great sādhūs. Therefore, because he is truthful what he speaks has a great potency. Sometimes even joking if a brāhmaṇa says something then it becomes true. So this is very dangerous, sometimes a brāhmaṇa can be angry and curse someone and then later brāhmaṇa regreted that it was too heavy. One brāhmaṇa found Indradeva broke the regulative principles cursed him to have vaginas all over his body, his entire arm, face, everything had vaginas on it. Then Indra came and falling at his feet because no one can live like this, you can't go in public and it is horrible. I committed a great sin but please help, you know because it is the worst thing. It is not a thing to be exposed, then the brāhmaṇa changed it to eyeballs. So sometimes they would say something it would come true, and then it had to be something, then he changed it to something else. He couldn't take it back. Many things like this happen, one time a brāhmaṇa cursed a king to become a woman for some reason; then for six months he was a woman then become a boy, man, and his sex would change. So this kind of things have happened in the past and the brāhmaṇas speak the absolute truth. They are glorifying Kṛṣṇa and the main truth is important. They should be careful about what they say, they should not say things which are not authourised by the śāstra. Whatever they say, this also should be spoken with great care.

Brāhmaṇa has the ability to curse and the ability to bless. But the Vaiṣṇava brāhmaṇas bless, they avoid this cursing business. Where do the brāhmaṇa's power actually come from? It comes from Kṛṣṇa, this is important. It is not that the brāhmaṇa is independent, Kṛṣṇa is actually fulfilling it. It is like if a man is a police officer, he gives an order: 'you are under arrest', it is not actually his power. He is just one individual and he is representing the government. It is the government power that is behind him and ability to keep you in that prison, jail, or whatever depend upon whether he has properly represented the government law. He has to know how to follow proper procedure of the grovenment law, then government will not stand up his action when it comes before the judge. The judges say no, it is not proper you can be free. The judges are like the referee.

So actual problem lies at the government. The government is the representative of God according to the Vedas. In one sense or material sense, so brāhmaṇa's power is coming from Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes brāhmaṇas, they may not always remember that or where their powers are coming from as they think that powers are personally formed. But actually thier power is given to them by Kṛṣṇa because of their serving, their austerity, of their behaviour, honest, truthful activities. Therefore, they have got this special potency. Prabhupāda said that for the society to progress in daiva-varṇāśrama is to be established. His program of establishing daiva-varṇāśrama was first to have brāhmaṇas. There should be brāhmaṇas in the society and the brāhmaṇas by acting properly as brāhmaṇas automatically other varṇas will be organised or will appear. In Kali-yuga, by nature one is śūdra (kalau śudra sambhavaḥ) everyone is a śūdra by birth and they normally do not develop the ātmā. Even from Vedic culture by birth when someone is born as a śūdra or a son of a brāhmaṇa, they become brāhmaṇas when they take their upanayana, when they take their samskaras or the spiritual reformatory processes. Then they actually become a brāhmaṇas when they act like a brāhmaṇa or when they are initiated as a brāhmaṇa. Prabhupāda gives an example: a son of a high court judge is not a high court judge just because he is a son of a high court judge. He has to go to the law school, has to be qualified, after getting admitted at the bar, then he can also be considered a judge in the future. Otherwise, he is the son of a judge he is not the judge himself. So the nature of brāhmaṇas to be truthful. How do we be truthful? One can be truthful when one is independent. When one is working for non-devotees, masters they would compel them to do what they are bidding. Therefore, it is not possible for them to always act in a higher ethical manner or to be completely truthful. Therefore, the brāhmaṇa has the best activity is to act as a brāhmaṇa or is to act in spiritual activity. The nature of the brāhmaṇas is that they live simple. For them self-realization, spiritual development even though those interested in karma-kāṇḍa still their living standard is never compromised with the modes of passion or ignorance and their grossly senses. They will be regulated in their sense gratification, even those who are iti sense gratification like Dakṣa or someone who is a prajāpati who was promoting the idea of regulating sense gratification. But he was regulated, he was considered to be left or passed to hold still because he was promoting the sense gratification according to the karma-kāṇḍa. Then Nārada Muni came and made all of his sons sannyāsīs, and he got very upset because of the curse by Nārada Muni as he did not have a fixed cult. Dakṣa had a fixed house, he had a wife, he had so many children but he did everything in his way or in a sāttvika way in a regulated way. He did not compromise in any brahminical standards even though he engaged himself in different activities. But what he did have is fixed residence, his family; these things he was very attached to. He considered these were essential for living in the world. One had to go through these experiences then only he will finally come to true and higher spiritual realization. So he put first realization in the back burner, he put it under lower priorities or future priorities, then he experienced life in different ways. As a result he sometimes became jealous or envious against Nārada Muni and other Vaiṣṇavas for their preaching. But still he never considered working for someone else, he never considered going against brahmanical standards. The whole society is organized or practically speaking very little place for a brāhmaṇa. In the Vedic society the brāhmaṇas were given land, and they just pay rent, they were priests, they were spiritual people, they were allowed to mate. If these people were to miser they could mate. They would take grains leftover from the market places after people sell the grains or when the grains fall on the floor; they would take those grains and they would eat those. They would go out into the fields and harvest. They would take out grains left in the field or if they could not do that, they would work for someone as a priest. They would be there as a priest or astrologer or sometimes a physician on a lower level. In this way they would remain independent and every day they would do all other spiritual activities. Of course, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you would probably see that in the society. It is very difficult to live as a brāhmaṇa by paying rent, living outside. It is very difficult to maintain because the whole brahmanical standards and the whole society is mentioned parallel because of the independence of the individual bring that into dependence on the whole social structure.

Brāhmaṇa by nature is dependent on Kṛṣṇa, is dependent on Brahman. He is actually independent. Just like Cāṇakya Paṇḍita he was offered to be the prime minister of the country. He considered that this country needs a prime minister, I can do it and I am capable of doing it. But if I work for the king except the government salary or government facility, then the king is going to think that I am his man. He is going to look to me as his paid servant, and at the end I can also become prominent, and I am not able to be independent. I give advice to the king and actually function as a brāhmaṇa. So, he said I will only accept the service of Prime Minister as this is not all the service for a brāhmaṇa. I will take it only on one condition that I will not take any salary and I will only live with my grandson. All I need is my residence, my grandson and I do not need your big house and enough prasad too. I will take some donations but I will not take any salary. The kṣatriya has got a huge palace, armies, and he has got power. The kṣatriya wants power, the vaiśya wants financial power, the śūdra wants sense gratification. But the brāhmaṇa wants the Absolute Truth. They want purity, truthfulness, like that. In India, most of the brāhmaṇas do not act as brāhmaṇas. They are all working and finally got a job. brahminical culture as such even though in India is practically no functioning brāhmaṇa. There are few priests who work and worship in the temple. They are not independent just like one priest came up to me and said ‘can you please get my son a job in America’? I said why you are so fortunate to be a priest in this temple. The priest said ‘I know, if he cannot get a job then he can be a priest. But if he can get a job in America then he can be rich’. They think that if they cannot get a job, they can always be a priest. But many of them do it as a job. Many of them are taken over in some states by all the temples and give them  200 rupees a month (15 dollars a month), and they get some mahāprasāda. They are not so spiritually developed or trained in self-realization. Those who are born shall we say materially oriented, they think that if my son becomes a rich American then that is great you can get out of the temple which is very sad because that is degradation or perversion of original glorious Vedic culture.

It is a similar situation in ISKCON where people first were all these pūjārīs, all these saṅkīrtana preachers. They gradually became more entangled and had to give up their separate house, then they had to pay for mortgage or rent, utilities, phone, and a car. Soon they started to think about the saṅkīrtana movement, deity worship, and how to maintain all these things. They begin to be like a kṣatriya or vaiśya kind of mode and they end up gradually. How much energy goes for maintaining their material side. But the brāhmaṇas practically 100% for Kṛṣṇa, they do deity worship and they take mahāprasāda. In the Vedic culture, they could give almost everything to Kṛṣṇa. Even Dakṣa who was promoting this was regularly doing his worship; it is just that he was not appreciating that someone should take renounced order very early in life. But they had to go through this iti (sense gratification) stage which Nārada Muni did not accept. One should directly go and completely surrender to Kṛṣṇa without difficulty. We had this basic problem that society needs brāhmaṇas but there are very few people that will take up this kind of responsibility. Those who are trained to do so do various tricks of maya, through their mentality takes them gradually away from the mode of goodness into the mode of passion and ignorance. Śrīla Prabhupāda once said that brāhmaṇas could be from other castes also, other devotees who take other roles. Some people say that I cannot be a brāhmaṇa so let me act as a kṣatriya or let me act as a vaiśya. But there is not even a vaiśya. Vaiśya is not a caste to enjoy themselves, and these are castes that they are making it up. But a vaiśya’s greatest pleasure is to give. He wants the pleasure of making the money and that’s like they make it and give it. They are charitable as it is their dharma. Just like a brahmacārī’s dharma is to do tapasyā. A vaiśya’s dharma is to give charity. Actually you find that so called vaiśyas who do not make any money or else they make it and give it away in charity.  The function of vaiśya is to earn the money as it is anyways it is Kṛṣṇa’s so they give it to Kṛṣṇa. Just like taking ganges water and offering it back to ganges. The material vaiśya may think that this is mine and he is giving it to Kṛṣṇa or giving it to a charitable purpose and this is called materialistic.

We find big vaiśyas in Vedic culture and big kṣatriyas who gave in charity. They would give land and large plants of water, and they practically would die but still committed to give in charity. They would never let them go away empty handed. If it was a good cause or a genuine cause, they would never tangle, and that was their principle. There was never their own standard of sense gratification, somehow or the other they would do something. So actually to establish such an organised society or social structure, first you needed brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇas who are true, who live truthfully, and who live simply. Since we are in the material world, in the western much of the society are those who are already entangled in the society working for wage, for charity, vanaprastha itself so therefore we do not. Otherwise for the married people they live outside the material; Prabhupāda could see that in order to be able to practice as a brāhmaṇa in the present society, working outside, living outside of the community of Vaiṣṇavas is very difficult. Most of their energy goes for their maintenance. To maintain their separate apartment, separate houses, and separate bills. Therefore, in the city also it is difficult to live so he made varṣas, so that if it is difficult to live in the city center then one can live in a spiritual part of the community. We do not have to pay any rent or we have to pay very little. The cost of living in an apartment is much less. They made a nice environment for children to go out and serve the deities and do some service. Prabhupāda could see that it is going be more and more difficult for people in general so he wanted to have varṇāśrama in a small community so people could function. If there are no brāhmaṇas, if there are no people dedicated or acting in a structural society; it is just like someone told Prabhupāda that I can go to college and become a doctor and it just takes 7 more years of college. If you are a preacher then you can make 5 doctors or 10 doctors to become devotees. It is better to go out and preach doctors and make them devotees than to go selflessly of becoming a doctor, you may lose your devotion in the meantime. A psychiatrist knew that there are so many Indian doctors than going and cultivating them, sometimes they offer free service. One doctor came here and I did not see him this time so he said ‘I am a Dentist, anytime you come over I will give you a free checkup’. So there is no need that someone has to go to a dental school, there are so many dentists and so many doctors who are willing to do the service. If you preach to them and elevate their consciousness to know the value of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. 

We should see that our energy is so valuable that our energy is actually not just to wander for maintaining ourselves materially. But actually we can give the maximum energy to Kṛṣṇa directly. It is just like we have a combustible machine versus electric just like what kind of machine is used for a particular function. They say that well it has different efficiencies with different machines. Every machine has an efficiency portion. It is not that a machine is 100% efficient. There is no machine in the material world that is 100% efficient. If there was then you would have a perpetual motion machine that is taken advantage of. There is always friction, there is always energy waste. So that combustible engine has about 75% efficiency, they are growing efficiently with less friction. But some of them are only 30%, some are 50%, some give 20% efficiency. The lighter you get, you are not going anywhere. Then you get an electric motor, some of them are efficient like 90%, then hydraulics transfer energy almost like 99%. There are different kinds of efficiency, so we can see in our lives how efficiently we are giving our energy to Kṛṣṇa. So what percent of our energy is going to Kṛṣṇa and how much is getting diverted. That is why Nārada Muni preaches to Dakṣa’s children just to stick to pure devotional service. Then that 100% of service will go to Kṛṣṇa, 100% percent efficiency.  Dakṣa, he was running at a high efficiency but it was not in pure devotional service it was more into maintaining material situation. Well I can tell you that the western world is to know that if you could go once a week to church you have to be a very pious man. So this whole week the grand total of this efficiency to Kṛṣṇa is 1 hour out of 7 x 24. It is 10% of his salary a normally pious religious person gives to the religious institution. So he is working every hour 10.3 percent efficiency to Kṛṣṇa and that is for some material purpose that is not even for devotion but some bhakti is there. So then Prabhupāda created the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement where people can work 100% efficiently. But that is possible for brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs, and vānaprasthas. Therefore the Vedic culture had gṛhasthas always respect at least socially even though some gṛhasthas were even spiritually more powerful than brahmacārīs or brāhmaṇa or whatever because by definition or by the arrangement of the varṇāśrama system. Brahmacārīs, sannyāsīs, and vānaprasthas their particular lifestyle is a standard and fight for giving 100% to Kṛṣṇa. Whereas a gṛhastha is obliged to give a certain amount to his family, parents, to children and that can also be dovetailed in Kṛṣṇa’s service. One probably dovetails it as they actually give 50% of their income to Kṛṣṇa so then Kṛṣṇa balances it out and he considers and makes it 100%. Out of humility that grihastha himself situated ‘I have to put energy in so many things’ but because he is doing it for Kṛṣṇa; Kṛṣṇa accepts it as 100%. So whereas a brahmacārī even pays 1 dollar for sense gṛhastha that is considered to be sinful or it is considered to be a material act. Whereas a grihastha probably engaged 50% on material things which would still be considered as 100%; this is how calculated by Kṛṣṇa. So everyone stays humble and gṛhastha stays humble and he respects brahmacārīs and gives 100% to Kṛṣṇa, and spends so much time in maintaining the mind and the body of my mate vice-versa as the wife thinks this way as well. So this way the demonic toxins are based upon the established rules but actual fact sometimes we can see that Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, he went cowardly as a grihastha and a humble gṛhastha. But he was 100% in Kṛṣṇa’s book because his whole day is surrounded around Kṛṣṇa. Even though he was a King he would not say anything but Kṛṣṇa. So there was a tribal āśrama where they did everything for Kṛṣṇa. But to reach that stage, he has to be very humble and work up. So how is it possible to reach that stage, and there are brāhmaṇas who are living and acting as a brāhmaṇa. brāhmaṇa means he is all attracted to Kṛṣṇa’s service. Mode of goodness is not active in the same way as in mode of passion. But mode of goodness is also not stagnant. Mode of goodness is dynamic, it is not aggressive necessarily but all the goods do fail in Kṛṣṇa’s service. All of these are not idioms; idiom means mode of ignorance. 

So brāhmaṇas are active in Kṛṣṇa’s service, we need people that are active in Kṛṣṇa’s service. It is very good that Nāmahaṭṭas are bringing people to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to bring them up but when some are already active as brāhmaṇas; they are already acting as a priest. You know there are so many priests who left priesthood, if you are already a priest then you are in a different category than someone who is a congregation. This is coming from the material world like today in America most of our churches 20% are no head priests. There are no priests and churches are closing due to lack of priests. You do not want to be in the same situation in Kṛṣṇa consciousness where you do not have anymore priests. Everybody has to go out and get a job, get a partner, there is no one doing deity worship anymore. In some places, there are so many people working, it is difficult to find someone to do the deity worship. Why? Because the standard of living the people require and to maintain their standard of living is difficult. Obviously people do not want to take humble vow and actually go out and preach. Prabhupāda said that that is why he had to maintain himself because preaching is not selling a book taking a percentage. Some of them do some preaching or they have to do business, if they do business that is related to Kṛṣṇa. That is past, I mean this objective who can deny it. It is better to serve in bowls with Kṛṣṇa prasādam. It is not that you actually sell bowls and relate it to Kṛṣṇa. That is alright, obviously anyone who is selling those bowls has the opportunity to serve prasādam to maintain an income or budget. Actually I would say to afford prasādam is much better. As some people do have the independence, they are not particular or difficult to change, into entering, or choice. Obviously they have a choice to choose that thing which is for Kṛṣṇa consciousness which is more conducive, more efficient to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. They are all spiritual developers, they should be śreya rather than preya. They should seek for higher spiritual benefit rather than short term return. So, in the material world of course you do not do this. That is why brāhmaṇas have different standards and Vaiṣṇavas are śuddha-sattva (pure brāhmaṇa, pure good). Prabhupāda wanted people who could actually maintain pure goodness and do everything in devotional service. Actually that is a special contribution, one of the many special contributions. So those who are able to take advantage of it are very fortunate. Those who are for whatever reason not able to take full advantage of the śuddha-sattva living, they should try to do as much as they can in service of Kṛṣṇa. What else is there to live for? Why have we come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? What is the purpose of human life? It is to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, everything should be based on that. brāhmaṇa means he knows the purpose of life. Kṣatriya may not know, Vaiśya may not know, or śūdra may not know. But a brāhmaṇa knows this is the purpose of life.

Ahaṁ brahmāsmī. Athāta brahma jijñāsā. To enquire about Absolute Truth and to reach Absolute Truth. There are people who are enlightening everyone else, this is the purpose of life. Do not forget it, do this by guiding people and helping them. Then how will society grow? How will spiritual development expand? If someone acts properly as a brāhmaṇa, then whatever they say shall be true. Whatever they do, whatever they eat Kṛṣṇa accepts that. In India, the gṛhastha always invites brāhmaṇa (brāhmaṇa mocana) to take prasādam. It is always brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas take prasādam and by giving them Kṛṣṇa accepts. This is a very broad subject, we are just speaking a few specific angles of it. But these brāhmaṇas were so qualified that by their request Kṛṣṇa personally came. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Any Questions.

The Muslims could never philosophically conquer India. They got converted to and due to the hypocrisy that brāhmaṇas did. But even after so many years after 1000 years of being the emperors of India still 12% or 10% have become Mohammedan. It is a message in itself of how strong the Vedic culture philosophy is. So the Christians surrounded the southern part of India, Lord Caitanya met some Christians there were not many true to Saint Thomas. But he offended Śrī Vaiṣṇavas. I do not know exactly what happened. But somehow got killed after sometime. So he died in the Madras, he did not make much of an attempt. In the British time, they financed missionaries and they have a budget of 110 million dollars a year of Christian missionaries to India. That is their annual budget. 100 million dollars a decade that is just the Roman Catholic church. Then we have other churches around half a billion dollars going every year trying to convert the Indians to Christianity. Different Hindu groups were upset about it because so much money comes in for conversion purposes. I know personally that they build churches, build hospitals, or go to one village and try to fill the hospital. One man went there, there was a tribal guy and they looked at him as he almost died. In this hospital this Christ of medicine; this simple tribal guy did not know anything they had the ability to save him. They asked him if he was a Christian, he said no. They said that they had a pool of water and he could get baptised. So they baptized him and they offered some money to him to keep him converted. There is one God, like Jesus Christ was one of them who preached to people and took a lot of people and established them on a mission. I do not know what the value of changing one religion to that one is. It is like political forces to show the number. But it is not the purpose of Kṛṣṇa consciousness any of the devotee preachers, it is to establish people in God consciousness. So Gaura Caitanya certainly preached to anyone who came to him but Christianity was not meant to come to India actually.

Today, it is forcefully kinda imported but actually it is meant for uplifting the needy to a higher level of devotional service. Bhaviśya Purāṇa predicted that there will be jīvas who will come and they will preach in a country that is the mediator of religious principles. They have to be analysed on an individual case by case basis. Lord Caitanya did not accept Raghunātha Dāsa immediately because he was not good enough to renounce. Sometimes 100% taking a lot of renunciation and not being able to maintain it. Anyone can, another person has to study how I can improve on what I am giving to Kṛṣṇa, or how I can refine it. This is the primary or priority that you live according to our means. It is like if you have to take 50% of income tax, people are going to do it. You have to go to jail if you do not pay your income tax. Somehow in India, you have to pay 70% of income tax if you earn more than 50,000 rupees a year; then you have to pay 70% income tax. That is why people choose black market but first they have the job, they cannot hide their money; they have to pay the tax. So they pay it and they do not have to go to jail. So Kṛṣṇa does not say you have to give so much income to me otherwise I will put you in jail so that people do not pay. But they are in jail, we are all in jail of the material world. We are in jail already. If we pay, we get out. If we pay our tax to Kṛṣṇa, we get out of here. But we think that we want more and keep it to ourselves and do not give it to Kṛṣṇa; then I can stay here and enjoy sense gratification that is what we are going to get. We need to realise that this material world is a jail, and sense gratification is token by the mind to keep us in the illusion that this is a good place to stay in. So we do not get enough determination to get out just like the gladiator is not willing to come out of sense gratification and would not move and they stayed as slaves. At one point, there were more gladiators as slaves than there were Romans that made a big revolution about it. They did not have a training period, and they could compete with the entire Roman army. But the history showed that the slaves were kept aside when they were mistreated and they evoked it. So like that we are in the material world, maya keeps us half the side, and we make plans. Actually, in America it was not the slaves that were resolved as much the north vs. south kinda thing that happened.  The point is that we want to be free from being slaves of the material world in order to do that we have to act principally, and spiritually work at it. That means we are giving our tax to Kṛṣṇa so we have to do it. That we have to do it, it has to be practical. Each individual is different and depends on the situation. In India, they have very big landlords, they do not even own it. What they would do is have this big property, and build a big temple on it and dedicate it to the deity. They would become servants of the deity. Whatever they earn, they would spend it on the deity. They would have big festivals, and they would only get a few percent from rich people. Some of the bramical kind became śaivites at the temple. Later on as their children, their descendents became more materialistic then they became greedy and they tried to enjoy the property from the deities. Rather than serve the deities because they lack the spiritual chain. Lot of the temples were taken away from them. Prabhupāda gave us on how much we have to maintain and always be inclined. We need to do that and be dedicated brāhmaṇas to show proper understanding of how to do it. No one is showing then how you can, here is the standard and show by example. But no one is showing the example of great discipline. Those who are brahmacārīs at the temple, those who live in a temple are supposed to be trained in more opportunities. So when they enter the gṛhastha āśrama, they should maintain a high brahminical standards. It is difficult for someone already coming from grihastha outside to suddenly become a brahmacārī and grow austere may be difficult. It was possible for Raghunātha Dāsa, but it is not possible for everyone. Raghunātha Dāsa was already in a renounced order. If someone is trained as a brahmacārī, then they should live and show a higher standard. We need that kind of example and different types of examples. We have good examples, people who are already gṛhastha they are able to give so much time to preaching. We find that most of America with the way it is set up in supermarkets that we have to work just to live. Although it is a rich country just to live we have to work. Most people work all the time just to make their ends meet. Therefore, Prabhupāda created Kṛṣṇa conscious community so far it has better outcomes. They had demonstrated how much they could give to Kṛṣṇa. Being in a farm project, living in a Kṛṣṇa consciousness community, and preaching is the highest standard of renunciation; and with efficiency giving energy back to Kṛṣṇa.             

Hare Kṛṣṇa!