19890920 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.3.22-24

The following is a class given by HH Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 20th, 1989 in Bhaktivedanta Manor, England The class begins with the reading of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8th canto, chapter 3, verses 22 - 24.

yasya brahmādayo devā
vedā lokāś carācarāḥ
nāma-rūpa-vibhedena
phalgvyā ca kalayā kṛtāḥ
yathārciṣo ’gneḥ savitur gabhastayo
niryānti saṁyānty asakṛt sva-rociṣaḥ
tathā yato ’yaṁ guṇa-sampravāho
buddhir manaḥ khāni śarīra-sargāḥ
sa vai na devāsura-martya-tiryaṅ
na strī na ṣaṇḍho na pumān na jantuḥ
nāyaṁ guṇaḥ karma na san na cāsan
niṣedha-śeṣo jayatād aśeṣaḥ

Translation: The Supreme Personality of Godhead creates His minor parts and parcels, the jīva-tattva, beginning with Lord Brahmā, the demigods and the expansions of Vedic knowledge [Sāma, Ṛg, Yajur and Atharva] and including all other living entities, moving and non-moving, with their different names and characteristics. As the sparks of a fire or the shining rays of the sun emanate from their source and merge into it again and again, the mind, the intelligence, the senses, the gross and subtle material bodies, and the continuous transformations of the different modes of nature all emanate from the Lord and again merge into Him. He is neither demigod nor demon, neither human nor bird or beast. He is not woman, man, or neuter, nor is He an animal. He is not a material quality, a fruitive activity, a manifestation or non-manifestation. He is the last word in the discrimination of "not this, not this," and He is unlimited. All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead!

Purport: This is a summary description of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's unlimited potency. That supreme one is acting in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His different potencies.

Jayapatākā Swami:

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
Paramananda Madhavham
śrī caitanya īśvaram

So, Gajendra was in the most dangerous situation when he was captured by the crocodile. And first he materially tried to struggle with the crocodile, but then after a certain point he realized that it was a hopeless cause. By his own strength he was not going to survive, or be able to defeat the crocodile.

Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that the crocodile was an animal – amphibious animal – an animal of the water, so the longer he was staying in the water, he was quite happy, quite well-situated. Whereas Gajendra, being a land animal; although elephants go and bath in the water, they don’t live in the water. He was gradually losing his strength in comparison to the crocodile. So, then finally he decided to take the shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he began to offer these prayers.

In material life, it’s a habit with conditioned souls to always try to overcome all the different obstacles. But a pious living entity, when they are in distress, they turn to Kṛṣṇa. Four types of living entities, four types of pious persons turn to Kṛṣṇa; those who are in economic need, those who are in distress, those who are inquisitive and those who have knowledge. It’s explained that if somebody just turns to the Lord when they’re in distress, or just turns to the Lord when they’re in need etc. That they’re actually only the partial recipients of the Lord’s mercy. The pure devotees are always taking shelter of the Lord, under all circumstances - in failure, in victory, in danger, in success, in all different situations. So, the pure devotees have the mercy of the Lord all the time, where others are partially getting mercy of the Lord, and partially not.

But here, there’s a kind of transformation in the consciousness of Gajendra, where he’s not just praying to be saved from the crocodile, and released again as an elephant so he can continue enjoying his senses. Most people – most pious people – they pray to the Lord when they’re in danger, but when they’re out of danger then they forget.

In India, people are naturally pious. And at certain times, you see that naturally there is some kind of anxiety, then people turn to God. When it’s election time you see even the communist leaders go to the temples and make prayers. This is a well-known fact. (Laughter)

Before the final examinations, all the students, who before they didn’t have any concern with religious affairs, they’re all going to the Sarasvatī Temples and praying for blessings. Or to different temples so they can pass the final exam. Many students have come to me and said, “I’ve just taken my final, give me ashīrbād so I can get a good result”.

Of course, once the danger or the difficulty is over, then people tend to forget the Lord. And they… they concentrate on their materialistic activities. But here we see in Gajendra, that in the different prayers, that he’s saying that, “If I get out of this danger, I don’t want to remain in ignorance anymore. I don’t want to remain just in materialistic consciousness anymore. Please bless me that I can actually be not only liberated from this danger. But that I can be liberated from the material ignorance, and be situated in Your eternal relationship. This is the special teaching of the Bhāgavata. Bhāgavata philosophy is to take us out of the material ignorance. To take us to the point of actually the full shelter of Kṛṣṇa eternally, is pure devotional service.

When Rūpa and Sanātana met Caitanya Mahāprabhu in Rāmakeli, and Lord Caitanya initiated them and instructed them to join Him later. At that time Rūpa Goswamī could leave earlier and he ... you know how he distributed his wealth ... 50% to the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas and Guru; 25% to his family members and 25% was for an emergency. He kept with some banker.

Sanātana Gosvamī had a more difficult time getting out. He was staying in his home hearing the Bhāgavatam, calling sick to the Emperor. Finally the Emperor sent his physician, and the physician said that there was nothing wrong with Sanātana Goswami. So, then the Emperor suddenly appeared at the house of Sanātana Goswamī, and saw all brāhmaṇas reading the Bhāgavatam. Sanātana Goswamī was just hearing the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

So, he said, “Why are you not coming and doing your duties as the Prime Minister? You know, you have to take charge of the Government so that I can go out and attack other kingdoms and increase my Empire. He compared himself to a hunter. He was a great warrior, the Hussain Shah. He was busy in increasing his empire, but Sanātana Gosvamī, he refused. He said that now he wasn’t interested in those type of political activities. So, the Emperor became angry. He was afraid he would run off. So, he had him arrested. And at that time, when Sanātana Gosvamī, he was also in a difficulty, he was in prison. So, then he didn’t know what to do. Of course, before, during, after, he is always taking shelter of the Lord.

So, in that difficulty also, taking shelter of the Lord. He got the intelligence what to do. He offered a handsome sum to the jailer, and praised him for being a very pious person and different things. And somehow, he was able to make the plan. So, he got released. He went with his servant, Ishan. So, they kept off the high road and went through various pathways which were through jungles and mountains and things like that – off the path.

So, in one lodge, one inn, somewhere in a remote area, Sanātana Gosvamī took shelter. But the inn-keeper had an astrologer, and the astrologer could understand that Sanātana Gosvamī had ... I believe it was seven ... seven or eight? ... Seven ... seven gold coins. Actually, Ishan had taken seven gold coins. So, the inn-keeper was very friendly to Sanātana, offering him everything – nice room, food. But Sanātana didn’t pay him anything. “So, inn-keepers they normally don’t give me anything for free.

So why is he being so nice to me?” So, then he started to think, something was suspicious. So, he asked Ishan, “Do you have any gold coins?” He said, “Yes.” And He said, “Give them to me.” Ishan gave him six gold coins. And then Sanātana called the inn-keeper and said, “Here, I want to give you these gold coins. You kindly take me out of here. You send me across these mountains, so I want to get to Banaras, and get over this difficult area.”

The inn-keeper said, “No. No. Actually, I was going to kill you in the night and take your money, but you’re such a nice person ... So you keep the gold coins, I won’t take them.” Sanātana said, “No. Someone else may kill me for these. If I have nothing, I am safer. You keep them.” Then the inn-keeper said, “Well even my astrologer said that you have seven gold coins but ... It’s alright, you keep the last one.” Or somehow, he revealed that he knew how many gold coins he had. Such an expert astrologer!

So then, Sanātana Gosvamī knew that Ishan had kept ... although he said give everything ... he didn’t, he kept one. So, by this he could understand that Ishan was still having a lot of attachments. Wasn’t ready to fully surrender. So, he told him, “Ok, you go back. You take the gold coin and you go back to your house. I’ll go alone from here.”

So Kṛṣṇa… Lord Kṛṣṇa tests at different stages. And the devotees, they’re compelled to surrender, more and more. And become more fixed in devotional service. Depend on Kṛṣṇa more, totally. It’s like a refining process.

I remember one time, Śrīla Prabhupāda, when he was giving a lecture on Queen Kuṇtī, in Māyāpur, and he was talking on the verse niṣkiñcana gocara. Kṛṣṇa is only known by those who have nothing.

And Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that how wonderful it is to have nothing. And he made a facial expression ... How wonderful it is! ... to have nothing. And it was so expressive, it sounded very deep. Having nothing doesn’t mean of course in an external sense, but actually realizing that everything is Kṛṣṇa’s. That there is nothing but Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa’s energy and Kṛṣṇa. That everything is the property of Kṛṣṇa. So, nothing belongs to one. When one actually understands that, it’s a very profound realization.

We were watching the un-edited video ... one of the Prabhupāda videos, and how Prabhupāda kept stressing this point, that Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of everything. This should be understood on the international, diplomatic level, that God is the proprietor of everything. It seems like a very simplistic point. People can just like kind of gleam over it, but it’s actually so profound. That if everybody understood that Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the proprietor of everything, then the ecology, then international relations, the differences between North and South, the differences between East and West. It’s like all the different problems which we’re facing every day, the newspapers are filled with these different problems – can be solved, just by applying this principle - “sarva loka maheśvaram”; that Krṣṇa is the proprietor of everything; God is the proprietor.

Therefore, we should manage things in that consciousness. But because we think, in the material world, the human beings think they’re the proprietors of everything. Therefore they are exploiting nature. They are exploiting nature. Instead of protecting it, they would be exploiting it. And in exploiting it, there’s so many imbalances. Now people are concerned ... the Greenhouse Effect ... this problem, that problem ... because they’re not considering that everything is the property of Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore, they should use it in a responsible way. Because they thought it was their property, can do whatever they please, now they’re seeing that there are so many problems coming up, and they have to suffer so many reactions. So, basic formulas given in the Vedas ... "Everything is the property of Kṛṣṇa.” ... are actually so profound when they’re realized and applied, that they can solve all the problems.

So, Sanātana Goswamī, he could see that Ishan hadn’t come to that realization of completely surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, so sent him back. And he went on along without any money, just depending on Kṛṣṇa. You can say he took sannyāsa in a real sense. Of course, he was always completely surrendered, but externally.

So, when he came to Lord Caitanya, finally reached Lord Caitanya in Banaras. Lord Caitanya was so pleased to meet him, He immediately embraced... He embraced Sanātana Gosvamī. Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that that was the complete ecstasy of being reunited. Just like after a long separation when the gopīs were reunited with Kṛṣṇa, Sanātana Goswamī could finally be reunited with Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It was not different. The ecstasy. In fact, Śrīla Prabhupāda, when he was giving that pastime in ... I believe it was in ... sitting in that place where Hanuman Poddar is? ...

(Devotee: Gorakhpur) ... Gorakhpur.

Rādhā-Mādhava in Māyāpur were travelling with him at the time. He himself became so absorbed in that ecstasy that he couldn’t speak. He just got choked up, and tears were pouring from his eyes, and for about 4-5 minutes, there was just silence. And then finally, with a broken voice, he said, “Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.”

Just by explaining the pastimes of Lord Caitanya and Sanātana Goswamī, Śrīla Prabhupāda was experiencing the same ecstasy himself. So that’s the special mercy of the Holy Name, of the Bhāgavatam. That if we really, with purified consciousness, can concentrate and hear the names, hear the teachings of the Bhāgavatam, we can experience the similar ecstasies, like the ecstasy or the experienced realization of pure devotional service is like a vast sky.

According to each bird’s capacity, they can fly high in the sky. Some eagles are there, they can fly miles high, some sparrows, they can only fly a few hundred yards. So according to one’s capacity, they can realize or experience. It’s like some fish can go deep in the ocean, some can only go on the top. But everyone can experience some nectar if they give their full consciousness and attention.

So, in this teaching of Gajendra, how an ordinary, material, dangerous situation was transformed into a catalyst or an impetus for Gajendra to take the full shelter of Kṛṣṇa; of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and then how he was delivered. So, similarly, in all the different things that may happen in each of our lives, we need to take everything that happens as an opportunity to surrender to Kṛṣṇa more. Whether it’s a danger or whether it’s a success. Māyā will give us always reasons, why to become bitter, why to become materialistic... Right?

If we’re doing saṅkīrtana / book distribution, if we have a good day, māyā can give us an impetus to say, “You’re such a great devotee, You’re so wonderful, You’re so expert, this that, You’re better than everybody.” And get puffed up. Then the next day we don’t do good and, “Just see this devotional service is no good. You should go back home, and things are better.” Or if we do good, we can hear the words of the Bhāgavatam, and the guru, the Vaiṣṇavas. That, “This is simply the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. Although I am most insignificant, most fallen than the fallen, but somehow by Their mercy I was able to act as an instrument. And Kṛṣṇa’s mercy could pass through me and these conditioned souls could take Kṛṣṇa’s mercy in the form of transcendental literature.”

Or, if the distribution didn’t go so well, “Oh, how I’m not surrendered, how because I’m so fallen, I am not able to act as a proper instrument, I should surrender more, I should become more determined in my devotional service.” Everything that happens, we can go either way. We can go māyā’s way, or we can go Kṛṣṇa’s way. So, through the intelligence, through these important teachings, just how Gajendra, he used the situation to shelter of Kṛṣṇa.

Similarly, we should use every circumstance that happens to just surrender more and more to Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes it takes a very heavy situation, like the one of Gajendra where it is a life-and-death circumstance to force one to surrender and become serious about devotional service.

Why should we wait for such a difficult situation? There is danger at every step. Better to surrender right away. Why delay? So, these teachings are ... like Prabhupāda said, “More intelligent person learns by seeing others. If everybody is going outside and getting wet in the rain, then the intelligent person won’t go out without an umbrella, “I’ll get wet”.

If there’s an epidemic going around and everyone’s getting sick, the intelligent person would take the necessary precautions to not get sick.” So, māyā is very active. She’s always trying to attack. She’s always attacking. Until we get out of this material body, māyā’s always there, waiting to influence us. We can’t expect to be free from māyā’s suggestions, as long we are in this material world.

But by studying the books, the lessons of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Caitanya Caritāmṛta etc., we can distinguish what are māyā’s suggestions and ignore those suggestions, reject them. And we can learn to distinguish what is Kṛṣṇa suggesting, what were the words of sādhu, Guru and Vaiṣṇava ... Huh, sāstra, sādhu, Guru ... and accept those instructions.

In this way, we can cross over all the difficulties, because Kṛṣṇa is transcendental to everything material. That’s the point in this verse. Whatever is there is in the material world, it’s coming from Kṛṣṇa and I’ll go back again into Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is existing before the material world, He is existing after. He’s is transcendental. So, by depending on Kṛṣṇa, we are transcendental to the material situation.

So Gajendra has come to that conclusion. Rather than depending on the big elephant body; rather than depending upon any material situation. He’s now simply surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. That, “You’re the only one worthy of depending on. Everything else is going to be finished, even Brahmā, even the whole universe. You’re there eternally, so I’m taking shelter of You.” Big boxing champions say “I’m the greatest, and then later on they become... can’t even speak properly, can’t walk properly because their brain has been smashed so much by boxing gloves. Then the new greatest comes.

In material life, this is the illusion. Everyone is trying to make their gold medal Olympic, make the big champion, become a big politician, but everything has it’s time. After some time, things change. Someone gave the kind of graphic example of... I can’t remember in what context... but I remember someone gave the graphic example of worms crawling on top of each other, and one worm gets to the top of the pile, and then after a while gets pulled down by the others and another one comes up. So, all these things are recorded in daily newspapers with great acc ... great enthusiasm. But the Lord is eternally above all of these struggles in the material world, and people need to be conscious of Him. And that’s the duty of the devotees, is that bringing this consciousness to people. They don’t have that consciousness. They’re very much focused on the struggle in the material world.

So they need, like Gajendra, to come to understand that sometimes in this struggle, sometimes you’re going to win, sometimes you’re going to lose.. .but if you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa you’re the real winner. You’re the real victor. Because Kṛṣṇa is the only one who can give the complete shelter, no-one else. And one who has the complete shelter of Kṛṣṇa, his life is already a success. While he’s living, he is under Kṛṣṇa’s shelter, and he’s in the ecstasy of the saṅkīrtana movement, relishing the devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. And when he leaves this material body, then he goes back to Kṛṣṇa and serves Kṛṣṇa eternally. So, living or dying, everything is perfect.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Any questions?

Question: (Indistinct 25:20)

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, great mystic yogīs, they could go to Yamarāja and ask him. That’s how one yogī didn’t feel happy, so he cursed Yamarāja to come down as a śūdra, who became Vidūra.

But you don’t directly have that communication. We know philosophically that long as we have a material body, there’s certain karmas or certain momentum. Although the karmas of devotees are ended, no new karmas are added, but that there’s a certain momentum continuing on, connected with the body. On the one side, for spiritual masters then, in addition to whatever karmas their body might have, they take disciples’.

Some disciples don’t follow strictly, they have to be responsible for the karmas of the disciples. Prabhupāda, when he was in Vṛndāvana 1977, I remember he held up his very emaciated, thin hand and he said, “This is because I took too many unqualified disciples, I have to become sickly like this. I took disciples and they didn’t follow.”

So, philosophically we can understand why ... different reasons why ... where they personally. In the case of a guru ... one who has taken disciples ... why they could suffer different situations of external suffering.

Even sometimes Prabhupāda said he got sick, he said that this was so that the disciples would become... what was the exact words? I don’t know if I can remember the exact words... My brain’s not fully clear. But I can just kind of paraphrase it. Maybe somebody else can remember the exact words. But the gist of it was that, by being sick that would force the devotees to take care of him, and give them an opportunity to kind of surrender more and serve him.

Sometimes devotees get on the mental platform and the spiritual master gets sick. They can get off the mental platform and get to the practical platform of surrendering. We don’t know...ultimately, Kṛṣṇa by one action He can do so many things. We can see things, we can analyze. I don’t think there’s any end to it, you know. Like we’re discussing, some devotees think, “Well this is, kind of... exhibited certain needs that exist in the Spanish Yātrā.”

Some people analyze, “Well this is...” Of course, I personally got many realizations, going through this. It’s like practically dying and being re-born. It’s practically the last thing I can remember...I just...It’s practically like dying, before I went in the operation. When I was in the operation room, it practically felt like I was just...I just...thinking of Kṛṣṇa and dying. And then coming out of it was practically like a re-birth because I was in Intensive Care.

So I was completely like a baby. Didn’t have any control over my motor movements, over my eyes or over anything. And I was being taken care of like a baby. And then gradually coming, in the next few days, like going through the span of years in a matter of days, you know. Going from an infant the first day to one .... Like every day was a year, or two or three or four or whatever. But imagine it could be analyzed from so many different perspectives, perspective of ISKCON; perspective of leadership.

Kṛṣṇa achieves many things with one action. So it’s very difficult to isolate and say, “Well, this is the reason.” Because you could say that for about twenty different things, and maybe all of them are right. Or maybe some of them are not right. Maybe they’re speculative. It depends on how expert, one is in analyzing philosophically the different things that happen.

Sivarama Maharaj and Tamala Kṛṣṇa Maharaj, when they came on Rādhāṣṭami, they had many realizations, philosophical realizations. Things which I may have been more subjective, but they saw from another point of view, different angle.

I got a letter from Mahārāja, Nanda Svarupa Maharaja. He had some realizations in the letter which had a very profound effect on me when I was in the hospital. So different devotees ... I’m sure it’s not ... because Kṛṣṇa, He can achieve so many things in one action. How can you say whether this is the reason? It may be one of the reasons.

So, we have to ultimately take that what happens? ... that Kṛṣṇa permitted it to happen. There may be many reasons why He permitted it to happen, and just take the positive benefit out of it. Learn from the negative aspects, learn from the positive aspects, learn from every aspect of it and ... some devotees say that their faith in Kṛṣṇa was brought into question. I don’t think that’s ... we should never question Kṛṣṇa or lose our faith. Kṛṣṇa was very kind on me that I didn’t lose consciousness, I could remain conscious despite of ...

And somehow in spite of the pain and everything, I didn’t lose consciousness and I didn’t forget Him. The thing is we don’t forget Kṛṣṇa. So, in the face of difficulty, but somehow Kṛṣṇa gave His causeless mercy, although I have no devotional purity. But so He was kind enough to allow me to remember Him, and pray to Him. Because that’s the ultimate test, whenever we leave the body, if we can just somehow remember Kṛṣṇa... I hope... Somehow ... I’m here...I’m still living in this body... I just hope that whenever I have to leave this body, I can remember Kṛṣṇa.

The Vaiṣṇavas bless me that I can remember Kṛṣṇa then. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Some devotees, whether they leave by cancer, or they leave by old age or whether falling asleep at the driving wheel because they’re not careful. You know, we have to learn to become more and more conscious of Kṛṣṇa at every circumstance. Now Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a worldwide movement. When this happened, it was flashed all over the world. There are crazy people who don’t like Kṛṣṇa consciousness spreading in the West. It’s surprising that there hasn’t been more attacks on Hare Kṛṣṇa leaders, swamis. This person doesn’t even know. He’s just a visitor. He didn’t know anything about gurus yet. He just knew swamis. He was out to get a swami. I was the big swami.

So, He tried to get a couple of other swamis when he was there. He’d offer to drive some to the airport and different places, but everybody refused. So, I guess he got desperate. I was like the last swami visiting, so this was his last chance. There wasn’t any other swamis around, so... The doctors said if it had been another swami with not such a big neck... (Laughter)... probably they wouldn’t have survived. But there are many crazy people, and if they’re going to go after swamis maybe we have to have a special “Swami Corps” (Laugher) to protect the swamis.

Prabhupāda was concerned about being kidnapped, about being attacked. In the last few years, he had bodyguards. He said when Māyāpur was attacked they were looking for him, they wanted to eliminate him. He was concerned. We found him very concerned. We had been kind of living a happy-go-lucky life, kind of travelling everywhere. Everyone is travelling. Nobody’s really concerned but ... who knows now?

As more and more Kṛṣṇa consciousness expands, the anti-cult people are becoming also more and more very outspoken. So, this affects some people. I know from George Harrison, and these movie stars when they travel around, they’re always in fear for their lives, especially after they killed John Lennon. George Harrison said we’ll come to Māyāpur but if you don’t tell anybody. And then he was ... he was just revealing how... I’ve mentioned how he got discovered when we were in Bangkok. He said that he always checks in in the name of his bodyguard, but somehow somebody just could recognize him or spot him... and then all the charities come to get him to do charity benefit. You know, Everybody wants the movie, you know, the rock and roll stars to do a charity benefit, then they can make a... Just as we got Anup Jalota to come, they want George Harrison or some rock and roll singer to do a benefit concert to earn some big money.

So immediately he had to leave, because along with the benefit, people are crazy people. They want to become famous for killing some big movie star or something. So, who knows? So many people. More and more as Kṛṣṇa consciousness becomes prominent, can be more dangerous for the leadership. I don’t know how the world body is going to address the problem. It seems that the problem has to be addressed. Because this person... very intelligent. He says... he had three knives... he says when he gets out, each knife, has a destination in ISKCON. Of course, he had seven knives. Seven or nine, that he offered to Kṛṣṇa on Janmāṣṭami. He got a rose bush and he stuck the knives around the rose bush and offered it to Kṛṣṇa. So, who knows how many... There’s crazy people out there, you know. But they’re very intelligent. He’s very planning, this person. Who knows if there’s more like him, or if he’s got some people behind him? So externally we have to also .... You know we see Kṛṣṇa behind everything, but externally we have to also take precautions against attacks of demons.

Just like here, we’re working so hard against this Hertsmere Council. The politics trying to close the Manor, but we have to do so many things; meetings and public things, we have to go to court. It’s not that we just say, “Kṛṣṇa will take care.” We have to also take care for Kṛṣṇa. We’re trying to protect Kṛṣṇa’s temple. Ultimately we’re depending on Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, but it’s our service to protect Kṛṣṇa’s temple, to keep the preaching going. It’s like that.

Not only get kicked, sometimes have some mercy. Take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Like a little baby walks away from the parents and then suddenly looks around, doesn’t see the parents, gets scared, starts crying, runs back to the parent. Like that sometimes we get away from Kṛṣṇa, māyā can also give mercy to help us to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. In this Gajendra pastime, the attack of the crocodile was an impetus for Gajendra to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. We should surrender without such impetus, but sometimes we need Māyā to remind us that we have to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. When she does that, that’s also mercy.

Question: (Indistinct)

Jayapatākā Swami: She has a dual role. She can go both ways. That’s why the devotees, by giving people spiritual intelligence, then when they can see things in the proper spiritual perspective, then māyā’s role becomes very conducive for being Kṛṣṇa conscious. But when we’re in total ignorance, then māyā is keeping us... That’s not māyā’s only definition. Māyā also means to forget Kṛṣṇa. “That which is not.” So the way we can see māyā’s mercy is when we’re Kṛṣṇa conscious.

So, we need that Kṛṣṇa conscious intelligence, then we can see even māyā as an energy of Kṛṣṇa. Just as Śrīla Prabhupāda said when the devotee goes back to Kṛṣṇa, then even māyā is standing offering her respects, “Congratulations!”

Question: (Indistinct)

Jayapatākā Swami: No, a devotee’s ... what are the qualities of a devotee... kindness, compassion, para duḥkha dukhī, can be sad to see others’ suffering. So, devotees are very compassionate. Someone else is suffering they’re always helping, comforting, preaching, giving good association. Not like, “You’re getting what you deserve.” A devotee, philosophically, may consider like that themselves, but the other devotees they’re always comforting, preaching.

Lord Caitanya, you know, He was so concerned when Haridāsa Ṭhākura was sick, He went to see him. He told Haridāsa Ṭhākura, “You don’t have to chant all your rounds.” He told him so many things. But devotional service is personal. Lord Caitanya showed so much compassion. Kṛṣṇa shows so much compassion when His devotee is attacked.

When Haridāsa Ṭhākura was being whipped in the 22 market places, Kṛṣṇa Himself came and took the beating. So Kṛṣṇa has so much compassion for the devotee, then what to speak of His devotees, who are the mercy representation of Kṛṣṇa? Vaiṣṇavas are personified mercy. Devotees of course they are Kṛsṇa conscious, it’s not just some kind of mundane sentiment. They can see things. They also help to preach and keep a person in the paramaparā Kṛṣṇa conscious perspective. Keep out of becoming angry, bitter, in illusion or overly materially attached. At the same time, they help. Last question? ok

Question: (Indistinct)

Jayapatākā Swami: Ok. Mahārājas, any comments? Kṛṣṇa das Swami?

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya!!!