19790915 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.9.9 in Los Angeles, California #JayapatakaSwamiArchives

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jaya Pataka Swami Maharaj on September 15, 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The class begins with a reading from the Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 4, Chapter 9, Text 9 Translation by His Divine Grace, persons who worship you simply for the sense gratification of this bag of skin are certainly influenced by your illusory energy. In spite of having you who are like a desire tree and are the cause of liberation from birth and death, foolish persons such as me desire benedictions from you for sense gratification which is available even for those who live in hellish conditions. Purport Vaisla Prabhupada Juva Maharaj repented because he had come to the Lord to render devotional service for material profit. Here he condemns his attitude only due to a gross lack of knowledge. Does one worship the Lord for material profit or for sense gratification? The Lord is like a desired tree. Anyone can have whatever he desires from the Lord, but people in general do not know what kind of benediction they should ask from Him. Happiness derived from the touch of skin or sensuous happiness is present in the life of hogs and dogs. Such happiness is very insignificant. If a devotee worships the Lord for such insignificant happiness, he must be considered devoid of all knowledge. Thus end the purport by Srila Prabhupda. So the five year old son of Maharaj, Uttana Pado, the great Dhruva Maharaj, after completing rigorous intent concentration in devotional service of the Lord, was so fortunate that he saw Krishna face to face in his Narayan form. Seeing God face to face, Juva Maharaj is reflecting how he had been worshiping God in order to regain his kingdom, the kingdom of his Father which he was illegally and improperly evicted from thinking. In that way, Dhruva Maharaj was experiencing extreme pain. How he had been so foolish to worship Ka and in return asking for a material benefit. It describes you that the Lord is just like a desire tree. A desired tree fills all the desires of the devotee provide wonderful things. Whatever one desires, the desired tree provides. Of course there may be some misconception that what kind of desire tree is the Lord? That whatever the Lord is giving, whatever the devotee wants, that Lord is giving. There's an example about one devotee who was so fortunate as to achieve association with a desired tree, you see? So first thing he thought, now I can desire whatever I want, so let me desire that I can have 10 kilos of gold. O desired tree. Give me 10 kilos, 22 pounds of pure 24 karat gold. Immediately he gets the gold. Oh, look at gold. Gold. I've got gold. So wonderful to have gold. What else can I desire, dear Desire Tree, Please give me a 37 room house filled with servants and all kind of provisions. There it is. Look at that house. Wow. This Desire Tree is really wonderful. Now what will I desire? I can be a king. Desire Tree. Make me the king of a huge nation called America. Oh look it, I'm the king of America. This iron tree is really fun. Anything I want I can get. But what if I think about. What if I think that right now a tiger was going to come and oh no. Oh, he ate me. You see, that kind of desired tree is not what's being talked about. Because Ka would not give to an ignorant person that facility. He would desire a tiger come and eat him. Because people are so mad with sense gratification. So only the pure devotee, he won't desire for 22 kilos of gold for his sense gratification and for a big house for his sense gratification or for the kingdom of any country on the world for his sense gratification, he, being mature, will desire. What can I offer to Ka today? I'd like to have some nice mangoes, papaya, pineapple. Let me offer a nice fruit plate to Rukmini Dwarka dish. Or he may desire to offer any beautiful garland. So he may say, well here I only get a few flowers, so I'd like to have golob, champa, rose, lotus, gardenia. So many different. So anything that he wants that fruit that Desire Tree would offer. But he'd only desire those things to use in the Lord's service. He doesn't want to enjoy himself. His enjoyment is giving satisfaction and pleasure to the Lord because he's a pure devotee. So except for pure devotees, generally speaking others are not allowed to get the facility of this desire to eat because they don't know what is good for them. So Dhruva Maharaj, he could understand all these things that the Lord one can get anything he wants from him. But if someone goes to Mr. Ford Rockefeller and if he happens to be charitably disposed to give something, if he goes after great difficulty and then says, my dear multimillionaire, please give me one handful of cigarette ashes, then he would be crazy to ask for such a thing. One should then approach him and say, my dear sir, please give me enough fun to build a beautiful front for Arukmani Dwarkiddish. Temple. Why should we go and ask him for just some ashes? A useless thing. So like that if we go to Krishna and ask him, My dear Krishna, please give me a nice car, Please give me a nice house, Please give me nice food. Please arrange something so I can pay for my rent. If we just ask for all these things, actually we're very foolish. Because Krishna has so much more to give. God has the greatest thing to give. No matter what we accumulate in this life in the form of material possessions, the time of death, it'll all be finished from dust to dust. So the real thing to ask from God is His pure devotion, his pure loving devotion. Because that never ends. Just like Krishna never ends and we never end. So the loving relationship between the devotee and Krishna that never comes to an end, this is known as Sambandha eternal relationship. So we ask the Lord first to establish us in our eternal relationship. Who am I? Jeevesa Rupoi Nittu Ka Das that our eternal form is we are Ka's servant. So the devotee first wants to realize what is my relationship. Then a second Obhidhaya. All right. I am eternal servant of Ka. He is my eternal master. I am his servant. Now how do I act in that position? How do I obtain the perfection of life? So that actual practice of realizing one's relationship and obtaining the perfection of light, the means is called Obidehya, means of obtaining perfection and the perfection himself is Prayojana or pure love of Ka. The Samandha Acharya Vagodiya Vai of Sampradaya is Sri Sanatana Goswami. Sanatana Goswami explains all the different features of the transcendental realm in the universe and what is the relationship? Sanatana Goswami describes that although there is a gross relationship between the hellish planets, the earthly planets, the heavenly planets of this universe and beyond the universe, the realm of Lord Shiva and the impersonal Brahman, the Brahma Jyoti and the Vaikuntha planets, Ayodhya, the place of Lord Sri Ramachandra and Goloka where Sri Krishna resides and Swethadv Navadip where Lord Caitanya resides. That in spite of all the variegated differences in a kind of. One can see it in a perspective of difference in the Lord. Actually, rather than some kind of a lateral type of vertical lateral type of comparison, the actual comparison is established through various rasa or mellows of devotion. That the mood of the people or devotees in a certain planet that Mood or different relationships with the Lord in loving devotion or material dislike. In the heavenly planets. There there is a type of Bhakti mixed with desire for sense gratification. In some other place it's mixed with Bhakti mixed with desire for speculative knowledge as it becomes purer and purer. From the gross Karma vi Karma to Karma to all Karma to Bhakti mixed with Karma. Bhakti mixed with Gyan to pure Gan is below Bhakti mixed with Gan. Then gradually to the pure, purer, pure type of bhakti coming to Bhakti and neutrality. Then Bhakti and servitude, then devotion in friendship, devotion in parental love, and then devotion and Madhujja rasa in conjugal love. In this way actually Sanatana Goswami, apart from establishing a kind of understanding of the material and spiritual world in the extent of happiness like he described that human beings happiness can be taken as one numeral, one denominator. Take it that the hellish planets is less than 1 negative unhappiness, human being, happiness 1. Then 1 goes from human being up to say the Gandharvas. Then his happiness is 10 times more. Then it goes to Kinnara hundred times, then Chanara thousand. Then again in this way, as it goes up through the different demigods, each time is 10 times greater happiness than before. When one gets to Asuras, that's again greater. Those who are sen for cent, mystic, powerful Asura. Then beyond that one comes to the platform of the demigods. That's again, then again Indra is hundred times more. Then Brahma is hundred times more than they, thousand times more than they. Then when one gets to the Brahma Jyoti, the impersonal effulgence of the Lord emanating from his body, then it describes it all the material happiness combined. It's not even one drop compared to the happiness of Brahman. And then from Brahman to pure devotional service of the Lord. That happiness of pure devotion compared to Brahman Brahman is not even the quantity of water contained in a calf's hoof print in the mud compared to the ocean of happiness of Ka. So like this he established this relation also that he went into a deeper in his Maha Brihat Bhagawadamita, the relationship between different planets in the sense of transcendental Rasa or melo. So the highest planet is Goloka Vrindab. And there the highest interchange of devotion is existing between devotees. So Dhruva is understanding that I was approaching the Lord for some fruitive result, like a businessman, I was going and saying. And I was thinking that I will worship the Lord when I get it. Then I will ask him for a great kingdom, for so much power. Instead I am feeling such transcendental ecstasy. I am feeling such wonderful love to see his lotus feet that I realize I am so full foolish to desire anything but simply to serve Him. What can be greater than that? Why am I clinging onto the broken glass of these material objects which are only temporary in nature, which are going to be destroyed at any moment. At any moment Ka can take them away from me. I have got no stability. Simply by his mercy. I'm holding on in spite of that. I'm only thinking how to increase my material entanglement, how to increase my material liabilities. Rather than accept Krishna's mercy and fully fix my mind in his service. Of course this is very advanced. Not everyone can immediately obtain this perfection. Therefore, it's recommended that if one cannot fully fix his mind in Ka's devotion, if he is so unfortunate, then at least he should give the fruits of his activity. He should use his time, use some of his energy, use some of his wealth to further the service of the Lord. And prepare himself for full dedication. So Juva Maharaj, he was already beyond all those stages. He was completely fully dedicated. There was no doubt he had that desire. So therefore he made this wonderful prayer which was deriding the pleasure of the senses. That we are so foolish. We ask for the pleasure of the senses. Of course, the same kind of there was in India. Of course, the people worship many demigods. Because demigods are known to give very quick results. They don't inquire. Actually, the demigods are great devotees of Ka. They don't ask what will be the result of what you're asking. Whether it will be good or whether it will be bad. You see, they don't think that this devotee is worshipping me. Out of what kind of mood? All right. The demigods are preoccupied in management and in their service to Ka. Someone's worshiping. Alright. You're approaching me. What do you want? Then they ask, please give me this. Please. And in Bengal they do Durga Puja there. I was walking by and I heard the Brahmina, their prayer. After saying that, they say, first worship. Durga, you are Narayani. You are the consort of Narayan. You are Vaishnavi. You are a devotee of Vishnu. You are the Jagat Mohini. You are the person who keeps the whole world in illusion. In this way they glorify her. Then they get to the punchline, Then they pray. Daya Daya, Daya Daya they say Dhanam Daya, Sriyam Daya, Pratisthan Daya, Pujjam Daya, Sobham Daya Daya Daya Daya Daya means give me, give me, give me, give me wealth, give me establishment, give me beauty, give me power, Give, give me a good wife, give me a home. In this way they go on, Janam Daya, Dhanam Daya, give me wealth. This is their prayer. How can Durga be fooled? Oh, you are so wonderful, so wonderful, so wonderful. Give me this, give me this, give me this, give me this. They're not loving Durga, they're not loving these demigods. They're loving the wealth, the fame, the power, the other things that they can get from her. So they are not pure devotees. There's a great demon called Narakasur. Right by our temple in Guwahati is the famous temple of Kamakha Devi. Kamakha Devi is one of the Adipas or main places of Durga. When Durga became a little uncontrollable, Krishna divided her with his Sudarshan chakra on the request of the other demigods. Into how many pieces? 56. 56 different pieces. And different pieces fell over India. So this one piece fell in Assam. So there, there was a demon. All the worshippers of Devi, they go there. But actually Devi, when Krishna personally, he also visited the valley of Guwahati at that time she ordered one of her demon daughter devotees to actually surrender to Krishna. So she has, she is so many, there's so many stories how she has brought devotees to Krishna. But of course the demons, they simply worship her for material things. Everyone goes, they simply, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me. Of course. So she is in a very, I mean, it must be very tiring for her to go and hear all these demands of all the people. Nobody asks for any pure. Nobody with a pure heart is going. The one devotee, Narakasur, he worshipped just vigorous worship and fasting and everything. Finally she came and said, all right, you have satisfied me. What would you like as a benediction? And Narakasur, he said, looked at her, said, you will satisfy my desire. What is your desire? He says, I want to marry you. I'm already married with Lord Shiva. Well, I want to at least enjoy you. I mean, Durga was just astonished at what predicament you give a boon. And these demons are so lusty, they're so envious they even they want to have lusty relations with the very Goddess they're worshiping. So she tricked him and said, all right, I will satisfy your desire. Living in the top of this hill is very hard for the devotees to come up here. So you build a big stone staircase. If you can build it from the sunset before sunrise. Since you are a demon, your power gets stronger in the nighttime. I'll give you that advantage. If you complete it before the morning, then I will satisfy your desire. So this huge demon is picking up big boulders and building this up this huge mountain. He's building this staircase. Not huge, very big hill. About 15002000ft high. Today this is in bygone Yugas many, many thousands of years ago. And he's building and building this single handedly. Just as the sunrise is coming. He's about hundred feet short. I'm sorry. She said he didn't make it. But thank you for the pathway. So the thing is that these demigods, they're in a very bad predicament. Because everybody's going about. They get so disgusted sometime that everybody's coming. When a devotee comes and begs them, please tell me how I can serve Ka. They feel very good. They feel very good to give such advice. Lord Shiva himself is the father, founder of a vaiava of Sampradaya. There's a story how one devotee worshiped Lord Shiva. Then he got the Darshan of Lord. He begged Lord Shiva, please give me the most wonderful thing in the whole universe. And so Lord Shiva said, yes, I can give you. So then you should go and see. Sanatana Goswami said, I would like a touchstone. He said, oh, you'd like a touchstone? He also has one of those. And you can see Sanatana Goswami. Of course, many devotees. This is a common story. Now we all know how this devotee went to Sanatana Goswami in Vrindavan. And he was looking and looking. And then he finally found where Sanatan Goswami was. Fell down at his low to his feet and he prayed. My dear Sanatan Goswami, Lord Shiva has sent me that you have the most wonderful thing in the universe. I understand you have a touchstone. The Lord. You know, Sanango, make up your mind. So he said, I would like a touchstone. Touchstone? What? A touchstone is almost like a desire tree. In a sense, a touchstone. Anything you touch with with it, it turns into gold. So for a materialist, this is very handy. If anything you touches turns to gold. Then you can have a very big budget for sense enjoyment. So he asked that I please, I would like to have the touchstone. Shanann goes and said, yes, you go in the back, there's a garbage pit. You find in the garbage pile. There's one touchstone somewhere there. You can just look. And he says, doing his worship. So then the devotee goes in the back there. He sees a huge pile of garbage, leaves everything there, all the refuse. He looks through there. He finds one brilliant stone. He touches. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. I'm rich. I'm rich. Gold. More than a million Krugers everywhere. Gold. He was so happy he was getting everything. Gold. Then he started to think that Sanatan Goswami kept it. Everyone, I said, I want the greatest. And they said, yes. And I said, touchstone. And I found this touchstone in a garbage pit. What is the really valuable thing? He must have something more valuable. Who keeps a touchstone in the garbage? What is his real wealth? That is what I must find. So then he went back and he said, sanatan Goswami, you have kept this touchstone in the garbage pit. I am thinking that, my dear master, you must have something more valuable even than this. Oh, yes, I have something much more valuable. Oh, may I have that? May I have that most precious object? Why not? But you must first throw away this touchstone. Throw away my touchstone? But I just got so much gold. Well, if you want the greatest thing, the most valuable thing, then you can't hold on to this petty thing. Well, you've led me on the right path once, so I'll have faith in you. So he went and threw away the touchstone back in the garbage, but came back, paid his obeisances. Now, please tell me, what is the most valuable thing? Please give it to me. So then, of course, Sanatatan Goswami says, all right. Come over here. This is a great secret. Listen. Hare Ka. Hare. Ka. Ka. Ka. Hare. Hare. Hare. Ram. Hare. Ram. Ram. Ram. Hari. Hari. Chant this Maha Mantra, this holy name of God. This is the most valuable thing that I possess. It will satisfy all of your desires. So in this way, Dhruva Maharaj, he was saying that Ka himself is the desired tree. Why was I desiring such insignificant things? He realizes that his duty is to satisfy the desires of Ka. So he simply focuses that not on obtaining Ka in an indirect way. But he says that actually the direct process is by simply carrying out the order of the spirit spiritual master, that automatically, whenever Ka is pleased, he will Appear. So we simply try to carry out the orders of our previous cryas of our disciplinic succession. Actually Prabhupada revealed that there is a great search secret to becoming advanced in Ka consciousness. There is a great secret. That secret is one should constantly pray for the mercy of his spiritual master and the previous cryas to advance in pure devotional service. One should pray he should desire the mercy of his the great Vaiavas. This is the open secret that they are very easily satisfied. Of course one cannot approach without going through a spiritual master. If one does, that's called Maya Bodhis. He's trying to say I and my guru are one that cannot. One has to approach to his spiritual master. And then he begs previous cryas Lord Caitanya Nithyananda for mercy, for help to perfect oneself in pure Ka consciousness. Vasila Prabhupada. He always showed this. He always was trying to satisfy the desires of the previous cryas. Bhakti Siddhanta Sahasri Thakur had said that more important than big temples is book distribution. When he was at his last few days he told Prabhupada confidentially that in the Gaudiya Maat, when we built such big building, we moved from our rented house. Then immediately there was a conflict. When we had our marble temple. Who would stay in which room, who would take which position, who would sit where? Now I'm thinking better to simply take out all the marble stones, sell it and print books and distribute profusely. The purport is that our first business is book distribution. And Prabhupada he is saying, what is the mood of my spiritual master? What is the mood of the previous cr? They want Lord Caitanya's movement to be spread. So he saw that first there must be book distribution, then there must be temple construction. The basis is books, Basis is transcendental books. So in the same way Srila Prabhupada, he always was looking for a chance to satisfy one of the predictions or one of the desires of the previous cryas. Sila Bhaktived on Thakwar. He predicted in many places in his writing, in his monthly journals, in his books that the whole world would one day become Ka conscious. Just as Lord Caitanya had predicted. And he would offer invite all the people of the world to take part in his transfer marketplace of the Holy Name. Although it was 1890 when every Indian was thinking that the British with their big iron horses, the locomotives, they have given us the greatest thing. There's nothing Greater than this, when people are wearing suits and coats and were proud to be given the title of Sir Ashuto, Sir Such and Such Mukarjee. They are so pleased to become the get these titles from the Western people and drink tea and take on the Western affinities and ways and mannerisms. He was saying no, the whole world will embrace Lord Caitanya Sankirtan movement. This is a very dynamic and far reaching understanding. So of course Bhaktavino and Thakur, he predicted that at the holy birthplace of Sri Dampur that one day will come when there will be devotees from all over the world who will come to pay homage at the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. Who will come and serving in the birthplace of Lord Caitanya they will chant together Jai Sochinanda. Jai Sochinanda. Jai Gora Hareem. So Prabhupada, he saw the desire of the previous crya to have devotees from all over the world come to that holy place. And so then he took the opportunity. Anything he could do. What does that previous cryas want? He just jumped at the chance. Anything I can do to satisfy their desires. Anything, whatever they want. Just like when we were in the. In the Kuma Mela in 1971. January, February, very cold. Right in the right in the very bank of the Jamuna and the Ganga at the confluence. Some of us would be that 3, 4 in the morning and the very cold waters to get the sacred dip. At that year about. Only about 20 million people showed up. It was a small year. Half Kumba, not the full one with a full1.33 million people attended. They only had for 10 miles from the river. They had big bamboos and wood things to make the people stand in queue for 10 miles so they wouldn't stampede. Because many, many decades ago there was a stampede where a few hundred people saw their last holy Darshan. So they have a big arrangement there. So we were at that festival. There are so many sadhus go. Prabhupada said that that many sadhus come to this special meeting that from the Himalayas many great yogis are still meditating and they come down. He said that the thing about these yogis is that every morning they bathe in the seven rivers. They dip down in the Ganges, Jamuna, Saraswati, confluence, come up in, in the Godavari, go down in Krishna. Then they go down again up in Krishna. And in this way they go through the seven rivers. Baba said, I have seen with my own eyes. I have seen within a matter of minutes they dip in all of the rivers. How can Prabhupada see someone dip in rivers over 2,3000 miles of in a matter of minutes? Of course we meditated on that one. So I personally saw there was some yogi there who had been meditating so long his fingernails had come out of the other side of his hand. I don't know if it was how he did it, but that was how he's meditating. Maybe it was a done up thing. I couldn't. I didn't. It looked pretty real. But there are quite a many people go for the show. So many sadhus. So Prabhupada said, we are coming. We also want to preach. We want to have association of sadhus and give association to the people. He was very humble. He said, we want the association. Of course we knew that he was going to give association a pure devotion to purify all the different people, Mayavadis and Karma Kandis and different people that were going there in our morning. Mostly the devotees who were up at so early in the morning were Prabhupada to give lecture and answer questions. So we had just done many programs for purchasing the Mayapur land. And that time one devotee asked Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada that if we are able to bring, because the topic of discussion was a lot there, the opening of the big temple probably wanted the big temple built immediately in a few years that if we for the opening of the big temple bring the President of the United States and the Queen of England to the opening, will Bhakti Vinoth Thakur be pleased by that or not? So then Srila Prabhupada replied, if you bring the President of the United States and the Queen of England to the opening of the Mayapur Tel, Bhakti Vinod Thakur will come down from Golokrindaland, take you in his hand, hand and hand back to Gok Bin Lavin right on the spot. So if anyone is ambitious, I've already in London mentioned this. They at least have to if they're queen and that in America, who will bring the president? So here Los Angeles is our biggest community in America. Here of course, Mukunda is going commuting back and forth. But there is your assignment for instant, instant mercy. So Lanet said, no problem. But I don't know about Los Angeles. No problem. Very nice. So this is a great opportunity. Actually I realized it was kind of a transcendental competition. When I was in London, a lot of time you heard the name Los Angeles Little Bit I think that there's some transcendental mood between London and Los Angeles and Sankirtan and Bhakta and different things. Sometimes I get that impression. When I was there, of course when I first landed in Germany then they gave me a very nice garland of flowers. Carnation. Of course the carnations didn't have any smell there which Harikesh, I mean he had said what can I do? The flowers here don't smell. There's so many chemicals they use. So then I went to when I landed in London then when I was leaving then they gave me a garland of 10 pound notes and said. And so then I had to admit that they had given the best garland to date. So in that way they're very nice. Wherever I go I get very nice association with all the devotees. I always feel reluctant to leave. Of course actually Los Angeles is the Big brother of Mayapur. Sometimes people, they say different things that why is Los Angeles the Big Brother? Everyone feels that this is very appropriate. Of course some people they say that well, Los Angeles would be my upwards Big Brother because Los Angeles is the biggest project in the western world right now. And Mayapur is the biggest project project in India and in the world for the. So it's natural that this should be big. Then other people say that well, Los Angeles is the most broad minded. There's so many different projects. They're very broad minded. And so because Mayapur is encompassing so many different things Varn Ashram, World Planetarium and Sama so many different things. Therefore it should be the Big Brother. You know, there's so many different. Then some people say well, that Los Angeles proper that it's the Big Brother because the intimate relationship between all of the leaders and all the devotees is a basically wonderful exchange. So of course all these things are correct. Even more, more idea. But I think that Mayapur is related with Los Angeles particularly because his divine grace Sila Ramesh Saraswami is so keenly intent upon capturing all the mercy of the previous cryas. And because he has that transcendental vision what the previous cryas did. Therefore he had above all other reasons grabbed at the chance to be the Big Brother. Have Los Angeles be the Big brother of Mayapur. So I feel, you see this is very. I mean already he's getting so much mercy from printing and distributing so many books. And on top of that now he's getting all. Trying to capture all the mercy for my airpour. I say he's giving such a wonderful example of a transcendental capitalist capturing all the transcendental capital, the real wealth, all the mercy of the cryas. Of course, Prabhupada, he was the most expert in this. Whenever he saw a chance to fulfill some desire, he would jump at it. But already I would see in Mayapur we feel that we're already hard placed. Of course, Prabhupada said, ultimately the projects are for book distribution. But at the present time, due to the poor situation in India, book distribution is a big struggle. People don't have so much money. We're racking our brains for ways and money means. But because some people think that, well, what is the relationship between this Mayapur Indian project and between Bhakta? Well, Prabhupada, he never made any qualms. It was no secret that where he put his priorities as far as we were concerned. We know that wherever Prabhupada went around the world, he would encourage each zone in different ways. But we were never confused that we were the most important project in iskcon. That was because Prabhupada wouldn't let us have that particular confusion. I remember that in 1973 or 4, I think it was that we were just finishing the big building and Prabhupada gave a tremendous. He wanted to have about a hundred and fifty different rooms and big building, everything built within three months. So at that time we had this big building. We only had 10 devotees. Because what happens when all the devotees come for the festival? All the devotees had already gone to Vrindaban when they go. Especially in those days when it was so much more austere. We don't have this problem anymore. So much just they go as far as Vrindavan and come back. Usually there's kind of like after a jet there's like a vacuum created where the jet takes off and everything behind it is sucked. So especially in those days when all the devotees would come and then when they go, then you would find that half your devotees would be gone. They'd all go follow with the devotees to stay there. One day after the festival it feels so empty. One day you've got 6, 600, next day you've got 20, 10 people will go and go with the devotees. So there'd be a regular turnover. The first few years. Many devotees came for a year or so. But at the festival we'd have our biggest casual. This was right in the very beginning. So I remember Bhavananda Goshaya was completely in anxiety. He had just came to my airport a year or so earlier and then he saw that Nobody here. I mean there's no way we can build these buildings. No way we can do the preaching, no way we can expand these programs. So he rushed to Vrindavan Philip Prabhupada he went, asked all the leaders at that time, the leaders, each one said, well you know, we got so many projects, we can't help you out. But you know, maybe I think there's one Bhakta that's about to leave anyway, I'll send him over. You know, I mean this is that like eternal problem we were solving facing in those days. So then he went to Sri Prabhupada and said there's just no one we can get. I mean just, you know, there are many the people who would like to go but they can't get the permission. Even though you said that you should encourage them. There's no one, I mean fractionally everyone, they can't see it. To give someone at this particular time, Prophet said yes, you have to understand from their viewpoint. Alright. He thought from while said, alright, you can take anyone you want. You just go without asking, you go at night or something. Anyone you want you can take. But please don't take my big book distributors. Please don't take them. So I mean Prabhupada was very clear. I mean he felt that of all the the projects his big book distribution was first then there are so many projects which I'm sure we can all show different letters. How he encouraged and felt that these projects could spread ka consciousness where they properly develop anyway, not to leave you hanging. Bhavananda Goswami went that night with his flashlight and woke up different people, grabbed about 10, 12 devotees together, put them on a train and went back to my airport. So then it took things like that to actually get the buildings and the things there that the devotees are able to come and enjoy. Now there's a much different mood, of course, and the need of course is not so cute. There's just a few key positions. So things are much different. But we always knew that book distribution was Prabhupada's main. And then he always said that only through book distribution will the Indian projects be built. I don't want it. I want it to come through book distribution. Let the people double their book distribution every year. He showed how by doubling book distribution that ultimately the Indian projects can be especially Mayapur. Vrindabrindaban was to be built first, that's practically finished and then Mayapur finally the big center of Lord Caitanya's glory would be built. So he always intended that the book distribution that should go on, that should be everyone's first look. And automatically, through book distribution, the different foreign BVT's would help and see that these other projects go on. This was Prabhupada's plan, that this is natural, that Lord Caitanya has given us the transcendental Vani. He has given us this message. So by distributing his message, we should also do something for him. So it's very encouraging whenever we see the book scores increase. Now, of course, we're going through a transition.