Develop love of God | SB 01.02.18 | Rus-Split | 15 June 1989 | Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami

Prasad Raaval. So I hope that Kṛṣṇa keeps giving this facility so I can keep coming regularly. I hope that all of you are progressing nicely spiritually. So we'll have the Bhāgavatam class. Is that what we should do? In all our temples, we have the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam class in the morning and Gītā class in the evening. So I understand that today I'm only doing one program, and from tomorrow I will do two programs, morning and evening. So if all of you want, today we can do Bhagavatam in the morning, and then I think there's a break for Prasad, is there? So then after some time, then we can have Gita later on. Then all these devotees, nobody's taking water and nothing. Oh, oh, oh, they want to do it like a So we'll start Shrimad Bhagavatam— Om namah bhagvate vasudevaya! Om namaha bhragavadheva sudebayaya! Om namah bhagwate vaasudhevayaa! Om namaho bahgawadee vassu devaayahya! Om namoh bhagwaatheevaasu deevaiyyaaa! Om naam ho baagaande wa su deveeyaiah! Oom naamo baghava te vaasu devaayaahhh! Ohm namao maharajdevaasu deveyayaah! Now I see in this audience, I think there are many people who are coming here for the first or second time. Are there many newcomers in this program today? Does everyone know what the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is? The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the final scripture compiled by Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva is the incarnation of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And Vyāsadeva compiled the vast Vedic literature. Vyāsadeva, even after having compiled all the Vedic literature, he was still feeling very sad. So he went to his spiritual master, Nārada Muni, on the banks of the river Sarasvati, and he said, "Why in spite of my having compiled all this vast Vedic literature, why am I still unhappy?" So his spiritual master said, because he has not exclusively described the process of pure devotional service. And then Vyāsadeva compiled the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Bhāgavatam is the mature fruit of Vedic knowledge. There is very thorough knowledge about the science of God. Just like any, your USSR, you have so many scientific academies. Isn't it? So we are also an academy, but we are a spiritual scientific academy. So this Srimad Bhagavatam gives us information how to develop pure love of God. In the material world, everybody talks about true love or pure love. The boy and girl get together and they both say, "We love, I love you, you love me." But we know that it is not true love. If it was true love, Why would 80% of the marriages in Moscow end up in divorce? So the reality is that true love can only exist between us and God. And anybody who thinks by any other process there can be true love, he is simply cheating. Generally, people seem to think that if you love God, you cannot enjoy life, and therefore they do not want to try to love God. But this is actually false information. So by developing real love for God, one can really be happy. So this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam presents the science by which we can develop love of God. So I'm going to read the Sanskrit, and I think all of you will also read, and then I'll comment on this, and after that I will answer your questions. All over, all over the world, wherever I go, I tell them that the Soviet devotees are so enthusiastic That they ask so many questions after every lecture. Asking, "What process is the sign of intelligence?" Okay, come on, sing. Who is going to sing? Chant like the way I chanted. Om Ajnātimirandasya jñānānjanāśalakya-cakṣur-mṛṇitānyena tasmai Śrī-gūrāve namāḥ. Śrī-cetanya-māṇo viṣṭhams tapitām iñābhrūtale. Soyaṁ rūpakadāmayāṁ dadāti svāpadaṇḥ dikhaṁ. Bande ham Shri Guru Shri Yuta padakam lan Shri Guru vaishnavanastha. Shri Guru paam sagrajatam sahagana raguna tanvitam tam sajeevam. Sadveetam sabodhootham parijana saitam Krishna chetanya devam. Shri Radha Krishna padaan sahagana lalita Shri Vishakha netam sha. Jai Shri Krishna chetanya pravu nithyananda Shri Advaita Gadaadha Shivocharyi Gaur Bhaktavinda. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Nastā preśava-dreṣu nityam bhāgavat-sevayaḥ bhāgavatī-vṛtamāśloke bahapti-bhāvati-naiṣṭhake. This is a very important verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This verse is pointing out that if we regularly hear the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then the material desires in the heart can be arrested. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explaining the science of devotional service. All of you who are sitting over here at the moment obviously are attracted to devotional service. Otherwise, how would you be here? Nowhere else in the world in such a short time you could have gathered so many people. But the fact that so many people could gather in such a short time means that all of you are looking for service to God. There is no one who can deny the existence of God. Is there enough room for everybody to sit? So the last statement that I made was that nobody can deny the existence of God. Take for example, today is a very nice day. When I came the last time to your country, it was very cold few months ago, but today the weather is very nice. In the summer season, it is very difficult to even get room in the hotel because so many tourists come to your country. But who is responsible for creating this nice weather? Is it the Minister for Tourism or is it somebody else? Obviously, it is somebody else, and that somebody else has to have a name. Those who don't believe in God will say, "Oh, it is nature, nature." But nature also has to have a boss. Just like when you see the cars running back and forth on the streets of Moscow, you know that ultimately there is a police commissioner who is controlling the traffic. There is also a controller who is controlling the weather and who is controlling the whole show. That someone is known as God. And when we try to serve that God, it is known as devotional service. So devotional service is not to be found actually only in the Hindu scriptures. Frankly, the scriptures are neither Hindu or Muslim or Christian. To serve God is the business of every living entity. Just like everybody likes to serve a big personality, so who can be stronger and more prominent than God or Krishna? The biggest problem in society today, not only in your country but in every country on the planet, is that we are not teaching people the science of God. Even in a country like India which has strong religious roots, People are not giving this knowledge of God today. So, what we are trying to distribute is this knowledge of God by which people can become satisfied. As long as we are on the bodily platform, there will always be clashes. One community will say, "Our community is better than your community," and in order to show their superiority, they will kill a person of the other community, and the other community will take revenge and do the same for the other community. This is not civilization. This is animalistic civilization where we kill each other. But because we don't have knowledge of God, by understanding the science of God, we are actually advocating the path of peace. This path of peace today is being searched by everyone. The United Nations is searching for this path of peace, and all the world leaders are talking about this path of peace. But there is no peace. Because the focal point is being ignored, which is God. If you were to assemble all the scientists of the world and request them, "Please create this beautiful weather in a laboratory condition, the weather that is existing today," they would all fail. Now in the summer season, you see so many nice flowers are growing out in the open gardens. So if you were to request your scientist friends, "Please, can you grow these nice flowers in the laboratory condition?" They would say, "No, they can't." But we know somebody who can, and that is God. This whole material world is His laboratory. And everywhere He is growing flowers, everywhere He is growing grains, everywhere minerals are being released from the mountains, and all the other natural resources that we need are all being provided by one Supreme Master. And that Master is not Indian or American or Russian, but He is the father of everyone. So, we are teaching civilization to become happy by serving their Supreme Master. Sometimes people want to know, "What is the benefit in doing devotional service?" Sometimes people want to know, "Why do you talk about devotional service all the time?" Sometimes we meet people of other religious faiths like the Russian Orthodox Church or the Catholic Church and they say, Why are you taking to this religion of the East? Why aren't you in our religion? And they will criticize us. So, I will try to give you answers to these statements. We recommend to human beings to take to the path of devotional service because devotional service is totally satisfying. We are all searching for happiness. People take to vodka, cigarettes, disco to get happiness. They try unlimited sex life and now they also try— they are legally becoming gays and lesbians also to find happiness. But still, unfortunately, there is no happiness. We may experiment with a different type of government. We may even experiment with a different type of ideology. We may experiment with a different type of ism. But the bottom line is always going to be the same and that is there will be no satisfaction. So, this process of devotional service or serving God will make you satisfied. Just like when you put food in the stomach, the stomach is automatically full and all the parts of your body are completely nourished. When you water the root of the tree, all the branches automatically get nourished. So, similarly, when you approach the Supreme Lord, then you feel totally satisfied. The need of all your senses is answered by this one stroke, devotional service. The nose, the eyes, the tongue, the genitals, the ears, they are all fighting for satisfaction. Sometimes like in a house, you may have many children in the family. So all the children are fighting, "Daddy, give me this." The other child is saying, "No, Daddy, give me this." All the children are fighting with the father, "Give me this, this, this." So, similarly, all the senses are fighting for satisfaction, but they are not finding satisfaction. But if we take to the process of serving God by using our senses in service to God, then one will feel total satisfaction. So, in conclusion, we can say that devotional service is the science by which we learn to serve the Lord according to the instruction of the great sages. So, in the same way, by serving the Lord, We obtain total satisfaction. So devotional service can only be executed in the human form of life. In the other forms of life, we cannot have a spiritual discussion. The Vedic scriptures explain the human life is not obtained very easily. It is obtained after many, many millions of births and deaths. And the purpose of this human life is, just like you need guidance for every other field of activity, You also need guidance to serve God. How can we think that for everything else we need guidance, but for God we don't need guidance? To have such a concept is dangerous. Then the other point that I had raised was that some traditional religions like Christian Church or the Roman, Russian Orthodox may say, "Why are you taking to this process of Krishna consciousness?" If somebody is on the path of God consciousness, then he should be happy if somebody else is trying to serve God. But the reason they are complaining is because they know that we are doing the real thing and they are bluffing the people. Misery loves company. When you are miserable, you want everyone else to be miserable. A blind man thinks everybody is blind. So those who are on the— those who are not really following religious principles, they want everyone else to be also in the same category. The other day I was flying from Warsaw to Rome, and on the plane there were 3 Christian priests. Our plane was delayed for about 3 hours. So these priests and myself, we were in front of each other for many, many hours. I did not see these priests chanting the names of Jesus Christ or God even once in the whole 4 hours. They were dressed up as priests, and one of them was talking so intimately with women. So yeah, so the point, the reason we have given this example is to show Why these people are saying, "Don't take to Krishna consciousness"? It is not that they don't like Krishna. It is not that they think that this is a foreign religion. The real reason is that they know that you are following a pure path which they are not able to follow. So therefore they will criticize us. Because if they were really religious, they would be happy to see us make spiritual progress. So by regularly hearing the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, One can develop love of God. You may say, "I already love God. I don't need to love anymore." But the reality is we don't love God as yet. If we loved God, we would not stay without devotional service even for one second, like a fish doesn't stay for a second out of water. Because we don't love God completely, therefore we are not anxious to hear His message, we don't follow His instructions, and our acceptance of God is just for name's sake. Our acceptance of God just for namesake. Like in the American currency system, on every note they write, "In God we trust." So we are very happy that they write, "In God we trust." But actually they don't trust in God. Because if they trusted in God, they would follow God's instruction. When your son tells your father, "I trust you," then the father expects that the son will follow his instruction. So the Supreme Lord is saying that all that is troublesome in the heart will be destroyed by hearing the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So even if you do not understand, but if Just try to read the Bhagavatam, you will get the spiritual effect. Why are we not engaged in serving the Lord? Because the senses are saying, "Serve me, serve me, serve me." Even though you have been trying to serve the senses very loyally for so many thousands of years, still the senses are saying, "You have done nothing for me." The eyes are always saying, "What have you done for me? Now take me to a beautiful nude club or something." And the ears are saying, "You haven't satisfied me. Come on, I want to hear some nice music." So by this process, the senses are always demanding satisfaction. So the point is that the material relationship can never satisfy the individual. When you have a disease, you have to go to the doctor to take the medicine. So we have a major disease, and that disease is desire for sense enjoyment. That is desire for material pain, a desire for material pleasure. So we have to understand What will really satisfy the individual? Just like in the society you are educated to know what is right, what is wrong. So you must be educated to know what is right, what is wrong. You must know what is permitted by the laws of God and what is forbidden. So this information you can get from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Why don't we serve God? Because we have a lot of material desires. We know that by serving, by taking to devotional service, material desires are vanquished. So we must destroy material desires in order to develop love of God. You cannot light fire and pour water at the same time. You cannot light the fire of devotional service and pour water at the same time. So Bhagavatam is saying that if you hear this Bhagavatam message every day— you may say, "Oh, I am a householder living at home, how can I read it?" Doesn't matter if you have no one in the house who can lecture, just open the Bhāgavatam and read one verse a day, the translation, purport. Your life will be going towards success. So even if you are staying at home, like in Moscow, most of you devotees live at home. Many of you are married men staying at home with families. No problem. You can read the Bhāgavatam at home every day, and this sound is so purifying that if you just hear the sound, You will get purified. Just like right now he's lighting a matchstick, he's lighting an incense. If a child also touches this fire innocently, his hand will get burnt. But this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is so powerful that knowingly, unknowingly, anyone who hears it, reads it, will get the mercy of the Lord. So we must learn the science by which we can serve the Lord. We must understand the process of pure devotional service. So the Supreme Lord is praised with very nice songs. Just like in the material world, a boy and girl get together and they glorify each other, but the Supreme Lord is glorified similarly by very nice words of His devotees. When Prabhupada started this movement, he started the process of hearing the Bhagavatam every morning. And therefore Prabhupada started this system of Bhagavatam classes. Because here the remedy is giving is given for eliminating all inauspicious things. And the principles of religion to be practiced in this age have been left behind. So by regularly hearing this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you can develop love of God, and the proof of love of God is going to be your love for so-called material things and material objects will gradually go down. So this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is very important if we have to develop love of God. And find time every day to read it. Tomorrow I will lecture on ideal family life from the 7th canto of the Bhagavatam. So by understanding the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one can develop love of God, and the symptom of that love of God is his love for so-called material things goes down. Kṛṣṇa is all purifying. Just like the sun. The sun even evaporates the contaminated stool water and purifies it. So similarly, this process of devotional service is so powerful that anybody who gets linked up with it, he begins to benefit. Whatever your motive may be, you'll get the benefit. So, the devotee glorifies the Lord in very choicest language. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we see that all these great devotees are constantly glorifying the Supreme Lord. When you love somebody, you want to see him glorified. The mother who is carrying her young baby that she loves is very flattered when all the neighboring ladies come and say, "Oh, how beautiful your child is." So similarly, Krishna is very pleased when his devotees go and praise him. And by praising Krishna, the living entity becomes purified. This is the nature of transcendental energy. Transcendental energy means that which is beyond the material modes, which is only connected with the Supreme Lord. So Krishna consciousness is pure devotional service because it is only connected with the Supreme Lord. So this Srimad Bhagavatam is presenting the remedy for eliminating all inauspicious things. This one book has the medicine, the vitamin, the tonic to destroy all other illusions that we have. So by regularly hearing this Bhagavatam and by serving the personal Bhagavatam— personal Bhagavatam means the agent of the Supreme Lord— so by serving the spiritual master and the Bhagavatam, one becomes free from material entanglement. And he makes progress on the journey back to Godhead. And it is the business of those who have taken to the path of devotional service to broadcast His glories for everyone's welfare. We have to get attached to the Supreme Lord. That is our real goal. You may be grihastha, vana-prastha, sannyasi, or brahmachari. That is immaterial. What is material is the degree to which you are hooked up to Kṛṣṇa. So we have to use this life in such a way that we can get attached to Kṛṣṇa. And whatever price we have to pay for realizing this goal, Rūpa Gosvāmī says, please pay this price. So we are very lucky that we have the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which has been translated into English by Śrīla Prabhupāda. So we should take advantage of this instruction and read it every day. And if we read and hear and associate regularly So we have to mould our life in such a way that we can hear the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There is a saying in English, and I'm sure there's a counterpart in Russian, "If there's a will, there's a way." If there is a will, there is a way. Will means if you're determined to get something, you'll get it. So this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, now we all are very lucky, we have these English volumes also. Of course, most of you can't read English. But hopefully very soon the Russian editions will be ready. So all of you should read this and thereby become happy and peaceful. So I will stop at this point and take on questions and then continue the discussion. Because if I go on, then you will forget the questions you have so far.

Is there any competition in the spiritual world in serving Krishna?

Yes, there is. But that competition is different from the competition here. That competition is— material world competition is based on envy. But in the spiritual world, the competition is who can serve Kṛṣṇa more. So in the spiritual world, for example, when Lalita sees that Viśākhā is doing so much service, then Lalita says how she should do more than Viśākhā. And when Viśākhā sees that Lalita is doing so much more, then she says, "Oh, how I can do more than her?" So by spiritual competition, you enliven each other and encourage each other. And by mature competition you gain envy and hatred.

Why are people not practicing everything apart?

Purely.

But why are they not together? Why are people practicing together? Everything together? Why is it good for people to be together?

Why they are practicing or they are not practicing?

They are. Why is it good for people to be together?

People to be together, why is it good?

Yeah.

What is her objection for people to be together?

And why are men and women together?

Why do the man and woman get together? Is that your question? Yes. Anyway, we can discuss this question later. Sanyāsaṣṭhas. We were talking about envy in material world. So how one can avoid envy? Very good question. How can one avoid envy? It is just like asking, "How can I get rid of cancer?" Because envy is our big enemy. So the way to get rid of envy is by understanding nothing belongs to you, everything belongs to God. And by fulfilling the desires of the material senses, one will only be a loser. So as you get more absorbed in devotional service, automatically envy will go away. Is that okay? Did everybody understand the answer?

Can the soul, when it gets to the spiritual world, back to God, can it fall down again from platform? And what is the reason of that falling down? How does it happen?

You can fall down at any time from the spiritual world also, but generally the person does not fall because Everybody knows that the material world has so much misery to offer instead of comfort. Once bitten, twice shy is an English statement. So having come to the material world, we have seen nothing but misery. So now the individual knows if I go back to the material world, there's going to be nothing but—

Where the demons come from, the question, only in the material world.

The demons, there are two types of demons. One category of demons are those who appear to enable the Lord to do His pastimes. The other type of demons are those who are born in the material world. So in the material world, practically everybody is a demon. But when the Lord appears, demons appear in order to give the Lord to do His superhuman pastimes. But the demons who are killed by the Lord, They are actually devotees of the Lord. Have you heard of the demon Hiranyakashipu? So Hiranyakashipu also was a very great devotee of the Lord, but he took his birth and played the role of a demon in 3 different births. Hiranyakashipu was a doorkeeper in the Lord's palace, and he and his brother, the other doorkeeper, had committed an offense at the feet of the Kumaras. And then they were cursed for having offended these great— when they got the curse, they told the Lord, 'Please give us any punishment that you want, but put us in a position where we don't forget you.' So even the demons who appear along with the Lord are not ordinary demons. Is that question clear?

How should we— how should— How should we treat the devotee who is offending other devotees?

We should humbly tell this devotee that if he continues his offensive attitude, his devotional service will be ruined. And if he does not still listen, then he should take him to some more advanced devotee. And if he still doesn't listen, then what can you do?

Sir, serving people, is it some kind of a process of spiritual realization.

So if you want to serve the people, serve people the way Caitanya Mahāprabhu served people. Give them knowledge of God. Decrease their bodily identification. So service to God is incomplete if you don't give them knowledge by which they can get rid of the cycle of birth and death. Is that okay? People think the service to people means just give the poor man some food and somebody wants money to buy liquor, give him some money. Somebody may be driving a Mercedes and living in a big house. Is that clear?

There was a question about— there's a question about qualities of the pure devotee, Bhagavata.

Which quality? How do you recognize a pure devotee? Is that your question? First thing is he should be totally absorbed in serving Kṛṣṇa. He should have no desire for sense gratification. His desire is only to serve Kṛṣṇa and no sense gratification. And by his pure practice, he is inspiring principles of religion. You cannot be an advocate of religion unless you practice it yourself. So we have to practice what we preach. We cannot tell others, "You please become pure and we remain impure." The pure devotee is not somebody who can just do some magic or jump very high when he jumps. You look for a— you don't look for a pure devotee from material angle. You don't see, "Oh, how tall he is, how handsome he is." The spiritual master of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, he could not even read and write his name. But Bhaktisiddhānta Ji was the most learned Sanskrit scholar of that time. But he still accepted him as a spiritual master because he knew that he was totally absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. So that's clear? You don't look for material qualities in a pure devotee.

She's saying that the attachment is— in material world is bad thing. So if there is no attachment between devotees in the spiritual world, then there won't be any friendship.

So amongst devotees, there must be attachment, they must be working together. As devotees, we should not engage in fault-finding each other. If there is some discrepancy, we should point out the fault and then help improve it. We should try to help each other by pointing out each other's faults. And as devotees, when somebody else points out our faults, we should be grateful to him, we should touch his feet and say, "Thank you very much, you pointed out this fault of mine." Generally nobody likes any suggestions of faults being found, but in spiritual life we are different. What's the question in English? Friendship. In the middle of the devotees. How to make friendship? You make friendship by trying to give your association and taking their association. You try to serve the Vaiṣṇavas. By serving the Vaiṣṇavas, one is never poor. This is spiritual millionaire. Today you may have a million rubles, so we have to be eager to accumulate spiritual wealth. There is no shortage of material wealth on this planet, but there is a shortage of spiritual wealth on this planet. Prabhupāda used to say, united we stand, divided we fall. So if the devotees work together, then they can become a strong force to defeat Maya. And if the devotees are fighting with each other, Then how will they shoot at the enemy?

He is just about to be banged by a car. So what should we do first? Take his hand and save him, or say Hare Krishna?

Try to save him.

Or we try to do—

Try to save him and tell him that now Krishna saved your life, make sure you chant Hare Krishna. We have so many lives to save. The whole world is in turmoil. Everybody is rebelling against God. Just like you have sometimes strikes, labour strike, doctor strike, engineer strike. So virtually the whole society today is on strike against God.

Sarnanda Prabhu is asking, he's a sankirtana leader, so he's asking whether it's good to bring an altar to the Arbat Street and make puja there in front of all the people. Or it would be to— on the open air. Or it would be to—

I think people may not understand it. It is better we just go and chant Hare Krishna and make the books your altar and distribute the books to others.

Make a play? A play on the street?

Yes, you can do plays, skits, sure. You can do small dramas on the streets. You can do that boatman and the scholar play. Boatman and the scholar. You don't know that story of boatman and the scholar?

No. No.

No?

Okay.

How many people don't know the story of the boatman and the scholar? Nobody knows that. Nobody knows that. I am shocked. Okay, I'll tell you that story. If you want to hear some stories, I'll tell you a lot of stories today. There was once a very educated man who came to India and he was crossing the river in a boat. And the boat, the educated man saw that his boatman, you know, some of you have now been to India, so you know in Mayapur how they take the boat and with the hand they do. The boatman was rowing the boat, but he was just chanting, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna." So the educated man said, "Mr. Boatman, do you know something about science?" The boatman said, "I am a simple villager. I only know how to chant the names of Kṛṣṇa. I know nothing about science." "Do you know the English language?" "No, I am uneducated. I don't know English." 'So now 50% of your life is wasted. The first 25% was wasted because he did not know science. The second 25% was because he didn't know English.' Then he said, 'Do you know something about mathematics and computer sciences?' So the uneducated boatman said, 'No, I'm uneducated. I don't know.' So he said, '75% of your life is wasted.' So in the meantime, there was a big storm coming. And the boat was being rocked by the wind. So the educated scholar said, "Boatman, what's happening?" And the boatman said, "It appears that the boat is going to get drowned. Do you know how to swim?" He said, "No." So the boatman said, "Now 100% of your life is wasted." So Prabhupāda used to relate this story to tell us That the materialists may make so many achievements, so much technology, but unless they learn this basic science, everything is wasted. So we are not against scientific technology. Don't misunderstand us. If we did not use technology, how could I be in Moscow again today? Obviously I have used technology and flown on the aeroflow, on the aeroplane. I did not come to Moscow on the bullock cart. So we use technology to serve the Lord. We don't use technology to forget God. So today all the technology is being used to forget God. That is our only complaint against society. Prabhupada used to say, you may have 100 zeros, but they don't mean anything unless one is added. So that one is Krishna.

Jai Tathā.

So our appeal to all these scientists and leaders of society today is, do what you want to do. We bring in Kṛṣṇa as the focal point. Just like you see this very nicely printed Bhāgavatam, ha. Many of you may have seen this book. This paper was produced and the printing was done by high-tech, high technology. More questions?

Question.

How to get good understanding between the devotee and devotee? Very good question. By practicing to be humble and being tolerant. Why we don't have good understanding today? Due to false ego. I am thinking, "I know better than him. Who is he to tell me anything?" So this false ego thinking, "I, I, I, I, I am the smartest gun alive." This is the root cause of the problem. You become humble by practicing humility.

What is the real humility and how can we In the best manner serve Vaishnava.

Well, you were talking of human humility so far, not false humility. But you want to know how to practice humility. That is what I think you want to know. So sometimes, of course, here in Moscow we don't have one temple in which everybody is living, so you don't have this opportunity. This opportunity. But sometimes what happens, a devotee will say, "Yes, Prabhu, yes, Prabhu, yes, Prabhu." He'll bow down, he'll say yes, yes to everything, but he will do what he wants to do. This is what I call false humility. So we should really be humbled by thinking that I am fool number one and offer your respects to everyone. If you're looking at the good qualities in everyone, then you will have no difficulties. But if you're looking for the bad qualities in everyone, then you'll find so many. Our problem is what? Due to false ego. We want to look at the bad qualities in everyone and the good qualities in ourselves. For others, you want to first see their bad qualities, and for yourself, you want to see first the good qualities. Okay, I think I understand your question. I'll reply. The dharma of the living entity is to serve God. Just like if I asked you, "What is the characteristic of water?" You would say, "Liquidity." If I asked you, "What is the characteristic of sugar?" You would say, "Sweetness." So similarly, if I asked you, "What is the characteristic of love of God?" You would say that love God and hate sense enjoyment. Because God is the purest person, we have to become pure in order to serve him. And you can only become pure by giving up your impurities. When you have a disease, you just say, "Call the doctor." You don't say, "Call a Russian Orthodox Church doctor." You don't say, "I want a Jewish doctor." You are ready to accept any doctor who can— you're ready to accept any doctor who can cure your disease. So similarly, we should accept that process of religion by which we can develop love of God. And loving God means giving up sense enjoyment. So actually, you're a better member of the Russian Orthodox Church if you're practicing purity.

What is the standard for most Majority do it.

Well, the standard for ekādāsī is that you don't take grains at all. Nairjala-kādāsī means when you don't take any water also. Prabhupāda, of course, did not talk much about nairjala-kādāsī with us. And if by chance you, if by chance you miss an ekādāsī or you eat grains on ekādāsī, then immediately the next day you must observe the same principles. For Ekātasi, the best thing is to minimize your eating and sleeping so you can concentrate more on spiritual activities. More questions? Now I just want to ask the devotees—

To follow the— What about if you follow Ekātasi to free yourself from the material existence?

It's okay, you can do it, there's no harm. The whole purpose of Ekātasi is to increase your chanting and reading of that I'm just a little worried if all of you are not tired of just sitting down in this pose for 2-3 hours at a stretch. I mean, I of course have a good seat to sit on, but I'm concerned if all of you are comfortable, or do you want to stretch your legs and take a 20-minute break and then we meet again? We can take a 20-minute break, then again we can start kirtan, and then we can take a Bhagavad Gita verse.