Evening program@HG Nitya Krishna Prabhu’s home | Detroit,USA. HH Gopal Krishna Goswami | 25th Aug 23

Because I am a poor devotee. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Devotees are very apologetic. And They said that, "Very sorry that not many people showed up." Prabhupada said, "No! We were doing kīrtan, and Kṛṣṇa, Mādhurāṇī, and all the living gods were there." So, a perfect way to celebrate birthday is to Huh? Hare Krishna. I have a soft voice and a bad throat at the moment. I really tell you, I'm very happy to be here and It's better. This is better. Can you mute it? Can you mute it? No, no, from here. Trying to decide which of the two is louder, more clear. They say that this is the best of the market. Hi, hi, Krishna. Hi, Krishna. Hi, Krishna. Just do a short prayer, then I have a long— trouble speaking. I always find my Gita with an album of your recordings, Prabhupāda Maharajji. It wanted to be at my bedside. All the glory to His Holiness. All the glory to His Holiness. All the glory to His Holiness. All the glory to Śrīla Vaiṣṇava Mahāprabhu. Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rama Hare Rama. Rama Rama Hare Hare. I have a sore throat at the moment, but I'll try to speak as loud as I can. If you can't hear me or not very clearly, you can raise your hand. So I want to welcome all of you. I understand that similar, or advance devotee, guru devotee, and guest, and bring them to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is no— a transpiritual movement started by Śrī Bhaktivedānta Nāthāmārāpaṇa. For the purpose of the desire to save something. As you know, Prabhupāda was ordered in 1922 by his spiritual master to take these teachings of the Lord, Lord Caitanya, to the West. Prabhupāda spoke only English, and And one of his friends said, "There are many professional sadhus in Calcutta. He's coming to you." And Prabhupada said, "I have seen so many sadhus, I am not inspired." Because Prabhupada's father was a middle-class cloth dealer in Calcutta, and he was regularly old sadhu visitors. And he did not discriminate who is gentleman, who is not gentleman. So, Baba was very impressed by this, by young gentleman people who proposed to marry gentleman. So, Baba was hesitant when he took him by force, and in the very first meeting, Pākhi Siddhānta Ji. Pākhi Siddhānta Ji, this precious Mārcha Prabhupāda, was a very great preacher, and he was a lifelong brahmachari, and the son of Hargobind Mahāprabhu. Hargobind Mahāprabhu was a pioneer in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He established True teaching of Tathagata Mahavairoo, which had got distorted after the last, the period. So he established pure teaching of Vajrasattva, and he wrote a book with the life of Vajrasattva that he sent to you to receive. Ramana Maharshi. He composed nearly 100 songs and described what you tell in your— the Supreme Personality of Godhead and another spiritual talk. He wrote nearly 100 books and he wrote songs also in Bengali, Oriya, and English. And another spiritual master, The books of Krishna Prasada were published by Baba Hariji. Baba Hariji was materially illiterate. He would chant the holy name of the Lord from morning to night, and he would give away even our— he would chant till as far as it takes. In order to be seen during this session through these video people, he would lock himself in the bathroom, in the toilet, so that no one would disturb him, where he could channel the reading. So he later became the spiritual master Can you hear me? Yes, Mr. Prasad. Understand about? Yes, Mr. Prasad. In the back? Yes, Mr. Prasad. So, Prasad Raaval, Prasad Rajput, we don't ignore any West Bengal. It was called the 'Deshna Guru'. It was like a priest-like life. So Baba took this instruction from his spiritual master to heart and endeavored to preach Krishna Consciousness the best. Baba took nearly 40 years to prepare the Guru. So finally in 1966, He sailed America, Orange Island and stuff. And it was a cargo ship, as you know. It was a cargo ship. So we stayed only 2 rooms. One was occupied by Prasad and the other by Captain Odesh. So Prasad gave us— In scriptures it is said, in the age of Kali, people have short life. Is it short? Our scientists keep telling us a lifespan is increasing. In Satya Yuga, the lifespan was 100,000 years. And the evidence that, that what is meditated— up to 80,000 years. Then came the next stage, Treta Yuga, in which the lifespan was reduced 10 times to 1,000 years which people used to live. Then came the Kali Yuga, whose lifespan was further reduced to 1,000 years. Manitoba, Manitoba, nobody wants to have it. Even in Canada, I need an NSA maximum. I have 100 maximum. And Canada, we're completely depleted with actual sites. And call herself. Is that right? People call themselves in this age. The Bhagavad Gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, contains the body of the Lord. It's like Bhagavad Gītā. And in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam you read, that once upon a time in— is a spiritual place in Lucknow where from time immemorial, ages have been meeting and discussing spiritual topics. So there was a discussion with Sudhakar Swami and And they were discussing, people in Calcutta would be saying, the nature of, uh, is it clear? Yes, we were discussing this morning. The nature of Johnson, Johnson said, that he's not thinking only about his future, he's thinking about the others also. He knows beyond doubt that nobody can be happy through material efforts. Real happiness can be derived only when one takes to spirituality. So, they predicted that Hridaya Kaur will be short-lived and Priti Devi I see people working, maybe working hard, but they are spiritually lazy. Spiritually lazy means having no interest in spiritual activities. So people are spiritually lazy and quarrelsome. Anyone knows how many court cases are there? Medical services. I had once read that to clear the backlog of cases in India, it would take another 30 years. So my wife, you know, had any cases because in India, you got— you got calls from cheaters and cheated. People are ready to cheat, people are ready to get cheated. So the ancient Egyptians, they say you go to an astrologer to tell you what's going to happen tomorrow, and the Egyptians were spiritual astrologers. They could foresee that 5,000 years later, he is even reassured and through relationship with Babasaheb, his predictions might have been realized and will get realized. Prasad RAVAL is the— sorry for this— is the incarnation of the Lord. Lauri Karna is the holy name. Lauri Karna is the name Sri Ramakrishna. And Sri Ramakrishna. So, these books are about that. There was an emperor. His name was Pariksit Maharaj. He was the emperor of the whole world. He was also a Rajarishi. Rajarishi means one who has— who was a Raja, Rajkriishi. So unfortunately, he got cursed. He was in the forest, and then he felt thirsty. He looked all around. He couldn't find— see anyone. Then he saw in a hut, there was some light. He went over there hoping to get water. Inside was a sage who was absorbed in deep meditation, and he didn't even bother to look at the king. Ramana Maharshi said that even if an enemy comes to your house, you receive him warmly. Best thing, you offer prasada. If you're not in the position to offer prasada, offer water. If you're not ready to, if you can't afford water, then give them a mat to sit on and sweet water will do. These 7 things. Here was a king. Went to the hermitage of a city person and was not welcomed at all. This angered the king who— who fought a snake as he was leaving in anger. And this is the yogi, He didn't— his son was being there and he was speaking. Parashuramanandji saw his death snake. He took it and placed it on the neck of the snake. He was in meditation. And the younger son realized that. He called the king. The king wanted he cursed him, and at the end of 7 days he was bitten by a snake and died. Prasad Raaval was not in a position where he could, and if he wanted, he could have come directly to the guru. After all, he was a guru of his mother. And as a Sama Vriddhi, the master, the Lord expanded himself to save Prasad. So, Prasad purely wanted— he didn't ask the Lord for anything. The Lord used Prasad as his curve. And what did he do then? He invited me, all the great sages. It appears that at that time they had some way of communicating a little faster than today's, today's techniques. So, the question asked by Praśad RAVAL was, "The early sages used to tell me what is the duty." What is your opinion? And she was very pleased by his question. And he said the answer is that the milk with the holes was right. And he started to decide that she was Baba Ganesh. And for one week he recited day and night the Prasadam Mantra. Oh yes. And as he was hearing, he also did not eat or drink anything. Viryal ashta. He didn't eat or drink. 7 days. But normally one gets weak. But he was getting so much nectar from hearing Mr. Babasaheb, he had no hunger, no hunger and no thirst. And we were getting events. But Shiva Babasaheb, the ancient scripture, he didn't even have a word for it. 12 cantos, is the spotless Purāṇa and the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge. Where ripened fruit, the most important, is the essence of religion. This Yudhāvātavīsphūlaṁ story has described to us what we should do and what we should not do. When you buy an expensive car or expensive product, you get with that a manual. Is that right? Is that right? Manual tells you dos and don'ts. So similarly, we get in human life, we need to know the dos and don'ts, what we can do, what we cannot do. So scripture, shastra, Shāstra means the words of God. Our words can be faulty, for we are foreign and defective, each one of us. We have a tendency to cheat. Is that right? We don't know the answers. We behave as we do. Doctors often won't understand the disease. The disease, when anger is there, they do. So, we have a tendency to cheat. Our senses are imperfect. We can't even see our own eyelashes unless we stand in front of a mirror. The eyelash, I mean, Very, very short distance. So, we have our senses working. We can see each other only because we have light. When there is light, you can see. When it is all dark, then you have shāma. Vision is not of eyes, not be able to see. So, any knowledge that comes from any material source has a defect. But spiritual knowledge is known everywhere. That's like we read the Bhāgavad-gītā. In the 4th chapter, Kṛṣṇa says, "I am part of this science." Prasād-bhārdhi-bhāsman. 'Who is senior to you by birth, many, many times, but you have got him, therefore I am experiencing this beautifully.' So then Krishna's body, there is no flaw in it. Arjuna said, 'My Lord, how do you want me to believe?' And he imparted his knowledge. And God, God, He said to you, my boss, suppose I say I had a discussion with the great grandfather, would you say, "How is that possible?" He said that to you. But you can't, you are not allowed. Which I said many, many times, both you and I, I hope you. But I can remember all of them, you can't. So, the Bhagavad Gītā was spoken first to the son of God. And gradually he gave it, Kṛṣṇa gave it to Arjuna. Why did he give his knowledge to Arjuna? But he had one qualification. What is that? What was Arjuna's qualification? Because you are Vai and devotee, therefore you will understand the secrets of this great science. So, the secret, secret thing you will understand if you hear it in a qualified school. The spiritual teacher must be qualified, specially And you get a pure presence. It's like Papaji says, so many people have translated the Bhagavad Gītā, but you don't see very high results. But if you pray the Bhagavad Gītā as it is, it's changed the life of millions of people all over the world. Not just in India. The spiritual knowledge should be received from an authentic source. So Prasad Raaval took this pure message. When he first arrived in New York, people were— there were many sadhus, so-called sadhus, performing from India in New York. And They saw Prabhupāda keeping the tradition, wearing his vasi, wearing another kurta, not the modern dress. They saw that. They advised Prasad RAVALA: "Nobody will listen to you in America like that. You should begin to wear suits." Suits I'd be wearing. And Prabhupāda was establishing ISKCON. He asked his supporter, "What should be the name of the society?" And Prabhupāda said, "The International Society of Krishna Consciousness." Gouranga said, "We should call it International Society for God Consciousness." Prasad RAVAL said, "No, you have to be specific." And he put the name Krishna Consciousness. So Krishna Consciousness is another alternative. And, uh, Yogananda said, "I understand." Huh? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's prediction, the chanting of the Holy Name, would be in every corner of the world, comes true. Through the desire of a transformation, the others take advantage of his philosophy. This assembly grew devotees of different Bhakti Vrksa. It's only Bhakti Vrksa through the Bhakti Vrksa program, devotees are exposed to Prasad RAVAL's books. These books were spoken by the Lord. These books have no flaws. These books are eternal knowledge, eternal duty for the living entity. So these books are ordinary mundane books. You get material degree when you study so many books. So similarly, in my spiritual life, There are a lot of books also. The Vedas are so vast that if you were to read, if you were to attempt to read, to the end of this life, the way I have, I regret only a few, a few, not all. But the teachings are summarized in the Bhagavad Gita, all along. And it is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Lord has disappeared, but He is behind His teaching in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So these two books are most important. That is why in the ISKCON temple we read the Bhāgavatam path in the morning, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the evening. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is It's a very practical process. It can be followed by anyone. All we need is determination. In ordinary life also we need determination, isn't it? If you want admission in a good college, you have to secure good marks. And to get admission, I think, candidates have hardest— Study with determination. Similarly for spiritual life, also we need determination. Without determination, nothing is possible. Papa gave a very simple example that, he said there was one ocean in which the ocean was fast and the eggs were her order. And the eggs were with the ocean. The bird said, "Please return my eggs." And the ocean laughed and walked. The tiny bird whose mouth hardly a teaspoon of water could hold. She said, "If you don't return my ocean to my children, then I will dry you up." And the ocean just laughed. "Any bird could dry up the ocean." This news reached through the The poor carrier was alone. The grouper came and took the ocean. Return this poor egg. That was the alter ego. The ocean gave the return of the egg. This is a very simple example. The papa came to the papa to show that How we should be determined. Many are just exposing, exploring. Kṛṣṇa consciousness has its credential, the strictly based on the Veda and the teaching of Veda and the Bhāgavata. So, in this aim, scriptures say, And they say, chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name. This principle of chanting the Holy Name is there in all the scriptures. In the Bible, for example, it says, thou shalt not We all love to talk. There are so many TV channels, but unfortunately, the talk is not helpful. It is prajāpa. It has nothing to do with the Lord. But if you want real satisfaction, then what should we do? We should chant the name of the Lord. This chanting is very powerful. Prasad RAVAL, when he went to America, he presented Kṛṣṇa consciousness by introducing the chanting process. And the chanting process is so powerful that it catches our heart. It's to revive the And so many other stories. If you read the Holy Name Manuṣrāṣad, how Maya, they will try to cheat a powerful devotee, Haridasākha. Haridasākha was totally absorbed in chanting the Holy Name. He did not get distracted. So what is the biggest obstacle? Maya. My mind is the biggest obstacle for pursuing spiritual life. And Maya Prasada says, "Who? The senses." The senses want to see something beautiful. The tongue wants to taste something. The genitals want to satisfy. The eye sees very beautiful. The nose watches, watches nice fragrance. So, the senses need engagement. Either engage it positively or— or what? Negatively. Positively You engage them in activities that are conducive for spiritual realization. Just like the tongue. Tongue needs to talk, isn't it? You get a girl, won't work for 1 day, 2 days, not all your life. But if the tongue is vibrating the glories of the Lord, and the philosophy of the Lord, then the tongue is facilitated to be engaged in the right manner. We like food. Go to any restaurant, you see, we will have. And we like food. But then, what should we eat? Kṛṣṇa says, "Those who eat without offering to Me are simply a great sin." So, Kṛṣṇa says, "Offer it to Me, prasād prasād doyam." You offer Kṛṣṇa, you will be so sincere, He is satisfied. So, service duty should be chant and eat, 'japa sha' . But if the tongue eats without discrimination and eats food without offering them, there is simple repercussion, simple reaction. So, the scriptures say, 'Use your senses in service of the Lord.' One of the names of the Lord is Rishikei, Basically it means one who is the controller over the other senses. So in the beginning when you come to Krishna Consciousness, it may appear difficult. In the beginning when you hear, "Krishna had 16 rounds," most people are shocked and they could be Oh, not for me, I can't do it. But if you, with determination, stay on the right path, it's like you're driving the highway. If you want to reach your destination, if you stay on the right highway, you'll reach your destination. If you go off of the axis, that it will work. So similarly, if we practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness with determination, then you also feel spiritually. So, you've heard this philosophy now. Now we need to practice it with determination. Suppose I receive it in one scripture, The oblation is that the Holy Name of the Lord is sweet like sugar candy. Everybody likes sweet things. Yes, Guruji. Sweet like sugar candy. He says that my tongue is afflicted with the disease of avidya. What is avidya being? Knowledge. So I don't paint as we do in other communities. It's like, most of us, we are not attracted to the homily or the philosophy of spoken. We are not interested. However, even now you don't have a taste, so you are influenced by others. If you chant The Holy Name attentively then this disease will get cured. It's like material disease that's cured with medicine. And what is this medicine? What is this medicine? Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Talk about You Knows on whom we talked earlier. One of his prayers called 'Jeev Jagat Seerat'— 'I have brought this medicine for you from the spiritual world. Now take it, be happy.' So this Holy Name is coming from where? Spiritual world, not from the mundane soul. Therefore, you can chant day and night and not get tired. Sometimes people say, Don't you get tired chanting the same hymn again and again? Any of you get tired? You ever feel, I've chanted so many times now I need some new words. So, this mother is coming down to Elizabeth's possession, etc. Sometimes there's a warrior. Chanting the Holy Name is a solution to our— and ourselves. "One should say this, then we will do ājna." Then Krishna says, "If you surrender to me, then you can overcome." So we are all surrendered to someone or the other. The scriptures say, "Surrender to the Lord." But we say, "No, I'll surrender to my senses. Whatever they order, I'll do." and we will go to sleep. What is this? But if you realize that Kṛṣṇa is the real master, then, and you follow His instructions, then that will make you achieve the goal of life and make you really happy. People do not know, we have written before, there was a boy in town who, a great sage called PRASAD RAVAL. PRASAD was just behind, in the beginning, when he joined the Transcendental Movement, his mother Bhoomi called this kid Prasad. So everything that we present to you is backed up by the scriptures. And in our Krishna Consciousness movement, we just truthfully, truthfully, truthfully, truthfully, love you. And if you take the medicine as it is, then the medicine works. When you are sick, if you take a medicine as prescribed by the doctor, it will have— if you dilute it, then the potency will be there. Similarly, we should accept the instructions as they are. So, chanting the Holy Name is potent in all respects. In the story of Ajamil, we see how his Chandhuri leader, the Raja, came to his rescue. So, I point with this hand, Chandhuri name, and we have these books, the saints have spoken to the Lord, and they have manifested. Therefore, our Lord is the Bhagavad Gītā. We taught in school from the age of 5. Śrīla Prasāda RA says that age of 5, when a child attains the age of 5, they should start getting spiritual knowledge. I mean, the Western Christians, you see, in their Sunday school, From a young age, I was exposed to the Bible. And then my mother was a Muslim. And I've been told by many Muslim families, they start teaching the Quran at the age of 4 to their children. So if children are trained in the right philosophy from a young age, they grow up with knowledge and less prone to be affected by maya. So, please take the principle Hinduism seriously. After many, many births and deaths, be a fortunate soul who receives this filadavi, and Each we acknowledged that devotional service is the answer to all problems. And the seed has to be watered with me standing and hearing. And he was surrounded by devotees. Devotee association, devotee sangha, very important. To make our job easier. Lord Kabir had told his mother, dissociating, executing devotion service while— it becomes easier. Bad expression is not in there. I don't want to be religious, but rendering devotion service In this worship of the movement, it's very enlightening and easy. So, when you worship Lord Chidambaram, easy things become difficult. When you don't worship the Lord, and difficult things become easy. Like Maggie's housewife mountain. A layman can walk, parangaji, in a devotional circle, by the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So this chanting is— padāvādāvādāvātānta. You can read the Gītā again and again, and you just understand it better. It's not that you get tired. So, Each practice brings determination. Abhāsaṇḍa, unless you have very good— or you have a lot of pious karma, you won't come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, everyone practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness has done some pious works, same as the past. Now Kṛṣṇa gives us the opportunity. Giving us the opportunity to work with Him. So peace is the key to great happiness, and peace and glory is of Kṛṣṇa Mahāprabhu. In this way we will always be with the Lord. Make a slight effort, and Kṛṣṇa will make 10 times the effort. Someone said, if you can, if you— If you take one step, then we'll take ten steps. He wants all of us to go back to the spiritual world. So we can see how much our life is full of misery, and how the misery that is created. The world is so tense today. There's so much misery. And all this is, why? Of the sinful actions that we have to bear. We have the material plans for dogmas and philosophy. We need to make a spiritual plan, how to go free from the cycle of birth and death, which is very painful. And by the grace of God's process, he was again Krishna's friend and experienced again happiness. Very joyfully. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. I wanted to give them time for questions. We were able to hear them back? Yes, sir. I don't know, actually I got the impression the voice was very clear. Okay, any questions? Hare Krishna, Prabhupada. Question is, so how do we keep our love for Krishna strong when we are around people who don't love Krishna? Yes, but you give yourself around people who love Krishna. That will be in the temple all We have to learn the art of singing, thinking of Kṛṣṇa, meditating on Him in desireless service, even when you go to school or college or office. Prabhupāda has given examples in the Bhāgavad-gītā, which is very strong logic and has instruction to smile. No comment. No comment on the medal hall in Ramakiri, which is now in Bangladesh. People consider I'm very learned. I don't even know what the hell I care about. So, I'll repeat the example again. These old man and woman who are at the lavabo. She served at home very carefully. In her mind she was thinking, "I'm going to eat my love." Or similarly, Papa was using a little bit of a metaphor in the Bhagavad Gita, he said, "No, you may be studying, you may be surrounded by material goods, but in your mind you keep thinking of me." Krishna, please save me. Please. Um, how do we, uh, uh, how do we, um, like get to the level of Gurudev Maharaj when he was so tolerant in such a difficult situation? Tolerance, there are books to read, to develop. There was also an answer: if you want to be in a position, you generally need more time, and you must perhaps We lack, we tolerate. Everything was— there is happiness and distress, victory and defeat, loss and gain. But we tolerate, we lost to it. Sometimes you go to preach and you approach a preacher people. You don't buy the book. You become intolerant. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. You become intolerant. Somebody may insult you. What do you do about that? Sorry. And if you get example about his way of tolerance. Hey, I have one simple question. While chanting, I do not get tired, but I do get sleep. How do you get sleep? Yeah, while chanting I get sleep. Because You don't have a taste for the Holy Name. You never fall asleep while eating prasāda. You fall asleep if prasāda is placed in front of you. So you have a taste for the other. You are a paśyant. All good qualities develop by chanting, and all bad qualities you get by not chanting. If you don't chant, you have a troublesome mind, and you won't experience real bliss. Devotee say, I want to develop, develop for 16 rounds a day. Papa said when he did, when Chan 16 rounds, all the regular principle, then he'll go back to Godhead. You want to go back to Godhead, then this, and then we don't need— it is the wonder. I can take one more question. If there is a good spiritual practitioner and he still falls in the trap of Maya, what should that person do? Stop falling in Maya. And how do you do that? They say talk is cheap. So how do you do that? By chanting, reading, associating. Similarly, you can say, well, by donating, making these auspicious activities, you do have better understanding of spiritual life. You do have faith in the scriptures, and in the scriptures the instruction is very clear. And in the practice, moving. So again, on behalf of all of you, I would like to Thank you, Srinivas Gopal Krishna Swami arrived after a long drive. He is still sparing time with us.