Govardhan Yatra (Evening Session) || Day -3 || HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj || 2024

Just now come? Yes? Hare Krishna. Namaste.

Saraswati Devi. Gauravani Prasad Rumi.

Nirvesh Seysa.

Sunyava Ji.

Harmonium coming.

Hari Ramma! Hari Ramma! Rama rama hari hari— Hare Krishna hare Krishna— Krishna Krishna harri harri— Holy holy— Hari Ramma! Hari Ramma! Rama rama hari hari—

Hare Krishna!

Hare Krishna! Krishna Krishna Hari Harim! Hari Rama Hari Ramam! Rama Rama Hari Karihaim!

Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!

Krishna Krishna Hari Hai Dei— Hari Ram, Hari Ram, Rama Rama Hari Hari, Hari Krishna Hari Krishna Hari, Hari Rama Hari Rama.

Hare Krishna!

Hare Krishna! Vishnu Akrishna Hari Harim! Adhirama adhira ma yama yama hari harim! Hare Krishna! Hare Krishnana kista-kista hare harem! Aree Ram Moharee Rama! Dhamma Raam Moharee Haadee! Aree Kesnaa Hare Krishna Ishta Kishnahaaree! Aree Ram Moharee Rama! Namah Shivaya! Aree Keshaanaa Hare Vishwenaa! Ishtha Kishnaa Hare Rama! Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Haribol, Haribol, Haribol, Tagore Haribol.

Thank you, Maharaj, for such an enlivening kirtan. No doubt, since after having some churros prasadam, we may get into different world, different avenue, but yes, to enliven us, to give us energy and spiritual inspiration, we have His Holiness Bhakti Anugraha Janardhan Swami Maharaj. Again, Maharaj is resident of Sri Vrindavan Dham. Maharaj's heart is Vrindavan Vrindavan Dham, and Maharaj has personally served His Holiness Gopalakrishna Goswami Maharaj for many, many, many, many years. So Maharaj's heart is a reservoir of pastimes and instructions of His Holiness Gopalakrishna Maharaj. And Maharaj is primarily from Philippines, and Maharaj is preaching in Philippines, New Delhi, and Vrindavan Dham, and many other places all across the globe. Maharaj travels and is blessing the devotees, and today we are being blessed by him. Him in this holy place of Sri Kiri Govardhan Ki Jai. And also we see we have His Grace Akrur Prabhuji. Prabhuji is also very, very senior disciple of our Guru Maharajji, taking so many responsibilities at GBC level. So a great preacher, a great manager, and very loving, affectionate, spiritually advanced devotee we have in the form of His Grace Akrur Prabhuji. So we welcome him as well along with His Holiness Bhakti Anugraha Janardhan Maharaj by chanting Hare Krishna.

Hare Rama. Anyone Who speak English? Everyone can understand English? Raise your hand.

Okay, English. Hindi bhasha wale khone, Hindi batane hai, toh wajah pichhe, unke liye hum Hindi mein translation aalak se karteinge.

If you know English, you don't have to go there. Only if you know Hindi only, only, then you can go there.

City.

Okay, you— who will translate?

You will translate?

Okay, thank you.

Sukriya. Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. Guru Maharaj ke, Balogiri Raj Maharaj ke, Shila Prabhupada ke, When I was— or when we were doing the kirtan, it was not intentional to sing that melody. Somehow or other, it just came spontaneously, and it reminded me of the melodies, kirtan that we heard and we've seen in Russia. I don't usually sing that kind of kirtan, but somehow while doing the kirtan, it reminded me of Russia. So we were asked to to speak on this evening about our experience of traveling with Guru Maharaj. Because I joined in Toronto in 1984, the first time I met Guru Maharaj in Toronto, Canada. I just want to give you a little background how I ended up here in India and be serving Guru Maharaj as his secretary, serving him for almost 27 years. I came to India full-time to— my intention was not to be a servant of Guru Mahārāja but to join the 24-hour kīrtan department of Ayendra Prabhu. Because Ayendra Prabhu, we met him in 1987 and he gave me an open invitation to join his kirtan party whenever I will leave Canada. A little bit down? Why? Can you hear me? Okay, I'll put it up again. Like this?

Yeah?

Prasad Raaval.

So when I first met Guru Maharaj, I don't have any clue or any idea who is Guru Maharaj. Just a young boy, 24 years old when I met Guru Maharaj. No, 22. 22 years old. And at that time, Guru Mahaj was the GBC of the whole of Canada, and he was until his departure. So when he came to Toronto, that was after Ratha Yatra of summer of 1984, I met him. And a little bit later on, he gave sannyāsa initiation to His Holiness Bhaktimārja Swāmī. So I joined in that temple. I remained there for 13 years. Until when Bhakti Marga Swami, he went for his Canada walk. He went all across Canada on foot walking, and I think he did it 3 times already. It's like a record. So I became the temple president That was around 1996. Yeah, that commemorates also the 100-year appearance of Śrīla Prabhupāda. 1896, 1996, 100 years. So I became temple president for like almost a couple of years, and somehow I changed my mind when Bhakti Mahārāja Swāmī returned. I said, "I want to go to India. I had enough of management." So my intention was to go to Kṛṣṇa-Bāla-rāma-mandīra and join Ayendra Prabhu. But then Guru Mahārāja saw me and he asked, "What are you doing here?" I told him that I'm going to India, of course, but never expected that early to be in Kṛṣṇa-Bāla-rāma-mandir. So I told him, "I came here to join Aiyendra Prabhu." And then he asked me, "Oh, is that all you're going to do?" Is that all you're gonna do? That means being in the 24-hour kirtan department? And he says, you come with me. So I said, where, Guru Mahaj? You come to me to Delhi. And at that time, Delhi Temple was not fully established. It was not inaugurated yet. And somehow I became his servant and secretary. And I met Lokanath Swami. Lokanath Swami asked me the same thing, "What are you doing here?" So I told Maharaj, "Maharaj, I'm here to be the secretary of Maharaj." Really? Do you know how to type? I say, yes, yes, I know how to type because I studied in the Philippines in a prestigious school. So somehow or other, our first travel, we went to As far as I can still remember, Central Asia, Central Asia like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Almaty. And also we went to, after that wintertime, we went to the far east of Russia, Vladivostok. This is near Japan, the easterlymost part of Russia. And it was wintertime, and I remember traveling with him that I didn't have anything with me, not even a sweater. So somehow he's having an extra sweater and he gave me the sweater to wear because I don't have anything. It's cold. Vladivostok is very cold. In those days, we just travel alone alone. No one travels with us. Not like in the last few years, there were about 6-7 devotees traveling with him in North America. So from Vladivostok, we went to Novosibirsk. You know where is Novosibirsk? Prasad Raaval. This is near Serbia. Serbia is one of the coldest places in the world. Really cold. Very, very cold. Very austere. -20, -30 degrees. And I remember we went to one airport. Whereby practically is in the middle of nowhere. It is the smallest airport I've ever been with Guru Maharaj. So from there also we went to Moscow. See, our travels usually every summer will take us 2, about 2 and a half months including parts of Russia, US, and Canada. And we will cover around 25 cities at least. And being with Guru Maharaj, we have heavy luggage. He has 2 luggage full, 23 kilos each, and I will have my own. And usually when we arrive to the place where we're supposed to be, everyone was just like, "With Guru Maharaj." And I will end up carrying all of this luggage myself. There was one time we were traveling by train. So in Russia, we go by train, by cars especially, and by plane when we go to, let's say, uh, Saint Petersburg. So we were traveling in the train And somehow we came to the place in one of the cities in Golden Ring area. And everyone was with Guru Maharaj. So I was left alone again with the luggage. So I thought I brought all of the luggage with me. And we reached the place where we're meant to stay, and I said to Gurumaj, "Oh no, I forgot one of your luggage in the train." Somehow or other, that was the last stop of the train. So we returned to the train station, and luckily enough, that luggage was still there. It was like such an experience. See, when we travel, sometimes we traveled early in the morning. So there is no time for Mangal Arati. But we will never miss Mangal Arati or Guru Puja. Even on the plane, he will ask me to chant the Guru Vastakam, the Tulsi Puja, and the Guru Puja, all one line, all together. I'll be just besides him, of course. We used to travel economy class. He will never travel business class. Only in the later years. And one early morning, we traveled from— I believe it's from San Jose, San Jose to Boise. This is in the US. He will ask for his computer so that he will check the mail. But it was early in the morning and I was so tired. Traveling with Guru Maharaj means lots of prasadam. No problem with prasadam. Eat as much as you can. But the only thing that is very, very very short or very, very little time is taking rest. Traveling with Gourmets, we will not take rest, not until— no earlier than 11 o'clock every day, and we will get up the same time every day as well. And traveling with Guru Mahārāja, he would prefer to stay at the temple, temple property. I remember in the early days, very rare that we will go and stay at one of his grihastha devotees' ashram, or if there is no disciple, we will stay in one of the disciples of one of his godbrothers. He does not discriminate.

Hmm.

Whatever is practical, he will do. So one time, early in the morning, we were traveling and he says, "Janardan, give me my computer. I want to see my computer." So I was like half asleep. Practically half asleep. So because I put the luggage around 2 rows ahead, so I took the computer from the computer bag, I put it down in one of the seats because we were early, one of the early passengers. Then I sat down. I sit down beside him and I close my eyes and just that's it. I fall asleep. I remember very often he will say, "Janardan, whenever I see you, you are sleeping." "But no, Maharaj, what can I do? Not enough rest." So finally, he did not even ask the computer also. He didn't ask for the computer. And then we step out of the plane, the Tamarack, going to the main terminal now. I said, oh no! Where is the computer? I forgot the computer. Actually, one of the stewardesses, she saw me. She knew that it belongs to us, but she had an interest in it. In those days, I would choose the computer that we will use. We used to buy Sony computers. Computer, very small one, really slick. I was the one who changed the computer into Apple Mac, and every time Guru Mahārāja also will ask me, "Can you show me how to use computer? I want to learn how to use the computer." Till the very end of his life, he never touched the computer to learn how to do all of these things. And even in the last few months of his Leela, he would ask me still the same thing: Can you show me how to use the computer? I said, Guru Maharaj, it's so easy. You just turn it on and then you do like this and that's it. And still he was not able to use the computer on his own. So the computer is gone. One time again in Toronto, we borrowed because we lost the computer. So we borrowed another's computer, one devotee. But somehow or other, someone stole the computer. 'Computer again.' I said, 'Oh no, what's going to happen here?' I think he told me, 'Now you have to buy me a new computer.' So I did some collection and I bought a new computer for Guru Maharaj. This is to teach me a lesson that So we have, we have to be careful. We have to be extra careful. The personal belongings of the spiritual master, of our Guru Mahārāja, we should be careful. We should treat this as very, very special. Almost none different than him. It's what you call "tadiya." It's like one of the last wills of Guru Maharaj is to distribute his clothing, his sweaters, and some of his personal belongings to some of his disciples. So, we have not decided yet who will receive this special belongings of Guru Maharaj. He even said, "My computer and my phone will go to my secretary, personal servant." So, when we travel, especially in North America, I asked him, why do you travel? Why do you have to do this? Can't they just come and see you in India? You don't have to go. It's too much for you. He told me that I only travel because I want to see I wanted to see how my disciples are making progress in Krishna consciousness. It is like a father. He wanted to see how the children are doing, how they are making progress, whether they are improving or they need some help. And he told me also that he travels especially to meet new devotees. Meet new devotees. There are many places that we have been through, but specifically we go to— first, when we go to America, we land in New New York because Guru Mahaj is having a green card. This green card made him to enter America without any visa to enter America, and because he spent a lot of time in New York He had two places where really is very dear to him, New York and Montreal, because Montreal is the place where he met Śrīla Prabhupāda and he get initiated by Śrīla Prabhupāda in Montreal. The deities there, Śrī Śrī I can't remember now. What is the name of the Deity there, Akrura Prabhu, in Montreal? Manohar. Śrī Śrī Rādhā Manohar, the same size, the same height as Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava in Mayapur. Huge, huge. And Guru Mahārāja will go there to do arthik, especially early in the morning. We go to other places where he will not do the arthik, certain temple. Somehow, because he's not familiar with the devotees who are there, serving there. So he is thinking that this is like inappropriate for him to do the arthik to the places where he does not have any disciples who's serving directly in the management or not able to— it's too much like for him to ask. He thinks that, no, this is too much. I don't want to do do it. But Montreal, Toronto, Baltimore, Vancouver also, he would do. He would do the Arctic. He would do Mongol Arctic. So in Montreal, this is where he joined in 1968, and that's why it was very dear to him. But New York is very special also because Because Guru Mahārāja spent a lot of time in New York before coming to India, before he was called by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Wherever we go, we carry the Deities with us. So as like Prabhupāda was asked, "Are you going to America?" And he says, "No, I'm going with the books to America, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." So when we travel, actually it is not that we are bringing the deities with us, but we are going along with the deities to these different places that we go. Oh, so in traveling with Guru Maharaj, I can see that he's very, very simple and very practical in dealings with every situations. He tried to manage things in such a way that everyone should work together in spite of differences. Because usually the problem of many temples, the root cause is interpersonal relationship. Am I correct? Say yes or no. Those who are managers, is that correct? The interpersonal relationship, we're not able to work together harmoniously, peacefully. But our Gurumahaj is so expert But somehow, as long as while we are there, it seems to be all the problems are resolved. But then as soon as we leave and we return the next year, it is the same problem again. They're not able to really come up to the position where there is a give and take. So now that our Guru Mahārāja is not here, we hope that our relationship amongst each other will grow to become more and more harmonious and peaceful along with each other. The organizers of this festival or camp, would like to thank them. They work so hard to put this such a nice place in Govardhan to have the facility for all of us. To share with each other the love and respect towards each other. And I remember the last one that we had was in Haridwar, where I was told there were 12,000 devotees there. How many of you were there in Haridwar? I don't know if that's correct. Is that true? Well, there's a lot, thousands. Or how about Rameswaram?

Yes.

And this year I was told there were about close to 2,000 devotees. So let's just hope that this kind of program will continue on for many, many more years to go. Traveling with Guru Maharaj, I don't, I don't consider that I'm serving a GBC. One of the members of the G.B.C. or one of the main leaders of India. I just consider him to be my master and I am his servant. I am not feeling proud, "Hey, I am a servant of the leader of ISKCON." I don't, I don't, I did not think like that. All I wanted to do actually is to serve Guru Maharaj to the best of my ability, of my capacity. And sometimes, because it is very, very hard to be serving a spiritual master. It is said that we must be careful when we serve the deities because the offenses when we serve the deities, it is unavoidable. And we can chant, like after doing arthik or doing puja on the altar, we can chant this prayer. Patijnata bhagovindanam me bhakta pranasyate iti samsita pranam sujami aham. There's so many prayers, or you can chant one chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad-gītā, then the offenses will be nullified. But serving the spiritual master one must be more careful than serving the deities. Because there will be a tendency that one may see the spiritual master as an ordinary soul, an ordinary person.

Hmm?

One must be very, very careful. And so I think at least twice I was like so much pressure and stressed, stressed out in serving Guru Maharaj. Then on the plane I will tell him, Guru Maharaj, I think I may not be able to serve you next My mind is shouting because in those days, really very difficult. There's only two of us. I don't think I may not be able to serve you next year. But then again, next year comes summertime, time for travel again. And whenever we travel, he will ask Banu Swami about the right date when to travel. He told me that Banu Swami is his astrologer, especially when it goes for traveling or installing deities or opening a temple. Banu Swami is very expert in that one. But many times we will change the date of our travel. There is no— I cannot remember that there will be a time when, okay, this is the date when we travel, we travel on that date. It's always keep changing. And I was thinking, why is it like this? Why, why, why Guru Maharaj will, you know, He will keep changing? And then I figure out that actually this is in the mode of goodness. Even maybe beyond that, mode of pure goodness. For general devotees like us, immediately, "Okay, we go that way, we go this way." Prabhupāda also, he would confer to his disciples, "Shall we go or shall we stay? Shall we go on that day or what do you think?" And Guru Mahārāja will do that also. He will ask me or he will ask others, "What do you think? Shall we go next week or what do you say?" I said, "Gurumahaj, why do we have to keep changing like this?" He will never reply, of course. But then I really figured out that this is in the mode of goodness. Wanted to be sure exactly before you put your right foot. You have to see what's there first, then you can put your left foot next. This is the mode of goodness. So I never saw him taking rest on the plane. In the early days, of course, he will be always chanting and he will always read his Nisingha prayers, the Nisingha kavacha prayers, all the time. Never ever miss that. And sometimes I will see also and check what's going on because there's some news on the plane. You know, there is the video where you can see what's going on throughout the whole world. So he asked me, what are you doing? I just watching, trying to see what's the current events, what's going on. So yes, many times, um, that on the plane, well, will be always on time. The problem here that I'm so much always worried is that he will leave like the last moment. To go to the airport, to go to the airport, it's like Bhaktivedanta Thakur, we've read that he will be in the train station like 2 hours before the arrival of the train, before the train goes. But Guru Mahārāja is like always in the nick of time, always like, but we were never late. We're never late. There was one time we're going to Central Asia and we always buy our ticket in one of the travel agents in Delhi. So we went to see him, the owner of the travel agent. We went to see him in his home. And we were late, but he was not worried. It's time to fly now. The owner says, "Don't worry, I told the plane to wait for you." That was the first time that the plane was stopped. It didn't happen before. So one time we were flying back. We used to fly Air India. That was in the early days. And Air India is nice. The India is nice. But the plane is not so nice. No, it is not. It is not. It is a horrible service practically. And we were flying back. We were flying back to India by Air India. And the cricket team of India. They were all in the same plane. You know, they're big, big, and they have their, you know, jersey, the cricket, and their numbers. And he told me, why don't you go and preach to them? I didn't say anything. I said, me preaching? They're very tall, they're big, they're giants. He told me, take all the opportunity to preach always. So this is a lesson that I've learned when he told me. I didn't go, I didn't even say Hare Krishna to any of these cricket players. But he told me, take all the opportunity to preach. I was just reading today's message from Guru Mahārāja that how you can measure a devotee's advancement is how many books he distributed and how many devotees he made. This Guru Mahārāja saying, how many books he distributed and how many devotees he made. You can measure how advanced this devotee. So he was the best example as far as we heard Huh? Śrīla Prabhupāda's success can be measured also by the book distribution, the spreading of the Holy Name, and the temples built. And our Guru Mahārāja, we cannot find. It is not because he is our Guru Mahārāja. But you can just study in the history of our movement after Srila Prabhupada left the planet. No one distributed the most books in his zones. No one has constructed so many temples in the world. No one has distributed so much prasadam. It's unbelievable. We've heard this many, many times. While traveling with him, I did not see the magnitude of how great our Guru Mahārāja is. It's unbelievable, really. In those days, because I, I spent so much time with him that I thought I will give the chance for others in his later years of being with us not to to be really so close and serving him as much as possible. I will have myself in the background and I will only be with him when he will call me. When he will call me, I will be there. I was thinking that how 'What is my purpose being with so close to him and I'm not doing anything? I think I'll be just like a nuisance. I'll be disturbing him.' I thought to myself, 'Okay, let others go and serve him.' In just few years before his departure, a few months ago, I can tell that his physical health is really declining. I'm not, I'm not able to see the way we were before. Hmm? And I told one of our Godbrothers in Canada that one of the symptoms that our Guru Maharaj's health is really going to be declining is that when he will not be able to walk. Because he will do his daily walk every day. And this daily walk is part of his sadhana. And we saw him in the last few months that he's not really able to walk, but still he will walk. When we go fly, use the airplanes, he could have used a wheelchair. You know, some devotees, they will use this tactic or technique. They will use a wheelchair even though they can walk, so they can be expedited, go, and the clearance will be easily crossed, the immigration or the security check. But Guru Mahārāja will never use a wheelchair, even in the last days of his life.

Life.

And the last time we were in North America, that was 2023, that was last year, um, it took us like at least half an hour just to go from the security to the gate where we have to catch the plane. And he will never use a wheelchair. I mean, in the last days also, his walking is almost like this. So I thought Guru Mahārāja's health is really declining now. It's not, it's not going to be improving. And when he was in Vrindavan, When He was in Vrindavan, the last time He was in Vrindavan, He called me twice and He told me that, "I am tired. I need, I need someone for massage." And how many times we've heard that He never felt tired. Being tired is not in His dictionary.

Huh?

That yes, he showed us an example how we should be a fighter, like a soldier, till our last breath. We should be having this courage. Being brave to fight against Maya and be always in the preaching mood like our Guru Maharaj. This is one of the lessons that I've learned from him. It's unbelievable how he sacrificed his time, his energy, all of his life to set a good example, especially for all of us. It's like how many times we've heard also he said that the only medicine for me is to— for you to chant your rounds attentively. 'Never forget to chant our rounds every day and to read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam every day. This is the best medicine for me,' he says. But actually, that medicine is not only for him. That medicine is for all of us. He was just telling us He doesn't need medicine. He's transcendental. He's beyond. That external feature that He's not well, this is just part of His līlā. So that we become more absorbed, to be attached to Him, to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Like, do you think Śrīla Prabhupāda says, "Oh, "Because my disciples are not following the regulative principles, therefore I am sick." Do you think Śrīla Prabhupāda is affected by that?

No.

Do you think our Guru Mahārāja is affected by that?

No.

We are affected, especially if we don't follow His instructions. And as Prabhupada says, of all the instructions coming from the spiritual master, the utmost importance is the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. So we cannot repay back our Guru Maharaj. I don't know, I don't know any any pious credits that I've done in the past. I think I'm the only foreigner here right now. All of you are from India. Is there anyone here from— not from India? Raise your hand. I am the only one, right?

Who?

Anybody else? No one. So, what am I doing here? How is it that I came here? Or how is it that I happen to be with you? I don't know, but one thing for sure I knew is that meeting our Guru Maharaj, after meeting our Guru Maharaj, that's it, my life changed. We cannot repay back our spiritual master, but we should follow in his footsteps somehow. He is our Lord and Master, birth after birth. In this lifetime, we have two fathers. Our blood father, the father whom we— our mother and father whom we take birth, and our spiritual master. And he's our spiritual master birth after birth. I was asked one time, how do you know if you're not able to meet your where if you're not able to make it this lifetime and you will take birth again next life and you will get initiated again because you need to get initiated again if you want to go back next life. Yeah, this lifetime we were initiated by our Guru Maharaj. Prasad Raaval. So how do you know next life that your spiritual master is none other than your previous spiritual master? That was a good question, isn't it? Because if our dear Guru Maharaj is our spiritual master and our Guru birth after birth, will next life, will he be our spiritual master again? What is the answer? Yes or no? Yes, because a spiritual master can expand himself also. So we're very fortunate We're very, very fortunate. Our fortune cannot be measured. Somehow or other, in this lifetime, we met a Mahatma, a great soul. And we just pray that somehow we'll be able to follow his instructions, we'll be able to follow in his footsteps. And hope against hope, next lifetime there will be a greater festival with our Guru Maharaj. Just like we have a big festival now, or as we mentioned earlier, in Haridwar, in Rameshwaram, In Jagannath Puri. In many, many places. So, our Guru Mahārāja is just waiting for us next life for a greater festival to be with him physically. So, there is an urgency here though. He is telling us, Come quick, as soon as possible. Come with me. I would want to see you next lifetime. Are you all ready? No, you're not. Louder than that. One more time.

Haribo!

Hari on tatse. I will stop here now. I have so many things to say, but time is very short. Seriously, I have many things to say, but I will do it some other time. I will let you know. If there is any question or two, we'll be happy to answer.

Any question?

Stand up, stand up, please stand up.

As you said, as you told many past times, you serve Guru Maharaj personally, and many devotees, senior devotees who serve Maharaj personally. And what about that devotees who doesn't have vāpu-saṅga of maharāja? What about that devotee?

I'm not hearing you properly. What is—

he is asking that what about devotee what you didn't get vāpu-saṅga of Guru Mahārāja?

Of serving?

Not yet. Vāpu-service of Guru Mahārāja. What about that devotee?

What about those devotees who are not able to physically serve Guru Mahārāja?

Guru Mahārāja?

You are serving Guru Mahārāja by following his instructions. It is not— it is important to serve Guru Mahārāja. It is great fortune to serve Guru Mahārāja physically. Many disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, they never never saw Prabhupada. They are so far from Prabhupada. But if they follow— and the same thing, if most of you who were not able to serve Guru Mahārāja physically, you serve him by following his instructions. This is most important, okay?

Thank you so much, Maharaj, for a very wonderful katha of Guru Smaranam. And I was just thinking that, Mahārāja, you said you had a lot to say in the diary also. So maybe a couple of devotees would assist you because you're busy in your services. Maybe a couple of devotees could assist you in compiling a book of Mahārāja's pastimes with you. That would be very nectarine for us.

I don't know, maybe someday.

Thank you much.

And my next question, I remember Guru Mahaj will be always asked also, please, uh, can you tell us your pastimes with Srila Prabhupada? Prasad, and he will never— only in the last few years that he really opened up. I will never ever hear him saying, oh yes, just like this book by, uh, Jīvanāprabhu, what's his name, that book Conversation with a Saint. There's so many interaction with Śrīla Prabhupāda there, with Guru Mahārāja, but he will never mention any of this during his life. He will never. Somehow only in the last few years he did an interview in San José remembering Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yeah, that was part of it. So yeah, maybe someday we'll be able to say something also.

Okay, thank you much. My question also is, Maharaj, I could see that when you were speaking, your heart is full of gratitude for Guru Maharaj. And I have also been kind of meditating that possibly gratitude is the biggest asset for a disciple, because as long as As long as we have gratitude, we will be able to continue on his footsteps. So how to keep this gratefulness intact lifelong for our beloved Guru Mahārāja? Thank you, Mahāprasāda.

How we can do this? We should always compare ourselves to when we first came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and to where we are right now. If you measure from the beginning of your Kṛṣṇa consciousness and where you are right now, it's a big difference, isn't it? It's incalculable. You cannot really measure. But all of this is due to the mercy of our Guru Mahārāja. We cannot think of. Really, how, how did— how is this possible? How is this possible? I joined so many years ago and now I'm managing a temple. How is that? I joined many years ago and right now I have so many facilities to spread Krishna consciousness. How is that possible? Everything is because of our Guru Mahārāja and Śrīla Prabhupāda. So we should be always gratitude, have the feeling of gratitude. If he says if you don't have that, if that doesn't come to your mind of being grateful, you will never reach where you're going to. You will never reach there. It's not possible. It's not just we should be thankful only to our Gurumas. We should be thankful to our Godbrothers and Godsisters also. Or even to our Godcousins. The whole family. We should appreciate everyone. Small or big. No, small devotee? There is no small devotee. Small means like, you know, general devotee. We should appreciate them. Otherwise, we will never reach where we are wanting to go. It's not possible.

Okay?

Thank you, Maharaj.

All right. 2 more questions.

Hare Krishna, Guru Mahārāja. As you said that in another lifetime, if we fail this lifetime to reach back to Godhead, then in another lifetime—

Too much echo, too much echo. Can you turn off the echo of this? I cannot really understand what you are saying. Automatic.

Huh?

It's automatic.

You are automatic or this is automatic? It's not automatic, Baba. That's why you have to control. Hurry, hurry. See, there is no echo now. Okay, go ahead.

Now it's, uh, not— now it's working. Yes, I was, uh, there was a question that— if we will fail this lifetime to reach back to Godhead, then—

I cannot hear, I cannot understand what he's saying. I cannot understand. Next time we will meet again with Guru Mahārāja if you chant your rounds offensively and read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam every day, serve the Vaiṣṇavas, and so on. We all meet again with Guru Maharaj next life. It is possible, but it's very difficult. Okay, one last question. Hare Krishna Maharaj, please accept my humble obeisances.

Thank you so much, Maharaj, for sharing wonderful pastimes that you had with Guru Maharaj.

Maharaj wanted to ask you, is there any special quality that of Guru Maharaj that you were specially attracted to or close to your heart? What is most special quality of Guru Maharaj that is close to your heart? Um, for me it is his simplicity. I don't know, I mean And you will never find a personality as simple as he is. Other gurus, no way. You will not be able to approach them so easily. For Guru Mahārāja, he will accommodate everyone. I have one incident, it happened in Vrindavan. It was late in the evening, it's around 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and he's never had his prasadam yet. His prasadam, lunch prasadam, not dinner prasad, no lunch prasad. So there were some devotees waiting outside of his room. So I told them, can you come back? Guru Mahesh will take prasadam now. And then he heard me, he asked me, he called me and he asked me, are there anyone who is outside? Yeah, I told them to go. No, no, no, this is not my style. Call them. Where can you find A personality like this is very simple. I was serving him one time in Kolkata, and Jayapataka Swami was there and he was here. They were drinking some juice and somehow I was being careless and I spilled the juice and he's dhoti. And Jaipataka Maharaj looked at him because he did not react. Our Guru Maharaj did not react. For others, he will say, "You rascal, what are you doing?" He will scold you. Some other gurus, some other personalities, but for him, he just smiled. And Jaipataka Maharaj was smiling because he did not react. Act, how tolerant our Guru Mahārāja is. So simple. We commit mistakes, he accepts. I don't know, it's so simple. I mean, he will chastise you when you need to be chastised. And he knew that if you are very not so strong, he will not chastise you so heavily. He chastised me one time. He said, "You are the laziest person I've ever met in my life." And he asked me only a simple thing. "Why don't you make a phone call?" I thought to myself, "Well, phone call? I will call that person later on." Then he asked me again, did you call? Did you make the call? He says, Gurumahaj, no, I thought I will call him later. No, when I ask you to do something, do it. So he called me, I've never seen a lazy person like you. You are the laziest person that I've ever met in my life. So when he told me that, I was thinking, yeah, I am lazy. 'You are crazy.' So that makes me change. He knows the best way how to say things in such a way that you will never feel hurt. That is simplicity.

Okay?

Thank you so much, Maharaj.

Thank you for sharing that.

Jai.

Guru Maharaj ke. Thank you very much for your kindness and attention. I hope we'll see you again somewhere in Delhi, or most of you are from Delhi, right? We try to come tomorrow.

His Holiness Bhakti Anugraha Janardana Swami Maharaj ki jai.

Jai!

Wonderful, sweet, heart-transforming, heart-sweetening pastimes of Shri Guru Maharaj. Ki Jai! So we are so very grateful to Maharaj. So Maharaj can write volumes and volumes of books about the loving, sweet, devotional, divine exchanges with so many devotees. Especially as Maharaj said, hours and hours and months and months and years after years he has spent alone own with Guru Maharaj. So I would say all across the globe, the person who is most fortunate and who is the greatest recipient of the mercy of Guru Maharaj is His Holiness Bhakti Anugraha Janardhan Swami Maharaj. So Maharaj shared, he actually showered some nectar from his heart, but his heart is the ocean of nectar of Guru Maharaj's pastimes. So we are so very grateful to Maharaj. So let's pay our gratitude to Maharaj by chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare. His Holiness Bhakti Anugraha Janardhan Swami Maharaj Ji ki jai, Srila Prabhupada ki jai. His Holiness Gopalakrishna Goswami Maharaj Ji ki jai. So devotees, check out morning. Hare Krishna!