How to become free from anxiety? | SB 03.21.34 | 28 Jun 2003 | Los Angeles | Gopal Krishna Goswami

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Translation: While the sage stood looking on, the Lord left by the pathway leading to Vaikuntha, a path extolled by all great liberated souls. The sage stood listening as the hymns forming the basis of the Sama Veda were vibrated by the flapping wings of the Lord's carrier. Garuda, purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki— In the Vedic literature it is stated that the two wings of the transcendental bird carrier Garuda, who carries the Lord everywhere, are two divisions of the Sāma Veda known as Brihad and Ratantara. Garuda works as a carrier of the Lord. Therefore, he is considered the transcendental prince of all carriers. With his two wings, Garuda began to vibrate the Sama Veda, which is chanted by great sages to pacify the Lord. The Lord is worshipped by Brahma, by Lord Shiva, by Garuda and other demigods with selected poems, and great sages worship Him with the hymns of Vedic literature such as the Upanishads and Sama Veda. These Sama Veda utterances are automatically heard by the devotee when another great devotee of the Lord, Garuda, flaps his wings. It is clearly stated here that the sage Kadama began to look to the path by which the Lord was being carried to Vaikuntha. It is thus confirmed that the Lord descends from His abode Vaikuntha in the spiritual sky and is carried by Garuda. The path which leads to Vaikuntha is not worshipped by the ordinary class of transcendentalists. Only those who are already liberated from material bondage can become devotees of the Lord. Those who are not liberated from material bondage cannot understand transcendental devotional service. In Bhagavad-gītā, it is clearly stated, itātām api siddhanām. There are many persons who are trying to attain perfection by striving for liberation from material bondage, and those who are actually liberated are called brahmā-bhūta or siddha. Only the siddhas, or persons liberated from material bondage, can become devotees. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, Anyone who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or devotional service is already liberated from the influence of the modes of material nature. Here it is also confirmed that the path of devotional service is worshiped by liberated persons, not the conditioned souls. The conditioned soul cannot understand the devotional service of the Lord. Gadāma Muni was a liberated soul. Who saw the Supreme Lord in person, face to face. There was no doubt that he was liberated, and thus he could see Garuda carrying the Lord on the way to Vaikuntha, and he heard the flapping of his wings vibrating the sound of Hare Krishna, the essence of the Sama Veda. The last line is the clincher. Nidikshata stasya yaya vasheshah. Siddheśvarabhistuḍa siddha-mārgaḥ a-kāṇahyaṇ-paṭra-ratinda-paṣer u-cāritam stho'mam u-derna-sāmaḥ. Samitiya Rishi is the speaker of this verse. And just to give a little background, we've seen that Kedāma Muni performed very severe penances for a period of 10,000 years. And as a result of this, the Lord was very pleased and sitting on the back of Garuda, the Lord personally appeared on the scene. Kidāma was naturally very happy when he saw the Lord, offered his obeisances. And after a brief dialogue that took place between the Lord and Kadamamuni, the Lord has departed for Vaikuntha. And in the previous verse, Maitreya says that the Lord can only be understood by one whose senses are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In other words, the Lord cannot be understood by somebody who is so absorbed in material activities. Now, Kṛṣṇa Muni was looking why the Lord, after speaking, headed back for Vaiṣṇava-kunta. And as the verse explains, is a place extolled by all the liberated souls. And the sage Kadāma could hear the hymns which were being vibrated by the flapping wings of the Lord's carrier Garuḍha. So Garuḍha is not an ordinary carrier. In the 10th chapter of the Bhāgavad-gītā, text 30, Kṛṣṇa says, "Of beasts I am the lion, and of birds I am the Garuda." Garuda, as we know, is the transcendental prince of all carriers and is the prince that carries the Supreme Lord. I understand that We are getting ready to install a Garuda over here in the temple room. In fact, in many parts of the world, they worship the Garuda. Even in Indonesia, which is today in principle a Muslim country, I think the national emblem there is the Garuda. And even the airline of that country is called Garuda Airlines. In India, they have all these fancy Western names for airlines, but in Indonesia, The national airline is called Garuda Airlines. It's very good. So the Lord was carried by the, by Garuda. And Garuda was, the wings of Garuda, they're not ordinary wings. Actually, one may have never heard of the wings of a bird vibrating hymns or vibrating anything. But here you read, —then the wings of the garuda, they were vibrating the Sama Veda, which is chanted by the great sages to pacify the Lord. So in the purport, Prabhupāda's making many points. Prabhupāda makes a point that the Supreme Lord is worshiped by Brahmā, Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, Garuda, and other demigods with selected poems. We study the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam every day, and in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, what do we see? We read choicest prayers offered by different devotees of the Lord, including the demigods. Those who don't have proper Vedic understanding conclude that all gods are one. But if you read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is the ripened fruit of all Vedic knowledge and which is descended through the process of disciplic succession, you clearly see Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, and all the demigods are constantly offering prayers to the Supreme Lord also. In fact, as we progress in the Bhāgavatam, in the 10th canto, you read about the wonderful pastimes that were exhibited by the Lord and how even the demigods Sometimes they want to test Kṛṣṇa's greatness, and sometimes they get puffed up by false ego. And how they were always defeated. How Brahmā on one occasion stole the cowherd boys and the cows, but how he was defeated by when the Lord expanded Himself. And then Brahmā offered very wonderful prayers to the Supreme Lord. Again we see how Indra, Ghaḍaḥastap, by his position, was very angry when the Vṛdha-bātīs stopped their annual offering, and how his plans were also foiled by the Lord lifting the Govardhana Hill.

And then what did Indra do?

Indra also offered very wonderful prayers in glorification of the Supreme Lord. So there are 12 sources of spiritual authority and knowledge as we understand in the Bhāgavatam. Swayambhu-narāda, Sambhu, Krama, Kapila-manu, Praladāva-janaka, Viṣṇu, Balīrāya, Yaśākirvaya. And they all acknowledge that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. In the Bhāgavad-gītā also, Arjuna confirms this point and says, "This is also the conclusion of Narada, Asita, Vyāsa." So the Vedic literatures are full of glorification of the Lord, and especially the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam focuses Just start the process of pure devotional service. Now we see that Kadamamuni was able to attract the attention of the Lord because of the penances that he had performed, isn't it? He had performed austerities for 10,000 years. Not 1 or 2 days. And obviously this took place, this pastime took place in Satya Yuga when the lifespan was 100,000 years. From the pages of the Bhāgavatam, we hear about all these ancient stories. And he was able to attract the attention of the Lord. Because of the penances that He executed. In the Third Canto, Lord Brahmā says, tapasyeva param jyoti bhāgavatam adho-kṣajam. That actually the Supreme Lord is adho-kṣaja. Adho-kṣaja means very difficult to understand. But through the medium of tapasya, one can attract the Lord. So here we see that Kedama Mani attracted the Lord because of his austerities. In the Bhagavatam, you read how Dhruva Maharaj, he went to the Madhuvan forest looking for God, how he performed extreme austerities, and by his austerities, he was able to attract the attention of the Lord. So through the medium of austerities, One can attract the attention of the Lord. And in the 17th chapter of the Bhāgavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa discusses the austerities of the body, words, and mind. These are the three principal avenues through which we can serve the Lord. And these are also the avenues through which the living entity can get entangled. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is said, "The same activity when applied in a therapeutic manner can become the cure of the disease." Just like, for example, Prabhupāda used to say, "Milk causes a bad stomach." But the same milk when you consume in the form of yogurt,. It becomes a cure of the bad stomach. So similarly, the body, words, tongue, mind, if it is used in the service of the Lord, they become the cause of liberation. When they use for sense enjoyment, they become the cause of bondage. So Kṛṣṇa explains in the 17th chapter what are some of the austerities of the body, mind, and words. For example, with regards to the body, Kṛṣṇa says one of the austerities is to worship the Lord. Therefore, we engage the body in serving the Lord, we engage our abilities in serving the Lord, we engage our education skills in service to the Lord. Another austerity for the body is to worship the brahmanas. When the Bhagavad-gītā refers to the brahmanas, it means genuine brahmanas on the basis of qualification and not just birth. Worship of the spiritual master. Rūpa Gosvāmī explains the process of spiritual advancement where he explains how one should take shelter, take initiation, serve, and inquire how one can make spiritual advancement. Then worshipping superiors. Practicing cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy, and non-violence. So these are some of the austerities of the body that Kṛṣṇa talks about in the 17th chapter. And then Kṛṣṇa goes on to explain the austerities of the tongue. The tongue, as we know, plays a key role in our spiritual endeavour. And what are some of the austerities of the tongue? To speak words that are truthful. This is painful in Kali Yuga, isn't it? Because in Kali Yuga we are all so used to speaking exactly the opposite. So one of the austerities is to speak words that are truthful. Truthfulness begins with by being truthful to the instructions of the Lord, instruction of the sages, instruction of the spiritual masters. They just speak words that are pleasing. We speak the truth, but we speak the truth in a pleasing manner. There are several ways that the truth can be presented. In the Bhagavad-gītā, 2nd Canto, there's a verse, sāvidvāraho sākarai sām suta puruṣā paśu. Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels, and asses, are basically glorifying others who are also like dogs, hogs, camel, asses. So obviously this verse is meant for devotees. If you go to an audience in a school or a college and say, "Dogs, hogs, camel, asses, please listen to me," you'll naturally offend people. So we have to speak the truth, but we have to speak the truth in a pleasing manner. Then another austerity for the tongue is to speak words that are beneficial. And what is most beneficial for everyone? What's most beneficial is chanting the holy names of the Lord or hearing transcendental topics related to the Lord. Then Kṛṣṇa says, another austerity of the tongue is speak in a manner that you don't agitate others. In other words, Speak humbly and gently. If you speak humbly and gently, then that's also considered one of the austerities of the tongue.

Another austerity of the tongue is to regularly recite Vedic literature.

Just like we chant the holy names, we chant slokas, we chant the philosophy. That's an austerity of the tongue. Because the tongue is so used to engaging in prajñāpā, then when you engage the tongue in vibrating the holy names or Vedic message, that is considered an austerity. So the duty of the tongue is, as Kṛṣṇa says in the 17th chapter, to regularly recite Vedic literature. Then Kṛṣṇa goes on to explain the austerities of the mind, for example.

He says one of the austerities of the mind is to be satisfied with what is provided.

Usually in mature life we see that no one is ever satisfied, isn't it? Just like in the 7th Canto of the Bhāgavatam, Nārada Muni told Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, a hungry man can be satisfied when you give him some food to eat. An angry man can be satisfied when he shouts at you. Sometimes devotees also get angry at each other. Then they offer obeisances and take prasad and the anger goes away. A thirsty man is satisfied when he gets something to drink. But now when he says, a greedy man can never be satisfied. Is that a fact?

So we see that in society today. Greedy man can never be satisfied.

So one of the austerities of the mind is be satisfied with what is provided by the will of the Lord. And gravity, seriousness, self-control, the process of self-control is only possible if you execute the process of devotional service.

Then purification.

We purify our existence through the process of devotional service.

Now these are briefly what we mentioned, some of the austerities of the tongue, mind, and body. Because Kadābha Muni was able to attract the attention of the Lord because of the penances and austerities.

That he performed.

Now the words here explains that the path was leading—

the Lord left on the pathway leading to Vaikuntha.

Prabhupada used to often explain to the Vaikuntha and kūnta, which have the opposite meanings. Vaikuntha means a place where there is no anxiety, and kūnta means the opposite. A place where there is nothing but anxiety.

So we see that in the material world.

In the material world, doesn't matter which part of the world you belong to, doesn't matter how rich you are or how powerful you are, everyone's mind is full of anxiety. Kuntaloka. Everyone is just like Govinda-dāsa says in his famous prayer, 'Bhaja hure manashe Nandanandana abhay charanaravindare.' He says, 'My dear mind, you are full of anxiety.' So everybody's life of mind is full of anxiety. So how can you become free from this? You can become free from this by taking shelter of the lotus feet of the son of Maharaj Nanda. So that is the medium how we can become free from anxiety. So one who is engaged in the process of devotional service is on the Vaikuntha platform, is in Vaikuntha. Just like Prabhupada said, these different temples of ISKCON, they are from a material angle, they may be in Los Angeles, Bombay, wherever, but actually they are in Vaikuntha. From a material angle, you are Our temple is on Watsakha Avenue, but actually it's in the spiritual world, it's in Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha means a place where there's no anxiety, where the Lord is constantly being glorified. So taking to the process of devotional service means constantly engaging in glorification of the Lord. Just like over here we see —that as Garuda was carrying the Lord on its back through its wings, through the two wings of Garuda, were glorifying the Lord by chanting the hymns from the Sama Veda. So the nature of the devotees is that they're always interested in glorifying the Lord.

And through the process of glorification, one becomes purified. To understand the Lord, we need to cleanse ourselves of the material contamination. Rūpa Gosvāmī in Upadeśāramit— actually, Rūpa Gosvāmī gave us many wonderful literatures. Prabhupāda translated two of them for our benefit. Bhaktirasamrta Sindhu and Udaya Śrīmad. Prabhupāda was releasing the nectar of devotion from his Vyāsasādh and he held up the book and said, "This is the law book of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Every devotee must study these books." And Nārada Mādhava ṭhākura in his famous bhajan says, rūpa-ragunātha pade āibeya-kuti kaveḥ mahera-bhāusa-yuga-lapiriti. "When will the day come when I will be able to read the transcendental literature left behind by the Gosvāmīs, especially Rūpa Gosvāmī?" He longs for that day. So Rūpa Gosvāmī has given us very educational knowledge. And in the Obdeyśvara-myth, Rūpa Gosvāmī states that the holy names Pastimes, qualities, character of the Lord are all sweet. Sweet like sugar candy. Rūgā Gosvāmī says the holy names of the Lord are sweet like sugar candy. The pastimes of the Lord are sweet like sugar candy. His character is sweet like sugar candy. His pastimes are sweet like sugar candy. But are we able to experience the sweetness of the Holy Name, character, pastimes, etc.? And why is that? That is due to the presence of avidyā. Due to the presence of avidyā, we are unable to experience the sweetness of the Holy Name, character, pastimes, etc., of the Lord. But By taking to the practice of chanting the Holy Names, this avidyā will get corrected and one will be able to experience the sweetness of the Holy Name. In other words, the Holy Name is sweet, relishable, pastime, etc. But due to the strong influence of the anārthas, we are unable to experience. The sweetness in these areas. For example, when it comes to prasad, we all have a natural attraction, isn't it? I've seen even in situations where people are not devotees and you give them Kṛṣṇa prasad, their heart begins to melt. Did we hear yesterday or something in the meetings that we used to take prasad to one of the people involved in litigation and they were, they got very attached. I remember I was in one of the Muslim countries of the CIS and I was talking to a very prominent journalist who was interviewing me. But he was very critical of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. You know, he said, "Why do you people have to spread this in our country? We are Muslims." And so anyway, he had a whole talk to give. Devotees knew that he was going to come, so they prepared a lot of very nice prasads for him. So instead of arguing, we just fed him prasad. After eating prasad, he completely changed. He stopped criticizing and he came back the next day again for the lecture. So we see that even in the case of non-devotees, they love Kṛṣṇa and prasad. And of course devotees love Kṛṣṇa and prasad. You never see a devotee falling asleep in front of a prasadam plate. Have you ever seen that? I've never seen that. Especially falling asleep in front of a pitha of feast prasada. But you do see people falling asleep while doing their japa, listening to the class, reading the books. Isn't it? Because as Rūpa Gosvāmī said, due to avidyā or nescience, we can't experience the taste. But then He says, but by the practice, by practicing the process of chanting the Holy Name, this avidyā will go away. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī explains in Bhaktirāsa-mṛta-sindhi, how by practicing the process of devotional service, how by practicing sādhana-bhakti, one gets to the stage of spontaneous, developing spontaneous love for the Lord. Just like in the Bhāgavatam it is also said, Nastra-prāyeṣa-vadrāyeṣa-nityam bhāgavata-sevaya bhāgavatitam aśloka-im bhakti-bhāvati-naiṣṭhiki. By regularly hearing Bhāgavatam, all that is inauspicious in the heart, and you know there's so much of dirt in the heart, all that gets destroyed and loving devotional service to the Lord gets established. So through the process of śrīronaṁ and kīrtanam, Through the process of bhajana-kriya, these anarthas get corrected. In the 4th Canto of the Bhāgavatam, there are some very nice verses where Lord Śiva is explaining to the prachetas. The prachetas also performed his charities for 10,000 years, and Lord Śiva had given them a mantra that was not in glorifying him, but glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And the Lord said that by chanting this stotra attentively and with reverence, one will achieve the perfection of life without delay. So Prabhupāda explains that the perfection of life is not just attaining some big position, but the perfection of life is Our ability to chant the Holy Name with attention and reverence. Reverence, of course, means with respect and with attention. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu explains in the Śrīkṣāstra-staka: The Lord is so kind that He has invested all His energies in the Holy Name. And therefore our endeavor should be to not only chant, but chant the Holy Name with attention and reverence. And if we chant the Holy Name with attention and reverence, then the Bhāgavatam guarantees that you, that you will achieve perfection of life without delay. Many times we hear devotees saying, "I've been chanting for so many years but still my anarthas are there, my mind's bothering me, this, that, that, so on." So all that is there because defects in our chanting process. We may be chanting 16 rounds but we may not be chanting attentively. We may be chanting 16 rounds but we may committing offences at the same time. So therefore the Bhagavad-gītā explains, To achieve the perfection of life, one should chant with the utmost attention and reverence. So the more attentive we are in our chanting, the faster will be the spiritual recovery. It's just like a patient suffering from a disease. The more attentive he is in taking the cure, the faster, the better are his prospects of recovery. So the more attentive we are in our chanting and hearing, and the more respectfully we chant, the greater will be the effect of the chanting. And as Rūpa Gosvāmī explains, anartha-nivṛti takes place by the execution of bhajana-kriyā. Further, the Lord said, in instructing the prasād RAVALA, He said, that there are many types of perfection that a man can achieve. There are many types of achievements a man can do. A man can be Mr. Handsome, Mr. Rich, you know, there are many achievements that one can achieve. But Lord Śiva said, "The best achievement is the achievement of knowledge. One who has the achievement of knowledge, he can cross over the ocean of nescience easily. So the Bhāgavatam says that many different types of achievements in life that one can attain, but the highest achievement is the achievement of knowledge. And obviously that refers to transcendental knowledge. So this is the highest achievement one can achieve, transcendental knowledge. And as Bhaktisiddhānta ṛṣī used to say, That if at all there's a shortage of anything in the world, it is essentially there's shortage of only one commodity, and that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So by and large, the material society is endeavoring to achieve perfection in different areas, huh. They want to keep— and the bottom line is they're going to keep experimenting with new techniques to facilitate sense gratification, etc. But the highest form of achievement is the perfection of knowledge. And that is why the Supreme Lord Himself and the great sages and the ācāryas in our line of disciplic succession and Śrīla Prabhupāda have emphasized the distribution of knowledge as one of the principal activities of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The Vaiṣṇava, as we understand, is para-duḥkha-duḥkhi. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhi means seeing others in distress, he also gets distressed. Just like if you have pain in any one part of your body, you feel the effect all over. So the Vaiṣṇava, when he looks at the endeavors of the materialist, who are trying to convert a position of distress to a position of comfort, it gives them great pain. This is very nicely reflected in Prahlāda Mahārāja's teachings. Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "So ceta to vimukta cetasaindy asa māyā-jukāmparam udvato vimūram." He says, "My dear Lord, when I look at the materialists who are trying to convert A position of distress to a position of comfort, my heart laments. And what did Prahlāda say? "I'm not interested in going to the mountains or the forest. I want to be where the people are and preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness." So that is why the great Ācāryas emphasized this importance of preaching, because it originally comes from the Supreme Lord. Just like in the 18th chapter of Bhāgavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, "Of all types of devotee, who is the dearest? One who preaches My glories. There will never be one more dear." And in the 4th Canto, we have a very nice verse from Nārada Muni who explains to the prasādhas a very simple 3-point formula for pleasing the Lord. It's not like a complicated formula.

He says only 3 points: dayāya sarvabhūteṣu santuṣṭhayena keṇavaḥ sarvarindya-pāśāntya-ācā tuṣā-dyāṣu janārdanaḥ. So Kṛṣṇa has many names. One of them is Janārdana. And Nārada Muni says, if you want to please the Supreme Lord, 3 points are most essential. One is to show mercy, to show compassion. To all, to whom? Sarva-bhuteshu, to all living entities. Therefore, Vaiṣṇavas avoid any type of violence, jīva violence. They don't even want to harm an ant. So dayāya, being merciful to all living entities, and then santuṣṭha, be satisfied by what is provided by the will of the Lord.

We already mentioned this.

And so dayāya means to show mercy. And the best form of showing mercy is giving people transcendental knowledge. And the medium of giving transcendental knowledge is distribution of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books. So nice to hear every morning when we hear the scores of so many devotees going out and doing book distribution in the New Dwarka community. I wish this was true in every temple of ISKCON to this extent. So Prabhupāda emphasized this service of book distribution. He in fact placed the maximum emphasis on this service. In Prabhupāda's last days in Vṛndāvana, he was in the last few months on this planet, Prabhupāda was talking to us and he said, "As long as book distribution goes on, I will never die." Because through the medium of book distribution, Prabhupāda is preaching and waking up so many conditioned souls. Many times, even in Russia, I'll ask devotees, "How did you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness?" And I would say 95% of the devotees who join this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement get introduced to the movement through the medium of books. Sometimes devotees think, "Oh, who's going to read these books? People are not interested in these books. Kali-yuga has gone too far deep now." You know, I mean, you know, you talk to 20 people and one shows a little interest, and you talk to 40 people and one wants to buy a book. Book. I mean, let's face it, it's not like in front of wine shops, you know, there's a big lineup, or in front of bar there's a big rush. It's not appealing. People are lining up for these books. So sometimes we tend to get discouraged, but actually we have to have faith in the words of the Lord and the ācāryas and Śrīla Prabhupāda about the importance of book distribution as a weapon to destroy nescience. Just like Lord Śiva told the Prajāpatas, of all types of perfection, the highest perfection is perfection of knowledge. And through the perfection of knowledge, he said, one can cross over the nescience, the ocean of nescience. So the ocean of nescience can only be crossed over through the weapon of knowledge. And knowledge is there in these transcendental literature. So Prabhupāda encouraged book distribution. He gave us the slogan, Preaching is the essence. But preaching means what? Someone may say, "Okay, I'm going to stand on the street downtown Los Angeles and everyone comes by, I'm going to tell them Kṛṣṇa is Supreme. And I want my scores announced tomorrow. I spoke to 10,000 people." So no doubt that is preaching also. But Prabhupāda, he explained what it means. Preaching is the essence, but preaching means in the end resulting in some deal. Haha. Getting someone to take a book or something. We saw even when Prabhupāda would be giving darśanas to people in India, people would come and he would try and inspire even those who would come to him for darśanas to buy these books. And Prabhupāda went on distributing books till the very end of his life through his preaching. So sometimes devotees have a vague idea of preaching and preaching means just talk and hold festivals but don't get them to bottom, buy a book. But the essence of preaching is to get people to buy our book. Therefore I've seen all over the world, even those book distributors who have very strict sadhana, they do very well in the battleground. I mean Russia, in Moscow, the Moscow temple is now the number one temple in the world in book distribution. But the sankirtana devotees, they have very regimented sadhana. It's nearly like the Russian army. They get up at 3 o'clock, finish their rounds by 7 o'clock. Hirad by 9:30. And we've seen over the years all over the world, the devotees who have strict sadhna, they also end up doing very well in the preaching area. And if someone's sadhna is not good, then this also shows up in the preaching effort. And ultimately the preaching effort is based on enthusiasm, how enthusiastically we go in the battlefield. Just like I remember once in 1976, I had arranged a big book display of Prabhupada's books in a very prominent bookstore in Bombay. We had a very prominent display. But after one month of, you know, big promotion and everything, not many books were sold. So I went up to Prabhupada and said, you know, in spite of all this promotion, not many books were sold. And Prabhupada said, my books are sold because of the enthusiasm of my disciples. And in the bookstore, naturally they're not so enthusiastic. So the point I'm making is, I'm not saying that distributing to bookstores is not possible. Sure, it has— it's a huge market. But what I'm saying is that Prabhupada's main point was that when his devotees are enthusiastic, then it ends up inspiring people to take books. And when they're not enthusiastic, they don't have such good results. So enthusiasm is the key to success in any aspect of devotional service. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī has said, uttānāśca dhāryat, when we are chanting a round or the service of the pujari or sweeping the floor, one should be enthusiastic. So distribution of this knowledge is our number one business. And everyone connected to ISKCON, doesn't matter which one or ashrama you belong to, our real focus should be preaching. How we can distribute this transcendental knowledge by which people can cross over the ocean of nescience.

So to summarize the verse, Maitreya Rishi is pointing out how the Lord, after speaking to Kadama Muni, sitting on the backs of Garuda, is going back to the Vaikuntha planets. But someone may say here that, "Okay, the Garuda was chanting hymns of Sama Veda. Why don't we start that also?" Why don't we start chanting the hymns of Sama Veda, Rig Veda and all that? So Prabhupada in the last line of the purport makes it very clear. He says, "In hearing the flapping of his wings, vibrating the sound of Hare Kṛṣṇa, that's the essence of the Sama Veda." So the essence, so that we don't turn to the Sama Veda and the Rig Veda and start chanting those mantras, the essence of Sama Veda is chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So our real business is to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra attentively and respectfully. And the more attentive we are, the greater will be the spiritual advancement we will be able to make. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Krishna Krishna, hale hale. Hale rama hale. Rama rama hale hale.