In this devotional lecture, Gopal Krishna Goswami answers a series of questions from attendees about Vaishnava conduct, the nature of the material and spiritual bodies, how one becomes spiritually qualified, the role of suffering, and the purpose of book distribution. He explains that Vaishnavas must sometimes act diplomatically with non‑devotees, that the material body is a vehicle belonging to Krishna and that a spiritual body is granted only after one attains spiritual qualification through chanting and adherence to prescribed principles. He clarifies that suffering can either draw a soul toward Krishna or further it away, depending on past karma, illustrating the point with the Gajendra‑crocodile story from the Bhagavata. The talk then shifts to practical guidance on book distribution, emphasizing its centrality in spreading Krishna consciousness, the challenges devotees face, and the spiritual merit attached to persevering in this activity. Throughout, Goswami stresses the Vaishnava ideal of universal compassion, the importance of humility, and reliance on Krishna’s grace.
Chapters
OK, Vapros. I am going to ask you all questions also. I want to see how smart your devotees are.
You said about diplomacy. And, but we can be honest only with devotees. Is it true that we can be honest only with devotees? Because in material world—
I was talking about Vaishnava behavior. When you are dealing with non-devotees, you sometimes have to be diplomatic.
Why we are feeding our material body? Because it is not ours. We have some spiritual body. It is consist of mind.
You are feeding the material body because material body is a vehicle by which you can serve Kṛṣṇa and get purified. This body doesn't belong to you, belongs to Kṛṣṇa.
How do we get spiritual body?
First you must ask, how do you get spiritually qualified to get a spiritual body? Yes, Sri Daya Yogi. You get a spiritual body by first becoming spiritually qualified. So your next question should be, how do you get spiritually qualified? And you become spiritually qualified by following everything that we discussed in the lecture just now. And if you don't follow, then you can't get spiritually qualified. Then no spiritual body.
It is said that everything spiritual is eternal, but, and What is eternal? It never created. It's about spiritual body.
Once you get qualified, then you get it. By chanting and following regular principles, you'll get qualified.
His point was, as I understand, that how can we get spiritual body if all the spiritual things are ever existing? So at least now it appears we don't have it.
How is that?
Yes, it is eternal, but once you get qualified, then Kṛṣṇa will give you your spiritual body. Soul is eternal. Once you get the body, then it is permanent, but you can lose that body also.
What should we want? To go to the planet where Kṛṣṇa lives, or to or to have devotional service all the time.
Once you get qualified to go to spiritual planets, then Kṛṣṇa will give you the intelligence to how to serve Him.
Just like when you are in grade 2, you can't understand how to solve the problems of grade 11.
But when you reach grade 11, then you will know how to solve the problems of grade 11. Okay?
Yes.
Our Vaiṣṇava scriptures, it is said that we should not read other books. So, how do— has this some relation to this verse which we're discussing now? Is other books considered cultivation of nisa and so?
Other books means outside Prabhupada's books and books from our sampradaya.
The question is, is there any difference between ātmān-jīva?
No, ātmā, jīvātmā is the same thing.
The question is, what will be the result of suffering of living entity? It is said that due to suffering, the living entity will be improved. And, you know, in lectures of different gurus, there are different opinions, that sometimes it is said that due to suffering, because of suffering, living entity will be improved. And for example, Sukhottara Swami told that after suffering, when living entity will go to the hellish planet, his intellect will be degraded. So what's the question? The question is, so, yeah, it seems to be contradiction.
No contradiction. The point is, your question is, what happens after suffering? So there's no contradiction. I'll give you the simple answer, that is in the Bhāgavatam. If somebody has done pious deeds in his previous life, then suffering will bring him to Kṛṣṇa. And if he does not have pious background, then suffering will not bring him to Kṛṣṇa.
Why is it?
That one man in suffering comes to Kṛṣṇa, and another man in suffering turns to the vodka bottle. Why did all of you come to Kṛṣṇa, and the others in Riga are not coming? You want to know why? Because if you have pious karma behind you, then distress will bring you to Kṛṣṇa. And if you have sinful activities behind you, then distress will take you further away from God. I know people who have got into distress, and who have completely given up devotional service in Hare Kṛṣṇa. And I know people who in distress have made spiritual advancement. Queen Kuntī says, "Ifā du santu taha sāśvatātra tatra jagat-guru bahāvata-darśanam yātsrayat apunar bahāvata-darśanam." She says, "My dear Lord, please may my calamities increase more and more, because the more my problems increase, the more I meditate at the lotus feet." The more I meditate at the lotus feet, the faster will I get freedom from birth and death. In the Bhāgavatam there is a very nice story of Gajendra. You all know that story? How many people don't know anything about the story? You want to hear? I was thinking today of giving you a short class because my throat was all bad. But it ended up becoming a longer class. So I will tell you the story.
So Gajendra He was an elephant. He was in the water playing with sea elephants. He had his feet caught in the crocodile's mouth. Now, Gajendra for 1000 years was trying to pull his feet out of the crocodile's mouth. No success. The demigods were all watching the match thinking, "Now Gajendra will come to them for help." But Gajendra, he tried for 1000 years to get his legs out of the crocodile's mouth. No, but he could not succeed.
But in his previous life, Vidyāndra had been a devotee of the Lord.
So he remembered only Kṛṣṇa can help him. And then he turned to Kṛṣṇa for help. So Prabhupāda says in the purport that if one has done pious activities, then in difficulty he will turn to Kṛṣṇa. That's why when a devotee is in difficulty, he takes to Kṛṣṇa.
And a non-devotee in difficulty, he takes drugs, liquor, illicit sex, so on.
Should devotee, you know, help some people who are in difficulties, noshthikhini deshta, natural catastrophes. Yeah, natural catastrophes.
Yes, like when you had that earthquake in Armenia, we were doing prasad distribution. We should have, even in Riga, everywhere you can do prasad distribution if your facilities allow. All over the world, in America they do, in Europe they do prasad distribution, Food for Life.
And can we send some money to the fund, you know, children funds? No!
What is the point in sending money to children fund if the children are going to be trained up in sinful activities? So how many devotees take part in book distribution?
Books, books, books.
Prabhupāda always said book distribution is our most important activity. Not because book distribution makes any profit, but because through the medium of these books, the ignorance of the living entity can be destroyed. Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed His disciples and associates to go and preach. Even Lord Nityānanda was ordered, "Go and preach in every house in Bengal." Jāye dakotāye kahho, Kṛṣṇa upadeśa. About Kṛṣṇa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu established the mood of preaching. A Vaiṣṇava is para-duḥkha-duḥkī. That means when he sees somebody else in distress, he becomes distressed. Just like if you have pain, let's say, on the toe, that pain will affect the whole body. You have pain in one tooth, it can affect the whole body. So similarly, a Vaiṣṇava is affected as long as the others are trying to enjoy this material existence. Vaiṣṇava's vision is we are all members of the same family. Now people are saying, "No, no, no, only these people are members of this republic." So this is one family, yours is different family, that is one family. This is not the Vaiṣṇava's concept. We are all members of Kṛṣṇa's family. In material life they have a philosophy: "Misery loves company." If I am unhappy, I want to see you unhappy. If I am poor, I want to see you are also poor.
One blind man likes to see see everyone is blind.
But that is not the Vaishnava philosophy. Vaishnava philosophy is everyone has to be made happy on the spiritual platform. The Vaishnava is always thinking, how can I send everyone back to Godhead? But you can only send others back to Godhead if you yourself go back to Godhead. If you don't go back to Godhead, how can you take others back to Godhead? Charity begins at home. So book distribution means letting Prabhupāda and all the great ācāryas go into the house of the Sergys, the Alexanders, the Voleries, the Ludmilās and the Urdmilās and letting them preach. Prabhupāda said, "As long as book distribution goes on, I will never die." And Narottama Das ṭhākura says, "The Vaiṣṇava never dies when thou art living still and sound." When you are living in your instructions. So these books are so powerful, Prabhupāda said, even if somebody touches these books, he can get a human birth. Prabhupāda has a great desire to see books distributed in your country. I know this better than anyone because Prabhupāda personally spoke to me and sent me to your country in 1976 and '77 to do book distribution. Prabhupāda was very keen that we put these books in all the libraries of Soviet Union, etc. And Prabhupāda had full faith that these Soviet people are very intelligent. So once they start reading these books, then they will take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The people of your country, have the highest— your country has the highest literacy rate on this planet, even higher than America. And the people of your country are very fond of reading, and they are very fond of reading philosophy. And they do not have so much distraction like in the Western countries. In the Western countries, in every corner there is a naked nightclub and bar and so on. But in your country, these facilities are restricted. So people, when they are given these books, they read these books. Prabhupāda said these books are so powerful, even if somebody touches these books, he can get a human birth again. So this activity of book distribution is being executed by the most confidential devotees of Lord Caitanya. So those who are engaging in book distribution, they have to go through so much difficulty. When you approach someone with a book, there's no— he's not going to say, "Good, karaśo! This is what I was waiting for." 1 in 10 may say that, but 9 in 10 will say, "What is this book? Where is this coming from? Bhagavad-gītā? I never even heard of it. Give me something like Potskine or these philosophers, Tolstoy. Bhagavad-gītā? I have never heard of it. So, and Krishna? Is this the same as Christ?" You say, "No. How come I never heard of this?" So when you go on book distribution, you have to depend completely on the mercy of Guru and Krishna. Kṛṣṇa is in your heart and He's in the heart of the person you are approaching. So if Kṛṣṇa wants, He can make you sell 200 books in a day, 100, 1,000, any amount. Kṛṣṇa is in the heart of all the conditioned souls. So Kṛṣṇa can inspire the conditioned soul. Every time you see a Hare Kṛṣṇa devotee, please take a book. So Kṛṣṇa in your heart, He is studying your sincerity. Just like when you pass through a garden, just by smelling the flavor of the flower, just by smelling the flower, You can identify which flower it is. So similarly, Kṛṣṇa can identify what your desires are. So as the Paramātmā, Kṛṣṇa is recognizing your desires, and when He sees that your desire is very sincere, then Kṛṣṇa tells the conditioned soul, "Not take this book, don't argue, pay him 25 rupees." And when Kṛṣṇa sees that the devotee is trying but not so sincere, Then Krishna will make you try harder and harder. Krishna will always make us try harder and harder. Just like, you remember when all of you were children and when you wanted to take something off a shelf that was on the top, then you would jump up, but you would be few inches below the target. The next time you would jump up even higher, and by trying it few times, eventually you would get it. And then when you get it, you have a feeling of accomplishment. Ha, I've gained something. But if you get something very easily, then it has no value. So Kṛṣṇa doesn't give you success easily. He'll always make you work hard. See how hard Prabhupāda had to work. 25 years Prabhupāda was struggling. Isn't it? So rest I'll give you tomorrow. This was only a trailer.
Trailer.
Like, you know, when you go to see a movie.
Yeah.
So they show you next movie to come in the city. So they'll show you a little bit.
Is that okay, Gaurada?
Tomorrow I'll give them more tips on book distribution. Hare Krishna! Hare Kṛṣṇa!
