In this devotional lecture, Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī Mahārāja explains that Lord Krishna’s primary concern—or “headache”—is not material anxieties but the rescue of conditioned souls back to the divine. He illustrates this with analogies of a mother finding her child and a doctor restoring sight, emphasizing the gratitude Krishna feels when souls help each other. The speaker uses the metaphor of crows (materialistic beings) turning into swans (spiritual aspirants) to describe the transformation encouraged by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda through preaching and book distribution. Prabhupāda’s vision that these books will become the world’s law books, his focus on Sankirtana newsletters, and his prophetic confidence that Krishna consciousness will spread globally across nations are highlighted. The lecture concludes with a call for all people—regardless of occupation or life stage—to adopt Krishna consciousness as the main goal of life, aligning daily activities with Krishna’s divine orders.
Chapters
Krishna is not in anxiety. Krishna is in lot of anxiety. What is His anxiety? How to bring the conditioned souls back to Him. This is Krishna's headache. You and I have a headache. How am I going to buy a new car? How am I going to get a trip abroad? How am I going to get a nice wife or children and so on? But Kṛṣṇa's headache is different. So Kṛṣṇa's headache is how to bring His lost children back to Him. Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was talking to Haridas Thakura, He said, "Haridas, how will all these yāvanas be saved? These yāvanas are disrespectful to the Vedic culture and they're killing the cows." So Haridas said, Haridas got it. He said, "Prabhu, cintanakārya, my dear Lord, please do not worry." Hārāma, Hārāma, balikāye nama bhāse. By chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa, they'll all get saved. Just like suppose a mother loses her child in the road and you find that child and bring it back to the mother, will the mother not be very grateful to you? Suppose you have no eyes and a doctor does the operation and gives your eyesight back, will you not be grateful to him? Da, isn't it? Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is very grateful when any conditioned soul helps bring another conditioned soul back. Presently the society is like crows. I'm sure there are crows in your country, but I don't see them. Where do you hide the crows in your country? In India you see the crows everywhere. Okay. So you may know that the crows are attracted to garbage and the swans are attracted to something clean. So Prabhupāda used to say our business is to convert the crows into swans. Just like before we were all attracted to— we were all like crows, isn't it? We were all eating Devotees were eating meat, intoxication, illicit sex, and so on. Now they are trying to become like swans. They are developing good spiritual habits. So Prabhupāda used to encourage the devotees to go out and preach. Preaching is what makes a Vaiṣṇava dear to Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda encouraged book distribution because he said these books will one day become the law books of the world. Just like at lunchtime I was speaking to the major while eating prasad. And he told me how he was, he is a professor, how he preaches out of the Gita. So, these books will one day become the law books of the world. So, these books contain information for the whole civilization. These books are so powerful that even if somebody touches these books, he can get a human birth again. And if somebody takes these books home, then even if he doesn't read it today, he will read it tomorrow. In your country, people are very fond of reading. People love to read philosophy in your country. Your country has produced so many philosophers, but who can be a bigger philosopher than Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa can defeat every argument. So by engaging in book distribution, we are giving Prabhupāda and the whole disciplic succession an opportunity to go into the heart of the conditioned soul and preach to him, "Wake up, wake up, wake up." So Prabhupāda is watching the activities of all your devotees from his Vaikuntha position. Prabhupāda, when he was on the planet, his secretary would bring the mail. The first thing that Prabhupāda would say is, "Show me Sankirtana Newsletter. How many books given in different parts of the world?" So one who preaches, one who undergoes difficulties on behalf of the Lord, he is never forgiven by the Lord. When the Vāsāmuni went to the Lord, what did the Lord say? He said, "My devotees, they give up everything for Me. So I can never forget them. I can never repay them." "So all of you devotees are very glorious because you have accepted Lord Caitanya's philosophy. And not only have you accepted it, I can see that all of you devotees are so fond of book distribution that you automatically want to do it. Nobody has to force you. Just like a hungry man is automatically attracted to food, all of you are naturally attracted to book distribution." So Prabhupāda, Prabhupāda was a great visionary. He was a perfectionist. He wanted everything pakka, perfect. All the 26 qualities that Caitanya Mahāprabhu described to Sanatana Gosvāmī that we discussed today, all 26 qualities were found in Prabhupāda. When Prabhupāda came to your country and he spoke to Dr. Kutowsky, he very clearly told him. What did he tell him? He told him, "If you want communism, communism has to be on the basis of the śāstras." Prabhupāda had sure confidence that Lord Caitanya's prediction that in every town and village this Kṛṣṇa consciousness will go will come true. And Thakur Bhaktivedānta Mahāprabhu had predicted 100 years ago. What? One day the Russians will come, the Americans will come, the Britishers will come, the Germans will come, and the Bengali Indians, and they'll all dance together in Māyāpur. So we should take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness enthusiastically as our main goal in life. And if you take Kṛṣṇa consciousness as the main goal of life, whether you are housewife, whether you are student, whether you are brahmachari, whether you are a grihasta, whether you are a sannyāsa, you can adjust your life so that Kṛṣṇa's orders are respected. So with these words, I'll end the discussion for today. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Thank you.
