The incorporation of ISKCON in New York | ISKCON Vrindavan | 11.07.2023| Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna. Can you hear me in the back? My voice is not so loud. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So all of you know that today is a very special day. What is special about today?

Incorporation of ISKCON.

Incorporation of ISKCON. In New York.

New York.

On July 11th, 1966. So Prabhupāda was ordered by his spiritual master. Prabhupāda met Bhaktisiddhānta Mahāprabhu for the first time in 1922 in Calgary. A friend of Prabhupāda said, "There's a very special person I want you to meet, Sadhu." And Prabhupāda said, "I met many sadhus." But Prabhupāda's father used to be a host. I'm not impressed by any of them, but his friend and Prabhupāda's boys, which he dragged him to meet Bhaktisiddhānta Mahāprabhu. Bhaktisiddhānta Mahāprabhu in the first meeting with Śrīla Prasāda RAVALA, he is that powerful, empowered youth who will be able to spread Kṛṣṇa Mahāprabhu's logic in the Western countries. So Prabhupāda endeavored, took his spiritual master's instruction to heart, and finally in 1965, after a great struggle, he sailed for America. He went on a passenger ship. Passenger ship is like a goods train, and there were only two berths in that. One was occupied by by Prabhupāda. And then Prabhupāda landed and, you know, on the journey he had 2 heart attacks. And Prabhupāda thought, when he had the second heart attack— can you all hear me clearly in the back?

No?

Who said no? So Prabhupāda had two heart attacks, and after the second attack he thought, "My mission will not be successful." Well, that night Prabhupāda had a dream in which the Supreme Lord and Demigod were rowing the boat in which Prabhupāda was a passenger, and Prabhupāda felt assured. The Lord assured Prabhupāda, Prabhupāda, your mission will be successful. Don't worry. So Prabhupāda landed in New York and initially went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Raghavan, who had invited Prabhupāda. That's how he got his visa. And Prabhupāda was staying over there. Then everybody who would phone Mrs. Raghavan Who is the sadhu who is staying in your house? Mrs. Aggarwal was a smart lady. She said, everyone's calling me and everyone's forwarding me. I'll have a press conference in which everything will be revealed. So there was a press conference and in a newspaper called the Butler Eagle, they published Prabhupāda's interview. And one philosophy professor from Slippery Rock, was it Slippery Rock College? He saw the article and he invited Prabhupāda to lecture at the university. So Prabhupāda went there and Prabhupāda was very happy that he got an invitation from a university professor. To lecture to the students. And that is what Prabhupāda had gone to West Point to preach to the Americans. So after Prabhupāda's lecture, Prabhupāda would always say, "Any question?" And the questions that were asked by the students were very thought-provoking. Prabhupāda was very impressed by the quality of the questions And he decided that he should leave Mr. Agarwal's hospitality and go to New York. So Baba came to New York and he had to go through a very rough period. He was once staying in a Bowery. Bowery is the most— Bowery is the location in New York very few, nothing but drug addicts and drunkards. Baba stayed over there and finally Baba started his preaching and when he first started his paitha, where? In Tompkins Square Park. If you go to Tompkins Square Park now, you'll see they have a plaque and say, this is where the Hare Krishna movement, Faujārācārya, started preaching. So Prabhupāda was gradually attracting some followers, and Prabhupāda's ultimate goal was to get a temple, to get his society established. Prabhupāda was once sitting There was an American, Mr. Rubin. He was a bus conductor. And Prabhupāda was sitting on a bench, and Mr. Rubin came and sat next to him. And Mr. Rubin asked him, "Sir, what do you do? What's your profession?" And Prabhupāda said, a preacher, and I am going to preach. And there are temples and books which are not presently with me, but only time is separating them. I have many temples and books. So Prabhupāda was always confident, and as he Nochitanya's prediction, the holy name will be taken to every corner of the world, will succeed. So Prabhupada has some followers and they— Prabhupada's real goal was to get a center. Prabhupada didn't even have the money and they rented a facility, a second-hand and Prabhupāda, he just had the rent for the 4th month. He took a gamble and Krishna started sending the money. And Prabhupāda had started in the meantime Bhagavad-gītā classes. So one month after starting the Bhagavad-gītā classes, Prabhupāda Prabhupāda wanted to incorporate his school. There was a devotee and he knew a lawyer called Mr. Goldsmith. Mr. Goldsmith was a Jewish lawyer. He had two children and he had some interest in spiritual topics. So he was invited by one of the new devotees to meet Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda was discussing with him how we should set up a society. So Prabhupāda had few followers at that time, and when Prabhupāda consulted him, that now we must register our society. Prabhupāda had business in all college, so he knew the importance of registering as a society. So there was a discussion going on, what should we name our society, what name should we give? And most of the people who were assembled said we should call this International Society for God God consciousness. People do not know Kṛṣṇa, but God everyone knows. So his, Prabhupāda's audience was pretty unanimous on the point that we should call it International Society of God Consciousness. But Prabhupāda said, "No! This is a little vague. We should be very clear." explicit. And Prabhupāda said, "We should call this society International Society for—" "Krishna Consciousness." So Prabhupāda was financially in a weak position, but still he did not compromise. So Mr. Goldsmith also said, "Krishna Consciousness, nobody will understand." Prabhupāda said, "You should be specific." and he insisted the name be International Society of Literature. So in order to register a society, at that time, to register a society, you had to get a certain number of supporters or trustees. So at that time, Prabhupāda didn't have any committed disciple, and he just had started giving lectures on the Bhāgavad-gītā in the evening on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So Mr. Goldsmith said, "Prabhupāda, we have to register the society and we should get X number of signatures. So Goldsmith just announced to the audience that came to hear the class, "Now I want all of you to sign your name and your address." And after he got the required number of names, Goldsmith was satisfied. Now Michael Grant land. So Prabhupada was discussing with Mr. Goldsmith that I want this society to be tax-free. Tax-free means you don't pay tax, and those who donate to you, they get tax exemption. So Prabhupada he wore his old clothes. I want a society where there can be tax exemption and which conveys our purpose. And so Prabhupāda at that time knew. At that time Prabhupāda hardly had money to pay the rent. And the entire followers of Prabhupāda were hippies. In fact, when Prabhupāda was lecturing, the only non-hippie in the audience was Mr. Goldsmith, the lawyer who would come to hear Prabhupāda's lectures with his two sons. So Prabhupāda at that time, at that time, time, Prabhupada was struggling to even pay the rent, but he could foresee the day will come when the society will be very big and people could donate huge amounts of money. And Prabhupada said we should get all the facilities that a religious society should get. In India, religious societies are not actually in the Western world they are, and in some parts of the world the government matches the donation that you give to the temple. So Prabhupāda registered ISKCON on June 11th, July 11th, 1966. So Mr. Goldsmith created a society in which Donors would get tax deduction and it would have bona fide religious society. Now, what should be the goal of the society? In any trust document that any of you have read, you will see that first is a memorandum and then there is objects of the trust. What is the trust going to to do. The object, objects will be specified, and the objects match the, match the laws, then they get their facility. So ISKCON was established, and Prabhupāda listed the 7 goals of ISKCON. These 7 goals Those rules were the same that Prabhupāda had given when he established League of Devotees in Jhansi. Prabhupāda, before he went to the West, he was struggling to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness in India. And he was in Jhansi, and he was very encouraged by the response he got. And in Jhansi, Prabhupāda created a society called League of Devotees. So the objective Prabhupāda finally incorporated in the New York document was very similar to the object that Prabhupāda had established in League of Devotees. So we discuss the 7 objectives objects, is that right? Can you hear me in the back? Okay, so you're the same objects, more very similar what Prabhupada had written in 1953 for the League of Devotees of the World. First point: 7 purposes of the International Society of Krishna to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check imbalance of values in life and to achieve unity and peace in the world. Prabhupāda issued a comment that They had the United Nations, and they had another body before that, and it was created to establish peace. But what are we seeing? Seeing that it's the opposite. Because Prabhupāda said, "ISKCON will be the real society that can bring peace to the world." Because in our philosophy, we understand that God is the proprietor and enjoyer and the creator. So Prabhupāda says, first purpose is to propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large. So there are so many schools and colleges everywhere. In India, especially, every college you see a school. Now, are they giving any spiritual education? The Ātmānanda said, "Ātmānanda Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, spiritual life should be cultivated, spiritual knowledge should be cultivated in the age of 5." But by and large society doesn't recognize it. So Prasāda Raaval said, The first objective of our society is going to be to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to the society at large. So, how do you propagate spiritual knowledge? By preaching and by preaching and educating others. So, Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj used to say, If at all there's a shortage of anything on the planet, it is what? It's knowledge of God, spiritual knowledge. I was once lecturing in a university in America, and that university had 23 departments, and no department for— they had 2,300 departments for it. I asked them, "Any department that gives spiritual knowledge?" There was— Prabhupāda was lecturing in a university in Washington, and he said, "In the great institute, is there any department that tells you what happens after death?" There was complete silence. So one of the objects of ISKCON is to propagate spiritual knowledge. Knowledge and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life. Prabhupada emphasized simple living, high thinking. The materialistic philosophy is the opposite. Their philosophy is high living and simple thinking. Make more of a steal, live as high as you can, and think poorly like the Eating, sleeping, defending, invading. So Prabhupāda said we should give to the society spiritual knowledge and teach people the values of life. People don't know what the goal of life is. They are in ignorance. And we can see how Prabhupāda single-handedly came to America Hardly any luxury with him, but he had his books. He had confidence that people will take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness if they are presented with the real truth. When Prabhupāda first came— when Prabhupāda first came to New York, the sannyāsis, the kūruṣṭhas, the swamis, who were staying there, "Swāmi Jī, you are new to our country, to this country. If you go in 'noti kosa', nobody will listen to you." But Prabhupāda refused to compromise. So Prabhupāda always presented the truth. Therefore, when people would ask him, "Why your Bhāgavad-gītā called 'asita'?" Prabhupāda would explain, Why he named it as that. So the first object, the first object of this colony is to propagate spiritual knowledge. And second, to propagate the consciousness of Kṛṣṇa as it is revealed in the Bhāgavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That's what is there. So the second objective is to propagate knowledge as it is revealed in the Bhāgavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. So the beauty of Prabhupāda's presentation is he never compromised. He didn't compromise when it was a question of naming the society. He did not compromise in his purpose. He presented the truth as it is. There have been There have been so many translations of the Bhagavad-gītā, but the other translations have hardly produced any devotees, whereas since the appearance of the Bhagavad-gītā as it is, this Bhagavad-gītā as it is is now available in more than 60 languages around the world, and people all over the world have— Few years ago we printed the Bhagavad-gītā in Karachi, Pakistan also. So Prabhupāda is saying, the object of our society is to reveal the knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is beautiful. People use the Bhāgavatam for commercial reasons. There are many kanakās who Prasad RAVAL will start, stay with Rasa Lila for a long time. The Bhagavadam presents this, Srila, only after having presented Krishna's childhood pastime, after having established the Krishna philosophy. So Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavadam are both most important books of knowledge. Most important books of knowledge. Knowledge. And Bhagavad-gītā has to be read as it is. Śrīmad-bhāgavatam, the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge. Na sta-pra-eṣya-vuṇa-eṣu netiṁ bhāgavat-srīvayaḥ. Bhāgavatī is the most spoken. See Bhāgavatī. And regularly hearing the Śrīmad-bhāgavatam, all that inner species in the heart will be destroyed. So Prabhupāda says Our goal is to present our Gītā-hān. Śrīla Mahāprabhu, when he sailed to the West from Calcutta, he took with him some pamphlets, a small booklet. In that booklet he had written, we have presented Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in 60 volumes. That was Prabhupāda's original intention. Spiritual concept. So that is the objective of ISKCON. That's why in ISKCON temples, in the morning we study the Bhagavatam, in the evening we study the— see, to bring— third, to bring the members of the society together with each other in nearer to Krishna, the prime entity. That's to develop the idea within the members and humanity at large, is each soul a part and parcel of the quality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa. So this is again more or less the same point. Our goal is what? To bring the majorities of society together. So are people together today? Yes. Are people together today? Yes. Is there unity? There is complete disunity. In the fourth kendra of the Bhagavatam, the Lord was very pleased with the austerity of the prachetas. So the Lord told the prachetas, I'm very pleased by all of you because all of you brothers have only one occupation. And what is that one occupation? Devotional service. Devotional service. Therefore, ask me whatever you want. So the Lord is pleased when he sees that you all have one occupation. Similarly, in a temple, you may— you have devotees from different background, different parts of the world, but they work together. Why? Because they have a common goal of pleasing Krishna. So Prabhupāda is saying Society is disunited. Papa Ji used to quote this phrase, united we stand, divided we fall. Is that right? So unity is very important. Unity can only be achieved if we are focused on the central point, to please Krishna. Similarly, even amongst devotees, unless we have Krishna's interest as paramount and our mission is mainly to serve Krishna, there will not be unity. The politicians, they arrive at peace talks, they come to peace talks, they make peace agreements, but no time is broken. So, what is the society needs is this spiritual knowledge. Then D, to teach and encourage the sankirtan movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God as revealed in the teachings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So another objective of this college is to encourage the sankirtan movement. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the pioneer Hare Krishna movement, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu had gone on a trip of South India, and on that trip of South India, thousands of people would come to see him everywhere, and he was just inspired and very charmed. Once a grihastha, kurma, greeted, welcomed Mahāprabhu where he is above. He said, "I am very unhappy at home. Please can I join your movement?" Prabhupāda saw, Lord Caitanya saw, he had a wife and children. Prabhupāda, he said, "No! You stay where you are. Chant the Holy Name and preach the glories of the Holy Name. Read the scriptures by which you have power and preach their glory. In this way, you will never be separated from me, and I will never be separated from you. So whoever came to see Lord Caitanya, he would give everyone the same instruction. So one of the objects of the Krishna Consciousness movement is to propagate the same movement. So the Samkhita movement is all over the world. All over the world we see that people love the Hare Krishna. In Moscow— you've heard of Moscow? Okay. In Moscow they have 5 Samkhita parties going on every day. It's a big city. 5 Samkhita parties going on every day. So the Hare Krishna Samkhita Kīrtan is a very powerful tool. Unfortunately, we know it's not being pushed at the same speed as it was at one time. So this is— Prabhupāda started this movement by some kīrtan. Twinkies and Tommies were a part. So this chanting of the Holy Name, congregational chanting of the Holy Name, is very attractive. Like, you know, Russian Kīrtan party here. They go out every day. So they get a very positive response. So sāṁkīrtana is welcome by everyone, appreciated by everyone. So Prabhupāda is saying, one of the objects is to spread the sāṁkīrtana movement, congregational chanting of the Holy Name. So congregational chanting of the Holy Name Prasad Raaval is so powerful that if you take part in it, your heart will get cleansed. And the community chanting can be done by anyone. There's no hard and fast rule. In many cities of the world, regularly, the Sangha Gatha parties go out. In fact, in some places people complain, we don't see a Sangha Gatha party anymore. So propagating the Samkhita movement of Lord Caitanya is one of our objects. To, to erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastime dedicated to the personality of Godhead. So after Prabhupada established the movement in America, America, Canada, and parts of Europe, Prabhupāda started meditating on India. And Prabhupāda was very keen that we establish major centers in Vrindavan and Mayapur. Prabhupāda was very keen that we have a center in Vrindavan in Mayapur, where his disciples come from the whole world to take shelter and to hear about the Lord's pastime. So right after the movement was established, Prabhupāda started writing and looking for land. He was looking for land in Vrindavan, and one day he was thinking of having a college. Temple. Prabhupada wanted a location, an institute where his foreign disciples could be educated in Krishna consciousness. So one of the objects of this society is to erect temples where? In the holy dharm. When we come to the holy dharm, our mood should be I should hear from some sadhu philosophy by which I can see the goal of life. The mood should not be, "Oh, I'm going to a place of pilgrimage, I'll leave my sins behind," come back and sin again, then come back again for atonement. That should not be our mood. Our mood when we go to the holy dhamma philosophy, to hear philosophy that will help you to understand the goal of life. So Prabhupāda initially wanted a temple in Vrindavan, and he was looking for land. When he heard that somebody had land, What's the name? Devi Shakti? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I forgot. So the Saraf family, they were planning on building, having a petrol pump here. And they said, okay. So Prabhupāda convinced them. They gave them the land. Similarly, in Mayapur, Prabhupāda sent Tamākriṣṇa Mūrāja. Prabhupada wanted land in Mayapur. Certain vested interests were making it difficult. Eventually, Prabhupada's disciples succeeded in buying the land, and then you see the development of Mayapur. So Prabhupada was a great visionary. So he knew that I must have a place in the holy land where my disciples can come and be trained in Krishna consciousness. So that was one of the objects of ISKCON, to have places of education in the, in, in the Dham, a holy place of transcendental pastime. Then next, to bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life. So we had to be exempt temporary. As I said, simple living and high thinking. Simple living means you minimize your bodily needs, you minimize your social needs, and high thinking, always think about how can I achieve the goal of life? Asādha brahmajñāya sādha. How can I achieve the goal of life? That is what we should be meditating. So, we Should we have to preach? How do you lead a simple life? Prabhupāda was very interested in farm projects. The first real farm that ISKCON had in the West was in New Vrindavan. And Prabhupāda's mood was that he wanted to show to the world the importance of cow production cow protection, the benefits of cow protection, and where people will live a simple life and just society. Today you see pollution levels are very high. It's getting warmer day by day, isn't it? If you look at the global situation, the whole world is getting warmer day by day, and that's a byproduct of leading a polluted life, and we want to have unlimited demands, unlimited wishes. You see in the house of rich people, 4, 5, 6 cars, and in each car there's only 1 person travelling. So, this is a shoddy society, simple living, and high thinking. Then, With a view towards— this is the last, seventh— with a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books, and other writings. So Prabhupāda is saying, in order to achieve the first 6 goals of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, What is necessary? Periodicals, books, magazines. Namely, books. Prabhupāda started the Bhakti-godhead magazine. Initially, Prabhupāda started Bhakti-godhead. It was more like a one-page, two-page newspaper. But then One librarian told Prabhupāda, "This is good, but these people will read and throw away. If you must have books, then people will keep." And Prabhupāda said, "I took this as a message from Kṛṣṇa." And then he started focusing more on books. Of course, in 1935, when Prabhupāda was in Rādhākoṇḍa, when Mākhiti-dānda-ji was leading a big prayer Krishna Prabhupāda, he told Prabhupāda, he drew a picture of a mṛṣṣaṅga and he said, if Krishna gave you the facility, then what should you do? You print book. So Prabhupāda, in the last 7th, in the 7th objective of ISKCON, is making it clear that the first 6 can only be realized if we all to do books. Prabhupada emphasized book production and book distribution. Prabhupada himself would get up in the night, 10 o'clock, and translate books all night till the next morning. Even when— even during his last days in Mridavan, where he could barely speak barely talked. He, with the assistance of several devotees, did the translation of Tārikānta Pāda 2 and 3. So Prabhupāda emphasized the importance of book distribution and book reading, because if you educate a society, you have to educate a society based on what? Based on the scriptural support. Religion means the words of God. Dharmam te sakshyat bhagavat paridham. So unless we broadcast the words of the Lord, society will not get exposed to real religion. So Prabhupada said one of our objectives is to publish and distribute periodically Prabhupada periodical he made a separate trust to publish books. What is that trust called? Mākhīrādhā Book Trust. Prabhupāda established two trusts, one ISKCON, and after ISKCON was established, he established Mākhīrādhā Book Trust, the purpose of which is to print and distribute books. So, book distribution is very important. Prabhupāda said, "If you want to please me," then what do you do? Prabhupāda said, "These books are so powerful, that even if you read one word and apply to your life, you can make it successful." So, seventh objective is to publish and distribute. Of course, not mentioned here, but Prabhupāda implied this, you also have to study these books. Just print and distribute and you don't study the books, would that be of great advantage? No. So you should study these books. And therefore, to study these books we have morning class, evening class, In addition, you can do private reading. Because spiritual knowledge is very necessary if you want to succeed spiritually. Therefore reading, Prasad RAVAL said, when Kṛṣṇa sees that you are reading his books, Kṛṣṇa says, "Here is someone who is trying to understand me." So let me give the understanding which you can come to me. So this principle of reading, printing, and distribution should be done by everyone. And if you do this, you'll change the face of the world. So today's Vivekananda's Pushpa is day, the day that Prabhupāda incorporated ISKCON. And Prabhupāda said, this ISKCON movement will go on spreading for the next 10,000 years. Kali Yuga is progressing, and the Golden Era of Lord Caitanya's teachings will also go on spreading. So our goal should be to study Read a book. These books are source of knowledge. Rāja-vidyā, rāja-kriyā. And if we study the books, we sharpen our intelligence. And with sharp intelligence, you can discriminate between what is desirable and what is undesirable. So Prabhupāda created this ISKCON Society. This ISKCON word is so popular in India. That every month we had to file a court case against someone. Why? Because everyone was imitating ISKCON. I-S-K-C-O-N, they will publish it. ISKCON with K not there, okay. They'll just remove one alphabet. The pronunciation is ISKCON, but The spending is not the same. There were big businessmen in Ahmedabad, a builder. He had his own mall, his own theatre, his own— So we told him, this is not proper. And we have several court cases going on. He said, I will fight till the end. This is called, he was so lucky, I won't give up. He said, he made his whole fortune tortured after he started using the name ISKCON. So ISKCON is Prabhupāda's— Prabhupāda coined this word on occasion of the offering of Rūpa Gosvāmī in Pudiāgali, and we should get totally absorbed in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So on this auspicious day, we should thank Prabhupāda for for having taken the trouble to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Today when we see, we have all the facilities, isn't it? You have big temples, you want to go out, you get a vehicle. In fact, people get spoiled when they join this cause. They get spoiled in the sense, they get to see so many conveniences. When Prabhupada was in Vrindavan, he would take a tonga to go to Mathura, and he would travel in the third-class compartment from Mathura to Delhi. Then he would take a cycle rickshaw, go to the printer, he was publishing a book. And when he was translating the Bhāgavatam, he was using a broken typewriter. Somebody had given him. So, and today when you go somewhere, you have someone to receive you, isn't it? You go somewhere and your chances are you have a vehicle to take you. You go somewhere, someone's there to pick you up. In Prabhupāda's time, he went through all No one to help him, no one to say bye-bye, no one to receive him, but he still struggled and established the ISKCON movement. So the ISKCON movement, Prabhupada presides. Purity is a force, so we should follow the principles of purity and encourage purity, and that will give strength. And purity is very important. So this day we can thank Prabhupāda for having been here, ISKCON, for having struggled in India and the West, and finally created a society that is destined to go on for the next 1000 years. Prabhupāda said, Rāja-dhāna is already predicted that the Holy Name will be chanted in every town and willing. If you do it, you can take the credit, but if you don't do it, somebody else will take the credit. So we are fortunate in that we have the opportunity to engage in service in Prabhupāda's cause. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Anyone wants to make some comments? They reject me? Anyone wants to make some comments? Yes, question. Could you all hear in the back?

Thanks for your class. My question is that— yeah, so you told that there are 7— everybody has 7 systemic rules, 7 objectives, and all the 6 objectives depend on the seventh one, that is publishing and spreading periodical magazines, book distribution. So how to get out of the comfort zone and prepare ourselves to fulfill all the seventh objective so that all the six are fulfilled?

Rather purity, the fourth, we should endeavor to distribute books, read books, That will make your spiritual foundation very strong, and then you'll be able to fight Maya. We should read, hear the glories of preaching. If you want to think about comfort— have you heard this word comfort zone before? Becoming increasingly popular in ISKCON. So comfort zone means I will serve Kṛṣṇa, but on my terms. I will have this, I will have this, I will have this. Whereas a devotee's understanding is, whichever the situation is, I should engage in service. Just because it's cold or challenging, we don't say we won't execute service. Thank you.

I was also appreciating, I was appreciating that how Prabhupāda struggled all alone to build up the family of ISKCON, because he was not having any cars or any facilities, going by road. And now we have multiple cars to pick up from the airport, go everywhere for distribution, raise funds, others appreciating your statement.

Our mood of service should be, I will serve as needed, not I will serve as I want. I will serve as whatever is needed. Just like in the army, you have no choice. If they transfer you to Kashmir, you have to go there. Our mood should be be the service is being done for Krishna. Okay, yeah, thank you so much. We go on for a few more, we go for another 5 minutes.

Yeah, yeah, thank you for the wonderful class, Maharaj. Um, again, about the seventh objective, today we see young people, some of them don't even read books, what to speak of spiritual, transcendental, philosophical literature, and audiovisual formats are more very, very popular. So to fulfill the 7th objective, would it be appropriate for us to focus then on audiovisual literature, podcasts, video series, and other things where we propagate Prabhupada's message through that?

Yes, you can do that also. Also doing that, but nothing could replace reading a book. If you read the books attentively, you absorb it. You see a video, it's good, especially video You can't be that serious.

Okay. Related to that sequence of the 7th flower of the lotus, we see the devotees, Maharaj, not reading but distributing, and then struggling to distribute the books because they want to distribute the book but without reading. How to convince them that reading is important compared to the distribution?

Well, the muris are realizing more and more the importance of reading. Now you have so many educational courses and it's called Śrībāgṣīśāsthi or Dīvāivaḥ. The muris are really realizing the importance of reading. Anything more and more?

Okay. Huh? Namaskaram, Maharaj. Yeah. Thank you, Maharaj, for explaining the 7 purposes of this form very nicely. So Maharaj, you said that people who are connected to this form ISKCON are so fortunate. So related to that, I have a question. Because there are so many fortunate souls who are connected to ISKCON, but after, if you see, there are so many, like, you know, because of so many movements floating, especially in Vrindavan, they are all, like, you know, I will not say all, some of them are leaving ISKCON and joining some other movement. Because I would definitely say they are unfortunate. So my question is, how do How can we bring them back to this movement? What tools and techniques we can use?

How can we bring them back to our movement? Sometimes people think, Prabhupāda's books are so basic. I want some prasādia, some special relationship. For us to even follow Prabhupāda's presentation in simple language is a challenge. They are unfortunate, those who get influenced by cheap talk. And even the revolution of Radha Krishna, people leave due to various reasons, but they have to realize that they made a mistake, then they can come back. Yeah.

Thank you for the very nice class. Just in continuation with Shri Rastnaviji's question, because everybody is hearing your class online and here, so there are devotees in Vrindavan that they go and listen to other Sadhus' lectures, so instead of listening to our discourses. So Maharaj, can you say something? So is that advisable?

Well, Prabhupāda said, "Everything you need to know is in my books." So we should not think that there is some special rādhā. Knowledge is not in Prabhupāda's books. And what will be the second part of your question?

That devotees are going and hearing from Prabhupāda's other disciples.

Yeah, best is just hear what is spoken in the classes in ISKCON and read Prabhupāda's books. And there are very few people who present as it is, no knowledge or description. I always encourage devotees to just listen to these panditas who give classes, and you should have these two classes every day, every temple. Okay, so thank you. Thank God