HG Anuttama Prabhu

[Guest guest]

>From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!

 

February 09, 2007

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 3.1.7-8

Speaker: HG Anuttama Prabhu

__

 

 

yada sabhayam kuru-deva-devyah

kesabhimarsam suta-karma garhyam

na varayam asa nrpah snusayah

svasrair harantyah kuca-kunkumani

 

TRANSLATION: The King did not forbid his son Duhsasana's abominable action

of grabbing the hair of Draupadi, the wife of the godly King Yudhisthira,

even though her tears washed the red dust on her breast.

 

dyute tv adharmena jitasya sadhoh

satyavalambasya vanam gatasya

na yacato 'dat samayena dayam

tamo-jusano yad ajata-satroh

 

TRANSLATION: Yudhisthira, who was born without any enemy, was unfairly

defeated in gambling. But because he had taken the vow of truthfulness, he

went off to the forest. When he came back in due course and begged the

return of his rightful share of the kingdom, he was refused by Dhrtarastra,

who was overwhelmed by illusion.

 

PURPORT: Maharaja Yudhisthira was the rightful heir to his father's kingdom.

But just to favoUr his own sons, headed by Duryodhana, Dhrtarastra, Maharaja

Yudhisthira's uncle, adopted various unfair means to cheat his nephews of

their rightful share of the kingdom. At last the Pandavas demanded only five

villages, one for each of the five brothers, but that was also refused by

the usurpers. This incident led to the War of Kuruksetra. The Battle of

Kuruksetra, therefore, was induced by the Kurus, and not the Pandavas.

As ksatriyas, the proper livelihood of the Pandavas was only to rule, and

not to accept any other occupation. A brahmana, ksatriya or vaisya will not

accept employment for his livelihood under any circumstances. [end of

purport]

 

 

(Invocatory prayers)

 

 

When I come to Mayapur every year, I always can't help but remember sitting

in various places and chanting or listening to class, all of the Vaisnavas

who have come and some gone either physically or spiritually in this

lifetime from our view. I would like to pause and give thanks to all of

those devotees who all of us owe great gratitude for for the work that they

did in building this temple, paying for this temple, installing and

worshipping these Deities, preaching to many of us who were very young

devotees so that we can be here today. Without those persons, even though

some of them may not today be active in devotional service, without their

kindness and sacrifices, many of us would not be here. So to them, Hare

Krsna.

 

So this is an interesting character study laid out here of the two

personalities of Dhrtarastra and Yudhisthira. In the two verses several

statements are made about Yudhisthira and about Dhrtarastra. So first of all

it is explained that Dhrtarastra offended Draupadi by not forbidding the

offence committed to her and he did it even despite the fact that she was

crying. She was vulnerable and even she was calling out for protection but

still he allowed this offence to go on. He allowed the unfair gambling

match, robbing the Pandavas of their kingdom, and he refused the request of

Yudhisthira even after they had gone away for so long to the forest, he

refused their request, being overwhelmed by illusion. This is Dhrtarastra's

nature in a nutshell.

 

Then Yudhisthira is described in these two verses: he has no enemy, he was

godly, he was truthful, and even though he shouldn't have in one sense, he

didn't need to, because of his conviction, his dedication to the vow of

truthfulness, he went to the forest and underwent so much difficulty.

 

So these are the two natures described in the verse. And in the purport

Prabhupada explains a little bit more: Dhrtarastra used unfair means to

cheat the Pandavas. He was a cheater, it was his nature and he used unfair

means. And it was he who actually induced the war due to his behaviour and

his inability to intercede in his evil son's plans. Yudhisthira was such an

exalted soul, he was willing to accept even five villages. Prabhupada

explained that not even that they wanted the five villages, but it is their

duty as ksatriyas, they cannot accept employment from someone else, they

have to administer something. So even that was driven out of their desire to

act properly according to dharma. And when they came back from their exile,

Yudhisthira only asked for their rightful share.

 

Such a contrast in personalities is given here and it gives us some insight,

we can understand the importance of proper character and proper behaviour of

a devotee of the Lord and of a pure-hearted person who is endeavouring to

become a devotee of the Lord.

 

In one sense Yudhisthira and Dhrtarastra are exact opposites, but in another

sense they're actually very similar. If we look at their circumstances, they

both had some relationship with Krsna, close or far, they both had some

relationship to that exalted family. They both were kings. They both were

wealthy. They both were powerful. They both came from honourable lineages.

They both had full opportunity to hear from great personalities, they had

the opportunity to serve great personalities, and to choose to act properly.

 

One made the right choice; the other made the wrong choice. Thus in history,

King Yudhisthira is glorified, whereas Dhrtarastra is condemned. Later we

know by the mercy of his brother he was redeemed, but basically one is seen

as great and good and one is seen as the personification of evil, or at

least foolishness and weakness in his inability to stand up to the evil of

his son. Therefore, they chose two different paths. Same opportunity, same

position, two different choices. One chose to act in a particular way, one

chose to act in a different way.

 

Yesterday, in Ambarisa Prabhu's class, he quoted Prabhupada saying to all of

us that devotees should be perfect gentlemen and ladies. This is in a sense

telling us or instructing us that we should be careful that we are following

the path of Yudhisthira and not the path of Dhrtarastra. We should also be

very careful to understand what is our character, what type of

characteristics are we developing or what characteristics are we trying to

undevelop, most of us. What is our new set of characteristics, what set of

habits are we trying to develop, what set of behaviour are we trying to

develop.

 

Prabhupada is instructing us to be perfect ladies and gentlemen. Perfect

ladies and gentleman act as Yudhisthira did even when tempted. When

Dhrtarastra was tempted, out of his illusion, out of excessive affection for

his son, he made the wrong choice. How many times was he reminded and

admonished by his brother and others: "You're making the wrong choice,

you're going to ruin your reputation and family, don't do that!" He'd say,

"Yes, yes, yes." Words are cheap. But usually by the morning he would make

the wrong choice again.

 

Yudhisthira was continuously tempted, of course we have the one example of

his frailty in the gambling match (that was the rare exception) continually

made the right choice. Even when he made the wrong choice, because of his

vow of truthfulness, he accepted gracefully the reaction to that mistake.

They went into the forest: "Yes, OK, I knew I had this weakness, I made a

mistake, I accept the reaction." This was the difference in their two types

of behaviour.

 

Also Ambarisa Prabhu was describing how Srila Prabhupada was--he used a

beautiful word--he said Prabhupada was so charming. He charmed people by his

presence. More than just being a gentleman or lady who does it because one

is supposed to, it's just a spontaneous loving behaviour and loving

character that everyone who comes into contact with that person is attracted

to that person and charmed by them, feels cared for by them, wants to be

with them, wants to be like them, wants to take shelter of them. This

beautiful description he gave us yesterday of Prabhupada's characteristics.

 

So all of us are here in Mayapur because we are Prabhupadanugas. We are

trying to become servants of Prabhupada, we are trying to be followers of

Prabhupada. And the even heavier burden, we are trying represent Prabhupada.

We do represent Prabhupada whether we acknowledge it or not or like it or

not, people look at us and to one extent or another they consider "Well, if

you're a follower of Prabhupada, whatever you do must reflect what he is

like."

 

How many of us have met in different parts of the world, you can change the

denomination, sometimes we meet very arrogant Christians and it makes us

think pretty ill of Christianity. We think, "If that is what Christians are

like, I'd rather go to hell personally, [chuckles] I don't want to be with

those guys.

 

There are different organizations where their followers are understood

worldwide as being aggressive, very obnoxious, and very full of themselves.

And most people, even scholars who study them, think these people are, to

use Prabhupada's words, rascals. Who wants to be like them? You are turned

off by the people that supposedly represent the tradition.

 

So here it's being taught to us the qualities of a devotee so that we can

develop that. We need to be careful in our own spiritual practice to develop

the qualities and habits and behaviour of a devotee so that we also can

somehow help attract people to Krsna consciousness. Certainly that's not the

only way people are attracted but it's a very important way that people are

attracted to Krsna consciousness or turned away from Krsna consciousness,

that we represent the pure devotee of the Lord and that we try to reflect,

to manifest, to be a medium of that.

 

Sometimes there's a tendency among us, just as we can imagine Dhrtarastra,

in his long nights of darkness sitting in his palace agonizing over what

choice to make. . . it wasn't that he didn't have the information. He had

the information, Vidura was always there up to the end in his ear.

"Dhrtarastra, I'm telling you don't do it. I know what you're thinking,

don't do it. Here's what's going to happen."

 

And he loved his brother so he would listen to him. You can just imagine the

torment of his soul, but again he kept making the wrong choices. In the long

run he was thinking, "Yes, I know that's what I'm supposed to do but I've

got better reasons to do something else. Vidura, quiet. That little voice in

the back of my mind telling me I don't think that's the right way to do it,

be quiet. I have other priorities and I have a choice to make."

 

Sometimes as devotees we're tempted in that same way, but we should remember

that because I'm a devotee it really matters how I act. Sometimes we think

maybe with devotees it does matter, but with "ordinary people" it doesn't

matter how I act. Sometimes we hear devotees use the word karmi in a

pejorative way, like second class people. But we all have to remember where

we come from. We chose to come into this world of fruitive activities, so we

are karmis trying to become devotees. Ultimately it's described in so many

places in the sastra we are all devotees. Our vision should be, as

Prabhupada's was (or he wouldn't have wasted any time with any of us) that

everyone is a devotee and they've forgotten. And our job is to try to help

elevate them. And part of that, as explained here, is the need to act

properly and to represent the Lord and his pure devotee properly. If we

think it doesn't matter how we act, then we're actually contradicting

sastra.

 

There are many places in the sastra describing the qualities of a devotee,

I'll just choose two from Bhagavad-gita, one well known. I'll just read the

English. Prabhupada said our society is meant for making brahamanas, so what

is a brahmana? Krsna says:

 

"Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty (that's

sometimes a tough one in Kali-yuga. It's supposed to be the last leg;

sometimes it's hard to see if it's still there), knowledge, wisdom and

religiousness-these are the natural qualities by which the brahmanas work."

(Jai Sri Sri Radha Madhava ki jai.)

 

Again: peacefulness, self-control, austerity. . . notice these are all

qualities, these are behaviours. You can act in a peaceful way, you can act

in a self-controlled way, you can act in an austere way. They're not just

descriptions, they're behavioural. They have to be manifested in the

physical platform, in our speech, in our thoughts. Tolerance, honesty,

knowledge, wisdom and religiousness.

 

Another verse in the Sixteenth Chapter where Krsna describes later the

demoniac nature but he begins with a description of the divine nature.

 

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Fearlessness; purification of

one's existence; cultivation of spiritual knowledge; charity; self-control;

performance of sacrifice; study of the Vedas; austerity; simplicity;

nonviolence; (again) truthfulness; freedom from anger; renunciation;

tranquillity; aversion to faultfinding. . ." that's a tough one for some of

us, myself included. Not just that you don't do it, you are averse to it,

you don't like it, you back away from it, you avoid it at all costs. . . .

 

"compassion for all living entities. . ." not my brothers and sisters or

even Godbrothers or Godsisters, but all living entities. This includes

ourselves too. Sometimes we're not very compassionate on ourselves. We have

to start with being compassionate on ourselves. Sometimes we're a little too

tough on ourselves, that's not productive either.

 

"Freedom from covetousness; gentleness; modesty; steady determination;

vigour; forgiveness; fortitude; cleanliness; and freedom from envy and from

the passion for honour-these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata,

belong to godly men endowed with divine nature."

 

So again, qualities, characteristics, character. In Kali-yuga we know, we

see around us all the time, is full of people who are convinced they are

right, and whatever their goals are, justify the means. Like Dhrtarastra.

He's thinking, "Yes Vidura, but I really want my sons in charge. I know I'm

related to the Pandavas but it's just not the same. You don't really

understand what I'm seeing here."

 

As it's described, blinded by his family affection, blinded by his illusion.

Therefore he justifies "I can do whatever what I want, I can act however I

want, I can behave however I want because the means is so important."

 

But we see Yudhisthira actually had the right goal and he never compromised

his behaviour. Dhrtarastra had the wrong goal and compromised his behaviour.

Someone might say the solution is to have the right goal and compromise your

behaviour. That's Kali-yuga. The world is full of people who have what they

think is the right goal, willing to compromise their behaviour. Here

Yudhisthira is setting the example for us: he had the right goal and refused

to compromise his behaviour. This, Prabhupada says, is the divine qualities,

this is a Vaisnava.

 

Just as Prabhupada was described being so charming, even telling his

disciples coming from the most degraded backgrounds that "If you are really

my disciple you have to become a perfect gentleman. That's the standard that

he set.

 

We live in a world where people are doing just the opposite. They're

thinking that "Whatever my goal is, whatever I'm working for in the world,

this is so important and so unique that I can do whatever I like." We see

that among atheists and theists alike. If we look at the last century,

great, great thinkers, at least powerful people like Lenon and Marx come to

mind, who had a true sense that my goal is so important. To one extent or

another they genuinely believed this is for the betterment of people. "This

Communist system is for the betterment of people and if we have to kill a

few million people in the process to get what's right, it's OK." And the

whole world suffered because of that deviation.

 

We're suffering today--there's the atheistic example--because there are so

many theists who say, "God's on our side and we can do anything we want

because we know what's right for the world. If we have to kill a lot of you

in the process, that's OK because we're right, you're wrong."

 

As devotees, we need to avoid these pitfalls. They don't manifest in such a

grotesque means, but by analyzing the extreme we can see how it affects us

on a subtle level. Let's look at the wrong understanding first. Sometimes we

think, "Because I'm a devotee, I can do no wrong." Dhrtarastra kind of

thinks like that, "I'm the king, it's OK, I can get away with it." Sometimes

we think "I'm a devotee, therefore, whatever I do is right because it's for

Krsna, I'm a devotee." But that's a perversion. We should think, "Because

I'm a devotee"--just change one word--"I MUST do no wrong." Not that

"because I'm a devotee I can do no wrong, whatever I do must be right

because it's for Krsna. No, because I'm a devotee, I must do no wrong."

 

And it's important for several reasons. Just to analyze that for a minute.

First of all, we read a couple of examples here, it pleases Krsna. Krsna

says, "If you are peaceful, if you are tolerant, if you are honest, if you

show compassion for other living entities, then you please me." He gives a

whole list of what we need to do, to at least strive to become to please

him. That's a pretty good reason to do it, it pleases Krsna, it pleases

Srila Prabhupada.

 

The second reason it is very important for us as devotees to be following

very actively in the footsteps of Yudhisthira and saying, "NO!" to the

little Dhrtarastra in the back of our minds is it sets the proper example

for others. We are meant to be teachers and preachers and set an example for

younger devotees and other people to see. How are people in the world

supposed to change their behaviour if they don't see people exemplifying the

proper way? Just as we look to Srila Prabhupada, we see the way he acted,

and therefore, we have faith that I can do the same.

 

Just the other day, it struck me again, Prabhupada at seventy years of age.

I am fifty-two. So I'm thinking, "OK, so another eighteen years and then

you're supposed to get on the boat by yourself." I can hardly get up in the

morning at fifty-two, what to speak to get on the boat. It is becoming more

clear, such conviction and determination and sacrifice that Srila Prabhupada

made for us. So to set an example for others it is also important for us to

follow the path of Yudhisthira.

 

Another reason is that as we can see in this history, if we look into what

was the result of Yudhisthira's path, what was the result of Dhrtarastra's

path, if we act in the mode of goodness, if we act properly, if we act like

perfect ladies and gentlemen, the result will last. With Dhrtarastra, he was

influenced by the mode of passion, the mode of ignorance, he allowed himself

to be influenced by illusion and what did he get? Well, for the short-term,

he got the kingdom. He got rid of all the people that caused him so many

problems, and for the short term, his son was enthroned and he thought

everything was going to be OK.

 

Leading right up to the beginning of the Bhagavad-gita, he says to Sanjaya

in a great state of anxiety, "What did my sons and the sons of my brother

do? Be done with this thing. Finally let it be done! Let it be permanent!"

But it wasn't to be because he chose the wrong path. So even though he got

some short-term results, the long-term results. . . . His son was king for

thirteen years or so, then everything was destroyed.

 

Yudhisthira was patient. He stuck to his vow of truthfulness, he didn't

compromise, he gained the world for himself and his descendents, he gained

Krsna's favour, and he gained eternal glory and fame as a devout, fixed,

devotee of the Lord because he refused to compromise. He never compromised.

 

So we can see within our own society also. Sometimes we have these same

tests. Dhrtarastra had a test. He was sitting there on the throne, he could

have snapped his fingers and they would have stopped insulting Draupadi, but

he didn't because he didn't have the moral fortitude to stand up and say,

"Stop!" If he had done it, it would have stopped immediately. He was sitting

on the . . . because he saw the results: "This is just further leading to

the humiliation of the Pandavas. This is leading to their disempowerment.

This is all a part of the plot to achieve my evil goals." He didn't see it

as evil, but therefore he accepted it because it was in line with what he

lustfully wanted.

 

So we have to be very, very careful. Even though we are trying to align our

goals, our community goals, with Srila Prabhupada, with Krsna, with Lord

Caitanya, we also, as Ambarisa mentioned the other day, we also have to

remember that we are human. We have seen plenty of examples. We look at

ourselves every day--we struggle with our own lust, envy, greed, anger, and

selfishness. Every single one of us has to pray to the Lord to protect us

that we make the right choices. So we see how we are flickering like that

drop of water on the lotus leaf that can go either way. So we have to be

very cautious, but as a community also, we have to be very, very careful.

 

Sometimes we act unnecessarily in the mode of passion. Sometimes we take

shortcuts. We can see, "This is the proper way to do something, but you

know, it's a lot faster if I go this way. A little white lie never hurt

anybody. A little dishonesty, who's going to know?" We make choices that

aren't fair, that aren't honest, that aren't truthful. We should know from

this example, we are risking short-term results. We've seen this. How many

examples are there of this in our society?

 

I'm from North America. In the past, some of our genuinely enthusiastic

efforts to try to spread Krsna consciousness, sometimes we weren't very

careful of our behaviour. It yielded, often, short-term results, but

long-term it's not what we'd like to show for it because we acted in the

mode of passion. Sometimes out of our own arrogance, we tend to think it is

up to us to twist everyone's arm and make everybody Krsna conscious in our

own lifetime so that we can tell Srila Prabhupada, "I did it! Haribol!

Prabhupada, aren't you pleased with me?"

 

But we are planting the seed and building the foundation for Krsna

consciousness for the next ten thousand years. We all know, building the

foundation, it is really the slowest and the most unglorious task. If you

think about a building, everyone likes to be the one who comes back puts on

the finishing touches. You know, puts the dome up. Or puts the paint on, you

know, when you're building a building, the one who puts the paint on is the

one who makes the biggest difference, the last coat that makes it pretty.

Everyone goes, "Wow! You really made a difference!" But how many years and

years and years went into it before that?

 

And just like when you're building the foundation of a building, people

drive by or walk by, you don't even see it. They say, "What's going on?

They've been working on this building for six months, you can't even see

anything. These guys, all they're doing is putting a bunch of pipes in the

ground. Useless." Because mode of passion: "Put it up, get it up in a hurry.

Let's do it now! Fast! Quick!" Well, if you build something like that, we

all know what happens. If you build a building and the foundation is not

solid, what happens? It falls down.

 

We know in our own spiritual life, in our own Krsna consciousness, something

I work hard on and I am praying Krsna to help pull me out of this illusion,

sometimes I get caught up with I want to offer so many results to

Prabhupada, I'm not careful that I maintain my own spiritual foundation

strong enough. So I'm here thinking, "Krsna, please recharge my battery.

I've got to recharge here."

 

As a community we also come to Mayapur to recharge our batteries, but also

to remember our goal, our duty at this time is to build that strong

foundation, to make sure it is for the long term. Otherwise, we may gain

money, but we lose it. We can see this. we had some opulence, sometimes we

didn't build properly, we lose those things. We have lost temples, we have

lost communities, we have lost respect, we have lost reputation. Sometimes

we've lost devotees. Sometimes we lose years of effort because we weren't

careful to do it in a proper way. Our intention was right, but we weren't

very cautious. We weren't careful, we weren't checking ourselves. That is a

third important reason we have to be careful to follow Yudhisthira's path.

 

Another one is that because we're preachers and we're meant to actually win

people's hearts. There is an English expression, "Example is more important

than precept." So people are very bewildered. They are running around out

there in the world looking very puffed up because they know that if they

don't pretend that they're puffed up, their weakness will be exposed.

 

It's like you ask people, "How are you?"

 

"I'm fine."

 

"How are you?"

 

"Fine."

 

Everybody's fine, but if you scratch the surface a little bit, they're a

wreck. "I'm fine, but I've just got to get to the gym because otherwise I

might have a heart attack." And "I'm fine, but I've got to get to the

therapist, otherwise, I'm about to snap. And I'm fine, but I've got to get

another drink."

 

You know, "Let's go relax."

 

"What do you want to do?"

 

"Let's go get intoxicated so I can forget everything."

 

They are very painful situations. People are suffering so much. They are

suffering and we are meant to give them hope.

 

This is our duty, but we should also remember people aren't stupid.

Sometimes we tend to think we become a devotee and all of the sudden you

become intelligent and everybody else is stupid. They are not stupid.

People, they can see, they have some ability to measure, is this real, are

these people giving something genuine, are they changing themselves, do they

exemplify what they preach, what they are teaching?

 

People are actually looking for leadership, they're accepting so many bogus

leaders, whatever it is, the music leaders, the fashion leaders, and the

political leaders, economic leaders because they are offering them different

things. And they are all standing in front of them saying, "Follow me. Be

like this and you can be like me and I can give you some hope." But they see

through all that. Then, when they come in contact with devotees, they are

skeptical because they have been cheated so many times. They don't want to

be cheated again. We have to be careful that our own impurities and our own

passion to spread Krsna consciousness doesn't manifest in a way that people

can't see past our impurities to see what Krsna has to offer them. We should

pray like that. That is a great challenge.

 

Many of us have experienced that sometimes a devotee is the greatest

obstacle for us to get to Krsna. We want to be humble and respect everybody,

but objectively, sometimes we see like that, someone has stopped in their

spiritual practice because of the way they are mistreated or cared for by

devotees.

 

We need to change that because people are looking for shelter. We are meant

to offer it to people. And as they say, you cannot demand respect. Sometimes

we want to demand respect for our movement because we know this movement is

Krsna, it is Lord Caitanya, it is non-different from Prabhupada, but

actually, we have to command respect by being somewhat of a transparent

medium for Srila Prabhupada and for Krsna. It is not just by the knowledge

that we have that people will be attracted to Krsna and the process of

bhakti-yoga, but as Yudhisthira again exemplifies, by activities and by

character.

 

So we all come to Mayapur to be recharged. We pray to Krsna, "Please purify

us. Please give us more enthusiasm to chant. Please give us more enthusiasm

to preach. Please give us more enthusiasm, intelligence to manage, but we

should also beg Krsna, please give us more ability to become the perfect

ladies and gentleman that Srila Prabhupada wanted. Please let us be better

of character, to better exemplify the path of Yudhisthira so that we can be

instruments in Prabhupada's hands to help bring people to the lotus feet of

Srila Prabhupada and Krsna,

 

I'll stop here, thank you very much, Srila Prabhupada ki jai!

 

[Applause]

 

So there's about five or six minutes for questions. Any questions.

 

Prabhu, your hand always goes up, so I'm going to see if there is anybody

else. Yes, Prabhu. Maybe his hand also goes up, but I don't see it because

I'm on this side. I don't know.

 

Q: [unclear.]

 

A: Especially who? Juhu Beach, yeah.

 

I hope you all heard the question.

 

It's not that Yudhisthira didn't fight, he led the greatest battle in

history, but he fought when there was no other choice. That's one thing.

Dhrtarastra and Duryodhana were ready to fight, they were ready to kill,

they were ready to poison, they were ready to set them on fire, they were

ready to cheat them in so many ways. Yudhisthira also fought and Prabhupada

certainly fought, and in certain circumstances, we have to fight.

 

We are fighting in a sense in Kazakhstan because devotees are being cheated.

We fight against the anti-cult movement because they're cheating. They were

lying about us and misrepresenting. We have to fight. It's not that being

honest and truthful you don't fight. Sometimes you also have to fight. They

are two different things. They certainly don't contradict each other, but we

have to be careful along that line of fighting. What we are fighting for.

 

Just like we raise money, well, what are we raising money for? We fight,

what are we fighting for? We build buildings, what are we building buildings

for?

 

We have the example in the Bhagavatam like Dhruva Maharaja, when he went to

avenge the death of his brother, he got carried away. He was justified in

that fighting, there's another example, but he got carried away. His

forefathers came and said, "Hey, you're out of control here. You started out

down the right path, but you have to check yourself."

 

In the same way, we always have to be checking ourselves, making sure. Not

that I started out right, I'm automatically going to be right in the end. We

continuously have to have checks and balances.

 

Any other question or comment? Any ladies have any questions?

 

Q: [unclear.]

 

Anuttama Prabhu: I'll repeat the question. She said, "Prabhupada said my

movement is meant to establish two classes, the brahmanas and the ksatriyas,

how does that affect what we are doing?"

 

I don't know where that quote is from. I've heard a couple of times devotees

went to Prabhupada and said, "Prabhupada, I want to be a ksatriya."

 

And Prabhupada said, "Well, then you're not meant for my movement because my

movement is for brahmanas."

 

Q: I personally typed that . . . .

 

Anuttama Prabhu: You personally typed that? OK. Certainly there is a need

for ksatriyas. There is a need for people to administer, there is a need for

people to lead, sometimes there is a need for people to fight. I think the

point is, we have to be sure when that type of energy comes in, just as in

any other type of activity, we have to be sure who we are doing it for and

why we are doing it. Not that we get carried away as Dhruva Maharaja did in

his anger. Prabhupada describes in Bhagavad-gita, Krsna was pushing Arjuna

to be angry because you have to be angry to fight, but it is also described

that anger is one of the gateways to hell. So, we have to be very, very

careful in how we manifest that.

 

Q: [unclear]

 

Well thank you, that was a much better answer than I gave. She said that

Prabhupada said that ksatriyas will only fight on religious principles.

Thank you very much. We have to always be making sure we are acting on

religious principles.

 

Q: What is the compassion for oneself?

 

Anuttama Prabhu: Very nice question. How do we do that? What does that mean?

First of all, one has to be a little patient. It was pointed out to me this

morning, it is very interesting, un the beginning of this Canto, there is a

picture of Lord Brahma, because it is getting into his creative potency and

the development of the universe. Then it quotes one of the verses, this is

plate seven:

 

"After sitting in mediation on a lotus for more than three hundred trillion

years, Lord Brahma developed pure intelligence. . . "

 

It's wrong? Three hundred and twenty trillion? Well, he was there for a long

time.

 

[Laughter.]

 

Hey, what's a trillion or two this way or that, right? Long time, he sat on

that lotus for a long time, and he's the founder-acarya of our sampradaya.

So the first thing is, we have to be a little patient with ourselves. It's

not that we are going to become pure devotees overnight.

 

When I joined the movement, I was twenty and I had this plan way into the

future. I was going to be sannyasi by twenty-four. Because Lord Caitanya

took sannyasa at twenty-four, I was thinking, "Twenty-four, that ought to do

it. I don't want to be puffed up and outdo Lord Caitanya, so I'll wait until

twenty-four."

 

We have to be a little patient with ourselves and push ourselves, but just

like in athletics, if push yourself too far, you hurt yourself. Just like

people go running, then you see them walking with crutches.

 

"How's your running going?"

 

"I haven't run in six months."

 

"Well, I guess it wasn't very good the way you tried to train yourself. It

was too much."

 

So Prabhupada said we shouldn't accept unnecessary austerities. There are

already enough austerities within the process of devotional service.

 

Part of it is just being a little patient and understanding that this is

Kali-yuga. We've got a lot of bad stuff in our mind. We've done a lot of bad

stuff in this life, and certainly previous lifetimes. It's going to take a

little bit of time and we should not expect ourselves to become pure

overnight. And if we see some imperfections, we should sometimes be at least

as kind to ourselves as we would to someone with the same imperfection.

 

Sometimes we have to ask, if a Godbrother came to me and said, "Prabhu, I'm

having this problem, it's really bothering me," would we blast them as much

as we blast ourselves with the same problem?

 

Probably not, probably we'd say, "Prabhu, just keep chanting, depend on the

devotees, have a little more prasadam, and don't be so hard on yourself."

 

That's part of it. Push ourselves, yes, the spiritual master pushes us, but

not to the point of breaking. We don't want to break. We want to go

consistently.

 

Is that OK?

 

So thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ki jai!