Lecture by His Holiness Radhanath Swami(Richard Slavin)
 
My sincerest gratitude to each and every one of you for the dedication and sincere devotion that each of you embodied so wonderfully and for so whole heartedly receiving the divine grace of our guru maharaja His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. It is the power of his compassion that has brought us all together in the service of the supreme lord. So much what has been showed today, only increase my debt of gratitude to Srila Prabhupada.
 
39 years ago just a few minutes away from this place; I was roaming bare foot along the hard pavement of Bombay, not knowing where I was going or what I was going to do with my life. In my heart I was begging to God, “Give me the direction and show me the way in which I can really connect to you”. I came into an assembly may be ten times bigger than today’s people. That was the first time I ever saw my spiritual master Srila Prabhupada from such a distant away and he called me to be near him. In my heart I am still that there for beggar. I pray that for the rest of eternity “I never stop being a beggar, begging for service and love”.
 
The power of Srila Prabhupada’s kindness can transform anyone beyond any type of geographical consideration, in fact beyond time it self. Although it is not actually my birth day, my birth day was long ago but it rained that day. But common people expect presents or gifts on their birth day. Today I am so grateful because my beloved spiritual master Srila Prabhupada, he gave unimaginably priceless gift. Not only the gift of bhakti, the path of devotion but he gave me the gift of the opportunity to serve each and everyone of you. By repeating his teachings and try to serve you by engaging you in his service. We should never forget the greatest wealth is the opportunity to serve. It is our connection to Krishna. It is the only thing that can give satisfaction to the heart.
 
Recently, just last month I was invited to meet the president of India in her presidential palace in New Delhi. As I was being escorted though the gigantic magnificent corridors with gold leaf beautiful design being escorted by the highest security agents of India, I was remembering 40 years before at the Indian boarder. After having hitchhiked from London to Ferozpur , so eager to enter into India, the land of my dreams. I looked on the other side of the immigration desk, my heart was dancing thinking “I am actually seeing India”.
 
It is a saying, “That comes easy have very little value within our hearts but things come through great struggle and difficulty they have very deep value to the heart”. Just looking across the desk I felt all most there but then I was rejected because I had no money. For the next I believe it was six hours. I was begging, pleading, and be chaste away, sometimes with gun point, sitting in the dust under a tree, not knowing why this is happening. I was treated like a total reject, being screamed at, yield at, threatened, and criticized. Finally the guard shifted, I begged and cried one Sikh gentleman and out of sheer sympathy he let me in. I was remembering this as I was being escorted by the highest security officials of the country of India. We passed though about three different security checks and I was remembering I forgot to be any ID’s. But because that the president had already told the security about my coming all the security persons with folded hands, he said, “Oh’ this is Radhanath Swami, welcome”. And when I entered into the President’s sitting room, she stood with folded palms in a beautiful smile with a basket of fruits. How things changed?
 
I told the story to my father and he said, “This is a story of rags to riches”. Then I said, “It’s not like that because I am still where in rags and I still have no money. I do not have a single penny to my name. I have absolutely no property and nothing”. But then I told him, “By the mercy of my gurudeva Srila Prabhupada, he did give me the most precious of all riches the opportunity to assist him”. There is no greater wealth than to be the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord and for my own spiritual purification. To the degree each one of you are the servant of everyone else here and everyone else who is not here. Then when I serve you, I am the servant of the servant of millions servant of the Lord. Then perhaps Srila Prabhupada will accept my efforts.
 
Just a few weeks ago His Holiness Mahavishnu Swami Maharaja, of all places in the world he choose to leave this world at Bhaktivedanta Hospital. He was over ninety years old and he had been ill for quite sometimes. He knew that he was going to pass away but he chose to put himself in the care of the devotees at Bhaktivedanta hospital. He said, “It is a holy place”. He was one of the greatest scholars of the scriptures our movement is ever known. He practically knew all of Srila Prabhupada’s books by memory and the kindness of his heart was so deep and so wide. He was born and raised in a family of devotees. It was not the building, it was a sincere love and care of the devotees that attracted his hearts so much to call it a holy place and return to the spiritual world from there.
 
My dear god brother Prithu Prabhu was also spoken few minutes ago of his appreciation, how the devotees has cared for him and served him with such attention. This is real wealth, the wealth of devotion. And how immensely grateful I am to these devotees of Bhaktivedanta hospital, how immensely I am to all of you because in your own capacities in your spirits of life, you have all accepted this gift that Srila Prabhupada has given us, selfless spirit of service to Krishna, to the vaisnavas, to the devotees and to all living beings. Then I began to think that may be my father that he said is right, “This rags to riches”. Because when I was at that Indian boarder, I was in spiritual poverty. What did I have to give to the world? But by Krishna’s grace coming through Srila Prabhupada. Now I have so much and so many riches to give to the world. We all have that. We all have those riches to give to the world.
 
To the degree we are grateful, to that degree we can access as more and more and more. If we are proud, proud means egoistically proud, we cannot be grateful. An egoistic proud heart always thinks “I deserve something more. I want something else” but a grateful heart he always things, “I do not deserve the gifts I am receiving”. And our acharayas tells us, “This is the qualification to attain the liberation of pure love of god.
 
“tat te 'nukampäà su-samékñamäëo
bhuïjäna evätma-kåtaà vipäkam
håd-väg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jéveta yo mukti-pade sa däya-bhäk 10.14.8
Even when there are reversals, tragedies, or immense almost unsurpassable obstacles that comes in our life. Even when people are not treating us the way we want them too or the things are just not coming in our way, if we can be grateful, grateful for the opportunity to learn to grow, to take shelter of god and to serve in that situation but we can access the highest wealth, Krishna’s mercy.
 
Gratitude gives us the power to digest and assimilate god’s grace. Even if we are given the most nutritious food, if we have no power to digest it, all there vitamins and nutritions just go right through us and will get no real benefit. Krishna’s mercy is everywhere and for a devotee, there is unlimited showers of mercy at every single second. If we are actually grateful, grateful does not mean it comes the way we want it. We have to be grateful for however it is coming as it is. That is gratitude. That gives us the power to digest, assimilate and deeply benefit. “Param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam”. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has told us that the prime benediction for all humanity is the name of god. “enechi auñadhi mäyä näçibäro lägi' hari-näma mahä-mantra lao tumi magi”. The holy name is a medicine that can cure us all sufferings and bring us to our natural hope of eternity knowledge and bliss “Sachida nanda”.
 
Recently I did a Ayurvedic treatment and this particular Ayurvedic doctor help me doing all sorts of purifications before he give me the medicine. I won’t go through the details. There is what is called Vyoma, virochan - and all of these things. You have to fast and you have to do so many other things and he said, because only one who do this that the medicine actually be assimilated to have proper affected in you. It was all real uncomfortable things to do. So the holy name is the supreme medicine, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said. That could be leave us of all the yields of illusion and awaken our natural hope, to realize our eternal loving propensity. But those all therapy we have to go through to assimilate that medicine.
“trinad api sunicena
taror iva sahishuñunä
amäninä mänadena
kirtaniya sadä hari”
To feel oneself humble like a blade of grass. To be tolerant and forgiving like a tree. To be eager to offer all respect to others and not to expect such respect for oneself.
 
Through these qualities, we can have deep gratitude and then the name of God will have the maximum affect of awakening the inner wealth within us. A wealth that cannot be plundered by thieves, cannot be shaken by earthquakes, cannot be blown away by hurricanes or cyclones, cannot be burn by fire, or cannot be moistened by Tsunamies. A wealth that cannot even be touched by death. “Prema pumarto mahana” prema dhana. This is what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabh , this is what Srila Prabhupada has come to give us “The wealth of love for God” Krishna Prema. How much do we really want it? How much do we actually fill the necessity for it? Accordingly that’s how much we will make it priority in our life.
 
When Srila Prabhupada wrote his poem on Jaladuta, a poem of humility, compassion, and love, steeped in profound knowledge. He prayed only to be a puppet, a dancing puppet in hands of Krishna and his guru. A beautiful analogy because a puppet takes no credit of how it dances. A puppet gives his own free will, we all have free will of independence but the perfection of free will in independence is to give it to god. “Let me dance as You want me to dance”. Srila Prabhupada signed “Your insignificant beggar”.
 
Queen Kunti explained “akincana-gocaram”. If we really are completely dependent on Krishna and understanding everything as Krishna’s. Whatever intelligence, whatever abilities, whatever words I can speak, whatever abilities, these are all Krishna’s. Then we never become egoistic. We could be Krishna’s dancing puppet. Otherwise, we are Maya’s dancing puppet. That’s the ultimate choice in our life. Whether we want to dance for our own selfish interest dictated by illusion or whether we want to dance in Kirtan as an expression of ecstatic love for god.
 
Today I am very grateful for this opportunity. So many thousands of people have come to allow me to serve them. It is very special that my dear brother Garry has come today. Whatever he spoke, I have never heard such things before, so gracious, so kind. But it really is a…., how to explain it in words. If I knew Hindi or Marathi, I am sure I could explain it perfectly. But English is a very uncoordinated language. But seeing all of you and seeing Garry, at the same time, I do not know how to explain it. Except this is extraordinary.
 
From our early childhood, we were together, same schools, the same room, he was in kinder garden and I was in kinder garden in different years. He is a year senior to me. My favorite part of kinder garden was everyday; we go to sleep on the floor for about half hour. “Do you remember that”? We had little mats not even mats. We play and then there was the nap time because we were only four or five years old. We got to sleep on the floor with all the other students. Now that I look back, I was being trained up for the brahmachari ashram. So we slept on the same little mats on the floor of the kinder garden room. We see each other in the halls between classes. Then we went to the next school and then high school together. Then we went to the same college together. Then we went to Europe together and so many places in between and we are still together.
 
A family of you think you do not have so many things in common with each other. Garry is a body builder and I tell people you are not your body. But there’s a higher principle. The higher principle that conncts all of us. Today I heard a class from Srila Prabhupada, he was speaking a powerful verse from the 5th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam in Vrindavana. The verse was Rishavadev the king of the world, he had one hundred sons and he was telling all the sons that Bharat will become the king. Now please understand, all these hundred sons were absolutely qualified to be king. Their intelligence, their character, their abilities and trainings but he said, “Do not be envious of him do not compete with him but serve and assist him And in this way all the citizens will be happy”.
 
Srila Prabhupada was explaining in his lecture how this type of unity requires so much humility in this world. The world is full of so many divisions and so much of competitions. Here in India, when I first came, how many states were there? There almost twice of many states of India now, why? Because people of the state developed their own territories and they want to divide to have their own control and their own power. In the world countries of 20 years ago, now in Europe three or four countries divided of in different governments and different armies are their own enemies.
 
India was divided into Pakistan and India enemies. Political parties in every country are so many enemies, so many divisions. This is material mentality. Srila Prabhupada explains, Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita, “ahaà béja-pradaù pita” we all se the same father and same mother and everything is the property of Radha and Krishna. So what do we have to fight about, why? But if we are humble and grateful, we can see the great in each other, respect each other, love each other, and actually be able to do great things in this world. The basic principles of all sufferings is envy. Where there is humility, real humility is there is no envy.
 
Parikshita maharaja was cursed to die from an inferior boy. But he was not an envious. He was grateful. Therefore he was fit to hear this Srimad Bhagavatam and Krishna tells Arjuna “You can understand this message because you are not envious”. Even though he thought heroically, it was not with envy. It was like a loving doctor, fighting with the disease for the welfare of everyone concerned.
 
My sincere request this is the real enemy we have to fight against, “Our own tendencies for envy, for false ego, and to want to selfishly enjoy. The only enemies in the world”. But they can be easily defeated. If we are humble, if we cultivate humility, gratitude and a real service spirit and then take the medicine of God’s holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.
 
We should all feel like bare foot beggars, who have received such immense good fortune and not think it is mine but be grateful to share it with all others. That is the mission of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. That is the gift of Srila Prabhupada. I thank you all for accepting this gift. So whole heartedly allowing me to serve you.
 
Thank you very much.
 
 
 
End of the transcription.