A Vaishnava Has Faith
HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj
27th July 1990, SB 8.5.47
VERSE
kleça-bhüry-alpa-säräëi
karmäëi viphaläni vä
dehinäḿ viñayärtänäḿ
na tathaivärpitaḿ tvayi
SB 8.5.47
SYNONYMS
kleça—hardship; bhüri—very much; alpa—very little; säräëi—good result; karmäëi—activities; viphaläni—frustration; vä—either; dehinäm—of persons; viñaya-artänäm—who are eager to enjoy the material world; na—not; tathä—like that; eva—indeed; arpitam—dedicated; tvayi—unto Your Lordship.
TRANSLATION
Karmés are always anxious to accumulate wealth for their sense gratification, but for that purpose they must work very hard. Yet even though they work hard, the results are not satisfying. Indeed, sometimes their work results only in frustration. But devotees who have dedicated their lives to the service of the Lord can achieve substantial results without working very hard. These results exceed the devotee's expectations.
PURPORT
We can practically see how the devotees who have dedicated their lives for the service of the Lord in the Kåñëa consciousness movement are getting immense opportunities for the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead without working very hard. The Kåñëa consciousness movement actually started with only forty rupees, but now it has more than forty crores worth of property, and all this opulence has been achieved within eight or ten years. No karmé can expect to improve his business so swiftly, and besides that, whatever a karmé acquires is temporary and sometimes frustrating. In Kåñëa consciousness, however, everything is encouraging and improving. The Kåñëa consciousness movement is not very popular with the karmés because this movement recommends that one refrain from illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication. These are restrictions that karmés very much dislike. Nonetheless, in the presence of so many enemies, this movement is progressing, going forward without impediments. If the devotees continue to spread this movement, dedicating life and soul to the lotus feet of Kåñëa, no one will be able to check it. The movement will go forward without limits. Chant Hare Kåñëa!
Lecture begins
MUNDANE EDUCATION
Lord Çri Krishna tells us in the Bhagavad-Gétä that, “For My devotee who surrenders unto Me, I will protect what he has and I will carry what he lacks.” It is this faith that is the power and the glory of the Vaiñëavas. A materialistic person is constantly calculating his past, present and future in this world through his sense perception, through what he was learned through the study of material education. In fact, Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura does not have much good to say about material education. There is one beautiful song, “Vidyära Viläse,” where he explains that he was very scholarly throughout his life, working very hard, studying many, many books of literature of various sorts, studying, and studying, and studying, attaining higher and higher degrees, higher and higher stages of prestige through his erudite scholarship, and he said that, “The conclusion of all my studies is I have become a foolish ass, and there is nothing more to be said than that. I have simply studied this illusory energy and become more and more and more ensnared in the complexities of material energy. I have wasted my valuable time with hopes of gratification and pleasure. But what do I have to show for it? A life of frustration.”
So it is very easy and very simple in this society to just coast along with the waves of illusion and calculate everything according to how everyone tells us life should be. But the Vaiñëava devotees of the Lord – they have a different vision. Their vision is based on faith in God. Their vision is that Kåñëa is perfect and complete, that Kåñëa is the supreme controller of all controllers, that I am His servant, and whether I am educated or uneducated does not matter. What really matters is what I do have, I dedicate in the loving service of the Lord. Whether one is a scholar, or whether one is illiterate, from the point of view of God it makes absolutely no difference.
BEYOND MUNDANE LOGIC
Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji, he never went to school in his life. He never learned to even write his own name, but he had such complete faith in the grace of God and the grace of guru that he could answer anyone’s questions perfectly according to the authority of çästra. How is that possible? It’s humanly impossible. It’s beyond all logic. But one who has faith in God, there is only one type of logic in our life: that Kåñëa can do anything, and He never abandons his devotee. That is the only logic we know. Everything else is full of the perilous inadequacies of the illusory energy.
“Man proposes, God disposes.” It is not that because a devotee is completely depending on the Lord that he does nothing, he simply waits for Kåñëa. Kåñëa tells Arjuna that: “You’re a fighter, you fight. Fight with faith in Me. Do not be attached to victory or defeat, loss or gain, attainment or loss. Nothing. Just fight for My pleasure, for My service, and have faith that whatever is best will be done.” That is our faith, that we simply endeavor honestly and sincerely in devotional service, and whatever the result is, is best. It is the grace of God. Therefore we accept it with great, great joy and happiness. This is Kåñëa consciousness. Our petty, little problems, our unfulfilled desires, our insignificant, tiny insecurities – we concentrate on these things like a little spark, we fan it with our anxieties and it just grows bigger and bigger and bigger until we cannot even see or think of anything except, “Why is this happening to me?” Ah? This is only due to one reason. We do not have faith, we do not have faith in Kåñëa.
DEPLORABLE STATE
Çréla Prabhupada is describing here that the karmés, they work their whole life to accumulate wealth. And what is the result? Oftentimes, I use the example of one great, great man in the eyes of the world. Actually, yesterday I was riding in an airplane, and I was sitting to one young college student, and he was asking nice questions, and he was asking if I ever have the glorious fortune of being entitled to preach to movie stars. “You are based in Bombay. Do you ever get to preach to the movie stars?” And he was very anxious to hear any names that would awaken his dormant illusory consciousness. It wasn’t so dormant, actually. So I was thinking that this society is so upside-down. In the Vedic culture, actors and actresses were considered çüdras. Ah? And people would not be very, people would be ashamed to know such people. They might enjoy their entertainment, but they don’t want to know them, they don’t want to mix with them. They will be very proud to associate with a sädhu, with a learned, self-realized soul. But today, people have to hide the fact that they’re going to the Hare Kåñëa temple and associating with sädhus. Ah? Sometimes, instead of japa beads, they have to use clickers so that people won’t know that they’re associating with sädhus. Right? Instead of going tsh-ta-tsh-ta-tsh-ta, they go click-click-click-click-click-click. Sometimes people wear their neck beads in so many fashionable ways so that people do not know that they are associating with the Vaiñëavas. But if people, somebody knows a movie star, they say, “Oh, you know who I met last night? Ah, very nice. You are lucky, man.” Ah?
But when I met the number one TV star in all of America, he was only telling me how miserable he was, how lonely he was, and how everybody like him was totally frustrated, empty and lonely in life. “Women,” he said, “Ah.”
na dhanaà na janaà na sundaréà
(Çré Çré Çiksäsöäka 4)
…Lord Caitanya said. “I do not want women. I do not want money. I do not want fame.” But these people say, “I want more and more women, I want more and more money, and I want more and more fame.” He said, “Women. Every beautiful movie actress, practically, in America was on my show, and I had sex with every one of them, aha, and they liked it. And I liked it. And money - $30,000 a week.” That’s what – about six lakhs of rupees? More than that. Ah? I don’t know. $30,000, that’s a lot. Too much. And fame! He had to disguise himself before he’d go out of the house, because people would just go, “Ah! There he is! Look, look, look, Mommy, there he is, ah!” He had all fame, all money, all wealth, all beautiful women, and he was associating with the most famous people in the world, and he told me that, “I was so lonely, and I was so frustrated, and I was in so much anxiety, and everywhere I looked, all the people I was with, they were just putting on a show that they were very happy, that they were very blissful, that they were very successful in life, but every one of them was completely frustrated, lonely, and most of them had to take all sorts of drugs and intoxications just to face the world day after day.
MAYA’S CARROTS
So is this what we work like asses for? This is the illusion of mäyä. “One more thing and then you’ll be happy!” Just like if you want to control a donkey, you keep a carrot in front of it, and it always thinks, “If I take one more step, I’ll get the carrot.” And one more step. But what they do is they tie the carrot to a stick on the donkey’s back of its head, so the carrot is always dangling right in front of it. Right? And the donkey is thinking, “Ah! The carrot’s right in front of me. One more step and I’ll get it.” But as it goes one more step, the carrot goes one more step with it, and throughout the day he’s doing work, so much work, he’s working and working and working, foaming at the mouth, foaming at the mouth, carrying big, big loads, thinking, “I’m going to get the carrot, one more step. Just one more step. Well, maybe not that step, but the next step. Look, it’s right in front of me.” And he spends his whole life, and finally, at the end of the day, they give it the carrot. It doesn’t even taste good. It’s rotten by then. Not only that, it doesn’t even fill it, thinking, what a waste of time. But then the next day, he’s again chasing after the carrot. This is how mäyä works. She always keeps some form of sense gratification, some sort of illusory success dangling in front of us, and we’re thinking, “Oh, if I only do, if I only get it, one more step, then I’ll have it, then I’ll be happy.” But even if you get it, then, you’re not satisfied. You’re thinking, “Oh, just one more thing, one more thing, one more thing.” And this way we spend our whole life, birth after birth after birth after birth, chasing after the carrot of the illusory energy.
The poor man thinks, “If only I had, if only I was middle class, then I could just live comfortably.” And then you’re middle class, and you’re thinking, “Oh, if only I were upper class, then I’d really have what I want.” And the upper class are thinking, “Ah, if only I was a millionaire, then I would really, really be successful in this world.” And after a million now you’re thinking, “Oh, but I have so many enemies, and so many people who are more powerful than me. If only I were the billionaire, then I would really be safe and secure in this world.” And then you become billionaire, and then you think, “My God, I’m still frustrated, I’m still lonely. I’m more agitated than ever. No matter how much I have, I want more and more and more! There’s only one alternative: suicide. Ah? Maybe if I commit suicide, then I’ll forget all the anxieties of my life.” Or they take to the impersonal school of yoga, thinking, “This is all totally frustrating. Let me just annihilate all my individuality, annihilate all perception of this world which is full of misery, and just merge, merge into nothing, all glorious nothingness. No problems. I don’t have to face anyone ever again.” Ah? And it’s called spiritual suicide.
KRISHNA PROVIDES EVERYTHING
But the devotees of the Lord, they have faith that Kåñëa will provide what I need and more. Why should I work hard simply for my bodily maintenance? In the Bible, one of the associates of Lord Jesus, he was expressing his desire: “How will we get along?” Jesus said, “You don’t need to carry even a begging bowl. You don’t need to carry a second cloth. You don’t even need shoes. You just walk. God will provide whatever you want. Are the birds not eating well every day? Are the lilies in the field not beautifully dressed with clothes? Even more nicely they are dressed than the King! If you surrender to the Lord, who is providing for even them, you do not think He will provide for you?” Where is our faith?
Çréla Prabhupada is using the example that he came to America with forty rupees. Do you know what forty rupees is in American currency? Ah? It’s two dollars. In those days, it was about two dollars and seventy-five cents, since the rupee has devaluated. Ah? Do you know what you can buy for two dollars in America? Ah? Just to buy a salad costs five dollars. That’s just some lettuce, raw. You can hardly buy one meal for two dollars. There’s absolutely no place you can stay for two dollars. The cheapest hotel is twenty-five dollars. Ah? You can’t even get anywhere in two dollars. If you’re in the New York subway, you can get a one-way trip to another section of New York in two dollars. Ah? If you want to go somewhere else, you can’t get anywhere. Two dollars is worthless! Not only that, you can’t even exchange a rupee in America, so actually you had nothing. See the illusion? You people are working so hard for rupees, but outside of India, a rupee is not even worth the paper it’s printed on. Ah? And he’s explaining, he didn’t work for a living. He didn’t try to make money. All he did is preach! He just sat under a tree with a little drum, chanting, “Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare.” No fancy tunes. Just one tune, one melody! He just chanted it all day, playing not a nice Mridanga made in Bengal, but a little, cheap hippie drum. Ah? And what was the result of that faith? That eight years later, he had property worth forty crores of rupees. Ah? Was he attached to any of it? “Kåñëa, it is all yours, it is all for your enjoyment.” He would still just eat chapatis, and little dal. He was living the same way he did when he had forty rupees, when he had forty crores. Ah? Because he was dedicating whatever he did for Kåñëa’s pleasure.
FAITH IS PRECIOUS – CULTIVATE IT
So, a devotee has a fearless state of consciousness and a devotee can be content in any situation in life if that devotee simply has faith in Kåñëa.
bhajahü re mana çré-nanda-nandana
abhaya-caraëäravinda re
durlabha mänava-janama sat-saìge
taroho e bhava-sindhu re
(“Bhajahü Re Mana” by Govinda dasa Kaviraja)
My dear mind, please fix yourself on the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, Hari, that beautiful son of Nanda Mahäräja, for in always remembering Kåñëa with faith and devotion, we become free from all fear, all anxieties in life. This human birth is very rare. It is not meant to live like a foolish ass. It is not meant to simply accept and assimilate the propaganda of this illusory energy. Human form of life is meant to associate with saintly persons, and through that association to hear and to render service, to cultivate our faith, to cultivate our dependence on the mercy of the Lord, to reciprocate with the mercy of the Lord in every aspect of our life, with thanks, with gratitude. That is Kåñëa consciousness. And if we capture within our life, within our heart, this approach, then, in fact, we are the wealthiest, most fortunate men or women in all of creation. There is nothing so sublime and nothing so valuable, nothing so precious as faith. So let us nourish our faith, faith in Kåñëa, and be happy.
WORK HARD FOR KRISHNA
Prabhupada ends this purport with a very dynamic conclusion. He explains:
“Nonetheless, in the presence of so many enemies, this movement is progressing, going forward without impediments. If the devotees continue to spread this movement, dedicating life and soul to the lotus feet of Krsna, no one will be able to check it. The movement will go forward without limits. Chant Hare Krsna!”
So here we are, trying to develop this temple like sparrows trying to dry the ocean, trying to collect for a van, and we get one rupee here, one rupee there, like little sparrows. Hardly even sparrows – baby sparrows. Ah. Trying to make an impact in this incredibly illusioned society of twelve million people. Ah? Trying to pay the bills, trying to distribute books, trying to remain pure. Sometimes it seems, how is it possible, what will we do, what are we doing? Devotees work very hard, but not for their own maintenance. We see that Krsna is providing everything we need and more. We should be happy with that, but we work very, very hard for the pleasure of guru, not for ourselves. We shouldn’t work at all hard for ourselves, we should work for Krsna. We should give every drop of our life’s energy for guru and Krsna. But for ourselves, we understand Krsna will provide. We have no need to worry. That is faith. And the movement cannot be stopped. That is a fact. The only impediment is when we lack faith – faith in God, and faith in one another. If there is no love and trust cultivated amongst each other, then it is very, very difficult for anyone to have faith in Kåñëa or guru. Faith in guru, with no faith in his devotees, is an illusion. We have to cultivate faith. We have to cultivate love and trust in one another, and then nothing can stop this movement, nothing can stop the progress. Krsna will empower, and all things will be done for Him.

Is there any questions? Yes.
Question: (inaudible)
Maharaj: How to cultivate love and trust? The first thing is never gossip, never spread rumors, never find faults. That is public enemy number one for love and trust, when people gossip about each other, behind each other’s backs, speculate about each other’s motives, talk about what this person has done, what that person has done, what this person might be doing. This fault-finding and rumor-mongering destroys the integrity of everyone’s consciousness. There’s no possibility of love and trust as long as this is going on. It’s worse than illicit sex, it’s worse than intoxication, it’s worse than gambling, it’s worse than meat-eating, finding fault and criticizing other Vaiñëavas. Because these things, when you fall down it’s very bad, of course, but you can atone for it. But when you disturb people’s faith in each other, as in a congregation of devotees, when you create a situation, an atmosphere where nobody can really, everybody’s suspicious of each other, which is the result of rumors and gossip, then what happens is you destroy the unity which is the very means of our progressing in this, in the execution of our guru’s mission. Hm? It’s very serious. So that’s the first thing. Glorify the devotees, no faults, no rumors, no gossip. Hm? Speak positively, constructively, encouragingly. That is the greatest service we can render.
And also we have to, alongside with that, we have to follow the principles of Kåñëa consciousness very carefully, chanting the Holy Name attentively, being the servant of the servant of the servant. Ah? Be the servant of your godbrothers and godsisters. Be their helper. Be menial. Ah? If everyone has that spirit, then it is, then this movement will be so beautiful, so glorious, everyone will want to come. How many people are attracted to philosophy? They might say they are, but how many people really are? They might get entertained by philosophy, they may get some conviction by philosophy, but people join this movement because they see love and trust amongst devotees. Otherwise they won’t take our philosophy seriously.
Just like we were recently at the Rainbow Gathering, and we were speaking so much philosophy, we were having so many kértans, distributing so much prasäda, these things were purifying each other people’s hearts, but the real thing that they appreciated, more than anything, was how you people work together so nicely, don’t argue, don’t find fault, don’t gossip. “Everyone else in society is doing these things. I want to be with you.” But the real thing that wanted them to move to the community, is you people are not finding faults with one another, you’re not gossiping, you’re working together, you actually seem to love each other. Because that’s the fruit of our philosophy, isn’t it? Love and trust. If they see that, they’ll be attracted. If they don’t see that, who cares about it? “You know, you talk so much nice philosophy, and then the next thing I know, you’re fighting amongst each other like cats and dogs. You’re criticizing each other. You’re gossiping about one another. What kind of- Who c- If that’s the fruit of your philosophy, I’ll just go home and watch television.”Ah? (…) love and trust for one another, why we have to learn to be the servant, the servant of the servant of our godbrothers and our godsisters, the menial servant, whatever your position, whether you’re Temple President, whether you’re guru, whether you’re GBC, whether you’re street sweeper, püjäri, Temple Commander, college preacher, treasurer, whatever your position is. Even if you’re the h-, even if you’re the Chairman of the Board of the Tape Ministry and Library. Whatever your position is, you’re actually, that’s all superficial. Actually we only have one position: the menial servant of every devotee. And to the degree we all accept this position, to that degree there will be such a charming atmosphere of Vaikuëöha that the whole world will want to come and be a part of it.
Any other questions? Yes.
Question: (inaudible)
Maharaj: Krsna says in Gitä,
jïänaḿ te 'haḿ sa-vijïänam
idaḿ vakñyämy açeñataù
yaj jïätvä neha bhüyo 'nyaj
jïätavyam avaçiñyate
(Bhagavad-Gitä 7.2)
That this science is to understand the phenomenal and the nouemenal side-by-side. That means you have to understand how this material energy is working. It doesn’t mean you need Ph.D. If you use Ph.D. in Kåñëa’s service, that is glorious. But what this is saying, is you have to, in order to have a complete understanding, you must understand what is devotion to God, and what are the results, and what is this material energy, and what are the results of following it? In fact, at the beginning, it’s more important to understand the nature of material existence. How it is temporary.
duùkhälayam açäçvatam
(Bhagavad-Gétä 8.15)
How it is ultimately a place of misery.
janma-måtyu-jarä-vyädhi-
duùkha-doñänudarçanam
(Bhagavad-Gétä 13.9)
How the real problems of life are birth, old age, disease, and death. Ah? At the beginning stages, this understanding is a very important impetus to take devotion to God seriously. You understand? So we have to cultivate knowledge and ignorance simultaneously. Cultivating ignorance doesn’t mean becoming ignorant. Cultivating ignorance means understanding what is ignorance, understanding the nature of ignorance and how to overcome it by knowledge.

Is there any other questions? So we are very happy to be back in the association of the jubilant Vaiñëavas who are always hovering at the lotus feet of Rädhä Gopénath. Any service I can offer, please give me the chance. Hare Kåñëa.
“End of the Document”