Preaching Guidance:
Blood, Cockroaches, and the Core

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Talking online to the devotees in London
21 May 2016

Question: What is the best way to preach to those who are not Krishna conscious, who do not know anything about Krishna consciousness?

There are so many things. Do not go so deep—you can tell them some simple things, simple matters.

In India, for example, many people do not follow Ekadasi. It was like this in Siliguri too. I gave them an example from Sri Hari-bhakti-vilas. It is said there that if you eat rice on the Ekadasi day, it is the same as killing and eating a brahman (brahman-hata) or a cow (go-hata)—you know that the Hindu people never eat cow's meat. If you eat rice on Ekadasi, it means you are killing your own mother, your parents, your Guru. This is written in Hari-bhakti-vilas. People follow the sastra, scriptures, they believe the scriptures, so when I told them what is written in the scriptures, they believed it and started doing Ekadasi. I do like this.

I have gone village to village, and so many people do not know about Krishna consciousness, do not follow the rules, but I keep on trying—trying and trying.

If you sit in one place and do not go out, do not try, then you will be tired; but you must try and try, then you will be successful. Give your blood to bring people to Krishna consciousness, try, then people will come. By only doing puja and sitting in one place people will not come. Nityananda Prabhu gave His blood.

The temple is not only for doing puja, or just sitting there—it is not for lazy people to stay there like cockroaches. Gurudev said that when you make a temple, there must always be sankirtan, must always be a class, and when many people come [for a large programme], they must be given prasadam. Go outside, bring new people to the temple, bring new people here, and they can hear some Krishna-katha.

When Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj saw that many brahmacharis did not come to his class but at the prasadam time there were so many people, he went to the prasadam hall with his Chaitanya-charitamrita and said, "Do not mind me. Take prasadam. I will read Chaitanya-charitamrita, and you listen."

Do you understand? Many people will not want to listen to Bhagavat-katha, Hari-katha, but you must not come back, you will not retreat—you will go ahead forcefully! They may beat you, but it is not a problem—give some blood for them. You think people do not like it, but this is because they are attacked by Maya. You are a soldier, and you must not retreat—you must go forward and fight against Maya. Why will you go back? Do you think you cannot defeat her? Krishna is one party, and Maya is the other, and you are a soldier of Krishna's party, so fight against Maya, go forward! Go forward! Why will you retreat? No, you will not go back until you defeat them!

Devotee: Here it is a little bit different from there... Here people are not so open to Hari-katha. If you come to them wearing a dhoti and chadar, they do not want to talk to you because you look very different. We must find a new way how to get to the people's heart... Also, I am not so qualified to talk about the high ideals of our line because I do not have the full understanding. When I try to say something, I am afraid that I can say something wrong...

So many followers came to Srila Gurudev, so many followers came to Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad—what did they tell those people? They did not tell them a very high conception or so many things, but how did so many followers come to them? Think about it and you can easily understand it. Srila A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad went to the West alone—he just sat there under a tree, chanting the Holy Name with only a pair of kartals, and slowly, slowly people came, then he began to preach properly.

Another thing is that if you practise properly, then your word will bring the result. If you chant properly yourself, then when you tell somebody to chant, they will chant. If, on the other hand, you do not practise properly yourself, you do not follow Krishna consciousness properly yourself, then what you say will not be active, will not work. If you practise properly, what you say to others will work.

You must think, "I am not doing anything, my Guru is doing everything, and I am only his messenger. My Guru is preaching, and what is coming to my mouth, what my tongue is saying, is coming from my Guru's mouth." If you think like this, then your preaching will work, but if you think, "I am preaching, I am doing it," (even if I also think that I am doing it), that is not right. "My Gurudev says something, I always remember my Guru, and what he tells me, what is necessary to come my tongue, that will come my tongue"—then it will work.

Devotee: If you share your inspiration with us, we can do everything!

I am always with you all, and Krishna's blessings are always with you, Gurudev's blessings are always with you. If you have a great, strong desire to preach, then strong mercy will come to you. It is necessary to have a strong desire—if you have a strong desire, then strong mercy will come. That is sure.

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