Guidance, Volume 3

Questions and Answers

1) Question: What does service to the Lord give?

Answer: We consider that taking shelter in the service of the Lord is the only duty. Fortunate are those who serve the Lord. You must hear, practise and remember Krishna consciousness despite all difficulties. I have nothing else to offer you except this.

2) Question: How can one escape from the material world?

Answer: This earth, i.e. this material world, is an examination place. Those who want to pass this examination must practise sravan and kirtan (hearing and chanting) in the company of devotees.

3) Question: How does Maya work?

Answer: If you heat a piece of iron in fire, it gets burning power from the fire and can burn other things—Maya also takes her materials from the Lord and removes souls from His service.

4) Question: How can one show kindness to jiva souls?

Answer: The only kindness, or mercy, to jiva souls is speaking to them about Krishna consciousness (Hari-katha kirtan). There can be no other way to show kindness to a jiva soul that could compare to Krishna-kirtan. Mercy to jiva souls means to engage a soul averse to the Lord in the service of the Supreme Lord through the medium of Hari-kirtan.

5) Question: What does a show of service mean?

Answer: It is what those who serve the Deity must not become like. If a temple priest worships the Deity for a ten-rupee salary, this cannot be 'serving' the Lord. If someone does 'kirtan' for twenty rupees, this cannot be 'chanting the Holy Name'; if you settle with somebody to give a lecture or read 'Bhagavatam' for fifty rupees, this cannot be 'Hari-katha'—this is amusement for the sake of people's joy or an eloquence display. This is not devotion, this is not Vaishnavism—it is enjoying the Name, it is pursuing one's own interest (karma-marga).

6) Question: Who is a sadhu?

Answer: If one grows dreadlocks and pretends to be a renunciate or becomes a big grihastha, this is not what is called a sadhu. A sadhu is a person who is constantly absorbed in Krishna consciousness (Hari-katha); a person who is constantly busy with the service of the Lord; a person whose every effort is for Krishna, whose every effort is for the service of the Lord.

7) Question: What is the path of real spiritual benefit?

Answer: As long as the jiva soul does not become inclined to serve the Lord, it will not have consciousness of Krishna, which means the pastimes and teachings of Sri Gaurasundar will not enter its heart. Our only duty is to serve Krishna and Krishna's devotees. We will be cheated for as long as we are not able to realise this. When will we be released from our foolishness? When we sincerely, leaving all deceit, embark on the path of devotion to Krishna. Although the sun is very far, sun rays come near us and give us light; in the same way, the Lord always appears near us within the material world. If we follow and hold the hand of those who worship the Lord, they will open our eyes and we will be able to have the darsan of the Lord. Those who constantly try to practise Krishna consciousness serve the Lord at every step—without service to the Lord they do not use anything, do not do anything. Service to such pure devotees can give us pure Krishna consciousness for Krishna is the ultimate goal of all goals. Krishna, in His form of sankirtan, destroys Agha, Baka, Putana, et al. within the hearts of extremely unqualified people. We have no other engagement except for service to Krishna. Gaurasundar, who is Krishna Himself in the garb of a devotee, taught in so many ways that one must only practise Krishna consciousness.

8) Question: Will I get any real benefit if I follow a mano-dharma (a concocted religion, not established in the scriptures)?

Answer: As long as the rasa (essence) remains concealed by such religions, those who practise it to satisfy their own senses cannot attain Krishna, the reality—even if such devotees glorify His name, form, beauty, and pastimes, they will not realise these things.

9) Question: What is wrong with being a non-devotee?

Answer: We may think that someone may be a devotee, and someone may be a non-devotee according to their liking, what is wrong with that? If we are non-devotees, then there appear several problems—various miseries (caused by one's body, the nature, other souls, etc.). The only cause of suffering is aversion to the Lord—no matter what we do, if it is not devotion we will suffer. When, instead of worshipping the Lord, jiva souls exercise their independent free will, Maya Devi turns them into her slaves. Thus we pose as masters, but as soon as we get some good association, we can understand that we are not masters—our only duty is service to the Lord.

10) Question: What happens if I listen to non-devotional talks?

Answer: If we listen to non-devotional talks or take advice from non-devotees, then we will spend millions of lifetimes in illusory bondage serving every single atom of this material world.

11) Question: What happens if I take advice from devotees?

Answer: We can hear from devotees that if one serves Vishnu, then all services to every conscious and unconscious atom are fulfilled. Mahaprabhu said, "Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

12) Question: Who can give the Lord?

Answer: Following those who serve the one undivided Absolute brings spiritual benefit to the soul. If someone dresses as a benefactor, he can give others something from the little wealth that he has, but devotees' eternal wealth is the Lord Himself. If the Lord personally gives Himself, there will be something more left, but a devotee of the Lord can give the Lord without withholding anything. It does not harm the Lord:

om purnam adah purnam idam purnat purnam udachyate
purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate

"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He retains the complete balance."

(Brhadaranyak Upanisad, 5.1)

Service to Vaishnavs (devotees) is higher than service to Vishnu, and it is everyone's duty to serve Vaishnavs. The glories of service to Vaishnavs are greater than those of service to Vishnu. When one serves Vaishnavs, service to Vishnu is automatically accomplished.

13) Question: What is mano-dharma?

Answer: There any many spiritual practices in this world. We do not like to hear that only by chanting the Holy Name can one get spiritual benefit. The Name, form, beauty, qualities, and pastimes of the Lord are non-different from each other, and that which draws a distinction between them is called mano-dharma (religion that springs from one's mind). Sriman Mahaprabhu said,

"dvaite bhadrabhara jnana, saba manodharma
'ei bhala', 'ei manda'—ei saba bhrama"

"In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental speculations. Therefore, saying 'This is good' and 'This is bad' is all a mistake."

14) Question: How can one become a devotee?

Answer: Many people want to become devotees without becoming servants of devotees, without serving devotees. However, it is impossible to become a devotee without becoming a servant of devotees. Many of us are non-devotees, but we think we are devotees. What is my position? I am not a devotee—I cannot constantly serve the Lord. Sometimes we have the ego of a man and we are drawn to the beauty of women, sometimes we have the ego of a woman and we are drawn to men—can such an atheist, sinner and the lowliest of men as myself ever become a devotee?

15) Question: Why is it said that the path of karmis, jnanis, yogis, etc. is wrong?

Answer: Bhagavatam says that those who have accepted the path of karma, jnana or yoga have taken to a wrong path. If there is devotion, one can get the Lord. You may get something you like (preya), but it does not mean you get what is good for you (sreya), but it is necessary to turn sreya into preya. Devotees say that I must serve my Lord. 'He may accept it or may not'—that is devotion.

16) Question: What is the difference between karmis and devotees?

Answer: Karmis (materialists) want to enjoy in this life and in next life. Devotion is the propensity of a pure soul. If we can re-establish ourselves in our real healthy state, we will be able to easily separate ourselves from the material world.

17) Question: Who has the right, the qualification to chant the Holy Name?

Answer: Devotees engaged in Sri Krishna sankirtan attain the qualification to chant the Holy Name through service to devotees. Devotees keep in the temple, or pure sincere householder devotees keep at their homes, whatever can be used in service of the Lord—pure devotees serve the Lord always, in every way, through all their senses. Even householder devotees can dwell in Goloka if they become free from attachment to their house by engaging themselves in the service to the Supreme Lord—they see other residents of their house not as objects for their own enjoyment but as objects for the service of Krishna. In this way they can get spiritual benefit. If we involve our senses in the external world, we will never be able to become servants of the Holy Name.

18) Question: Is Krishna-sankirtan the only practice?

Answer: People who practise Krishna consciousness have no other duty. Be it a child, an old man, a young man, a woman, a man, a scholar, a fool, a rich man, a poor man, a handsome man, a pious man, a sinner—whatever position one may be in, they have no other method of spiritual practice: the only spiritual practice is 'Sri Krishna-sankirtan'.

19) Question: What is so bad and selfish about being a karma-kandi or a jnana-kandi?

Answer: Dharma, artha, kama or philosophy of working being motivated by the result and liberation are the covetable goals of 100% followers of so-called religious movements in this world. Sriman Mahaprabhu said that they are all deceit and cheating. The Holy Name does not come from the mouths of those who pursue these things. Those who make a show in different ways for the sake of religion, wealth, material desires and liberation are offenders to the holy feet of the Holy Name. We must never make the Lord our servant for the sake of some benefit, neither must we ever put the Lord to work for our own interest. Karma-kandi are those who desire religion, wealth, material things; and those who decide to renounce the fruits of their actions are called jnana-kandi. Both are selfish—both try to turn the Lord into their servant. Pure devotees say:

"naham vande tava charanayor dvandvam advandva-hetoh
kumbhi-pakam gurum api hare narakam napanetum
ramya-rama-mrdu-tanu-lata-nandane nabhirantum
bhave bhave hrdaya-bhavane bhavayeyam bhavantam

"O Lord! I do not pray to Your lotus feet for material happiness or to be saved from the worst kumbhipaka hell; neither do I pray to Your lotus feet to enjoy the company of beautiful heavenly women who reside in Indra's garden. All I pray for is to remember your holy lotus feet in the temple of my heart and to receive shelter in the domain of Your exclusive devotion."

20) Question: What happens if one commits an offence to a Vaishnav or the Holy Name?

Answer: Nama-aparadh and Vaishnav-aparadh are two sides of the same coin. As a result of an offence to the Holy Name, one will try to enjoy or feel enthusiastic to follow selfish pursuits and accumulate knowledge. Sriman Mahaprabhu said that the Holy Name never comes to the mouths of offenders to the Holy Name—the letters of the Name may come, but not the pure Holy Name. When one makes an offence to the Lord, Vaishnavs can remove that offence, but if one makes an offence to the feet of these Vaishnavs, then who is there in this world to remove their offence? So, both offences to the Holy Name and to Vaishnavs must be given up.

21) Question: Into whose ears does Hari-katha enter?

Answer: If, by our great fortune, we are anxious to serve the Lord, then it will enter our ears. We will be able to hear and keep it within our hearts. Those who are unfortunate may think they heard Hari-katha, but actually they did not—they were cheated. The moment we lose our guardian, the enemies surrounding us will attack us. The moment we stop listening about Krishna consciousness from a bona fide sadhu, stop serving the sadhu sincerely, Maya will immediately take advantage and seize us.

22) Question: How should we spend this human life?

Answer: We have been nourished and brought up with much care and love in a particular society since our childhood, and we have got entangled in this life so much that we do not have even a moment to spare for the discussions of our eternal life. We spend twenty-four hours a day busy with our work, so much so that we do not even try to know what our real position is. If we think in terms of eternity, one hundred years of a lifetime is very little. Therefore, the duty of intelligent people is not to spend the hundred years of their lifespan on sense-gratification, but to seek their own spiritual benefit.

23) Question: How must we see 'disappearance' days?

Answer: Common people call it 'akapater din' ('deceitless day') instead of 'aprakater din' (disappearance day), but we know that sometimes they call the disappearance day an appearance day. On the disappearance day, we get an opportunity to serve our guru, but we are not told by our Sri Gurupadpadma to see the Deity as being separate from Krishna and the devotee of Krishna, so the Deity is always worshippable.

24) Question: What is the reason of our suffering?

Answer: If we do not discuss the answer to the question 'Who am I?', then we experience difficulties in life. Various temptations of material life try to drown us. The moment we drop our guard, Witch Maya grabs us by the throat. Unless we do perpetually listen to discussions about Krishna consciousness, there is no way for us to escape the bondage of Maya.

25) Question: What is devotion?

Answer: When will industrious materialists get their promised reward? Who will get it? Where will they get it? We debate about this among ourselves, but almost everyone is going down the wrong path without realising this. Those who have even a little realisation of the spiritual world exclusively worship Chaitanya's feet dust—Brahma, Brihaspati, Indra and other demigod in charge of various duties—reject such trifle knowledge like stool and urine. Devotion is objection against enjoyment and liberation.

26) Question: What is the difference between the renunciation of pure devotees and the renunciation of other people?

Answer: The renunciation of Mahaprabhu's devotees is renunciation of pure devotees. This is not the false renunciation that we see everywhere in this world. Some say that they are 4.6-meter-cloth renunciates; some say they are 2.3-meter-cloth-renunciates; some say that they have renounced wearing shoes and walk barefoot; some say they have given up eating and drinking—such an outward appearance of renunciates may pass as a heroic feat among enjoyers, but devotees of Mahaprabhu think such people are victim of deceit.

27) Question: What is enjoyment and what is renunciation?

Answer: Enjoyment is what does not let people see that everything actually belongs to the Lord, inasmuch as renunciation is what does not let people understand that everything is actually ingredients for the service of the Lord. The enjoyment or renunciation that brings neglect of things related to the Lord is alien to the soul. The soul's nature is service.

28) Question: What is the unparalleled gift of Sri Gaurasundar?

Answer: The unparalleled gift that Sri Gaurasundar has given to the human race is the very love of Godhead. The greatest deficiency in this world is a lack of love. That is why envy, anger, material desires, etc. always cause so much misery to all jiva souls. One more gift of Mahaprabhu is that, to rescue the conditioned souls of Kali-yuga, He went door to door distributing the Hare Krishna maha-mantra (the mantra of the Holy Name prescribed for this Age of Kali), to every jiva soul and, inspiring His associates to take up the post of a guru in this world, He made tireless efforts to save such fallen souls as ourselves.

29) Question: What happens if one does not serve the guru?

Answer: Before one goes to serve Sri Gaurasundar, one must serve the guru. Service to the guru means service to the guru who is a close associate of the Lord—without such service one will not be able to get any eternal spiritual benefit. Because we lack sincere service to the lotus feet of Sri guru, we just repeat words in the same manner that a parrot learns some words and keeps on repeating them. We say many big-big words, long-long words, but we completely forget about Gita's 'prakrteh kriyamanani' sloka and its highest sloka 'mam ekam saranam vraja.' Unless we get transcendental feelings, we will not get any benefit, but if we say we have got transcendental feeling being situated in the material world, then such thinking is non-devotional. The realisation of one's non-devotion is called humility, and absence of such realisation of one's non-devotion is called vanity, or conceit.

30) Question: Does the word 'Sri-Krishna' imply guru?

Answer: In the word 'Sri-Krishna', 'Sri' means She who is attracted to Krishna. So, Krishna is He who attracts, and the attracted Sri means She who is extremely beautiful. He who can attract by His beauty the One who is the most beautiful is known as Sri Krishna.

31) Question: What is the difference between spiritual life at a temple and at home?

Answer: There is no difference between a spiritual temple and a spiritual house. The practitioners of spiritual life will always be careful that whatever they do would be for the worship of the Supreme Lord, and not for the worship of the devil or their own enjoyment.

32) Question: Is the mind the same as the soul?

Answer: The mind and the soul are not one and the same. The mind always judges about the external world. The mind can accept gross matter from the outer world, but the soul, being an eternal part and parcel of the Supreme Controller, can bring a message about the Lord. Only a pure soul knows what the Lord wants, what He likes; therefore, the religion of the soul is service to the eternal Paramatma (Supreme Soul).

33) Question: How can we protect the seed of devotional creeper?

Answer: We can see in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta that if you do not water it, the seed of the devotional creeper (bhakti-lata bij) will dry and be destroyed. In general, if you plant some seeds and do not water them after that, they will dry up, and if you water them too much, the seeds will rot. It is the same here, too—sravan and kirtan (hearing and chanting) is the way to protect the seed of the devotional creeper, but if unqualified people listen to or discuss the highest topics found in the works by Chandi Das, Vidyapati, chapters about rasa-lila, etc. on pretext of sravan, then the tiny seed of their devotional creeper will not sprout, it will die very quickly.

34) Question: What is the difference between a Vaishnav and a brahman?

Answer: A Vaishnav is a devotee of Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and a brahman is a devotee of nirguna Brahman (impersonal aspect of the Lord situated beyond the influence of the material modes of nature). The knower of the impersonal aspect of the Supreme Lord is called a brahman, and the knower of the personal aspect of the Lord is called a Vaishnav. If a brahman practises Krishna consciousness in the realisation of sambandha-jnana, he can become a Vaishnav—by the mercy of Vishnu, he can be saved from the hands of impersonalists and become an 'unadulterated brahman', or a Vaishnav. Sri jiva Goswami writes in his book Bhakti-sandarbha (177), referring to Sri Vyasadev's Garuda Purana, that one priest performing sacrifices is higher than a thousand ordinary brahmans, one person learned in the Vedas and all the other scriptures is higher than a thousand such priests, a Vaishnav is higher than millions of such learned experts, and just one devotee is higher than thousands of Vaishnavs. All Vaishnavs are brahmans, but brahmanism stands on the lowest steps of the ladder of Vaishnavism. Vaishnavs' qualities are much greater than the qualities of brahmans. A brahman is a servant of Vaishnavs: just as when a man has a lakh of rupees, he also has a thousand rupees, the same is true here too—if someone is a Vaishnav, they are automatically a brahman as well. The qualities of a brahman are included within the qualities of a Vaishnav.

35) Question: What is so special about Vaishnavs' philosophy?

Answer: Vaishnavs' philosophy is connection with reality. True knowledge is not a competitor or an aggressor like yoga knowledge that aims at changing empirical knowledge. This is the distinctive characteristic of Vaishnav philosophy. All main sruti scriptures, all main Vedanta scriptures, Bhagavatam tell about the truth. These scriptures elaborate on human culture, various rules and regulations of the past, as well as the transmigration of the soul. The gist of Vaishnavs' philosophy is that until we fully surrender to an acharya whose character embodies the character of a Vaishnav, no matter how learned or scholarly we may be, we will not be able to easily realise the philosophy of Vaishnavism in our hearts. There is a sloka in the Gita:

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

Unconditional surrender, honest inquiry and service mood—if one has these three qualities, they will easily understand the philosophy of Vaishnavs.

36) Question: Why do pure Vaishnavs do collection?

Answer: The reasons why Vaishnavs do collection are these:

a) to deliver the souls that are charmed by Maya and consider that everything that exists for the pleasure of Krishna is meant for their own enjoyment, and who are thus attached to eating sin;
b) to tell them about Krishna consciousness, to bring them to the bona fide path and the path of eternal spiritual benefit
c) materialists work very hard to earn their own food and clothes, and they think that they achieve material happiness in their life due to their own effort—due to their ignorance, they steal what is not theirs and enjoy sin. Therefore, pure Vaishnavs accept something from them to be merciful to these ignorant soul and help them unconsciously earn some sukriti. Pure Vaishnavs do collection to give mercy to the jiva souls, not to extort tax from them.

37) Question: What is the teachings and example of devotees?

Answer: Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad said: "You must take a loan to preach Mahaprabhu's teachings, then, to pay back that loan, you will have to engage yourself in service even more. When you have a pending payment for this loan, you will have to engage yourself in even more collection. At the same time, if your practice is not proper and character is not pure, pious grihasthas will not donate anything to you—then you will have to try hard to lead a pure life of a practitioner. I will not leave you even one cent so that in the future you do not become lax and leave sankirtan, service to the Lord, and your proper practice of Krishna consciousness."

38) Question: What is the meaning of a Math?

Answer: A Math is a centre for practising glorification of the Lord (Hari-kirtan). Hari-kirtan is its life and soul. A Math is where laziness, unrighteous behaviour, 'village' thoughts, 'village' talks or base material desires have no place whatsoever. That is why when you go door to door for collection, you will generally go through examination. Common people will criticise you saying that they are donors and you are beggars, i.e. they hold a higher position than you, that you are the recipients of their mercy; some will be ready to chastise you—as the result, your tolerance can grow, you will have an opportunity to be humble and give honour to others. Just by seeing your qualities of being humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree and respectful to others, common jiva souls will be benefited.

39) Question: Is there anything else a practitioner of Hari-kirtan should strive to do?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said: if someone tells something to you personally, you must not get angry. There is no fault in your guru-varga, scriptures, great souls who are supremely liberated, eternal associates of the Lord. Somebody can say something about them out of ignorance, but when you practise real kirtan, you must rectify the mistake of those who criticise—in this way you can give great benefit to these ignorant people. If you indulge your laziness and want to practise in seclusion to get a break from the criticism, then you will not have to rectify your character, but neither will you have a proper practising life. Because you want to get pratistha, you cannot tolerate it when others abuse you; you try to please others and to please yourself by pleasing others—as the result, you will be harmed spiritually, and I know you will leave the path of true spiritual benefit and take up an inauspicious path. Because you are my closest friends, I cannot do this to you.

40) Question: Who is a bona fide guru (sad-guru)?

Answer: It is a person who is, first of all, devoid of any cheating, who gives genuine advice on religion of the soul, or bhagavata-dharma (religion based on the precepts of Srimad Bhagavatam). Besides, a genuine guru is a person who does not have material defects (selfishness, etc.) because only bhagavat-dharma accepts the eternal and transcendental nature of the guru. There are many vitta-harankari gurus in this world (who steal your wealth, money, etc.), but there are very few santap-harankari gurus (who 'steal' material misery). A person who cannot save a conditioned soul from the cycle of birth and death and cannot sincerely engage them in the service of the Lord can never be called a guru.

41) Question: What does it mean to 'give up bad association'?

Answer: 'Association with women' means associating with those who live in this world with a view to enjoy, or who have an 'enjoyment' vision. Giving up this material vision is called giving up bad association. Giving up such low habits and trying exclusively, with one's mind, body and speech, to serve Krishna is called sannyas. Just being a Vaishnav is the topmost sannyas. Another name of Vaishnavs is paramahamsa. Our only duty is engage ourselves in the service of the Lord accepting whichever appropriate clothes within the varnasrama-dharma to show the dignity of the paramahamsa-vesa of our guru-varga.

42) Question: What is the cause of the famine of pure kirtan?

Answer: Because of the insult and dishonour people show to the guru-varga, there has appeared a famine of kirtan in the world today. The kirtan of today is kirtan (glorification) of material world, kirtan for the sake of business, kirtan for the sake of amassing money, women and prestige, kirtan for the sake of mundane sense-gratification. Such kirtan is done not out of love for Krishna or for satisfying the Lord. However, when pure devotees do kirtan out of love for the Lord and for the spiritual benefit of the jiva souls, such kirtan is pure.

43) Question: Who is my and everyone's benefactor?

Answer: Only a pious man surrendered to the Lord can be his own and others' benefactor. Pure devotees always try to leave bad association of people who have other desires, who pursue material goals or seek knowledge.

44) Question: What does it mean to truly take shelter at the lotus feet of a guru?

Answer: Following the advice that Sri Chaitanyadev and His associates and Krishna's devotees always give to us is called real shelter at the feet of the guru. Service to Sri Hari, guru and Vaishnavs is service to the associates of Sri Gaura Hari.

45) Question: How can we receive a message from the Holy Lord?

Answer: You cannot get a letter from the Lord directly, but you can get a message from the Lord through His devotees—and our message also can be sent to the Lord through them.

46) Question: How can we be rescued from inauspiciousness, or spiritual damage?

Answer: The One who can steal (haran) our desire to enjoy is named 'Hari'. This desire to enjoy that we suffer from is called anartha. If remembrance of Krishna comes to us in the association of the Lord's devotees, then we can be delivered from inauspiciousness, otherwise not.

47) Question: What does 'poor Narayan' ['Poor Narayan' refers to the poor (beggar class) conceived as God personified] mean?

Answer: Narayan can never be poor. A poor person can never be Narayan. Every jivatma is part and parcel of Lord Krishna, a jiva can never become God, so to call a poor man Narayan or to associate Narayan with something poor is atheistic.

48) Question: Who is called a Vaishnav?

Answer: It is said in the scriptures, "Sarva vishnujah vaishnavascha," which means that everyone is born from the Supreme Lord Vishnu and everyone is therefore born as a Vaishnav. Although by our intrinsic nature everyone is a Vaishnav, when the soul comes under control of mahamaya, it is then called avaisnav (non-devotee, materialist). Devotees of Vishnu, the Supreme Controller, are Vaishnavs.

49) Question: What is the right, or qualification, for the service to Krishna?

Answer: Unless one is liberated, one cannot have the right to serve Krishna. Krishna belongs wholly to Radharani. Without service to Radharani, no one can get the right, or qualification, to serve Krishna. Sri Krishnadev is the intrinsic form of Srimati Radharani, and only Sri Gurudev can give one the right to serve Krishna.

50) Question: What is the sole duty of the man?

Answer: There is no other practice or method on this earth except for chanting the Holy Name and glories of the Lord.

51) Question: If Sriman Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself, then if we worship Sriman Mahaprabhu, everything is achieved—what is the necessity to worship Krishna separately?

Answer: Those who think like this discriminate between Krishna and Gaura. There are many people who pretend to be followers of Gaura and say things like this in delirium—this is not worship of Gaura, it is nothing but deceit and pretence. Imagining something is bigger than Krishna is a concoction or illusion. Actually, a servant worships Gaura before worshipping Krishna, and when the eternally liberated souls worship Gaura, it is the same as worship of Krishna.

52) Question: How can one get rid of anarthas (unwanted habits)?

Answer: Unless a jiva soul practises Krishna consciousness, it starts looking for material prosperity, knowledge or fulfilment of various desires, therefore it is necessary to call out to the Lord by loudly chanting the maha-mantra. When one loudly chants the Holy Name of Krishna, anarthas go away.

53) Question: What does association give?

Answer: sadhu-sanga is the main feature of the human beings practising Krishna consciousness, and under the influence of sadhu-sanga the soul becomes gradually intensely drawn to the service of the Lord. This is the most important engagement of a human being, but we are unfortunate because, deprived of such association, we are spending our life in vain. As a result, all kinds of other works occupy the place of service to the Lord.

54) Question: What does the word 'dharma' mean?

Answer: The word 'dhama' means 'light'—we must search for the light that will engage us in the Lord's service. How many lifetimes have we spent foolishly trying to enter darkness? Seeing our plight, sun-like Purana Srimad Bhagavatam says (7.5.31–32): those who become engrossed in nationalism, wealth, knowledge, intelligence, erudition, etc., become covered and their search for the truth becomes obstructed. If it is difficult for someone to understand the truth, if someone is extremely sinful and indulges their weakness, then they have very little idea about devotion to the Lord. If you want to search for the real truth, you must read Bhagavatam (a scripture that teaches mellows of devotion) in the association of a Bhagavata-Vaishnav (recepient of the mellows of devotion). If someone reads Bhagavatam seeking knowledge, etc., such lectures bring disaster to this world: both the speaker and the listener get into trouble. Obtaining mercy of the Lord is not a business transaction—but any other motive is.

55) Question: What happens if one hates a Vaishnav?

Answer: If one hates, or is hostile, towards a Vaishnav, they will fall down to hell.

nindam kurvanti ye mudha vaisnavanam mahatmanam
patanti pitrbhih sardham maha-raurava-samjnite

"One who derides a great devotee loses the results of his pious activities, his opulence, his reputation and his sons. Vaishnavs are all great souls. Whoever blasphemes them falls down to the hell known as maha-raurava, accompanied by his forefathers."

There are many people in Bangladesh who dislike devotees. Although many people there are naturally disposed to devotional qualities, non-devotion is very strong there. Besides their animosity towards devotees, non-devotees are very enthusiastic to even prevent bhoga donations to devotees. Such ideas, such hatred to Vaishnavs must be stopped in this world. It is necessary to speak about this tyranny aimed at the religious world.

56) Question: Who are the visayi (materialists)?

Answer: Those who waste their time on service to their mundane wife, sons, etc. instead of seeking eternal spiritual benefit.

57) Question: What does one get by becoming a Vaishnav?

Answer: Becoming a Vaishnav is the greatest achievement. It is the only duty in the life of a brahman, and it is fulfilled only after millions of births of being a Vedantic scholar. In Bengal, the scholars in the line of exclusive monotheism (kevaladvaitavad) say, "We are also great," but no one other than the greatest sage Vyasadev wrote:

"One priest (a brahman who does fire sacrifices) is greater than thousands of general brahmans; one expert in Vedic knowledge is greater than thousands of such priests; one devotee of Vishnu is greater than millions of such Vedic scholars and one Vaishnav is greater than thousands of devotees of Vishnu."

58) Question: What is the result of sincere service?

Answer: When someone preaches Krishna consciousness without deceit or worships the Lord of all four directions, Sri Gaurasundar in the form of His Deity and His instructions (vani), the devotees of Gaura become affectionate to such person and the environment, percolated with their affection and mercy, makes others' service successful too.

59) Question: Is there any so-called inauspiciousness for devotees?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad says there is nothing inauspicious for devotees, but for non-devotees, for those who have other desires, who are interested in karma, jnana, etc., their so-called auspiciousness and benefit are a hidden repository of inauspiciousness. He also said that exclusive devotees of the Lord accept any dispensation of the Lord with meek humility. If one shows some fickleness towards the arrangement of the Lord, it only proves a lack of faith and presence of selfish desires. In this regard, Srila Prabhupad spoke elaborately on the sloka from Bhagavatam 'tat te 'nukapam' and Srila Rupa Goswami's 'virachaya mayi dandam'. The meaning of Srila Rupa Goswami's sloka is this: it may rain, there may be a thunderstorm, there may be a torrential rain, by the chatak bird never glorifies anything except rain water. The Lord's mercy may at present seem to be punishment or cruelty, or benediction, but the devotees of the Lord never look at it—they are always single-mindedly surrendered to the Lord. Exclusive devotees of the Lord are not bound by the result of their actions, but they themselves know, out of their humility, that they are suffering the result of their own actions.

60) Question: What happens if one pretends to do service and criticises the guru and Vaishnavs?

Answer: All the people who cheated Mahaprabhu in one or another way at their homes and all the people who criticised and harasses the guru and Vaishnavs have fallen down—they are punished by the Lord Yamaraj.

61) Question: Can anyone be called a disciple?

Answer: If one does not accept punishment with a lowered head (with humility), they cannot be a disciple. Servants of the Lord live in a temple. If the residents of the temple (math) give up proper practice and do not follow the proper conception, they will become 'enjoyers of kamath'. If one gives up the interest of the Math and the service to the Math, such averse soul becomes a kamath resident. [Kamath is possibly a play of words: it means a 'turtle', and in Indian pronunciation, it can sound similar to 'commode', a toilet.]

62) Question: What opposes Krishna consciousness?

Answer: If you do not practise Krishna consciousness, you become a materialist. The house where Krishna consciousness is practised constantly is compared to Vaikuntha. One must serve the temple—not accept service from the temple. One must make his house a temple—not transform a temple into one's house.

63) Question: Who looks for faults in Vaishnav?

Answer: Those who practise Krishna consciousness never look for faults in Vaishnavs. When you become averse to devotees, you inevitably fall down.

64) Question: What is our duty?

Answer: We have no other duty except to always want to make Krishna happy. The form, qualities, associates and pastimes of Krishna gradually reveal themselves through chanting the Holy Name. Chanting the Holy Name contains all perfections. You cannot worship the One who bears the Name without worshipping His Name. In this way, so many names clatter our ears—we must remove everything and hear about Krishna consciousness.

65) Question: Who is considered an enjoyer and who, a renunciate?

Answer: Enjoyers and renunciates are the people of this world; enjoyment and renunciation are conceptions of this world. Devotees of the Lord do not belong to this world—they are neither enjoyers nor renunciates. Enjoyers always want to enjoy, when people see the plight of enjoyers ('ksine punye martya-lokam'—when piety is finished, one returns to the mortal plane, Gita, 9.21), they decide to become renunciates considering that the real vision is when there is no distinction (no svagata, no svajatiya, no vijatiya—no paths, no fellowship, no foreignness), when the seers, seeable and seeing are one and the same. There is no austerity in devotion. Devotees' austerity, etc. is not for their own sense-gratification—they do not do anything for themselves everything they do, everything they have is for the service of the Lord. When you serve the Lord and His devotee, the austerity of ascetics or any other practice has no value.

66) Question: What is the only duty of the man?

Answer: Mahaprabhu teaches:

trnanad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.239)

Hari-kirtan is the only duty. If you always, constantly chant the Holy Name, then all other works (enjoyment, etc.) will stop. If you do not stay always on the path of remembrance of the Lord, then you will be enjoying your material life. If you do not know how every single thing is related to the Lord, then there will be no need for divine love. Foolish people pray to get some material religion, things, money, lust, liberation. In the words of Sri Gaurasundar, these are basic things taught to children—He taught higher and the highest things. Upanisads, Gita are taught in the infant class; those who want to enter a higher study must discuss Srimad Bhagavatam.

67) Question: What is the difference between reading Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata and Srimad Bhagavatam?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad said that those distinguish between Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata and Srimad Bhagavatam are followers of prakrita-bauls and prakrita-sahajiyas (imitators). If one distinguishes between Gaura and Krishna, then one must be foolish. To remove such foolishness, it would be more beneficial to study Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, the king of scriptures (grantha-raj) filled with magnanimous teachings, rather than to study Srimad Bhagavatam.

68) Question: Why is Mathura greater than Vaikuntha?

Answer: Vaikuntha does not appear in this world. Vaikuntha always protects its own independent religion, or system, and is always present in the transcendental world. However, there is also Vaikuntha that is magnanimous and distributes the highest mercy—it manifests now by extending its own independent potency within the material world to reveal the appearance pastimes of Lord Krishna to the condition souls. This is called Mathura Vaikuntha, and this is the distinction.

69) Question: What is called sadhu-sanga (good association)?

Answer: If you associate with non-devotees (asadhu) or with false devotees, or if you make a show of coming to a bona fide devotee (sadhu) but protect your own independence, then this is not sadhu-sanga.

70) Question: How can one live in Mathura?

Answer: If you want to enjoy and imitate living in Mathura, this this is not living in Mathura.

71) Question: Who is Sri Jagannathdev?

Answer: Sri Jagannathdev is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, embodiment of sambandha-jnana (knowledge about 'what is what'), Madan-Mohan Sri Krishna. This form is manifest before devotees' eyes anointed with divine love. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord Himself, overwhelmed by the mood of Srimati Radharani, the highest shelter, showed that He saw Sri Jagadis (Jagannathdev) as Sri Krishna Himself—entering the temple, Mahaprabhu would run to embrace Him.

72) Question: Who is a guru?

Answer: A guru is the one who serves the Supreme Being who is worshipped exclusively by all gurus. We are not talking about sitar teachers or performance teachers—they cannot save one from death. As the sloka from Bhagavatam (5.5.19) says, "If somebody cannot save you from death—cannot give you eternal life, cannot save you from material misidentification (birth) and ignorance (death)—then they are not your guru, they are not your father, they are not your mother, they are not your worshippable God, they are not your friend. The ignorant fall into the jaws of death—those who have complete, perfect knowledge do not."

73) Question: Some say that Kali, Krishna, Ganes, et al. are one and the same—is this true?

Answer: Kali, Krishna, et al. are not the same. One is jagat (world), and the other is Jagannath (master of the world). People cannot conceive of transcendental Jagannath through their material senses. If people consider the Supreme Controller Bhagavan Vishnu and His expansions to be one or equal, it means that they are atheists. Padma Purana says, "If somebody considers a worshippable Deity to be stone; the guru and Vaishnavs, mortal humans; Vaishnavs, a social class; the water that washed the feet of Vishnu and Vaishnavs, ordinary water; all-powerful mantra of Lord Vishnu's Name, words; and Supreme Lord Vishnu, on equal footing with demigods—such persons are residents of hell. There is an expression in Vaishnava Tantra that says, "One who thinks that Brahma, Rudra, and demigods are the same as Vishnu are atheists." Many refer to mortal conditioned souls obsessed with money, women and fame as Krishna, Narayan, Hari, Vishnu, Lord, God, guru, etc.—all such people are atheists.

74) Question: What does Srila Prabhupad say about kirtan, the prerequisite in the practice of Krishna consciousness in good association?

Answer: We are very poor, but we are not 'poor Narayans'. We must try to decrease our poverty. Acquiring wealth is necessary—but that great wealth is Krishna-prema.

prema-dhana bina vyartha daridra jivana
dasa kari vetana more deha prema-dhana

"Without love for God, this penniless life is nothing. Make me Your servant and give me the wealth of divine love as my salary!"

This is our only prayer. If we want to have love for Krishna, we will automatically feel no love for the things that oppose Krishna. Mahaprabhu ordered:

prthivite achhe yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

"My Name will spread to every village and town on this earth."

The mundane name is now all over the world, but it is necessary to preach Vaikuntha-Nama—this is the innermost desire of Mahaprabhu. The method of our preaching should be like this: we must make many pamphlets—if there is no temple, let it be, but they will at least hear what philosophy or scriptures there are in their country, and how many great things we tell.

75) Question: What is the duty of the human life form?

Answer: It is necessary to have a strong and sincere faith in the lotus feet of the Lord, and it is necessary to serve those who have such a strong and sincere faith in the lotus feet of the Lord. We will die any day, there is no certainty, therefore we do not have time to serve petty temporary perishable things. When we are born as humans, we must not serve small temporary things—we must not become obsessed with our house, we must not clean after dogs, we must not carry burden like an ass or a cow. We must become relishers of essence (saragrahi). Leaving all desire for liberation, we must become madhukara bees that collect nectar from flower to flower. This world's ideas about good, bad, sin and piety are all mano-dharma, a concoction.

"dvaite bhadrabhara jnana, saba manodharma
'ei bhala', 'ei manda'—ei saba bhrama"

"In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental speculations. Therefore, saying 'This is good' and 'This is bad' is all a mistake."

76) Question: Why do the teachings of Sri Rupa-Raghunath not enter our ears?

Answer: When our material desires stop completely, then the teachings and pastimes of Sri Rupa-Raghunath will enter our ears—not before that. Sriman Mahaprabhu told about service to Krishna. Sri Nityananda Prabhu told about service to Sri Gaurasundar and Sri Damodar Svarup (known as Purusottam Bhattacharya) told to the world about service to Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Sri Rupa-Raghunath told about this Damodar Svarup. We can know this from the holy books of the goswamis.

77) Question: What example did Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur show regarding giving up bad association?

Answer: He said, "In the end I understand my family is averse to Chaitanya. You must give up the association and company of them all if they are averse to Chaitanya, no matter how near and dear they are to you. You can understand whether they are averse or not in this way. Those who are favourable to Chaitanya assist in fulfilling the cherished desires of the true devotees of Chaitanya. Enemies of Chaitanya's devotees belong to the species of worms. Instead of nourishing your soul's body, whatever nourishing food you take to nurture your soul will instead nurture the worms in your body.

78) Question: Why do I see others' faults?

Answer: Being unable to rectify my own mind, I look for faults in others.

79) Question: Where is a holy place?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad told in this regard, "A holy place is where there is Hari-katha."

80) Question: Who is the only protector?

Answer: Srila Prahupad said, "The moment we lose our guardian, the enemies surrounding us will attack us. Our protector is Hari-katha from the mouths of real devotees."

81) Question: What is the purpose of this body?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad said, "We will not stay in this world for long. If you use your body for chanting the glories of the Lord until its demise, this is the purpose of this body."

82) Question: What do intimate devotees hanker for?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad said, "Intimate, or the highest, devotees have no other hankering except for servitude to rupanugas (followers of Sri Rupa).

83) Question: What is the highest religion of the jiva soul?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad said, "Our highest religion is to serve the Vraja-vasis afflicted by the pain of separation from Krishna when He left for Mathura."

84) Question: "As many faiths, so many paths"—all arguments of both karmi schools and Bhagavatam school finish at this. Is this right?

Answer: "As many faiths, so many paths" is a saying of implicitly atheistic, extremist, non-devotional, uninquisitive, impersonalist concocted religious sects meant to gratify common people and their minds.

85) Question: Can serving people or serving the mind and body of the jiva soul be considered service to the Lord?

Answer: Calling service to the body of a conditioned soul service to the Lord is extremely atheistic. Service to the transcendental Lord is completely different from this. Exclusive service to a devotee of the transcendental Lord or a great Vaishnav inspires one to serve the Supreme Lord, but if you serve the mind or the body if a conditioned soul, it will only make you forget the Lord.

86) Question: First gaining political independence, then criticism of religion—does it mean that religion and politics are weapons of opportunism?

Answer: Mundane politics can change within a second. Nationalism is a blood brother of the soul's bondage within the body. Mundane politics, individually and collectively, is the mother of enjoyment. Only the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His servants are independent from false identification and other material faults; the rest of the doctrines are all prison-house enjoyment in various forms.

87) Question: 'Jiva souls is a servant of a servant of the Lord'—does such ego lead to downfall of the jiva soul?

Answer: A jiva is a servant of a servant of the Lord, this is the identity and ego of every pure soul, or eternally liberated person. "I am mater," "I am the creator of the world"—this is the banner of the downfall of the souls fallen into mundane bondage and steered by enemies. "I am Brahman"—this ego is also the ego of travellers of the suicidal path.

88) Question: Enjoyers need money, but devotees call money 'stool' and consider that it is must be given up. Is this correct?

Answer: Money works as stool for those who seek enjoyment; it is fuel for enjoyment and destroys both society and individuals. Because devotees of the Lord are neither enjoyers nor renunciates they risk destroying themselves while trying to 'hijack' mundane enjoyers—by hook or by crook, they accept Narayan's wealth (money) and engage enjoyers in the service to the master of all wealth (Narayan). Servants of the Lord do not renounce things that are related to Krishna—they use them in service to Krishna.

89) Question: People say Vaishnavism is sectarian and liberal and Hinduism is non-secratian and universal?

Answer: Vaishnavism always rejects bad association (i.e. desires of selfish religiosity, wealth, material desires and liberation) and is always favourable to accepting good association (i.e. making transcendental Lord Krishna happy). Good association (sat-sanga) means aural reception. Religion of the soul is a fully developed path of aural reception of knowledge from the authorities. Vaishnavism is a religion of the soul (atma-dharma, or jaiva-dharma), and it is not only the uncovered pure religion of Bengal, India, Europe, America or the souls of this world—it is an eternal intrinsic religion of every jiva soul from millions and millions of universes, as well as Vaikuntha and Goloka. Therefore, Vaishnavism is a universal religion because this religion is meant for the soul. However, so-called Hinduism is not a religion of every country or all jiva souls—Hinduism will not work for every jiva soul because it creates a process of worship and an object of worship to suit the desires of one's mind and body.

90) Question: Is it devotion to imagine some idol of a God, offering Him flowers, Tulasi, ring the bell, recite verses in His praise and sit in front of Him and do japa, meditate?

Answer: The Lord is transcendental, i.e. He defies all perceived knowledge of the jiva soul and freely dispenses eternal regulations and His own dominion of religion. This transcendental form of the Supreme Lord is perceived through transcendental senses. Therefore, making a show of imagining some deity according to one's liking to worship it with flowers, Tulasi, etc. or to ring a bell in front of it is not devotion—it is enjoyment. There are so many kinds of implicit enjoyment in the market that are promoted as devotion.

91) Question: The guru is the Lord Himself, i.e. visaya-vigraha (worshippable)? Does it mean that anyone can be passed as a guru imagining that he is a personification of God?

Answer: Gurudev is the Lord Himself, i.e. visaya vigraha—this is not true. The guru is asraya-vigraha (his purpose is to give shelter, not to take worship). By taking shelter in him, one can get service to Lord Krishna. Krishna performs rasa-lila—He enjoys with the gopis, but the asraya-vigraha gurudev does not show enjoying pastimes. Gurudev knows how to do the highest service to Krishna. Tulasi is offered at the lotus feet of visaya-vigraha Krishna, but Tulasi is not offered at the lotus feet of asraya-vigraha Sri Guru. Nobody can turn a human into 'God'. God and the guru are not created by any human or disciple.

92) Question: How can anarthas be removed?

Answer: If you loudly chant the prescribed number of rounds of the Holy Name of Krishna, unwanted habits and qualities will go away, and all materialism, etc. will run away—even those who are averse to the Lord, the outside people will not be able to avert it then.

93) Question: How can one follow this advice if one is completely covered by anarthas?

Answer: Sriman Mahaprabhu bestowed all power to Sri Rupa Goswami Prabhu, and you must earnestly beg at the feet of this Sri Rupa Goswami Prabhu and his followers for this mercy of Mahaprabhu. Especially, we must pray to Sri Nama Prabhu with all our heart for His service. Nama Prabhu is Nami Prabhu (the Holy Name and He whose Name it is are non-different)—He will reveal Himself in your heart.

94) Question: What is the difference between service to Krishna, service to the devotees of Krishna, and Nama-sankirtan?

Answer: "Service to Krishna, service to the devotees of Krishna and chanting the Holy Name have the same purpose. By chanting the Holy Name, one automatically serves Krishna and the devotees of Krishna. By serving Vaishnavs, one automatically serves Krishna and chants the Holy Name. By serving Krishna, one automatically chants the Holy Name and serves Vaishnavs. If one gives a class on Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, one automatically serves Krishna and chants the Holy Name. Reading Srimad Bhagavatam in good association gives the same result. By worshipping a Deity, the same three services are fulfilled. If one serves and chants the Holy Name, the three are automatically fulfilled."

95) Question: To do service, we have to do material work—is this unfavourable to Krishna consciousness?

Answer: "Our main necessity is to serve the Lord and His devotees. To do this service, we have to work like a common visayi (materialist) this is not unfavourable to Krishna consciousness—rather, it is favourable. If one wants to retire from material enjoyment, then Krishna consciousness is the sure means for both grihasthas and sannyasis. Devotees of Krishna practise Krishna consciousness through material (social, or practical) and spiritual activities—this is not only service to the generally accepted social rules, but also complete service to the Lord."

96) Question: Conditioned materialists wonder why, although they practise Krishna consciousness, they are still unhappy?

Answer: There was a dear devotee Mahaprabhu, Kholavecha Sridhar, who lived in Sri Mayapur. He was an exclusive devotee of the Lord and did not make any effort to earn money. He would sell some banana, roots, thor (banana stems) and maintain his life in a very poor way. Being pleased with the pure devotion of Sridhar, Mahaprabhu would often fight with him in the mood of sakhya-rasa (friendship)—Mahaprabhu often played tug of war with him trying, to snatch his banana stems. Sridhar thought that "everything belongs to the Lord," and he served Him with everything because He is the all-loving Absolute.

97) Question: What is the role of food in religion?

Answer: Devotees are always surrendered—their every step, every practice and conception, every breath is a favourable practice for the satisfaction of the transcendental Lord. They never think like impersonalist non-devotees, 'I like some food and will eat it', 'I will enjoy and imagine that I am making a sacrificial offering to God.' Mayavadis' Deities are armless. Because the transcendental Lord cannot(?) accept anything in His Deity-form, people fall down and become despicable enjoyers; but the Lord shows in the scriptures what foods are His favourite and what can be offered to Him. Devotees maintain their lives by honouring all the food remnants of Krishna as appropriate. 'The Lord is offered betel nut, etc. but we are not qualified to take it'—many think in this way and, having offered it their respect with folded palms, keep it to the side. Like dogs, surrendered servants take the food remnants of the highest devotees of Krishna and live their lives in a way that is favourable to Krishna consciousness.

98) Question: If one sees stool and sandalwood as the same, earth and money as the same, a meat-eater and a brahman as the same, a prostitute and a chaste wife as the same, a jiva and Brahman as the same, the conscious and the unconscious as the same—does it mean they are paramahamsa?

Answer: A paramahamsa sees an extension of the Lord, Paramatma, in all conscious and unconscious jiva souls, who are a transformation of external and internal potency of the Lord. Mahabhagavata paramahamsas see Paramatma situated within all living beings, conscious and unconscious. The symptom of a paramahamsa can be found in various slokas such as Vraja gopis' slokas 'Vana-latas tarava atmani...' (S.B., 10.15.9), 'Nadyas tada tad upadharya...' (S.B., 10.21.15) and 'Kurari vilapasi...'—they are always bound to the lotus feet of the Lord through their loving heart-felt devotion, the Lord Himself can never leave their hearts. This is what mahabhagavata paramahamsas are like. Sanaka, Sananda, Suka and many other great paramahamsas gave up all their impersonal realisations and knowledge and resorted to Hari-kirtan. Paramahamsas see everything as an object to be used in service, they see everyone as their guru's property. They do not see that impersonalism or yogis, jnanis, stool and sandalwood, a prostitute and a chaste wife are one and the same.

99) Question: Where is the full-fledged land of the Lord's pastimes?

Answer: Mundane people's minds are repositories of doubts (always accepting, always rejection), and the mind that is always engaged in the service of Krishna, where all desires for enjoyment and renunciation are abandoned, is the full-fledged land of the Lord's pastimes.

100) Question: Do Kasi scholars not accept Srimad Bhagavatam?

Answer: They consider Srimad Bhagavatam to be one of the ordinary books. They think that it is just one particular Purana among many different Puranas. They do not consider it to be a great scripture at all. We think that there is actually no need for any other scripture besides Bhagavatam. When some other scripture says something, only when it follows Srimad Bhagavatam can it be accepted. The books that say something that goes against Srimad Bhagavatam cannot be spiritual.

101) Question: What does the word 'anartha' mean?

Answer: Anartha (inauspiciousness, unwanted element) is that which prevents one from getting 'artha' (wealth, goal; our main necessity). A party comes to us and transforms such anarthas into service.

102) Question: When will such anartha come to an end?

Answer: When we measure something with our senses, we say, based on our sense perception, that it is, perhaps, 'good', our intellect says that it is 'pleasant' or desirable—and we consider it our duty to obtain it. When we look like this at trees, animals, people, country, etc., when we want to be considered wise or want to get the prestige of being called a saint—this is all service to the objects of senses. The efforts of karmis, jnanis, yogis and other materialists are all service to the senses, and this is all unfavourable to devotion to Lord Krishna.

103) Question: Do we have to leave all our jobs and daily duties?

Answer: Following the example of Vaishnavs, we do everything, but we do not take to the path of karma (fruitive work). One of our predecessor gurus, Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu said (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, 1.2.85): "No matter what the life circumstances are, those who do everything to serve the Lord with their body, mind, and speech are called 'favourable souls', or 'souls liberated during their life'. True renunciation is when people detach themselves from mundane enjoyment and ardently become attached to the affairs of the Lord by accepting what is favourable to the service of Krishna."

104) Question: What is the duty of a Vaishnav?

Answer: It is said in Pancha-ratra, that if you want to get devotion, you must engage in the secular and Vedic activities that are favourable to the service of the Lord. It is also said there that sadhus refer to all activities that are specified in the scriptures for the service of the Lord as 'devotion'—the highest devotion gradually awakens through such activities. This is the philosophy of niskarma (desisting from fruitive actions). Whatever we do, it must be favourable to the service of the Lord. If one wants to become liberated and become free from all kinds of karma, they will become free from the service to the Lord as well.

105) Question: How can one serve with one's body, mind and speech?

Answer: What nice teachings the father of Sri Prahlad Maharaj got when he asked his son about it (S.B., 7.5.23-24): "There are nine kinds of devotion through which one can serve Lord Vishnu: sravan (hearing), kirtan (chanting), smaran (remembrance), pada-sevana (service to the lotus feet), archana (worshipping the Deity), vandana (offering prayers), dasya (service in the mood of a servitor), sakhya (service as a friend), atma-nivedana (offering oneself to the Lord)." These teachings are eligible to be called the best. When Hiranyakasipu heard this conception of service from his son, he said, 'We always rely on our empirical experience and knowledge, but you have just told me a new conception that we do not know about."

106) Question: Do those who serve the Lord serve the jiva souls?

Answer: The Supreme Lord is complete in Himself. Devotees of the Lord actually serve jiva souls. There are people who, attracted by the outer appearance of a jiva soul, think that service to the Lord or service to the jiva soul is just service to the external body of the Lord—they support the idea that the whole created world is illusory (evolutionism, or vivartavad). Such people do not serve jiva souls—they merely serve Maya (illusory environment) as the external body of the Lord, which is nothing but Maya (external covering of the Lord, material nature). If we serve Maya in this way, it will bring benefit neither to us nor to others. If you ascribe the divine (Narayan) to a beggar, you will be only serving Maya—this is service to neither Narayan nor His (Narayan's) servants, jiva souls. Service to transformed matter (maya) is service to an illusory mirage, not to a real thing. Only Krishna is real. jiva souls are His expansions created in His image and likeness. We must serve the Lord—we must serve the associates of the Lord (His devotees) and even those who do not understand what is proper Krishna consciousness so that they could have a proper idea about devotees and associates of the Lord. Our duty is to help them physically and mentally. We must serve those who are opposed to the Lord also, but in a detached mood. Our dearest friends are devotees of the Lord. We will tell others about our friendship with the universe, about the service to the Lord—if they do not have much intelligence, they can accept the duties of ksatriyas, vaisyas, and sudras. And if they become hostile, we will not associate with them anymore—with those who have lost their eternal caste, agnostics, sensualists, followers of Charvaka, who think that bodily enjoyment is the highest goal of life.

107) Question: What does showing mercy to jiva souls mean? Is supplying food, clothes, etc. to them not help?

Answer: We will help those who after many lifetimes could establish faith in the Lord and have started serving the Lord. We will help the needy with food, clothes and other facilities so that they can serve the Lord, but other than that why do we need to tame a snake with milk and bananas? [Feeding milk to a snake only increases its venomous poison.] This is not mercy, rather, on the contrary, after that the person can be caught by maya or be tempted to become a terrorist. The mercy that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu distributed to the jiva souls liberated everyone eternally from the three-fold miseries. There is nothing inauspicious in this mercy and no inauspiciousness of this world can come to the souls who are fortunate to receive it—on the contrary, they will swim in the ocean of divine love and eternally relish nectar.

108) Question: What is the difference between Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy and others' mercy?

Answer: In Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy, there is no evil or inauspiciousness that can be seen in others' mercy. His closest associate Sri Svarup Damodar Goswami said describing His mercy, "He expels all kinds of inauspiciousness, He is crystal-clear and pure like a fully bloomed flower, He emanates joy, He puts an end to all debates about scriptures, He is a distributor of the highest sweetest taste, He intoxicates the world with divine love for God and bestows eternal happiness to the devotees, He distributed His gift among the high and the low equally, and He is the revealer of the topmost limit of sweetness (Sri Radha)." Sri Rupa Goswami, who called Sri Chaitanyadev Sri Krishna Himself, deliberated, "He whose Name is Sri Krishna Chaitanya and whose colour is golden, is the distributor of the highest gift—He is the distributor of divine love for Krishna." Sri Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami also said (in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta), "If you consider the mercy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, you will be wonder-struck to realise it."

[THE END]

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CONTENTS:

• Foreword
• (Preface) Meaning of Festival
• What Is Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math and Its Distinctions
• "Without Lord Krishna Life Is Meaningless"
• The Unrenounceable
• Sri Radhastami
• Proper Renunciation
• Astakala-Lila
• Is Religion the Cause of National Downfall?
• Householders and Renunciates
• Provincialism and Service to the Lord
• Offenders
• Hell
• Devotional Mood (Bhakta-Bhav)
• Home-interest vs Math-interest
• Samsara and Bhakti
• Questions and Answers