Sankarshan Das:  Srimad Bagavatham 4.20.28

Jagaj-jananyam jagad-isa vaisasam

Syad eva yat-karmani nah samihitam

Karosi phalgv apy uru dina- vatsalah

sva eva dhisnye ‘bhiratasya kim taya

jagat-jananyam- in the mother of the universe (Lakshmi);   jagat-isa- O Lord of the universe;   vaisasam-anger;  syat-may arise;   eva-certainly;  yat-karmani- in whose activity;  nah- my;  samihitam-desire;  karosi-You consider;  phalgu-insignificant service;  api-even;  uru-very great;  dina-vatsalah-favorably inclined to the poor;  sve-own;   eva-certainly;   dhisnye- in Your opulence;   abhiratasya-of one who is fully satisfied;   Kim- what need is there;  taya -with her.

Sankarshan Das:Translation and purport by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.

Translation:  My dear Lord of the universe, the goddess of fortune, Lakshmi, is the mother of the universe, and yet I think that she may be angry with me because of my intruding upon her service and acting on that very platform to which she is so much attached. Yet I am hopeful that even though there is some misunderstanding, you will take my part, for You are very much inclined to the poor, and You always magnify even insignificant service unto You. Therefore, even though she becomes angry, I think that there is no harm for You, because You are so self-sufficient that You can do without her.

Sankarshan Das: Talk about competition.

Purport:Mother Lakshmiji, the goddess of fortune, is well known for always massaging the lotus feet of Lord Narayana. She is an ideal wife because she takes care of Lord Narayan in every detail. She takes care not only of His lotus feet but of the household affairs of the Lord as well. She cooks nice foods for Him, fans Him while He eats, smoothes sandalwood pulp on His face and sets His bed and sitting places in the right order. In this way she is always engaged in the service of the Lord, and there is hardly any opportunity for any other devotee to intrude upon His daily activities. Prthu Maharaja was therefore almost certain that his intrusion into the service of a goddess of fortune would irritate her and cause her to become angry with him. So why should Mother Lakshmi, the mother of the universe, be angry with an insignificant devotee like Prthu Maharaja? All this was not very likely. Yet Prthu Maharaja, just for his personal protection, appealed to the Lord to take his part. Prthu Maharaja was engaged in performing the ordinary Vedic rituals and sacrifices according to Karma-kanda, or fruitive activities, but the Lord, being so kind and magnanimous, was ready to award Prthu Maharaja the highest perfectional stage of life, namely devotional service.

When a person performs Vedic rituals and sacrifices, he does so to elevate himself to the heavenly planets. No one can become qualified to go back home, back to Godhead, by means of such sacrifices. But the Lord is so kind that He accepts a little insignificant service, and therefore it is stated in the Visnu Purana that by following the principles of varnasrama- dharma one can satisfy the Supreme Lord. When the Lord is satisfied, the performer of sacrifices is elevated to the platform of devotional service. Prthu Maharaja therefore expected that his insignificant service to the Lord would be accepted by Him as being greater than that of Lakshmiji. The goddess of fortune is called cancala, “restless”, because she is very restless and is always coming and going. So, Prthu Maharaj indicated that even though she might go away out of anger, there would be no harm for Lord Vishnu, because He is self-sufficient and can do anything and everything without the help of Lakshmiji. For example, when Garbhodakasayi Visnu begot Lord Brahma from His navel, He did not take any help from Lakshmi who was just sitting by Him and masssaging His lotus feet. Generally, if a son is to be begotten, the husband impregnates the wife, and in due course of time the son is born. But in the case of Lord Brahma's birth, Garbhodakasayi Visnu did not impregnate Lakshmiji. Being self-sufficient, the Lord begot Brahma from His own navel. Therefore, Prthu Maharaj was confident that even if the goddess of fortune became angry with him there would be no harm, neither to the Lord nor to himself.

Vande ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaishnavams ca sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa jivam sadvaitam savadhutam parijana–sahitam krishna-caitanya-devam sri-radha-krishna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

Sankarshan Das:Pretty amazing. Normally the husband requires the help of his wife to get a child, but Garbhodakasayi Visnu didn't require any help from Lakshmi. He simply gave birth to his son, Lord Brahma, from a lotus flower coming out of his navel. Show me what man can do that in this world. Can sprout a naval from his navel, a lotus flower and give birth to a son without requiring the help of what? So that's a pretty unique position of Lord Vishnu. So, He doesn't require Lakshmi, this is the point that Prthu Maharaja is making. He doesn't really require her. So, if she becomes angry and goes away, so what? I can serve Him anyway. So, the point is we should simply be determined to serve Krishna no matter what may happen. My family members get angry, they may not like it that I am becoming Krishna conscious. My friends may reject me. I had that experience in my own devotional life. I was singing with a tapa beater on my neck. I was addicted. At that time, I had a gig as a singer at a vegetarian restaurant here in Austin. I would sing and entertain all the customers. But then when I had the gig, The head of the restaurant told me that you can't sing songs about Krishna at the restaurant. So, I lost my gig, but I had no problem. The devotees had seen me. So, I lost my gig. By showing that I was interested in Krishna Consciousness, I got rejected. You are now kicked out of your gig as a singer of the sattva restaurant because you are interested in Krishna consciousness. It is kind of ridiculous. The sattva restaurant which is mode of goodness, but I was rejected because of Krishna consciousness. So, it was not really sattva, it was more like tamo-guna. So, the point is we should be very determined, I must become Krishna conscious no matter what they may think, no matter what may happen. Simply determine I must be Krishna conscious. That's all. No matter what may happen, I am determined I must surrender to Krishna. We have a determination and Krishna will bless us. It is much like surrendering to me and reward them accordingly. So, we should be very, very determined. I must now fully give myself to Krishna. Any hesitance I have to surrender, kick it out with boot. Hesitancy, get out. You are not welcome here. Only one thing is welcome in my heart and that is absolute total determination that I must now be totally submitted to Krishna. There are so many obstacles we may face in the mind, in the body, in so many ways, things that interfere with devotional service. But we don't care, we can all be kicked out. By our determination Krishna will bless us. Krishna is there waiting, actually Krishna is waiting and watching for millions and millions of births, He is waiting and watching, when will this soul come back to Me? When will this soul come back to Me? When will this soul come back to Me? So, we actually say, OK, Krishna, I am ready to come back. Krishna is so pleased to give us all facilities. So don't think there is some impediment that is going to stand in the way of your devotional service. All those impediments are simply the illusory energy of the Lord. The Lord's inferior energy, His superior energy is more powerful than His inferior energy. So don't let anything hold you back. All impediments will be kicked away when you become very, very determined that now I have one business only and that is to be totally sold out, pure devotee of Lord Sri Krishna with my every thought, word and deed in all times, places and circumstances, I have no business now, from now on for all of eternity, except to be totally sold-out servant of Krishna. By that determination He will allow us to come back into His personal association. Can you imagine being one of the intimate associates of the Lord in His transcendental world? Well, that's waiting for you. You can be one of the intimate associates of the Lord and His friends of the pastime. In that world where there is no birth, no death, no oldage, no disease and no IRS. That's the attack service here in the United States. So why do we cheat ourselves by saying, hang on to this, I am this body, I have to gratify myself. Why do we hold back? Why are we so damn stupid, we hold on to this thing, I gotta gratify this body, I gotta gratify this body, I have to gratify the tongue, the belly, the genitals. Why do I have to hold on to this foolishness? Is there any reason to do this? Isn't it absolutely athenine to do this? So yeah, we keep on doing it again and again and again. Chewing the chew. What is that? Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām; Chewing the chew. I've been gazing, eating, sleeping, mating, and defending for millions of lifetimes, and it keeps me caught up in the cycle of birth and again. Again, I want to Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām. Again, I want to chew the chew. These materialists are so foolish. They don't realize What is the Sanskrit word for meat? You know what the Sanskrit word for meat is? Yes, mamsa. Flesh or meat. Mamsa, you know what mamsa is? Ma means me, and sa means he. So, meat is actually me, he. So why is it called me, he? Now it is me killing him and it will be he killing me. Mamsa. So, every time they go to McDonald's hamburgers and they eat one of those hamburgers, they're eating a cow that they paid McDonald's to kill that cow for them. McDonald's paid the slaughterhouse, but actually they're paying for that cow to be killed. They are going to eat the flesh. Now what is the reaction? That cow will then eat him. So, every time they eat cow, that cow is going to kill them and eat them or pay someone to kill them. So, they should be educated. Mamsa means me, he. We need to educate these people What is the actual meaning of flesh or meat? It means you are going to be eaten by that very animal that you were eating. So, this is the mission of our Krishna consciousness movement, to enlighten these fools and rascals how to give up this stupid, asinine activity of eating meat. We must convince them, especially the cow, which is the dearest animal to Krishna. Govinda, He who gives pleasure to the cows. The cow is very good, Gopala, the cow is very good. Gopala, Govinda. We have to educate these fools and rascals There he'd been, Gopal, the coward boy. Gopal, the villain. We didn't educate these fools in math because how to stop these heinous activities. They wonder why there's so many mass shootings going on in this country. How many mass shootings this year so far? 142 mass shootings in this country this year. We're only talking about January, February, March. A little over 90, there's been more than one every day. Yesterday some employee was very angry, he got fired from his job, he went to his place of employment and started shooting people. He was angry, he got fired. He killed 5 people. He killed 5 people in his workplace at work because he didn't like getting fired. Just see the mentality of these people. They're engaging in all these activities of killing, killing, killing and now they must be killed in the reaction. They're getting the karmic reaction of all this killing. They are not to be killed. So, we really have to save these people from this hellish nightmare they are creating on this planet. Mass killings every day. We have to save these poor fools and rascals. That's our duty. What Prabhupada said, become guru and deliver the world. We have to save these people. Prabhupada gave us a duty to become gurus, teachers, pure teachers of the science and enlighten these people, to save them. So somehow or other we flood this world with Prabhupada books, flood this world with the holy names, flood this world with the prasadam, enlighten all these fools and teach fools and rascals who they really are. You're not that body sir, you're not that material body. That is not you. It is the garment you are wearing. We are not Indians or Americans or Lithuanians. That's not us.

Jivera svarupa hoi

Krsnera nitya das. 

The constitutional position of the living entity is the eternal servant of Krishna. Yesterday I was asked, are you an Indian? I was being interviewed for a podcast that's coming up next month. Some fellow from India, Rohit Arora, He said, are you an Indian? I said, no, I'm a citizen of the spiritual world. We're not any of these things. We're all actually citizens of the spiritual world. We're actually Goloka Vrindavians. That's our actual identity. We're Vaikunthians. We're actually our actual identities. We have a passport in the spiritual world. That should be our actual passport showing our nationality. This is our passport here. Our negbi. Our passport. So, it's time to get intelligent, time to get sober, time to get serious, give up our foolishness, running, running, running, running, like dogs, running after the she dogs, you know, you got to give up the stupidity, you know, give up the stupidity and become actually intelligent. Isn't it time we stop this nonsense?

Anybody have any questions today? We have some time left here.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji:  Yeah.

Sankarshan Das:  Gurumataji has a question.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: We talk about protecting the cows, but these people, those are the killer and the cows are coming, the people are coming back as cows and they are killing them.

Sankarshan Das: Why protect them? They deserve to be killed. That's the question.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Yeah.

Sankarshan Das: Well, is there any question? Why protect them? They deserve to be killed anyway. Let them get their karma. That's a very interesting argument. Well, the point is we want to stop the cycle. We would like to take the milk of these cows and offer to Krishna. That gave them devotional service and purified them of the sinful reactions that got them in a cow's body. So, our solution is to offer all their milk in the service of the Lord. All these cows are going to be milked so their milk should be offered to the Lord. That way they get purified. That's a simple.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: What about the bulls then?

Sankarshan Das: What about the bulls? Well, they're having sex with the she cows and producing the cows. That cow gave them milk, so that way the bull also engaged in the devotional service indirectly. He gave birth to a cow, who's giving the milk. So, he gets the benefit of impregnating the cow and giving her a calf. 

Any other questions? See if there are any questions coming in here. We have a nice turn out today. 72 people. one person just left. I think got scared.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Another question, I was thinking, What Prithu Maharaj is saying that Lakshmi Devi will be, that wouldn't the devotee be pleased to see another devotee serving the Lord.

Sankarshan Das: But Prabhupada said there is also competition in the spiritual world. Even Prabhupada talked about Transcendental Competition. Who can just give him more books? That was a big transcendental competition in the old days. The monthly BBT report would be a big thing. Where is our temple in the top 10 or not? That was a big thing in the old days. When Prabhupada was here, which temple is number one this month?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: That competition can also bring in envy? You can strengthen the competition.

Sankarshan Das: There is Transcendental Envy and Mundane Envy, the difference. In Transcendental Envy, this person has served better than me, so let me try harder so I can also do nice service. That's Transcendental Envy. Mundane Envy is, what can we do, you know, what can you do so they don't distribute so many books? That's Mundane Envy. What can we do, what can we do so they don't distribute so many books? That's mundane envy. What can we do so they can't distribute more books than we can? That's mundane envy.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: .. somebody also mundane envy, right?

Sankarshan Das: Transcendental envy is to see they've served nicely, let me also do nicely. You're inspired by their, I wish I could serve as well they are doing, so let me try harder, It's not putting them down, it's appreciating them, that's transcendental envy.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Okay, but that time is a blank check given.

Sankarshan Das: What is that?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Blank check.

Sankarshan Das: A blank check, yeah. The chapel said, okay, they turned the check in the BBC, whoever gets the biggest remand put my check for more.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: How many friends did they throw at you? I'll let his friends and mentor answer that. You can ask Prabhupada about that one. I'm not so qualified to answer. You can ask Prabhupada about that one.

Do we have any more questions coming in? No, no. Questions coming in? Okay.

Gandharvika: Why do we have to save those meat eaters who subtly eat vegetarians.

Sankarshan Das:  Gandharvika, our mission is to save everyone. We want to save everyone Gandharvika. Our mission is that the Prabhupada told that deliver the world means everybody wants to save everyone. Even though they deserve to suffer because of their karma, still we want to bring them out of their karma and deliver them back to go home, back to Godhead. That's our duty. Our mission.

Akuti Devi Dasi:  If someone is asking donation for cow protection, can we give to them or not?

Sankarshan Das: Only if it is devotees. If you want to support cow protection, donate to the devotees who are doing cow protection. They are offering that milk to Krishna. Mundane cow protection, they don't offer the milk, they just use it for sense enjoyment. So just like we have many devotees doing cow protection, you can donate to them. My disciples in Bulgaria are doing it, so you can donate to their project.

Lilamanjari:  It is natural to be disturbed when the mind, senses or external things put obstacles in our Krishna consciousness. How can one come out of that disturbance?

Sankarshan Das: Well, I remember that nice quote from Prabhupada in the Sri Isopanishad. I may not give the exact, but Prabhupada said, one should not be happy or disturbed over desirable or undesirable circumstances, knowing that such feelings are just created by the mind. Let's repeat that again. Very powerful quote from the Sri Isopanishad Purport. This may be the exact wording or may not be, but the point is the same. One should not be happy or disturbed over desirable or undesirable situations, nor have such feelings as is created by the mind. So, we become disturbed, it means we are misidentifying with the mind. one is detached from his mind realizing I am an eternal spirit of being, qualitatively one with the Lord and everything that is happening is only by Krishna's arrangement to bring me back to His lotus feet as soon as possible. It's easy to say that, but it's not so easy to do it. We all have the problem, we can say it, but how many of us can actually do it? It's difficult for us to do that, naturally. It's difficult to not be disturbed or elated by the so-called ups and downs of this material world. It's easy to say, but not so difficult to do. So how can we actually do it? Well, we have to chant our rounds, follow the principles, speak the Bhagavatam, hear the Bhagavatam, worship the deities, always washes the dishes nicely, apply the process very nicely, clean everything very nicely, clean our hearts very nicely, this whole process will gradually, gradually bring us to that stage where we are no longer disturbed or elated by the favorable or unfavorable situations in the material world.

Gandharvika Devi Dasi:  Authority of the Temple envious to brahmacharis seeing and looking to Krishna and Srila Prabhupada lovingly then drop them out.

Sankarshan Das: So, if the authorities are doing something wrong, then they should be corrected by the GBC.

Sharada Devi Dasi:  The development of consciousness depends on one's activities or the mentality.

Sankarshan Das: Gandharvika says the GBC is corrupted. What if we're corrupted, Gandharvika Devi Dasi say? The trouble is we're corrupted. I happen to know some GBCs, very, very nice devotees who have blessed me very much with their Divine sangha. That's my experience with GBCs. I have very nice experience with GBCs. They've blessed me with their Divine sangha. Okay, now let's see, we got this.

Sharada Devi Dasi: The development of consciousness depends on one's activities or the mentality.

Sankarshan Das: Both things. How we do everything. Hearing is also an activity. How we hear, how we chant, how we serve. The mentality in which you hear, the mentality in which you speak, the mentality in which you do service. All of these things add up.

Hare Krishna Das:  If a person is engaging in cow protection out of emotional attraction, do they gradually advance?

Sankarshan Das: If they are offering the milk to Krishna of the cows, they are definitely making advancement. If they are drinking the milk to sense gratification, they are making some progress, at least they are coming in the mode of goodness, but they are not pure. They are drinking the milk, not offering to Krishna. Will they gradually develop a devotional attitude? There are actually some non-devotees in Australia who have milk where the cows don't get killed. I forget how they did it. No, they do this like... How do they do this?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji:  Devotees pay them money to take care of the cows.

Sankarshan Das: Devotees pay them money?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Yes.

Sankarshan Das: To take care of the cows? That's... Oh, really? There's some benefit if you take care of cows and don't kill them. You're definitely doing some pious work. And that may help you become a devotee if you're willing to hear from a devotee. Devotees have to pay them, not to kill the cows. So, it's not devotional service.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: They pay for a number of hours to be kept unhurt. And they buy the milk from them too.

Sankarshan Das: There's a personal deity though. There's a personal deity.

Yes. Okay.

Paramahamsa Das:  The Lord is so kind, he accepts a little interest in serving, and therefore has stated in the Visnu Purana, by following the principles of Varna-asrama dharma, one can satisfy the Lord.

Sankarshan Das: The ultimate goal of Varna-asrama dharma is to engage in devotional service. That's the goal of Varnashrama dharma. The ultimate goal is to engage in devotional service.

Anything else?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: One announcement. All these devotees don't come. They are joining in the end. They should come every day. Not one day.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, everyone come every day, not that only they we get 72 devotees online. It should be every day. Every day everyone devotees come.

So, anything else? Anybody want to unmute themselves and ask a question? Let's see where we go to do that. Anybody doing unmute? Anybody have some questions? No questions rolling in. Anybody have any answers. How we can get out of maya?

Devotee:  How we can clean our corrupted heart? How can we clean our corrupted heart?

Sankarshan Das:Actually, all of us are corrupt. Until you come to the point of being able to see Krishna face to face, eye to eye, we are actually corrupt. Do you realize you are corrupt? We are all corrupt. But the point is, we have to sincerely try to get rid of this corruption we have in our hearts by sincerely chanting our japa every day, following the principles, lovingly engaged in serving within the mission of this Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, trying to please Prabhupada. You see, by these activities we can gradually get rid of this corruption we have in our hearts. We are corrupted, in fact. All of us are corrupt. So those who are sincerely working to get rid of the corruption, they are recognized as being pure by Krishna. Even though we are not completely pure, Prabhupada recognized us for purely serving his mission even though we are still corrupted because we are sincerely trying to get rid of our corruption. Either you are a pure devotee or you are considered good as a pure devotee if you are sincerely trying to get rid of our corruption.So let us all, even though we're all corrupt, let us strive sincerely to get rid of that corruption, the lust, the anger, the greed, the madness, illusion and envy we're all suffering from. Let us all sincerely endeavor to get rid of that corruption and never consider it as good as pure devotees.

Anything else? We'll go ahead and stop. Thank you everybody for tuning in.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare.