SB4.21.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Narayanam Namaskritya naram chaiva narotamam, deviam sarswati vyasam tato jayam udirayet / nashta prayeshu abdreshu nityam bhagata sevaya,/
Bhagavaty uttama Shloke – Bhaktir Bhavati Naishthiki.

It’s an important verse and a very signifi cant one, and above all it is very applicable to our current day.
There are 3 things that prominent in this verse on which we will dwell upon today.

1 s t ) When Prithu Maharaj entered the palace how thousands of his subjects came to see him and take
darshan of an opulent king.

2 n d ) How perfectly they were welcoming and rendering service to Prithu Maharaj and

3 r d ) How did all this aff ect Prithu Maharaj

In the previous chapter, we see that Mah.Prithu was having direct Darshan of Lord Vishnu, God himself.
This is extraordinary. If you have darshan, what does it mean – we see a great personality. How many
ti mes do we see a great person or a famous person who is known to all? It is rare. People come from all
over the world to see them. We take Darshan of great personality who is opulent. It is important to
understand, What is opulence – Aisvarya – vairagya – yaso-vabodha / Virya, Sreya purtam, aham
prapadye.

(SB 3.24.32) Aisvarya – wealth, (Bill Gates comes to the temple, everybody will rush to see him).
Wealth is att racti ve. virya – strength, yaso – Famous; Shreya – Beauty; Gyana – Knowledge – gyani is a
wise person. Lord Buddha was a gyani, full of wisdom; Vairagya – means renounced or detached, eg –
Dalai lama – people fi nd detachment very att racti ve.

Lord Krsna has all these opulences in full, unlimited. So in the previous chapter we see that Prithu
Maharaj has done such amazing service that Lord Himself came down to see him. Prithu Maharaj, has
seen God. Rare Darshan. How many of us have seen God? Have you ever pondered on that questi on…
have I seen God? Or will I ever get to see Him. Actually we all have seen Him, but its been so long that
we’ve seen Him, that we cannot even remember Him. We used to live with Him everyday. We used to
spend hours and hours with Him, but now we can’t even remember Him.

And that is because of the power of Maya. Maya means illusion. That which is not. So it’s been so long
that we’ve seen God, that we can’teven remember Him. And to be honest, we don’t even care any
more.It dosen’t even matt er as long as we are healthy, eati ng great food, so we are trying to enjoy in
this world and we’ve forgott en Him.

But if you want to see Him, then you have to develop a desire to see Him. That is the sum and
substance of the whole Hare Krsna Movement. Developing the desire to see Him again. Developing a
desire to go home, back to Godhead. At the very deepest level of our being, we should want to see Him
again. That should be our driving force. That should be our driving force behind our chanti ng every
morning!(oh Lord, I want to come back to you, take away anarthas, That should be our driving force
behind our service, That should be the driving force behind our life/existence. Prabhupada says that
the goal of KC movement is that you take Krsna by the hand and lead Him by the hand just like mother
Yasoda.

Now as a member of KC, ask yourselves what is your goal of joining KC? What am I doing here? What do
I want to accomplish? If you say that I want to go back to Godhead… then think why do I want to go
back to Godhead? Ans : ti red of being here, yes,
There is some fun, there is misery too, I am scared of not knowing what’s gonna happen next, I am
scared that my son would not get a proper job, my daughter might end up marrying the wrong person,
from outside he looks fi ne but you never know the real person etc etc.

So if you realize at the end this planet is dukhalayam, ashashwatam, there is always going to be
janma,mrityu, jara, vyadhi, and you are ti red of it and are craving to go back to your permanent home,
then consider it that it is special mercy of Krsna!

PP says that we have to be crushed in our lives very very hard only then we’ll get the feeling that we
have to serve Krsna. You know what’s sign of advancement that you are making progress in Krsna
consciousness? The sign of advancement is that you’ll feel happy when you are crushed. O Lord, thanks
for crushing, now I’ll think of you even more, I’ll double my chanti ng etc. For example, when you grind
sandlewood with bit of water, you crush the wood to make a paste. Now the more you put pressure on
the wood right? Now the more you put pressure, the more you grind, the sweeter becomes the
fragrance of the sandle wood. So a sign of advancement is that more a person is crushed, the sweeter
he’ll become. What’s the sign that you are not making much progress in KC? It is, that when you are
ground, you’ll start to complain a lot. Ah why Is this happening to me, why not to him? Ah what have I
done to get this? Oh why dosen’t anyone like me? Ah does Krishna even Like me? Etc. etc.

So the goal of KC movement is to serve Krishna under any circumstances. And then we’ll see Him. You
see Prithu Maharaj did rendered such sincere service to the Vishnu that Lord came down on this earth
to give His darshan to His devotee. You know what Bhakti Siddhant Tkhur said? that its ok don’t try

to see Krsna, but your devoti on, your service all your seva should be done in such a way that Krsna
would want to see you. How amazing, isin’t it?

That should be our guide in our service. We should have a burning desire to see Krsna.. So we have to
be enthusiasti c in doing our service.. Not just for few month but we have to remain enthusiasti c year
aft er year, decade aft er decade, for ½ a century, even when we are 70 years old, 80 years old we’ll sti ll
remain enthusiasti c, how? How do we retain that kind of enthusiasm? The only way to remain
enthusiasti c is to get sincerely att ached to Krsna. You cannot live without Him. When you love
somebody you think about him all the ti me. When you develop that att achment, you begin to love
Krsna, then you’ll develop that kind of att achment and remain enthusiasti c & you’ll remain in KC-
otherwise you’ll lose interest. Now if you want to become att ached to Krsna, then the most eff ecti ve
way is Sravan, Kirtanam. That will lead us to Vishnu Smaranam. (To remain enthusiasti c, we have to get
att ached to Krsna, to get att ached, we have to fall in love with Krsna, to fall in love, we have to
remember Krsna and think of Him, to think of Him, we have to hear and chant His holy name

). Rupa Goswami says that the goal of Krsna consciousness is to always remember Krsna and never
forget Krsna. How is that possible? By hearing and chanti ng. So we have to hear and chant His name.
We have to know Krsna very inti mately.

PP says: “read a Krsna book every night before you go to sleep”. You see what you do before hitti ng
the bed is very important…

So coming back to our verse we see that in the previous chapter the Lord Himself appeared in front of
Prithu Maharaj and there was loving exchange between bhakta and bhakta vatsal. Now in this chapter
parti cularly in this verse we see how wonderfully the prajas are welcoming an exalted personality

like Prithu Maharaj. How much respect they are off ering to their king! So what do we learn from here.
(>>>SB is very applicable in our era, it comes back to us again and again with strong messages. We have
to be intelligent enough to understand the messages and apply it in our day to day life. If we just
hearSB for the sake of hearing and not applying it into our day to day life, then it will remain as a mere
pious acti vity! So what do we learn from this verse.

We learn that when we are welcoming an exalted personality we should do it with full respect and
sincerity. We should not be negligent. Now every morning, we are welcoming the king of the kings,
Krsna on our tongue. Now let’s ask ourselves, are we welcoming Him with full respect and att enti on or
are we being negligent? PP says fi rst become conscious, then become Krsna conscious. Be mindful when
you do things. Be conscious of the words that are coming out of your mouth, specially if its Lord’s
name. Be conscious of your ears, specially when you hear Lord’s name. Welcome the Lord on your
tongue with rapt att enti on. Be alert and att enti ve every moment. Know which petrol to put in your car.
In London what happened a devotee put diesel into his car instead of putti ng unleaded and the car
broke down ofcourse. So if you are so neglectf ul, how will you develop in KC? These will remain as
mere words then. Dosen’t matt er how many years you’re in in this movement, it dosen’t matt er for how
many hours you’ve been chanti ng, if you are not doing them consciously if you are not doing them with
full att enti on, then you’re not putti ng the right fuel in your car. Your journey is not going to bevery
joyful isin’t it.

That’s why PP is saying fi rst be conscious. You can run to Guru Maharaj or to a senior devotee and say,
please bless me Maharaj, please make me develop in KC. But thing is, yes, blessing are very powerful
but they can only assist you to certain extant. So the only person Who can change your consciousness
from within is you yourself. Otherwise how do you think you’ll end up in spiritual world.So be conscious
of your thoughts, your words, your acti ons, try to do everything mindfully. Krnsa has given you
intelligence, use it.

Here we see, how Prithu Maharaj was welcomed perfectly. No body neglected their duty. Sandle wood
pulp, conchshells, chanti ng mantras. Everybody was rendering service so mindfully. Everybody was
doing their duty. Similarly, if you’ve dieti es at home, or even their pictures at home, do not
neglectt hem. Off er puja everyday, no matt er how busy you are, fi nd a fi xed ti me for them every day.
Off er them fl ower, water, food etc.and above all chant in front of them. Treat them like member of
your family. This will help develop att achment to Lord.

If you are new devotee, it’s understandable, ok you don’t yet how to serve Krsna, but if you are in this
movement for few years and sti ll you are not putti ng your mind into your sravam Kirtanam then you’re
committi ng an off ense knowingly, isin’t it?. PP was once travelling from America to India via Japan. It
was Janmashtami ti me. At that ti me, there were he just had 6 disciples in Japan and they fairly new and
they did not how to prepare of serve during Janmashtami. So what did PP do? He said you know what,
we’ll hear about Krsna throughout. PP sat down and read SB unti l mid night and his disciples just kept
hearing. What PP is saying that its ok if you’re new and you don’t know how to serve Krsna, but once
you know what to do, then don’t be neglectf ul.

Once you know that you have to fi nish your rounds 1 s t thing in the morning with rapt att enti on, once
you know that you have to look aft er Krsna at your alter then don’t neglect Him. Because that kind of
devoti onal service is not a fi rst class devoti onal service; that will not take you back to Krsna. You don’t
go back to Krsna with 2 n d class ti cket. You need a 1 s t class tkt. If you want to go back to Krsna, then
your service has to be at the highest level. You’ve to become an expert.

One of the 26 qualiti es of a devotee is to be become, Daksha. What does daksha mean? Expert. A
devotee is expert. PP was expert in everything. Hewas an expert musician, an expert cook, he even
taught matajis how to wear sarees. He would wear saree himself to show the matajis how to wear
them. So we have to become an expert in devoti onal service. So we see that they off ered excellent
service to Prithu Maharaj. They were expert.

Now the 2 n d part of the verse shows how Prithu Maharaj respond to such grand welcome. He was not
aff ected at all. What does that mean? He was devoid of pride. Being devoid of pride means you’re very
exalted in devoti onal service. Most of us are full of pride. We do one litt le thing right & we become
proud for being an expert cook, or for doing great kirtan etc.

The interesti ng thing is when prabhujis and mtjis come to appreciate, we fold our hands and say that it
was possible only because of your mercy, or krsna kripa etc, but deep inside we are full of pride. There
is a saying in English,

by Shakespeare, “Pride oft en wears the cloak of humility”. Very nice saying…Pride…>> Outwardly we
show we are humble, but deep in our heart, we should know that we are fooling people outside, but
the Paramatma knows every litt le thought that goes on in your heart. So be careful, whom you are
fooling because at the end you are fooling ourselves. ( Ahankara – Vimudhatma, Krtaham iti manyate)
BG3.27.

Bhakti Vinod Thakur says that the biggest obstacle in becoming a pure devotee is Prathishtha –
Recogniti on. Or the desire for recogniti on. We constantly want to be recognized all the ti me. But Prithu
Maharaj was not like that. He was totally unaff ected. How was it possible that he remained totally
unaff ected? (think about it, you walk out of your door and enti re world coming to see you – I mean how
great you’ll feel right, but how come Prithu Maharaj remained so detached, so unaff ected? (Yes, we
know that he was Saktyavesh avatar of the Lord, but we are also part and parcel of the Lord. Like Prithu
Maharaj, we too are Jivatma. So how come we cannot remain sincerely humble. Remember that
moments earlier Prithu Maharaj has seen God! He met with Lord Vishnu, in fact his service towards
Lord Vishnu was so wonderful that the Supreme Personality of Godhead came down at the sacrifi cial
arena and bestowed him with benedicti ons. There was loving loving exchange exchange between Lord
and his bhakta vatsal.Prithu Maharaj had just seen the Lord of Creati on. Prithu Maharaj was a powerful
king, but he met with the King of the kings, the great Lord Himself. So he had become humble.

So the bott om line is, the closer we get to Krsna, the more humble we become. If we are proud within,
then it means we are not yet close to Krsna. So how do we become humble? There are 2 very good
ways: 1) Compare yourselves to the ones that are greater than you. Read PP’s Lilamrita. There you can
read everything that PP did, then compare to yourself what you’re doing and see if you’re sti ll
impressed with yourself. PP have opened 100s of temple across the globe, how many have you created?
We can’t make chant properly, but we are so proud. PP would hardly sleep. We can’t even wake up in
the morning, but we are so proud. Compare yourselves with great personaliti es like Prithu Maharaj,
this will help us become humble.

2) Rendering service to the devotees > This helps lot to purify yourself from within > Do even menial
services, like bringing water for the devotees, getti ng the mats for the devotees, bring the aarti lamp.
The main thing is that you should have the desire to serve. What’s the real meaning of the
Mahamantra, it means that Lord, please engage me in your service. So everyday, we chanti ng 1000
ti mes, or Lord engage me in your service, oh Lord….Moment Lord sends you some service, we start to
complain, oh this is not the service I wanted >>>> the moment you complain, the auspiciousness
vanishes and negati vity crowds you. So you have to accept whatever comes in your life with all your
heart and with grati tude.>> misery comes > Oh lord thank you for sending this misery, I’ll double my
chanti ng now. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Devotees are always saying, oh bless me so that I become humble, so that I become Krsna Conscious,
no > YOU have to become humble. Blessings will just assist you. But PP says you have to fl y your own
plane. So you have to do the work. No one else can do it for you. Not even your Guru. He can only
guide you. But only one person can make you go to Krsna land and that is you yourself. You are the
pilot that has to fl y the plane. Everybody else is on the ground, they’ll help you navigate, but you have
to fl y it. At the ti me of death, only one person can help you think of Krsna, and that is you yourself.
Your Guru will guide you, but you have to “consciously” practi ce Harinaam so that at the ti me of death
you can think of Krsna just of habit. How will you fi x your mind on Krsna if you don’t practi ce it
properly. Isisn’t it. So Prithu maharaj aft er meeti ng God, walks to the kingdom and shows us as an
example, how a devotee should react to att enti on and praise. He was humble, so let’s follow his
footsteps.