20/04/2001

Ten Instructions for Brahmacharis

By
H. H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj

Cassette - 1, Side - A
… we have class on these instructions. In the brahmachari ashram there is a most suitable
environment to think on transcendental subject matters because here we are sitting right at the lotus
feet of Çrila Prabhupada. It is one of the principles that every disciple should be eager to sit at the feet
of his Guru Maharaj, to hear submissively and then to express his gratitude to his Guru through our
words, our actions and our thoughts or in essence by dedicating our life. Dedication is a very essential
principle on the path of bhakti. Without dedication our devotional activities are shallow, they do not
truly reach Krishna. Therefore this quality of dedication is one of the foremost aspects we should
strive to achieve. When Çrila Prabhupada began his mission many of the people who were assisting
him were not coming from high families, they did not have Vedic culture behind them, in fact many
had very bad habits. Breaking regulative principles, living a very animalistic, atheistic life. Yet those
people did more to spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world than practically anyone from
brahman families in India. What really was their quality? If we examine carefully, it was that they
were dedicated. They were wholesale, cent per cent dedicated with grateful hearts to serving the
mission of their Guru Maharaj. They were willing to take all risks, they were willing to go against the
entire trend of the society of the western world. They were willing to be imprisoned, beaten,
ridiculed. They were willing to break the hearts of all their loving family members. You see in India,
when you are dressed in saffron with shaved head and tilak you are seen as a saintly person. But in
the western world, especially in the 1960s and 70s if you appeared in this way, you looked crazy. In
fact one of the early devotees simply because of the way he dressed he was put in a mental institution
and they would not allow him out. Against all odds, that is their qualification. At that time they had
little sadhana, they had no samskaras, they were from families of mlechas and yavanas, but they did
have this one quality and therefore Çrila Prabhupada saved them and they were grateful to
Prabhupada. And they were dedicated, whatever he says we will do, whatever he wants is what we
want; our life is to please him, to help him, to make him happy. And due to that dedication although
just months before they were restless hippies they were able to distribute millions of books in the
most dangerous circumstances, open beautiful temples with wonderful deity worship, chat Harinam
Sankirtan practically every city in the world, develop communities, change millions of peoples' hearts,
because when we are dedicated the flow of mercy of the parampara will flow through us. We may
have very big capacity to live an austere life. We may have very, very impeccable sadhana by external
appearances. We may be extremely knowledgeable in the scriptures and able to quote thousands and
thousands of slokas. We may have certain mystic powers to even influence peoples' lives. However if
we are not dedicated the real… the spirit of bhakti will neither enter us or flow from us. Çrila
Prabhupada was most pleased when he found dedication. And when people of the world see
dedication and along with it proper behaviour that will change their hearts. Many of the great
scholars of the west - I have spoken to all of them - this is something that really impresses them.
Because the Indologists, they know about our system of religion, many of them even have a very
profound academic understanding of our philosophy and many other philosophies as well. But what
really struck them was the dedication of Prabhupada's disciples. Willing to go anywhere, do anything,
anytime to make spiritual advancement, to preach the message of Hari-Katha and to please their Guru
Maharaj.

Sitting at the feet of Çrila Prabhupada actually means dedicating our lives. And real dedication means
'Until death and beyond'. When we take vows it’s a vow of dedication. A vow to follow the 4
regulative principles - no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, no meat eating; a vow to chant at
least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra everyday. Inherently the vow of initiation is to
dedicate our lives to serving the instructions of the spiritual master, to dedicate our lives to the
parampara system. We have been in this material world for millions and millions of births, perhaps
through all the various species - plants, fish, insects, reptiles, birds, beasts, human beings. Sometimes
in some species of life our whole lifespan is hardly half a day according to the relative conception of
life in the human life. If a dog lives 11 years old, it's incredible how old they are. Cows live about 15
years - very… they are old cows when they become 15 years old. And insects live just few days. So we
have passed through so many births and deaths. To dedicate our lives to Krishna is not easy because
there are so many opportunities to enjoy material life and as you become more fixed in devotional
service Maya will test you with greater and greater opportunity for material enjoyment. You give up a
little to become a devotee but in due course of time as a devotee Maya offers you much more than
you ever had before. So Prabhupada explained if this one little human life which may be sixty,
seventy, eighty, ninety at the most a hundred years, if we can just dedicate this one life to the service
of Krishna and remain faithful, by the mercy of Guru and Krishna we will go back to Godhead; if we
can just do that.

Here in the brahmachari ashram you are being given such an ideal opportunity to truly dedicate your
lives cent per cent, put everything else aside. What a great service that would be? The greatest service
is what pleases our parampara. Çrila Prabhupada lived in Vrindavan for approximately 6 years. He
lived at the Vamsi Gopal temple; he lived at Radha Damodar temple. Çrila Prabhupada lived in those 2
small little rooms. Of the 5000 temples in Vrindavan, Prabhupada's 2 small rooms were certainly not
very prominent. But he had a mission that was different and in many ways opposite from the rest of
Brajabhumi. Generally people go to Vrindavan when they are old to die and never leave. Others feel
the whole rest of the world is an illusion, let me just remain in Vrindavan and leave my body here.
Prabhupada went there as an old man - he was 60 - with the conviction that I will leave Vrindavan
after I prepare myself adequately to spread the spirit of Vrindavan throughout the world on the order
of my Guru Maharaj. Çrila Prabhupada said Vrindavan is his home, Mayapur his place of worship and
Bombay his office. Home is a very, very important place for a person. Just a few years later
Prabhupada established the Krishna Balaram temple in Raman Reti, which almost immediately
became one of the 2 most popular temples in all of Vrindavan and all of Brajabhumi. Once Çrila
Prabhupada expressed one of his very deep, heartfelt desires of what he wanted to accomplish in
Vrindavan. It is said that he desired about a dozen men, about 10 - 12 devotees who would actually
live in Vrindavan at his Krishna Balaram temple in the same spirit of the 6 Goswamis. When we hear
the song of Srinivas Acharya we can understand what was the spirit of the 6 Goswamis. So strict in
their sadhana, so compassionate to the gentle and the ruffians, such a taste for hearing and chanting
the glories of Krishna. Another way Çrila Prabhupada didn’t want his Vrindavan centre to simply be a
place where millions of people would come and see the deity. He wanted a place where people could
meet his devotees, who were living an exemplary pure life of Krishna Consciousness in the spirit of the
6 Goswamis. And then Prabhupada said, "That would be my glory." In truth Çrila Prabhupada wanted
that in all his centres all over the world. Prabhupada wanted followers who were truly living genuine
life of Vaishnavas, whose behaviour would preach to world and change the hearts of the fallen souls.
Prabhupada spread the movement very fast in the beginning but at a certain point he wrote a letter to
his leaders and told us that now it is time to boil the milk. Milk is quantitative but when you boil it the
quantity us less but the quality is better, becomes very thick, very sweet, very opulent offering to the
Deity. In fact he said, "We have enough devotees now, let us boil the milk. Train them to be 1 st class."
In fact at one time in 1972, I believe it was, there wasn’t that many devotees in our movement. He
said, "Just the disciples I have now, if everyone dedicates themselves completely, we can make the
whole world Krishna conscious in 18 days." That’s what he meant by boiling the milk. He told us, "It is
better that there be one full moon in the sky than hundreds and thousands of small stars." Similarly
one devotee who is actually dedicated to living by the true principles of bhakti as Rupa Goswami has
taught, that one devotee could have an immense impact on eliminating the world from the darkness
of Kali. And as we hear in Çrila Prabhupada Lilamrita in the afternoons during Prasad we see how
Prabhupada is very kind, very gentle, very tolerant of all different types of peoples' shortcomings but
at the same time he made his standards without any compromise. With Çrila Prabhupada's Shakti he
attracted hundreds and thousands of people to this movement, even now, speaking so strictly without
compromise that Krishna is God. God is a person. Impersonalism, Mayavada is atheism. Speaking to a
class of people who most of them are mayavadis infected in one way or another. I know even myself I
was seriously searching for the truth throughout the world performing some quite difficult austerities.
And I went out and begged in the streets to get enough money to buy a Krishna book at Cross maidan.
And I took it back with me to the Himalayan jungles living in a cave and I was reading it along with
some other books. And Prabhupada's philosophy was so great, so deep, so profound and the lilas
were so astonishing but every now and then he would speak against impersonalism and be intolerable
to my heart. Why does he always have to always criticise impersonalism? I gave away the book. I
wasn’t ready at that time. I couldn’t tolerate him. I loved him but I couldn’t tolerate how he was
criticising impersonalists. I gave the book to a sadhu. I said, "You read this." Prabhupada did not
compromise. Going to the western world and telling them no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling,
no meat eating; he said so many no's, the demons would die. Very difficult. But Prabhupada wanted
not to attract millions and millions and millions of people to be 3rd class. He wanted to attract very
sincere people who were willing to be 1st class pure devotees. That was his mission. And his goal was
that he had some devotees that were really living in the spirit of dedication of the 6 Goswamis; we
cannot imitate but we can follow in their footsteps. That was his dream.

When we began this ashram it was a very crazy place. There was a few very untrained brahmacharis,
political; they used to argue, swear, fight, steal. Govind prabhu remembers some of these things. They
criticised the grhasthas. The grhasthas just considered the brahmacharis were just useless bums, too
lazy to work. Hare Krishna! In America when people see Hare Krishna's the common mantra they
chant is - 'Get a job. Do something responsible in your life. Don’t just be in the streets begging with
your books in your hand. Get a job like us.' And unless we are genuinely living by the principles of
bhakti, they are right. Its better to work, get a job and be a respectable person within society than a
beggar in the guise of a spiritualist. There was one thing Prabhupada did not like that is laziness. When
he came to New Vrindavan he told Hayagriva prabhu and Kirtanananda Swami, "Don’t allow anyone
to live here unless they are surrendered and willing to work all day. We don’t want lazy hippies here.
We don’t want lazy anybody here." Prabhupada wanted people who were using their mind,
intelligence and their bodies in working very hard for his mission. So in the beginning we had very lazy
people, no respect for authority, egoistic and the result was even people favourable to Krishna
Consciousness were becoming unfavourable. Prabhupada's name was being blemished because
Prabhupada explained to us that people will judge the spiritual master by the lifestyles of his disciples.
So to glorify Prabhupada is not to be breaking the regulative principles and saying 'Jai Prabhupada'. To
glorify Prabhupada is to live by his principles. So somehow or other by Sri Radha Gopinath's mercy
whoever was not of proper standards were removed by Gopinath himself and His energies and then
we were thinking that if the people living in this ashram are genuine real sadhus it will give a
tremendous impact on peoples' hearts of who Prabhupada is and what his message is. The
brahmacharis should be ideal. Unless we are paramhamsas we have material desires, we have false
egos, we have sexual agitation, we have desire of possessiveness; the mind works in so many ways,
always wanting some change. But a real sadhu is one who is willing to tolerate all those influences and
live very strictly and purely according to true principles of Guru and Gauranga. Most of the Krishna
conscious society will be grhasthas. But they are depending on those in the renounced order of life to
give them inspiration and spiritual goals to strive for. It is said the brahmacharis are the legs of
society. In many ways the legs carry the body to its destination. Brahmachari should be so exemplary
that their lifestyle increase the faith of all other devotees and then we have found to the degree our
ashram was very pure, very strict and the devotees are actually, genuinely dedicated to the mission of
Guru and Gauranga to that degree the brahmacharis are spiritually vibrant and happy, the
congregation is stable and full of transcendental enthusiasm for devotional service and the people in
general, in society their hearts are changed by the whole situation that they see around them. As far
as Krishna Consciousness this dedication is very important. What dedication really means is,
vyavasäyätmikä buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-çäkhä hy anantäç ca
buddhayo ’vyavasäyinäm

That we are resolute in purpose, order of Guru and Gauranga is our life and soul. That means we must
deliberately exclude anything in our mind that is unfavourable for devotional service. Dedication is the
process of elimination. Elimination of the ego, elimination of the selfish desires of the mind and
senses and strict adherence to the will of Guru and Krishna; that is dedication. Its not easy, not many
people are willing to do it but it is glorious and it is the price of pure devotional service.

Some years ago in a letter to the brahmacharis while I was at New Vrindavan some basic instructions
were given which, is our hope, that these instructions are like the foundation by which the
brahmachari ashram is established and preserved. And those who are not willing to sincerely adhere
to these instructions will only be a disturbance to the ashram and those who sincerely adhere to these
instructions Prabhupada's blessings will shower upon them.

Number one is - our brahmacharis should be trained to deeply value the importance of strict
sadhana. In one sense our sadhana is our whole lifestyle but the basis of that, the essence, is hearing
and chanting the Names and glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Within the scriptures
there is repeated emphasis on the importance of hearing and chanting the Lord's Names and glories.
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he put great stress that of the nine processes of devotional service the
most important is chanting the Holy Names. The morning programme is very exclusive sadhana. We
rise for Mangala aarti where we come before the beautiful Deity of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath to chant
Their glories. We begin our day with Harinam Sankirtan - the Yuga Dharma -

harer näma harer näma

harer nämaiva kevalam
kalau nästy eva nästy eva
nästy eva gatir anyathä
There is no other way except the chanting of the Holy Names to attain the goal of life in this age of
Kali. What could be attained in Satya Yuga by pure focussed meditation on the Paramatma, in Treta
Yuga by the performance of great yagnas, in Dwapara Yuga by following the principles of Deity
worship very carefully can be achieved in Kali Yuga simply by offenselessly chanting the Holy Names
and there is no other way. We chant, we dance, we worship Tulasi, the Goddess of Vrindavan, we
chant our Japa at least 16 rounds together, we worship the deities, the spiritual master and hear
Srimad Bhagavatam. This should be done strictly. Unless we are very, very sick we have no excuse to
miss any of these functions and in the ashram whatever you are doing you are creating an influence.
The tendency of human nature is to flow toward the lowest place. Therefore there should be not a
single person in the ashram that’s not living by these high standards because if there are, they are
actually dragging everybody else's consciousness down. This ashram is not a place for people to just
get some nice association; it’s a place for people who are willing to live by the standards that
Prabhupada expected of us - strictly. And in Krishna Consciousness the more strict you are the more
blissful you are because the more you taste Krishna. But we shouldn’t be strict in an egoistic way. We
should be strict in a very humble way. When we are engaged in our sadhana we should strive with all
of our strength, to be absorbed; absorbed in Srimad Bhagavatam, absorbed in japa, absorbed in
Harinam Sankirtan, absorbed in worshipping the Deity. Any devotional activity we should really be
striving to be absorbed in that action because the more you are absorbed in whatever service you are
doing the more you are transcendental to the material energy. Nothing should be done half-
heartedly, nothing should be done ritualistically - everything should be done with very deep
absorption. Whether we are cutting vegetables or cleaning the floor we should try to absorb ourselves
in the spirit of dedicated devotion. When we are preaching we should be absorbed in our subject
matter, when we are hearing we should be absorbed in what others are speaking. If we are not
absorbed in Krishna then Maya will absorb us in her various distractions. When we wear saffron we
should not think that it’s a status that will make people think that I am a very serious devotee or a
sadhu. Wearing saffron is an expression of a spirit of really absorbing our self in a life of dedication
and renunciation. And if a person in saffron dress or in any dress of renunciation is not living by those
principles he is doing a great injustice; becomes a disgrace to the renounced order. He creates doubt
in peoples' minds because the tendency in this world is if one person in saffron does the wrong thing
people will suspect everybody must be doing that. So when you put on the saffron colour you become
an emblem of renunciation, dedication and devotion to the world. If you misbehave it will be a
disgrace and this should be the spirit of our renunciates. We are putting it on, not because we are
getting some glorification, we are putting on this colour, we are taking on this robe as a service; not as
a disservice, but as a service. But without strict sadhana it is not possible. Prabhupada told us 99% of
our spiritual advancement is on the basis of how we are absorbed in offenselessly chanting the Holy
Names of Krishna. It’s the foundation of everything else we do and it’s the ultimate goal of everything
else we do - to prepare our consciousness to purely chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. In the
spiritual world this Mahamantra is glorious because its not a prayer, its not a Vedic mantra, its simply
the Names of God in evocative style where we are simply crying out the glorious Names of Radha and
Krishna. In the spiritual world it is a mantra of absolute spontaneous prema or pure love. But Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given it to us even in our conditioned state knowing that if we chant this
Mahamantra under the direction of bonafide spiritual masters we will gradually attain that state of
pure spontaneous, ecstatic love. When Prabhupada was asked, "What do you hope to get by chanting
Hare Krishna?" he said, "We hope to continue chanting Hare Krishna forever."

We should train the brahmacharis to be humble, menial servants at heart expecting nothing but
ready to offer their lives and service for the Vaishnavas. This is brahmachari. Real renunciation
means renunciation of the false ego. It doesn’t mean simply giving up eating foods, it doesn’t simply
mean giving up sex life because the mayavadis give up sex life, give up eating so many foods, give up
their homes but they have the biggest false egos. They address each other as, "Om namo näräyaëaù".
They consider themselves to be God. So they are renouncing everything of the world to declare
themselves as God. So what is the renunciation? Better to be a grhastha with 10 children and consider
yourself a servant of Krishna eating laddoos, puris and so many other nice foods. So a brahmachari is
one who is renouncing the world not to become great in the eyes of the world but giving up to
become a humble, menial servant.

We must be convinced that this is our real life; this is what will please Krishna, nothing else.
gopé-bhartuù pada-kamalayor däsa-däsä-däsanudäsaù

To be the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant that is real renunciation. We want to
serve the Vaishnavas, we want to see all others as our prabhu and we are däsa. Prabhupada said
where this mentality is that is Vaikuntha. Prabhupada said that the brothel is in the mode of
ignorance, the city is in the mode of passion, the forest is in the mode of goodness but the temple is
Vaikuntha, temple of Krishna is Vaikuntha. But what makes it Vaikuntha? Prabhupada described the
Vaikuntha consciousness where Krishna is the centre and if Krishna is actually in the centre that
means that every devotee thinks every other Vaishnava is prabhu, I alone am däsa. I am the servant of
all others. I expect no respect, I expect no service; I simply want to serve. To see every other devotee
as better than me, even the brand new neophyte. I may have to guide him, I may have to instruct him,
I may have to chastise him but actually he is better than me. That is Vaishnava consciousness, to be a
menial servant. If someone asks you to clean the toilet we should think such a great honour. It’s a
higher service to clean the toilet of the Vaishnavas than to be the President of the United States or the
Prime Minister of India. That is a fact and we are thinking its just some lowly service below my
integrity. To serve the Vaishnavas in a menial way is the most glorious achievement that it has taken
millions and millions of births to attain. So sincerely we want to strive to make our goal to be humble,
menial servants; not to be a temple authority, a temple commander, a temple president, the head
pujari but simply to be a humble menial servant. And whatever post we are put in we do that post
whether its president or whether its sweeper of the floor we have the same consciousness. Often
times we see that new devotees, they have an easier time with devotional service than people who
have been around for some years because they know they are in the lowest position, they are just
supposed to serve everyone. But as we are around for some years the tendency of the false ego is
that,

dharmasya hy äpavargyasya
närtho ’rthäyopakalpate

takes the benefits that we are getting from devotional service and we think that they are for our own
enjoyment. And then we become competitive. Competitive over space, competitive over authority,
competitive over influence with other devotees. We should always feel like we are brand new. Even
after 40 years. Just be a menial, humble servant. Then only will your devotional service and your
chanting give pleasure to Krishna. Sometimes we see devotees who have been around long time, they
demand respect. I have been in this ashram for 10 years or even sometimes Prabhupada disciples, "I
am Prabhupada's disciple". It should be our heart to give all respect. But one who is actually
Prabhupada's disciple is the most humble, menial servant of all devotees of all generations; doesn’t
want to be served, wants to serve. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and
He is washing the clothes for His devotees. He is carrying loads and burdens to His devotees' houses.
He is giving them sitting places; He is humbly touching their feet; He is serving them prasad with His
own hands. Not to prove something but to reveal to the world what's actually in His heart. The
Supreme Personality of Godhead takes the greatest pleasure in serving His devotees. And He is giving
to each and every one of us the opportunity to serve devotees. What a glorious, glorious opportunity;
what mercy?

The third principle - one should learn the essential virtue of chastity and loyalty to our Guru-
parampara never searching elsewhere. A disciple should be chaste just like a good wife when she
takes a vow of marriage she may respect and honour many men but she only follows one. So we
should not take initiation unless we are willing to be chaste followers. There are extremes - one
extreme is to be fanatical and to say that my Guru is the best, better than all others, my line is so great
and we defame others and critically ridicule others; we pay no respect to others and the other
extreme is we take initiation from the parampara but we want to find nectar here, there and
everywhere at the cost of our devotional service, our chastity and our loyalty. Çrila Prabhupada
wanted us to be very respectful to all Vaishnavas, to honour them but for our sake he wanted us to be
completely loyal and dedicated to his mission. To be satisfied with what he has given us, with what
our parampara has given us and not to be looking around for something else. What Prabhupada has
given us is the highest principle of bhakti in the most practical, simplest method for this age of Kali.
But it is the tendency of the false ego and the restless mind that after some time we want to find
something higher, we want to find some more nectar somewhere else. Prabhupada was opposed to
this. As far as hearing from other Vaishnavas that is very nice if we have blessings but most important
thing is we become distracted by that or there is an increase of dedication to our line. So living in this
brahmachari ashram devotees should only read the books that the authorities give blessings to read,
should go to the lectures that the authorities give the blessings to go to hear. One of my Godbrothers
recently told me that, "Prabhupada gave so much of his time and energy to write his books, I feel that
it's an offence to him unless I read his books at least two hours a day. I am not reciprocating with his
love, the major sacrifice of Prabhupada's life was in his books and we are all his children, to
reciprocate with that love is how we are going to actually please Krishna and make spiritual progress."
So we should not take things cheaply. We should offer all respects and honour to all Vaishnavas but
we should remain completely faithful, loyal and chaste to what Prabhupada has given us and his
mission and this is the best way to please Krishna and attain the ultimate destination.

A brahmachari should scrutinizingly learn and comprehend Çrila Prabhupada's books. According to
our capacity. Prabhupada's movement is a preaching movement. If we do not understand what he is
giving us through his books we will not know what to properly speak or how to properly live. So part
of our brahmachari ashram is everyday we have this brahmachari class and the basis of the class is to
really scrutinizingly try to understand what Prabhupada has given us in his books. Prabhupada said
that his books were the basis of our spiritual lives. We also began the Çaraëägati library; Çaraëägati
is a facility where each and every one of you is given an opportunity to totally absorb yourselves in
Çrila Prabhupada's books with no distractions no disturbance. No one is even allowed to speak up
there, only the reading of the books. And what we read we should discuss with others. That should be
our gossip, informing each other of what we have read, what we have heard in classes, what we have
heard on tapes we should just be discussing these subjects.

Number five - they should be trained to fearlessly preach Krishna conscious philosophy to the
people in general and defend the principles of pure bhakti. Çrila Prabhupada very much wanted a
class of 1st class human beings to lead society. He said that society today is a society without a head. It
has so much powerful science, technology, economic development but because no direction the life
of the civilisation is heading toward the darkest modes of ignorance and suffering. To fearlessly
preach means to have conviction. Prabhupada said if we are convinced we can convince others. If we
are convinced we are fearless. Lord Chaitanya made Haridas Thakur the Nämächarya; he was so
convinced of the Holy Name - 300,000 Names a day he would chant, what conviction! Without fail!
Due to his conviction he converted Maya into a Vaishnava. She begged him for diksha - initiation.
Even when he stood before the Kazi and the Governor he told them that you can cut my body into
millions of pieces but I will continue this chanting of the Holy Names and preaching the glories of Hari-
kathä, Hari-kirtan. Such conviction, such fearlessness; how fearless was Çrila Prabhupada, how
fearless was Çrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, how fearless was Thakur Bhaktivinod; we have a
line of fearless preachers and Prabhupada said, "Do as I am doing." Devotees can go anywhere
because they have that conviction that Krishna will protect me, I am His messenger. And we should, it
is our service to humanity to defend the pure principles of bhakti.

Brahmacharis must learn the brahminical standards of cleanliness and keep the ashram always
clean. This is one of the most important principles of preaching is cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to
Godliness. To keep the body, the mind clean. And wherever a brahminical person is, you will know
because everything around him is perfectly clean. Prabhupada said when you cook in the kitchen,
when you leave the kitchen it should be perfectly clean. Even my mother used to teach me,
"Wherever you go you must make sure that when you leave that place its cleaner than when you first
came." And when I heard from Çrila Prabhupada his great emphasis on cleanliness I dovetailed what I
learned from my mother with philosophical conviction because dirtiness means lack of consciousness;
it means negligence. If people see that our hallways, our store-ways, our temple if they see dirt and
garbage they will think, 'What is the love of God of these people? This is God's temple. If they actually
accept this as God's temple there wont be a particle of anything on the ground.' So whether you are
temple president or a simple bhakta, if you see anything, either dirt or rubbish anywhere, pick it up
and put it in its proper place. We should strive to keep every inch of this whole temple complex
almost on the standard of the altar - so clean. Of course during construction its difficult but we should
really try our earnest best because if we are conscious of keeping our surroundings clean our mind will
also be attuned to keep our consciousness clean.

They should be trained to offer Puja to the Holy Deities with punctuality, cleanliness, great respect
and care and according to the authorised process. The Deities in the temple are the centre of our
lives. We should treat the Deities for who They are - The Supreme Personality of Godhead and His
eternal consort. The Deities are People, They are watching us, They are hearing us and again if an
important person were to come here; if the prime minister of India were to come and we knew a
month in advance, we would be making preparations. When he arrived we wouldn’t be upstairs
sleeping. We would serve him with punctuality, with great attention. But Lord Krishna is the Prime
Minister of the entire creation and beyond. So we should be very, very strict and very, very
conscientious to worship the Deities in a very personal way according to the authorised process.

We should teach the brahmacharis to prepare nice prasadam and nicely play instruments for kirtan.
Our kirtan should be with great feeling, enthusiasm and very graceful for the pleasure of Sri Sri Radha
Gopinath. Our kirtan is not to show people that we have nice voices. It is not to show people that we
can play mådanga very expertly, it is not to show how athletically we can dance. Our kirtan is simply
to give pleasure to the Deities and the Vaishnavas by our sincerity and our devotion. So everyone
should learn how to play the instruments very nicely, prepare prasad very nicely. Wherever you may
be placed in the world if you can play instruments and sing kirtan and prepare prasad and you know
how to preach the philosophy, you can start a centre anywhere. You can begin a congregation in any
place. When Prabhupada started in 26, 2nd Avenue he spoke from Bhagavad Gita, he led kirtan, he
prepared himself nice prasad; that was his whole programme. Some years ago when I was sent out to
do college preaching that’s all I did. I just knew a few preparations. I would just cook a feast have
kirtan, give lecture and anywhere I go, people became devotees; such a wonderful process. So every
brahmachari should learn how to cook very nicely, learn how to sing kirtans, learn how to preach,
learn how to play instruments. As far as possible in a spirit of service we should try to be expert in all
these various techniques of preaching. Each brahmin should know enough where he could be head
pujari tomorrow if he was asked to do so, to be head cook tomorrow if he was asked to do so, to be
temple president tomorrow if he was asked to do so. We should actually be that eager to perform all
our duties very, very conscientiously.

They should associate with women only for essential service and not for sense gratification. The
greatest pitfall for one in the renounced order is attraction to the opposite sex as well as false ego.
Prabhupada declared this world as, maithuna ägarä, the place where everyone is shackled by sex
desire. Even the insignificant little insects we see them crawling on top of each other. Even the
mosquitoes, the rats, the fish everywhere we go we just look at the material world and we see the
birds, they are always having sex together. When I was at Bhaktivedanta hospital, I was sitting on the
balcony and I saw some birds singing very nicely and I was thinking, 'How nice and natural' and then I
saw another bird jump on the back of the bird singing and I was thinking, 'This is natural, this is
nature.' Sex desire, so strong, so powerful, so deeply rooted in the heart - the renounced order of
life is for those who want to transcend this. It is better to be an honest grhastha than a cheating
brahmachari. An honest grhastha may still be to some extent tormented by sex desire but he has an
inner fulfilment and satisfaction, immersing himself in devotional service and living without it. But it is
the nature of the soul that needs intimate relationships. If we want to transcend that attraction for
the opposite sex we must develop very, very genuine relationships amongst ourselves; it is essential.
We need each other, we are in the battlefield against Maya and Kamadev is shooting arrows at every
moment. We need to have very deep unity amongst ourselves, friendship, loving relationships and we
should only associate with the opposite sex for service not for sense gratification. But at the same
time if we offend the opposite sex, we will fall down, we should never speak against them, we should
never disrespect them, we should honour them like mothers from a respectful distance and if one is
too much disturbed, too much lonely, unsatisfied in one's life as a brahmachari then one should
pursue the grhastha ashram in a respectable way. We are trying to create a culture here, a culture
based on Vaishnava principles. We have a board of very senior grhasthas who help facilitate potential
marriages. We should approach the presidents, tell them that this is my feeling and then we should
approach the marriage board or through parents things should be done in a very, very excellent,
exemplary way. But it is absolutely forbidden for a brahmachari to ever approach a woman directly
with this in mind because it will create a scandalous blemish upon the whole ashram. People will be
fearful to allow their daughters to come near the brahmacharis. So whatever we do should be done
very respectfully. If we are determined to remain within the brahmachari ashram then we have to
deal with women in a very respectful, kind way but formally and from a distance. And if at a certain
point we decide to marry then we should go through very proper respectable channels with great
restraint. There is two successful brahmacharis - one is that devotee who gets so properly trained and
so fixed in bhakti that he wants to dedicate his whole life in the service of humanity with no
distractions in the renounced order. And the second is one who is very well trained in all the
principles, of sadhana, etiquette, behaviour, philosophy and then enters into the grhastha ashram to
become a 1st class grhastha. Brahmachari ashram is the… according to the shastras is the best training
for good grhasthas. So if a devotee leaves this ashram to get married and becomes a 1 st class grhastha
that is the success of our ashram and other great souls who want to pursue this life of sacrifice and
renunciation and live without hypocrisy according to the standards, that is also the success of our
ashram. So there should be no shame either way but one should do things properly. Even if a
brahmachari has to marry it should be a example to preach to the world what Vaishnava culture is all
about, how respectable. But as Prabhupada said, "If you can do without it, it is the expressway back
To Godhead.

Most important is that our brahmacharis develop great love, trust and personal friendships with
one another to be the servant of the servant of the servant. Recently the doctors told me that they
took consultants from Bhaktivedanta Hospital to Pune for a specialised Pune yatra just last week and
one of the things that most impressed these consultants and their families is the wonderful
relationships the doctors had with each other. Even more important than how they were treating
their guests is how the guests were perceiving that they were treating each other. We have our
Sankirtan prabhu; he is guest receptionist for the temple, he is endeavouring with his department that
every person that comes is given a very personal, loving reception - that is necessary. We must see
every person who comes through these doors of our temple or any person that we meet outside of
the temple as part and parcel of Krishna, Krishna's eternal associates. When they come to the temple
they are Radha Gopinath's special invited guests; as Paramätma he has invited them. And outside we
should see that they may be lost, they may be fallen but they are dear to Krishna. So we should treat
them with love, care and respect - every living entity. Prabhupada said, "You will know who my
devotee is because they are perfect ladies and gentlemen." But if people get a little bit serious about
devotional service what they are going to be looking for is how do the devotees treat each other. Not
long ago I spoke to one devotee; no actually he was a devotee who hadn’t joined the temple for 25
years. He said speaking about the particular temple he was living by, he said, "As long as I am a guest
people treat me so nice but if I actually join, get initiated and everything then they will treat me like
they treat each other and I couldn’t tolerate that. Is that preaching? Within the brahmachari ashram it
should be a priority to actually develop loving, genuine relationships centred around helping each
other to love Krishna. There should be no impersonalism amongst you. Its natural that to some
devotees we would have a much deeper relationship but we should try to have a very nice loving
relationship with everyone in the ashram. Even if some time has to be set aside for that purpose it’s a
great investment. We began the counsellor system within the brahmachari ashram especially for that
purpose that each devotee feels very loved and cared for and there is a format by which devotees can
at least begin to develop loving relationships - revealing one's mind, hearing another reveal his mind;
giving gifts in charity, accepting gifts; giving prasad, receiving prasad - Rupa Goswami explained these
are all Vaishnava exchanges. Most important is we should always be trying to encourage one another
on the path of pure devotional service. If someone is having difficulty we should very kindly and
lovingly help them and if we are having difficulty we should seek the love and kindness of another. If
we are united in a spirit of servant of the servant of the servant it would give tremendous power to
our mission. Çrila Prabhupada said, "United we stand, divided we fall." He used the example of sticks;
if sticks are bound together no one can break them. But if you… each stick comes out of that bundle
they can easily be broken by Maya. If we are united Maya cannot harm us. She can harass us but she
cannot harm us, she cannot break us. But alone, if we are on our own however much knowledge,
however much fame and reputation, however austere we may be we will easily be broken to pieces
by Maya. We have to be united. That unity is not just a superficial that we are just living in the same
house together, that unity has to based on love and trust. Prabhupada said this movement is
sustained by love and trust and our relationships should be such loving, trusting relationships and that
is an austerity. That means we have to give love and we have to act in such a way that we can be
trusted in the spirit of the servant of the servant of the servant.
So I would be leaving in a couple of days and it is my very deep prayer that all of you take these
principles very, very, very seriously in your lives because somehow or other by Sri Radha Gopinath,
Gaur Nitai's inconceivable mercy people from various parts of the world are looking toward the
ashram and the congregation as an example. As an example that gives hope and direction. Its not by
our powers but somehow or other by Guru Maharaj Çrila Prabhupada's mercy we have the fortune of
rendering this service, such a sacred and important service to the whole world by trying to give a nice
example. So anything… as we are following these principles the world will be inspired but if we
deviate, any one of us, the world will be focussing its attention on that deviation. It’s a fact. If you
come into prominence then people will be inspired by the good but they will also magnify whatever
faults. Hare Krishna! So our service is very sacred, we should feel ourselves very fortunate, we should
never ever consider that our temple is better that another temple; we should never ever consider that
we are better than other people of other places. It is our function to try to create such a culture and
example here of Prabhupada's teachings that we can in a humble and menial way serve the rest of our
international society and the rest of the world. Just like if a sannyasi preaches very nicely he can
enlighten so many people, but if a sannyasi misbehaves he can break the faith of so many people.
Wherever there is prominence there is a very, very great responsibility. So by some inconceivable
arrangement our ashram has got prominence. So what good we would do will generate so much hope
and so much good all over the world but whatever deviations we do will crush peoples' faith. So it is
my humble appeal, take this responsibility and dedicate yourselves with heart and soul. Çrila
Prabhupada's and our whole parampara's blessings will shower and shower and shower upon you.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna! Is there any questions or comments?

Q. Hare Krishna! You were stressing about developing intimate relations with other brahmacharis
and many times some brahmacharis inspite of staying here feel that they are not getting any love
any affection here. So is there a difference between the love and affection exchanged in a
grhastha family and the love and affection and intimacy of a brahmachari ashram or are there
limitations to the intimacy possible in a brahmachari ashram?
A. Spiritually there are no limitations. However if a person due to his guna and karmas and previous
samskaras has a very, very deep need for a relationship with the opposite sex which is based on
certain sexual needs, he will not find that in the brahmachari ashram. Even if he has very warm,
nice loving relationships with brahmacharis still such a person's heart would be very empty, and
he will think, 'There is no love here', because its not the type of love that he wants. He will not
find that love here. So to such a person should understand the defect is not in the ashram, the
defect is in me and therefore let me honestly and respectfully go to that place where I could find
the type of love and relationship that my heart is longing for. And after some time with that
loving relationship you will come to the conclusion that the brahmachari ashram - those were the
best days of my life. If you think there is agitation between brahmacharis don’t think grhastha life
is without that. Talk to any grhastha, they will tell you the torments, anxieties and frustrations in
grhastha life. But one who needs that type of relationship who really needs that, who is very
lonely without that association of a woman is willing to tolerate all of those anxieties - working 9
to 5, worrying about money, dealing with all kinds of relatives and in-laws, dealing with all kinds
of …
… its very difficult, grhastha life is very difficult, its not easy, its more difficult than brahmachari life in
every way except that there is some facility for sex, whether its emotional, subtle or gross. That’s the
one convenience you get, but for that convenience there is a high price because everything else is
much more tense and much more difficult to deal with. If you are actually a brahmachari by nature,
you are happy to sleeping on the floor, chanting and dancing and with other brahmacharis you are
happy with that even though you might have some lust and everything else, still you are happy with
that. But you find grhasthas have big beautiful houses, nice beds, nice cars, the beds and the house
and the cars is not giving them happiness. You will be much happier sleeping in the ashram. What
actually gives the happiness is that you have that emotional relationship with another. And that
emotional relationship usually, practically makes you an emotional wreck because there is so many
frustrations involved in it, but still you need it, you have to have it. So you make ends meet and if you
keep Krishna in the centre of your grhastha ashram it’s a wonderful, wonderful offering to Krishna.
Grhastha ashram is a wonderful offering to Krishna. There is nothing negative about it. I am just saying
its very, very difficult and its full of frustrations, anxieties and pressures. And brahmachari ashram is
also. So if one is happy with the relationships of other brahmacharis and even relationships with
grhasthas - we should keep a very kind, considerate - we should worship all the women like mothers
and like Goddesses of fortune, that’s how we should honour them, but from a distance. But the men
grhasthas, we can develop very deep loving relationships with them and we should. The brahmacharis
should honour all the grhasthas as great Vaishnavas. Never criticise them, never think we are better
than them, we should see them as Vaishnavas. But it is very, very important that even those who
potentially are very good brahmacharis they need loving relationships and we should provide that and
its not that the provision is going to come just from the presidents or the department heads, it has to
come from each and every one of us. Loving relationships is not just an institutionalised formality
that’s written down, that we must have them. It has to come from your heart. Give and you will
receive. If someone gives love people reciprocate and offer love back. But if we are impersonalist and
cold then even if somebody is trying to give it to us we may not recognise it. So love means service,
we should try to serve others by giving love and giving an example that they can trust. If everyone is
trying to give that, then everyone will experience. If everyone is trying to take it and get it, no one will
have it. Is that clear? We are speaking of spiritual love which is based on selfless service to others, not
being selflessly served but selflessly serving others, and if we all have that spirit there would be such
an atmosphere of love and trust and we should welcome that diligently. We should always be trying
to refine and improve that quality amongst ourselves. Its very important. And then we should expand
that beyond ourselves. We are not sectarian, we want to expand that to the congregation, to anyone
we get in contact with. That energy of loving relationships that we are gaining here we want to share
that with the world. But that love should be based on service, chanting together, preaching together
and helping each other to love Krishna, in every possible way. Does that answer you question?

And if one is really not satisfied with this lifestyle, if one is really longing for another type of love, not
exactly love but affection, then that’s nothing to be ashamed of, its not a failure but we just go on in a
gracious way to the next stage of life and become proper grhasthas. And the brahmacharis anybody
who makes this decision in a proper and respectable way, all the brahmacharis should congratulate
them for all the good that they have done and all the wonderful things they will do. That should be
our spirit. But we should also congratulate the people who stay. That is also very essential. Çrila
Prabhupada ki jai! So I personally want to congratulate all of you today. Please accept my respectful
obeisances.

H.G. Govind prabhu:

H. H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj ki Jai!