The Nectar of Devotion

Pradyumna: [reading:] Page number 15. Uh. "In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam..." Uh. "In the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Sixth Chapter, eighteenth verse [SB 5.6.18], Nārada also says to Yudhiṣṭhira, 'My dear King, it is Lord Kṛṣṅa, known as Mukunda, who is the eternal protector of the Pāṅḍavas and the Yadus. He is also your spiritual master and instructor in every respect.

"He is the only worshipable God for you. He is very dear and affectionate, and He is the director of all your activities, both individual and familial. And what's more, He sometimes carries out your orders as if He were your messenger! My dear King, how very fortunate you are, because for others all these favors given to you by the Supreme Lord would not even be dreamt of.'

"The purport of this verse is that the Lord easily offers liberation, but He rarely agrees to offer a soul devotional service, because by devotional service the Lord Himself becomes purchased by the devotee."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Go on.

Pradyumna: " 'The Happiness of Becoming One with the Supreme.' Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says that if brahmānanda, or the happiness of becoming one with the Supreme, is multiplied by one trillionfold, still, it cannot be compared with an atomic fraction of the happiness derived from the ocean of devotional service.

"In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, Prahlāda Mahārāja, while satisfying Lord Nṛsiṁha by his prayers, says, 'My dear Lord of the universe, I am feeling transcendental pleasure in Your presence and have become merged in the ocean of happiness. I now consider the happiness of brahmānanda to be no more than the water in the impression left by a cow's hoof in the earth, compared to this ocean of bliss.'

"Similarly, it is confirmed in the Bhāvārtha-dīpikā, Śrīdhara Swami's commentary on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: 'My dear Lord, some of the fortunate persons who are swimming in the ocean of Your nectar of devotion, and who are relishing the nectar of the narration of Your pastimes, certainly know ecstasies which immediately minimize the value of the happiness derived from religiousness, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. Such a transcendental devotee regards any kind of happiness other than devotional service as no better than straw in the street.' "

Prabhupāda: Go on.

Pradyumna: " 'Attracting Kṛṣṅa.' Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has stated that devotional service at..."

Prabhupāda: Any..., any question arises, you can ask.

Pradyumna: "Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has stated that devotional service attracts even Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa attracts everyone, but devotional service attracts Kṛṣṅa. The symbol of devotional service in the highest degree is Rādhārāṅī. Kṛṣṅa is called Madana-mohana, which means that He is so attractive that He can defeat the attraction of thousands of Cupids. But Rādhārāṅī is still more attractive, for She can even attract Kṛṣṅa. Therefore devotees call Her madana-mohana-mohinī, the attractor of the attractor of Cupid. To perform devotional service means to follow in the footsteps of Rādhārāṅī..."

Prabhupāda: Madana-mohana. Madana-mohana... Madana means sex attraction. Madana, sex attraction, Cupid, and Kṛṣṅa is called Madana-mohana. One can, I mean, neglect even sex attraction if one is attracted to Kṛṣṅa. That is the test. Madana [is] attracting in this material world. Everyone is attracted by sex life. The whole material world is existing on sex life. This is the fact. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-suhkhaṁ hi tuccham [SB 7.9.45].

[Sex life is compared to the rubbing of two hands to relieve an itch. Gṛhamedhīs, so-called gṛhasthas who have no spiritual knowledge, think that this itching is the greatest platform of happiness, although actually it is a source of distress. The kṛpaṅas, the fools who are just the opposite of brāhmaṅas, are not satisfied by repeated sensuous enjoyment. Those who are dhīra, however, who are sober and who tolerate this itching, are not subjected to the sufferings of fools and rascals.]

Here, the happiness, the so-called happiness is maithuna, maithunādi. Maithunādi means here happiness begins from maithuna, sex intercourse.

Generally, people..., a man marries. The purpose is to satisfy sex desire. Then he begets children. Then again, when the children are grown up, they..., the daughter is married with another boy and the boy is married with another daughter, another girl. That is also the same purpose: sex. Then again, grandchildren. In this way, this material happiness—śriyaiśvarya-prajepsavaḥ. The other day we discussed, śrī means beauty, aiśvarya means wealth and prajā means generation.

So generally, people, they like it—good family, good bank balance and good wife, good daughter, daughter-in-law. If one family is consisting of beautiful woman and riches and grea..., many children, he is supposed to be successful. He's supposed to be most successful man. So śāstra says, "What is this success? This success is beginning with sex intercourse. That's all. And maintaining them."

So yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham. Here the happiness begins from sex life, maithunādi. We may polish it in a different way, but this maithuna, sex life happiness, is there in the hogs. The hogs also, they are eating whole day, here and there: "Where is stool? Where is stool?" and having sex life without any discrimination. The hogs do not discriminate whether mother, sister or daughter.

So therefore śāstra says, "Here, this material world, we are entangled. We are encaged in this material world only for this sex life." That is Cupid. Cupid is the god of sex life, Madana. Unless one is, what is called, induced by Madana, the Cupid, he cannot be, I mean to say, engladdened in sex life. And Kṛṣṅa's name is Mādana-mohana. Mādana-mohana means that one who is attracted to Kṛṣṅa, he'll forget the pleasure derived from sex life. This is the test. Therefore His name is Mādana-mohana. Here is Mādana-mohana. Sanātana Gosvāmī worshiped Mādana-mohana. Madana or Mādana. Mādana means to become mad. And Madana, the Cupid.

So everyone is infuriated by the force of sex life. There are many places... In Bhāgavatam it is said, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etat tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhur [SB 5.5.8]. The whole material world is going on: the man is attracted by woman, the woman is attracted by man. And seeking this attraction, when they are united, their attachment for this material world become more and more.

And in this way, after being united, or after being married, one woman and man, they seek nice home, gṛha; kṣetra, activities, business, factory or agricultural field. Because one has to earn money. So get food. Gṛha-kṣetra; suta, children; and āpta, friends; vitta, wealth... Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam [SB 5.5.8]. The attraction for this material world becomes more and more tight. This is called madana, attraction by madana.

But our business is not to be attracted by the glimmer of this material world, but to be attracted by Kṛṣṅa. That is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. Unless you become attracted by the beauty of Kṛṣṅa, we must have to be satisfied by the beauty of..., this false beauty of this material world. Therefore Śrī Yamunācārya said that yadāvadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayor nava-nava-dhāma rantum āsīt: "So long I have been attracted by the beauty of Kṛṣṅa and I have begun to serve at His lotus feet, and I am getting newer, newer energy, since then, as soon as I think of sex intercourse, I want to spite on it."

That is vitṛṣṅā, no more attraction. The central point of attraction of this material world is sex life, and one..., when one gets detached from sex life... Tadāvadhi mama cetaḥ...,

yadāvadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayor nava-nava-[rasa-]dhām[anudyata] rantum āsīt tadāvadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca [Śrīla Yāmunācārya]

"As soon as I think of sex intercourse, immediately my mouth becomes turned aside and I want to spite on it."

So therefore Kṛṣṅa is Madana-mohana. Madana is attracting everyone, sex life, and Kṛṣṅa, when one is attracted by Kṛṣṅa, then madana also becomes defeated. So as soon as madana becomes defeated, we conquer over this material world. Otherwise it is very difficult.

The... Daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

Duratyayā means very, very difficult. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti. But if anyone surrenders unto Kṛṣṅa, catches His lotus feet very strongly, "Kṛṣṅa, save me," Kṛṣṅa promises, "Yes, I'll save you." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ [Bg 18.66]:

[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]

"Don't worry. I shall save you." Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṅaśyati [Bg 9.31]:

[He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.]

"My dear Arjuna, you can declare to the world, My devotee, pure devotee, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11],

[One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṅa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.]

who has no other desire, he'll be protected by Me."

So people do not know that our only business is to take shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa. That is the only business. We have no other business. Any other business means we are becoming entangled in this material world. And the aim of human life is to get out of these clutches of material world. People do not know it. They do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅum [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

So it is very difficult; still, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's order to distribute this knowledge all over the world. So let us try. Even the people do not take our instruction, that is not our disqualification. Our qualification is let us try our best. The māyā is very strong. To take the living entities out of the clutches of māyā is not very easy thing. My Guru Mahārāja used to say... He had so many temples all over India, and he used to say some time that "If by selling all these properties, temples, if I could turn one man to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, then my mission will be successful." He used to say that.

So our purpose is not to construct big, big buildings. That is required for propaganda work, for giving shelter to people. But our main business is how to turn the face of the bewildered conditioned soul towards Kṛṣṅa. That is our method. That is our main purpose. Therefore, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and other Vaiṣṅavas, they did not advise to give much attention for constructing big, big temples and maṭhas.

Because if our attention is diverted towards these material things... Material things means, as I have repeatedly explained, forgetful of Kṛṣṅa. Otherwise there is no..., nothing material. It is illusion. Illusion means actually there is nothing material. How it can be material? If the Supreme Lord is Supreme Spirit, everything is coming from Him, so what we call the material energy, that is also coming from the Supreme.

But the difficulty is that in this inferior energy... Inferior energy means where there is possibility of forgetting Kṛṣṅa. Actually, that is the fact. People are engaged in so many activities. We can see it very nicely in the Western countries. They are inventing so many modern facilities. But the result is they're forgetting Kṛṣṅa. That is material. Material means forgetfulness of Kṛṣṅa. Otherwise, there is nothing except Kṛṣṅa.

Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ. Prahlāda Mahārāja..., yes, Nārada Mahārāja said that "This world is Kṛṣṅa." Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ. "But it appears like that it is different from Bhagavān." Actually, there is... For a mahā-bhāgavata, he has no such conception, material conception, because he sees everywhere Kṛṣṅa. Sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti [Cc Madhya 8.274].

[The mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord.]

He's seeing one tree, but he is..., he's forgetful of the tree; he's seeing energy of Kṛṣṅa. As soon as he sees the energy of Kṛṣṅa, he sees Kṛṣṅa. Therefore instead of seeing the tree, he sees Kṛṣṅa. Because one after, after, coming, reference to the context. As soon as he sees anything we call material, he sees this is the conversion of the energy. Pariṅāma-vāda. Sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat. Parasya brahmaṅaḥ śaktiḥ.

Parasya bra... Just like as soon as you see the sunshine, you see immediately sun. Is it not? In the morning, as soon as you see within your window the sunshine, immediately you remember sun and you are confident sun is there. Without sun, how there can be sunshine? Similarly, whatever we see, if we immediately see Kṛṣṅa with reference to that particular thing... Because that particular thing is the manifestation of the energy of Kṛṣṅa.

So those who have understood Kṛṣṅa along with His energies, he sees the energy, because energy is not different from the energetic. He sees immediately Kṛṣṅa. Therefore he does not see anything except Kṛṣṅa. So therefore, for him there is no material world. There is no material world. To a perfect devotee, there is no material world. Everything is spiritual. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma [Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1].

[Everything, both matter and spirit, is non-different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is the Supreme Brahman.]

He sees everything Brahman. So we have to make our eyes to see Kṛṣṅa. Tat-paratvena nirmalam.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam hṛṣīkeṅa hṛṣīkeśa- sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate [Cc Madhya 19.170]

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

Tat-paratvena. As soon as we are in Kṛṣṅa consciousness, our seeing, touching, smelling—everything become nirmala, purified. Then we can immediately see Kṛṣṅa. These eyes, so long it is not purified, we cannot see Kṛṣṅa. As soon as it is purified, you see Kṛṣṅa, nothing but Kṛṣṅa. So this is the process. So devotional service means purification.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam hṛṣīkeṅa hṛṣīkeśa- sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate [Cc Madhya 19.170]

sarvopādhi-vinirmu..., anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṅānu- śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11]

[One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṅa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.]

So Cupid, Cupid is one of the agent of this material, illusory energy, but if we are perfectly in Kṛṣṅa consciousness, this Cupid cannot pierce with our arrows..., with his arrows. That is not possible. As Yamunācārya says, that tadāvadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṅa-pa..., yadāvadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravinda...

So to a devotee... Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. You know the story of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was young man, and the Māyā, and a prostitute, they came, young prostitute, nicely dressed, and proposed her desire. Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, "Yes, please sit down. I shall fulfill your desire. Let me finish my chanting." Just see. At dead of night, a young man, Haridāsa Ṭhākura; in front, there is a beautiful young girl; there is nobody else, and she's proposing. But still, he's steady, chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare. So Cupid cannot pierce. This is the example.

There may be thousands of beautiful women before a devotee, but that does not disturb his mind. He sees they're all energies of Kṛṣṅa. "They are gopīs of Kṛṣṅa. They are enjoyable by Kṛṣṅa. I have to serve them. They're gopīs. Because I am servant of the servant." Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayoḥ dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ [Cc Madhya 13.80].

[I am not a brāhmaṅa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.’]

So a devotee should try to engage all beautiful women in the service of Kṛṣṅa. That is his duty. Not to enjoy them. That is sense gratification.

This is the position of a devotee. He's not pierced by the arrows of Cupid, but he sees everything, nirbandhe kṛṣṅa-sambandhe. He sees everything in relationship with Kṛṣṅa. Yukta-vairāgyam ucyate. That is vairāgya. He does not accept anything for his sense gratification, but he engages everyone in the service of Kṛṣṅa. Then we can get out of the influence of the arrow of Cupid. This is the process.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "To perform devotional service means to follow in the footsteps of Rādhārāṅī, and devotees in Vṛndāvana put themselves under the care of Rādhārāṅī in order to achieve perfection in their devotional service. In other words, devotional service is not an activity of the material world; it is directly under the control of Rādhārāṅī.

"In the Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed that the mahātmās, or great souls, are under the protection of daivī prakṛti, the internal energy—Rādhārāṅī. So, being directly under the control of the internal potency of Kṛṣṅa, devotional service attracts even Kṛṣṅa Himself."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manaso [Bg 9.13].

[O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.]

Here we are under the influence of this material energy, but those who are devotee of Kṛṣṅa, they are under the influence of internal energy. The internal energy of Kṛṣṅa, it has got three different functions. One of the function is hlādinī śakti. That is Rādhārāṅī. That is Rādhārāṅī. Rādhārāṅī is the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṅa.

rādhā kṛṣṅa-praṅaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api [bhuvi purā] deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau śrī-caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptam... [Cc Ādi 1.5]

Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa, that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is... That is the version of Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara, that "Rādhā and Kṛṣṅa, They are one, Kṛṣṅa." When Kṛṣṅa wants to enjoy, He manifests His energy. That is Rādhārāṅī. Kṛṣṅa cannot enjoy the material energy; He enjoys the internal energy. Kṛṣṅa has got many energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate, svābhāvakī-jñāna-bala-kriyā ca [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8].

[The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Nothing is equal to Him or greater than Him. He acts in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His unlimited, variegated potencies. Each potency acts quite naturally in sequences, providing Him full knowledge, power and pastimes.]

That is the Vedic version, that the Supreme Absolute Truth has got multi-energies, and by utilizing, manipulating that energy, He is manifesting Himself in so many ways.

The same example: just like the sun, by expanding its energy, heat and light, is perceived. The sun is 93,000,000 miles away from us. So how we can understand the sun? By his heat and energy. By his heat, we can calculate what is the actual temperature. The scientists are calculating the actual temperature of the sun. So similarly, although Kṛṣṅa is far, far away from us... Goloka eva nivasati. He's residing in His abode, Goloka, Vṛndāvana. This is the replica of that Vṛndāvana.

So akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. How He's akhilātma-bhūtaḥ [Bs 5.37]?

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]

How He's all-pervading? By His energy. By His energy. Just like Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā: mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagat avyakta-mūrtinā [Bg 9.4].

[By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.]

That energy is avyakta, impersonal. But Kṛṣṅa is not impersonal. Kṛṣṅa is person. Just like the sun-god, he's a person, but his energy, sunshine and heat, that is impersonal. To reach impersonal feature of the sun or the sunshine is not approaching the sun. It is approaching and not approaching. It is approaching in the sense that directly in touch with his energy, but still, the sun globe and the sun-god is far away.

Similarly, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11].

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

To approach the impersonal feature of Brahman is not sufficient. We have to approach Kṛṣṅa. So the Rādhārāṅī, the personal... His energy is also personal. So mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ [Bg 9.13]. If we take shelter of His external energy, where forgetfulness [of] Kṛṣṅa is very prominent, then we become far and far away from Kṛṣṅa. But if we take shelter of the internal energy of Kṛṣṅa, Rādhārāṅī, because She's directly serving Kṛṣṅa...

Just like in Vṛndāvana, they always speak of Rādhārāṅī because they have taken shelter of Rādhārāṅī to approach Kṛṣṅa very easily. Daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. The facility of Vṛndāvana is that you take shelter of Rādhārāṅī directly, and She will help you to approach Kṛṣṅa very soon. This is the idea of coming to Vṛndāvana.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "This fact is corroborated by Kṛṣṅa in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Twelfth Chapter, first verse [SB 11.12.1], where He says, 'My dear Uddhava, you may know it from Me that the attraction I feel for devotional service rendered by My devotees is not to be attained even by the performance of mystic yoga, philosophical speculation, ritualistic sacrifices, the study of Vedānta, the practice of severe austerities or the giving of everything in charity. These are, of course, very nice activities, but they are not as attractive to Me as the transcendental loving service rendered by My devotees.'

"How Kṛṣṅa becomes attracted by the devotional service of His devotees is described by Nārada in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh Canto, Tenth Chapter, thirty-seventh verse [SB 7.10.37]. There Nārada addresses King Yudhiṣṭhira while the king is appreciating the glories of the character of Prahlāda Mahārāja. A devotee always appreciates the qualities of other devotees."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the sign of devotee: appreciation [of] the activities of devotee. This appreciation means a devotee who is actually freed from all contamination, he does not find any fault with other devotee. That is the sign. He does not think himself that he is bigger devotee or greater devotee than others. He thinks himself as the lowest of all. As Caitanya..., as Caitanya-caritāmṛta author, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, says, purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se lagiṣṭha [Cc Ādi 5.205]: "I am lower than the insect within the stool." Jagāi-mādhāi haite se muñi pāpiṣṭha: "I am greater sinner than Jagāi and Mādhāi." Mora nāma yei laya tāra puṅya kṣaya [Cc Ādi 5.206]: "Anyone who takes my name, immediately, all the result of his pious activities becomes vanquished." He's placing like that.

Because it is not imitation or any bluff. He's... Any devotee who's actually advanced, he feels like that. Just like great scientist Sir Isaac Newton, he used to say that "I have simply collected a few grains of sand in the ocean of knowledge." Yes. He used to say. And actually, that is the fact. Everything is unlimited. So nobody should be proud falsely that he has become a great devotee. Everyone should be very humble.

tṛṅād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṅunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc Ādi 17.31]

[One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.]

If one thinks that he has become very advanced in devotion, then that is very dangerous. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, guru more mūrkha dekhi' karila śāsana [Cc Ādi 7.71]: "My spiritual master saw Me a great fool. Therefore he has chastised Me, that 'Don't try to read the Vedānta. Chant Hare Kṛṣṅa.' " He presented Himself like that. Is Caitanya Mahāprabhu mūrkha? But that is the conception, advanced devotee. They never think that they are very highly advanced devotee. What is advanced devotee? What devotion we can offer to Kṛṣṅa? He's unlimited. He's kindly accepting our little service. That's all. Don't be proud of becoming a great devotee. That is the cause of falldown.

Thank you very much.

Devotee: Jaya! [end]