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VERSE 10
yuyam ca pitranvadista deva-devena canaghah praja-sargaya hi katham vrksan nirdagdhum arhatha

TRANSLATION:
O pure-hearted ones, your father, Pracinabarhi, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead have ordered you to generate population. Therefore how can you burn to ashes these trees and herbs, which are needed for the maintenance of your subjects and descendants?

VERSE 11
atisthata satam margam kopam yacchata dipitam pitra pitamahenapi justam vah prapitamahaih

TRANSLATION:
The path of goodness traversed by your father, grandfather and great-grandfathers is that of maintaining the subjects [prajas], including the men, animals and trees. That is the path you should follow. Unnecessary anger is contrary to your duty. Therefore I request you to control your anger.

PURPORT:
Here the words pitra pitamahenapi justam vah prapitamahaih depict an honest royal family, consisting of the kings, their father, their grandfather and their great-grandfathers. Such a royal family has a prestigious position because it maintains the citizens, or prajas. The word praja refers to one who has taken birth within the jurisdiction of the government. The exalted royal families were conscious that all living beings, whether human, animal or lower than animal, should be given protection. The modern democratic system cannot be exalted in this way because the leaders elected strive only for power and have no sense of responsibility. In a monarchy, a king with a prestigious position follows the great deeds of his forefathers. Thus Soma, the king of the moon, here reminds the Pracetas about the glories of their father, grandfather and great-grandfathers.

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HH Badrinarayan Goswami:(Pranama Mantras)

We're actually going to read the purport to verse eleven. But I want to say something about verse ten.

I was on a morning walk with Srila Prabhupada in Chicago. I forget the year. We were walking in Lakeshore Park, Lake Michigan. Srila Prabhupada swung his cane and said, "What is this, fruit or flower?" Everyone else was silent. I knew a little bit about gardening. I said, "Prabhupada, that's called a Holly bush. It makes a little red berry that the birds can eat." He walked a little bit further, swung his cane, and said, "What is this, fruit or flower?" I said, "Prabhupada, that's a Camellia. It has a nice flower, but no fragrance." Prabhupada said, "A flower with no fragrance is like a handsome man with no good qualities." Prabhupada began walking again, swung his cane and said, "What is this, fruit or flower?" I said, "Srila Prabhupada, it's useless." Srila Prabhupada said, "No, you're useless." Which was true on many levels. Prabhupada said, "The plant has a use. You just don't know it." He said that every plant has a use. Krishna doesn't want to waste. Either it's used for fuel, for food, it is medicinal or it creates a fruit or flower. It has a use. So Srila Prabhupada said, "The plant ;does have a use. You don't know the use so you're the one that's useless."

Now, for text eleven, let's read the purport.

(Read purport above)

So we have a theme today. "We have a choice". We each have a choice. We can choose what kind of world we live in, how we see the world, how we experience the world. We have a choice. As we know, there are different factors in action. There is the sanction of Super Soul, Krishna. We cannot always control the circumstances. Prabhupada says we are being tossed, kicked like in football, soccer. We cannot control, ultimately, the circumstances. We have full control over how we react to circumstances. We have a choice.

We also have a choice about the world we live in, the external world. Picture for a moment, a bucket of water and the water line, halfway up the bucket. If I put my hand in that bucket, what happens to that waterline? The waterline goes up. What happens when you take your hand out? The waterline goes back to the exact same place.

Now should we live in the same way in this world? If we take up some space on planet Earth, we take up some oxygen. Srimad Bhagavatam says that dogs and hogs discharge some semen to maintain and families. When we die, which is inevitable, six months after we die maybe five or six people on the planet remember us if they have a photograph. Is that all that life is about?

We have a choice. We can just be neutral, static, carried like flotsam and jetsam through the world--or we can make a difference. We have a choice.

The verse begins by talking about the path of goodness. But goodness can be defined relative to one's situation. I could be a member of Doctors Without Borders, fighting Ebola in West Africa. I swear to you I got this in the mail as a fundraising appeal. "Save the pregnant penguins." So all of those are relative, different types of goodness.

Krishna describes to Nanda Maharaj for the Govardhana lila that there's a difference between an activity performed in ignorance and an activity performed in knowledge. Srila Prabhupada tells an instructive story. There are two boys in a family, an older boy and a younger boy. The older boy was very sick. Therefore he was on a strict diet of only barley water. You can imagine, anyone who knows young boys, they are always hungry. They want to eat. The older boy got nothing sweet, nothing nice. The younger boy loved his older brother. So the parents went out for a short errand. They asked the younger boy to please keep an eye on his older brother. They'd be back soon. The parents went out and immediately the older boy said, "Get me something sweet to eat!" The younger brother who loved his older brother and wanted to satisfy him immediately got some gulabjamans, rasgula, whatever, and shoveled it into his older brother. The older brother almost died. So motive and intent are not enough. One has to act in knowledge.

In the verse, it's talking about the blinding force of anger. We know from Bhagavad Gita the sequence that from contemplation attachment develops, from attachment comes lust, from frustration of lust comes anger. And of course then comes bewilderment of memory, loss of intelligence, and one falls into the material pool.

I want to talk just for a minute about the setup and sequence from that contemplation and attachment. The underpinnings of that dynamic that leads to anger are that we expect the world to go our way. We think that the default mood of this material nature is that, "I should be enjoying." There are still in this world a few hippies. Vaisesika Prabhu gave us a an example that in San Francisco, hippies exist. They're an endangered species, but they're still there. Who knows? Along with the appeal for pregnant penquins, I may get a fundraising appeal some day to save the hippies.

I was at one of our temples. The archetype hippies showed up with bells and long hair in a pony tail. It was a husband and wife, couple. The wife's name was Wish. His name was Comet. So naturally I asked, "Where did you get those names?" They said that they gave them to themselves. So naturally I asked why. The wife said, "Because I'm always saying that I wish I had this, I wish I was there, I wish, I wish, I wish." So naturally I asked the husband, "Where'd you get the name Comet?" He said, "I'm flying around the world this way and that way, trying to fulfill her wishes." I thought here you go. I'm wishing I had this, I wish I had that. And we're flying like a comet zipping around, I wish, I want, I need, I have to have.

Talking about choice, and different ways to see the world. I was sitting in the room and Srila Prabhupada said, "You have your plan. I have my plan. And Krishna has His plan." Guess who's plan happens? Instead of our trying to push material nature into a form, it's described in the Srimad Bhagavatam that this material world is a river of names, only. As the Buddhist say, "Nothing is certain, but change." So we're wishing, flying around like a comet, trying to push material nature into a permanent form. How many things are wrong in this picture?

Srila Prabhupada talks about the peace formula. bhoktaram yajna-

tapasam sarva-loka-mahesvaram (BG 5.29)
In connection to that verse, Srila Prabhupada was in his car looking out the window and he saw an advertisement for Allstate Insurance. The advertisement has cupped hands with the house, the wife and two kids, and in America, the faithful dog, Fido. Srila Prabhupada said yoga-ksema vahamy aham BG 9.22. Krishna is the master of all mystics. He's the sarva-loka-mahesvaram, suhrdam sarva-bhutanam. Krishna is maintaining all the unverses. He won't maintain us?

Suppose I'm climbing up a steep hill. It's a matter of vantage point. Just picture yourself walking up a hill. There are so many bushes. It's a steep hill. I can only see what's immediately in front of me. There's some bush, there's some rock. Only as I move incrementally do I see little by little what's in front of me. Picture yourself on top of the hill, looking down. One who is looking up can only see the immediate foreground. But if you're at the top and looking down, you can see the whole field, the whole area. Thus, we don't know whether to go left or go right. There is some canyon, there is some crevice, there is some snake, there is some cactus. We don't know. But the one who's looking down can say, "No, no. Go to the left, don't go to the right." They can easily guide you up the hill.

As it says here, he's taking the advice of his forefathers. One professor said to Srila Prabhupada, "As far as I knowi Well, as far as I know." Finally, Srila Prabhupada said, "That's my point. How far do you know?" So how far do we actually know?

Let us think for a moment about our place in the universe. Srila Prabhupada quotes Canakya Pandit. He says that as soon as the child comes out of the womb, the mothers breasts fill with milk. Jesus Christ says, "Behold the lilies of the field. They spin not, nor work." The point is that Krishna is maintaining every living entity perfectly. It should give assurance. It should give us support. It should give us shelter.

Back to the trees and the plants in our previous verse. Just see Krishna's intelligence. He takes sinful, rascal, living entities. Like if you have a miscreant child you say, "Just sit down." So He takes sinful living entities and puts them stationery in plants, bushes, and trees. Even though they are prisoners who are meant to suffer, they are also providing service: roots, flowers. So one purpose is fulfilled and yet they are also serving so many other purposes. We should have faith that Krishna is in charge and that He knows what He is doing. Therefore, being like Wish and Comet, who are flying around trying to find happiness, is simply a waste of time.

Srila Prabhupada was on a morning walk. This was in Detroit. They were under a street light. It was summertime so there were so many bugs at night flying around the light. The bugs had been flying around the light and had died. There was a pile of bugs. Should we live our lives like that? We're active and at the end you get swept up and thrown in a dump.

I was at a funeral with one of our devotee priests. They were having the eulogies where they spoke about the dearly departed. They were kept saying that whenever you needed him, you could reach out and call him. They were saying that you could call him in the middle of the night and he would answer. You could call him from the hospital and he would answer. You could call him from the far corners of the world and he would answer. Just then, in the middle of everyone speaking, there was a phone ringing. Everyone was looking around. Turns out that the ringing was coming the coffin. They had dressed the dead body in his favorite suit and the man's cell phone was in the suite pocket. rom a phone in the dearly departed's. I was thinking, "That's one call he's not getting. He's out of range." We will all come to that stage.

Suppose you go out to your mailbox once a month. There's a thousand dollar check in the mailbox. It's coming anonymously. You don't know who it's from. Every month on the first of the month there's a thousand dollars in the mail. Anyone with a brain would think, "Where's it coming from? Is there any obligation? By taking this money, am I somehow becoming indebted to whomever is sending it?"

We can't even make a drop of milk. We can't even make a square inch of fresh air. My father used to joke, but he was serious, "Buy real estate. They're not making any more of it." We are dependent at every moment. Krishna is providing. What is our obligation?

It talks in these two verses about the duty to give protection, the duty to give shelter. People are suffering. There is no question about it.

The devotees in Washington, DC, in the USA, were doing motel Gita. They get sponsors and then they put Gitas in different motels in the US. The devotees went to see one motel owner and he was not interested. He was quite cool and distant. Finally the devotees asked if they could just put a few Bhagavad Gitas on the reception desk. Practically, just to get rid of them, the man agreed.

A few days later, the same motel owner called the devotees. He said, "I want three cases of Bhagavad Gita. Bring them today." The devotees said, "Are you the same man we met a couple of days ago? Do you have a twin brother? What's going on here?" The now very humble and soft spoken hotel owner told them this. Yesterday, a business man checked into my motel. He was distracted and not very friendly. He was absorbed in his own thoughts. He saw the Bhagavad Gita on the counter and asked if he could take it.

The next morning that same man, when he checked out, apologized for being so cold and impersonal. Actually he had checked into the motel to commit suicide. While he was waiting for the room to fill up with gas, carbon monoxide, he started reading the Bhagavad Gita. The man said, "Wait, there's truth, there's meaning, there's beauty. I'm not crazy. The world is crazy." He shut off the gas and kept reading. This kind of life saving event repeats itself again and again around the world.

We're talking about a choice and what we do with our lives. They have a saying that we are just about as happy as we choose to be. When I give class, I am expected to least one joke. Here we go. But my point is: what do we do with our life? "Arthada"--this valuable artha human form of life can give us the greatest benefit.

There was a mean, old man. He kicked dogs and triped old ladies. He stole out of the church box. He was a real skunk. So one day, the man steps across the street, is hit by a bus, and dies. In America, in many places, after they bury the man, the family gathers together and tries to say something nice. Some solace to the wife and family. They say some sweet words. But in this man's case nobody could think of a good thing to say. It was an awkward silence. Everyone was looking around at the guy next to him saying "think of something". The priest said, "Come on now, somebody say something." Still no one could think of a thing. Finally one guy in the back said, "His brother was worse!"

When we die, which is inevitable, they say we are not remembered for what we have. We are remembered for what we gave. Have you seen the trailer for that acharya film by Yadubara and Vishaka? I have a hard heart. But even I almost cried. We have a chance to change the world. Vaisesika Prabhu told me that Bhaktivinode Thakura writes that these people are doing so many sinful things. When you open the door it's, "Oh my God, what are they doing in there?" But in the core of their heart, they are thinking, "What is this empty life?" They are looking out their window and down the street, and they're wondering, "When will Lord Caitanya's devotees come and save me?" We have been given a choice to live a life like Wish and Comet, to take up space on this earth and then be swept up like bugs and thrown in the dust bin. We have a choice.

The sewer line under the brahmacari ashram in San Diego broke. The entire brahmacari ashram underneath was deep in raw sewage. Liquid beauty, fully manifest. We called a plumber. He had to climb under the house to find the leak. So you know devotees were trying to save money. They asked for an estimate first. This man climbed under the house through that raw sewage and I heard swear words that I have never heard in my life. Unique combinations that I'd never heard. It came out like a storm. He managed to extricate himself covered in the stuff and told us "Six thousand dollars, minimum." So the devotees said, "Too much, can't pay."

So we sent a surrendered, humble, saintly named Rupa Goswmi, who is also a plumber, under the house. He also verbally expressed his grief. The difference was that he was calling out "Oh Govinda, Oh Keshava, Oh Shyamasundar." He practically chanted Vishnu sahasranamam. The point is, same circumstance, completely different reaction.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that what is night for the conditioned soul is a time of awakening for the self realized. We can live petty, putrid, pale, pernicious, paltry lives. We can live lives of darkness and despair, or we can live a life of light and happiness and compassion. Srila Prabhupada said his disease is "I cannot think small." This ISKCON is not meant for small things. Our life is not meant for small things. If we take up the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, we can and will change the world. In the course of that surrender, instead of spending our time haggling over the petty details of life, if we have confidence that Krishna will maintain me, we will live a life of happiness and light. The choice is ours. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.