—Morning class, 5 December 1998—

	When he first arrived in Malaysia Srila Gurudeva had asked 
that class be given in the morning by any of the senior devotees, 
saying that he might come to speak himself on some days. Coming into 
the temple room this morning, he was not happy to see the poor 
attendance, and asked why so few devotees were present. One devotee 
who just happened to wander in at this point when challenged by 
Srila Gurudeva said that he had been chanting japa. Srila Gurudeva 
then replied: "If one is chanting without taste in hari-katha, then 
all his seva and harinama will be zero."

	Seeing a local devotee attending to some pujari duties 
Srila Gurudeva told him that he should come and hear the class too, 
and that he would tell his personal servant Navina Krsna prabhu to 
make the offering instead. Srila Gurudeva then began to tell a story 
about a guru and a neophyte disciple.

	"There was a very bonafide guru who had a kanistha 
disciple. The disciple wanted to serve his guru but he had so many 
defects. Because his intelligence and heart were impure, he could 
not touch the interior mood of his guru. He was sincere but that is 
not enough to touch the inner moods of the guru. Still he was 
trying, by watching and following carefully all of the external 
activities of his guru. Trying so hard, if the disciple would see 
his guru sit to do japa for half an hour, then he would sit for one 
hour. If he saw that the guru was sitting straight, then he would try 
to sit straighter. When the disciple saw that his guru was doing 
acaman three times, then he would think 'then I will do it 50 
times.' When he saw his guru doing arati, offering incense four 
or five times, the lamp 14 times in all, the water four times, the 
cloth five times, and the camara four or five times he thought that 
he would do everything exactly as he had seen, but for much longer. 
Taking the incense, he now began to offer it for half an hour. When 
he had finished he next took the lamp, and now offered this for half 
an hour too. Meanwhile others saw that he was taking half an hour 
for each article, and they thought 'Oh, we'll do it for one hour!' 
So this arati was now taking two hours, and afterwards the devotees 
were so tired. Seeing all this, the guru could not understand why it 
was taking so long, and he thought that his disciple could not 
really be touching his inner mood. So the next day when he saw his 
disciple nearby, the guru took his asana(sitting mat) and began to 
swing it around his head fifteen times. When the disciple saw this, 
he picked his up and swung it around his head thirty times. So in 
all this time the disciple had been imitating his guru, but he never 
thought to ask him the reason why he was performing all these 
activities.

	"So what is the real reason behind doing acamana, arati and 
all these things? When Yasoda does arati with her lamp, she is just 
trying to examine Krsna's body to see if He has been hurt by 
fighting with other boys. But if you're taking hours, then Krsna 
will get hungry, weep and run away. We should not swing the camara 
like this(Srila Gurudeva then swung his arm around vigorously) this 
is not a wrestling match, or exercise. It must be done with 
affectionate mood. There is no regulation in scriptures to do it 
for such a long time. Arati should be done very softly and 
artisticly, gently and smoothly, not very fast, especially near 
Krsna's face. Water is offered to wash His mouth, just as Yasoda 
does, two or three times. More than this is not required. We offer 
the cloth to dry Krsna's mouth, it should be done very softly, not 
like this(Srila Gurudeva briskly rubbed his hand to and fro), very 
hard, for one hour. And dhupa(incense) should not be offered to 
Krsna's feet or face. If it is offered to his face then the smoke 
will drift up, and he will not be able to appreciate it."

	Srila Gurudeva now began to speak about chanting harinama.
"Harinama which is not done with the heart will not even make any 
sukrti. Instead‚ if you are thinking 'mother is ill ...shall I go 
to India - or England? Where is she now?...' then it is better to 
smash this body in seva in order to get some sukrti. Devotees 
should not neglect coming to hear harikatha in the name of 
chanting, otherwise advanced devotees will feel like they're 
wasting their time. Those who are neglecting hari-katha are very 
unfortunate. When Vrndavana vilasini(now 52) was 16 and very 
beautiful like a rose, she was distributing books in the airport, 
and, if rebuked, no harm. So why have you come with me? You should 
go and preach to energetic people. If there is no preaching, then 
advanced devotees will think 'Why am I here? No use.' One who 
neglects to preach will become sick. Although we'll never be able 
to do it, we should try to repay Srila Svami Maharaja by following 
his process. We should distribute all the books we have here in 
Malaysia so that they'll have to be reprinted. Go and preach to less 
fortunate persons with compassion, and bring them here, otherwise 
why have we come?" 

	A local devotee who is one of Srila Gurudeva's initiated 
harinama disciples was sitting at the back of the class, having 
entered some time after it had begun. Seeing him there, Srila 
Gurudeva asked him: 
	"Why are you sitting so far away? Are you afraid? Are you 
afraid of diksa?" 
	"No Maharaja!" the devotee replied earnestly.
	"Then you should take tomorrow!" 
	Srila Gurudeva said to him. "I will give you forcibly! You 
should shave your head..."
	Then, turning to the devotee's wife he said: "You should 
shave him. You should shave all his material desires."

—end—

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