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You can forego your sleeping and eating

Expressions researched:
"You can forego your sleeping and eating"

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

You can forego your sleeping and eating. The Gosvāmīs were doing like that. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **. They were discharging their duties, and if sometimes they still could not finish the chanting, they would forego their eating and sleeping. Eating and sleeping, say, seven to nine hours. Then we have to sacrifice our sleeping and eating.
Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa ara saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). (baby making noises) (aside:) He will disturb. Īśvara. Īśvara means master or the controller. Actually only Kṛṣṇa is master. Even Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā, or incarnation of Viṣṇu, all of them are, in one sense, even Rādhārāṇī, all are servants. Ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa ara saba bhṛtya. So in that sense, in this New Vrindaban the master is Kṛṣṇa, and we are all servants. But there are division of duties of the servants, and they should discharge. Just like in our propagation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement there are certain duties entrusted to certain devotee, and if he faithfully carries out that duty, that is his perfection. The spiritual master is the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and the duty allotted by him to a certain person, that should be his execution of spiritual duties. So this New Vrindaban, master is Kṛṣṇa. Now we should specifically divide duties amongst ourselves and discharge such duties faithfully. Then, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, as you are growing up to now, the system and the prescription is very nicely being conducted. And this will help us more and more progress. So in this meeting I think we should allot different kinds of duties to different persons and execute. So you say something. (break) ...temple. I don't think it can take more than two hours.

Kīrtanānanda: We are done ārati and kīrtana by seven o'clock in the morning.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Then the respective duty can be discharged in two, three hours. That's all. Seven to ten. After taking your breakfast you work up to ten. Then you have got enough time.

Kīrtanānanda: Time for what?

Prabhupāda: Everyone has to make his own routine work, and for chanting and reading and Bhagavad-gītā he requires, say, two to three hours. So we have got twenty-four hours at our disposal. Out of that, six hours or seven hours for sleeping. So still you have got seventeen hours. And three hours devote for chanting and reading. Still you have got fourteen hours.

Kīrtanānanda: But we devote at least five hours to ārati and kīrtana.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Satyabhāmā: Another hour and a half or two hours to prasādam.

Śyāma: Eating?

Satyabhāmā: Yes. To eating prasādam.

Prabhupāda: Two hours for eating?

Paramānanda: Eating and taking rest.

Satyabhāmā: Well, noon prasādam, morning prasādam, milk in the evening.

Paramānanda: Morning and evening, half hour, noon, one hour.

Hayagrīva: Bathing, bathing takes an hour.

Prabhupāda: So you want to stop chanting and reading?

Satyabhāmā: No. No. (laughs)

Kīrtanānanda: We don't want to stop chanting. I don't want to. That's not the proposal. The proposal was...

Satyabhāmā: Which comes first? If... The work seems to have to be done, but the...

Prabhupāda: You can forego your sleeping and eating.

Satyabhāmā: Haribol.

Prabhupāda: The Gosvāmīs were doing like that. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **. They were discharging their duties, and if sometimes they still could not finish the chanting, they would forego their eating and sleeping. Eating and sleeping, say, seven to nine hours. Then we have to sacrifice our sleeping and eating.

Paramānanda: But the Gosvāmīs, they didn't swing axes all day, did they?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (chuckles)

Paramānanda: They didn't do hard physical work.

Prabhupāda: No, they were writing books. So they were writing. You have to manage. You see? How can I suggest, "You can do this, you can do this"? Everyone has to do. Just like I do my work according to my own routine, you see, similarly, one has to... But if sometimes, by chance, you do not get any time for reading Bhagavad-gītā, that does not harm very much because you are already engaged in Bhagavad-gītā. Any duty here in New Vrindaban... Just like Kṛṣṇa was inducing Arjuna to fight. That fighting was also within the program of this devotional service. Similarly, anything working within this New Vrindaban, that is also counted reading Bhagavad-gītā. So in some day if you don't find, read Bhagavad-gītā, but that chanting must be finished. That is very essential.

Hayagrīva: Can one chant when working?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not? Chanting is the basic standing of our life.

Kīrtanānanda: I think here, as I look at it, we're spending about five hours a day in ārati and kīrtana, which, I think, is really good because I think that is the heart of Vṛndāvana.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the life of Vṛndāvana.

Kīrtanānanda: So I don't want to sacrifice that for anything.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That must be...

Kīrtanānanda: That must be there. That's the heart.

Prabhupāda: You can forego even reading Bhagavad-gītā, but that must be continued.

Kīrtanānanda: But now, right now, of course, this is not time for pruning, but I'd like to prune to show people that we really have something.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Kīrtanānanda: It would be nice for our community. It would be nice for the people who visit us so that they'd be able to see that "Ah, they're able to carry on with their gardening."

Prabhupāda: No. You also require some fruits for your existence also. Kṛṣṇa will like it.

Kīrtanānanda: Actually it will help morale if they just have a little better prasādam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And now we require some assistants, more assistants. Yes. So Kṛṣṇa will send. Kṛṣṇa will send gradually. You'll have more men here, and engage them.

Page Title:You can forego your sleeping and eating
Compiler:MadhuGopaldas
Created:01 of Nov, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1