Jayapataka Swami: See if people chant the holy name and read the Bhagavad-gītā, they should get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa,and Śrīla Prabhupāda always said that devotional service is a gradual process. And we see some people chant 2 rounds a day, or 4 rounds a day, so that adds up in a year – 4 rounds is 2.5 million names of Kṛṣṇa, and 8 rounds is 5 million, and 16 rounds is 10 million,and if someone chants every day, even if it is a little bit, it adds up to thousands and millions in a year. You should encourage everyone to chant, it’s like the drip irrigation. You put a drip of water at the root of the plant, and the plant will grow more and more. So, don’t expect that the plant overnight will grow, just have the people continually watering the plant, and naturally the devotional creeper grows and grows. I think you could also give out tulasī seeds and have the people plant tulasī seeds and worship the plant. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if we give out the plants, and if people offend the plant, and they don’t take care, then we are responsible. But if we give out the seeds and they plant, they are responsible. So we should give out seeds and not baby plants,let people have the blessing to plant the seed and see the plant grow, and by chanting to that tulasī plant, offering incense or a lamp, circumambulate, they get immense spiritual blessings. If we give out baby tulasī plants and they don’t take care, then we are responsible. But if they plant the seed, then they get all the mercy, we are not responsible. So, having some situation to give out tulasī seeds, that could be promoted.
12-June-2020 SRI DHAM MAYAPUR, INDIA