(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 23 September 2014, Durban, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.10.4)
Some people think that actually, the planet can only comfortably sustain one billion people. Which one billion should that one billion people be!? Some people think that the other six billion which we have currently, should not be there. Which category do you think they are going to put us (the devotees) – in the one billion that should be on the planet or in the six billion that should not be on the planet? Which one do you think…
Therefore, devotees cannot just stay at home and have mahaprasadam, and have a nice darshan of the deities, and happily chant Hare Krsna because the demons do not sit still. The demons do not just sit at home and eat their horrible things. Oh no! They have a big agenda to systematically exploit the world as much as possible, and they want as big a piece of the world that they can get under their control, and they are ready to work very hard for that. Some of them are very, very determined and very austere! They hardly sleep.
One famous demon was Stalin. It is said that Stalin would hardly sleep, sometimes just two hours a night, maximum four, and no more. Stalin was also very tolerant and very determined. It is said that he had open heart surgery without any anaesthetic! He was a tough guy.
So, sometimes we see great determination in people but unfortunately, it is misdirected, misguided and demoniac! We see very weak determination in devotees who are wavering and thinking, “How will I chant my rounds today? So many… sixteen! It is going to take me the whole day! I do not have time to do anything because I have to chant sixteen rounds.”