(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 28 May 2017, Holy Name Festival, Slovenia, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.2.7)
I like one of the plays done by the Germans. In the play, there is a wife who is ironing endless dhotis, piles of them. She has got a cloth around her hair. She looks totally un-charming (laughter). I mean, that is how it is after marriage. Before marriage, they never look like that but after, they do. She is ironing endless piles of laundry. He is sitting in front of the TV watching football.
She is lamenting, “And I thought that he was going to deliver me!”
And he goes, “Shut up, shut up. I cannot hear the commentator.”
He says, “Where is my coffee?”
She brings him his coffee with an expression on her face that says, “You fallen wretch! Here is your intoxication.”
So he sees that face and he says, “Look, I am not any less Krsna conscious, you know. I mean, I’ll prove it to you. You know, the coffee – black – Krsna. The milk – white – Radharani. And when you stir it – Gauranga!”
Okay, it is just a play but it has a realistic element to it. I mean, what can we say, such things do happen in life. Ultimately, these relationships will only work when partners become friends and engage in Krsna consciousness together. When everything is over, that is all you really get out of it – friendship.
Real friendship means to give someone else something that is really beneficial. You know, I used to have bad friends before and they sort of clunk glasses and said, “Here you go!” You know, where do you go? To hell you go! (laughter) No one likes to go to hell alone so let us go together – this is not friendship. Friendship means we give something beneficial to others and therefore, let us just help each other to be devotees. That is what it is all about. Help each other to be devotees. No one can be a devotee all by himself or herself.