Trinad Api Sunicena (''Lower than the Straw in the Street'')

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This revised and expanded edition of Trnad Api Sunicena, is a compilation of lectures delivered by Śrī Śrīmad Gour Govinda Swami, elaborating on His Divine Grace Śrila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's purports to the Srimad- Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Śrīla Prabhupāda's purpose in forming the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is to create an exemplary society wherein there is no envy.

Śrī Śrīmad Gour Govinda Swami who embodied trnād api sunicena bhāva, expertly describes how to develop the mood of humility, tolerance, patience, and perseverance, and in this book he teaches us how to behave in a Vaişņava society. One who is able to develop these qualities and who is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord. However, as Śrīla Prabhupāda has said in one of his purports, if a devotee thinks that he is very much advanced in devotional service, he is considered puffed up and unfit to sit beneath the shelter of the Lord's lotus feet. Unless one is humble and meek, one cannot qualify to sit at the lotus feet of the Lord.¹ The more one advances spiritually, the more humble one becomes. Vaisnavas offer respect not only to the Supreme Lord and His direct representatives, but to all living beings. The greatest devotee, the mahā-bhāgavata, sees everyone except himself as a servant of Lord Krsna.

sakala sannyāsī muñi kainu nimantrana tumi yadi āisa, purņa haya mora mana

"My dear Lord, I have invited all the sannyāsīs of Benares to my home. My desires will be fulfilled if You also accept my invitation."1 bat

This brāhmaṇa knew that Caitanya Mahaprabhu was the only Vaisnava sannyāsī in Benares at that time and all the others were Māyāvādīs. It is the duty of a grhastha to sometimes invite sannyāsīs to take food at his home. This grhastha-brāhmaṇa wanted to invite all the sannyāsīs to his house, but he also knew that it would be very difficult to induce Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to accept such an invitation because the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs would be present. Therefore he fell down at His feet and fervently appealed to the Lord to be compassionate and grant his request. Thus he humbly submitted his desire.2.