(Excerpt from lecture series on Caitanya Caritamrta, Kartika 2006, Part 2, Lecture 6 – ‘Raghunatha Dasa and the Muslim tax collector)’

Jayananda used to engage these regular non-devotee people. He would engage young men in building and fixing the Jagannatha cart. He was very expert at this praising. He would say, “O! Do you think you can help me? Do you know little bit of painting? Can you help? We have to paint these carts every year, fresh paint. Blue and red and yellow, green all this.”

“O, ya! I can help little bit.”

Then this person would start painting and then Jayananda would say, “O! You are such an expert painter. Where did you learn? Did you go to school or you studied with some master painter? You are really, you are really doing a good job.”

And he said in such a way, he had so much love for Krsna and love to get Krsna’s work done and at the same time, love for the jivas and very keen interest to engage them in devotional service. These were non-devotees, non-initiated …just people walking by on the street, college age, young men.

And then they would feel so good. Because he was so genuine about everything he did. And they would say, “Really? You think I am doing a good job?”

“Ya, you are really good painter!”

So the guy feels so happy because everyone wants to be appreciated. This is the biggest problem in husbands or wives, when no one appreciates each other. Wife is saying, “O this is rascal. I do so much, he never says thank you or anything.” Then the husband is saying, “I work so hard and give her so much money. She never does anything.”

So husbands and wives are always like thinking no one’s appreciating me. It’s a big problem. So that is universal. Everyone wants some recognition, some acknowledgment, some appreciation. This is nature, human nature.

So, he was expert at this. Then the person would feel so happy that he would keep painting for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours, all day long they would paint! This way he would get the carts built and painted because we only had a couple of devotees working but we engaged all these other people.