Hayagriva wants to renounce the world

Nartaka Gopala Dasi: We have a godbrother, he passed away already, but his name was Hayagriva. He was a little famous and he was like a real, larger-than-life character as they say. He had been a college or university professor, so he's used to standing up in front of students and making a presentation.

So one day, he stood up in front of Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees, and he made his dramatic announcement. What was that announcement? He said, "I am going to renounce the world." And Prabhupada just looked at him and said, "The world does not belong to you, therefore you cannot renounce it."

Yeah, he said, "I'm going to renounce the world." And he's very dramatic about it, so it's not just a little humble, "I'm going to renounce the world," and Prabhupada immediately, you know, like you just put a pin in the balloon and all the air comes out, "The world does not belong to you therefore you cannot renounce it." Prabhupada said, "Everything belongs to Krishna not us. Knowing that is renunciation."

Later Prabhupada continued, "You see, we do not renounce anything. Renouncing presupposes that you own it but we don't own anything, Krishna owns everything. Just as Krishna steals butter, He steals the hearts of the devotees. He can do this because they are already His. So He is not stealing or cheating, we are stealing or cheating when we enjoy separately from Krishna."