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SB 7-05-23 VRN 1976-03-31 Hear from a Real Devotee
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ANNOUNCER: The following is a class
on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7th canto,
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5th chapter, text number 23,
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given by His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda,
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recorded on the 31st of March,
1976, in Vṛndāvana, India.
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PRABHUPĀDA: Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ
viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
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arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam
ātma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23].
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Iti puṁsārpitā viṣṇau bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā
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kriyeta bhagavaty [addhā] tan
manye ’dhītam uttamam [SB 7.5.24].
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So the nine different processes of devotional service.
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So Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked by his father
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to say something from whatever he had learned.
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He considered that what he had
learned from his spiritual master
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was the best of all teaching, whereas
what he had learned from the…
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learned about diplomacy from his material
teachers, Sanda and Amarka, was useless.
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So the education at the present moment
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throughout the whole world
is Sanda-Amarka education.
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For a devotee such kind of education has no value.
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Āhāra-[nidrā]-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca [Hitopadeśa].
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Everyone is being educated how to live comfortably
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with reference to the comforts of the body.
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This is not education.
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Real education is to understand oneself, self-realization,
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and with that purpose one should
make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness,
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that beginning with śravaṇam.
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As we are hearing, without śravaṇa there
is no beginning of spiritual education.
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Satāṁ prasaṅgād mama vīrya-saṁvidaḥ [?].
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That śravaṇa, hearing also, should be
accepted from devotee, from real devotee.
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Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī
recommended that a brāhmaṇa…
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He wrote something about Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
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and there were so many discrepancies.
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So Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī was
not at all satisfied with such writings.
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He chastised the brāhmaṇa that “You cannot write.”
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So unless one is self-realized, there is
practically no use writing about Kṛṣṇa.
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This transcendental writing does
not depend on material education.
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It depends on the spiritual realization.
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You’ll find, therefore, in the comments
of Bhāgavatam by different ācāryas,
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even there are some discrepancies,
they are accepted as asat-patha.
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It should remain as it is.
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So Sanātana Gosvāmī therefore said,
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avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtaṁ,
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śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyam [Padma
Purāṇa] “One who is not Vaiṣṇava,
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from him one should not hear hari-kathāmṛtaṁ.
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Hari-kathā… Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is
hari-kathā, and it is amṛta, nectāriṇe.
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But if it is recited or explained by
some avaiṣṇava, one should not hear.
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It is forbidden.
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The example is given, Sarpocchiṣṭaṁ payo yathā [?].
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So professional reciters or one who speaks and writes
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for living means it is strictly prohibited.
Na vyākhyām upayuñjītaḥ [SB. 7.13.8].
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One should not make Bhāgavata
recitation as a means of livelihood.
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That is, the process is not accepted.
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So Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ [SB 7.5.23].
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You should hear from Vaiṣṇava, at least
one who is trying to become Vaiṣṇava,
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not professional man.
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Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42].
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So the test of advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness
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is that one should be detestful, lose
attachment to the material things.
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Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja did not like
the material education from Sanda a…
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He very plainly said to his father that “What
I have heard from my spiritual master,
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Nārada Muni…” Spiritual master means
Nārada Muni or his representative.
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Therefore we should follow the
Nārada-pañcarātra instructions.
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Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena
nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170].
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According to Nārada-pañcarātra, one
should be free from all designation.
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Just like you boys from America and Europe:
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You have forgotten your designation.
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Therefore you are advanced, and
people are very much praising
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that “How these Europeans, Americans
have become nice devotee.”
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They do not know that they are no
longer Americans or Europeans.
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They are devotees, Kṛṣṇa’s servant.
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This is Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170].
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So long we shall think that “I
am American,” “I am Indian,”
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“I am African,” there is no possibility of
advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
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This teaching we have got from the greatest authority,
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Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
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He said that “I am not a brāhmaṇa; I am not a kṣatriya;
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I am not a vaiśya; I am not a śūdra.
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Neither I am a brahmacārī or
gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa.
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I am simply servant of the
servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa.”
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Gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayor dāsa-
dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ [Cc. Madhya 13.80].
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So the more we advance in the
matter of becoming designationless,
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no designation… Sarvopādhi-
vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170].
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So long we have got upādhis, designations,
there are many desires, material desires.
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But we have to become zero
about these material desires.
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Karma, jñāna, yoga, they are all material desires.
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Bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī-sakali
‘aśānta’ [Cc. Madhya 19.149].
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Because they are in the material world.
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The karmīs, they are in the material world.
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The jñānīs, they are simply trying
to get out of the material world,
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but their attempt will be failure
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because they do not catch up the real spiritual work.
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Real spiritual work is Kṛṣṇa.
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And yogis, they are after demonstrating
magic and get cheap popularity.
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So they are also in the material
world—karmīs, jñānīs, and yogis.
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Only pure devotees, they are in the spiritual world.
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Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170].
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That is confirmed by Kṛṣṇa:
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Māṁ ca ’vyabhicāriṇi bhakti-
yogena yaḥ sevate sa guṇān
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samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg. 14.26].
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So as soon as you engage yourself
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in pure devotional service without any material desire,
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without any material designation,
immediately you are liberated.
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Svarūpena avasthiti [?].
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That is real situation of our constitutional position.
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So long we are not engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s
service, that is our opposite number of life,
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not real life.
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Real life is when you are fully engaged
in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, always engaged.
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That is life.
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Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam.
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So to be fixed up in that spiritual life
we should always engage ourself,
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śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam of whom?
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Viṣṇu. Of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu.
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Even not of any other demigods,
what to speak of ordinary beings.
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We are engaged in śravaṇaṁ kīrtana from the morning.
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We take a newspaper and we
read what the politician says,
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what so many nonsense things.
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We waste our time.
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Śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8].
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We should increase our taste for hearing
and chanting about Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa.
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That engagement you have fully in the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā.
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So stick to these two books or Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
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Caitanya-caritāmṛta is still far advanced.
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So anyway, we should always
engage ourself twenty-four hours.
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Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc. adi 17.31].
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Here it said, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam,
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but Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.”
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Sadā means twenty-four hours.
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We shall mold our life in such a way that…
If somebody says, “How it is possible?
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We have got other business.
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How it is possible to simply engage in śravaṇaṁ kīr…?”
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Therefore smaraṇam.
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Whatever you are hearing, you should remember it.
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That is very easy.
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Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam [SB 7.5.23].
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And always engage in serving.
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Just like,
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Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-
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śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mār janādau [Śrī Śrī Gurv-aṣṭaka].
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If you have no engagement, simply cleanse this temple.
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Tan-mandira-mārjana [Śrī Śrī Gurv-aṣṭaka].
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That is also service.
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That is also service.
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Pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanam [SB 7.5.23].
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Then actually worshiping, decorating,
vandanam, offering prayer,
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dāsyam, sakhyam.
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In this way remain always engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service.
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Then you are to be considered the most learned.
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That is the recommendation of Prahlāda Mahārāja.
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Tan manye adhītam uttamam [?].
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“In my mind, in my decision, persons who
are engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness fully,
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they are to be understood as the
first-class advanced in education.”
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And this material education… Of course,
we are going to open the gurukula.
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Our aim is not how to make
the students a big grammarian.
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No.
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That is not our purpose.
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How to make him fully Kṛṣṇa conscious.
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That is the aim of the gurukula.
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In the gurukula description there is nothing,
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such thing as how to make the
student a big grammarian or…
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Generally they take Sanskrit education, first grammar,
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and it is recommended that one should
read at least for twelve years grammar.
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