20200414 Zoom Session with Gītā Course Devotees

The following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 14th,2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The address was given to the Gita Course Devotees via zoom

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

I am very happy to meet the devotees of the Gītā Course. At the end, if there is time, I will see your homes! I have never had the opportunity to visit your homes but today I will try to visit!

I will now tell you something about this corona virus. Everyone say that there is no cure for this disease, no vaccine. And if some gets this virus then people have various difficulties. And even if someone has the virus, it is not visible in the early stage. For up to 14 days there is no symptom or indication of the presence of the virus. But if this carrier mixes with other people, the virus could spread to those people the carrier comes in contact with. That is why, we are asked to keep social distancing, so people don’t get too close to one another. If this virus falls on a hard surface, it can stay alive for 3-4 days. If your hand touches that hard surface, the virus can get on to your hand. That is why we are asked to frequently wash our hands with soap and warm water. If the virus is on your hand and you touch your eyes or nose, then the virus can enter you. That is why they say, to wash hands frequently. And our Prime Minister said today that it is compulsory for anyone who goes out to wear the mask. Anyway, this is a kalmaṣa of Kali yuga, an ill effect. In the Kali Santaraṇa Upaniṣad it says that the

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

iti ṣoḍaśakaṁ nāmnāṁ kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanaṁ
nātaḥ parataropāyaḥ sarva-vedeṣu dṛśyate

If we chant this 16 syllable mantra in Kali-yuga, then all the ill-effects of Kali will be destroyed. In the last verse of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam it is said about the glories of the Harināma. If we chant the holy name all our sufferings will be mitigated and we will be happy. In the adhivāsa of kīrtana we sing – ānandera sīmā nāi, ānandera sīmā nāi, nirānanda dūre jāya, nirānanda dūre jāya. Humanity is reeling under effect of this pandemic, and so many people are thinking and are in fear. Some are even committing suicide! This way, because of fear and panic they are suffering a lot. That is why chanting the holy name of God, doing kīrtana, bhajana, is very effective. Various scriptures say that chanting the harināma removes various sufferings. If we chant the name of God, then naturally our taste to serve the Lord comes up spontaneously. In this material world mostly people are into sense gratification and are busy in this way. But, in the spiritual world, there is a spirit of love and service. We hope that all of you will take this opportunity to serve the Lord. You should also try to distribute Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and do Harināma-kīrtana, Harināma-japa and also read the Bhagavad-Gītā and Bhāgavatam. This way the devotees of Gītā course have many opportunities to serve. Now, under the circumstances, people are more inclined towards God. They want to advance spiritually. Taking this opportunity, we should preach the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and kīrtana. The people from other faiths, if they want to chant any other name of God, we don’t have any objection. We chant the name in Sanskrit and we have faith in this name. If the people of other faiths want to chant the name mentioned in their scriptures, they can do so. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that we should preach the holy name all over the world. And, this way, we have a special facility to preach to the human society. If we chant Harināma then we can easily get Prema Bhakti. But by no other way can we achieve Prema Bhakti so easily.

Every evening at 6 pm I give a class on Nitāi Gaura līlā. The scriptures say that then Caitanyadeva used to dance so ecstatically in kīrtana that people would just watch in amazement! They used to think this was a miracle! Nitāi and Gaura used to dance in such a way that Gaura would try to touch the feet of Nitāi. But Nitāi was such an expert that He would not let Gaura touch His feet! And Nitāi would try to touch the lotus feet of Gaura, but Caitanyadeva used to do such wonderful dancing that Nityānanda prabhu was unable to touch His lotus feet and get the dust! This way, in the Olympics there are sports, but for them this would be a new sport! In the earlier days this was the sport played by Nitāi Gaura dancing and trying to touch each other’s feet to get the dust! Nitāi Gaura Haribol!