19840905 Bhagavad-gītā 2.66

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on September 5th, 1984, in Goal Fort. The class begins with a reading from the Bhagavad-gītā, Chapter 2, Verse 66.

Jayapatākā Swami:

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda madhavam

One who is not connected with the Supreme [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

Purport: Unless one is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no possibility of peace. So it is confirmed in the Fifth Chapter (5.29) that when one understands that Kṛṣṇa is the only enjoyer of all the good results of sacrifice and penance, that He is the proprietor of all universal manifestations, and that He is the real friend of all living entities, then only can one have real peace. Therefore, if one is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there cannot be a final goal for the mind. Disturbance is due to want of an ultimate goal, and when one is certain that Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer, proprietor and friend of everyone and everything, then one can, with a steady mind, bring about peace. Therefore, one who is engaged without a relationship with Kṛṣṇa is certainly always in distress and is without peace, however much he may make a show of peace and spiritual advancement in life. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a self-manifested peaceful condition which can be achieved only in relationship with Kṛṣṇa.

Thus end the Text 66, Chapter 2, of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, in the matter of the Contents of the Gītā Summarized.

Jayapatākā Swami: So here Kṛṣṇa has first summarized - if somebody is satisfied in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that all of the threefold miseries of the material existence cease to exist. On the other hand, someone else who is not connected with the Supreme, even if they try to achieve some kind of spiritual consciousness, that it is not possible for them to have a steady mind.

To have a steady mind one requires transcendental intelligence. That’s not possible without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So therefore, everything is in a very turbulent state wherein it’s not possible to have any peace.

kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala
(Mahārāja is singing)

Description is given - just as a drop of water is floating on top of a lotus leaf. If you ever seen a picture of a drop of water on a top of a lotus leaf floating on the water, it just spins around the top, always moving. It’s very unsteady. It’s much more static and smooth. But in its own way it is like if you have a very hot pan and you throw a drop of water, and it’s like ssssh... That’s very violent. Lotus leaf is of course much more smooth and passive in its own way. But that drop of water just spins on the top. It has no fix place. Like that, unless the mind is anchored to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, unless it is fixed on Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the mind will always be susceptible to be swept away by any one of the six senses, including the mind. So as a result the mind cannot be steady. Therefore, one cannot be peaceful.

Verses, it also explains - It’s like a boat which is on the ocean, and it is being swept away by the wind. If the boat loses its rudder, steering mechanism in the back, then the whole boat gets blown away. So if our intelligence is not fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then even if we try to remain in some kind of aloof position, in a so-called transcendental position, the senses... the mind will always tend to rest somewhere. Just like a bird, it cannot fly forever. It’s going to settle on some tree. So if we don’t take shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, the mind is going to take shelter of one of the senses. And then the senses will be agītāting the mind, will be drawing the mind away. In this way, one again gets drawn into material consciousness.

Just like Viśvāmitra. He was a born kshatriya, but he wanted to become a brāhmaṇa. At first the society would not accept him. That he was kṣatriya, how could he become a brāhmaṇa? But the guru said it is possible and following their advice he did some tapasya, and he was finally recognized as a brāhmaṇa. But Vasiṣṭha Ṛṣi didn’t accept him as an equal. He was proud that he was a brāhmaṇa. But Vasiṣṭha was himself much greater than an ordinary brāhmaṇa - he was a brahmaṛṣi.

Apparently in the level of brāhmaṇahood there’s different stages of potency: from a brāhmaṇa to a ṛṣi to a mahāṛṣi, finally a brahmaṛṣi who can go up to the planet of Lord Brahma even. So this is a very long story. There is off and on some competition between Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra. Viśvāmitra is trying to gain recognition, trying to advance. One point he... of course had such a scene with the demigods. One... He would do tapasya, and he’d gain his strength. And he became so powerful.

So one time there was a śūdra, he prayed that he wanted to go to the svarga. He wanted to go to the heavenly planets. His name was Hariscandra. It is mentioned in the Bhāgavatam. So then Vasiṣṭha... Viśvāmitra, he sent him by mystic power up to svargaloka. But Indra said “This person is not qualified. He hasn’t gone through the necessary pious activities. He doesn’t have that type of karma. He shouldn’t come here.” He sent him back, then Viśvāmitra kept him up.

He was half way between svarga and earth, between Indraloka. Just hanging there. And Viśvāmitra was very angry that Indra was refusing to accept the person he had sent. So then since he couldn’t, but Indra is also not an unpowerful person. So then finally Viśvāmitra, he created an entire duplicate heavenly planets. Said, “All right you won’t go in there, then I’ll make my own.”

So with his mystic powers he created an entire heavenly planets, and gave those to Hariscandra. So then that confused Indra. That to have simultaneously... Just like even in Switzerland. Sure if you had two Berns, two Zurichs, it would confuse everyone. The old Zurich would become envious of the new one.

You see something like that. But probably even more confusing when you are talking about the whole planets. So, Indra’s whole position was becoming a little bit dubious. So then to end the confusion of having the whole duplicate planetary systems, he agreed… he made an agreement with Viśvāmitra, “Alright, we will take Harischandra into the Indraloka. You please cancel out these duplicate planets.”

But in the meantime, Viśvāmitra lost all of his... because by tapasya he had gained so much power. He was completely expended after all that because it wasn’t in pure devotional service. So when you are doing devotional service, the more you give to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa again supplies more and more energy. But this Viśvāmitra was doing not in devotional service, so his energy was depleted; he was finished. Again he had to do tapasya to build up his strength. So somewhere in one of this many episodes, you see, like this as he is moving up in the levels of rsihood.

So Indra at one point said, “We have to take care of this person.” So he sent one of his society girls. Who’s that? Menakā. To see if she could distract him. And even though he was so much absorbed in meditation, when he heard her ankle bells, it broke through his meditation, his austerities and as a result Sakuntalā was born.

So it’s said that even the mind is, you see, very advanced with austerities and everything, if it is not fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it can always be drawn away. Sometimes if somebody is getting up too fast, the demigods get afraid that “Maybe this person will take over our position.” They may also obstruct or test.

Same way there was an attempt to test Haridāsa Ṭhākura. But because he was completely fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he couldn’t be distracted. Even so much so that Māyādevī herself came to try to distract Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Even Lord Śiva has a difficult time, in some ways. Anyway, of course he’s in transcendental position.

It is difficult because nobody can resist it except possibly Lord Śiva, the attractions of Māyā devī. And… But because of his complete absorption in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s mind remained fixed - didn’t leave the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, didn’t go to any of the senses. So by being fixed in Kṛṣṇa, not taking shelter of any senses, only Māyā can attract through the senses.

When Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s total intelligence was fixed in Kṛṣṇa’s service, he wasn’t at all taking shelter in any of the senses. So Māyā devī didn’t have a hold, rather she also confided in him and she took initiation from him into chanting of

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Of course, you read in Bhāgavatam that even great sages... You can’t underestimate the power of these great sages. They are able to... Through their austerities they are able to do such wonderful things. That...But sometimes because of their are not cent percent fixed in serving Kṛṣṇa, they have some separate motive. May be good motive or may be to elevate themselves, but the intention is not to give Kṛṣṇa satisfaction. So as a result there is also some karma. There is some reactions and some instability there.

So we find in Bhāgavatam, even Vasiṣṭha Muni and Viśvāmitra one time, they got to cursing each other. And they turned each other to ducks and birds or something like that. They were such great sages. That… They became angry and lost their equilibrium, and thus they began cursing each other. So here they became ducks and things.

So apparently before that, Viśvāmitra one time, he tried to curse Vasiṣṭha Muni. But that curse was caught by Vasiṣṭha Muni in his daṇḍa. Couldn’t effect because… He said that “You are not a brahmaṛṣi. You are mahāṛṣi. You don’t have the power over me.”

So then Viśvāmitra, he again did a tapasya. He went to Brahma or something and he said, “How can I become a brahmaṛṣi?” He had to do intense tapasyas and things. And finally Lord Brahma came and he said, “I want to be a brahmaṛṣi.” So he gave him a blessing, and he became a brahmaṛṣi. Then he came to Vasiṣṭha and said, “Now I am also a brahmaṛṣi.”

Vasiṣṭha said, “Yes, congratulations, now you are a brahmaṛṣi. But don’t think that that is the ultimate, there is something higher.”

Viśvāmitra said, “Something higher!?” Because all along he had been thinking that that was the highest, like “If I become a brahmaṛṣi, then I have made it. This is the topmost position.”

He said, “What is higher?” You know, he almost felt cheated after so many years of tapasya. Not years but yugas by our calculation.

Then Vasiṣṭha Muni said, “No. The nārāyaṇa-parāyanas, the pure devotees of Kṛṣṇa, there are far above than even the Brahmaṛṣis.”

So even a mental son of Brahma like Durvāsā Muni, he was defeated by Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. So even Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he was attacked, but his mind was steady because he was fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so sublime that even though one doesn’t have this... It’s not necessarily that one has all these superficial tapasyas and things. But by complete dedication at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, by complete surrender and service, one becomes fixed and one comes under the complete shelter of Kṛṣṇa.

(break)

Kṛṣṇa is yogeśvara. He is the master of all mystic powers. In our sampradāya, you see, therefore we are not concentrating on this mystic powers. Some yogīs teach their disciples that they should meditate, so that they can levitate. They come up a few inches and then bounce down, and they think that “This is a great achievement.”

But Prabhupāda gives the example that once there was a disciple of Bhaktisiddhāntha Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he had two, I believe one or two German disciples. And he mentioned that what inspired that… he was...that scholar was studying Sanskrit and what inspired him about Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service. I don’t know if there is any trace of him. If anybody did any research, whatever happened to those. You did?

Comment: Yeah. (inaudible)

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned that... He said that whatever the eightfold mystic system is, they want to get smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest, bigger than the biggest, levitate, all these things. This already the modern scientists, they have the same objective. Through their microscopes they are trying to look smaller. Through their telescopes and rockets they want to get farther, get bigger. Through their jet planes they want to travel. The objectives are the same.

So this mystic powers are also material. Is not that they are spiritual, you see. Actually, to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the pure spiritual desire. So in our disciplic succession mystic powers and such things are always considered on a, you see, subordinate level of not very important.

One example, one time in Remuṇā… Remuṇā you know that when Lord Rāma was coming back from Śrī Laṅkā after having rescued Sītā in the Puṣpa-vimāna, they came over Orissa on the way to Ayodhyā. And there was one very beautiful place. Sītā said, “Let’s stop here.” It’s all coconut trees, and mangoes and very luscious and beautiful. So they just stopped there and in the discussion… They were having a discussion, and Rāma was telling about His future avatāra, where he would appear as a cowherd boy and be playing flute.

So Sītā wanted to know what that avatar would look like. So they stopped at that place and there with His arrow, Lord Rāma carved a Deity of Kṛṣṇa in a stone with a arrow from His... and to show Sītā Devī. That Deity is being worshipped in Remuṇā as Gopīnātha. That is the ch… Kṣīracora Gopīnātha Deity, the Deity that stole the condensed milk for Mādhavendra Purī. So the sevā or the worship of that Deity came to the students of the Six Gosvāmī’s, an associate of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita.

So his chief disciple was Rasikānanda dāsa. And... One time some yogī, he apparently came to Remuṇā and all the villagers... The pūjārīs they tell the story that there is a samādhi there to the stick of the neem twig that Rasikānanda brushed his teeth with, so why have they put that into a samādhi?

So they explained that one day all the villagers came running to Rasikānanda that, “Come! Come immediately! There is a yogī who is flying through the village on a stick, in a branch.” Rasikānanda was brushing his... early in the morning he was brushing his… you know in India they take a twig, it’s called neem. Lord Caitanya appeared under neem. So the same neem, they take a small section of the branch, and you chew on it. And then (inaudible) because it is a soft branch, it becomes like a brush.

In fact, even the modern medical dental surgery, they say that the best motion for brushing the teeth is vibrationary circular motion. So when you brush on with twig the only motion you can do is this vibrationary circular motion. But anyway, that is another point. Everything Vedic has got its perfections. These… Anyways he was brushing with a twig. Just in case it might seem very primitive, but the neem branch itself contains all kinds of juices which are very good for the... not only for the teeth and gums and everything, but they are good overall for the airs in the body.

There is a story about a man who walked to some place. On the way he kept using this babool, another type of tree they used to brush the teeth. By the time he reached that place he got leprosy. Because although it is very good for the teeth, it is very bad for the airs in the body. Then he was told on the way back, you brush your teeth with neem. And by the time he reached back home he was cured of the leprosy because neem is very good for the airs in the body.

Anyways he was brushing his teeth with a twig, not to get off the point, not very interested. And they kept pressing him that, “No, no, you should come and see this yogī. He is flying. He is flying!” Just you know villagers, they are very simple.

In our pada-yātrā in... Suhotra Mahārāja was saying, “I think that the most simple people in the entire world are these villagers - very simple people.” They are just very innocent, very simple people. When they see someone flying you see, even when they see somebody walking, thousands of them come (laughter) what to speak of somebody flying. So they kept, “No, no, you should see this, he is flying!”

Rasikānanda said, “This is not important.” Then he took his twig from his mouth and put it under his leg, and he flew around the āśrama four, five times. “This is not important! Simply chant,

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare”

Landed back down and finished brushing his teeth.

So they took that twig and they put it in (inaudible) and made a monument for it. So our ācāryas, they don’t stress these things because Kṛṣṇa is the master of all mystic power. If you are carrying out Kṛṣṇa’s work, well He can… His will, will be done. Because these things also they can become very distracting for the mind, so the devotees they avoid.

In our devotional service… Of course, previously to engage in this type of devotional service was especially organized by the brāhmaṇas, and by the twice born people - the kṣatriyas and the vaiśyas. Type of people who are born outside of Vedic culture normally would be very far from this kind of spiritual concept of life. But Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so kind that He has given this special benediction. That anybody, they can take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

I mean they can get this mercy no matter what their previous qualification or disqualifications may be. But normally it might be difficult to fix the mind on Kṛṣṇa. But by this process of chanting -

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

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

it is… and engaging in the sankirtan movement, it is quite easy to fix the mind on Kṛṣṇa, still some effort has to be made on our part. We should try to depend on Kṛṣṇa, and He will also give us the intelligence,

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

And of course, we should follow the intelligence given by the bona fide spiritual master. Here just like Śrī Viṣṇupāda Harikeśa Swami’s giving always good intelligence for printing and distributing Prabhupāda’s transcendental literatures, involving everyone is this spiritual sacrifice, so pleasing to the Lord.

Like this we follow the higher intelligence, avoiding that type of intelligence pulled by the material senses. Our material senses may always be pulling us how to enjoy the sense of touch, the taste, the hearing, the seeing, the mind, the smelling. But rather we engage how to do everything for Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure. In this way the mind becomes fixed, becomes linked with Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. And therefore, it doesn’t become tossed about by these currents of material desire.

Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that as soon as we begin to desire something material, immediately we become in anxiety. So to avoid that anxiety we should always desire to serve Kṛṣṇa. This is essential. So this is explained in this verse. If we’re not connected with the Supreme, then we can’t have a steady mind, can’t have transcendental intelligence. No possibility of peace. If there is no peace, how can there be any happiness? So it is a very important point. Tomorrow we are observing Vāmana Dvādaśī fast on Ekādaśī, and I think you know about how Lord Caitanya observed Ekādaśī when He was two years old.

This Ekādaśī was always very dear to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In fact, when He was just two years old, hardly speaking... One day... See normally Lord Caitanya He would cry, then the ladies would go:

“Hari Bol Hari Bol!

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare”

Then He would stop crying. But this day even no matter what they did, He wouldn’t stop. So after about 10, 15, 20, maybe a half hour of chanting different… He wasn’t… You see, for two years right from the time He was just two years, He would always stop crying. But this time He wasn’t stopping crying. So they called in Jagannātha Miśra that, “Please your son is not stopping crying.” It was a new phenomena.

So then Jagannātha Miśra put little Caitanya, Nimāi, on His lap and said, “What’s the matter? Why You are crying”

Immediately stopped crying. He said that “Jagadīśa Paṇḍita and Hiranya Paṇḍita are having a big feast today, offered to the Lord for ekādaśī, and I want to have that prasāda. Eeeeeh! (crying sound)”

Jagannātha Miśra himself, he didn’t know about any… He got no invitation, because the... How the two-year old child know what Ekādaśī is? It takes a few years to know about Ekādaśī. They don’t...You don’t have children do Ekādaśī normally. So they were… Alright, even if they do it, they don’t... They eat what you give them anyways. So…

They were astonished that I mean of course Jagadīśa Paṇḍita was Jagannātha Miśra’s close friend, but he lived about two or three kilometers away on the other side of the Jalāṅgī, Sarasvatī River, and they hadn’t informed any… It was Ekādaśī, but how did Lord Caitanya, I mean little Nimāi, how did He know about Ekādaśī? They couldn’t figure it out. They hadn’t taught Him about Ekādaśī at that point, and whether there was really a festival that day of if… they didn’t know anything, but he wasn’t stopping crying.

[break]

They went off to the house of Jagadīśa Paṇḍita. So there, this was a... once a year, maybe on the same day, I am not sure of the days. Because for the Lord He doesn’t have to observe Ekādaśīs, we observe Ekādaśī, you see. We offer the... The Lord can take the grains. You can make sandwiches and all. Today we are offering some special offering for the Lord on Ekādaśī, but they would be taken the next day. And then they went there, and sure they had prepared like about 108 preparations. All little pots and in front of it… in front of the Deities.

Jagannātha Miśra was astonished, “How did He know? I didn’t even know. How did He get the information?”

Then He told Jagadīśa Paṇḍita that Viśvambhara, Nimāi, this thing happened and then even Jagadīśa Paṇḍita, he said that “I didn’t tell anybody because nobody can take the feast. It is Ekādaśī. It is just for the Lord. If… I tell everybody the next day.”

So he took it that nobody knew anything, but He knew therefore somehow the Lord is acting through him, some kind of an āveśa or something. So He should take the... He can have the offering, and they were very happy to give the offerings to little Nimāi.

(aside)

You all set up with the slides?

Where? You’re going to show it again? Too late?

Devotee: I mean, we didn’t bring it in, so I was…

Jayapatākā Swami: Anyways then Lord Caitanya He partook of that prasāda, and then both He and Jagadīśa Paṇḍita and Hiraṇya Paṇḍita, they were overwhelmed. So, in this way Lord Caitanya even from two years old He was actually encouraging everyone to follow this Ekādaśī. He requested His mother, when He went to Ja… Jagannātha Purī that one of the few things He requested her, “You follow Ekādaśī.”

We heard that one time the pāṇḍas in Purī, they wanted to force Lord Caitanya to take the grains on Ekādaśī. “It’s prasāda, You have to take it.”

“Prasāda, you can take tomorrow.”

Said, “No, no, You have to take it now.” So like this... so apparently… Of course, this is one of the those things that the devotees in Purī say. But… Lord Caitanya bowed down to offer His respect to the prasāda. He stayed in that position till the Ekādaśī was over, then he got up and took prasāda. So in this way He was able to outsmart the brāhmaṇas.

Lord Caitanya…

(aside)

Can you set up the thing? Unless you want me to just stop and wait until they get all the mechanics done. Or I’ll just keep going while they set it up.

So the special purpose of Ekādaśī is that we should increase our glorification of Govinda. That we don’t take grains on Ekādaśī. That’s especially, to help us to remember the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and that’s why we also try to increase our chanting while… Of course, if we are doing important service, then we go on. But that day is especially for making a little special effort to be little more conscious about Kṛṣṇa.

One time somebody asked Śrīla Prabhupāda that… maybe it was me, actually… (laughter) about some of these special days like Ekādaśī and Kārtika month that you get you know, so many bonuses you get, thousand times the… hundred times, something like that… the effort during Kārtika month by doing things like as if you are doing another time. Similarly, Ekādaśī time you get bonus point.

So Śrīla Prabhupāda... In fact, there is stories about how even the husband and wife were having a big argument over something, yelling, and throwing things. Just you know full out fight. Even in the Vedic times, I guess sometimes these things did happen. And as a result, they were so absorbed in fighting and whatever arguing with each other over some point that they fight through the whole day and through the… And they fought the whole day into the whole night, and their fight, their argument didn’t cease until the next day. They didn’t eat. They didn’t stop for anything.

So because that day they had observed Ekādaśī. Happened on that particular day was Ekādaśī, they didn’t eat the entire day, both of them got libera… got heavenly planets or something like that. Just because they were just fasting, even though they were fighting with each other.

So somehow, each one of those Ekādaśīs, it says... has some name. It always says some Mokṣadā-Ekādaśī… something happened on that Ekādaśī like that, that Ekādaśī where husband wife, they were having argument and then they forgot to eat that day, because they were so angry at each other. That they got elevated because it happened that that day was Ekādaśī. What to speak of somebody is doing it to please Kṛṣṇa.

What was the... there was some more…

So then Prabhupāda wrote me. He wrote me that these... these special days, so they are like in the shops, and the stores sometimes they have special clearance sale, discount sale, so this is to attract new customers. You see, the regular customers they are already coming. That the regular customers, they don’t, whether they have, the certain clientele is there for the shop, so… But to attract the new customers on some holiday or something, they offer some discount.

So Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, those who are fully engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness they are already getting the, you see unlimited mercy. But those who are in a material consciousness, so just to attract him, “Alright that on this day you get some special bonus.” To get the new customers, so this facilities are… But for the devotees there are anyway 24-hours, 365-days in a year they are engaged, so that is not a problem. They’re regular customer. So that I have been using this for some of our folk members. Those who are just like beginners, to tell them that “All right, you all should…” Because in the month of Kārtika, it says, “You don’t take any āmiṣa.” So we don’t take meat anyway. Āmiṣa means meat, fist, eggs.

So we don’t do that anyway. We are only taking pure vegetarian, kṛṣṇa-prasādam rather. So we don’t take any... It’s almost like a token, we don’t take urad dal. So I tell them, “You observe vegetarian for that period of time.” Hoping that this will then… If they can do it for a month, then that’ll give them some experience. Just like you are supposed to fast on Ekādaśī; you have to have a feast on Dvādaśī.

So in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, fasting and feasting. Whenever there is a fast, it is always followed by a feast, or for the devotee fasting or feasting, it’s the same, it is all for Kṛṣṇa’s...

This is which? The Pada-yātrā. This is the Kṛṣṇa conscious Olympics. Immediate playback by satellite. This is only three days ago, September 2nd, of the, what?

This is in Dvārakā for the inauguration of our ISKCON Pada-yātrā, to prepare for the celebration of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s five hundredth appearance anniversary. Dvārakā of course was in the sea. So the original Dvārakā has disappeared after Kṛṣṇa left. But this is a very old temple which was constructed on the coast near the original place of Kṛṣṇa’s city, and everyone there is very devoted to Kṛṣṇa.

(aside)

Take it easy, how come it just keeps moving?

Well, I got it in my hand. That’s for sure

That’s better, isn’t it?

See on the top, there is a flag that is sixteen meters long. and that flag was put up, it’s big flag hosting ceremony that was put up by ISKCON. So somehow, some of the photos were double exposed. But this is the… The flag we carry and circumambulated the temple a few times, and then the flag was touched the lotus feet of the Dvārakādīśa Deity. They didn’t allow any photo to be taken. We took the blessings of Śrīla Prabhupāda. In his name and honor, then we… they hoisted that flag to the top of the temple.

There were about 150 devotees had assembled from all over the world to this... Aṣṭarādhā came from Germany to perform the fire (inaudible) Suhotra Mahārāja and two other German devotees are going for 21 days. So after taking the blessings of Dvārakādīśa, and Lokanātha Swami, he is right behind me. He is the commander in chief of the walking part of the Pada-yātrā.

Right now, it is going through Gujarat. Yaśomatī-nandana is the regional secretary. So the first aspect is that we’re installing the Nitāi-Gaura Deities. So after bathing them with oil, with ghee, then they are having a preliminary bath with salt water from the ocean. This is right on the ocean side. So then, after requesting the Lord to come into the or rather to manifest himself as the arcā-avatāra, then we showed... we untied the eyes of the Deity.

We didn’t have an ISCKON tulasī nearby, so we had to borrow one from the local temple. (laughter) So the first vision the Lord has is the tulasī, then I think that only ISKCON has developed the science of tulasī worship to that extent, as an actual whole books and everything on it. Then after showing the tulasī, we showed the Bhāgavatam. We showed the mṛdaṅga drum and the karatālas to the Lord, and then they brought the cow and the calf, and the Lord had the darśana of the cow and calf and Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Here is where the Lord is being shown the mṛdaṅga. There is... This is the eternal paraphernalia, the astra or weapon, of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So for His pleasure, the first things that He sees are important. So then after seeing those selected articles and persons, then we began the bathing ceremony. This is Prabhā Viṣṇu Swami, assistant GBC for South East Asia countries. I believe this is Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami Śrīla Bhāgavatapāda, ācārya for Canada and Bombay, Western India, Gujarat. Think that this is backwards.

The very beautiful Deities made in the town where Śrīnivāsācārya had his āśrama. These Deities are from Bankura. So we had over 108 pots… clay pots of different substances which the Deity was bathed in. The Deities were bathed in. Purpose of the Pada-yātrā… Of course, this is a very special, Lord Caitanya’s appearing just to be worshipped all over India, possibly all over the world. That Lord Caitanya came before as a sannyāsī, but this time He was coming through on the... We’re taking Him on the reverse route of His tour, but instead of coming as a sannyāsī, he is coming as the Supreme Personality of Godhead with his eternal associate, Lord Nityānanda Avadhūta.

When the people saw the Deity, I mean you can see that they are overwhelmed, the devotion... they just were speechless and and... In fact, the people were… it’s just like… It’s just like Lord Caitanya’s mercy was so incredible that anyone who saw the Deity later in procession, immediately they would start to chant. They became just stunned to see the pastime of Lord Caitanya appearing, this whole Pada-yātrā. I mean you can actually see from the faces of the people, they are completely absorbed. So... And the devotees, they also tried to further engage the people.

This is Nava Yogendra Swami of... He is the president of Vṛndāvana. He is getting everyone chanting. And here is one of the brāhmaṇas of the temple, he got inspired, so he started to also to dance.

(aside)

Is there is focus on this, too?

Jayapatākā Swami: Some devotees came from Nigeria, different devotees around the world. There we simultaneously had a fire sacrifice going on, and a big kīrtana. We wanted Lord Caitanya to appear in the midst of a fiery kīrtana. So it was kind of a unique in context with our more completely Vedic ceremonies. I mean where we took… Here we had the Vedic aspect going on, but we wanted to keep the kīrtana in the forefront because this was the appearance of Lord Caitanya. Just as Lord Caitanya appeared on the full moon day, everyone was chanting. So I said that I won’t call the Lord unless everyone is singing and dancing, so we had about few hundred people all jumping up and down and dancing.

Nitāi gaura premānande! Hari haribol!!

Of course, there was over 108 preparations offered. Here is the ārati of the Lord. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Their lotus feet in the small utsava-mūrti. So now everything is getting ready for the procession. Of course, this offering was also for Rādhārāṇī; appearance celebrations was observed on that same day.

The very day that Lord Caitanya was appearing, the very day He was going to begin the 6000 kilometers trek re-traversing the key points on His six-year tour of Western, Southern, and Eastern India. The Lord’s compassion and beauty, it’s just anyone who saw, that came in the presence of those Deities, they could experience some very sublime mercy.

I’ve been present in so many Ratha-yātrās but the mercy of Lord Caitanya, Nityānanda was so intense that you didn’t have to ask the people to chant, they just spontaneously started to chant. That some people just seeing somehow, they were just brought to tears. I never saw anything like it before.

So before leaving on our… today… That first day we had to walk eight kilometers. Sor before leaving we respected a little prasādam. This picture just have to, Kāla Kṛṣṇa put them in the left to right. We also been distributed prasādam to the brāhmaṇas. They invited 5,000 brāhmaṇas. This is a few of them… Many of them came, and they were very happy to accept the prasādam.

Before… While they were getting everything outside, it was about four in the afternoon, we had a special dharma-sabhā, discourse on Lord Caitanya. Different devotees from around the world were there speaking. Suhotra Mahārāja from Germany and Śrīdhara Mahārāja from Canada and Bombay. Myself, different groups gave short talks. But most of the people gathered outside where the Deities were being taken to their chariot, and there were already thousands of people gathered outside, so… But we were telling those who were interested something about Caitanya. Then what we were talking about?

Devotee: Suhotra Swami… (inaudible)

Jayapatākā Swami: Yea, this is for the Wei Es Ist. This is the picture of the photographer of Wei Es Ist. Oh! From both sides (laughter)

We together, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami Mahārāja, Myself, we cut the ribbon and inaugurating the... We couldn’t take the picture of the main Deity of Dvārakādīśa, but there were some sub-Deities of the Lord. Just one of the other seems to be double exposed. So from that ancient town of Dvārakā, here now the Lord is on His chariot, which will be pulled by bullock carts and devotees.

Literally thousands of people have gathered. Newspaper men, radio, television, cameraman were also there. The Lord were taking their seat where They will be there for some time to come. The head pūjārī of the Dvārakādīśa temple came out and garlanded Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda with all respects.

Śrīla Prabhupāda kī!

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, Prabhupāda had already expressed how he wanted to go on a Pada-yātrā in India, in 1977, and even earlier he had expressed that he wanted to go to all of the villages. So now actually we are also taking Śrīla Prabhupāda, and on the Pada-yātrā he is leading up the procession. And thus… Hopefully we’ll get his special mercy to fulfil his desire of going on the… visiting all the villages.

In front is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, so that people have the opportunity to have Śrīla Prabhupāda’s darśana and the darśana of his books. Of course, apart from seeing the book’s covers, they would also be able to read and purchase the books but that’s a separate area. I think it is Gujarati, because it is going to Gujarat.

I took the... I think this is backwards. I was fanning the Deity. Entirely it’s backwards. These bulls they are all very nicely decorated with bells and colored threads. Big horns, very big horns (laughter), but they seem quite nice. The people were very, very enthusiastic people. I mean Dvārakā, the atmosphere in Dvārakā is like being in Vṛndāvana or Māyāpur. So very special atmosphere there. It’s not not ordinary place. You can immediately feel a type of spiritual atmosphere.

People would come from a long way to see this historical moment. People were very respectful, respectable and respectful both. Devotees they kept up the kīrtana going. To go down is little hill in front of the Dvārakādīśa temple and then out to city.

The first day we only went eight kilometers. Normal... Normally they would be going about fifteen kilometers per day. The system is that the Deity and the devotees, they will be going like this by foot, by procession, but the rest of the camp is big pots, and everything will be taken by the buses and trucks. There is a pandal where there are big tents for giving programs, and so every morning camp will be broken, packed up into the trucks, taken forward to the next place.

Here is some of the nectar being prepared, very opulent prasādam in the traditional way. Some of the local villagers, they are also very attracted. This actually…

(aside)

You don’t have any pictures of the actual processions? Kāla Kṛṣṇa is here? No but on the highway, you took the picture on the road with elephant and everything. Huh? Just in front of the temple, you went on. It’s in front of the temple? Huh?

To go through the... Here is some displays there about Lord Caitanya’s transcendental pastimes worldwide, in ISKCON activities display is supposed to be sent from Los Angeles, we are still waiting for it to come, expected any day.

The devotees… The village leaders they all came, they’re inspired to see Lord Caitanya’s programs. In every village they are going they are establishing a Nāmahaṭṭa branch. People, they didn’t know so much about Lord Caitanya before, but we can see that this is attracting so much interest. In the... This is the tent where they had the evening program. Every night there is a program. Then they are just taking now their breakfast, and they are going to be walking off to the next village which is fifteen kilometers away.

They go anywhere twelve to twenty kilometers in a day. So normally they leave early in the morning with cool... It’s a big job picking everything up because they have literally hundreds of boxes of generators and PA systems. Here is the elephant, but the elephant is actually, they have very nicely decorations for elephant. I don’t know why... We took many pictures of that, I don’t know why you didn’t find any. Gotta look upstairs. No this is a special elephant procured simply.... Actually, Viṣṇupāda donated about what, what was it five? At least 5,000 and maybe more. Dollars, yeah. So part of the budget was to have an elephant. So elephants, even in the village, tell everyone... Even in India, they like to see elephant. So we have nice decorations for the elephant.

In fact, Lokanātha Swami requested everyone not to go the first night, so they don’t have... They should actually have living tents and everything, but they didn’t have time to set it all up, so most of the devotees were leaving. As they were leaving, elephant just pushed against the bus, and by pushing against the bus, just like nothing, the whole side window of the bus smashed in, glass was thrown all over Śrīdhara Swami, and... So I decided that I wasn’t going out of the camp. But I immediately left the bus and slept overnight with the devotees and the Deity. Took it as a sign.

Elephant without any effort, it just kind of lean over the bus, (imitates smashing sound) whole window smashed out, very powerful. Here we are having a little get together to get all the synchronization of the Nama Hatta, the Pada-yātrā. Meanwhile of course the Jagannātha bus is also there going to accompany the Pada-yātrā to distribute books. So the local villagers were very happy to take darśana of Jagannātha.

The village people when they saw that the devotees were thirsty, they carried water for the devotees. I was… I brought my computer along, (laughter) so we made, we brought a little technology into the Pada-yātrā. So we made a printout of all the departments of the Pada-yātrā since we had some experience on these things.

That’s it?

Could have ended with Prabhupāda. So basically, the Pada-yātrā will be going for eighteen months, go from… that’s the far… far…

(aside:) Why did you take out those pictures? Shows Dvārakā as the place where the sun sets. Huh? You have a light table here or is it all shifted out? Yes, you have one? You can go over it, make it.

It will be going along the Western coast to the far Southern tip of India, and then going up eastern coast back to Māyāpur. And so that’s about 6000 kilometers. It works out... It takes about a year and a half. We are very hopeful that in some of the cities, literally hundreds and thousands of people will gather. Already people are just joining. They are just coming.

Sometimes when the Pada-yātrā got in front of the village, two people said I am going to join this Pada-yātrā and follow it for the next 18 months. The family members were embracing them. There was weeping and all. This is a whole emotional you see, event. They are going, they went off, started walking with the people.

Some people came from..., one... Two brothers and a sister about 40 years old, they came from Bombay, said “We were… we’ve come here to join the Pada-yātrā.” People were writing in piles of letters, “We want to come and join the Pada-yātrā.” So expecting that as it goes on we will keep on picking up more and more people. And from one village, all the people of one village always walk to the next village. So just about 1,000 people everyday going with the procession.

It’s very… I don’t know where all of the… I have to go through... There’s many other very nice pictures which were taken when we were leaving through the town, all the people they all follow it along, the procession was about a mile long, or, I mean a kilometer long.

Any questions?

Each country has got its flag there. The flags haven’t come from L.A. yet, but the flags are procured. Each country is going... has a flag. This was one idea that President of India liked it that all the devotees wherever we have a temple, in any country, the flag should be somewhere there, so showing that Lord Caitanya has so many followers all over the world.

Even in the Hong Kong newspaper it published how that Hare Kṛṣṇa was... movement was observing the 500th anniversary of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, taking Him in procession. The founder of Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, Lord Caitanya, was being worshipped by the President of India and all the big people, and being taken a procession around India. They gave very nice press.

So this is actually already having some international effect, and as it goes on we hope that it will reach more and more of international eye. Because... Especially the people are interested because many people do this, padayatra means to walk somewhere. They do this in India but very rarely, never it has been international group. People from different countries coming, so that is attracting some attention from the public, from the media.

Our purpose is the glorify Lord Caitanya. There are many other aspects, which they are… they... In the cities putting up a three-day pandal program and the Pada-yātrā will come and meet that city program. And they have about fifteen dioramas, displays which also accompany, and then they have this whole change... displays from Los Angeles. Very nice displays on reincarnation and different philosophical and temples of ISKCON around the world.

And then you see normally they Lord Caitanya’s pastimes, display. And everyday 4:30 in the afternoon they would be distributing prasādam to all of the village people. Of course, the devotees would be taking prasādam three times a day. It’s a very purifying. Don’t know how to exactly express it. It’s really beyond expressing. But one gets very intense feeling that the whole program is very much being dictated by Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda and Śrīla Prabhupāda, and one can feel Their presence very intensely when on this particular program.

It’s something very sublime, and Lord Caitanya, They are giving Their mercy. The people they suddenly... They feel just very happy. Innocent people, everyone becomes very happy as soon as they hear about or they see the procession, they just… something seems to like release that inner ānandam from their heart.