19870220 Arrival Address Darśana

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
paramānanda-mādhavam

Last December 7^th from here, went to Malaysian Ratha-yātrā festival, stopped in Tokyo. I’m coming and going to and from India, I have been helping so many years in Tokyo in a small way, some of the disciples took Second Initiation, devotees are very determined to distribute books in Japan. We went to Malaysia, where they had Ratha-yātrā festival in Penang, for the first time. Penang is an Island known as the Pearl of the Orient, it’s in Bay of Bengal inside of Malaysia, to the south of Burma and Island is predominantly a Chinese population with a little Indian origin. Malaysia is multiracial country, so they have to accommodate different cultures, Chinese, Muslim, Indian. so, in Ratha-yātrā festival they went round the temple. They took Prabhupāda and they gave a special Pūrṇa-kumbha reception for Prabhupāda and other sannyāsīs. Quiet a good crowd was there around 25 thousand people for the first Ratha-yātrā. They just started off and so many people joined along the way. So the procession began through the town. Even the Chinese people as their car was coming by they are offering their obeisances, accepting prasāda. Unfortunately, they didn’t printed explanation about the Ratha-yātrā except in English, Tamil, Chinese people didn’t get a copy, though their most population is Chinese and they didn’t participate. They gave largest donations for supporting the festival. After the festival, I went to Thailand briefly then returned back to Māyāpur in the month of December and January there was a 60 day Nāmahaṭṭa Yātrā, where they took 75 devotees about 6 different temples, moving temples and other vehicles. They had a staff of another 50 people hired for this, every night they put up a big top, stage and in evening they have bhajan, dharma-sabhā joint type of lectures setup, ārati, Bhāgavatam class and drama. So they did every night and whole routine. So I was supposed to be there at inauguration, but I couldn’t I was here. At inauguration the Governor of Orissa, state of Orissa, he inaugurated the Nāmahaṭṭa Yātrā. So I told at this time in Māyāpur for anything organized in festival. So they said alright you don’t have to come to all the 60 Day program, you just come to important ones.

So, I said tick off which are the important ones. I should come to the important ones, so then I tick offed everyone but three (Guru Maharaj laughing softly) so, anyway somehow we worked it off and was very interesting, sometimes we had 20,000 people for the lecture sitting hours & hours listening and average crowd was about 10000 there was one of the last program in the section I went to program in Orissa – Gaura Govinda Maharaj participated in Orissa and Subhag Swami Maharaj assisted in Bengal. So I participated in programs in all three, Assam State, Bengal state and Orissa. So there was one village Gajankol which has one, We have Namahatta program in India, about 2000 Namahatta centres. So this village had won Namahatta we reward/ awarded for different categories passed several years. So I wanted to go to take tour of the village. And they had one devotee had dedicated to about a sixth of an acre and over that they build a small house for having a meeting but not that small but about 30-40 feet long by 16-20 feet wide, So then I went to all of the houses of all the devotees who are participating in the Namahatta, when it started to rain and the program was the only program that was rained out, so then I went & visited their homes. Now all the educated people they said “We Wanna hear about the philosophy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu”. So I gave a class in a school room it was a little school house, emptied out all the tables then the main auditorium of the school house, few hundred people gathered and we had questions & answers, if you find that in this small group they asked very difficult questions and we had to have the mercy of Krishna, studied Prabhupad books to give me answer some tricky questions which proved to me that to do the Namhatta preaching actively alone with an assistant one has to be very well versed in the philosophy. So after that program I want to switcherr they gave us the land to build the temple & were designing where the temple designers basically finished then was in Madras we had a Ratha yatra festival and about 50 devotees all over the world were there on Madras for the Ratha yatra festival, a very big crowd of people, we did all the poojas, we broke the coconuts, we did everything we were supposed to do. When it came the time for the Ratha to move the wheel jammed, the break jammed, So they were working for I think like an hour, trying to get Unjammed. Finally they decided to Unconnect the break, switch on the break it will be a kind of jammed us, were to go without a break, so if it was Bengal, we could have gone in all. So, in Madras it is little bit more conservative, so it is ok & after that we had a several day festival, then went back again to Māyāpur. This winter we are getting about 20 to 25 tour buses coming everyday. In Māyāpur on the 22nd of January, the president of India he came so one thing I gave him a garland and some books he was very happy & it was covering all in the newspaper that the “President of India praising Chaitanya Mahaprabhu" and he had discussed with the representative of ISKCON - Jayapataka Swami & that he will visit Māyāpur. In this way a lot of Māyāpur oriented preaching that had to go on. So I was going and coming. Then in Bangalore, we have an another Rathayatra, the Rathayatra in Bangalore. I asked him to actually send a picture to the temple, I don’t know if they send. There the Rathas are of different shape, the shape of the rathas in the Udupi, its kind of like the, similarly, vaguely, more too hot air balloon, its a big bubble, and although while bringing it to the site, the axle broke twice, (he yawns)they fixed it finally the third time, and that didn’t break the whole way. So there the ex Vice President of India was inaugurated the Rath yatra. Now he gave some kind of speculative lecture, about, you know everything is One, etc. So, then, the person who gave the announcement, he stated,” And now we request Jayapataka Swami to lecture and to straighten out all the “(devotees laughing), you can’t say that in a public image of people, (he is breathing heavily)but somehow I stood there angry at his speech so then, so even with the hot seat introduction like that, somehow I gave a brief talk and he was, everyone was quite satisfied. (Someone clear their throat)So then I, at the same time, requested him to kindly eh, sweep the road. So, the person announced, this announcer you know, just, was very expert in consequent the long thing. He said that, there was King of Orissa used to sweep before Jagannath. So this is a very, kingly custom. And to perpetuate this, we are requesting that he sweep. He said, I am Vice President. I am against kings. I am democ(pause), democracy. We don’t believe in kings. So, I won’t. I refuse to sweep the road. (Devotees giggling) So, then I had to take the mike and explain that no, that’s the point is before Krishna everyone is equal. So, in this way, we are all going to, this is democracy, we are all going to go and sweep the road. (Devotees giggle) And we request you also come. So like okay, (Devotees giggle) (pause) then I (pause) (Devotees giggle). So then he swept the road very briefly, and then we swept the road, so many other people swept the road, and then we offered arati to Krishna and Balarama deities. In the meantime all the newspapers caughted up and they published a special article. And the headline on the, several newspaper articles was ‘The Vice President refuses to sweep road before Jagannath’. (Devotees talk, he is breathing heavily for some time) Anyway, so then we had organised for a competition. Thou(sand), the competition amongst all the high schools in the city. On Krishna. And they got a 6000 applicants for the test. 6000 people took the, applied. They took the test. Out of the 6000 eh, person who took the test. A 6000 applied and actually a 1000 today, anyway was. Anyway 1000 certificates were given. The 1000 best, I guess, got all got certificates. And, we had every night a lecture program .And (he groans) Let’s see in a minute. Uh. Before that we had a program in Assam, the far north eastern region of India. Then after everything we were head to, we went to Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, in the tip, they have the moon cycle just before Advaita Saptami, the Panchami is the birthday of Pundarika Vidyanidhi. So this year we had completed the construction of a small temple for Vasudev Datta’s deities. We had excavated and found the foundation, so over that we built a little temple and there the deities of Lord Caitanya – Nitai Gaurachandra were established there. You know it was slightly raining but all the functions were now. It was raining because all of a sudden, a little cyclone came up in the Bay of Bengal to add, tore down the pandal. But this kept things going. It’s a 5 day program ending with, by a, a drama, then from Bangladesh, I flew to Bombay. To do with the God brother’s meeting, then I came back to Māyāpur. Then we have a celebration of Nityananda trayodashi. Oh. We’re trying to get some land at Nityananda’s birthplace. Probably a little temple for the devotees to present. And from there in Māyāpur, a little re-organisation, following more of Vedic grouping, stayed upto Bhakti Siddhanta’s appearance day, then I came.

In Māyāpur there was a reorganisation following more of a vedic blue print straight upto Bhaktisiddhantha appearance day then I came directly here just on the 18th after 18th afternoon drove to Calcutta thru to London and reached on the 19th and then flew directly here today. So in the month of December and January that is basically what happened few details and travelling after that. But in Māyāpur we are getting about 25 tour buses every weekend so now we have organised under Mahasringha, Samaka Maharaj a special tour campus preaching programme you see normally we go campus preaching we go to the university campus but this goes to the temple campus, our own campus is always packed with people, but there wasn’t any organised preaching programme for them so know have tourists, we take them to Prabhupada’s room, to the roof, to the Gurukul, to Bhajan Kutir, different places and this promises to be like down to a preaching programme. Then on the Padayatra lotus feet that we established in Māyāpur at the end of the six thousand miles trek, ah! I put 108 steps, step means circle chakras and a spiral around and then quoted times of the day people stand there and announce bring their people over and say this is our system you stand up and then stand down on the step you chant “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare” one time for each step you give them the mantra card and they start going around till they complete 108 they touch the lotus feet and they get the charna amritam, so this was so popular that the first hour after starting 200 people lined up to go on so popular. So and design the whole internal philosophical x display using dioramas for the expo, for half of the expo supposed to be ready by, for the festival … sevaks any questions.

They had two dramas, in Orissa they had a Orissan drama, in Bengal, Bengali drama and they performed them, in Orissa they performed Chand Kazi Samadhi I mean Chand Kazi leela and so that is something like that and then they also did Sakshi Gopal, I think yes Sakshi Gopal. Bengal, Orissa both, that is enough. They only stayed one or two days in each place, sixty days sixty places. Over the weekend then South America then after Mardi Gaoun, I will be back for the festival, festival is already starting on the 28th I am just coming in Vrindavan, Vrindavan is first I have already organised things regarding the festival, I have to buy, do let me go now then I have to go there at least a few days before the devotees arrive to Māyāpur just to see that everything is proper I am the chief director of the festival. I am so well trained that I can show up only a few days ahead, I hope. One life member is donating, he is building personally a thousand bedroom guest house, a thousand bed guest house its very Hari bhakti some of the materialist which is …. and this wasn’t in the plan but he decided to have a little dining hall, but then he build a dining hall for thousand people, for thousand bed, thousand people so then we said that know so many tourist buses are coming where would they eat. This way it is only going on expanding. My first budget was 4 million know it is upto 8 million how will I do, anyway I will depend on Krishna. So he is building a 2000 person bed dining hall.

How will I do anyway and depend on Krishna so he’s building a 2000 person big dining hall when Krishna gave him a long enough life to finish it strength so then vasudev dutta temple was totally constructed by donations from me which I and I don’t get donations and I mean whatever money I get was from the west here basically. Building of vyasa pujas, few donors we have here, directly indirectly we receive, yes the Orissa temple we have also collected from there, we have some money in the bank it suppose to the start the construction again in march, yes, we’re having a float and on the 23rd on the manuvad day, we’re having a Jagannath ratha yatra float. I imagine. They’re going to do whatever. Well somethings gona have a made a big Jagannath, Subhadra, Balaram out of Styrofoam so people can see the 8 foot Jagannath the detail I don’t know I’m trying my best to find. I know they wanted to have enough floor for the devotees to walk because you are not allowed to walk so when the devotees will have to throw things from the kerb. we are going to have harinam the day before after everything and one particular parade where we follow the rules we’re in the place where we can get in next to it for the other parade we can break the rules, that one particular that we are in we have to follow isn’t it. Mardigras while we publicize and televise even with lot of opportunity for the other people to get exposure to Lord Jagannath, Krishna of course people then are materialistic, praying, but also with very liberal and open minded, be happy, so they appreciate when a devotee chant generally. They are in a pretty good mood. Last year we chanted as long as we leave before 9 o clock.

Any other questions. You’re name is? “ Bhakta Loo. You are visiting or just staying here? So are you staying over for the Mardigras festival?

Devotees talking…

Mardigra…That’s there activity, we go there to drink the nectar of chanting Hare Krishna, we don’t go there to participate in the Mardigras, we go there to purify people by participating, by involving them in the Krishna conscious activity, but when there are many people. we always did a Rathyatra, but in September when there were no people. But in Mardigras there are many people so trying to see that we can …. to see people in the festive spirit and usually because they are in enjoying mood they also chant Hare Krishna even some time couple of Hundred people will chant Hare Krishna…

Devotees talking…

This happened one time when Lord Chaitanya was going to Navadweep and some drunkards sitting there and they saw lord Chaitanya go by and so one started to criticize Oh Gaura Hari, look at him .

Sitting there and they saw Lord Chaitanya go by, so one started to say , oh there is Gaur Hari ! Look at them, someone said oh no no no , He is a very good dancer. And they started following after him, mimicking , saying, HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA …, [indistinct], so Lord Chaitanya He just went on He didn’t paid any attention. So after sometime , His associates said , how is it that you just tolerated that they are ridiculing . Lord Chaitanya said that well they are drinking , it is the effect of drinking. However the effect of chanting is always there. [Devotees saying HARIBOL ]. Is here anyone else popular(?), these 2 life members, these 2 gentleman .

[not clear]

You took the [not clear]

Now you are in the temple?

[not clear]

Are you living with the devotees?

A couple of new faces in the managers, she is wearing neck beads

[not clear]

And this mataji? Her name is? Khlalapey ,hmm?

[not clear]

As one in time, I was there 8hrs , right now its 9 in the morning , Indian time.

Srila Prabhupad ki Jai …..Devotees repeated 3 times…