1994 Ratha yātrā Addressing With Tamil Translation Part 2

The following is a part 2 of the Ratha-yātrā address with Tamil translation by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami in 1994, Malaysia.

Of course, first I would like to do thank you very much Dr. Subramaniam for his very consistent and wonderful support for his giving to the devotees of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness here in this state and for encouraging this festival, So I like to especially thank him for being present here tonight and on previous years. Thank you Dr. Subramaniam. (applause)

The very good news that there is a medicine, which has been imported into Malaysia. This medicine can cure any human being from the miseries of old age and death. How many of you like this medicine? Raise your hands. So this medicine is not expensive in terms of bring it and send. The medicine was introduced some time ago, but its been a secret; now it’s become revealed, so we would like to share this medicine with all of you. You see, so today we will be giving out free sample. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu 500 years ago, He told His followers that in this Age of Kali people are going to suffer a lot. But that He had bought the cure, and he wanted all the people to be savedfrom old age, death and rebirth.

enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi'
hari-nāma mahā-mantra lao tumi māgi',

He said, I have brought the medicine for this suffering at the Age of Kali--it is Harināma mantra -- Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Don't see a letdown this mantra actually works. Actually, I saw tonight many gentlemen with white grey hair, dancing in the kīrtana along with persons one fourth their age. So that alone shows this a kind of elixir of youth. But the real point that everybody who is in this material body, we all know, they get old, they get sick, and they die. But Bhagavad-gītā explains to us that actually, the soul the real self never dies. Its only the body that dies. But once we died, then we have to take birth again. Because the soul lives on, this is explained in Chapter 2 text 27 of Bhagavad-gītā:

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur
dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca
tasmād aparihārye ’rthe
na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi

“One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.”

So after the real problem is not that even in this lifetime we give, older and die; but again we will get born, again we again get old, again we are going to get disease, again we are going to die, It is going to repeat again and again and again and again. But for the soul there is no birth and no death, this is mentioned chapter 2, Verse 20:

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

[For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.]

So, the soul never is born or dies, it’s the body, that are taking birth and dying. So we can realize our eternal self, then will be freed from this suffering of birth and death. If we can realize Bhagavān then we are also freed. So, previously great ṛṣīs and kings they were trying to realize God. The Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He reveal that every human being has the potential to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān. One doesn't have to be a big ṛṣi or king, one doesn't have to be very learned. Certainly, those who are educated those who are from a good birth they have every opportunity, but everyone has an opportunity as they wanted.

There was one village, where everyone in the village is a devotee following Lord Caitanya's instruction, the village leader, the businessman, the brāhmaṇas, they were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. The workers in the fields were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, the agriculturists, the housewives, and the students, who are also chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, even those persons who are hurting pigs as their professions – they were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So someone enters that village immediately they felt a different vibration because everyone was God conscious.  That village name was Kulīna-grāma, and it was famous as a God Conscious village. So, it may be difficult to make the whole world God conscious, you see, it may be a less difficult to make one country God conscious, the smaller the unit, then it should be a little easier to try to make everyone more God conscious. Atleast, if all the Hindus in Malaysia could be all fully God Conscious, then that would be an inspiration for the whole Asia and for the whole World. Actually, even if one street would be completely God conscious that would create an influence that would go throughout the whole area, because we are living in a world where economic development has been the prime consideration in most of the countries. And sometimes culture, character, religion, morals get neglected. Spiritual realization can be forgotten very easily in this kind of fast developing world. Then social problems increase, drug addiction, violence, ecological imbalances, extra marital relationships, broken families, unwed mothers (child before marriage), many other problems. Then the Government is trying to see where is the solution. We have to have a meeting. But from our point of view the solution wise in keeping the people spiritually aware and God conscious, and then the other problems are easily solved.

We heard, that in United States of America the Government spends about 20 billion ringgit a year to try to tackle the drug problem. But they are losing the battle. I don't know how much they are spending in Malaysia, but I think it’s also they are trying… but I don't think that they are solving that problem fully either. We didn't spend that much on this festival but all of you helped with donations, so something was spent. So about 2000 packets of prasādam were distributed along that routes and now 100s of people will be getting the free prasādam in the back. And with this simple kind of spiritual activity everyone gets spiritual happiness. And if we can be happy by this type of spiritual activity then why should we ruin our life by trying to get happiness from the mode of ignorance, things like drugs and the other problems that I mentioned. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he called Kṛṣṇa consciousness the positive alternative. All we want is that every one of you should be happy, all the time in the whole life. But in the material world where there is always problems, how can someone always be happy? We can be happy because the nature of the ātma, the nature of the soul is to be always ānandamaya to always be happy. If we get our happiness from the spiritual platform, from our devotion to God, from our devotion to Kṛṣṇa, then that happiness can never be taken from us. Even in the most difficult situation we can still feel some inner peace. And you may think that I am just speaking theory. But I can tell you that I personally realize this.

Last years in September something very grave happened in my life. I attended the World’s Hindu conference, two conferences in fact, in London for Janmāṣṭamī in the end of August in 1989. After that I was making a tour of Europe, I went to Italy and I went to Spain. I had planned to go to Switzerland, Sweden, and some other countries. But when I was in Spain, a person with a deranged mind, could thought that he didn't want Hindu Dharma to come to the Western world, he decided that he had to kill a Swamiji to stop this. So when I was in the airport checking in my luggage, he came up from behind without any warning and he cut my throat. I still have the mark here in my throat. So every doctor said that it is a miracle that I am alive.