199612 Ratha yātrā Jagannath līlā

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami at the December 1996 Ratha Yātrā in Durban, South Africa.

You can offer a lot of prasāda of Jagannātha... in Jagannātha Purī it is offered to Durgā in her form of Bimalā Devī. This was a contract made by Lord Kṛṣṇa, I will come. All the food offered to me, will be offered to you, He told Pārvatī. So all His prasāda was offered to Pārvatī that was because...very long story. Nārada Muni, he wanted to get the mahā-prasāda from Lord Nārāyaṇa, so he took a menial service of mother Lakṣmī and for twelve years he just served her like a menial servant, cleaning, washing anything she asked. Finally, after twelve years she was so pleased with Nārada Muni, she said, “Is there anything you want, why are you serving me, what can I give you?” And so then, because the blessing... he has, “I want to get the mahā-prasāda from Kṛṣṇa, from Lord Nārāyaṇa from the plate of Lord Nārāyaṇa.” And Lakṣmī said, “I can’t give you that, ask anything else, money, anything, I can’t give you that, because Lord Nārāyaṇa forbade me, “Never give the remnants from His plate to anybody.”” “No, No I only want the remnants from the plate of Lord Nārāyaṇa.” So then mother Lakṣmī was in a fix, she offered her blessings but she couldn’t give it, so she was feeling a little down, and Lord Nārāyaṇa saw that she was thinking about something, and asked what’s wrong. She said, “I told Nārada Muni that I will give him a blessing, but he said that he wants the remnants from the... Your plate” Now Nārāyaṇa is God Himself, God the father, so God the father said, “How can I give you, I can’t give him.” “But I promised him. So alright...anyway, you just take it from my plate but not when I am watching, I don’t want to see you take it, and just give it to without me knowing.” So in this way one day Lakṣmī, she just took the mahā-prasāda remnant from the plate of Lord Nārāyaṇa, God almighty, and then she came and called Nārada Muni and she said, “Here is the prasāda remnant from the food on the plate of the Supreme Lord, Nārāyaṇa.” So Nārada Muni took that and he was so happy, immediately he ate it, and when he ate it he felt so much joy, so much ecstasy, he started to flying in the outer space chanting, “Hari Bol” No loudly, “Hari Bol”

Devotees: Haribol!

Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol!

Devotees: Haribol!

Jayapatākā Swami: And raised his arm and he was chanting Haribol!

Devotees: Haribol!

Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol!

Devotees: Haribol!

Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol!

Devotees: Haribol!

Jayapatākā Swami: So that way he was feeling great ecstasy, and going throughout the universe shouting Haribol, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

So he flew right back Kailāsa and Lord Śiva saw him go by, “What is that, he didn’t sing, he coudn’t tell us “... Nārada was like a.. like a just flaming person. "What was that person, so effulgent, so brilliant..", and then he found out that it was Nārada. “Nārada, Nārada come here, who is it, what happened to you, why you are so happy, why you are just ah...beaming and so effulgent, and Nārada told him everything that happened, how he got the mahā-prasāda remnants from the plate of Nārāyaṇa, God almighty and then he was so happy, and then when Śiva heard that, he said, “Nārada you are my close friend, we are always friends, we are always associates, we are always together, so surely when you got that very special sanctified food from the plate of Lord Nārāyaṇa, you saved a little bit for me, your close friend, but when Nārada got it he just ate it, he didn’t think about anybody, anything, now he was thinking, so he was feeling very embarrassed, “I didn’t think of anybody else, I didn’t save anything for anybody, he kind of hung his head in embarrassment, he looked down, then he saw that stuck in his finger nails there was some mahā-prasāda for Mahādeva. “Yes, he said look at this speck... of kaṇa, a speck here in my fingernail and Lord Śiva said, "Kaṇikā mātram, even a little speck of prasāda has the same effect, give me a little speck." My dear friends and devotees, you are so fortunate you are getting a whole plate of prasāda, even a little speck is enough, you are gettting a whole plate, don’t waste any, whatever you take eat it, if you can’t eat it, then don’t take that much, it’s all holy sacrament, holy food. So then Śiva, give me that speck. He got the speck, he ate it. When he ate it, he also started feeling great ecstasy and he started playing on a dumdumi drum ... drrr.... now I can’t make that sound you know... d dd dddd... you know that sound that it makes, because nothing can make that sound but that drum...ddddddrrrr......so he was playing that and just chanting “Hari Bol”

Devotees: Haribol

Jayapatākā Swami: Hari bol.

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

Devotees: *repeating mantra*

Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol

Devotees: Haribol

Jayapatākā Swami: So, He was dancing so intensely that the whole universe started to vibrate. You remember Śiva is a incarnation of Viṣṇu, with the potency of destruction, so when he does the....his supreme dance as Naṭarāja, the whole universe starts to disintegrate. So just from a little intensive dancing and kīrtana, the universe started to vibrate and tidal waves were coming 10 meter high, 15 meter high, tidal waves coming, you can imagine now, 10- 20 meters of water we would be in a difficult position here. Kṛṣṇa forbid it happen. We want a peaceful Ratha Yātrā. But there was a tidal waves was going on, Pātāla-loka was starting to go through earthquakes, so mother Pārvatī, Durgā she saw the whole universe is dismantling, what is happening here, she came back to see her husband dancing like this Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa

She said, What’s going on? And she said you know, “Pati, Pati, Swami, and tried to attract his attention, then she broke his meditation”

He opened his eyes and he saw his wife and he said, “Oh no, I was so happy, why did you break my ecstasy? Why I was the happiest in my whole life and you...why you are calling me?”

She said, “I am sorry my Lord but because your dancing was causing tremendous distraction, earthquakes, tidal waves, Pātāla loka and the people were just getting crushed.”

“I am sorry I was just worried about my children, the living entities.”

Mother Durgā is the mother of all living entities of this universe, in the material. So Śiva is very pleased, so Āśutośa, easily...so alright but then Mother Pārvatī was curious what was it that made you so happy, why was it today you felt happiest in your whole life.

Then he explained the whole thing that happened with Nārada muni, how he got the speck of prasāda from the plate of Lord Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme personality of God almighty, and then he felt so much happiness eating that food, then mother Pārvatī said, “My dear husband, I am your life companion. I have surrendered myself to serving as your humble maidservant, I am with you through the thick and the thin, even you are living in the forest under the tree I stay with you, surely your life companion, you didn’t forget to save the little prasāda for me.”

“Ohhoo..” Lord Śiva had not remembered.

It does happen, even in the top Vaiṣṇavas.

Don’t feel sad wives, husbands, sometimes in those moments you don’t remember.

He didn’t save any for her and he said, “No I am sorry, I didn’t save anything.”

“Why didn’t you save anything for me? Why didn’t you save for me?”

Then he thought for a minute, “I didn’t save for you because you are not qualified.”

Uh-oh, those were the wrong words.

Pārvatī heard that, “What you mean that I am not qualified? I am Vaiṣṇavī, I am a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu, I am Nārāyaṇī, I am Daivī-śaktī. Everything I am doing according to the will of the supreme. I am His shadow energy, I am His energy, what you mean I cannot get His prasāda?”

She said, “I never felt so bad in my life, I don’t want anyone to feel this suffering of being deprived of taking the prasāda from the Lord. I vow, I am going to see even the dogsget prasāda" Was she hot!

Woah. Lord Śiva coudn’t calm her down and she was making all these vows and promises. It was.. the eye was really getting heavy, and finally Lord Nārāyaṇa Himself came, now we see why he didn’t let his prasāda get out because of a lot of complications, and He said that, "Pārvatī, she wants to give my prasāda to everyone, even they smell the prasāda they get liberated from the material world, the whole universe will go empty, nobody will be a conditioned soul anymore if everyone gets prasāda."

“I don’t care, let them be liberated but not let them suffer. That suffering that I am feeling by being deprived from Your mercy.”

We can understand that the greatest happiness is Love of Kṛṣṇa, and the greatest suffering is to be deprived from the mercy of Kṛṣṇa.

Material things, that’s insignificant. So then, Nārāyaṇa called Pārvatī over and said, “Alright, I will make an arrangement, you don’t tell, this is private, only later you reveal it.”

I will come as Dāru-brahma, I will come in the world in the wooden form as the Supreme personality of the Godehead deity in wood, and food will be offered to me and that food will be divine prasāda, and you will be the first to get the prasāda.

And in Jagannāth Purī, all the prasāda (is offered to Bimalā devī)

(different context) ..fingers or you can count by any other means and second best is to count, how many times you are chanting and the keep track of..

Question: Could you please explain Karma?

Who is she? Who is karma, could you please explain karma in relation to devotees?

Jayapatākā Swami: Many people don’t even know karma, they think it is the name of a woman because some people are Carmen. Karma is a law of cause and effect. Just like in Physics they say for every action there is a equal and opposite reaction.

So in the laws of karma everything we do there is an ah...reaction for that. So according to the Bhagavad-Gītā, if you do things that in the mode of goodness, you get good reaction, if you do in the mode of passion you get a neutral reaction , if you do in the mode of ignorance you get a painful reaction, and if you do things which are for Kṛṣṇa directly than they are considered transcendental, you get no material reaction, you get spiritual benefits.

So like if you kill an animal, you may get the karma, you may also be killed in the future. If you cause suffering to another person, then you may also be tortured or caused to suffer as a reaction, and this law of karma is very complicated, not only this lifetime, sometimes you see people doing bad things but they seem to be rich and happy.

We are just spending the good karmas from the previous life. When you give in charity you get good karma, when you do ah... pious things like plant trees and do ecological, favourable things, feed the poor, you get the good karma.

So people may be receiving the reactions of good karma but they are now accumulating bad karma. When the good karma wears out then they start to suffer, the bad karma may come not only from this life but even from many lives and the good karma may also come even from a hundred lives in the past.

Question: Could you please explain karma in relation to the devotees?

When we render devotional service we are not producing any new karma, however the old karma is still there, the old karma is still there. And as we do different types of devotional service, some of the old karmas gets destroyed depending on how offenselessly or how purely we render the devotional service.

If we can chant even one holy name of Kṛṣṇa offenselessly we could destroy all of our bad karmas. The problem is that we may not be chanting offenselessly. We may be committing many offenses or we may be gaining new karmas.

When you take food cooked by other people that’s not Kṛṣṇa prasāda you have to take the karma from those people, if you accept as a gift, there is many intricacies to karma, that’s why in India people don’t eat the food from anybody. The brāhmaṇas would be very careful who they eat from. They would only eat the prasāda from other devotees.

Now if somebody takes initiation, but somebody takes shelter of the guru the guru is guiding one but the guru is not responsible for the karma. Shelter is still a practice stage where one is preparing to take initiation in the future. When one is serious about spiritual life, they are supposed to find a bonafide spiritual master and formally take shelter and take the guru as śikṣā-guru, chant the praṇāma-mantra and prepare oneself for initiation. When one feels confident that they can follow all the rules and regulations, they can avoid the breaking of the principles and basically carry out the orders of the guru, they have the faith in the guru, then they can take initiation from the guru.

It’s upto the disciple to ask the guru for shelter, and ask the guru for initiation. The first and second initiation and shelter has to be asked by the disciple to the guru. Guru is not supposed to ask the disciple. That would be considered canvassing but the third initiation which means sannyāsa, that the guru is supposed to decide and suggest to the disciple.

Like Prabhupāda asked me if I wanted to take sannyāsa, then it was 1970. So once a disciple takes initiation then the guru is responsible to eradicate the karmas of the disciples, and also the guru is responsible for the karmas of the disciples. The first initiation is a little bit more flexible, the guru is responsible but there is some grace given, but second initiation is more serious that if one commits sinful activities after second initiation then if very serious ah... for the guru.

Prabhupāda first thing he told me that you can be a little lenient for recommending candidates for first initiation from me. But I was president and he is the first, always our guru, he said but be very careful for recommending the second because that is more serious in terms of laws of karma.

So the disciple....Prabhupāda he waited eleven years to take initiation because he thought I have to become completely pure before I take initiation so that I don’t burden my guru, but then he was explained by another devotee how you will become pure without taking shelter of the guru? Without being initiation how can you expect to become completely pure?

You have to take initiation from the guru, by that blessing of the guru then you will become completely pure. That’s the downside of being a guru, he has to accept some of the karmas from the disciple. But the disciple is sincerely trying to serve and in doing positive devotional service then that is also helpful for the guru. So in this way according to how much we surrender, when we surrender fully to the guru then he covers us fully from the karma.

But sometime we may not fully surrender, we are still holding on to many attachments and each attachment, we have each desire we have is connected to karma, and so when we try to fulfil this material desires we also awakening the karmas that are connected with them. That’s why we face sometimes different tests and difficulties.

So suffering for the devotees means ok, suffering means I am getting read of the bad karmas, enjoying he has to tolerate, it is getting rid of the god karma’s. Little residual things are there. The final last hints.

Another question,

Question: Why should one offer vegetables to Kṛṣṇa and not meat?

Jayapatākā Swami: Because Kṛṣṇa says offer me fruit, flower and leaves. He never says offer me meat. We offer Kṛṣṇa what he wants. Kṛṣṇa only wants sāttvika things.

Question: How can a person say if they are Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee or not?

Jayapatākā Swami: Well Lord Caitanya says, anyone who chants Hare Kṛṣṇa is the devotee, if you chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa means you are also a devotee. Now you should keep on chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa your whole life and increase in your devotion. Actually everybody is by nature devotee but some are asleep and some are awake.

When we start chanting that means we are awakening. Even Kṛṣṇa is the Lord for everyone. By nature we are all His devotees. We just have to awaken that devotion. How will one know on what platform they are on in devotion service,

You are ready Maharaj, I am waiting for you. Yea, Yea, just keep it I will go so that you don’t lose the crowd.

Here is a few questions for you Mahārāja, last thing here..

Question: Do spiritual masters reveal their mind to disciples and aspiring desciples?

Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes, that depends on the gurus. Ask each one.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Now Bhakti Bṛṅga Govinda Swami Mahārāja... [Applause]

So they will come and give you... he was doing the kīrtana the whole way from the beginning to end today in Ratha-yātrā, he also goes on Nabadwip parikramā when we are forced enough to have him and he leads beautiful kīrtana and he probably been on his Harināmas. So he is one of the renowned kīrtana ah... leaders in ISKCON and we are very grateful and he also loves to distribute prasāda, organised massive prasāda distribution in Vṛndāvana to all the other Vraja-vāsīs. So his is you can say, mercy personified.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Bhakti Bṛṅga Mahārāja kī!

Jaya!