19980504 Festival Address - Ratha-yātrā

Following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on May 4th, 1998 in Durban, South Africa. The address was given on Ratha yatra day.

I offer my respectful obeisances on to the lotus feet of my beloved Spiritual Master - His Divine Grace Srila Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. By whose mercy even the lame can cross over the mountains, the blind can see the stars in the sky, and the deaf and dumb can became great orators. Oṃ Tat Sat.

 

Dear devotees of the Krishna Consciousness movement, our life members and patrons, all members of all respectable ladies and gentlemen, who are here tonight. You are in the second night of our Ratha yatra festival, the festival of the chariots. The chariot festival as His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja explained, is possibly the oldest festival, one of the very oldest festivals being observed on this planet and we are very proud that the tenth annual Ratha Yatra festival is being observed here in Durban, South Africa and we are very grateful that all of you are here tonight to participate in it. So, I have been asked to speak something about what is the meaning of the Ratha Yatra festival.

 

There are many meanings – there are very deep esoteric meanings and there are more external easy-to-understand meanings. There are very different meanings. In Jagannatha Puri, they take the deities every year on this procession and they begin from the main temple and they go some kilometers to another smaller temple – a garden temple. And there, Lord Jagannatha stays for one week and then comes back. So, one way… one day going, seven days staying and one day coming back. So, it looks as if Jagannatha is going for a vacation in His garden house and they called that house the masi bali (the masi’s house). He is going to see his aunt Kunti. Where Krishna was going from Dwarka to Kurukshetra on invitation of Queen Kunti and the Pandavas to be present for the solar eclipse, it was the very great opportunity to reunite with His devotees. You know Lord Krishna… I was asked to speak on the question and answer booth, why does He descend into this material world? And Krishna, He explains, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām that He comes down in this world especially to deliver His devotees and annihilate the miscreants and of the two pleasing the devotees is the most important. So, the Lord was going in order to please all of His devotees. They all were anxious to have Krishna’s association that was the obvious reason. So, He was going to see His devotees and went to Kurukshetra as a Dharmakshetra it’s a Holy place, where traditionally people will perform their bath, their sacred dip there is kunda there or sacred bathing pool and by bathing there during the solar eclipse, it is said that one gets freed from all the karma. So, Lord Krishna has no karma, He is a totally transcendental personality, so He doesn’t need to go to rid of karma, but He is going there because His devotees invited Him. So, it says He goes to the house of Queen Kunti His aunty, His paternal aunt. Actually, it means He is going to meet all of His devotees. Isn’t it?

 

Now because Kurukshetra is not very far from Vrindavan, when the Vrajavasis heard Krishna was going there, all the childhood friends and devotees and the mother and father of Krishna—Yashoda and Nanda Maharaja—and all the gopis headed by Radharani, then this is our opportunity to go and meet Krishna. So, the Ratha Yatra festival was something that Lord Krishna participates in with the mood of going to meet His devotees in Vrindavan and Lord Chaitanya, He participated like that, that by bringing Krishna back to Vrindavan. So, it’s a festival of great reunion bringing everyone together.

 

 Now, during the Ratha yatra festival Lord Chaitanya would observe in Jagannath Puri; there were some very special miracles that happened. Lord Chaitanya He would observe how Lord Jagannath was brought out to the chariot. Now a days when Jagannath came to the chariot…How many saw; how Jagannath come to the chariot? Who saw? Can you tell me, how did He come? He came in the bullock cart?  Did He come in the back of the elephant? How did He come? [Not clear 00:07:14 – 00:07:20] on three Mercedes [laughs] this is you know western kali yuga… bring the deities in nice cart. But in Jagannath Puri the system is that the Lord is so big, this Jagannath I personally lifted one person can lift, by His mercy, He has made Himself very light for us. But in Jagannath Puri He is over two meters high and almost one and a half meters wide or more and He takes so much… so many people to lift Him, that He cannot be just lifted like that. So, they tie rope around His feet, rope around His waist and behind they have a very big peacock feather fan and in front they have many devotees who are playing on gongs. They play on these brass gongs, bell-metal gongs - Gong gong gong gong gong gong gong gong. There are hundred people beating on the gongs and while they are beating, they are bowing down and they are going forward one step after another and you can hear the beating of those gongs, like a royal procession for miles for kilometers. Then there are people who are fanning… hundred people are inside the two rows fanning — the white chamar fan, very beautiful. And the way they do… they tie a silken rope around the feet of Jagannath and then another one on the waist they pull Lord forward, then they pull the foot forward and He goes down one step and on each step they have a big pillow, when He goes down - the pillow explodes – tup and out from the pillow all the stuffing all that cotton pillow stuffing, they don’t; they only use organic things and simple flowers that flies up in the air keeps going down. In this way the Lord is practically walking with the devotees, He is walking step by step [makes sound of gongs]. They are just holding on the gongs seat forward [Not clear 00:09:41] forward hold the feet so the Lord is actually rocking. He is rocking and moving as they are pulling. When you see this procession, it is amazing, it is really overwhelming, it is beautiful to see how the Lord is moved from this temple to the temple… to the chariot.

 

I personally, when I went to India the first time in 1970, the first thing I did is that I went to see the Ratha yatra festival cause I was supposed to see Ratha yatra in London I missed it, so I thought let me see Ratha Yatra in Puri. So, I went. I was on top of a building.  I can see the whole thing happily. When they took Lord Balarama the big brother of Krishna, is very big, very big deity. This deity I don’t know how much Lord Jagannath and Balarama weigh in Jagannath Puri, but it must… it must be… the whole universe… They can weight----if They want because they are the soul of the universe. When they brought the Lord down to His chariot and they were lifting, there was a huge ramp must have been ten meters and they gradually moving Him up the ramp, some priest are pulling, some are pushing all of a sudden the rope snapped—very big rope snapped—Balarama started to go back and they look like all of the pujaris holding Him, there was at least ten pujaris they were being crushed. He was so heavy and then there were pujaris standing in the back of other pujaris and more to it there were like fifty people pushing and then He went forward again. Just to move the deity is such a major affair and finally they get all the deities in the chariot. Subhadra, she is dainty lady, She comes very easy. Then Krishna, He also… Lord Jagannath He takes some time to get in the chariot.

 

 There then the king of Puri the Gajapati Maharaja, he comes with a golden broom he sweeps the road, sweeps in front of the Lord. This is the big tradition about this that the king should be humble before God. The ruler may be the ruler for the people but on being front of God he is a servant. So, before the Lord he should sweep the road and make the Lord’s journey auspicious. So, one time they tell that in the very first Ratha yatra festival at that time King Indradyumna was observing the festival, then he was supposed to marry a princess from a neighbouring kingdom. However, the king of that kingdom sent a spy to see what type of ruler is this Indradyumna Maharaja, then he saw the chariot festival that the king was sweeping the road, and he said “What? a maharaja, a holy king… I mean a powerful king sweeping the road.” He reported that to the other kings, he said “My princess, my daughter will not marry a sweeper on the street never! Never!”. So, when king Indradyumna heard he said what is this they are so fool – foolish - I am sweeping the road before Jagannath, they are insulting Jagannath.

 

So, he declared war on that king, for the honor of Jagannath. So, then anyone thinks sweeping the road for God diminishes their stature, it is an insult to the Holiness and the divinity of the Lord. So, then the whole army was marching to meet the other king and they are marching. So, Indradyumna Maharaja was wondering whether in this campaign they are going to be victorious or not. In those days, the kings had to fight not that they were some distant place switching button, they had to be there fighting with their army, so it was a life and death situation. On the way, there was a lady, old lady from the village, she was serving yogurt, two young horseman came up to her said looking like princes, they said we want some yogurt, will you give us, so we don’t have any money.  So, then how will I get paid? You can get from Indradyumna maharaja. He won’t give me. How will I tell him that you took my yogurt?  Something here you take this golden ring, you take this ring and show it and give it him he will give you money for your yogurt. See, those were very honest times. [Not clear 00:15:00 – 00:15:14] but she was honest lady, she just wanted money for her yogurt, she didn’t want the gold ring. So, when the emperor came along, she was saying here I want a money for my yogurt, your princes took my yogurt I want the money what the solders you are keeping [Not clear 00:15:25 – 00:15:40]. “No, no, it is my money. I want yogurt money.” So, the emperor saw that there is some commotion with this lady “What’s going on?” She says that two of your princes have taken yogurt from her two of my princes [Not clear 00:15:55 – 00:16:00] are here, anyway bring him here what is this all about.

 

 So, she explained these two horseman came and they took yogurt from me and they told me that you will give me and they give me this ring to give you and then when you got the ring then he would know who they are. Let me see the ring, so he took the ring and he saw that the ring was the ring of Lord Krishna, Jagannath the ring that he offered to the deity. So, what did these two princes look like?  Say one was very dark blue in color, He got peacock feather on His hair, He was wearing a crown peacock feather, He was riding on a grey color horse, He was wearing yellow dhoti and the other one He was white in color with a very big smile He had a white feather in His crown and He was riding on a white horse.

 

 The king nearly fainted, these are descriptions of Krishna and Balarama. And she gave more “Yes, He was wearing shark earrings had a special necklace all the description of Krishna.” He said “my dear lady you saw Krishna, I in my whole life trying to see Krishna and you have seen Him face to face, I am making you a lady, you are going to be now noble, you can have your own village, don’t worry about your money for yogurt”. So, she was made a noble lady - in charge of the village. So that the… that he knew Jagannath is given the blessing. He went that campaign; he was the victorious everything was settled up and the other king had admitted that it was correct to sweep the road before God, so like this there are so many pastimes.

 

When Lord Chaitanya was chanting in the Ratha yatra festival, a miracle happened.  He had seven kirtan parties each would be chanting before Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra someone three different… we have one chariot but in Jagannath Puri they have three chariots. Gigantic chariots. We have two – I’m sorry, we have two this year for the children and for the… they have one for each deity in Calcutta Ratha yatra we have one for each deity. In Los Angeles they have one for each deity. So, maybe one day here in the future in Durban we also have one to each deity [Audience give applause and chant Hari Bol]. Let we have more opportunity to pull and dance. These three kirtan parties, three kirtan parties—one in front, in between, behind, on the sides. So, Lord Chaitanya had seven one in the front, one in between each Ratha, and one behind, and then one on the side of each Ratha, which is go around and around. So, this way a very beautiful arrangement.  Now the king after inaugurating the Ratha yatra he went on the top of his palace was watching the chariots go by. He noticed the seven kirtan parties, the Lord Chaitanya had extended Himself into seven different forms and was present in each of the seven sankirtan parties – dancing simultaneously.

 

The king was given a special vision because he took a humble position and served the Lord by sweeping the road, the Lord gave him the blessing to see that He was simultaneously dancing in all of the seven sankirtan parties. I think yesterday it looked like Srila Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja, the way he was running back and forth he was trying to also be everywhere at the same time. He kept everyone very blissful. So, of course Lord Chaitanya, He could actually be in each of the parties at the same time. And every party thought that how fortunate we are! The Lord is in my party, has left the other party and gone with us. Sometimes, the devotees have this mood you know, they all want to get the mercy… how is it possible?

 

Just like someone was telling me today how because of the great devotion for Srila Prabhupada, Bhakti Charu Maharaja is doing his Abhaycharan film which you’ll see tonight but because of that he is not here with us today. He is in Vrindavan shooting episodes of that series of about Prabhupada’s life. So, but if he was here then devotees think oh! We are very fortunate he is here. But you see we can only be in one place at the time, for Lord Chaitanya, He can be in all the places at the same time because He is the Krishna Himself. So, the king could see that Lord Chaitanya was dancing in all the different sankirtan parties at the same time. Now Srila Prabhupada, he said that this Ratha yatra festival is very, very special because it involves so many people in devotional service – pulling the Ratha, preparing the festival, cooking the prasadam, eating the prasadam. How many of you like to eat the prasadam? You like eating prasadam? Hari Bol [devotees: Hari Bol].

 

Would you know that many devotees who also are liking cooking the prasad?  Cooking for the Lord is also very pleasing. In the material world people are more concerned with the eating, but in the spiritual world serving the prasad is also very blissful. You ask the devotees who are serving all the prasadam they really like to give everyone Krishna’s mercy it’s very blissful to do that. How many of you have served prasadam? Isn’t it blissful?

 

So, this service to Krishna is something very, very special because by nature we are the part of Krishna, we are His spiritual part and parcel. In Bhagavad Gita, He explains mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ. All the living entities of the entire creation are my part and parcel, they are my spiritual parts. You see and by nature just like my hand is part of my body, what is the duty of the hand? If the hand serves the body, then the hand is healthy. Right? Sometimes people get a stroke, or some disease and you see one whole side goes paralyzed and that time is the hand useful? You can’t use it; it is just hanging there. So, if the hand is healthy it serves the body it is unhealthy, it just lies there – limb. So, we want that our limbs are all healthy and serving, in the same way we are parts of God, parts of Krishna are engaged in serving the Lord that is our natural position that’s why we feel blissful, we feel happy, we feel satisfied. People don’t feel satisfied simply by enjoying the senses, maybe they feel pleasure sure that’s why [Not clear 00:24:10 – 00:24:15] but the same senses gives us pleasure can also give us suffering.

 

The sense of touch which gives us so much happiness when we are touching something we like to touch if somebody scratches us over the head or with a stick or something that same sense of touch will make us suffer. Today I went to the dentist and the sense of touch in my tooth when they were drilling…How many of you get frightened when the dentist is drilling your tooth? You wish you know he wouldn’t go to much deeper. So, this is the nature of this material sense, the same mouth gives you pleasure when I eat and the same teeth that are chewing the food give me pain when I get tooth cavities… one cavity and I have to get a filling so that’s the nature of this material world. This material senses give us pleasure and also give us suffering, but the happiness we feel within when we are serving the Lord is pure nectar, pure happiness.

 

So, Ratha yatra is especially an opportunity for everyone to serve the Lord. Even someone just standing on the street may say “Hey these people are having a nice festival they are singing, and dancing let me dance with them and you get people coming and dancing, right?  And that’s their service for Krishna and someone may say they are all pulling, let me also pull and they grab the rope and pull the Lord and by grabbing and pulling, they are also getting unlimited blessings, and someone may just walk along and say let me go with the group this is something far out and by walking along that’s also a service to Krishna and [Not clear 00:26:05 – 00:26:09] take the food offered to Krishna and even though the food tastes good it is also spiritually uplifting, it’s not that they have to suffer to get spiritual upliftment.

 

Lord Chaitanya gave us the process for spiritual upliftment which is pure nectar. This is expressed by Govinda das parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana nitāi gauracandra saba avatāra-sāra śiromaṇi kevala ānanda-kanda. That’s Bengali. If you understand the meaning of that verse parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana nitāi gauracandra - that supremely merciful Lords are Nitai Gauracandra, saba avatāra - amongst all the incarnations of God, sāra śiromaṇi - they are the essence, they are the cream, they are the crown jewels, śiromaṇi – they are crown jewel kevala ānanda-kanda – because they have given a process of spiritual upliftment which is simply pure nectarian bliss, ānanda- means bliss, happiness, ānanda-  kevala ānanda-kanda – only happiness. Just like singing, dancing, feasting, festivaling – is too good to be true. How can somebody make spiritual upliftment by all these things? But it’s true it is really true because it’s all done—knowingly or unknowingly—accepted by the Lord as the service to Him and if He is pleased that’s all you need. Right?

 

 I mean in this country you know there are certain people who are very powerful and it’s like that in many countries of the world and if the person who is very powerful is pleased with you and once he give you a favor – he can do it, what to speak of Krishna? He is the most powerful person in the existence. He is the supreme Lord and if He is pleased with you – your life is a success. Now, you know the glories of the eighteenth-chapter Bhagavad Gita, it illustrates this point. In the Padma Purana it explains, that Lord Shiva was talking to Parvati and telling him…her what is the significance of the each chapter of Bhagavad Gita. So, when Parvati asked what is the significance of the eighteen-chapter of Bhagavad Gita? Then Lord Shiva explained to her, that one time Lord Indra was living in the Meru Mountain of the city of Amaravati and that was his capital at that time and there he was seated on a beautiful throne and there were apsaras – the heavenly damsels who were dancing for him, the great rishis and sages who were offering glories, the gandharvas were singing “Glories to Lord Indra, glories to Lord Indra, glories to Devraja Indra dev.” They are just glorifying him, he is sitting there on his seat, very happy to be Indra. The Lord of the three worlds, the king of the heavenly planets, there he was in his glories, in his majesty, in his power, seated on the throne of the king of heaven. Suddenly in his court… you saw here just before my speech the drama by the beautiful Johannesburg players about Ajamila and how the Yamadutas came and he were rescued by who? Vishnudutas. Yes, you are awake. The messengers of Vishnu, the same messengers of Vishnu came into the court of Lord Indra and the Vishnudutas – the messengers of Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu they were bringing with them one brahmana. When Lord Indra, when he saw the messengers of God Almighty had come into my heavenly kingdom, then immediately he came to greet them, “What can I do for you O messengers of the Supreme Lord Vishnu. But when he got off his throne and went to receive them, they walked up to him and walked right by him, kind almost brushed him aside, went up to his royal throne and put the brahmana on the throne of Indra and all of a sudden the brahmana was transformed into Indra and the gandharvas were singing “Long live Indra, glories to new Indra, jai Indra dev.” And the old Indra, ex-Indra he couldn’t believe it, in one second, I’ve been laid off my job, I’m removed, I’m replaced. How did they make this brahmana an Indra? I performed many rituals, I climbed the Himalaya mountains, I bathed in the ocean and did prayers, I did worship to Lord Shiva, I worshiped Parvati, I did fasting, I planted trees, I talked well to the thirsty people, I did fasting and tapayas and austerities and he didn’t do any of these things, so how did he become Indra and how am I down. Is it fair? but he was replace and hence he went to see Vishnu.

 

So, he went to see Lord Vishnu in spiritual planet of Vishnuloka, he got a special pass to go there. One day pass and he prayed to Lord Vishnu and Vishnu heard him and said “Well you have done all these austerities and you did all these things – it’s very nice, but these are very small things, what is the use of a small little fruit on the tree - it’s not very significant, you see all these penances are not so important; whatever sacrifice you did is very small things. I put this brahmana as an Indra because he pleased me. So, then the ex-Indra, he’d realized, well, he got removed because Lord was pleased with the other brahmana, so if I want to get the head in this world I better please Krishna.  So, he said “What did this brahmana do, he pleased you so much?” “See this brahmana what did he do I tell you every day this brahmana will read five verses of Bhagavad Gita eighteength chapter every day, he will read five verses of eighteenth chapter Bhagavad Gita because of that I was please so I made him Indra.” “Five verses of Bhagavad Gita eighteenth chapter and I climb Himalaya  mountain, you see my life going in the ocean planting trees, fasting, austerities, penance, one hundred Ashvamedha yajñas and he read five verses of Bhagavad Gita, I think I got it mixed up what was important. I thought all these big sacrifices were important, but now I understand pleasing the Lord is important and if the Lord is pleased by reading Bhagavad Gita eighteenth chapter, then I am going to read Bhagavad Gita eighteenth chapter. So, then he went to… got human form and looked in the earth to find the bona fide spiritual master, who can teach him Bhagavad Gita. On finding one he said please teach me the eighteenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita and then he learned the eighteenth chapter Bhagavad Gita—the verses byheart, the purport, everything—and he began chanting every single day, all the verses of eighteen chapter Bhagavad Gita not only five but all the verses.  One of the famous verses is

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto

mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru

mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te

pratijāne priyo ’si me

 

Be my devotee, bow down to me, remember me, worship me and then surely you will come to me.

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

 

Abandon all other types of religious duties and simply surrender unto me, by surrendering unto me I will protect you from all sinful reactions and you will come to me without fail.

So, like this he would be chanting verses of eighteenth chapter Bhagavad Gita. One day the Holy Vishnudutas, messengers of the supreme Lord, appeared before him again, they had descended from the spiritual sky. They said, “My dear ex-Brahma… ex-Indra, the Lord is pleased with you, where would you like to go now? would you like to be Indra again?” Then the Indra said frankly “No. I’ve been there, I did that, but I don’t want to do that again, if I… it is not the Lord’s desire. I realized to read the eighteen-chapter Bhagavad Gita that the highest destination is to be servant of the Lord and I want to go to the spiritual world where I can serve the Lord eternally.” So, then the Vishnudutas smiled and they said come with us, we’re taking you back to the spiritual world.

Nitai Gaur Sitanatha Premanande Hari Hari Hari Hari Hari Hari Hari Bol.

 

So, my dear devotees, the listeners, remember this the most important thing is – pleasing the Lord and if He is pleased – everything is the success and the meaning of  this festival is we all come out to please the Lord and even if someone doesn’t know the meaning of the festival and they just participate and walk along and sing along and dance along or feast along they also please the Lord. The Lord wants – nobody goes home hungry. He is the supreme father, and your father is there, has he ever left anybody go hungry in the family rather you can help Him. So, Krishna being the supreme Lord, He wants everyone to be supremely well-fed. So, please like a guest, take prasadam, there free prasadam given there, if you want some special item which is not given freely well, there is plenty of other prasadam for sale. Give a donation and help the temple. So, the meaning of this festival is to please the Lord and to be very happy.

 

One thing I like to say… I’ve about three minutes left… is that this is a very holy month, this is the month of Madhusudan and in this month, Lord is very pleased very easily - yes. This month Vaishakha also known as Vaishakh, anything you do spiritual this month it gives one hundred times the benefit. So, this is a very good month to take a holy dip, if you go in the ocean remember Haridas Thakur and chant Hare Krishna and not only you get an ocean swim you get a holy dip it’ll be considered a spiritual blessing for you. This is a very good month to begin chanting Hare Krishna until and about 11th or 12th of May the month continue. Even there is a history of the one man who was a miser, a sinner, he was definitely headed to hellish planets but because in this month of Vaishakha for five days he performed a little bit of spiritual activity, he was completely uplifted and he became a very successful person—in materially— and he got a very good wife and he became good pure devotee and at the end he went back to Godhead. Just by performing spiritual activities in the month of Vaishakha he got all the material and spiritual needs completely fulfilled. So, this is a very holy month and so that’s why we also having Ratha yatra in this month, it’s a special blessing for all of the devotees, to all of you. You should remember, the month of Vaishakha is a very good month to give charity, to do austerities, to chant Hare Krishna, to take holy dips, and to do any kind of service for the Lord. So, Happy Ratha Yatra! this time has given people an exceptional boost in their spiritual credit. If you haven’t start chanting Hare Krishna yet, please start right now today – get set of beads, get a mantra card and start chanting – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare. Get a Bhagavad Gita; if you can’t read the whole Bhagavad Gita at least read one of the chapters. If you like to read the eighteenth or the twelfth whatever want everyone has got tremendous glory. If you can read the whole Bhagavad Gita – perfect! Fantastic! If you can’t read the whole Gita read a whole chapter and know the chapter, if you can’t do that even, read one verse and that’ll also give you a great blessing everything to do with Krishna, it’s necta,r it’s pure auspiciousness for everyone. Krishna removes all the obstacles on our path of progress in this life of spiritual attainment, of every kind of attainment… you have… by just remembering Krishna, what to speak if you chant His name and you serve Him, you are definitely going to be successful in this life without fail. So, with these words I like to thank all of you for being present on this Ratha yatra festival. We hope that it’ll give you a very big blessing to all of you and all of you will be completely overwhelmed with spiritual bliss and happiness. My name again is Jayapataka Swami. I live in Sridham Mayapur, India. I come here from India and am very happy to be here again at this Ratha yatra festival. I will be here today and tomorrow. We’ll be showing you something about Mayapur, about ISKCON around the world later tonight with the ISKCON interactive program you can see that and I will be speaking to… mainly the computer will be speaking but I’ll speak a few words but if anybody needs to talk to me or find out more about of any of the projects we’re doing or congregational preaching in Mayapur – you can come up and see me any time we meet in the fairgrounds – I’ll be happy to talk with you, if you want to keep in touch – I am also happy to keep in touch with the devotees.

 

Thank you very much.

Lecture Code: 19980504

Festival: Ratha Yātrā Address 

Date: 04/May/1998

Place: Durban, South Africa  

 

Transcribed By: Subhadra Shubhangi DD

Transcribed on: 5th November 2020

 

Proof Reading by: Medhavini sakhi devi dasi

Date: 16th Nov 2020

 

 

Status: Completed

 

Following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on May 4th, 1998 in Durban, South Africa. The address was given on Ratha yatra day.

I offer my respectful obeisances on to the lotus feet of my beloved Spiritual Master - His Divine Grace Srila Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. By whose mercy even the lame can cross over the mountains, the blind can see the stars in the sky, and the deaf and dumb can became great orators. Oṃ Tat Sat.

 

Dear devotees of the Krishna Consciousness movement, our life members and patrons, all members of all respectable ladies and gentlemen, who are here tonight. You are in the second night of our Ratha yatra festival, the festival of the chariots. The chariot festival as His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja explained, is possibly the oldest festival, one of the very oldest festivals being observed on this planet and we are very proud that the tenth annual Ratha Yatra festival is being observed here in Durban, South Africa and we are very grateful that all of you are here tonight to participate in it. So, I have been asked to speak something about what is the meaning of the Ratha Yatra festival.

 

There are many meanings – there are very deep esoteric meanings and there are more external easy-to-understand meanings. There are very different meanings. In Jagannatha Puri, they take the deities every year on this procession and they begin from the main temple and they go some kilometers to another smaller temple – a garden temple. And there, Lord Jagannatha stays for one week and then comes back. So, one way… one day going, seven days staying and one day coming back. So, it looks as if Jagannatha is going for a vacation in His garden house and they called that house the masi bali (the masi’s house). He is going to see his aunt Kunti. Where Krishna was going from Dwarka to Kurukshetra on invitation of Queen Kunti and the Pandavas to be present for the solar eclipse, it was the very great opportunity to reunite with His devotees. You know Lord Krishna… I was asked to speak on the question and answer booth, why does He descend into this material world? And Krishna, He explains, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām that He comes down in this world especially to deliver His devotees and annihilate the miscreants and of the two pleasing the devotees is the most important. So, the Lord was going in order to please all of His devotees. They all were anxious to have Krishna’s association that was the obvious reason. So, He was going to see His devotees and went to Kurukshetra as a Dharmakshetra it’s a Holy place, where traditionally people will perform their bath, their sacred dip there is kunda there or sacred bathing pool and by bathing there during the solar eclipse, it is said that one gets freed from all the karma. So, Lord Krishna has no karma, He is a totally transcendental personality, so He doesn’t need to go to rid of karma, but He is going there because His devotees invited Him. So, it says He goes to the house of Queen Kunti His aunty, His paternal aunt. Actually, it means He is going to meet all of His devotees. Isn’t it?

 

Now because Kurukshetra is not very far from Vrindavan, when the Vrajavasis heard Krishna was going there, all the childhood friends and devotees and the mother and father of Krishna—Yashoda and Nanda Maharaja—and all the gopis headed by Radharani, then this is our opportunity to go and meet Krishna. So, the Ratha Yatra festival was something that Lord Krishna participates in with the mood of going to meet His devotees in Vrindavan and Lord Chaitanya, He participated like that, that by bringing Krishna back to Vrindavan. So, it’s a festival of great reunion bringing everyone together.

 

 Now, during the Ratha yatra festival Lord Chaitanya would observe in Jagannath Puri; there were some very special miracles that happened. Lord Chaitanya He would observe how Lord Jagannath was brought out to the chariot. Now a days when Jagannath came to the chariot…How many saw; how Jagannath come to the chariot? Who saw? Can you tell me, how did He come? He came in the bullock cart?  Did He come in the back of the elephant? How did He come? [Not clear 00:07:14 – 00:07:20] on three Mercedes [laughs] this is you know western kali yuga… bring the deities in nice cart. But in Jagannath Puri the system is that the Lord is so big, this Jagannath I personally lifted one person can lift, by His mercy, He has made Himself very light for us. But in Jagannath Puri He is over two meters high and almost one and a half meters wide or more and He takes so much… so many people to lift Him, that He cannot be just lifted like that. So, they tie rope around His feet, rope around His waist and behind they have a very big peacock feather fan and in front they have many devotees who are playing on gongs. They play on these brass gongs, bell-metal gongs - Gong gong gong gong gong gong gong gong. There are hundred people beating on the gongs and while they are beating, they are bowing down and they are going forward one step after another and you can hear the beating of those gongs, like a royal procession for miles for kilometers. Then there are people who are fanning… hundred people are inside the two rows fanning — the white chamar fan, very beautiful. And the way they do… they tie a silken rope around the feet of Jagannath and then another one on the waist they pull Lord forward, then they pull the foot forward and He goes down one step and on each step they have a big pillow, when He goes down - the pillow explodes – tup and out from the pillow all the stuffing all that cotton pillow stuffing, they don’t; they only use organic things and simple flowers that flies up in the air keeps going down. In this way the Lord is practically walking with the devotees, He is walking step by step [makes sound of gongs]. They are just holding on the gongs seat forward [Not clear 00:09:41] forward hold the feet so the Lord is actually rocking. He is rocking and moving as they are pulling. When you see this procession, it is amazing, it is really overwhelming, it is beautiful to see how the Lord is moved from this temple to the temple… to the chariot.

 

I personally, when I went to India the first time in 1970, the first thing I did is that I went to see the Ratha yatra festival cause I was supposed to see Ratha yatra in London I missed it, so I thought let me see Ratha Yatra in Puri. So, I went. I was on top of a building.  I can see the whole thing happily. When they took Lord Balarama the big brother of Krishna, is very big, very big deity. This deity I don’t know how much Lord Jagannath and Balarama weigh in Jagannath Puri, but it must… it must be… the whole universe… They can weight----if They want because they are the soul of the universe. When they brought the Lord down to His chariot and they were lifting, there was a huge ramp must have been ten meters and they gradually moving Him up the ramp, some priest are pulling, some are pushing all of a sudden the rope snapped—very big rope snapped—Balarama started to go back and they look like all of the pujaris holding Him, there was at least ten pujaris they were being crushed. He was so heavy and then there were pujaris standing in the back of other pujaris and more to it there were like fifty people pushing and then He went forward again. Just to move the deity is such a major affair and finally they get all the deities in the chariot. Subhadra, she is dainty lady, She comes very easy. Then Krishna, He also… Lord Jagannath He takes some time to get in the chariot.

 

 There then the king of Puri the Gajapati Maharaja, he comes with a golden broom he sweeps the road, sweeps in front of the Lord. This is the big tradition about this that the king should be humble before God. The ruler may be the ruler for the people but on being front of God he is a servant. So, before the Lord he should sweep the road and make the Lord’s journey auspicious. So, one time they tell that in the very first Ratha yatra festival at that time King Indradyumna was observing the festival, then he was supposed to marry a princess from a neighbouring kingdom. However, the king of that kingdom sent a spy to see what type of ruler is this Indradyumna Maharaja, then he saw the chariot festival that the king was sweeping the road, and he said “What? a maharaja, a holy king… I mean a powerful king sweeping the road.” He reported that to the other kings, he said “My princess, my daughter will not marry a sweeper on the street never! Never!”. So, when king Indradyumna heard he said what is this they are so fool – foolish - I am sweeping the road before Jagannath, they are insulting Jagannath.

 

So, he declared war on that king, for the honor of Jagannath. So, then anyone thinks sweeping the road for God diminishes their stature, it is an insult to the Holiness and the divinity of the Lord. So, then the whole army was marching to meet the other king and they are marching. So, Indradyumna Maharaja was wondering whether in this campaign they are going to be victorious or not. In those days, the kings had to fight not that they were some distant place switching button, they had to be there fighting with their army, so it was a life and death situation. On the way, there was a lady, old lady from the village, she was serving yogurt, two young horseman came up to her said looking like princes, they said we want some yogurt, will you give us, so we don’t have any money.  So, then how will I get paid? You can get from Indradyumna maharaja. He won’t give me. How will I tell him that you took my yogurt?  Something here you take this golden ring, you take this ring and show it and give it him he will give you money for your yogurt. See, those were very honest times. [Not clear 00:15:00 – 00:15:14] but she was honest lady, she just wanted money for her yogurt, she didn’t want the gold ring. So, when the emperor came along, she was saying here I want a money for my yogurt, your princes took my yogurt I want the money what the solders you are keeping [Not clear 00:15:25 – 00:15:40]. “No, no, it is my money. I want yogurt money.” So, the emperor saw that there is some commotion with this lady “What’s going on?” She says that two of your princes have taken yogurt from her two of my princes [Not clear 00:15:55 – 00:16:00] are here, anyway bring him here what is this all about.

 

 So, she explained these two horseman came and they took yogurt from me and they told me that you will give me and they give me this ring to give you and then when you got the ring then he would know who they are. Let me see the ring, so he took the ring and he saw that the ring was the ring of Lord Krishna, Jagannath the ring that he offered to the deity. So, what did these two princes look like?  Say one was very dark blue in color, He got peacock feather on His hair, He was wearing a crown peacock feather, He was riding on a grey color horse, He was wearing yellow dhoti and the other one He was white in color with a very big smile He had a white feather in His crown and He was riding on a white horse.

 

 The king nearly fainted, these are descriptions of Krishna and Balarama. And she gave more “Yes, He was wearing shark earrings had a special necklace all the description of Krishna.” He said “my dear lady you saw Krishna, I in my whole life trying to see Krishna and you have seen Him face to face, I am making you a lady, you are going to be now noble, you can have your own village, don’t worry about your money for yogurt”. So, she was made a noble lady - in charge of the village. So that the… that he knew Jagannath is given the blessing. He went that campaign; he was the victorious everything was settled up and the other king had admitted that it was correct to sweep the road before God, so like this there are so many pastimes.

 

When Lord Chaitanya was chanting in the Ratha yatra festival, a miracle happened.  He had seven kirtan parties each would be chanting before Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra someone three different… we have one chariot but in Jagannath Puri they have three chariots. Gigantic chariots. We have two – I’m sorry, we have two this year for the children and for the… they have one for each deity in Calcutta Ratha yatra we have one for each deity. In Los Angeles they have one for each deity. So, maybe one day here in the future in Durban we also have one to each deity [Audience give applause and chant Hari Bol]. Let we have more opportunity to pull and dance. These three kirtan parties, three kirtan parties—one in front, in between, behind, on the sides. So, Lord Chaitanya had seven one in the front, one in between each Ratha, and one behind, and then one on the side of each Ratha, which is go around and around. So, this way a very beautiful arrangement.  Now the king after inaugurating the Ratha yatra he went on the top of his palace was watching the chariots go by. He noticed the seven kirtan parties, the Lord Chaitanya had extended Himself into seven different forms and was present in each of the seven sankirtan parties – dancing simultaneously.

 

The king was given a special vision because he took a humble position and served the Lord by sweeping the road, the Lord gave him the blessing to see that He was simultaneously dancing in all of the seven sankirtan parties. I think yesterday it looked like Srila Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja, the way he was running back and forth he was trying to also be everywhere at the same time. He kept everyone very blissful. So, of course Lord Chaitanya, He could actually be in each of the parties at the same time. And every party thought that how fortunate we are! The Lord is in my party, has left the other party and gone with us. Sometimes, the devotees have this mood you know, they all want to get the mercy… how is it possible?

 

Just like someone was telling me today how because of the great devotion for Srila Prabhupada, Bhakti Charu Maharaja is doing his Abhaycharan film which you’ll see tonight but because of that he is not here with us today. He is in Vrindavan shooting episodes of that series of about Prabhupada’s life. So, but if he was here then devotees think oh! We are very fortunate he is here. But you see we can only be in one place at the time, for Lord Chaitanya, He can be in all the places at the same time because He is the Krishna Himself. So, the king could see that Lord Chaitanya was dancing in all the different sankirtan parties at the same time. Now Srila Prabhupada, he said that this Ratha yatra festival is very, very special because it involves so many people in devotional service – pulling the Ratha, preparing the festival, cooking the prasadam, eating the prasadam. How many of you like to eat the prasadam? You like eating prasadam? Hari Bol [devotees: Hari Bol].

 

Would you know that many devotees who also are liking cooking the prasad?  Cooking for the Lord is also very pleasing. In the material world people are more concerned with the eating, but in the spiritual world serving the prasad is also very blissful. You ask the devotees who are serving all the prasadam they really like to give everyone Krishna’s mercy it’s very blissful to do that. How many of you have served prasadam? Isn’t it blissful?

 

So, this service to Krishna is something very, very special because by nature we are the part of Krishna, we are His spiritual part and parcel. In Bhagavad Gita, He explains mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ. All the living entities of the entire creation are my part and parcel, they are my spiritual parts. You see and by nature just like my hand is part of my body, what is the duty of the hand? If the hand serves the body, then the hand is healthy. Right? Sometimes people get a stroke, or some disease and you see one whole side goes paralyzed and that time is the hand useful? You can’t use it; it is just hanging there. So, if the hand is healthy it serves the body it is unhealthy, it just lies there – limb. So, we want that our limbs are all healthy and serving, in the same way we are parts of God, parts of Krishna are engaged in serving the Lord that is our natural position that’s why we feel blissful, we feel happy, we feel satisfied. People don’t feel satisfied simply by enjoying the senses, maybe they feel pleasure sure that’s why [Not clear 00:24:10 – 00:24:15] but the same senses gives us pleasure can also give us suffering.

 

The sense of touch which gives us so much happiness when we are touching something we like to touch if somebody scratches us over the head or with a stick or something that same sense of touch will make us suffer. Today I went to the dentist and the sense of touch in my tooth when they were drilling…How many of you get frightened when the dentist is drilling your tooth? You wish you know he wouldn’t go to much deeper. So, this is the nature of this material sense, the same mouth gives you pleasure when I eat and the same teeth that are chewing the food give me pain when I get tooth cavities… one cavity and I have to get a filling so that’s the nature of this material world. This material senses give us pleasure and also give us suffering, but the happiness we feel within when we are serving the Lord is pure nectar, pure happiness.

 

So, Ratha yatra is especially an opportunity for everyone to serve the Lord. Even someone just standing on the street may say “Hey these people are having a nice festival they are singing, and dancing let me dance with them and you get people coming and dancing, right?  And that’s their service for Krishna and someone may say they are all pulling, let me also pull and they grab the rope and pull the Lord and by grabbing and pulling, they are also getting unlimited blessings, and someone may just walk along and say let me go with the group this is something far out and by walking along that’s also a service to Krishna and [Not clear 00:26:05 – 00:26:09] take the food offered to Krishna and even though the food tastes good it is also spiritually uplifting, it’s not that they have to suffer to get spiritual upliftment.

 

Lord Chaitanya gave us the process for spiritual upliftment which is pure nectar. This is expressed by Govinda das parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana nitāi gauracandra saba avatāra-sāra śiromaṇi kevala ānanda-kanda. That’s Bengali. If you understand the meaning of that verse parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana nitāi gauracandra - that supremely merciful Lords are Nitai Gauracandra, saba avatāra - amongst all the incarnations of God, sāra śiromaṇi - they are the essence, they are the cream, they are the crown jewels, śiromaṇi – they are crown jewel kevala ānanda-kanda – because they have given a process of spiritual upliftment which is simply pure nectarian bliss, ānanda- means bliss, happiness, ānanda-  kevala ānanda-kanda – only happiness. Just like singing, dancing, feasting, festivaling – is too good to be true. How can somebody make spiritual upliftment by all these things? But it’s true it is really true because it’s all done—knowingly or unknowingly—accepted by the Lord as the service to Him and if He is pleased that’s all you need. Right?

 

 I mean in this country you know there are certain people who are very powerful and it’s like that in many countries of the world and if the person who is very powerful is pleased with you and once he give you a favor – he can do it, what to speak of Krishna? He is the most powerful person in the existence. He is the supreme Lord and if He is pleased with you – your life is a success. Now, you know the glories of the eighteenth-chapter Bhagavad Gita, it illustrates this point. In the Padma Purana it explains, that Lord Shiva was talking to Parvati and telling him…her what is the significance of the each chapter of Bhagavad Gita. So, when Parvati asked what is the significance of the eighteen-chapter of Bhagavad Gita? Then Lord Shiva explained to her, that one time Lord Indra was living in the Meru Mountain of the city of Amaravati and that was his capital at that time and there he was seated on a beautiful throne and there were apsaras – the heavenly damsels who were dancing for him, the great rishis and sages who were offering glories, the gandharvas were singing “Glories to Lord Indra, glories to Lord Indra, glories to Devraja Indra dev.” They are just glorifying him, he is sitting there on his seat, very happy to be Indra. The Lord of the three worlds, the king of the heavenly planets, there he was in his glories, in his majesty, in his power, seated on the throne of the king of heaven. Suddenly in his court… you saw here just before my speech the drama by the beautiful Johannesburg players about Ajamila and how the Yamadutas came and he were rescued by who? Vishnudutas. Yes, you are awake. The messengers of Vishnu, the same messengers of Vishnu came into the court of Lord Indra and the Vishnudutas – the messengers of Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu they were bringing with them one brahmana. When Lord Indra, when he saw the messengers of God Almighty had come into my heavenly kingdom, then immediately he came to greet them, “What can I do for you O messengers of the Supreme Lord Vishnu. But when he got off his throne and went to receive them, they walked up to him and walked right by him, kind almost brushed him aside, went up to his royal throne and put the brahmana on the throne of Indra and all of a sudden the brahmana was transformed into Indra and the gandharvas were singing “Long live Indra, glories to new Indra, jai Indra dev.” And the old Indra, ex-Indra he couldn’t believe it, in one second, I’ve been laid off my job, I’m removed, I’m replaced. How did they make this brahmana an Indra? I performed many rituals, I climbed the Himalaya mountains, I bathed in the ocean and did prayers, I did worship to Lord Shiva, I worshiped Parvati, I did fasting, I planted trees, I talked well to the thirsty people, I did fasting and tapayas and austerities and he didn’t do any of these things, so how did he become Indra and how am I down. Is it fair? but he was replace and hence he went to see Vishnu.

 

So, he went to see Lord Vishnu in spiritual planet of Vishnuloka, he got a special pass to go there. One day pass and he prayed to Lord Vishnu and Vishnu heard him and said “Well you have done all these austerities and you did all these things – it’s very nice, but these are very small things, what is the use of a small little fruit on the tree - it’s not very significant, you see all these penances are not so important; whatever sacrifice you did is very small things. I put this brahmana as an Indra because he pleased me. So, then the ex-Indra, he’d realized, well, he got removed because Lord was pleased with the other brahmana, so if I want to get the head in this world I better please Krishna.  So, he said “What did this brahmana do, he pleased you so much?” “See this brahmana what did he do I tell you every day this brahmana will read five verses of Bhagavad Gita eighteength chapter every day, he will read five verses of eighteenth chapter Bhagavad Gita because of that I was please so I made him Indra.” “Five verses of Bhagavad Gita eighteenth chapter and I climb Himalaya  mountain, you see my life going in the ocean planting trees, fasting, austerities, penance, one hundred Ashvamedha yajñas and he read five verses of Bhagavad Gita, I think I got it mixed up what was important. I thought all these big sacrifices were important, but now I understand pleasing the Lord is important and if the Lord is pleased by reading Bhagavad Gita eighteenth chapter, then I am going to read Bhagavad Gita eighteenth chapter. So, then he went to… got human form and looked in the earth to find the bona fide spiritual master, who can teach him Bhagavad Gita. On finding one he said please teach me the eighteenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita and then he learned the eighteenth chapter Bhagavad Gita—the verses byheart, the purport, everything—and he began chanting every single day, all the verses of eighteen chapter Bhagavad Gita not only five but all the verses.  One of the famous verses is

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto

mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru

mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te

pratijāne priyo ’si me

 

Be my devotee, bow down to me, remember me, worship me and then surely you will come to me.

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

 

Abandon all other types of religious duties and simply surrender unto me, by surrendering unto me I will protect you from all sinful reactions and you will come to me without fail.

So, like this he would be chanting verses of eighteenth chapter Bhagavad Gita. One day the Holy Vishnudutas, messengers of the supreme Lord, appeared before him again, they had descended from the spiritual sky. They said, “My dear ex-Brahma… ex-Indra, the Lord is pleased with you, where would you like to go now? would you like to be Indra again?” Then the Indra said frankly “No. I’ve been there, I did that, but I don’t want to do that again, if I… it is not the Lord’s desire. I realized to read the eighteen-chapter Bhagavad Gita that the highest destination is to be servant of the Lord and I want to go to the spiritual world where I can serve the Lord eternally.” So, then the Vishnudutas smiled and they said come with us, we’re taking you back to the spiritual world.

Nitai Gaur Sitanatha Premanande Hari Hari Hari Hari Hari Hari Hari Bol.

 

So, my dear devotees, the listeners, remember this the most important thing is – pleasing the Lord and if He is pleased – everything is the success and the meaning of  this festival is we all come out to please the Lord and even if someone doesn’t know the meaning of the festival and they just participate and walk along and sing along and dance along or feast along they also please the Lord. The Lord wants – nobody goes home hungry. He is the supreme father, and your father is there, has he ever left anybody go hungry in the family rather you can help Him. So, Krishna being the supreme Lord, He wants everyone to be supremely well-fed. So, please like a guest, take prasadam, there free prasadam given there, if you want some special item which is not given freely well, there is plenty of other prasadam for sale. Give a donation and help the temple. So, the meaning of this festival is to please the Lord and to be very happy.

 

One thing I like to say… I’ve about three minutes left… is that this is a very holy month, this is the month of Madhusudan and in this month, Lord is very pleased very easily - yes. This month Vaishakha also known as Vaishakh, anything you do spiritual this month it gives one hundred times the benefit. So, this is a very good month to take a holy dip, if you go in the ocean remember Haridas Thakur and chant Hare Krishna and not only you get an ocean swim you get a holy dip it’ll be considered a spiritual blessing for you. This is a very good month to begin chanting Hare Krishna until and about 11th or 12th of May the month continue. Even there is a history of the one man who was a miser, a sinner, he was definitely headed to hellish planets but because in this month of Vaishakha for five days he performed a little bit of spiritual activity, he was completely uplifted and he became a very successful person—in materially— and he got a very good wife and he became good pure devotee and at the end he went back to Godhead. Just by performing spiritual activities in the month of Vaishakha he got all the material and spiritual needs completely fulfilled. So, this is a very holy month and so that’s why we also having Ratha yatra in this month, it’s a special blessing for all of the devotees, to all of you. You should remember, the month of Vaishakha is a very good month to give charity, to do austerities, to chant Hare Krishna, to take holy dips, and to do any kind of service for the Lord. So, Happy Ratha Yatra! this time has given people an exceptional boost in their spiritual credit. If you haven’t start chanting Hare Krishna yet, please start right now today – get set of beads, get a mantra card and start chanting – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare. Get a Bhagavad Gita; if you can’t read the whole Bhagavad Gita at least read one of the chapters. If you like to read the eighteenth or the twelfth whatever want everyone has got tremendous glory. If you can read the whole Bhagavad Gita – perfect! Fantastic! If you can’t read the whole Gita read a whole chapter and know the chapter, if you can’t do that even, read one verse and that’ll also give you a great blessing everything to do with Krishna, it’s necta,r it’s pure auspiciousness for everyone. Krishna removes all the obstacles on our path of progress in this life of spiritual attainment, of every kind of attainment… you have… by just remembering Krishna, what to speak if you chant His name and you serve Him, you are definitely going to be successful in this life without fail. So, with these words I like to thank all of you for being present on this Ratha yatra festival. We hope that it’ll give you a very big blessing to all of you and all of you will be completely overwhelmed with spiritual bliss and happiness. My name again is Jayapataka Swami. I live in Sridham Mayapur, India. I come here from India and am very happy to be here again at this Ratha yatra festival. I will be here today and tomorrow. We’ll be showing you something about Mayapur, about ISKCON around the world later tonight with the ISKCON interactive program you can see that and I will be speaking to… mainly the computer will be speaking but I’ll speak a few words but if anybody needs to talk to me or find out more about of any of the projects we’re doing or congregational preaching in Mayapur – you can come up and see me any time we meet in the fairgrounds – I’ll be happy to talk with you, if you want to keep in touch – I am also happy to keep in touch with the devotees.

 

Thank you very much.