20080509 Arrival Address: Bangladesh Safari Experience

The following is an arrival address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 7, 2008 in Balarāmadeśa.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram

Very happy to be back here again at Balarāmadeśa, see the bright faces of the devotees of Balarāmadeśa – ujjvala-mukha. We had a Gaura-pūrṇimā festival of loving exchange this year with many dramas and presentations, cultural programs, seminars. How many went for the Gaura-pūrṇimā festival? Thank you. Dhanyavād. And then we went for 21-days on Bangladesh Safari parikrimā, Gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi parikramā. This was… we were planning to go for many years, but somehow we could only go this time, and we got a protection and cooperation from the government. They gave us a police escort wherever we went. So we were for 21-days in Bangladesh, ekuśa-din. [Haribol!] There are many holy places and we had 120 devotees from 25–30 countries. Last year we went to South India, we were in all the four states: Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. This year Bangladesh.  Like that every year we go somewhere else. Usually, every three years we go to South India. There we went to Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura’s appearance place. We stayed where Lord Caitanya had left kṛṣṇa-prema for Narottama. There is a tree there called prema-tali, the tree where He left the prema. How many here would like to get kṛṣṇa-prema? [Haribol!] Also all the devotees there were praying… that maybe a few drops were left over. (laughter) When they had… we had one Taraganj, I gave an initiation on 450–500 devotees. (Haribol!)

Devotees: How many days it took to complete the initiation?

Jayapatākā Swami: All in one day, but six hours to give out the beads (Haribol!) till midnight. And there was another program, where there was 50,000 people waiting. But I was too tired; I was all day giving out (beads), so I went to sleep. And in the morning still 10,000 were waiting, all night. Just for the one day program a whole bazaar was established – selling chanachur, all kinds of pakoras, what not you know, fruits. So then we went like that to many, we went to different places, went to our headquarters in Dhaka and the Mayor of Dhaka came. Some other VIPs, Vice Chancellor of University, some member of previous member of Parliament, different VIPs came. Then we went to Narsindi, which is… and they had a big missile, they called it a rally. This is a… there was thousands and thousands of people chanting while we were going. I was in a SUV vehicle with the sun opening, standing up, and then people are throwing flowers and I am going. I was afraid maybe some people we offended. But they did so much. And there was a big pandal with maybe 15,000 people and spoke there and then went on to the Habiganj, which is the birthplace of Śacīmātā. (Haribol!) So we went to Śacīmātā’s birthplace and then we had our program in Habiganj’s ISKCON temple. Our devotees from different countries, they were giving cultural events. One devotee is a musician. Right now he is sick in Spain. All the devotees can do “Haribol” three times for his health.

Devotees: Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!

Jayapatākā Swami: His name is Manohara Śyāma. So he produced nectar on the stage and distributed to the devotees. And there was also drama troupe from Russia. So they did Rāmāyaṇa, one-hour Rāmāyaṇa show, very beautiful costumes and dances. But the whole drama was in Russian. (laughter) But since everybody knew the Rāmāyaṇa anyway, it didn’t make any difference. They could all figure out what is happening. Everybody knows Hanumān. Jaya Bajraṅgabali Hanumānjī kī… (jaya!) They also had one pantomime, ‘The Long Dream’. So pantomime means no talking. So it doesn’t matter Russian or whatever, that is also done by that. How the person is going through his life like a dream. Then there was also the “Śyāma dance”. Do girls know how to do “Śyāma dance”? One of the girls dressed up as Śyāma, another as Rādhārāṇī, then the eight gopīs. Then there is one fallen jīva, one lady is dressed as a fallen jīva. She puts a black chādār over. She says, “I have fallen down from the spiritual world. I am just missing my beloved Śyāma. When can I go back to Śyāma? I am suffering here in the material world because of my material desires.” Something like that. So then in the end she is taken back by Rādhā and eight gopīs and brought in to the sevā, very esoteric. So when Kṛṣṇa  takes the fallen jīva back, then everybody cheered in Bangladesh, they were very happy. We also had other dramas. We had a rock-and-roll group, Russian again. We had a bhajana group and a kīrtana group. Maybe some more things also. So the cultural program was very well liked. So Habiganj, so we went from there, we went to Sylhet where Jagannātha Miśra was born. You know who is Jagannātha Miśra? You know?

Kids: Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s  father.

Jayapatākā Swami: And who is the mother?

Kids: Śacīmātā!

Jayapatākā Swami: Who is the father?

Kids: Jagannātha Miśra!

Jayapatākā Swami: Mother?

Kids: Śacīmātā!

Jayapatākā Swami: Father?

Kids: Jagannātha Miśra

Jayapatākā Swami: Okay, seems like you are getting it. (laughter). Then they had a big program there. We have a 12-acre hill in the middle of the city of Sylhet which is worth millions of dollars. So there we had a big stage program. Then went to Murāri Gupta birthplace. Murāri Gupta is an incarnation in caitanya-līlā of Hanumān. Bajraṅgbali Hanumānjī kī… (jaya!) Murāri Gupta kī… (jaya!) So there was one local, very pious Muslim that he owns the land where Murāri Gupta lived, born. He saw so many devotees from around the world and 10,000 local people came out. Then he offered publicly that I will give up this piece of land where he was born to build a temple. (Haribol!) And the local chairman of the Panchayat Union, he said we didn’t know this is such an important place, people come from all over the world, so we must have a temple there. So like this was giving a good impression on the people. Then as we were marching in, the local boys, they said just you go by rickshaw, but it was 6 kms by rickshaw. They never tell, just few! Ekaṭu, ekaṭu, pañca minute. The 6 kms, you can imagine, took about over an hour. They were going, “Gurudeva āgamana! Śubhekśa svāgatam! Gurudeva āgamana! Śubhekṣa svāgatam! Gurudeva āgamana! Śubhekṣa svāgatam!” Like this they were going on for hour, hour! So they were very fired up. Then we went to a temple called Rangikul. This is a 150-acre land which was Gandhi Āśrama and Netaji  Subhash Bose stayed there during the Second World-war. Different people, different dignitaries, followers of Gandhi went there. So this is a very historical place that was given to ISKCON. So we had a big public program there. They had 150-acres. So that’s they are growing ānārasa (pineapple) and mangoes and litchis, many different things. Then we went to Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita’s birthplace. So that was daytime visit. We visited there, had some talks. So they were very happy that we came. We were happy to see such an important place. So how we didn’t know that so many places were there in Bangladesh.

Then I went by helicopter to the birthplace of Advaita Gosāi, where a temple was built by donation of some local rich Hindus. And I went there to install the Deities, to do abhiṣeka for the Deities. But this helicopter, small helicopter, four-passenger, he got lost. He almost entered into India. He went 18 km over. His map was wrong. Then he landed in a village and said, “Where is this place?” (laughter) Villagers were  surprised, how a helicopter is landing and asking direction. (laughter) Then he went again and then he stopped and asked just little further, 5 kms. And finally, we saw the temple and the big crowd, and they put a helipad 3 kms from the Indian Bangladesh border on the north, by Meghalaya. There were hundred thousand people there bathing. That Advaita, He said that on this tithi, all the holy rivers will come, so he can do his pūjā. So people come from all around and they bathe at that time. Then we were going back at 4 O’clock, also by helicopter. We got caught in one of these, what they call kāl-vaiśākhi, a special very heavy storm. So we went in between two storms. We came in, but then we were all around storm. And there was no way to go out. We were trying to go to Comilla, but big storm there, flooding. We tried to go to Dhaka, but storm (inaudible) whole Bangladesh storm. And that helicopter is shaking. I thought maybe, “Haribol!”. (laughter) I was saying my prayers to Kṛṣṇa. Why did I go in this helicopter? (laughter) Then the driver, he said that we can’t go anywhere, so we had to make emergency landing. So he landed in some village, in some football field. And all the local villagers, they don’t have too many helicopters, they are all crowded around and they were looking, putting their nose on the helicopter. (laughter) Then the police came and pushed everyone back. Then one lady came, she is wearing tilaka. She said, “You are Jayapatākā Swami.” (Haribol!) I said, “Yes!” She said, “I have your picture on my altar. You are my guru. But I never met you. But I have your picture. So I know what you look like. Will you come to my house?” So these people are rocking the helicopter everything. So I said, “Okay, we will go to your house.” Then she said that she has a kula-guru because her husband and her… they eat fish. They know in ISKCON we don’t give dīkṣā with fish. So she has a fish guru. (laughter) And then she has a spiritual guru, which is me. (laughter) So she prayed to me, she does the pūjā to me for her spiritual upliftment and for the family that they have to have guru. She has a fish guru. (laughter) I said, “Since Kṛṣṇa brought me here, now your whole family had to become vegetarian, eat kṛṣṇa-prasāda.” So why only us? Our neighbors too.” So then she arranged a car for us. And she said that day she is wearing tilaka, as it was Thursday. And Bṛhaspati, Guruvāra, she is a vegetarian, so she wears tilaka. Bangladesh! (laughter)

Then we went to Comilla. But by that time, we reached it was midnight; program was over, heavy storm there. The next morning, we had a program. There was a thousands of people. So we had a program and gave class. Then we went to… like this all over, we went to Cox Bazaar, Feni, Chowmuhani and went to Puṇḍarīka Dhāma, Caṭṭagrāma. In Caṭṭagrāma, they did a very big procession again. They arranged a flatbed truck and all the ladies were on the truck, like these girls were dancing. They were doing dancing on a moving truck, flatback with a big loudspeaker. Thousands of people, everyone wearing some little special hat with a Kṛṣṇa picture. So big program. So we did a program there and then went to Cox Bazaar. Then from there went to Puṇḍarīka Dhāma. We saw also the birthplace of Mukunda Datta and Vāsudeva Datta. And the committee who is in charge of that they said they want to give it to ISKCON. You know Vāsudeva Datta? Why not? He took the sins of all the living entities and said, “Let me suffer for everyone. Let everyone go back to Kṛṣṇa and have kṛṣṇa-prema, the most merciful guru. Not only for his disciples but for all the conditioned souls. Then Lord Caitanya told that, “You are My dear devotee. Why will I let you suffer in hell for everyone? Just by your desire I am delivering everyone.” Gaurāṅga! Like this we went back to Narayanganj, we had a big program. The mayor was there also. From Narayanganj we went down to Barishal, on the way we stopped in Faridpur. Then we went to Khulna. Then we went to Mangal and through the Sundarban. And the head of the Sundarban reserve forest was taking us in his private speedboat. But we didn’t see any tiger. But he said seeing a tiger may be the most lucky person or the most unlucky person. (laughter) You may see a tiger that is lucky, but then if the tiger eats you, you are unlucky. (laughter) But we saw a crocodile, deers, monkeys and other jungle animals. Only I was surprised not many birds. I saw not many birds.

Then we did a program in Khulna. We did a program at Rūpa Sanātana, we have a temple at Sanātana and Rūpa Gosvāmī’s birthplace. Then that was on Rāma Navamī. Then again, we went back to Māyāpur for the Vyāsa-pūjā.

This offering, I don’t know, I don’t think all those things they are saying is exactly correct. All I know is if I have any good quality, it’s Prabhupāda’s mercy. So Prabhupāda kī… (jaya!) The Prabhupādānuga, that’s correct. Prabhupāda Dāsa. All the other things I can’t say. I don’t understand so much Sanskrit. But I am just trying to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda and I thank all of you for helping me.

So I am really happy that so many devotees are chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. So like that… that’s some of the things we were doing since the Gaura-pūrṇimā. But if you want to see what I did the whole last year, I have a 45-minute audio-visual presentation. You can see where it fits in. We hope that everybody chants ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’ and remains happy always. Whether you are gṛhasthas or whether you are unmarried. Gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Everyone should chant. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. So I come here, then from here I have to go back to England for a retreat of the congregation. 200–300 devotees will be there for the retreat. Then I have to go back to Māyāpur for the Nṛsiṁha-caturdaśī.

Devotees: What does a retreat mean?

Jayapatākā Swami: Retreat! A retreat means where the devotees go to some place for a couple days, 2–3 days. And they have seminars, classes, kīrtans. That is called a retreat. Just like sometimes you go on a boat out for some festival, or you go to some island. So here they are doing for two days. Retreat means some sannyāsīs and senior devotees will come and give lectures. And these devotees will come from around the place, and they will stay there for a couple of days. This is also I am coming here is like a retreat, (laughter) only you are already here. You don’t have to go anywhere. Just come to the temple. So they have pretty full program seems, I haven’t seen everything. I was here in January for the Ratha-yātrā, which was inaugurated by various dignitaries. So not so long ago I was here. The January, then February, March, April. Four months!

Devotee: Six months.

Jayapatākā Swami: No, February, March, April, May, four months.

Devotee: This is May.

Jayapatākā Swami: Yeah, I was here January. So one month is February. Then March.

Devotees: December it was. December.

Jayapatākā Swami: Five months. What were you getting, I didn’t have Dāmodaradeśa or Avatārīdesā.

Devotee: Dāmodaradeśa every time, last week also Guru Mahārāja go!

Jayapatākā Swami: No! I went to Śyāmadeśa for one night in transit to Mathurādeśā. Mathurādeśa got a full… Because about nine months, last October, when I bought my round the world ticket, I put Bahrain in it, Balarāmadeśa. So planning that I needed to come here, was that a mistake? (laughter)

Devotee 1: In fact, it’s late, Guru Mahārāja. It was supposed to be for April.

Devotee 2: Guru Mahārāja was visiting three times in a year. Two times like this, and one time at the Ratha-yātrā. That is exceptional.

Devotee 1: No! Ratha-yātrā was not accounted at all, it was not accounted.

Devotee 2: Yes! That is not accounted.

(laughter)

Jayapatākā Swami: You can say anything. Time is ticking. I only have so many days in a year. So how to adjust? This prasāda is for these children. You eat prasāda?

Devotees: We are all your children. Big children!

Jayapatākā Swami: Little children first. It’s late. I am still… Working day tomorrow. So…

[End of recording]