20101020 Evening Class

The Glories Of The Dāmodara Month

Type of Talk:

Darshan

Location:

Bombay - Mumbai

Date:

Thursday, October 21, 2010

 

THE GLORIES OF DAMODAR MONTH: LECTURE BY HH JAPATAKA SWAMI, GURU MAHARAJ

 

ON OCTOBER 21, 2010, ISKCON CHOWPATY

 

Introduction by a senior devotee in Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha Mandir, Chowpaty, Mumbai:

 

Hare Krishna!

 

It is our great privilege and honor that we have amongst us Jayapataka Maharaj...

 

The Audience: Jai!

 

Senior devotee: Jayapataka Maharaja ki!

 

The Audience: Jai!

 

The senior devotee: Jayapataka Maharaja ki!

 

The audience: Jai!

 

The senior devotee: Jayapataka Maharaja ki!

 

The Audience : Jai!

 

The senior devotee continues introduction: Haribol! He is one of the most senior disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami Srila Prabhupad. And with permission maharaja, I would like to say something about when you first came to India in 1970.

 

Jayapataka maharaj must have been, at that time, in his early 20s and Prabhupad brought several of his disciples to Bombay. They came for lunch at my father’s house. And maharaj was of course one of them. Prabhupad told my father, who was a Member of Parliament Lok Sabha that this young gentleman, whom you see in this chair now, at that time he was Jayapataka prabhu. So he wanted to become an Indian citizen from an American citizen. So my father said, “This is very strange. So many Indians want to become American citizens and why does an American want to become an Indian citizen?” And he wanted my father to sponsor him to become an Indian citizen. At this stage, Prabhupad made a phenomenal statement, which I still remember, as I was a witness to it, as I was standing there; and he said, “This young man is an eternal associate of Lord Caitanya! Hari bol! Hari bol!(devotees chant). He will always be in India, he will preach in India, he will have thousands and thousands of disciples, who will be Indians. They will be from Bengal, he will preach in Bengali language. Now please note at that time I could see total surprise on maharaja’s face and it must have come as a shock to him, but anyway, I was right there as a witness. So I can say I am now 70 years old and that time I was 30 years ago. Forty years ago ki baath hai yeh (this is a 40-year old event). So, then, by Krishna’s mercy, Maharaj became an Indian citizen and the first thing he did was to write to my father; a thanks letter, which I have, the original one, signed with his pen, in his handwriting, thanking my father for sponsoring him to become an Indian citizen.

 

Maharaj, we welcome you with our deepest hearts and gratitude for coming to this temple. You have undergone so much difficulties, indescribable how a human being can bear it; but you have been able to for one purpose only. We know this, and that is to fulfil Prabhupada’s desire to preach and you started preaching straight away. So once more, thank you for coming to Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha temple and with these few words, I would like maharaj to give us his class. Thank you very much maharaj! Hare Krishna!

 

In 1970 on Radhashtami, I took sannyas. At that time, I was in (inaudible). It was a few years later that Prabhupad said that I should stay in India. He asked me how I liked India? I said I liked it. I was feeling guilty. Because I thought that carrying out the orders of the guru would be something you don’t like; it should be hard but I liked all the Indians and to be in the holy dham so I was feeling guilty. Prabhupad said, “No, it's... you are lucky... fortunate, if you like what guru orders you. Whether you like it or not you have to do it. (audience laughs) Just because you like it, does not mean you should not do it. You should do it, whether you like it or not. So, I was actually refused citizenship from Bengal. So I had to shift my residence over to Bombay and then here Srinathji’s father, who at time was a Rajya Sabha member and there was what you called the united front or something?

 

Devotee : (inaudible)

 

Gurudev continues speaking:

 

No, but when I got the actual citizenship, there was Atal Behari Vajpauyee. He was the foreign minister; there was a coalition. So, at that time, I was sponsored by Mr. Desai and had some ministers and also 13 members of parliament who also co-signed. So but for his father I do not think I would have got the citizenship. And they all followed and sponsored me. So, like this I had 30,000 petitions from Bengal and Orissa and all these VIPs; so somehow or other I got I was number 96 on the list. That means since 1955 of non-commonwealth citizens, there were 95 and I was down to 96. So I am speaking to you as an Indian citizen.

 

The Audience : Hari bol!

 

Gurudev continues speaking: So I am deeply grateful to Srinathji’s father and I have no comment on the Prabhupad remark. Once I told him that... He said, “You were born in India before,” and I said , “Oh I am very sinful how can I be born (in India)? He became very angry and said, “Don’t doubt the words of the guru!(devotees laugh) So since then, I have no comment.(devotees laugh again) But I am very happy that we could... Right now, I already asked a number of devotees to do the Gaura Mandal bhoomi and also to start working on the Navadweep parikrama.

 

We have already uncovered a lot 8 or 9 gupta tirthas; so as long as I am having this body I am trying to carry out the orders that Prabhupad gave me. So, I would like to offer my prayers to Prabhupad– om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah.

 

Half of my face is still paralysed. They said there is little hope that it will come back. Today I saw some new experts. I will try to speak slowly. Do you understand what I am saying? Hari bol!(devotees' response)

 

Gurudeva continues His speech: I guess that means yes! So, first I want to express my gratitude to H.H. Radhanath Swami, because from the moment I was sick, he had asked his yatra in Vrndavan to pray for me and last year, the yatra in Mayapur... he had asked them to pray that I next year I will dance. Hari bol!(devotees' response) Well, there are still couple of months before the yatra. Dr. Acyutananda, he gets me to walk. He can walk me alone, but I still need someone to steady me. But any way, when Radhanath Swami came to see me when I was in hospital in the Bhaktivedanta Hospital. By the way I have been telling everyone all the nice stories I heard (not all but some), from the Spiritual Care Department by Vishwarup das and his assistants; some are very interesting, but that is not on the agenda tonight. Then I went to America and I was taking some therapy there. So Radhanath Swami said , “You should stay here; your prime duty is you have to become healthy.” So I tried for about 6 ½ months. I made some improvement, but I am still little bit short of walking by myself. Anyway, Radhanath Swami has always been very encouraging. He phoned me up from Houston, where he stayed in Advaita Chandra and Kalasudha’s house. Advaita Chandra is his diksha disciple and Kalasudha is my diksha disciple but she is his siksha disciple and Advaita Chandra I think he is my siksha disciple, like this we have also a few, we have some cross… But anyway, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank Radhanath Swami. I see he is doing great. I found out while staying here in India and although I travel around the world a lot, I usually now know the temple, the airport and the road in between. I don’t see much tourist spots. But same in six month I could see that it was pretty hard to reach the Americans. But Radhanath Swami by releasing his book, he got some nice press coverage; he was on the Fox Network in August. So I know this is austerity for you, you are all deprived of his normal association, but what he is doing which is something very historical because no one has done before like what he is doing.

 

Call and response :

 

Gurudev : Radhanath Swami ki

 

Devotees : Jai!

 

Gurudev : Radhanath Swami ki

 

Devotees : Jai!

 

Gurudev : Radhanath Swami ki

 

Devotees : Jai!

 

Gurudev continues His speech :

 

Now I have been asked today to launch the observance of the Damodar puja.

 

The month of Damodar is a very special month. Because everything you do in that month, you get multiple benefits. There was a Shankaasura, who he was so horrible that the devas were hiding in a cave from him in Mount Meru. So he didn't know where they were. So he decided to go to the Satya Loka and destroy the personified Vedas and, in this way, the devas, if they don’t have the Vedas, they would lose their potency and he would reign. He went out to the Satyaloka, but the personified Vedas got the wind that he was coming and ran out; he chased them. So they merged into the water. Actually, they dissolved themselves into the water. So he thought they must be hiding somewhere. So he started looking at all the underwater caves, mountains, “Where are the personified Vedas?” But the Vedas had dissolved. So the devas thought this is our chance, we have to go; only Vishnu can save us. So they went to the side of the milk ocean and they began to chant – they thought, “As this month is the last month of the rainy season, the Lord takes rest now. If we just abruptly wake Him up maybe he will be angry and it will not be useful. So let us chant Hare Krishna and then, in this way, if He wakes up He will be very happy.” So they began to chant...

 

Kirtan:

 

Gurudev : Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

 

Devotees : Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

 

So Lord Kshirodaksaya Vishnu woke up and He was really happy to see all the devas chanting. He felt so happy that He said, “On this thithi, in this month, (for) whatever Krishna conscious activities, whatever spiritual activities done, I will give 100 times of benefit. Hari bol!(Gurudev chants).Hari bol!(devotees respond) So the thithi was ekadasi and the month was Damodar or Kartika. Hare Krishna!(Gurudev chants) Hare Krsna!(devotees respond) So that's why you get a 100 times the benefit in the month of Lord Damodar.

 

Actually, the Skanda Purana and other puranas tell us if we offer lamp to the deities we get 1000s of times and any other activity get 100 times but offering lamp to the deities is really very auspicious. In fact, it can liberate your forefathers. So we have been encouraging our devotees to get people to chant.

 

I once wrote a letter to Prabhupad. I said, “As a sannyasi what should I do in the month of Damodar as special. So He wrote back, “As a sannyasi living in the ashram, all the 12 months of the year you get all the benefit, because you attend all the functions every day in the temple. So this is not so much for the regular customers, because you are already getting; but this is for the new people. Like this shops... They have sale 70% off, 50% off ; regular customers, they got. But they want to attract new customers. That way, Prabhupad wrote: this is to attract new customers. But recently, about 6 years ago we began a thing. Why not use this month of Damodar to reach out during Diwali and various festivals? I started going to the houses for Diwali, because not so many people came to the temple, as they were busy receiving guests. So we came with Prabhupad. That was in 1996; that was his centennial. We gave a small deity of Prabhupada and visited 50 houses. Then I started to do that regularly and found that people were very happy to receive us. So then about... I forget... in 2002 may be... We started to... Why not do this Damodar and get everybody to offer lamps? Of course, in India in our temples people come... Like in Mayapur, Vrndavan; here I think we get people to come and offer lamps.

 

We had to keep track how many people are offering, but also to reach out to get to Counsel Groups, Bhakti Vriksha Groups or Namahatta Groups to reach out and also to give them to everybody. They did that in our Kaula Lumpur. First year, they did 500 people. So they felt, “ Oh that's pretty good.” Next year, they got about 1000. Last year I think they did about 172,000 lamps. Hari bol!(devotees chant). Now, Somebody got an idea that in some flea market outside of some big temple, they do this set up. So he bought one booth where he did a big picture of Damodar and Yashoda of the lila; as you know, there's a lila in the month of Damodar and so he inaugurated it with Prabhavishnu maharaj and some sannyasis and they started to invite all the people to come and offer the lamp. So like that, he got tens of thousands of people in the market-place to come and offer. So, like this, he really boosted the whole thing. So like that, last year we heard that Damodar Desh in the Middle East reached about 4000 homes for offering and this year their goal is to double it to 8000. So, like this, the Damodar month is a very good opportunity to give people a lot mercy.

 

It is a simple offering of lamp for Damodar. It gives them unlimited blessings, and because... of course, normally Damodar Krishna is Acyuta or He cannot be conquered. But He gets conquered by the love of his mother. So it is said His mother wanted to tie up Damodar and she kept getting different ropes, but every time it came two fingers too short. So, she got some more rope and tried, but again two fingers too short. And she tried again and again ... was really sweating and wondering why it is not working. So Krishna, her desire as a mother of Krishna she wanted to protect Krishna; so she thought, “I will protect Krishna if He is tied to the mortar.

 

At the same time Krishna can never be tied down unless He agrees to be tied unless a devotee wants to tie Him. So the two things are there. Finally He agreed and therefore He was tied. So He came and He pulled down the twin Arjuna trees which were the two sons of Kuvera who were cursed by Narada muni to be there as trees. So these two trees crashed down and out came the sons Nalakuvara and Manigriva and they offered their obeisances to Krishna and they said we will never make the same mistake again, please bless us that we can serve You eternally. So He blessed them and they went back to their planet. So then Nanda maharaj he came and saw wow what happened, these trees fell down. My son could be hurt. Why did you tie Him up? It is such a dangerous place and he asked the children what happened. Well the trees fell down and two brilliant guys came out and they flew up. What imagination! What imagination! What really happened? So .. did you help them? Did you help them? Say Hari bol!

 

Okay. So we were one year in Cuenca, Ecuador; it is the third city of Ecuador. We were in the city hall in the month of Damodar. We had a picture of Damodar and we thought why not try. So we invited all the people. At that time we did not have ghee wicks so we offered the candles. So we asked the people to come and offer the candle to Lord Damodar. And you would be surprised all these South American middle aged people came up and the offered the lamp to Lord Damodar.

 

What does the your mobile phone cost? There is a 99 percent discount that means say your phone is is Rs 10,000 all you have to pay is 1 per cent. How much is it? A hundred rupees. So you are saving and you are getting the phone for Rs.100, will you be happy? Or a car; say your car, say your car was 10 lakhs, Honda or something, so 1 per cent... how much? “10 thousand”(devotees answer) A brand new Honda for Rs. 10,000 is a deal. So like this, you can get Krishna bhakti, Krishna prema very easily.

 

Of course you are all regular customers, I think; but any way, you can come and offer the lamp to Radha Gopinatha and Sri gopal and Nitai Gaura. I am very happy to inaugurate this Damodar worship. Of course, we sing the prayer every night. Namam iswaram sachidananda rupam(Gurudev sings and devotees repeat). So, like that every night we can offer these prayers. This is very good meditation on Krishna. So, I do hope... if you cannot come to the temple, then offer it in your house, offer in your hostel, wherever you're staying. Offering a lamp in the month of Damodar is very, very special. So I think that's all I wanted to say about Damodar.

 

Also I think a lot… life changes during my travels. I did not have really time though … to think so much of the many things which touched me, like in south India, we have started the congregational program, where we have small groups and this one lady came up and she said, “I live far from the temple and I can only come on some special days, maybe once a month, but now you have the Bhakti Vriksha Namahatta group, just two blocks away, so I go every week to that program. And because you are doing this, you have made me Krishna conscious. Thank you very much.” Hari bol! (devotees respond)

 

Of course, when I was in the Bhaktivedanta Hospital, every night, I would hear the pastimes of this spiritual care department. They said if they should make a book. They should make a book; yes, it is very interesting. There are so many pastimes but one they told me was very interesting. Someone from Delhi, was in the ICU; he was in the intensive care unit and he had some magazines from different groups...spiritual groups. So the spiritual care rep asked, “Oh you are interested in spiritual life? And he said, “Yes, but I have one doubt. Every group says their founder is God; so who is really God? So she(the rep) said, “Well, before I read the Bhagavad gita, I had the same doubt; but in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: aham sarvasya prabhava… “Everything is coming from Me.” So Krishna is God. The icu patient said, “Really? Really? Really? That is what I wanted to know. Who is God? Can I see that? “Yeah, sure. Here!” (the rep responds) “So now I know! I know who is God! It is Krishna!” the patient exclaimed. Hari bol!(Gurudev says) Haribol!(devotees respond) So, after he was released from the ICU, he started chanting 16 rounds.... Hari bol!(devotees respond) and so like that, it was nice to hear these pastimes. Lets see… I can tell a few more.

 

My mother, my purvashram mother, would never tell me, but she said she had a spiritual experience at the Ganges. One time she fell in the Ganges up to here(Gurudev points to His forehead) and she was pulled out and Prabhupad told her, “You will never get any sickness from here down.” She got a a type of stroke on the right top of the brain. She came back to Mayapur again and did a whole dip.(devotees laugh) She put in her will, “I want to be cremated and I want my ashes to be put in the Ganges.” Hari bol!(devotees respond). So it was not easy to convince the pastor of her church that a portion of the ashes had to go to India, but we did that and we satisfied her last desire.

 

Um.. let's see... There was one person, Bhakta Steve. He said that when he was a teenager, he used to work at a gas station down the road from the Los Angeles temple. So, the devotees had invited him many times to come to the temple. Now he was an old man, elderly man; I won’t say old, but elderly. And he had a son who had.. who was at the same place I was taking therapy. So we requested him to please come to the temple. So he wrote to Acyuta that, by the association of the devotees, he felt his life had changed. So, like this every devotee.. they meet so many people... We don’t always see it, but they affect everyone around them.

 

There was one lady. She was a fish-eater. And she turned out at a bhakti vriksha group. So there they have a program and discussion. So they were discussing that “You are what you eat.” And they showed the picture of the cat and tiger; that the cat eats fish, so in the next life-time the fish will eat the cat. And by hearing that, she decided, “I don’t want to be a cat! If by eating fish I will become a cat, then forget it.” So, from then on, she became a pure vegetarian. Hari bol!(devotees respond) Like this, we see some changes. Usually what I do, I give some chance that you can ask questions.

 

I was thinking how here when Radhanath Swami is present, you all have somehow... the laughter is very contagious. Life-changing, life-transforming.

 

I was thinking that Prabhupad , he said there is one Gopal mahashay, he was a court…. they had at that time in Indian history they had these court (in the west they call them jesters) I don’t know what you call. They are allowed to stoop on(tease) the king and the king is allowed to stoop on them. But if the king stoops on his ministers they lose the respect. This person he was a like the officially Sultan. So, one day the king said, (Prabhupad told us this story) “Gopal you are an ass. He said, “No no. There is a difference between me and an ass.” “No, Gopal. You are an ass.” “No, there is a difference between me and the ass.” He (the king) asked, “What is the difference?” He (Gopal) measures out... The distance between him and the king is 6 feet…(Gurudev and devotees laugh) all laugh, see… So Prabhupad was saying that these humors are all connected to the Vedic culture. So this story is how the …. But there is one story. Gopal’s son appeared(at the royal palace) and said... The king asked, “Where is your father Gopal?” And he said, “My father has achieved Krishna – Krishno prapto hoiye gache So, if you achieve Krishna, that is like saying he is gone, dead! So the king gave 2000 gold coins to the son and then said, “Do the rites for your father,” and the son took the money and went home and gave it to his father and he(the father) cleared all is debts. Next day, he appeared in the king’s palace. “What! You are alive! Your son came here and said you have achieved Krishna.” “I did!” said Gopal. He was wearing a chadar and inside the chadar, he had a deity of Vishnu. “See, here is Krishna, Gopal!”

 

Anyway, like that, there is a whole book of the stories by Gopal... of things that happened with Gopal. Sometimes Prabhupada told us some humor; he said even the humor in India was somehow indirectly/ directly connected to Krishna, connected to the Vedic culture. He was telling us how we should appreciate India, how it is a very special place. And I used to live in Mayapur (we were six of us) on Rs.35 a week. And you know, Rs.35 is nothing. At that time, I thought with Rs. 35 we'll buy some seeds and grow some sabzis like okras or some radish.

 

When you grow in a little piece of land, then you get a huge quantity of sabzis. Tons of radish we got. So, finally everybody said, “No more radish!(devotees laugh) Please! I can’t take it; no more radish!(devotees continue laughing) Because when you live of the land, whatever you get you eat. When we get okra, everyday okra. When we had radish, every day radish. But this was how we used to live.

 

I was a science and nature student in university; so I got the Indian...it's called the ICAR (Indian Council of Agriculture Research) I got the magazines, read, and I was bringing urea, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus – these things were needed to grow. So we got, at a very cheap price, the chicken droppings... they have very high mineral level, but we spread all the chicken manure and were growing the sabjis and when it rained... Oooh, it would stink! So like this, we were living off the land. You have probably city fuel in Bombay, so you don’t know what village life is like. So, we dropped the chicken droppings. Did not want it. So we used the common manure instead. That didn't have bad smell. Like this it was hard to survive.

 

We lived on minimum allowance and minimum situation. So it was... At that time; Prabhupada would visit us and then he would say... We only had a grass hut – one of the cows called Khalendu came by, eating the grass and, by accident, she knocked over the bee hives and all the bees swarmed and came over Prabhupad. He said, “Jayapataka! What is this?” And I saw thousands of bees around him. He said, “I want the bee hive moved away to some distant place.” So like that, we learnt to live using the local natural things; but it goes down with all the problems sometimes.

 

Now you see Mayapur and Vrndavana, all these places are very much more developed than when we were living there in the grass hut. Prabhupad said, “Let everyone see this is our struggle; this is where we started out. So the grass hut is still there. At one time that was Mayapur; only the grass hut. Living there with Srila Prabhupada was truly amazing, because Prabhupada lived very simply there. He came and he told us that this house is satvic, in the mode of goodness, but who will come if we live like this? So you have to build rajasic... With steel, concrete, you have to build big temples and big halls, guest houses and then people will like to come and visit. So you come now, visit Mayapur. We have all these rajasic buildings(devotees laugh) But at one time we were living in a satvic house. Hari bol! (devotees respond with “Hari Bol!”) So I heard that Chowpaty is making some alternative farm project? With yoga, health…so, good luck! It is interesting. Are there any questions?

 

Senior Devotee: Hare Krishna! Does anyone want to ask any questions? On behalf of our devotees, Maharaja, we would like to present this book by Radhanath Maharaj “Wisdom’s articles Soul Wise.” (Gurudev receives the book and offers his respects to it by touching it to His head) Hare Krishna! Hari bol!(devotees respond). Maharaja , this is the Damodar kit; we are starting straight away, following in your footsteps. You can release it Maharaja! Hari bol! Opens up like this… Hari bol! This is the CD. Hari bol! This is the lamp. These are the exact wordings of the Damodar Ashtakam. Hari bol! This is being given free.

 

Conversation :

 

Gurudev : You have any goal or target?

 

Senior devotee : 5,000!

 

Gurudev : Who is going to help?

 

Senior devotee : Everybody!

 

Devotees : Hari bol!

 

I didn’t see any everybody's hand.

 

Senior devotees : Gauranga prabhu is the leader. He is organizing everything. Come, come! You are the leader! (devotees laugh).

 

Gurudev : Gauranga! Each of the counsellors has a quota. So don’t make your counsellor look bad. You see, this kind of a book you see in the home altar. Then they can do their Damodar puja. If you get their names and address you can increase your number of congregational members. And then one lady, she thought (she was at the Bhakti Vedanta Hospital). She thought that all religions were just after money. I heard all these kits are given free. So in her case the spiritual care rep offered reading Bhagavad Gita for the father who was terminal with cancer. So she said to this lady “Would you like to read to your father?” “How much would it cost?” she asked. “We are giving Bhagavad Gita free,” she was told. The lady said, “I thought all the religions are just after money! “Help your father to get back to Godhead.” the spiritual care rep said. So, later they brought her to see him and she said now she chants 8-16 rounds. Hari bol!(devotees respond) She is changed... transformed.

 

Now these kits, everyone if you give through your counsellors, neighbours, family members, hostel, or colleagues whoever maybe, they get the kits and give them a chance to offer the lamp to Damodar, in this way, they get the blessings. I don’t know if the blessings are given here (in the kit); they are given in Kaula Lumpur. From the different puranas, how by doing Damodar artis you get - so many generations get liberated. Now of course we are only interested in the pure bhakti book I think with some we attract with the side benefits.

 

Gauranga prabhu: Of the 12 months Kartik is the most dear to Lord Krsna to anyone who even slightly worships Lord Vishnu during its time, the month of Kartik gives him residence in Lord Vsihhu's transcendental abode. Padma Purana.

 

One who, during the month of Kartik, gives a small gift to Lord Vishnu, attains a result that will never be destroyed.

 

This is the significance of Kartik Masa.

 

Benefits of offering lamps: A person who offers a lamp in the temple of Lord Vishnu during month of Kartik attains eternal wealth, good children and glory. When one offers a lamp during the month of Kartik, his sins in many thousands and millions of births perish in half an eye blink. – Skanda Purana

 

Devotees: Hari bol! We have only mentioned this much.

 

Gurudev : There is more also… So this Damodar month is a great chance to give people blessings. So, I hope that all of you take advantage and give everyone this blessing and that our Chowpaty ISKCON will be the new world leader in Damodar month. It may take a few years. Everyone can help. Hari bol!

 

Devotees : Hari bol!

 

Gauranga Prabhu : Thank you, Maharaja for coming here and giving us your valuable association. It has indeed been a touching experience for all of us. We can see how Maharaj is sacrificing his life and soul for spreading Mahaprabhu’s mission in such difficulties also. He is tirelessly travelling all over the world, preaching Krishna consciousness. This has been a very, very amazing heart-touching experience for all of us this evening, and we are especially grateful to you, Maharaj for inspiring us further in preaching the Lord’s glories through this Damodar month by the beginning of this Damodar festival, which was inspired by you specially in Malaysia and Kaula Lumpur; we got inspired by that yatra and we are trying to make our small attempt here at Chowpaty. And we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Maharaj for coming here and sharing some of his wonderful realizations very, very loudly by chanting Hari bol! Hari bol! Hari bol!(other devotees chant along with Gauranga prabhu)

 

Gauranga Prabhu : His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaj ki jai!

 

Devotees : Jai!

 

Gauranga Prabhu : His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaj ki jai!

 

Devotees : Jai!

 

Gauranga Prabhu : His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaj ki jai! Devotees : Jai!

 

Gauranga Prabhu : Srila Prabhupad ki jai!

 

Devotees : Jai!

 

Gauranga Prabhu : Nitai Gaur Premanande!

 

Devotees : Hari bol!

 

Gurudev : Hari bol! Is this mine?(pointing to the Damodar CD) How much are you paying me?

 

Gauranga Prabhu : No maharaja , we can only pay you by our enthusiasm to spread this as much as possible!

 

Gurudev : Hari bol! I hope we will have many such evenings! Hari bol!