20160109 An Arrival Address

a20160109 His. Holiness. Jayapatākā Swāmi gives an arrival address in Melbourne, Australia. [360p]

Gurumahārāja:  Since half my face doesn’t respond my speech is not immediately understood. So, Shyāma Madhusudhana Dās will repeat what I say.  

As the home minister for the community and congregational development, ten years ago or twenty years ago at the Prabhupāda centennial, we introduced in ISKCON the Bhakti Vrksha syste, and previously we only had the Namhatta, and so we saw that the Bhakti Vksha was good for the Urban families. It was highly interactive and the mood of service was very high. During your kīrtan it was very moving. The name of the supreme personality of Godhead and the supreme personality of Godhead are non-different, and by chanting his names you can immediately in contact with Kṛṣṇa. I see now that people are very absorbed in their smart phones. They would be walking, looking. (laughter) In fact, on YouTube they showed how some people were walking and they got smashed by a bus, by a car. They didn’t watch where they were going. So, everybody wants stay in contact. What if you have a hotline right to the supreme personality of Godhead? You do. By chanting his holy names, it reaches directly to him. It doesn’t cost anything. I think you all pay for subscription costs, but chanting – no cost. And no battery runs out. (laughter) And if you advance you can download apps (laughter) They are called Bhakti apps. So, anyway I saw that the educated and the young grihasthās, they have a very good scope. Side by side while we are doing our material life, we do our spiritual life. Don’t leave it because it is very hard to switch gears in the old age, but if you are habituated to chanting, dancing and feasting and serving, then there is no switching. Side by side we do our work, we care for our responsibilities. Side by side we want to best for our family, we want the best for our loved ones. So, we give them Krishna consciousness. You know one song by Bhaktivinod thakur, he is saying, paraphrasing Lord Gaurāṅga’s message, “Enechi aushadi māyā nashibare lāgi, hari nam mahāmantra lao tumi magi” – I have brought the medicine to cure all the problems of Kali Yuga, you just take it, whoever begs for it you can have it. So, Bhaktivinod Thakur in the last verse, he says, Prabhur charane pariyā – I fall at the feet of the Lord and I beg for the holy name and I go it, I got it, I got it.

Haribol……………………………………………[Haribol]

Bhaktivinoda Prabhu charane pariyā 

Harināma mahāmantra loilo māgiyā….. (repeated by devotees)

Prabhupāda came to the Western world; he came here to Melbourne and he came to Sydney and Perth, and he brought the message of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, brought this Harinām, and so he developed the preliminary work for us and did give us the Harinām. So, we want all of you… some of you are already long-term chanters and some are new; but keep on chanting, and in this way your life becomes perfect. Rūpa Goswami, he said, “How much happiness is available in the two syllables Kṛṣ and na is inconceivable.” Most people think that spirituality means missing out on something, but we only ask people to avoid things which are really detrimental – gambling, extramarital relations, intoxication and killing animals. So, actually any civilized person shouldn’t want to do these things. We got some of the restaurants which show the picture of a happy cow. Is it that the cow is happy to be killed? It is ridiculous. 

Kṛṣṇa speaks all languages. He even speaks the animal’s language and he is known as Govinda or the protector of the cows. He lifted the Govardhan hill to protect the cows, and previously Indra was called the protector of cows, but that name was transferred to Kṛṣṇa because Indra acted against the cows and Kṛṣṇa saved them. 

So, I particularly would like to meet all the Bhakti Vksha members, and maybe here they can have talks go on. So, I can meet the Bhakti Vkṣha members one by one, I mean group by group, and I wanted to come for the snāna Yatra but I got sick in Perth. So, I missed the snāna yatra but by Kṛṣna’s arrangement I could come here. 

So, I was explaining yesterday during the initiation that we don’t want… taking initiation doesn’t mean taking sanyās. That we want husband and wife, families to form teams to spread the mercy of Lord Caitanya. After Kṛṣṇa comes… Kṛṣṇa comes again sometimes combined with his spiritual potency He would like to know what is it that his devotees feel, because in Dwaraka Rukmiṇī told him that you are the supreme personality, you know what Brahmā is doing in the Satyaloka, you know what Śiva is doing in Kailash, you know what everybody is doing everywhere, but it seems that there is one thing that you don’t know. Now who tells Kṛṣṇa that there are somethings that He doesn’t know. He is supposed to know everything. 

He said, “What’s that?” And Rukmiṇī said that, “Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, but you don’t know.” 

“Tell me what it is.” 

“You don’t know how much your devotees love you and in what way they love you.”

So, to satisfy his wife and consorts he took the mood of Rādhārāṇī, the color… Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Rādhā Kṛṣṇa nahin anya.” And he appears as His own devotee. So, that way His internal mission is to experience the love of the devotees from the devotee point of view, and externally he does the sankirtan movement where by chanting the holy names one can experience the supreme absolute pleasure. So, I think there were some devotees who wanted shelter or are aspiring, and then I will go to the side room and meet the different Bhakti Vṛkṣha goups.