20160612 Talk

20160612 Minneapolis Hall Program

JPS: Special book by Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj. Thank you very much. 

Mukam karoti vacalam 

Pangum langhyate girim 

Yat kripa tamaham vande sri gurum dina tarinam

Paramananda madhavan

Sri Chaitanya ishvaram

Hari Om Tat Sat

So in 2008 I had a stroke. So my speech is somewhat impaired. So he will repeat what I will say, so you can understand easily. This is my first visit to the Minnesota Minneapolis Saint Park congregation. (Haribol). I am very glad to be here. Very nice to hear that you have a Jagannath ratha yatra in the first week of May every year. Lord Jagannath was the first deity that was worshipped by ISKCON in the West. Actually Srila Prabhupada in the New York city was saying on his desk and Malati Devi Dasi, she came in and presented a Jagannath to Srila Prabhuda which was picked up in an Indian gift shop.

Prabhupada immediately offered his obeisance’s and he asked is there two more, one white face and one yellow face. She said, “Yes, but I brought one”

“can you get the other two?”

She said, “Sure.”

So she brought the other two and Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra were the first deities in ISKCON. They literally walked in trough the door. (laughter)

This are very special deities- of Krishna, Balaram and Subhadra in Dwaraka because Subhadra had also grown up in Vrindavan. She saw the childhood pastimes of Lord Krishna. So Rohini was telling all the queens of Dwaraka, the childhood pastimes of Krishna and Balaram, and he asked Subhadra to stand and watch at the door. If Krishna and Balaram comes the she should give a warning because if they hear the childhood pastimes they will become very ecstatic. You never get tired of hearing Krishna’s pastimes again and again. So Subhadra was at the door listening and she became so ecstatic that her hands and arms folded into her body, and her eyes opened wide, she was smiling, then Krishna and Balrama came and they saw her and said what’s happening here. 

So they listened also and when they heard the childhood pastimes they took this form, their eyes opened wide, big smile. So we have Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra. So when in Jagannath Puri they have a big temple, and they are known as Nilachala Chandra but every year they go to gundicha which is not different from Vrindavan. That’s known as Sundarachala. So sometimes they say, “Nilachala Chandra amar Prabhu Jagannath, Jay Jagannath, Jaya Jagannath, Sundarachala Chandra amar Prabhu Jagannath, Jay Jagannath, Jaya Jagannath”

You see in Bengali they say aamar, but in Oriya they say Aamu Prabhu Jagannath. So any way very nice to see that you are worshipping Krishna and Balaram in the form in the form as Jagannath. So this are very ancient deities, thousands and thousands of years old, the creator of the universe Lord Brahma, he had personally installed the deities. So at the time of King Indradyumna there was a demon, who will like to kill the priest and Brahmanas and drink their blood. So he was known as Rakta Bahu and the priests were afraid. So they moved Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra to Mayapur and then Indra Dyuma Maharaj came and killed the demons. So then Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra came back to Jagannath Puri.

About 500 years ago, that deity again manifested in Mayapur and is still there and he is very active in lots of his pastimes. One pastime that happened a few years ago that one time one Muslim brother, he came to the temple. So in that temple they allow people of different faith to attend. So the priest offered him some prasadam but he threw it away, “I don’t worship idols.” 

“So why do you come, you are committing offence, don’t come.”

Then he walked off. The next day he came back. This time he offered his prostrate obeisances. He came up to the pujari, the priest. He begged, “Please give me your prasadam, please get me sacrament.”

“Yesterday you threw the Prasad, today you are begging for it, what happened to you?”

He said, “Last time in my dream the deity with the white face, he grabbed me by the neck, he said, “You threw my brother’s sacrament on the ground, now I am going to get you.”, and the lady with the yellow face she said, “Get him, get him.”, I was so afraid and then the one with the black face with the big smile, he said, “Oh let him go, he didn’t commit that big an offence, it was his first time also, now I believe, I believe, I believe, I do believe, I never thrown Prasad again. Please give me.”

So these deities have a whole book of pastimes and the Nabadwip dham is nine islands and this Jagannath deity is in the first island known as the Simanta Dwip. There Parvati she came, first she was travelling over the universe, she is an angel, she is a divine energy of Krishna. So she started seeing the earthquakes, tsunamis started happening and she could tell that her husband Siva was dancing but it wasn’t time for universal destruction. So she was raised back to Kailash to find her husband chanting, “Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga.”

Parvati called out, “Swami, Swami, what have you done? You have broken my ecstasy, I am sorry the universe is falling apart by your dancing, I am the mother of the whole creation, on the behalf of God I have to see everybody’s well-being, so I am sorry I don’t want to disturb your ecstasy but you are causing destruction. By the way Swami, Prabhu, what were you chanting.”

“Oh, Gauranga.”

“Who is that Gauranga?”

“Oh! in the age of Kali, he comes and gives freely love of Godhead.”

“really! even I can get it?”

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t distinguish who is qualified and who is not-qualified, he gives to everybody, and where can I see him?”

“Well he stays eternally in Nabadwip Dham. If you chant his name he will reveal himself to you.

So she came to Simanta Dwip and she started to chant, “Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga”

So Lord Guranga appeared to her and said, “Why you are calling me?”

So you have given me this service to keep this material world under my protection and to keep the conditioned souls here as prisoners, but they don’t realize that they are actually prisoners but the devotees they don’t associate with me, because they busy delivering people and taking them back to Godhead. So they describe me as the witch Maya and they don’t like to associate with me. They don’t want any material things from me. So I hear that you are giving out pure love of yourself, pure love of God. So I want to get your mercy, I also want love of Godhead.

So he said, “Well, you are an expansion of Radharani, my supreme energy. So here you can realize you are non-different from Srimati Radha and she suddenly achieved love of Krishna, love of Godhead. She took the dust from Lord’s Gauranga’s lotus feet and put it on her head. So that part of the head of the lady is known as the residence of the Goddess of fortune or the simanta. So that island is named after her-Simanta Dwip. We established Lord Caitanya and Simantani deities nearby the Lord Jagannath, because Jagannath also gives his prasadam to Bimala devi which is a form of Parvati. 

So we hope that you can sometimes come to Maypur dham, see the nine islands. Prabhupada said that our ISKCON temple is partly on the island of Rudradwip and partly in the antardwip. So that’s the island of friendship with the Supreme Lord and the island of total surrender to the supreme Lord. 

So now we very happy that you are also practicing the Bhaktivriksha. Upto 1994 we only had the Namhatta which were the small groups mainly in the rural places. But at the Prabhupada’s centennial, 1996 was approaching we establish more presence in the cities and to give an opportunity for the congregation to practice in the cities. So I was made a petal coordinator. So we had a lotus with ten petals and one petal was congregation development. So then I with the help with the help of different devotees, we studied the books of Lord Caitanya and found that in the Nabadwip town he had asked devotees in small groups to chant Hare Krishna at the doorsteps, in their verandas and in this way they would also study the Gita and the Bhagavatam. So we came up with the program of the Bhakti Vriksha group and we found that some other religions were doing similar things but we mainly took the advice of our own tradition. So then, now there are about a dozen teachers around the world and Caitanya Avatari is one of the leading teachers. 

Recently I was in Australia and I was surprised to learn that the Australians use Caitanya Avatari’s system and also in China and I understand also here in Minnesota. So of course he is doing it in Bangalore and different parts of India. So the idea is that in this age of Kali we should take Lord Caitanya’s mercy and his mercy was also brought in the West by Srila Prabhupada and it is a rare opportunity. 

Every tradition says love God but they don’t tell how to love God. Bhakti yoga is a system that awakens our dormant love for Godhead and it is very systematically presented. Prabhupada he was very, we don’t convert people. He was very open. He said that people no matter what tradition they come from they can use this system of bhakti yoga to awaken their own love of godhead and he spoke of respectable people like Jesus and other great teachers with great respect and so that way you can reach out and reach many people. So if you are able to get one person transferring back to Godhead out of that material world then 14 generations can get a free ticket back to Godhead- Parents, greatparents, children, their nephews, great grand children so on, seven before and seven after. So it’s a great opportunity.

Thank you. You gave me a place to stay at the hotel which was near to the Mall of America but I didn’t see any discount equal to this. I went pedalling there, maximum was 50% on certain items. (laugter) small print. Anyway in the month of kartik you get a 100% discount, a hundred times. So that would be one percent. I saw that some cars were selling for like 50,000 …44.48…. or something. So if you get that for one percent how much is that? $ 500. How many of you would like to get a …45.08… for $500? But  this discount by Lord Caitanya was multiplied by 14 times. 

So we want to help your children, the best things to give them is love of Krishna and we know Srila Prabhupada was telling one example, that you go into some office, you see all the clerks have desks filled with big files. Nowadays it’s the computer but it used to be big files. You go to see the head of the office, the head of the company, his desk is empty, so like that Krishna has nothing to do. 

Being the supreme Lord anything he wants happens but what he likes is he comes down as an avatar or in his own kingdom, in his own spiritual world he does different pastimes like dramatic performances and he came down as Ram, he fought against Ravana, he came down as Varahadev, he fought against Hiranyaksha, he came as Narasinghadev, he fought against Hiranyakashipu and Krishna had the mahabharat battle at Kurukshetra but he didn’t lift a weapon, he let Arjuna take the credit. 

When Lord Caitanya came, he said that I will not carry any weapon of violence. His weapon was his personal beauty, chanting in ecstasy, dancing in ecstasy, taking the holy prasadam, festivals. So this is a special mercy and when Krishna was a child he would steal butter and give it to the monkeys. Lord Caitanya opened the treasure house of love of Godhead, and you like monkeys can take it (laughter) if we want. 

There is song written in Bengali by Bhakti Vinod Thakur. That’s the Jiv Jago song that we sing in the morning. In the last two verses, Lord Caitanya says, “Enechi Ausadi Maya nasibara lagi, hari nama mahamantra lao tumi magi.”

Koto jan bangla jane (How many know bengali)

Hindi jante hain (do you know hindi)

I know a few Indian languages. Anyway, but Lord Caitanya said, “I brought the medicine for maya. That medicine cures death, old age, disease and re-birth.  What a good medicine, you take that and you don’t die, you don’t get old, you don’t get disease, after this life.

He said that if you want the medicine, ask for it, I will give it and in the last verse Bhaktivinod said, “Bhaktivinoda prabhu charane pariya, se harinama mantra loilo magiya.” That translated is, “I fell at the feet of the Lord, I begged, “give me the medicine and he gave me the harinam medicine, and I got it, I got it, I got it.” That’ how you should all feel, if you get the harinam mahamantra. (laughter)

You don’t have to pay anything, it’s free, just ask for it, chant it. When Krishna was Dwaraka, Rukmini told him, that you are the supreme Lord, you know what’s happening all over the universe, you know what’s happening in Kailash, you know everything, but one thing you don’t know, I know, Radharani knows, but it seems you don’t know. Now nobody told Krishna that there is something that he didn’t know. So he was startled, “What that that I don’t know?”, and Rukmini told him, “You don’t know how much we devotee love you and in what way we love you.” (laughter), because he being the Lord, everybody loves him but he didn’t know what it is like to have love of Godhead being God. 

So then he tried to pacify Rukmini. Meanwhile Narada Muni was playing the part of Krishna’s Guru, he came in, and so Krishna gave him a form of pad puja reception because he was playing the part of a Ksatriya. So then a King respecting his guru, but  he saw that Narad Muni was also agitated. He said, “Narada! You are usually very peaceful, controlled, but today I see you agitated. Why? What a day! My tells me I don’t know and my guru is agitated. So why you are so disturbed. She said, “My Lord! I see that people are becoming more materialistic, that means that when the sun sets your pastimes are soon to leave this universe and I am worried, what will happen to the people in the iron age, in the modern age how will they get back to Godhead?”

“Ok I promise you”, Krishna said, “I will come back in Kaliyuga but I will not come as a Lord, I will come in disguise as my devotee and I will distribute the chanting of my holy name, and I will experience the love that my devotees have, I will play the part of a devotee.

So that’s why Lord Caitanya came 4500 years in the Kali Yuga. Krsihna told the Ganges and the other sacred rivers that after 5000 years he will send a devotee who would spread the Hari Nam all over the world. So Prabhupada came exactly at 5000 years and he spread the holy name all over the world told him that anybody that helps you also gets great spiritual benefit. Who here would like help Srila Prabhupada?

Hari Bol (everybody)

Thank you.

So one easy way for the grishastas to help the married people is to practice the Bhakti Vriksha, meet once a week and have some discussion, have some chanting, have some strategy session, have some other programs which Chaitanya Avatari will tell you and take prasadam. Takes about one and half, two hours, it’s a lot of fun. I have people come to me. See Bangalore is a modern city but it is cursed with traffic jams, big traffic jams. 

How much? Eight billion people in the world? About 1 billion, 20 million are in India and so Bangalore is the IT hub although it is competing with Hyedarabad. So it’s a big traffic jam. So one lady she came to me, “Gurudev! Although it is just 20 kilometers from the temple it takes two hours to reach and we have only one car, I can go only on some special day, thanks to you, I have the bhakti vriksha just two blocks away from our house and I can attend it every week. Thank you, thank you so much, thank you so much.” You know how it feels like. When someone they really, really appreciate. So you all stay here to earn, and many of you become citizens or green card holders and some of you are Americans but side by side Isopanishad tells us, “We should see the material world and we should see the spiritual world, we should do both, This way we can achieve all the success.”

I see a lot of young people here and it is very important that you also practice from a young age. I joined when I was 19. Throughout the first 19 years of my life it was not so useful. Of course studying and all that but if I had been born in a Krishna conscious family I think that would have been nicer but anyway I was born in a religious family but you have the opportunity, you are born in a Krishna conscious family, you can practice the system of Lord Caitanya, chanting the holy name, having Bhakti Vrikshas, ladies, men, youth, they can all be servant of the Bhakti Vriksha. In this way you can have a temple here also but the Bhakti Vriksha can still go on. But they help also the temple. So in this way one disciple came to me, she said that, “My father was working in America and in those days you got more than $100,000.” So he had his house built in Bangalore. But I couldn’t help him. When he came to my house, me and my wife, children we were worshipping Krishna, he said, “You are young, you should enjoy, go to the movies, that was his idea of enjoyment.” He said, “Dad! We are enjoying, we enjoying the spiritual life.”

The youth today, they don’t understand how to enjoy life. Then he retired and went back home to India, so his younger brother said, “Why don’t you go to the holy places?” He said, “I have been to Srirangam, I have been to Tirupati, Guruvayur, but I can’t keep my mind there, I keep thinking how will I invest my money, my fixed deposits, my mutual funds, how to save the money, where will I get the interest?” 

“Why are you worrying about this? Now you should prepare to leave your body, go back to Godhead”

“I have to marry my daughters”

“Your daughters are all married.”

“My grand daughters”

“Their father will see it.”

Like this he breathed his last. So he made all the money but he didn’t invest anything in spiritual life. We are saying side by side, get your house, get your material assets, whatever, you get your career, but on the other side see your spiritual development, don’t waste your life only in material things which are by nature temporary. See your spiritual life, chant Hare Krishna, do some service, get others to get out of this illusion. We are the living force in the body. The body dies, the living force never dies. It will go on to another body. In this way we take birth after birth after birth. But if we take this opportunity in the golden age, then we can develop our love for Godhead. 

So should we open up for some questions?

Question: Difference between namhatta and Bhakti Vriksha ?

JPS: Bhakti Vriksha is a kind of namhatta. Namhatta literally means the market of the holy name. Usually you have some advanced devotee who gives a class, before the class people will chant the harinam, after the class they have question, answer, then they have prasadam. Sanctified food. So that’s Namhatta and they grow and grow and grow. The Bhakti Vriksha is like a branch of the devotional tree and we keep it small because people living in a Urban setting usually don’t have big homes. They can fit about 15 people, maybe 20 people in a living room, that’s already packed. So in a small group they know each other better, they have some ice-breakers, a little kirtan, and set up a class where the leader gives and everyone listens, everyone participates. They do some reading, which may be done by the servant leader or the whole group, paragraph by paragraph. Then they have discovery, where they pick up one of the special topics and then they have understanding, the servant leader may accept or select one of those topics. Everybody undersntand it by discussing it and they have application which maybe like their realization but what their guru said on the topic or what some sastras says, some scriptures, some examples or their own personal realizations but one lady she was attending so many classes of Namhatta temple and there they were repeatedly saying different classes that better that one can be a vegetarian but in the Bhakti Vriksha they were discussing how one if you eat fish you could become a cat or a tiger in your next life and they have a picture in the Bhagavat Gita of this. So then ask each one to tell their realizations. When I came top her she said, “If I have to become a cat or a tiger by eating fish then from today on no more eating fish” 

So then they discussed their strategies, how to make the Bhakti Vriksha grow or let’s say they have this Jagannath festival, in different Bhakti Vrikshas they are given services and they may discuss how they will do that and some puja and prasadam, like this.

You see Bhakti Vrikshas are more interactive. That’s why young people generally like it more. Some people kind of like sitting in the back and… when is the meal? (laughter), you can’t do that in Bhakti Vriksha (laughter), because you keep getting called. 

Otherwise the bhakti vriksha is a namhatta meant for the urban setting. And in the end of the class, some people have 60 or 57 or 63 pre-determined verses and some people just read from the Bhagavat Gita. So in the end of the assigned period, we find sometimes some groups multiply into two, or some three or some four but the namhattas usually don’t multiply. 

As a minister of the congregation, co-minister, I have to be neutral. Different teachers like Chaitanya Avatari, they have a slight difference, I have been with everybody, so they ask what’s the best? Tell the tree by it’s fruits. 

Any other question?

Question: How can you find time for Bhakti Vriksa in the busy life?

JPS: It’s only one day in a week. One, two hours session in the evening and those that rise up become sector leaders or circle leaders. They may one day a week attend the Bhakti Vriksha. Sometimes they also attend organizational meetings. No more than one or two days a week. So little time you have to dedicate. 

Question: How to keep up enthusiasm in performing devotional service?

JPS: There are eight levels of devotion. Starts with a faith, associating with devotees, practicing the bhakti, getting rid of the unwanted anarthas, the unwanted habits and then being fixed. So as you rise up you become more fixed. When you get a taste it’s called ruche and that taste is so sweet, more sweet than anything else, you get attached and then from your attachment of your spiritual life, you get ecstatic love of Krishna, tears come to your eyes, your hairs stand on end, your voice chokes up, astwa satwika bhava, eight types of ecstatic symptomps. At that time you don’t worry how to not give up enthusiasm. (laughter)

So you start out 1% spiritual and 99% material, by the time you have ecstatic love you are 1% material and 99% spiritual. And then when you get God realization, you get 100% pure love. 

Madhavendra Puri, he had this pure love, he would see a rain cloud and he would think of Krishna and faint on the ground, he would cry. Prabhupada said, it took him 20 years to reach perfection, how long will it take you? (laughter)

So by the mercy of Guru, Vaisnavas and Krishna, you can become Krishna conscious even in one second or it may take longer?