20170325 Address at the Guru-ājña Disciple's Convention.

Following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 25th 2017 at Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. 

 The address was given at the Guru- agya Disciple’s Convention and was given with Tamil translation.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim 

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande 

paramānanda-mādhavam

śrī caitanya īśvaram 

śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

Very nice to see so many devotees. I hope that you all enjoying yourselves and that the senior devotees are sharing their philosophies and experiences with you. The doctor in Delhi said, that he didn’t know if he could release me on Friday. They needed my signature for some procedure and since it was a Thursday afternoon, I told that I didn’t want to do it on Thursday afternoon. Since, it was a routine procedure and if needed I could do it in Madurai. And suddenly he changed and said, “Okay”! So by the will of Kṛṣṇa I’m here. (Haribol) 

Tonight we are reminded, how Srila Prabhupada had in his student life, had no plan to see a sadhu. He had met many sadhus and he didn’t like what he saw. But his friend said this sadhu is like no other sadhus. You should see this sadhu. So, by the great insistence of his friend, he went to see Om Vishupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur. And on the very first visit, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur said, “You are an educated boy, you should go to the West and preach”. But he said, “We are paradhin, who will listen to us?” But he was convinced by his future guru that these issues are not important when it comes to spiritual science. So, from that time he put it in his heart that this is my guru. And he was first a gṛhastha and then after his guru left he took vānapṛstha and then he took sanyās. But, he had always read from the books of Bhaktivinoda Thakur and how one should follow the guru. So, when he was about 69, he went to the West and there he had his commitment that he would follow the order of his guru.

 It was a routine procedure and if needed I could do it in Madurai (9.03-9.10). Srila Prabhupada had mentioned to many sadhus and vaishnavās in Vṛndāvana that it was Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s prediction that in every town and village of the world His name would be sung. But then the other vaishnavās said, “Oh no, that means the civilised world, India, Nepal not in America or Europe”. But he said, ‘prithivite’ means the whole world. So, he always took the words of his spiritual master as his guiding force. He was confident. At the same time he was humble. One time he told me in Mayapur, “My guru is always by my side.” He said it so emphatically. You could actually almost see Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupāda by his side. So, he gave a big name to ISKCON, International Society. And some Indian gentlemen said that, the translation would be antar-jatik, all castes. But Prabhupāda said, “No, antar-rastriya, international, all states”. Now in most of the states of the whole world we have branches of ISKCON. So Prabhupāda said his secret was to always follow the orders of his spiritual master. 

One of the god brothers of Śrila Prabhupāda was trying to convince a disciple to leave Prabhupāda and follow him. He told him that you should just do what feels good. And I mentioned that,”Śrila Prabhupāda had said that we should follow the order of the guru. This is most important in life and Srila Prabhupada had said not to leave ISKCON.” So that Vaishnava devotee said, “Get out, get out!!” So, this was the commitment of Prabhupāda and we see that in ISKCON, the following of Prabhupada, the following of the guru, is the primary important thing. Like, in mangala arti we sing samsara prayers and then we do the guru puja every day and we offer flowers to Śrila Prabhupāda. So, like this following the order of the guru is most important. Prabhupāda is our primary sīksha guru. We all read his books. We are to follow his instructions. The GBC is also guided by his words only. Everywhere Prabhupāda consciousness is primary.  

Now is the thousandth year anniversary of Ramanujacarya. So the jeeyars also praised that ISKCON has very high guru consciousness. Prabhupāda wanted to unite Gaudiya Math. And therefore on his order we made this Sarasvata Gaudiya Vaishnava Association. He wanted to expand the glories of Navadvīpa Dhāma. He ordered to make the TOVP, The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. He also expanded the development of the Gaura-mandal bhumi with special arrangement for the development of Navadvīpa, to greet all the devotees, to develop the Navadvīpa dhāma, to preach the glories of Navadvīpa. So, some of these orders are received. Śrīla Prabhupāda did certain things that have been developed like he started the Navadvīpa parikrama. And somethings he told others to do. So, he gave different devotees different services. This he called the Guru-datta desh. And that includes like printing books, distributing books, writing books, then distribution of prasadam from every temple.

 By the way, are you getting good prasadam? (Haribol). I heard that  prasadam was very nice. Prabhupāda would say that the army runs on the stomach. So you must be well fed, you are all here. Nandri (Thank you in Tamil) (Haribol). So we have food for the body and food for the consciousness. 

So, there are so many things and I was very fortunate to have been given a lot of service and I need lots of help. Help in developing the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, help in developing the Navadvīpa dhama, help in uniting all the vaishnavās, help in distributing books, help in so many areas. So like this, this is our parampara system. Prabhupāda, he did not know how he would carry out the order of his guru. That’s why he said that those disciples who were sent to him, they were representatives of his own guru. They were sent to help him. So, he was sent to the West and he told me to go the East. But, he also told me to travel around the world. But, now I cannot travel so much. So all these different services, I’m looking for my disciples to help me in all these different services (haribol). 

We are grateful for the safari devotees who are going around after the Gaura Purnima.

 Prabhupāda also told me to develop the congregation of preaching. There are about 51 things that Prabhupāda asked or told me to do. So, there are lot of things that devotees can help me with. 

We asked Prabhupāda what we can do for him. He said, “Be happy and make others happy” (Haribol). So, this was Prabhupāda’s secret. He was ‘para dukhe dukhi’. He was sad to see others sad. He wanted to change the way people thought, so that they will be happy.

 So, taking these two days of association, go deep into the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, “Go deep, Go deep!!” This is an ocean of spiritual bliss. Learn to dive deep. There is a saying in Bengali ‘gabhir joler mach’, deep water fish. You can get your happiness from the deep water of the ocean of bliss and others will want to how you are so happy. 

Hare Krishna!!  Nandri! Nandri, krtagnya-talu!!.

 We want to thank all the organizers. We want to thank Shankadhari das for hosting this program in Madurai. We want thank Balaram Govinda and his team.  We would like to thank all of you. Especially the speakers. Hare Krishna.

Devotee:  Jai Śrīla Guru Maharaja ki (jai) Guru Mahārāja ki (jai) Srila Guru Mahārāja ki (jai)

I request all of you to me in the chanting of Narasimha prayers for the health of Guru Maharaja. Kindly meditate.

sri-narasimha, jaya narasimha, jaya jaya narasimha 
prahladesa jaya padma-mukha-padma-bhrnga

ugram viram maha-vishnum
jvalantam sarvato mukham
nrisimham bhishanam bhadram
mrityur mrityum namamy aham

Jai Sri Narasimha dev bhagvan ki (jai)

Now, Sri Balaram Govinda Prabhu, his family, his brother Kumar Prabhu and his good wife Tamaraiselvi and all his family members will offer a donation for a devotee care project in Sridham Mayapur. They are pledging 2 crores for taking care devotees in Mayapur. We thank them on behalf of the GBC care committee for their gracious offering. 

Then we like to call upon the following devotees who performed the skit, to kindly receive a small gift.

Guru Maharaja:  I would like to thank the donors for their kind gift. I heard this is for the dharmshala in Mayapur. So, there will be enough space for all of you. Nandri!! [ Thank you in Tamil]