20170621 Talk

20170621 H.H.Jayapatākā Swami gave a talk in Krishna Kathā Desh.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

paramānanda-mādhavam

Śrī Caitanya Iswaram 

Hari Oṁ Tat Sat.

Gurumaharaja: 

So today we are meeting four of the nine islands. Nabadwipa Dhāma is made up of nine islands – Sīmanta Dwipa, Godruma Dwipa, Madhya Dwipa, Pada Sevana – that is Kola Dwipa, Ritu Dwipa, Jahnu Dwipa, Modudruma Dwipa, Rudra Dwipa and Antara Dwipa. Did anyone count? Did I leave any out? There is no Chakra Dwipa. There may be, but not in the nine islands. So each island is corresponding with the practice of devotional service, and that’s why the nine islands show Nava-bhida bhakti, and one may do one practice, or many of the practices. 

So while one is doing one’s work, while one is engaged in the family responsibilities, side by side they can do the Naba-bhida bhakti, and normally it takes many many births to achieve success, but by the mercy of Lord Caitanya one can achieve success in Bhakti Yoga even in one birth. 

Today is the international day of Yoga. So there are different types of yoga. The aṣṭāṅga yoga or the eight fold yoga starts with the Haṭha Yoga or the āsanas, and then one learns how to meditate. 

There is the jñāna yoga by which one realizes the impersonal bhrahmana. The astanaga yoga makes one realize the supersoul. Bhakti yoga helps one to realize all three – the impersonal, personal, the localized and Bhagavana. So in this age of Kali, it is mentioned that we should do Bhakti Yoga, especially chanting and dancing. 

Here we may not be able fully express ourselves, but the process is to chant the holy names. This can be observed by people of all religions. Some people do Tasbira, some do rosary, we do Japa and we do kīrtan. Here we don’t want to disturb our neighbours. So at least we can do japa, and then in a discreet way we can do chanting and dancing. 

Lord Caitanya gave us a system which is completely blissful. Other processes like the Jñāna Yoga demands that one be a sanyasi, but in Bhakti Yoga Lord Caitanya said, “Grihe thāko, bāṇe thāko sadā Hari Bale Ḍāko.” Whether you are a grihastha or you are a Vairāgī you can chant the holy names. Lord Caitanya’s followers were grihastha’s, most of them, and here you are all grihasthas.

So this process is universal in its approach. I am happy that you are having the B.V meetings. I just spoke with the Russians. They have over 500 saṅgas. [applause] and all over the world the Russian speakers are taking up B.V.G, and here K.K.G is a B.V.G sthān. 

So maybe that with all these changes some people may have to go back to India or wherever. So we hope that you keep in touch, and keep alive the practice of Bhakti Yoga. The food for the soul is Bhakti Yoga, and side by side we need to feel our souls with Bhakti Yoga. Well we feed our body with food. So we get petrol for car, and Kṛṣṇa Prasad for ourselves. So I am very grateful that you are all making this austerity to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy.