20200105 Sunday Feast Address and Kīrtana Fest

Mukam karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim
Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinam
Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram

[...] By chanting any names of the Absolute Truth in any language has the same effect as that when we get to associate with the Lord. There are a thousand names of Visnu as the creator and maintainer of the universe. So in the Siva Purana, Lord Siva says that 1000 of these names of Visnu are equal to one name of Lord Rama. And one name of Krsna is equal to 3000 names of Visnu. So, you can say Visnu is like name God, God means creator, maintainer. But Krsna is the Absolute Truth, He is the source of everything. I was talking to one lady, how would it feel like to meet the Supreme Personality of Godhead? What will I wear? She was worried about her appearance! But actually to have the association of the Lord is very purifying. And it gives one immense, unlimited happiness. So, the deities are considered as arca avatars or worshipable incarnations. Through His name, His form, hearing about His pastimes, one can associate with the Lord. And actually that is what we are hankering for, we want the supreme happiness. In the world today there is lot of war, disagreements, quarrels, that is the age of Kali. That is the age we are in. But by chanting the name of Krsna, we can actually create a peaceful situation on the earth. We can create a peaceful situation in our heart. Many people are experiencing stress, anxiety, depression. By chanting the names of Krsna, automatically by this mantra yoga they will get peaceful mind. Mantra, man means mind. Tra means to deliver. So by chanting the mantra, one’s mind is delivered. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! Don’t take my word for it! Try it! Sometimes they call this as Prema sankirtan. Chanting of the holy names in spontaneous love. So, by chanting Hare Krsna, we can bring love into this world. In the Kali Santarana Upanishad it states Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Iti sodaka namnam these 16 names, kali kalmasa nasanam – it will destroy the evil effects of the Kali yuga, natah parataropayah, sarva vedesu drsyate – you look in all the Vedas, you won’t find a better alternative than chanting these holy names. So, this is what the world needs today. If you think about it and if chant, you help to create a good vibration in the world. And so we are trying to encourage many people to chant the holy names. There are no hard and fast rules in chanting. Any time, any place, anywhere, you can chant the holy names. So, in the Brihad Naradiya Purana it states, harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam, kalau nastyaiva, nastyaiva, nastyaiva gatir anyatha. One should chant the holy name of Hari three times. Saying something three times, is to give it emphasis. Harer nama, Harer nama, Harer nama, three times. Chant the names of Hari three times. Hari is another name of Krsna. So eva kevalam – it is the only way we can get success. Guaranteed success! Kalau nastyaiva nastyaiva nastyaiva gatir anyatha. In this age of Kali, there is no other way, no other way, no other way. Gatir anyatha. I am not saying this. This is what the Vedic scriptures tell us. We should chant the name of God, Hari, the Absolute Truth. So we are trying to encourage everyone to chant the holy names of the Lord. In Sanskrit the name of Krsna means He is all attractive reservoir of all happiness. Krs is attraction, na is short for ananda which means transcendental bliss or ecstasy. Krsna. Who is the source of everyone’s happiness, and the source of unlimited happiness, than the Absolute Truth? Hare means the feminine energy of the Lord. So Hare Krsna is asking Krsna, asking His energy to engage us in His service. And Rama means the Supreme Happiness. So, Hare Rama is the same thing. We are happy that the devotees are engaging here in the nonstop 12 hour kirtan mela for the past three days, and that you are all participating. By hearing the holy names, chanting the holy names, the vibration stays in your consciousness in your heart. And thus relieve your material stress or anxiety. And it awakens your natural love for Krsna. Haribol! Lord Caitanya, He sent Lord Nityananda back to Bengal, when He went to Jagannath Puri in Odisha. He told Lord Nityananda that I left some work unfinished in Bengal, You go back and finish it. So Lord Nityananda, He went back to Bengal and took about 45 – 50 devotees with Him. They were so ecstatic that when they went back, they were enacting out pastimes of Krsna and they missed the road!! They wandered off the road! Then they realized that suddenly they were in the middle of nowhere! Where is the road? Right there, ten miles away! Ha! Then they walked back. They went off the road and they didn’t even notice because they were absorbed in Krsna’s pastimes, in chanting Krsna’s names. It normally took one month to reach Bengal, walking. But it took them three months! Ha! Ha! But it went like three days! It was so ecstatic. We are all hankering for that ecstasy. People take drugs and different things hoping to get some relief. But actually it destroys the body, destroys so many things. But chanting the names of Krsna awakens in us the natural love and ecstasy that does not destroy anything, except it destroys our bad karma! Ha! If you want to suffer in the material world, birth after birth, after birth, don’t chant! Ha! If you chant, you may go back to Godhead in this lifetime. Golokera prema dhana, Harinama sankirtana. This chanting of the holy names came down from the spiritual world. You see, Srila Prabhupada, our Founder Acarya, our Founder Spiritual Master, he could have stayed in Vrndavan and had the ecstasy of Krsna Prema. But he thought that all the people in America, people all over the world, they are not getting this spiritual bliss. They don’t understand how they are not the body, they are the consciousness in the body, the living force. And so he took, at the age of 70, he went around the world 14 times, distributing the science of mantra yoga, the science of bhakti yoga. I met someone today, my spiritual daughter, and she told me how two years ago she was a student, and that by meeting the devotees, her life changed and now she wants to help other students also to awaken! So all of you, if you feel that you have benefited by Srila Prabhupada, please try to help others to also get that mercy! I wrote one song that they sang yesterday, which is in Bengali but it has translation. Jodi Prabhupad na hoito, tobe ki hoito. Where will we be today if Srila Prabhupada had not come? Ha! If you think about it, it is a horrible thing! If it weren’t for Krsna consciousness, if it weren’t for Lord Caitanya, what will we be today? So, I was inspired by a song by Basu Ghosh, if there was no Lord Caitanya, where would we be? So I was thinking, if there was no Srila Prabhupada, who would we be? Many of you from India and you have some mercy there. But I think that those who came to the west are looking for some material benefits. But here you are receiving Krsna’s mercy! In bhakti yoga it doesn’t say that you have to be a very austere person. Because too much austerity may make the heart very hard. So not so much austerity in Krsna consciousness. But there is one Supreme sacrifice – eating Krsna prasadam! Ha! Ha! Ha! And chanting the holy names! Ha! Dancing in ecstasy and tolerating some speaker talking like this! So, in my flights around the world, I saw some people coming back from Florida to the UK. They had some sun burns, they were showing off, they were on vacation. So I was thinking that if someone was reporting back to work and your friend asked, how was your vacation? You said, oh, I feasted! I was dancing! I was singing! And I was listening to some amazing stories! And your friend said, oh what a great vacation you had! But that is our process of self-realization!! Ha! Ha! Singing, chanting, listening, there is a feast, I don’t want to speak too long because I know you are hungry. So this process of Krsna is a very blissful process. And I am very happy to see devotees from San Diego and different places, Philadelphia, New York, Canada, from everywhere! And so, Srila Prabhupada gave this place the name, New Panihati dham. Panihati is famous for having kirtans and having feast, feast in Sanskrit is called Mahotsva. Ut comes from Uttama – tama means ignorance, suffering, and ut means to rise above the suffering. So then Mahotsva is something that raises everybody to the higher platform. (he gives his own interpretation said guru maharaj of the repeater Ha! That is alright!) We should realize and then repeat! Ha! Ha! That is the parampara system! Ha! Ha! So I am very happy to be here for this festival. I just went on a tour of South America. I was in Peru, Brazil, Chile, many devotees came from Argentina to see and I went to Ecuador, Colombia, many devotees came to see me from Venezuela and then I came back here. Srila Prabhupada he also came to New Panihati dham after visiting Latin America. So, I remember how Srila Prabhupada came here and he was appreciating the congregation of devotees from all over the States here. And he was appreciating, he met with Swarup Damodar and gave him some instructions on the Bhakti Vedanta Institute. So like that, this place has a great history and in India a place where some associate of the Lord was visiting or worshipping is called Sripat. And even if that devotee visits for one day it is called a Sripat. Like, in Haridaspur that is the border between West Bengal, India and Bangladesh. There Haridas Thakur, he stayed one day! He chanted his 300,000 names of Krsna and since then that place is known as Haridaspur! And Haridaspur Junior High School, Haridaspur College, Haridaspur border, you can stamp your passport there. So that was one day, Srila Prabhupada stayed here many days! And so these deities of Gaur Nitai were worshipped by Srila Prabhupada! Panihati, actually it says that Lord Caitanya stays in five places eternally, and one of those is Panihati Dham! Where the Lord stays all the time, that is called a dham. Some devotees stayed for some time that is a Sripat. Sripat means within a three-mile radius and a dham is a bigger area. So whether we consider this a Sripat or dham, it is a sacred place of pilgrimage. So we welcome everybody here and thank you very much for participating in this festival. Any questions?

Question: Hare Krsna guru maharaj. When you go to visit the homes of devotees in Mayapur, they become Sripat also right?

Guru maharaj: Mayapur is a dham. But you could say that when they visit your house in Alachua! Where there is a deity established, that is also a holy place. 12 Shaligrams, that is a thirtha. So where a pure devotee has done his pastimes, that is a Sripat. Wherever the Lord appears or He resides, that is a dham. So Mayapur is a dham, Ekacakra is a dham. Narottamadas Thakur appeared in Keturi gram, so that is at least a Sripat. Any other question? I would like to welcome my god brothers and god sisters here!

Realization by a Srila Prabhupada disciple? (Gokularanjana das): So maharaj, when Srila Prabhupada did come here, he did not refer to Gaura Nitai as deities, but he stated that the very same Lord Caitanya and Nityananda who are in West Bengal and now standing here on your altar!! He didn’t say these Gaura Nitai deities. He said the very same Lord Caitanya Lord Nityananda who appeared in West Bengal, are standing on the altar!! All the devotees there could feel the spiritual energy being exchanged between Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda here!!

Guru maharaj: I explained that these are arca avataras, they are incarnations of the Lord in worshipable form. They are not different.

Question: Guru maharaj, this process of bhakti yoga is a joyful process. My question guru maharaj says Locanadas Thakur says visaya cariya sei rase mojiya, so (inaudible)

Guru maharaj: visaya cariya sei rase mojiya mukhe bolo Hari Hari. How do you translate visaya? You are translating it as all happiness. Visaya means artificial, superficial, sense enjoyment. Especially illicit activities. You give up the illicit activities, visaya cariya, and be absorbed in the ecstasy of Krsna consciousness. Sei rase mojiya, absorb yourself in the ecstasy of Krsna consciousness. Instead of absorbing in some beer, absorb in Hare Krsna! Ha! Instead of having a hangover next day, bringing some enjoyment, chant Hare Krsna. Mukhe bolo Hari Hari. Absorb yourself in the rasa of Krsna consciousness. Golularanjana prabhu said, Srila Prabhupada, he didn’t see deities, he saw Nitai Gaura standing there!! Today I met the widow of Sravanananda prabhu. He told me that once he had the bliss of driving Srila Prabhupada from the Ratha Yatra. I think that was the Ratha Yatra Srila Prabhupada danced for like six hours or something! At that time, he may be about 74 years old. So he asked Sravanananda prabhu, just see how beautiful Nitai Gaura look, dancing, amongst the devotees? Do you see how beautiful They looked? And he was like (guru maharaj gestured like tongue tied did not know what to say), What could he say? He didn’t see Them! Ha! Srila Prabhupada did! So Locanadas said be absorbed in the rasa, sei rase mojiya, don’t be attracted by the illicit activities of this material world. In fact, the acaryas are also saying grihe thako bone thako sada Hari bole dako. Whether you are a grihasta, whether you are a householder or whether you are in the renounced order, everybody should chant the holy names of Krsna. Hare Krsna! So you can’t take one thing and translate in some extreme way and take that. 

Thank you all very much!