20200105 Sunday Feast Address and Kīrtana Fest

The following is the Sunday feast class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 5, 2020 at New Pānihāṭi-dhāma, Georgia, Atlanta, USA

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpāṁ tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapātāka Swami: So I don’t know if I would be part of saṅkīrtana now, but by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy I could be part [Haribol!]. They were supposed to be chanting outside then simultaneously have a Sunday feast class inside. But somehow by being inside I could participate. So chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa gives us immediate association with Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between the names of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa, absolute. So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa we get to associate with Kṛṣṇa. By chanting any of the names of Kṛṣṇa in any language, any names of the Absolute Truth in any language has the same effect as that we get to associate with the Lord.

There are a thousand names of Viṣṇu as the creator and maintainer of the universe. So in the Śiva Purāṇa, Lord Śiva says that 1000 of these names of Viṣṇu are equal to one name of Lord Rāma. And one name of Kṛṣṇa is equal to 3000 names of Viṣṇu. So, you can say Viṣṇu is like name God, God means creator, maintainer whatever. But Kṛṣṇa 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 arcā-avatāras 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 that supreme happiness. In the world today there is lot of war, lot of disagreements, quarrels, that is the Age of Kali. That is the age we are in. But by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa, 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 Kṛṣṇa, 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 Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Don’t take my word for it! Try it! Sometimes they call this as Prema-saṅkīrtana – chanting of the holy names in spontaneous love. So, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, we can bring love into this world. In the Kali-santaraṇa Upaniṣad it states

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

iti ṣoḍaśa nāmnām — these 16 names, kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanam – it will destroy the evil effects of the Kali-yuga, kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanam naṭaḥ parataropāyaḥ, sarva-vedeṣu dṛśyate – 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 you chant, you will 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 Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa it states:

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

One should chant the holy name of Hari three times. Saying something three times, is to give it emphasis. Harer nāma, Harer nāma, Harer nāma – three times. Chant the names of Hari three times. Hari is another name of Kṛṣṇa. So eva kevalam – it is the only way we can get success. Guaranteed success! Kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gathir anyathā. In this Age of Kali, there is no other way, no other way, no other way – gathir anyathā. 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 Kṛṣṇa means He is all-attractive reservoir of all happiness. Kṛṣ is attraction, ṇa is short for ānanda which means transcendental bliss or ecstasy. Kṛṣṇa. 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 Kṛṣṇa’ is asking Kṛṣṇa, asking His energy to engage us in His service. And Rāma means the Supreme Happiness. So, ‘Hare Rāma’ is the same thing. We are happy that the devotees here are engaging here in the nonstop 12-hour Kīrtana-melā 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 Kṛṣṇa. Haribol!

Lord Caitanya, He sent Lord Nityānanda back to Bengal, when He went to Jagannātha Purī in Odisha. He told Lord Nityānanda that I left some work unfinished in Bengal, “You go back and finish it.” So Lord Nityānanda, 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 Kṛṣṇa 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! Then they walked back. They went off the road and they didn’t even notice because they were absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, in chanting Kṛṣṇa’s names. It normally took one month to reach Bengal, walking. But it took them three months! 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 Kṛṣṇa awakens in us the natural love and ecstasy that does not destroy anything, except it destroys our bad karma! If you want to suffer in the material world, birth after birth, after birth, don’t chant! [Applause] If you chant, you may go back to Godhead in this lifetime. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. This chanting of the holy names came down from the spiritual world.

You see, Śrīla Prabhupāda, our Founder-Ācārya, our Founder Spiritual Master, he could have stayed in Vṛndāvana and had the ecstasy of kṛṣṇa-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 Śrīla Prabhupāda, 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. Yadi prabhupāda na haito, tabe ki haito. Where will we be today if Śrīla Prabhupāda had not come? If you think about it, it is a horrible thing! If it weren’t for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if it weren’t for Lord Caitanya, what will we be today? So, I was inspired by a song by Vāsudeva Ghoṣa, if there was no Lord Caitanya, where would we be? So I was thinking, if there was no Śrīla Prabhupāda, 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 Kṛṣṇa’s mercy! [Haribol]. 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 Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But there is one Supreme sacrifice – eating kṛṣṇa-prasāda! And chanting the holy names! 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!! 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 Kṛṣṇa 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, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave this place the name, New Pānihāṭi-dhāma. Pānihāṭi is famous for having kīrtanas and having feast, feast in Sanskrit is called mahotsava. ‘Ut’ comes from uttama – ‘tama’ means ignorance, suffering, and ‘ut’ means to rise above the suffering. So then mahotsava is something that raises everybody to the higher platform. (He gives his own interpretation said Guru-Mahārāja of the repeater That is alright!) We should realize and then repeat! That is the paramparā system! 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. Śrīla Prabhupāda he also came to New Pānihāṭi-dhāma after visiting Latin America. So, I remember how Śrīla Prabhupāda came here, and he was appreciating the congregation of devotees from all over the States here. And he was appreciating, he met with Svarūpa Dāmodara and gave him some instructions on the Bhaktivedanta 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 śrīpāṭ. And even if that devotee visits for one day it is called a śrīpāṭ. Like, in Haridaspur that is the border between West Bengal, India and Bangladesh. There Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he stayed one day! He chanted his 300,000 names of Kṛṣṇa 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, Śrīla Prabhupāda stayed here many days! And so these Deities of Gaura-Nitāi were worshipped by Śrīla Prabhupāda!

Pānihāṭi, actually it says that Lord Caitanya stays in five places eternally, and one of those is Pānihāṭi-dhāma! Where the Lord stays all the time, that is called a dhāma. Some devotees stayed for some time that is a śrīpāṭ. Śrīpāṭ means within a three-mile radius and a dhāma is a bigger area. So whether we consider this a śrīpāṭ or dhāma, 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 Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja.

Jayapātākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa

Question: When you go to visit the homes of devotees in Māyāpur, they become śrīpāṭ also right?

Jayapātākā Swami: Māyāpur is a dhāma. 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 śālagrāmas, that is a tīrtha. So wherever a pure devotee has done his pastimes, that is a śrīpāṭa. Wherever the Lord appears or He resides, that is a dhāma. So Māyāpur is a dhāma, Ekacakra is a dhāma. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura appeared in Kheturi-grāma, so that is at least a śrīpāṭ. Any other question? I would like to welcome my godbrothers and godsisters here!

Realization by a Śrīla Prabhupāda disciple?

Gokularañjana dāsa: So Mahārāja, when Śrīla Prabhupāda did come here, he did not refer to Gaura-Nitāi as Deities, but he stated that the very same Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda who are in West Bengal 500 years ago are now standing here on your altar!! He didn’t say these Gaura-Nitāi Deities. He said the very same Lord Caitanya Lord Nityānanda, 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 Nityānanda here!!

Jayapātākā Swami: I explained that these are arcā-avatāras, they are incarnations of the Lord in worshipable form. They are not different.

Question: Guru Mahārāja, this process of bhakti-yoga is a joyful process. My question Guru Mahārāja says Locana dāsa Ṭhākura says viṣaya chāḍiyā sei rase majiyā, so one has to renounce all sense enjoyment then you can chant the name of Hari, my question Guru Mahārāja here is to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya what should a person do, what austerities what viṣaya chāḍiyā sei mean apart from the four regulative principles?

Jayapātākā Swami: Viṣaya chāḍiyā sei rase majiyā mukhe bolo hari hari. How do you translate viṣaya? You are translating it as all happiness. Viṣaya means artificial, superficial, sense enjoyment, especially illicit activities. You give up the illicit activities—viṣaya chāḍiyā—and be absorbed in the ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sei rase majiyā, absorb yourself in the ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Instead of absorbing in some beer, absorb in Hare Kṛṣṇa! Instead of having a hangover vomiting next day, thinking that’s enjoyment, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Mukhe bolo hari hari. Absorb yourself in the rasa of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Gokularañjana Prabhu said, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he didn’t see Deities, he saw Nitāi-Gaura standing there!! Today I met the widow of Śravaṇānanda Prabhu. He told me that once he had the bliss of driving Śrīla Prabhupāda back from the Ratha-yātrā. I think that was the Ratha-yātrā Śrīla Prabhupāda danced for like six hours or something! At that time, he may be about 73–74 years old. So he asked Śravaṇānanda Prabhu, “Just see how beautiful Nitāi-Gaura look, dancing, amongst the devotees? Do you see how beautiful They looked?” And he was like (Guru Mahārāja gestured like tongue tied did not know what to say), What could he say? He didn’t see Them! Śrīla Prabhupāda did! So Locana dāsa said be absorbed in the rasa, sei rase majiyā, don’t be attracted by the illicit activities of this material world.

In fact, the ācāryas are also saying gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Whether you are a gṛhastha, whether you are a householder or whether you are in the renounced order, everybody should chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa! So you can’t take one thing and translate in some extreme way and take that.

Thank you all very much!