20200111 50th Sannyāsa Anniversary Festival

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 11, 2020 at the 50th Sannyasa Anniversary Festival held at ISKCON Birmingham.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpāṁ tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇa

paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapataka Swami: Gracias!

Jayapātākā Swami: Nice to see such a large crowd here tonight. I was thinking, remembering, how Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda, he asked me to go to India from Canada. And then I went via London. And I was asked to stay here for the London Ratha-yātrā in 1970. But I sent a letter to Śrīla Prabhupāda asking him if I could stay, but I got no reply. So I thought, better carry out his order! But since then I have had a relationship with the UK devotees. In 1989 I was attacked in the Madrid airport by a crazy man who knifed me and afterwards I came to Bhaktivedanta Manor and I stayed there for some months. So as they say, welcome to your home, away from your home! And now we have a center at Birmingham, and I have been coming here for many years, for the Ratha-yātrā and other functions, but this is the first time I am here in the Bhakti Yoga Center. Haribol! Also Śrīla Prabhupāda came many times to the UK. He gave his lectures. And I was favored by His Divine Grace, that he gave me the birthplace of Lord Caitanya to stay and to develop. First we had a grass hut with five or seven devotees. And now we have about 7000 plus devotees! So how many of you have visited Māyāpur? Oh! Many have gone! So you have seen how it has been developed over the years. Recently the chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, she and her cabinet gave us land ceiling about 750 acres! Previously our land ceiling was 23 acres. And not only that, she also absolved us from paying tax for transferring the 700 acres! That is about five to six million pounds. Lord Caitanya came over 500 years ago. We were given a place at His birthplace city. The idea is that – we are in the material world and this is a small portion of the total existence. And there is the spiritual world which is about three fourths of the total energy. And sometimes the Absolute Truth descends into the material world. And the most merciful avatāra of the Absolute Truth is Lord Caitanya. In fact, He gave out freely without considering who is qualified and who is not qualified, anyone who wants it, would get the ecstatic love for Godhead. So in this Age of Kali, age of quarrel, hypocrisy, war, we are seeing how every day in the newscast, different quarrels and fights. So Lord Caitanya He brought internal peace and love to everyone. So we are trying to help His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda to expand this mercy of Lord Caitanya. I was in Canada and Śrīla Prabhupāda was arriving in the Boston, England and I came down to greet Śrīla Prabhupāda there were about 150 devotees there at the airport and we were all chanting and waiting for Śrīla Prabhupāda to come out, at the immigration. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda lifted his hand over the partition everybody were seeing. And the devotees became wild wild. And one started dancing, he didn’t realize he hit his hand with a brass karatāla. He was bleeding, but he didn’t notice it! He was in such ecstasy! But the newspaper man, he noticed and he took a photo. He saw he was hurt but was smiling and chanting. So the newspaper was amazed to see this because their idea of happiness is bodily happiness. But he was bodily suffering, but he was happy! So then Śrīla Prabhupāda came out from the immigration and all the devotees bowed down. And the media and newspapers were all staring! Ha! They were watching! And then Śrīla Prabhupāda sat down and everybody gave garlands. So then he pulled out a garland from his head, put another on and then again he pulled out another. This must have happened four or five times. So afterwards Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving a speech. He said the spiritual master is offered all respect like they offer to God. But if he thinks he is God, “G” “O” “D”, he is not God, he is opposite, “D” “O” “G”! So like this Śrīla Prabhupāda was preaching very dynamically. That was in 1969. And so then at that time there was a war in Vietnam. John Lennon came from England to Toronto and in one hotel he sang, ‘Give peace a chance’. And you can hear in the background, the Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana. That was me! Ha! So, like this we had some experiences.

And Lord Caitanya, He came from the spiritual world and He brought the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa! It is very easy, only three words – Hare, Kṛṣṇa and Rāma. So those are arranged in 16 words, a mantra, called the Mahā-mantra. In the Kāli-santaraṇa Upaniṣad, part of the Vedic literature. It is said, iti ṣoḍaśaka nāmānām, these 16 names, 

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

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. 

iti ṣoḍaśaka nāmānām, kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanam, they destroy all the evil effects of Kali yuga. nātaḥ parataropāyaḥ sarva vedeṣu dṛśyate. You won’t find a better alternative in all the Vedic literatures. No better alternative! No better alternative! Ha! Ha!

So I wrote a song in Bengali, inspired by Vāsudeva Ghoṣa, one of the associates of Lord Caitanya. He wrote, if there was no Lord Caitanya, what would there be? So I wrote, that if there was no Śrīla Prabhupāda, where would we be? yadi Prabhupāda na haita tabe ki haita. Śrīla Prabhupāda came, at the age of 70, he came around the world 14 times in order to give the mercy and the message of Lord Caitanya.

Someone said to Śrīla Prabhupāda that you came over by the Jaladuta, by ship, why you are taking now the air plane? It is very luxurious. You should continue going by ship! And Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, well, you are going in jet speed to hell, if I go by ship, how will I be able to help you? Ha! Ha! Ha!

So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he said that utility is the principle, that we can use everything to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. To spread bhakti-yoga. And today we use the internet, we use whatever facilities there are. But 500 years ago, Lord Caitanya walked from Navadvīpa, West Bengal to Jagannath Purī in Odisha. And then He walked all over India. More than 10 thousand kilometers, he walked throughout the whole South India, through Maharashtra, to Dvārakā in Gujarat and to Vṛndāvana. And He walked through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and back to Odisha, to Bengal. So He covered the whole India. Now it is Bangladesh, He also visited there.

So He was spreading this message that people should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and practice bhakti-yoga. So this is a Bhakti Yoga Center. I am very glad that you are practicing bhakti-yoga.

There are nine islands of Navadvīpa and each island is connected with one of the nine practices of bhakti-yoga. So in one of the islands, the island of Godrumadvīpa, which is the island connected to the process of chanting, there is a place called Suvarna Vihār, where previously there was a king. Nārada Muni had travelled over and he went to this place. Then he told the king that in the material world, we are brought together, different family members. Like in a river there is a whirlpool and some pieces of grass are brought together. Then the whirlpool is broken and the grasses are separated. So like that we come together and then we disperse. Because we take birth again and again and again. So who is our mother, father, brother, sister, cousins, in this birth, they are not necessarily in the next birth. So like that, he was saying that you are a very fortunate king. Because you are the king. In the Kali-yuga, Lord Caitanya comes here as the Golden Avatar! And He is worshipped as Gaurāṅga! The king was somehow very attracted to that name Gaurāṅga! How could I see Lord Gaurāṅga? Nārada Muni told him, that if you chant the name of Gaurāṅga, He resides here in His dhām and He will reveal Himself to you!

So he began every day to chant, Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Like this one day ended. The next day he began chanting Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! The day ended! Ha! Then again, month after month, chanting every day, Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Ha! Ha! Ha! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Ha! Ha! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!

And then Lord Gaurāṅga appeared to the king of Suvarna Vihār and the king was overwhelmed with bliss, to see the golden form of Lord Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! And he bowed down and then he looked up, Lord Gaurāṅga was gone! Then he wanted to bring back Lord Gaurāṅga as he was feeling so much separation to see that beautiful form of the Lord, golden color, His lotus eyes almost extending to His ears, His long arms reaching down to His knees, arms raised up and again he began chanting, Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!

And then Lord Gaurāṅga spoke, He said, you are not ready to see Me now! I gave you a special mercy! I let you see Me! You will be My associate in Kali-yuga. You will be Budhimanta Khān! Then He did not speak.

So I was wondering, who is Budhimanta Khān? What did he do? I take every year thousands of devotees to Suvarna Vihār, but who is Budhimanta Khān? Do you know? How many know? You see! All of you have visited Māyāpur and nobody knows Budhimanta Khān! He is the one who arranged, paid the money, for the wedding of Lord Gaurāṅga! He offered a great feast for Lord Gaurāṅga to marry Viṣṇupriyā. And then other devotees said, no, no, what about us, we also want to pay! He said, I don’t want to do a wedding like for a priest, I want to do a royal standard wedding. Big procession through the town, no holds barred, it is an English slang, no limits! Seemā nāi!

So then he was the chief tax collector of Navadvīpa. And in those days the tax collector got a percentage of the tax. So he was very rich. He had many assistant tax collectors, each one had like a gun, muzzle type, loaded like a muzzle, like a gun. Gun! Boom! Yes! He had in the beginning of the procession all the tax collectors with their guns. Then there were clowns, jesters, dancers, brāhmaṇas chanting mantras, kids playing along. There was a big procession, miles long. Musicians, everything! So it was the biggest thing Navadvīpa. It was flooded at that time with kṛṣṇa-prema! Everybody loved Lord Gaurāṅga!

So, Budhimanta Khān, he was not only did he sponsor the wedding, but he also did various services for Lord Caitanya. So I found out that Budhimanta Khān was a very great associate of Lord Caitanya.

So, what we realize is that through the bhakti-yoga, not only do we get self-realization, not only do we have the realization of the complete Absolute Truth, we can also participate in His pastimes. In that, He is actually the nicest guy! He is most wonderful, beautiful, richest, humorous, everything, merciful! What a friend to have! So we can participate in His pastimes. He has nothing to do actually! What He does, He arranges dramas! Particular pastimes on earth! So this pastime was completely non-violent, giving out mercy! He changed the hearts of very cruel people and made them very loving and kind. He said, I will not kill anyone. But the demons, serial killers and other, He made them nice! That was His pastime!

So the more you learn about Lord Caitanya, the more you appreciate how wonderful He was! And we need His presence in the world today! And how we can get His presence, is by chanting His name and the Holy Names! Now all of you chanted Gaurāṅga, did you feel happy? [Haribol] Ha! Ha! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Ha! Ha! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Ha! Ha! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!

You see, it is not possible to not be happy while chanting Gaurāṅga! So if we bring Gaurāṅga down by chanting His name, that can change the whole atmosphere! So we hope that all of you also experience this divine inspiration! And chant the name of Lord Caitanya, the name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and thus purify your mind, the mantra is a combination of two words – man and tra, man means mind and tra means to deliver. To deliver our mind from all anxiety, depression, inauspicious thoughts. We have mantras. Especially the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and the Caitanya mantra.

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

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! 

So all the Vedas say to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. But a little mistake, a little offence, and it doesn’t produce result. But if you chant the name of Lord Caitanya first and then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, it has a remarkable effect. So I met one man, he said he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra for 26 years. Many times, every day, but he was not feeling any bliss. I asked him, did you chant the name of Lord Caitanya? He said, no, I am from a different sampradāya, a different movement. So I gave him the Pañca-tattva mantra – 

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda

śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsa-ādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

You chant this before you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and see what effect it has. After three months, I came back to that place and the man saw me from a distance. He ran! He ran to me! He fell down at my feet! He said: What mantra have you given me! what mantra have you given me! what mantra! By chanting I feel so much ecstasy, so much bliss! Thank you thank you! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! 

Śrīla Prabhupāda he brought to us this Gaurāṅga-vāṇī or message and this Gaurāṅga mantra. So we are very grateful to Śrīla Prabhupāda. He came to Māyāpur twice a year when I was staying. I had a lot of association with him. And he gave me many instructions. So in order to fulfill that, I cannot do it myself, I need a lot of help. So I am going around asking people to help me. So, who here will be some volunteers who would like to help me fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions?

So, he said he wanted to change the way that people thought in the world. Actually, that is the highest thing, right?! Ha! So basically we think we are the body. And many of our religious people they think they are the body, they have a soul. But they don’t think they are the soul, the living force in the body. And they have a body. And the body dies, they will not. They go to some other body. They go into the womb of a mother; like that they take another birth. So every birth we have a mother and father. So, coming through eight million species of life. Four hundred thousand are human beings. And then we come to the eight million, to reach human life.

So, as a human being, we have the possibility of achieving complete self-realization. That is the idea of yoga. To connect with the Absolute Truth. So there are different types of yoga – there is dhyāna-yoga where you use the mind to understand the reality. There is the aṣṭāṅga-yoga, where one uses different postures and meditates to realize the Supersoul in everyone’s heart. Then there is the process of bhakti-yoga where you realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the highest complete form of the Absolute Truth, the Cause of all causes.

And we are practicing the bhakti-yoga system. The bhakti-yoga system, anyone can do. You don’t have to do difficult postures. Though we are not against that, if you would like to do that type yoga. I did for my back! Ha! But that self-realization is very slow. Bhakti-yoga is very fast! In the Bhagavad-gītā it says,  bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, after many, many births, one can achieve realization, if he practices the other yogas. But in bhakti-yoga system, in one birth, you can achieve success. We need, fast track! Ha! Ha! We need that! How many would like the fast track?

So, we thank you for participating in this Bhakti Yoga Center. We hope that some time you will visit us in Māyāpur. I would like also to meet different devotees from different centers. Are there any – I can answer a few questions, then we will have a Prabhupād nā hoito* cake and then darśana. First we will have question and answer on the class.

Question: Thank you Guru Mahārāja for this very wonderful class. When you said that Lord Caitanya delivers but does not kill the people. But there is a group of people that God says Who don’t believe in our God. You have to kill them. And God will give you heaven. My friends asked me to release another video to convince them. How to deal with the kind of people that say you should believe in my God or I will kill you? 

Jayapātākā Swami: Avoid them! Ha! Ha! There is only one God. He may be called by different names. We may have different processes of realizing Him. But there is only one Absolute Truth tell them and so that is our humble belief. So if someone says, believe in my God, say, I believe! I believe! Ha! Because we believe in one God! So your God is the same as my God! Ha! The Absolute Truth is One! I told HH Romapāda Swami Mahārāja, I asked him a similar question, what to do? He said, if they say, just say, I believe! I believe! Ha! Ha! People come and challenge. Any other question?

Question: Praṇām Guru Mahārāja 

Jayapātākā Swami: Praṇām 

Question: We are very grateful to get your darśana. My question is in Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa explains different kinds of yoga and at the end He says bhakti-yoga is the greatest and you surrender unto Me. Why this is contradictory to what Lord Kṛṣṇa has spoken in Bhagavad-gītā where He talks about different yogas and He says leave everything and just surrender unto Me. So why He actually gave these processes and why at the end He is contradicting His own statement? 

Jayapātākā Swami: How is He contradicting? How do you say that? 

Devotee: Because in the last chapter He says, leave everything and surrender unto Me. 

Jayapātākā Swami: How is that a contradiction? 

Devotee: Because He explains the different yoga processes which means one can choose any of these yoga processes. Bhakti-yoga is the topmost. Why He didn’t speak about bhakti-yoga in the end? 

Jayapātākā Swami: So you see He is very liberal. He presented to Arjuna, He said, you can meditate on Me, fix your mind and do this posture and meditate on Me. Arjuna said, I am an active person, I cannot sit down in one place and fix my mind. If you want, you can do that. He said, I cannot do that. Give me a process I can do. So finally, after so many discussions, He said, if you want to know the best thing, I will tell you! Give up all the different dharmas, religions, everything just surrender to Me! And then by that, I will destroy all your bad karma and bring you to Me!

So He gave different options. If you would like to sit and watch your nose, you can do that. Otherwise if you are like Arjuna, very active person, I want immediate results, what should I do? So Kṛṣṇa said, well, in that case, surrender everything and surrender to Me! Now I will do everything! So you want to be the doer? Then that is one way. But it may take many, many births. But if you want Kṛṣṇa to be the Doer, He can do it right away! [Haribol] It is not a contradiction; it is just that He is giving different options to Arjuna. Arjuna did not accept His options. He said that it is very difficult for me. For some people it may be a thing they would like to do. But it takes time.

When Parīkṣit Mahārāja was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy to die in seven days. So he gathered all the great yogis, all the great seers, the sages—he was the emperor of the whole world! He asked them, I have seven days to live, I want a guarantee that I can go back to Godhead? Who can give me a process? Seven days, oh! The haṭha-yogis said in seven days maybe they could only teach you one āsana. What to speak of meditation and all that. So they said, no, no, not enough time! You cannot do it! Different yogis they said, no, no, we cannot do it.

Then Śukadeva Gosvāmī came. Ha! Ha! He was the son of Vyāsa Deva. He said, seven days? No problem! A lot of time! I can give you complete God realization in a few minutes! Just by practicing bhakti-yoga! So for seven days and seven nights, nonstop, he taught the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. After the fifth day, fifth or sixth I don’t know, so then how would you feel—no food, no sleep, no drink for five or six days! But Parīkṣit Mahārāja, after hearing the tenth canto, in the middle, he was told what Kṛṣṇa did. What was his reaction? Tell me more! Tell me what my wonderful Lord did! I want to hear more! Ha! Ha! He was so eager to hear more! He was not thinking about food, drink, sleep! He wanted to hear more and more and more! Haribol! So read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Parīkṣit Mahārāja sacrificed his life for us to have the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam! Parīkṣit Mahārāja kī jaya! Alright!