20200405 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Lecture Code- 20200405

Occasion- 71st Vyas Puja, SB 4.30.37  

Place- Sridham Mayapur           

Date- 5th April 2020        

Transcribed by- Jayaraseshwari DD

Transcribed on- 5th April 2020

1st Level Proofer- Bhavatarini Radhika DD    

1st Level Proofed on- 5th April 2020

Editorial Changes (non voice): Usha

Date: 22-Jan-2021

Status: Completed

Source:

https://www.facebook.com/161054864015965/posts/2822017804586311/?sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e

Title:

20200405 Jayapatākā Swami Guru Maharaj, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.30.37, 71st Vyāsa Pūjā, Śrī Māyāpur Dham, India.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.30.37:

teṣāṁ vicaratāṁ padbhyāṁ

tīrthānāṁ pāvanecchayā

bhītasya kiṁ na roceta

tāvakānāṁ samāgamaḥ

Dear Lord, Your personal associates, devotees, wander all over the world to purify even the holy places of pilgrimage. Is not such activity pleasing to those who are actually afraid of material existence?

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

paramānanda-mādhavam

Śrī Caitanya Īśvaram

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda was mentioning the difference between the bhajanandi and the ghostyanandi. And he said that we in the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement are ghostyanandis.

We want to see the number of devotees enhanced. Following this advice, I used to travel around the world. But now with the present situation of all the flights are grounded, and many countries are in lockdown, if you are able to visit some country then for 14 days you have to stay in quarantine.

But, by SP’s mercy we have now centers all over the world! He personally established 108 temples. Now maybe 6 to 800 temples are there. Maybe 4 or 5000 Namahattas. And thousands of bhakti vṛkṣa groups. And the gṛhastha’s who practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their house, that maybe millions more!

So, now is the time for every devotee to personally preach all over the world. Wherever you are, you can preach in your local area, or you can also preach all over the world, through the internet. Lord Caitanya instructed the Kurmadesh brāhmaṇa he should stay in his house with his family. But worship Kṛṣṇa together with his family. And whoever he meets, tell them the message of Kṛṣṇa. Jāre deko tāre kāho .. whoever you meet you instruct them about Kṛṣṇa consciousness and by My order you become a spiritual master. We read to day in the Haribhakti Vilās different quotes from the Vedas. About the chanting of the holy name.

Nārada muni said that even if you trick someone to somehow chant the holy name, we heard how Nārada muni he got the dacoit to chant kil, kill, kill, in Sanskrit! Yes, I can chant that but I cannot chant any holy name. So, he began to chant mara, mara, mara, mara, mara. And by chanting that he was chanting the name of Rāma Rāma Rāma. So even if they chant, all these preachers Hare Kṛṣṇa’s, somehow if they say the name of Kṛṣṇa, that will help them! One time there was a devotee who met a Kazi, not the Chand Kazi, another kazi. You are very intelligent, very handsome, you are very politically powerful, you are rich, famous. All good qualities. Can I ask you one thing? Yes, why not? Please forget all of this! And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa!

So, the Kazi said, I will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa tomorrow! And that devotee started to dance! Haribol! Haribol! You have already said Hare Kṛṣṇa, don’t stop now, keep going! Ha! Ha! Ha! Haribol! And there are many verses in the Purāṇas, that say just by chanting the syllables Ha and re you get all auspiciousness. If someone is suffering and he mentions the name Govinda! Govinda! It is on the tip of his tongue, Ha Re, all these verses are there, that the Lord mitigates their suffering. If one takes medicine but not cured, along with the medicine, doing kīrtan and chanting the holy names will give the desired result and the person will become successful.

 I am thinking right now the people all over the world, are suffering due to this pandemic. And one doctor told me that there was a paper from Wuhan China. That more people can be affected by the fear and anxiety, than the actual disease.

In India, the Supreme Court requested the government to have people to chant bhajan, kīrtan, or perform namaz because that way it will be peaceful. So, my humble request to the devotees all over the world, please use your influence to get as many people as possible, to chant the names of God.

In the pastime of Ajāmila, he was calling his son. But he had given his son the name Nārāyaṇa. So many times, he was chanting the four syllables Na ra ya na, and because of that the ācāryas gave the commentary that unknowingly he had developed devotion, bhakti for Nārāyaṇa. And so, if we can get the people to chant Hari or Govinda or anything, or Kṛṣṇa, then they will get so much spiritual benefit. They will be saved from their material suffering and develop devotion. So, somehow or another, people should be encouraged to chant. I heard one doctor, he told his patients to chant, Go run go. He didn’t say kīrtan, he said Go run go. Words. If you say that Go run go, go run go, you are chanting the name of Gaurāṅga!!

Similarly, in English this is called knee (gesturing to the knee).  And what they wear round the neck is called tie. Say Knee Tie, Knee Tie. You know what that means. You can think Go pal, Ha! Ha! my dear friend pal, go! Ha! Go pal! Gopal!

In that way, somehow or another they would chant the name of Kṛṣṇa as Gopal! And now we cannot travel all around the world physically, but we can travel through the internet. I am requesting all the devotees to use this opportunity, to encourage the people to chant, chant now! You can think in your different languages, how maybe some name or some word in your language, is the name of God.

Like in Bosnian, the word for ready is Spreman. If you take out the S and take out the N in Spreman you get Prema. Spreman, Prema. So, like that there are many names of God hidden in some names in the languages. In Spanish and Portuguese, the name to be in love is Enamorado. Rādhā is there. Rādhā Enamo rada! So, there may be some names of God hidden in your different languages. And so, using that method, you can get people to chant. So, whether directly or indirectly or whether by convincing or by tricking somehow or another get the whole world to start chanting the names of God.

 So, here is a verse about the Namacaraya.

yadyapi anya saṅkete anya haya nāmābhāsa

tathāpi nāmera teja nā haya vināśa

(Caitanya Caritamrita, Antya lila 3.55)

Translation:

Namacarya Haridasa Thakura, the authority on the chanting of the holy name, said, “The chanting of the Lord’s holy name to indicate something other than the Lord is an instance of namabhasa. Even when the holy name is chanted in this way, its transcendental power is not destroyed.”

Lord Caitanya said to Haridas Thakur, how will the yavanas be delivered? Haridas Thakur said, do not worry. They also say, to call it something sacrilegious Ha ram Haram. Say a pig attacks them, they say oh! Haram Hārāma.

But Haridas Thakur said if somehow, they are saying the name Ram Ha Ram. Ram Ram. So, like this he said, they will be delivered by accidentally chanting the name of Lord. So, either chanting directly the names in Sanskrit, or chanting the names in their specific scriptures, like that there are 99 name of Allah in the Quran and there are various names in the Bible.

So, whether you can chant the name in Sanskrit or if you chant in Hebrew or Arabic, somehow or another people should be chanting the name of God. So, we request all the devotees, since we cannot travel you are already in different parts of the world, please encourage the people to take the name of God. Because the Lord and His name are not different. If they chant the name of the Lord, then they can gradually develop devotion. We don’t particularly want to use the Lord to solve our material problems, but some of the śāstras, some of the purāṇas say, that by chanting the names of the Lord, our suffering will be mitigated. Kṛṣṇa said that Draupadī by calling His name when she was being attacked by Dushaasana, that touched His heart. Govinda! Gooovinda! Keshava!

So, then He immediately went to help Draupadī. So somehow people are now at war with this virus, and there is great distress, anxiety and fear. There is no treatment and no vaccine ready at present, so they are telling people, stay in your home and avoid contact. But we should encourage them to also chant the name of the Lord.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare,

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare!

 Thank you very much.

Are there any questions?

This is on what? Māyāpur TV and Facebook and You Tube. Also, in Russian? Chinese? Translation. Any questions?

Devotee: Guru maharaj You said we should not use the names of the Lord for mitigating material sufferings, at the same time we are telling that for fighting the virus we should encourage people to chant the name of God. How do we reconcile?

 His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: I said, we don’t like to use the name of the Lord for some material purpose. But however different purāṇas and scriptures said that one may chant His name either out of distress or out of knowledge. So, it is better that they chant the Lord’s name in distress, than not chant at all. As they say in Bengali, there is a saying, nai mama ṭheke kaṇa mama bhalo! that blind uncle is better than no uncle! Ha! So better that they chant even out of distress, and by that chanting they will gradually develop bhakti.

 So, someone asked in this lockdown how can we advance in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness? We can read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, such as Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Caitanya Caritamrita. And other books. We can also discuss those books or preach those books to other people that we know. We can have bhakti vṛkṣa meetings frequently, and this way by spiritual practices, we can advance.

Normally, we have to spend our time working, in our work. So, that is not directly Kṛṣṇa conscious, usually. So now you are at home. Some are working from home, and some have nothing to do! So, reading chanting, and preaching, you can spend the whole day in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is a great opportunity! Any other question?

 What time is it? 15 minutes’ questions.

 Devotee: PAMRO, guru maharaj: In online preaching when new people ask about Rādhārāṇī, how to answer? Padmamukha Nimāi das.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda he was, when someone would ask about Rādhārāṇī, and they were new, he would say She is transcendental and not an ordinary woman, so we cannot understand Her easily. Just like you have the sun and the sunlight. So, the sunlight is the energy of the sun. Kṛṣṇa is the sun, and Rādhārāṇī is like the sunlight. So, like that, avoid going into great detail of Rādhārāṇī, because they cannot understand it easily.

 Devotee: How to convert corona consciousness to Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Sudevī Jayashree devī dāsī, You Tube question.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: You see, naturally the government and scientists are seeking the solution. But they haven’t found the solution yet. They say that if we are lucky, we will find it! So, we want to say that we don’t depend on the politicians, we don’t depend on the scientists, we depend on God. And God will give the intelligence to the scientists, to find a solution. So, we want people to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Kṛṣṇa, then may give intelligence to the scientists.

Devotee: Dearest guru maharaj, PAMRO, please kindly tell us about self-sufficiency plans for ISKCON Māyāpur?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: It was proposed that we give each division, each person, some area to grow vegetables. But the response I got was that, devotees are not prepared to grow things. So, the matter is still under discussion. But if there are people who are willing to do the work, we have lots of land that we can give. Please prove them wrong and me right!! (gesturing with his fist closed and up!) We want to make Māyāpur self-sufficient! At least our vegetables.

Devotee: We see some impersonalists chanting Harinām who don’t believe kṛṣṇa’s personal form, what will be their position after death? Trilokini sakhi devī dāsī.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Some may get the impersonal Brahman which they believe in. Some may get some personal service due to some reason. Like what is her name, Pūtanā, she admired Kṛṣṇa, that if I had a baby, I would like someone like this. And she also gave her breast milk to Kṛṣṇa. But she had put poison on her breast, because she wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa reciprocated with her. He killed her, because she wanted to kill Him. But because she gave her breast milk and she liked Kṛṣṇa as a child, she became His mother in the spiritual world. So, it is hard to say what impersonalists get. But generally, we would think that they would get the impersonal Brahman.

Devotee: Guru maharaj, what are aspects or areas we should do during online preaching? Acyuta Gaurahari das.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: How, in this age chanting the name of God is recommended. How, we are all eternal servitors of Kṛṣṇa. How, we are not the body but the spirit soul. How, the disease came from the animals and we slaughter a lot of animals every day like 36,000 cows are killed every hour!!

How many chickens and other things, I don’t have their calculation.

So, all the pandemics we have had, like swine flu is from pigs in American farms. MERS from cows mistreated in the UK. Ebola is from bats and chimpanzees. Like that all the pandemics are from the animals.

So, people should eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam. And they should not eat meat. So, these are various areas we can preach on. Depending on who you are talking to. If you are talking to a religious leader of some other religion, request him to join you chanting the holy names. Either in Sanskrit or in their language. And if you are talking to political leaders, encourage them to also tell the people to chant the name of God. If you are talking to individuals, then according to their mentality, preach to them. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Thank you very much. For your participation and your questions.

Our Prime Minister of India requested that people go out at 9 pm and offer lights for 9 minutes. But actually, we should offer such lights to Kṛṣṇa first. Then we should chant for 9 minutes. Just showing some torch light, we are not so much confident that this will make any difference. Maybe it shows some solidarity with other citizens, but to actually change the situation, we want to chant the name of the Lord. If you offer a lamp, light, offer prasādam lamp or light.

Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So please participate like this.

Please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and perform kīrtan.

 I will see you tonight at 6.