20200917 Zoom Participation in His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami Mahārāja Vyāsa-pūjā Celebration

The following is a Zoom Participation by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja, in the BCSM Vyasa-puja Celebration on September 17th, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: I was thinking what should I say? I was thinking that His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami was by nature a sādhu. We try to cultivate some qualities of a sādhu. But it was his nature. He used to be very humble and treated everyone alike. This has touched the hearts of his godbrothers and godsisters. I feel that having his association, we were very fortunate. Because it is very rare to get the association of such people. We are hearing the Caitanya-caritāmṛta—

‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’—sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
(Cc. Madhya 22.54)

We had a lot of association with Śrī-Śrīmad Bhakti Cāru Swami Mahārāja. So how fortunate are we! Now, the Nectar of Instruction says that we need association of such a person with whom we can share all our thoughts and feelings. And that person will hear and then say truthfully what they feel. They would keep it confidential. This way, we had an association with him. I could tell him everything. Just by seeing Śrīla Prabhupāda, he got extreme pure devotion to him in abundance. And Śrīla Prabhupāda was also very merciful to him. Before his meeting with Śrīla Prabhupāda we had thought that he was a special devotee. I used to take him personally when going on saṅkīrtana. One time I did not take him along for some reason. When I came back to Māyāpur, he was not there! I got very scared. In the Caitanya-bhāgavata we read that Caitanyadeva was very sad when He was passing through Rāḍhadeśa as He did not hear any Harināma there. Then Lord Nityānanda entered the hearts of some small children and they started doing Harināma! Haribol! Haribol! Caitanyadeva decided that He would not commit suicide. I don’t know who had come into my heart then – Lord Nityānanda or Śrīla Prabhupāda. But I definitely went to them. I got very scared as to what could have happened to hurt Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja or maybe some devotee behaved badly with him. Then I went to his house thrice. Before this I had never ever visited the home of my godbrother or godsister to bring them back. But I went to his house thrice but did not find him. After that he came to the Calcutta temple and had a discussion that he returned to Māyāpur with me.

We know that it takes a long time to translate one scripture. But on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s order, he translated Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta very fast. When Śrīla Prabhupāda was there, we saw the immense guru-bhakti His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami had for Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave him the first Harināma initiation. After he gave Mahārāja the gayatrī and sannyāsa together. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to love him a lot. And he did not know anything else but Śrīla Prabhupāda. One day at the Ardha Kumbha-melā, he said that there was lot of discussion about charity and doing good, and a Western devotee posed a question to Śrīla Prabhupāda. “You say that to achieve bhakti-yoga, we have to many puṇya-karma. When I look back at my life, I see that I have not done any puṇya-karma. I am a fallen person. How did I get this bhakti-yoga?” Śrīla Prabhupāda told him that, “I made your good fortune for you.”

His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami understood that other than Śrīla Prabhupāda, there is no one else for us. He was always in this consciousness all the time and he sang the Bhagavad-gītā. He made the film Abhayacaran and this was broadcast by the Doordarshan channel. He would tell everyone that Śrīla Prabhupāda is our first śikṣā-guru. This way Bhakti Cāru Swami used to behave thus with all the people that he was loved by one and all. Some days back my secretaries were thinking that because of the lockdown I was not able to go anywhere. I was thinking of Bhakti Cāru Swami and expressing that I cannot go to your samādhi or pay obeisances. And yesterday I saw a dream. Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja came and asked, “Where is my Godbrother? Jayapatākā Swami, where is he?” Then they said, he is upstairs. He said I will go to see him. My secretary said I will go with you. And then I woke up. This way Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja, gave darśana even in the dream.

His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami is always there. He expanded Śrīla Prabhupāda consciousness in all of us. We are so fortunate that we had his association.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!