20201101 Malaysia Dāmodara Program Inauguration

The following is a Malaysia Damodara Program Inauguration via Zoom by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 1st, 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 am very honored to be here at the Malaysian Dāmodara month, Kārtika month, dīpa-dāna celebration. We know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He already has everything. So He doesn’t need anything. But He appreciates if we offer Him our love. So this offering of ghee lamp, is a way of expressing our love and appreciation. Since fire comes from the sun, and without the sun there is no light, so therefore offer a lamp to Lord Kṛṣṇa. In this way, by this simple act we can give love and peace to the world, by giving love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like watering the root of the tree, the whole tree gets nourishment, if we want the whole world to be benefited, worship Kṛṣṇa, worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We have heard some of the glories given in the various scripture for offering this ghee lamp. I am very happy that this is an international interfaith program. That everybody who is a believer in the Absolute Truth and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are invited to participate and offer a lamp. We know that Śrīla Prabhupāda said, the way you can show your love for me is by your cooperation. So, we are honored that this program is like a kind of international, interfaith inter devotee cooperation. And by this way we can please Śrīla Prabhupāda, please Lord Caitanya and Lord Dāmodara, we can please the Supreme Lord.

There is only one Supreme Lord, He may be known in different languages by different names. Everyone can offer to whichever form they want. The point is that of course if we have a ghee lamp we can offer a ghee lamp, otherwise offer a candle or anything. The thing is that there should be a fire and that is offered with a prayer. We say the universal mahā-mantra

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

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare 
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare!

But you can chant any prayer, any name that is given in the śāstra, scripture. So we chant the name of the Supreme Lord and that will give peace and love. So we also see that by the simple offering we can achieve great benefit. Not that it is a small thing, it is a very big thing because it is an expression of our love. So, Lord Caitanya taught that love is the most valuable thing. So giving this lamp is giving our love. It is not an insignificant thing. It is an expression and is very powerful. So, we are very happy that all the devotees are participating in this program, and maybe the organizers can tell us how many are online at some point.

We know that this month there are many sacred things that happened. Of course, the tithi that Śrīla Prabhupāda disappeared falls on 18th of November. In the English calendar 14th November is also the Dīpāvalī festival. Also, the Govardhana pūjā, also the special Bhīṣma Pañcaka. There are many festivals which fall in this month. I am very grateful to all the devotees who are participating and all glories to Lord Dāmodara! All glories to Yaśodā! We are participating from Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. We are understanding that there are people from different parts of the world, and we are very grateful that over the years, Malaysia has taken up the challenge of the Dāmodara month and steadily increased it year by year. So that is a very good example, that we care about people, we want to help them, if they offer this simple thing to the Supreme Lord, they get immense spiritual benefit. Usually, people don’t do anything for the Supreme Lord. Rather if they do anything, they ask for some blessing, O God please give us our daily bread. Now people are getting their bread by working and so they forget about God. But we want to remember the Lord, He has given us everything. He has given us the sun, He has given us the air, air is free. But with this pandemic, even though the air is there, we cannot breathe it! If we have the pandemic, it blocks our breathing. So, we want to offer something to Kṛṣṇa. That is why we chant, and we offer a lamp. Every scripture of the world glorifies the holy name of the Lord. The Quran, the Bible, The Old Testament, The New Testament, the Buddhist śāstra, He also says chant My name and you will be delivered. So, on this occasion we offer a lamp and say the name of the Lord. So in this way we hope that everybody gets the blessing of the Lord, of pure spontaneous love.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa 
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare 
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma 
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare!

Nitāi Gaura!