20201101 Zoom Sunday Program Address to ISKCON Hyderabad

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

I am very thankful for the darśana of Nitāi Gaura, Rādhā Madana-mohana, and Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā. So, very nice also to receive the reports from the board members of the TMC (Temple Management Committee). The audio is so clear, so somethings that need to be explained again. What I could understand was that the preaching is advancing a lot in Hyderabad. The Deity worship is going on, there is some kind of new entrance from the main road, and there are some new centers, I didn’t get exactly how far from the temple; something that two-story building. Then Sītā-Rāma dāsa, he also presented, how seven or eight kilometers from the temple, we got a new land and building a temple there. And a donor and his wife were shown, I give them all our blessings. Rādhe Śyāma dāsa was showing how they are having different Bhakti-vṛkṣas in English, Hindi and Telugu. How the different Voice (Base centers for youths) mainly for boys but also newly started some girls’ Voice. And there are various programs, farms – seems like they are producing nice subjis on the farm. I take bitter melon every day, so someone showed the video of the karela, I was very inspired. [laughter]

So, I think, what Rādhe Śyāma dāsa was showing, it will be nice to have of some videos. It is very interesting preaching. When I see that, online preaching during this Pandemic time, that Varada Kṛṣṇa dāsa has been inspiring, so all overall, it is very inspiring program. Prabhupāda said that you can show, how much you love me, by how well you co-operate together. So, it seems that all the leaders are cooperating, all the devotees are cooperating.

You see, generally people are thinking that they are the body; and the goal of life somehow is to satisfy the senses. But we realize in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we are no the body. We have the body; sometimes the body is pleased, sometimes it is sad, with different types of griefs. Just like, recently in Hyderabad, there was a flood. That is ādhidaivika-kleśa and the whole world is under the Corona virus Pandemic. And sometimes it is our senses causing suffering also. The real purpose of life is to serve Kṛṣṇa and awaken our dormant love by doing the different services one naturally doing the rāgānuga-bhakti. And when we actually trying to think, how to expand the preaching that is rāgānuga. We are always thinking, how to expand the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. How to help the devotes to overcome the sufferings? And we find that even people cured from the Corona virus that there are still some kinds of permanent suffering. Sometimes depression, sometimes damage to lungs, different organs, even though they could recover, they are not exactly the same. That is why people need to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, to study the teachings of Kṛṣṇa, and (to know) how we should worship the Deities. Lord Caitanya instructed to do three things, bolo kṛṣṇa, bhaja kṛṣṇa, kara kṛṣṇa-śīkṣā.

Recently, I went to Metpally, they said they are extension center of the Hyderabad. They have temple, guest house, cows… on coming Tuesday we are going to visit different gośālās in South Indian Divisional area. So, we are also… I am very grateful to see how much advancement there is in Hyderabad. And all the devotees are helping; I would like to visit different devotees in their home. But there is no time to do that, since there is so many people online and so much time went seeing different presentation. So, may be some other period can be arranged. May be in the night, 8:30 to 9:30pm; I can visit 100 people max in one day. And 75 is more reasonable. But anyway, they sit in front of their Deities and have, if any offerings ready. And if they have the name, on the mobile, they can change the name. Many people have Galaxy dāsa, RedMe, Oppo, Vivo.

So, we want to use this human life in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Then we go back to Kṛṣṇa at the end of our life. Kṛṣṇa doesn’t want us to do very great austerity; He wants us that we should love Him. And, if we do great austerity means, our heart may become hard. Instead, we should render devotional service. During this Dāmodara month, we can do simple services to Kṛṣṇa. By offering a lamp every day to Kṛṣṇa, not only our forefathers, our descendants, children, grandchildren, everyone gets delivered.

Now… Hyderabad is very special temple, Prabhupāda was there personally for the inauguration, for the prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā of the Deities. He took responsibility, Vṛndāvana, Māyāpur, Juhu, he also put Hyderabad as one of the temples that he is responsible for. This is a very important temple here. I am very pleased that you are all taking that very seriously. And by serving Kṛṣṇa in this way certainly Śrīla Prabhupāda is pleased, and the Lord is pleased.

Lord Caitanya visited the Śrīnivāsa Govinda temple in Tirumala. And today’s Telungana, Andra, there are many temples to Lord Narasiṁhadeva. So… and here we have our Rādhā Madana-mohana Mandir. Prabhupāda personally was here, he preached here, and that time I had the good fortune being present. And, at that time Chief Minister was Chenna Reddy and so he came and personally graced the occasion. This is very important temple, Prabhupāda had spent much time here; and he wanted this temple to advance. I am very pleased to see how the different programs, educational programs, expansion of preaching centers, and extension centers. These are the practical expansions of bhakti-yoga.

And since this Pandemic, are not advised to travel much. I hope that, I am trying to keep in touch with the devotees by the Jayapatākā Swami App. I hope that you all have downloaded that App. It is available on Android and Apple.

So, I am very pleased, I hope that I can make home visits also. We know that Lord Caitanya’s ācāryas saying that, gṛhe vā vanete thāke, 'hā gaurāṅga' bo'le ḍāke, sei amāra prāṇa re! Whoever stays in the house, or in the vairāgī-āśrama, whoever chants “Hā Gaurāṅga! Hā Gaurāṅga! Hā Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Gaurāṅga!” the ācārya said, “He is my life and soul! He is dear to me than my life!” So, we hope that all the devotees, whether gṛhasthas, brahmacārīs, they all engage fully in the devotional service of the Lord. And I thank you all for your different services and I am very happy to see, how much progress is been made. I am very grateful for the donors, for helping in realizing the dream of Prabhupāda. Right now, people need Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that program should be given to the people as much as possible. Thank you very much. Danyavāda! Kṛtajñatalu!

Reply to a donor Rajkumar Lalwani: Like this many will take your example and inspiration we can make this a Kṛṣṇa conscious city. I am telling that in Bangalore, but now Hyderabad is giving strong competition. Haribol!

Reply to TMC: Yes! I hope that every stay healthy. I see that nobody wears a mask, and we know that the Pandemic is still there. We have to learn to live with the virus. We should not get others to infected, and not to get ourselves infected. At the same time, we should practice our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and we should expand the service. So this, Pandemic has shown us the necessity to use the online approach. But, it is shown us, actually we can expand our outreach many times, even if things are normalized, if they find a cure or vaccine for the virus; still we can use this online approach also. Prabhupāda was using all the modern technologies to expand Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He went around the world 14 times or so.  First, he went by ship, then he went by airplane. I give all my best wishes for this online outreach program that Varada Kṛṣṇa dāsa is presenting. Subhekṣa!