20201115 Zoom Dīpāvalī Visit to Malaysia Devotees

The following is a zoom visit on Diwali to the Malayasian devotees by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 15th, 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: Happy Diwali and Happy Dāmodara month to all of you! I used to go to the houses of devotees in KL on the Diwali day. Since there are two days, for the smārta and vaiṣṇava-tithi, I used to go 25 homes each day. That means 50 homes over two days. Now we are doing a virtual visit. And I think that about 80 people have logged him on Zoom. So we are breaking a record. But maybe we will be spending about 20 seconds in each house. Anyway, I am very happy that there are so many Kṛṣṇa conscious houses in Malaysia. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he called them as śraddhā-kuṭīras. Our CDM, Congregational Development Ministry, we are trying to have a program to recognize the śraddhā-kuṭīras. They thought they would call that Bhakti Homes. But then actually I saw in the Caitanya-Bhāgavata that Lord Caitanya would refer to Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura’s house as His āśrama. Since in the varṇāśrama there are four āśramas, brahmacārī-āśrama, gṛhastha-āśrama, vānaprastha-āśrama and sannyāsa-āśrama. So gṛhastha is also a āśrama. So maybe we should call Bhakti Āśrama. Bhakti Āśrama or Bhakti Home Āśrama.

Any way, we are happy to see devotees have Deities in their house, giving prasāda. Actually, Diwali because this is the dark moon night, so the Ayodhyā-vāsīs were concerned how would Rāma would find Ayodhyā in the night, coming by Puṣpaka-vimāna. So they lit Ayodhyā up with candles and ghee lamps, many types of light. So that in the night Lord Sītā Rāma would see the Ayodhyā city. All the Ayodhyā-vāsīs wanted to welcome Lord Sītā Rāma back. But the mood in Diwali is to welcome Kṛṣṇa in our hearts. That is the mood of course, people feast snacks with their friends. So we hope that all the devotees would give prasāda snacks and try to help people be Kṛṣṇa conscious on the Diwali day. Last Diwali, I was in Chennai I think, two Diwalis I was in Chennai. There in Chennai people blew firecrackers in their homes. People were bursting hours and hours, firecrackers. I don’t know how much Kṛṣṇa conscious they are but they are definitely firecracker conscious! So any way we want to help people be Kṛṣṇa conscious.

So in this holy month of Dāmodara we are offering lamp to the Lord and Malaysia is the one that started this special lamp offering. I want to thank all the Malaysian devotees, this year you broke a record. So with these few words I would like to thank Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who brought the light of Kṛṣṇa into the hearts of people all over the world. Who personally came to Malaysia and did various programs around the country. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! We hope all of you will work together to please Śrīla Prabhupāda. He said the way you can show how much you love me in how well you cooperate.

Haribol!