20201119 Zoom Session with ISKCON Maṅgalagiri

The following is a zoom session with Iskcon Mangalagiri by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 19th, 2021 in Sri Dhama Mayapur, India.

mūkaṁ mūkhaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī gurum dina tarinam
paramānanda mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya īśvaram
Hari oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So this is my first to Maṅgalagiri. I have been to the Pāṇaka Narasiṁha temple a few times. But I have not been to ISKCON Maṅgalagiri. I am very happy to be here. See the beautiful Deities of Gaura Nitāi, see your beautiful temple.

The purpose of human life is to serve Kṛṣṇa. In Andhra Pradesh, we have Bālājī, we have Narasiṁhadeva. Lord Caitanya, He visited Maṅgalagiri, He visited all these places. And up on the hill of Maṅgalagiri, there is the lotus footprint of Lord Caitanya. In Narasaraopet, which is nearby, Kṛṣṇa visited there and liberated Mucukunda. So maybe Kṛṣṇa also passed through Maṅgalagiri. So in many ways, this is a sacred place. Maṅgalagiri, Pānaka Narasiṁha is very ancient. Yuga after yuga. At the base of that Maṅgalagiri hill is a new temple by Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, Lakṣmī Narasiṁha. I did not know because it is 5000 years old. And Maṅgalagiri is yugas old. So, we have a new Gaura-Nitāi temple in this holy place is very auspicious. Lord Caitanya spent six years travelling throughout South India. He gave His instructions in Andhra Pradesh and He repeated the same instructions throughout South India.

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa āmāra ājñāya hañā tāra’ ei deśa Who ever you meet, tell them the message of Kṛṣṇa. On my order be a guru and liberate your country. Actually, people are very absorbed in material things. And they are thinking how they can be happy in material life. But the material world, the senses are sometimes happy and sometimes suffering. So if we have a fairly good time, extensive suffering, we think very good. But real happiness we get when we serve Kṛṣṇa. When we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa we feel transcendental bliss. Lord Caitanya taught that whether one is a gṛhastha or one is a vairāgī everyone should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa— gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. So we are happy that you are chanting there in Maṅgalagiri.

Now there is a pandemic, so naturally we have to observe social distancing, mask and all that. So we have various programs using the internet. Just like I am visiting your temple virtually. And I am very happy to be in your temple. Normally it is a bit hard to visit all the places. And now with this pandemic, my doctors told me I should be very careful. But I am very glad to visit the temples virtually. I did not know we had such a beautiful temple! And so many nice devotees have helped to build up this temple. And if we use our energy to serve Kṛṣṇa, then we can achieve the best benediction. Actually, our service to Kṛṣṇa is one of the greatest blessings.

This is the sacred Dāmodara month. And just by offering a little lamp to Lord Dāmodara, a mountain of bad karma can be destroyed, and help open our eyes. So we hope that everybody offers a lamp every day, and engages the congregation in virtual classes. In Chennai they had 9,000 devotees who attended Bhagavad-gītā Made Easy. I asked how did they do that? They told me that they had only 40 devotees attending the class. But they asked each of them to invite as many people they knew to attend the program. They gave some posters about the program. Each devotee put on their Facebook page, WhatsApp group and in this way they got 9,000 people! From 40 to 9,000. I told in Mangalore about this program. They got their congregation together and they got some free Microsoft meeting programs. 275 for each program. And 25 programs they got free. They go 10 to 11 thousand people. So although this lockdown we cannot have many people visit the temple, virtually, there is no limit. Many devotees in the Middle East, in Andhra Pradesh, in America, Canada, use this opportunity to preach the message of Lord Caitanya. That is the real purpose of human life. Lord Caitanya gave this mercy out without considering who is qualified, who is not qualified. I hope that He spreads His mercy over all of you.

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

Śrīla Prabhupāda he brought this message all over the world. He had the mercy of Lord Caitanya and he wanted us to spread it further. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! So you wanted to introduce the devotees now.

I went a few times to see the Pānaka Narasiṁha. Now I am wheelchair bound. I don’t know how I can get up the hill. Nice!

I am purified being in Maṅgalagiri! You devotees are serving here, I am very happy to see. Usually when I go to South India, I visit temples like Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Chennai. I am very happy to see the temple in Maṅgalagiri. I saw different temples like Metpally and on Zoom I am seeing all the different temples. Śrīla Prabhupāda told me that I should stay in Māyāpur, but he also told me to travel, how could I do both? But now I am able to do both! I am very happy to visit the temple in Maṅgalagiri. I will keep you in my heart always! Blessings to all the devotees! Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

Hare Kṛṣṇa!