20201120 Initiation Address to Bangalore Devotees

The following is an initiation address to the Bangalore devotees via zoom by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 20th 2020 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: All glories to Śrī Śrī Gāndharvikā Giridhāri Gaurāṅga! All glories to Lakṣmī Narasiṁhadeva! All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!

So through the process of initiation one gets connected to the guru-paramparā and that means they are also connected with Śrīla Prabhupāda. He is our Founder-Ācārya, member of the Brahma-Madhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya. So our purpose in life is to engage in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Lord Caitanya said jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa. We are the eternal servitors of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In the material world people are in a diseased condition. They don’t remember that they are servitors of Kṛṣṇa. They think that Kṛṣṇa should supply what they want, if they think of Kṛṣṇa at all. So what we want is that people should engage in the service of Kṛṣṇa. In this age the yuga-dharma is chanting the holy name. So if everyone chants Hare Kṛṣṇa every day, eats kṛṣṇa-prasāda, and helps to disseminate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then their life will be successful. Śrīla Prabhupāda went through great tapasyā to translate and write the books. And naturally we should all read the books. Śrīla Prabhupāda went through such difficulty to write them for all of you. And also, the vows you have taken, you have to follow your whole life. This is very important. If you somehow do not follow, you have to take it up and follow again as soon as possible. So by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, we can taste unlimited spiritual bliss. There is a song in Bengali, which they sing in the adhivāsa kīrtana. One line is ānandera sīmā nai, ānander sīmā nai – there is no limit to spiritual bliss. We chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, there is no limit to the spiritual bliss. Nirānande dūre jāy – unhappiness goes far away. But we have to be always transcendentally situated. Not let material things affect us so much. We should be very careful to always chant and always remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him. So, I am happy that you have been chanting and decided to take up this important step and you are very dear to me. I have been praying for you every day and I will continue to pray for you, and I want you to be very committed and practicing this process of bhakti-yoga.

The Pāṇḍavas, they were always depending on Kṛṣṇa. So, they were so dear to Kṛṣṇa that Kṛṣṇa enjoyed being their messenger, their friend, their chariot driver. So, the Supreme Lord, everyone is His servitor. But He likes to serve His devotees. Being a devotee of Kṛṣṇa is not a cheap thing. It is very difficult. But by doing so, we get the special mercy of Kṛṣṇa. I just want you to know that the step you are taking is very important. And that we will be there to help you, the senior devotees are there to help you, so that you can achieve Kṛṣṇa in this lifetime.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!