20201206 Zoom Session with ISKCON Kuching

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you for the nice reception and the video of my visit to Kuching. In the opening of the temple. We had various ādivāsīs of Kuching. They presented their dance. I was impressed because they said that according to their understanding the Supreme Lord has a feather in His hair. He dances with the female counter part. That seemed like Kṛṣṇa in the rāsa-pūrṇimā. Of course, Kṛṣṇa wears a peacock feather but they did not have peacock feather, they had some other feather. That feather was like the feather which Balarāma wears. Balarāma also has a rāsa-līlā.

Anyway, I like the people a lot in Kuching. And I am kind of sorry that I have not been visiting since 2008. But I have been visiting, virtually, regularly to Kuching, as Viśākhā knows. And all the devotees in Kuching, they offered me a big feast. Although virtually the feast has zero calories, it has high-prema. I have always felt that the devotees in Kuching have high-prema.

The purpose of human life is actually to awaken our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is the reason why Lord Caitanya gave us the name of Lord Kṛṣṇa to chant. Because there is no difference from Kṛṣṇa and His name. If we chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, we get the association of Kṛṣṇa. And now we are suffering from a pandemic. That was brought to the human society by eating animals. Therefore, we have this animal disease. That affects even vegetarians. So, we hope that all the devotees will be very careful. By encouraging the people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or chant some name of God, that would pacify the Supreme Lord. We did very bad by killing many animals. Especially Kṛṣṇa is known as Govinda, He protects the cow. He lifted the Govardhana hill to protect the cows and the Vraja-vāsīs. He protects His devotees, and He protects the cows. He protects the brāhmaṇas – namo brahmaṇya-devāya, go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca.

So He is very concerned that the human beings progress in their spiritual life. It is not so difficult to get back to Godhead in the Age of Kali. There in the spiritual world there is no birth, no death, no old age and disease. There are two kinds of gṛhasthas – two kinds of married people – gṛhastha āśrama where the husband wife, they try to develop their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And they bring up their children in that consciousness as well.

The other kind is called gṛhamedī – they only think about their family and their extended family. By nature, they are very envious. If anyone has better saris, better house, then they get envious. You see, in this Kali-yuga, this gṛhamedi concept is expanding, and country to country, community to community, there are various misunderstandings. We see many unnecessary wars. People are not peaceful now; but they are disturbed because of this conflict. So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, by reading the Bhagavad-gītā we can actually be peaceful. And so that is why we are trying to promoting that people be more God conscious, more Kṛṣṇa conscious. In that way they will be more peaceful, more happier.

We were reading about the pastime of Lord Caitanya. And Lord Caitanya is so ecstatic when He led the kīrtana to the Chand kazi. There were four parties – Advaita Gosāñi, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Haridāsa Ṭhākura and Lord Caitanya. With Lord Caitanya were Lord Nityānanda and Gadādhara. Millions of people were there in the kīrtana and each one was carrying a flaming torch and some oil to replenish the torch. It is said that they were also clapping their hands, playing various musical instruments. How could they do that if they were carrying a flaming torch and oil? How can they clap their hands and play musical instruments. Actually, Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura said they manifested four arms like the Vaikuṇṭha-vāsīs. But they were not conscious. They did not realize because they were so ecstatic. So Indra and the other devas came to watch how Lord Caitanya was doing this kīrtana. And when they saw Lord Caitanya crying and dancing, they fainted! They lost their consciousness. They could not believe it. It was so amazing. When they regained their consciousness, they took human forms. And disguised themselves and joined in the kīrtana and chanted with the Supreme Lord, Haribol! The apsarās from the Svarga, they were throwing down flower petals. It was an amazing kīrtana. It went on a and on and on, but much longer than the time that went by. So, like this, Lord Caitanya’s kīrtana was very special. In Kṛṣṇa-līlā there was the Kurukṣetra war. In Rāma-līlā there was the monkeys going on Śrī Lanka. In Caitanya-līlā His kīrtana was amazing and everyone was completely melted by this kīrtana.

We do hope that all the devotees in Kuching, they get the causeless mercy of Lord Caitanya. I was so happy to see the Deities of Nitāi Gaura, also the Deity of Girirāja, Govardhana. Kṛṣṇa lifted the Govardhana hill and protected all the Vraja-vāsīs. Afterwards the cowherd men approached Nanda Mahārāja, “Who is your son? Who Is Your Son? Don’t tell us, He is an ordinary person, He just lifted the Govardhana hill for seven days. Who is your son? We want to know the truth.” He said, “Well, Nārada Muni came and told us at His birth that He has the power of Nārāyaṇa. That He will be good for the cowherd community.” So then they were satisfied. But how does He have the power of Nārāyaṇa? He is Nārāyaṇa. He is the source of all Nārāyaṇas. Thus, the great mercy that we have there in Kuching. That the Lord and His holy name are present with you. The Deity of the Lord is there, and may you all be blessed, you will always have the mercy of Lord Caitanya.

This human life is very difficult in Kali-yuga to succeed. But by the mercy of Lord Caitanya it is very easy. I do hope that all of you get the bliss of chanting the holy name and that you will feasting on the love prasāda. And this way, your life may be perfect.

I thank all the ladies and men who are cooperating together to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I thank Kṛpāsindhu Kṛṣṇa dāsa for his bringing Kṛṣṇa consciousness to Kuching.