20201220 Zoom Session with Perth Bhakti-vṛkṣa

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 summary of your outreach in Perth ISKCON. And we know that during this month of Keśava, 25^th December is the day the Gītā was spoken. That probably falls on a holiday. So, they have Snāna-yātrā in Melbourne on 25^th. I don’t know how you are celebrating in Perth. I am very happy to be visiting all the wonderful devotees.

People are suffering in the material world. Birth, death, old age, disease are the regular problems. And we would like to help the people resolve these programs by reading Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. Lord Caitanya is very merciful. He said that whether one is in vairāgi āśrama or gṛhastha āśrama, they should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and they get home back to Godhead. So there are many things that can take our attention but the Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee always remembers Kṛṣṇa. And by remembering Kṛṣṇa, we keep Kṛṣṇa in the center. We are trying to make different programs in the CDM so that people can naturally be Kṛṣṇa conscious. In this material world, people are so much conscious about different things – some people are conscious about sports, some about business, some about movies, different things. But very rare to find anyone conscious about Kṛṣṇa. So that was the thing that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to establish. Because being conscious about Kṛṣṇa we can rise above this material illusion. That is the best form of yoga and it is very easy. We are used to hearing about some great personality, we would like to hear the news, but actually Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes are eternally going on. And we hear about Kṛṣṇa and His pure devotees, naturally, it purifies us. So hearing about your great service is also purifying me. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to serving Kṛṣṇa.

So this human life gets over very quickly. Officially, in the Kali-yuga we are supposed to live a hundred years. But most people don’t live that long. My father left at less than 60 and it is usually 70 to 80. The life insurance company they had a study. According that wives live a little longer than the husbands. But it is a 100% guarantee that we have to leave our body. So if we be Kṛṣṇa conscious we can go back to the spiritual world. But most people don’t know anything about the spiritual world. And that is very unfortunate. So, by knowing about Kṛṣṇa, by hearing about Kṛṣṇa, one’s life takes on a new meaning. And in that way, one can experience great spiritual peace and bliss. Everybody wants to be happy but they think that the happiness will be by serving the senses. But that happiness is limited and there is also suffering from the same senses. So, side by side, if one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, they can feel spiritual bliss, spiritual ecstasy. That is what we want everyone to experience. I pray for all every day. So please be very strong in your Kṛṣṇa consciousness and to also be enthusiastic for outreach. I am very glad to hear that you are doing that. Hare Kṛṣṇa!