20201226 Zoom Session with Europe Devotees

The following is a Zoom session with European devotees by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 26^th, 2020 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

His Divine Grace Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he brought this Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the West. He asked me to travel and preach. Actually, he asked all the sannyāsīs to do that. I happen to be a sannyāsī present at that time. So, I did that I travelled around the world and visited various countries on the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda. So, I visited Spain, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, and various countries; very few countries that I didn’t visit. But the thing was we saw that how Lord Caitanya’s mercy is there for everyone. Now with the Pandemic, we are not able to travel, it is very dangerous to travel for me. Therefore, I am staying here in Māyāpur. But every night I visit various groups around the world. Tonight, I am visiting Europe. Tomorrow, America, like that everyday somewhere else. By Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, although, we are in Māyāpur, we are doing what he (Prabhupāda) said, “Preaching around the world!” I am very grateful that you are having me come here tonight.

And every night about 7pm (Indian time). We give a class on Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. We started at His childhood, now we are at His… He just entered Jagannātha Purī after taking sannyāsa. So He presented Himself very humbly to Sārvabauma Bhaṭṭācārya that He wanted to hear from him, “What is the duty of a sannyāsī should be?” For seven days Sārvabauma Bhaṭṭācārya presented the impersonal, Māyāvādī-bhāṣya.

Then Sārvabauma said, “You didn’t ask any questions, You didn’t say anything for seven days, I don’t know if You understood or not?”

Lord Caitanya said, “Well, I understand the sutras, but I don’t understand your commentary.”

Normally the sūtras are difficult, the commentaries are supposed to make it easy. Since He said the opposite; He understood the Vedānta-sūtra, but He didn’t accept the commendation of Sārvabauma Bhaṭṭācārya.

Sārvabauma asked Him, “What do you mean?”

Lord Caitanya started to explain the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. And refute his Māyāvādī interpretations. So it is very technical, but giving extreme mercy to this great philosopher, Sārvabauma Bhaṭṭācārya by establishing the personal aspect of the Personality of Godhead. In the West we see that Christians, Islam, basically the impersonalism had entered. And Lord Caitanya is presenting the personal point of view, in that wat Śrīla Prabhupāda, he went to the West, and he presented the personality of Godhead. So we read the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, in every page it says, “Bhagavān uvāca – the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He speaks.” So, our process is to understand the Personality of Godhead, to awaken our natural affection and love for Him. That we basically practice bhakti-yoga. And bhakti-yoga is the secret of success in this Kali-yuga. (Comparison with) jñāna-yoga, aṣṭāṅga-yoga, actually the bhakti-yoga is the easiest and direct method. So singing Hare Kṛṣṇa, and worshipping the Deity of Kṛṣṇa or serving Kṛṣṇa; as Prabhupāda said, we should distribute Prabhupāda’s books, the teachings of Kṛṣṇa. And we should also read the books and understand the Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy. So, Prabhupāda said, if we can make one percent or even 1/10 of a percent to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, that would greatly change the world. So our main duty is to see how the message of Lord Caitanya can flood the world. And we hope that you all will try your level best to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness amongst your friends, neighbors, work-colleagues, etc. So thank you very much. The Lord is sac-cid-ānanda—eternal, knowledge, and bliss—we are all hankering for bliss, that can be achieved easily by being Kṛṣṇa conscious. In material life, happiness is somewhat mixed or displeasure. So, in spiritual life is pure unadulterated happiness. We want everyone to be happy and to make others happy. Hare Kṛṣṇa!