20210409 Virtual Spiritual Safari Day 1 (Nepal)

I am very happy to be in the safari this year and happy that we could visit ISKCON Nepaḷ. Nepal as you have heard is a very mystical place. Many great personalities have appeared there. And devotees like Rūpeśvara Gaura dāsa, Patrī dāsa, are welcoming you to come and visit Nepaḷ, and you have heard that in the confluence of two rivers Vyāsadeva appeareḍ. His father is Parāśara Muni, a great devotee and a mystic yogī. He had figured out that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He analyzed that there were 64 qualities, that Kṛṣṇa was the only one who had all 64. Brahmā had 50. Śiva had 55. And Viṣṇu had 60. But only Kṛṣṇa has 64. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme.

Vysadeva, as we know he is the disciple of Nārada Muni, Nārada Muni is a disciple of Lord Brahmā. So from Vyāsadeva, Madhvācārya, he received his divya-jñana. So his paramparā descends. And Mādhavendra Purī was in his sampradāya and his disciple was Īśvara Purī Mahārāja who is the guru of Lord Caitanya. We are coming in the line from Lord Caitanya and His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda has brought the saṅkīrtana movement all over the world. So Vyāsadeva has appeared in Nepal but it is also the kingdom of Janakarājā who is the father of Sītā devī, his city is still there, Janakapura.

Then Lord Buddha, He also appeared in Nepal. Also the śāligrāma-śilās originally manifest in Nepal. I was hoping that our Safari would go to the Govinda-kuṇḍa. That is very hard to reach. And it is high on the mountain. There is the place where the śāligrāma-śilās manifest.

So like that there are many holy places in Nepal.  Actually, near our temple there is the deity of Mahā Viṣṇu. He is lying down and His form of Budhā Nīla-kaṇṭha. So like that there are many temples in Kathmandu itself. Paśupatinātha, and also some ancient Buddhist temples. So for many people it is an unusual place, has many secret places.

There we see devotees like to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. As Patrī Prabhu was showing you, he was chanting also, the co-regional secretary of Nepal, Mahā Viṣṇu Swami, he chants with the Nepali devotees. We have centers in eastern region, middle region, mountain region. We know that Nepal has Mount Everest or Sagarmatha which is the highest mountain in the world. Nepal is also a very cool place. They are high up in the mountains, in the foothills. In our temple of Rādhā Mādhavahari, Nitāi Gaura, Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, the devotees are very blissful, and they would like to also sing and dance. We are happy that all the devotees are visiting ISKCON Nepal and actually, it takes many days to visit all the places.

We are doing it in one day virtually. I was also wondering, of course everybody is on this zoom call, but how can we have different languages facilitated? Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and the different languages that are present. We have done a virtual Ratha-yātrā and we had many persons that we had 500 persons on Zoom with many languageṣ So in that way people registered and according to how many people registered, they could attend the particular zoom in their language. So it is a hurdle for Marīci dāsa to think how to facilitate.

Anyway, Nepal since you are here, and it is very cool weather because we are at the foothill of the Himalayas, so just remember great souls that have appeared here. And had their pastimes here. Like Sītā Devī, the bow, no ordinary person could lift that, but Lord Rāma He lifted the bow and strung it and thus He won the hand of Sītā devī. So, like that different pastimes happened here in Nepal. this is a transcendental place.

And so we would like to welcome all the devotees on the safari for this transcendental visit. In our actual safari of course, there is some austerities. At the same time, we do lot of public programs. We have seen the magic show. Similarly, we have magic shows, dances, cultural events, and Hari namas, in the various cities we visit. So we have our safari song, “Going on a safari for another day, chanting dancing, staging a play”. So that is the thing we are missing in this virtual safari! We cannot show cultural program to the public. We tell them that we have people from 30 or 40 0r 45 countries and they speak about their country and Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So that is interesting for the people. Unfortunately, in this virtual safari, we cannot have the public function. We do hope we can give you a taste of the ecstasy of visiting these different holy places. That you see, in the Nepal region, how the people are very simple and very nice. They don’t know that we are visiting their country. I am sure those who know they are very happy.

That is something that is very unique in Nepal that here, people live in houses where the roofs are, each wall may be like 7 feet high. For me it is claustrophobic because I am 6 feet tall, and it almost hitting my head. So people live like this in a very nice situation. And we are very happy that devotees in the airport they do kīrtana, chant and dance. So this is a transcendental environment and they have Ratha-yātrā here. Thousands of people attend. As you see the youth are very interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So like this Nepal is a unique place. And we are very happy to be here on the safari. So, what more should I say?

Thank you for your birthday greetings. This is the solar day I was born, tithi is yet to come. Because last year there was Puruṣottama month, so the tithi is after Rāma Navamī about two weeks from now. It shifts around. But Śrīla Prabhupāda told me that previously I was born in India and so by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, I got born in the mercy and then I came back to India. And I became an Indian under the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda. So when I go to Nepal I don’t need visa. Indians do not need visa. But Nepal is a beautiful place. People are wonderfuḷ. We are glad that everyone can attend Nepal during the first day of safari.

Tomorrow I am looking forward for the Bangladesh safari. So in Bangaladesh, many associates of Lord Caitanya have appeared. So today, we hope that Nepal will have a kīrtana in every town and village. As Lord Caitanya had requested all over the world let there be chanting of His holy names and in every nagara-ādi-grāma. So Nepal is one of the places where Kṛṣṇa consciousness is expanding. And if people of Nepal see devotees from all over the world, they will get very inspired because previously this was a Hindu kingdom but they did not know that people were practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness everywhere in the world! But now that they know, it is a matter of great pride to them and so that way, Kṛṣṇa consciousness offers something unique to them. So we thank all the devotees who are visiting Nepal and hope that you can also physically visit Nepal when the time is possible. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Thank you for organizing the safari. You will see the birthplace of Advaita Ācārya, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Gadādhara Paṇḍita, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, Rūpa and Sanātana, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, and many others, so please don’t miss this Bangladesh Safari. Hare Kṛṣṇa!