20211017 Addressing Paṭana Utsava of ISKCON Chennai

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

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he made a tremendous effort to translate every night. And from 12 midnight to 3 O’clock or so, he translates every night. So, sometimes he calls me, and I come down, I see that he is translating in a dicta-phone. He had a special Bhāgavatam with seven ṭīkās. I don’t remember all, but like Śrīdhara Swami (Śrīdhara Mahārāja), Baladeva Vidyābhuṣaṇa, Madhvācārya, various ṭīkās. So like this he would translate their ṭīkās and add-in his own experience. So, the present generation can gain the association of Śrīla Prabhupāda by reading his books, he started the program by like Bhagavad-gītā and some smaller books, how one can get bhakti-śāstrī. And by reading the first six cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one can get bhakti-vaibhava. By reading the seven to twelve cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one can get the bhakti-vedānta degree. By reading the Caitanya-caritāmṛta and other literatures of Lord Caitanya, one can get the bhakti-sārvabauma. So, we want that the devotees should study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books in detail. And by doing this, one will have very… complete grasp of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, especially for the newer devotees, this is their opportunity to associate with Śrīla Prabhupāda. And Prabhupāda had a very deep experience about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, by reading his books, one can get that realization. And it is very important that everyone should have this association with Śrīla Prabhupāda.

I am very happy that devotees in Chennai are dedicating their time to study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. And, in this way, they can become expert in all the philosophies. So, it is said that anywhere in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you get nectar. It doesn’t matter where you bite into it, it still have the same nectarean taste. So, our life is actually very short. In Kali-yuga, it says hundred years but people hardly live eighty years. Whatever we take with us… we can’t take money, we can’t take our clothes, our house, our car. But we can take our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is why it is so important to read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purports. Thank you very much for your participation. Hare Kṛṣṇa!