20211226 Address to ISKCON Vaiṣṇavī Forum

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

Jayapatākā Swami: In Kali-yuga the general principle is that it is forbidden to take sannyāsa. But although a few take but that is for staying in the āśrama. Most have to get married and in that, it is very important that the wife should be a Vaiṣṇavī. Otherwise, people tend to forget Kṛṣṇa. So the Vaiṣṇavī, saha-dharmiṇī, she can help the husband for thinking about Kṛṣṇa.

Actually, we see that there are many great Vaiṣṇavīs in the history. The mother of Dhruva Mahārāja, Sunīti devī, she went to the spiritual world. Devahūti, the daughter of Svāyambhuva Manu and the wife of Kardama Muni. She became the mother of Kapila Muni and went back to the spiritual world at the end of her life. So like that, there are many examples of great Vaiṣṇavīs. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that striyas, śūdras, vaiśyas, anyone who takes shelter of Him, they can go back to the spiritual world. And He included women, businessmen and workers.

So, it is very important that the Vaiṣṇavīs become very expert in practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And taste the spiritual bliss, and to transmit that to the children, to the husband. And, this way, human life is a great opportunity of going back to Kṛṣṇa. Most people, they don’t know what the purpose of life is. I was watching a drama in Chennai and some girls painted a moustache and they were playing Yamarāja and Yamadūtas. And the Yamadūtas were complaining, we go to the house, they are worshiping Deity of Kṛṣṇa, they are chanting the holy name, they are reading the Bhāgavatam, we cannot take them because they are all devotees. What will we do? Yamarāja, there is no work for us! So, I was so happy to see that drama. We see that if the Vaiṣṇavīs can worship the Deities in the house, if they teach Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the children, they can deliver the whole family! And they can deliver themselves. So it is very important actually that in this Kali-yuga that ladies should be Kṛṣṇa conscious. And make Kṛṣṇa conscious, Kṛṣṇa-centered family. We are trying to see that being evolved, and we are very grateful to Rādhāpriyā devī dāsī for establishing this Vaiṣṇavī Girls’ Forum in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. And we also heard Raichur. So like this, this is a very great thing. Actually, by rendering service to Kṛṣṇa, there is no bar, anyone can go back to Godhead, Kṛṣṇa promises.

So, people they don’t know that the real purpose of life is to develop love for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa of course, or His different incarnations or avatāras, like, Narasiṁhadeva or others, Rāmacandra, Sītārāma, so many rūpas are there, anantarūpa. But these are all Personalities of Godhead. We are His marginal potency. And our purpose is actually to serve Him. This material world is just one-fourths of the total energy. Three-fourths is the spiritual world. So, the whole human birth is meant to go back home, back to Godhead and each one of you has the potential to go back to Godhead. You are not dependent on anyone else. You may help others, but you can get back. We would like you to be goṣṭhyānandīs, we would like you to increase the number of devotees and help people to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. So, studying the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and taking up different services, for guru and Kṛṣṇa, is a lot of fun. Actually, nobody understands how much pleasure there is in serving Kṛṣṇa. Actually, as we advance, first we do all these rules and regulations, then we become very spontaneous and that takes us to a higher level. Finally, we can get ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa and that can be further refined to pure love for Kṛṣṇa.

So, of course, while we are in the material world, it is natural to have some material desires. But by bhakti-yoga we can practice yukta-vairāgya, which means dovetailing those desires in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Just like say one wants a child. And then they try to bring up the child to be a devotee. Like someone wants to eat good food, offer that to Kṛṣṇa. So like this everything, we try to do in a Kṛṣṇa conscious way. We read about Svāyambhuva Manu, he was gṛhastha. He had various children, boys and girls. And his girls were very great, one of the girls was Devahūti. But it is said that although he was a gṛhastha, a king living with material opulence, he kept Kṛṣṇa always in the center. By that way, he could be Kṛṣṇa conscious. He did not get entangled in material life. He was always Kṛṣṇa conscious.

We would like all of you to get the taste of serving Kṛṣṇa in bliss. Chanting, lecturing, doing sevā. Reading the books. Lord Caitanya, He asked people, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, to serve Kṛṣṇa, and to read Kṛṣṇa’s teachings. Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So like this, their lives became perfect. Although this is Kali-yuga and this is the age of hypocrisy and quarrel, materialism, but in this age, it is easy to get back to the spiritual world by chanting. I am very happy to hear that some of you are chanting 16 rounds, 8 rounds or at least one round. 16 rounds mean 10 million names of Kṛṣṇa in a year. 8 rounds are 5 million names. 2 rounds are like 1.25 million a year. So it adds up. So it is like drip irrigation! And your devotional creeper will grow and grow! Thank you very much! I am very happy to see all of you and spend time with all of you!