20220101 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.44

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 1st, 2022 in Śrī Dhāma Māyapur, India.

The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.13.44.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim 
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam 
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya iśvaram 

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Jayapatākā Swami: Nārada Muni is giving his instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja and his family. He is speaking that in any case there is no reason to lament over the body. Because he is stating how the body is temporary, but the soul is eternal. And the soul transfers or transmigrates into another body, and for this there should be no reason to lament. When one identifies with the body, then one laments over the body.

So, actually Vidura preached to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and he went out in the Himalayas to do the process of self-realization. And Gāndhārī, his good wife, also followed him. Now Vidura has gone to another place. Nārada Muni is saying there is no reason to lament. He is saying that there is no reason to lament. [ 17.22 – 17.40 – inaudible] So before he reveals where their uncles have gone, he is giving a philosophical basis. Actually, they are not kākās, they are jeṭhās. Dhṛtarāṣṭra was the first born, then Vidura and then Pāṇḍu.

So, this is an interesting feature, because now during this pandemic [millions of] 5 million over people have died and we are all lamenting that someone has left us. And we all have lost some near or dear ones. But here it says that in any case there is no reason to lament, as the ātmā is still living on. The material body is temporary and will perish. Today or tomorrow, the material body will go away. But the ātmā is permanent and will live eternally. There are many people who do not know about this subject.

We take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Christābda New Year. In one sense our New Year is the Gaurābda Gaura Pūrṇimā. But since we all use this English calendar, the Christābda calendar, it is natural we also observe this. Last night we were very happy to see that people were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa in Māyāpur to bring in the new year.

But Christ, Lord Jesus Christ He gave His ten commandments. His first commandment is “We should love God, with our heart, soul and mind.” There is one commandment – “Thou shall not kill.” But unfortunately… Śrīla Prabhupāda pointed out that many Christians they kill animals, they have slaughterhouses. Now we are having a worldwide pandemic but we are killing so many animals. But one of my secretaries told me that in Nagaland which is a Christian state in India, there the Christian families they slaughter chicken, and they also have slaughter houses for pigs.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that how people think they are religious, but they are not even gentlemen if they kill animals like this. So, somehow if people stop killing animals there would be less war and less pandemics. In the USA, couple of days ago we heard that 582,000 people who are tested positive [in America]. And in the UK 220,000 or something. Although Australia was relatively less, but it has been increasing in eastern Australia. And people if they stop eating meat and start chanting, the name of God, then the things could be changed.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that it was best to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, but if people they don’t want to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, they can chant any name of Hari, any name of God. They can chant Allah or Jehovah or any bona fide name of God. Let everyone start chanting, that would bring in peace in the world. But simultaneously they should stop eating and killing animals. An animal would die a natural death, then they can eat it. Lord Jesus said, thou shall not kill.

Anyway, today also is the disappearance day of Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura. His temple is in Triveṇī. He was an associate of Lord Nityānanda. He was a suvarṇa-vaṇika. He dealt in gold, but he was a great Vaiṣṇava. So as a gṛhastha he did his occupation as a vaiśya. But he engaged in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Gaurāṅga. There is a wonderful temple in his name in Triveṇī. Śrīla Prabhupāda comes in his lineage. But he never publicized it so much. He had admitted a couple of times in his books. Their tradition was before marriage, the family members have to take initiation. And Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, was living near to his village.

Also, next comes the day of Maheśa Paṇḍita. I went with Śrīla Prabhupāda to the temple of Maheśa Paṇḍita. The station after Chakda is the place of Maheśa Paṇḍita. I cannot remember the name, it is the next station towards Kolkata. I think it is Pālpāra the name of the station. Anyway, Śrīla Prabhupāda said the village people on Sundays they would gather together. Śrīla Prabhupāda said whatever you cook on that day, you offer it to the Deities first and then you take the prasādam. You will bring all the ingredients to one place and you all together as a community cook, offer it to the Lord and take prasādam together.

There is a temple there of Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu. The sevaite who was there wanted to donate that temple to Śrīla Prabhupāda. But for some reason this never fructified. But this yukti, is very good. We have many temples in Bangladesh and Australia, different places. And Malaysia, devotees one day in a week, they would give all the food grains, vegetables to temple, and they cook, and then they distribute the lunch to the devotees. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, his idea was everyone eats, that day they offer to the Deity and they eat prasāda.

Now in India, it is winter. But in Australia it is summer and in Malaysia year around it is almost summer. Since Malaysia is near the equator. But in Australia, many tropical fruits like mango, litchi are found now. There on Boxing-day, after Christmas, they have Snāna-yātrā festival. There they have Pānihāṭi festival also. And they have beautiful paintings done on the pots of ciḍā of Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, Gaura Nitāi and Jagannātha.

They make ciḍā-dahi with various Australian fruits. I would have liked to go there personally but the Australian borders are now not open. I went there by Zoom. And so, there was a chance to take these pots on auction and donate to the temple. I saw some of the auctions. You would be surprised, for one clay pot 600 dollars were paid, Rs. 30,000! So, of course it would be more ṭākās in Bangladesh. But I am telling in Indian rupees. So, it is unimaginable that one pot for 30,000 Rs.

Anyway, in ISKCON we celebrate different festivals all over the world. And we have a kind of nitya-mahotsva, daily festival. So, New-Year’s-day for us is also a festival. New Year’s Eve last night we were also chanting and dancing. But they have elaborate fireworks in some cities. Śrīla Prabhupāda said fireworks are like tickling the eyesight. What happens what do you get out of watching fireworks? The gopīs seeing the face of Kṛṣṇa got unimaginable bliss, Kṛṣṇa has unsurpassable beauty. Actually, we don’t want to be attached to these things in the material world. We want to be attached to Kṛṣṇa and His all-beautiful form. Go to the spiritual world and serve Kṛṣṇa eternally.

In the material world, padam padam yat vipadam – which is danger in every step. These dangers do not exist in the spiritual world. There we stay as the energy of Kṛṣṇa and by engaging in the service of Kṛṣṇa we derive unlimited bliss. While we are in the material world if we can awaken our dormant love for Kṛṣṇa, that is the perfection of life. We have to cooperate with each other for the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So, the Age of Kali is such that always we want to have this quarreling and division. But somehow or another by Nārada Muni’s mercy and Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy we should unite to serve Kṛṣṇa. And this is the real purpose of human life, that we should go back home back to Godhead.

Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu came to deliver everyone. We should serve the lotus feet of Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu and see that many, many people become devotees of Kṛṣṇa and we should strive to achieve that goal. We hope that during this new year you all can make many Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees.

My best wishes to all of you!

Rādhā Kṛṣṇe matir astu!