20220303 Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava Golden Jubilee Festival Address Day 2

The following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 3rd, 2022 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

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

Jayapataka Swami: I was in Canada and I became the temple president of Montreal, I had a dream one night. I saw the Deities of Rādhā Mādhava and those Deities are here. So Kṛṣṇa gave me a blessing that I could see them in Their Deity form. In the beginning we were staying in the grass hut where we were yesterday, and then we built a cement godown with lime and sarki mortar. So that we could take it apart later. Not there now. That was there which was the cement godown, there they built the Lotus building. Once I send Śrīla Prabhupāda a picture of stone chips, bricks, steel, he said, “Very nice, but I want to see the finished building!”

So today we heard about, being the disappearance day of Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami. He bought the present land here. The land of the Lotus building, this land, and he did many services for Māyāpur. He came out with steel bars for Māyāpur, I was with him and on the way the lorry driver said, “Here is a nice place, have a cup of hot milk.” So we were having milk and then someone came and said someone is steeling your steel and throwing it in the ditch. So when we went, for sure they were taking the steel and throwing it in the ditch. Because there was no weighing station here. Like that so he was on the lorry, he was doing a lot of sevā for Māyāpur. Just thought I would mention that he may have done other things for Vṛndāvana or for Bombay, but he did many things for Māyāpur.

So, as you heard, the Deities originally, we just had paddy fields. I was walking on the aisles between the paddy fields. I looked down and saw between my legs there was a cobra, I kept walking. Like that we were living in a country. The dogs were howling at night. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “I cannot sleep with the dogs howling.” So there was a devotee who went out to scare the dogs away. Eventually we had this Lotus building. And Rādhā Mādhava were there. Śrīla Prabhupāda was worshiping them, circumambulating them, and then I heard that in the night when everybody went to take their muḍi, their puffed rice, and gūr, at that time a dog would come and offer his prostrate obeisances before Śrīla Prabhupāda. So, it was hard to believe, I hid behind the trolley and waited to see. Sure enough the dog came and offered his flat obeisances and then left. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “Some of the sādhus in Vṛndāvana, if they do nonsense, then they come back as monkeys.” So I am wondering who was that dog?!

You heard about Śrīla Prabhupāda circumambulating the Deities. Like that one time was leading the kīrtana, and after singing Hare Kṛṣṇa, I would say, “bolo!” Meaning, chant! Śrīla Prabhupāda called me over, “Don’t add any new words to the mahā-mantra!”

So as you heard, Śrīla Prabhupāda stayed in the Lotus building even before it was completely finished. The toilets were not finished yet. And we had a can hanging from the toilet and we would have a race, Brahmānanda, myself to take away the container. He would win more times! Anyway, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he would come here about twice a year. Once in the fall before Dāmodara month or after Dāmodara month. Usually, he would spend the Dāmodara month in Vṛndāvana, and he would come in Gaura Pūrṇima. All this time, the Deity of Rādhā Mādhava were the principal Deities. And so these Deities of Rādhā Mādhava were personally worshiped by Śrīla Prabhupāda. And for many years this paper Mache Deity of Gaurāṅga was with him. And then he asked me for an aṣṭa-dhātu Gauranga. I remember George Harrison came and paid obeisances to these Deities. How all the devotees from the Soviet Union, they came by Air India. It was the first Air India flight to Calcutta, jumbo jet and the devotees came out they paid their obeisances touching their head in Calcutta. They said that this is the Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, so we are very blessed.

These Deities every year, they do the Jhulan-yātrā. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if we want to have our aṣṭa-dhātu Gaurāṅga then you will need śālagrāma-śilā. At one time, the building was under construction, but there was a black king cobra, came out of the brick pile and all the workers stopped working. I came down with a shot gun. When I was down the grass was about a foot and a half long. I could not see where was the snake. I asked the devotees who were on the roof,“Where was the snake?” “There, there, there, there!” But pointing from the roof, I could not understand where they were pointing. So I asked, “How many feet away, which direction, 2 o’clock, 4 o’clock?” Then they said, “20 feet.” So like that I got some idea. And the snake stood up on its hood up. So then I shot the snake. And the workers said that, “Your image will stay in the retina of the snake, you have to burn the snake. Otherwise, the snake’s mate will see the image and will find you out and come and bite you.”

Then there were many things like that. Śrīla Prabhupāda was in the bathroom, he called me, he was also attacked by a snake. So the snake was in the door but if you opened the door then the snake would come out and bite Śrīla Prabhupāda. It was a poisonous viper. Like that, we were living in the country, so it was a special environment.

After Śrīla Prabhupāda left, and Keśavī told me she joined Māyāpur. She said she had a training as a dress designer in Japan. So that is why we engaged her in designing dresses for Kṛṣṇa. So, now we want to have more dresses and there are more ladies so they will also make dresses.

So I could say many more things but others are there to speak. It is a very great opportunity we have that these Deities, you can pull the Deities today. The Jhulan-yātrā every year we observe with the Deities. And they have abhiṣeka we use these Deities. So these Deities of Rādhā Mādhava Māyāpur-candra are very special. Now we have the large Rādhā Mādhava Aṣṭa-sakhis. And we have Pañca-tattva. So we heard from Vraja-vilāsa Prabhu that we would like to finish the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. And he was mentioning yesterday that every day he would like to get 500,000 dollars pledged. So, as you saw if you pledge you get a special medallion. Even if you cannot give 500,000 dollars or 3.5 lakh rupees, one of the medallions,whatever you can give, please take this opportunity. And may all the Deities of Rādhā Mādhava Aṣṭa-sakhi Rādhā Mādhava Māyāpur-candra, Pañca-tattva, Narasiṁhadeva Prahlāda, we would like to give Them Their new temple. It is almost finished only a little more donation needed. So it is a very special occasion, the 50th anniversary of installation of Rādhā Mādhava Māyāpur-candra.

And the first Gaura Pūrṇima festival was in 1972 of course, the international festival was held in 1974. But we had some festival in 1972. So we are very grateful to all the devotees, all the leaders, that you have come here on this sacred day for the festivities. Thank you! Dhanyavād!