20220513 Namāmi Gaṅgā Bhūmi-pūjā of Prabhupāda Ghāṭa Address

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 13th, 2022 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The talk was given at the Bhūmīpūjā at Śrīla Prabhupāda Ghāṭa

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine/

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe 
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare,
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Jayapatākā Swami: Jaya Gaṅgā Mayī kī jaya! I would like to welcome His Grace Ashok Kumar from Namāmi Gaṅgā, coming here for this auspicious ceremony of the foundation stone. Our Founder-Ācārya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, he said that if we can have a road to the Ganges, if the Ganges was closer, then he could bathe every day and that would increase his life. And he wanted to facilitate all the people who visit Māyāpur, so that they can go bathe in the Ganges. Right now, six million people come to Māyāpur every year and when the Temple of Vedic Planetarium is opened, that should increase many times. I remember that Śrīla Prabhupāda would walk by the side of the Ganges. One day he said, let us take a bath. So he wanted to make the Ganges available to everyone. Before I had my stroke and was wheelchair bound, I was trained as a life saver swimmer. And I saved several people from drowning in the Ganges. But there were several foreigners who left their bodies in the Ganges. So having a proper bathing ghāṭa is welcome as this would save the lives of many people.

Lord Caitanya, He was born in Māyāpur, He took His appearance here. He would bathe in the Ganges every day and also the Ganges is known as Jāhnavī and Jahnu Muni had his āśrama in Māyāpur. Of course, we know that the Ganges, the Yamunā and Sarasvatī are all combined. I know little Hindi but my Hindi is not so good. So I will speak a little in Bengali.

Now Śrīla Prabhupāda desired that this sacred Ganges, everyone should come and taken bath and offer worship. There is very nice worship going on in Benaras, Haridwar and other places. Here I am very indebted that the devotees here do daily Gaṅgā-pūjā. And Śrīla Prabhupāda desired that all the people should be able to come and take bath in Māyāpur. His Grace Ashok Kumar of Namāmi Gaṅgā Project has come to lay the foundation for a beautiful ghāṭa here. Our Brajavilāsa Prabhu said that we should all try that our sacred Ganges should stay pure and clean. His Grace Ashok Kumar stated very nicely that the products like cow dung on the banks of the Gaṅgā would be pure and that any chemical products on the banks of the Gaṅgā should be avoided. Now there is a proposal that we should also have a burning ghāṭa not here but in another location here. Now many such desires are there but for now let this project get completed and then we will look into others. So please try that the sanctity of Ganges is maintained. We would like to thank Namāmi Gaṅgā for their very important service to keep the Ganges clean from Gaṅgotri to Gaṅgā-sāgar. Thank you very much!