20220521 Initiation Ceremony Address

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

Jayapatākā Swami: Dear devotees, Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that Pānihāṭi was a very special pastime place of Lord Caitanya. Here there were many pastimes performed. After some days we will be celebrating the Pānihāṭi Daṇḍa Mahotsava here, the cīḍa-dahi utsava. Lord Caitanya then sent Lord Nityānanda back to Bengal and He then came first to Pānihāṭi dhāma. Rāghava Paṇḍita inquired if He had taken prasāda? He said, “No! I have a few devotees with Me too.” Rāghava Paṇḍita requested Lord Nityānanda to go have Gaṅgā bath and return and in an hour he would organize everything. Cooking for 50 people would be over in one hour! Rāghava Paṇḍita kī jaya! Rāghava Paṇḍita used to cook for Lord Caitanya. Every year he used to take the devotees to Jagannātha Purī and cook and take prasāda himself. That was called Rāghava’s ‘Jhuli’. Now there is an exhibition, and it used to be going on for 3, 6 months or a year. Rāghava Paṇḍita was such an expert cook that he could prepare sandeśa, the sweet from the mud of the Ganges! How can sandeśa be made from Gaṅgā mud? That Damayantī would learn from Rāghava Paṇḍita. This way, Nityānanda Prabhu came here and after prasāda and rest, there was kīrtana. That kīrtana was so beautiful and Nityānanda Prabhu said I will do kīrtana. Everyone moved aside and then Nityānanda Prabhu started singing and dancing. Then Nityānanda Prabhu sat for a while and the devotees brought Gaṅgā water and did His abhiṣeka. And He said, you cannot see but Lord Caitanya has come here. Because there is a flower in South India which He took, and that flower is not here but just smelling that that flower He could understand that Lord Caitanya was here. Everyone was trying to smell that flower and ahhh! Ahhh! And everyone was emotionally charged. Then there was a gas of love which spread. Just smelling the aroma of the flower all the devotees were ecstatic in kṛṣṇa-prema. And there was kīrtana going on for many days. About ten thousand people came there. They were doing kīrtana and filled with bliss. Everyone forgot themselves and were there for three continuous days. Then they remembered that we have a house, we have a family. Then someone said, “Where were we?” Haribol! The people at home understood that there was kīrtana going on there. So this way many people heard the kīrtana and became immersed in Prema. Then the associates of Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda like Abhirāma dāsa, Abhirāma Ṭhākura, were all there. One devotee took a 40 hands long bamboo stick and started playing that as a flute, one person! One devotee, he was dancing on the grass and like a balloon floated from one place to another. And another person pulled up a huge mango tree and started dancing! Rāghava Paṇḍita when he saw this, he said, they will all spoil my garden! This way, Lord Nityānanda performed His pastimes in Pānihāṭi.

I had come with Śrīla Prabhupāda thrice and Śrīla Prabhupāda had said that in front of the banyan tree here, at a height of 10 feet above we should construct a temple. So that the people could walk over, and a Nitāi Gaura temple would be there. I heard that Śrīla Prabhupāda in Vṛndāvana when he was 77 years old, had said when Bhakti Cāru Swami was there, there should be at least four steamer boats should ply between Kolkata and Māyāpur. And they would stop in Pānihāṭi mid-way for a snack of cīḍa-dahi. Śrīla Prabhupāda had wanted to do something for Pānihāṭi. To fulfill that Śrīla Bhakti Cāru Swami established a temple here. He would always want to fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s wishes. Then the Pānihāṭi dhāma cīḍa-dahi festival started and prasāda was distributed. First ten years I was here. Atlanta in the USA is New Pānihāṭi dhāma. They did not know what this Pānihāṭi Festival was. I was here and knew and so I went there and started the Pānihāṭi Festival. And Śrīla Bhakti Cāru Swami used to perform the Pānihāṭi festival here. Here we can get bananas, mangoes, litchis here. In America, fruits were mainly imported from Mexico, like mangoes, but then they had some Western fruits like peach, strawberry, nectarine, etc. Here now we also get many fruits which are imported from the West. In the morning I got to eat cherries for breakfast here, but cherries are not grown in India. This was I made 21 preparations with different flavors of cīḍa-dahi. So I used fruits from India and from the West to make the items. 21 types. Here we make one or two flavors.

Anyway, this place is historically very special place of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda. Śrīla Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja used to give initiation to many devotees. But Lord Kṛṣṇa has taken him away. We tried our best to see that he somehow stays with us. But I am not God, whatever the Lord plans happens. This way, Bhakti Cāru Swami’s samādhi is in Māyāpur. He tried to fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desires in Pānihāṭi. Śrīla Prabhupāda had written a letter to me regarding Pānihāṭi. I am very happy that Śrīla Bhakti Cāru Swami brought this festival to this level. I will try to fulfill the dream of Śrīla Prabhupāda as much as I can.

Today, the program of initiation is going to take place. This is the day the devotees take up special responsibilities to be part of the guru-paramparā. Śrīla Bhakti Cāru Swami used to always strive to fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desires and instructions. In the same way, all the devotees should also try to help in fulfilling the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda had given me many instruction and few of them are for Pānihāṭi. This way the initiated disciples, śikṣā disciples should all assist me in fulfilling the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda. This Pānihāṭi dhāma is a very special place of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda’s pastimes and all of you will help to develop this dhāma. ISKCON’s first śālagrāma-śilā was got from Pānihāṭi. One brāhmaṇa gave it to Śrīla Prabhupāda. And that was Janārdana and is worshiped in Māyāpur. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted – as Rāghava Paṇḍita’s house was in a dilapidated condition, if possible, that should be restored. But other Vaiṣṇavas they got the opportunity and are doing it. Any way there are other things to be done in Pānihāṭi dhāma.

Those who have taken initiation or going to take, they should follow the paramparā. This way generally people think they are the body. But actually, we are ātmā. The body is like a dress for us. We take birth, then develop and produce something and then die. But the soul does not die. Generally, people take birth again and again either as humans or other forms of life. But if we follow Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda then we can return to Vaikuṇṭha or Godhead after our death. The Lord says that in every yuga He comes. Sambhāvami yuge yuge. Every avatāra or incarnation has His particular mood. Varāhadeva He lifted the earth from the Garbodha ocean. And Narasiṁhadeva (few days ago we celebrated Narasiṁha-caturdaśī) His mood was anger. His devotee, Prahlāda Mahārāja, even though there was no reason, his father Hiraṇyakaśipu tortured him. Then Narasiṁhadeva came and with anger He killed all the demons. Lord Caitanya came, and His mood was that of mercy. Parama karuṇa pahu dui jana, nitāi gauracandra. Who wants the mercy of Lord Caitanya here? Looks like there are many people who are getting the mercy of Lord Caitanya.

In this material world, people are generally gratifying their senses. We keep our sense gratification limited and try to do devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. Worshiping the Deity, taking the Holy name, offering bhoga to the Lord, various services we do. So that is why we will not have another birth in this material world, we will all go back to Vaikuṇṭha. In Chennai there was a bhakti-vṛkṣa group, and the children there performed a drama. One acted as Yamarāja and two were Yamadūtas. The Yamadūtas were complaining, “These householders have the Deities of Kṛṣṇa and Caitanya. They have Jagannātha, Caitanya. They offer bhoga and have prasāda and chant Kṛṣṇa’s name, they pray to Kṛṣṇa. What do I do? They read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta. We cannot do anything we need another job or what? We are not effective doing this job as Yamadūtas!” Do you want to go back with the Yamadūtas or you want to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda? Haribol!

There will be initiation ceremony here. There will be some vows taken, following the four regulative principles – no meat eating, onion garlic, no illicit sex, no gambling no alcohol. I have a devotee whose husband used to drink. He went to the hospital. The doctor said that if you don’t stop drinking, your liver will be damaged, and you will die. This way people who drink spoil their health. But once they are initiated, they give up all these and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa every day. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s names are non-different. I need a lot of help. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me many instructions of which one is developing Pānihāṭi dhāma. And distributing books, etc. One of your promises is to assist me. Will you be able to do that? I finish my talk here. I could have spoken a lot but time is short. Hare Kṛṣṇa!