20220622 Evening Darśana

The following is an evening darsana given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 22nd, 2022 at Iskcon Coimbatore, India.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Jaya Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana cakra kī jaya!

Jaya Nitāi-Gaura kī jaya!

Guru-paramparā kī jaya!

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Soukyamā?

(Are you all well?) I met here Pravin Kumar, Commissioner of Police in Coimbatore.

He is a Vraja-vāsī!

He was born 25 km away from Vṛndāvana!

Haribol!

Actually, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said being born in India is a very special birth.

Bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra
(Cc.  Ādi 9.41).

That being born in India you should achieve perfection and you should help others.

Today the world is suffering – other continents think that they are the body, they are trying to serve their senses to be happy.

Being born in India where different ācāryas, different avatāras have appeared is very special, like Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared in Mathurā, grew up in Vṛndāvana and then He went to Dvārakā and Lord Rāma, He appeared in Ayodhyā.

Kerala was made by Paraśurāma.

He threw his chopper in the ocean and reclaimed the land now known as Kerala.

All the great ācāryas appeared in South India.

Rāmānuja, Madhvācārya and Nimbārkācārya and Viṣṇu Svāmī.

So, we are coming in the Brahma-Madhva-sampradāya.

We follow Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Somehow, He accepted this sampradāya. 

Although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, in this Kali-yuga He took the form of a devotee.

He went to Vṛndāvana after spending about six years in South India and He located the Śyāma-kuṇḍa and Rādhā-kuṇḍa and also located the Govardhana hill.

And many other places in Vṛndāvana and Mathurā.

When He would talk about Vṛndāvana He would experience 100 times ecstasy.

When He went to Mathurā He was experiencing a thousand times ecstasy.

When He went to Vṛndāvana He was experiencing a lakh times ecstasy!

His secretary told Him that You are so ecstatic, You are uncontrollable.

I don’t think You should stay too long in Vṛndāvana.

You will jump into the Vṛndāvana in ecstasy and other things, if I am not there who will save You?

Then He went back to Prayāga and met Rūpa Gosvāmī.

Then He went to Benaras and converted all the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs to become Vaiṣṇavas. 

So what is the difference between karma and bhakti?

Karma means we try to serve our senses.

Of course, we may serve our extended senses, community, nation.

These are all pious works.

One will get a better birth in the next life then.

But one has to take birth again by karma.

If you do this work to please Kṛṣṇa’s senses, then it is bhakti.

And then all the people you help and yourself go back to the spiritual world. 

We are told by the commissioner of Police that his grandmother used to chant daily.

How many of your grandmothers do that?

How many? Many of the previous generations were very pious.

But today we are becoming more Westernized.

We neglect our ancient traditions.

We wander around the universe taking different births.

Lord Caitanya taught,

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja 
(Cc. Madhya 19.151) 

We wander about the universe in different planets,different bodies.

Sometimes we are human beings, sometimes we take birth in the higher planets, devaloka, svarga.

Sometimes we take a lower birth in other planets.

And so we are wandering around the universe.

Even from universe to universe.

But till we meet a guru who gives the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, we cannot get out of this prison life.

This material world is a kind of prison.

If it gets dark, we can get electricity and see.

Kṛṣṇa gave us the sun the sun rises every day in the morning and lights up.

When the sun sets it gets dark.

So we have invented electricity which gives light.

But basically, this world is dark.

The spiritual world, which is three fourths of the brahmāṇḍa, the material world is only a small fraction.

Our mission is to teach everybody bhakti so that at the end of this life we all go back to the spiritual world.

And Lord Caitanya gave us a simply process, which is mentioned in all the Vedas, to chant the holy names.

Lord Śiva explained to Pārvatī, sahasranāma – we chant 1,000 names of Viṣṇu is equivalent to one name of Rāma.

Then if you chant 3000 names of Viṣṇu, that is equivalent to one name of Kṛṣṇa.

So, that is why we are recommending everybody to chant

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma and we are very happy to hear you all are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma.

This is the real secret.

When we chant the name of the Supreme Bhagavān, our heart gets purified.

Then we get spiritual bliss.

How many of you would like to have spiritual ecstasy?

Materially I am a handicapped person.

But spiritually I feel very happy!

Although it is not easy, I am very happy to travel around and tell how wonderful serving Kṛṣṇa is.

I have heard from His Holiness Bhakti Vinoda Swami how the devotees here are all very enthusiastic.

I want to thank all the donors, the devotees, for helping make this new temple here in Coimbatore.

So that if there is a bigger area, everybody can sit down and listen.

You can chant along with mṛdaṅgas and harmonium. 

Actually, Lord Caitanya did something special when He was in South India.

In Navadvīpa where He appeared there were many smārtas and other brāhmaṇas.

They complained to the government that He is chanting the name of Lord loud which is prohibited.

Although it is not prohibited but recommended.

Anyway, so when He was in South India whoever He saw on the road whether he was a smārtha or an Iyeṅgār, He would embrace him and give him love of Kṛṣṇa. Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda!

I went to that place in Andhra Pradesh, Narasaraopet, I told them Narasaraopet Lord Kṛṣṇa came here and Lord Caitanya came here! They said, we were born here, we did not know that!

So this is the thing! People they know the Western culture, they don’t know their own ancient culture!

It is very easy for those born in India to achieve all spiritual success.

Look at Kumbha-melā, 30 million people attend.

Because India is special! Then we have Ratha-yātrā in Coimbatore when so many people go. 

So you know we exported the saṅkīrtana-yajña to other countries.

We just observed the 50th year of Ratha-yātrā in New York city.

We go down 5th Avenue, famous street!

Chanting, dancing, with the rathas of Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā.

So, now people in all these countries, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda he established 108 temples.

When he was in Los Angeles, the Deities of Rukmiṇī Dvārakānātha spoke to him.

Also preach in India, they said.

Now we have in India, how many centers? He is the chairman of South India Divisional Council – Mahārāja, in South India we have in 85 centers – how many extended centers, outposts.

In Hosur we have 7 outposts I was there.

When I was in Bengaluru, we have one center in Seshadripuram and they have 7 extension centers and outposts.

And then another center in Bengaluru they said they had 8 outposts.

Three universities there, in one city there are like 30 to 40 centers, big and small.

Here in India, people are very much interested in understanding their spiritual heritage, their spiritual identity.

So we are trying to reach out to all the people.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said, Indians, they already know, they are like burning coal with ash over it. Burning coal with ash.

You just pat it ash goes off and it is red hot!

So, we don’t have to teach, they are kind of spiritual.

We know that but unfortunately, many people have forgotten that.

A little fanning and they will remember.

If you tell a dog, you are not this body, he will bark, woof! Woof!

I am a dog! You don’t tell a dog you are not this body.

If you tell a cat it will just say meow!

But if you tell a human being then he will understand.

Śrīla Prabhupāda gave an example to say, a grandfather passed away.

The boy says the grandfather, he is gone! He is gone! Why do you say gone? Same body, same head, same hair, same clothes, what has gone?

What has gone?

Soul has gone!

The spirit soul is the real person.

You never knew your real grandfather.

He has just been there in that body.

And you are all spirit souls.

But in this world, you die you are reborn, die reborn, die reborn.

And like in America the Christians say, born again.

On a car they had a sticker, born again and again and again! Ha! Ha!

That is the actual situation.

How many times we have been born, it is incalculable.

We are eternal souls!

This human form of life gives an opportunity to get out of this repetition of birth and death.

We are not asking anyone to change what they are.

We are not asking you to be a sannyāsī.

We are saying whatever you are, do it to please Kṛṣṇa.

If you are gṛhasthas, you can go back to Godhead, you can raise your children to be Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Worship Kṛṣṇa in your house, keep a deity of Viṣṇu, read Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance in ecstasy.

Feast on prasāda! Who likes prasāda here?

If you don’t raise your hand we won’t give you prasāda!

Anyway, I am very happy to be here.

I hope I have not said any offensive things. 

You see I was born in the West, I renounced my American citizenship and took Indian citizenship.

Fortunately, I became a devotee, and I was preaching in Eastern India.

I learnt Bengali, Hindi, and little bit of Odia, I haven’t learnt Tamil yet, it is a very nice language to listen to.

I don’t know if I can learn it! It is very nice!

I am learning a few things – soukhyamā, nandri, vaṇakkam.

In the morning I say kālai-vaṇakkam – good morning.

In Gujarat one ayurvedic doctor said, you are not a South Indian, why do you like eating idly and dosa?

I said I am a guru of South Indians! I went to the AVP in Coimbatore, and they made me eat idlis.

Any way we want people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy!

We are teaching yukta-vairāgya.

Do everything the way you would please Kṛṣṇa.

You don’t have to give up anything, you give the result to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

If you experience any happiness, you thank Kṛṣṇa.

If you have misery, that is part of material life.

I was in Karnataka and Andhra, I don’t know if it is a custom in Tamil Nadu, they give a Ugādi (New Year) sweet.

Sweet laḍḍu but it tasted bitter.

That is life!

Sweet and bitter.

That is material life.

In the spiritual world only happiness!

We asked the people in Erode how many want to be satisfied?

Everybody raised their hand.

Who here wants to be satisfied here? So I ask how many are fully satisfied in material life?

Raise your hand.

Same thing happened in Erode, nobody raised their hand.

We are trying to please Hṛśīkeṣa, the Master of the senses to be satisfied.

Because we are part of Kṛṣṇa – when He is happy, we are happy!

But because we think we are the body, the senses are never satisfied.

You want more and more! So people don’t realize that trying to serve the senses is hopeless.

The great devotee, the grand guru of Lord Caitanya, he prayed.

Forgive me, You gave me these prayers, You gave me pious activities, You gave me – he gave so many details – I am not able to serve You anymore.

Because I only want to serve Kṛṣṇa forever.

Anyway, I thank you all very much.

I was told that many of you would be at the wedding.

But some stayed here.

So tomorrow we will have more programs.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!