20220622 Zoom Address: Russian Grand Disciples

The following is a zoom address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 21nd, 2022 in Coimbatore, India. Zoom address was given to the Russian Bhakti Vṛkṣa Devotees.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: What would Caitanya Candra Caraṇa Prabhu like me to speak about?

Caitanya Candra Caraṇa dāsa: I would like to request Guru Mahārāja to review to us what is the special feature what is so special about the mission of Lord Caitanya.

Jayapatākā Swami: So that is an interesting question. But first I would like to say that all the disciples of Caitanya Candra Caraṇa dāsa are very special to me! In the morning when I see the Deities, I normally pray for my disciples, but I also pray for Caitanya Candra Caraṇa’s disciples. And especially I want all the disciples to be enthusiastic for preaching. And successful also.

Right now, I am in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India. I was just in Bengaluru. Bengaluru in New Rājāpur Mandir there are about 200 devotees and 100 families. But there are only two brahmacārīs. And all the others seem to be gṛhasthas. So there were more than a hundred ladies, Vaiṣṇavīs. And of course, there are many men also. So one man who is retired from the Army, he has 200 Army families chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa! But all the ladies are busy in service. Some are cooking, they have Jagannātha Deities, so they cook 56 offerings. They have half men preachers and half lady preachers. The couple are in charge of the śāstra courses. Bhakti-śāstri, Bhakti-vaibhava, Bhakti-vedānta. So it was nice to see this community where everyone was engaged in service. Now what is the difference?

So Śaṅkarācārya, he said that if you want to achieve liberation from the material world you need to be a sannyāsī. But Lord Caitanya said whether you are a gṛhastha or a vairāgī, you can achieve liberation through bhakti-yoga. That is one difference. So, who amongst you would like to be satisfied? Okay and who of you have achieved complete satisfaction through material life? Because we are trying to serve our senses and our senses are never satisfied. But if we serve Kṛṣṇa’s senses then we get satisfied. Lord Caitanya gave us a very simple method. He told us to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! Lord Caitanya gave us this simple system. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said we should follow in the footsteps of the twelve mahājanas. Lord Caitanya said: yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa. So, whoever you meet tell them the message of Kṛṣṇa and ask them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Someone said, “Oh! does that mean we have to be a very great scholar?” But Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was a little boy, the son of a demon, he was not old enough to have great education. He was born in a demon family. But Kṛṣṇa accepts every sincere effort, if every one of you should give your sincere effort, Kṛṣṇa will accept it. That is a special feature of Lord Caitanya’s movement. Anyone can achieve perfection if they are just sincerely trying to please Kṛṣṇa. Just as we chant this mahā-mantra, naturally we get purified.

So, Lord Caitanya wanted every town and village in the whole world to chant His holy names.

So, He did not say just India, He said the whole world.

And that includes Russia!

You should use your intelligence how to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness in your country.

And then you will make people satisfied!

That is the real secret!

I was thinking how Nārada Muni he always was improvising some new method to make someone Kṛṣṇa conscious.

He met a hunter and so the hunter said how can I purify myself? Nārada Muni said chant the name of God.

The hunter said, “That is not possible, I am a hunter, I am a murderer, I am a thief, I cannot chant anything holy.” So then Nārada Muni thought for a second and he said, “Marā, marā, marā!” Which in Sanskrit means “Kill, kill, kill!” He said, “Oh that I can chant, I am used to that, marā, marā, marā, marā” he started chanting.

After the first syllable it became, “Rāma, Rāma,Rāma.” What a wonderful thing!

He tricked the person into chanting the name of Rāma.

But he did it a very covered way.

So you may think how you can get the people in Russia to chant.

You know the language so there may be a word like that which fits. You chant window frame! Window frame!  (In Russian window frame is rāma) So somehow or another get the people to chant the name of Kṛṣṇa and get purified.

(Nārāyaṇī Rādhā devī dāsī the Russian translator said that there is a phrase in snow don’t melt in Russian is Nitāi.) In English we put a bow tie on the knee and if someone asks, that is Knee+Tie. ‘Ni’ ‘tāi’.

So, that way somehow or another, have them chant the name of Nitāi or Gaurāṅga or Gaura or anything.

But the fact that you are thinking how to please Kṛṣṇa, how to please Gaurāṅga.

That itself will please Kṛṣṇa.

Someone, a neurologist he suggested people to chant to say Go-Run-Go.

Go-run-go Go-run-go. After you say a few times in Gaurāṅga. 

You have already thought of two names in Russian, window frame and snow don’t melt. In Portuguese we have a word, a boy and girl are attracted to each other, they say, amarāda.

In amarāda, then name of Rādhā is there.

In Malay the name for day is hari. [paragraph] (Nārāyaṇī Rādhā devī dāsī said, in Russian, I am happy, we say ya radha!) YA RĀDHĀ! I don’t know if they are happy?

All should say, “Ya Rādhā!” I cannot hear them (the zoom spectators) “Ya Rādhā!” Like that that is one way to have the people chant. It is called ajñāta-sukṛti, unknowingly they get benefit.

There may be other ways. Just like telling people to help in distributing Food for Life.

Maybe young people like the idea of helping people who are hungry.

You see, I am encouraging the devotees to read Śrīla Prabhupāda books, read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Some devotees have so much service and have no time to study and take the exams.

I read the śāstra many times. I got the Bhakti-śāstri in the presence of Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Now I am taking the Bhakti-vaibhava just to show a good example.

I don’t have time to take the test. I have already the books, I have taken two tests, I got A+ but it is hard to find the time to take the test.

I think if the devotees for the first time they take initiation, they start to study the Bhakti-śāstri, the Bhakti-vaibhava, that will be the easier way.

I met a young girl in her twenties in a city in Tamil Nadu, she already had her Bhakti-vedānta.

I just gave her second initiation.

So I don’t give second initiation unless devotees have Bhakti-śāstri.

I think that is the standard in Russia?

Right?

I found that Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if we want to be second initiated, we have to have Bhakti-śāstri.

But some of the… what do you call, the old ladies, how do you say in Russian, Babhuska or something they don’t have time to study, so I had a special test for them.

Now in MI they have for older devotees who have been in the movement for more than ten years, they can take a test of eight questions for Bhakti-śāstri.

No need to go through any course.

If you know the philosophy, if you have read Bhagavad-gītā, if you have been for 10 years in the movement, then you can take the exam.

We need people to study Śrīla Prabhupāda books and the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that is like the Post Graduate study.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said the Bhagavad-gītā, is like the Bachelors, Bhakti-vaibhava is like Master’s Bhakti-vedānta is like Ph.D and Bhakti-sārvabhauma is like Post Graduate.

So, we would like all of you devotees to help spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. 

You are disciples of Caitanya Candra Caraṇa dāsa but we would like you to become masters in your own right, later!

You will always be a disciple of Caitanya Candra Caraṇa but you will be a master of the common people.

In this way, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, Lord Caitanya’s movement can spread.

Any questions?

Question: Thank you for the class. How to help people to cope with all the disasters of Kali-yuga?

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, the point is that we are giving a chance to leave this world and go back to the spiritual kingdom.

Why do the people want to stay here when there are so many problems? And if we take up bhakti-yoga, then we are naturally satisfied and protected from the Kali-yuga problems.

So if people become Kṛṣṇa conscious they can naturally deal with all the material problems.

That is the difference between karma and bhakti.

Karma-people are suffering the results of their karma and if they do the same activities for Kṛṣṇa, then they are in bliss.

Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, his father was a demon, but he was transcendental.

So then like that if you teach people bhakti-yoga, they can deal with the problems of Kali-yuga.

Any other question?

Question: In the very beginning of your class you said we can concoct something or sing songs with Kṛṣṇa’s name, please kindly bless us because we already have several songs and we sing them in our band – Nāmāmṛta.

We sing these songs for new people.

Please bless us.

Jayapatākā Swami: Blessings! Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

Lord Caitanya is in Śvetadvīpa!

And in Goloka Vṛndāvana.

Also, Kṣīrodakasāyī Viṣṇu, His abode is called Śvetadvīpa!

You have a spiritual name!

Wow! All glories to Mandākinī devī dāsī mātājī!

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda at the advanced age of 70, he went to the West by a cargo/ocean ship.

He did so much to give us Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

I feel I have been doing very little to repay him.

But if anybody is enthused to serve Lord Caitanya and the Pañca-tattva, I am very happy!

I am very pleased with Caitanya Candra Caraṇa dāsa and his disciples, his good wife and all my grand disciples!

Please try to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Spacebo, thank you very much!

Just before I came here, I got a message that the brother of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīrāma Paṇḍita, his deity has come to us!

They are Rādhā Dāmodara, very beautiful Deities and They were seen by Lord Caitanya.

Somehow Those Deities came to us! In Gaura-maṇḍala Bhūmi we are trying to save all the holy places.

That is what Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Śrīla Gurumahārāja kī jaya! Haribol!