20220628 Evening Darśana

The following is an evening darshan given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 28th, 2022 at South Vṛndāvana, India.

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: It is very nice to hear how everyone is doing sevā. The more we can do sevā to Kṛṣṇa, more that we keep Kṛṣṇa in the center, we remain on the transcendental platform. We do what is called, yukta-vairāgya. That means whatever you normally do, you do that for Kṛṣṇa. You cook what you cook, but for Kṛṣṇa. Of course, He only takes sattvic food. And you want to do all the things keeping Kṛṣṇa in the center. I am very glad that you are all doing sevā. Cooking sevā in Balarāma Yātrā is called Rādhā-sevā. Because Rādhārāṇī cooks for Kṛṣṇa every day, and whatever Rādhārāṇī cooks is nectar. Rādhārāṇī got the blessings from Durvāsā Muni that whatever She cooked will be nectar. So Yaśodā said, my son Kṛṣṇa, He has to have nectar. In that way Rādhārāṇī cooked for Kṛṣṇa every day. We heard that many ladies, they are doing this Rādhā-sevā – flower garlands, festivals, many services So everyone should be very enthusiastic to take up some service. In Vaikuṇṭha the Lakṣmīs sweep the dust on the stones. There is not so much dust in Vaikuṇṭha! They do this just to show Kṛṣṇa that I want to serve You. Who wants to serve Kṛṣṇa? That is what is special about this community. I don’t know how often devotees do their particular services.

Today, is the appearance of Gadādhara Prabhu. In Māyāpur they do a special abhiṣeka for Gadādhara Prabhu and today is the disappearance day of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. So, we have a special joint meeting with all the Gauḍīya Maṭhas today. So, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Gadādhara Prabhu, today is a special day. Gadādhara Prabhu is actually Rādhārāṇī. She came in a male form to be able to associate with Kṛṣṇa as Caitanya Mahāprabhu. She was requesting that some time She will come as a male because as a female She was restricted from associating with Kṛṣṇa.

So, then She came as Gadādhara Prabhu.

And Lord Kṛṣṇa combined with Rādhārāṇī to come as Lord Caitanya.

So He took the mood and color of Rādhārāṇī.

Some people say how Lord Caitanya had stolen from Gadādhara Prabhu.

And some people worship Gaura Nitāi for preaching and for confidential seva some worship Gadādhara and Lord Caitanya.

It is kind of interesting that Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he worshiped Gaura Gadādhara.

And the day he disappeared, Gadādhara Prabhu appeared.

So Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura came to reestablish Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana movement.

So he had Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura as his son.

You see, they had prayed to Lord Jagannātha, to the Deities to give them a ray of Viṣṇu.

Not only him his wife also.

And then there was a Ratha-yātrā, and Lord Jagannātha stopped in front of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s house.

And his wife took the baby and placed at the feet of Lord Jagannātha.

And Lord Jagannātha dropped a garland which fell over Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.

So, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was the first administrator of the Jagannātha Purī temple.

He was born in a place called Bir Nagar in West Bengal.

I went there with Śrīla Prabhupāda and he wanted to do something for his birthplace.

We are still working on that.

And Gadādhara took an oath that he would stay in Śrī Kṣetra.

But when Lord Caitanya went to Vṛndāvana, then Gadādhara Paṇḍita followed Him.

When Lord Caitanya stepped out of Śrī Kṣetra, Gadādhara Paṇḍita followed Him.

Then Lord Caitanya turned around and said, “Alright, you have shown your love for Me. You have broken your vow, now go back and stay in Śrī Kṣetra.”

And then Gadādhara Paṇḍita fainted.

These pastimes are very difficult to understand.

When Nārada Muni asked Kṛṣṇa, “Who is Your greatest devotee?”

Then Lord Kṛṣṇa said, “Oh, you tell the devotees, I have a headache.

And then ask them what is the cure? you tell them that He needs the dust from the devotee’s feet.” 

So, Nārada Muni went to different people.

He went to one yogī meditating, and he asked, “What is my Lord, Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa doing?”

Nārada Muni said, “He has a headache, He needs the foot dust of a devotee.”

“How Nārāyaṇa can have headache?” he said.

“If we give our foot dust we will go to hell.

I don’t think you went to see Nārāyaṇa, He doesn’t have headache.” Like that he went to different people.

He went to His wives.

Same thing they asked, “What is Kṛṣṇa doing?”

“He has a headache!”

“Oh what can help Him?”

He said, “He needs the dust from the feet of a devotee.”

They said, “I am His wife how can I put the dust of my feet on His head? I will go to hell.”

So he went back to Kṛṣṇa and Nārada Muni said, “Nobody will give their foot dust to You.” [paragraph]

He said, “You ask Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs, you will see.” So Nārada Muni went to Vṛndāvana.

And the gopīs said, Rādhārāṇī said, “What is Kṛṣṇa doing? What is the news?”

“He has a headache!”

“Oh no! That is horrible!” they said.

“What can we do?”

“He needs the dust from His devotee’s lotus feet.”

“Take our dust, take it take it! How much do you want?”

“But you will go to hell.”

“Let us go to hell, but let Kṛṣṇa’s headache be cured.” That is the Vṛndāvana mood!

So South Vṛndāvana, we want them to have the Vṛndāvana mood to do anything to please Kṛṣṇa!

You have Rādhā Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa and Nitāi-Gaura, so by praying to Nitāi-Gaura, you get love for Rādhā Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa.

I asked Hosur devotees what they wanted to call their Jagannātha Deities.

In Dvārakā, Jagannātha is called Nīlācala-candra.

In Vṛndāvana, He is called Sundarācala-candra.

So His Ratha-yātrā means He goes to Vṛndāvana.

In Jagannātha Purī, they sing: 

nīlācala-candra amār prabhu jagannātha,
jaya jagannātha jaya Jagannātha

sundarācala-candra amār prabhu jagannātha
jaya jagannātha, jaya jagannātha

In Hosur, they said they wanted to call their Jagannātha, Sundarācala Jagannātha.

They want their Jagannātha to be in Vṛndāvana.

So here you have Jagannātha staying in South Vṛndāvana.

So, it seems you also want Sundarācala-candra Jagannātha!

So I am very happy that devotees, they practice their Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the gulf and they are coming back to continue in South Vṛndāvana.

Haribol! We want that mood to always serve Lord Kṛṣṇa.

We want to serve Rādhā and Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa.

And this way we can gradually experience ruci, āsakti, bhāva, prema.

And material happiness is considered insignificant. Tuccham!

But Kṛṣṇa is very kind.

He lets you live comfortably in human life.

But then, the real purpose of human life is to have love for Kṛṣṇa. 

Actually Lord Jesus, He said, the first commandment is to love God.

But how to do that, that is not handed down.

I met one Christian Brother, he said he doesn’t believe in God.

But he likes the second commandment, treat others like you would treat yourself.

And have that love for Kṛṣṇa.

In this way, our love gradually increases more and more.

Others, if they practice bhakti-yoga, they also awaken their dormant love.

So the easiest way is by chanting and hearing the holy name.

We have a nun, a Christian nun who chanted Jeju Kṛṣṇa Jeju Kṛṣṇa.

And then she thought it is almost the same, “Why don’t I try, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa?” No one was watching, she was secretly doing it.

And she said, she felt more energy, more bliss.

But this is the spiritual ecstasy but more!

And now she chants 16 rounds, follows the four regulative principles and took initiation from me. 

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that this is a non-sectarian movement, this is sanātana-dharma.

Lord Caitanya in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, He preached to the mullahs on the Koran.

He said, Allah is a person.

But most Mohammadans think that Allah is impersonal.

I have one paṇḍita from Azerbaijan, he was a PhD, he researched the Koran, how many verses in Koran say Allah is personal and how many say He is impersonal.

And he said there is one verse that says that Allah is like a light.

And there are uncountable verses that say Allah is merciful, kind.

You don’t say a light is kind?

You don’t say light is merciful?

So Lord Caitanya converted these mullahs to Vaiṣṇavas.

Anyway, at least we can encourage the Hindus to chant!

But it is possible that other religions can also chant.

In Malaysia, the Christians translated the Bible into Malaysian language, and they translated the word God as Allah.

There was a big protest by the Muslims.

They said, “How can you call God as Allah? He belongs to the Muslim religion.”

Then in the Parliament they said, “Look at the Hindus, they have a thousand names of Viṣṇu, and so many names of God, we should adopt their thing.” 

Anyway, here in South Vṛndāvana, we are very close to Guruvāyūrappan.

Lord Caitanya, when He heard about Vṛndāvana, His ecstasy would increase a hundred times.

When He went to Mathurā, His ecstasy increased a thousand times!

But when He was actually in the forests of Vṛndāvana, His ecstasy increased ten thousand times or more.

So we hope that all your ecstasy in South Vṛndāvana increases multifold!

Lord Caitanya’s secretary, Bhaṭṭācārya, he requested Lord Caitanya, “You are so ecstatic, I cannot control You, any time you jump into the Yamunā, maybe you should leave Vṛndāvana because it is too much for me.” In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is a verse which says that just by seeing Lord Caitanya all the ladies, children, old people, all get ecstasy of love for Kṛṣṇa.

So we hope that here in South Vṛndāvana, you will all be fully ecstatic!

So I don’t know if you will have me back again!

Of course, in Bengaluru, they said, “This is your home away from home!” They said that in London, Bhaktivedanta Manor.

They said that in Atlanta in the USA. 

[And Narahari Caitanya dāsa who is connected with South Vṛndāvana, he said that he is going to meet hundred disciples in Detroit.] [paragraph]

But I am thinking that I should spend some time here! But I said I want some Malayalam cooking!

I did not have aviyal as I was promised!

(They said they made aviyal but Guru Mahārāja did not get) Did you eat it all?

I also like some black pepper ācāra, pickle, so I can take with me.

I will always remember South Vṛndāvana kī jaya!

Any way are there any questions?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see Jagannātha Purī He has the mood of Dvārakā.

He is a kṣatriya mood.

But when He goes to Vṛndāvana He is in the cowherd boy mood.

So Māyāpur is non-different from Vṛndāvana.

So for Lord Jagannātha in Māyāpur the priest said you can do Snāna-yātrā but not Ratha-yātrā.

Because He is already in Vṛndāvana!

But our devotees, they like to do Ratha-yātrā so much, they take another Jagannātha.

So, that Deity comes and stays in the Rādhā Mādhava temple for nine days.

And then on the ninth day there is a return Ratha-yātrā.

So they have another Deity for that.

Because Jagannātha in Rājāpur, He is in the mood of being in Vṛndāvana.

So maybe here you would like to take Him around in your community.

And He can bless all the devotees.

Also, the Ratha-yātrā is a good preaching effort, it is an outreach.