20220706 ISKCON Durgapur Address

The following is a Ratha Yātrā Pandal address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 06th,2022 in Durgapur, West Bengal, 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!

Haribol!

Jayapatākā Swami: Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana cakra, Nitāi-Gaura, Śrīla Prabhupāda look very beautiful.

I am surprised that they are so beautifully dressed.

Now the Ratha-yātrā in ISKCON Kolkata, it started and is going on in various K 51 years is going on Ratha-yātrā.

I said that, I will stay there for the first five days and then come to Durgapur.

I have come here and see that many devotees are there, and they are very enthusiastic.

I know that many people here speak Hindi.

Will speak a little Hindi.

But more practiced to speak Bengali.

But I know some Hindi.

Anyway, our dharma is to follow the orders of the guru.

Gurudeva is the representative of Kṛṣṇa.

My gurudeva, His Divine Grace Abhayacaraṇāravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the Founder-Ācārya of ISKCON.

I took initiation in Montreal, Canada in 1968.

Then the second initiation in New York city.

Then I was sent over to India.

And my sannyāsa was given in Kolkata.

Then I was 21 years old.

Now I am 73 years old! My gurudeva ordered me that you should stay in India ad you become an Indian citizen.

I got 1978 Indian citizenship.

But the actual thing is to follow the instructions of gurudeva.

Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, the guru of Śrīla Prabhupāda gave him the order that you are educated so go to the West and preach in the English language. [paragraph]

My gurudeva was born in 1856 and in 1922 he met his gurudeva for the first time. Then he was a student.

The first time Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura met Śrīla Prabhupāda, he said go to the West and preach in English language.

That time my gurudeva was involved in Gandhiji’s movement.

He said, we are a downtrodden country who will listen to us.

Then Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura said something that Śrīla Prabhupāda was defeated.

From then he decided in his heart this is my guru.

Any way, Śrīla Prabhupāda at the age of 70, he arrived in America.

And in the beginning he faced many difficulties.

Ordinary people have the habit of eating meat, intoxication etc.

but Śrīla Prabhupāda went to preach bhakti-yoga, he said that you should eat vegetarian food and expressed the four regulative principles.

This way, the students were searching how to be happy? What is the way?

But all over the world, everyone wants to be happy?

But how to be happy, no one knows.

Many people commit suicide… But having distress if one commits suicide.

If they were happy, they will not commit suicide.

We think we are the body, but we cannot be happy with the body.

One person got Rs. 4,000 but he could not manage. Then he prayed to God, “Please give me Rs. 10,000.” When he got 10 thousand even then he was not happy. He again went to God and said, “Give me 50,000!” But even then his wants did not. Then 1 lac, 10 lac, no end to wants.

But he was not satisfied.

Because through these material things one cannot be happy.

We are soul and we have a body.

We are a part of the Lord.

If we have a relationship with God then we are happy.

The body requirements are very… 

In Kolkata I asked here who have smiling faces?

Who have?

In the temple, Jagannātha-deva!

Non one has smiling face like Them.

He is inviting us why are you in the material world rotting… come with Me I will take you back to my eternal world.

In India, earlier our ancestors were mostly happy.

Because they were religious.

The husband wife, children were in religion and were happy.

But in Europe, America, etc. there is lot of money, but no one is satisfied.

50% divorce happens.

Here it has started but that I because we are aping the Western culture.

But Lord Caitanya said that if we chant the name of the Lord then we get purified and heart clean and kṛṣṇa-prema will awaken.

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

Śrīla Prabhupāda, he went around 14 times the globe.

And established 108 temples.

His gurudeva told him to preach in the West.

But in Los Angeles when he was there, the Deities of Rukmiṇī Dvārakānātha told him that you should preach in India.

In the beginning there were many devotees in the West but then after he started preaching in India.

First, he said that in Vṛndāvana and Māyāpur should have temples and devotees from the West will come and see the pastime places of the Lord.

When Śrīla Prabhupāda was in India and preached, now in India we have about 400 temples.

This was thousands of Nāmahaṭṭas, Bhakti-vṛkṣa are there.

And now there are 800 to 1,000 temples of ISKCON all over the world. 

I am not able to go to all the temples.

Now there are so many Ratha-yātrā in India.

In Bangladesh there are 80 or 100 I don’t know so many Ratha-yātrā there.

I heard that in Kathum there was Ratha-yātrā and the president swept the floor in front of the cart.

In Bengaluru Ratha-yātrā, the vice president of India had come.

In the temple he said that the Rāja of Purī would sweep the floor in front of the cart.

We request the vice-president to sweep the ratha.

He said, “No, I will not! I am democratic we don’t follow any king.” Then I took the… “We are democratic!

For the people, by the people, and government.

The people are the kings, cp is a representative and if the people want he will sweep the floor.

Then he did sweep.

Actually, we get happiness by serving the Lord.

The ratha, pandal all are made so nicely, because they are happy.

If you serve the Lord, you are happy.

You will be happy if you serve the Lord. 

In Chennai, there are about 200 Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups.

There some children did a drama.

Two were Yamadūtas.

They were tell Yamarāja.

One guru played the apart of Yamarāja and stock a mustache.

The Yamadūtas, they complained that our… but ISKCON devotees they are chanting the name of God and preaching, they have devotees in their home, they offer their food to God and eat.

They read Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

We will not be able to take them, we will become jobless.

If this is the situation, then we have to find another job. 

We hope that you will give the Yamadūtas a holiday.

Chant the name of God, do service of God, read the scriptures, this way the Yamadūtas will not come to your home.

If you want to give the Yamadūtas a job then you should not read the Bhagavad-gītā, this way the you will be happy.

I feel that here all are devotees and that no one will go with the Yamadūtas.

Rūpa Gosvāmī said that the two syllables Kṛṣṇa give so much happiness, that I wish we had a crore of mouths.

Hearing the name of the Lord is so happy that I wish I had crores of ears.

I hope that you will all chant Kṛṣṇa’s name.