20220707 Evening Address

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

Jayapatākā Swami: …serving the Lord. Haribol! How do you like this opportunity? This way, Lord Caitanya went to Jagannātha Purī. And there He used to do Harināma. He would take darśana of Lord Jagannātha and then He contributed to the Ratha-yātrā. Now we are observing the Ratha-yātrā. Lord Jagannātha is the moving Jagannātha and Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā are the stationary Jagannātha. This way Lord Caitanya’s devotees used to come from Bengal to Odisha and participate in the Ratha-yātrā. There were seven groups. In front, at the back, on the sides of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā. Every group thought that Lord Caitanya was with them. At that time, there was no media or television, and one group could not see the other group. But Pratāparudra Mahārāja, Gajapati Mahārāja could see from the top, the seven groups. And in every group, Lord Caitanya was there at the same time! Seeing this he was amazed! And Rāmānanda Rāya told the Mahārāja that your seeing this is your very good fortune! Actually, Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa. In Kali-yuga Bhagavān comes in a hidden form. He wanted to experience the immense bliss that devotees felt for Him. Then He took the heart, Her color and Her mood and came as a devotee. The Pañca-tattva also came and in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11^th canto there is a prediction that Kṛṣṇa will come in the Kali-yuga.

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

Kṛṣṇa, but He will be in a non-Kṛṣṇa color. He will come with His effulgence and His intimate associates. He will establish the saṅkīrtana-yajña. And those who are intelligent people will go with Him. I think that you are all intelligent! This way you will follow Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana-yajña.

When Lord Caitanya was in Navadvīpa, He was very famous as Nimāi Paṇḍita. Then He started the saṅkīrtana-yajña. The Chand Kazi was obstructing the saṅkīrtana that this way saṅkīrtana cannot go on and broke their mṛdaṅgas. But Lord Caitanya said this is our right to do kīrtana and sing the name of Kṛṣṇa and no one can stop us. He was the first person in India to start a civil disobedience movement. There were four kīrtana parties and they went to different parts of Navadvīpa. One party was headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. Another by Haridasa Ṭhākura. And another Advaita Ācārya. And the fourth party Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda and Gadādhara Paṇḍita were there. When Lord Caitanya would do kīrtana of Kṛṣṇa’s names, everyone would be experiencing kṛṣṇa-prema. And this way the holy name of Kṛṣṇa was heard all over the universe. And all the demigods came down to participate in the kīrtana. When they saw that the Lord was dancing in kīrtana, they fell unconscious. Then, after they regained consciousness, they took the form of humans and joined the kīrtana. Those who were atheists also heard and saw the kīrtana. But when they saw Lord Caitanya singing and dancing, they started dancing and rolling on the floor. Haribol! Haribol! In this kīrtana lakhs of people came. The Chand Kazi heard this and said is there a Hindu or wedding or something? He sent his army. Then they saw that lakhs of people were chanting and got scared. They took off their turbans and started dancing and chanting with the kīrtana. When Lord Caitanya went to the Chand Kazi then the Chand Kazi said that, “You are my relative, your grandfather Nīlāmbara Cakravartī referred to him as uncle, so You are my nephew. How could a nephew be angry with his maternal uncle?” Then Lord Caitanya said, “When I am your nephew, then why are you stopping our kīrtana?” This way Chand Kazi welcomed him and talked to Him very nicely. There was a lot of conversation. At the end, the Chand Kazi said, “I saw a dream yesterday night. There was a half man half lion who came and said, “You obstructed my kīrtana I will kill you. This way I let you go for now but don’t repeat this act.”” Then with his nails He scarred by heart and the Chand Kazi opened his garment and showed the nail marks! Then he said, “I will let you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and none of my descendants will obstruct you ever.”

Lord Caitanya did lot of austerity and took lot of pains for you. But now so that there is no obstruction in His saṅkīrtana movement, if all of you can cooperate and chant and spread the holy name then He will be satisfied. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! Then after staying in Jagannātha Purī He toured South India – Vṛndāvana, Gujarat, Benaras, North India, etc. But He did one thing there that He did not do in Bengal. He would embrace everyone on the road and give them kṛṣṇa-prema. Who would like to be embraced by Lord Caitanya? This way, in keeping with the mood of Lord Caitanya you will all chant the names of Kṛṣṇa and there will be auspiciousness all over the universe. Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the West and opened 108 temples all over the world. Now there are over 800 temples. There are thousands of Nāmahaṭṭas and Bhakti-vṛkṣas. Lord Caitanya said pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma. This is gradually happening. Śrīla Prabhupāda he preached in the West but when he was in Los Angeles, the Deities of Rukmiṇī Dvārakānātha told him to go to India and preach there. Thereafter preaching is going on now. He sent me here 51 years ago. Now there are a lot of Indian disciples now of mine. You chant the names of Kṛṣṇa and try to spread this movement to every village and town.

We are not body we are eternal souls. Actually, the spirit soul is satisfied if we chant and worship the name of Kṛṣṇa. In America they say ‘in pursuit of happiness’, everyone wants to be happy in this material world but don’t know how. But the senses are never satisfied. When they have 5,000 they have, then they want 10,000. When then have 10,000 they want 50,000. Then one lakh. We see that having crores of rupees, still they commit suicide because of mental problems. You have material comforts in this world, that is okay but please connect and stay with Kṛṣṇa. And if you focus Kṛṣṇa as the center of your life then you will be happy even with all the problems in your life. And how you can practice bhakti-yoga, Gaurāṅga Prema Mahārāja will explain to you. I end my talk here. Wish you all the best.