20220805 ISKCON Pravartaka Evening Address

The following is an Iskcon Prabartaka address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 05th, 2022 in Bangladesh.

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 Śrī Śrī Doyāla Gaurāṅga Nitāi Rāya kī jaya! Jaya Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā Mahārāṇī kī jaya! Jaya Rādhā Kuñjabihārī Lalitā Viśākhā ki jaya! Have you all got darśana?

The Lord has a special name, form and pastime. And many don’t know that the Lord has a form. But we know that Bhagavān is formless, antaryāmī i.e. Paramātmā and He has a personal form as Bhagavān. We can come close to the Lord and pray. Whatever you do, the Lord will be witness. In the future, that will be written that you had come and offered something, all this is recorded. We are not qualified to see the divine form of the Lord. That is why He comes in the arcā-vigraha form, so that we can see and do service. If you bring a mango or bring rice, that the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam – you can bring and offer anything like these to the Lord and He will accept. Because of your devotion the Lord has come to this temple, and you have the opportunity to do devotional service to Him. Many people are donating for the construction of this temple and now it is ready, and now you can all do devotional service. As human beings, we have the opportunity to serve the Lord.

Now, there are nine processes of devotional service – there are śravaṇam kīrtanam, the first two – you can hear and do kīrtana. You can do service, remember Him, do arcana, worship, pray to the Lord, this way, like friendship, servitorship and ātma-nivedanam, these are the nine practices of devotional service. We can do in the home but here in the temple we have a special facility. Here you prayed to the Lord to come to this temple, and He has, and now you can all do devotional service. This way you can do Kṛṣṇa-nāma and kīrtana:

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

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Lord Caitanya came from Goloka dhāma to liberate the conditioned souls and taken them back to Godhead. He came in Bangladesh and performed His pastimes and given His associates instructions. I heard that there are 36 śrīpāṭs in Bangladesh. We are trying to get these śrīpāṭs and protect them and we have one such śrīpāṭ – Puṇḍarīka dhāma the birthplace of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. In the shelter of Chittagong. Lord Caitanya performed many pastimes. Vāsudeva Datta, Mukunda Datta many of His associates had come here. This way all of you get the mercy of Lord Caitanya, I hope! Now, many people think that in this human form of life if our senses are happy, then that is the perfection of life. But scriptures say – hari-toṣaṇam is the actual goal. saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (ŚB 1.2.13). We can achieve all perfection if we make Hari happy! This way, we try to serve the Lord, chant His name and do kīrtana to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. We got the opportunity to see so many devotees. I heard that you are all doing many cultural programs. And many are buying the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I am very grateful for that. I hope that there will be a temple in every home. I heard that in Vṛndāvana there are 5,000 temples. House to house there is a temple. I hope that after visiting the temple and getting enthusiastic and will create a temple in each of your homes. I convey my best wishes to all and my blessings: Kṛṣṇe matir astu!