20220807 Initiation Address Day 2

The following is an initiation address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 7th, 2022 in Puṇḍarīka Dhāma, 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: I was to have come two hours ago but there were so many devotees coming to see me. Devotees kept saying one second, one second and that way it was two hours late!

In our life how many minutes how many seconds we have, we don’t know.

Parīkṣit Mahārāja knew he had seven days.

And that in those seven days he heard day and night Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam now His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami Mahārāja is distributing it to you!

Haribol!

Lord Caitanya said gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko!

All of you should chant Kṛṣṇa’s name and do kīrtana.

Golokera prema-dhana harināma saṅkīrtana! Haribol!

So from Goloka Lord Caitanya came down to distribute this prema-dhana to all.

Lord Caitanya came after Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself and He has the form and color of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī.

That is why when Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi came to this dhāma He used to call him bāpa bāpa!

(Father! Father!) Puṇḍarīka!

You are taking initiation, shelter in Puṇḍarīka dhāma which is a very sacred place.

Here Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi had his pastimes and you can all pay obeisances here. 

We do many good and bad karmas.

That is why Lord Caitanya said to follow the four regulative principles.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the first canto, Parīkṣit Mahārāja gave place for Kali in four places.

Then Kali said I surrender to you.

He was a kṣatriya, and so he could not do any killing now.

Kali asked Parīkṣit Mahārāja where will I stay?

Parīkṣit Mahārāja said you can stay in the place of prostitution, gambling place, slaughterhouse, where drinking is you will be there.

Then Kali said that these four places are not allowed by you.

Where will I stay?

Now 513 years after Parīkṣit Mahārāja, Kali is everywhere.

Because you are taking initiation you are promising to keep away from these four places, and those who are taking shelter, they are seeing if they can follow this or not.

If they are able to then after 6-months they can take initiation.

In the first canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it says that Bhagavān has three forms – one is Brahman, one is antaryāmī i.e. Paramātmā and one is Bhagavān.

Devotees ask how does the Lord look like?

Not many can answer.

Some say He is light.

They don’t know that the Lord is present in Viṣṇu form and Paramātmā form and He sees everything, whatever we think, we do.

We follow the four regulative principles and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and assist the spiritual master in following his various instructions.

And every day we will chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa names and do kīrtana.

That way, we can attract the Lord.

I hope that all of you will follow some form of the nine processes of devotional service.

And all will do śravaṇa and kīrtana – hearing and chanting.

And remember and think of the Lord. 

Service to the Lord should be done all the time.

And chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and do pada sevanam of the Lord.

This ceremony that is going on, thousands and thousands of people are coming and so many services are being rendered, this is a kind of pāda-sevanam.

And vandanam is we pray and offer obeisances to guru and Lord Kṛṣṇa.

And arcanam is doing worship to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Doing ārati to Vāraṣabhānavī Murāri and other Deities is arcanam.

The association with the Lord we have this way is the eight forms of devotional service.

The ninth one is ātma-nivedanam.

All we have is offered to the Lord.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wrote – mānasa deho geha… This is surrender, everything offered to the Lord.

You can do any one of the nine processes, even then it will work.

If you can do all nine that is even better!

I desire that the ladies whatever they cook at home they should offer as bhoga to the Lord and then eat.

And then do devotional service at home and read and study Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

And eat kṛṣṇa-prasāda.

This way, when friends come they will see they Kṛṣṇa conscious activities and will also not be able to do anything else. 

Those who are getting initiated today should not think I am getting initiation today, so all is done, no need to chant etc. now.

The rules of initiation are to be followed properly and keep your promises you made.

If that is not done then māyā will attack.

You should try to make everything focused with Kṛṣṇa in the center at home.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that the women in our movement are not ordinary women, they are Vaiṣṇavīs.

That association with them is devotional.

If the lady is a Vaiṣṇavī and if someone misbehaves with her, that is an offence.

We hope that those who are husband and wife, they will behave nicely with one another.

This way everyone will make an effort to see that all the people become Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Lord Caitanya said, yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa (Cc. Madhya 7.128).

Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by the lotus mouth of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the literary incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa and about His pastimes.

Both are about Lord Kṛṣṇa.

One is Kṛṣṇa’s name and one is about Kṛṣṇa.

And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, and perfect your lives! 

Today, I wanted to introduce a family, but they went to Sylhet.

The lady is a MBBS doctor, and she preaches in different universities.

This way she has made 20-25 devotees.

I hope that the ladies like this preach to the youth and others, Lord Caitanya will be very happy.

Lord Caitanya said bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra, janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra (Cc. Ādi 9.41).

When this was said, Bangladesh was part of Bhārata-varṣa.

I hope that all of you will take Lord Caitanya’s mercy, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi’s blessings and do devotional service.

Haribol!