20220823 ISKCON Rampally Address

The following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 23rd, 2022 in Rampally, Hyderabad, India.

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 am very happy to be visiting IKSCON Rampally. I heard a lot of good things, you are a very enthusiastic community. I am on my way to Vijayawada and I have made this detour just to see you! I don’t think it is appropriate to say that seeing me is like seeing Śrīla Prabhupāda. I am like an insect compared to Śrīla Prabhupāda. I am very fortunate to be serving Śrīla Prabhupāda. I maybe the senior most sannyāsī in ISKCON. But I cannot say I am the foremost disciple! The GBC has made me the Minister for Congregational Development. So it seems like here there are congregational devotees. I am very honored to be here. Today is the special Annadā Ekādaśī. I came out to Medchal farm and was told that somewhere here is Rampally. But it was kept a secret from me! But Mādhava Gopīnatha Prabhu invited me to come to Rampally this morning. Last night also! So, we hope that you all keep Kṛṣṇa in the center of your lives. By practicing bhakti-yoga, Lord Caitanya said, gṛhasthas or vairāgīs they all can go back home back to Godhead.

In fact, I saw a drama, a skit in Chennai. Three children were playing the skit. Two were playing the Yamadūtas – who are Yamadūtas? They are like policemen for Yamarāja, they take the sinful people to hell. One girl was playing Yamarāja and had painted a mustache on. The Yamadūtas said they went to arrest some gṛhastha but we found they were chanting the holy names, Hare Kṛṣṇa! They had Deities in their house and they were taking kṛṣṇa-prasāda. They were going to the temple. They do the sevā and they had Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in their house. We cannot touch them! If everyone does like this, we will be out of our job! So which one of you like the Yamadūtas to be out of job? Anyway, I am very glad to hear that you chanting and practicing your duties. I don’t know how many rounds you chant. 16 rounds is one crore names of Hare Kṛṣṇa in a year. Who all chant 16 rounds? Very nice! 8 rounds is 5 million names a year. Who all chant 8 rounds or more? Like that 4 rounds is 25 lakhs a year, who chants 4 rounds or more? Any questions?

Question: By chanting on japa-mālā what one would gain and what is the ultimate gain of chanting?

Jayapatākā Swami: In the Vedas it is said that in every yuga there is a particular sacrifice.

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ
tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ
dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ
kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt
(ŚB 12.3.52)

In Satya-yuga it was meditation. In Tretā-yuga it was homa, yajña, in Dvāpara-yuga it was temple worship, when Kṛṣṇa Himself came. In Kali-yuga the process is chanting the holy names. Because Kali-yuga is considered to be the most degraded of all the ages. But chanting the holy names is most powerful. Kṛṣṇa and His holy name are non-different. If we chant the holy name then we associate with Kṛṣṇa and we get purified.

Today is a special Ekādaśī. If you chant today, you will get 100 times more benefit. But there are so many glories of the holy name. Ajāmila, he was born in a brāhmaṇa family and he did all pious things in his previous life. He was married to a pious lady. But he got deviated and he lived with a prostitute. He was thrown out from his house. So he was doing all sinful things. He had ten children from that prostitute. His youngest child, he called him Nārāyaṇa. He was very attached to his youngest boy. And he would call him all the time – come Nārāyaṇa, come with me. Come Nārāyaṇa, take your lunch. He did not realize that he was just calling the name of his son, but just by calling the name of his son, he got purified. When he was dying, he called out loudly, Nārāyaṇa! He remembered the original Nārāyaṇa. The Yamadūtas came to take him to hell. But the Viṣṇudūtas they came and said, he belongs to us, he chanted the name of Nārāyaṇa. So this is a good example that how the parents they should name their children with some holy names like Mādhava, Govinda, Hari. But many people in India name their daughter Pinky! Anyway, thereby Ajāmila was saved even though he accidentally, inattentively he chanted the name of Nārāyaṇa. The seventh offence to the holy name is that when one thinks he will do some sin and if he chants he will get free. If you plan like that. We should not make that offence. I have to leave now because I have a long journey. Please forgive me. Hare Kṛṣṇa!