20220825 Arrival Address to Guntur Congregation

The following is an address to the Gunturu Devotees by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 25th, 2022 in Gunturu, 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 came here to Guntur for the opening of the temple. But I have been visiting Guntur through YouTube regularly. But on YouTube we cannot see all these devotees! I am very glad to see all the devotees. Bāgunnāra? So, we are very glad to see that the Guntur devotees are actively serving the Deities. And that you are expanding the preaching of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that Lord Caitanya’s vision that every town and village be Kṛṣṇa conscious be fulfilled. Śrīla Prabhupāda went around the world 14 times to preach the message of Lord Kṛṣṇa. He personally established 108 temples all over the world. When he was in Los Angeles the Rukmiṇī-Dvārakānātha Deities spoke to him. They told him that he should also preach in India. So now we have over four or five hundred temples around in India. And more or less one thousand temples around the world. Thousands of Nāmahaṭṭas and Bhakti-vṛkṣas. This is all by the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda and Lord Caitanya.

Now that Andhra Pradesh has been divided into two – the new temple is here in the new capital. We heard that in Koṇḍavīḍu there is a new temple project coming up. We hope that Satya Gopīnātha Prabhu will see that this project is completed. And we hope that everyone will cooperate with him and help him. We are glad that Rāma Murāri Prabhu is preaching. We hope that everyone will work and cooperate together. With the team of devotees here like Veṇudhārī Prabhu and others I am sure that you will all coordinate together. I am glad that Revatī Ramaṇa Prabhu the GBC here, he is recommending Puṇḍarīkakṣa Govinda dāsa Prabhu to be the Regional Secretary Assistant here.

So like that, I came to South India in 1978 and then there were just a couple of ISKCON temples. Śrīla Prabhupāda had established temples in Hyderabad, ABIDS and Medchal. At that time there was a three-year drought in Andhra Pradesh. So in Tirumala, they organized a fire yajña to bring in the rains. 108 kuṇḍas. But the brāhmaṇas were not able to chant the mantras appropriately. So all they produced was a lot of smoke! Śrīla Prabhupāda, he went to Hyderabad and organized a Harināma saṅkīrtana-yajña. And then it rained for several days! Now it is Kali-yuga, the recommended sacrifice is nāma-saṅkīrtana. How many here are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? Very nice! So many are chanting! This is the secret to success. Kṛṣṇa and His name are non-different. If we want to associate with Kṛṣṇa, chant His holy names. Here in Andhra Pradesh we see that Kṛṣṇa and His expansions like Śrīnivāsa, Govinda and Narasiṁhadeva are prominently worshiped. So, I am very happy visiting this temple and I am planning to take lunch prasāda here! Do you have any questions? I can take a couple of questions.

Question: We are doing business, while doing business we are not doing other devotional practices other than chanting which we are able to do. Which is the important aspect of nava-vidha-bhakti to practice as a businessman?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see in nava-vidha-bhakti the first two are śravaṇam and kīrtanam – hearing and chanting. You can chant the holy names you and listen. The other sevā is pāda-sevanam. If you can give some of the fruits of your work to serve the Lord. This way, you remember the Lord – smaraṇam. When you worship the Deities, that is arcanam. When you pay obeisances, that is vandanam. So, Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he did all the nine practices of devotion that is ātma-nivedanam.

Question: Chanting and hearing, I am very interested. But not able to offer prasāda to the Lord and is that also important?

Jayapatākā Swami: I saw a skit in Chennai which the youths were performing. Two children were playing the part of Yamadūtas. One girl was playing the part of Yamarāja, she painted a mustache. The Yamadūtas are responsible to arrest sinful people and take them to hell and torture them. They complained to Yamarāja! These ISKCON devotees are preaching, and householders are taking kṛṣṇa-prasāda in their homes. They chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. They worship Deities in their house. They come to the temple and worship Deities in the temple. They read Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam! We cannot touch them! If everyone becomes like this, we will be out of job! If you want to keep Yamadūtas busy, don’t take kṛṣṇa-prasāda! Don’t chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! Don’t read Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Don’t come to the temple. The Yamadūtas will be very happy! But if you want to give the Yamadūtas a vacation, do all these things! Haribol! So who wants to give the Yamadūtas a vacation?

Haribol!