20220826 ISKCON Rajahmundry Evening Address

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

Jayapatākā Swami: The reception was exceptional! It is hard to say, which is better, Bangladesh or here! Because the Hindus in Bangladesh are very hungry for association. But here we saw spontaneous devotion. The thing is that Lord Caitanya said that being born in India is very special. One can achieve pure devotion for the Lord very easily. In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad it is mentioned cetanaś cetanānām. Of all living entities, there is the Supreme living entity. We are all alive, living people. And Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme living person. Whether He is Kṛṣṇa, Jagannātha, Bālājī or Nitāi-Gaura. All the people are eternal, nityo nityānāṁ. But the body is temporary. The body will die. But the soul never dies. So, among all the eternals, there is one Supreme eternal. That is Bhagavān. Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad says, eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. One person, He feeds everyone else. From the ants to elephants, everyone gets food. But the human beings mess it up. Anyway, the more you can remember Kṛṣṇa, the more you can be Kṛṣṇa conscious, the more you will get perfection.

Do you know why Lord Caitanya came? Kṛṣṇa was challenged by Rukmiṇī Devī. She said, “You know everything, what Śiva is doing in Kailāsa, what Brahmā is doing in Satyaloka, You know everything. What is happening in the ananta-koṭi brahmāṇḍa, viśvas You know. No one is above You. But there is one thing You don’t know! Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, You don’t know!” No one told Kṛṣṇa there is something He did not know! “What is that?” “You don’t know how much Your devotees love You and what way we love You!” She was right! The Supreme Lord He doesn’t know what it is like to be a devotee! “Okay, in the age of Kali, I will come as a devotee, as a devotee I will come again! As a devotee I will come again! As a devotee I will come again!” So Kṛṣṇa came as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, to understand what it is like to be a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. And He came here to Rajahmundry to the Godāvarī river. Here He gave out to everyone love of Kṛṣṇa! Who wants love of Kṛṣṇa? He gave the ecstasy of loving Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa did not give it so easy! But Kṛṣṇa as a devotee, as Lord Caitanya, He gave it freely! Here He gave out what He did not do in Navadvīpa! When He saw people on the street, He would hug them and by embracing them, they would cry in ecstasy of love for Godhead. He was the first hugging guru! Now there are imitation hugging gurus! But they don’t give love for Godhead. So, I am very glad to be here again in Rajahmundry. The way you were chanting and dancing, carrying the flags, it was amazing!

Lord Brahmā, he had stolen Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd boys and calves, he was feeling very guilty. He went to Māyāpur, Navadvīpa dhāma and started to chant. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! then Lord Caitanya appeared. He said, “You are calling Me? Why are you calling Me for?” Lord Brahmā said, “Half of my life is over. I am now in my tṛtīya-prahāra. I am still offending You. I heard You are coming in this Kali-yuga and I would like to be Your associate. I heard You will be giving out freely love of Kṛṣṇa, I would like to get Your mercy! I have committed offences, I would like to be humbled.” So Lord Caitanya said, “Tathastaḥ! So be it! You will take birth in a non-Hindu family, this will teach you humility. You will chant every day 300,000 names of Kṛṣṇa. This will awaken your love for Kṛṣṇa. And you will come and be My associate. You will also be the associate of Lord Nityānanda. You will be known as Haridāsa. You will be the ācārya of the holy name.” Thus Lord Brahmā became Brahma Haridāsa. Gaurāṅga! Lord Caitanya, He only comes rarely once in a day of Brahmā. The day of Brahmā is four million years. Lord Caitanya came 500 years ago.

He was here in Rajahmundry! So this is a very special place to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. He was Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He never admitted it. He came as His devotee. But in different purāṇas it is revealed that the Lord will come in Kali-yuga as a devotee. In the Sahasranāma in the Mahābhārata it mentions that the Lord comes as a sannyāsī and He is very gentle! He spent 24 years as a gṛhastha and 24 years as a sannyāsī. He said you can achieve perfection even as a gṛhastha as well as a vairāgī. Gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa is the secret of success. Who chants Hare Kṛṣṇa?

So tomorrow, we are having initiations, nāma-dīkṣā. We do fire yajña, we give tulasī-japa beads, neck beads and spiritual name. And the devotees take vows. This is more than what other people give for the same thing. So, in the material world people are thinking that they are the body. They think the body only lives once. They also say, there is only one world. But we know from the Vedas that there is life on every planet. So there are different kinds of ecologies and environments. We were walking in Māyāpur, and we saw some ants. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, just as you are looking at the ants that they are very insignificant, there are people in the higher planets who are looking at you and thinking the human beings they only live for a few months! Our one year is their one day! But everywhere in the material world there is birth, death, old age and disease. Āhāra, nidrā, maithuna, bhaya. Human beings we have a special opportunity, if we think of Kṛṣṇa at the time we leave the body, we go back to Kṛṣṇa.

Ajāmila, he named his son Nārāyaṇa. But he had committed many sinful acts, but he was attached to his youngest son – he used to always call him, “Nārāyaṇa come here! Nārāyaṇa sit here, Nārāyaṇa eat with me!” As a result, he did not now it but he was getting purified! When he was dying the Yamadūtas came to take him to hell. But he called for his son “Nārāyaṇa!” And he remembered the original Nārāyaṇa, Bālājī! And immediately the Viṣṇudūtas came and said, “He is ours! Yamadūtas you go away!” Even though he was chanting accidentally, he was chanting his son’s name, still he got purified. What to speak of people who chant consciously, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare?

So anyway, I have to get ready for the special yajña tomorrow. Who are all already initiated? Please raise your hands. Who is taking initiation tomorrow? And who is taking shelter tomorrow? And who is taking aspiring? To take aspiring you have to at least chant one round. If you chant more it is alright. You have to be eight years old at least. To take shelter you have to be at least eleven years. To take initiation, twelve years at least. So, like that, young or old, we are trying to help people to get back to Godhead. Who wants to go back to Godhead? Who wants to take repeated birth and death, birth and death, birth and death? Hare Kṛṣṇa! Thank you very much! Kṛtagyatālu!