20220901 ISKCON Kolkata Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Āsana Vigraha-pratisthāpana Address

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

Jayapatākā Swami: This Bhaktivinoda Āsana was established by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and our spiritual master, ISKCON Founder-Ācārya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he met Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda at this place. At that time, he was a graduate, a young manager of Bose Laboratories, I think. Anyway, at that time he was convinced that his spiritual master was Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. I thank all the devotees, all the donors who are preserving this place. It has been renovated very nicely and it received some national kind of recognition as the best heritage place. So Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, he had the Deities of Rādhā Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya and devotees tried to get the original Deities back but that was not possible, so today we have installed Deities which are similar to the original. And we are calling Them with the same name – Gāndharvikā Giridhārī. The Gaurāṅga Deity, they are trying to see how to make something like the original. So, the Deity Ministry priests said they will come back when the Gaurāṅga Deity is ready. I humbly request all the devotees to take nice care of the Rādhā Gāndharvikā Giridhārī Deities. The cooks should prepare nice bhoga for the Deities.

So this is a very historical place and now you have nicely renovated it and brought the Deities. I am sure that Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura are very pleased. Now we have the birthplace of Śrīla Prabhupāda and it is ready. Śrīla Prabhupāda had mentioned that in Kolkata there would be at least ten temples. So, we see the temples coming up in different parts. It is auspicious if the rain comes!

You see Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī, he said that Kolkata was a materialistic place. But Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura wherever he went, he brought Navadvīpa dhāma with him! He came to Kolkata to preach. He did not come to enjoy the city life! He came to spread the message of Lord Caitanya. So, we have kept this place in history of the Vaiṣṇava ācārya. So we hope that all the followers of Lord Caitanya will come here and see this sacred place. And here on the day of Viṣṇupriyā, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura he declared the Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rājya-sabhā. Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rāja is Lord Caitanya and His sabhā is the paramparā. So after Him came Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, after Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī came Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, so like that the guru-paramparā came, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. After him came A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that his books would be like law books for the next ten thousand years. So we hope that all the devotees will dedicate themselves to reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. In this way, the most expert in the law books in the human society should be the followers of Śrīla Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Haribol!

All glories to Gāndharvikā Giridhārī!

So I want to go to Māyāpur today, I have to leave before it gets too late! Especially Thursday 2 pm starts Kala-velā. Bār-vela is 4 pm. Hare Kṛṣṇa!