20220929 Gifts to TOVP Donors In ISKCON TODU Congregation Address

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

Jayapatākā Swami: Today I went to the two temples in Penang Island, and it was very nice to see many Chinese devotees. In the Botanical Gardens they showed a short video of my visit there. That was before my stroke when I was walking. Hopefully, by visiting the temple again, soon I will again be walking! And here I saw the samādhi of His Holiness Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami this morning. Yesterday I was talking about how Prahlāda Mahārāja; he was saying that this material world is like a grinding stone. And two things – in all his births he had to always face – separation from his loved ones and doing things that he did not want. Then we heard from Vaiśeṣika Prabhu how we broke our target of 43,000 sets of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam! We did 45,000 and some hundreds. Now the first temple I visited, four people took Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets. And one devotee had distributed 300 Bhagavad-gītās! In the Botanical Gardens, they said they distributed 60 Bhagavad-gītās. And 18 sets of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I have not got the report yet, what they distributed here. But in the Botanical Gardens, one lady got her Bhakti-śāstri degree. Puṣpasāra Vṛndā devī dāsī. In Coimbatore we gave out 125 Bhakti-śāstri certificates. I hope that here in Malaysia, many people will be getting the Bhakti-śāstri, Bhakti-vaibhava, Bhakti-vedānta degrees. Muralīdhara Śyāma dāsa wants to set up an institute here in Penang in TODU. And he wants to see that people take the different degree courses.

One day I saw a Bhagavad-gītā on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desk in Māyāpur. And I should not have asked but in my foolishness, I asked, Bhagavad-gītā is a basic book. Are you reading Bhagavad-gītā? He said Bhagavad-gītā is important for preaching. We have to know Bhagavad-gītā in order to preach. Just like we know the peace formula – Kṛṣṇa says if you know these three things you could have peace. How many here want peace? How many ladies want peace? Raise your hands. Thank you. What are the three things? Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ [Bg 5.29]. All the tapasyas, yajñas are offered to Me. People whether they are offering to Allah, to God, whatever, ultimately it is offered to the Supreme Person. We know the Supreme Person as Kṛṣṇa. But He has unlimited names. So first thing we should know, there is one Supreme Lord, He accepts all the yajñas, tapasyas and things. Second thing is sarva-loka-maheśvaram – He is the Lord of all the planets, all the universes, everything. Jaya Jagannātha Svāmī kī jaya! So we should know there is one Supreme Lord over everything. What is the third thing? Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ – He is the well-wisher all the living entities – all living entities. Fish, plants, animals, insects, birds, all the human beings, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, atheists, Hindus, everyone. jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati – if they know Me as these things then they will be happy. So, this is in the Bhagavad-gītā, how to have peace. Give it to Me! So, we want everyone to have peace. Bhagavad-gītā is the peace formula. And then in the 18^th chapter Kṛṣṇa says that you just surrender to Me and I will protect you from all reactions.

So Lord Caitanya advised that everybody we meet we should give them Kṛṣṇa’s message. It is not very difficult. We tell that to everyone. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 9.34] – be Kṛṣṇa’s devotee. Worship Kṛṣṇa, surrender to Kṛṣṇa, be His devotee. So that is the message of Kṛṣṇa. And then He promised that if you surrender to Him, He will protect you.

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
[Bg 18.66]

So like that our process of bhakti-yoga is to use our senses in the service of the Master of the senses. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate – so I am very happy that devotees are serving Kṛṣṇa. They are distributing books, serving prasāda, worshiping the Deities. And we are very thankful that some of you are helping build the Temple of Vedic Planetarium. We want to reciprocate with your enthusiasm and give some gifts to those who are fulfilling their pledges. And I was present when this temple was inaugurated. And on the YouTube there is a video of me coming up on a crane to offer abhiṣeka to the kalaśas. I don’t know how I did it! And the nice [audio break] The mezzanine was made by the youths which is very nice to see Śrīla Prabhupāda’s hard work.

So, our process is yukta-vairāgya. That means whatever you are doing, do it for Kṛṣṇa. If you are cooking, cook for Kṛṣṇa. If you are an artist, do artwork for Kṛṣṇa. Whatever you do, if you are a businessman, do your business and give some donation for Kṛṣṇa. Whatever you do, do that for Kṛṣṇa. If you are making children, make them nice devotees. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was a gṛhastha and he had a child like Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. We need many devotees like that to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness around Malaysia, around the world. Actually, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that all the gṛhasthas should be paramahaṁsas. Paramahaṁsa means always Kṛṣṇa conscious.

I was explaining how in Chennai they had a drama. You see every time we take rebirth we never know what birth we get. And we have to suffer different undesirable things. Like that child crying. He is suffering something undesirable. Maybe he wants some food or something. I said food, he (repeater) said pooh! Food! Ha! Ha! So in this drama the Yamadūtas were complaining to Yamarāja. They were all children. The Yamadūtas, they complained. This ISKCON gṛhasthas they have the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā in their house. They are reading. They chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. They worship the Deity of the Lord like Lord Jagannātha. The wives are cooking for Kṛṣṇa and offering the food to Kṛṣṇa. What can we do? We cannot touch them! We cannot take them to hell, and we cannot torture them! If they continue like this spreading, we will soon be out of job! So who wants to have mercy on the Yamadūtas? The best help to them is to give them a vacation! Ha! Get people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and avoid the Yamadūtas. I am just telling the short version of that drama. But we want everybody to be paramahaṁsas, to be fully engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service. So, are there are any questions? Everybody is hungry! I have to give certificates and pavitras to the TOVP donors. Okay!