20221010 Address to 500 Odd Coaches, Freedom Business Retreat

20221011 Address To 500 Odd Coaches, Freedom Business Retreat, by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja, Leela Palace Hotel, Chennai, India.

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

Jayapatākā Swami: I offer first my prayers to my spiritual master. You have seen, I had a stroke and whatever I say, he will repeat it for ease of your understanding. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

So as you have been attending this Freedom Retreat and getting some insights from Siddharta. It is natural that we learn from someone who has experience so that we can gain some more. But in our normal life, people learn something and then share that. But there will always be some other person who knows more. What about the guide for life? We have Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has given us a guidebook in the Vedas and of course, He personally spoke the Bhagavad-gītā that gives the essence of the Vedas. And we are getting from the creator of the universes, how to succeed. If you want to succeed in life, there are different formulae. You see, in the material world we are revealed that we never die, we are eternal. In the Śvetāsvatara Upaniṣad it says nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām – amongst all the eternals, there is one Supreme eternal. Amongst all the conscious living entities, there is one Supreme. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He supplies the necessities of everyone. Now, we have a choice – we can continue in our life – living, dying; living, dying; living, dying, and say in this life I think if I had this, I will be happy. So you may forget, but Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu as our Supersoul, He won’t forget. He sees, okay, this person wants to be rich, to be famous, or whatever your desire is, you want to eat his type of food or that type of food, accordingly he gives us certain birth, certain body. What body you have, this is according to your karma, according to your desires. So, of course, in the business world, you would like to get ahead. But whatever we achieve in this life, when we die, it is all left behind. So we want to be free – what is real freedom? Birth, death, old age and disease, these are really the problems of life. And to get freed from that is the ultimate freedom. So in the Bhagavad-gītā, the guidance given by Kṛṣṇa, that how we can to higher planets, how we can do different things, and ultimately how we can get liberated from this material world. If you read the Bhagavad-gītā it says that even if we go to the higher planets, eventually we have to come down. And that we remain bound up in this life. And we take birth after birth, and now you may be born in a very good place, being born in India is the best birth. Lord Caitanya said:

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra
(Cc. Ādi 9.41)

That those who are born in India they can make their lives perfect and then help others. Actually, my gurudeva, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he went to the West.

Sometimes the journalists asked him, “You have come from a poor country, we are a rich country, what have you come to take from us?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “I have not come to take anything from you! I came to give you! I came to save you from this cats and dogs life!” He was bold in his preaching. He did not flatter the people. If they attacked him, they would give back. So like this, he was giving a lecture in Harvard, and one professor, he went by. He looked in and said, oh, an Indian sādhu sitting on the desk. And then he went in and listened and he saw that this people was speaking universally, he was not sectarian. And then he stayed for about 15 minutes. He said that for his life, he remembered that. So, like this, we want you all to become completely free from this material bondage. And that you can achieve through the Bhagavad-gītā or the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. And we are grateful that Siddharta is also giving his insights on the internet and various platforms. We would like this opportunity to all of you to also become free of this material bondage. Basically, we are eternal ātmās. We have a body. We are not the body. Many people say, oh, you have a soul – we don’t say that. You are the soul, you have the body and we want you to be free! So, you can use this body in such a way – just even if you can give a few minutes, few hours – two hours a day, some time, to try to please Kṛṣṇa.

Now, this month is the beginning of the Kārtika month or Dāmodara month. It says in the Purāṇas, we accept the Purāṇas as histories, that Lord Viṣṇu takes rest for four months and one month the devas wanted Lord Viṣṇu to help them. But He was sleeping. They were thinking that if we wake Him up, He will get angry. So then they started chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and then He woke up and saw all the Devas were chanting His holy name and He became very happy. He said, this month, this tithi, anyone who performs devotional service will get a hundred times the benefit. You might think this is a difficult thing – it is not like taking sannyāsa or something, it is not difficult! In fact, the month was the month of Kārtika. It is just starting, and the day was Ekādaśī. And so on that Ekādaśī, this month, 100 times more benefit. You can consider like a Mercedes–Benz how much, say 100,000 dollars, if I give that to you for 1 dollar or 1000 dollars will you take it? So naturally you will get a 100,000 dollars’ car for 1000 dollars. So 100 times means you put in a little investment, you get a 100 times. So this month the special investment is offering a lamp to Mother Yaśodā and Kṛṣṇa. Two devas, Maṇigrīva and Nalakūvera, the sons of Kuvera, they were very rich with lot of money because Kuvera was the treasurer of the devas. So they were bathing naked in the river enjoying with the Apsarās. Nārada Muni, the Devaṛṣi, he came by. All the ladies, they got embarrassed and covered themselves, but the two devas were so intoxicated that they did not cover themselves. So Devaṛṣi Nārada Muni, he thought to curse them – you are like a tree, you are unconscious, but he would also give them a blessing. That you will be trees in the courtyard of Nanda and Yaśodā and you will be liberated from your curse by Lord Kṛṣṇa. So anyway, there is a whole long story. Kṛṣṇa as a child He was playing, He was enjoying these loving relationships. So as a child He was naughty. He fed butter to the monkeys, so His mother thought she would tie Him up in this way He will not get into trouble. As far as Yaśodā was concerned, Kṛṣṇa was her child. So she brought some ropes and tried to tie Him up. But Kṛṣṇa is unlimited, nobody can tie Him up. She tried and every time the ropes were two fingers short! She brought more rope, more rope, no matter how many ropes she brought they were always two fingers short! She thought, what is this! And then she was perspiring, and she was in anxiety and Kṛṣṇa, He thought, let Me have mercy on her. And then He let her tie Him up. The mercy He never gave to Lakṣmī, Brahmā or Śiva, He gave to Yaśodā, there. fore, He got the name ‘Dāmodara’ – tied in the abdomen. And so she tied Him and put him to the grinding mortar. But then He crawled between the two Arjuna trees, the trees which were these two devas. Normally, a child, he cannot pull down two trees. But Kṛṣṇa could do anything. He pulled the two trees down, the devas were released and they offered their obeisances to Kṛṣṇa and then Kṛṣṇa spoke to them in a very grave voice. Although He was playing the part of a child with His mother, He was always the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He told them go back to your heavenly kingdom but in the future be careful. And they said, please bless us that we can always he Your servant. And then they went back to the heavenly kingdom. So, with this example, you will see that how even a little service will go to your eternal credit. And if you do some little service to Kṛṣṇa, whoever think, whatever name you call God, you can get the benefit. And I am very glad to have this time with you and I hope you come to visit us in Māyāpur. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He appeared in Māyāpur, and I have taken up my residence there. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

(Śabda Hari dāsa offered an award called the “Torch Bearer” award. Also a guru-dakṣiṇā from the whole audience there of Rs. 2.5 lacs.)

Jayapatākā Swami: This was unexpected. Thank you for the donation. I just came here because I heard that many distinguished gentlemen and ladies were going to be here! And so I could share a few mintues. I know you have a busy agenda and I am very happy that I could speak to you and I am very happy that Siddharta and his family are doing such a noble service. And also, many of our devotees have taken his instructions and have been trying to use the internet better. I don’t know how much they would utilize it. I am sure you would be utilizing it more! Hare Kṛṣṇa!