20230319 Safari Realizations Address

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 my respects to His Holiness Bhakti Vighna-vinaśa Narasiṁha Mahārāja, His Holiness Bhakti Narasiṁha Mahārāja and His Grace Bhāgavatāmṛta Prabhu who brought his better half and all the other devotees on the Safari. Also, all those devotees who were here but had to leave like His Holiness Dhīra Dāmodara Swami Mahārāja. For two years we had to have a virtual Safari because of the pandemic. Also, the Safari, we are just following in the lotus footprints of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He used to take devotees between Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana to different places. And one year he went to Hyderabad, I remember. That way, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was taking his dancing white elephants around India! We see that in the Safari the devotees are able to visit some of the holy places in India. Then we went also, like the different ISKCON temples, they can also experience and associate with the different devotees from all around the world. Some years we had devotees from 60 nations, some years 45 nations. I used to go by train, and I could associate with all the devotees. But Mahā Varāha does not let me go on train anymore! He says too difficult logistically. And then Marīci dāsa, he told me that he is getting old, he can never take the Safari out, his health is not very good, but somehow he is managing to go on! Thanks to our Cintāmaṇi. So if you can encourage Marīci dāsa to keep up with this sevā it would be very good!

When I was here almost a year ago, for the opening of the Patna temple, I thought this is a nice place, a nice facility, which the Safari devotees should see. And they could see the place of Gajendra Mokṣa and Hari-Hara Kṣetra. Some years ago we had gone to do the piṇḍī. Now the road is under construction, and it took us a little longer than normal. I am glad you all were able to do your piṇḍī-dāna and so many relatives of the devotees got special mercy. Śyāma Rasika dāsa has taken up this yajña of installing the lotus feet footprints of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu mainly and sometimes footprints of Lord Nityānanda. Actually, Kṛṣṇa Kṛpā Prabhu, he located the place in Gayā and he is arranging the local places. In Vṛndāvana, we have installed the lotus footprints of Lord Caitanya in Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Śyāma-kuṇḍa. And there are many places we are going to install in the future. So I have been going around India, around the world, the people are very inspired, to see how the devotees are coming from so many different countries and practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And for them it is a life changing experience. We hope that devotees, I know that they are going through little austerity. I heard that some mice were biting the lotus feet of the devotees!

Like, I came to Bihar first in 1979 and I walked in the villages, village Sasaram and a lot of devotees came from that area. So anyway, as we are going to different places with the Safari devotees, we get to see so many holy places. At the same time, the people get to associate with the devotees, from different parts of the world. This is phenomenal! I have no words to explain how important this is for the devotees and the people. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that this is our United Nations of the spiritual world. And the dancers, players, in the dramas, they may change slightly every year but the enthusiasm and the purity are something that touches everybody’s heart. I am not able to do as much I would like to do. I am very thankful to the maharajas for coming here and giving association to the devotees, my Godbrothers and senior devotees. So, this Safari, we started out on the Ganges, we went along the Ganges to Kānāi-Nāṭaśālā and then to Māyāpur. From Māyāpur to Pānihāṭi, from Pānihāṭi, we went to Gaṅgā-sāgara. Then all around the Ganges, we went to Gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi, South India and different places. I hope that all the devotees liked this experience and as Marīci said, we hope that if there were any mistakes, please forgive us. And if you can think of any way to improve the experience for the devotees, for the public, please tell us. Hare Kṛṣṇa! I would like to thank everybody, but especially Mādhurya Kādambinī and her drama troupe. Hare Kṛṣṇa!