20230428 Mahā Varāha Dāsa Brahmacārī Sharing Pastime of His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja

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

Announcement: Sometimes we are waiting for getting darśana of the Deities and the altar is not yet open and we are all getting anxious to see the śṛṅgāra of the Deities and Kṛṣṇa gives us those little hints that not only today, but on many occasions, you should experience this, so there is more hankering. So, Śrīla Jayapatākā Swami was all ready to come and as he was getting ready to come to the temple, he started not feeling very well again and he had to stay back. But he promised first thing in the morning between 8 and 10 am CST, Mahārāja will come here to give darśana. There is always a silver lining, Mahārāja, is not here but his wonderful associates are all here. Wonderful devotees! Let us welcome them by loudly chanting Texas style Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! We are very fortunate to get the association of these wonderful devotees who have been serving Mahārāja for a very long time, selflessly, travelling with him, taking care of every need of Mahārāja, so that he could actually come in this condition, all the way from India. One such wonderful personality amongst all of them is His Grace Mahā Varāha Prabhu. I would humbly request His Grace Mahā Varāha Prabhu to share with us your experiences with Guru Mahārāja, something that has inspired you to do such wonderful service for Guru Mahārāja for such a long time. We have heard so many things, over so many years, about you, it is our great fortune that we get to associate with you today. I said there is always a silver lining, Mahārāja is not able to come, but Mahā Varāha Prabhu is very shy, he doesn’t like to speak. But now Kṛṣṇa has given, Rādhā Kuñjabihārī have given an opportunity for us to hear from him briefly. Haribol! Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

Mahā Varāha dāsa: I am caught finally! This is my first visit to Austin, we always come to Dallas and Houston, but not to Austin. I think Mahārāja is coming after - probably first time, he has never been here. At least last 15 years he has never been here. I don’t know what you want to hear Prabhu?

I will tell you one nice pastime or realization which I had. The importance of the instructions of guru or how important it is to listen to one’s spiritual master. This happened in the year 2012 probably, Mahārāja took a group of devotees to Narasaraopet, Andhra Pradesh. It is also a holy place where Mucukunda cave is there. Kṛṣṇa came all the way to Narasaraopet, came all the way from Dvārakā to there. So, Mahārāja was there for a temple opening. The temple opening took place and they installed very beautiful almost life size Deities of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. After the inauguration of the new temple and installation of the Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Deities, it was a huge festival. Next day morning, I was waiting for my turn to go and take my shower and my room was next to Mahārāja’s room and while waiting for the toilet, the shower to be free, I went into Mahārāja’s room and I opened his laptop and was checking his Facebook page to see all the photos they have uploaded regarding the temple opening. While I was reading, I came across a very nice quote from one of Guru Mahārāja’s lectures that he gave in 1995 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur. And the quote reads like this: Prayer is a very important activity for a devotee. Prayer is actually a communication between the devotee and the Lord. It is a special communication between the devotee and the Lord and therefore devotees should always pray to the Deities.” So that really made me or inspired me that today, I should go and pray to the Deities. I have my set of prayers, standard prayers, which I always, when I go in front of the Deities, I say my prayers. But sometimes I did not do it as I was busy or sometimes lazy, I did not say my prayers. But that particular quote, after reading that quote, that inspired me, so I was really inspired to go and say my prayers. So I took bath and went to the temple. The place where we stayed, our room and the temple is exactly, I just saw the house there, exactly around this distance. So I had my shower and went to the temple, and I started my prayers. There was a pūjārī, I was standing on the other side of the altar and the pūjārī was standing on this side and he was distributing tulasī leaves and mahā-prasāda of the Deities to the visitors. There was a huge line of devotees and he was giving out the tulasī leaves. I was making my prayers and while I was doing so, my mind started thinking many things and I was thinking that these Deities, They were just installed yesterday, and how do I know that They are listening to my prayers. So kind of like doubts started appearing in my mind. And how good the pūjārīs are because nowadays you know, the brāhmaṇas, they did all these yajñas and mantras, so how sure am I that the Deities are there and They are listening to my prayers? And then I was telling the Lord, if at all You have heard my prayers, please show me some sign that You have heard my prayers. Either You drop a flower or a garland or something. Or, the pūjārī over there, let him come and give me some tulasī leaves from Your lotus feet, or the pūjārī should give me some flowers. Show me some sign that You have heard my prayers. Then immediately, my intelligence took over my mind and started correcting, come on! you know, how can you think about the Lord like that – even if He is not there, He is there in your heart or He can hear you from anywhere, even from the spiritual world. So you should not doubt the Lord like this. So I begged forgiveness and paid obeisances and then I left. After one hour, I had breakfast and came back to my room. Someone knocked my door and I said, come in. I saw the same pūjārī was walking into my room! He said, Prabhu, this is tulasī from the lotus feet of the Lord! And I was like, totally stunned! Completely stunned! I had like goosebumps and literally had tears. How the Lord reciprocates to His devotees! And how important to really follow the words of the guru. We should not take anything lightly. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya – you should not take things lightly. It is very, very important – faith in the words of the spiritual master is very important. When we don’t have faith, things will not manifest like this. So that – two things that I realized or learnt from this how one should have faith in the words of the spiritual master. Next is not to doubt the Lord, whether He is listening to the prayers or not. Though the Deities were installed not even one day, but when I had this doubt He immediately reciprocated. Kṛṣṇa reciprocates so fast! So, this is a wonderful pastime or realization that I had with the Lord and that naturally enhanced my faith in my guru and the words of Kṛṣṇa, the Lord Himself. So it is important that we should listen to the lectures of the gurus, Śrīla Prabhupāda and try to give our level best to follow their instructions. So Mahārāja sent his apology to all of you that he could not make it for the class. Morning he went for his treatment and after the treatment we drove all the way here. We targeted to reach around 2 or 2.30 pm CST but we reached here around 4.30 pm or so. Then he was extremely tired. Last two nights also he did not sleep well which was probably due to the treatment and he came here and literally collapsed. He woke up and he thought he is going to sleep whole night, but then he woke up at 7 pm he said take me into the shower, after the shower I want to go to the temple. Then after his shower again his body collapsed. So we decided that it was better for him to take good rest now and then we will come tomorrow morning, he has a long rest. Okay Prabhu! Hare Kṛṣṇa! So we will see you all tomorrow morning.