20230513 Evening Address

The following is an evening address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 13th, 2023 in New Orleans, USA.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: In Māyāpur, one of my disciples His Holiness Gaurāṅga Prema Swami, he got my instruction that he should go through the process of being a dīkṣā-guru. That is the system now in ISKCON that a disciple can initiate if he gets the order from his guru. Of course, he has to go through the GBC process. Gaurāṅga Prema Swami did that and he was accepted, so today he is taking vows of being a dīkṣā-guru. Now, we are seeing he is presented in Māyāpur. Gaurāṅga Prema Swami, I saw a video that for many days has been serving in the Nāmahaṭṭa office. He is a very nice devotee and educates on Navadvīpa darśana. This way, we had given the names of His Holiness Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami and Gaurāṅga Prema Swami, but now Gaurāṅga Prema Swami has been accepted and Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami is waiting.

Śrīla Prabhupāda in 1975 had said that ISKCON should have 10,000 dīkṣā-gurus and then a hundred thousand. From one hundred thousand to 10 million and one crore. This way I hope that many disciples would become dīkṣā-gurus. Lord Caitanya told Sāraṅga Ṭhākura to make at least one disciple. He made Murāri Caitanya dāsa, his disciple and he was his dīkṣā-guru.

This way Lord Caitanya said,

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
(Cb. Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126)

To do this if we have one crore dīkṣā-gurus, that will be possible. This way, in Māyāpur and other places, my disciples becoming dīkṣā-gurus will be useful. They have to read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. And I hope that all will study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and that way they will get the various degrees. This way, some years I had told Gaurāṅga Prema Swami, but then he did not act on it. But afterwards when the GBC ordered, he has completed the process. Qualified to be dīkṣā-guru on my order. Hare Kṛṣṇa! So I am very grateful that this way there was this program on in Māyāpur. Here it is night, but in Māyāpur it is morning. Kṛṣṇe matir rahu! Hare Kṛṣṇa! I thank everybody in Māyāpur for participating in this festival and thus blessing Gaurāṅga Prema Swami. Haribol! Lord Caitanya’s movement and he will be very successful in following Śrīla Prabhupāda and the GBC. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Lord Caitanya, He was in the mood of Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs. Then He saw a garden, the Jagannātha Vallabha garden in Jagannātha Purī, and He just asked the gopīs where Kṛṣṇa left with Rādhārāṇī from the rāsa-līlā. And they were looking for Kṛṣṇa. So the gopīs were asking all the trees, “Have you seen Kṛṣṇa?” See, when the trees did not answer, the gopīs thought they were all male friends of Kṛṣṇa and therefore they are not telling us. They went to Tulasī Devī that, “Please Tulasī tell us, you are very dear to Kṛṣṇa, where did Kṛṣṇa go?” Normally, people they get attached to things and do crazy things, but actually Lord Caitanya was ecstatic in love of Kṛṣṇa. But He was talking to the trees, have you seen Kṛṣṇa? I need to find out where Kṛṣṇa has gone. Like this, He is in the mood of gopīs, He is asking all the trees. Actually, trees don’t normally talk and if you ask the tree you don’t really expect an answer. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is showing us how in separation of Kṛṣṇa one can become ecstatic in love of Kṛṣṇa.

So we hope that all the devotees will become ecstatic in love of Kṛṣṇa. That is possible if you follow in the footsteps of Nitāi-Gaura. Nitāi-Gaura, They are giving out this love of Kṛṣṇa freely without considering who is qualified, who is not. Lord Caitanya told Lord Nitāi that You should go back to Bengal and continue where We left of. We had promised we would come from the spiritual world to deliver four kinds of people who normally do not get liberated - the foolish, the lowborn, the fallen and the sad, distressed. Do you know anyone like that? In America is there anyone like that? Everyone! Ha! Even if one has very good birth, but they think they are the body, and in that way they are foolish. We should understand, Śrīla Prabhupāda has repeated again and again that we are not this body. We are the living force, the spirit soul, in the body. And the body is a machine made of material energy. I think many of you drive cars. The cars are machines. They need a driver. Of course, now they have new cars that are driven remotely. But someone even remote, has to drive the car. So in this way we are the person, the living force, the spirit soul that makes the machine alive.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was lecturing in a village in Bengal. He said so the grandfather dies, everybody is lamenting depending on their relationship. Oh! my grandfather gone, my father gone, my husband is gone, like this everyone is lamenting. But Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “What is gone? Same body is there, same color, same hair, same everything, what has gone? Everyone was saying father, grandfather gone! what is gone? The actual person is the living force in the body, is that consciousness. That consciousness is the sign of the spirit soul.” Most people, they don’t understand this. They think they are the machine. A lecture he was giving he was saying that the human birth is very rare. So in the human consciousness, we are not the body, we are the consciousness in the body, and therefore we can actually be happy if we develop our spiritual awareness, if we develop our relationship with Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Person, then automatically bad karmas are eradicated, then we will be qualified to go back to the spiritual world. But we are in this world, we also should be completely eager in serving Kṛṣṇa.

I am very happy to see the Deities, very nicely decorated, Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā-Rādhākānta, Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā Sudarśana cakra. My pūrvāśrama mother, she lived here in New Orleans for some time. She would come regularly to the temple and would chant four rounds. She said one thing, “Why does Śrī Gaurāṅga always look at me whenever l go into the temple?” The Deities are arcā-avatāras. So, they are incarnations of Kṛṣṇa, especially to allow us to serve Them. We know that many people have passed away during COVID 19 some were our very dear friends. Anyway, in this way, I could not come for some years. So, by Kṛṣṇa mercy I could come now and I am glad to see all the devotees here. And I was told while I am staying here, I should please visit at least two house. I landed up being five or six. So the whole neighborhood seems to have dozens of devotee houses.

So it is nice that devotees have come from Bengal, Bangladesh, different places. But we also want to help those where Lord Caitanya’s mercy is here, to all who are here. And you all become very strong in their philosophy and help many people. It is quite unfortunate that people have such a rare human birth and they don’t use it for spiritual advancement. The cats and dogs, they eat, sleep, mate and defend. But the human beings also understand the higher philosophy, that they have a relationship with Kṛṣṇa. In the pastime where Lord Nityānanda, He sat in a yoga posture called vīrāsana, different devotees were coming before Him and they were dancing and chanting. So this way, people actually were very blissful dancing before Lord Nityānanda, Then Lord Nityānanda, He danced, and when He dances, Lord Caitanya said, “Wherever I will be there. It is something out of this world, I cannot miss it!” We don’t have that ability what Lord Caitanya did. Whenever Lord Nityānanda danced, Lord Caitanya would be there. So when Nitāi danced Lord Caitanya came there. Then Lord Nityānanda stopped dancing and pointed out Lord Caitanya is here! You cannot see Him, but He is wearing a garland of flower jasmine or something that particularly grows in South India. Lord Caitanya was travelling in South India, but He came there invisibly to see Lord Nityānanda. You cannot see Him, maybe you can smell the garland. Everyone was sniffing! Trying to find out, Lord Caitanya by smelling. Someone smelt Him Haribol! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! He started rolling on the ground and another said I smelt it and started rolling - it was like a love gas. It spread and everyone started smelling Lord Caitanya and becoming ecstatic.

So, like this, I told this pastime what happened in Pānihāṭi in New Pānihāṭi Dhāma in Atlanta. I went there with Śrīla Prabhupāda and one priest, he gave Śrīla Prabhupāda the śālagrāma-śilā. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda said we should have a temple in Pānihāṭi dhāma. Now we have that, it was established by His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami, and I have visited, it is a nice place and it is close to the tree where Nitāi sat under. Actually, Lord Nityānanda, He had cowherd boys with Him. In the kṛṣṇa-līlā there were cowherd boys having their pastimes with Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. So, one cowherd boy, he joined up with Gaura-Nitāi. But Lord Nityānanda shrunk him down to Kali-yuga size and he was known as Abhirāma Rāmadāsa.

Abhirāma, he was worshiping his Deity of Kṛṣṇa in a very intimate way. He would take care of the Deity and bathe and massage the Deity and everything. Meanwhile one tantric yogī, he came and he was very envious. He saw a tree under which Lord Nityānanda would sit under when He came there. In Māyāpur, Kṛṣṇa Nagar, and he would show off his power and burnt the tree down. When Abhirāma was told that the tree Lord Nityānanda would sit under was burnt by some tantric yogī, he went there. And he was angry like anything. This is the tree that Lord Nityānanda sits under! Then he pulled out a rod and smashed it to the ground and boom! Up came the tree again and he turned to the yogī. Now burning a tree is no big thing. Creating a tree again is a big thing. This yogī, he realized that, “Wow! This Abhirāma Ṭhākura is very powerful! He created a tree out of nothing. I burned the tree okay, but he created it again.” Then he bowed down and said, “Please forgive me.” “If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, I will forgive you.” Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! One tantric yogī became a member of the saṅkīrtana movement! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Hari Hari! Haridhvani!

So like this Lord Caitanya with His eternally liberated associates spread the saṅkīrtana movement. Lord Nityānanda, He did the same. But here in the Western countries they were deprived. But His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he came here, to give out the mercy! He established 108 temples around the world! Now we have 6 or 800 branches. But New Orleans, New Tālavana, they are part of the original 108 temples. I was thinking that Śrī-sampradāya they have 108 temples denoted as divyadeśas. They say if you visit all those you go back to Godhead. They are all in India. The associates of Lord Caitanya established the temples in gaura-maṇḍala bhūmi. They are called śrīpāṭs. We should call the 108 temples that Śrīla Prabhupāda established, something special, at least śrīpāṭs, maybe like divyadeśa, or some different name. Anyway, śrīpāṭ New Orleans, śrīpāṭ New Tālavana! Dallas is also one of the śrīpāṭs, śrīpāṭ Atlanta. So we should see where all the original temples that Śrīla Prabhupāda established. So these are very special. Please protect, this is a very special temple. The mayor of the city of New Orleans gave the key to the city to Śrīla Prabhupāda! There is a picture, a certificate, I saw it in the temple. I am very happy to be here and spend some time with all of you.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!