20240113 Address to ISKCON Baroda Congregation

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 had come to Ahmedabad and my plan was to go to Vadodara and Surat. But when I came to Ahmedabad from Kolkata my health was not so good. Here in Ahmedabad, the doctors examined me and advised me that I should leave when I get better. Today I dreamt about Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda was telling me about some pastime in Māyāpur, in my dream. Śrīla Prabhupāda was telling me that when he was a child his father had assisted him and encouraged him a lot to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda was telling me that when he was about 7 or 8 eight years old, he had expressed a desire to his father that he wished to celebrate a Ratha-yātrā. His father then organized for a small Ratha-yātrā to be celebrated. When he was performing this Ratha-yātrā some other children also joined in. In this Ratha-yātrā Śrīla Prabhupāda had Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā and Sudarśana cakra. His father had organized some kīrtana groups also to participate. Like you were doing nice kīrtana here, that kīrtana was similar. When the children were pulling the ratha, then kīrtana was going on. It was a small ratha, but that time in Kolkata the children were all doing this service. After some time when Śrīla Prabhupāda grew up he went to Jagannātha Purī. The pāṇḍas thought that Śrīla Prabhupāda had come from Bengal and so he should be eating fish. I have seen that in the whole of India Gujarat is no. 1 in vegetarians. Maximum number of vegetarians are there in Gujarat. Bengal is also no. 1, but there are maximum number of non-vegetarians there. Śrīla Prabhupāda told the pāṇḍas that he did not eat fish. And I want Lord Jagannātha’s prasāda. So this was the difference. When he came back to India there was a very big festival was organized. When he was a child, he had a great memory of Lord Jagannātha. And he would see the train schedule and see when the train would go to Jagannātha Purī. Now we have a hundred Ratha-yātrās all over the world.

We have about 800 temples all over the world. We are very fortunate to have the Jagannātha temple. I met Śrīla Prabhupāda in 1968. I heard that Śrīla Prabhupāda was in Canada then and I went to see him there. And Śrīla Prabhupāda asked me, what I wanted to do? I told Śrīla Prabhupāda that, “I was thinking of going to India.” He told me, “I will send you to India later, now I will give you some training.” So like this I was in Montreal for one year. Swagatham to the newly arrived devotees!

I was the president in Montreal temple. After a year I thought Toronto was a big city and I should go there. I was the first president of the temple in Toronto. Śrīla Prabhupāda sent me a message that I should go to India. I came here in 1970. So then, I took sannyāsa in 1971. Then I was in Calcutta and Śrīla Prabhupāda asked me to go to Māyāpur. Māyāpur is famous as the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. At that time there was nothing there, just the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that Vṛndāvana and Māyāpur we should have some arrangement so that devotees could stay. First, we had very little land so that devotees could come and stay. I then learnt farming and we had also various kinds of farming. My uncle, he was a farmer. So I then learnt about farming in India. We grew cucumbers. We had just five or six devotees and I started different types of farming. Then I learnt to grow tomatoes. In Bengal a bighā is 0.33 acres of land and one bighā has 20 katas. I did farming in three kāṭhās. But doing farming in three kāṭhās of land we produced tons of tomatoes! I then grew some radish, I had so much radish! And all the devotees said, “Please no more radish!” We had radish sabji, radish sak, etc. Like that we learnt how to survive. Now Māyāpur is very much developed. It has many buildings and facilities. And some of the devotees, they live in the Māyāpur dhāma. Māyāpur is known as the land of mercy and Vṛndāvana is known as the land of sweetness. Kṛṣṇa, in Vṛndāvana is like a cowherd boy but in Dvārakā, He is a king. Kṛṣṇa, He was living in Vṛndāvana and it was considered a very sweet place. Also, Jagannātha Purī is also considered to also be like Dvārakā. The Ratha-yātrā in which Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva Subhadrā go to Sundarācala. Nīlācala is Jagannātha Purī and Sundarācala is Vṛndāvana. Like you are living in a place where Lord Kṛṣṇa performed many līlās.

So the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He came to this world and He performed His lilas. Rukmiṇī devī told Lord Kṛṣṇa, “You know everything. You know what Brahmā is doing in Satyaloka, what Lord Śiva is doing in Kailāsa. But there is one thing You don’t know – Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, but You don’t know! You are the Supreme Person and there is no one above You. But there is one thing You don’t know.” Lord Kṛṣṇa was thinking, “What is it that I don’t know?” Do you know? What is the thing that even the Lord also does not know? So, He asked her, “What is it I don’t know?” Rukmiṇī devī in Dvārakā she said, “You don’t know how much Your devotees love You and in what way they love You! Rādhārāṇī knows, I know but You don’t know.” So He was surprised that He did not know. Then He said, “Alright, I declare here that I will come in Kali-yuga as My devotee!”

That is why Lord Kṛṣṇa came as Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was giving out His prema very easily. Actually, in Kali-yuga, who can say that I have not committed any sin. Kali-yuga is a type of sin. Lord Caitanya, He doesn’t use any weapons of destruction. You don’t see any cakra or any bow. He comes with His assistants, Lord Nityānanda, Gadādhara, and He comes just to give you kṛṣṇa-prema. And specially, the Harināma saṅkīrtana! Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He was touring South India, then He embraced a devotee. And all the people would get kṛṣṇa-prema from Lord Caitanya. So, we heard that Lord Caitanya He went around India and Svarūpa Dāmodara his secretary said Lord Caitanya went to Dvārakā as well.

We know that Lord Caitanya travelled over Vṛndāvana, Dvārakā. So He was doing a pastime when He was in Vṛndāvana. And He went to Vṛndāvana. When He went to Vṛndāvana He was so ecstatic that when He heard the name Vṛndāvana He would become like crazy. So His secretary requested that He should go by the side of the Gaṅgā and live. Then He went towards Banaras. He would do kīrtana and many people joined Him. Two devotees noticed that the sannyāsīs of Banaras were criticizing Lord Caitanya. He did not like that His devotees were unhappy. So, He agreed to go the sannyāsīs. So He went to the house where the sannyāsīs were having a big feast. Lord Caitanya, He took a very humble position, He sat at the door of the house where the sannyāsīs were washing their feet and He washed their feet as well. When Lord Caitanya was sitting in this place, He was asked why He was sitting there as it was a dirty place. Lord Caitanya said, “I am not a very high sannyāsī, you are all elevated sannyāsīs, that is why I thought I would sit here.” Then the leaders of the sannyāsī took Lord Caitanya by the hand and took Him in. The sannyāsī said that, “In the Śaṅkara’s school it is advised that one should study the Vedānta-sūtras, but You, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, you are chanting and doing saṅkīrtana. What is the reason?” Lord Caitanya said, “My guru told Me when I took initiation that I was a fool and You should just chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. And so I do that.” Lord Caitanya, He said, “That is why I chant the Harināma.

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
[Cc. Ādi 17.21]

And in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is a description of all He said there. He presented why we should chant the holy name.

Lord Caitanya, He presented to the sannyasis in Banaras and taught them to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and as a result He was very successful in getting them to take up bhakti-yoga. Actually, He was known as Nimāi Paṇḍita before He took sannyāsa. He was considered the greatest paṇḍita in Navadvīpa. But He presented Himself very humbly. So we are very grateful that all of you have come here and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Lord Caitanya came and distributed this Harināma saṅkīrtana. He wanted the people to get Lord Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.

This mercy became when Rukmiṇī devī challenged Lord Kṛṣṇa that there was one thing He did not know. How much Your devotees love You and in what way we love You. That question was asked in Gujarat! I am feeling very happy and blissful to come here to the place of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. And the devotees here do very blissful kīrtana!

Anyway, if there are any questions or anyone wants to say something?

(Mantreśa Gaurāṅga dāsa spoke and gave a report about the preaching activities of ISKCON Baroda).