20240114 Address to ISKCON Surat Bhakti-vṛkṣa Congregation

The following is an address to the ISKCON Surat Bhakti-vṛkṣa Congregation by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 14th, 2024 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

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: It was my desire to visit Surat! When I had come here there were invitations for me to visit Baroda, some farm community, etc. But when I came from Kolkata to Ahmedabad, I caught some infection so I was told I should not travel. That is why I am here and listening to reports from all. It is nice that the devotees of Surat are preaching very nicely, they are doing Ratha-yātrā and other programs like Janmāṣṭamī, Gaura-Pūrṇimā, etc. and many other preaching activities. Some programs we thought that they were done by the Mātājīs.

In the 9th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a verse where the Apsarā Urvaśī, more or less criticizes the women. But in the purport Śrīla Prabhupāda said, be they men or women, if they are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are all equal. I am very happy to hear about the various preaching activities being conducted by the devotees here. I was told that my godbrother, who lives about 35 km away,His Grace Ātmārāma dāsa and his good wife Dīpti Mātājī, he has a farm which he has donated to ISKCON. He reminded how Śrīla Prabhupāda spent like ten days in Surat. So I think that your preaching has increased so much because Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lotus feet touched Surat! It is indeed Śrīla Prabhupāda’s special mercy that his lotus feet touched the land of Gujarat and that is why there are so many temples here and preaching is also going on very actively.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10th canto it says, Lord Kṛṣṇa had this arrangement that I started reading that last night. I was reading the part where Sudāmā Vipra was talking with his wife. His wife was saying, Kṛṣṇa is your friend. You should go and see Him! At first Sudāmā was hesitating. Then he felt that even though He is God, He is still my good friend, so it would be nice to meet Him. So he told his wife that, “I should give Him some gift.” The lady went next door to her neighbor and begged for three handfuls of flat rice and gave it to Sudāmā. Then he started walking towards Dvārakā. He was thinking that Lord Kṛṣṇa was the king and lives in the city. In the meantime, Lord Kṛṣṇa was in the palace of Rukmiṇī devī but was thinking about His friend Sudāmā Vipra. As soon as Sudāmā reached the gates of the palace, Lord Kṛṣṇa got up and came out to welcome Sudāmā Vipra. Then He embraced him. He made him sit down on His bed and started talking to him. Then Sudāmā Vipra and Lord Kṛṣṇa were talking like friends – “How are you? Have you got married? Are you in the renounced order?” Lord Kṛṣṇa asked, “Do you remember the time when our guru mother had ordered us to fetch wood for the yajña ?” And how they had gone to get the wood from the forest but had got lost there. They were talking like this. Rukmiṇī devī, who is the goddess of fortune Lakṣmī was fanning Sudāmā Vipra. Sudāmā Vipra was very, very poor and his wife had thought when he went to meet Lord Kṛṣṇa, He would give him something. Lord Kṛṣṇa gave him some gifts and asked him, “What did you get for Me?” Sudāmā Vipra was very ashamed that there was so much opulence around and he had brought just three handfuls of flat rice for Lord Kṛṣṇa! But Kṛṣṇa was asking again and again, “Please show Me!” So by force, Lord Kṛṣṇa took the flat rice. “Oh, My favorite poha!” Lord Kṛṣṇa said! And then Lord Kṛṣṇa started eating and had it twice. When He started eating the third time, Rukmiṇī stopped Him and requested to please stop. Rukmiṇī said that, “If You eat the last morsel of the flat rice, poha, then You will have to reciprocate him with so many gifts that will be more than what We have, so I cannot let You have this.” I was thinking about these pastimes that all these occurred in Gujarat!

I hope that whatever preaching you are doing, you keep progressing well. In the śāstra it says that how Mathurā, Vṛndāvana and Dvārakā are places of pilgrimage. I hope that all of you will enthuse everyone to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and do devotional service to the Lord. People think that if their desires are fulfilled, they will be happy. But the actual happiness is achieved in the service of the Lord. Like this we see there are many gṛhastha devotees who do a lot of devotional service for the Lord. 

In 1977 Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a lecture in London especially for the gṛhastha devotees. He told them that all of you should become paramahaṁsas. Generally, only the elevated sannyāsīs are called paramahaṁsas. But he was saying that he wanted all his gṛhastha devotees to be paramahaṁsas. And he said also, his guru, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. And he was born in Jagannātha Purī. After his birth, his mother had placed him at the feet of Lord Jagannātha in the ratha and Lord Jagannātha’s garland fell on the child. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that we need many ācāryas in ISKCON. It was his instruction that his gṛhastha devotees have ācāryas as their children. It is a very serious blessing that Śrīla Prabhupāda has given all of you. In this visit I don’t think I will visit Surat, but I hope to visit sometime in the future. Thank you all! Today the devotees in Ahmedabad temple came to invite me to visit Kathwada, a farm, to attend a big festival. His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami and myself, we bought this farm together in 1978. His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami is a very dear friend, and I would be very happy if I get a chance to visit Surat in the future.