20241115 Rāsa-pūrṇimā 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: Today is Rāsa-pūrṇimā. Once the king of Krishna-nagar was envious of Kṛṣṇa, that is the only way it is described. You can judge for yourself. In Navadvīpa on Rāsa-pūrṇimā, he requested all the brāhmaṇas to do demigod festival. In Kolkata, in different places in Bengal, they organized big Durgā-pūjās. Apparently in Navadvīpa he organized in different places pandals for the worship of different demigods, devas. We don’t object to people doing pandal celebration of demigods. But to do it on Rāsa-pūrṇimā is very offensive. Because Rāsa-pūrṇimā is the day that Kṛṣṇa played His flute and all the gopīs in Vṛndāvana came out to worship Kṛṣṇa. Some of the parents, the father was closing the door and the gopī remained in her bed sleeping but actually in her subtle body she came out and joined Kṛṣṇa. So, Kṛṣṇa, He tested them when they came out, “Why did you come in the dead of night? It is very dangerous.” They replied to Him that, “You were calling us with Your flute and if we come You are criticizing us!” So, anyway Kṛṣṇa did His rāsa dance with innumerable number of gopīs. Rādhārāṇī loved Kṛṣṇa the most. She left the rāsa dance and Kṛṣṇa could not be happy without Her. So, He also left! When He left the whole rāsa dance was a failure! All the gopīs began to cry in separation! Kṛṣṇa went looking for Rādhārāṇī. Then He found Her. So the other gopīs were looking, and seeing the footprints, they said this gopī must have done special pūjā for Kṛṣṇa. But then, they found Her and She was lamenting because Kṛṣṇa had also left Her! So, the other gopīs were very sympathetic to Her that at least one gopī had actually captured Kṛṣṇa. They were all back in the rāsa-līlā arena and then Kṛṣṇa appeared. So in the purports, they say that in material life, girls and boys are lusty. But actually, the gopīs wanted to please Kṛṣṇa. There is no lust. So then they were dancing again. So tonight, was one of those nights and so this is observed as Rāsa-pūrṇimā in many different ways. The way in Śāntipura they observe Rāsa-pūrṇimā is Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs are paraded around over in open flat bed trucks. I never saw what they do there. But the thing is that they go out in open trucks.

Like that, one time, some boys came to Śrīla Prabhupāda and said they wanted money for our pandal, “Please give us a donation.” So Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “They won’t take no for any answer, give them ten rupees!” Ten rupees is not much but giving something, the culture is if you give something, it is alright! So, like that Śrīla Prabhupāda was teaching us, how to deal in these situations. So I thought to tell you some of the Rāsa-pūrṇimā līlā.

Tomorrow morning I am supposed to give class. So, today I had dialysis. And I also have to give class tomorrow. So, some people put sweet rice on the roof. So that Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, if they are hungry they can eat some sweet rice!

Two visitors drowned in the Ganges and we want to offer prayer for them. You see they went down the river to another ghāṭa. We recommend that people go to Śrīla Prabhupāda ghāṭa here, there we have bamboo barricades, and we also have some lifeguards there. They went down the river and somehow they drowned. So, please be careful. The Ganges moves very fast and is very deep. Anyway, devotees can pray for these youths.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

I take this opportunity to thank His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami for the Bhīṣma Pañcaka festival. How many of you observed Bhīṣma Pañcaka? Did you break your fast tonight? There are two devotees who want to take shelter.

So, Bhīṣma Pañcaka fast has ended and we are kicking off the Bhagavad-gītā Marathon, so each of you think how to distribute Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, and what pledge can you give? This Marathon’s slogan is ‘Live to Give’.

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!