20260314 Addressing Safari Devotees in Ultadanga

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: You know that this place is the first place His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda met with His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. And this place was very broken down and very destroyed but devotees like His Grace Dayārāma dās and all other devotees here worked very hard and got this place restored! Apparently, I don’t know whether they have restored this place as it was. (This is the heritage property of the Government and they have tagged it a national heritage and very soon we are getting the prize as the cleanest heritage property of India!) Haribol! Very nice!

So, I am very glad I could meet the Safari devotees here! Apparently, tomorrow also I am meeting up with all of you. Now I am told that all the Safari devotees have left Ultadanga and not to go! Then Mahā Varāha said, “No, we are going!” So thanks to Mahā Varāha we are here!

The point is that we don’t know how it was, but now it has been restored. His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura had sat here and said the Viśva Vaiṣṇava Rāja-sabhā, that means that the Viśva Vaiṣṇava Rāja is Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His sabhā, His assesmbly of devotees. So this is a very profound statement. And I am very glad that the Safari was able to visit this sacred place. Also, in Kolkata we have the birthplace of Śrīla Prabhupāda. We have a nice temple in 3C Albert Road and also smaller temple in New Town in Dum Dum. Here Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura met Śrīla Prabhupāda for the first time and told him to go to the Western countries and preach. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that that time, he was part of Netaji’s revolutionary movement and what will the people in the Western world think! We are ruled by foreigners. So he was defeated by his spiritual master that these material things are not important in the spiritual side! Like that, this is our very sacred place, our very roots! So, we thank all the devotees for having preserved this place and thank all of the Safari devotees for coming here! You see, the Safari is singing, dancing  and staging plays. They would sing in Hindi seafaring – we are Safari!

This morning I was presenting the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam how Kapiladeva descended to teach the sāṅkhya-yoga of devotional service. And in the purport Śrīla Prabhupāda said that Lord Kṛṣṇa had also presented that the system was lost in due course and He reestablished religion through Arjuna. And I added that Lord Caitanya came recently. So, He reestablished the dharma of devotional service by the saṅkīrtana movement.

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

I want to thank all the Śrīla Prabhupāda disciples, Mahārājas, Marīci dāsa for leading the Safari devotees. I used to come every day personally. Now, I am somewhat limited but I try to attend as much as possible! But I am very grateful all the Mahārājas, Śrīla Prabhupāda disciples, sannyāsīs, for keeping up this tradition of the Safari!

Thank you so much! I want to thank Anaṅga Mohana dāsa for the reception given to the Safari group and I am very moved by the news that we are going to acquire the other special places. I think we should all be very grateful!