19860911 Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Deity Installation

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swāmi on  September 11^th 1986 at New Pānihāṭi Dhāma, Atlanta, Georgia. The class was given on the occasion of installation of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Madanamohana.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Jayapatākā Swāmi: Right now the deity is being decorated and they are offering 216 preparations! (Haribol!) The first offering to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. As soon as the offering is over, there will be ārati and prasādam, and I hope everyone will accept.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurum dīna-tāriṇam

Today we are observing the appearance of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī known as Rādhāṣṭamī. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead mentioned in the Brahma-saṁhitā, in Ṛg Veda and all the Vedas.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

(Bs. 5.1)

And for our understanding sometimes Kṛṣṇa and Nārāyaṇa compared with the sun. Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa.

kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama; māyā andhakāra
yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra
(Cc. Madhya 22.31)

That Kṛṣṇa is like the sun and ignorance is like darkness. Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, there is no nescience. So, in this example of Kṛṣṇa being like the sun, then we can compare the energy of Kṛṣṇa to being like the sunlight and the heat coming from the sun. They are inseparable yet they are non-different and different at the same time. We cannot imagine the sun without sunlight and without heat. At the same time, when the sunlight comes into our room, we don’t consider that to be the same as if the sun was in our room. So there is this difference between the sun and the sun’s energies. Yet at the same time they are united, they are one. So in the Vedic tradition, sanātana-dharma, we worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead with His energy such as Sītā-Rāma, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. In fact, we mention the name of the śaktī or energy first. By addressing the energy first, the energy is more compassionate, more merciful. So when we address the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we address His energy first to attract His compassion, His mercy. When we chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, ‘Hare’ is the address to the energy of the Lord. Hare Kṛṣṇa means ‘Oh Energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Oh my dear Lord Kṛṣṇa.’ Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Rāma. ‘Oh Energy of Lord Rāma. Oh my dear Rāma.’ So in this way there are two tattvas. There is the Puruṣa or Īśvara-tattva, Viṣṇu-tattva. Then there is Śakti-tattva. There are many other tattvas, but in a broad category you have the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then you have His energies. So amongst the energies there are different kinds of energies. These are mentioned in the Viṣṇu-Purāṇa –

viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā
avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate

Translation: The original potency of Lord Viṣṇu is superior or spiritual. The living entity actually belongs to that superior energy. But there is another energy called the material energy, and this third energy is full of ignorance.

So there are three energies of Kṛṣṇa, three broad categories: spiritual, material and marginal. So we are the marginal energy of the Lord. Marginal means we are actually part of the spiritual energy, but we are like atomic parts. And the direct energy of the Lord, the internal potency, is also unlimited like Kṛṣṇa. Only the energy is in a serving mood to Kṛṣṇa. We are small atomic particles of that energy. Because we are so small, and because the material energy is also almost unlimited, it is very great, we can fall underneath the ignorance or influence of that material energy. In this material world we are considered conditioned souls because we fall under the conditioning of the material world. Liberated soul means to be freed from the conditioning of the material energy and return to your original spiritual position. But this material body, material mind, are products of the material nature. But they can be purified by engaging in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Then they become just like an electrical current. If you touch electrical wire you become electrified. If someone touches you, they will get a shock. Like that, by connection with Kṛṣṇa, with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one gets under the shelter of His spiritual potency, and thus all the contaminations of the material world become purified. Even when one is in this body, one can become liberated. This is the wonderful effect of connection with Kṛṣṇa through devotion, through bhakti-yoga. But if we don’t connect with Kṛṣṇa, then we will be under the control of His external energy. So the devotees, they pray to Rādhā, they pray to Sītā, they pray to Lakṣmī, to engage them in the service of the Lord. Especially of all the energies, Rādhārāṇī is considered the Supreme Energy of the Lord. This is explained in the following verse:

hlādinī sandhinī samvit
tvayy ekā sarva-saṁsthitau
hlāda-tāpa-karī miśrā
tvayi no guṇa-varjite

My dear Lord, You are the transcendental reservoir of all transcendental qualities. Your pleasure potency, existence potency and knowledge potency are all actually one spiritual internal potency. The conditioned soul although actually spiritual experiences sometimes pleasure, sometimes pain and sometimes a mixture of pain and pleasure. This is due to his being touched by matter. However, because You are above all material qualities these are not found in you. Your superior spiritual potency is completely transcendental and for You there is no such thing as relative pleasure, pleasure mixed with pain or pain itself.

So these three internal potencies that can be considered one or considered three – the pleasure potency or hlādinī potency, the existence potency – sandhinī and the potency of knowledge - saṁvit. So this pleasure potency is the potency that gives pleasure to Kṛṣṇa and to all of the devotees. Great seers of the truth, great yogīs, ṛṣis, munis, even great souls like Buddha, Bhārata Mahārāja so many others they all went looking for the spiritual pleasure. As mentioned, this material pleasure is sometimes mixed with pain. Sometimes there is no pleasure at all, there is only pain. So there is always this transient nature, sometimes pleasure, sometimes mixed pleasure with pain, sometimes pain. But in the spiritual happiness there is pure bliss, pure ecstasy. There is no mixture of pain, there is only pure happiness. Unmixed, undiluted, pure, satisfying, spiritual happiness. So in search of that happiness many souls have entered into the spiritual path, have become even great sannyāsīs or renunciates. So that spiritual potency they are looking for is actually personified in the form of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī, She is that pleasure potency. When you see Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, it is not that Kṛṣṇa is a man and Rādhā is a woman and Kṛṣṇa is experiencing some material happiness by being with His woman. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as mentioned here in the Vedas. He is above the material world, He has no material body, His body is totally saccidānanda. He doesn’t experience material pleasure, nor material pain, nor any mixture of pain and pleasure. Therefore, He is known as ātmārāma. He is always in spiritual bliss. But He has taken that spiritual bliss from within Himself and expanded as one of His potencies, and that spiritual happiness is known as His Hlādinī-śakti. Her other personal name is Rādhārāṇī. Rāṇī means queen. Because She is the queen of Vṛndāvana, we call Her as Rādhārāṇī, or Śrīmatī Rādhikā. So by worshipping Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa one can experience the highest spiritual potency. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is very esoteric. It has nothing to do with the material world. To experience the happiness or the pleasure from worshipping Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa one requires to awaken their dormant God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are all originally spiritual entities.  This body is a type of machine, a carrier. A person may even have a crippled body, may have an old body, may have a young body; the body has nothing to do with themself. In fact, if someone is injured, sometimes they can feel although the body may be affected, the person is the same. But people are judging by seeing the body. Actually the real spiritual vision is to see the soul, to see the self. So, to understand Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, one has to elevate the consciousness to the spiritual platform. But this is difficult for the conditioned souls in this materialistic age. So Kṛṣṇa has personally come as Caitanya Mahāprabhu to give us that special blessing, to understand and appreciate deeply the pure love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. So Lord Caitanya was discussing with Rāmānanda Rāya about the glories of Rādhārāṇī and in this discussion, these are some of the statements that were made.

“premera parama-sāra ‘mahābhāva’ jāni
sei mahābhāva-rūpā rādhā-ṭhākurāṇī”
(Cc. Madhya 8.160)

The essential part of love of Godhead is called Mahābhāva, transcendental ecstasy and that ecstasy is represented by Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī.

So Rādhārāṇī is actually completely permeated with spiritual ecstasy. She has no other purpose but to serve Kṛṣṇa. But this particular form of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, who we have invited to come and stay with us forever, is Rādhā-Madanamohana. The Rādhā-Madanamohana form of the Lord is specially to take the souls of the material world, and to bring them to the platform of pure love for Godhead. To engage them in this confidential worship in this temple which is known as New Pānihāṭi. Because when Prabhupāda came here, that time He established the worship of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu. At that time, He called this place as New Pānihāṭi. Pānihāṭi is one of the very important pastime places of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu in India on the bank of the Ganges. That pastime we have discussed many times before so I won’t go into detail. But some of the pastimes are shown on the wall, which occurred in Pānihāṭi. So in Pānihāṭi, one of the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa deities worshipped there are known as Rādhā-Madanamohana. So that was also the name of the deities worshipped by Sanātana Gosvāmī in Vṛndāvana. So that deity, because it was worshipped in Pānihāṭi by Rāghava Paṇḍita, has also been invited to come here to accept worship from all of you. Śrī Śrī Rādhā Madanamohana kī… jaya!

So Rādhārāṇī’s glories are mentioned in the Brahma-saṁhitā –

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis
tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ
goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.37)

I worship Govinda the primeval Lord who resides in His own realm Goloka with Rādhā who resembles His own spiritual figure and who embodies the ecstatic potency, hlādinī. Their companions are Her confidants who embody extensions of Her bodily form and who are imbued and permeated with ever blissful spiritual rāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: This rasa is very important. Rasa means the transcendental mellow or relationship of love one can have with the Supreme Godhead. This world is a reflection of the spiritual world. In this world we see that there are husband and wife, there is parents and children, there is friends and friends, there is master and servant, and there is also hero-worship, or people who hold certain great figures in esteem, in awe and reverence, adoration. These are five basic categories of relationships. So, in the Vedas it is described that these originally exist in the spiritual world, Goloka Vṛndāvana, Vaikuṇṭha, and they are known as rasa or spiritual relationships with the Lord. So the Lord is glorified according to His pastimes which are held in different rasas or mellows. He is glorified in Vaikuṇṭha with great awe and reverence. There are some Vedic mantras in some of the Vedas where they don’t even say any words, only aaah, ooooooh. That this is all adoration, this is awe and reverence, this is appreciating the glories of the Lord even without expressing in words, example of śānta-rasa, this could be appreciation of the Absolute Truth.

*A devotee recites Vedic hymns to demonstrate Gurudeva’s point*

Hare Kṛṣṇa! It is complete even without a relationship! So that is considered the first relationship called śānta-rasa or adoration, neutral. Just complete wonder and overwhelmed how beautiful, how wonderful is the spiritual truth and everything is spiritual. There is the Supreme Person. The next stage is to do service to the Supreme Lord like Hanumān, he always was doing service to Lord Rāma, and Dāruka and many other devotees, they were in the mood of serving the Lord, that is called dāsya-rasa. The relationship of service. The next relationship is friendship, friendship with some reservation or reverence like Yudhiṣṭhira, or very intimate friendship like Sudāma, Subāla in Vṛndāvana. Arjuna, thoroughly intimate friendship. Then there is parental, Yaśodanandana, Nandasuno, Nandasuta. We worship Kṛṣṇa as the son of Nanda Mahārāja, Mother Yaśodā. There the relationship is one of parent and child. Each relationship is more and more full than the next. Service is included in friendship, but there is something more, there is intimacy. Friendship is included in parents’ relationship, but there is more. The parent wants to protect the child. The parent thinks, ‘I am better than my child. I have to protect. I am older, more wise’ and so on, and so the parent is in a superior position to the child. So it is said that even with the Lord, Kṛṣṇa has revealed, that one can be the parent of God and that is a very loving, ecstatic relationship. Actually no one can be the parent of God, how can you be the parent? He is the original. But for His own pleasure, He accepts the devotee who wants to serve Him in that way and He plays the part as the son, and makes the devotee be a father or a mother. When He comes into this world, He accepts such devotees as father and mother. Or even in the spiritual world such devotees are given that position, and He stays in a small child form and allows them to take care of Him as a type of service. Because He can assume any form, so when He wants He can assume a baby form, when He wants He can assume a big form, He can assume any form. Just as He assumes the whole universal form, He can also assume a baby form. Then the intimate rasa known as mādhurya-rasa is where Kṛṣṇa and His devotee associate somewhat similar to how a husband and wife or how a paramour and his lover would associate. Although there is nothing material but there is exchanges of embraces, of dancing, of loving, in a completely transcendental way, without any material exchange. But there is a complete spiritual exchange of love in that type of relationship. So whatever is in this world is kind of a shadow reflection of what is in the spiritual world. So Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are mādhurya-rasa. They are representing the highest, complete, transcendental relationship between God and the devotee. So when we worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, this is showing that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is complete in everything. He doesn’t lack anything. Therefore, we don’t need to dilly-dally around in the material world forever, but we should rather go back to the spiritual world where we can participate in the complete pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, as one of His eternal devotees and associates. So in this temple we have the three forms of the Lord’s pastimes. We discussed the rasas. These are very esoteric, I don’t know if everyone can follow, but these are important to understand. You can read Bhagavad-gītā, then Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and gradually all of these things are discussed. I am just explaining to you briefly because everyone should know that we are not worshipping someone with an idea that this is a man and this is a woman or something. This is actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead with His Supreme Energy. And They are united in pure love, and Their love They are giving to everyone. They are showing this pastime to attract the conditioned souls who are so fascinated by material sex life, by material happiness, to show that what you are enjoying is simply an insignificant activity mixed with pain. Sometimes only pain. What is going on in the spiritual world is pure happiness. Now to understand what is that pure happiness, for that then you will have to go deeper into that. I will not be able to explain the depth of it in a short time. But just to attract you to read on, to study on, to go deeper into the matter and to know, that what is being established here is the very highest form of spiritual worship, so that all of the devotees and congregations of this spiritual centre can actually achieve the highest spiritual benefit by coming and worshipping these Deities and participating in the functions here.

Now we have three altars – one altar there is Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, one altar there is Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda. In another altar there is Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and Subhadrā in the Jagannātha form. The Jagannātha form, worshipped in Jagannātha Purī, is a form of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā. It is like Dvārakādhīśa. Actually the king of Dvārakā, the king of Bhārata at that time who had his capital in Gujarat in western India, he came and found the deity of Kṛṣṇa in a Nīla-Mādhava form in the Nīlādri mountains. But that deity wanted to be worshipped as Jagannātha in Śrī Kṣetra. So Deity worship was established there in Jagannātha Purī by the king of entire Bhārata at that time, entire world, Indradyumna Mahārāja. So that worship in Dvārakā, when Kṛṣṇa was in Dvārakā He was worshipped in great opulence with so many diamonds and jewels, great offerings. Just like in Jagannātha Purī they offer Jagannātha 56 offerings a day, very opulent offerings. So that type of worship is known as opulent or aiśvarya. So the Lord in that form is known as aiśvarya-vigraha, or opulent form of the Lord. As I mentioned Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Their form is known as mādhurya-vigraha, or very sweet, attractive form of the Lord to attract the mind of the conditioned souls. There is another form when Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā combined, Kṛṣṇa takes on the mood of Rādhā, He takes on the mood of being a devotee, and He comes in the world and He just wants to give everyone, without any hesitation, He just wants to give everyone this highest mercy. Whether they are qualified or unqualified, whether they are brāhmaṇas or śūdras, whether they are mlecchas or ācārya, anyone, if they take up the simple process, then they get the mercy. That mood, like say a rich man he just wants to give everyone charity, let everyone come and take. That mood is known as audārya. Simply giving out, almost impatiently, ‘Take it, take it! Take as much as you want, just come and take it!’ That mood of giving is also in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That mood is in Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So in this age we need that mercy, we need the special mercy. That is why in this age we worship Caitanya Mahāprabhu as a means of getting the mercy of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Because none of us is perfect in this age, we make so many mistakes. We have so many defects. But we may have a desire to achieve perfection. With that desire we approach Caitanya, by His mercy we become pure, we become qualified to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, qualified to worship Dvārakādhīṣa, Jagannātha.

So because this temple was established as New Pānihāṭi dhāma and already deity of Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was established in the centre, therefore we felt that in deference to Bhaktivedanta Swāmi Prabhupāda, we shouldn’t move the deity from that position. And that we can take Lord Caitanya in the central position as a special opportunity to get His mercy, so that we can worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in the pure way. Actually Vṛndāvana was a lost holy place till Lord Caitanya brought His holy devotees from different parts of India there and He reconstructed all of the places. The grand guru of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Mādhavendra Purī, was the ācārya who found the Gopāla Deity who was established as Nāthajī in Nāthadvāra. Many people don’t realize that, Nāthajī is coming from Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s line. All the temples in Vṛndāvana, including Govindajī who has moved to Jaipur, Govindajī temple in Vṛndāvana, Madanamohana, Rādhā Ramaṇa, all these temples are coming from Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s disciplic succession. Actually we don’t know anything about Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, if it wasn’t revealed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It was there in the Vedas, but nobody, no ācārya was giving us this knowledge. It was lying dormant you can say. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu revealed His intimate purpose which we will mention today, because it is Rādhārāṇī’s appearance day. Are we ready for the ārati? So there are 4-5 minutes before the ārati, so I will just mention one thing. It will take 10 minutes.

500!!! (preparations) Hari bol!

Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Madanmohana kī… jaya! Rādhāṣṭamī mahotsava kī… jaya! Nitāi-Gaura kī… jaya!

You see, Rāmānanda Rāya who was one great devotee of Kṛṣṇa, when he saw Caitanya Mahāprabhu and He discussed with Him, he said that, “I have a very strong feeling that you are actually Kṛṣṇa. Nobody knows all these secrets that you know except Kṛṣṇa Himself.” And by his insisting, Caitanya revealed His form as Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. He divided apart and after that He reunited. And then He said to Rāmānanda Rāya:

“āliṅgana kari’ prabhu kaila āśvāsana
tomā vinā ei-rūpa nā dekhe anya-jana”
(Cc. Madhya 8.285)

After embracing Rāmānanda Rāya, the Lord pacified him, informing him, “But for you, no one has ever seen this form.”

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lord doesn’t have to reveal Himself to anyone. Lord Caitanya came as a devotee. He did not reveal to everyone and anyone that He was actually Kṛṣṇa, but Rāmānanda Rāya was such a great devotee, he knew! He could understand. The Vedas say that Kṛṣṇa is coming to give bhakti, You are giving bhakti. Kṛṣṇa is supposed to come in Kali-yuga in a golden form, You are in a golden form. Kṛṣṇa is supposed to chant the Holy Name, You are chanting the Holy Name. Kṛṣṇa is giving love for Kṛṣṇa, You are giving everyone love for Kṛṣṇa. You must be that avatāra, You are Kṛṣṇa Himself! Please I am Your devotee, reveal to me. Lord Kṛṣṇa could not hide Himself so He showed His form to Rāmānanda Rāya, that He was actually Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa combined. Otherwise, He didn’t show anyone. But Rāmānanda Rāya was very clever, he could understand that this was the form predicted in the Vedas. Then He showed to Rāmānanda Rāya that form as Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Then he stated,

mora tattva-līlā-rasa tomāra gocare
ataeva ei-rūpa dekhāiluṅ tomāre
(Cc. Madhya 8.286)

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirmed all the truths about My pastimes and mellows within your knowledge, therefore I have shown this form to you. “Actually My body does not have a fair complexion. It only appears so because it has touched the body of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. However, She does not touch anyone but the son of Nanda Mahārāja.

“I have now converted My body and mind into the ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī; thus I am tasting My own personal sweetness in that form.”

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu then admitted to His pure devotee, Rāmānanda Rāya, “Now there is no confidential activity unknown to you. Even though I try to conceal My activities, you can understand everything in detail by virtue of your advanced love for Me.”

The Lord then requested Rāmānanda Rāya, “Keep all these talks a secret. Please do not expose them anywhere and everywhere. Since My activities appear to be like those of a madman, people may take them lightly and laugh.” (Translations to verses 287-290)

Jayapatākā Swami: Because Lord Caitanya was showing the ecstasy of Rādhā therefore people thought that He was mad, because Rādhā becomes so ecstatic in love for Kṛṣṇa that She becomes almost mad for Kṛṣṇa. So Lord Caitanya showed that same mahābhāva. This is explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda, that, “My dear Rāmānanda Rāya you are actually seeing a separate person with a white complexion body. Actually I am not white, being Śrī Kṛṣṇa the son of Nanda Mahārāja I am blackish. When I come in touch with Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī I become white complexioned eternally. Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī does not touch the body of anyone but Kṛṣṇa. I taste My own transcendental features by accepting the complexion of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. Without Rādhārāṇī one cannot taste the transcendental pleasure of Kṛṣṇa’s conjugal love.” Lord Caitanya is Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa combined. So we cannot put Rādhā by Balarāma, because Balarāma being the older brother of Kṛṣṇa, the wife of Kṛṣṇa can’t go before the older brother. That is our Vedic tradition. So we have to keep on a separate altar.

So we hope that all the devotees will get the maximum blessings from Rādhā-Madanamohana, from Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda, Jagannātha-Subhadrā-Balarāma. Of course, we don’t expect everyone to be able to come to the temple every day. We are very grateful you have come and are staying late for this Rādhāṣṭamī festival, for this once in a lifetime installation of the Deities. Of course, everyone try to come at least on the Sunday festival days. But in addition to chant, and to have regular kīrtanas in your home, to have daily meditation of japa in your house, to offer your food to Kṛṣṇa in your home, and thus make your life a Kṛṣṇa centred life, a God conscious life. This process is universal, whether you are an American origin or Indian origin or Asian origin or any origin. Originally, we all are of spiritual origin. We come from the spiritual world, and therefore the spiritual activities are for all. So therefore, we invite everyone to practice here in the temple with us as well as. We will help you to establish this type of program in your own home. So you can make your own home into a temple. You can make your own heart into a temple, your own mind into a temple. And then wherever you go you will be in spiritual happiness. The simple process which is recommended in this age is to chant the names or the mantras of Kṛṣṇa, especially the mahā-mantra,

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

This chanting can be performed by anyone, anytime, anyplace. Actually tonight we were scheduled to have some initiation ceremonies. But because of all the installation and other festivals, we thought that better to discuss the importance of these installations and Rādhāṣṭamī. We are having a festival on Saturday in our Tennessee farm, where we are also going to be installing Ananta-śeṣa, to hold up the entire project there, and at that time, when that yajña is being held, we will be having the initiation ceremony there. For those who can’t attend, there may be some fire sacrifice in one of the house programs coming up. Mr. B. Patel, or some others who may be having house programs, if there is a  yajña there, some pre initiation ceremony held, prāg-dīkṣā or other, along with whatever other functions are held. You should know we are trying to encourage people to become more serious about their own spiritual life. Actually it is not that we can practice the spiritual life for you. We can give blessings, we can give you the prasādam from the Deities, we can help you in various ways. But ultimately, it is up to each individual to fly his own course. So for that we are trying to give good companionship, good direction, good intelligence, how you can practice your spiritual life. You will be self-sufficient; you will be standing on your own spiritual feet. You will be actually independent, not over-dependent on others. You will be simply able to depend personally on getting that direct inspiration from guru and Kṛṣṇa. This is what we gradually want to train people who are interested. Of course, we know that some people, they are not immediately ready to take on such a serious commitment. But we are trying to make it very simple for everyone to practice, so that you can know that eventually you should take on this responsibility for your spiritual life. Why delay? It is better to do it earlier than later. Some people say I will do when I get old. But in old age, that time we have so many hard-set habits, it is very hard to change in the middle of the road. Even in the old age, our material desires will not go away. So if we start to purify ourself as young as possible, then it makes it very easy, very gradual, and there is no kind of anxiety due to attachment. Actually, spiritual life is all happiness. But due to attachment we feel that oh, I am going to suffer something. There is no suffering in spiritual happiness. Suffering is in the lack of spiritual happiness. Spiritual bliss is without any suffering at all. But due to lack of spiritual understanding we fear, “Oh I am going to miss out something if I become liberated.” This is anachronism. No one misses out from being liberated. We experience life in its full form.

So we thank all of you for coming here and for helping in this installation. Actually installing is just the first step. This was mentioned earlier. We have invited Kṛṣṇa to please come, to stay here, to accept our worship. But now it is a very great responsibility. Actually, just a very short two months ago, with the help and the determination of many of our serious life members, we came to the saṅkalpa or the determination that we are going to have that installation on Rādhāṣṭamī. So although we wanted to have marble siṁhāsanas, there was no time to do that. We have wooden siṁhāsanas which are also alright to begin with. Then in the future we can improve. We wanted to do so many things: fix up the deity room in the back, make a bigger storage area, because now we need more area to house the additional paraphernalia and clothing and things for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. But they are not even able to finish all of the work. So many works are being done simultaneously. We brought here, for this function, the best, expert purohitas and paṇḍitas for doing the ceremony. Ātma Tattva dāsa from Māyāpur dhāma, Gaura Keśava, who flew in from Australia, and is touring now North America. We had to request him months ago to keep this day open for this ceremony. And other devotees have come from all over to make this a very successful function. But now after this, the different devotees will go back. The responsibility is here on the congregation devotees to protect these Deities. We need now some gates, some steel gates, so that the Deities are very safe. This cloth curtain is not sufficient for such a valuable prize such as the Lord Himself. Like this there are many things which are needed to complete and to make the situation proper, which I won’t go into all right now. But all these type of things we have to now see that the Lord is taken care of, that the devotees come to the temple. We should be very careful to be respectful, to be conscious and we should take the opportunity to serve the Lord. He has come here, why? Because we are requesting Him. Everyone is so eager, we must have Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, why? So we can serve them! We want the Lords so we can serve Him. Please come so we can serve You, we can bow down to You, we can offer our prayers to You, we can offer our service to You. He doesn’t need this service. We need the service. We need to offer this service to Him. When we offer service to the Supreme, to the Greatest, we become supremely blessed, we become great, we become glorified. By serving the Greatest, one becomes great. If one is serving a great king, or a great head of state, he naturally also becomes elevated in his position by grace of being with such a great person. But who is greater than the Supreme Lord Himself? To be His personal servant, there is no higher distinction or honor in this entire world. That is the top distinction, to be the personal servant of the Supreme Lord. So now we have invited the Lord, please come here. He’s done His part, He has come here. Paṇḍitas have done their part. We have all gathered together, we have requested the Lord, “Please come here because all the devotees want to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” Now we have called Them. Now it is your turn to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. And it is your great fortune and great opportunity. For me it is a constant anxiety, I hope that everyone very, very, carefully takes care of Rādhā-Madanamohana because they are going to hold me most responsible if They are not taken care of. Because I went to do the final request for them to come. They are going to hold me, they are going to hold the temple President, the temple Vice President and all the devotees. They are going to hold me first, then the President and then the Vice President, like that. So everyone is responsible. We are all sharing this great responsibility. On one hand I know that if everyone just remembers that this is our responsibility, then this service will be very beautifully performed and the Lord will be very happy to be with us, and therefore we will get the benefit of so much transcendental mercy from them. 

So I thank all of you for your inspiration and your enthusiasm and I hope that Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā-Madanamohana and Jagannātha bless you with more and more enthusiasm to continue in expanding the devotional service here in this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Nitāi-Gaura, Jagannātha temple.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!