20220617 Bhakti-śāstri Graduation Ceremony Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: [audio break] Because Vaiṣṇavas could be born in any caste. But he also said that he got complaints that those who received second initiation were not sufficiently knowledgeable. So he wrote a letter to all the GBC that from now on anyone who wants second initiation should have Bhakti-śāstri. I am very glad that this temple has an institution for Bhakti-śāstri exams, studies and degrees. Haribol! Also Bhakti-vaibhava and Bhakti-vedānta. The Ministry of Education, to promote the reading of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s major books has given some fast-track ways to get the degrees. We can teach and get the degree. Managers who do not have much time to go on studying, one who has read the books many times, they have developed a one-time test that they can take. There are 12 people who had not got their degrees in Hosur. But they wanted to take second initiation. So I had them take a test, those who are 18 years in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they took the one time test and 7 of them passed. So [audio break] we hope that everybody…

two guys walked through the wall. They carried leather ropes. They had big teeth. They were very ghastly Yamadūtas. And the husband he said, no, no, no, no, not me, not me, not me, I don’t want to go! No, no, please not me, you are at the wrong address! And then they left through the wall. The father called the wife. I want the neck beads, I want Bhagavad-gītā, I want to chant japa, I want to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. And then overnight he became a devotee. We had been preaching but our preaching did not have an effect. When the Yamadūtas came he got realization. So in a few minutes the Yamadūtas changed his heart. So we want your house to be Kṛṣṇa centered and the Yamadūtas should not come here. If you get the Bhakti-śāstri and teach others. I don’t want to keep His Holiness Bhānu Swami waiting and I don’t want to keep you waiting either! If the Yamadūtas are on the way, tell them chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy. We thank the teachers who have taken the time, the trouble and effort to give the Bhagavad-gītā course to the students here. We are all indebted to the teachers. Let us give them a Haribol! There is a special course for teachers.