20220704 Ratha-yātrā Pandal Address

The following is a Ratha Yatra pandal address on day 3 given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 4th, 2022 at Iskcon Kolkata, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Dear devotees, I will try to speak in Bengali. This Ratha-yātrā utsava, today is the third day. And your presence here makes it auspicious. There are various cultural programs and lectures are going on. You had heard earlier, Śrī Śrīmad Subhāg Swami Mahārāja’s talk. Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the Founder-Ācārya of ISKCON had desired that in Kolkata there should be a grand big ratha. That is why during Ratha-yātrā there is a nine day festival. And then I give answer to questions and you see various programs are going on here, many exhibitions. There was a float in front of the Ratha-yātrā, they should some pastimes of the Lord. If any of you want to get attached to a Bhakti-vṛkṣa, you can register here. Here you can take darśana of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana cakra and Rādhā Govinda here. Yesterday I had asked, “Who has the most smiling face? Who has the most smiling face here?” The most smiling faces are those of Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā Mahārāṇī. They are having a smiling face to hear about Their various pastimes. You can also hear and enjoy those pastimes with the mercy of Lord Caitanya. By bhakti-yoga you can enter into the pastimes of the Lord.

Now, this material world is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam – place of misery and temporary. There are unlimited universes; but we are in one of those universes. But now in Kali-yuga the age of man is more or less 100 years. When this life ends we get a new birth. This body dies but the soul does not die. We are soul. We have a body. When this body dies then we will enter another body. But if we think of Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, we can go back to Godhead. These universes, the material world, are only 1 part of the strength of the Lord. Three parts is the spiritual world. There is no birth, no death, no disease and no old age. There the Lord’s daily pastimes go on. Whatever pastime you like you can enter that. If you want to see Rāma-līlā, then you can enter into that pastime. If you want to see Narasiṁhadeva pastimes, then you will enter them. The Lord has unlimited forms and you can enter any of them. Devahūti was the mother of Kapila Muni. At the time of death she remembered Kapila Muni and therefore went to the loka of Kapila Muni. There is a temple of Kapila Muni in Bengal, do you know where? Gaṅgā-sāgara – you are right!

Bhāgīrata Mahārāja brought Gaṅgā to liberate his ancestors. But when Gaṅgā entered Jahnu Muni’s āśrama, he got angry and drank the Ganges! Bhāgīrata was amazed! Where is Gaṅgā? The riverbed of Gaṅgā had gone dry. They searched a lot and reached Jahnu Muni’s āśrama. They requested Jahnu Muni to please release Gaṅgā. Jahnu Muni said, “I am sorry, but I have digested Gaṅgā!” Bhāgīrata Mahārāja said, “If you can gulp down Gaṅgā, and digest Gaṅgā, then you can bring her back as well.” Then Jahnu Muni manifested Gaṅgā from his thigh. So one of Gaṅgā’s names is Jāhnavī. That Jahnu Muni’s āśrama was Navadvīpa-dhāma. And there was an island there called Jahnudvīpa. There are nine islands – Sīmantadvīpa, Godrumadvīpa, Madhyadvīpa, Koladvīpa, Ṛtudvīpa, Jahnudvīpa, Modadrumadvīpa, Rudradvīpa and Antardvīpa. All these constitute Navadvīpa. Of which one of them is Jahnu Muni’s island. The Ganges manifested again and she was waiting there right in front of Lord Caitanya’s birthplace. Bhāgīrata Mahārāja asked, “Gaṅgā, why are you not moving on?” She said it is almost Gaura Pūrṇimā, Phalguna Pūrṇimā. If I stay here during Gaura Pūrṇimā, I will get liberated by the Lord’s mercy. I will stay until Gaura Pūrṇimā, Phalguna Pūrṇimā, Holi and then go.

These places of pastimes can be seen if you do the Navadvīpa-maṇḍala-parikramā. Nityānanda Prabhu used to do parikramā for nine days. We do about 7 or 8 days. Anyway, now there are 7 or 8 parikramā parties are there, about ten thousand odd devotees. One is West Bengal Nāmahaṭṭa, one is Bangladesh Nāmahaṭṭa, Gītā Course cakra, Hindi group devotees from Kolkata and other states where they speak Hindi, Russian party, International party – China, Europe, America, etc. From last year there is a South Indian party – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam all together. These people like sour preps. For them they make idli, dosa, chutney, yogurt, etc. In Māyāpur, because of the pandemic all of them have come to Māyāpur. If the situation is good, there are camp sites in each island. Those who do not want to stay the night in the tents, they come back to Māyāpur. Every year, before Phalguna Pūrṇimā there is a parikramā. And then in a small group during Kārtika month some devotees do parikramā. This way if parikramā is done we get purified. Every place, the pastimes of Śiva, Durga, Caitanya and Viṣṇu’s various avatāras is explained.

One island which is named after Durgā called Sīmantadvīpa. Lord Śiva in Kailāsa was chanting the name of Gaurāṅga. And Pārvatī asked, “What name are you chanting? Why are you dancing so wildly?” He said, “I am chanting the name of Gaurāṅga, the Kali-yuga avatāra.” He is always present invisibly in Navadvīpa dhāma. Then Pārvatī Devī came to Navadvīpa dhāma in one island, she started to do Gaurāṅga kīrtana.

“Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!”

Then Lord Gaurāṅga appeared there. He asked Pārvatī, “Why are you calling Me?” Pārvatī, Durgā Devī said, “I don’t get the association of devotees. The devotees say that Durgā, Pārvatī, Kālī, they are Māyā. Māyā is piśācī, demon. This way I don’t get the association of devotees. But I hear that You are giving everyone kṛṣṇa-prema. I want kṛṣṇa-prema too!” She took the dust from the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya on the front of her forehead, which is called sīmanta. Where ladies keep hair on two parts of the head and the middle is called sīmanta. Because Pārvatī Devī applied the dust of the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya on her head, sīmanta, that is why it is called Sīmantadvīpa. Lord Gaurāṅga said, “You are My special strength. This way you will be here and you are non-different from Rādhā and you will get the prema-bhāva of Rādhā.” Haribol! Here in Kolkata, there are big Durgā-pūjās celebrated. Here everyone prays for a nice house, wife, nice husband, children, etc. all material things. But Durgā, in Māyāpur she asked for kṛṣṇa-prema! Haribol! And you also can get kṛṣṇa-prema from Lord Caitanya.

This morning we went to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s birthplace. There some meters away was the Ādi-Gaṅgā. And there in the middle of Ādi-Gaṅgā, Lord Caitanya had gone 500 years ago. Lord Caitanya has left His dust here! I hope that you will chant and do kīrtana of the name of Gaurāṅga! As Subhāg Swami taught, you should chant and do japa of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

Now, Kṛṣṇa in various forms incarnated. That way Bhārata-varṣa, India is a sacred place. Because many avatāras appeared here. Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana, Rāmacandra in Ayodhyā, Caitanya Mahāprabhu in Navadvīpa and Paraśurāma, many avatāras. When you do parikramā of Navadvīpa, you can hear many pastimes of the avatāras. Varāhadeva, Hiraṇyākṣa, the brother of Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed by Varāhadeva and then He killed him with His left foot and Hiraṇyākṣa fell down there. And His other foot, do you know where He touched on earth? Navadvīpa-dhāma! And that island is Koladvīpa. Kolo is a name of Varāhadeva.

Now there is pastime going on in Kolkata where Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā Sudarśana cakra have come and there is Māsir Baḍi, Aunt’s place, and now you are all residing in. I will end my talk here. There are other programs. I will go for darśana and then give answer to questions. If you want you can join.

Śrīla Jayapatākā Swami Gurumahārāja kī jaya!