20221111 Śrī Kṣetra Purī Parikramā 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: To see so many devotees together is a very happy affair! I am very happy! We have come to Śrī Kṣetra dhāma. We will see the pastime places of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He was for 24 years in Navadvīpa and then after taking sannyāsa He, in 24 years about 6 years He toured around South India and Jhārikhaṇḍa, UP, Bihar, Vṛndāvana, and then He went to Bengal again, and He had various pastimes here.

Here in Caitanya-bhāgavata there is a history that there was one brāhmaṇa from South India who had come to Lord Jagannātha and prayed to Lord Jagannātha that I am very poor, please make me rich. But Lord Jagannātha did not hear him and so he started fasting. He went to the sea and saw a huge man like a mountain coming out of the sea and then he took the shape of a normal human being. The brāhmaṇa asked him, who he was. That person says, “What is it for you, who are you?” Ha! The brāhmaṇa said, “I am a brāhmaṇa and an ordinary person and seeing such a huge personality like you I was surprised because you emerged from the sea, that is why I asked you.” The person said, “My name is Vibhīṣaṇa.” Saying that he started walking. He went to take darśana of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya saw that the brāhmaṇa was following that person. Then they went to Gambīra and took His darśana. Then Vibhīṣaṇa saw Him and Lord Caitanya welcomed him. Because in the līlā as Lord Rāmacandra Vibhīṣaṇa had been a devotee of Lord Rāmacandra and knew Him. He was there for many days and discussed a lot. Lord Caitanya said, “You went to Lord Jagannātha and prayed.” Lord Jagannātha is the stationary Lord and Lord Caitanya is the walking Lord Jagannātha. Then Lord Caitanya told Vibhīṣaṇa that this brāhmaṇa has been fasting and is very poor and tried to commit suicide, he needs wealth, please give him wealth. Vibhīṣaṇa was a wealthy king he could do that if he wished. The brāhmaṇa was following Vibhīṣaṇa who went to take darśana of Lord Jagannātha. When he came out, the brāhmaṇa was there and following him. The brāhmaṇa asked Vibhīṣaṇa, who were you talking with? Then Vibhīṣaṇa said, “You are a foolish brāhmaṇa, you don’t know, that was Lord Jagannātha, that was Lord Caitanya!” Then the brāhmaṇa came and fell flat offering obeisances to Lord Caitanya. He asked for forgiveness, “I mistook You.” Lord Caitanya said, “It is alright, you go back and your inconvenience will be mitigated and you start doing devotional service.” Haribol! Lord Jagannātha is very merciful!

This way, what is the difference between lust and love? If we desire to satisfy our material senses that is lust. If we want to satisfy Lord Jagannātha, Lord Kṛṣṇa, then that is love. Our only desire is that all of you do devotional service. We are eternal living entities, we do not die, the body dies but the ātmā lives eternally. But you have this body because you have many material desires. If you desire to please Lord Jagannātha, Lord Kṛṣṇa, then you will not have to take another birth in this material world. I see that people come to this dhāma to attend marriage parties, etc. to satisfy their material desires. And you have come to do parikramā and to take darśana of the dhāma, doing various devotional services so that the Lord is happy. We are not this body, we are in this body that is the consciousness. That consciousness is eternal. The body will not. Again and again there will be a new body. If you love this country maybe next birth you will again take in this country. But that you will be born as a human being, that there is no surety. There are many dogs, lions, tigers, they will not have human forms. You can be trees, creepers. Now, by chanting the names of Lord Kṛṣṇa at least they can expect to get birth again as human beings. In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.9), Lord Kṛṣṇa says: janma karma ca me divyam – if we understand that His birth and activities are divine, then they will go back to Him, not take another birth. We cannot decide who will be our father, who will be our mother in our next life, we just have them assigned to us. But for Lord Kṛṣṇa He wanted that Devakī and Vasudeva would be His mother and father. That He would go to Vṛndāvana and as a child He would stay with Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja. When He was a baby, Pūtanā came and tried to kill Him. But then He was still Bhagavān. She came to kill Him but He killed her but since she had fed Him milk like a mother, He gave her the status of mother in Vaikuṇṭha dhāma. So this way, Lord Kṛṣṇa is always God. When He killed Pūtanā, He was God. When in the Kurukṣetra war, He was also God. He spoke the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavata Purāṇa is about Lord Kṛṣṇa and His pastimes. Lord Caitanya said that we should hear about Lord Kṛṣṇa and talk about Lord Kṛṣṇa. I want that all of you should read Bhagavad-gītā, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu and get the Bhakti-śāstrī degree. We have given the opportunity for people who are illiterate, have told His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Mahārāja to make it possible for these people to get the knowledge – in this modern age, they can hear the recording on their mobiles and answer the questions. Those who do not know to read, will hear and give answers. No excuses! One doctor told me he was illiterate! How can a doctor be illiterate? He said, I did not learn about dharma, I only learnt to be a doctor. So my desire is that everyone, learn and study the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam – husband, wife, children, all should study. The gṛhasthas should make efforts to teach their children in such a way that they do not take another birth in this material world. My Guru Mahārāja’s mother gave proper education to him. This was if everyone made efforts to learn and study the śāstras – there are nine processes of devotional service – and we have the opportunity to do any of them – śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam, vandanam, pāda-sevanam, arcanam, sakhyam, dāsyam, ātma-nivedanam. This parikramā that His Holiness Bhakti Puruṣottama Mahārāja is conducting, hear the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, that is śravaṇam, and we do Harināma saṅkīrtana that is kīrtanam. And we should keep in mind whatever we heard all day, that is smaraṇam. When we go to different pastime places, we offer obeisances, prayers, that is vandanam. Then watching and doing Deity worship is arcanam. Then the service we do to devotees, like offering prasāda, etc, is pāda-sevanam. This way staying in different devotional services our lives will be successful. Haribol!

There are many devotees here who will speak. I was not part of the parikramā for two years, that is why I spoke a bit more! Hare Kṛṣṇa!