20230403 Address to Dāmodaradeśa Yātrā

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: I am very happy to see all of you! It is a very tight visit. I could only stay one day. On the way back I hope to stay in Śyāmadeśa. We will see how things go in the USA. I am supposed to take some treatment.

Actually, we were seeing how people come to the Middle East economic development. But we would like them to also develop their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like for the Middle East we have to go back to our home countries, after we achieve this human life, we should go back home back to Godhead. And that is possible when we understand the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then the science is revealed. And we see that the Supreme Lord, He gave a great mercy. He appears every millennium, every yuga in this universe, especially He appears in India. He appears as Lord Kṛṣṇa, previously he appeared as Lord Rāma, most recently He appeared as Lord Caitanya.

Actually, if we meditate, we see how Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad it is mentioned that we are all eternal, but He is the Supreme eternal. We are all conscious, but He is the supreme consciousness. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān - He supplies what everyone desires, and He maintains everybody in all the ananta-koṭi brahmāṇḍas, the unlimited universes.

So, one day in Dvārakā, Rukmiṇī was talking to Him. He likes to hear His wife talk. I am sure the husbands here have heard their wives talk! So, she said, “Kṛṣṇa, You know everything. You know what Brahmā is dong in Satyaloka, You know what Śiva is doing in Kailāsa. You know what everyone is doing in all the ananta-koṭi brahmāṇḍas. But there is one thing You don’t know!” He had never heard anyone tell Him there is something He doesn’t know. His wife Rukmiṇī told him, “I know, Rādhārāṇī knows, but You don’t know.” “What is that?” She said, “You don’t know how much Your devotees love you. And in what way we love You. I know, Rādhārāṇī knows, but You don’t know. Because You have nobody above You.” So then He said, “I will come in Kali-yuga as My devotee. I will come as a devotee. I WILL COME IN KALI-YUGA AS A DEVOTTEE!” That is the mystery behind the appearance of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is Kṛṣṇa with the heart of Rādhā, with the mood of Rādhārāṇī. He is Kṛṣṇa in the most merciful form. He gives out love of Godhead freely. Do you want it? Then you can get it freely from Lord Gaurāṅga and also. Lord Nityānanda, that is His expansion.

So, here Śrīvallabha dāsa and other leaders from the Middle East are making this available to all the people. Ad we hope that everyone of you become great panditas in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Not only the men but also the ladies. They have to read, they have to become paṇḍitāyinīs.

I am very happy to be discussing with you tonight. So there was a thought I might go swimming, but it is too cold for me now. I am already sick, coughing and sneezing.

But this is a rare opportunity you have to not only see your economic future but to see our spiritual future. We are not the body. We are the eternal consciousness in the body.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was talking, my gurudeva His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, in a village on the border of Bangladesh, Haridāspur. And he told the people that say the grandfather of the family dies. Everybody is lamenting. My father is gone, my husband is gone, my grandfather is gone. But what is gone? The head is there, hands are there, hair is there. But everyone is crying. He is gone, he is gone! So who is gone? This simple thing even great scientists don’t know. Actually, we are not the body, we are the consciousness, the spiritual spark in the body.

Śrīla Prabhupāda, my gurudeva, he talked to my pūrvāśrama mother. And he was explaining to her, how she was the spiritual force in the body. I never heard him explain the jīvātmā in such a simple language as the ‘spiritual living force’. And my mother, she started chanting 4 rounds of japa! Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Although she was one of the sisters in the church, she said she had a spiritual experience by the side of the Ganges. And she wanted that, her ashes submerged in the Ganges. So, in the whole world, I have been giving lectures where they are doing worship in temples, in churches, trying to convince people that they should develop their naturel love for Kṛṣṇa. That is the science of bhakti-yoga. Whether you are householder or in the renounced order, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and you will achieve the highest destination. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Thank you very much! Daṇḍavat!

I know a little Hindi, I speak Bengali. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Naṇḍri! Nanni! Vaṇakkam!

One thing is coming up, every three years is the Puruṣottama month. In our Indian lunar calendar, there are like 10 days extra each year. Every third year one extra month is put in. That month was crying because there were no pious activities performed in that month. So she was saying, people are calling bad names. So Kṛṣṇa said that I will adopt you and you will be known as the Puruṣottama month. Everyone who does any spiritual activities in that month gets a 1000-benefits. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, offer lamps to Kṛṣṇa. You do any sevā to Kṛṣṇa, donate to Kṛṣṇa, do things, anything you do that has a spiritual significance, you will get a 1000 times benefit. This is a rare opportunity. I hope that Dāmodaradeśa, Avatārīdeśa, Śyāmadeśa, etc. will take advantage of this holy month and make leaps and bounds advancement. Thank you very much.