20240117 Address to Bhakti-vṛkṣa Devotees from Surat

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 like your preaching activities very much. Caitanya Mahāprabhu incarnated to give kṛṣṇa-prema to all. This kṛṣṇa-prema is got by devotional service. Most people, they try to make some goal that if I get this I will be happy. But then they achieve the goal and are still not happy. This happiness is for some time and then gone. There was a famous music group, The Beetles, they thought that if we earn a lot and become successful, then we will be happy. We see many multi-millionaires who are very famous, but they don’t get what they are looking for. But The Beetles did not know that. They thought that maybe they could find it in spiritual life. Especially, after that Śrīla Prabhupāda met John Lennon and George Harrison. I had the opportunity to meet John Lennon in Montreal and then George Harrison in Māyāpur. George Harrison was very upset because John Lennon had been murdered. He agreed that he had not told anyone he had come to Māyāpur. So these people who are materially very successful, it does not mean they are happy. When we serve Lord Kṛṣṇa then we are really happy.

Our natural position is to serve at the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. There are many types of yoga and the most advanced process of yoga is bhakti-yoga. In this process we can sing, dance, and serve the Lord like you all have done and doing programs like Ratha-yātrā and Janmāṣṭamī. And how the devotees are using their intelligence, their energy for having nice programs. Bhagavad-gītā tells us that we are not the body. That we are the ātmā which is connected with Kṛṣṇa. People don’t know what they are doing, where are they going. When they find out that they are the eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, then we understand a few things. I am very grateful for all the services you are doing.

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s desire was that He wanted all the people in every village, town and country take up the process of bhakti-yoga. And I am very grateful that many senior devotees here are helping in taking care of outposts, etc. And many young people are very actively involved in preaching. This way, they are using their energy to please Lord Kṛṣṇa, please Lord Caitanya and achieve all perfection in life. We want to do something to help people so that they don’t take birth in this material world again and again. And they can go back to the spiritual world. This material world is like kind of a prison house. Here Lord Kṛṣṇa lets us try to achieve what we want. But then we realize that there is nothing better than service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

You are all living in this holy dhāma of Gujarat. There is Dvārakā dhāma here and then there are Mathurā dhāma and Vṛndāvana dhāma. Dvārakā is one of the dhāmas. So I was reading in the 10^th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that how Sudāmā Vipra, he was a classmate of Kṛṣṇa. One day he and Kṛṣṇa went out to the forest to collect wood for their spiritual master Sandipani Muni. His wife said that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You don’t have to ask Him to do anything. Sudāmā thought my wife wanted me to see Kṛṣṇa. Anyway, I would like to see Kṛṣṇa. He told his wife, “I have to give some gift to Kṛṣṇa when I go to see Him.” So his wife went to the neighbor brāhmaṇa’s house and asked for something and got some flat rice. Then he went to Dvārakā. I don’t know exactly where he lived – Porbandar? So Porbandar to Dvārakā he walked. And he was thinking whether Kṛṣṇa will remember him. The guards did not allow Sudāmā to enter the palace, but Kṛṣṇa saw Sudāmā at the door of the palace. Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 queens. But somehow Sudāmā Vipra came to the palace of Rukmiṇī Devī. And Kṛṣṇa when He was seated in the palace, He saw Vipra Sudāmā at the palace door and He immediately got up to go and meet Him. Sudāmā Vipra was very poor and his clothes were all torn. Kṛṣṇa embraced him and He washed his feet and put the water on His lotus head. Then both of them talked about their time in their guru’s āśrama. So Kṛṣṇa was asking Sudāmā Vipra, “You don’t seem to be renounced. How is your wife etc.” Lord Kṛṣṇa was talking with him like ordinary friends do. Then Lord Kṛṣṇa was recollecting how at one time they both had got lost in the forest and it was very dark, and they were holding each other’s hands. Lord Kṛṣṇa asked Sudāmā if he had brought any gift for Him. Then Kṛṣṇa gave some gift to him. He saw that Sudāmā Vipra had some flat rice, chipped rice, which he had brought for Him. Then He took it and ate it very affectionately. But Sudāmā tried to stop Kṛṣṇa and told Him not to eat the flat rice as it was not nice for Him. Lord Kṛṣṇa took two morsels and then Rukmiṇī stopped Him from taking the last morsel. She told Him that He had already given all the gifts that He had and if He took the third morsel, He would have to give more than what He had. So Rukmiṇī Devī is the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, with Her glance, She can give unlimited fortunes. Sudāmā never asked for anything. But he was amazed when he reached home. There was a palace there! He thought maybe have I come to the wrong place or something. His wife was dressed in nice silks and beautiful. Then Sudāmā Vipra realized that all this was given by Lord Kṛṣṇa. Actually, these material things were not very significant for him. He was a friend of Kṛṣṇa. The most important thing is that we preach and have a relationship with Lord Kṛṣṇa.

In bhakti-yoga there are nine types of bhakti, nine sevās. Chanting, dancing, remembering Kṛṣṇa, serving Kṛṣṇa, Deity worship, offering prayers, being a servant of Kṛṣṇa, being a friend of Kṛṣṇa, like Sudāmā was a friend, and then surrendering everything to Kṛṣṇa. So it is a great blessing to be able to render these confidential services to Kṛṣṇa. Everything you do, Lord Kṛṣṇa never forgets, but we forget that.

Thank you very much! Hare Kṛṣṇa!