20240131 Evening Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol! Nitāi! Gaurāṅga! I am very happy to see so many devotees. But I will speak in English for all devotees, and you can understand. Since my face has been paralyzed since my stroke, my speech is not clear and therefore I will be repeated.

It’s been a long time since I have been in Mumbai. I am very happy to be here. I am glad to see all of you! We all have seen the prāṇa-pratiṣṭha of the Rāma Mandir in Ayodhyā.

It is said in the śāstra that if Lord Caitanya gave one drop of kṛṣṇa-prema, then the whole universe will be flooded! We are all part of Lord Kṛṣṇa, we are jīva-śakti, and if we do service to the Lord, when we chant the holy names, we can realize this spiritual bliss. People think that they will be happy by some material sense gratification. Today I was reading in the news that how in this material world there is a proposal to put a chip in the mind. Through the chip you can do what you think. But we don’t know if that is very good because we don’t know what side effects that will have. The thing is with the idea that we are the body. But the fact that we are the soul is not being understood by anyone. People don’t know how to use their body in the service of Kṛṣṇa. I saw that, how some of our previous ācāryas, they had children who were also ācāryas. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, my guru was an ācārya and I am his disciple. His father was Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. So the husband and wife had prayed to Lord Jagannātha for a Kṛṣṇa conscious, long lived, healthy suputra.

When Bhīma defeated Jarāsandha then Kṛṣṇa released 20,000 kings, at that time Jarāsandha had got all the kings captivated and wanted to give them as bali-dāna to Lord Śiva. At the end Jarāsandha was killed and his son was made king. All the captive kings, they were freed. Kṛṣṇa gave them good cloth, nice chariots, good food. Then he told them before they left that when you try to have children then think about me. So that way the Lord wanted that everyone does the garbhādāna-saṁskāra. If you pray to Kṛṣṇa, and do the garbhādāna-saṁskāra then you may have a Kṛṣṇa conscious child. But there is no guarantee. Advaita Gosāñī had six children, three were smārtha-brāhmaṇas and three were Vaiṣṇavas. That we do not know. But this is a way the gṛhasthas should try. Of course, brahmacārīs they have to become paramahaṁsas and use all their time in the service of Kṛṣṇa. In the Kali-yuga it is not recommended to be a sannyāsī. We want Kṛṣṇa conscious husband and wife to serve Kṛṣṇa together. So, what should I speak today?

Lord Caitanya, He told Lord Nityānanda that our work in Bengal is not finished. Lot of work is left in Bengal. So Lord Caitanya told Lord Nityānanda You should help Me and go back to Bengal and finish the work left unfinished. Lord Caitanya travelled all over India. And He went to Gujarat in Dvārakā and then towards Maharashtra. Maharashtra is a kind of holy place. Sant Tukārāma was here. He would chant the holy names and he went back to Godhead through Garuḍa. Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda!

In Bengal the ladies do ulu-dhvani. Lord Nityānanda He went from Jagannātha Purī to Bengal on the order of Lord Caitanya. First, He reached Pānihāṭi. Rāghava Paṇḍita was a cook. He asked, “How many devotees are you?” Lord Nityānanda said, “50.” “Alright,” he said. “You go and have a bath in the Ganges and I will keep the prasāda ready.” Rāghava Paṇḍita and his sister Damayantī cooked a feast for the 50 devotees in one hour. I wish I could give you some prasāda. I will mentally give you prasāda now! If there is some prasāda sweet from the temple that could be distributed.

Lord Nityānanda came back after the bath with His 50 associates and had wonderful prasāda. Today I was reading in the news that we should take a nap for 15 to 20 min. So after that nap Lord Nityānanda and He sat in vīrāsana, a yoga position. Every devotee came before Him and began dancing. And after that Lord Nityānanda He started to dance Himself. When He danced, Lord Caitanya said, wherever He is He will appear there to see Him dance. You can imagine how wonderful was the dancing of Lord Nityānanda. So, Lord Nityānanda could see Lord Caitanya. He stopped dancing. He said that Lord Caitanya is there amongst us. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is with us. You cannot see, but He is wearing a garland from South India. You can smell His flowers. And all the devotees started sniffing in the air. Ah! Ah! Ah! There was kind of a love-gas like and everybody was getting affected, as soon as they could smell Lord Caitanya’s garland flowers. How do you like this story?

Think about the materialists, who are deprived of the ecstasy of Nitāi-Gaura’s līlā. I was thinking on the train from Gujarat to here, I was thinking how the people think that they are the body. Lord Caitanya, like He went to different households in South India, He told each one, yāre dekha, tāre kaha ’kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128] Whoever you meet tell them about Kṛṣṇa’s message. Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa. So Lord Caitanya was empowering every gṛhastha to preach the message of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In Mumbai all of you need to preach to them. Someone asked me we try, but what if our husband is not interested. You are residents of the land of Bollywood, you have to be very expert in acting. The wife could ask, this is Bhagavad-gītā, I am not able to understand this śloka, can you explain this? You know he does not know but you act as though you do not know.

So Lord Nityānanda and His team they celebrated the Pānihāṭi festival for many weeks. And about 10,000 people gathered there. They were all dancing and doing kīrtana and everyone was empowered with a spiritual strength. Some devotees were jumping so high that it looked like they were jumping from one tree to another like balloons or monkeys. Some devotees were so strong that they lifted up huge trees. One person picked up a bamboo which was 45 feet long! He was playing it like a flute. One could normally not even lift the bamboo, what to play like a flute! But, he lifted it with one hand. Finally, Rāghava Paṇḍita said that if you keep chanting here, then all the trees will get uprooted. Lord Nityānanda then went to another village and travelled around. He went to a goldsmiths’ village. Generally, the goldsmiths their mind is only to make money. But with the association of Lord Nityānanda and His associates, they became devotees and started chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So like this Lord Nityānanda and Lord Caitanya’s pastimes are really wonderful! You see every avatāra comes down with a particular mood. Lord Rāma was to defeat Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa had a special boon from Lord Śiva that he would not be killed by anyone except humans and animals.  Lord Rāma said, “Okay I will come as a human.” All the devas came as animals, monkeys. They fought with Rāvaṇa and his army. Lord Rāma’s mood was different, and he was a perfect king. When He left all the people of Ayodhyā were with Him on the bank of the Sarayū river. In the spiritual world there is a dhāma, Rāma dhāma. Before Lord Rāma came Narasiṁhadeva, He was half lion and half man. So like we have downstairs like Prahlāda Mahārāja and Narasiṁhadeva. Narasiṁhadeva is angry. His child devotee was abused, criticized and they tried to kill him. So Narasiṁhadeva came very angry. Lord Kṛṣṇa came as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In His young age he lifted the Govardhana hill and did amazing pastimes. In Kurukṣetra, He fought this amazing war. And He did not lift any weapon. Lord Kṛṣṇa drove Arjuna’s chariot. But Lord Kṛṣṇa had given this promise to Lord Brahmā and Mother Earth He would lighten the earth’s load.

Rukmiṇī told Lord Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, “You know everything, You know what Brahmā is doing in Satyaloka. You know what Śiva is doing in Kailāsa. You know what is happening in the unlimited brahmāṇḍas. But there is one thing You don’t know. I know, Rādhārāṇī knows, but You don’t know!” Kṛṣṇa was amazed, “What is that I don’t know?” He is in the hearts of everyone as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. He knows what everyone is doing. But Rukmiṇī, why did she say there is one thing He does not know? Do you know? Do you know something that even Kṛṣṇa does not know? Rukmiṇī told Lord Kṛṣṇa, “You don’t know how much Your devotees love You and in what way Your devotees love You. Because You have no one above You.” We have the way and we can know, Rādhārāṇī knows. Kṛṣṇa was amazed, truly there is something He does not know. So then He said, here in western India, in Kali-yuga I will come back as My devotee. I WILL COME BACK IN Kali-yuga. I WILL COME BACK IN KALI-YUGA. So He came back as Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And Lord Nitāi. In Kali-yuga where is the person who can say that I have never sinned? Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not come with any weapons to Kali-yuga because He would have to kill everybody. Like Kalki avatāra. The Lord came to deliver the fallen souls. Lord Kṛṣṇa said that 5000 years after Kali-yuga begins there will be a 10,000-year Golden Age when all will be devotees. You have to bring this Golden Age into Mumbai!

I guess that is enough for tonight. Are there any questions? Alright, four questions.

Question: At this age you have so much spiritual strength. How I can develop a drop of this strength in myself?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the West when he was about 70 years old. If Śrīla Prabhupāda was not there what would have been? I was 18 or 19 at the time. And Śrīla Prabhupāda saved me. I am trying to pay his debt a bit. So much bliss one can get by becoming a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. But many people do not know what they are missing. What can I say?

Question: We wanted to hear something from you about Ramacandra Kavirāja Gosvāmī on disappearance day and Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī on their appearance day.

Jayapatākā Swami: Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī is from the Śrī sampradāya by birth, but his father engaged in serving Lord Caitanya. And one day he was dreaming when he saw Lord Caitanya with His secretary. And he was thinking how blissful it would be to have darśana of Lord Caitanya along with His associates in Navadvīpa. Somehow Lord Caitanya was calling him for some reason. And he could see Lord Caitanya is Lord Kṛṣṇa. Anyway, he took instructions from Lord Caitanya that he should go to Vṛndāvana. He wrote many books. All our saṁskāras, the Sat-kriyā-sāra-dīpikā which has the garbhādāna-saṁskāra and many other saṁskāras for the gṛhasthas. He wrote them. The house where Lord Caitanya stayed in Śrīraṅgam in Tamil Nadu.

Rāmacandra Kavirāja, I will tell you shortly. On his wedding day, since he was a well to do brāhmaṇa, he was being carried in a palanquin. It suddenly stopped near the house of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. They saw him, what a good looking young man. [audio not clear] It is sad that he is getting married. Rāmacandra Kavirāja heard this. But he went and got married. And he came back to Śrīnivāsa Ṭhākura and Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura what did you want to tell me? They preached about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not fair, you got married, you go back. He went back and told his wife I will stay for one day with you only. The wife asked I won’t ask which every wife asks, you have found the spiritual perfection, tell me about that. So he preached to her, and she was very grateful to hear about the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. She bowed down at his feet and her kuṅkuma from her forehead fell on his feet. Then Rāmacandra Kavirāja went back to Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura saw that Rāmacandra Kavirāja had come, but he saw the kuṅkuma on his feet. [Audio break] Later they came to know that Rāmacandra Kavirāja had only preached to his wife. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura asked for forgiveness. We sing, rāmacandra-saṅga māge narottama-dāsa. We do this kīrtana so that all get his association. So, if husband and wife both are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness then happily they can serve Kṛṣṇa. Material life is very insignificant. There is some happiness and some sadness. The real happiness we are hankering for is got by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.