20240306 Śravaṇa Utsava Mela 2024 Address

Jayapatākā Swami: How many of you understand Bengali, raise your hands! How many of you know Hindi, raise your hands!

Hari Śauri Prabhu has written a book on the transcendental diary on Śrīla Prabhupāda, it has six volumes. The first volume has been released. Bengali speakers can read this book, it is in Bengali. The Bengali speakers can read this book and be blessed! English book is already available to those who speak English.  Bengali speakers had been deprived, have been deprived!! Till now! Does everybody here know Hindi? Those who speak Bengali understand Hindi?

In 1977 Śrīla Prabhupāda made a request to his disciples regarding the time he would no longer be physically present. “Your love for me will be shown by how much you cooperate to keep this institution together after I am gone.

With Kṛṣṇa in the center there can be full cooperation between the trees, animals, human beings and all living entities. The challenge then is to put Kṛṣṇa in the center because we embodied souls in the material world generally place ourselves in the center, not God.”

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: So here Śrīla Prabhupāda is requesting all the devotees to show their love by cooperating. We can understand from these words how it is important to work with each other cooperatively. The secret Śrīla Prabhupāda said, is to keep Kṛṣṇa in the center. You see, in the material world we think this will make me happy, that will make me happy. And what we think never makes us full happy. Even if we get some happiness, that is also limited and one day we will die. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness means keeping Kṛṣṇa in the center. Keeping Kṛṣṇa in the center means we try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. We are attached to pleasing Kṛṣṇa, pleasing guru. There is a letter to me by Śrīla Prabhupāda.

This is a letter from Bombay written to His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami from Śrīla Prabhupāda on 19 December 1972:

“I am so much happy to hear from you all the good news of our Māyāpur center. No, your liking of attachment there is not at all an inappropriate attachment, rather it is your qualification for pleasing your spiritual master. Attachment must be there, for Kṛṣṇa or for Māyā, so you have become attached to developing the Māyāpur center, that is Kṛṣṇa’s work. So Kṛṣṇa appreciates very much when His devotee becomes attached to Him in this way. Yes, the cooperative spirit of working together without any argument is especially prominent in Māyāpur more than other places in India. Therefore, you are successful, and the work is going on quickly to completion. That is because all of you working there have become very much attached to the dust from Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet and because you have got such deep personal interest with that engagement of work, you want to see that it is done nicely without any hindrance of selfish motivation, never mind all kinds of conditions of material nature. That idea has become prominent for all of you, it is bigger than māyā’s idea, therefore māyā cannot interfere to make you quarrel or other things.  But you especially are to take the credit. From the very beginning you wanted that place, and you got the land, got money from me and now you have built the place by your concentration of energy. That is wanted. If there is some discrepancy anywhere, some non-cooperation, fighting or if the work is slow or not to the standard, it is supposed to be that the person or persons in charge are not very much attached to Kṛṣṇa. That means they will discriminate, my engagement is not good, others’ engagement is good, like that. They do not know the secret of surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. Such surrendered devotee sees that everything is part of Kṛṣṇa’s plan, that whatever is meant to be, I am doing that, so let me do it with my full attention to every detail. Let me become absorbed in such service, never mind what it is, but let all other considerations be forgotten and my only desire is to do the thing best for Kṛṣṇa’s alone pleasure, be my motive. That is advanced stage of understanding devotional service or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Thank you very much for your kindly coming to the point.”

Many devotees, disciples, they ask me, how can I serve you? Here maybe there are disciples of many gurus. And especially during this festival. So, the secret to serving your guru is here, it is what Śrīla Prabhupāda said. Trying to serve, being attached to your service as service to Kṛṣṇa. So if the guru gives nice directions to serve Kṛṣṇa, then everybody is very happy in that mood. In Delhi, it is so nice there are so many branches, how many branches? More than 17. Because everybody is following the instructions of His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami and taking up Lord Kṛṣṇa’s, Lord Caitanya’s service. So, if we are serving the orders, we are serving the temple, we are doing our service distributing books, then that is success. We should be attached to pleasing guru and Gaurāṅga. The more we become attached, the more likely that we will reach the spontaneous level. We want to please Kṛṣṇa. That is how we get our pleasure because we are part of Kṛṣṇa. Another quote from Śrīla Prabhupāda:

Śrīla Prabhupāda explained: Since most people are non-devotees they regularly compete, fight, disagree and war among themselves for everyone wants to enjoy and satisfy his own senses. Therefore, unless such demons become Kṛṣṇa conscious, and are trained to satisfy the senses of the Lord, there can be no question of peace in human society. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto 8.8.32, purport.

Jayapatākā Swami: Just like at the present time there are wars in different parts of the world. And they don’t think how to please Kṛṣṇa. They are trying to please themselves. So, if you are out distributing books, you are trying to please Kṛṣṇa. I mean, that should be the motive. If you don’t distribute books, if you are not able to do it, then you think let me give it up, that is trying to please yourself. But if you are Kṛṣṇa conscious, you think, I should learn from someone who is doing it right, I must not be doing it right!

But Śrīla Prabhupāda was thinking that how to encourage devotees in different services. At one time, he was asking what to call experienced, dedicated cooks, pūjārīs, different services. To be Kṛṣṇa conscious, it is not that you have to be a manager. We need managers, but we also need other dedicated devotees. Every temple needs fixed up pujaris, fixed up cooks. So if someone takes up a service and tries to do nicely trying to please guru and Kṛṣṇa, then that is pleasing to guru, Gaurāṅga, Kṛṣṇa. That is the secret how to cooperate together. Lord Caitanya says in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta that there are weeds in devotional service. Śrīla Prabhupāda is saying that these weeds, they come as we have our own desires and therefore we don’t cooperate. So,

‘niṣiddhācāra’, ‘kuṭīnāṭī’, ‘jīva-hiṁsana’
‘lābha’, ‘pūjā’, ‘pratiṣṭhādi’ yata upaśākhā-gaṇa

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya līlā 19.159

Niṣiddhācāra means not to follow the regulative principles. Kuṭīnāṭī means diplomacy, criticizing, spreading false rumors. Jīva-hiṁsa means to be envious against other living entities. Lābha, pūjā, pratiṣṭhādi - lābha means what am I getting? I want a nice car, a nice tape recorder, something material!  Pūjā, why you are not worshiping me? If your desire is not to please Kṛṣṇa, but to have people worship you. If you are doing your service to please Kṛṣṇa, anyway you get appreciated. That is the real pūjā. But if you want pūjā, then you don’t get it, then you feel frustrated. But in the book, I was translating, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura he said, people who desire pūjā, pratiṣṭhā, their pūjā is like the stool of a pig. A pig eats stool, so the stool of a pig is issshhhh, wow! Pratiṣṭhādi, position, I want to be temple president, I want to be in this position, that position, so pratiṣṭhā, desire that is like another kind of weed byproduct. We want to serve Kṛṣṇa and naturally if you are very service oriented, you cooperate, people offer you service. How many people actually come and say, what service can I do? Please give me some service. Of course, some people come to Māyāpur, they say, give me any service, I will sweep the floor! But we have enough sweepers! Sometimes we need some specialists, who knows computer, of course, as Śrīla Prabhupāda said we can always use book distributors. So, I mean we need people with some, it would be nice to have more variety of capabilities.

“The unwanted creepers have been described by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he stated that if one hears and chants without trying to give up offences, one becomes materially attached to sense gratification. One may also desire freedom from material bondage like the māyāvādīs or may become attached to the yoga-siddhis and desire wonderful yogic powers.  If one is attached to wonderful material activities one is called siddhi-lobhī, greedy for material perfection. One may also be victimized by diplomatic or crooked behavior or one may associate with women for illicit sex. Others may make a show of devotional service like the prākṛta-sahajiyās or one may try to support his philosophy by joining some caste or identifying himself with a certain dynasty, claiming a monopoly on spiritual advancement.”

Jayapatākā Swami: He is being diplomatic, but Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura he was attacked and tried to be murdered many times by the Nityānanda-vaṁsa, by these dynastic devotees. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda said that Lord Caitanya is open to everyone and anyone. This is what Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhaktivedanta Swami he applied, he brought Kṛṣṇa consciousness to everyone. I am very grateful that there was an aspiring disciple who was in prison, and he was on death row. He wanted initiation. I told him that if he applied for pardon, I would initiate him. Because he was very detached, he thought my dying is Kṛṣṇa’s will. But he was doing very nice preaching. He was preaching to the inmates as well as the jail keepers. So he agreed, I initiated him and he applied for pardon. And he was given pardon! Because all the jail keepers said, he was the best prisoner they ever had! So pardon means from death to life imprisonment. But two days ago, I met him here, he has been freed from the prison! So, by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, even if we be in the worst situation, we can be Kṛṣṇa conscious. And we should always be fixed up serving guru and Gaurāṅga, pleasing Kṛṣṇa. We should cooperate to show our love for Śrīla Prabhupāda.

“Thus with the support of family tradition one may become a pseudo-guru or a so-called spiritual master.”

So, obviously we have to follow the four regulative principles. No meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling, no illicit sex. So being married is not illicit sex. Just casual sex with someone is illicit sex. But being married and practicing your household life to please Kṛṣṇa is one way of being Kṛṣṇa conscious. I saw one drama in Tamil Nadu. There were two boys and a girl playing the role of Yamadūtas and Yamarāja. The girl, she wore a mustache and was playing the role of Yamarāja. And the two Yamadūtas said these Kṛṣṇa conscious householders, what to do?! The wife, she does pūjā, she worships Deities, she cooks for the Deities, she chants Hare Kṛṣṇa. The husband is reading Bhagavad-gītā to the family, he is chanting and doing various devotional services. What should we do then? We cannot take them to hell! Yamarāja said, “No! These people who are chanting, who are worshiping, they should not be taken to me.” But the Yamadūtas said, what will we do then? If we get a vacation, what is the problem? So you here would you like to give the Yamadūtas some work to do? Who would like to give them a vacation? So that is what happens when you use your time, you use your energy to make more people Kṛṣṇa conscious. So, we hear from Śrīla Prabhupāda, the importance of cooperation.

This is a letter to Gurudāsa, written from Los Angeles by Śrīla Prabhupāda on 22 April 1973:

“So I would like to hear from you how many men are there in Vṛndāvana? And how the project is progressing there. Now we have got good respect there in India so you boys manage everything intelligently and responsibly. You have all got good intelligence, now use it to full capacity for Kṛṣṇa’s service and cooperate together. That will please me very much.”

Letter to Mukunda Mādhavānanda from Los Angeles on 15 December 1973:

“We want to utilize our land there for raising flowers, vegetables and grains if possible. Jayalakṣmaṇa’s suggestions are welcome so please give him all encouragement and facility, work together cooperatively and develop things nicely there.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So in this Kali-yuga we have the tendency to argue. But it is so important to work together cooperatively. Now, in the 9^th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it states in the purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda is saying as far as Kṛṣṇa consciousness is concerned, men, women, śūdras, whatever, they are all one. So, we want everyone to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Naturally, you will come to the highest position. And then we can make many people Kṛṣṇa conscious also.

How many of you saw the bathing of the big Deities? So, I got some special realization. How Lord Caitanya is Lord Kṛṣṇa! How Nitāi is Balarāma! And Advaita is Mahā-Viṣṇu! So these are Viṣṇu-tattvas. But Lord Kṛṣṇa took the role of His devotee! And Nitāi, Advaita also! So here, the Supreme Lord, He took the role of a devotee! That means how great it is to be a devotee! If we try to please Kṛṣṇa, if we try to please Lord Caitanya and guru, then that is the highest perfection! So that was one realization I had. Of course, wasn’t Lord Caitanya beautiful?! So, it was a great experience for me, how everyone was cooperating together, throwing the abhisheka water, sweeping the ground. I got another letter.

Letter to Jayapatākā and Bhavānanda, Bombay, 3 April 1974:

“As for Pañca Draviḍa Swami, I know he is a good preacher and collector. Let him work there for some time and come back. He is needed in South India and Acyutānanda Mahārāja is waiting for him. But it will depend on Pañca Draviḍa, he can decide himself, which part of the country he can preach best in. Wherever better facilities are, we should work. It doesn’t matter if it is Nadia or South India. So please go on all working together in cooperative spirit and do the needful. Then I may be spared taxing my brain over so many matters and I can go on with my real work of translation. I will be glad to hear your further progressive reports.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda was always encouraging us to work together cooperatively. And this letter shows also a devotee can work anywhere, if they get permission and they can stay. But they have the freewill, it is not that if a devotee wants to work somewhere else, they can ask their authorities, ask the guru. But there are pros and cons to every place. Many people, means many varieties of service. Small place, you may get more opportunities. So the secret is actually to serve Kṛṣṇa, to serve guru’s order and be cooperative. As a guru I may have disciples in different zones. But I encourage them wherever they are, to do their service sincerely and cooperatively. As guru, we are not supposed to request our disciple to go somewhere else, unless it is really a life and death situation. We want to see the whole world Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said in April here in Māyāpur I forget sometime in the 70s, he said say now, we have ten thousand initiating gurus, then we should increase it to one lakh and then from one lakh increase it to one million. From one million to ten million. So that is needed to fulfill Lord Caitanya’s prediction that there will be chanting in every town and village. So that is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision. Meanwhile we have maybe 150 gurus. But we want to have thousands, every disciple should at least be a guru for one. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was saying that all his followers should eventually be gurus. And you don’t have to be high profile, you can be a simple guru. But you can read all Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, read Hari Śauri’s biographies, read all the books on Śrīla Prabhupāda. So, I think it is about 8.30 pm now. Two minutes! Would anyone like to speak or ask any question?

Hari Śauri Prabhu: Jayapatākā Mahārāja asked if I had anything to say. After hearing Mahārāja’s wonderful class and all the other classes that have been given at different times, His Holiness Rādhānātha Swami and others, all I can say is that what Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us is beyond understanding. It is a wonderful, international gathering of devotees and Śrīla Prabhupāda himself told us many times that cooperation is the key to success. So everybody continue to cooperate together, and we will see this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spread all over the world. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Nityānanda! Nitāi Gaura Haribol!