Timeline of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami's Life - 1991-2000

Bangalore

I was received by my disciples Madhu Paṇḍita dāsa, the temple president, and Jaya Caitanya dāsa, the secretary, plus other devotees.

To save time I took breakfast in the car while driving to the temple. They offered me fruit so I accepted it. Nice fruits, some not usually seen in other parts of India. Fresh apricots, small cherries, plums, mangos and litchi. After I finished the fruit and washed up, they asked if I wanted millet cereal (rāgi). I always take my grains first and then fruit last. After I take fruit, I don’t take any grains until everything is digested. This has worked well for me, and it is an Indian custom. “Kāli peṭer jal, bura pether phal” is the saying: “take water on an empty stomach and fruit on a full stomach”. So I declined. Had they offered the rāgi cereal first I would have taken. So live and learn.

Over a hundred devotees were waiting for my arrival. Bright faced. Sweet kīrtana. I was taken up to the temple floor by the imported Otis lift which the President will use tomorrow. Every thing worked efficiently.

The main reason for my coming is to attend and assist in the special function where the President of the Indian Republic, Śrī Sankar Dayal Sharma, is coming to inaugurate the Bangalore temple complex and dedicate it in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s honor on behalf of the people of India. This is a very historic and important occasion for the whole of ISKCON. The recognition of the President of India for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s contribution to India will have bearing all over the world where ISKCON is not well understood.

Everything is primarily focused on this function. Government officers are crawling all over the place and high security is already in place. No foreign devotees have been invited for this function at the request of the Home Ministry so that they don’t have to step up the security to a higher level. Since I am an Indian citizen, I am here.

The temple room is already set up for the inaugural function. The raised dias for the President and speakers is in place. Śrīla Prabhupāda is already seated there. I offer my obeisances and offer flowers to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

I take darśana of the Deities. The brilliantly shining and effulgent Deities show up very clearly in front of the blue backdrops. Śrī Śrī Nitāi Gaurāṅga were the first Deities I reached. I surrendered to Their Lords, offering my prostrated obeisances. Then Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Candra. Then Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balarāma. I pray for blessings before each Deity and make some general prayers and special appeals for devotees I am especially concerned about at this time.

After caraṇāmṛta, it is time to go down to take darśana of the other temples. On the way I am shown the new chandelier of the temple. I think there is no chandelier like this anywhere. A gigantic golden lotus of 1008 petals turned upside down with small lights hidden in each petal. The lotus itself is really impressive. One has to see it to understand; I don’t have the time to explain it here.

I took darśana of Śrīnivāsa Govinda Deity. He is lightly dressed and looks very happy. Rukmiṇī Kṛṣṇa Satyabhāmā are also worshipped at His feet. Then I had the darśana of Narasiṁhadeva and Bhakta Prahlāda. They also look very happy. I pray for the removal of obstacles for the function, and blessings.

The devotees take me to the old temple and bath the feet and do guru-pūjā. I explain that bathing the feet should have been done prior to or upon entering the temple room if possible. Pūjā can be done afterwards. The devotees are fired up and the kīrtana is intense. Everyone comes up and offers flowers and I give them four pieces of sweet.

Today has been set aside for preparations for tomorrow’s function. Some candidates for initiation and shelter are coming for interviews. After the hectic time in Bangladesh, it is a lighter program for me. Maybe I can catch up on a few pending emails during the gaps. I have to finalize things about my travel plans and talk to local leaders. Never a dull moment.

One shelter candidate came whose husband doesn’t know she is taking shelter. A kind of underground mercy case. She came during the day because the husband was at work. Otherwise, the husband is supportive, but doesn’t believe in worshipping or accepting a living guru. He tells her to worship my picture but not me. I was impressed by her exam. One statement she made is something that touched my heart. I am inspired to preach to the congregation so that they get Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, and her answer summed it up nicely:

“Śrīla Prabhupāda has given a well-organized, and easy system of worshipping the Lord. Although there are many organizations, there is no society as organized as ISKCON in disseminating spiritual knowledge. (Note: that’s the impression in Bangalore, and we hope everywhere). Also Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books which are available only through ISKCON, is a living evidence of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s pure devotion. Thus serving Śrīla Prabhupāda through the ISKCON temples gives me a lot of pleasure, otherwise somebody who is so insignificant like me would never have got an opportunity to serve the Lord. By visiting the ISKCON temples, I am able to maintain constant as sociation with the devotees. When one is bereft of association with devotees, māyā will immediately engulf him/her. As Prabhupāda says in all his books, association of devotees is always necessary to advance in spiritualism. By constantly rendering devotional service, and thinking of the guru and The Lord, one can advance spiritually. Thus by also maintaining a spiritual atmosphere at home, one can help even others at home to be Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Such a nice realization. If we hadn’t instituted our Kṛṣṇa conscious congregational preaching programs (Nāmahaṭṭa), then how would sincere people like this get a chance to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa? My eyes fill with tears thinking of the countless people who are just waiting for the chance to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa but are depending on our existing temple and congregational devotees to give them the mercy! There is so much to be done and time is passing quickly...

I am able to log onto internet. I have tons of GBC correspondence pending. I catch up on some of it. I spend the day like this with in terviews, letters, and even a short nap. Two more baths. No shower here. Two brass buckets filled with water and a brass pot to pour the water over the head. They like this system here. As I pour the water, I call out loudly GAṄGĀ!!! GAṄGĀ!!!! Invoking the presence of the Ganges. The picture of Māyāpur Gaṅgā comes to mind, and I am transported to the Holy dhāma. I am in the Ganges again. Then the bath is over, and I am back in Bangalore, but this is also a holy dhāma with the beautiful Deities and enthusiastic devotees!

In the middle of the day, the Government Press office sends over the President’s prepared speech. It is so devotional that when they started reading it, I thought it was the temple president’s prepared speech for me. When I wanted to correct a few statements, he informed me it wasn’t my speech, but the President of India’s. We all shouted haribol!!!! It is really devotional and respectful of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Stay tuned for tomorrow, I will send the full text.

I go over tomorrow’s schedule and give some pointers to add to my prepared speech. I take a last japa walk to the Garuḍa-stambha, the gold column towering more than 20m in the air. The Garuḍa-stambha has small bells which are tinkling in the wind. It is a very auspicious sound. Now time to take rest to prepare for the big day tomorrow.

But Varada Kṛṣṇa dāsa came with a draft for my speech tomorrow. I gave some ideas. Things dragged on. Rest at midnight.

I hope that this finds you in good health and blissful in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

Your ever well-wisher,

Jayapatākā Swami