20030116 Ratha-yātrā Inaugural Speech

(Disclaimer: The following is a machine-generated transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. It will be reviewed and verified against the original audio soon.)

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 26, 2002 – in Melbourne, Australia. The lecture begins with a reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.12.11.

will sing the Pranams to the to Kṛṣṇa and his representative. Sam. Sahagar rajiv. Shiv. Nama. Sam. Hari kishan harikisham. Rāma. Sam halle rāma ram. First I want to thank Dr. Santosha for his spontaneous and beautiful Tamil poetry which. Inspired the hearts of all the devotees present. How many, how many here know English? Maybe what you can do is. They will do like United nations simultaneously translation do Telugu translation same time Spanish Italian. So everyone who needs translation, you should go to where the translation is. Then we’re going to read the Peace formula. This verse Prabhupāda called it the formula for universal peace even by Kṛṣṇa and bhagavad gītā. Verse chapter 5, verse 29. Sahil. A person in full consciousness of me, knowing me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities.

The Supreme Lord of all planets and Devas and the benefactor and well wisher of all living entities attains peace from the pains of material miseries. Report the conditioned souls within the clutches of illusory energy are all anxious to attain peace in the material world. But they do not know the formula for peace which is explained in this part of the Bhagavad Gītā. The greatest peace formula is simply Lord Kṛṣṇa is the beneficiary and all human activity. Men should offer everything to the transcendental service of the Lord because He is the proprietor of all planets and the demigods thereon. No one is greater than He. He is greater than the greatest of the Devas, Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma. In the vedasvatara Upanishad 6.7 the Supreme Lord is described as Tam is. Under the spell of illusion.

Living entities are trying to be lords of all things to wait, but actually they are dominated by the material energy of the Lord. The Lord is the Master of material nature and the conditioned souls are under the stringent rules of material nature. Unless one understands these bare facts, it is not possible to achieve peace in the world either individually or collectively. This is the sense of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the supreme predominator and all living entities including the great Devas are His subordinates. One can attain perfect peace only complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hariyom Tatsut. We say Kṛṣṇa you can put in the place of Kṛṣṇa, God, Allah, Jehovah, Whichever name of the Supreme Lord you like, we prefer the Sanskrit name which means the all attractive and the reservoir of all pleasure and happiness.

So here in this verse, how we can get Shanti, how we can give peace? Very simple formula Kṛṣṇa is the supreme God, is the supreme predominator. All the living entities, including the great devas. When we say devas, Christians say angels. I once read a book about angels that describe something like 18,000 angels. Angels who are assisting the Lord in the material world. Angels who are directly associating with the Lord in the kingdom of God. So from that it seems that what we say in Vedas is devas or we translate that in English as demigods. Actually that is described in biblical terms as angels, sepulcher, archangels. They have various categories. So I didn’t. I just saw this encyclopedia of angel. I found it quite interesting that these various categories exist. Somehow india, some of the people thought the deva is equal to the supreme Lord.

And there is a mistake. Because of that, they are not getting the peace. We understand there’s one proprietor of everything. We are all working under the supreme proprietor. If we understand that, then we can easily achieve peace. The world today and everyone is fighting over oil, over various political issues. Because everyone thinks this is my property. But if everyone could understand that there’s one proprietor which is the supreme Lord, then we would have peace. All the ecological imbalances we’re facing because one government thinks this is my right to exploit, doesn’t matter what it does to affect the rest of the world. Because they think they’re the proprietor. But if we understand that the proprietor is Supreme Lord and we should all be acting responsibly, United nations should actually be representing the interest not of the different countries, but interest of Supreme Lord.

How the planet  will remain balanced, how other people  will be protected. Because the Lord sees all as his children. No matter what color, what creed, what race, what nationality, what background, everyone is his child. Vasudeva Kutumbakam so that we could apply that in the world, you would see that we would have peace. And if we apply it in our own lives, we also get peace. Prabhupāda explained. Just say that someone’s working in a factory. He doesn’t have the right to keep the product of the factory. Say you’re working for. I hear here this which some car factory is here? Ford. Okay, so if you’re working Hyundai or Ford, can you claim one day the worker can drive off with one car? I work here, I want to take one car. You have to buy the car like anyone else.

You can take your salary, what’s your dues, you can take. But the car belongs to the company, not to the worker. Like that. If we work in this world, the fruits of our work they belong to God. What we are allowed to take that is already established by the Lord, but ultimately he is the proprietor of everything. If we work in that consciousness, then we won’t feel so much anxiety when we think we’re the controller. And then things don’t work out the way that we want, then we become very short tempered sometimes, or angry. We get very stressed out because it’s not working according to our plan. But if we see the higher plan of the Lord and we work for the Lord’s interest, then everything becomes very peaceful in the mind. Whatever sacrifices, worship, austerities, penances, religious activities are done.

It’s all meant for the one supreme Lord, even if it’s offered through the devas or other way, ultimately he’s the beneficiary. He’s the supreme beneficiary of everything that’s done in the field of religion. So even whenever they’re doing all the different religions, whether they’re doing Ramazan or whether they’re doing Lent or whatever, they’re doing some ratas, it’s all meant ultimately for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord. So when we see that, then we can also have a true appreciation and respect for all the religions. Sometimes you hear people talk about religious tolerance, but tolerance is not a very good word. It’s like, I don’t like you, but I tolerate you. It’s almost condescending. I tolerate you like you have a neighbor, he makes some noise or something, but you tolerate it. So tolerate is different than respect.

In Kha consciousness, we want to promote our respect and love for all religions, not just the tolerance. Tolerance is the bare minimum, but it’s not a positive thing. So today in the world you’re having religious tolerance, but instead of that, we should actually have a religious respect and appreciation and love. If we love the Supreme Lord, anyone who is serving him in any way, we should appreciate that if that universal vision could be there, then we would have peace in the world. But if we think that my way is the only way, and other people, whatever way they are doing, even though not tolerating it, or at best they tolerate it, but we don’t respect it. That’s the reason we are not having good will, we are not having peace.

So we see that one supreme Lord and He is the beneficiary of all type of penances, religious activities, then actually we can have peace in the world, that there is only one Lord over all the planets, all the devas. So we are all living entities. And what is his attitude? Surhidham Surhid means he’s a well wisher, he’s our friend, Suridar Sarvaphutana, all living entities. So this verse Prabhupāda called it this peace formula. We could expand on this idea many times and go in greater and greater detail. The principles are very simple but the application is very profound. We see that where there’s a lack of peace it’s because a lack of applying these principles in the world today. Satya. Mahāprabhu, he came down in a very difficult time. At that time india there was the Mughal rule.

But he was able to bring peace and understanding even amongst the Mughals and Hindus. At that time also amongst the Hindus there was so much division because of different type of caste considerations, different types of sub groupings. Saivai, Sato, Karma, Khanda, Smartas, Lord Chaitanya. He welcomed everyone. There was once one. Hindu minister of the emperor Hussein Shah. And when Hussein Shah was a young prince, this Hindu minister was the general. So he was responsible to train the prince to become a warrior. One day the prince was misbehaving, playing around. So he gave him a swat on the back with his whip and said, you play around in the warfield, you may also lose your life. This is not for play. You have to be serious. So then that prince became very serious and he became very great warrior.

At that time india there was lot of integration even between that different people. Maybe Mughal rulers but they also had Hindu ministers like that. But one day after he became the emperor then his wife saw there was this mark on his back and said what is this? Said I was whipped. Who whipped you? Suburi Rai. Then you must have him killed. How can my husband, the emperor, the Naradeva Lord of everyone in this kingdom, empire, how can he be whipped by anyone? He should have his head. No, no. I was the one at fault. He was doing right in what he did. He saved my life. He instructed me his dear life, my father to me, how can I take his life? But the wife was in some, the queen was in like some ego. She said no, you should have him punished.

You should take his life. He whipped the emperor. I wasn’t the emperor then. I was a young prince. No, but now you’re the emperor. So now you should take his life. So finally with great difficulty he didn’t know what to do. His wife was very queen was ready and system. So then he decided, okay, I will convert him by force. In those days people were converted. If you spit in a glass of water and poured it on them. Then they were deemed converted by spit only. So that day in the royal assembly, he told Subiri Rai the situation. I am very sorry. This is the situation. My queen is insisting. I have to convert you. I have to punish you. It hurts me, but I have no way out. In other words, even the emperor was a bit hempecked by his wife.

So then they held the superior. I said, no, no, I don’t. They spit it in the water and poured it on him. Okay, now you’re according to that idea. Then he didn’t feel any different. But after that he became outcast. None of the Hindus were accepting him. So he went to the priest. They said, we don’t know what you can do. No solution. So he went to Banaras. And there he went top priest said, what can I do? I want to be back into my own religion. They said, well, what you can do is you take 2 kilos of ghee and you boil it. Then when it’s fully boiling, you drink it. Said, I will die. Yes, but next birth you take birth again as Hindu. So like this, people were being converted. And not everyone is going to drink the boiling oil or ghee.

So he was shocked, you know, nobody could give him a solution. Then he went to see Chaitanya Mahāprabhu and he said. Chaitanya said, it’s not an issue anyway. All you have to do, you just say Hare Kṛṣṇa and you will be purified from this spit. No problem. Just say Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Okay, you’re all right now. So like that there was so much very divisions and very narrow mindedness amongst the people. But Lord Chaitanya, he met the Chankazi. They had a big interfaith religious discourse. To understand what was the purpose. Also Lord Chaitanya met with peers. One was the Guru of the Mughal Emperor of Delhi. And they discussed about Quran and Lord Chaitanya, he was quoting from the Quran at that time. And he showed how in Quran it says Allah is Miracar and Allah is also Sakara. He is impersonal.

He is personal. All these give a very lengthy discussion establishing that ultimately the purpose of the Quran is bhakti. So like that also he met with a Buddhist. We didn’t hear about at that time. If he met with any Christian. I don’t know. I think in Kerala there might have been some Christian from St. Thomas. But somehow maybe they didn’t meet at that time. But like this Lord, everywhere he went, he was trying to bring this type of Universal understanding and unity. That ultimately everyone is meant to serve the Lord. That devotion and love for God. That is the ultimate purpose of all religion. And we can all be united in universal love for the supreme Lord. So in this way, Lord Chaitanya advised everyone should sing the names of God. Our Prabhupāda founder, Acharya Viscond.

He invited cardinals, bishops and all religious faiths that they can sing whatever name they have faith in. If they don’t like to sing Hare Kṛṣṇa, that’s alright. Let them sing other names, whichever is bona fide. Name of God. Sing the name of God. God’s name is the most holy vibration. It’s the holy presence of the Lord and sound. So we sing the names of God. We bring in a very auspicious vibration on earth. And this is purifying for the soul. I remember that in South America, some Christian nuns taking this inspiration, they began to chant. Like Hare Kṛṣṇa. They are chanting Jesus Christ. So if we can unite the world in the name of the Lord, then in this age, chanting name of God is especially recommended. We also see like here in South India, the Alwar Andal.

She recommended we chant the name of the Lord. You have in North India, Tukaram, you have many other great devotees. They also recommended chanting the name of God. You have got, of course, Lord Chaitanya taught the name of the Lord. Even in the Psalms of the Old Testament it mentions that you play cymbals and drums. And you sing the glories of the Lord in the street. And then of course, in the famous Lord’s Prayer of Lord Jesus. He said, O my Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And this name of the Lord. This is a very mysterious and very confidential matter. We find that even in the Jewish faith that only the rabbis  will say the name of God. Just like the priests only chant the mantras. Secret Gayatris and mantras and Vedic tradition.

Like that, only the rabbis  will chant certain names of the Lord. In fact, when I hear the Sama Veda, it reminds me of some of these Hebrew names of the Lord. Like Adonai and Jehovah. You hear the A when you sing the Samadhi. That sounds just like these Hebrew names of the Lord are within those Sama Veda mantras. Anyway, I didn’t analyze it very scientifically. Just I got that impression. But the idea was before these names were not repeated by everyone. Because people were afraid to take the name of God in vain. So instead God is like a title, like President. You see, Kṛṣṇa is more Of a personal name, Adonai. These are more personal names of the Lord. Actually, I read one mystical book about Solomon. And his whole mysticism was based on the holy name of the Lord.

He used the holy name of the Lord in Hebrew. But that was his method of worship. He made mangalas, like yantras, with the names of God on four different corners. He’d sit in the middle and he would chant the names of the Lord. So this system was there. Mystical use of the name of God amongst great kings and rabbis. And the ancient Jewish tradition. From which the Christianity is coming now. Lord Chaitanya, he revealed this. Took it out of the hands of the smartest. And out of the hand of the caste. Brahmin, although he also was a Brahmin. But he brought it to the public. Today, in this age, everyone can chant the name of the Lord. And if we sing the name of the Lord. That actually is a direct meditation. Because the name of God and God is not your.

Because God is all pervasive. If you chant his name, it’s not different. He will be immediately present. There’s no separation of time and place. When you are addressing the Lord, he’s everywhere. As soon as you call on his name, he’s there. That’s the magic or the wonderful miracle of the Holy Name. So we can invoke this presence of the Lord by singing the holy Name. And in this way, the world becomes purified. All the people’s hearts become sanctified. And the tendency to do bad things disappears from the people’s mind and heart. This change of heart we have experienced. Even some of our devotees are doing prison programs. And they found that the prisoners and the jails. When they sing Hare Kṛṣṇa. Some of them have decided to give up their life of pride and have a holy life. We found in Malaysia, the drug rehabilitation centers.

The drug addicts, by chanting the names of God, they’re also giving up. Many of them, they’re not going back to taking drugs. Usually once they leave the rehabilitation center, they go back again, 90%. But after chanting the names, they found that 40% are not going back. The very serious chanters, they could give it up. Which the government there is very pleased that they sponsored us to do programs of chanting the holy names with the drug addicts. Their drug addiction rehabilitation center. So, like this, we’re hoping that our Hare Kṛṣṇa center can promote the world peace. And that we can utilize this powerful invocation of the presence of the supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Through his holy names. And we can inspire all religions to also take this mercy coming down from the Lord by meditating on the divine transcendental name of the Lord.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hari Ram Hari Ram Ram Hari Hari Oṁ Tatsat. Since you have made temple of peace, would you like to say anything on the peace formula?