20110412 Talk at a BVNS program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgpCRBc3kcQ

20110412 His. Holiness. Jayapatākā Swāmi gave a talk at a BNS program in Māyāpur. 

Gurumahārāja:

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

paramānanda-mādhavam

Śrī Caitanya Iswaram

Hari Oṁ Tat Sat

First I want to thank all the students from the Bhaktisiddhānthā National School for their very enthusiastic, nice performance of Ram Līlā.

Hariboḷ....................Haribol (everyone) (applause)

Today was the day of Rām Navamī. We have many Rām Deities in ISKCON. And mainly say in India we have, in Delhi, in Bombay. We have also in the Washington D.C. Also in Lima Peru, also in Nova Gokul of Brazil. As they say that Prabhupāda said that Lord Rāmchandra visited South America with Laxman, and with back of Hanumān.

So, in Cusco, Peru there is a monkey temple, Bandar mandir. So, I listened to one lecture by Prabhupāda. He said that Lord Rāma was like... all the avatars, starting from Ram, Ramadimurtisu... they are all coming from Kṛṣṇa, and we know that Lord Caitanya, He had his six handed form. That was called the Sadabhuj, and there was two hands Kṛṣṇa playing flute, and two hands of Lord Caitanya carrying daṇḍa and kamdalu, and two hands carrying a bow and arrow.

So, in Caitanya Līlā, He is connected to the Ram Līlā and also to the Kṛṣṇa Līlā. Also in the Nabadwipa Parikrama, there in the Mododruma Dwipa, it has Lord Rāma, and He is smiling.... Ha, Ha... Then Sītā said, “Why are you laughing? He said, “Well, in Kali Yuga... in my yuga, you get banished to the forest, and I worship a golden form of you, and in Kali Yuga I take sanyas, and get banished in the forest, and you worship a golden form of me.” But Sītā was not happy with this appearance of the Lord.

We also know that Prabhupāda, he said that Lord Ram was trained as a kṣatriya, and he glorified the kṣatriyas for their chivalry, their strict adherence to their word, and like the kṣatriya .... if they are challenged, they have to accept. So, like that Dasarath, he had three wives – Kauśalyā, Kaikai, Sumitra. So, Kaikai saved his life. So, he offered her two boons. She said, I don’t need now, when I need I will ask you. So, the day before the what you call the ordination of Lord Ram... So, Kaikeya approached Dasarath, and she said, “Remember you promised me two boons.” So, Prabhupāda said that she was very diplomatic. So, she said, “Instead of Ram, I want to my son Bharat to sit on the throne.” Prabhupāda said that the woman nature was competition among each others. So, she was the youngest queen and Yaśodā was the oldest, and Kauśalyā was the oldest. So, Kauśalyā’s son Ram should be the king, Kaunteya wanted Bharat, so she said you install Bharat instead of Ram. So, Dasarath said ok. But she knew that maybe he will install Bharat, but Ram can come, and after a few days he will take over. So, she also asked that Ram be banished to the forest for fourteen years, and this was very hard for King Dasarath, but because he gave his word he had to follow. And because he asked Ram, Ram also took his father’s word very seriously and he accepted. Like that we should also...  Prabhupāda said that he was very much dedicated to following the order of his guru. So, we should also carry out the order of our guru, and we should carry out the order of Prabhupāda who is our founder Acharya. And how Ram he took his father’s words seriously, we should also take the words of our Guru paramparā very seriously.

So, when we were in our safari we also say Citrakūṭa, where Ramchandra said in the forest for eleven years. That was like the Vṛndāvana Ram Līlā. It was very beautiful. Even now after millions of years it was a very beautiful place, and even we didn’t know much about the place, but when we saw it was very beautiful. Have you seen? Very beauuuuutiful. So, there are many temples there. Sitakunda, when they came Sītā, Rāma was staying there. Then also how Bharat, he told Kaikeya, “Since you the wife of my father, you are my queen, but from the day you are not more my mother.” And when Hanumana was ... Bharat also, he took the slippers of Ram and he put them on the Singhasan, and he ran the kingdom from the side on behalf of Lord Ram. It was.... He stayed in on village next to Ayodhyā. He said, if my brother is banished, of course will stay in the forest. And one day Hanumāna was flying over. He was looking from the Mandara hill, and so Bharat brought him down. There it shows Bharat embracing with Hanumān. So, like that Rāmlila has many details. So, also the Rāvaṇa, he approached the Vedavatī and said, I want you to be my wife. I will make you queen. She said, “I am sorry. My heart is only for Vsnu. I want to serve Vsnu.” The Rāvaṇa said, “Anyway I a raksasha. I can do what I want. I will take you by force, and I will enjoy you.” And he went to grab her by the... by her hairs, but she cursed him that if ... whenever you try to take a woman by force, you will die immediately. And a woman will be your downfall. And then she burned herself. So, that’s why Ram.... Rāvaṇa, he couldn’t forcibly make Sītā accept him. He had to try to attract her in some way.

So, when Sītā was taken from the Laxman Rekhā, she was taken by Agnidev, and he gave instead the.... Vedavatī was in the form of a Chāyā Sītā who was double, and I think.... all these torture, all the harassment by the asuras were given to the Chāyā Sītā, and so at the end she wanted to ....... marry Ram, but Ram said, I have taken a vow, one wife. So, in the Kaliyuga when I appear you can also be my wife. This was Sītā’s request, because Chāya Sītā had gone through so much trouble on behalf of Sītā. So, in Tirupati, the Srinivisa he married Padmāvatī. So, Padmāvatī is Chaya Sītā. So, in the Caitanya Līlā Chaya Sītā is the Laxmī Priya, and the aassol Sītā is Viṣṇu Priya. So, like that the Līlā’s are... have some connection. So, in the Kaliyuga when the Lord comes as the Channā Avatāra , at time Vedavatī gets married to him. Anyway, like that I was thinking how it would be nice sometime to show the Vedavatī, how she married Bālajī, how she married Lord Caitanya.

Anyway, today is Lord Ram’s Ramnavami, and we are very grateful that He appeared. We liked very much the drams performed by the students of the National School. So, I also wish you a very happy Ram Navamī.

Haribol.............................[Haribol]

Śrī Rāma Jaya Rāma Jaya Jaya Rāma ................... Śrī Rāma Jaya Rāma Jaya Jaya Rāma (Everyone)

Śrī Rāma Jaya Rāma Jaya Jaya Rāma ................... Śrī Rāma Jaya Rāma Jaya Jaya Rāma (Everyone)

Śrī Rāma Jaya Rāma Jaya Jaya Rāma ................... Śrī Rāma Jaya Rāma Jaya Jaya Rāma (Everyone)

Thank You.