20170118 Talk

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapātākā Swami Mahārāja on January 18th, 2017 in Kanhaiyadesh. The talk was given with Hindi translation.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda

śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

hari haraye namaḥ kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥ

yādavāya mādhavāya keśavāya namaḥ

gopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana

Nitāi Gaura Haribol Haribol Haribol Haribol

Mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpāṁ tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapātākā Swami: I want to thank the children for their nice drama. I thought they would give me the stick. Because you are all learned people.

Who will translate in Hindi?

So I will speak in English, but sometimes my pronunciation will not be understood which Śyām Madhusūdhan will repeat.

lekin thik thak anubād cāhiye (But I need a proper translation)– [laughter].

If I say something like laughing, you have to also laugh in Hindi.

It’s very nice to see so many devotees. This is Kanaiyā deśa, this is the place of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Kanaiyā deśa. We have a temple in India which is also called Kanaiyā sthāna. That’s in Kanai Nāṭsālā. It was part of Bihār, now it’s part of Jharkhand. Lord Caitanya, He took initiation in Gayā.

At first Īśvara Purī Mahārāja did not want to give Him initiation. He said, “You are Nimāi Paṇḍita, you are a great paṇḍita, who am I to initiate you?”, but Lord Caitanya said, “If you don’t initiate me, then what is the use of my living. I have to take initiation.” So the only way you can save my life is if you initiate me.”, so Īśvara Purī initiated Him.

Lord Caitanya started chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa in Gayā. He got great ecstasy after getting initiated. I was thinking after seeing that drama, how being initiated is such a perfection. It’s the human perfection of life to serve Kṛṣṇa. So then, Lord Caitanya began to chant and dance in ecstasy. People gathered around him to see. Then He felt embarrassed that so many people were watching Him. So He did the piṇḍa-dāna for His deceased father, there is Viṣṇu-Gayā. There are many Gayās, and Viṣṇu-Gayā and Bodh-Gayā are most famous. So then Lord Caitanya after doing the piṇḍī He again started to do kīrtana and he thought, “let me go to Vṛndāvana.” and He crossed the Phalgu river that was heading towards Vṛndāvana. Then there was a voice from the sky, “Now it’s not the time for you to go to Vṛndāvana. You have to return to Navadvīpa and start the saṅkīrtana movement. You will later go to Vṛndāvana.”

So then He turned back. Then He went to Kanaiyā sthāna, Kanaiyā deśa, Kanai Nāṭsālā, and that’s right by the side of Gaṅgā, on the Western side of the Gaṅgā. There in Kanaiyā sthāna he saw a village boy playing on a flute. He was at a great distance, but somehow His flute playing was very attractive. The boys got closer, and they saw that He was wearing a yellow dhotī with a red sash. He got closer and then he saw He had a peacock feather in His turban. He got closer and Lord Caitanya thought, “this is Kṛṣṇa, this is Kṛṣṇa, this is Kṛṣṇa.” [Haribol], then He was Kṛṣṇa, and He came right up to Him and then He embraced Him.

So Lord Caitanya was feeling so much ecstasy, but then Lord Kṛṣṇa let Lord Caitanya go, and Kṛṣṇa ran off. Lord Caitanya ran after Him but Kṛṣṇa disappeared, then Lord Caitanya was rolling on the ground. He was feeling such separation. He had Kṛṣṇa in His hands, He had Kṛṣṇa, He lost Him.

Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa So Kṛṣṇa had promised he told Rukmiṇī and Nārada Muni, that He would come back in Kali-yuga, but He would be a devotee because Rukmiṇī had said that He did not know how much His devotees loved Him and in what way they loved Him. So He would come back as a devotee. So His ecstasy began in Bihār and Jharkhand. He left Navadvīpa as Nimāi Paṇḍita, He came back as Gaura Hari, and everybody noticed the change. Now He was giving class on Sanskrit vyākaraṇa teaching with the names of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Later Jīva Gosvāmī gave such a class that He called it the Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa. So Lord Caitanya called the devotees, and He told them that He wanted to meet them in the āśrama of Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī. At His āśrama He had a kalpa-vṛkṣa. Any flower He wanted, He would give the order and He would get that flower. 300 jasmine, 200 rajanigandhā, goloka-campā, and no one would go anywhere else, why, if you get all the flowers from one tree.

So Lord Caitanya came there. There, there is a Tamāla Tree. When He saw the Tamāla Tree, He embraced it. He told the other devotees, “I had Kṛṣṇa in my hand, I had Him, I had Him, I had Him, and I lost Him, You don’t know what it is like to have Kṛṣṇa and to lose Him. Oou Ou”

So this way, all the devotees knew this history. Before as Nimāi Paṇḍita, He was the greatest Paṇḍita in Navadvīpa. He could defeat anyone in logic, in Nyāya, He could convince someone that He was wrong, and then convince that He was right, and then again He convinced them that they were wrong, He had such a brain. So this is the supreme Lord. Whatever He does, He does it superb.

So as a paṇḍita, He was Vācaspati, who was the greatest paṇḍita. As a devotee He was the most merciful, kind‑hearted devotee. So people thought He was sick. Mother Śacī came out to call Him for lunch, “Nimāi—prasāda!” The neighbors came. “Something is wrong with your son. Kichu vāyudoṣa, he has disturbed airs in His brains. You should give Him some tender coconut.” “No, No, No, No, that’s not strong enough, put daśamūla taila on His hair.”, another neighbor said, “No, No, No, He is far gone, tie Him up with ropes.”, Mother Śacī said, “Nothing is wrong with my son.”

So Nimāi, He went to see the incarnation of Nārada Muni, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. He said, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, why not?”

“People say I am sick, I am sick?”

“What are your symptoms?”

“Whenever I chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, my voice gets choked up, tears flow from my eyes, my hairs stand on end, sometimes I cry sometimes I laugh, Ha, Ha.”

So Śrīvāsa said, “Yes, you have a disease and I want that disease also. You have the disease of love of Kṛṣṇa, and even Brahmā and Śiva want that disease.”

So Lord Caitanya said, “You saved My life. I thought that if I have a disease, what’s the use of living. The most sweet thing, if this is a disease, then what’s the use of living? So you saved My life.”

“You see, general people can’t understand what ecstasy you are going through. Come here at night, I will invite select devotees to come here at night who can appreciate your ecstasy.” So then Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura had nocturnal kīrtanas which Lord Caitanya attended, and people would listen outside the door of the garden of Śrīvāsa.

“What are they doing, what are they doing?” Some started chanting Haribol, Haribol.

“Yea, that’s what they are doing. Are you one of them?  Haribol (everyone)”

“Then they must be drinking wine.”

“Oh no.”

“The people are all crazy, they are all chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So you are one of them ah covering up for them.” So like that, but inside they were having kīrtana.

One day Lord Caitanya, He was not feeling any ecstasy. He said, “Today, I am not feeling any ecstasy, who is responsible?”

Every devotee thought, “What did I do wrong today?” Then they started kīrtana again.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

After a while Lord Caitanya said, “I still don’t feel any ecstasy. There must be some outside person looking.”

Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura went through his house. He looked around, he didn’t find anyone. Then he saw this basket, one big basket, and he lifted the basket up. There was a lady there crouching inside. He grabbed her by the neck and took her out to the door and said, “Why you are disturbing Lord Caitanya’s kīrtana.” They threw her out of the door, and closed the door.

Lord Caitanya said, “Who was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Was that your mother-in-law?”

“How could you do that to your mother-in-law?”

“Anyone who disturbs your kīrtana, my Lord, I don’t know them.”

“Śrīvāsa, you are going to face a lot of problems for mistreating your mother-in-law. It is too much, Śrīvāsa.”

He said, “Well, I want to see you happy, Lord.”

They would not call Him Bhagavān.

Only twice He revealed, because He was acting as a devotee. So there were many different things that happened at Śrīvāsa’s house. These all happened only 500 years ago.

Lord Caitanya predicted that after 500 years He would send a devotee, a senāpati-bhakta, and that devotee would spread the Harināma and His teachings to those distant countries where He didn’t go. Lord Caitanya preached in the Indian subcontinent, but who went 500 years later to the Western countries? Who spread the Harināma and Lord Caitanya’s teachings? It was His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda. So you are all very fortunate to be in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s family.

In ISKCON, we are a multi-guru society but all are coming from Prabhupāda. So we are all part of Prabhupāda’s family, the guru-paramparā, and so this is a very great blessing. So while you are working and closing up your economic development, side by side try to encourage your friends and colleagues, I mean the Hindu colleagues, to take up the Harināma. This Harināma is the yuga-dharma for the Kali-yuga.

Prabhupāda, he went to the West to preach, but he told me to come to India and preach, but he also told all the sannyāsīswhen I was present twice, that they should preach all around the world. So, we are very happy that here in the Middle East, in Kanaiyā deśa, so many people are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and not pose like a King. They are using their human life to develop their natural devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa.

So today is a working day. I don’t want to speak too late. I will take two questions, one from the men and one from the ladies. If you have any question on the talk tonight, any questions?

Question: What is the spiritual enlightenment? What can we do in daily life to get spiritual enlightenment?

Jayapātākā Swami: You can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Japa and also kīrtana with your wife and children, or if you are not living with your family then with the other people in your hostel, and also worship a picture or worship a deity, or read the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, participate in some Bhakti-vṛkṣa group meeting. Come like this when there is a public program, you can participate in that program. Cook and offer your food to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa-prasāda, and eat the prasāda. All ladies should learn how to cook prasāda, and some of the men should also learn how to cook. Some of the men would do Rādhā-sevā, and these are some things that can be done. There is more, but these are the easiest.

Any question from the lady?

We want to see the yātrā to be organized, have a yātrā team. Śrīvallabha and Tāpan Miśra will discuss with you all how to make a yātrā leadership. We want that this yātrā should go on very nicely. This is our newest yātrā, big participation. We have Balarāma deśa, Kṛṣṇa-kathā deśa, Avatārī deśa, Śyāma deśa, Dāmodara deśa, Mathurā deśa, they are all code names Kanaiyā deśa. But there was one lady in Mathurā deśa. She said, “Guru-deva, I made very few devotees this year. I am sorry.”

I asked her, “Well, how many devotees did you make.”

“Only 76.”

“Well, not too bad.”

“What was your goal?”

“108”

If every devotee would make one devotee a year, that would double every year. We don’t want to be a fool like the King, Brahmā. Because you don’t know where he is going, what he is doing, where he will take birth again.

Anyway, so thank you very much.