20201107 Zoom Session with ISKCON Bangalore Gāndharvikā Narasiṁha Giridhārī Mandir Congregation

The following is a Zoom Session with the Iskcon Bangalore Narasimha Giridhari Mandir Congregation by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 7th, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: I am happy to be back at the Lakṣmī Narasiṁha Mandir. The Gāndharvikā Giridhārī Gaurāṅga Mandir. So now is the sacred month of Dāmodara. Of all the twelve months, this month is considered the most dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa. So we take advantage of this month and we offer a lamp to Yaśodā Dāmodara. We sing the Dāmodarāṣṭakam and engage in different devotional services.

You see, once Lord Caitanya was asked by Sanātana Gosvāmī, who was previously a prime minister. So he said, “People call me as a paṇḍita, but actually I am a fool, because I don’t know who I am. So please tell me, who am I?”

Then Lord Caitanya replied, “Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇera-dāsa. You are a jīva, the marginal energy of the Lord and you are eternally serving Kṛṣṇa”. So in that way, He instructed Sanātana Gosvāmī his actual sanātana-dharma. Most people think that they are the body. If at all they are God believing, they pray to the Lord for some material blessings. They don’t know that by actually serving the Lord, you get the highest spiritual happiness. So they are missing out on that and engaged in serving their senses. So they are called go-dāsas, slave of the senses. And in this way, even the so called great leaders are also very attached to their material positions and thus they are reluctant to leave it. We see in the first canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam how Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja when he heard that Kṛṣṇa had left the world, immediately he handed over the kingdom to his grandson and went to the Himalayas, renouncing everything. He gave up his royal palace, royal dress, his throne, his crown and went into the forest. We don’t have to copy him in Kali-yuga but in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it kept describing Śrīvāsa’s house as His āśrama.

We want the householders to practice bhakti-yoga in their house, therefore their house becomes an āśrama, a bhakti-āśrama. In the house they have Deities, various activities of devotional service. Because we are in the material world, we are going to enjoy something and going to suffer something. So that is part of material life. People ask me, “How can I serve Kṛṣṇa when there are difficulties?” But there is always some difficulty, especially in the Kali-yuga on the earthly planet. But that is a blessing in disguise! That we can actually surrender to Kṛṣṇa. The devas they come from the svarga-loka and they complain they have no problems! Therefore, they don’t think about Kṛṣṇa so much, because they have no problems. Only one problem they have is that sometimes they are attacked by demons. And the other problem is that they don’t have any other problem. So they are complaining, “How can we serve Kṛṣṇa when we have no problems?” We get distracted and we think that we are materially happy. Here people are saying, how can I serve Kṛṣṇa when there are problems? Actually, the real problem is in hell. So much suffering that it is really bad. So that is too bad that you cannot think of Kṛṣṇa in that pain. In svarga it is too happy, cannot think of Kṛṣṇa too much because of material sense gratification. So we should be happy here because we are so much balanced. Little pleasure, little suffering. Not so much suffering, something. Not so much pleasure, something! So this is actually a better place for going back home back to Godhead. It helps us understand the material world is not a place that we want to stay. We want to go back to serve Kṛṣṇa eternally. If we are fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s service, then even in this world of suffering, we will not feel the suffering.

Sometimes, devotees feel separation from their guru or Kṛṣṇa. So naturally this is a kind of suffering but at the same time, it is a kind of spiritual bliss. One feels some spiritual satisfaction in the heart. Because it is actually our real relationship with Kṛṣṇa. We cannot compare it to anything material. So I just wanted to tell you that this month of Dāmodara to serve Kṛṣṇa. And by doing so, you can deliver your forefathers, your descendants and yourselves also! So, take advantage of the mercy of the Lord, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, offer lamp and be Kṛṣṇa conscious. So you are very fortunate to be part of the Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups, part of the Lakṣmī Narasiṁha Gāndharvikā Giridhārī Gaurāṅga Mandir and in this way you can utilize this human form of life to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. And thus by understanding how Kṛṣṇa appears and disappears from this world, but He is not under the material energy. He comes and goes at His own sweet will. He acts independently. We celebrate this Dāmodara month where He is tied by His mother. And He agrees to be tied by her because she has love for Him. And she is trying very hard to serve Him. Like that Kṛṣṇa reciprocates with the love of the devotees. So I hope that you all take advantage of this special mercy of the Dāmodara month and engage enthusiastically in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Also encourage your friends, colleagues, fellow workers, everyone to participate in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities.

I asked Chennai, they had 40 devotees attend the Gītā class. How did they get 9000 registrations? From 40 to 9,000. They said, they asked all the devotees to tell their friends, to join different WhatsApp groups, to send out messages to everyone. They sent out some posters about the Gītā Made Easy course. So like that they got 9000 registrations. Similarly, in Mangaluru they got 11,000 registrations! Because of the tireless enthusiasm of the devotees. They want to help others to utilize this human form of life and serve Kṛṣṇa, taste transcendental ecstasy and go back home back to Godhead. Anyway, I want very much that all my disciples and other devotees in my zone, develop up to their full potential in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and so we want everyone to become very powerful devotees of the Lord.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!