20230304 Śāntipur Festival Address

The following is a Śāntipur Festival Address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 4th, 2023 in Śāntipur, 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: You heard many glories of Advaita Gosāñi. I had come here and met with the father of Praśāntha Goswami, Śrīpāda Śāntisakhā Goswami. He showed me many letters from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda said if he did not get a place in Māyāpur, he would make his world headquarters here. From this place Advaita Ācārya had worshiped and He prayed so that Lord Kṛṣṇa would descend. Lord Caitanya declared many times, that My descent or My incarnation is due to the desire of Advaita Ācārya. After Lord Caitanya took sannyāsa, He met Śacīmātā here for the first time. Śacīmātā told Him that You can go to Vṛndāvana, but keep Your base in Nīlācala so that we can get Your news from time to time. Then after ten years of His sannyāsa, He came to Bengal again and traveled to Kānāi-nāṭaśālā, and then He came back and He stayed here.

You heard that whoever has prasāda here on Mādhavendra Purī’s disappearance day they get devotion to Lord Govinda. One devotee told me that we should have khicuḍi on this day. But Advaita Gosāñi offered better prasāda than that. Any prasāda is good anyway. Lord Caitanya said that the grand arrangements made by Advaita Ācārya is not humanly possible. We are human, so we serve khicuḍi. But Advaita Gosāñi’s calculations were such that he had many rooms filled with potals, spinach, milk, yogurt. Not one but several rooms. Four rooms with chipiṭak – what is chipiṭak we don’t know. It is probably a kind of sweet. Four rooms were filled with chipiṭak. Do you know what is chipiṭak? I desire that in the future we should be give everyone one chipīṭak.

Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura said that if you simply hear about the descriptions of the arrangements of Advaita Ācārya, you will automatically get devotion to Lord Govinda, you will get kṛṣṇa-prema. There were so many devotees, present, they had great enthusiasm to serve. Lord Nityānanda said, “I will worship all the Vaiṣṇavas!” Another devotee said that, “I will wash the feet of all the Vaiṣṇavas!” Another said, “I will hang the flags.” Another said, “I will perform kīrtana!” Another said, “I will dance.” Everybody was offering different sevās according to their desire. Here, the mood of service was prominent. I hope that in the future everyone will come forward and ask, what service can I do? Now, there was a description that there were thousands and thousands of stalks of bananas. And there were seven varieties of mung sprouts.

Now Advaita Gosāñi is the combined incarnation of Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu and Lord Sadāśiva. So, He is capable of offering liberation, but in order to bestow love of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa must personally come. Here there is the viśrāma-sthala, place of resting of the three Lords, Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda, Advaita Ācārya, all are Viṣṇu-tattva. Lord Caitanya had ordered Lord Nityānanda to preach in Bengal. But He said that made a promise to deliver four kinds of people - the foolish, the lowborn, the fallen and the distressed. This is a very, very high-level thought. But in the Western world, they are very lowborn. But by Lord Advaita Ācārya’s mercy, Lord Caitanya’s came, Lord Nityānanda came and that is why we have the opportunity to be delivered. You have got the orders to take prasāda, be blissful and engage in devotional service. Lord Caitanya instructed, gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Whether you are at home or in the forest, you should chant the holy name of the Lord. So the Lord has given the order to chant the holy names. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Nityānanda! Nityānanda! Advaita Ācārya! Advaita Ācārya! Advaita Ācārya! Haribol!

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma,Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!