20240817 Address to Congregation from Sonarpur, Bengal

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: I am very grateful that Kāliya Gopāla has brought many devotees. Māyāpur is the birthplace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And the birthplace is about one kilometer to the north from here. This whole area is Navadvīpa dhāma. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that he wanted that Māyāpur ISKCON would be the place of activities of Lord Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu. In the Bhagavad-gītā, in the 4^th chapter it is written – janma karma ce me divyam. Śrīla Prabhupāda would say, that is the birthplace and this is the place of activities of Lord Caitanya. I hope that all of you will get the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and when you go back home, then you will preach the mercy and glories of Lord Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu! Now Kolkata is part of the Gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi.

Śrī gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi,     yebā jāne cintāmaṇi,
tā'ra haya vrajabhūme vāsa

Those who know that Gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi is a desire tree, they are actually residing in Vraja dhāma. If you all think that this is Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu’s place of activities or pastimes, then you will literally be residing in Vraja dhāma. Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu came from Goloka to – golokera prema dhāma, Harināma saṅkīrtana – to distribute the prema from Goloka through the Harināma saṅkīrtana. You should all do Harināma saṅkīrtana and get bliss! Now, Lord Caitanya desires that all of you should try to liberate as many people as you can in this world. Now to follow Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu you should chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra! I hope that you are all chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and getting the mercy of Lord Caitanya, Nitāi Gaura!

I am taking this opportunity to bless all of you! Kṛṣṇe matir astu! Haribol!

Kāliya Gopāla told me that you all can do hari-dhvani! Haribol! The ladies can do ulu-dhvani! The ladies can do both! Haribol! The men can only do hari-dhvani! But ladies can do hari-dhvani and ulu-dhvani!

On Kāliya Gopāla’s request, - where is Sonarpur? (suburb of Kolkata, in 24 Parganas) These people are from various places around.

You have all come to Māyāpur, I hope that you are all well in Māyāpur? Jhulan-yātrā is going on here. I hope all of you have taken darśana?