20240907 Address to the National Convention

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: So it is very nice to see everyone take prasāda together.

Today we will cover many things. First we will go to Dvārakā, how Rukmiṇī Devī told Kṛṣṇa how He knows everything. He knows what Lord Brahmā is doing in Satyaloka, He knows what Lord Śiva is doing in Kailāsa, He knows what is going on in the anantakoṭi brahmāṇḍas.

“But there is one thing that You don’t know! Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, but You don’t know!”

He was surprised, someone was saying that there is something He doesn’t know!

He asked, “What is that?!”

Rukmiṇī said, “You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one is above You. But there is one thing You don’t know!”

Again He could not understand and asked, “What is that?”

Rukmiṇī said, You don’t know how much Your devotees love You! And in what way we love You!”

Then Kṛṣṇa said, “I will come back in Kali-yuga as My devotee! I WILL COME AS MY DEVOTEE! I WILL COME AS MY DEVOTEE! I WILL COME AS MY DEVOTEE!”

So Kṛṣṇa before, He said He enjoyed His pastimes so much, especially in Vṛndāvana. But it has been a long time since I distributed this prema-bhakti of Vṛndāvana. So He decided to come as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself as His devotee.

So, Advaita Gosāñī, He thought that the people are very materialistic. Although Advaita was Himself divine, His natural humility made Him want that Kṛṣṇa has to come. Especially Kṛṣṇa can give out the kṛṣṇa-prema of Vṛndāvana.

So, as Kṛṣṇa came down, all the devas, His associates came down, when Lord Caitanya came down from Goloka, His mother His father, His associates also came down. In the same way, Śacīmātā and Jagannātha Miśra, they came first. Then His associates appeared in Bengal, at that time it included Bangladesh. That also included Puṇḍarīka Premanidhi as well. He was the avatāra of Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja, the father of Rādhārāṇī. And we all know the avatāra of Rādhārāṇī was Gadādhara Paṇḍita. Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi became the guru of Gadādhara Paṇḍita. ISKCON is in charge of the birthplace of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. So everything to the north of Remuṇā to the west of Chittagong, to the south of the birthplace of Advaita Gosāñī, everything 168 miles around Māyāpur is called Gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi. Lord Caitanya appeared in Māyāpur in Navadvīpa dhāma. And many other associates appeared in different parts of Bengal.

Rādhārāṇī created Navadvīpa dhāma. And She was playing on the flute of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa came and said, “Who is playing so wonderfully?” He came searching and saw Rādhārāṇī playing this flute. He said, “You have made this beautiful dhāma for Me!” So, in this dhāma… He said, “people will get the same benefit as they get in Vṛndāvana, a 1000 times benefit of any devotional service they render.” You see in Vṛndāvana one gets a thousand times credit of any devotional service offered there. But you also get a thousand times the chastisement for any offences committed. But in Navadvīpa you don’t get a thousand times for any offence.

So Air Asia has a direct flight from KL (Kuala Lumpur) to Kolkata! Also Indigo and others. I don’t know why Malaysian airlines do not have!

When Lord Caitanya came, many associates also came along with Him. So these places where they appeared are known as śrīpāṭs. But we haven’t had much development. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he made the BSCT, Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust, and one of the projects is to develop the Gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi. In the Vedas it says that the dharma of Kali-yuga is chanting the holy names.

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ
tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ
dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ
kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt
[Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.3.52]

So meditation, fire yajñas, temple worship, these were in the previous ages. In this age, it is the Harināma! Lord Caitanya, His external reason was that He inaugurated the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. His internal reason was to be a devotee and understand the whole thing about the viewpoint of the devotee.

I heard some initiated devotees have stopped chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is the most important thing in Kali-yuga, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Nitāi Gaura! So please, whatever you do, please don’t stop chanting! And in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1^st canto it tells about the four legs of dharma. How in Kali-yuga, three of the legs are crippled. It is a pitiable thing to see a cow on only one leg! Śrīla Prabhupāda, he gave us four principles which are keeping the cow, standing on four legs! And chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa is the possible thing! So if we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and follow the principles, then we are pretty much immune to Kali-yuga. We should chant the mahā-mantra.

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

Actually, we should spread this chanting, we should use our intelligence how we can convince people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! Someone was putting a tie on the knee! And then we asked what is that? It is my ‘knee’ ‘tie’ – ‘Nitāi’ – Nitāi Gaura! Nitāi Gaura! Nitāi Gaura!

I heard that previously Johor Bahru had three centers. But now I heard last night they have four centers! So like that Śrīla Prabhupāda, told us in Calcutta, we should have ten centers. But our dear friend a pure Vaiṣṇava, His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami, he made 12 centers in Delhi! Previously, we had one center in Malaysia. Now, we have so many! So, I don’t even dare to give a number, I might be wrong! So, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and try your best to avoid breaking any principles. There is so much bliss in devotional service!

The nine islands in Navadvīpa represent the nine practices of devotional service. Lord Śiva, He was playing on His dundubhi drum and dancing and chanting Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! There were earthquakes and tsunamis, all over the universe! You should translate Gaurāṅga in Tamil!!! And Chinese!!! Gaurāṅga!

So, Devī Pārvatī, she came out and asked, “Svāmī, Svāmī!”

He stopped chanting and said, “Why did you interrupt My chanting? I was feeling such ecstasy!!” “I am sorry”, she said.

“In the universe the innocent people were suffering because Your dancing is dissolving the universe! It is not time for Mahā-pralaya!”

Then She wondered why is He chanting in such ecstasy, what is the secret mantra?

So she asked Lord Śiva, “What were You chanting, why are You in such ecstasy?”

He said, “I was chanting Gaurāṅga! So how can I get this ecstasy.”

She asked, “Who is this Gaurāṅga?”

So He explained to her how Lord Kṛṣṇa came in the most merciful form of Lord Gaurāṅga! And He told her that Gaurāṅga is eternally present in Navadvīpa! So she went to Navadvīpa dhāma and started to chant Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!

Then Lord Caitanya, Lord Gaurāṅga, He appeared to her, “What do you want?” He asked.

She said, “You see, I want Your mercy! Because I don’t get any association with devotees except Lord Śiva. Devotees call me the witch Māyā and such things!”

Lord Caitanya told her that, “She was non-different from Rādhārāṇī, she was His internal potency!”

She took the dust from Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet and put it on her forehead. Some ladies wear their hair in such a way that there is a path in the middle. That parting in the hair is called sīmanta. So this form of Durgā is called Sīmantinī. So the first island of Navadvīpa dhāma is called Sīmantadvīpa. We have a temple there dedicated to Sīmantinī and Lord Caitanya. So, like this, each of the islands of Navadvīpa is connected with one of the devotional services. Sīmantadvīpa is connected with hearing. The second island is called Godrumadvīpa. Because there the Surabhi cow is present, there are many tree, so it is called Godrumadvīpa, it is the island of chanting. So we have nine processes of devotional service connected with the nine islands of Navadvīpa dhāma.

Lord Caitanya came down from the spiritual world and He wanted to deliver all the people of this universe. So I will tell more about that later. So we want to encourage all of you to chant and spread the chanting. In Malaysia we have temples. Maybe in Khasadeśa or some other places they don’t have temples. But somehow or another, you should encourage the people to chant. Hare Kṛṣṇa chant has only three words. Hare, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma. So, it is very easy for anyone to learn. Rāma in Spanish means a branch of a tree. Somehow or another in different languages people chant accidentally. In Malay ‘Hari’ means day! ‘Rāma Rāma’ is butterfly in Malay language. So, after this one of our projects is to preserve and develop all these holy places of Lord Caitanya and the associates of Lord Caitanya. So, Ramaṇīpati dāsa is going to explain some of the projects we are doing to preserve the holy places. There are many more things I could say, but my time is up!