20240917 Evening Address

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: My respects to His Holiness Bhakti Vighna Vināśa Narasiṁha Mahārāja. I heard a little bit when I came in. I will take my medicine now.

I was removed from the Calcutta temple president-ship ten times by His Holiness Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami Mahārāja and the eleventh time by Śrīla Prabhupāda! He sent me to Māyāpur. And I was never removed from Māyāpur! So, the grass hut that we had made on the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda, at one time, that was all we had in Māyāpur. So you see the grass hut and you there were nothing but rice fields around. That was the situation in Māyāpur. Gradually there was a gośālā, then a cement godown and gradually the building came up. Now we have about 7,500 devotees and various guest houses and things. But that is not enough, but gradually we are increasing.

Now today, I would like to focus on the Bhādra Pūrṇimā campaign. Bhādra Pūrṇimā is the day which is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That we should put the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on a golden throne, buy it and give it to someone. Actually, when I was in primary school, in the school library, I used to look for books on mythology. So we had books of someone carrying lightning bolts, etc. they all were different devas. I was looking for some books as I was interested in ancient stories. You can also give Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā to schools and to public libraries. We never know who reads it. Because Śrīla Prabhupāda said in my previous life I was born in India. So I started to say that I was very fallen. Śrīla Prabhupāda raised his voice and said, “Don’t doubt the words of the spiritual master.” So it is a great opportunity to give out Bhāgavatams. You can give it to your wife, your husband, your Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups or someone.

On Bhādra Pūrṇimā if you do this, it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that you will go back to Godhead. Of course, some people they cannot buy a whole set but then jointly with someone else they buy a set. They give it to the Nāma-haṭṭa centers and so on.

So why is the Bhāgavatam so pleasing to Kṛṣṇa? So the whole Bhāgavatam from beginning to end talks about nothing but Kṛṣṇa. His expansions, His pure devotees and His various incarnations. In the 7^th canto it has Lord Narasiṁhadeva. In different cantos it has His different avatāras. So if you study the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you can know all about Kṛṣṇa, His devotees, His different avatāras. The Pracetās, were brothers, who worked together to serve Kṛṣṇa. Lord Śiva, appeared to them and granted them a wish and they were transferred to the spiritual world. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is full of nectar. It says that if one reads even one verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is purifying. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he dedicated his life to translating and giving these books. First he gave the Bhagavad-gītā, then Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the BBT trustees got his lectures and made books on that. Like Kuntī Devī’s prayers. Mainly Śrīla Prabhupāda was trying to finish the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He wrote the Kṛṣṇa Book which is a kind of synopsis on the tenth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The tenth canto is the longest in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

In the tenth canto it describes the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa – in Vṛndāvana, Mathurā and Dvārakā. Again and again you can read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and you can always gain new insights. On the spiritual platform, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, keep it in your home. The devas will come and offer your obeisances every day there because the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the literary incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So tomorrow is a great day. So the day especially dedicated to glorifying and giving away Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he sometimes would send his secretary at one or two in the morning to wake me up and I would go and see him. I was 24 hours, 365 days, any time Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted he would call me. So Śrīla Prabhupāda had a special mosquito net which was around his desk. In those days he had a dictaphone and he would give his dictation on the dictaphone. So he would translate the books. He had a book in Sanskrit, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, with all the tikas of seven ācāryas, ṭīkā means commentary. His guru Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, etc. He would translate and write his purports. In his purports he would write what Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is saying, what Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja was saying. Sometimes he would give some message from some previous ācāryas. Sometimes he would give his own commentary, because he had experience of the world. He would call me and said to make sure everything was set up and all his books were in Sanskrit. Someone said to me that Śrīla Prabhupāda did not know Sanskrit, but that is not true, he knew Sanskrit, as all his books were in Sanskrit. He was reading and translating Sanskrit and giving commentaries. And he would tell me whatever he wanted to tell me and continue with his translation. He took up so much austerity from midnight to 4 o’clock or something he would translate. These books are very rare, and he put in so much effort to translate the books. Whether in Māyāpur or Vṛndāvana, wherever he was, he would translate his books. Even in Bhubaneswar there were white ants, termites and they would eat your dhoti! Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was translating that, I think he started the 9^th canto in Bhubaneswar. When he went through so much austerity, so how much should we read and distribute the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam! In the Back to Godhead magazine he would print in the center pages, four pages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So some devotees have completed their Bhakti-śāstrī and some are doing Bhakti-vaibhava which is the first six cantos of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Some are studying for their Bhakti-vedānta degree. They told me that it would take four years to study the last six cantos of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I got my Bhakti-vedānta degree. We are making a system so that the devotees can get it quicker. I don’t know what the system is but there is already a system for Bhakti-vaibhava. I got the Bhakti-vedānta degree. I am now studying for the Bhakti-Sārvabhauma.

In the 9^th canto there is a verse by the Apsarā where she criticizes the guru. But in the purport Śrīla Prabhupāda said when it comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whoever is Kṛṣṇa conscious, man, woman, śūdra or whatever, they are all equal. So, this purport is being quoted much, we should see that we become Kṛṣṇa conscious. I want to thank His Holiness Bhakti Vighna Vināśa Narasiṁha Mahārāja for his glorification of Śrīla Prabhupāda. For reminding us of the different pastimes in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, by hearing a class on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we are actually associating with Śrīla Prabhupāda. And associating with all these pure devotees and Kṛṣṇa avatāras. The third canto talks about Kapila and Devahūti and sāṅkhya-yoga system. So every part of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has something offer. So that is why we have to read it again and again. Every time we read it there is something new that sticks out. Every night I have it read to me. I was reading the compilation of the history of Lord Caitanya. Just like I was inspired by the Kṛṣṇa Book. So I read the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Caitanya-bhāgavata, Caitanya-maṅgala, different kaḍacās, about seven or eight different books, combined them together. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja would say he did not want to offend Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura and so he would not mention the whole pastime but just touch the pastime. If he found there was some pastime that was not mentioned before by anyone else, then he would give details. Like he gave the details how Lord Caitanya defeated Keśava Kāśmīrī, the Kāśmīrī Paṇḍita. In other books it mentions how Keśava Kāśmīrī eventually surrendered to Lord Caitanya, how he prayed to Sarasvatī and Sarasvatī revealed, “I cannot defend you because He is My husband!” So Sarasvatī’s husband is Kṛṣṇa. So, like that, we were combining all the different books together.

Jaya Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā Sudarśana!

So at least day we should be dedicating to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We should have the set of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with us. I think they translated in Tamil, and different languages.

Today is the first day of the Harināma festival. I have told before that the yuga-dharma of Kali-yuga is chanting the holy name. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that during his sannyāsa ceremony devotees started to chant and other members told them to keep quiet but he said, keep going, keep going. He had great faith in the power of the holy name. And then he came to Malaysia and different parts all over the world. And he found that people were changed just by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa! Even other priests of other religions saw that they looked transcendental, so effulgent they asked what have you done! He was mentioning how he found chanting had purified the atheists, yavanas, mlecchas and they became very inspired. So these were all by the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda. So, here in Malaysia people have taken up chanting and they are spreading it very nicely.

How many of you are from Khāsadeśa? You go there right? (To His Holiness Bhakti Vighna Vināśa Narasiṁha Mahārāja) How is it going in Khāsadeśa?

Bhakti Vighna Vināśa Narasiṁha Mahārāja: In China we are preaching and distributing mantra cards everywhere for people to get the holy name. The books are being distributed online on the internet. Bhagavad-gītā. Today they made the Mooncake for the Autumn Festival.

Jayapatākā Swami: Did anyone make it according to my diet? Instead of sugar I take sugar substitute like monk fruit sweetener or stevia. Anyway we need prasāda for everyone. In devotional service we use all our senses in Kṛṣṇa’s service. So also we can use the prasāda as many people are attracted by the nice prasāda. We use the tongue for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Actually it makes it possible to get a taste to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in ecstasy. So, one who follows the regulative principles and chants gets spiritual bliss. This bliss is śuddha-sattva, pure goodness, and it is much greater than any other happiness. To get it one has to lead a pure lifestyle and chant, with the mercy of Lord Caitanya, and Lord Nityānanda. So by chanting Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda’s names sometimes even though we are not following very strictly, they can awaken spiritual bliss, love of Kṛṣṇa. So we want to encourage everyone to chant and read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, distribute the books. To take first intiation I had to read the Bhagavad-gītā ten times. And then I read ten times to get the initiation.

Tomorrow I am flying back to India, Kṛṣṇa willing. My stay in Malaysia, in Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur was very blissful. I thank everyone for giving me spiritual association. Thank His Holiness Bhakti Vighna Vināśa Narasiṁha Mahārāja for his transcendental association! Tomorrow I have my medication and evening I leave. I cannot see the details because I have cataract in my eyes but I can hear alright. But I can see the people, unless I know them, from this stage I cannot say who is who. I thank you all for your Kṛṣṇa consciousness and hope that you are all reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and distribute them as much as you can. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Thank you very much!