20241006 Address to South and West Odisha Nāma-haṭṭa Sammelan

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 hear that south and west Odisha Nāma-haṭṭa devotees have come. I know a little Odiya! My practice is a little less, so I will speak in Bengali. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed in Odisha for 24 years. And in that period He was in Bangladesh for about a year or year and a half. He was about 18 years in Odisha. And 6 years He travelled all around India. South India, West India, Vṛndāvana, in these six years he travelled. 18 years he was in the state of Odisha. He would there take darśana of Lord Jagannātha every day. He ordered that everyone should chant the Harināma saṅkīrtana. There is the Ganges where you can have bath about one kilometer away from here. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda said that His birthplace was at the Yoga-pīṭha and our place here was His place of activity. Here there is the Nāma-haṭṭa and various divisions where they do Kṛṣṇa kīrtana, devotional service to Kṛṣṇa and teachings of Kṛṣṇa. Here, following Lord Caitanya’s instructions, you can all do hari-dhvani. Haribol! Haribol! You are doing very well! Can the ladies do ulu-dhvani? Here the ladies can do hari-dhvani along with the men, but they can do the ulu dhvani as well, both.

You have all come a long way to Māyāpur, for that we are very grateful to all of you. Human life, Lord Caitanya said:

Bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra
(Cc. Ādi 9.41)

Many people do not chant the names of Kṛṣṇa. That means they are devoid of the mercy of Lord Caitanya. We want that all of you when you go back to your state, you preach.

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was Kṛṣṇa Himself but He combined with Rādhārāṇī. Because Rukmiṇī devī in Dvārakā told Kṛṣṇa that, “You know everything, but You don’t know one thing.” Kṛṣṇa wanted to know what was it that He did not know. Rukmiṇī devī said, “I know, Rādhārāṇī knows, but You do not know. Because there is no one above You.” Then Kṛṣṇa asked, “What is it that I don’t know?” Rukmiṇī devī said, “You don’t know how much Your devotees love You and in what way they love You.” Kṛṣṇa said, “Okay, I will come in Kali-yuga as a devotee.” So Lord Caitanya was Kṛṣṇa, in the mood of a devotee. He used to every day do Harināma saṅkīrtana and various devotional service for Kṛṣṇa. This way Kṛṣṇa came as a devotee to understand how a devotee loves Kṛṣṇa and in what way they love Him. So this way Kṛṣṇa when He advented as Lord Caitanya, He mixed around with the devotees all the time. He said that, “I want to liberate all the conditioned souls.” The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā mantra is the yuga-dharma. So if you all chant Hare Kṛṣṇa then you will get the mercy of Lord Caitanya.

Lord Caitanya used to do kīrtana and do parikramā on all four sides of Lord Jagannātha’s temple. And every year devotees from Bengal used to visit Nīlācala. And stayed the four months of cāturmāsya. For six years He travelled around India.

You have come here and we hope that you will all get the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Haribol! I have been addressing different Nāma-haṭṭas. Mahārāja asked me to come to address the Odisha Sammelan. That is why I came here. I said, I don’t know Odiya. He said, you can speak in Bengali and we will translate. I had gone to Purī, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack. But I don’t know if I have visited any of the districts where you are. I hope that after coming to the dhāma you spiritually advance significantly. Every step you take in this dhāma you get more benefit than what is achieved by performing a aśvamedha-yajña.

What do they learn in the Nāma-haṭṭa? When I was not here then the North and East Odisha Nāma-haṭṭa Sammelan was already done. Now, I could come to the South and West Odisha Sammelan and address you.

There is Purī parikramā every year, I hope that all of you will participate in that. And in every district there is book distribution. We had the Bhādra Pūrṇimā marathon for distributing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets a little earlier. Now there is the marathon for Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. It is going on now. I hope that all of you will help in the distribution and preaching of the books. Hare Kṛṣṇa!