20241224 Special Darśana to Australian Devotees

Jayapatākā Swami: The system in Bengal was that you go somewhere else to deliver your child. So Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mother went to South Calcutta and there was her house, it was a big house with a big garden. By the time we came on the scene, that garden had then been possessed by scorders(?). And so by the efforts of Sudarśana dāsa and Calcutta temple vice-president, Rādhāramaṇa, the birthplace of Śrīla Prabhupāda was established. And you can see that when you go to Kolkata. There is also a place where Śrīla Prabhupāda met Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura which they have developed. And that is closer to the airport. So all these Śrīla Prabhupāda special places are in Kolkata. Haribol! I will say my praṇāma.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Haribol! So, how many devotees are here from Australia? 108. And how many here from Malaysia? 30. They are in the back. So, we are very glad to welcome you to Māyāpur.

This is a holy dhāma which was created by Rādhārāṇī. And Kṛṣṇa was being naughty and Rādhārāṇī came here and played on the flute. So He wondered who is playing on the flute so beautifully! And He came here and saw Rādhārāṇī playing on the flute. So, He said, “You made such a beautiful dhāma for Me! This dhāma will be non-different from Vṛndāvana. And all the holy places will manifest here.” Here you have various holy places which we see when we go around in Navadvīpa parikramā. And in Koladvīpa, Lord Kola, Lord Varāhadeva, He touched with His rear foot Koladvīpa when He kicked the brother of Hiraṇyakaśipu, Hiraṇyākṣa. So like that, somehow this Navadvīpa has got many stithis – stithis are memorial places. Like, Narasiṁhapallī, Lord Narasiṁhadeva was flying from Ahovalam and He saw this dhāma of His. So He descended and stayed here. And all the devas, they built cottages and they were not able to approach Narasiṁhadeva in South India, but here they were able. They served Him, they gave Him bhoga, prasāda and so they took residence around Narasiṁhadeva, that is called, Narasiṁha-ṭilā, Devapallī. So Narasiṁhapallī, Devapallī, like that there are different places around Navadvīpa. You can see, there was some demon who was killing all the pūjārīs and so they took Lord Jagannātha here to Māyāpur dhāma. And so in Rājāpur we have Lord Jagannātha. And when we installed the Deity and then they shifted the Deity to the new temple, some media people from Odisha told us that here Lord Jagannātha had come. Like that, there are different pastime places in Navadvīpa. And we are looking for one place where we want to install a Bālāji mūrti. That is called Vaikuṇṭhapura. It is in Modadrumadvīpa.

There are nine islands, the central island is Antardvīpa, and the eight islands go around – Sīmantadvīpa, Godrumadvīpa, Madhyadvīpa, Koladvīpa, Ṛtudvīpa, Jāhnudvīpa, Modadrumadvīpa and Rudradvīpa. So we are on the edge between Rudradvīpa and Antardvīpa. Rudradvīpa is the place of friendship with the Lord. There is a book called Navadvīpa-bhāva-taraṅga, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura when he did parikrama, he saw different things that we don’t see. Like in Rudradvīpa he saw a kīrtana party going in a circle and he saw the rasa-līlā.

So, the Lord, is either here in His prakaṭa-līlā or His aprakaṭa-līlā. When He was visible to everybody that was His prakaṭa-līlā and when He was invisible, He is still here and He may appear to different people, that is His aprakaṭa-līlā. Like Mahāmāyā, she chanted, “Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!” and He appeared to her. If you chant enough, He may reveal Himself to you! Mahāmāyā is His own potency. So He appeared to her and she said that, “The pure devotees don’t associate with me! They call me the witch Māyā. They discard me. Now I heard You are giving out love of Kṛṣṇa freely! So, I would like to get love for Kṛṣṇa!” And Lord Caitanya told her, “Actually, you are not different from My ahlādinī-śakti. You are non-different from Rādhārāṇī and here you can realize your non-difference.” So then she took the dust from Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet and the island is named after her putting the dust on her forehead, Sīmantadvīpa, the place in the ladies’ hair the partition, that is called sīmanta.

So, we are happy to welcome you to the dhāma. It is very esoteric, and I don’t think you have time to go around but this is very special. You see, Rukmiṇī told Kṛṣṇa, “You know everything. You know what Brahma is doing in Satyaloka, You know what Śiva is doing in Kailāsa. You know everything. But there is one thing You don’t know - I know, Rādhārāṇī knows, but You don’t know.” He said, “What is that?” And there was a long discussion. Rukmiṇī then said, “You don’t know how much Your devotees love You and in what way we love You. Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, but You don’t know. You cannot know because no one is above You.” So then He decided, alright, I will come as My devotee in Kali-yuga, so that is why He came as His devotee, He is Kṛṣṇa but in the mood of a devotee and His name is Gaurāṅga, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

So, I heard you have letters, etc. for me.

There are big mangoes, litchis, etc. It is summer in Australia now. And in Malaysia it is all round summer!

On 26^th December, boxing day, there will be the Pañca-krośa parikramā. This year 26^th is Ekādaśī.

Kṛṣṇe matir astu! Blessings to all of you!

Normally, we have class here. But I guess tonight this is our class! Be careful when you bathe in the Ganges! It has a fast under current. There are no sharks! They used to have dolphins, they still have? It is very rare to have Ganges so close. So you can take your bath, it is a bit cold, and be careful not to get swept away! They are building a new bathing ghāṭa, it is almost finished. It is like 2 million Australian dollars, made by the Government! Any questions?

Question: How can we understand that we are pleasing our Gurudeva or not?

Jayapatākā Swami: We were told the pastime in Los Angeles when Śrīla Prabhupāda said that he is very pleased with book distribution and preaching. But he said that my Guru Mahārāja is more pleased, a thousand times, so he would give blessings a thousand times me! So, I may be pleased but Śrīla Prabhupāda is more pleased, a thousand times more! Haribol!

Lord Caitanya, He wanted to have all the people Kṛṣṇa conscious. And He appeared here and had His pastimes. And 24 years He spent here as a gṛhastha and 24 years He took sannyāsa and He spent 24 years as a sannyāsī. Six years He was travelling around India and 18 years He was in Jagannātha Purī. So, during the Ratha-yātrā, He would be crying, and He would be remembering the pastime where Rādhārāṇī met Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra. And Rādhārāṇī wanted to take Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana. She said that, the bliss in Vṛndāvana is millions of times greater than the bliss in Dvārakā. Here You are with the warriors, elephants, princes, but in Vṛndāvana you are just a cowherd boy. In the natural beauty of Vṛndāvana, it is wonderful to worship You! So, She wanted to take Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa said, well, I killed most of the demons and I liberated Kaṁsa, and various demons were removed by Me. But still there are one or two left. I want to eradicate them and then I will come back to Vṛndāvana. So when Lord Caitanya was saying these passages from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, He was crying in ecstasy. And He was dancing madly in front of Lord Jagannātha. And Lord Jagannātha stopped His ratha and watched Lord Caitanya dancing! Haribol!

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

So, I am still, I am trying on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s order to get permission for the non-Indian, non-Hindus devotees to enter the Jagannātha Purī temple but there are many obstacles. We have in Kerala Guruvāyur, they have a system you can pay Rs. 35 and have a yajña performed and officially they come with a certification to convert to Hinduism and with that you can go to the temple. In the Bālājī temple they sign a paper saying that you accept Bālājī as the Supreme Person and then you can go in. I never signed but I got in! Only Jagannātha Purī is the temple in India that restricts us. Of course, there are many holy places like the pastime places of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, the Gambhīra where Lord Caitanya stayed, many places, which we can still go to. So His Holiness Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami, he takes about 10 or 15 thousand people on an annual Purī parikramā. He wanted to come here but today he had a fever. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!