20250205 Addressing Sylhet Bangladesh Devotees Online

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: There were different programs in my schedule. Then the servants told me to take a daṇḍa of rest, daṇḍa is 25 minutes. This time 5 to 8 they woke me up. They said that as per your schedule you are supposed to go to Sylhet before giving class. Why did they not wake me up? I will speak for ten minutes now. There was Advaita-saptamī which we celebrated and I took darśana of the Deities in the temple in Bangladesh at the birthplace of Advaita Ācārya, and watched the abhiṣeka. Many devotees were there doing kīrtana. There were Pañca-tattva there and abhiṣeka was done and puṣpābhiṣeka. I wanted to share with everyone but could not due to technical difficulties. They had offered 108 bhoga offerings. 200 or 300 offerings were made. I wish that could be share via internet! I was paying obeisances. We are so fortunate that we are attached to bhakti-yoga. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said that if we want to achieve kṛṣṇa-prema we have to gradually advance. Śravaṇa, kīrtana, bhajana-kriyā and generally at this stage initiation is taken. After bhajana-kriyā is anartha-nivṛtti and then comes niṣṭhā. Harināma and Kṛṣṇa are non-different. There is a verse in the Ādi Purāṇa, a śloka where the glories of the holy name are given. How we should do harināma-kīrtana and get shelter of the harināma. After taking diksha a devotee is allowed to give blessings. At this stage the blessings they give can boost the faith the persons have in Kṛṣṇa. After niṣṭhā is ruci. Doing Harināma, doing devotional service we get the taste which is ruci. After that is āsakti. Then is rati and this before prema. Then is bhāva when we concentrate everything on Kṛṣṇa, which leads to kṛṣṇa-prema. I hope that all of you will achieve kṛṣṇa-prema! You are all so fortunate that you have heard the class of Sāmba Prabhu and Nitāi Sevinī Devī Dāsī. So I will not speak much.

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

They have made so much prasāda online, I wish I could send it to all of you!