20250224 Gaura-Pūrṇimā Festival Flag Hoisting Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: I have to keep it short, that is what the MC said. He said it after His Holiness Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami Mahārāja!

You know, we are personalists and we never knew that the festival had a personality. But this festival is also a special śakti of Kṛṣṇa! And so, raising the flag, worshiping guru and Garuḍa, these are all parts of the inauguration. We are entering into a special domain – the domain of festivals! So, this year’s parikramā we have around seven parties. We have the international party, different kinds of Bengali and Bangaldeshi parties, and we have the Russian speaking party, the South Indian party, the Hindi party – so many parties! And we have camp sites which we purchased for the devotees to stay overnight. If they want to, they can come back also. So like this, we have Mahā-milan on the last day where all the parties  join together. Last year we had around 12,000 devotees. This year as per the co-directors, they have improved the Nāma-haṭṭa and Gītā Bhavan and Gadā extensions, etc. and have many guest rooms. His Grace Hṛdaya Caitanya is also having some rooms ready. So I don’t know how many rooms – maybe a 1008! But there are many details involved – we have to have the land conversion from agricultural land to guest house. But immediately we have different festivals – like the we have the Kīrtana-melā, Parikramā and other festival days. We hope that the Śāntipura Festival on the Dvādaśī festival would be celebrated with great pomp.

So, this festival we are supposed to concentrate on giving our heart to Kṛṣṇa! This festival was also started by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. He would come every year and spend two weeks. We hope that everybody takes with them some special moments of Kṛṣṇa consciousness! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Just celebrating this festival, I think I am missing the presence of His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami Mahārāja. He has always been present at these festivals and has been helping in many ways. When I I think about him, also I remember His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja. His presence is felt and has absences is also felt. And along with His Grace Jananivāsa Prabhu, his twin brother His Grace Paṅkajāṅghrī Prabhu, he was the backbone of these festivals. Hare Kṛṣṇa!