20250323 Address to South India Safari Devotees

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: We have been here in Kumbakonam for many years. We used to stay in the house of Hari-līlā dāsa. If you remember, I don’t know what year it was (2013), the Safari laid the foundation stone for this temple! Haribol! So, now the temple is partially finished. So this is a very joyous thing for the Safari devotees! And, from this temple they were able to create 57 Nāma-haṭṭas! Lord Caitanya has said to spread His holy name in every town and village. I am very glad that Vanamālī Gopāla dāsa and his good wife are able to do this.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said in a lecture in 1973 in London, that every gṛhastha should be a paramahaṁsa! And all the gṛhasthas should have ācāryas as children. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was a gṛhastha, and one of his children was Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. He was an ācārya. So, I am very happy to see how the movement is spreading in Kumbakonam! Thank you all for coming! Now we are going to do abhiṣeka of the lotus footprints of Lord Caitanya. These lotus footprints are designated to be placed in different holy places here, where Lord Caitanya visited. We have to get a land and build a kind of small temple. So we are doing this sevā for Śrīla Prabhupāda! Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura started to do this. So we are continuing or trying to finish it for His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. So it is very important that everyone chants Hare Kṛṣṇa!

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

This Age, Kali-yuga, is a horrible age, but there is one good quality. The good quality is chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa! By chanting, Kṛṣṇa’s name and Kṛṣṇa are not different. There are many verses in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other śāstras which confirm this. Everyone should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa every day! Who is chanting now? We want you all to chant! The śāstra says:

Harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
[Cc. Ādi 17.21]

“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.”

So we hope that everyone will take advantage of chanting the holy name. Kṛṣṇa, in order to establish this, came again as a devotee. He came as Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He visited this place! There are eleven places in this area. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda distributed this message of Lord Caitanya all over the world! So, now we want that Kumbakonam area to follow Lord Caitanya’s instructions. I am very thankful to all the sannyāsīs and Śrīla Prabhupāda disciples who have come here! Lord Caitanya when He was travelling to South India, in every house, He told them to preach. He told them,

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei desa

“Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.”

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 7.128

So, we want everyone of you to spread this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa! You are all now students but in the future we want every one of you to be spiritual masters! Thank you very much! Now we will do the abhiṣeka for the lotus footprints!