20250329 Guru-ājñā Morning Address

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: It is nice to see all the devotees here! We are trying to share some things with you. And we hope that you will all be successful. Śrīla Prabhupāda has given me many instructions. Those are listed in my Jayapatākā Swami App. One of the instructions was to increase the preaching unlimitedly! I am now handicapped and therefore I need all of you to help me! Everyone you meet, you have to tell them the glories of Kṛṣṇa, to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. I am going to repeat this many times. I need a lot of help! Unlimited help! Śrīla Prabhupāda, he instructed everyone, a particular thing. Everyone eventually should be a guru. Initially, you may be a student, but it is not that you remain a student forever! For sometime a student, then you have to become a guru.

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “Everyone should become guru. You have to follow as Caitanya Mahāprabhu says: Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 1.428. Then you become guru. To become guru is not at all difficult, provided you follow the right instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Then everyone can become, expand, expand. You have learnt something about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, now you rightly distribute them, then you will increase your group.” (From a lecture on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto1, Chapter 12, text 28, given at Los Angeles, 6 December 1973.)

So, this year we had Pongal that means the Makara-saṅkrānti, recently, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India spoke at the inauguration of our Navi Mumbai temple in Kharghar. He was glorifying Śrīla Prabhupāda. How, at the age when normally people retire and stop working, he started his preaching. I remember he spoke in Hindi and I know a little Hindi! He said Śrīla Prabhupāda went around every corner of the world (Śrīla Prabhupādaji gaye, pṛthivī ke koṇe koṇe gaye). So I remember the words ‘koṇe koṇe’ – he went every corner of the world! That is how I got delivered!

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “We request all Indians to take part in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and be yourself happy, be yourself guru and deliver all other persons who are in ignorance. And to become guru is not very difficult.” (Lecture with a translator, at Sanant 25 Decemeber, 1975)

So Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying how everyone should be a guru, how all Indians should be a guru. We want everyone to read Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, To read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. To read Caitanya-caritāmṛta. I got from Śrīla Prabhupāda my Bhakti-śāstrī degree. And then I recently went on to read and get my Bhakti-vaibhava and Bhakti-vedānta degrees. They offered to give me honorary degree. I said, no, I want to be a good example for devotees, my disciples! Now I am studying for my Bhakti-Sārvabhauma degree! So I would like all of you to read all these books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. And also, arrange for everyone to give lectures. Men, women, everyone!

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “Therefore it is the business of guru to make everyone fortunate. So, how he can make everyone fortunate? That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu advises, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā (Cc. Madhya 7.128). You follow the principles of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s instruction first of all.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

You just take Their mercy. Then you become guru. And then what is your business? This business is: Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa.

So guru Kṛṣṇa, guru makes the people fortunate, and then the people become Kṛṣṇa conscious and then he becomes fortunate. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Everyone is advised to become guru, especially those who are born in India.

Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. You simply repeat. That is all. You become guru. To become a guru is not difficult job. Follow Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And speak what Kṛṣṇa has said. Bas! You become guru.”

(Room conversation with Ratan Singh Rajdha, Member of Parliament, on the topic of Nationalism and Cheating. 15 April 1977 in Mumbai.)

So, the important thing is you have to repeat whatever you have read in the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Repeat what you have heard from Śrīla Prabhupāda, what you have heard from your guru. And if you don’t speak anything apart from this, you are guru. Some people speak all nonsense and speculation. And they are not gurus. So it is very important to know the śāstras and not listen to anyone who speaks nonsense. This should be a South Indian crowd which means there are Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam. So you are translating to Tamil, everyone know Tamil? (Simultaneously translations are going on in Telugu and Kannada is going on) Very good! There is simultaneous translation in other languages.

“This is the wish of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. Everyone you see or meet, tell him about Kṛṣṇa. Āmāra ājñāya guru haya tāra ei deśa. By my command you become and save this land. This was also the mission of my Guru Mahārāja and it is my mission. You will perfect your life if you make it also your mission.” (Letter from Śrīla Prabhupāda to Jagatjivan, 1 September 1976, New Delhi.)

So today I am supposed to speak how a disciple can please me. So I have also made my mission, as Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission! You can please me, if you can make this your mission! We have many people in South India who are still in ignorance. May all you be empowered by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Prabhupāda, to deliver these people.

“It is not difficult to become guru.” (Lecture from the Bhagavad-gītā 9th Chapter, text 3, given in Toronto, 20 June 1976)

“You have to follow as Caitanya Mahāprabhu says: yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 7.128.  Then you become guru. To become guru is not at all difficult. Provided you follow the right instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Then everyone can become, expand, expand. You have learnt something about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now you rightly distribute them. Then you will increase your group.”

“And what is the real thing? That is explained by Kṛṣṇa. Sarva dharmam parityejya mam ekam saranam vraja. Bhagavad-gītā 18.65.”

Like this it is not at all difficult to become guru. Simply you surrender to Kṛṣṇa. You become abhayaṁ sattva-saṁśuddhir. You become fearless. Yes, I am now under the protection of Kṛṣṇa. I have no more fear. I don’t care for anyone. I simply take to Kṛṣṇa.” (Lecture on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto 3, Chapter 25, text 43 given in Bombay on 11 December 1974.)

Like I mentioned before, simply repeat what is in the books. Then you are guru. If you speak what you speculate, then you are nonsense! So, it is easy to be a guru! Every morning we sing the Gurvāṣṭaka. They say, in some verse, sākṣād-dharitvena. You see svayam means directly the Personality of Godhead. Sākṣād doesn’t mean that. He is a representative, he is not different, like that. In 1969 or so, Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived in Boston. And I came down from Canada to see him. So many devotees were chanting and dancing. And then Śrīla Prabhupāda came out from the Customs and we all bowed down. Then he sat down and devotees offered him garlands. The garlands would go up to his head, he would take them off. They would again go up to his head, and again he would take them off. Then, at the end, he have a talk. So he said, as a guru, as representing God, he is given all the respect that you would give God. But if he thinks he is God, he is not God, he is not G-O-D, he is the opposite, he is D-O-G. Haribol!

“Everyone of you, you become a guru. And try to deliver the persons where you are living. So how can I become guru? Yes, it is very easy. What is that? Yāre dekha, tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. Then you become guru. You simply repeat what Kṛṣṇa has said in the Bhagavad-gītā. You become guru. But if you want to be bluffer, cheater, then you can talk all nonsense. But if you actually talk only Kṛṣṇa’s words, then you become a guru. It is not very difficult.”

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda has revealed that it is not very difficult to be a guru. You simply have to repeat the words of Kṛṣṇa! And that is it! That is the secret! So I was present and someone asked a question to Śrīla Prabhupāda. It was a very complicated question. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said, I don’t know! So, I mean, it is better to say, I don’t know than to speculate something! You can say, I will ask my guru.

So, it is not very difficult, actually, I joined in 1968. I was teaching at two universities in Montreal. Because Śrīla Prabhupāda said, I had to read Bhagavad-gītā ten times before I could get initiation. So, as a result I could teach Bhagavad-gītā in two universities. In the universities, they got two credits for attending my class. Śrīla Prabhupāda made me a guru in 1977. That is only nine years. But now, if you want to be a guru, if your guru is alive, it has to be 25 years. If your guru has left his body, then ten years.

Anyway, we are very fortunate to have Kṛṣṇa consciousness! And we can always be happy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness! And enjoy this bliss! The material world there is happiness and distress. In the spiritual world, there is only bliss. No distress, no anxiety! Vaikuṇṭha means, no anxiety. This Safari, we are trying to establish the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya in all the places He visited in South India. And one of the places we went day before yesterday, they said, Āṇḍāl Devī grew up there. Andal had great affection for Lord Kṛṣṇa. So, I went some years ago to Rāmeśvaram and met the Jīyar there. And, I was with the Safari and we were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. The Jīyar said, you are all representatives of Āṇḍāl Devī! Haribol!

Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, He travelled throughout South India and other parts of India for six months. And this Kali-yuga has got many difficulties. But it has one good quality. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and you go back to Godhead! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Advaita Gosāñī! Gadādhara! Śrīvāsādi Gaura Bhakti-vṛnda!

Śrīla Prabhupāda about organization of Ācāryas: This is from Caitanya-caritāmṛta lecture Ādi 1.13, given on 6 April 1975, Māyāpur:

“So we want to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Simply prepare yourself how to repeat Kṛṣṇa’s instructions very nicely, without any malinterpretation. Then, in future, suppose you have got now ten thousand. We shall expand to hundred thousand. That is required. Then hundred thousand to million, and million to ten million.

Devotees: Haribol!

Śrīla Prabhupāda: So there will be no scarcity of ācāryas and people will understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness very easily. So make that organization.”

So, I think we have failed to understand Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission! He is talking about ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million! And after Śrīla Prabhupāda left, his disciples, there are only about a hundred gurus. Now, disciples of his disciples, we have less than 200. Where is ten thousand? Where is million? So, Śrīla Prabhupāda had such a mission, such a vision! But, we have not achieved such a mission. We should read Śrīla Prabhupāda books, distribute his books, and know his teachings. Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving a lecture in London, in 1973. I don’t see many saffron clad devotees here, but I can see many gṛhasthas here. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said in London that he wanted all his gṛhasthas devotees to be paramahaṁsas. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was a gṛhastha. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda was his son. He was Śrīla Prabhupāda’s guru. So Śrīla Prabhupāda said all the gṛhasthas should have ācāryas as their children. That is a tough order to follow! So we need Kṛṣṇa conscious children. Every pregnant lady comes to me for blessings. May your child be Kṛṣṇa conscious, long lived, healthy suputra or suputrī. So how to have garbhādhāna-saṁskāra is mentioned by our Gosvāmī from South India, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī.

Thank you all for coming here today! Hare Kṛṣṇa! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Advaita Gosāñī!