20250701 Ratha-yātrā Pandal Day 4 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: Hope you are liking the ISKCON Kolkata Ratha-yātrā program? Now Lord Jagannātha has come to His māsir bāḍi, Guṇḍicā. One of the names is Sundarācala. Guṇḍicā is Vṛndāvana, it is assumed. And He stays at Nīlācala most of the time, that is Dvārakā. And now we are taking Him to Guṇḍicā Mandir. His mood is that of a kṣatriya in Dvārakā. And in Vṛndāvana it is the mood of a cowherd boy. This way, Lord Kṛṣṇa, in the form of Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana, we can get close association with Them. Now Lord Kṛṣṇa is thinking that this Dvāpara-yuga pastime is very nice! But in Kali-yuga there are so many people who are not able to understand that much. That is why He decided that He would come as a devotee in Kali-yuga. So, He came as Lord Caitanya and stayed 24 years in Navadvīpa dhāma. After that He went to Nīlācala, Jagannātha Purī as a sannyāsī. One does not need to be a sannyāsī to be a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda!

Now, He has come to Guṇḍicā which is a part of Vraja. And there is a spiritual world here. This material world is one fourth of the spiritual world. There are unlimited brahmāṇḍas and all these emanate from Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu. And after this is the impersonal brahmā-jyoti, and above that is Hari-dhāma. In Hari-dhāma Lord Nārāyaṇa and His incarnations are there. And at the highest position there is Lord Rāmacandra. Lord Rāma, when He went to the spiritual world He told everyone to enter the Sarayū river and then all of them also went to the spiritual world. And above that is Kṛṣṇaloka. There devotees of Kṛṣṇa are residing. There are four dhāmas – Dvārakā, Mathurā, Vraja. I said that Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana is a cowherd boy mood. In Dvārakā, He is in the mood of a kṣatriya. Now, there are different mellows of Kṛṣṇa. Here in this material world whatever is cause of happiness is also cause of sorrow. We are all eternal part of Kṛṣṇa. Now one who loves Kṛṣṇa, they want that Kṛṣṇa should be happy. And when Kṛṣṇa is happy, then as we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we also become happy. We desire that we go to Kṛṣṇa and experience the bliss. Here in this material world if we do Harināma then we start to taste that bliss. Haribol! Jaya Jagannātha! Jaya Baladeva! Jaya Subhadrā! Jaya Sudarśana cakra!

I came late here and so gave a short class. Generally, people go to the demigods and ask for some material happiness in this material world. But staying in this material world we will have unhappiness. This is a place of death. Here everyone is born and dies. But in the spiritual world there is no death, and we live eternally happy in Kṛṣṇa’s service. But we can start from here chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, the anarthas will go far away! Hare Kṛṣṇa!