20250716 Address: North Bengal Nāmahaṭṭa Sammelan

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: Who have come from Cooch Behar, lift your hands? From Alipurdvar? From Jalpaiguri? From Darjeeling? Welcome to all of you! Su-svāgatam! I offer my blessings to all of you again – Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

This Bhagavad-gītā is necessarily to be studied. Before my Harināma initiation I had to study Bhagavad-gītā ten times as instructed by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Then the Bhagavad-gītā was quite small – the Macmillan edition. Now the Bhagavad-gītā is big – Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. I recommend that Bhagavad-gītā should be read two or three times before initiation. We know from the Bhagavad-gītā that the Lord’s appearance and activities are divine and knowing this we can go back to the spiritual world. The Bhakti-śāstrī course is based on the Bhagavad-gītā, Nectar of Devotion, Nectar of Instruction and Īśopaniṣad. Now I cannot write after my stroke. But I can hear and see through video. Those who cannot write and read can hear. This way, they can understand. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He came to South India, He saw a brāhmaṇa reading the Bhagavad-gītā. But seeing him some children and others there were making fun of him. Lord Caitanya asked the brāhmaṇa, “What he was doing?” He said, “I am hearing Bhagavad-gītā, I am reading the Bhagavad-gītā, but I don’t know Sanskrit and cannot pronounce the ślokas properly. Therefore, these people are laughing at me. I am trying but they are laughing. My gurudeva had instructed me to read the Bhagavad-gītā every day. I was thinking that Lord Kṛṣṇa even though He is Bhagavān, how He was pulling the chariot of His friend Arjuna, and therefore I am crying!” Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that, “The way you have understood the Bhagavad-gītā, none of them have!” He embraced the brāhmaṇa! Haribol! Gaurāṅga!

Our previous ācāryas started the Nāma-haṭṭa. But it had kind of disappeared until some time ago. But I took it up and re-established it! I am very grateful to all of you that all these devotees are running the Nāma-haṭṭas. I am very grateful that you are all participating in it as well. When there is devotional service, sacrifice done for Lord Kṛṣṇa or Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the scriptures say that going to the spiritual world is possible. Here we have Pañca-tattva, Rādhā Mādhava Aṣṭa-sakhi, Rādhā Mādhava Māyāpurcandra, Nṛsiṁhadeva, if you pray to Them and have Their caraṇāmṛta, then you will get special mercy! And will get the Lord’s blessings. This human life is meant for bhakti-yoga i.e. devotional service. In the 9^th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Prabhupāda says in one purport that in Kṛṣṇa consciousness women, śūdras, children, whoever they be, they are all the same, no difference.

If you all do bhakti-yoga in Navadvīpa Dhāma which consists of nine islands, and each island represents one limb of devotional service. Antardvīpa, Godrumadvīpa, Sīmantadvīpa, Madhyadvīpa, Modadrumadvīpa, Koladvīpa, Ṛtudvīpa, Jahnudvīpa. Each island represents one limb of devotional service. Śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam, vandanam, pāda-sevanam, arcanam, dāsyam, sakhyam, ātma-nivedanam – these are the nine practices of devotional service which can be performed. And even if one service is done properly then you can go back to Kṛṣṇaloka. Every yuga has a specific sacrifice - in this Kali-yuga, the Lord has given us an easy method - there is śravaṇam, kirtanam, of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra—

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

This was preached by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His associates

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

I have visited Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri many times earlier.  I noticed that barricades had been built around the fields to not let elephants get in and spoil their crops. They protect this way that the elephants do not enter and destroy.

In the 8^th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a history. In Svargaloka one elephant was taking a bath and one crocodile caught one of his feet under water. The two of them fought for a thousand years. The devas were looking at this amazing sight! How an elephant and a crocodile were fighting for a thousand years! In the 8^th canto, in the 2^nd chapter, 30^th verse, Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote in the purport that the elephant was a land animal, and the crocodile was a water animal. This fight was going on in the water. The crocodile was gaining strength in the water, but the elephant gradually became weaker. Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote in the purport that doing devotional service, we are fighting with Māyā as well. So we have to gather strength and faith to rage this war against Māyā. One devotee’s situation may be different from another. Some may be a better gṛhastha or may be a brahmacārī or a sannyāsī. So depending on their strength, they should opt for that life. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu had said: gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko! It is not a defect to be a gṛhastha but whether you are a gṛhastha or any other āśrama, you have to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and fight against Māyā. When Gajendra the elephant understood that he was losing his strength, he pulled out a lotus flower and prayed to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Then Lord Kṛṣṇa came on His Garuḍa carrier and cut off the head of the crocodile and the elephant died and from it appeared a king and another person from the crocodile’s body – two personalities who were cursed previously. So all of you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and engage in devotional service all the time. Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda!

This Navadvīpa Dhāma has a special quality, and we hope you will all love it. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that is the birthplace is the Yogapīṭha a kilometer away, on the other side and this place here where you are all sitting in Māyāpur is the karma-sthāna, the place of activity. Here in the Nāma-haṭṭa, we have to do work for Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya. And whether you are men or women, chant Harināma. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Nityānanda! Nityānanda! Advaita Ācārya! Advaita Ācārya! Advaita Ācārya! Haribol!

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!