20250719 Address Devotees of Gītā Course from Haldia in Gītā Bhavan

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: So, I am very happy that you have all come to Māyāpur. And Kṛṣṇa came to this dhāma when Rādhārāṇī created it for Him. He told Rādhārāṇī that, “You have made such a beautiful dhāma for Me,” and He was very happy! This dhāma, He said, “(this dhāma) will be non-different from Vṛndāvana. Whatever we do in Vṛndāvana,” we get a 1000-times more benefit. And it is the same in Navadvīpa dhāma as well. But, in Vṛndāvana if someone does some sinful activity, then there will also be 1000-times the result of that as well. But in Navadvīpa dhāma, this situation is not there. That is why this is called the ‘audārya-dhāma’! Vṛndāvana is mādhurya-dhāma but Navadvīpa dhāma is a very special mercy-dhāma! When Kṛṣṇa came, He brought the storehouse of prema. But it was locked! It was only opened for very special people! But Lord Caitanya came, and He broke the lock on this prema storehouse and looted this prema everywhere. He distributed as well as His associates also helped distribute this prema. He had one special quality – as much as He gave away, more prema manifested in the storehouse. He did not differentiate, who is qualified, who is disqualified – He gave it to one and all. When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Rāmakeli, there was the boundary of Utkala. There was a Mahāpātra and said that the border of Bengal and Utkala, near Medinipur, there was a Muslim governor who used to indulge in drinking alcohol and had other bad habits. He sent a secret spy to see what was going on. And he came and saw Lord Caitanya and saw that thousands and thousands of people were coming to see Him. They were laughing, crying rolling on the ground and dancing. The spy went to the governor and said that “There is a sādhu who has come here!” The governor’s heart had a change in consciousness, and he wanted to see Lord Caitanya! He sent a message to the Mahāpātra and said that he did not want to do anything unnerving, he only wanted to peacefully come and see Lord Caitanya. The Mahāpātra said, “Okay!” He can come but he should not bring any instruments of defense along. He could bring four or five people along. Then the governor dressed in a dhoti like a Muslim and came. From far he offered obeisances to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lord Caitanya saw that the governor’s heart had softened. He told Lord Caitanya that he did not know why he had taken birth in a Muslim family and because of that he could not get much association with Lord Caitanya. The governor’s consciousness had totally changed! He asked Lord Caitanya if he could do any service. The Mahāpātra said you can do one service – He wants to go up to the Ganges. I think that was the Rūpa Nārāyaṇa river. The governor then provided a houseboat for Lord Caitanya. The river was infested with many pirates and so the governor had ten boats with armed soldiers to protect Lord Caitanya like bodyguards. Anyway, this way they reached Lord Caitanya up to the Gaṅgā. Diamond Harbor is a special place and so from there He went up to Pānihāṭi. There was such a beautiful influence of Lord Caitanya on the governor that he turned around and gave up his bad habits.

Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda!

We are so fortunate that Lord Caitanya was here 500 years ago! About a kilometer away is His birthplace. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda said that this is His karma-sthāna. You all read the Bhagavad-gītā right, in the fourth chapter [ninth verse] there is a śloka which says – janma karma ca me divyam. Lord Kṛṣṇa’s appearance and activities are divine. You have all come here, su-svāgatam to you!

When I came here the first time, there was only the grass hut which Śrīla Prabhupāda asked to retain always. Now there is a lot of development in Māyāpur. Now, 4 annas are ready, we still have to do the rest of the 12 annas. You have all come, I am very happy. You read Bhagavad-gītā and other scriptures, that is very good!

There are nine different ways of doing devotional service. In Navadvīpa dhāma the center is Antardvīpa. And there are like eight islands like the petals of a lotus. Śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam, pāda-sevanam, arcanam, vandanam, dāsyam, sakhyam, ātma-nivedanam – these are the nine practices of bhakti-yoga. Now, we need to have special prema-bhakti for the Deities, Rādhā Mādhava, Pañca-tattva. The sādhana-bhakti has to be done in eight stages. Slowly, and gradually, move to the final prema-bhakti. The eighth stage is bhāva-bhakti or rati. And after that is prema-bhakti. We want that all of you should read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books like Nectar of Devotion, etc. and in the future achieve the stage of prema-bhakti!

Gradually, in the Gītā Course, you climb up with sādhu-saṅga, bhajana-kriyā when you get initiated, anartha-nivṛtti, niṣṭhā, ruci, āsakti, and so on. Generally, people think that they are the body, but we are not to think that way. We are eternal souls and have a body. We have a subtle body with mind, body and intelligence and a gross body. But the soul can reside anywhere. If you do various ways of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, then you can go back the spiritual world, Kṛṣṇaloka. If we only have sense-gratification and no devotion, then you have to take birth again and again. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and other previous ācāryas said, gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. That means you be a sannyāsī, a brahmacārī or gṛhastha, all of you do Harināma and then go back to Hari-dhāma after you leave the body. Haribol!

I am being shown sign language as I am being told to stop talking! You will all have prasāda now!

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!