20250921 Address to Northern Malaysia 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: So, I came to Malaysia hoping to participate in the Hare Kṛṣṇa Convention. I spoke in the inaugural day. But I fell sick! So, I came to Penang Island and was admitted in the hospital. I hope that you all enjoyed the convention! They say I have improved a lot and tomorrow they are discharging me! I don’t know which of you here have the ‘Jayapatākā Swami App’? If you have a smart phone, then you can download it from either Google Play Store or Apple Play Store.

I wrote my monthly message and gave some instructions about devotional service. Everyone has to practice themselves. Just like a bird has to fly on its own strength. They say that if they are flying in a V-form then they get 30% relief. So we want every devotee to practice devotional service. There are nine practices of devotional service. Each island in Navadvīpa is connected to one aspect of devotional service. Śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam. They, we have pāda-sevanam, aracanam and vandanam. I spoke in Tamil, and it is the same thing!! So, nanḍri, thank you! Then servitude, friendship and full surrender. So these are the nine practices of devotional service.

I am in a Christian hospital. They say that we have a soul. But in the Vedas, in the Bhagavad-gītā, it says, that we are the soul! We have a body. So, we try to engage the body in devotional service, especially, in this Kali-yuga, hearing and chanting.

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

Actually, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa’s name and Kṛṣṇa Himself! So the process is to always chant the holy name! Of course, Kṛṣṇa is present in our heart as the Supersoul. And every one of you has the Supersoul in your heart! So, we want all the devotees to go back to the spiritual world. Who would like to go? Who wants to take birth again and again and again? So, this material world is known as mrtyu-loka. This is the world of death. Everyone here is guaranteed, 100% to die. But after death, we can take rebirth. If anyone wants some material thing, they take birth again, they get a chance to achieve that. But if you are thinking of Kṛṣṇa, at time of death, you go to Kṛṣṇa! So, there are different dharmas for different āśramas. So for the brahmacārīs, vānaprasthas, sannyāsīs, those are renunciant āśramas, there is a particular dharma for them. But for the gṛhasthas, there is a separate dharma.

In 1973, Śrīla Prabhupāda in London, he was giving a lecture on his Vyāsa-pūjā. There must have been a lot of gṛhasthas there. He gave two instructions for the gṛhasthas. One he said, “All the gṛhasthas should be paramahaṁsas. You know what the haṁsa can do? You put some water and milk together, they will drink the milk and leave the water! So, the paramahaṁsa is a similar thing, but spiritual. They can see, they can take the spiritual essence and leave the material. Then he gave one more instruction – he said, my guru was an ācārya. And he was the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Then he explained how Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his wife went to Jagannātha Purī. They prayed for a ray of Viṣṇu. So they got Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura as their child. So, during the Jagannātha Ratha-yātrā the ratha stopped in front of their house. And the mother placed the child at the lotus feet of Lord Jagannātha. And Lord Jagannātha’s garland fell off and went over the child.

So Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying, all the gṛhasthas here should have ācāryas as their children. We need a lot of ācāryas! I was reading recently a book by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. And there are eight levels leading up to prema. He said that each of the levels is a step towards prema. Lord Caitanya taught how separation from Kṛṣṇa is quite intense. You see, it says that Lord Kṛṣṇa, He had a storehouse of prema. But, it was locked, He only gave out a little bit! If someone was fully surrendered and all that, then He might give him. But, Lord Caitanya had the storehouse of love of Kṛṣṇa! And He broke the lock! And He gave out the love for Kṛṣṇa, without distinguishing that this person is qualified and this person is not.

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

In the Botanical Gardens temple here they have Pañca-tattva Deities. It is very rare to have the Pañca-tattva Deities. And in Māyāpur we have also the Pañca-tattva Deities. I think in Sweden also they have. Very rare! I think in Laguna Beach, Hawaii but I cannot think of any other place. Maybe in Russia also. So, Rukmiṇī told Kṛṣṇa, “You know everything. You know what Brahmā is doing in Satyaloka. You know what Lord Śiva is doing in Kailāsa. You know what is going on in the ananta-koṭi brahmāṇḍa, but there is one thing You don’t know. I know it, Rādhārāṇī knows it, but You don’t know it.” Kṛṣṇa was amazed, no one told Him, He did not know something! So He asked, “What is that?” Then Rukmiṇī told Him, “Your devotees, how much they love You and in what way they love You, You don’t know!! I know, Rādhārāṇī knows, but You don’t know! Because You are the Lord, and no one is above You!” So then at the end He said, “In Kali-yuga I will come as My devotee! I WILL COME AS MY DEVOTEE! I WILL COME AS MY DEVOTEES!” He said three times! And He came as Lord Caitanya! Gauuurāṅga! Gauuuurāṅga! Gauuuuuurāṅga!

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda came here to Malaysia, and he planted the seed of Lord Caitanya’s Kalpa-vṛkṣa. So we want all the devotees to achieve pure kṛṣṇa-prema in this life! You have to make this as your goal in life! And if you don’t have it yet, then you should cry that you don’t have it!

So, I was telling about how in Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s book, he says how every step in bhakti is a step towards kṛṣṇa-prema. First, we have some faith by listening to some lectures. Then you want to associate with devotees. And then you start to practice different parts of bhajana-kriyā. Chant japa, or different parts. At this stage, usually, one takes initiation. So in Caitanya-caritāmṛta it says Lord Caitanya, He gives us the tree of bhakti. And we need to be expert in protecting it from the wild, mad elephants. A mad elephant can rip and tear out a tree from the roots and stamp on it! What is a mad elephant here? That is offences! Especially, serious is the offence to a pure devotee. So, by putting a fence around your tree, that can save it from the wild elephant. So having association of nice devotees will help protect you. But even if you guard your tree with some fence, some weeds may come up. So, weeds like niṣedhācāra, doing something which is prohibited. Like kuṭi-nāṭi – like rumor mongering, politics, jīva-hiṁsā, envious towards other living entities. In Calcutta, they had put a velvet curtain, and many mosquitos came into Śrīla Prabhupāda’s room. Śrīla Prabhupāda said there are so many mosquitos. Some devotee said, it is alright, we will just kill them! But Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “You are nonsense! You have put some attractive curtains, you attract them and then kill them!” So any kind of envy against living entities. Maybe you criticize some other devotee. That may be an offence or at least jīva-hiṁsā. And he said there are three other weeds, but it is said there are unlimited weeds. Lābha, pūjā, pratiṣṭhādi means, etc. other things also. Like, if one thinks that by doing devotional service, I will get this thing or that thing, that is lābha. And if one gets respect as a devotee, that is pūjā. And if somebody is hankering after getting some position, that is pratiṣṭhā. So, these are the anartha-nivṛttis. So once we get rid of them, we are fixed and called niṣṭhā. Then, after some time, we get a taste, ruci. I hope that you are all tasting the devotional service. And then you get attached to that spiritual taste. That is called āsakti. After āsakti, it becomes ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. That is called rati or bhāva. The next step after that is prema. Prema has also eight levels!

So this is a science – science of devotional service! So we want all the devotees to study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. I got the Bhaktivedanta degree! And I am half-way through the Bhakti Sārvabhauma degree! So now, the Education Minister has made it easy for the people who have a lot of managerial responsibilities or elder devotees, who can take summative exams. Old age, like 40 years!! If you are over 40, then you automatically qualify! No excuse! I mean, Śrīla Prabhupāda books are very ecstatic! So like in India we have many institutes that give the degrees. You can take the test in Tamil, Telugu or different languages, maybe Chinese. I don’t know if they have in Malay language yet. We want the devotees to be very much absorbed in thinking about Kṛṣṇa! And thinking about Lord Caitanya! Like in the TODU temple in the mezzanine floor, there is an exhibition and one of the exhibits shows Śrīla Prabhupāda crossing the ocean by Jaladuta. And his age was 70 when he took this ocean voyage. It is really amazing! I mean, of course, he travelled by flights, later but his initial voyage was by ship in the ocean. So, we are all very much indebted to Śrīla Prabhupāda! And he wanted all the Malaysian devotees to achieve pure kṛṣṇa-prema!

Haribol!

So are there are any questions?