20250928 Address on Officiating Dāmodara Month to Śrī Jagannātha Mandir 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

Jayapataka Swami: So on this special day, it is Sunday, I am glad to be here in Kuala Lumpur. So today we try to say something for the pleasure of Nitāi Gaura and Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā and Sudarśana Cakra! And also for the pleasure of Śrīla Prabhupāda! 

Śrīla Prabhupāda he came here in Malaysia. And he was invited at the Ardha Kumbha-melā from some of the representatives of Malaysia. I was also there at the Ardha Kumbha-melā in 1971. There Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving a lecture. And he said how devotees by practicing bhakti-yoga Kṛṣṇa consciousness they have already gone through various pious sacrifices. After his lecture, one devotee raised his hand and asked a question. He said, “Looking back at my life I don’t think I have done anything pious before coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So how did I come to Kṛṣṇa conscious?” Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, “I made the good fortune for you.” Haribol! Haribol!

Actually, Śrīla Prabhupāda was the representative of Lord Caitanya, Nityānanda bringing out the mercy all over the world. Lord Caitanya predicted that throughout the world in every town and village His name would be sung. Lord Caitanya’s vision was to expand bhakti-yoga throughout the world. Also that was Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision. So every devotee should think how they can carry out the order of their guru, parama-guru, Founder-Ācārya and spread  Lord Caitanya’s mission all over the world. 

Actually, Mahā Varāha dāsa had a nice realization last night. The more you give out Kṛṣṇa the more you become Kṛṣṇa conscious. I am so grateful to the devotees who are distributing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, giving out the holy name, the prasāda. But then he had a realization that if you give out money, your material things, that you don’t get back! Anyway, nice realization!

Of course, if you give charity to qualified people, you will get some material good karma. But by worshiping Kṛṣṇa you get spiritual benefit. When Lord Caitanya visited South India, He visited South India, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala. So when He was in the Kūrma-kṣetra, He told the local brāhmaṇa – yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128] – whoever you meet tell them the message of Kṛṣṇa. The Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is spoken about Kṛṣṇa. 

There was one devotee Vāsudeva, he had leprosy. On His body there were leeches eating his flesh. Sometimes they fell off! He was so sensitive that, “It is my karma to suffer leprosy and the leeches eating me, that’s their karma!” Then he picked up off the ground leeches up and put them back on his body so that they can eat his flesh. Very detached! So he heard Lord Caitanya was present and he came there to that place. But then he heard Lord Caitanya left. He said, “Oh no, oh no!  my life is useless!” Then Lord Caitanya reappeared, and Vāsudeva the leper he was very happy. He paid his obeisances and surrendered to Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya picked him up and embraced him. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! And Vāsudeva was cured of his leprosy. Vāsudeva said, “Now that I am cured I may be proud and I may be in māyā.” But Lord Caitanya gave him the same order that anyone you meet you tell them Kṛṣṇa’s teachings and always be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Gaurāṅga! So this was when Lord Caitanya was a sannyāsī and He was touring South India.

When He was in Māyāpur for the first 24 years, there was one place where He went and one of the ladies was a helper at the house of Śacīmātā. And she had made milk sweets for Lord Caitanya and His associates. Bengal is famous for milk sweets – sandeśa, rasagullā, miṣṭi-dahi. You know in Malaysia? So Lord Caitanya’s kīrtana party they went to a pond. And a cow was mooing, moo, moo! So Lord Caitanya asked, “Why the cow was mooing?” So they told Him, “In this pond there is a crocodile. So the cow was afraid to take water unless she knew where the crocodile is.” So then the kīrtana party was chanting, 

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

What were they chanting? 

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

And then the crocodile came up and started swimming towards the kīrtana party. When Lord Caitanya stayed there and He was motionless. Suddenly the crocodile came out of the water and ran towards Lord Caitanya, he touched the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya and then he was transformed into a young deva – Deva-kumāra. Then Lord Caitanya asked him, “What is his history and how did this happen?” If you see a crocodile transformed into a Deva-kumāra would you not be amazed? So he said, “In Devaloka, in Svarga, he was playing in the forest. There was a sleeping yogī with big hair. So he cut the hair off! But the yogī was actually Durvāsā Muni, who is famous for cursing! So he cursed, whoever cut my hair they are expert in cutting, so let them be a crocodile. But when I heard this I got scared and I pleaded to Durvāsā Muni please forgive me that I was just playing a trick. So Durvāsā Muni said, ‘I can’t take my curse back, but you will be a crocodile in Navadvīpa dhāma and you will get the opportunity to touch the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya and then you will be freed from the curse.’” The Deva kumar said, “By touching Your lotus feet, by Your mercy, I am free from the curse!” Then his parents came down from Devaloka and took their son back by a celestial airplane. Then Lord Caitanya and His party went to take the milk sweets. 

So these places are visible in Navadvīpa parikramā. We have an International party. We also have a South Indian party with south Indian prasāda – dahi, iḍli, dosa, all the South Indian prasāda! So you Malaysians may like one of these parties. So not far from this place is Hari-Hara-kṣetra. This is in the Godrumadvīpa, the second island. The island of kīrtana. Lord Śiva, he became agitated when he saw Mohinī. So he was very upset. He didn’t get agitated with Umā so why did he get agitated with Mohinī?  So, Lord Viṣṇu came and told him that, “Mohinī is actually Me. You are also in one sense non-different from Me.” So in this place Śiva and Viṣṇu are combined. Half is Viṣṇu half is Śiva. The place is called Hari-Hara-kṣetra. Hari is Viṣṇu and Hara is Śiva. With Viṣṇu you have Lakṣmī and with Śiva you have Umā. This temple is also visible in Navadvīpa parikramā. And if a person within the area of that temple dies, then Lord Śiva goes and chants in their ear Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Then they go immediately back to the spiritual world. So if anyone of your relatives or friends is dying don’t forget to chant in their ears Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gauuuuuurāāāāāṅga!

Yesterday, I explained how Lord Gaurāṅga is Kṛṣṇa coming back as His devotee. And Lord Caitanya was very merciful. Lord Kṛṣṇa would give out love for Kṛṣṇa very sparingly. You are not qualified. You are very qualified. Like that, He would discriminate. The real gift, real perfection of human life is to have love of Kṛṣṇa. But it takes some time. But usually it takes many, many births. Śrīla Prabhupāda said he got perfection in two decades or so in this world. So by Lord Caitanya’s mercy, you can get the highest, eternal perfection in this life! Many people think I am not qualified, but every devotee can say something about Kṛṣṇa. The more you give Kṛṣṇa, the more you get Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, that’s the special gift of Lord Caitanya. Billions of years this opportunity doesn’t come. Lord Caitanya was here a little over 500 years ago. And Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was here in Malaysia just 54 years ago! Don’t miss this chance! You won’t get it in billions of years! And in the Brahma-Vaivarta Purāṇa says that there would be a 10,000 years golden age. That would start around 5000 years after the beginning of Kali-yuga. Lord Caitanya came after 4500 years. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda came after 5000 years. So this is our chance, we can achieve the highest perfection of human life! Practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you lead a peaceful life. Finally, you get the kṛṣṇa-prema! 

I am told that it is time for your lunch. I don’t want to cause you any un peace!

So generally, in this human life is, we normally want to get a better car, better house, better spouse, but these are all temporary. To get Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to get kṛṣṇa-prema, that is eternal! So, we should try to get the eternal benefit, by the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!

Any questions? Any comments?

We want to Inaugurate Dāmodara-vrata for the whole Malaysia, and especially for the KL (Kuala Lumpur) temple!