20251204 Special Session

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: Haribol! So, it is very nice to be here for so long in Chennai. See the Deities, have darśana almost every day! We have to see how we can spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over Tamil Nadu. How we can help the people of Chennai be Kṛṣṇa conscious. I don’t know how many people know that they are the spirit soul, and their purpose of living is to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The body is born, grows, stays for some time, has some by products, grows old and dies. But the soul never dies – it is eternal. How many births you have taken before you got this birth in India? Here in India, in Bharat, there is a chance, there is a facility to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. In the rest of the world, that was not there. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda brought this message of Kṛṣṇa all over the world! He made the good fortune for the world! Now, I saw with my own eyes that every night, he was writing his books. He did this great sacrifice for all of you! Now, it is our duty that we should read these books! And we should distribute the books.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if you distribute my books, you will be happy! If you read my books you will be! I mean, you should read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, you should read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, etc. of course, His Holiness Bhānu Swami is also translating books, I mean Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that all the Vedic literature about Kṛṣṇa and especially of our previous Ācāryas should be translated and printed.

Today Nāma-niṣṭhā Prabhu came from Mangaluru and showed me that their project is to make a Bhagavad-gītā residential college. He has many people online, but they are saying that they want to reside in the temple and serve the devotees.

Now this December month is the month when then Bhagavad-gītā was spoken. So, all over the world, December is a special month for Śrīla Prabhupāda Marathon. Last Ekādaśī was the Mokṣadā Ekādaśī, that was the day when Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā in Kurukṣetra. Madhusevita Prabhu printed and produced a huge Bhagavad-gītā, I don’t know how many tons it was, it was huge! I think it entered the world book Guinness Book of Records. He brought it to Delhi and then in Delhi, the East of Kailash temple, the Bhagavad-gītā was established. The ārati was done by our Honorable Prime Minister. The book weighs 800 kilos! How big was it? 800 kilos, how many people would it take to lift! The book is 2.8 meters wide, almost 10 feet. So, 3 meters is 10 feet. So, you don’t have to carry this 800 kilo Bhagavad-gītā! You can tell me what is the weight of the regular Bhagavad-gītā? Few hundred grams! Anyway, everybody in Bhārata should have the Bhagavad-gītā, that should be the book of the country! Śrīla Prabhupāda was asked to recommend a Bhagavad-gītā. He said that there were about 400 editions in English. He could not really recommend anyone because they all had some distortion. Of course, the one which was almost alright, was from the Gītā Press. So Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote, the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is! We should carry it. Śrīla Prabhupāda did not say about Kṛṣṇa, being something else or this is not true or something – every word of Arjuna He supported. Actually every devotee should carry some book with them to give out, if someone they met was interested. You see, people should understand the basics of spiritual life. But, our people they don’t take advantage of being in Bhārata! Here there are so many temples, so much opportunity to worship Kṛṣṇa, to study Bhagavad-gītā. So, we want to give everybody the opportunity. India, Bhārata, distributes more Bhagavad-gītās, more books, than any other continent or any other country! But it is nothing compared to our potential! Everybody should have a copy of the Bhagavad-gītā! Men, women, everybody! And the Bhagavad-gītā is the heritage of all Indians! The Bhagavad-gītā was spoken 5000 years ago. There was no Christianity, no Buddhism, no Islam. And Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā for the whole world! Actually, the Supreme Personality of Godhead came down from the spiritual world and with His own words, He spoke the Bhagavad-gītā.

We see the newscast sometimes and all over the world there are wars. There is a Sunday special program – World at War. And I could tell all the wars, but what is the use?! We are welcoming Putin, he has come to India, we are happy, but unfortunately he came to sell weapons. And he is attacking, he is fighting with Ukraine. Then Israel, Sudan, there are so many wars. So Kṛṣṇa gave us the peace formula. Śrīla Prabhupāda said we should know this. How many know the peace formula? Kṛṣṇa said, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ [Bg 5.29] – I am the enjoyer of all the sacrifices, penances, all the different religions do different things, penance, and Kṛṣṇa is the one who enjoys that; sarva-loka-maheśvaram – I am the Lord of all the planets. In this universe there are many planets. And there are ananta-koṭi – unlimited universes. So Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of all the planets in all the universes. In the material sky and in the spiritual sky. We have Lord Jagannātha here. He is not Odishanātha, He is Jagannātha! So, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ – He is the benefactor, friend of all living entities. jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati – if you know this, then you will have peace! So, if we want peace in the world, the secret is to know the actual position of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

So, Lord Caitanya, He came down and He is Kṛṣṇa but He came as a devotee. We worship Him as the Pañca-tattva. Nitāi is Baladeva, His first expansion. Advaita is the combination of Mahā-Viṣṇu and Sadāśiva. Two of his sons are Kārttikeya and Gaṇeśa. Kārttikeya came as Acyutānanda and Gaṇeśa came as Gopāla. Gadādhara is the internal energy. Śrīvāsa is the marginal energy. We are all marginal energy. So, the Pañca-tattva came down just to establish chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa!

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

Thank you for saying that in Tamil!

In every language of the world, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is the same! Of course, they say with their accent! Chinese say: Hale Kṛṣṇa, Hale Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hale Hale – so they cannot pronounce ‘r’ they say ‘l’.

Anyway, this December month if anyone can think of a pledge how many books you can distribute in this month of December. I met one elderly devotee in Delhi. He has made a pledge that he would distribute 5000 Bhagavad-gītās. He would stand in front of the cars and says, you can run over me, I will not leave until you take a Bhagavad-gītā! I don’t recommend that as a method, but anyway, he does what he does! People, if they get the Bhagavad-gītā or any of Śrīla Prabhupāda books, they will be very happy and you will also be very happy!

Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda!

So we are very blessed to have Nitāi Gaura, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, here in Chennai. And we want everybody to participate in this very great bhakti-yoga, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement! They are missing out on the real happiness, otherwise! Now there is a special facility given by Lord Caitanya, by the Vedas, for this Kali-yuga.

Gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko – whether one is a gṛhastha or renounced, everyone should chant the names of the Lord, always.

In this Kali-yuga most of the people are gṛhasthas. That is alright if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, read Bhagavad-gītā and do devotional service, then you think about Kṛṣṇa all the time! Chennai, we had in the Kārtika month, the month of Dāmodara, we had a nice display of Dāmodara and Yaśodā. So many opportunities to worship Kṛṣṇa! I have taken many disciples and I go to different hospitals sometimes. So, people are suffering in this material world. I just met a lady who was young. She said she was suffering from cancer. So these material senses give us some material happiness. They also give us material suffering. I met the Śaṅkarācārya in Purī, I said you are worshiping Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Deities, They are beautiful. But you are getting old but you are not beautiful like Them! He said, “That is my līlā!” I said, “That līlā everybody is doing! Everybody is growing old!” But the ātmā never dies! So if we are materially conscious, we will take another material birth. If you are Kṛṣṇa conscious, you will go back to Kṛṣṇa! So, we should remember how all the devas and devīs, they are also Kṛṣṇa devotees. But if worship them, not Kṛṣṇa, we go to their planets. Not that whoever you worship, it is the same thing. Anyway, I think I spoke long enough tonight! Don’t forget to make your pledge! How many books you will distribute in December! One book or 100 books or 1000 books! 5000 books! Haribol!

Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Śrīla Prabhupāda!

I can take two questions, one from ladies, one from men. Who has a question?

Question: I have heard that you have a very intense love for Gaura Nitāi. What are the practical ways by which we can develop that intense love for Them?

Jayapatākā Swami: Have you read all the books of Lord Caitanya? By reading Caitanya-caritāmṛta, now I have translated like the Kṛṣṇa Book, the books of Lord Caitanya, with minimum explanation. Once you hear, learn, how Lord Caitanya is giving His mercy out.

As Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says,

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-prabhu dayā kara more,
tomā vinā ke dayālu jagat-saṁsāre
patita-pāvana-hetu tava avatāra,

You have come to deliver the most fallen! Mo sama patita prabhu nā pāibe āra. There is no one more sinful, more fallen than me! And he prayed to Lord Caitanya, You are premānanda-sukhī – You are happy in love of Kṛṣṇa! So please have mercy on me, I am very sad! Āmi baḍo duḥkhī! I am very miserable! So, it will be nice if His Holiness Bhānu Swami also translates some of the books of Lord Caitanya! I mean, even Kṛṣṇa, He was giving His mercy to those who were surrendered to Him. But Lord Caitanya looted the treasure house of love of Kṛṣṇa! He gave it out freely! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! So these are a few tips. Gaurāṅga!

Question: I heard a lot of times we are not this body, we are spirit soul. But I keep forgetting it. How do we remember constantly that we are not this body?

Jayapatākā Swami: Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa helps! I used to have trouble to concentrate on chanting. But Śrīla Prabhupāda taught that we should continue to chant. Now when I chant, I cannot think of anything else! If anybody is chanting, naturally my mind is drawn to that! So, by chanting, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam – it cleanses the mirror of our heart or consciousness. We can remember then that we are not the body! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

I used to weigh 120 kilos but now doctors have said my ideal weight is 102 kilos which I am now! With the wheelchair I am 130 kilos!

So, the devotees from Chennai were complaining that I did not see them! So I stayed here for two months! Plenty of time to see me! I love you all!

Devotees can also donate Bhagavad-gītā equivalent to your own weight!

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!