20251214 Bhagavad-gītā 5.17 - Sunday Evening Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Bhagavad-gītā 5.17

tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas
tan-niṣṭhās tat-parāyaṇāḥ
gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṁ
jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ

Translation: When one’s intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.

Purport: The Supreme Transcendental Truth is Lord Kṛṣṇa. The whole Bhagavad-gītā centers around the declaration that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the version of all Vedic literature. Para-tattva means the Supreme Reality, who is understood by the knowers of the Supreme as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. Bhagavān, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the last word in the Absolute. There is nothing more than that. The Lord says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañ-jaya. Impersonal Brahman is also supported by Kṛṣṇa: brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham. Therefore in all ways Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Reality. One whose mind, intelligence, faith and refuge are always in Kṛṣṇa, or, in other words, one who is fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is undoubtedly washed clean of all misgivings and is in perfect knowledge in everything concerning transcendence. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person can thoroughly understand that there is duality (simultaneous identity and individuality) in Kṛṣṇa, and, equipped with such transcendental knowledge, one can make steady progress on the path of liberation.

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Jayapatākā Swami: Yesterday I had gone to Juhu Temple. Sura dāsa Prabhu had requested that I give a class on Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā śloka tells us how to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. I was saying that in America, in the West, they say that they love something. They like all kinds of things like football team, I love my dog, and so on. I love my dog! My dog is amazing! I love my country! I love my state! They just say love, love! I love my cinema! I want to ask you, do they say so in India too? Everybody is attaching their love to material things. Instead, they should love Lord Kṛṣṇa! He is worth it! He is the strongest, He lifted the Govardhana Hill on His little finger, for seven days! Lord Kṛṣṇa is most beautiful. The gopīs used to complain to Lord Brahmā that, “Why did you make such eyes which have to blink and we cannot see Kṛṣṇa for a moment!”

Lord Kṛṣṇa is most knowledgeable, and He spoke the Bhagavad-gītā. He is the most famous! People call Him by different names, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa and some as God, Jehovah, Allah. But He is the most famous! You would have seen that many people are very rich, but Lord Kṛṣṇa is the richest! He has thousands of Lakṣmīs serving Him in very menial service! And we see that He is the most renounced! He creates the material world for people to stay here, He does not think much about it. He takes different incarnations, avatāras and motivates people to come back home back to Godhead. But we don’t want to go back Godhead! We want to stay here! Want to take birth again and again. Sometimes people go to the higher planets and some go down to the lower planets. So this human life is wasted in this material world. If we focus on Lord Kṛṣṇa then we can go back to the spiritual world. How many people are Kṛṣṇa conscious? Most people are using their intelligence and time in material things. We should realize that this body is perishable, but the soul is eternal. If a husband keeps thinking only of his wife, it may so happen that in his next life he is born in a woman’s body. If the wife is attached to her husband and thinks of him only, then maybe she becomes a man in her next life. But if both of them think of Kṛṣṇa at the end of their life, they will both go back to Kṛṣṇaloka. We want that all the people should think about Lord Kṛṣṇa and His different incarnations and go back to Godhead at the end of this life. Who is there who wants to come to this material world again and again? Please raise your hand! And who wants to eternally serve Lord Kṛṣṇa?

Bhagavad-gītā when it was spoken to Arjuna, Lord Kṛṣṇa told him, “Whatever you do offer it to Me.” That is our eternal position. We are the servants of Kṛṣṇa. This month is the Gītā Marathon when we distribute the Bhagavad-gītā. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “If you distribute my books, I will be happy!” Sometimes it happens that Delhi would beat Māyāpur in distributing the Bhagavad-gītā. I was seeing how they distribute books in Delhi. I had to come to the ILBS Hospital and tried to find out what they do. How they distribute so many books! I came to know that two months ahead of the marathon, the temple president used to meet the Bhakti-vṛkṣa members, the different groups, the individual devotees and get a pledge from them as to how many books they would aim to distribute. This way, many other pledges were taken. One elderly devotee took the pledge to distribute 5000 Bhagavad-gītās! And he did it! He used to stand in front of a moving car and tell them, you take a Bhagavad-gītā or drive over me! I don’t recommend that but you can see how they were so determined! I was thinking that Kharghar temple is so wonderful and there are such wonderful devotees, you should beat ISKCON Juhu in book distribution. When I went back to Māyāpur, I told them in Delhi how each and every person pledges to distribute. So these are not only saṅkīrtana parties who distribute, but there are gṛhasthas and many devotees from various departments pledged in Māyāpur and distributed the Bhagavad-gītās. I was thinking that all of you in Kharghar can show how united you are. I am a BBT Trustee, so I don’t mind sharing this secret with you. If people read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, then they will have a great benefit.

Lord Caitanya came down to deliver the fallen, patita, Lord Caitanya is called Patita-pāvana. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura in his bhajana says how Lord Caitanya came to deliver the fallen. But there is no one more fallen than me, You should deliver me first! We know that how Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura was a Mahā-bhāgavata, an uttama-adhikari. But he is praying to Lord Caitanya that he is more fallen! With a mood like this we will be able to attract the mercy of Lord Caitanya! When Lord Caitanya toured all over India, He did something in South India which He did not do anywhere? Do you know what that is? On the street, He would see some men and embrace them. Who of you would like Lord Caitanya to do this with you? So this way Lord Caitanya was distributing kṛṣṇa-prema to all.

When Lord Caitanya was in Jagannātha Purī, He saw the light of the moon in the sea and thought that was the Yamunā. And He ran into the ocean and was swept away by the waves. A little later He was swept back to the coast. Sometimes it would happen that when Lord Caitanya was in ecstasy, His different limbs would be longer. Sometimes it would happen that when He was in ecstasy His body which was normally seven feet tall, His skin would stretch even more! One time a fisherman somehow caught Lord Caitanya in his net. But then he knew that if he chanted prayer Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva he would be protected, But when he touched  Lord Caitanya and chanted the Nṛsiṁha mantra, he felt more ecstasy! So he thought that he was possessed by a ghost. The devotees of Lord Caitanya came searching for Him and saw him. He said, “I am haunted by a ghost and started chanting: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!”

One of Lord Caitanya’s associates told him, they knew how to take the ghost out! And he slapped the fisherman three times and said the ghost has gone out of him! They asked the fisherman, “Where was Lord Caitanya?” He could not say that but told them there was a horrible thing, an unusually big thing in his net. He said he had seen Lord Caitanya earlier, who was very beautiful. The devotees asked him where the thing was. He took them to the shore of the sea and there Lord Caitanya was in ecstasy. They brought Lord Caitanya over and washed Him up and changed His clothes and started chanting:

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

This way hearing the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, Lord Caitanya’s limbs came back to normal, and He came back to external consciousness. And He described how He was seeing kṛṣṇa-līlā in Vṛndāvana and the Yamunā. One devotee asked, I think it was Svarūpa Dāmodara, “How did You understand the fisherman had caught You?” He said, someone was actually haunted by a ghost cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. He was actually chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and saying, “Help me, I am haunted!” Merely by the touch of Lord Caitanya, he was in ecstasy of kṛṣṇa-prema. But he thought he was haunted because he had never experienced such ecstasy before. But now understand and am very peaceful.

Do all of you feel ecstasy when you chant? You should all feel ecstatic when chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. If this is not happening that means that we probably have committed some offence or there are some weeds that are interfering. I am very glad to see all the devotees. Some days ago, in my class here, I had commented that I had seen many devotees with no tilaka on their foreheads. But today, I see that more devotees are wearing tilaka. Some are there who are not wearing the tilaka, but they are fewer in number.

In this śloka the Lord is saying, how is He, the Supreme Father and we are all very dear to Him. There is a peace formula.

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati
(Bg. 5.29)

If we realize that all sacrifices and austerities, charity, He accepts Lord Kṛṣṇa, and our coming to the temple, He accepts. When people offer the namaz, we know Allah accepts that offering. In churches when devotees pray to God, the Jews offer their prayers in the synagogue, everything the Lord accepts. He is the Supreme Lord of all the planets. There are millions of planets in this universe and there are many unlimited universes. He is the Supreme Lord of all the planets. He is the benefactor, friend, and well-wisher of every living entity. This is not only limited to humans but extends to all the animals, the trees, all living entities.

One time in Calcutta, Śrīla Prabhupāda was in a room in which the devotees had put dark blue velvet curtains. Many mosquitos got attracted to that room. Śrīla Prabhupāda complained and some devotees came and said, they are mosquitos after all, we should kill them. But Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “You are nonsense! First you attract the mosquitos and then want to kill them. We should not kill or harm any living entities.” That is why we are vegetarian because we do not want to kill any animal, insect. Kṛṣṇa is the well-wisher benefactor of every creature, every embodied entity.

I am very happy to see so many young people here. You can make a difference in the world! You have a long life ahead! In the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa it is predicted that 5000 years after the Kali-yuga starts, there will be a ten thousand golden age. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books are for this ten-thousand-year golden age! Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “If you distribute my books, I will be happy.” He also said that, “If you read my books, you will BE!”

In Juhu, I asked the devotees in the class how many of you have read all of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Nobody raised their hands! So that is a very sorry situation! Especially Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu are the books you should read. I want that those who want to take second initiation from me, they should have at least the Bhakti-śāstrī degree. This is not very difficult. In this there are four books you need to study – Bhagavad-gītā, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Īśopaniṣad and Upadeśamṛta. There are only about 11% of my disciples who have second initiation. I am quite worried. Now there is a summative test, and you can give the test and if you pass it, you get the degree. Not only that, but you will be told what the questions are going to be asked in the exam! In India we see how sometimes that the exam papers leak before the exam and there is a scandal. But here you are being told the questions that are going to be asked in the exam! You get about 50-questions and you have to only answer 20. Still devotees are not taking the test. The temple management, those who are over 40 years of age can take the summative test.

Bhagavad-gītā is a great śāstra. We know how the Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic literature. Read the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta – if you cannot read them, then there is an app called ‘Transcend App’, where you get the audio version of the books. So if you cannot afford to buy the Transcend App, you can request someone to read the Bhagavad-gītā to you. Somehow or other be absorbed in the teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

We know that Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was a pioneer, he was working for the British Government, and he had many children. One of his children was born in Jagannātha Purī. He and his wife were praying to Lord Jagannātha for a ray of Lord Viṣṇu as their child. They performed the garbhādāna-saṁskāra and in answer to their prayers Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was born as their child. He was named Bimalā Prasāda at birth. Śrīla Prabhupāda in 1973 in his Vyāsa-pūjā lecture said that every gṛhastha should have an ācārya as their child. Haribol! But it takes a lot of commitment to have such a child. Lord Caitanya said, gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Whether you are a gṛhastha or in the renounced order, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura started this revolution. His birthplace is in Bir Nagar, in West Bengal. We have bought some land there and now some more land is available. We had approached the sevaitas of the Bir Nagar janmasthāna. We wanted to do some joint project, but they would not accept. They said we can do, but would not give us any legal rights. So next to that the birthplace we have bought land, and we are building a temple and facility to promote Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. When Śrīla Prabhupāda went there several times, I was there with him then. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted very much to honor Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Some people from Middle East and some Mumbai devotees are assisting in the making of this temple and development of this facility. If any of you are wanting to offer service in this regard, you are welcome!

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: You always tell us to preach. But how do we preach in places where there is so much familiarity. It is easy to preach in different schools and NGOs. But how we can preach at our own birthplace, at our own college, school, where there is so much familiarity that people do not listen to us easily. Please guide us, Guru Mahārāja.

Jayapatākā Swami: Some people in every locality have some affection to something. They love their cricket team, love their country, some material thing they love. If they say this, then you should tell them that they should love Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya said that by any means – yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. You have to try and you will see that some people will accept your preaching. Kṛṣṇa says that there are four types of people who approach Him – first are the ones who want riches, second are those who have lot of suffering, you go to hospitals and people come to me and say please pray for my husband, he is sick or something, some are inquisitive and want to know things and some are in knowledge. So there are four types of people who will gradually come to you. And there are four types of people who do not normally approach the Lord. It is not that everyone will come right in the beginning… In this month of December especially, you can go and give them the Bhagavad-gītā. Don’t give it free. But if they don’t want it, and disrespect the Bhagavad-gītā, you will be responsible for it. You can give at lower price higher price, as you are able to. You be friendly to the people. Saw how we never die, we are eternal. Jaya Rādha Madana-mohana kī jaya! Nitāi Gaura kī jaya! Guru Gaurāṅga kī jaya! Sītā Rāma Lakṣmaṇa Hanumān kī jaya!

Question: What service should I do to satisfy you?

Jayapatākā Swami: Many things. Preach, read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and get the degrees, distribute books, please the Deities, serve in the temple. I am very easy to please! Haribol!