20260128 Addressing to Pune Devotees

Jayapatākā Swami: So today we were supposed to have the new chapter, but I heard that 150 devotees have come from Pune. So I would like to welcome them. Su-Svāgatam to Navadvīpa Māyāpur Dhāma. So here the dhāma was created by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa came and said You have made such a beautiful dhāma for Me! So this dhāma will be non-different from Vṛndāvana! So that means every devotee, every devotional service activity or service, even ordinary activity you get a thousand times benefit. Even lying down and taking rest is like offering praṇāmas in the temple every step taken in the dhāma is more than an aśvamedha-yajña! And if you actually chant Gaurāṅga!  Nityānanda! Hare Kṛṣṇa! - that will be multiplied a thousand times! And of course, if you are within three miles of the Ganges then you get further bonus! So like, you get a lot of credit.

Hope that you all have a very nice experience in the holy dhāma. Some people are not able to come to the holy dhāma regularly, but somehow by remembering Kṛṣṇa and the holy dhāma they get benefit. I was reading in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, how by remembering Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, has so much benefit. So, whatever we are doing, wherever we are living, we always remember Kṛṣṇa, and we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! So, we want you all to be purified and become representatives of the guru-paramparā. So that simply by hearing from you, by seeing you, they also change. And this way we want to see the whole world being God conscious. And so this is the purpose of the International Soceity for Krishna Consciousness. To make the whole word Kṛṣṇa conscious! I mean, most people, they don’t think about Kṛṣṇa. But our various religious leaders have instituted a program that we constantly at least four times, five times a day, we remember Kṛṣṇa. So, like when you are doing your work, when you are doing your studies when you are doing your activities, always remember that you are doing this for Kṛṣṇa And in this way chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, thinking about Kṛṣṇa, you get purified. You get a higher taste!

So, everyone does some work, right? So, if we think that this work is actually given by Kṛṣṇa, and we offer the fruit of our labor, some percentage to Kṛṣṇa, and a sannyāsī is supposed to offer everything. A gṛhastha he offers 50%, then that is as good as a sannyāsī. But even if you offer 10% or something, at least you are always thinking about Kṛṣṇa. In the material world, we want to satisfy our senses. In the spiritual world, we were discussing about the spiritual world, we want to satisfy Kṛṣṇa’s senses. That is actually the meaning of love. Actually, this love in the spiritual world is constant. And everybody feels transcendental bliss! There is a saying in Bengali, ānandera koṇa sīmā nāi – no limit to the bliss, to the ānanda, the bliss of Kṛṣṇa consciousness! So, in this material world there is a limit. You have a brief moment of pleasure and then some normal situation. Then sometimes suffering. So, like this, happiness and distress is some kind of equal situation. And in the heavenly planets there is more happiness, in the hellish planets more distress. In the material world there is happiness and distress. But in the spiritual world there is only transcendental happiness. So we want to transfer you all to the spiritual world! And by practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this world, you can transfer to the spiritual world!

I was reading the different mantras’ glories - Nārāyaṇa mantra, Nṛsiṁha mantra, Rāma mantra. By chanting these mantras, by remembering the Lords, we believe there is one Lord, but He has many forms. And so one can go back to Hari-dhāma. But if you chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and Kṛṣṇa mantra, then you go to Kṛṣṇaloka. So we can go where we want. So we should book our ticket! So, if you book a ticket to Kolkata you can go to Kolkata. If you book a ticket to London, then you go to London. If you book a ticket to Hari-dhāma you go there Vaikuṇṭha. If you want to go to Kṛṣṇa, then you have to book a ticket to go there. If you pay less, you will end up somewhere else. So we welcome you all to Māyāpur Navadvīpa dhāma. Here the Lord, He combines with Rādhā and produces the golden form of Gaurāṅga! So the Lord accepted a form of a devotee, and He wanted to experience what the devotees were feeling. So He went into extreme ecstasy! The devotees felt so much bliss, so He was experiencing that firsthand. So, although He is very merciful, He wants to see everybody sharing this transcendental bliss. How many here want to experience that transcendental bliss?

Thank you very much? Are there any questions? You can write your question down or you can speak.

Question: How to be determined and consistent in bhakti in the midst of māyā and so many distractions?

Jayapatākā Swami: Good question. You see, It is not easy! Normally we would take many, many births. But if you are determined, and you are fixed, then you can achieve Kṛṣṇa even in one birth! So, there are many considerations, maybe one is worried about their forefathers, parents. But if you go back to Kṛṣṇa, then ultimately 14 generations - 7 generations before and seven after, they get liberated. So, because you are indebted to your parents, grandparents, etc. so they all get a share of the benefits. The practice of bhakti-yoga is a yoga practice. We have to be determined – we may be allured by material happiness, sense gratification or we may be given suffering, no matter what happens, are we determined to serve Kṛṣṇa? That is the kind of test that may be given. Someone came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and his father died, and he got a big inheritance. He thought I came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness I was suffering, now I have got money! Wow! Let me enjoy! So he left his Kṛṣṇa conscious practice and tried to enjoy. Soon the money was all spent and he went back to zero! Then he came back to Kṛṣṇa consciousness! So like this some people are allured by gain, some people are given a loss! So like that knowing that this happens, then we should be determined that on our own, we are not strong enough. But by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, by engaging our senses in Kṛṣṇa’s service, then we can overcome all these tests. So, it is for the committed people, the intelligent people, that we can know that this material world has its allurements, and suffering. And so we want to taste the spiritual bliss! Haribol!

Question: How do you manage to cope with the difficulties in your life, especially the health crisis you are going through and how do I also inculcate the same?

Jayapatākā Swami: Maybe, somehow Kṛṣṇa has made me an example! That I face multiple health problems. But I always try to do my devotional service. I am getting tremendous reciprocation and bliss from Kṛṣṇa! Although materially my activities, I mean my body may be challenged. But ultimately, I know, I am not the body! And the body is a machine of the material energy. So I have a group of doctors and experts who try to keep my body as healthy as possible. Within that, I have various other goals. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda gave me many instructions. He gave ISKCON many instructions. And so I am trying to fulfill those as far as possible. And I am getting a lot of transcendental bliss from that. One time I was hearing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lecture on Nectar of Devotion in Vṛndāvana. At the same time I was suffering high fever. But hearing the class given by His Divine Grace, I was feeling transcendental bliss. At the same time, physically I was suffering. So seeing these two situations, I could realize, I am not the body. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he wrote me a letter once. He wrote me that you are working too hard and therefore you are getting sick. Take enough rest, stay in Māyāpur as much as possible, and work through your assistants. Now in the 21^st century my assistants can be all over the world through the internet! Who here would like to be my assistants? I need help! This is my transcendental engagement! Haribol! Thank you very much. Welcome again to Māyāpur! Take my blessings! Kṛṣṇe matir astu!