[Kindly transcribed by Swetha Ganeshan Mataji]
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From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir!
Date: March 16th, 2014, Sri Gaura Purnima
Speaker: HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja
(missing)
HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja: After Krishna leaves, which seems to be imminent. So then Krishna said, I will come back. I will come back in Kali Yuga. But I won’t come as the Lord. I will come as my devotee. And I will understand what Rukmini is talking about. At the same time I will distribute the Harinam Sankirtan which will deliver all the fallen souls. This will satisfy Narada Muni’s concerns. Then it mentions that Narada Muni went to Goloka Vrindavan. And there is a part of the world called Svetadvip.
I heard that many Russian ladies are called Svetada. And I tell them that their name is spiritual, Svetadvip. No No No. No spiritual name, they respond.
Then Narada Muni was concerned how these souls would be delivered. So then Lord Caitanya asked for volunteers, those who would like to go with Him to the material world to spread the Harinam sankirtan and deliver the fallen souls. Radharani and some sakhis and gopis volunteered. The queens in Dwaraka volunteered-some. Then Lord Caitanya said, I will preach in India, Bharatavarsha and for those who skip and go to the western countries, I will send my senapati bhakta who will make many devotees, commanding devotee. He will spread the Harinam sankirtan all over the world.
When everything was ready, Advaita Acharya fasted and cried out. He worshipped the salagrama sila with Tulasi and Ganges water and he fasted. Fasting, crying, worshipping, and loudly calling out. When Maha Vishnu calls loudly, it must be heard in all the ananta koti Brahmanda.
(Audience chants LOUDLY-GAURANGA!!!)
So there are many different angles to bring Lord Caitanya down. He is Krishna Himself. And as it mentions in this verse-how it mentions that Radha and Krishna, they were eternally separated and how they have re-combined as Gauranga Mahaprabhu.
Here Jagannath Mishra had a light come in his mind and go to his heart. It is very brilliant. Then it went from his heart to Sacimata’s heart. Like this there was an immaculate conception. Lord Caitanya was not transferred by ordinary means. But He came by divine transfer. Saci Mata before she had Visvarupa as her son. Visvarupa was sankarsana-avatar. He was an expansion of Lord Balarama. So Balarama had two parts in the Caitanya Lila. His expansion in part as Visvarupa, and directly as Nityananda: Sri Krsna Caitanya Radha Krishna nahin anya Balaram hoilo Nitai
So Lord Caitanya’s coming to this universe is so wonderful, so special. Krishna comes once in a day of Brahma. 125 years, out of a thousand yugas. Over a thousand cycles, He comes in one Yuga and stays 125 years. Sometimes after Krishna, comes Lord Caitanya. And He comes 48 years, twenty-four as a grhastha, and twenty-four as a sannyasi.
So, while He is doing His internal research at the end of His pastime, His public aspect is that He is disseminating Harinam. All His associates, except five or six, are engaged in spreading the sankirtan. Some great souls who were in other lilas like Prahlada, Dhruva, Hanuman, they took part with Lord Caitanya. To take part with Lord Caitanya is a very big opportunity. How many times can you take part with someone mentioned in the sastras?
Lord Caitanya says in the Caitanya mangal, Lord Krishna said in the Brahma vaivarta purana. Bhaktivinoda Thakur predicted. Also Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur predicted. And we found that prediction just recently. He was on a parikrama. And he said the next disciple would cross over the ocean, he will bring devotees from all over the world who will participate in the Navadvipa parikrama. I will not see it. It will not happen in my life. It will not happen soon. But it will happen.
So Bhaktivinod Thakur said there will be someone who can easily move from one country to the next and he will spread the Harinam. His prediction was in the 1800s. They had no airplanes. So moving from one country to the next quickly, that was just unheard of. But he was predicting. If you put all this together, the only name that comes up is Bhaktivedanta Swami, Bhaktivedanta Swami, Bhaktivedanta Swami.
(Audience: Loud HARIBOL!!!)
I am just overwhelmed. What great fortune we have to assist Srila Prabhupada in his mission to serve Lord Caitanya. Serving the previous acaryas, serving Lord Caitanya, we get this special opportunity. It is unfathomable. But we squander away. Some of us have missed the chance, almost throwing away. But we have this great opportunity to help Srila Prabhupada spread the Harinam sankirtan.
When Lord Caitanya came, there was a lunar eclipse. At that time, people didn’t chant the Holy Names out loud, because the brahmanas said that if you chant the names of God loud then you would chant in vain. That would be an offense. But they said that if you are in the Ganges, since Ganges water is pure, then you can chant. So because of the lunar eclipse everybody was in the Ganges. They were all chanting: (Maharaja+ Audience: Gauranga!! Haribol!! Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare).
Normally people do religious activity just to get some material benefit. That is why the Bhagavatam is special because it shows great souls who did spiritual activities for spiritual reasons. Or those who started out with material reasons but later got purified–like Dhruva. He wanted material benedictions, but when He saw Narayana he said, I wanted broken glass, I got a diamond! So this Bhagavatam opens our eyes to a whole new aspect of religious life, spiritual life. It is filled with spiritual happiness. Everybody thinks that if you do religion then you get nice sense gratification.
I’ve listened to some Christian preacher, he was giving a lecture that if you pray to God, you get a raise, a higher salary. They missed the whole point. By actually doing the nine processes of bhakti of which praying is one, you can actually get bhakti: love of Krishna. Lord Jesus said you should love God. Prabhupada said that if you can develop love of God through other religions then it’s all right. We know that Krishna consciousness worked. Our objective is that we want people to love Krishna. We want them to love the Supreme Personality of Godhead for whatever reason. He is the most powerful, He is the most beautiful, He is the most knowledgeable, He is the most renounced, He is the most famous and He is the richest. So there are plenty of reasons to love Him, although some of His pastimes they show that He is so sweet-as they say now– awesome!
So, Lord Caitanya brought all this home that as a devotee he could show how Krishna was so lovable. It is hard for Krishna to market Himself. But the devotees have to market Krishna. He is the greatest and it is quite natural for us to love Him. But in the Kali yuga, we are mixed and bewildered by demonic natures. So we can get purified by following Lord Caitanya’s process.
So He appeared on the Phalguna Purnima night when everyone was chanting. He appeared– He didn’t need the full moon. Therefore it was eclipsed. He was more beautiful that millions of moons. He used His personal beauty and knowledge and renunciation as His potencies in His pastimes. When Bhagiratha Maharaja was taking the Ganges down, suddenly she stopped at Mayapur. He said there is another 200 km to go. She stopped. So he asked her “Why aren’t you continuing?” He had to meditate and she revealed that it’s almost Gaur Purnima. And on Gaur Paurnima whoever is in Mayapur get special blessings.
(Audience: Haribol!!)
“So I don’t want to miss that.” So she was waiting. It also says that those who during Gaur Purnima bathe in Ganges can easily awaken their love for Krishna. But if you go before noon, you get sprayed with colors. There’s colors everywhere. You can see people walking around with shirts, they particularly wear white shirts. It’s a kind of prestige. “I was in Holi”. But after 12 you can go to the Ganges but be very careful. I think we now have a life guard. I am not sure. So please be careful. Just go for a dip and come back. I have pulled out 10 people drowning. I don’t think I can do it now. (Audience: Laughter) To one, I had just given initiation and he went to take bath and I saw that he was drowning. All around people were there, crying out Haribol! Haribol! So I jumped in and pulled him out. He said you saved my life twice today.
(Audience: Applause)
So Prabhupada has saved us all. I wrote a song: what if Prabhupada had not come, what if Prabhupada was not there. What it would be? Our life would be completely wasted. Prabhupada gave us a purpose in life. He can give purpose in so many people’s life.
Lord Caitanya came into the world just to give out mercy and He knew that there would be people around the world who would need that mercy. So He already declared how they would also get the mercy.
So when the news came out that Mother Saci had a child, so all the village ladies came to see her. Some of the wives of the great devas, they also came at that time. The wife of Indra, the wife of Vayudeva, Agnideva, they came down and mixed with the other brahmana ladies to see the incarnation, the descent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Spontaneously, Haridas Thakur Advaita Gosai, they felt happy, they started dancing.
(Maharaja + Audience: Haribol! Haribol)
So, my time is up with this class. So on this sacred day, it is a good day to observe the abhiseka, participate in the abhiseka and also the chant Hare Krsna. There would be non-stop kirtan. I was thinking how, 40 some years ago, all there was in Mayapur was the grass hut. That’s all. Grass hut. No shops. In or out. No rickshaws, no buses. Once in the morning people with bicycles would go by and in the afternoon they would come back. They would work somewhere across the river. Prabhupada was sitting here and predicting that here there will be a spiritual city.
(Audience: Haribol!!)
I had been telling people that we were in the pre-embryonic stage. But now it is gradually taking more and more shape. I don’t know if it’s born yet but it is growing. May be the birth is the opening of the TOVP or may be it is being born. Now, thanks to our many devotees who are working hard, the community is growing more and more. Now we have four or five thousand devotees. Bhakti Purusottama Swami is a big pillar in this development.
(Audience: Haribol!! + Applause)
So you will hear from him. Haribol!.
(Maharaja + Audience: Gauranga!!!!!)
Applause.
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