Bhagavad katha day 6
Hare Krishna Utsav
30-12-2023

Sri Pancha Tattva ki jai! Pancha Tattva, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is one and Nityananda Prabhu is the second of the Pancha Tattva. Then Advaita Acharyais the third, Srivas Thakur the fourth and then Gadadhar Pandit is the fifth, Pancham (fifth) of the Pancha Tattva.

ajanu lambita bhujau kanakavadhatau?sankirtanaika pitarau kamalayataksau?visvambharau dvija varau yuga dharma palau?vande jagat priyakaro karunavatarau
Chaitanya Bhagavad 1.1.1)

Translation
I offer my respects unto Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda Prabhu, whose arms extend down to Their knees, who have golden yellow complexions, and who inaugurated the congregational chanting of the Holy Names. Their eyes resemble the petals of a lotus; They are the maintainers of all living entities; They are the best of brahmanas, the protectors of religious principles for this age, the benefactors of the universe, and the most merciful of all incarnations

The lord manifested himself in these five truths. This happened five hundred years ago. Sri Sri Pancha Tattva ki jai!

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare hare

Somethings not good. The Pancha Tattva who are the five forms of the lord, they established the Sankirtan movement and they are all the merciful incarnations of the lord. They have all looked upon all of us, and upon this world, with their glance of mercy. In what form have they done this? The lord has innumerable forms

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare hare

This is love, this is only love, this Mahamantra is love. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Panca Tattva have come from Goloka. Golokam ca parityajya lokanam trana karanat

golokam ca parityajya lokanam trana karanat kalau gauranga rupena lila lavanya vigrahah.

Traslation
In the Kali-yuga, I will leave Goloka and to save the people of kali yuga

We are the people of Kaliyuga and the Pancha Tattva showed mercy upon us crooked people. How? By giving us this Hare Krishna Mahamantra which is the treasure of divine love. What is this Hard Krishna Mahamantra? Did you hear anything, what is it? Yes, it is the treasure of divine love. Do you want to become rich? Yes of course, thats why you all said loudly, ‘Haribol!’

So earn this treasure which is the treasure of the holy name, earn this treasure. Without the treasure of the holy name, this life is worthless Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘ whoever does not have the treasure of the holy name, their life is worthless and they are poor.’ You all become rich and make your lives successful. This word Saphala means successful and there is another word, Viphala.

Saphala means with phala, fruitful life, Hari Hari. This treasure of the holy name is making the whole world rich and along with this, people are becoming happy. You will all say tomorrow, or maybe not tomorrow but the day after you will all say ‘happy new year.’ But the Hare Krishna devotees all over the world, they will not only wish you a happy new year, but they will practically show you how to become happy.

How can you become happy, you may ask? So they will tell you, ‘chant Hare Krishna and be happy.’

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare hare

The world is becoming happy and satisfied by chanting the holy names and performing kirtan. The Pancha Tattva,

Jaya sri krishna chaitanya prabhu nityananda sri adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi gaura bhakta vrinda

The gaura bhakta vrinda’s are also included in this Panca Tattva Mantra. The Panca Tattva is only complete when the Gaura Bhakta Vrinda’s are there. You are also included in the Pancha Tattva, or you will be one day. So please become Gaura Bhakta’s, devotees of Gauranga Mahaprabhu! Gauranga!

Gauranga Panduranga, Gauranga Panduranga, Panduranga Gauranga, Panduranga Gauranga.

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
(Bhagavad Gita 4.8)

Translation
In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.

Just in the beginning of Kaliyuga, the lord comes in five forms of the Panca Tattva and they have done just this, and they continue to do so. Paritranaya sadhunam. Saint Tukaram Maharaja ki Jai! Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came five hundred years ago and it is said that he even went to Mumbai. After this the lord went to Nasik and on the way was this pure city Pune. Next to Pune is Dehu, Hari Hari.

After Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s disappearance, sixty to seventy years passed and after this Tukaram Maharaja appeared, he was born. One day or rather it was nighttime, and he had a dream in which he was ordered and he got initiated. Tukaram Maharaja says, that Raghava Chaitanya, Keshava Chaitanya gave him initiation.

Tukaram Maharaja is telling us this and some Gaudiya Acharya’s and some Gaudiya Vaishnava’s understand that it wasn’t anybody else who came into Tukaram Maharaja’s dream to give him initiation. It was Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself, who came and initiated Tukaram Maharaja! Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai!

Chaitanya Maharaja must be the initiating Guru of Tukaram Maharaja because Tukaram Maharaja said ‘Raghava Chaitanya, Keshava Chaitanya.’ Mahaprabhu is Raghava Chaitanya and he is also Keshava Chaitanya as Raghava means Rama and Keshava means Krishna. At one time in Jagannatha Puri, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya Darshan of his six armed form.

This Darshan has six arms and in two hands the lord had a flute and in another set of arms the lord held a bow and arrow. In the third pair on hands the lord is holding a water pot and stick and so the water pot and stick represent Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the other arms with bow and arrow are Krishna. The arm with a flute is Sri Krishna and Tukaram Maharaja was a Babaji because he was a Sannyasi and Sannyasi’s are also called Babaji.

Hari Hari. Tukaram Maharaja’s teachings and his feelings of devotion, this is all in line with the teachings of the Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage. As it is Tukaram Maharaja had written four thousand abhangs, poems of devotion which were filled with feelings of devotion. There is one poem called Govinda Govinda which is love very much and I often sing this.

Therefore today I thought that because Tukaram Maharaja is here with us in his deity form, we can offer him his own poem of devotion by singing. Om Namo Bhagavate Hari Hari, this is how we chant in our Pandharpura temple. When we dont say this, what do we not only say? Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. We don’t just say this but we also, alongside saying this, we say ‘Om Namo Namah.’

I offer my obeisances unto whom? Bhagavate, the supreme lord Bhagavan. And which Bhagavan is this? Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Why is the lord called Vasudeva? Because he is the son of Vasudeva. So how many sons did Vasudeva have? Well, initially there were eight from which only two survived and when they survived, the seventh son was Balaram. Jai Balaram!

The eighth was Sri Krishna. Krishna Kahnaiya lal ki Jai! So we say Om Namo Bhagavate vasudevaya and in this way we offer our obeisances to Sri Krishna and Balaram. I have said so once or twice before, Krishna and Balaram were together in Vrindavan and then they left together for Mathura. When they left Mathura they were together and then they went to Ujjain for education in Gurukul where they were together.

Then both Krishna and Balaram were fighting against Jarasandha in war. When they ran away, they ran away together from the battle, and they were called Ranchor, because both ran away from the battlefield together. They were both welcomed back to Dwarka together and from Dwarka the lord comes further towards Pandharpura dham.

Therefore in Pandharpura and in the temple there are both Krishna and Balaram. The older brother is there also, both of their Darshan can be had there. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, we have prepared a presentation for you and it is a TPT presentation which means that there will be audio and video. You can watch and listen, because we are giving you Darshan of what you are listening to.

The lord’s Darshan Pandharpur starts with the Kakad Arati. Uttissttha Uttissttha Govinda Trai Lokyam Manggalam Kuru.

Translation
Wake up Govinda and bring auspiciousness to the three worlds

The Pujari’s chant these Mantra’s and tell the lord to wake up. In Vrindavan, Yashoda ‘songs utthi utthi Gopala, wake up Gopal.’ The darshan of lorc Vitthal in the Kakad Arati is also called Mangal Arati, Mangal Arati, like Mangalam kuri. The days starts with Mangal Arati, have any of you ever gone to take Darshan at Kakkad Arati? Mangal Arati takes place in all the temples around the world, but Pandharpura is the only place where the curtains do not close after Mangal Arati.

The curtain stays open and the lord has Abhishek, bathing in front of everyone. The lord’s Darshan during Abhishek and then the lord is dressed and decorated the in various jewellery. The lord is Natwar, Nat (dance).

barhapidam nata vara vapuh karnayoh karnikaram
bibhrad vasah kanaka kapisam vaijayantim ca malam
(Srimad Bhagavad 10.21.5)

Translation
Wearing a peacock feather ornament upon His head, blue karnikara flowers on His ears, a yellow garment as brilliant as gold, and the Vaijayanti garland, Lord Krsna exhibited His transcendental form as the greatest of dancers as He entered the forest of Vrindavana

When this happens only then can you see it and such a rate darshan becomes possible only in Pandharpura. There is also one temple of the Kshira chora Gopinatha temple and at Badrikashrama. there are only a few places where you can take darshan of the lord’s being bathed and dressed. Then you can understand that when you see all this you become a confidential friend of the lord.

You get the opportunity of becoming an acquaintance of the lord and you will not be told ‘hey you get out. You have no right to be here and to take Darshan.’ This kind of thing does not happen in Pandharpura and when Abhishek is going on- Prabhupada used to say, ‘the lord is offered ‘baal bhoga.’ The lord becomes a small child in the early morning hours, baal gopal.

In the afternoon, the Lord becomes older immediately, and therefore he takes Raj bhog like a king. He honours his lunch Prashad like a king. In the same way Panduranga Vitthal also becomes a small child and when Krishna was a small child in Gokul, what would he be doing in the morning? The Lord still better in the morning every day in Vrindavan, and so when it is time for Mangal Arati everyday in the morning, that is the time of the lord’s butter stealing activities.

The lord loves butter very much. ‘Oh mother, I love butter very much and I do not like anything else. Just keep feeding me butter.’ So in Pandharpura during Abhishek in the mornings, the lord is a child and because it is the time for his butter stealing activities, what is it that we do during the Abhishek? We feed him a ball of butter and the same time the lord is being offered Arati so it is a very special Darshan.

This is because the lord is accessible during this time when his Arati is going on, and this is because the Lord has left all his other things that he is doing, all the busi-ness, and he’s coming, just to give Darshan. And he comes in front of you, and he is amongst you at that time and when he is fed the ball of butter at this time, the devotees are inviting you, ‘look look, take Darshan off this butter thief.’

And those who have come to take Darshan, their mind is concentrated upon this scene of the lord stealing butter and there is offering of Arati to him also at the time of his stealing. Those days are no more, but the warkari’s, the pilgrims used to go to take Darshan in Dhindi or other places. Do you know how they would take Darshan? They would hug the deity of the lord.

Now times have changed and people are changing for the worse but you all and us also, we can not only just take Darshan of the lord’s, but you can touch him also. This opportunity is not possible anywhere else but only here where there is Vitthal. Panduranga Panduranga. Vitthal’s Darshan can be taken like this but in other places, a whole tent full of people may be taking Darshan together, hundred at a time or thousand at a time, but here it is only one at a time to take Darshan of Vitthal.

When it is your turn, even if it is only for a few moments, it will be just you and the supreme lord, alone. The lord gives Darshan to each and every person individually, not a wholesale five hundred or one thousand Darshan for everybody together. In each Darshan Arati it is one at a time Darshan for everyone and such a Darshan is an instruction in one sense. Ot should be so and it is an instruction to those who take Pandharinath’s Darshan.

The lord is very personal and this very lord is he who was witnessed by Tukaram Maharaja. I have given a description a few times of this. The supreme lord came from Dwarka and stood there. Well actually a lot happened, including a conversation between the supreme lord and Pundalik. And what a dialogue it was between the two. Pundalik requested the lord to stay there and the lord stood there upon his request.

The supreme lord who used to move about going here and there, that Dwarakadish is not moving about. He is now just standing there in a deity form but of course he still moves about and walks and he has relationships with many devotees. That could be Janabai or Tukaram, the lord has a personal relationship with unlimited devotees.

We think that the lord is just standing there but Tukaram Maharaj is trying to say something which is not hard to understand. He is speaking about how the lord came to Pandharpura. The lord says ‘aham bhakta paradhino, I am dependant upon the will of my devotees.’ The lord is dependent upon the devotees, so when his devotee said ‘stand here,’ the lord stood there.

Tukaram Maharaja is saying that the deity of lord Vitthal has not been made by any sculptor and nor has the lord been installed, bought to life. Actually, there is no question of the lord being brought to life, the lord already has life in him and so there is no question of installing the lord and bringing him to life. Nobody has made this deity, not has it been installed in any way to be bought to life.

He had come one day to give Darshan to Pundalik, the lord had come from Dwaraka and he bought the atmosphere and mood of Dwaraka along with him with all it’s grandeur. So Hrishikesh which is a name of the lord, as is Dwarakdish, came to Pandharpura and if anyone says that a sculptor in Jaipur or anywhere else had made this deity of lord Vitthal, is there any brave person in here, who can say that this deity has been made by anyone?

If someone says that somebody has made this deity and it was transported to this place and someone did a life giving ceremony, then Tukaram Maharaja has said that that person’s mouth will become filled with ants. Dont you dare! Dont think like this and do not say this! The lord is sac cid ananda vigraha, he is full of eternity, knowledge, and blissfulness. So the Lord came and stood here on a brick and then he became Vitthal.

He will stay forever sac cid ananda vigraha, full of eternity, knowledge, and blissfulness or the Archa vigraha, the deity form, who we can worship and take Darshan of. Man mana bhava mad bhakto mad yaji mam namaskuru

man mana bhava mad bhakto
mad yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam
atmanam mat parayanah
(Bhagavad Gita 9.34)

Translation
Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.

Krishna has said this to all of us, ‘what should you all do? Man mana, engage your mind in always thinking of me, the supreme lord.’ So Panduranga Vitthal is giving us a chance to remember him right now and right here we are remembering him or at least we are trying to remember him. After hearing and speaking, one remembers which is natural.

Here also because there is speaking and hearing on the subject matter if the lord, there will be remembrance also. So the lord says man mana, remember be and mad bhakta, become my devotee and so we can become devotees of the deity and we can perform devotional service to the deity form of the lord in the deity form. So that is service to the deity because the deity is the supreme lord.

Then there is mad yaji, ‘worship me and offer me Arati and decorate me. Patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati. Offer me bhoga and if it is butter then that is the best. This is my choice, i prefer butter.’ Then there is mam namaskuru, offer your obeisances unto me.’ Krishna says at the end of the eighteenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita and this sloka is the promise of the lord to us.

And the lord has said that if you do these four things, man mana bhava mad bhaktomad yaji mam namaskuru. When Srila Prabhupada gave me Sannyasa in 1975, we are talking about December in Vrindavan, after my Sannyasa initiation, when I went to meet Srila Prabhupada, I was thinking Srila Prabhupada will order me to do this and so that.

Srila Prabhupada said ‘this is it, you just do four things, you just follow these four principles and then Srila Prabhupada said these very things that I have just spoken about. Man mana, Mad bhakto, Mad yaji and mam namaskuru. If you do this then what does the lord say? The lord says mam evaisyasi satyam te pratijane priyo ‘si me. So mam evaisyasi, if we meditate on the lord, if we become devotees of lord Vitthal, if we worship lord Vitthal and bow down to the lord, then what will the lord do?

The lord says ‘mam evaisyasi, you will attain me and you will come back to me.’ What Tukaram just said that he is going now, back to Vaikuntha, we will be able to do the same if we so these four items. Then the lord is saying, pratyam te, this is the truth. The Lord says at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, ‘I am speaking all this, and why am I saying this? ‘Priya asi, because you are dear to me.’

There on the battlefield, Krishna is instructing Arjuna, and so you all may be thinking that the lord is saying to Arjuna that he is dear to the lord. That is what the lord said, we also belong to the lord and we will always be his, Krishna loves you all. That is why he came to the material world from his home in the spiritual world, and he played so many pastimes here and he spoke Bhagavad Gita. Why? Because he loves you.

Also, Krishna continues doing so many different things and pastimes in his different incarnations for us all devotees. Not only for us here in Maharashtra but for all the devotees all over the world. The lord came to Pandharpura and he stayed there. Why did he stay there? Because he loves you all and he loves me. He glances up on all of us with mercy and he gives us his Darshan. He accepts our service and he also listens to our prayers and accepts our food offerings.

The lord in his Vitthal form, in the form of Panduranga also has a thousand names. Just like there is a thousand names of Vishnu, there is also a thousand names of Vitthal. Go to known by thousand names, they are extremely merciful. There are many devotees of Vitthal like Kurandar das, Kanak das who was from Karnataka and he was a high standing devotee of lord Vitthal.

He has preached about devotion to Vitthal and has glorified lord Vitthal around eight hundred years ago. Then there were the two Gyanadeva and Namadeva and then there was Ekanath Maharaja. Of course Tukaram Maharaja is also there. So in this way there are for big names of the foremost devotees of lord Vitthal. There are the warkari’s who go again and again to pilgrimage to take Darshan of the lord and come back home.

Because they go again and again whicb is called ‘waar am waar’ they are called Warkari. They go one time then two times then waar am waar, again and again. Therefore they become Warkari. So these Warkari’s go in procession and this is called dindi, the procession. Since the time of Gyanadeva Maharaja these processions have occurred and so the devotees go together and expand devotion to lord Vitthal.

Namadeva was present there also and from his name you can tell, that he has glorified the name if the lord to a great extent. The saints of Maharashtra went outside Maharashtra and Namadeva went all the way to Punjab to distribute devotion to lord Vitthal. Some saints stayed
in Maharashtra but Namadeva went to many other places in India to preach devotion of lord Vitthal.

Janabai became his disciple and she was also a unique devotee of lord Vitthal as the lord would help her in her household chores, we were showing you this yesterday. Namadeva Paidi, Paidi means stairs and so the stairs where Namadeva used were called Namadeva Paidi and so even the stairs were named after him. The deity he can see here is also Namadeva. He along with all the members of his family that included some fourteen different members including Janabai, went into Samdhi which was Jiwan Samadhi, spiritual suicide.

They made a well and they all jumped into it and then they were no more. They all go back to the lord to assist in his pastimes. This is the humility of these devotees, just like we were seeing a few days ago that Uddhava was praying to the lord. There is the grass, small bushes and creepers on top of Govardhan and Kusum Sarovar in Vrindavana, please make me one of these my lord. Because when the Gopis come there, they will tread on me, and in this way, I will be able to get some of the dust from their lotus feet my head.’

In the same Namadeva wanted that as many devotees who come for Darshan od lord Vitthal, the dust of all these devotees’s feet would fall on top of his head. So just near the Temple where everyone starts climbing up to the temple, that is the place where he left the world with all his family members and Janabai. That is why each person who goes to the Darshan Arati first bows down to Namadeva’s lotus feet.

His dedication and the way he made an offering of himself for the lord is commendable. He meditated upon Narayana, Vitthal and doing this, he left his body. Hari Hari. Ekanath Maharaja wrote a commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam and he is famous for those words. We also heard about his character, the supreme lord would reside in his home. And the lord would help him in many ways.

And what can we say about the glories of Ekanatha Maharaja and these great soul’s? One day Ekanatha Maharaja went into the river Godawari to take his bath and as he was coming out after taking bath, someone who was eating betal nut spat upon him and so Ekanatha Maharaja went again to bathe. When he came out again, this sinful sinner who was of low caste, again spat upon the great devotee and this happened many times.

Ekanatha Maharaja’s tolerance of this injustice made this sinful person have a change of heart. He immediately fell upon the lotus feet of Ekanatha Maharaja and was begging forgiveness. At that time Ekanatha Maharaja said, ‘thank you, thank you so much. I am indebted to you. Because of you today I, Godavari Maiya ki jai!

Because of you, I got a chance to bathe in the Godawari, so many times and that is all thanks to you. That is why i am so grateful to you.’ At one time, the wicked Aurangzeb came to Pandharura along with one Alludin, then there was Khilji. They were all coming separately but all at the same time and their goal was to destroy Pandharpura, just like they did in many other places for almost one thousand years.

These Muslims have attacked India in all places again and again, but especially in North India, but because Shivaji Maharaja ki Jai! Due to Shivaji Maharaja, the Muslims could did not attack South India as much as they did North India. You may have gone to South India, how many old temples there are all over South India. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala.

Have you ever been there? There are many temples there, yes or no? That many temples they used to be in North India, just as many as there are there. They cannot be seen because to these Muslims because Shivaji Maharaja ki Jai! He was the one who stopped them and conquered them. There are so many more names like Aurangabad, this bad that bad Hyderabad, Faridabad, Gaziabad.

At that time lord Vitthal was in a place called Humpi in Karnataka for a short while. In this place there is Pampa Sarovar also (a lake). There King Krishnadevaraya made a temple called ‘Vijay Vitthal,’ victory of Vitthal which you can see here. And our deity of lord Vitthal, who belongs to everyone, he stayed here in this place for some time. This is a unique temple where the pillars make the sound of music when they are tapped. Sa re ga ma pa, this kind of music is sounded.

So lord Vitthal was bought back here from Karnataka by Bhanu Maharaja, who was from the same family as Ekanath Maharaja. At another time there was danger again, there was a great risk and so in Pandharpura, not far from where our Hare Krishna dham in Pandharpura which we are building called Bhu Vaikuntha, two or three hundred meters away, there is one Dev Gau, village.

There in the well the lord was hidden for a short while and the lord was being worshipped inside that well. He was decorated and worshipped in there. Due to
fear of Muslims, they were worshipping the lord in this way. Behind the lord Vitthal temple, there is another temple called Shree Takpithe Vitthoba. The children are making noise, I can hear. Is it Ramabai?

Yes, Ramabai used to come to Pandharpura and she used to mix buttermilk and flour and would make a special dish. This she would take to the Vitthal temple and she would offer this to the lord and the lord would really enjoy this. Who says that the lord does not eat? It is because we don’t feed him with the love which Shabari did. She only fed the lord ber fruit, she did not feed him the king of fruits, the Mango.

She just fed the lord the ber fruit, who gives importance to this kind of fruits like berries and bers, this is the fruit fit for the monkeys. But when Shabari fed lord Rama this ber fruit, the lord was very satisfied as if she had fed him a full meal. ‘I have never tasted anything like this before. What a fruit, wow!’ Ramabai has this same love and devotion and so her preparation of buttermilk and flour was very dear to
lord Vitthal and the lord ised to eat this with love.

But then she became ill and she was not able to go to the temple to see the lord and offer him this preparation. So she began to pray to the lord and he started coming to her home to eat the buttermilk and flour preparation. Haribol! Then slowed the lord started to stay there at her home and that is why there is a deity of lord Vitthal there even now. It is understood that this deity of lord Vitthal who eats this preparation and the lord in the temple of lord Vitthal are the same.

So when the Temple is closed, and people cannot take Darshan, many people then go to take Darshan of this deity who is taking this preparation of buttermilk and flour. The people become very happy by doing this as they are thinking ‘oh we have taken Darshan of Vitthal. Takpithe Vitthoba bhagavan ki Jai! The Acharya’s of the four Sampradaya’s have gone there, the Acharya of Brahma Sampradaya who is Madhavacharya, the Acharya of Sri Sampradaya, Ramanujacharya and then there is the Acharya of Rudra Sampradaya who is Visnuswami.

And from this Rudra Sampradaya came Vallabhachrya. He too came here and from the Kumara Sampradaya came Nimbarkacharya and all these Acharya’s have stayed in Pandharpura at some time or another. When we made Prabhupada Ghat we put four doors and on the four doors we have put the names of the four Acharya’s. So Vallabhachrya from Visnuswami Sampradaya, worshipped Bal Gopal in Vatsalya Rasa, as a parent or elder personality.

The lord is a small child and he is worshipped as Laddu Gopal and when Vallabhacharya was in Pandharpura, he gave Bhagavad Katha just as we are doing here right now in Hadapsar. Vallabhachrya was famous for his Katha on Srimad Bhagavatam and he has given Bhagavatam talks in sixty four different places. All these are known as the sitting places of Vallabhachrya, wherever he stayed and gave talk on Bhagavatam.

There is one such place in Pandharpura just close to our Iskcon Temple. When he was giving Bhagavatam talk, lord Vitthal used to give him Darshan and speak with him. They would have a conversation, Vallabacharya and lord Vitthal and as I was saying, when there is talk of the lord, who comes? The lord himself comes.

Mad bhakta yatra gayanti tatra tisthami narada, oh Narada, I am present wherever My devotees are chanting. The lord went there and Vallabhacharya took the lord’s Darshan and the lord also took Darshan of Vallabhacharya. By this we can learn about the character of Vallabhacharya ad understand that the lord Vitthal gave him an important instruction. And what was that?

The lord told him, ‘you must accept the Grihastha Ashram and get married.’ The lord must have had a plan in mind and his instruction must be followed. So Vallabhachrya had many children and one of them he named Vitthal. Then Adi Shankaracharya came and he said ‘Bhaje Pandurangam, worship lord Pandurangam.’ From his mouth he started glorifying the lord in this way which is natural for all of us.

These Mayavadis and Advaitavadis speak nonsense things to preach in the wrong way is possible but here what happened was natural. Shankaracharya said ‘Parabrahma lingam bhaje Pandurangam.
I Worship that Panduranga, Who is the veritable Image (Lingam) of Parabrahman. ‘He also said in Varanasi ‘bhaja govindam bhaja govindam govindam bhajamudhamate. Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, you fool!’

The scholars of Sankrit may have knowledge of the Sanskrit language but they are not devotees. That is why Shankara has said bhajamudhamate. ‘Oh you donkey! Worship Govinda. At the time of death this wont protect you.’ What wont protect him? ‘Rules of Grammar will not save you at the time of your death. bhaja govindam govindam bhajamudhamate.’

This is Shankarachrya’s – well, at heart Shankaracharya is a Vaishnava.

nimna ganam yatha ganga
devanam acyuto yatha
vaisnavanam yatha sambhuh
purananam idam tatha
(Srimad Bhagavatam 12.13.16)

Translation
Just as the Ganga is the greatest of all rivers, Lord Acyuta the supreme among deities and Lord Sambhu [Siva] the greatest of Vaishnavas, so Srimad Bhagavatam is the greatest of all Puranas.

It is said in the Bhagavatam, Vaisnavanam yatha sambhuh, lord Shiva is the best of Vaishnava’s. Nimna ganam yatha ganga, of all the rivers which flow to the sea, the river Ganges is the greatest, devanam acyuto yatha, lord Acyuta the supreme among deities and purananam idam tatha, Srimad Bhagavatam Purana is the greatest of all Puranas.

That is why the lord told lord Siva to play such a great part of becoming Shankaracharya and to preach Mayavadi philosophy. He has performed his duty very well, buy he is actually a Vaishnava and so lord Siva goes to take Darshan of of baby Krishna in Nanda Gram and he is also allowed entrance into the Rasa Lila of the lord’s lotus feet. He was in the Rasa Lila, can you imagine his devotion?

His feelings of devotion was like the Gopi’s and he had a form of a Gopi at that time. He had come there to the place called Maan Saorvar with his drum, dreadlocks, scorpions and a snake around his neck. He came and he was stopped at the entrance, ‘hey where are you going?’ He answered, ‘oh Im going to the Rasa dance arena.’ then they told him that only one who has the form of a Gopi and the feelings of a Gopi can go into the Rasa dance arena. He was told to take a bath in the Maan Sarovar.

Lord Siva then jumped into the lake and he came out after a short while, he became Gopeshwar, that was his name and he had become a Gopi, a very important Gopi. In Vrindavan there is a very important Temple of Gopeshwar and there is a deity there of Gopeshwar Siva. This is lord Siva and only a few people actually know lord Siva because they are sense enjoyers themselves.

kanksantah karmanam siddhim
yajanta iha devatah
ksipram hi manuse loke
siddhir bhavati karma ja
(Bhagavad gita 4.12)

Translation
Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.

Those people who desire fruitive results go to the demigods with many wishes and desires and the demigods give them what they want. Lord Siva does the same, even though he does not want to do this. He asks, ‘what do you want?! Okay have it, now get out!’

Brahma says with his four mouths ‘Krishna Krishna Hare Hare’ and Lord Siva sings with his five mouths, ‘Rama Rama Hare Hare.’ Lord Brahma and lord Siva actually only want to chant the names of the lord and you say that even in the hands of lord Siva, there is chanting beads and he is constantly chanting in the beads. He does not chant his own names, he chants the supreme lords’ names on his beads.

When someone comes and asks, give me a long life and give me wealth. Give me, give me, give me. Because lord Siva is Asutosa, he is quickly satisfied so he says, ‘okay, here take it and go quickly, I have to chant.’ In this way Adi Shankaracharya came to Pandharpura and he has preached and distributed devotion and by singing the Panduranga Astaka, he has also requested us to do what? Worship Parabrahma lingam bhaje Pandurangam.
that Panduranga, Who is the veritable Image (Lingam) of Parabrahman.

I think we should go to the presentation, Vaikunatha presentation. You can see here, can you see here on that screen? Can you see the Dindi festival in this picture? Yes, no? Okay Hari Hari, sorry. The Dindi’s do not even take a step forward without chanting the lords names, Jai Jai Rama Krishna Hari. Tukaram also sings his devotional poems and by this he is singing the glories of the lord. By doing this, he is going further towards the lord’s lotus feet.

This sort of beautiful festival like Dindi, you will not find in the whole universe, not even in the heavenly planets. This is only in Maharashtra,in Pandharpura in Dehu. There are other small Dindi festivals in other towns and villages, but this is the biggest Dindi festival held here. For so many people to walk for eighteen days together, is a world record. They walk together and they stay together and all the while they are performing Kirtan of the holy names of the lord.

There is a Gazal, a song in poetry which has reached New York, London, Melbourne in Australia also, yes? It is in Durban, South Africa and Moscow, Russia. It has reached more than one hundred countries in the world, in thousands of cities and villages in which there is Kirtan happening! Shouts of Haribol! Srila Prabhupada knew that I would also have something to do with such a Dindi festival, and that I grew up knowing this culture.

My father was a Warkari, a preacher of devotion, and so Srila Prabhupada ordered me to organise these Dindi festivals. In Iskcon, Dindi entered when Prabhupada told me ‘ you were in Vrindavan, now you go to Mayapura with this Dindi, group of Padayatra devotees and bullock cart to preach in this way. Then Prabhupada told me, ‘go to Jagannatha Puri.’

So we went there also, and in one Padayatra, we went from Dwaraka, then once from Pandharpura, Kanniyakumari, Jagannatha Puri, Mayapura. There is a eight thousand kilometres Padayatra from eighteen months, and there are around one hundred and fifty devotees from twenty different countries who have done Padayatra Parikarama with us!

Me included, and the Srila Prabhupada wrote me a letter in which he said, ‘we could have millions Padayatra’s and millions of carts all over the world. So
What happened is that the leaders were planning to celebrate Srila Prabhupada’s hundred birthday in 1996 in a big way. So we took it photograph of Padayatra, Dindi festival and this and that. I was a Padayatri, part of Iskcon Padayatra so we decided to perform Padayatra in one hundred countries.

And the Padayatra which had started at the time of Srila Prabhupada, this is still going on today! Till now, we Iskcon devotees who are Padayatri’s and Warkari’s also, we have done three hundred thousand Padayatra’s. You didn’t seem to like this and you dont seem impressed, (shouts of Haribol). So it seems like you do not think this is a big deal, ‘oh is that it? Just three hundred thousand?’ So you need to clap.

So with with the Dindi, Padayatra and bullock cart Sankirtan, the prophecy that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told,

Prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 1.117)

In every town and village, the chanting of my name will be heard.

‘My chanting of my name should bot be preached only in Maharashtra or India, but ache yata nagaradi grama, it should be preached in every city and every village in the world. In all cities and all the villages my name will be preached.’ This Hare Krishna movement is making this prophecy come true and so is Iskcon’s Dindi or Padayatra. This Kirtan is going on all over the world just like Rathayatra which used to be celebrated only in Jagannath Puri, this same Jagannath Rathayatra is happening in more than seventy countries in the world!

We celebrated Janmasthami festival five, six months ago and devotees in over one hundred and fifty countries celebrated Janmasthami! All the cow killers in the world are now becoming protectors of the cows! Haribol! For your information this is being stated and so Tukaram Maharaja used to walk in the Dindi processions, but at one time it was not possible for him to go because he was not able to breathe properly.

Then Tukaram Maharaja wrote a letter addressed to lord Vitthal and he gave the letter to a neighbour who was going on the Dindi procession. He told him ‘when it is your turn to take Darshan, please read this letter to the lord on my behalf. The friend did just this and lord Vitthal found out that this year his Tukaram will not be able to come. In the letter Tukaram Maharaja had written, ‘oh Prabhu Panduranga, oh Vitthoba, I cannot come because my breathing is not proper.

Can you come to meet me and to give me Darshan? This was written by Tukaram Maharaja in the letter and when lord Vitthal heard this and read the letter, the lord started getting ready to leave. ‘Yes, yes, I want to go! When Rukmini found out the lord was leaving, it was also the day of Ashadi Ekadashi, she began to speaknto the lord. ‘Oh my lord, one to two million people have come to take your Darshan today and if you leave now, how will they be able to take your Darshan?’

The lord said ‘But i will have to leave because Tukaram cannot come, he is ill.’ This is the love of lord Vitthal, like a father he has this love for his devotee. So what would happen because all these people had come for Darshan and so Rukmini gave a suggestion and she said, ‘oh lord, why dont you send Garuda? He will go and he will put Tukaram Maharaja on top of him and bring him to you.’

The lord said, ‘good idea.’ So Garuda was sent, in Indonesia there is an airline which is called Garuda Airlines. India’s airline is called Air India, this is nonsense. There is American line, Australian Airways and Chinese Airways, and so seeing this, India also called it Air India, what is this nonsense? Or would be good if India Airline’s name was Garuda Airlines pr something like this.

So Garuda Ji reached Tukaram and he told Tukaram, ‘I have come to take you to the lord.’ Tukaram Maharaja said ‘no, no! Your vehicle is to be used for my lord. It is for the supreme lord so how can i use the same vehicle? No, no, no. You go and send the lord, send lord Vitthal. So poor Garuda goes back and by then most of the devotees on Dindi had taken Darshan of the lord’s lotus feet.

Rukmini then said we can go now because most of the devotees have taken Darshan. So Rukmini and lord Vitthal sit on Garuda and come to Dehu and although Tukaram Maharaja is not breathing well, he was coming out again and again and he was thinking, ‘when will the lord come? Why is he not coming and when will my lord come?’ Just like Rukmini was waiting for the Brahmana who was going to bring the lord to kidnap her during her marriage.

In the same way, Tukaram Maharaja was waiting and he was very anxious and so here in Dehu, the lord comes down and comes forward and hugs Tukaram Maharaja. Jai Panduranga Panduranga Panduranga. This sort of love and affection can be found only between the lord and his devotee. And so Tukaram Maharaja performed Kirtan of the lord you can say twenty four hours all day and all night.

This is called Bhakti, devotional service and the lord teaches us through his devotee how devotional service should be performed. Tukaram Maharaja was a householder, not a Sannyasi or Bhramachari. You may be a householder or a celibate devotee, but what should one do? One should perform Harinama, chanting of the lord’s holy names. i have to stop, it’s pretty late. So in happiness or distress one should chant the holy names of the lord.

This is the teachings of our Acharya’s, this is what they have taught us and so when the Dindi procession reached Pandharpura, all the pilgrims go to have a bath in the Chandrabhaga Maiya ki Jai. There is a great festival and especially in the month of Chaitra, March to April and Asada Ekadasi, there is a great festival. Hari Hari.

Ganga has manifested from the lotus feet of the lord and by seeing the condition of the fallen conditioned souls, the lord feels merciful towards them. The lord’s heart becomes soft and the lords heart begins to melt, then the Ganga which has come from his lotus feet, is bought here by the lord, so that we can bathe in her pure waters and become pure. The holy rivers are his mercy upon us. Ganga Maiya ki Jai.

River Chandrabhagha is the Ganga of Pandharpura and many ghats like Uddhava ghat which was made in 1784 and Mahadwara ghat was made ten years after this. Chandrabhaga ghat was made in 1820 which means in the past two hundred and fifty years, no ghat was made! After two hundred to three hundred years, Srila Prabhupada ghat ki Jai! Iskcon has made this ghat and there, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu and Visvarupa’s slippers have been installed there.

And in that place, Radha Pandharinath ki Jai! Now Radha Pandharinath are also there giving Darshan for many years and their worship, Kirtan and so forth is going on there and Bhu Vainkuntha is also being established! This all I was speaking because it is all in the book which is why I am getting the opportunity to describe all this and after a lot of research this book being created and also into so many languages. In English, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and Tamil and many other languages.

And fifty thousand books have been distributed already. So you are welcome to Bhu Vaikuntha, the project is called Bhu Vaikuntha and Pandharpura is also called Bhu Vaikuntha and this book is also called Bhi Vaikuntha. So you are most welcome and this book is here on the book stall. Bhu Vaikuntha ki kai! Pandharpura dham ki Jai! Vitthal Rukmini ki Jai! What happened? Jai! Srila Prabhupada ki Jai! Nitai Gaura Prem Anande Hari Haribol.

Bhagavat Katha Day 7
Hare Krishna Utsav
31-12-2023

A very warm welcome to you all. I want to welcome you today and so please accept my welcome! Shouts of Haribol! You’re most welcome. I am thinking that just as I am welcoming you all now, one day in the near future, may you have the same welcome in Vaikuntha Dham! Shouts of Haribol.

You have put this turban on me. so finally Tukaram Maharaja went back to his own village. And the village that he comes from is all of our’s village also. That is because Vaikuntha or Vrindavan and now they say Pandharpur also is our home. Also Bhu Vaikuntha in this Iskcon is eternal.

We have to become qualified to go to Bhu Vaikuntha that is here, in Iskcon, by performing our devotional service and taking darshan of Vitthal. We are all children lord Vitthal and he is waiting for us all to go to him as he stands with one hand on his waist. At least it looks like that, and this picture that you are seeing of the lord here, just like this, the Lord in Vaikuntha and in Gokula is we waiting for us.

So please come and let us go back to the lord. Political issues will only take us as far as Delhi or Mumbai, but the devotees and great saints like Tukaram Maharaj and Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Like Srila Prabhupada and many other Acharya’s, what is their campaign? ‘Come with us back to godhead, to Vaikunatha.’ Are you welcoming this idea?

Are you ready? Enough is enough now, this is too much and Vaikunatha is our actual village and Vaikunatha is our motherland, our fatherland. Because our real father and mother are Vitthoba, lord Vitthal.

He is the mother and he is the father and he is the lord. He is everything. He is the all in all, Srila Prabhupada says. Panduranga is all in all. He is our everything and so wherever he is staying in his abode, that abode, that village is also ours. When Gokarana was speaking Katha for Dhundhukari, at the end of the Katha many planes came from Vaikunatha.

In those planes there were air hosts -there is no mention of air hostesses, but air hosts were there. Whoever in the audience had listened to the narrations of Krishna with faith and attention like in Samadhi, and with their mind, those who had taken the narrations in their minds, they were all invited to board the planes.

The lord himself had also come and he invited Gokarana personally and the other hosts told all of them to board the plane which they did. They fastened their belts, engines started and they took off. Vaikuntha dham ki jai! That is the same thing which happened three hundred and seventy four years ago in Dehu. A plane came and Tukaram maharaja left on that plane.

Also, as he left, he demonstrated how to leave this world. This demonstration has also been given by the lord next door. Because Dehu village is in the city of Pune, and no Air India or China Airways or this one or that one like British Airways could do this. So when the planes were taking off, Tukaram Maharaja sat down and reached Vaikunatha.

And as he left, he was telling everybody who was there, ‘you come there soon,’ and ‘you come there also. That’s why what do you have to do now? You have to chant with your mouth, Rama Krishna Hari. Or

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Is it ready now? Yes or no, where is the PPT? Where is the team? Okay so go ahead. First light, could you display? This presentation is called Vasudeava kutumbakam, this is the name I have given it. Our culture or you can say Bhagavad dharma, the principles of devotional service, this teaches us simple living and what is it? High thinking. This is what we want to do, simple living and high thinking.

Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah
Sarve Santu Niraamayaah
Sarve Bhadraanni Pashyantu
Maa Kashcid Duhkha Bhaag Bhavet
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih

Translation
May All be Happy,
May All be Free from Illness.
May All See what is Auspicious,
May no one Suffer.
Om Peace, Peace, Peace

This is also high thinking, that all be happy and free from illness and so on, everything in relation to these things. Hari Hari.

ekam sastram devaki putra gitam
eko devo devaki putra eva
eko mantras tasya namani yani
karmapy ekam tasya devasya seva
(gita-mahatmya 7)

In this present day, people are very much eager to have one scripture, one God, one religion, and one occupation. Therefore, ekam sastram devaki putra gitam: let there be one scripture only, one common scripture for the whole world, Bhagavad-gita. eko devo devaki putra eva: let there be one God for the whole world, Sri Krishna. eko mantras tasya namani: and one hymn, one mantra, one prayer — the chanting of His Name: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. karmapy ekam tasya devasya seva: and let there be one work only — the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The messages of the Bhagavad Gita the also are written in such a way that all these thoughts are that we want to persue and presented here with the title vasudhaivam kutumbakam. So lets start as we dont have much time. In Maharashtra we say vasudhaivam Kutumbakam as it is said that the whole world is my home. It is one world, one family.

From the Sastric view of the Vedas, this theme or way of thinking is also correct. Srila Prabhupada was asked once, Srila Prabhupada ki jai! The Iskcon founder Acharya, he was asked, ‘why have you come to foreign countries?’ Prabhupada answered, ‘I want to change the way the world thinks.’ And what is that change? For people to have a Vedic view.

‘I have come so people can have this change of thought.’ vasudhaivam Kutumbakam is the same saying of the Vedas.

Ayam nijah paro veti gananaa laghucetasaam . udaaracaritaanaam tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam.
(Hitopanisad)

This whole world is a creation of Krishna and every living entity is His family member. In other words, this whole world is just one family and all the living entities are brothers, sisters, fathers or mothers of each other.

Not that ‘these persons are mine but these people are outsiders.’ Those people who thinking is like this, their thinking and their feelings are laghu chetana is low thinking. They think, ‘these people are mine and others are outsiders.’ This is of dual thinking, but those who are great persons have high thinking. They are merciful and therefore their thoughts are always ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.’

Vasudha is this Earth and so as many people there are on this Earth, they are my family. We are all children of the one God. The head of the family is God and we are all part of his family. This means that as many people there are on this planet, they are all part of this one family. There are all brothers and sisters and so whoever thinks in such a way has high thinking. And the supreme Lord is also thinking in this way, the common brotherhood.

So when one that’s not have this thinking, there is fighting, quarrels and wars. This is the symptom of Kaliyuga. There was one war in 1914 which was the world war and anyway there are many other wars. These things have now become daily affairs by enviousness and thinking of ‘me you, me you. You get out of here!’

The second world war lasted from 1939 till 1945 and this is one thing. In Kaliyuga there is the prominence of low thinking which comes from the modes of ignorance and passion which makes one think and act in a certain way and there are fights over differences. Mahabharata.

dhrtarastra uvaca
dharma ksetre kuru ksetre
samaveta yuyutsavah
mamakah pandavas caiva
kim akurvata sanjaya
(Bhagavad Gita 1.1)

Translation
Dhrtarastra said: O Sanjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pandu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, desiring to fight, what did they do?

Was Mahabharata not a world war? In Mahabharata there were eighteen Akshauhini divisions of armies involved and all the countries in the world were there. Some were on the Kaurava’s side and some on the Pandavas side, but they were all involved. So there was no doubt that it was a world war which happened before three thousand and sixty seven years BC Christ.

That means that the world wars that occurred are quite recent in comparison, and the world wars one and two are there but what about the Mahabharata war? That means the first world war is actually the second world war and the second world war is the third world war. So this is a big problem and what to speak of Mahabharata? That is history and in this world there are two prominent historical events.

One is Ramayana and the other is Mahabharata whose author is Srila Vyasadeva and the author of Ramayana is Valmiki. So the historical events are called ‘Itihasa.’ Iti means it and Hasa means it happened. So Itihasa means ‘so It happened.’ What was the possibility that the British would come, the Christians would come? And in the past, the British have said that whatever has been described, this is all Hindu mythology.

This means they are saying it is all imaginary, and gradually we Indians also got brainwashed and we also started to say ‘it’s mythology.’ We all started repeating what they had said and so this has to be stopped. Hare Krishna. What else can be said? So the western people are saying this but the Indians are no better in saying this is mythology.

Srila Prabhupada used to call them frogs, frogs in the well. One frog came near the Pacific Ocean and so another frog asked him, how big is that well that you visited? So the frog who asked the question took his tummy out and asked ‘ is it this big?’ The frog answered ‘no no, it’s bigger.’ so then the frog asked is it this big, how about this big?’

‘no, no bigger, bigger,’ came the reply. As he continue to bring his stomach out, his stomach ripped into two pieces. How would a frog who lived in the well, understand the depth and width of the Pacific Ocean? In Kaliyuga, there are many people like this, especially in the western countries. And here in India there are also people who are trying to imitate them.

These people are like that that Dr frog in the well. I was in Los Angeles California and the people there were having a celebration. So I asked one of the people there, ‘how old is your Los Angeles?’ He answered ‘our Los Angeles is a very OLD city.’ By longing out the word old, he wanted to make me understand just how old the city Los Angeles was.

He said ‘it is very old.’ So I asked him, ‘how OLD is Los Angeles?’ He replied ‘two hundred years old.’ How old? So to his understanding, two hundred years was very old. Jai Sri Rama! So the Rams has just come back to Ayodhya, we understand that he was here for one million years.

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
Bhagavad gita 4.8)

Translation
In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.

How old is Ayodhya? It is at least 10 million years old. Ayodhya dham ki jai! This history must be fixed and so in terms of history, they have got it wrong. In Christian theology they are saying that the works world was only in existence for around four thousand years before Christ. God created this world in seven days and after the world was made in seven days, the Supreme Lord took rest.

This is why the whole world takes rest on Sunday, and the reasoning is it is because God also took rest on that day. ‘ because, to rest ,let us also do the same.’ This was a perfect excuse to have a holiday. So actually they have no clue as to how old this world is, and who is its creator. Who is the operator who is the destroyer?
They say there was a big bang and the world was created.

There are so many talks like this. Previously a living g entity in the form of a cell was called amiba. So they have no clue that first it was Vitthoba, not amiba who created this world. Then from the Lord Brahma was born and he is the one who creates the whole world, and his life is of one hundred years. I cannot get into all this, but Brahma’s one day is, well one thousand Mahayugas are twelve hours of Brahma. Then another one thousandis his day and night.

Kaliyuga is four hundred and thirty two thousand years and double that it Dwaparyuga, three times more is Tretayuga and four times more is Satyayuga. When you put these four cycles of Yuga’s together there is one Mahayuga. After one thousand Yuga cycles like this, it will be the end of Brahma’s one day and night. What’s more, 360 of these days and nights make 1 of Brahma’s years, and he lives for a full 100 of these years. So Brahmas’s one lifetime is the same as one breath of Maha Vishnu.

And you can see here right? With the out coming breath of Maha Vishnu, so many universes are coming out of his body. Anandakoti Brahma Nayak Krishna Kahnaiya Lal ki Jai! When the lord inhales, those universes again, go back in to him. And how many times this the Lord breathe in and out? He’s constantly breathing in and exhaling out. Therefore, the universes are coming in and out many, many times.
Therefore, the lord says that he is this span of time, kalo ’smi.

Sri bhagavan uvaca
kalo ’smi loka ksaya krt pravrddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrttah
rte ’pi tvam na bhavisyanti sarve
ye ’vasthitah praty anikesu yodhah
(Bhagavad gita 11.32)

Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds, and I have come here to destroy all people. With the exception of you [the P???avas], all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain

Krishna has given us instruction which is in the sastras, vedas, puranas and Bhagavad gita. And of course Bhagavad gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and the Puranas are non different from the Vedas. The lord has called them the king of all knowledge.

raja vidya raja guhyam
pavitram idam uttamam
pratyaksavagamam dharmyam
su sukham kartum avyayam
(Bhagavad gita 9.2)

Translation
This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed

This is transcendental knowledge, although the world is running after material knowledge. It is expert knowledge for those who are foolish and it is also study of the consciousness. We can only learn these things from the Bhagavad gita.

sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedanta krd veda vid eva caham
(Bhagavad gita 15.15)

Translation
I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.

So other religions which have come gradually, they have been made and they all have their own religious books. Those religions have one or maybe two books like the Bible or the Quran and in western countries they say that theirs is the book of religion. Their one book is there but what do we have? We have a library of religion. We have many books, a whole storehouse of books.

In 1202 AD there were these people who we are showing you now, but actually we should not even be looking upon their face. The middle east Muslims have come and they have caused a fire on actual religion, and there thinking is that ‘when our Quran is there, what need is there for any other religion? These Hindu’s are outsiders, so let us kill them.’ This is their low thinking.

They came and they put fire in Nalanda Viswavidyalaya amd for four months the whole place was burning. Many branches of the Vedas have no end, there is Srutis, Smritis, Puranas and much more. They tries to burn all these books. These books are the greatest in mankind and they were established seven hundred years before Christ where eleven hundred scholars from all over the world came to study all different subjects of the Vedas.

At one point, everybody understood that Bharat, India is the spiritual master of all the other countries. Bharat Mata ki Jai! All the intellectuals from all over the world, we gather in India for their higher studies. They used to read Vedas there, just like now there is higher education overseas, and it is possible that you have also sent your son or daughter to another country. But that is not higher but lower education because higher educated means to study Bhagavad gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and the Vedas and Puranas. This is transcendental knowledge but in Kaliyuga everything turns upside down and this is also a symptom of Kali.

We are in darkness because Kali means darkness and what sort of darkness? The darkness of ignorance.

Krsna surya sama; maya haya andhakara
yahan Krsna, tahan nahi mayara adhikara
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 22.31)

Translation
Krsna is compared to sunshine, and maya is compared to darkness. Wherever there is sunshine, there cannot be darkness. As soon as one takes to Krsna consciousness, the darkness of illusion (the influence of the external energy) will immediately vanish

At one time this Bharat, spiritual master of all other countries, bha means light and rata means to advise, and this is how we should understand the name of the country. Bhaskar is another name of the sun as he gives light to the eyes and so in this way we understand that Krishna is the original Bhaskar, the original light.

Bahu koti candra jini vafana ujjvala.

bahu koti candra jini’ vadana ujjvala
gala dese bana mala kore jhalamala

Translation
The brilliance of Lord Caitanya’s face conquers millions upon millions of moons, and the garland of forest flowers around His neck shines

The resplendent face of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, shines with light and this light is also the light of knowledge. India our sastras and there is no question if you and us and we think ‘oh we are Indians and you are westerners, you are foreigners and we are the nationals.’ No, this thinking is not good but it is going on in Kaliyuga and then we start to speak like this also.

So here, the knowledge that the supreme lord has given.. well, Bharat is not the India that we call now. No that is not Bharat because Bharat means the whole of Earth. King Parikshit and King Yuddhishtir have been called the Kings of Earth in the Vedic literatures. Krishna also calls Arjuna ‘He Bharata’ in the Bhagavad gita.

So every single person used to be called a Bharatian in those day, a citizen of Bharat. This is the problem in Kaliyuga because Kaliyuga breaks everything apart and makes divisions in the world. So Bhagavad gita and Srimad Bhagavatam is not only for Hindu’s. Krishna does not give his instructions in the Bhagavad gita and say ‘for Hindus only.’ Sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto, the lord is saying that he is seated in everyone’s heart.

He did not then say ‘oh no, no, this only a place for the Indians and the Hindus.’ This includes all living entities and the lord is saying this. It isnt for just Hindu, Muslim, Christian and this or that one. This sort of talk has only started about one and a half thousand years ago. Before then, the whole world was one and these Vedas, Sastras, Puranas and Vedas were for every human being.

And of course books of religion are
for everybody just like in chemistry. We know that H2O is one part hydrogen and one part oxygen, and that is always the truth. Then there is Catalysis and what will happen with this? There will be water production. So this formula is the same, the one written in the Sastra. Just like science cannot be American science, English Science or European science.

Science is Science. So the problem is just this, idam sastram pramanam te. Krishna says Bhagavad gita is the original science, along with Srimad bhagavatam, Vedas and Puranas. Sastra means Science and Science is for everybody, not that only Hindu’s or Muslims. If they have science in their religious books like the Quran then that scripture is also for the whole world this means that that book is for all of the living entities in the world.

And throughout the whole world only Bhagavad gita and Srimad bhagavatam.. anyway what can we say? Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada is the founder acharya and he has translated Bhagavad gita and Srimad bhagavatam in around one hundred languages and the people of those countries are reading the books and also distributing them. Millions of books of Bhagavad gita and Srimad bhagavatam are being distributed all over the world right now!

We just had Gita jayanti on Moksada Ekadasi recently and the followers of Iskcon, who are around one million all over the world, all of them, just like Tukaram Maharaja has said,

gita bhagwat kariti shravan, akhand chintan vithobache.

Translation
Where there is unceasing reading of Bhagavat Geeta, Srimad bhagavatam and contemplation of Lord Vitthal

This is what the International society of Krishna consciousness is doing and this is just the beginning. So much more os going to happen. And in regards to Iskcon India, in this month, we are going to distribute seven million books. This is just in India so if you consider in Europe, inAmerica, in Australia, in Russia because this is an international society so our followers are all Vaishnava’s or Gaudiya Vaishnava’s. They are all preachers of this dharma and they are all preaching the holy name.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

We are constantly chanting in Kirtan, along with Mrdanga and kartals and that is why people call us all over the world, ‘oh these are Hare Krishna people, they are Hare Krishna people.’ This Hare Kirtan has become so famous all over the world and we have dhoti and kurta (bottom and top) for gentlemen and Saris for ladies. Then of course their is Tilak, Tulasi neck beads and Sikha (tail on head for men).

We are embarrassed to put on Tilak and when is our turn to bow to the Lord and pay obeisances, we look around to see if somebody is looking at us or not. That is why we quickly hit the floor with our head and then get back up again very quickly. ‘ I look at him he’s not scientific minded, he is old-fashioned. In our Vedas they do not know what is there. They are not only a few mantras for Arati and a few Slokas but they also include space science, astronomy, agriculture, mechanics, textiles and architecture, practice with weapons, Ayurveda, geography, you name it.

There is also solar energy, communications and knowledge of flying a plane. Logistics is also there and I’m just reading a small list here. All these subject matters are in the Vedas snd Puranas. The scientists have only come about some five hundred years ago but before this, all science was in Sanskrit and the lord was the creator of all the sciences. All this knowledge has always been around and therefore it is called Apaurusheya, not made or written by man.

What is the time? Okay. Lets go forward faster. Hindi Chini bhai bhai. In 1962, were you there then? Who was around in 1962? Do you not have hands, nobody is not putting their hand up. Okay, so some of you were there, and at that time there was a war between India and Pakistan, no not Pakistan, it was China. We were small school children then and we were being taught to chant, ‘Hindi Chini bhai bhai.’

Because India and China, both friendly countries, and so we wanted that we stop fighting and so should they. Vasudeva Kutumbakam is the high thinking and we are all bhai bhai, brothers. So I would also chant these slogans. But I was young and I was a villager, and so I did not understand what this meant, Hindu Chini bhai bhai.

I would chant this slogan, but I was thinking that Hindi was the language and Chini means sugar in Hindi. Then there was bhai bhai. So I was thinking how can this be possible? The language is Hindi and the sugar, Chini. How can these be brothers? So I was thinking, what are they actually meaning by this and what are they saying? Then I grew older and understood that Hindi means the people of Hindustan, and Chini means the people of China.

I still could not understand what it meant by these being brothers. Two people can be brothers, but how can all the people of two countries be brothers? If two people have a common father, then they can be brothers, but here i was thinking who is the common father of so many people of two different countries? Is it Modi or someone? Is it the president, is he the common father of China and Hindustan?

It still was not making any sense, but when I became older and when I met his divine grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada ki Jai! When I reached the shelter of his lotus feet and when I heard from him, the Bhagavad gita, I began to understand. Krishna says ‘I am the seed giving father of all living entities, I am the common father.’

So that made sense, so not only a Hindi and Chini brothers, but all others like the Russians and the Ukrainians, they are what? They are brothers as are the Russians and Americans. This is a fact and this on the strength of this fact we can establish brotherhood of mankind. Then it will be awareness Vasudeva Kutumbakam which is a fact anyway and then we can expect peace.

Okay so it’s that ready now? You were making a copy? In New York, there is the headquarters of the United Nations. When Srila Prabhupada used to go through New York, in 1955 or 1966, he used to see that the flags of all the nations were increasing. Another flag and yet another flag. What kind of United Nations is this? This is disunited Nations not United Nations. United Nations means just one flag.’

They say God made the country and man made the town. Made made the concrete jungle. We can see how beautiful God’s world is, fresh air and clean water, it is pure. So then a question has been asked what did Man do? So God has made this most beautiful world, and what has man done? Man has made a mess. The mess that we see in this world.

Man has polluted the air and the water, this pollution, and that pollution. Food pollution and the most dangerous pollution is that of the mind and thoughts. That is why Srila Prabhupada Prabhupada held his last public lecture in Mumbai 1977. After this Prabhupada went back to godhead in the same year. In that last lecture he gave, there was a great big tent built and many people gathered to hear him and I was also there.

Srila Prabhupada started by saying ‘the modern civilisation is a total failure.’ That was the topic of the lecture. And actually it cannot be called civilisation because we are uncivilised. The people of Kaliyuga are asabhya, uncivilised. Civilised means sabhya but we are uncivilised asabhya. We are gentleman in name only but actually we are very rough, we are rough-ians.

The modern civilisation is a total failure, and so Srila Prabhupada gave the talk a sub title, Krishna consciousness is the only solution. Otherwise, everything else is a failure, and so Krishna consciousness is the only solution. The chief minister of that time, SB Chavan, was there to inaugurate that session near cross maidan. This was the place where Srila Prabhupada gave the lecture and in this world there are two types of economics.

You’re all thinking ‘what how can there be two types of economics?’ One type is an agrarian economy, as they call it in English and the other one is industrial economy. Economy based upon Farming, Agriculture, dairy farming and it is said in the gita that agriculture, dairy farming, and commerce are the natural works for those with the qualities of Vaishyas.

This includes the land and the cow and the ball, these entail industrial economy in according to the Vedas, this agrarian economy is the right economy. But the western world has introduced industrial economy and the world is seeing the consequences of this and actually the world is suffering because of this. Now it time to awake and so we will show you some samples. Yes could you Haribol?

It is finished? Where have the bulls gone? When i go back to my village in Aravade, I used to see in the years gone by that all the farmers would decorate their cows and bulls along with the carts and there would be such nice competition with so much enthusiasm, ‘ I will decorate the best carts and bull.’ In each house. We would see bulls cows and milk, but now we have the bulls gone? All we see are tractors and we do not know what has happened to the bulls. Maybe they are.. What can be said?

They are sending them to the slaughter houses. Go mata ki Jai! Agrarian economy used to mean milk, earth, crops, cows and bulls. People want everything fresh. Fresh air, fresh water, fresh vegetables but what is going on now? Chemical fertilisers and this and that. Back in my village, they used to be around seven cows and bulls and in the villages everybody used to stay healthy at all times.

In my village and maybe yours as well. Are any of you from the village? Did anyone take birth in a village? Oh okay more than half, in fact about seventy percent of you. In the village there is a population of three to four thousand people and a doctor would cycle to the village every Wednesday just to see if there were any sick people that needed medical treatment.

And they were many times when the poor doctor could not find any sick people to treat, they were all healthy by being active and they were so hard-working, they would sweat naturally. And everything was fresh, including their thoughts, which would be positive. Good thoughts. The slowly the time came where everything was spoiled and the industrial civilisation came to ruin everything. Tractors and factories and chemical fertilisation, and this and that. There was the radio and cinema and then finally the internet.

So then they created the dispensary. The doctor would come, and they opened a small hospital, people came to the opening and there was a medical officer who cut the ribbon to open the hospital. Then people clapped in celebration, ‘we also have a hospital in our village! So people must think before they move forward, as they say. They must think twice.

So can you see here, the boomerang effect, that how this industrial economy is breaking everything down? The modern man is falling, this is what is going on day and night. We are being defeated and we want to fight back with our defence mechanisms. So many pollutions came, water pollution, noise pollution, soil pollution and noise pollution. There is radioactive pollution and then there is mind pollution of course.

It is said clearly in the chapter of the gita that if you get attached to your senses by exploiting its objects, one will become lusty. Lust lust lust, or sin sin sin. One becomes helpless to perform these things. Tukaram Maharaja has said, we are awaking the sin and lust through our attachment and association with the senses and their objects.

And when lust is not satisfied, and indeed, it is never satisfied, then what happens? Anger arises. And we have seen the effects of anger in our own homes, or in the villages. One state is fighting with another state, one country is fighting with another country, one religion is fighting another. We are always becoming angry and we are always allured to becoming angry and when we do so, intelligence has lost.

We are then destroyed, we do not become enlightened but rather we are destroyed. This technology in this modern civilisation and this and that, industry, we’re going to the moon, by all these things, we are becoming characterless. But if we meditate upon the lord rather than on our own senses, then what will happen? Our would love will awaken and then when we serve the lord in love, the lord has promised in the gita that he will give us the intelligence to attain him.

But for one who wants to enjoy the senses, lord gives the wrong type of intelligence. For one who meditates upon the lord, and who has engaged in his service, the lord gives the right type of intelligence, ‘so he can come to me, he can come to Vaikuntha.’ This type of intelligence is used here so that one can use it in. Vaikuntha also. But the wrong intelligence leads one to hell. The lord has told us that lust, greed and anger are like three gates.

We want to go to Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha dham ki Jai. Bhu Vaikuntha ki Jai. Pandharpura dham ki Jai. Sri Sri Vitthal Rukmini ki Jai! The are so many problems like global warming, which we have caused. We have caused harm to the land on which we walk, the land on which we were born, mother Earth. We have made her temperature high, and we continue to do so.

When the mother is not healthy, how can we as the children that she maintains remain healthy? We are cutting the forests, deforestation. This is happening everywhere and then they set up the factories and they said industries. We have the Amazon in South America upon this earth, this is the forest . There is an Amazon river also, and then there is this Amazon forest.

There is the understanding that the air we breathe upon this Earth, the oxygen that we are breathing, twenty percent of this oxygen that the people breathe comes from the forest. and we are cutting down this very forest. What will happen? Our throats are going to suffocate without oxygen because we are destroying the source of our life air. What to speak of the killing of animals and this meat eating is causing a big problem.

This includes India, you may not know but we are filling big boats and sending meat to the Middle East and in exchange they are giving us Patrol. ‘can you take this meat and an exchange you give us Petrol.’ Bharat is exporting meat including, what can we say? We should not even speak it but they are exporting beef also and as we are talking now, thousands if not millions of cows are being slaughtered in our country and then we expect peace.

Twenty or twenty five years ago, there was a discussion in Parliament in regard to the slaughter houses in India. They were saying that the blades used to kill the animals were not sharp enough. This means that to cut the animal was taking longer and so the animal was feeling much pain for a long time. ‘The animals are feeling a lot of pain so what to do?’

This discussion was going on and so you will be surprised, but do you know what decision the parliament took? ‘We have to modernise our slaughter houses and we should get blades from Ireland so that we can quickly cut the animals and they will not feel pain.’ This is the mercy which was shown by the members of Parliament. They had mercy, but actually is this mercy? No, this is cruelness.

India’s parliament were thinking ‘we have to be modern, so slaughterhouses.. The animals are saying ‘we are living entities, I am mot meat. I am also a soul, i am not a piece of meat. Exploitation of material resources is going on and the consequences to these actions by the means of coronavirus and there are many other ways.

Disease’s are increasing and I’m sure you remember when the coronavirus was strong, there was lockdown, remember lockdown? We were are all locked down and before coronavirus, hear this illustration because it is very funny. Before coronavirus the animals were locked up in cages or in the zoo and we would go to see them.

And the animals were locked behind the bars but when coronavirus came our roles changed. We were locked down behind the bars and the animals were enjoying this sight, they were laughing and heading a good time. That’s why they say that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We are also becoming enjoyers to a greater extent throughout the world, but we are not taking into consideration that this sort of enjoyment brings about disease.

You enjoy, enjoy and then suffer, this is called the law of Karma. All the commercials are made to tempt us into shopping and so much more, what can be said? There used to be small shops in the past, but now everything has become big, big stores and huge shopping centres. Slowly super bazaars and hyper bazaars are opening. From this enjoyment, there comes about disease and America has become the most sick nation in the world.

America is the land of opportunity, and it is the greatest country of enjoyment, therefore, the number one sick country must be America. They always want to become number one in everything, so therefore they have also become number one in being the most sick nation in the world. We have become greedy beyond our need. Mahatma Gandhi also said, ‘need is fine but not greed, that isn’t needed.’

It’s fine to use what you need as necessity, but when you become greedy to stock more and more and get more and more, this is not good. There is some stock, this one that one, and we want to keep getting more and more keeping it all together. This is not necessary, this is greed and there are consequences to this greediness. They did a survey about high living low thinking, this is happening now.

Not simple living, high thinking, the opposite of that is happening now. There’s low thinking or no thinking. People walk around with a T-shirt on which has a thumbs up, and it means just do it. You don’t have to think, just do it. Think of what you have done afterwards but just do it. This is low thinking, so if all of ours and everybody else’s living standard becomes like America’s thinking, if all the people of the world and all the countries start thinking like America, the resources of the whole Earth will not be enough for us.

How many Earths will we then be needing? Five Earths, which is never going to happen so in the meantime we will all keep fighting between ourselves. Russians and Ukrainians are brothers, so Mayapur dham is Iskcons headquarters just like New York is the headquarters of America. Mayapur is the birth place of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and it is just like Vrindanvan and we are making Mayapur our headquarters.

The war between Ukraine and Russia but they were Hare Krishna devotees in Ukraine and there are Hare devotees in Russia, but they do not fight between themselves. Everyone else is fighting but when we become devotees of Krishna and devotees of Rama, when we become devotees, we do not fight because we have the feeling Vasudeva Kutumbakam. So the Russians and Ukrainians are also brothers and this brotherhood between all nations is possible if we come to take shelter of the supreme lord and if we accept the lord as our father.

Vasudeva Kutumbakam is certainly possible. So Hari Hari, I will stop now. Thank you to all of you that you came, and you sat patiently listening to the talk. You weren’t sleeping were you? Thank you.

Srimad Bhagavatam 09.10.50
Ram Rajya
Iskcon Noida
30-01-2024

Hare Krishna. Thank you for saying Hare Krishna and also for your coming here. There is that hope that NIDC, temple presidents and managers may be present here. I see some are here, and some are on their way and I am thinking that they will be here and you all will be here, and you will have to stay. Thinking like this I have come back from Ayodhya.

(Shouts of Haribol)! I have come from the installation ceremony of Ram lala ki jai! This is why I have chosen the fiftieth verse from the tenth chapter of canto nine, so let’s see what happens. Most definitely there will be mention of lord Rama and his reign over the world. The leaders of our Iskcon are also kings in one way.

They are warriors in their form as managers and they have to manage their zones and their own temples and this verse I have chosen for them as it will give them inspiration in their duties and so lets see what happens. There is a concept if time as there always is and lord Rama is called the lord of controlled mannerisms, Maryada Purushottam, and time also has its limits, and needs to be managed.

Keeping this in mind, we will start the recitation of the eternal Srimad Bhagavatam. Do you have the verse? Anyway,

agrahid asanam bhratra
pranipatya prasaditah
prajah sva dharma nirata
varnasrama gunanvitah
jugopa pitrvad ramo
menire pitaram ca tam
(Srimad Bhagavatam 09.10.50)

Translation
Being pleased by the full surrender and submission of Lord Bharata, Lord Ramacandra then accepted the throne of the state. He cared for the citizens exactly like a father, and the citizens, being fully engaged in their occupational duties of varna and asrama, accepted Him as their father.

People love Ram rajya, the state run by lord Ram, do they or not? Prabhupada says so but I just wanted to confirm. and even today politicians sometimes form a party called Rama-rajya, but unfortunately they have no obedience to Lord Rama. They want the kingdom of God but without God. This is because people are thinking, ‘I am God, I am the enjoyer.’ Such an aspiration, however, is never to be fulfilled. Good government can exist when the relationship between the citizens (cut).

Hari Hari. Should I speak or not speak about Ram Rajya, the kingdom of lord Rama? Rama and his citizens are called his people and what was the relationship between the people and lord Rama? As soon as you say his people, we can understand what the relationship is. Lord Rama would look after them and see to their every need. This being said, the lord would do this in the same way in which a father looks after his sons and own family members.

Actually they are because lord Rama is Aham bija pradah pita, he is the supreme lord and father of all living entities.

sarva yonisu kaunteya
murtayah sambhavanti yah
tasam brahma mahad yonir
aham bija pradah pita
(Bhagavad gita 14.4)

Translation
It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.

Lord Krishna said this in Bhagavad gita but who is Krishna? He is the same Rama. In Treta Yuga Rama and Lakshman became Krishna and Balaram in Dwapara Yuga. And in Kali Yuga they are the same Gaura Nitai ki jai! We must understand these principles and knowledge of the supreme lord which most people do not understand. Lord Rama is certainly the supreme lord and alongside this he has become a King and a warrior.

Amongst all other warriors and Kings he is leading in an exemplary way for not only the Kings of his time but for the future warriors. Their ideal is Jai Sri Rama! How must one look after his citizens? A King should understand them to be his own people, part of his family. This intimate relationship is full of love also and so Hari Hari.

Prabhupada has written here and we have also read that people like the idea and arrangement of Rama Rajya. Lord Rama looked after and ruled his kingdom for around one million years and so when people think of their country and it’s leaders, what do they say? If there should be a King, he should be like Lord Rama. And if there should be a country, it should be like Rama’s kingdom.

So I would say that even in Iskcon what sort of management should there be? Like Lord Rama. You can say Rama Rajya, or Krishna Rajya or Chaitanya Rajya. The King of Kali Yuga or the form of lord Rama or Krishna came as lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Kali Yuga. This current time span belongs to whkm? Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai!

In this dark age we will not only be able to have Rama Rajya, the kingdom of God but also there will be much more in this Chaitanya Rajya. Hari Hari. In Rama Rajya there is some questioning of what occurred and during the period of lord Rama there were many Yagna’s taking place and therefore dharma samsthapanarthaya -Rama descended,

paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam
dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge
(Bhagavad gita 4.8)

Translation
To protect the righteous, to annihilate the wicked, and to reestablish the principles of dharma I appear on this earth, age after age.

The Lord descends to protect righteousness and this Lord Rama and Lakshman have performed this work. Who had come to get them? Vishvamitra had come saying, ‘give me Rama and Lakshman.’ Their father answered, ‘what are you saying? You want to take my Rama and Lakshman?!’

Rama and Lakshman were both the same age because they were both born on the same day. So it isn’t just Rama Navami, it is also Lakshman Navami and Bharata Navami and also Shatrughna Navami. We do not understand this because we do not realise that Lakshman is also the supreme lord, as is Bharata and Shatrughna. They are Vishnu Tattva and this is known only to the Gaudiya Vaishnava’s.

Some others know also and they should know this. Because of Srila Prabhupada we are also in knowledge of this principle. ‘So Dasharatha was shocked and he spoke. ‘My boys are only un shodhasa varshia.’ What does this mean, how old are they? Shodasha means sixteen and un means one. So they were one less than sixteen and so Dasharatha said ‘my sons are only fifteen years old.’

So this is not the time for Katha and so Rama and Lakshman established Yagnas and protected the principle of performing Yagna. The king of Kali will have to protect the yagna of that age and this is also a Yagna. Krishna has said yajnanam japa yagno ’smi

maharshinam bhrigur aham giram asmyekam aksharam
yajnanam japa yajno ’smi sthavaranam himalaya?
(Bhagavad gita 10.25)

Translation
I am Bhrigu amongst the great seers and the transcendental Om amongst sounds. Amongst chants know Me to be the repetition of the Holy Name; amongst immovable things I am the Himalayas.

Krishna says in the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. What is Japa? It is the best of Yagnas and Krishna says that of all Yagnas, I am the Yagna, the sacrifice of chanting Japa. There are many types of sacrifices and so Krishna says, ‘out of all these, I am the sacrifice of chanting Japa.’

‘yajnanam japa yajno ’smi,’ the lord says. And of all sacrifices, the sacrifice of chanting Japa and that too, the chanting of

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

This is the best of all Japa. This is also Yagna and it is called Sankirtan Yagna. So the Kings of Kali Yuga including the Kings of Iskcon who are called the Governing Body commissioners are the Parampara, the managing successors, the GBC’s, the zonal secretaries and regional secateurs and the temple presidents and managers, they are all part of the disciplic succession. Evam Parampara-praptam.

evam parampara praptam imam rajarshayo vidhu
sa kaleneha mahata yogo nashtah parantapa
(Bhagavad Gita 4.2)

Translation
This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.

All these Kings come in the succession and they are all administrators and of all these administrators, Sri Rama established religious principles that were relevant in his time, in that yuga.

krte yad dhyayato visnum
tretayam yajato makhaih
dvapare paricaryayam
kalau tad dhari kirtanat
(Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.52)

Translation

Whatever result was obtained in Satya yuga by meditating on Visnu, in Treta yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dv?para-yuga by serving the Lord’s lotus feet can be obtained in Kali yuga simply by chanting the Hare Krsna maha mantra

As there are four Yugas, ages of time, accordingly the paths of religion are laid out in terms of the time and circumstance of that particular Yuga. There are different practices for each age and therefore Lord Rama established the religious practice of the Yuga he had appeared in and he protected those practices also by making sure everyone was living in accordance to the religious rituals of that age.

The Kings in Kali Yuga, just like there are kings in Iskcon, who are administrators, they need to establish the religious principles of this age. What is that? The Sankirtan dharma, the chanting of the holy names. Kali kalera dharma krsna nama sankirtana

kali kalera dharma krsna nama sankirtana
krsna sakti vina nahe tara pravartana
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 7.11)

Translation
The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Krsna. Unless empowered by Krsna, one cannot propagate the sankirtana movement

Hari Hari. There is a purport to this verse but if I read the whole purport now then time will run out and that is why. This verse in question has been discussed and Lord Rama accepted the throne when he saw Bharata’s complete surrender unto him. Hari Hari. Here we see that Bharata was reigning the Kingdom in place of Lord Rama very well.

The astonishing thing is that he was not even eager or wanting to do this. He was not at all interested in having the seat, which seat? The seat which would give him power. Of course Bharata is Rama’s Bharata and therefore he was not power hungry. They had an argument, lord Rama and Bharata, ‘no I dont want to be King, you be the King, no,no you be the king.’

There is so much devotion and love is shown here between Rama and Bharata and this should be studied by us. We must learn from this encounter. Bharata becomes the citizen of Lord Rama and of course he is Rama’s younger brother anyway and he can also be counted as a citizen. Lord Rama love for Bharata and also Bharata’s love for Rama, sad vidham priti lak?a?am.

dadati pratigrhnati
guhyam akhyati prcchati
bhunkte bhojayate caiva
sad vidham priti laksanam
(Nectar of instruction 4)

Translation
Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasada and offering prasada are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another

Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhupada has written about what sort of relationship there must be between Vaishnava’s. That is the relationship of love and attachment. One must establish this relationship of love and affection by following these six principles of giving gifts and receiving them and so on. Those who are the leaders in Iskcon, the administrators and temple presidents, they should also have this relationship with the temple congregation members.

Just like Rama had with Bharata and with everyone actually, the lord loved all his citizens like he did Bharata. ‘No you come back and you look after all the affairs of the kingdom.’ As Bharata spike like this, at the end Rama gave his slippers to Bharata. Bharata took the lord’s slippers considering them to be non different to Rama himself.

He installed these slippers and he was thinking ‘lord Rama is ruling through these slippers and Rama is the one sitting on the throne.’ In this way our administrators and temple managers should have the same feelings and understanding that Bharata had. They should feel Dasosmi, Dasosmi or Das anu Das, they are the servants and the servants of the servants of Srila Prabhupada.

our position actually gets higher this way. The more people we put above us the more higher our position gets. When you become a servant of the servant you have a high position. So when you are a servant of the servant if the servant then what happens? That is a even bigger position and so what must you do if you want a bigger position? You must become the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant.

This is amanina manadena. The congregation on the temple and the devotees should respect their authorities and what else should happen? What do the authorities need to do? They also need to act in a certain way towards the devotes and the congregation members. What is that? Amanina manadena, this is the instruction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Bharata had said, ‘Prabhu Prabhu, oh my lord Rama, you will now say you will mit come back until the fourteen years are over, and although I am not happy I will agree to what you say. But you will have to come back before the time is over or at least on time. If you are even a moment late then you may as well not come because you will mot find me alive.

After the fourteen years were over, Rama left very swiftly. The lord had walked to Lanka but if he was to walk back then many more months would pass. Do you know why he went back on the flying chariot? The Lord was remembering his promise to Bharata, ‘i’ll be back on time or actually before time.’ That is why the Lord was hurrying on the flying chariot to reach back to Ayodhya.

At that time, the respect and welcome there was in place for lord Rama, Jai Sri Rama! That is the exact same welcome that happened just now on the 22nd January when lord Rama came back to Ayodhya! Mahatma Gandhi especially had this dream and he used to think that when Bharat, India would become independent, India, Bharat will establish Rama Rajya.

But seventy five years had passed and some years ago there was a movie that came to the cinemas and the name of the movie was Ravan Rajya. I know ow you would not have seen this movie, or maybe you did. Along with opening of Rama temple and the installation of Rama Lala in Ayodhya, you can say he is the King also, Modi Raja.

There is Rama Raja, and then there is Modi Raja and this King promised something he went on to fulfil. Along with the opening with the temple, the mood and exemplary acts of Rama Rajya have also been put there. Haribol! ‘Good days will come now.’ Do you remember those promises?

Maybe you don’t understand, but this is what Sir Modi used to say, he would assure us that good days will come. But good days can only come when there is the kingdom of lord Rama. Srila Prabhupada ki jai! When I was in Ayodhya in between all the ceremonies of the opening of Ram lala temple, I was seeing that all the leaders who were present there, including many saints, they were all dancing and singing the glories of Modi Raja, Kimg Modi.

They weee also speaking about the bright future of Bharat, India and about how they would make India the Viswaguru, the global teacher of the whole world. So all these talks were going on, and I was listening to all this, and at the same time, I was also thinking, ‘fifty years before this, Srila Prabhupada was the one who had started this Rama Rajya or Chaitanya Rajya.

According to the order of his spiritual master, Prabhupada had started building temples. Okay, because Ayodhya is the place of Lord Rama, they have built a temple there, but Srila Prabhupada had built a temple of lord Rama many years ago in Delhi. And England is such a big name, that England that ruled over so many places and countries, the British Raja.

In London, Srila Prabhupada installed lord Rama at Bhaktivedanta Manor, a huge property given to Prabhupada by George Harrison. We all know about the influence of America upon the world, and in that America, in Washington DC, Srila Prabhupada bought lord Rama there. (Shouts of Haribol)!

This is not all, and Modi was speaking something about the next thousand years to come and he was speaking about the great things he wants to achieve. You can call this his devotion to lord Rama, or you could call it, nationalism, a Hindu nationalist. So this is his vision for the next one thousand years, and he was speaking about great things he wants to do.

But Srila Prabhupada had a plan for the next ten years and that vision was Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s vision actually.

Prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
(Chaitanya Bhagavat Antya 4.126)

Translation
In every town and village throughout the world, said Lord Caitanya, the chanting of My holy name will be heard.

And wherever the chanting of the holy names will reach, in that place people will join together to perform kirtan. There will be some Nama hatta, where people can come to chant and there will be Bhakti Vriksha’s, small temples where there will be structured sanga’s. Then one day what will happen?

Will, there not then be opening of a Temple in these places? Of course they will! Wherever the holy name reaches, people come together and then a temple is opened. So these ten thousand years, to come are called the golden period. This has been prophesied by the Sastra’s and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself.

So whatever has been said, or prophesied will certainly come true. At that time, in ten thousand years, how many temples will there be? How many? There must be a limited number. So as many towns and villages there are in each country, that many temples there will be, and there will be congregation in all of the places.

I think we should clap now upon hearing this, and that is if you want to. So Srila Prabhupada has become Viswaguru, the guru of the whole world and books are the basis, Srila Prabhupada’s books are being distributed throughout the whole world. People come across the Hare Krishna Mahamantra and then they join Harinama and take Prashad.

It could be that someone came across one of Srila Prabhupada’s books, or they came to a festival like Rathayatra and in this way he becomes a devotee, or he is becoming a devotee. We already have millions all over the world, devotees of Rama, devotees of Krishna or lord Chaitanya, and in this way they are becoming Gaudiya Vaishnava’s.

Srila Prabhupada introduced the four regulative principles based upon the teachings of the Bhagavatam. ‘No meat eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex and no gambling.’ These are the principles of Iskcon and it’s beauty. People have become ready to follow these principles, and this is true even for people in China. Patran puspam phalam toyam, no
mutton-am chicken-am or biryani.

Patran puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah
(Bhagavad Gita 9.26)

Translation
If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.

Radha Govinda deva ki jai. And in this way

Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah
Sarve Santu Niraamayaah
Sarve Bhadraanni Pashyantu
Maa Kashcid Duhkha Bhaag Bhavet
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih
(Upanishads)

Translation:
Om, May All be Happy,
May All be Free from Illness.
May All See what is Auspicious,
May no one Suffer.
Om Peace, Peace, Peace

Rama was always making sure that everyone was happy and the same for Srila Prabhupada and all his followers. What is are goal? Sarve sukhina bhavantu, eveeyone should be happy. That is why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement is not limited to Hindus or India and that is why Srila Prabhupada named this movement the international Society of Krishna consciousness.

These are such important words, and thats why Prabhupada did not say international temples, no he said an international society. This means that as many people there are this earth and wherever they may be, for them this international society has been created. This has been down so that these people can become Krishna conscious, Rama conscious, or Chaitanya, conscious.

This society is also called Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the whole world is one family). What happened recently in India in the G20 summit? It was a G20 convention and what else could happen better than what Srila Prabhupada has done and what Iskcon is doing? In Iskcon the whole world is one family.

One world, one family. Therefore they say that you must walk the talk, that means that some people are talking big but Seila Prabhupada didn’t just talk, but he did what he proposed. In Mayapur festival which takes place, there are devotees from around the whole world from fifty, sixty or seventy countries. From how many countries do devotees gather?

Devotees come from more than seventy countries and when we all come together, we all stay like one family. It’s like one kitchen, one family. There is one kitchen only and some people are still just thinking to propose these things or they are just talking about it and they cannot do anything more than this. Apart from imagining these things, they cannot do anything more.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai! That Rama becomes even more merciful, and how could he be Rama if he was not merciful? So Rama was always merciful and Krishna Krishna

he krishna karuna-sindho dina-bandho jagat-pate
gopesa gopika-kanta radha-kanta namo ’stu te
(Sri Krishna Pranam)

O my dear Krishna, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cow herd men and the lover of the gopis, especially Radharani. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

So Rama and Krishna are very merciful but even more merciful than them is Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai! The people of this age were more fallen and so the lord had to descend as more magnanimous than other incarnations of the lord. Rama cannot do this because when he comes as Rama or as Krishna, the lord has to play a befitting role according to time and circumstance.

The role of lord Chaitanya is the most magnanimous because he comes to liberate the most fallen souls. I’ll just say this one last item and then i will stop. Mostly all people know lord Rama and they know Krishna also but although Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is that same Rama and he is the same Krishna, still people do not know him.

I was feeling that way, especially in recent times where the Ayodhya temple is opening and everyone is chanting ‘Rama Rama.’ Rama is known and called everywhere is Ayodhya and in Bharat but amongst all this lord Chaitanya is missing. He is the missing link and so it is our job to bring back that which is missing, which is lacking, we must bring Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as we are feeling his absence.

This is the job of Iskcon devotees, the administrators, managers and the governing body. It is the work of all of us and that is why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said

yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna’-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara’ ei desa
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 7.128)

Translation
Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krsna as they are given in the Bhagavad gita and Srimad Bh?gavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land

So continue giving this message of lord Krishna to the whole world and become Guru’s in this way. If you cannot become Viswaguru then at least become the Guru’s of your household members. Become the Guru of your neighbourhood or your town and townspeople.

Try and make bigger this sphere of influence. In this way all the Iskcon devotees around the world should spread Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mossion. We must tell everyone who is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and so on, so on. We must especially introduce the chanting of

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

As you do this, you can remember Srila Prabhupada and understand that you are indebted to him. Are we indebted to him or not? Who here understands that we are indebted to Srila Prabhupada? (Shouts of jai)! Srila Prabhupada was having a casual conversation once with some of his disciples. His disciples were telling Srila Prabhupada, ‘Prabhupada, we are indebted to you.’

Prabhupada said, ‘yes, that is ture. You are indebted.’ So the disciple asked, ‘is there anything we could do to become free from this debt?’ So Prabhupada answered ‘there is nothing you could do.’ Then Prabhupada paused and then he said, ‘yes yes, you could do one thing.’ They asked. ‘What is that Srila Prabhupada?’ He answered’ You do as i did.’

He was saying that whatever he had established, they should continue that and also expand his teachings to further places. ‘By doing that, you can get free from this debt to some extent.’ Who here wants to try and do this? (Shouts of haribol)!