2nd April 2019

LOCAL CALL!

Hare Krishna to you all, who all are sitting here, as well as all those who are on conference there. We had 446 participants today. Pandharpur Dhama ki jay! I am doing my chanting in Pandharpur. I am also happy to chant with all the devotees and leaders from the IMPM zone and presidents of many temples who have assembled here. Their presence have also made me happy.

One of the five principles of Devotional service is Dhamavas. When we chant our japa

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Then that Dhama becomes part of your asana. Out of time ,place , circumstances these are all part of asana, which we have been talking from time to time. Yam Niyam asana pranayam these are part of Japa-yoga process. Chanting ‘Hare Krishna’ in Dhama , which has been described by one of the devotee, I heard it somewhere. When we chant in Dhama it is like ‘making a local call’. Local calls are more cheaper and more clear then other long distance call. You can talk clearly and there will be clearer response from the party to whom you are calling. It is easier. When you are chanting Hare Krishna you are calling the Lord. Of course, You are remembering the Lord.

śrī-prahrāda uvāca
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

iti puṁsārpitā viṣṇau
bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā
kriyeta bhagavaty addhā
tan manye ’dhītam uttamam

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words) — these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṇa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.( SB.7.5.23- 24)

You could remember Lord in that Dhama. You could remember pastimes in that Dhama. May be a place where you are sitting could be a pastime place. You know who all are there in the pastimes. Lord is standing on the brick, with His hands on His waist, waiting for Pundalik to finish his business, so that he can meet Him.

By doing sravan kirtana we go nearer to our goal, that is

smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur
vismartavyo na jātucit
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ

” ‘Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Lord Viṣṇu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of these two principles.’(CC Madhya Llia, 22.113)

Remember like the gopis never forget Krsna. By doing this type of remembering of the Lord , while chanting, you could more easily remember the Lord, the form the Deities, which are there in Dha-ma and pastimes in that Dhama like that. This is how coming to the Dhama and chanting there be-comes a local call, much easier because you have nice asana and are properly situated.

This morning while doing japa I was thinking , what to speak in the japa-talk. I was thinking,I will say, chanting in dhama is like a local call and in the dhama , remembrance of Lord is easy. I was thinking Lord is just across the river and He is standing and it’s morning hours, It’s Lord’s Abhishek time. I was thinking how it’s easier to remember and as I was thinking, that I would share all these things with you at that moment Abhiram Thakur Prabhuji came running along with Govinda Prabhuji and said, Guru Maharaja here is caranamrta for you. We were there for mangala-aarti and ab-hiseka of Lord Vitthal. We have brought caranamrta and Tulasi garland of Lord for you. Then I was thinking, my local call was heard by the Lord. Lord heard my call. He made the communication, and here was his response, “ I am sending these items to you.” So it is just further confirmation that by coming to dhama and chanting in the dhama is another different experience.

Everything is favourable for your chanting and it goes smooth. Hence we should take advantage of these dhamas. Come to Dhama. Wherever you are chanting, the dhama is also waiting for you.
You can come in July for Vyasa Puja and opening of Prabhupada ghat. All the leaders sitting around here , preachers from my management zone are here to organize that Festival for you in the month of July. You could come and experience yourself.

We have 70 managers or preachers yesterday, and we will try to make 700 chanters on the confe-rence in relation to 70th Vyasa pua. This fragrance of the Tulasi garland is amazing. Fragrance of Tulasi is very strong, out of this world. This fragrance is Krsna. When we smell it, it’s original fra-grance comes from the earth, then that is Krsna right? He has declared that in Bhagavata-Gita.

puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca
tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau
jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu
tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu

I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics. (BG. 7.9)

… the fragrance in the earth is Me! When the fragrance of the earth reaches the flowers like in this Tulasi garland, there are many flowers and some leaves also. So this fragrance is the Lord himself. This is the Lord. Specially when that gandha, fragrance, those leaves and manjaris are offered to the Lord, then what to say about it’s glories. That fragrance is spiritualized. This is experiencing the Lord, realising the Lord. We are experiencing that. Once in Juhu during a lecture, Prabhupada was saying that the taste in water is Krsna.

raso ’ham apsu kaunteya
prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu
śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu

O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man. ( BG. 7.8)

Lord was talking raso ’ham apsu kaunteya taste in water is aham. Prabhupada was explaining that the taste in water, characteristic of the water ,’rasa’ is Lord. There was a glass of water lying there. Prabhupada took that glass and he drank that water. He said , ‘Whenever you drink water remem-ber that this taste is Krsna! This is what we have to do. This is Krishna consciousness. This will make you Krishna conscious.” Fragrance is speciality or characteristics of the earth. So whenever we smell the fragrance of the earth through the medium of leaves, flowers or some herbs also , if that time we could remember, this fragrance is Krsna, you will become Krishna conscious.

We were blessed this morning, that Lord came Himself to us in form of fragrance in Tulasi and ca-ranamrta. Panduranga! Panduranga!! So now everyone will get caranamrta , not all those on con-ference. That’s the only thing you cannot do. Otherwise everything else is possible. This went around, Panduranga appeared and while you were calling, doing a local call. He came, “ What do you want?”

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Okay we will stop here.
Hare Krishna!!

1st April 2019

COMMUNICATE WITH THE LORD WHILE CHANTING!

I am in Pandharpur. Today is Papamocani Ekadasi. So keep chanting and hearing. One devotee was inquiring – should we concentrate on Harinama or do something else. Also how to concentrate on the holy name? We have to chant

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMa HARE HARE

The holy name is addressing the Lord. When we say Krishnawe are addressing the holy name. YesterdayI was going through the list of Devotional service which Krsnadas Kaviraj Goswami has mentioned in the Caitanya Caritamrita. One item which caught my attention was – one should reveal his mind unto the Deity, unto the Lord. Like we say

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasāda and offering prasāda are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.( NOI verse 4)

Tell the Lord of your happiness and grief. Rupa Goswami has mentioned it and Krsnadas Kaviraj Goswami is repeating it. He was talking of revealing one’s mind unto the Deity, but the Deity is non-different from the holy name. The Form is the name. Revealing your mind unto the Deity is non-different from revealing your mind to the holy name. When we say Hare, Krishna, each name is an address. Oh Radhe! Oh Krsna! Sixteen times we are addressing the Lord. Oh Radhe! Oh Krsna! When we address like that, Radha and Krishna make their appearance.

naham vasami vaikunthe yoginam hridaye na cha
mad-bhakta yatra gayanti tatra tishthami narada

Neither do I reside in Vaikuntha nor in the hearts of the Yogis, but I dwell where my devotees sing my name, O Narada !(Padma Purana, Uttara-khanda 92.21)

Wherever My devotees chant My glories or wherever I am addressed, I reveal Myself, I make My appearance there. That is the Lord’s promise. The Lord has made His Appearance. He is right there with you. The Lord then says , Oh!Why you are calling me? What do you want? What’s on your mind?Please reveal your mind unto me.” He may say, “ May I help you?” Then you could reveal your mind. The scene is set. You are present. The Lord is there. That’s the time for Yoga, reciprocation, communication between you and the Lord in the form of the holy name.

So how to reveal our heart and mind unto the Lord? There are hints given by our acaryas. Given commentaries on the holy name. Bhavabandhanat mochay. When the address begins by saying the first HareShe asks what do you want? You are revealing your heart and mind unto Radharani. Please free me from this entanglement of material bondage. Then next we say Krishna. Gopal Guru Goswami, – swamadhuryen mattchittaam aakrashay. Oh Lord! You are sweet. You are attractive, please attract my mind unto You. Sixteen times we are addressing like this. For each of the sixteen names there is a commentary. When we chant the mahamantra once, we address Radha and Krishna sixteen times. Seva yogyam kuru. Please make me eligible to serve you,Oh Lord! Srila Prabhupada always repeated this part of the commentary. “I am Yours.Please engage me in Your service.”

Seva adhikar diyo kar nija dasi like that we pray to Tulasi maharani. We also pray to the spiritual master to give you service. Or we may be praying to the temple president – ‘please engage me in your service.’They represent Tulasi Maharani represent Krsna. Spiritual Master is representing Krsna and our GBCs , Presidents, managerial parampara. Prabhupada also said , specially about the GBCsthat they have acarya like position. Then we could request them to give some service.

lalita vishakha adi jat sakhi vrinda ajnayai karibo seva caranaravinda

Even when other gopis and manjaris wish to serve Krsna, they don’t go directly to Radha and Krsna. They have to go through Lalita and Vishakha, the whole hierarchy. The leader of the gopis, yuvateshwaris are there .Gopi groups are called yuvateshwaris. So you have to go through them. Prayer has to be like that, “Please engage me in Your service Lord!” This is how we are revealing our mind and heartand we are begging, “Please engage me in Your service. This is one of the ways. Prabhupada has written in his commentary at one place ‘seva yogyam kuru’ He Radhe He Krsna please make me eligible for Your service. Like that for each of the sixteen names there are commentaries of Jiva Goswami and other acaryas.

How to reveal your mind by chanting ‘Hare Krishna’. How and what to sayto Radha and Krsna who are present before you in the Form of the holy name? So these are the prayers. Chanting , hearing and remembering, then samadhi – full absorption , this is ‘abhyas’. (study)

Today also we are also conducting an initiation ceremony. We are doing the first part of the initiation. What we just did was an initiation lecture. We will be giving the name and the beads. We have Bhaktin Sadhana, wife of Nandlal from Italy, who will be taking initiation today. He is one of the first disciples,25 years ago. In 1971 Prabhupada once conducted a marriage ceremony in Cross Maidan. Vegavan my godbrother from Sweden and his wife was from Australia. Prabhupada was conducting an initiation in India. It was initiation cum marriage ceremony. Prabhupada said, this is the United nations of the spiritual world.

(Gurumaharaj gave initiation to one Mataji from Mauritius and had short a conversation with her) In Pandharpur on the day of Ekadasi, on the banks of Chandrabhaga River in Radha Pandharinath temple, during Brahma muhurta surrounded by Vaisnavas, senior leaders from our zone and 470 participants from all over the planet. They are also witnessing the initiation on the conference.

Your family members are they watching? 40 – 50 devotees from Mauritius are watching. Your name is ‘Saradiya Rasa Devi dasi’. While chanting your japa you can meditate on your name. Later on yajna will be done. Some devotees are getting second initiation today.

So we conclude here.

Hare Krishna!

CONNECT WITH THE SUPREME POWER HOUSE – KRSNA!

We had been chanting from some time now and I am happy to see you chanting because I know of “Chant Hare Krishna and be Happy!” When you become happy , I also become happy. When we see so many of us chanting then there is much more happiness! It’s Anand-sagar. We see at 400 places devotees are chanting so in total you are chanting with 700 to 800 devotees.

Chanting is a serious business.Yogi bhava! Krsna wants us to become bhakti-yogis. When we chant, do our Japa, the goal is to become Bhakti-yogis, linking with the Lord with devotion.

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
 yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.(S.B.11.5.32)

Bhagavatam says intelligent people will perform sankirtana yajna. So this chanting is not the job of the less intelligent. At the beginning of today’s session, we were trying to connect our all apparatus here with power. Externally everything seemed to be intact, the switch was there, the cord was there, and it was connected with the computer, still there was no current. The current was off and on , off and on. Then I was thinking as I am a big thinker – okay we have come, we are sitting down for chanting. We have done yama niyama which are the preparations. Asana is in order by sitting properly. Asana does not mean only sitting, but also where we are sitting and also pranayam. I have talked about this pranayam in the past. You have to take a deep breath and chant the maha mantra. Some devotees chant 5 mantras and then they take a deep breath again. Some devotees chant this way. It’s very helpful. To take a deep breath, you have to sit straight. When we take a deep breath , we become refreshed. This will also help you to stay awake. These are the benefits.

Unless you take in a lot of air you are not going to chant. The tongue must vibrate and the lips must be used. Prabhupada used to say this. Otherwise we will be doing ‘snick snick hare hare’. Some people in ISKCON keep chanting like this. So there will not be any boost. There has to be some vibrations. That won’t happen unless the lungs are filled with air. So try this. A lot of time it’s not clear whether we are breathing out or in. This should be two different acts. Sometimes we are breathing in or breathing out, if it’s not clearly demarcated then as a result we miss out on some of the mantras. We eat it. It goes inside. Take a deep breath and while breathing out say the mantra.

Then it’s clear. Krishna consciousness means clear consciousness. So as I was explaining, we have done everything, yama – niyama , asana, pranayam etc. Then we chant,

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

These are the steps according to patanjali yoga which we accept. Although these first four steps are necessary, still they are external. Your real yoga hasn’t yet begin. This is a kind of setting the
scene in the yoga. After doing all this serious yoga begins from the fifth step. That is pratyahara.

Yesterday we were talking about
atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca
prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ

jana-saṅgaś ca laulyaṁ ca
ṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati

One’s devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) over-endeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements. ( NOI Verse 2)

You should not have done it, but you did which is atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo etc. Eating too much, accumulating too much etc. will lead to destruction. You will lose the devotion. You will not be a yogi. One of those six items were atyāhāraḥ – too much eating, too much accumulation which we have done in past – yesterday or the day before. We should avoid excess. We had been doing atyachar. When we say ahar we think of the food that we eat. In the book Bhaktyaloka Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that each of our senses have its own aha or object of senses.

Every sense has a sense object. The tongue has food. For eyes it’s form. For ears it is sounds – all the sounds, cinema songs etc. For nose, smell. So atyāhāraḥ means uncontrolled feeding of the senses by conditioned souls. We had been feeding our senses too much – eating too much, seeing too much. Or seeing objects which we should not have seen. Thus all our senses have been fed in this way.

nidrayā hriyate naktaṁ
vyavāyena ca vā vayaḥ
divā cārthehayā rājan
kuṭumba-bharaṇena vā

The lifetime of such an envious householder is passed at night either in sleeping or in sex indulgence, and in the daytime either in making money or maintaining family members.( SB. 2.1.3) We are getting up early morning and what are we thinking? How to make money? Money where is money, sweeter than honey. How you can use the money? To feed the family, to feed the senses of the family. Feed all the senses of all the family members. Feed the eyes, feed the nose, feed the skin. This is what we are talking about in atyāhāraḥ. So for yoga we have to do pratyahaar. Counteract. While doing Japa, all that atyāhāraḥ we had been doing have left the impressions upon the mind.

yatato hy api kaunteya
purusasya vipascitah
indriyani pramathini
haranti prasabham manah

The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them. (BG 2.60) Tukaram Maharaja says, “ papachi vasana nako davu dola tyahuni aandhala barach me” which means ‘better make me blind than having various different desires, that I will see some sinful cinema or some sinful acts.’ This is Tukaram Maharaj’s statement also. Better make me blind, if I am going to make use of eyes in such a way. So this is pratyahaar. When we sit down and start chanting,then we have to make sure that the connection is made. We connected those instruments – laptop and cord and this and that. Everything looks intact, but there is no current. Something was wrong. So we have done yama-niyama, pranayam, asana etc. But are we getting connected with the Lord? The power house? He is the Power House, the source of all the power.

So just to conclude, we can say that this is the job of the intelligent. The role of intelligence will now
begin. Before also we have to do all the yama niyam pranayam etc. intelligently. Now we will have to have sharper intelligence, beyond the pratyahara stage. So the further steps of dhyan and dharana can be performed more intelligently. When we sit and chant. Who is going to be active? THE MIND. So now the play will begin. Mind will become active and make you run – where you had gone yesterday. It will bring those scenes of the night before and the day before, two days before, could be of last lifetime. Mind starts functioning. But we want the soul to be active. We want to awake the soul , we want it to feel.

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to
be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.( CC Madhya 22.107) When we are sitting to chant, we want our soul to be motivated and activated. Soul should experience love for the Lord. Revive our dormant love for the Lord. While hearing

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.

That way we are expressing our affection for the Lord. We want to arouse genuine love in the heart. Mind is going to be active. It can run back or run ahead. I did this yesterday and today I have to do this. Then

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.( BG. 18.54) Mind does this śocati, lamentation for the past, something which we were not able to do materially, and then we aspire to do something. This is my goal in this lifetime. I want to achieve this. So the mind goes back and forth between the past and the future. But during chanting we want to be in the present tense with the Lord. This chanting is the practice. We have to do it day in and day out using the intelligence. This is abhyas. Practice makes a man and woman perfect. We have to be alert using our intelligence and watch our mind. Our attention should be on our mind. Where is the mind? What is the mind thinking? Then what does intelligence do. It discriminates. sad asad buddha is the function of intelligence. This is temporary, this is permanent, and so on. With the use of intelligence we keep making those decisions at every step. Not that intelligence has to be applied occasionally. No , intelligence has to be applied throughout the day and night and specially at the time of chanting. You could also pray that the Lord gives you such intelligence. One person’s intelligence may think this is good and another person may think this is not good. My mother would also ask me to pray, “ Oh Lord give me intelligence”. Finally the Lord gave me intelligence and I

became a devotee of Krsna and joined Hare Krishna Land Juhu. Then she started thinking, ‘What kind of intelligence has the Lord given?’ She was unhappy about it. There are two kinds of intelligence – mundane and spiritual. Highly educated, so called intelligence of this world is no intelligence. Maya steals the intelligence. So we have to understand, what kind of intelligence.

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.( B.G. 10.10) We want that intelligence, which brings us closer to Krsna. During our Festival of Asadhi Ekadasi we could also have a Japa retreat. Two three mornings, we can do japa retreat. Chant together and talk together. That could be another feature of chanting. Anyway we will be chanting in our Zoom session. Japa talk has become long as I am talking in two languages. Okay see you in Pandharpur. Radha-Pandharinatha ki Jai!
Hare Krishna!

VIDHI and NISHEDHA FOR CHANTING.

Today we had 453 participants, and special mention is, Eknath Gaur Prabhuji was chanting from Mongolia. Mongolia is very close to the North Pole, beyond China and Russia. I was surprised and pleased to see him chanting all the way from Mongolia.

Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu has strongly recommended, worship Krsna , the way gopis worshipped, Radharani worshipped, we should be worshipping like that. –

Ramya kecid upāsanā vraja-vadhu-vargabhir ya kalpita. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended, “The upāsanā, the worship which was invented by the gopīs to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, ramya kecid upāsanā, there is no more perfect upāsanā.”

What was the special feature of worship of Gopis and Radharani? – “Always remember Krsna and never forget Krsna!” that’s it. This is the principal. There is a well-known mantra of this meaning which Krsnadas Kaviraj Goswami has quoted in Caitanya Caritamrita.

smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur
vismartavyo na jātucit
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ

“‘Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Lord Viṣṇu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of these two principles.’(CC Madhya Lila 22.113)

I will read the purport of this verse first and then we can go back to the verse and try to understand further. Srila Prabhupada writes, – ‘This verse is a quotation from Padma – Purana. There are regulative principles in the sastras and directions given by the spiritual master. These regulative principles should act as servants of the basic principle.”

Instructions are in two parts. One is positive and other is negative. One is vidhi and other is nisedhah. One is do’s’ and other is don’ts. Do this, don’t do this. So smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur is vidhi or process . It’s a Do part. One should remember satatam – always. vismartavyo na jātucit One should never forget. This is the nishedhah part. Sastra’s explanations are of two kinds – one is vidhi and other is nishedhah, prohibition. So that is ,” These regulative principles should act as servants of the basic principle, that is one should always remember Krsna and never forget Him. Therefore one must strictly chant Hare Krsna mahamantra 24 hours daily. That is the vidhi.

“Therefore one must strictly chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra twenty-four hours daily. One may have other duties to perform under the direction of the spiritual master, but he must first abide by the spiritual master’s order to chant a certain number of rounds”, then next do the other duties. That’s how we should understand this. “In Hare Krsna movement we have recommended the neophytes to chant at least 16 rounds. This chanting of 16 rounds is absolutely necessary, if one wants to remember Krsna and never forget Him.” This is the process and the prohibition.Of all the regulative principles , the spiritual master’s order to chant at least 16 rounds is the most essential. Essential is the most significant word. There is no other option.

harer nama harer nama harer nama eva kevalam kalau nastyeva nastyeva nastyeva gatiranyatha. ( CC 7.26)

sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ

That’s the second part. The first verse was.
smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur
vismartavyo na jātucit

Always remember and never forget, these are the two items.

etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ of these two principals are the servants of these two principals. All the vidhis, all the nishedhahs are servants of two principals. All that is said in shastra can be divided in two parts. One part is process, something that you should do , other one is Nishedh.

utsahat nishayat dhairyat tat tat karma pravartant sanga tyagat sato vritte shadbhir bhaktir prasiddhati. (NOI verse 3)

This is vidhi. Enthusiasm, determination and following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas , and so on by following these six items , which is a positive, a vidhi, by that bhakti prasiddhati. – You attain perfection in your devotional service. That is shadbhir bhaktir prasiddhati. and other one is

attyahar prayashacha prajalpa niyamagraha
Jansanghasha laulyascha shadbhir bhaktir vinashyati ( NOI verse 2)

By doing these things , which is nishedh getting too much or accumulating too much. By following this shadbhir bhaktir vinashyati we stay away from worldly association . These are the examples. So like that we will find in the sastras some vidhi and some nishedh. So all these processes and prohibitions are the servants of etayor( two principals). One is smartavyaha satatam Vishnu and second is vismartvya na jatu chita. These we should contemplate.

We could also say that vidhi is chant “Harer name eva kevalam” and nishedh is – avoid these ten offenses against the holy name. No – vaishnav aparadh. No – Gurur avadyna. No – sruti shastra nindanam. So what should you do, “ chant ‘Hare Krsna’ , and what should you not do ? Avoid all the offenses against the holy name. While we are chanting, this Japa yoga or Dhyan-yoga, there is astang yoga which is aimed at ‘samadhi’ or full concentration of your mind and intelligence. The soul where your mind is fully absorbed in the Lord or focused on the Lord. That is samadhi. That astanga yoga process also begins with yama- niyama. Yama is nishedh and niyama is vidhi. Yama is if you do this or that then Yamaraj will come. That’s how you should remember. Niyam means positive and yama is destructive. One is process and the other is prohibition. So as chanters we should remember that we have to chant Hare Krsna with attention and this is the right thing to do. We have to have to avoid all the offenses against the holy name. This is nishedh or prohibition. This is destructive and we don’t do this. So that’s the food for thought for the day.

This is a homework for you. But this homework is enough for the rest of your life. Because everyday you have to chant Hare Krsna and everyday you have to avoid offences. But we have to say chanting you have to do, minimum sixteen rounds, some do even more rounds. The offences are not to be avoided only during chanting. We keep doing aparadh daily. Offending Vaisnavas. We may not offend Vaisnavas during chanting, but as soon as we finish chanting , first thing we begin with is offending Vaisnavas. Or disobeying this order or that order of the spiritual master, or if we blaspheme the scriptures or if we didn’t read the scriptures. So these are the offences we keep committing all day. Just try to understand that

OFFENCES AGAINST THE HOLY NAME ARE NOT ONLY TO BE AVOIDED WHILE SITTING DOWN and CHANTING, BUT ALL DAY!

All day you have to be alert and make sure you are not committing offences. So we kind of remain busy in the service of the holy name chanting or avoiding offences.

I had been saying that tomorrow’s chanting preparation we have to do today. Chanting tomorrow, preparation today! It’s like setting the scene. So when we sit for chanting the next day how will our japa be – more attentive. It will not happen overnight or in one day. Tomorrow’s chanting will be attentive if today we make our best efforts to avoid the offences. Like that we stay busy serving the holy name of the Lord 24 hours. One either we are chanting or two we are trying to avoid the offences. There is nothing more in which our whole day is spent. We are sadhakas. We are practitioners. So this is the lifelong practice.

You can preach others also to chant and avoid offences. So we will stop here.
Hare Krsna!!

KRISHNA-PREMA INCLUDES BHAKTA-PREMA

We have 460 participants today. Today we had one chanter , Chaitanya Prana Prabhu from New Zealand. He wrote to me of taking a vow that he will not eat or drink till he has completed his 16 rounds. So some devotees are getting inspired to chant more and more also they are getting determined.

There was just a thought that when the curtains closed here in Ahmednagar, the Deities were inside and there is no darsana now. I was thinking the form is hiding, but the name is with us. Now we have to deal with the name. Name is not different from the form. So it really doesn’t make difference in one sense. The Deities are in front or the Deities are not in front of us, we have

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Nama is in our mind, in our heart. abhinnatvat nam namino. There is no difference between nama and nami. So this is just food for thought to you. This is the subject to be contemplated on , how name of Lord and Lord Himself are non different. Yesterday I was saying that we are very expert in offending Vaisnavas. We naturally or spontaneously offend other living entities including devotees. That’s the biggest stumbling block. It is the offence against the holy name. When we offend Vaisnavas , the holy name is displeased with us. You may think, ‘I offended a Vaisnav. I didn’t offend you, Dear Lord. So how does this becomes an offence?’ But one has to understand that a Vaisnav is very dear to the Lord. A Vaisnav belongs to the Lord. They say ,’If you love me , love my dog.’ In the West it is very common. If you love my dog , then I know you love me. You don’t even have to express your love differently. You just love my dog and I will take that as your love for me. I love him, and if you love him then I love you. This is the connection. So this is the gross example, but something similar in connection with the Lord and the Lord’s devotees – Visnu and Vaisnavas. There are ten offences against the holy name. We say that every morning to remind ourselves of it. They are sitting in our throat and we vomit it. Do we say that from our heart or say them from understanding what we are saying. Do I really mean it then I say these are offences and I should avoid them. We should not utter those number of offences from the throat but from the bottom of our heart with full understanding. With full understanding while remembering we should say those offences and then practice not to commit those offences. Then we have to make sure, that we are putting them into practice. Not committing offences. durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ at the end of second verse of Siksastakam , Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘I am so unfortunate o! Lord, I have no attraction for chanting the holy names of the Lord.’ Durdaivam – great misfortune that I have no attraction for chanting although I am aware

(2)

nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis
tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi
durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ

But then there is third verse

(3)
tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

Then he talks. He has just said, I have no attraction for chanting at the end of the second verse. (Haribol!! Don’t sleep!! Jiva Jago Jiva Jago gaurachanda bole. Who is saying? – not us, Gaurachanda bole! Gauranga Mahaprabhu is calling , He is talking, Lord doesn’t say , ‘O! Body, you wake up!’ but ‘ O! Soul you wake up!’ Even if the body wakes up, still the soul is sleeping.)

Just at the end of second verse Mahaprabhu had said , I have no attraction and then in the third verse he says, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Chanting the holy names of the Lord constantly. So what happened in between ? Something happened in the middle, that’s why the travel from ‘no attraction’ to kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. What happened in the middle is tṛṇād api sunīcena, ie becoming more humble than the blade of grass. English translation says, ‘In such a state of mind one can chant the holy names of the Lord constantly.’ What is that mental state? ‘t tṛṇād api sunīcena’ is easier said than done. To say it takes a few seconds, ‘To be humbler than the blade of grass’ to achieve the perfection of this stage may take a whole lifetime. To achieve such a state of mind one may require one lifetime if you are lucky, or it may even take many, many lifetimes. How humble? More than the trees,and blade of grass. Then in next paragraph he says,

amāninā mānadena – amāninā and mānadena are the two activities. Two actions. amāninā and māna da. da means giver . amani – not expecting respect for oneself. And mana-da of which ‘mana’ means respect, and ‘da’ means giver. For ownself there is no respect and expectations. But in turn we make plans, ‘How am I going to serve Vaisnavas and devotees.’ Soon we’ll be honouring those who distributed lots of books and other services. That’s good. In such a state of mind we should be doing this.

amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

In such a state of mind, one can chant the holy names if the Lord constantly.

satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ
yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ
namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā
nitya-yuktā upāsate

Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.( BG. 9.14)

Then what Lord gives them? He says

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.( BG. 10.10)

Ahaituki and apratihata means unmotivated and uninterrupted devotional service. Constant chanting, worshipping, remembering, serving will happen in such a state of mind. That is why , ‘ I am just humble servant’.

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ
patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau
kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-
sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

‘O My Lord, O Kṛṣṇa, son of Mahārāja Nanda, I am Your eternal servant, but because of My own fruitive acts I have fallen into this horrible ocean of nescience. Now please be causelessly merciful to Me. Consider Me a particle of dust at Your lotus feet.’ ( CC Antya 20.32)

Caitanya Mahaprabhu said – ‘I am just a servant. O! Lord, please fix Me as a dust particle at Your Lotus Feet. Kinkara – Kim karomi? Is there anything that I can do O! Lord? Those who keep asking, what service they can do for the Lord? Give some service. So such a person is called ‘kinkara’ or ‘kinkari’.

Here time is limited, so we have a short talk. If Bhagavat Katha is there , then we can go on – kirtaniya sada Hari. Adu madhye ante Hari sarvatra giyate. So Caaitanya Mahaprabhu having said that I am your servant , he said, servants usually get a salary at end of day, week or month. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu while giving His own commentary on Caitanya Caritamrita said, ‘My dear lord give Me remuneration. Give me My salary in the form of Krsna-prema. He had served the whole day or whole month, so here is Your salary. Let that salary be in the form of Krsna-prema.

Sukha sampatti ghar aave kasta mite tanaka…. This is Hindu prayer. ‘Garva se kaho ham Hindu hai!’ Gaudiya Vaisnavas don’t have this garva( pride). There is no pride. With pride such prayers come up. That is the difference between Gaudiya Vaisnava and Hindu or Sikha or Muslim or Isai. They pray ‘O! Lord, give us our daily bread.’ Hare Krishna chanter is only begging – give us Krsna-prema. We could also add , give us Bhakta-prema. This Krsna-prema includes Bhakta-prema. We don’t do useless prayers like ‘ sukha sampatti ghar aave kasta mite tanaka’. This is Devotion mixed with karma. There is Devotion mixed with karma or jnana etc. That’s why it’s said –

harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha

Why it’s said three times? To emphasize that not by karma, not by jnana not by yoga……

kṛṣṇa-bhakta — niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī — sakali ‘aśānta’

“Because a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jñānīs desire liberation, and yogīs desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful.( CC Madhya 19.149)

….. means this devotion mixed with karma , or with jnana or devotion mixed with siddhi is not going to help , but only Harinama. By chanting the holy names of the Lord the Lord could be realised. Of course, but that chanting has to be offence less chanting.

aparadh sunya haiya laho krsna nama

So we will end now. We will meet again.
Hare Krishna

THE HOLY NAME IS FOR EVERYONE ON THE PLANET!

Today we had 425 participants. Today is the appearance day of Srivas Pandit. We are in Ahmednagar. I don’t like the name. But there is also Ahmedabad. We have lots of Hare Krishna devotees here. We should change the name to Jagannatha Nagar or Krishna Nagar. Special thing today was that the Deities were open for most of the time, beautiful Nitai Gaurasundara on the altar. Their darsana was available while chanting. I loved my chanting in Their presence and while taking darsana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundara. All glories to Them.

Radhika Raman Prabhuji from Toronto reminded me that today is also the disappearance day of HH Sridhar Swami Maharaja. Sridhar Maharaja and I took sannyasa initiation together. I don’t know how many of you knew Sridhar Maharaja. We kind of grew up together in Juhu Hare Krishna land. Sridhar Maharaja was known as ‘Jolly Swami’. He was very humorous. There are lots of glories of Sridhar Maharaja. On this day he departed in Mayapur. His samadhi is in Mayapur situated next to Srila Prabhupada pushpa samadhi. As we heard about the departure of Sridhar Maharaja, Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and I flew to Mayapur. There was an assembly of devotees there. Last time I had seen Sridhar Maharaja was during the Mayapur Festival. That day I was offering mangal aarti to Pancattatva Deities and Sridhar Maharaja was sitting right behind me on that platform in front of the altar. He was not able to stand so he was sitting right behind me. Every time I turned around after offering aarti, he was there, and it was as if I was offering aarti to him also. Sridhar Swami Maharaja disappearance day ki Jai!

Today is the appearance day of Srivas Pandit. He was Narada Muni, who appeared as Srivas Pandit. Narayan! Narayan! Narayan! His name is Narada. Giver of Narayan is called Narada. He was giving Narayan to everyone in the form of the name Narayan. Even as Srivas Pandit, he was a giver of the holy name.

When Caitanya Mahaprabhu received the mahamantra from his Guru, Isvara Puri in Gaya, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu returned to Nabadwip. By this time while chanting he would go mad. He was termed as mad – ‘ Pagala baba’. In that madness, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu started his chanting sessions at Srivas Thakur’s house in his courtyard. Nocturnal chanting! Chanting all night long. This way Srivas Thakur was giving the holy name to the whole world, through Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He was of course part of that chanting. He used to chant with other members of the Pancattatva, doing suddha nama kirtana. Those kirtanas were only for pure devotees or pure chanters. No one else was allowed. Once Srivas Thakur allowed one brahmachari who claimed that he was a very austere person, ‘I only drink milk , I am pure.” So with some reluctance Srivas Thakur allowed him and as the kirtana started Caitanya Mahaprabhu felt something was wrong. He was not feeling the ecstasy that He normally would experience. He understood that some impure person has entered our assembly. Mahaprabhu became very angry and he called for Sudarshan! Then that little Brahmachari jumped out of the window. The point being – na danena tapasa na chejya . Krsna also said that If you want to attain Me by giving charity, by performance of tapasya , by performance of yajna, this doesn’t make you eligible to realize Me or enter My association. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was trying to make that point. One can attain Him only by pure devotional service, by pure consciousness. That brahmachari was very disturbed and was regretting on his way back from kirtana that he should not have attended the Kirtana. Why did I do that? I am an offender. This was detected by Caitanya Mahaprabhu although he was several miles away from Srivas Thakur’s house by this time. Caitanya Mahaprabhu knows all, also what we are thinking. He took note of what that brahmachari was thinking, and begging for offences. “ O Lord! I am offender, please forgive me.” Then Mahaprabhu asked that the brahmachari be called back. Someone must have run to catch up with that brahmachari. He was called back and was allowed to participate in that Kirtana. He had good times, Chanting and dancing in that Kirtana of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Another time, there was an incident, Srivas Thakur’s son died in the middle of the night. His wife Malini and other ladies were crying. Srivas Thakur told all the house members to be quiet and no one should cry. He didn’t want to disturb or interrupt the chanting session of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. After the whole night’s Kirtana , Advaita Acarya said, “My dear Lord, you are chanting only with pure devotees, that’s nice , but what about the impure devotees – baddha atma’s , conditioned souls? I am the one who prayed for your advent seeing the condition of the world seeing the dharmasya glanir – the decline in religious principles and irreligion spreading everywhere.

Abhyutthanam adharmasya… That’s why I wanted you to come down and do dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge .( BG. 4.8)

But You are not doing that. You are interested only in dancing with pure devotees then what need was there to come down? You could have continued in Goloka dancing with pure devotees as there are only pure devotees. My purpose was different.” From that day onwards Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu although He continued kirtanas with pure devotees at Srivas Thakur’s house , he stepped out of Srivas Thakur’s house and then udilo arun purab bhage dwijmani gaur jage bhakta samuha laiya sathe gelo nagar maje. ( Arunoday Kirtana by Sril Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu gathered anybody, everybody . Please join, please come! Please come and Nagar sankirtana was happening all over and everyone was allowed.

Sthan asthan nahi vichar, Patra apatra nahi vichar ( Ref.??)

Who is eligible, who is not, who is pure and who is impure, was not given any consideration. Every one was welcomed to join the kirtanas. When the sun rose in the East, Caitanya Mahaprabhu would take all the devotees of Navadwip irrespective of their eligibility and sing:

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.

So kirtanas happened only in Nabadwip, but what about other places? Kolhapur and Solapur? Ahmedabad and Ahmednagar? Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa at the age of 24 for uplifting the whole world and started travelling. He became parivrajakacarya and travelled all over for six years and what did he do?

Hare Krishna nama Gaur karil prachar.

He started chanting the holy name everywhere. But then he travelled only within India. But the Lord’s chanting was not only for Indians, not only for residents of Srivas Thakur’s house and pure devotees. The chanting was not meant only for Navadwip basis or only for Bharatvasis. Chanting was meant for the whole world. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu predicted

pruthvite aache yat nagaradi gram sarvatra prachar hoibe mor naam.

Chanting which I am doing here in Srivas Thakur’s house , I did this in Nabadwip, I chanted all over India. This chanting will reach every town every village all over the planet. Lord made this prediction.

In order to make this prediction true we could say that Caitanya Mahaprabhu aspired and empowered his divine grace AC. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ki Jai!

Krsna shakti vina nahi tar pravartan ( CC Antya 7.11)

Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu bestowed special Shakti, empowerment to Srila Prabhupada and he was inspired and laid foundation of International society for Krishna consciousness, spreading holy name in all the countries, towns and villages. So spreading and spreading this holy name has now reached Ahmednagar in 1995. It has also reached us those who are sitting around here. With confidence we can see that the holy name has reached to this Prabhuji and this Prabhuji and that mataji. Hari Hari Bol. All glories to holy names of the Lord.

Hare Krishna!!

SIT PROPERLY WHILE CHANTING

I am not only addressing the devotees sitting here in front of me in Jagannath temple , but to all the devotees at the 428 places who are chanting with us on this conference. There is an increase in the number of participants due to the efforts of some of you. Our target is to double it. This is possible if you become an ambassador of the holy name. Those who are already chanting, get them to chant on the conference and then get some brand new people. Those who are not chanting Hare Krishna, but are singing some nonsense cinema songs, tell them to chant Hare Krishna. I was reminded of the time when we had started Padayatra from Vrindavan, Prabhupada gave the inaugural talk. That time he said , “ jare dakho tare kaho Hare Krishna upades”. That day he didn’t say – jare dakho tare kaho krsna upades. Instead he said – jare dakho tare kaho Hare Krishna upadesh. That means Prabhupada was asking us padayatris to propagate the holy name of the Lord.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

All India Padayatra devotes are in Kaundinyapur near Amaravati near the birthplace of Rukmini. They are also chanting with us. They also should pay attention to this.

So participants of the holy name conference, as I said earlier, should become the ambassadors of the holy name, propagators of the holy name. Get more and more people to chant Hare Krishna and inspire them also to join this conference. Like that we can increase our association on this conference. Strong association, big association, global devotee association to further help us to chant with speed and more concentration.

Some of Russian and Ukrainian devotees are chanting with us. This is not a favourable time for them, as they are 3 – 4 hours behind our time. They have to get up at 2.30 am. More than 40 devotees from Russia and Ukraine are chanting with us and of course Mauritius is always on top. Hardik Patel is one of the new participants He has a habit of moving around and working and chanting. We suggest to him that, ‘we need to sit down and chant. ‘ Hardik Patel from America has a problem, that if he sits and chants , he feels drowsy. If he feels drowsy, then he can stand up for few minutes and then again sit down and continue to chant. Or he can wash face.

One time during the chanting session Prabhupada had said, “ SIT PROPERLY! “ So we should sit properly. We are Japa Yogis. The way in the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-Gita Krsna had explained about Dhyana-mudra. We should sit properly and erect, which is also called sukhasan. Then sleep will go away. So that was our advice to Hardik Patel and to others also, not only to him. This is my advise, or advise of the Lord also about sitting.

I am here in ISKCON Ahmednagar today. ISKCON Ahmednagar ki Jay! I am surrounded by a lot of devotees here. I am staying in the ISKCON guest house. This ISKCON guest house is Jagannath Puri. There are Deities of Jagannatha, Baladev and Subhadraji. All glories to Them. We are getting ready for the first ever Jagannath Ratha-yatra in Ahmednagar. Devotees are preparing for months. We are looking forward to the Ratha-yatra event. I am sure devotees are remembering today while doing Japa, Jagannatha and services of Jagannath Rath-Yatra festival. Not only devotees , but thousands of citizens will have darsana of Jagannatha today and will get the opportunity to pull the chariot of Jagannatha on the streets of Ahmednagar. So this is the blessed day for the citizens of Ahmednagar. Jagannatha Ratha-Yatra in Ahmednagar ki jay! Those on the conference who are listening to this are becoming joyful hearing about Rath yatra and are expressing their joy on the chat.

So we will stop here. There are a lot of things to do. Talk less , work more. Serve more. So I will stop and get ready for Seva. Jagannatha Swami ki Jay!! Gopal ji ki Jay!! Gaur Premande Hari Hari bol!!
Hare Krishna!

HUNDREDTH DAY OF “ LET’S CHANT TOGETHER!”

Are you feeling enthusiastic to chant? Some of you are still chanting. That’s the indication that you are very enthusiastic. Around 370 devotees have participated today. It is kind of becoming our average now. Few days we had crossed the four hundred mark. That means someone is not chanting with us.

I have to let you know that today is a special day for our Let’s Chant together japa conference, as it’s the hundredth day of our conference. Haribol!

We are launching a new website. This conference is also getting inaugurated today. Specially dedicated to this zoom chanting conference. All the Japa talks transcriptions in Hindi and in English will be posted there. All your questions, realisations will get posted there on that conference. Dinanukampa Mataji mentioned to me yesterday that Madhavi Gauri mataji based in Delhi will be launching it today. Where and how to join will be communicated to you. We had been doing all the postings on Loksanga so far. All that would be now to be found on the Japa conference.

We started with a handful of devotees, less than ten and gradually more and more chanters have been joining us. So then there was a day when we crossed the hundred mark and then couple of weeks later two hundred and then three hundred and then we have been crossing the limit or no limits. Four hundred is also crossed, but our target is to double it, In next one hundred days or something like that, till my Vyasa Puja day, we would like to see numbers increasing and doubling it.

We started this conference on 10th of December 2018. This doubling idea is possible with your efforts only. By your efforts only we have reached so far. We have crossed mark of 400 participants. We will try to double it now. So work on this. This is your homework. Each one, Teach one. Someone has written we will cross the mark of 1000 very soon. Thus far many countries – Australia, Middle East, South Africa, Reunion Island, Mauritius, Ukraine, Russia and of course India. Many more countries have been chanting on this conference. So let’s keep chanting. The feedback which I am getting is very encouraging. I understand you are being benefited by this conference. Your japa is becoming regulated and concentrated and what not. You are deriving all sorts of benefits by attending this conference. Because you are being benefited, then I don’t have any choice but to continue.

I had mentioned yesterday, that I will say some things about the pilgrimage to Nasik. Now time is running out and mostly we talked about the hundredth day. We will try to say a few things. Nasik is also famous for Kumbha-mela. I had been joining Kumbha-mela as Mahant of Kumbha whenever there is Kumbha-mela in Nasik. Of course this is a place known for Lord Rama’s pastimes. There is a Godavari River over here. It is one of the principal Holy Rivers. Rama, Laxman and Sita stayed on the banks of the Godavari.Hanuman was not here. They had built a small Parnakuti. We had gone there for darsana 2 days back. Rama was here about a million years ago. Such places you find in Bharat – Varsha. This is the place is where Surpanaka, sister of Ravana had come. She wanted to marry Rama but He refused her proposal and she was sent to Laksman. Laksman also refused. She kept on putting her proposal to both the brothers one after another. Finally here Laksman chopped off her nose and her nose fell here. The word for nose is nasika, so this town is called Nasik. They could have named it Laksman nagar or Rama-nagar. But somehow, this place is known as Nasik – nose of Surpanaka. It reminds us of that pastime. This is also the place where Sita was kidnapped. So sister had come first and then eventually brother Ravana had also come. ‘bhiksham dehi’ – please give me some alms. As Sita moved ahead of Laksman rekha she was kidnapped by that demon – Ravan. We took darsana of Laksman rekha. Then Jatayu who was like a guard or protecter attempted to rescue Sita. He did his best, but ultimately he lost his wings and fell to the ground. That place is also in this region. Ravana came in Pushpak plane which was being pulled by donkeys. Jatayu was a protector and was serving Ram in that region. Jatayu challenged Ravana and put all his efforts. But he lost both his wings and fell down. That place is also nearby. Then Marici who had become a deer was chased by Rama. Eventually he was killed. That place is also in this area. When Rama and Laksman returned to the asrama after killing of Marici, they could not find Sita anywhere. They started their search, “Site! Site!“ Rama was calling out Her name while searching. Searching and searching They arrived at a place where they met half killed Jatayu. He was almost on the verge to death with only a few breaths to go. Jatayu was an old friend of Dasarath. Rama and Laksman had no privilege or opportunity to perform the final rites of Dasarath in Ayodhya. So they took this opportunity to perform the last rites of Jatayu – friend of Dasarath. That place is also in this region. Like that there are several other locations regarding the exile of Rama in the forest. You read it from Ramayan.

Okay , I need to get ready to leave. I am leaving Nasik and going to one village where they have arranged a program, and then I will go to Ahmadnagar for Ratha-yatra which is tomorrow. So we will meet again another day.

Hare Krishna!!

LORD HAS APPEARED FOR ‘ME’

Remember your friends, next door neighbours, god brothers, devotee friends , inspire them to join the conference. Teach them how to do japa on the conference. Yesterday although we conducted the conference many of you were becoming the host instead of me and they were seeing you chanting. You could also become the host in such conference and get the devotees in your area, members of the congregation and Bhakti-vriksha members to chant with you. You can become the host.

Some of you were writing, ‘ Where is Guru Maharaja?’ as you were not able to see me. Then I was thinking, I would like you to think or we should be thinking, “ Where is Krsna? Where is Krsna?” Looking for Guru Maharaja is okay , but I will like you to search for Krsna.

he radhike braj devike ca lalite he nandsuno kutha ( Ref.??)

Shad Goswamis of Vrindavan were always in this mood, ‘Where is Krsna? Where is Krsna?’ In that mood they were wandering, running all over Vrindavan hither and thither. Around the bank of Jamuna or on the top of Govardhan Hill, where are you ? So that’s how we should be looking for Krsna. But then Krsna could also respond – ‘ I am here, I am here. You are looking for Me, I am here.‘ He is everywhere but if we are chanting, and we are uttering

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

And this is Me. This Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, this is me. In the form of sound, it’s Me. So we have to meditate on the holy name of the Lord. CHANT, HEAR and REMEMBER the holy name of the Lord. Realise the Lord.

I was reading Srimad Bhagavatam seventh canto and read there how Lord Narasimha appeared for Prahlada Maharaja, to protect Prahlada Maharaja. Lord took Prahlada Maharaja on his lap and Narasimha – simha part of him was licking Prahlada Maharaja. He was expressing the affection. So then I was thinking Lord appears for Prahlada Maharaja, Lord appears for Dhruva Maharaja, He appears for this devotee and that devotee but what about me? Will He appear for me also? Or why is He not appearing for my sake or for me? What have I done wrong? So the answer to this question is that it is a big answer , but it could also be a short answer. Bhaktivinoda Thakur writes:

jiva jago jiva Jago gauracanda bole

Caitanya Mahaprabhu has appeared and He is calling “Oh! Living entity, wake up Oh! sleeping souls.”

tomar late ami hoinu avatar ami vina bandhu ke ace tomar

He is saying – tomar! tomar laite ami hoinu avatar. I have appeared for you. For each one of you I have appeared. Lord is also saying ami vina bandhu ke ache tomar. – Apart from me, besides Myself who is your friend? Do you have any real friend? Or friend like me? I am your friend. I have appeared. I am your friend. Then in that song he further says

Kenechi aaushadhi maya nashibar lagi Harinaam mahamantra laho Tumi magi

and the song continues and the Lord says, now I have come with a medicine. You are diseased. You are Bhavarogi – mayarogi. I have come with the medicine. This holy name is a medicine. Ask for this. So this song reminds us or convinces us , “Lord has appeared for my sake.” For each one of us Lord has appeared. As Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and also has appeared as the holy name. So take full advantage of the Lord in the form of the holy name. Lord has appeared and reached you , has touched you. He is with you.

I am here in Nasik. It is north-east of Mumbai, a few hundred miles from Mumbai. I arrived here yesterday for celebration of 8th Appearance day of Deities here. Sri Sri Radha Madana Gopal were installed eight years ago. So there was a grand celebrations. There were almost five thousand devotees in this festival. There was a big Pushpabhishek and Kirtana Mela yesterday and today also the celebrations will continue. HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja also will be arriving today, so together we will be celebrating along with the local devotees.
Nasik is a big holy place. Rama’s pastimes and Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes and Srila Prabhupad also had visited Nasik, so maybe we will talk about it tomorrow morning.

Today also we have an initiation ceremony. I have to get ready. So we will stop here.
Hare Krishna!