Japa Talk
Date: 3rd July 2025
Theme- Guru Maharaj’s Glorification

Masyavatar Prabhu- Hare Krishna. First of all, I would like to offer my heartfelt wishes to Guru Maharaj, His Holiness Lokanath Swami Maharaj, on the auspicious occasion of his 76th Vyasa Puja. I would like to recite a verse from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, where Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks:

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā
ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ
ye ’nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ
śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

Translation- Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Him. [SB 2.4.18]

This verse emphasizes that even people of lower birth or those engaged in sinful activities become purified when they take shelter of pure devotees. Though this verse existed for thousands of years, it gained living significance only after Śrīla Prabhupāda came and demonstrated it in action. Śrīla Prabhupāda created devotees across the world and purified countless lives. Following in his footsteps, our Guru Maharaj has continued this mission. Today, we see how Guru Maharaj has inspired and guided more than 10,000 disciples across over 50 countries. Guru Maharaj, by your causeless mercy, you have instilled devotion in our hearts. Whatever devotional service, preaching, or spiritual strength we possess—it is all due to your blessings. We have no qualification of our own. We simply derive our power from your shelter.

You are always concerned about the welfare of your disciples. I’ve personally experienced this when I meet you. You frequently express your desire to see Sangli flourish spiritually, and you often say, “Sangli is good,” showing your deep affection for that place and its devotees. When we came to meet you in May, your words deeply touched and encouraged us. You said: “Don’t be afraid. I am with you.” These words gave me immense strength. Whether it’s management or preaching challenges, you always inspire and empower us. Guru Maharaj, may your grace always be upon us. In Sangli, we have recently acquired a 6,000 sq.ft. plot and are trying to build a small temple there. The process is nearly complete, and we are ready to begin construction. We seek your blessings to proceed with this service. Ultimately, as Padmamali Prabhu said, not just in this life—but in every life—I pray to remain your servant and disciple, serving you with enthusiasm and devotion. I offer my obeisances unto you and all the Vaiṣṇavas. Hare Krishna.

Ranchod Krishna Prabhu -Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj. Please accept my humble obeisances. Obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇavas. It is said in the Padma Purāṇa that when someone touches tirtha, they are cleansed. But when someone comes in contact with a Guru, they are purified from within—freed from all sinful reactions.

bhavad-vidhā bhāgavatās tīrtha-bhūtāḥ svayaṁ vibho
tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni svāntaḥ-sthena gadābhṛtā

Translation- My lord, devotees like your good self are verily holy places personified. Because you carry the Supreme Personality of Godhead within your heart, you sanctify all places by your presence. [SB 1.13.10]

Guru Maharaj, you yourself are a living Tīrtha. Wherever you go, you bring the holy dhāmas like Pandharpur, Kurukṣetra, and Māyāpur with you. It is said in Nārad Pañcarātra that when someone receives a Vaiṣṇava mantra from a bona fide Guru, their sinful activities are instantly stopped. And Guru Maharaj, your influence is not limited to one life. Anyone who comes in contact with you is uplifted for generations. Recently, in Amravati, you simply came for a short visit, and yet, the entire devotee community was overwhelmed with joy. You awaken even those sleeping spiritually.

You attract all living entities, Guru Maharaj, with your transcendental potency. According to Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, a Guru accepts the karmic burden of even an ignorant disciple. And you take such great care of us. You give so much personal time to your disciples, as seen during the recent Brahmachari Yatra in Melukote. You are always concerned about improving our devotional lives. Your system of disciple care is unparalleled. You ensure all disciples remain connected, supported, and guided. As the word “Guru” means—“Gu” for darkness and “Ru” for remover—you remove our ignorance by constantly giving us divine knowledge from the scriptures. Your mood is always to encourage all devotees to come together and serve Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission. We are extremely fortunate to be connected with such a pure devotee like you. We pray to always stay in your association and continue serving you.

Premanand Prabhu- Hare Krishna. I consider myself most fortunate that I was able to dedicate my entire life to Guru Maharaj. In 2001, at Guru Maharaj’s instruction, I voluntarily retired from my job as a bank manager in GFSC. He instructed me to go to Aravade village and build a grand temple, as per Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision that every village should have a temple. By Guru Maharaj’s grace, I served in Aravade for 8 years. I was involved in all the temple services, following his instructions. Before the installation of the deities, we had shown Guru Maharaj 2–3 deity forms, and he personally selected the most beautiful one. When the temple opened, I expressed my desire to go to Vallabh Vidyanagar to help engage my family and relatives in devotional service. Later, on Guru Maharaj’s order, I served at the Noida temple, engaging in daily fundraising. I would pray to Guru Maharaj, Lord Narasiṁhadeva, and the deities to bless me so that I could collect funds for their service. By Guru Maharaj’s grace, I remained there until the temple’s inauguration.

In 2008, someone had written my horoscope and mentioned that I would have a heart attack. I informed Guru Maharaj, and he confidently said, “Nothing will happen. You will live.” And by his mercy, I am still alive, healthy, and attending Maṅgala-ārati daily—even at the age of 75! I still remember—once I mistakenly reached Maṅgala-ārati at 3:41 a.m. thinking it was 4:41 a.m., Guru maharaj’s blessing keeping me healthy. Another memorable experience was during a visit to Durban, South Africa. After dinner, I thought people would leave and not attend Maharaj’s class. But to my surprise, everyone stayed to hear his katha. On the 7th day, Guru Maharaj himself said, “I really like Durban devotees; they all stay to hear my katha.”

I took initiation 35 years ago, and whatever instructions Guru Maharaj gave me—by his mercy—I fulfilled them all. I humbly urge all devotees: Follow Guru Maharaj’s instructions sincerely, and everything will become successful. Hare Krishna.

Shyamsundar Prabhu- Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaj. Dandavat Pranām, Sashtang Dandavat Pranām. First, I wish you a very happy 76th Vyasa Puja. Over the past two days, I’ve been hearing the glories of your divine qualities, and I wholeheartedly agree with all of them. I don’t wish to repeat them, but I do want to emphasize one unique quality: You not only give the right service to the right person, but you also empower them to complete it. Let me share an example from 16–17 years ago during the Pandharpur gathering. A piece of land had legal complications and a court case had begun. Many devotees believed the matter was hopeless and couldn’t be resolved. Then, Guru Maharaj, you remembered a small devotee like me and gave me that service. I was amazed at your confidence in me. I took up the task and delegated it to someone in Nagpur.

Within just 2–3 months, the issue was completely resolved. It was clearly your empowerment that made it possible. Later, during the Vyasa Puja celebration, names of contributors were announced, but mine was forgotten. I felt a little bad, thinking maybe I missed the blessings of being publicly acknowledged. But that same day, by your mercy, I received a phone call from the Police Commissioner of Pandharpur. The police commissioner told me, “If you want to have darshan (audience) of the Lord…” I said, “I want to have darshan of the Lord.” He said, “Do one thing, reach the North Gate of the temple. You have to reach there yourself. We will not be able to help in that because there was a public crowd of 1.5 million people. There was a place among them. You go there and meet Mr. Engale — Inspector Engale.” So when I went there, both of us went. With great difficulty, cutting through the crowd, people met us on the way saying, “No VIP darshan right now; VIP gate darshan is not happening.” Still, I said, “We’ve been told to go,” so we went.

As soon as we reached there, Mr. Engale met us. He cleared everyone out and took us straight in, because there was a government order that even if someone had a letter, no darshan would be allowed. But they took us inside and made us stand directly in front of the Lord, and darshan was completely stopped. Just like a ministry is given honor, in that same way, the entire darshan was stopped, and we were given full darshan. The Lord’s worn shawl, garland — all of it — was given to us, complete respect was offered. Then, when we had darshan of Rukmini Devi, Shubhangi was given a saree worn by Rukmini Devi. It all felt like the Lord was saying, “Don’t worry about that name. Even if you didn’t take it, and if you want that name, then you shall have it.” So then I decided — now I have met the Lord. Such beautiful darshan of the Lord, what more can there be? Such great mercy of Maharaj — what more could possibly happen? From then on, Guru Maharaj, I have never complained about anyone. Never complained about anyone’s devotion. It’s been 17 years now. And apart from that, whatever target you’ve given me — whether I get insulted, whatever happens to me — I don’t leave that target. It’s all your mercy. I only request that you continue to bless me in this way, continue to give targets and service, and give me strength to perform the service. Thank you very much. Once again, congratulations to you. Thank you. Hare Krishna.

Shubhangi Devi Dasi Mata Ji Offerings: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaj. Pranam. Many many wishes to you on your 76th Vyasa Puja, and I pray at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath that all your sankalpa-projects be completed soon and you remain healthy and live a long life. Again I offer my pranams at your lotus feet and also at the feet of all Vaishnavas. For two days, we have been listening to the descriptions of your qualities by all devotees. Your qualities are like an endless ocean, and it is very difficult to speak about them in two or three minutes — it’s not even possible. Still, by your mercy, I will try to speak of the qualities that I personally feel. Qualities are infinite. In you, we see the quality of “maha-vadanya” — great magnanimity — just like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is called Mahavadan. And you often say, “Like father, like son.” When Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur instructed Prabhupada to preach in Western countries, Prabhupada had no suitable physical condition nor a favorable environment, and he didn’t even know anyone there.

Relying solely on the shelter of Guru and Gauranga, he endured extremely adverse situations and went there to distribute Krishna-prema to the whole world. So the same magnanimity that descended from Mahaprabhu to Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati to Srila Prabhupada — we now see in you. Your faith and dedication to Srila Prabhupada is exactly like how Prabhupada had for his own Guru. Though we haven’t seen Mahaprabhu or Srila Prabhupada in person — we do feel their presence through Prabhupada’s books and words — your behavior and teachings make us feel that their qualities are in you. In truth, we can say you are following their footsteps and hope that we too can follow similarly. Just as Prabhupada told you, “Do as I have done,” you have started the Zoom Mandir — its purpose is the same. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Jiva jago, jiva jago — Wake up, O sleeping soul!” In the same way, you are waking us all up. If I speak personally — before Zoom, I wouldn’t wake up early and many rounds would remain pending. But after you started the Zoom Mandir, I wake early and finish 16 rounds in the morning — this is your special mercy. You are giving Krishna-prema to everyone so generously, and you leave no gap in your efforts. But when I think of myself, I feel unfortunate.

Though the shower of mercy is pouring, my vessel is upside down. I cannot fully receive it. I don’t yet have the seriousness in spiritual life that I desire. Please bless me that I may sincerely follow your instructions, and may my remaining life be fully dedicated to your, Srila Prabhupada’s, and Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s pleasure. I feel pain seeing so many initiated disciples of yours in Nagpur and elsewhere, but how few attend Zoom sessions despite your repeated requests. You are so merciful to all living beings. Many give teachings but don’t know their disciples personally — but you do. You know every disciple by name, you remember them, and your Devotee Care and Counsellor System is proof of your magnanimity. Guru Maharaj, thank you very much. ‘Thank you’ is too small a word. We can never repay you. I only pray: may my life be dedicated solely to pleasing you, Srila Prabhupada, and Gauranga Mahaprabhu — with no other motive. Pranams. Hare Krishna.

Parmatma Prabhu:
Many thanks to Prabhuji and Mataji. Mataji is well known for glorifying others and is also known in preaching. She has special mercy of Goddess Saraswati on her speech. Maharaj often says “Yes, yes.” In our community, especially in India, we see that most Marwaris are experts in charity and religious merit. They are devoted and donate to the Lord without hesitation from what they earn. This has been their ideal. Like the Birla family — they built many temples in different places. Even Srila Prabhupada once stayed at their residence, and they gave him a special invitation. Similarly, Ramesh Mor ji from our community, with devotion and to please Maharaj, built a beautiful temple in Pachora tehsil of Jalgaon district. It’s a temple worth approximately 4 crore rupees, built on five acres, dedicated to Lord Jagannath, Baldev, and Subhadra. On Sundays and especially Ekadashi, such a huge number of devotees come that it looks like a fair. He also built a dharmashala (pilgrim rest house).

But he didn’t stop there. When he learned that Guru Maharaj’s dream project — Bhu Vaikuntha (Heaven on Earth) — was being launched in Pandharpur, he said, “I want to contribute 1 crore rupees.” We accepted that service. But his desire kept increasing. Then he decided to serve one of the three altars — Gita altar, Ram Darbar altar, and Radha Pandharinath in the center. He came up to 3 crore rupees. During Maharaj’s 75th Vyasa Puja celebrations in Vrindavan, he called me to his home and we had a discussion with Maharaj and Mor ji. That’s when he took a resolve worth 11 crore rupees. Till now, he has already given 1.5 crores. We pray from the heart for him. This example set by him should inspire all devotees to contribute to the extent of their faith and capacity — not to step back in supporting this project. Also, Prabhuji chants 16 rounds daily, stays in contact with Maharaj, and joins Zoom meetings every day. He visits the temple daily, inspects everything, and supports temple expenses. His service list is long. I pray that since Prabhuji is seeing Guru Maharaj and glorifying him, may he continue like this. Hare Krishna.

Ramesh Mor Prabhu’s Offering: Hare Krishna. First of all, I offer many good wishes and dandavat pranams to our most revered Guru Maharaj on his 76th Vyasa Puja. My introduction to Guru Maharaj happened in 2002, when Maharaj’s discourses were taking place in Pune. My daughter was studying there, and I used to visit for a few days. The lectures were held at the ISKCON Camp temple. The first time I went there and heard Maharaj’s lecture, I was deeply impacted. For two to three years, I kept attending those December sessions. Then in 2012 or 2013, Maharaj came to Pachora for a program. That was my first in-person meeting with him. Later, in 2016, during the Golden Jubilee celebrations, I donated land in Pachora for the temple. In 2020, after my mother passed away, Maharaj ordered me to build the temple as well. As per his order, I completed the construction, and Maharaj himself came to inaugurate it two years ago. That moment was the most important in my life — I will never forget it.

Afterward, when Maharaj’s dream project — Vaikuntha Dham — began, I desired to contribute. Slowly, my resolve increased, as Pramatma Prabhu explained. Whatever obstacles came in the way of my commitment are now slowly resolving. Soon, I will fulfill the sankalpa (vow) I have made. I will try my best to fulfill any ideal Maharaj gives in my life. Currently, Maharaj desires to build a grand temple in Jalgaon as well. I have already taken small steps in that direction and have the wish to contribute more. Once again, I offer dandavat pranams to Maharaj and pray that his blessings always remain on me and my family. Hare Krishna. Thank you.

Suresh Mor Prabhu’s Offering (Elder Brother): Thank you very much to Ramesh Prabhu. Maharaj’s special blessings are upon you. You have become the recipient of special mercy. Maharaj always remembers and asks about you — surely your service is reaching the Lord’s lotus feet. Thank you very much. Now his elder brother — our respected elder Suresh Mor ji — also lives in Pachora but currently stays mostly in Pune. Following the same footsteps, he too has become involved in the project. When we came here in 2022, perhaps for the centennial celebration of his Guru Mata, he had come to invite us. That was our first meeting in Pandharpur. When he came and heard about the beautiful project being developed, he expressed a desire to serve, but didn’t take a sankalpa (vow) then. He only said, “Our support will be there for the project.”

Later, when we went to inaugurate the Jagannath temple in Pachora with Guru Maharaj, we met again. Inspired by Lord Jagannath and Guru Maharaj, he said, “I want to do some service.” He invited us to his home and said, “I’ll donate one crore.” He gave the amount immediately. Later, during Ashadhi Ekadashi celebrations in Pandharpur, when he saw the grandeur of the Bhu Vaikuntha project, he felt like doing even more. We requested him, “Your elder brother did one altar; you should too.” So he took the seva of the Radha Pandharinath altar — valued at 3 crore rupees. He has already given 1.5 crore. He is very sincere and devoted to his work. Even his wife chants regularly. He frequently meets Maharaj and always supports.
He even donated his SUV (XUV 500) to Maharaj for the Bhu Vaikuntha project. I offer him many thanks. He is here today and will now glorify Maharaj. Hare Krishna. Prabhuji, please unmute and speak. One minute… yes, now it’s unmuted… yes, your voice is audible.

Suresh Mor Prabhu Speaks: Millions of obeisances at the feet of Gurudev. Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur Devo Maheshwara, Gurur Sakshat Parabrahma Tasmai Sri Gurave Namah. I’ve been connected with Maharaj personally for 7–8 years, since he came to Pachora. That’s when I had his darshan, and I got inspired to do some service. Though I took diksha (initiation) from Guru Mai Om Malti Mataji of Sangli, I continued to receive guidance from her. She passed away in 2008, and after that, perhaps by divine inspiration, I got connected with Guru Maharaj. When the Bhu Vaikuntha project was discussed during his Pachora visit, I got a desire to serve in some small way — all because of his inspiration. When I attended the Ekadashi program in Pandharpur two years ago and saw the grand scale of the project, I felt like doing even more. Whatever service I am doing is only by his mercy and guidance. Now I am determined to use all of my resources for God’s service. This is everyone’s duty. This has only been possible by Guru Mata’s and Guru Maharaj’s mercy. I offer millions of pranams on this 76th Vyasa Puja and give heartfelt wishes. Thank you.

Guru Maharaj’s Closing Blessing:
I am pleased. You have brought Jagannath to your village and established Him in your home. So mercy is flowing on your whole family and the entire Pachora region. Your names — Ramesh Mor and Suresh Mor — are dear to me. The word “Mor” reminds one of Krishna’s peacock. Lord Jagannath, Lord Ram, Lord Krishna — all are showering blessings upon you. The Bhu Vaikuntha project in Pandharpur, “Vaikuntha on Earth,” will benefit countless generations. Thousands and millions will say “thank you.” Your name will be remembered in those thank-yous. You are qualifying yourselves to receive the highest gift — the Lord’s love. Accept it. You deserve it. Thank you. Hare Krishna.

Anadaprada Mataji’s offering- Hare Krishna. Dandavat Pranam Gurudev. First of all, I just want to clear one thing, Goddess Laxmi, the wife of Thakurji does this service. Guru Maharaj is constructing a palace for Thakurji and Laxmi Devi is giving that seva for her husband. We are just postmen. Apart from this, we have no other role. All this service is the mercy of the Lord and Guru Maharaj. We are just taking it from Thakurji and giving to Guru Maharaj.

Guru Maharaj, wishing you happy birthday. In the 8.4 million births, we living entities get body from the parents, but only human birth is very rare and it needs the shelter of Guru to achieve the goal. Without Guru he cannot achieve his goal. Everyone gets mother and father but everyone is not so fortunate to get the spiritual master.

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

Translation- According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service. [CC Madhya 19.151]

We are very fortunate that by the mercy of Sri Sri Radha Govindadev we got you as our spiritual master. There are two ways of God realization, sadhana siddha and kripa siddha. Without Guru even sadhana siddhi is not possible. Just as after birth a child becomes authorized recipient of his father’s wealth and glories, similarly Gurudev I do not have much ability but I have strong faith that as you have bestowed your mercy on this disciple, I will definitely attain the lotus feet of Radha Krishna.

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ
kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham
śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad ātataṁ
bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūri-dā janāḥ

Translation- The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly, those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent. [ŚB 10.31.9]

Gurudev many happy wishes on your birthday and bless me that till my last breath I will follow the path shown by you and I should progress in devotion. Gurudev, where your lotus feet are, there is my Goloka Dham. Hare Krsna.

Padmamali Prabhu- Thank you so much Mataji for your offering and support. Now we have HG Jayatirth Prabhu with us. He is manager, preacher and in charge of Raichur. He is expert in taking us on pilgrimages. He is also engaged in Bhuvaikuntha project.

Jayatirth Prabhu- Hare Krsna. Dandavat Pranam Guru Maharaj. Bless me Guru Maharaj so that I can do this Vyasapuja offering. om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ. Guru Maharaj, many wishes on your 76th Vyasapuja. I become very satisfied to get an opportunity to speak on Vyasapuja and especially when we glorify you, we become very happy. But on the other hand, I feel guilty that even though I have achieved the association of such a saintly person who has love and devotion for the Holy name, yet I am not able to develop the taste in the Holy name. This is my short coming. Guru Maharaj loves the Holy name so much that every moment you keep on remembering the Holy name and you yourself says that ‘Holy name does not leave me’. And for hours you keep glorifying the Holy name. For hours you speak on the Holy name and for hours you perform kirtan. This is your love for the Holy name which is coming out from your heart. But we see Gurudev just outwardly. Guru Maharaj, we are unable to see the mood, bhav that you have. The day when we will understand Gurudeva’s mood, we will not leave Nama Prabhu even for a moment.

When we will start loving Nama Prabhu, we will never commit any offense. Yet we have no love for Nama Prabhu and that’s why we keep committing offenses. Why we do not have love for the Holy name? Because we commit offenses. We commit offenses unto Gurudeva and that’s why even though Holy name lover saint is with us, we are not able to understand his glories. In the scriptures many glories of the Holy name are given and Guru Maharaj when you tell us the essence of all scriptures, you say that the essence of scriptures is one vidhi, and one nishedha, prohibition. What is vidhi? Chant the Holy name every moment. And what is nishedha? Not to forget the Lord even for a moment. You keep telling this again and again.

Guru Maharaj, from many years you are giving so many seminars and lectures, you organize so many festivals, construct huge temples, what is the main purpose of all this? The main purpose of this is you want to describe the glories of the Holy name and all the time you describe the glories of the Holy name. But we are unable to understand this. This is our offense at your lotus feet. The day we start following your instructions, there won’t be anything left to do. Because Prabhupada himself has told, ‘always keep chanting Hare Krsna Mahamantra, everything will be done perfectly’. And Guru Maharaj, by the instructions of Prabhupada, you are teaching the same thing. We do not follow, that is the problem. You are engaged in Harinama for 24 hours, and we stop after doing 16 rounds. Guru Maharaj, first time when I met you, I asked you, ‘why only 16 rounds?’ And you said, ‘minimum 16 rounds, maximum no limit, one lakh, two lakhs, three lakhs.’ So, from some time I am trying to increase Harinama. You bless me so that I can develop taste in Harinama.

This time Guru Maharaj we organized two Rathayatras in Raichur. In Raichur we distributed 20 thousand Khaja prasadam. In Telangana, 70 km from Raichur, there is our Adbhuta Narasimha Prabhu. There also we did wonderful Rathayatra. In Saidapur, 40 kms from Raichur, we have acquired eight and a half acer land and there we are doing preaching. In Narayanpur where we did Rathayatra, there also we have acquired one acer land. Apart from this, in Raichur our two projects are going on. Guru Maharaj, for third project we are getting very beautiful place in front of a lake, on the mountain, where we are planning to proceed with ‘New Jagannath Puri’ project. MLA of this area has promised us to give this project, to donate this land. We are working on that project. And Guru Maharaj your favorite, Padayatra, we see that in those places where saints live and preach the name of the Lord, those places are very different than other places. Those places where saints have not visited for 100-200 years are desolate. People there live like zombies. Wherever saints go, they make that place holy. That place becomes prosperous and the life of the people of that area becomes better. They agree that they were ordinary people, but when they received the name of the Lord and the saints, they became wealthy.

Guru Maharaj, all over the world you are making many places prosperous by the Padayatras. Thank you so much Guru Maharaj. Hare Krsna. Dandavat Pranam.

Padmamali Prabhu- Thank you Prabhuji. Now we have Trilokinath Prabhu who is from ISCKON Noida. Prabhuji is busy in various services of Guru Maharaj.
Trilokinath Prabhu- Hare Krishna Prabhuji. Namah om visnu padaya krsnapresthaya bhutale srimate lokanath swamin iti namine. Vanca kalpatarubhyas ca krpa sindhubhya eva ca patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah. Hare Krsna Gurudev. Please accept my humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to your causeless mercy, compassion. All glories to your divine mercy on your 76th Vyasapuja ceremony. On this auspicious day I want to thank Gurudev for bestowing his mercy on me and accepting me as his disciple. Maharaj, this Kaliyuga is the ocean of defects, yet it is the virtue of this Kaliyuga only to chant the Holy name. By this man becomes free from the miseries and bondages of this material world. Maharaj, I received this divine name from you. I have received your mercy.

My life has changed by this divine name. I have full faith that by following the instructions, by your mercy, I will definitely be free from the bondages of material world. Maharaj, it is not possible without your mercy. At every step I beg for your mercy. I have no qualifications, but by the association of devotees I am able to understand the science of self-realization. Guru Maharaj, I am able to develop love for Prabhupada by hearing your zoom lectures. Gurudev your attachment for Srila Prabhupada is so strong that whoever comes in your contact develops love for Jagadguru Srila Prabhupada. I am very fortunate that Gurudev I have received your personal association. I get your darsan daily on zoom. On behalf of my family and all the devotees, I pray to Sri Sri Radha Govindadev, Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra Maharani, Gaura Nitai, and Srila Prabhupada that They keep you always healthy, so that you can keep giving the message of the Isvara Tattva to the fallen souls like me and can keep giving Krsna consciousness. It is said in Upanisad

ayaṃ nijaḥ paro veti gaṇanā laghucetasām |
udāracaritānāṃ tu vasudhaiva kuṭumbakam ||

Translation- The thought that, this is mine and that is somebody else’s, appear only to those with a narrow mind. For the large-hearted ones, however, the entire world is a family.

Only the narrow-minded people like me discriminate between mine and others. The Vedic vision which you have preached makes it clear that everywhere on this earth is the family of Gurudeva, vasudhaiva kutumbakam. This is so because Krsna says

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

Translation- It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father. [Bg. 14.4]

Krsna is the seed giving father. You say that we are one family.

Guru Maharaj, keep bestowing your mercy on this unfortunate family so that we can keep following Prabhupada’s mission and your instructions. On this occasion I remember that in sector 56 when we were doing Janmastami festival, that time heavy rain was falling. Entire pandal was full of water. And we were worried how to celebrate the festival. Then we came to you and brought you to the pandal. We were discussing with you how to celebrate Janmastami. You raised your hand and after ten minutes rain stopped. We can understand how much power of the Lord is with you, as you can understand what is going to happen and when. By this we can understand how much power Guru Maharaj is having upon us and we consider ourselves very fortunate to have Guru like Guru Maharaj, because of which our life is changing. There are more than ten thousand disciples of Guru Maharaj and all of them are connected with this mission and receiving your mercy to serve Prabhupada. Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj, Dandavat pranam.

Padmamali Prabhu- Hare Krishna Prabhu, thank you for your service, offering and support. Thank you so much. Now we have with us Jayagovinda Prabhu, all the way from Zambia, small country near South Africa. Originally, he is from Delhi, but he has settled down there and is serving there. Paramatma Prabhu will talk more about him.

Parmatma Prabhu- Prabhuji has served in Noida and he has special contribution in Krishna Arjuna chariot. He speaks less but serves more. When Bhuvaikuntha project started we met Prabhu many times. And especially Prabhu came to Vrindavan for the 75th Vyasapuja. To please Guru Maharaj, he gave 1cr donation for Bhuvaikuntha. We thank Prabhu very much. Till now prabhu has given 30 lakhs. And we request Prabhuji to go ahead. We want to complete the project and please Guru Maharaj. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.

Jayagovinda Prabhu- Hare Krishna. Guru Maharaj ki jai! Srila Prabhupada ki jai! First, I thank Padmamali Prabhu and Paramatma Prabhu that they gave me this opportunity to speak to words on the occasion of Guru Maharaj’s Vyasapuja. om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ. Guru Maharaj on the 76th Vyasapuja I offer millions of dandavat pranam unto you. This is my good fortune that two days back we have celebrated Rathayatra festival and yesterday Atul Krishna Das Prabhu has departed from here and he said that he is going to Pandharpur for Vyasapuja. He will tell you in detail how we did 15 days celebration of Rathayatra this time. We did Snana yatra on 15th June. Then we did Bhagavata Katha, and on 27th we did kirtan mela. First time we did kirtan mela in Zambia in which Golokanath Prabhu participated. On 28th also we had very successful festival. Rathayatra was on 29th. Thousands of people participated in that. Guru Maharaj, I became very emotional in this Rathayatra.

There was mercy of Jagannath. But I got emotional thinking how people came from all places and are glorifying the Lord, how Lord’s mercy comes from anywhere. I remembered you Guru Maharaj, thinking that if you would be here then we could spread Krishna consciousness on a larger scale. I have requested Guru Maharaj many times that by your mercy we can spread Krishna consciousness in this country. We have seen that when we do Jagannath Rathayatra, thousands of people come and every year the number is increasing. So, without your permission I have thought that it would be good to name this temple as ‘Jagannath temple’. So, I request you so that I can announce here; you have given us this Gaur Hari Nitai temple, but I have seen the emotion that is arising in people here seeing Jagannath, so I am thinking that it will be better if we call this temple as Jagannath temple.

Guru Maharaj – Jagannath Dham Zambia ki Jai! Jai to you as well.

Jayagovinda Prabhu- Thank you Guru Maharaj. I also want to request one more thing on this good occasion. I am completely dependent on you. I am not capable, I do not have knowledge, I cannot speak or do anything. You just let bestowing your mercy and few devotees are ready here. Atul Krishna Das Prabhu will give you report. I am the only one initiated devotee here, but so many devotees are engaged in our temple services. When we do Rathayatra, around 50-60 volunteers organize this Rathayatra. Some of them chant regularly, read Bhagavad Gita; daily we have one program of Bhagavad Gita, they attend it. Lot of success is there, but unless there is the mercy of Guru Maharaj none can achieve God realization.

Guru Maharaj – Do it online. Online initiation.

Jayagovinda Prabhu- Yes Guru Maharaj. Atul Krishna Das told me that this is also possible. But whenever you will get chance to come here to South Africa, then it is possible here as well. If they will get offline initiation then they will become more enthusiastic and we will get opportunity to connect more people. This is our thought Guru Maharaj. By the way we will try to do online as well. So, Guru Maharaj you keep showering your mercy on us. Forgive us if we do any offense. Thank you very much Guru Maharaj.

Padmamali Prabhu- That you so much Jayagovinda Prabhu for the wonderful offering. Today we have with us very senior devotees, senior by devotion and senior by services. They have leading roles and serving for the pleasure of Guru Maharaj. In that connection we are fortunate to have one more pair of brothers. Few minutes before we had Ramesha Moar and Suresh Moar Prabhuji. Now we have two more ideal brothers. Their pair is praiseworthy. They have made their place in our zone and in Guru Maharaj’s heart. So, we will hear from Ajay Gauranga Prabhu and Mayapur Dham Prabhu all the way from Udaypur. Prabhuji you decide who will speak first. If both of you want you speak at a time then you both can unmute and speak. Over to you.

Ajay Gauranga Prabhu – Hare Krishna. Namah om visnu padaya krsnapresthaya bhutale srimate lokanatha swamin iti namine. Guru Maharaj my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. My dandavat pranams to all devotees. Guru Maharaj whenever I speak in front of you, I get goosebumps. I can not dare to speak in front of you. I plan to speak many things but can not speak. Guru Maharaj you are idol of love and compassion. I do not know what good activity I did in this life. I don’t think I have done anything. This is the causeless mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as He gave me your shelter. Guru Maharaj the association you give through zoom, that is beyond imagination. Even at this age everyday you are ready for the session and look at us with the eyes full of compassion. I always want to be first on the screen, so that I can get the blessing of Guru Maharaj. I beg forgiveness from all devotees, but I have this greed. I just want to start the day with your darsan. Guru Maharaj you share your Krsna with us. Chanting time is your personal time with your Krsna but you share your Krsna with all of us. No one else can show such compassion. You are sharing your time which is your personal time with your Krsna. None can do this. This is your causeless mercy. I can not explain this in words.

Your love for Srila Prabhupada is most astonishing. You always take name of Prabhuapda. This is your love for your spiritual master. Guru Maharaj may one day I also develop such love. Guru Maharaj your dream project, Pandharpur project is the dream project of me too. And for that I am trying my best, how to develop it and how to join people with it. I am trying my best. I do not have any qualification. If you will make me an instrument then I will be able to serve you Guru Maharaj. I need your blessings. Ganga is worshiped by Ganga water only, similarly if you will make me an instrument then I can serve you. This is my request unto your lotus feet. Keep showering your love upon me like this. Please forgive me if I commit any mistake. I am not eligible for this love but by your causeless mercy you have provided me this love. I have mercy of Prabhupada on me. I beg at the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu, Srinathaji and Pandharinath that you should get long life, and there should not be any problem in your life. Thank you, Guru Maharaj, and happy 76th Vyasapuja Guru Maharaj.

Guru Maharaj- Jai! Hare Krsna!
Mayapur Dham Prabhu-

gurave gauracandrāya rādhikāyai tadālaye
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇabhaktāya tadbhaktāya namo namaḥ

Translation- I offer my respectful obeisances to the spiritual master, to Śrī Gauracandra, to Śrīmatī Rādhikā and Her associates, to Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His devotees, and to all the Vaiṣṇavas.

All glories to Guru Maharaj. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Maharaj happy 76th Vyasapuja. What I can say about Maharaj. As Ajay Gauranga Prabhu was saying, in our Udayapur devotees there is always a competition, who will come first on the screen. Almost every time the winner is Ajay Gauranga Prabhu and also other devotees. Sometimes I want to defeat them but I cannot. I try to give them tough competition but they always surpass me. Yet Maharaj give his merciful glance on me, gives me blessings with both hands and like this our day begins. That is the foundation of our day. This Japa session which Guru Maharaj is giving from 6 years is a boon for me. It covers all five limbs of my devotion.

’sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’—sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅga sarva-siddhi haya

Translation- The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success. [CC Madhya 22.54]

The unprecedented association of Maharaj, I live here near Udayapur Srinathaji. Here we have Madhavendra Puri’s Deity, Srinathaji Gopalji. Madhavendra Puri went to Jagannath Puri from Vrindavan to get the sandal. So, I think that, even today if any saint is there like him who can walk on foot for the Lord, then Guru Maharaj is personally present who represents Madhavendra Puri. Even today such saints are with us, given by Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Prabhupada who by their austerities are saving the world. If this world is saved then it is just because of the mercy of such saints. We see that whole world is fighting and dying, but our ISKCON devotees are constructing Lord’s temples.

I want to share one incident which we Udayapur devotees have realized. One time Guru Maharaj had arrived in Udayapur and was standing in front of Jagannath alter. Pujari gave him a flower to offer. Maharaj took the flower and threw towards Jagannath. And we saw that Jagannath caught that flower. We saw that hand came from Jagannath and caught the flower. We four five devotees saw this. This was very astonishing. Then Maharaj had darsan of Madhavendra Puri’s Deity. I can not explain the meeting of Gopalji and Guru Maharaj. So, we request Maharaj to come again to have darsan of Gopalji. You had planned to come but you did not come. We Udayapur devotes are waiting for you. Maharaj come to Udayapur and bless us.

In 1971 Maharaj started his journey from Cross Maidan, Mumbai. And today is 2025. From 54 years Maharaj is serving. Our age is 44 years and Maharaj is serving from 54 years. We are going to celebrate 50th Sannyasa anniversary in December. So, I was thinking, around a year back we had grand celebration of my parent’s 50th marriage anniversary. So, I was telling to my parents, ‘We had grand celebration of your marriage anniversary, and my Guru Maharaj is having 50th anniversary of his austerities. So how grand that celebration should be.’ I was thinking why not spent all money of this brahmanda on that day? There should be one movie showing Maharaj’s each year’s journey, how he performed austerities for ISCKON, for Prabhupada, and for this world. Maharaj’s efforts are not only for present, but Maharaj is thinking about how to deliver the fallen souls in the next ten thousand years.

The relation between Pandharpur and Arawade, Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to Arawade, Pandharpur Dham. Nityananda Prabhu had initiation in Pandharpur Dham. Visvarupa departed for His abode from Pandharpur. So, this Pandharpur and Gaudiya connection is not a small connection. Prabhupada gave us Vrindavan Dham and Mayapur Dham. Caitanya Mahaprabhu told us about Jagannath. Maharaj is Dham Guru. He tells us about the Dham. When we go to Vrindavan, Maharaj made us do 84 kros parikrama. When we go to Mayapur, Maharaj made us to do Navadvipa Mandal Parikrama. When we go to Jagannath Puri Maharaj made us to do Jagannath Puri Parikrama. And Maharaj is showing us Bhuvaikuntha, where is Vaikuntha on the earth. So, the dream project of Maharaj is also my dream project. I request to Maharaj, whichever are my pledges, I may complete the project with all the devotees. My brick should also be there and Lord Vitthal should stand on my brick. Give me the blessings. Thank you very much Maharaj. I wish for your long, good health and we should get your blessings always. Hare Krishna.

Parmatma Prabhu- Thank you very much Prabhuji to both of you brothers for your services. This is a good example for everyone and all devotees should take inspiration from you. Thank you Prabhuji.

Padmamali Prabhu- Now we have last two three devotees, who have support for Guru Maharaj’s project. One is HG Giriraj Govardhan Prabhu from Alibagh. He is living a vanaprastha life after his retirement. He is residing in Pandharpur now. Over to you Giriraj Govardhan Prabhu.

Giriraj Govardhan Prabhu- Hare Krishna, Dandavat Pranam Guru Maharaj. By your mercy, your life and teachings are my life. You are the ideal disciple of Prabhupada. I am trying to be like you. Maharaj whenever you live in Vrindavan, or in other places, earlier when I was Grihasthi, I used to become very sad because I could not get your association regularly. I was trying again and again to become a full-time devotee, but you said that ‘You are Grihastha. After that you become Vanaprasthi.’ But when you started zoom six years back, I started feeling that we are living in a temple. We can understand from you that guru is always worried for their disciples. We had special mercy of you. When there was your 50th initiation anniversary in Vrindavan; program was in Govardhan on 16th, but on 15th we were not getting permission, as eight people died in Banke Bihari.

So, to control the crowd, crowd gatherings were banned. There was program at Radhakunda. They told us that we will not let your program happen. So Krsna Bhakta prabhu called me in Vrindavan, ‘Prabhu come quickly.’ I said, ‘Prabhuji I have buses service.’ ‘No, you come. Maharaj is remembering you.’ I immediately left for Govardhan from Vrindavan and asked ‘what happened?’ Prabhu told that we are not getting permission. Now see what can we do. After taking blessing from Maharaj, I took with me Vamsidhari Prabhu. Vamsidhari Prabhu knows Braja language. I told Prabhu, ‘no matter how long it will take, but we want permission.’ We took Guru Maharaj’s blessings and prasad with us. We went to many places, but we were getting rejection from everywhere. Prabhuji asked what to do now? I told him, Prabhuji you do chanting and pray to Guru Maharaj. We started to chant Guru Maharaj’s pranam mantra on the beads. So, by the desire of Guru Maharaj, I thought to ask in one office. One mataji was sitting there. I told that Mataji the situation. I told her we are from Maharashtra, especially from Mumbai, we have such program but we are not getting permission. She asked what is the problem? When I told her that I am from Mumbai, and she used to work in Mumbai and once had visited Alibagh.

She asked ‘are you from Alibagh?’ I said ‘yes’. I told her ‘Around ten thousand devotees are going to come, but we are not getting permission. Collector has directly rejected it. We don’t know what is the reason.’ Mataji said, ‘it is a secret. we cannot open the secret.’ ‘Ok, you see that what is the remark on that.’ She saw the remark that eight people are dead in Banke Bihari due to lack of crowd control. ‘But Mataji we can do one thing. We take responsibility of crowd control.’ Mataji said, ‘we do not have any problem if you take the responsibility.’ Immediately she said, ‘you go to Radhakunda. DSP sir is there.’ Vamsidhari Prabhu and I immediately left. We met that DSP on the way. ‘Prabhu, I got the call that you are taking the responsibility.’ I said, yes. We will take responsibility of security and crowd control. Then he said, then no problem. Immediately while standing on the street, he signed and we returned. By this we can understand the strong faith and surrender unto the spiritual maser. We learned that whenever there is any problem in the life, then just by remembering Maharaj, that problem is solved. As to avoid offense while chanting we take shelter of Panchatattva, similarly when there is any problem in spiritual path or material path, that goes away by taking shelter of Guru Maharaj.
I am connected with Maharaj from last 25 years, so I have many pastimes to share. Devotees ask me to tell that. They ask me to compose one book on my realizations with Maharaj. I used to do program at various places and talk about Maharaj and Prabhupada. People are very interested in listening about Maharaj. They say, ‘We have heard Bhagavat Katha, but this Bhagavat katha we have not heard.’ So, he is extraorinary Guru. Many people say that you are very fortunate. Maharaj also making whole world fortunate by giving his association daily on zoom. Rain water falls everywhere, but some unfortunate souls do not take its advantage. Everyone is having seed, but if there won’t be rain on that seed, Guru’s mercy is for everyone, but.

We have one incident from Alibagh as well. Once GBC retreat was going to take there. We had seen one big resort. Maharaj asked, what happened? We said ‘we went there. That owner was Shetty.’ ‘Okay. How much will be the expenses?’ ‘It will be around 17 lakhs for three days.’ Maharaj said, ‘Go. If there will be mercy on you then everything will be free.’ ‘How is this possible?’ Maharaj asked, ‘who will do the expenses?’ I said, ‘our Alibagh group will do it or I will do it.’ He said, ‘No no. You go and ask him if he will give it free.’ I went to the owner. He said, ‘yes free’. I told to Maharaj, ‘Oh he gave it free? You have Guru’s mercy upon you.’ Every disciple is having the mercy of Guru but capable person receives that. Maharaj’s life is just as told by Rupa Goswami. I remember Maharaj daily, not three times but hundreds of time. I pray that life after life I could serve Maharaj. Hare Krishna.

Padmamali Prabhu- Thank you Giriraj Govardhan Prabhu. Last two speakers- Amal Caitanya Prabhu and Ramaleela Mataji.
Parmatma Parbhu- Amal Caitanya Prabhu is from Atpadi, Sangali. He is a businessman. So, because of jewelry business he lives in Coimbatore in South India. He is doing preaching there and sends seva from there. Earlier Prabhu had taken 11 lakhs Sankalpa but last time when we had meeting with Guru Maharaj, Maharaj encouraged everyone that all of us should utilize all of our capacity for Bhuvaikuntha. So Prabhuji got inspired with this and took sankalpa of 1cr. From that Prabhu has given 15 lakhs till now. Thank you Prabhuji for that. Prabhuji wants to connect other people with this. Thank you Prabhuji. Hare Krishna.

Amal Caitanya Prabhu- I offer my humble obeisances at the lotus feet of Guru Maharaj. And happy 76th Vyasapuja. I thank zoom team and Parmatma Prabhu for giving me opportunity to speak. Once I had prasad in Rathayatra and wore Kanthimala, became a devotee. In 2007 when All India Padayatra was in Tamilnadu, I got opportunity to pick Guru Maharaj from Coimbatore airport with Premanjan Prabhu. Guru Maharaj inspired me. For two hours I was with Maharaj. Maharaj encouraged me to serve Arawade. From there my journey of service began. By Guru Maharaj’s mercy, in 2007 I could give 25 lakh donation for Arawade. Just by two hours inspiration I could do that. Then I got initiation and I went to see Guru Maharaj in Arawade. When I met him, I asked him what can I do to please him. Guru Maharaj ordered me to serve Radha Gopal. I do not how it is happening, but every year on Janmastami and 26th January, I receive list from there and I don’t know how but I could do the service. This is causeless mercy of Guru Maharaj. When Bhuvaikuntha was announced two years back, I took sankalpa of 11 lakhs in Arawade. Krishnabhakta Prabhu called me for Ahobilam Yatra which was for leaders. I was thinking I am not a leader, but because of Guru Maharaj’s mercy I could go to Ahobilam Yatra. I met Guru Maharaj personally. Maharaj said, do it and join more and more people. That same day I took sankalpa. Parmatma Prabhu was there, Prahlad Prabhu was there, Krishna Bhakta Prabhu was there, they inspired me and I took sankalpa of 1 cr. From Kasmir to Kanyakumari there are many people from Sangali in the jewelry field. I want to collect minimum 5 to 10 Cr from these people to serve Bhuvaikuntha. I request Guru Maharaj, keep blessing me like this and always keep me in your shelter. Hare Krishna.

Guru Maharaj- Hare Krishna.
Parmatma Prabhu- Thank you Prabhuji. Definitely your sankalpa will be completed by the mercy of Guru Maharaj. We pray at the lotus feet of Lord Vitthal, may He give you success and we are with you. Prabhuji has done for Mayapur, for Arawade and now it is the responsibility of us Bhuvaikuntha Pandharpur. Thank You. Now we have Ramleela Mataji with us. She is from Solapur. She is a good preacher. And she leads ISKCON girl’s forum and with that she does collection for Bhuvaikuntha. She has formed a good team and with her team Mataji is going from house to house and doing collection for Bhuvaikuntha. She personally also has given for Bhuvaikuntha. Thank you Mataji.

Ramleela mataji- Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj. Dandavat pranam at your lotus feet. Happy 76th Vyasapuja. Guru Maharaj I am not qualified but I am trying to speak. Guru Maharaj I am remembering one pastime. When you came first time to our home, that time one LIC man had come and I asked him to come later. That time you called him and blessed him. Seeing this I thought ‘my Guru is ocean of mercy and compassion. He sees all souls equally.’ Guru Maharaj whenever I meet you, you ask me about Bhuvaikunth project. I try my best to follow your instructions. I want your blessings. Guru Maharaj kripa karake muzako apana lena, me charana padi tumhari charanon me jagah dena, Guru Maharaj kripa karake muzako apana lena, Guru Maharaj accept me mercifully. I am falling at your lotus feet. Give me place at your lotus feet. Guru Maharaj I am going to try my best. Going house to house, whatever donation I get, 500, 1000, I am collecting it. I am trying my best Guru Maharaj. I strongly need your blessings. Without your blessings I can not do this. Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj.

Guru Maharaj- Jai! Hare Krishna.
Parmatma Prabhu- Hare Krishna. Thank you to all the devotees who have taken service in Bhuvaikuntha. Continue your services and join many more devotees and donors. We want to complete Bhuvaikuntha as early as possible. Till next Ashadhi we want two floors. This depends on us. All of us are getting lots of blessings of Guru Maharaj. Take this power and proceed further. Thanks to all. All of you come to Pandharpur. All of you are welcome. Hare Krishna.

GLORIFICATION OF SRILA GURUDEV VYASAPUJA 1nd JULY 2025

HG Padmamali Prabhuji:- Today is Hera Panchami, and from today onwards we will start our glorification session. Every speaker will be allowed to speak for 3-4 mins today. Please show the Japa Talk in your temples and centres for everyone. Let’s start the session with HH Sri Krishna Chaitanya Maharaj.

Speaker 1: HH Sri Krishna Chaitanya Maharaj
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Bhaktivedanta Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

Sundar te dhyān ubhe viṭevārī,
Kar kaṭāvarī thevūnīyā.
Tulasī hār gaḷāṁ kānse pītabambar,
Āvaḍe nirantar tēcī rūpa.
Makar kuṇḍale taḷapatī śravaṇīṁ,
Kantīṁ Kaustubha maṇi virājit.
Tukā maṇe mājhēṁ hēcī sarva sukh,
Pāhīn shrī mukha āvaḍīne.

Meaning
Beautiful is the vision standing on the brick;With hands resting on His hips.
A garland of tulasi adorns His neck,And He wears a golden-yellow cloth—His form delights me evermore.
Fish shaped earrings shimmer by His ears,And the Kaustubha gem shines on His throat.
Tukā says, “This alone is all my happiness;I delight in gazing at His glorious face.

I’m very delighted to be here today to start the wonderful 76th Vyasa-puja festival of His Holiness Lokanath Swami Guru Maharaj. Haribol!
So, I’d like to bring to light the wonderful quality of Guru Maharaj — that he is everyone’s well-wisher. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to sign all of his letters: “Your ever well-wisher.” And his dear spiritual son, His Holiness Lokanath Swami Maharaj, has inherited this same quality — of being everyone’s well-wisher. Lord Krishna is suhridam sarva-bhūtānām — the best friend of every living entity. And the devotee of Lord Krishna is suhridam sarva-dehinām — also the best friend of every living being. All the devotees are suhrid. What does it mean that a devotee is suhrid? It means he genuinely cares about the living entities. He feels compassion, and based on that love and care, he brings the living entities to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna. How can we understand this practically?

At the purest level of God consciousness, all beings are seen as the best friends of one another. And for all of them, compassion and love become the bridge to bring them back to God. It is wonderful to see this example in the great souls — Mahātmās — the great devotees like HH Lokanath Swami Guru Maharaj, who bring the living entities to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna.

Just a few days before, I was in Noida, and I had the good fortune of introducing a very important person, a VIP named Samanyu Garg. He’s the owner of RightSonic, one of the five global competitors to ChatGPT — a very big company worth $200 million. I had the good fortune of introducing him to Guru Maharaj in his room in ISKCON Noida. Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govindaji Māndir! This person — Samanyu Garg — is very important, and he came to meet Guru Maharaj in Noida. He is the owner of a very big company called BrightSonic, which is worth $200 million and is one of the top 5 AI companies competing with ChatGPT. He is very young and dynamic.

Guru Maharaj gave him so much love and care. He answered all of his questions about Krishna consciousness. He shared with Samanyu Garg the importance of spiritual life- chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra and reading Srila Prabhupada books. Guru Maharaj asked if he had Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and encouraged me to supply them to him.Guru Maharaj also asked if Samanyu had a japa mālā, and encouraged him to chant at least one hour every morning, saying that this practice would increase his effectiveness and the quality of his life throughout the day.

Guru Maharaj said, “If we do this, we can become more successful in life.”
Samanyu Garg replied, “It’s very difficult to chant. What should I do?”

So I suggested that he could join the Daily Zoom Mandir for morning chanting. Guru Maharaj also encouraged this — and gave his blessings.
Bhakti means devotional service, so suhridam sarva-dehinām means the most compassionate and that means that they give Krishna Consciousness to everyone! This is done in so many ways such as distributing prasadam, delivering lectures, chanting holynames etc. He is the ocean of mercy and he is exhibiting this quality very evidently. He has filled this in us personally with all of us. I would request all the disciples to mediate a time when Gurumaharaj was compassionate, as your best friend and what was the impact on us.

HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj ki jai! 76th Vyasapuja Mahamahotsava ki jai!
Gaur premanande Hari Hari bol!

Thank you Maharaj for setting up the scene. He is a Sannayasi disciple of Guru Maharaj and following the footsteps of Mahaprabhu.
Speaker 2: HG Hari Kirtan Prabhu

I saw Guru Maharaj raising his hand. That was internal… Sorry, please forgive me. My throat is not good.
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,

Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

So, I am here in ISKCON Juhu. Whenever I am here, I am reminded of the challenges that Srila Prabhupada disciples faced and so many troubles were given to them, still they never gave up and now a beautiful palatial tgemple is standing here —this temple is built only due to the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda and all the disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda who were there in Juhu temple. They were putting out their purity. So, I have no power to glorify Srila Gurudev — but I am simply trying to glorify Maharaj. To glorify a pure devotee is not easy. A conditioned soul cannot glorify Guru Maharaj. It is not in our capacity. Just like a child glorifies his father in his childish voice, so similarly I tried and did the same. Please make me your eternal servant! Your are very compassionate Gurumaharaj!

His life is without pretense… four points I will just say, maybe in four minutes. I met Maharaj in 1980s when Maharaj was 42 or 43 years old, he was still the same as he is today. Maharaj had a lot of disciples who were older than him like Tukaram prabhu, Radheyshyam Prabhu, and so many others in America. And they all had so much love and affection for Maharaj. They had so much respect for him. So, what attracted them to him? It was Maharaj’s simplicity, his happiness without any show. His life—from the beginning—is without pretense. What he is inside, he is outside.
When we see Maharaj in our conditioned state, we realize what we are inside and what we try to show outside—there is a mismatch between the two. But this is a quality of a pure devotee. There should be a connection. That’s what we have to learn from him.

One should understand that unless he is part connected both inside out, he cannot be attracted to Kṛṣṇa for more than a day.
The second quality Maharaj has always reflected is hearing without defending. He listens without hesitation even if someone tries to complain about a devotee. He shows his compassion towards everyone. He listens with a lot of patience.

The third is speaking without offending. When Maharaj gives his advice, his guidance—he is so careful. Even if there is an objection in someone’s behaviour, he speaks in a way that does not hurt. Such a beautiful quality Maharaj has.

And as I get the opportunity to serve Maharaj in his personal association, I am most thankful to him. Somehow, you are holding me close, keeping me in your inner circle. I feel it is a great fortune and a wonderful quality you have. Not from now but from 40 years. So I also try to imbibe the same quality although it’s very difficult to do so.

The fourth quality: loving without expectation. You have given us unconditional love. You just think how this devotee can be saved.
How can this bhakta be saved?

In 1998–99 when I came to Nagpur, when you sent me here as the president—as the most unqualified soul—I came to you with a complaint: “This Bhakta should not be in the temple.”

You said, with so much mercy: “If this Bhakta doesn’t stay in the temple, then where will he go?”
I said, “Anywhere.”

You said, “No—he will go to the material world. And if he goes into a more impure state, he will be greatly harmed. Please keep him engaged. How can he be kept in the temple as a servant?”

At that time, HG Prashantha Mataji told me that if he sees even an ant that can serve the Lord, he will bring that ant into this corner and help it go to the Lord. Even if the path is difficult.

Never think that Maharaj will ever remove anyone. Maharaj always says: Instead of removal, think of reformation.
So today, I pray at your feet. You have given me many posts, many responsibilities. And like me, a conditioned soul, I always get intoxicated in those roles.

I pray at your feet: Whatever post, whatever position, however many followers—I always maintain the desire to be the servant of the servant of the servant (dāsānudāsa).The qualities that are in your heart—that always run in my mind. I meditate on them. If all of us can meditate for just one hour daily…Then definitely, a small percentage of those qualities will also develop within us. So today, I pray that I do not get allured by any position. Rather, I always strive to serve in the mood of servant of the servant (dāsānudāsa).

Thank you, Guru Mahārāja. Thank you. Param Pūjya Lokanāth Swami Mahārāja kī Jaya! Śrīla Prabhupāda kī Jaya!
Thank you so much, Hari Kīrtan Prabhu, for your offering and concern for the well-being of the devotees.

Today, we are blessed to be within the managerial zone of Guru Mahārāja, where we serve as regional secretary assistants and heads of his temples. These are not mere roles but opportunities to listen to the realizations and sincere services of devotees, who are practical examples of surrender.

Guru Mahārāja once said during a Vyāsa-pūjā offering:

“I don’t want just verbal offerings. I want to hear and see practical offerings.”

And indeed, these devotees, their lives are their offerings. Of course, every disciple’s life is an offering. But what I mean to say is that some are deeply absorbed in the service mood—day in and day out—making their lives a continuous expression of gratitude and seva (service).
We are conducting āśraya-śravaṇa (hearing about the shelter of the spiritual master) with such devotees. And in the coming days, we hope to meet more such servants in your shelter.

Speaker 3: HG Vedanta Chaitanya Prabhu
HG Vedanta Chaitanya Prabhu, the Sar-adhyakṣa of Gautam Buddha Nagar and RSA of Noida, is one such example of faithful and practical engagement.
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Dandvat Pranam to Gurudev and all the dear devotees. I was thinking on which topic I should speak today.
May all the devotees be blessed with a long life and unwavering faith.

I have a question regarding the relationship between the madhyama-adhikārī and the uttama-adhikārī. There is faith in both, but in the madhyama-adhikārī, the faith may not be fully grounded in śāstric knowledge. However, the uttama-adhikārī has deep conviction based on śāstra (scripture) and realization. That is why it is said:

“One who becomes the supreme authority must be rooted in the supreme authority of śāstra.”
Because the attraction to śāstra is very strong, especially seen in Guru Mahārāja who are Uttam Adhikari devotees from the very beginning. We find the following line in Vaishanav bhajans:

rūpa‑raghunātha‑pade rahu mora āśā- May my longing always remain at the lotus feet of Rūpa and Raghunātha; Narottama dāsa prays continually.
If we don’t have attachment towards the pastimes of Radha and Krishna, then we cannot attain Krishna. These people have special attraction towards the holyname. In early days, even before joining ISKCON, Guru Mahārāja had this inclination. After Śrīla Prabhupāda came to Mumbai, Guru Mahārāja started studying deeply—even reading chemistry books at the time—but then transformed that hunger for knowledge into spiritual learning, dedicating himself to studying Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. That same deep attraction to śāstra continues today. So Guru Maharaj asked Srila Prabhupada that if we can stay in Vrindavan and study shastras but that time Srila Prabhupada said that- “Let your hearts remain connected to the service of Prabhupada and the mood of pure śāstra meditation.”

Many years ago, when Padmalī Prabhu was not able to serve Guru Mahārāja personally, I was asked to serve in the temple due to some circumstances. At that time, it was the festival of Gaura Pūrṇimā. Maharaj Ji had fasted the entire day. He didn’t eat anything. The next day, Maharaj Ji became sick and even had fever. He said, “I will not meet anyone until the appointments are cancelled. I need to take rest. I will not meet anyone”
So I thought that, “Yes, Maharaj, please take rest.”

But what does rest mean to us? We think it means lying on the bed and sleeping. But when I saw Maharaj Ji resting, he was studying from morning till night. I thought to myself, What kind of rest is this—to study the whole day? Because we ourselves study for maybe 30 minutes—but Maharaj studies constantly. No matter how busy the schedule, Maharaj Ji always finds time to read. Whether during travel, sitting in a car, or mid-flight, as soon as he finds a few moments—he picks up books and reads.

Maharaj Ji is a lifelong student. Unless one keeps the mood of being a student, one cannot truly learn. Even now, Maharaj Ji continues learning Sanskrit and tries to deepen his understanding of scriptures. He also encourages combined study of Sanskrit and shastras.
Despite managing so many projects and responsibilities, Maharaj Ji never loses that enthusiastic spirit to study śāstra. Often, I reflect and feel: We, who have so few services, still struggle to engage in self-study or sādhana. But Maharaj Ji, with ten times more responsibilities, still makes time—because of his deep interest.

I remember an incident: There was a katha organised on Ekadashi. Maharaj Ji was told, “Your lecture is scheduled.” But Maharaj Ji replied, “Today, my reading quota is not complete. So I will take class tomorrow not now.
That’s how sincere and focused Maharaj Ji is—concerned, dedicated, and disciplined.

HG Padmali Prabhu:
Before we call our next speaker, there was a humble announcement.
One of our Noida congregation devotees, Rupeshwar Gaurāṅga Prabhu, a very sincere devotee, and Vedānta Chaitanya Prabhu, both active in TNC (Temple Nurture Committee), had a personal loss. His sixteen-year-old daughter, a young devotee and regular Zoom participant, left her body last month due to heart failure.

Her name was Rādhikā, if I’m not mistaken. She was very inclined toward devotional life. On behalf of all the devotees of Noida and by the blessings of the Lord and devotees, we offer heartfelt prayers for her.
Let us chant the Mahāmantra together in her remembrance:

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Speaker 4: HG Vamsidhar Prabhuji
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

There is a lot to say for Guru Maharaj’s glorification. I met him in 1989 in the Padayatra Office in Centennial house. My room was just adjacent to Gurudeva’s room.

This was around 1996, before my dīkṣā. We were celebrating New Year in Delhi. Maharaj Ji gave a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class. Gurudev was called Kirtan Samrat from that time.

After the class, devotees said, “Maharaj Ji, something new should happen this New Year.”
Maharaj Ji, still seated, spontaneously began singing:

“Jai Jai Vithal Pāṇḍuraṅga.”
I have heard this kīrtan from him many times. He sang it with deep emotion. I remember playing along for two hours—without any instrument. He was simply using his spectacles case as a musical instrument in the kirtan. I had recorded the song with Gaurangi Mataji and I would listen to it repeatedly in my room. That song still plays in my heart.

I have heard and read so much about Maharaj Ji. I have had personal conversations with him. To me, he is nothing less than the Emperor of the spiritual world. So his name is Loka-natha- the king of the whole world and now where ever we go, everyone asks, where is Srila Gurudev?
In Padma Purana Bhakti-devī said, Gehe, gehe, jane, jane…”

So through the medium of Padayatra he took that message of Mahaprabhu and spread it throughout the world. So this verse’s credit: pṛthvīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma, sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma: this credit goes to Gurudev!As a result, the influence of this movement has now spread across many cities—bringing the village-village Pāda-yātrā into urban life.

I remember walking with Guru Mahārāja from Noida to Vṛndāvana in between a village Jewar comes. At that time, no one even knew about us. We were walking barefoot through villages. People would approach us directly from the fields, curious and drawn. So through Padayatra, the holynames are reaching the remotest corners of villages.

I once said, “I was alone; there was no one.”
Guru Mahārāja replied:
“The trees, the birds, the animals—all living beings here this holyname.”

Such is Guru Mahārāja’s deep level of spiritual sensitivity—he hears and responds to the suffering of every living entity. He doesn’t appreciate loud noise or show; he values sincere service. Anyone who sincerely renders service will surely be blessed by him.

I have seen that even in 1996, when many some of the Srila Prabhupada disciples were struggling or were moving far away from devotional association, Guru Mahārāja brought them back out of his compassion and his service to Srila Prabhupada. Even people who were not in Calcutta he welcomed even them and even those who had made mistakes or drifted away. So Noida is famous for kirtans and Gurudev stresses. So Gurudev calls me a lot of things like you are Prachin- very old and so on. This is Gurudev’s mercy on me and I want to stay under the shelter of his lotus feet.

Speaker 5: HG Krishna Bhakt Prabhuji

Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

I want to offer my humble obeisance unto the divine lotus feet of Srila Gurudev.

So last week we had get together of all the disciples of Maharaj, so said that it is not possible to summarize Gurudev’s glories in 3-4 minutes just like Srimad Bhagavat katha goes on for 7 days, similarly Gurudev’s glories can be said for 7 days. So as Padmali Prabhu said that we have only a limted time so I was thinking that where should we start, and where should we end.

One striking quality is his perfect time management. Not a single moment is wasted. Whether in meetings, in service, or even during moments of rest, Guru Mahārāja remains absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness—studying the Gītā, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, or reciting ślokas or chanting even at the time of conflict.

He once said:“One who serves for sixteen hours has the right to sleep for six hours, because even that sleep becomes a service.” Every second is used for spiritual purpose for that person.

I remember in Solapur, during a japa talk, Guru Mahārāja shared a profound realization. He said, “Yesterday, I was thinking critically about a devotee. I caught myself and immediately corrected it. I removed that thought.” Even a trace of aparādha or offense does not enter his heart. That is the level of Guru Mahārāja’s purity.

Guru Mahārāja is a perfect representative of what a disciple should be—fully surrendered, humble, and devoted. His humility is not artificial; it’s genuine and deep. Different devotees experience this humility in countless ways. When we come into his association, we feel that the devotees are not of this world—they are residents of Vaikuṇṭha similarly Gurudev is also a resident of Vaikuntha.

Once, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami Maharaj was telling me that-
“If you keep someone in the company of Guru Mahārāja even for just three hours, they will be trained.”That is the kind of transformative influence Guru Mahārāja has. His presence purifies.

So in this Vyāsa-pūjā, I offer my humble prayer:
“Whatever service you have given me, Guru Mahārāja, may I never become careless or proud. May I serve you always—not as an official, but as a surrendered servant. May I never forget that all I have is by your mercy.” Gurudev who has given us all so much opportunity to serve, be empowered with strength and purity to continue this mission.

Guru Mahārāja, I am endlessly grateful for your mercy, your compassion, and your unwavering energy in spreading the holy name.
Whether I am physically close to you or far away, please always keep me in your shelter. Keep me close to your lotus heart. Let me remain your servant until I become completely purified and worthy of your service.

This is my heartfelt prayer on this auspicious day of your appearance.

Speaker 6: Krishna Kishore Prabhuji- Manager for ISKCON Aravade
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

I want to humbly offer my respectful obeisances to Gurudev and all the Vaishnavas.
I thank HG Padmamli Prabhu for giving me this opportunity although I am not qualified to do so.

Few days back, one of Gurudev’s classmates Dhanavade Prabhuji met me and told me that he was rememebering Gurumaharaj. He told me that he thought Gurudev will forget him as now he is practicing bhakti but to his surprise, Gurudev still talks to him and remembers him.

On 25th May Rathayatra was going on in Karad and then Gurudev said start the Rath, then everybody said how can we, it is raining. But Gurudev insisted on starting Rathayatra and then as soon as we started, rain stopped and it didn’t rain till we reached the destination, Gurudev did a lot of kirtan. On 29th June in Tasgaon Rathayatra happened, we felt that Gurudev is present physically. Nandlal prabhu once narrated a pastime that when Gurudev was small, his mother bought a hen to be butchered, but Gurudev, out of his compassion towards a hen, didn’t allow her to do so and protected the hen and left him in a field.

Once Gurudev’s mother went to Mumbai to see him. So at that Gurudev used to come from book distribution and he took out some prasadam from a vessel. So Gurudev’s mother started crying and asked him that why is he living such an austere life?

Once a resident of Aravade village, Kulkarni ji mentioned that from childhood Gurudev was compassionate towards all the living beings and he wanted to learn harmonium from a very young age. So there are so many stories about Srila Gurudev. So Gurudev told Srinath Prabhuji once that where you go stay with devotees.

For myself also personally I went for a break to my home, but Gurudev called me immediately.

Speaker 6: HG Vitthalanand Prabhuji
My obesiances to Srila Gurudev. I take inspiration from Gurudev from his attitude towards service. Srila Prabhupada told Gurudev that “I need more men like you.” So, I think that Gurudev sees the same in all of us. So we should try to become like him. So just like a dog thinks that he is running the cart while sitting on it but actually it is the cow or buffalo who runs it. In the same way whatever success that we get in our services we think that we are getting because of our endeavours but actually it is because of the mercy of Srila Gurudev so we forget our position. He gives his mercy along with the service. So I constantly try to remember this quality of Gurudev. So just as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted the gardeners to distribute the holyname similarly Gurudev also need to devotees to engage them in the services. Even Sri Rama wanted to engage all the living entities to build the bridge to Lanka, he could have done that himself but he chose to give services to all. Gurudev gives us so many services to do but I think one lifetime is not enough to do all those services. So Gurudev gives us the strength.

So when I was living in Pandharpur then Gurudev told me that a lot of Brahmacharis will be made here. Gurudev knows the future. Once he told me to go to Osmanabad for preaching but I was thinking that how will I make devotees there? But now when we go there are about 150-200 devotees and many are initiated and aspiring. Whatever Gurudev says that becomes the reality.

So long back he told to build a big temple in Beed, and now we have a big temple there. Within two years we got construct that temple. So now we are happy serving Sri Sri Radha Govinda devji. We are increasing our attachment towards the deities. We are 4-7 devotees only but we are managing the whole district, and others also. Generally 50 people are needed to manage a temple, but we are able to manage with 4-7 devotees only. All the services are going by the mercy of Gurudev. So we see that Gurudev visits places that have large devotee group but we request Maharaj to visit Beed atleast once or twice in a year so that it increases our enthusiasms to do our services nicely. This helps to connect people easily. Please give your association to us. This is our humble request to you!

Speaker 7: HG Dhanurdhar Arjun Prabhuji- Co-President of ISKCON Pandharpur
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

I want to humbly offer my respectful obeisances to Gurudev and all the Vaishnavas.

Gurudev is a treasure of many spiritual qualities but I would like to take up one of his qualities. All saints have a developed a lot of siddhis. They never disclose or showoff there siddhis just like Lord Kapila Dev. So just like Srila Prabhupada who is the greatest saint of all times, unknowingly also reveal these siddhis. Once pointed out to a land while walking on the Juhu beach and said “There should be a temple there, and now ISKCON Chowpatty is standing there”. So similarly Gurudev never showsoff his siddhis. Tukaram Maharaj said that these saints are not normal saints. Gurudev lives like a ordinary person even Sita Mata was also a saint.

Many questioned Gurudev’s decision of purchasing a land on the other side of Chandrabhaga, but now we see that ISKCON Pandharpur temple has become the center of Pandharpur. Now kirtans are happening here.

When HH Bhakti Charu Maharaj was about to leave this world, Gurudev called him and Maharaj said clealy if you wish you can leave this body. Similarly when HH Gopala Krishna Goswami Maharaj was about to leave, Gurudev knew that he was about to leave so Maharaj stopped and remained with him during his last moments—he knew he was about to leave this world. This is his divine vision. He truly knows past, present, and future (trikāla-jña). As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, veda aham samatītāni vartamānāni cārjuna—”I know everything.” Our Guru Mahārāj is always connected with the Lord. He is pure, and by Kṛṣṇa’s grace, he reflects many of the Lord’s qualities.

I have witnessed these divine qualities in Guru Mahārāj repeatedly. Once, a devotee named Upan Prabhu in a very serious health crisis prayed to Maharaj. He was so sick that everyone thought he might not survive. But when he contacted Maharaj, Guru Mahārāj lovingly said, “Get well soon and come back.” Taking that as a divine instruction, the devotee recovered miraculously. Another person from Āravadā was given a similar message by Maharaj: “Nothing will happen when an astrologer predicted his death” He too was saved. Whatever Guru Mahārāj says—whether it appears ordinary or prophetic—inevitably comes true.

Sometimes, we foolishly apply our mundane logic to Guru Mahārāj’s decisions. For instance, in Paṇḍharpur we had a property near the Viṭṭhala temple named as Vada, and I repeatedly requested Maharaj to build a guesthouse there, saying it would bring good income for the temple. But every time we presented the plan, Maharaj would gently set it aside. At that time, we did not understand. Later, we realized he was not acting on common sense, but spiritual sense—his connection with Kṛṣṇa. He could see things we could not.

Guru Mahārāj’s foresight reminds me of a classic instruction: when Śrīla Prabhupāda would ask a disciple to jump, the disciple wouldn’t ask “Why?” but “How high?” That is the kind of surrender we are learning from Maharaj. Even though I am fallen, full of anger and arrogance, Maharaj has always given me guidance, encouragement, and shelter.

HG Padmali Prabhu adds to this:
For HH Gopala Krishna Swami Maharaj, I had to leave for Dehradun the next day, but Gurudev called me and stopped me from doing so. He just said “I will be in Vrindavan the next day” and exactly the same happened and HH Gopala Krishna Maharaj entered Samadhi the next day.
Another example I’d like to share is of Damayantī Mātaji, who was in a critical condition in the Bhaktivedanta Hospice in Vṛndāvana. The doctors had said she could leave her body at any moment. Her loved ones called Guru Mahārāj, hoping for some final words. But instead of speaking a farewell, Guru Mahārāj said with full confidence, “I will come to see you in Kārtika.” Everyone was surprised. And what happened? Mātaji survived, and she left her body only in Kārtika, in the divine presence of Guru Mahārāj.

Speaker 8: HG Vrajendra Tanu Prabhu- Co-President of ISKCON Nagpur
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

Dear Guru Mahārāj, your words are filled with spiritual power, compassion, and divine assurance. You have given me and all of us everything—Śrīla Prabhupāda, ISKCON, Kṛṣṇa, sādhus, śāstras, books, prasādam, and most importantly, your association. What more could one ask for?

You are an ocean of mercy. Like Lord Viṭṭhala of Paṇḍharpur, who accepts even the unqualified with love, you look not at our position but our sincerity. You are the embodiment of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mood. You always say: “If you want to show your love to me, then follow Śrīla Prabhupāda and spread his mission.” That is your desire.

By your grace, I can assist in systematic preaching, youth outreach, training, education, and servant leadership in our zone. You always say that please make Srila Prabhupada’s desire of making a temple in Nagpur as my wish and bulit this project. We are trying our best to do so. There are two major projects growing rapidly by your mercy—Bhu-Vaikuṇṭha Paṇḍharpur and IVCC Nagpur. We humbly beg for your continued blessings for their completion.

Speaker 9: HG Advaita Acharya Prabhu- ISKCON Amravati
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

You are the ocean of mercy, you are fulfiller the spriritual desires. So we sing everyday yasya prasadad bhagvata prasado.. so I also think that you are the prasad of Lord to us.

I remember how I once said, “I will not accept the sun-god Sūryanārāyaṇa as my guru, even if he spoke the Gītā, because a guru must be living and guiding us.” I didn’t know that my words would someday manifest in the form of meeting you, Guru Mahārāj, on Janamashtami 15th August 2006, on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Appearance Day, at the Rādhā-Gopīnātha temple in Nagpur. That was the first time I saw a real devotee, a living śuddha-bhakta.
Later, when I was considering an MBA or a job, my brother said, “Ask yourself—do you want to continue studies or dedicate yourself to Guru Mahārāj?” And you, Maharaj, so mercifully called me and gave me time, guidance, and assurance.

You continue to give us direction and purpose, and now my only desire is to remain in your service, close to your lotus feet, following your instructions wholeheartedly. He asked me to spend sometime in ashram. This is my humble offering and prayer on this blessed Vyāsa-pūjā.
O Gurudeva, may I become a sincere servant at your feet. Please never let me forget you. Please never let me leave your service.

Maharaj once asked me about my family in great detail—how are your parents? How many brothers and sisters? What are your family responsibilities? Then, with great concern and care, he said, “If you feel that you should work a job for experience, or to understand the hardship people face—how they struggle for a few paisas, how they are squeezed, insulted, and pressured—then that experience will help you later as a brahmacārī. It will help you understand the value of money.”

He further instructed, “You are young now. Stay in the brahmacārī āśrama in Pune, take training, and attend the seminar in Paṇḍharpur.” This showed how much Maharaj protects and guides each devotee who is trying to move forward spiritually. Such affectionate concern can only come from a loving spiritual father.

I also recall an incident in Nagpur involving a 3.5-acre plot of land in Kalamna. Although the location was far from the main city (about 25 km away), Guru Mahārāj insisted on choosing that place. The management team, including myself, humbly requested Maharaj not to go so far. But he replied firmly, “Why are you crying? Just as you see Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision in Bhubaneswar and Vṛndāvana, this will also become a central place in Nagpur. You just wait and see.”

Today, as predicted, that land has indeed become a central location. Nagpur has grown, and the temple now lies on the very path to the geographical center of India. Maharaj had foreseen it all.

In Amravati also, there were obstacles regarding Bhūmi-pūjan. No one imagined that within just 15–20 days, by the sincere desire of a true disciple, everything would be arranged by Kṛṣṇa’s will. When Maharaj said, “I will come only when Bhūmi-pūjan is done,” within no time, the legal hurdles cleared, and the Chief Minister himself came for the event. Crores of rupees were donated, and the entire city heard about it. This was nothing short of miraculous. All of it happened by the mercy and transcendental potency of our beloved Guru Mahārāj.

Such compassion and determination in service are Mahāprabhu’s gifts manifest in Maharaj. He is karuṇā-sindhu, an ocean of mercy. Whatever little service we’re doing is only by his grace. I am certainly unqualified, but Guru Mahārāj has mercifully entrusted us with service. I offer my heartfelt gratitude for that.

I pray that all the services Guru Mahārāj has given us—especially the construction of the Rukmi Dvārakādīśa Mandir in Amravati—may progress beautifully. May this temple become a place where countless devotees are nourished spiritually. That is our humble desire and offering at your lotus feet, Maharaj.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jai Vitthal Rakhumai!
Speaker 10: HG Damodar Sākha Prabhu- ISKCON Icchankarnji
Nama Om Vishnu Padaya, Krishna-Preshthaya Bhutale,
Srimate Loknatha Swamin Iti Namine.
Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine,
Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchatya Desha Tarine.

I offer my humble obeisances to my beloved Guru Mahārāj and all assembled Vaiṣṇavas.

All the offerings before mine were very beautiful, filled with love and devotion. I had also prepared something, but simply seeing Guru Mahārāj has quenched the thirst of my heart. I feel so joyful and inspired in my devotion. Whenever I see Maharaj, my conviction to stay steady in bhakti strengthens even more.

Guru Mahārāj’s unwavering devotion to Śrīla Prabhupāda and his seriousness in following his instructions are truly extraordinary. Śrīla Prabhupāda had instructed him to preach in villages and cities through padayātrā. To this day, Guru Mahārāj takes that instruction as his life and soul, and inspires others to do the same. He personally walks and inspires others to walk with him. This is a unique and glorious quality of Guru Mahārāj.
He teaches by his example that the greatest virtue of a disciple is to follow the command of the Guru. And to follow those instructions, we must remain in relationship with the Guru. Without a living, personal ideal, how can one attain one’s spiritual goal? Guru Mahārāj is that ideal for us.
Even if we’ve never met Śrīla Prabhupāda personally, we feel connected to him through our Guru Mahārāj. He embodies Prabhupāda’s mood. His caring nature creates a special connection with every soul. Guru Mahārāj never forgets anyone he meets, and no one forgets his service either.

His presence awakens a deep feeling in our hearts—that someone is watching over our devotion, guiding us, nurturing us like a parent nurtures a child. Truly, for me, my parents are my Guru Mahārāj. He is our greatest treasure, our protector, our master, and our goal.

We must strive to fulfill his instructions, which are none other than the instructions of the Supreme Lord. Maharaj constantly reminds us of the value of time. He uses every moment in Kṛṣṇa’s service and wants us to do the same.

So, at your lotus feet, dear Guru Mahārāj, I offer this prayer: please bless us that we may unite all the devotees, construct a beautiful temple as your offering, and fully please your divine heart. May we offer our life, energy, mind, and words for this divine purpose.
Hare Kṛṣṇa. O Gurudeva, at your feet we remain eternally grateful.

HG Padmali Prabhuji:
Thank you all for your wonderful offering and participants for listening till now.
So we end our session here.
Hare Krishna!

Speaker: H.H Lokanath Goswami Maharaja
Date: 07-07-2025
Sub: Glories for Sri Pandharpur Dham

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram
Ram Ram Hare Hare.

I Welcome you all, at ISKCON Pandharpur and also those devotees who are available and performing Japa online at Zoom temple for Japa Talk.
I cannot refrain myself from speaking…. this is my life. So I decided to deliver today’s Japa Talk. Lets see what Sri Sri Vittal Rukmini wants me to speak. We can consider the title of this Japa Talk as the Glories of Sri Pandharpur Dham.

All glories to Pandharpur, All glories to Sri Vittal Rukmini. Sri Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu Ki Jai, Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai.
I will try to cover as much as possible and if something remains uncovered then you all can add, if time permits. 7:30 am will be Darshan Arti
I know you all are eager to have darshan of the Lord too.

Netrotsav is not a one-day festival. I know you all have come here to take divine darshan of the love. When we are performing chanting, we pray to Hari nam. Oh my lord, please help us to see your pastimes “Mam Shravan”, “Mam dharshya”. Please show me your divine self. Which means Netrotsav will also happen.

rama – he rama, presthaya saha svabhista-lilam mam sravaya –

Translation
Rama! O Rama! Give me the opportunity to hear about your own favorite pastimes with your beloved Radha.
hare – he hare, sva-presthena saha svabhista-lilam darsaya-

Translation
Hare! O Hara, Radha! Give me the opportunity to see your intimate pastimes with your beloved Lord.

Netrotsav is not a one-day festival. It can happen every single Day. This Dham is famous for the worship of Sri Sri Vittal Rukmini. All glories to Panduranga. There are a smaller number of places where we worship Sri Sri Vittal Rukmini together. In Dwarka we worship only Dwarkadhish, Rukmini Mai is not accompanying the Lord there.

Pundalik acted as an instrument to make this place famous. Like we say “Yadhe Praphupada na haute”. If Pundalik was not there no one would have not known this Pandharpur dham, or we can say If he was not there then this Dham would have not manifested. We have Pandharpur as well as Gopalpur Dham here. We have Rukmini here as well as Satyabhama and Radhika also. Devotees offer Lord’s mangal Aarti which is famous and is called as Kakada Aarti

Normally Lord is bathed behind the curtains but here is SRI SRI Vittal Temple after mangal Arati, Lord is bathed openly. Devotees can have darshans of Lord’s Abhishek. This is Vrindavan Mood, in Vrindavan this happens. When Mother Yashoda bathe the Lord, then other Vrajavasis are also present and they sometimes assist Mother Yashoda.

In Dwarika Abhishek happened behind the curtains, in vaikuntha this does not happen. Also, in Remuna such Abhishek ceremony takes places in front of devotees.

There are very limited temples, which we may count on fingers where such open Abhisheks are offered. This place is also known as South Dwarka

For Gaudiya Vaishnavas, Lord has established Gopalpur Dham which is the expansion of Gokul in Vridavan.
Krsna jinka nama hai, Gokula jinka dhama hai Aise Sri Bhagavana ko (mera) barambara pranam hai

Translation
He whose name is Krishna, and whose abode is Gokula- unto such a Supreme
Personality of Godhead, I offer my most humble obeisances again and again.

We call also say
“Krsna jinka nama hai, Gokula jinka dhama hai Aise Pandharpur Dham ko (mera) barambara pranam hai”

Translation
He whose name is Krishna, and whose abode is Gokula- unto such Pandharpur Dham, I offer my most humble obeisances again and again.

Lord also performs pastimes of cowherd boy and other pastimes. We call it Gokul, Vrindavan then we should have Govardhan here. How can a place be called as an expansion of Gokul unless it has Govardhan, which is known as Vraj Tilak
So we have Govardhan, Yamuna also here.

Three things are mandatory here.
Residing in SRI Pandharpur Dham, Taking Holy Dip in Chandrabhaga River which is like Yamuna and Having Darshan of SRI SRI Vittal Rukmini

pandharicha vas chandrabhage snan
aanik darshan vithobache

Translation
To dwell in Pandharpur, to bathe in the Chandrabhaga,
And to behold the divine form of Vitthala—
May this alone be granted to me, birth after birth;
I ask nothing else of Lord Shri Hari.
May the holy name always be on my lips,
And may I have the company of saints—
Seeing God in all living beings.
Namdev says: At Your temple’s grand doorway,
May I sing kirtan garlands of love, forever. [By – saint Namdeva]

These three components complete your Pandharpur Dham visit. Also, we should include Kirtan or Nand Brahma or Shabda Braham.
That’s also a very significant part of Sri Pandharpur Dham
They Sing Jai Jai Ram Krishna Hari or hare Krsna in the background along with Kirtans. Also this place is famous for Dindi Yatra

People continue to walk along with Kirtan, dancing on the beats of Kartals and Mridangas.

Gyaneshvar, Naamdev etc were few renowned saints of SRI Pandharpur Dham
Namdev went till Punjab performing kirtans

hari mukhe mahna hari mukhe mahna punyachi ganana kon kari

Translate
The saint emphasizes that simply uttering the holy name of the Lord (Hari) brings immeasurable spiritual merit—so vast that no one can calculate it. It’s a poetic way of saying: the name of God is the greatest treasure, freely available to all.
[By – Sant Dnyaneshwar]

When Srila Prabhupada came to know about my background of being from a family of Warkaris or Dindi then he asked me to Lead Padayatra. And In 1976 we had Padayatra opening which was inaugurated by Srila Prabhupada himself

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa

Translation
“Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.” [CC Madhya 7.128]
Also Shrila Prabhupada instructed me

“Jare Dekha Tare Kaho Hare Krishna Upadesh”, “Hare Nam He Kavelam”

This place is famous for Kirtan and Nand Braham.I think I am the only one whom Srila Prabhupada instructed in this way. This can be verified. With grace of Srila Prabhupada I took padyatra in various countries and India.

tasmāt tvam uttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva
jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham
mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvam eva
nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin

Translation
Therefore, get up. Prepare to fight and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasācī, can be but an instrument in the fight. [BG 11.33]

Also we had famous saints like Ekanath Maharaj and Tukaram Maharaj too from here. All these saints as well as there were innumerable others who had glorified Sri Vittal Rukmini at this place. They have performed kirtan and sankirtan in this Dham
Nearby we have a Narada Muni’s Temple, near Chandrabhaga River. He witnesses all the pastimes taking place here and then he glorifies them.

Sub-Theme: Other Saints who were Popular in this region and glorified Pandarpur

Kanakdas was another Saint, he used to reside in Karanataka. He was no less than Saint Tukaram in his preaching contributions. He witnesses all the pastimes taking place here and then he glorifies them. Besides these Maharastrian saints, The leading Acharyas of all the four Bonafied Sampradayas continued visiting this place

Beside the main temple of Ramanujacharyas’s main temple in Srirangam we have Vittal Rukmini Temple.

Also Sri Vallabhacharya visited this place and he performed Bhagwat Katha here
He is founder Acharya of Pusthi Marg. Worship lord krshna as bal Gopal form. Lord gave him his darshan. He also received the instruction to accept Grashtha Ashram and be engaged in preaching activities

When Shankaracharya visited this place he composed Panduranga Astakam
Though, throughout the India he preached Mayavad Philosophy.
Brhama lingam Baje Pandurangam

Translation
“To the divine symbol of Brahma, Panduranga sings and resounds.”
In Sri Sri Vittal Rumini Temple this Astakam is written on the walls. Also, Shankaracharya was Lord Shiva himself who had appeared in the Form of the devotee. Later Lord Gauranga visited Sri Vrindavan Dham and he performed kirtan

At other places Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would just stay for one night or 1 day
But here he stayed for 11 days. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who had appeared for spreading the Holyname he stayed at this place which is famous as Nad-Brahm

This is not ordinary, place. Sri Nityananda Prabhu also accepted initiation at this place. Vishnu Swami visited this place.

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

Translation
To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.[BG 4.8]

Very soon a magnificent of SRI SRI Radha Pandharinath is going to appear very soon. This seed has sprouted and now with the support from all of you this will very soon manifest. Chandrabhaga Mai is present here.
Mother Ganga was willing to perform Parikrama of the Dham thus he has formed a moonlike curve thus she is named as Chandrabhaga though otherwise it is known as Bhima River

Bhima ani chandrabhaaga
Tujhya charanichya ganga

Translation
The rivers Bhima and Chandrabhaga—
Are like the sacred Ganga at Your lotus feet.

Meaning: The devotee expresses that the rivers flowing through Pandharpur—Bhima and Chandrabhaga—are as holy as the Ganges because they touch the feet of Lord Vitthala. It’s a poetic way of saying: wherever the Lord resides, that place becomes the holiest of all.
Also, in our temple we will have SRI SRI Sita Ram Lakshman Hanuman. Lord Rama means, Krishna or Balaram also. But most prominently it reminds of Lord Rama from Ayodhya.

Everybody was calling out Lord Rama’s name, eagerly waiting for his arrival. Finally Lord is coming, he is coming to ISKCON Bhuvaikuntha Mandir.

HG Hari Kirtan Prabhu Shares you are also one of the Great Saint who has appeared in this region. You have appeared to glorify the importance of this Dham and Saint Tukaram. You have appeared to fulfill the incomplete desire of Lord and his devotees. It is Through you that thousands of devotees are able to have a connection with Lord and Sri Sri Pandharpur Dham

Hg Istadev Prabhu shares I had never thought that the mantra “Jaya Jaya Ram krishna Hari” Mantra can be connected in this way to the altars we are going to have here.

Glories of Lord Rama at Nashik

Maha Satsang on Parsva Ekadashi

ISKCON Nashik

14-09-2024

“uttishthata jagrata prapya varan nibodhata”(kathopanishad 1.3.14)

All these are the same words, hey humans , wake up and understand, Nibodhata, Nibodhata. You have to understand, you have got this boon. All are boons, getting human body is also a boon, more than this boon is to  make a relation to Srila Prabhupada , acharyas and other devotees of Lord and then disciples of Srila Prabhupada.

We are only disciples of Srila Prabhupada, my-self , Bhakti Charu Maharaja,  Gopal Krishna Maharaja, and  Nava Yogendra Maharaj etc but you are grand disciples,  to be grand disciples has more fortune then to be disciples . There is a long list of boons, to be born in India is also a boon, where Ganga, Jamuna and Godavari  flows, and then born at Panchvati, Nashik Dham is also a boon or not?

Jai Sri Ram

That painting is so real, when I came I saw the picture of Sri Ram and still looking it, Ram is sitting there and not only sitting he looking at me and looking at all of you. This is Ram’s Nashik, Nashik was named after Surpanakha’s nose, Nashik is a very ancient place.

Jevha navte charachar tevha hote pandharpur

You must have heard this, these dhams were Including Panchavati  Nasik is also eternal. The world has creation, existence and destruction. But Nasik ,  Vrindavan dham , Ayodhya dham  , Dwaraka dham, Pandharpur dham,  these are eternal places. We can say that Panchavati is 10 lakh years ancient at least . It means Ram came and stayed here 10 lakh years ago . It is possible that where we are sitting, Ram may have come here also. You must have heard the name of Ramtek, which is also called Ramgiri near Nagpur.  There was an ashram of Agastya Muni, who had said that if you want to live in Dandakaranya, then go forward, he gave the address and said you can stay on the banks of Godavari. Then Shri Ram came and stayed in parnakutir which is surrounded by 5 banyan trees. The reason why it is named Panchvati is because 5 meaning pancha and vati meaning banyan trees. They   are the witness that Shri Ram performed His pastimes.

While telling this I remembered, when I was in Los Angeles, California, there was a festival being celebrated ,bicentennial  or two hundredth anniversary that’s why I asked them what was going on, what festival was it, to which they replied that it was anniversary of Los Angeles City and they said it is a very old city, very old city. So I asked how old is your Los Angeles? To which they said 200 years old. So for them 200 years is too old of a time, where is 10 Lakh years and where 200 years, no comparison. This is an old ancient eternal religious abode of Prabhu Shri Ram. ‘keha bole purabe ravana vadhila‘. This is Ramgiri or Ramtek, Tek means pledge, God took a pledge, a vow to destroy all the demons, by raising his bow and arrow . He took a vow to destroy and kill all the demons on earth. Hence, it is called Ramtek meaning Vow of Ram. Lord Ram is known for His words, His vows, one word, one vow, one wife person.

So that way you all are the servant of this place, servant of Lord, which was pre-decided by Himself. Ayodhya resident, then Chitrakut resident and then Ramtek resident and then become Ramtek resident and then become Panchvati Nasik resident , and then Kishkindha resident, 4 months stayed there so many main main places,  there is half dozen of places where Ram stayed otherwise He was traveling almost places, remained a forest dweller. He lived like a forest dweller. (Jai Sri Ram… Jai Sri Ram …ho gaya kam) done work. ‘keha bole purabe ravan vadhila’

People say that jaya jaya jagannātha sacīra nandan tribhūvana kore jār caraṇa vandan Jai Jagannath Jai Sachira Nandan, Tribhuvana worships His feet.

Jagannath  became Ram, Sometimes came as Ram and sometimes as Shyam. I had heard that for the first time and they  said He becames Sai Baba,….and destroyed everything.

Golokera vaibhav lila prakash karila

Translation :

The pastimes of Goloka Vrindavan were manifested in Gokula by the Lord

In the end of dwapar same Jagannath, one name Jagannath, we can say Jagannath, whose Lord Jagannath.? He performed the pastimes of Gokul or Goloka in the end of Dwapara and became a resident of Gokul. and then move forward from there,  and then ‘sri-radhar bhave ebe‘

And then came Kaliyuga, and first evening of the Kaliyuga, evening means joint, joint of the Dwapara and Kaliyuga, in the end of Dwapara

Kali creates obstacles in the path of devotional service. When Bhagavan Munkunda Krsna,  shyam- tyaktva sva padam gatha, left from this planet and went to His planet.

tad dinat kali ayata

From that day Kaliyuga has come. Sarva sadhana badhaka, and it is an impediment everywhere and particularly in devotional service. It also puts us to sleep in class. But those who only chant the holy names do not get troubled by Kali. satyam satyam na samsayah means that it has been said twice over here that there is no doubt about this.

śri-rādhār bhāve ebe gorā avatār hare kṛṣṇa nām gaura korilā pracār

Jaya Jaya Jagannatha Sacira text 4 by vasudeva ghosh

Translation: It is He who has come. He has come! Oh, from Vraja He has come to Nadiya. Accepting the mood and luster of Sri Radha, He has come from Vraja to Nadiya. He has come! Now Lord Govinda, the cowherd boy, has come as Lord Gauranga. He has come to distribute the Hare Krsna Mahamantra!

Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in Radha conscious and He became Radha and preached hare kṛṣṇa nām gaura korilā pracār..

“Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare”

Some personal reasons for appearance of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu .He wanted to  know Radha,’śrī-rādhāyāḥ praṇaya-mahimā kīdṛśo ‘ How is Radha’s love and glory? It was His query. Question of Lord  He became curious. It was one of the reason of appearance of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. At that time He stayed at Jagannath Puri for 18 years and out of 18 years 12 years He did this only

‘śrī-rādhāyāḥ praṇaya-mahimā kīdṛśo’

“ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau (cc adi 1.5)”

This is what Krishnadas Kaviraj Raj Goswami wrote at the beginning of Chaitanya Charitamrita, how Radha and Krsna are? They are one soul.

“ekatmanav api” Even though we have the same soul “ purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau”. They become two from one, and then one becomes Madan Gopal and the other Radha. And then Chaitanya akhyam, this is at the beginning of Dwapar Yuga or Kali Yuga

“caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ“

adhuna means now. Popularly known as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, famous by the name of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ, one soul became two souls, one Radha and one Krsna, now what happens at the beginning of Kaliyuga tad-dvayaṁ caikyam, the two become one again,

rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁnaumi kṛṣṇa-svarūpam

I bow again and again at the feet of such a Lord, he is so great, what is his speciality, “radha-bhava-dyuti” Dyuti meaning aura, meaning radiance, meaning light, one should adopt the mood of Radha and adopt the colour of Radha, what is the colour of Radha? tapta-kanchana-gaurangi, by adopting the same colour, the same body part, He became Gauranga, by staying in Jagannath Puri, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made His personal reason behind His appearance successful in Jagannath Puri. But before that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu takes sannyas and

“paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge” (Bhagvad Gita 4.8)

Translation :

To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.

This is also routine business, what does God do when he appears, “paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge”

So he, Hari Hari, at this time Chaitanya Mahaprabhu does not kill the enemies with any weapon, Parashuram’s axe or bow and arrow like Rama or Sudarshan like Krishna, are you scared? Such Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a kind of empty-handed, this is how he has taken refuge, and taught the world his conduct. All the great men themselves become devotees. Panchatyaatmakam Krishnam devotee form, which is the first Panchtatva, devotee form, then Swaroopkam then Shakti avatar, and then Shivas, etc Gaur devotees, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself becomes a devotee or devotee, devotee and devotee so which devotee has become a devotee, he has become Radha, and in the way, both of them worship each other. One is the God to be served and the other is the God who is a servant, so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also becomes a servant and also serves Radha, so sometimes Radha becomes a servant or maid and serves Krishna, so in this incarnation, Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu becomes a servant in Radha bhaav and serves Radha, so apart from that, his “dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge”

“Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah Sarve Santu Niraamayaah | Sarve Bhadraanni Pashyantu

Maa Kashcid-Duhkha-Bhaag-Bhavet |”

Translation

May everyone be happy, may everyone be free from diseases, may everyone’s life be blessed and no one becomes a part of sorrow. Oh God, grant us such a boon!

For this purpose, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also takes Sanyas and after Sanyas, he travels for six years which is called Madhya Leela, Adi Leela, Madhya Leela and Antya Leela. For six years, he departs from Jagannath Puri three times and returns three times. So in the first round, beginning with Orissa Jagannath Puri, he travelled to all the states of South India

“sarvatra pracāra hoibe mora nāma”(C.B antya kanda 4.126).

He had also prophesied that my name will be propagated everywhere, it will happen everywhere. He did not stop after saying this pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma the name of the earth will be propagated in all the cities and villages on earth. He also said this. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did what he said and demonstrated it. At least within India, when Prabhupada was asked why he did not propagate Harinam outside India, Prabhupada said that if he had propagated it everywhere, then what would we have done. Let this go up to the International Society for Krishna consciousness. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then via Karnataka enters Maharashtra, takes darshan of Mahalakshmi in Mahalakshmi temple in Kolhapur or gives darshan of Mahalakshmi. We do go to take darshan of him, but There Mahalakshmi came down from Vaikuntha, she landed in Kolhapur, you must know Bhrigu Muni was going, who is the best among Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, who is the most tolerant, most tolerant is the best, so in this test Vishnu or Narayan passed the test, he passed, Jai Narayan, Jai ho.

So Bhrigu Muni came, stories, history, everything is there, so whatever Bhrigu Muni did, he came and kicked Bhagvan on His chest when Laxmi was serving his feet. You can imagine mothers, someone came and Laxmi could not tolerate it and she got angry, she did not agree and she left Vaikuntha and came to Kolhapur and did penance, so after that, after Vaikuntha, now the same Vishnu Adi Vishnu or Vaikuntha Nayak Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki Jai.

Vaikuntha Nayak also says, so He gave darshan, you understand, He gave darshan or took darshan, he explained and convinced a bit, and whatever happened. Hence, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu moves forward from there, Pandharpur Dham ki Jai and then comes to Pandharpur.

And then Pandharpur, Pandurang Gauranga,

“kar katavari ttevoniya Tulsi haar gala kase pitambar |Aavde nirantar techi roop|

Translation

Standing on a brick, hands placed on waist. A garland of “tulasi” leaves adorns his neck,  yellow silken cloth, wrapped around his waist. I adore this image, unceasingly, constantly meditating on you. All these things are unthinkable, Pandurang Himself becomes Gaurang, and Gaurang is having darshan of Pandurang, he kept doing the same in other places and other dhams too, there is also a description that he bathed in Chandrabhaga in Pandharpur too, from there he went ahead of the main entrance and ran to reach the darshan mandap, he could not manage in Jagannath Puri, he did not reach Jagannath but reached Pandurang and Gaurang embraced Pandurang, embraced him deeply, there was a time when such visitors used to have darshan, now it has been stopped for some two and a half hundred years, why not, then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu must have done kirtan there, Mahaprabhu in the darshan mandap and there He comes to know, Shri Rangpuri, Shri Rangpuri, disciple of Madhavendra Puri, Shri Rangpuri, he was also present in Pandharpur on coming to know about this, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ran to Shri Rangpuri and on seeing him, Shri Rangpuri did his Sastanga Dandavat Pranam and on seeing the gestures, actions, posture and gait of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Shri Rangpuri understood that this person must have some connection with the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition otherwise such bhava is not possible,

tṛṇād apisu-nīcena, nayanaṁ galad-aśru-dhārayāvadanaṁ gadgada-ruddhayā girā

( shikshashtakam verse 6 )

Translation

O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs of my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name?

All this was going on, so both of them remained there engaged in Hari Katha for seven days and seven nights, so in this way Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spent a little more time in Pandharpur, one is a place named Kohar in Andhra Pradesh on the bank of Godavari where he met Rai Ramananda, he stayed there for a week and when he reached Srirangam it was the time of Chaturmas, he stayed there also for four months, at other places Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to go not just overnight but one night, sometimes in the middle of the night and when he came to know that everyone was awake and Mahaprabhu was leaving, then all the residents of Ayodhya were going behind Ram, the poor trees there were thinking that now we are immovable, we cannot even walk, if we also become human beings If we were there then we too would have followed Rama

“Soduni gela Ram, kasa mala Soduni gela Ram”

Without Ram I don’t get peace, I don’t know what to do, Soduni gela Ram, so just as the people of Ayodhya used to follow Rama, they went for one night only, then Ram wisely left from there, when everyone was resting there, Rama proceeded ahead, and the poor people of Ayodhya had to return to Ayodhya again; this used to happen, whenever Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would leave any village then in large numbers of people would start following him then Ram tricked and went forward and the residents of Ayodhya again had to return to Ayodhya. Same used to happen when Chaitanya mahaprabhu would leave any village then many many people would begin following him therefore to avoid that situation, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping would get up and go forward, so the purport is that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spent more time in a very few places, Pandharpur dham ki jai !

So Pandharpur is also one of that places , I think  11 or 14 days, atleast 11 days calculation is there in the Chaitanya Charitamrit. So from there Sri Krishna Chaitanya mahaprabhu went to a confluence of two rivers named ‘Krishnavenna’, it’s in the Satara city.Sri Krishna Chaitanya mahaprabhu went there and there used to be a class by the local people on the literature “Krishnakarnamrita” and Chaitanya mahaprabhu was also listening to it, the name “Krishnakarnamrita” means nectar for the ears so Chaitanya mahaprabhu copied that literature, he found the fifth chapter of Brahma Samhita already near the Kanyakumari in the ‘Adikeshav temple’, he took that also and from Satara he took Krishnakarnamrit and then he reached Nashik too, he was going to share all that books with the vaishnava’s in Jagannath puri so Chaitanya mahaprabhu came here , Nashik dham ki jai !

‘saptatāla-vṛkṣa’ dekhe kānana-bhitara ati vṛddha, ati sthūla, ati uccatara (CC Madhya 9.312)

Translation

Within that forest Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then visited a place called Saptatāla. The seven palm trees there were very old, very bulky and very high.

So in this area Dandakaranya he saw seven trees , they were too old, stiff, huge, tall,

“saptatāla dekhi’ prabhu āliṅgana kailasaśarīre saptatāla vaikuṇṭhe calila” (CC Madhya 9.313)

Translation

After seeing the seven palm trees, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu embraced them. As a result, they all returned to Vaikuṇṭhaloka, the spiritual world.

Chaitanya mahaprabhu one after the other he embraced each and every tree, as soon as he embraced the trees they went to Vaikuntha with their gross body ,not that only the soul, their branch, sub-branch and trunk as they were proceeded to Vaikuntha

“śūnya-sthala dekhi’ lokera haila camatkāra loke kahe, e sannyāsī–rāma-avatāra“ (CC Madhya 9.314)

Translation

After the seven palm trees had departed for Vaikuṇṭha, everyone was astonished to see them gone. The people then began to say, “This sannyāsī called Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu must be an incarnation of Lord Rāmacandra.

There was neither the evidence not the tree or roots, and many people must have seen this scene, the ancestors of you all, when they saw that scene what were they saying ? “loke kahe, e sannyāsī–rāma-avatāra“, this miracle, there were seven trees everyone used to see , maybe they were taking selfies with special trees but they are no more,when everyone saw this miracle they were thinking “this renunciant is shri Ram, Jai shree ram !”he shri ram aahet “, who else can have such power except Ram ?.( What life is, a life without Ram ?) Some people say life without your embrace (mundane song).there is no peace in life without Ram! just by saying ‘Ra’, we are freed from all the sins, and by saying ‘ma’,t he sins do not enter back again. Jai shree Ram!.

“rama rama rameti rame rame manorame”,

“bramha bole chaturmukha krsna krsna hare hare

mahadev panchmukhe ram ram hare hare”,

Lord Shiva says to ‘manoramā’ Parvati, oh Manorame “aham rame” I relish , what you relish ?, “rāme” , “aham rāme rame manorame”, this is how Sanskrit language is, sweet. So

 “prabhu āsi’ kaila pampā-sarovare snāna pañcavaṭī āsi, tāhāṅ karila viśrāma“ (CC Madhya 9.316)

Translation

Eventually Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu arrived at a lake known as Pampā, where He took His bath. He then went to a place called Pañcavaṭī, where He rested.

Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Panchavati also and there he took rest, this is so summarised right ?I mean in Chaitanya Charitamrita it should have been described in detail, but whatever reason anyway it’s very summarised, or say the ocean is filled in a pot.

So Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraced those trees and delivered them, this miracle is already written but Krishna Das Kaviraj goswami also did not want to repeat it. Pastimes of every place especially the kirtan pastimes of Chaitanya mahaprabhu, Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami was very aged, his hands were shivering, he writes on different places why he is describing in summary, he had no time, he was also counting days left for his departure, but because it was the order of Vrindavan’s Radha Madan mohan, and it was the intense desire of the vaishnava’s that he should write so he was writing, something’s are very short what to do. So certainly here also shri Krishna Chaitanya mahaprabhu must have done maha sankirtan. Chaitanya mahaprabhu’s chief pastimes are these kirtan pastimes only. “sundara-bālāśacī-dulālānācataśrī-hari-kīrtanameń“, Hari used to dance in the kirtans,

“mahāprabhoḥ kīrtana-nṛtya-gīta-vāditra-mādyan-manasorasena”

So just as in Vrindavan Krishna is popular for ‘rāsa’ dance, that same Krishna when become’s Shri Krishna Chaitanya mahaprabhu his chief pastime become’s kirtan lila, “kīrtanīyaḥsadāhariḥ”.  He used to never walk, He would always dance. So here also very much kirtan and dance, that time, 500 years before’s Nasik, Panchavati form will be restablished, the population of this place would be less at that time but this used to happen, when people would come to know that Chaitanya mahaprabhu has reached today to Panchavati, Nasik.

Then  thousands and lakhs of people of different areas would gather here, who was the promoter? There was no SMS, E-mail or Instagram, nothing but Sachinandan Chaitanya mahaprabhu would give such inspiration to the living entities that they used to run ( towards him). So this kind of maha sankirtan has happened in Nasik too and then in the middle of all of us Shri Krishna Chaitanya mahaprabhu ,bāhu tule, bāhu tule, raising His hands that beautiful Gauranga, Shri Krishna Chaitanya mahaprabhu was the mine of beauty, and golden form! There was no one in the universe having golden form, is there anyone golden now ? No golden, black – yes , brown -yes, white we may get in Kashmir or in foreign but golden form!, anyway everyone likes gold they are attracted to gold.

” Go ” for “Gauranga”, “go” for “Gauranga”, so Shri Krishna Chaitanya mahaprabhu with everyone of Nasik present there has done kirtan and dance here and while doing kirtan they it seemed like all the people of Nasik were the puppets in the hands of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he was the puppeteer so he would make them all dance. Haribol! This way he would pick them up and then drop them and Shri Krishna Chaitanya mahaprabhu was a very tall personality and the people of Nasik were not very tall so mahaprabhu would not require any stage everyone could see him, first of all he was tall and then,

“ājānu-lambita-bhujau”

His arms were very long then He would fly high in the sky, and it was enough to do kirtan just once with Chaitanya mahaprabhu, so do not think that He sent to Vaikuntha only seven trees by embracing them, 500 years ago whoever came in contact with Chaitanya mahaprabhu and with him whoever participated in kirtan and dance, by Chaitanya mahaprabhu’s embrace or by his association if trees can go to Vaikuntha then what to speak of humans!.

Devotees: Hari bol !!

There is a possibility that those present here were not  present in that kirtan.If you would be there then. But it is little better late than never. The thing is about better late than never. Again Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has appeared, he is here and to fulfill the prediction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur in 1922 told ,Abhay babu to go to foreign and do what ?

. “sarvatra pracara haibe gurangera  nama”

Preach the message of Krsna conscious and establish Bhagavat dharma and to fulfill this instructions Srila Prabhupada goes to foreign and establishes Krsna conscious movement.

!Srila prabhupada ki jai!

His movement is spreading everyone, it has reached Nashik also. Hari! Hari! .From the last 50,60 years a lot has happened which we say as revolution in consciousness. Not only revolution of thoughts but also revolution of expression. This are expressions, lusty sins , expressions of sins, this change in expressions consciousness  is happening in the whole world .So those who have come in contact with Chaitanya mahaprabhu has been benefited from Chaitanya mahaprabhu Kaliyuga’s Ram is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Kaliyuga’s Krsna is Chaitanya mahaprabhu. He gave his darsana in six armed form  to Sarvabhum Bhattacharya in Jagannath Puri .Three of them were together Ram, Krsna and Chaitanya. So for us Chaitanya mahaprabhu is the closest Srila Prabhupada ki jai ! Srila Prabhupada has favoured the whole world, we are indebted to him. Yes or No ? Yes.

So someone asked how we can get free from this debt to Prabhupada. We are indebted to you, how can we become free from this debt ? Prabhupada said “not possible”. Firstly he said it is impossible then took a pause then Prabhupada said “you could do one thing” .So devotees asked what is that ? Prabhupada replied. Prabhupada said a very famous statement, “You do as I did.” You do as I did or what I started you take make more forward and expand .By such efforts we can become a bit free. We are indebted to Prabhupada and also his disciples so to become free from this debt,

kṛṣṇa se tomāra, kṛṣṇadīte pāro,tomāra śakati āche.

So you have got Sri Krsna Chaitanya mahaprabhu with you in many forms so to give this Krsna to others, “you all are capable.”

Devotees: Hari bol!!

So finally Sri Chaitanya mahaprabhu said,

“bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya janma yāra janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra”

(CC adi 9.41)

Translation

One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.

You have taken birth in Bharat. Is anyone here born in Bharat? Yes? Or born in India? Some person told me that he is not Indian, he is Bharatiya. This way he said that he is not Indian and he is a Bharatiya now. Again the time has come to become Bharatiya. Srila Prabhupada has not only made Indian’s Bharatiya made Americans also Bharatiya

Devotees: Hari bol !!

He made Australians also Bharatiya, made Africans also Bharatiya. So take Krsna conscious forward and forward by everyone being together. The numbers are increasing day by day and it is the need of the hour, it is only needed. What does a jivaneed  ? Tell what does a fish need? Fish needs water like that jiva does not want anything. Give the world to it, the jiva wouldn’t be happy. He won’t be happy !! Won’t be happy !! The jiva needs bhagavan.

Devotees: Hari bol!!

So Hare Krsna Hare krsna krsna krsna Hare Hare

Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram  Hare Hare is also bhagavan .

This Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna is bhagavan Sri Chaitanya mahaprabhu brought this bhagavan with himself and distributed it Radha Madan Gopal ki jaii !! This is bhagavan. Gita, bhagavad are vangmaye murti .  Shastra are themselves bhagavan.

“ ya svayampadmanabhasya, mukha-padma viniharita”

Like this many forms ,dham is also one of the lord’s form . Svaprasadanndilobhai , this you all know Mahaprasadegovinde, today we don’t have to take grain but  prasad is also one of the form of lord, there are many forms of lord. This all has been packed in Iskcon we do its packaging and home delivery we also do, specially Srila prabhupada’s book preaching of Harinam and hosting festivals. Different different festivals are conducted. Thank you that you came and whatever I said think about it and “stop, think and proceed”.

Something else on this ishtagoshti “bodhayantaḥparasparam”,etc can happen. Krsna dhan, krsna dhan, you have got Krishna’s wealth and company ,you are part of the team. We are of the same family, we are one family, “Vasudeva Kutumbakam”. Thank you !

Initiation Class – ISKCON Pandharpur
Guru Purnima – 20 July 2024

This is a moment of great joy because today is your initiation day. This means it is your birthday! Happy Birthday to you! And how will you become truly happy? By chanting Hare Krishna, as Srila Prabhupada would often say: ‘Chant Hare Krishna and be happy.’

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

We must chant the holy name and always remember it. In this way, we will go back to Godhead. The joy of going back to Godhead is beyond words, and then everything will be joyful. This is the kind of joy we are experiencing today with those being initiated. In Western countries, when devotees celebrate birthdays, they sing, ‘Happy Birthday to you, and may you never take birth again.’
I don’t think you understood what I said. Happy birthday to you on your birthday and along with that, I pray and I hope that you all do not have to take birth again. May you never ever take birth again. Would you like to take birth again? No, you will not want to, yes? So then what must you do?

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

Translation
In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.(CC Madhya 6.242)

Today you are about to obtain the Supreme Lord! In what form will you attain the Supreme Lord?

kali kale nama rupe krsna avatara
nama haite haya sarva jagat nistara

Translation
In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krsna maha mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Krsna. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered. (CC Adi 17.22)

In Kaliyuga the Lord comes in His form as the holy name and so be sure that the Lord will incarnate for each one of you. When the Lord appears in every age, sambhavami yuge yuge,He comes in His different incarnations, such as Lord Rama in Ayodhya. The Lord then comes as Lord Krishna in Mathura or Vrindavan, or Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Mayapur.

When we reflect on it, we see that Lord Rama came for the benefit of the entire universe, just as Krishna came to Vrindavana for the same purpose. Similarly, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in Mayapur with this same intention. The Lord also manifests as His holy name, and today, He will appear in this way for all of you.

Then you will all attain your own Krishna, though in truth, you already have Him. The Lord says, ‘sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto’—’I am seated in everyone’s heart.’ Each of you has your own Lord, just as during the Rasa Lila, where the Lord expanded Himself to be with each Gopi.

Each Gopi had her own Krishna and for each Gopi there was one Krishna. One may question, If the Lord expands Himself to be with each Gopi, why does He not do so for us? He has already done that. You all have your own Lord and that He is one, He becomes many, eko bahu syam. As many living entities are there in the material world, the Supreme Lord expands to be with all those living entities and resides in their hearts.

When the conditioned soul is sent to the material world by the Lord, according to his own desires, the Lord does not leave him to go alone into the material world. The Lord goes with that soul.Just like a small child is never left alone by the parents, and especially the mother will never leave the child alone. She will go everywhere with her child. If the child is going to school, she will accompany him to school.If the child needs to go anywhere, then the mother will surely go with the child, and she looks after him and protects him always. In the same way the Supreme Lord is always with us, staying near us all the time and taking care of us. This Lord is in the lotus of our hearts and He also talks to us. He wants us to listen to what He says

‘mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca, – from Me comes remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.’ The Lord keeps reminding us since we have forgotten Him. If one does not want to remember the Supreme Lord then that is another thing, in which case the Lord helps us to forget Him, according to our own desire. Some people say, ‘Oh God doesn’t exist. There is no such thing as God.’

Those who think in this way do so by the will of the Lord. It is the Supreme Lord who inspires these thoughts. If we were certain that the Lord is watching us at every moment, we wouldn’t commit sinful acts. Some may say, ‘There is no God, and if there is, shoot Him!’ They believe that without a Supreme Lord to witness their actions, they won’t face consequences. But even those who deny God’s existence are driven by His will, as He allows them to think according to their desires. The Lord wishes to communicate with us, but when we don’t listen, He comes in the form of the Guru to guide us externally.

The spiritual master is the representative of the Supreme Lord and he represents the Lord. Whatever the Lord wanted to say to us, He says, but we were not listening to Him. That is why the spiritual master comes to meets us to repeat the same things that the Lord is telling us. In doing so, the spiritual master continues to make the living entity understand and persuades him to take up the path of devotional service.

These are the same teachings that Lord Krishna spoke to Arjuna when, by the will of the Lord, Arjuna briefly fell into Maya. Confused and reluctant to follow the Lord’s order, Arjuna hesitated to perform his duty as a warrior, which was to fight his enemies.

For a few moments the Supreme Lord did some magic and Arjuna said, ‘No! No!na ca sreyo ‘nupasyami hatva sva janam ahave’

na ca sreyo ‘nupasyami
hatva sva janam ahave
na kankse vijayam krsna
na ca rajyam sukhani ca

Translation
I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear Kṛṣṇa, desire any subsequent victory, kingdom, or happiness.
(BG 1.31)

Arjuna said, ‘Oh Lord, You are telling me to fight, but my throat is drying up, mukham cha parishushyati. My whole body is shuddering and gandivam sramsate hastat,my bow, the Gandiva, is slipping from my hand and you are telling me to fight!’ In this way the confused Arjuna had to become free from his misunderstanding. Finally he agreed and said, ‘sisyas te ‘ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.’

Arjuna asked the Lord to speak to him for his benefit and ours. The Lord is krishnam vande jagadgurum. The Supreme Lord became Arjuna’s spiritual master, and although the Lord was trying to do the same for us by giving us instructions on what is right and wrong, we could not understand.

That is why the Lord sends His representative, the spiritual master to repeat the same instructions in a way in which we can understand them better. The Supreme Lord who is sitting so close to us in our own hearts tried to give us instructions, but we did not listen or understand His message. That is why we continue having births after births in this material world.

punarapi jananam punarapi maranam punarapi janani jathare sayanam,
iha samsare bahudusare krpaya’pare pahi murare

Translation
Being born again, dying again, and again lying in the mother’s womb; this samsara is extremely difficult to cross over. Save me, O destroyer of Mura, through your infinite compassion.(Bhaja Govindam Adi Shankaracharya Verse 21)

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavān jiva
guru krsna prasade paya bhakti lata bija

Translation
“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service(CC Madhya 19.151)

We are caught in the cycle of birth and death, endlessly going round and round in this universe. To put a stop to this, what does the Lord do for the souls trapped in this cycle? He sends us a spiritual master, or sends us to a spiritual master, making us truly fortunate!

Has the Lord made you all fortunate or not? Today, we witness the rise of fortune for the devotees being initiated, as they receive the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, which will breathe new life into them. You will come alive again and begin to live your life as it is meant to be lived. After all, what kind of life is there without Krishna?

Living without Krishna is like dying, so we must conquer birth and death and move forward. Today, you are being initiated, but you’ve already been chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra for a long time, which is why you are here today. You were students, and now you are becoming disciples. Your counselors and temple authorities must have trained you well to reach this point.

Who knows how long you’ve been chanting sixteen rounds of Japa? The requirement is at least two years of chanting and following the four regulative principles, which you have vowed to uphold. We abstain from intoxicants—including tea and coffee—meat eating, illicit sex, and gambling. We do not take any intoxicants, not even drinking tea and that means coffee also. Sometimes people ask me to have some tea and I tell them that I do not drink tea and coffeee. These are the four pillars of religion, striyah suna panam dyuta yatra papas catur vidha – these are the four kinds of sinful and where Kali resides.
When we engage in these activities, we become servants of Kali.

But today, you’ve renounced your positions as agents of Kali and are joining the guru parampara, becoming disciples of a guru. From now on, you are no longer servants of Kali, but you must be strong, uphold your vows, and avoid offenses against the holy name.

Chant Krishna’s name without offense—aparadha sunya ho’ye loha krsna nama. How should one chant the holy name? Without offense. How many offenses are allowed? Zero. This won’t happen overnight, so you must practice diligently so that the day will soon come in your life.

kabe ha’be bolo se dina amar
aparadha ghuci’, suddha name ruci,
kripa bale ha’be hridoye sancar

Translation
When, oh when will that day be mine? When my offenses ceasing, taste for the name increasing, when in my heart will your mercy shine, when, oh when will that day be mine?(Kabe habe Saranagati 1)

When will that day come in our lives, when what? When we will be able to chant without offense. Aparadha, offenses must be sunya, zero. When Aparadha is guci, zero then one will get ruci for the holy name, attachment. Then we will be able to taste the holy name. Is the holy name easy to be attached to or not? Is it sweet or not? We say yes, but why is the holy name so sweet?

Because Harinama is Hari, the Supreme Lord and is the Lord sweet or not? Madhura dhipater akhilam madhuram, everything about the Lord is sweet. Because the Lord is sweet, His name must be sweet. There is no doubt because the Lord’s name is also the Lord. These confidential talks may continue, but because we carry on committing offenses in chanting the holy name, the sweet name will no longer seem sweet to us.

It can also taste bitter, so we must be alert. I have also seen that some devotees who chantthe holy name, stop chanting. They no longer want to chant. They do not have the desire. Why is this? Because we continue to commit offenses and if we carry on in this way, we will not get attachment to the holy name. Therefore we must be alert.There are ten offenses to the holy name. Who here knows the ten offenses?

Devotee: To blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord..

So one must not only guard against offenses to great devotees, but one must not offend any devotee, or rather all living entities.

Devotee: To consider the names of demigods like Lord Shiva or Lord Brahma to be equal to or independent of the name of the Lord Vishnu.

Devotee: To disobey the orders of the spiritual master.

Devotee: To blaspheme the Vedic scriptures or scriptures in pursuance of the Vedic version.

Devotee: To consider the glories of chanting Hare Krishna to be an imagination.

Maharaja: And?

Devotee: To give some interpretations to the holy name of the Lord.

Devotee: To commit sinful activities on the strength of the holy name.

Devotee: To consider the chanting of Hare Krishna to be one of the auspicious ritualistic activities which are offered in the Vedas as fruitive activities (Karma kanda).

Devotee: To instruct a faithless person about the glories of the holy name

Devotee: To not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter.

It is also an offense to be inattentive while chanting.

Maharaja: Then what is said at the end?

Devotee: Every devotee who claims to be a Vaisnava must guard against these offenses in order to quickly achieve the desired success.

At the end we can add,

vancha-kalpatarubhyash cha
kripa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namaha

Translation
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees and can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

Ananta koti vaisnava vrinda ki jaya!
All glories to the assembled devotees!

Are you all ready to receive Harinama initiation? Also some devotees are receiving Brahman initiation today. They are sitting wrapped in a different coloredchaddar. You will be given separate instructions and I will meet you all separately and at that time I willspeak on the greatness of the confidential Gayatri Mantra and how one should make oneself worthy of chant this mantra.

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)!