KRISHNA-PREMA INCLUDES BHAKTA-PREMA

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

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

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

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

(2)

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

But then there is third verse

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

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

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

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

amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

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

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

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

Then what Lord gives them? He says

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

aparadh sunya haiya laho krsna nama

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

THE HOLY NAME IS FOR EVERYONE ON THE PLANET!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hare Krishna nama Gaur karil prachar.

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

pruthvite aache yat nagaradi gram sarvatra prachar hoibe mor naam.

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

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

Krsna shakti vina nahi tar pravartan ( CC Antya 7.11)

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

Hare Krishna!!

SIT PROPERLY WHILE CHANTING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HUNDREDTH DAY OF “ LET’S CHANT TOGETHER!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hare Krishna!!

LORD HAS APPEARED FOR ‘ME’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

jiva jago jiva Jago gauracanda bole

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

tomar late ami hoinu avatar ami vina bandhu ke ace tomar

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

Kenechi aaushadhi maya nashibar lagi Harinaam mahamantra laho Tumi magi

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

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

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

HOW TO CELEBRATE HOLI!

I am sure you must have enjoyed the Gaur Purnima festival yesterday. Wherever you may have been, you must have taken part in Gaur Purnima festival. Are you happy? Enjoyed? Rest of the Indians and Hindus were enjoying Holi , throwing colours and using pichkaris. Hare Krishna devotees were enjoying Holi festival differently, by chanting and dancing. nama nace jiva nace nace premadhan. ( Harinama Cintamani) For the devotees, Harinama was dancing and Jiva was also dancing. You are dancing means that’s the sign that you are happy. Happy people dance. Sometimes mad people also dance, but we are also becoming mad by chanting and we dance.

This holy festival is a festival of Radha and Krsna or Gopis and Krsna or may be also of some cowherd boys. These days they play Holi, but people don’t have any clue that this is Radha Krsna’s pastimes. They forget Krsna. They forget Radha or they themselves become Radha and Krsna. So this is dharmasya glanir that Krsna talks about in Bhagavat Gita – declination of the religious principles. They keep Krsna and Radha out of the picture. They play Holi twithout Radha and Krsna. That is dharmasya glanir and abhyutthanam adharmasya. ( BG. 4.7) Lord appears to facilitate the rise in pure religion. So this pure spiritual activity holi is made into mundane play or mundane entertainment devoid of Radha and Krsna. My thought on Gaur Purnima day was that Radha and Krsna also play holi. They join together and they appeared together as Gauranga Mahaprabhu. sri krsna caitanya radha krsna nahi anya. Radha and Krsna appeared on Holi Purnima day and the day became Gaur Purnima. Then we could play holi every day. When the Lord appeared and krsna prema pradaya te. ( Gaur pranam mantra) He gave himself to us, take me. I also said yesterday , on the Gaur Purnima talk that it was the appearance of Gauranga. So many others came with a birthday gifts. Sita Thakurani had come from Santipur with lots of gifts. Lord received gifts on his birthday party and he also gave a gift. He was receiving some gifts and he was giving out the gift which he had brought from Goloka to everyone . That gift is

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

Take it , have it. The Lord who plays, Radha and Krsna they play holi, on Holi day. , Krsna Caitanya gave us Radha and Krsna on that same holi day. Take Radha and Krsna. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was giving us Hare Krsna , Hare Krsna which means take Radha and Krsna. ‘Take Me and take My Radha. So in this ways we, Gaudiya Vaisnavas play holi differently by keeping Radha and Krsna in the centre. We chant the holy names and dance and we play holi. For us everyday is also Holi. Everyday we get the association of Radha and Krsna. So we are very grateful. What can we say? The Lord has given us the gift of the holy name. So we should be saying ‘ Thank you Krsna for this gift.’ We have no words to express our gratitude. This holy name is just his causeless mercy. Hari! Hari! Prabhupada has given this gift, Guru Maharaja has given us this gift. But first the Lord brought the gift. Prabhupada or any of the previous acaryas have not produced this gift. We are not the producer or creator. We heard of this amazing or out of this world kind of gift. This gift is like, before the battle of Kurukshetra, Lord was approached by Arjuna as well as Duryodhana. Lord gave his choice to both of them – one share will be My army – Narayani Sena and other was Myself – Dwarkadhish.’ Choose. Guess who received which share. Duryodhan was happy getting army of the Lord and Arjuna was happy to have Krsna on his side. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave us the gift. It’s not like you can take the gift and go away. Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave Himself , just like Arjuna received Krsna. He has given Himself to us. He has not given some item, but has given His whole self. purna mukta nitya suddha abhinnatvat nama namino. Lord who is full and complete that is the holy name. That was given to us by Gauranga yesterday as he made his appearance 533 years ago. If we could realise what is this gift or what is the value of this gift, that would be Krsna realisation or nama realisation then we would fully realise the holy name. This is Radha and Krsna. By chanting and chanting and chanting it will make us realise this holy name. Then we will realise this holy name is Krsna himself. So remember to think and thank the Lord for that.

Tomorrow during the japa session time I will be in the train from Nagpur to Nasik. Once I tried in the train and it had worked. So let’s see. Hopefully if the internet is favourable we will be able to connect. So see you tomorrow.
Hare Krsna!

YUGADHARMA – HARINAMA SANKIRTANA!

Hare Krishna to all the chanters. Today’s score is 390 participants. I was expecting a bigger number being Gaur Purnima. Around me about 100 devotees are chanting. Many other participants are with bigger groups. There are lots of messages about ‘Happy Gaur Purnima’. I also wish you Happy Gaur Purnima!! This wish for you to be happy is not only on Gaur Purnima , but every single day you could be happy by chanting Hare Krishna! Srila Prabhupad’s message to the whole world is ‘chant Hare Krishna and be happy. But it’s also said, there is no other way –

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha ( CC Adi 7.26)

There is no other way. Sri Krsna Caitanya also repeated this message in Varanasi to Prakashananda Saraswati. The whole was debate going on . Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu attempted to establish the glories of the holy name. No one is equal to him and no one is above him. That Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu also said harer nama harer namaiva kevalam. There is no other way. You shut up. That time Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu also said to Prakashanands Saraswati, ‘My Guru Maharaja said to me murkh tumi… ‘ You are the fool. You are not competent to study the vedas. You are just fit for chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. This is the age of Kali and you cannot study the Vedas. The sole purpose of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu who appeared today on Gaur Purnima day was to share the holy name, propagate the holy name all over the world. To establish this chanting of Hare Krishna is the dharma for the age of Kali. That Lord was in debate with Prakashananda Saraswati. He successfully established the glories of the holy name defeating everybody. He said

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge ( BG. 4.8)

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

I appear to establish Dharma in every age. This is the age of Kali and kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha. So religion for age of Kali is chanting of Hare Krishna. As he was talking to Prakashananda Saraswati, who had 60,000 disciples. I don’t know how many were present at that time. There must be thousands if not sixty-thousand. Caitanya Mahaprabhu further explained his personal experience, his realisations of the glories of the holy name. His realisations – self realisation, god realisation , holy name realisations. He shared that with Prakashananda Saraswati. He said –

mūrkha tumi, tomāra nāhika vedāntādhikāra
‘kṛṣṇa-mantra’ japa sadā, — ei mantra-sāra (CC Adi 7.72)

“ ‘You are a fool,’ he said. ‘You are not qualified to study Vedānta philosophy, and therefore You must always chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. This is the essence of all mantras, or Vedic hymns.

He said mūrkha tumi. You are fool. That means you are all fools, including myself. That’s the idea. In front of Guru you are fool. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘I received the holy name from my Guru Maharaja and I started chanting. He said as he started chanting the holy name, he had full realisation, Krsna realisation, Vrindavan dham realisation, nama, rupa ,guna ,dham, lila realisations. One thing he wanted to do immediately was to run to Vrindavan – from nama to dham. For us that takes a lot of time. We receive the holy name then bahu-janma. This part He has shared with Prakashananda Saraswati, that He returned chanting and chanting. ‘I returned to Nabadwip chanting and dancing, in a state of mind that all the people watching me saw my trembling body, shedding tears, singing, sometimes rolling on the ground, stunned and what not. So they all started calling me ‘Pagal pagal’!! He has gone mad. Massage him with some special oil. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘I went back to my Guru Maharaja and asked him ,

kibā mantra dilā, gosāñi, kibā tāra bala
japite japite mantra karila pāgala ( CC 1.7.81)

My dear lord, what kind of mantra have you given Me? I have become mad simply by chanting this mahā-mantra!

What kind of mantra have you given me Guru Maharaja ? What a powerful mantra. As I have been chanting,I have gone mad.

namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis ( Siksastakam verse 2)

This mantra has all the power, which mantra
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAM RAM HARE HARE

Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said in Harinama Cintamani – nama nace jiva nace nace premadhan. When there is chanting the holy name begins dancing. It means Radharani is dancing and Krsna is dancing. Jiva nace means jiva joins this dancing party. Nace premadhan means this wealth of the Harinama is also dances. The holy name is dancing. So when there is chanting everybody is dancing. Lord begins dancing and Chanting. Jiva – the chanter begins chanting and dancing. Of course this is the perfection, topmost evolution, full of devotion . When it is aroused, this is what happens nama nace jiva nace nace premadhan. One time Prabhupada said that the goal of life is to join the dancing party of Radha and Krsna. There are also comments of the acaryas, commenting on the holy name. They say when we chant the mahamantra and when we say Hare which is Radharani’s name then Krsna becomes very happy. Someone is chanting my Radha’s name and He begins dancing. He becomes jubilant. As the chanter chants Krsna then Radharani who is not far from Krsna exclaims, “Oh! Someone is chanting my Krsna’s name and She becomes very happy .

As we say Hare, Krishna begins dancing and as we say Krishna, Radha begins dancing. Then this is – nama nace . Nama nace – names and the forms are non-different. abhinnatvat nama namino. ( Padma Purana). As we chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna , the name is dancing, Radha Krishna are dancing and the living entity, Jiva also begins dancing seeing my Radha and Krsna dancing. Of course this is the perfect stage – nama siddhi. When we attain the perfection in chanting the holy names of the Lord then this is siddhi or perfection. We are sadhakas,not siddhas as of yet which could only be achieved by practice. Practice makes man perfect. So better chant everyday, all the time of the day. Then one day we will attain perfection. On this occasion of Gaur Purnima day, take your chanting seriously. Let your faith in holy name increase, because not to have faith in the holy name is an offense. My best wishes for you – May your faith increase day by day.

So we will stop here. I will be giving Gaur Purnima class at 8.00 am, if you have time and interest you can watch it on Facebook. Class will be in Hindi.

During the day we will be installing Ananta Sesa at our new temple project site. We will be praying and begging Lord Ananta Sesa to hold the whole project on his transcendental hoods.

Okay, we stop here. Hare Krishna!

IN SUCH A STATE OF MIND…..

At one point we had 404 participants. 84 years old Mokshada Mataji was the eldest devotee chanting with us. There were many young devotees from VOICE and BACE. So all young and old are joining the conference. They all are chanting with us. That us includes you all , me and why not? That us also includes Gauranga – Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We are chanting with Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We are chanting with Krsna or at least our goal is to chant with the Lord. Chant so that He makes His appearance, we feel His presence. We do Japa yoga and we establish our connection with the Lord so we pray that He gives us his association, as we chant. As He has promised

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

Neither do I reside in Vaikuntha nor in the hearts of the Yogis, but I dwell where My devotees sing My name, Oh Narada !

Wherever My devotees are chanting, I am present there. That becomes My address. You will find Me where My devotees are chanting. So we are chanting and a promise is a promise. I am sure the Lord is keeping His promise. He said you just chant I will be there. We are confident He is keeping his promise and giving us His association. The Lord is more than a gentleman. It is a gentleman’s promise. Of course each one of us has to experience the presence of the Lord and that presence will depend upon the purity of our chanting or surrender unto the holy name, unto the Lord.

ye yatha mam prapadyante
tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
mama vartmanuvartante
manusyah partha sarvasah ( BG. 4.11)

As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.

Lord reciprocates to the degree of our surrender, and to that degree we will get association. Some get less , some get more. It’s up to you how much you are willing to surrender unto the Lord. So let’s keep chanting.

nama asraye kari jatan tumhi tako apan kaje

So let’s keep surrendering to the Lord. Let’s keep surrendering to the holy name of the Lord. That is what we practice every time we chant. We wanted to do that in the mood of surrender and mood of helplessness also. Help! Help! Aayi nandtanuj… that prayer is also there. My dear lord, you are the only refuge. In that prayer we beg to the lotus feet of the Lord to accept us and fix us at his lotus feet. Engage us in service of his lotus feet. In order to give us shelter, or to give us opportunity to surrender unto him Lord appeared 533 years ago. Gauranga appeared. Gaur Purnima is just one day from now. He kindly appeared.

Golokam ca parityajya lokanam trana-karanat kalau gauranga-rupena lila-lavanya-vigrahah.( Markandeya Purana)

This is the verdict of puranas. Lord left His Goloka behind and He appeared in this world to save us, to protect us, to give us relief from distress, from all sorts of miseries. It is said and it’s also true. Prior to His appearance in the evening as Nimai, the Lord appeared during the day yet in another form. That form is the holy name.

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

Caitanya Bhagavata describes that the Lord was kindly bringing many, many persons, conditioned souls on the banks of Ganges, bringing them to Dham. Some sinners were coming. Normally they are not in the mood to come to the dham or come to Ganga. On lunar eclipse the Lord kindly compelled them or kindly drag them. Changed their whole attitude, their consciousness and they were all running. They were all practically running to the bank of the Ganges chanting – Har har Gange and chanting of Hare Krishna mahamantra. Lord was throwing his mercy on all those in the form of holy name. Giving himself to them in the form of the holy name. kali kale krsna rupe nama avatar (CC Adi 17.22) Lord kindly before appearing in the evening at the time of moonrise or Sunset , during the day he appeared in the form of Holy name. Sastra’s describe we should all remember this kali kale naam rupe Krishna avatar. In the age of Kali Lord appears in the form of Holy name. We should all take full advantage of this merciful form of the Lord. This naam- Swarup of the Lord. Nama is Swarup of the Lord. It is said about holy name that. – nama Cintamani’

rasa vigraha nitya shuddha nitya Mukta abhinnatvat nam namino. ( Padma Purana )

So holy name is nama Cintamani. Like dham Cintamani’, nama is also Cintamani. Caitanya rasa vigraha. It is full of Caitanya, full of consciousness, full of Krishna consciousness. Rasa vigraha full of rasa.its nectarean. It’s nittya – eternal. It’s purna – complete, suddha – pure. What else abhinnatvat nama namino. The Lord and His name are non different. Because of establishing a relationship with nama prananti we will become enlivened. There will be life flowing. Rasa vigraha. It’s full of rasa anandabhudhi vardhanam. – full of happiness. In such a state of mind as we have been describing , understanding the naam-tattva, with humility and in prayerful mood, “ in such a state of mind” , actually lot more could be said about This – “ such a state of mind”, but I just mentioned few things . In such a state of mind one can chant holy name of the Lord constantly. If we have such a state of mind then we will be able to chant holy name of the Lord constantly, that is the idea.

Okay, we will stop here. I am still here at Radha-Gopinath temple . We are getting ready for tomorrow’s installation of Ananta Sesa. We are setting the scene. You are all welcomed. Wish you all a happy Gaur Purnima festival. Gauranga!!!
Hare Krishna!

Some devotees are joining now when we are about to finish. We are 407 participants today. Congratulations! Because of your efforts, numbers are on the rise. There were 400 participants which actually means that actual chanters may be 600 or above as many chant in groups.

Some of be you are joining little late. The first batch to join is from Russia and South Africa. They are taking so much trouble to get up early in the morning. Also Mauritian devotees are getting up early. From India they are a little behind. They should be the first ones. Because this is a favourable time. We are beginning the conference somewhere around 5.45 am. We will appreciate it if you could join the conference from the very beginning. Some of you are catching us at the end, but then you miss all fun – the joy of chanting together. So try to be on time. Early to bed early to rise makes a man and woman also healthy, wealthy and wise. So sleep early and get up early and chant .

We had also been mentioning, – Healthy, Wealthy and Wise! How would this help you to become wealthy? How does getting up early in the morning and chanting Hare Krishna make you wealthy? This holy name is wealth. It’s the most valuable gift. It is Krsna himself. So we begin acquiring Krsna early in the morning. We begin our fixed deposits at 5.00 am. Every one begins making money at 10.00 or 11.00 am when they open their shops. They may be making money then, but we make money from 5.00 am. Some devotees start even earlier than that. In our recent GBC meetings, there was talk about japa. Some of the sannyasis, Gurus were saying , ‘I get up at 2.00 am in the morning and chant my rounds before mangal-aarti.’ One leader, Narahari Prabhuji from Hawaii said this. We address these kind of devotees who get up early morning and chant their Hare Krishna as “Dhanya ho!” You have become wealthy, enriched, richer by chanting Hare Krishna. For this purpose acquire this wealth, which is acquiring Krsna. Get up early in the morning and first business is to chant Hare Krishna. Everything else comes later.

I just remembered, once HH Radha Govinda Maharaja was saying, “People generally say , we have no time, we are so busy. We have this to do, that to do. If we become free, if we find time then we will chant Hare Krishna or then we will come to the temple. We will read Bhagavad-Gita when we are free, as we have so much to do.” It should be the other way round. We should think, I have so much to do in my spiritual practices. I need so much time for my chanting, so much time for darsana. I need so much time for sadhu sanga. I have to read Bhagavatam. nityam bhagavata sevaya. ( SB. 1.2.18) I have so much to do, if I have some free time from this, then I will do some other things. If only I find time after doing this spiritual business, then I will think of doing this or that. This was Radha Govinda Maharaja’s point about giving priority to spiritual life and spiritual practices. Take care of our soul. Take care of yourself. That we have to take care of one self. If we have to make atma as mahatma, then what Radha Govinda Maharaja was saying was very true. Give priority to your spiritual practices, nourish your souls. Then you are richer or dhanya.

We have a few days to go before Gaura Purnima. I am here at ISKCON Nagpur. As I told you all yesterday, we are preparing to celebrate Gaura Purnima. There will be lots of chanting and hearing and prasada in the evening. During the day we are going to commence construction of our dream project of Radha Gopinath temple and international Vedic Cultural Centre. We will be installing Lord Ananta Sesa. He will be ready to hold the project on his transcendental hoods. So all the devotees, life members and patrons are getting ready. This year’s Gaur Purnima will be celebrated by commencing construction of Radha Gopinath temple of ISKCON Nagpur. You are all welcome to join. My god brother Haripad Prabhuji will be attending the function. So we will have the association of senior devotees , Prabhupad disciples on Gaura Purnima.

Guru Maharaja showed the Deity of Ananta Sesa to be installed before starting of construction

Take darsana of Ananta Sesa. He will be installed. He will hold the project on His hoods on the day of Gaura Purnima.

We will stop for the day with that announcement. You will get a report of festivities here. We will meet tomorrow. You have to chant more and more attentively as Gaura Purnima is approaching, coming closer and closer.

Hare Krishna!

BECOME A DEVOTEE OF THE DEVOTEES!

Our score for today is 397. Just a shortfall of three or four to cross the mark of 400. We have to double the number in next hundred days.

Chant together. A family that chants together, stays together. By chanting together we develop bonds of love with the Lord and with the devotees of the Lord. Remember we don’t just wish to have loving dealings with the Lord. No! No! That’s not complete. We must also have loving dealings with the devotees. You love the Lord and be friendly with the devotees. prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā (SB 11.46) is what the sastras say. We love the Lord. Have friendly relationships with devotees. We express our kindness and compassion to the faithful newcomers. We avoid or stay away from those offending Visnu and Vaisnavas. We keep a distance from those who are anti-Visnu, anti-devotees. As we chant our goal is to revive our dormant Krishna consciousness. To become Krishna conscious also includes becoming devotee conscious. You love the Lord, but do you hate the devotees, ‘Oh! I hate him, I hate her.’ If you are in this state then you lack Krishna consciousness , you are only partially Krishna conscious. If you love the Lord and hate the devotees, that means something is lacking. Not only do you have to be friendly, but you have to serve the devotees as well.

I know we’re very expert in offending the devotees. Very expert! Naturally we offend Vaisnavas. But that is in fact unnatural materially natural ,spiritually unnatural. We have to be friendly with devotees. Gadadhar Pandit has defined the friend as – Friend in need is friend indeed. We are in need of help at the time of japa and otherwise. Those devotees who help fulfil our need we call friends. We need help. Help! Help! Help! Help that we need to become Krishna conscious or attain Krsna, to go back to Krsna. From where are we going to get that assistance? It’s from devotees or through devotees. We have to search assistance that help from devotees of ISKCON. Those devotees who are around you, in your temple, in your house, in devotee society around you only those will help you. Ultimately when we are saying,Help! Krsna help! Krsna will help us. Our Guru will naturally help us. Krsna or Guru is going to help you through some devotee around you. Maybe he is sending a helping hand to you. We are not independent. We are dependent. There is also term called interdependent where we depend upon each other. With this we could talk about cooperation. What kind of operation? Cooperation. Co means two. We accept help, gifts , whatever. All the time that’s not the best policy, we also have to give. Take help, give help. So this again reminds us of

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam (Nectar of Instruction – verse 4)

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

Our acaryas have given this formula to develop loving bonds with other Vaisnavas wherever you are. There are Vaisnavas around you. So how to deal with them? There is give and take. Give gifts , exchange gifts, exchange your hearts. Guhyam – something that is confidential. Share with devotees. They should also share that intern with you. bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva. You share prasada with them and you also honour prasada from them. Today is the big prasada distribution program that ISKCON is conducting at Santipur. Advaita Acharya’s place. Hundreds or we can say thousands of ISKCON devotees are arriving today at Santipur and they will be distributing some forty to fifty thousand prasada plates. Anyone who receives or honours prasada at Santipur , receives love of Godhead. Our religion is also known as the kitchen religion. We cook, offer it to the Lord and then we share it with the devotees. These are priti- laxanam or loving dealings.

Before we stop , I would like to congratulate Muralimohan Prabhuji from Ahmedabad, for conducting one day Padayatra yesterday. They chanted Hare Krishna throughout the long walk. I don’t know where it was, somewhere around Ahmedabad. There was lots of book distribution also. Hundreds of Srila Prabhupada books were distributed. At the end they had some picnic. They honoured prasada and had a good time. They did –

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva

Thank you Muralimohan Prabhu. Others could also take it up and arrange one day Padayatras. Jaybhadhra mataji also arranged one day Padayatra in Amaravati. All young girls of ISKCON IGF took to the roads. We congratulate them also.

I am here in Nagpur. I will be here till Gaur Purnima. I will celebrate Gaur Purnima here. There will be inauguration of ISKCON’s Radha Gopinath temple in Nagpur. Construction will be inaugurated on Gaur Purnima day. It’s an auspicious day. It’s the appearance day of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. If you all can come , you are welcome. Sundarlal Prabhuji is doing four days Gaur-katha in Mauritius. In US they celebrated Gaur Purnima two days back, on the weekend as Gaur Purnima is falling on a week day. Outside India they do like that. So Gaur Purnima season has started. Be prepared. Gauranga! Gauranga! This is the time to be absorbed in Gauranga by hearing Gaur katha. Many temples organise many days of Gaur Katha a few days before Gaur Purnima. Go on listening to Gaur Katha and go on doing Krsna Kirtana and prepare for the grand celebrations of Gaur Purnima which is just in a few days. Develop your love for the Lord and be friendly with devotees. If there are few devotees that you have been offending, if that was your program, you can stop your program of offending devotees. Stop that nonsense! Be friendly with devotees. See how you can serve them and not offend them anymore. amanina manden, if you could do that Gauranga – Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu will be so pleased. Krsna has claimed, “If you say ‘I am your devotee’ No!No! You are not my devotee. If you say , ‘ I am devotee of your devotee ‘ then He will say,’ Yes! now you are my devotee.’ So try to understand what is on Krsna’s mind. How you can become a devotee of Krsna. By becoming a devotee of the devotees. Then the Lord will bless you and be very pleased with you. Make that kind of offering to Caitanya Mahaprabhu for Gaur Purnima. Become a devotee of the devotees of the Lord. So we will stop here and will meet again.

Hare Krishna!