17 July 2019

Utsava Gives Utsaha

Devotees are back from Pandharpur. Now they are joining us again on zoom conference. When I see you all chanting, I feel very happy.

How was the festival? From utsava comes utsaha. I hope it has inspired you in your devotional life. I hope you all have benefited from the festival. Lots of memories of Prabhupada were shared and some memories about myself were also shared. There was Prabhupada ghat opening, pandal programs and prasadam. Lots of association with devotees.

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam (NOI Verse 4)

Some rare souls managed to get darshan of Panduranga, lakhs of warkaris come for darshan, so having darshan of Panduranga, for all was not possible. I want you all to share your realizations about the festival. Some liked my kirtan, the management, the pandal programs, Prabhupada glorification, my house at Aravade, the lectures at Dehu. The Nityananda charan event, association of devotees, Srila Prabhupada ghat was liked by many devotees. Many were watching the festival online also. Some liked prasadam, 8500 devotees honored prasadam and all the prasad management was by Chowpatty devotees, Gauranga prabhuji and his team. I am grateful to them. They arranged breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some liked travelling with me for 3 days.

6000 books were distributed, Prannath Prabhu was in charge of book distribution. Some liked pada-puja. Bhakti Vedanta gurukul we have started. The padayatra bulls were attraction for the warkaris and some of you have not seen bulls.

‘Guru vidhi japa nidhi’ book published by Akinchan Bhakta Dasa, thanks to him. Also we have found marathi devotee who also wants to publish japa talk in marathi and also in English, work is going on.

To me the drama was inspirational it gave me boost, it was amazing. I was overwhelmed watching the drama. From that moment, I was not the same person any more. I thank Svetadvipa Prabhu from Pune.

Chandrabhaga temple was liked by many. Many books were published and one of them “Amcha Lokanath” in Marathi was liked by the Marathi devotees. Some said Vyasa puja event was memorable. 500 devotees walked from Dehu to Pandharpur, that was inspiring. Some liked adivasa in the evening and kirtan of Kamalochan Prabhu. Someone liked 70Kg cake. Someone said I was afraid of dancing but as I joined ISKCON I happily danced in kirtan. Istagosthi with devotees, arrival of All India Padayatra was liked by many. My dance was liked by some, I am an old man now.

‘Yadi prabhupada na hoite’ –then I could not imagine, this Pandharpur festival would not be there, so all credit goes to Srila Prabhupada ki ..jai!

priti lakshanam,

I hope you all must have experienced priti lakshanam. Some liked Bhakti Vikas Maharaja books. 7000 prasad plates were distributed. 7000 japa malas were distributed by Keshav Prabhu’s team. We had 70 hours kirtan mela. And it was 7 days festival. 4 days in Pandharpur and 3 days in travelling we reached Dehu. Now your memories are unending.

Keep chanting,

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

While chanting you have topics to remember to think about in Pandharpur. High thinking, you could remember those high point, those highlights of the festival.

You could read and also write down and post your comments about the festival. You could also share your memories about the festival that inspired you.

Hare Krishna

16th July 2019

Inspiring devotion of Tukaram Maharaja

So, the part of the preparation, this morning chanting, we prepared the previous day, so that we could chant better, chant attentively during the morning hours. So, I would say, for me, I have prepared. I did the preparation, of my this morning chanting yesterday as we visited Dehu Gaon, the birth place of Tukaram. Yesterday, as we visited Dehu Gaon, the Dehu village, of course, we had several hundreds of devotees with us. We were remembering and sharing the memories of Tukaram, so that is inspiring, that has become an inspiration for this morning’s chanting. As I was chanting today, this morning, I was remembering our visit to Dehu Gaon, the life of Tukaram Maharaja. Hari Hari!

So, this is certainly Lord’s arrangement. Lord sends His pure devotees into this world and the way they live their lives and their dealings and thoughts and acts and all their dealings, whatever they do, becomes an inspiration, a glaring example for the whole world to follow.

Does Vaikuntha exists?

So many ask this question; we all have that question. So, yesterday we were there, we visited the Vaikuntha Viman landing spot and then we remembered the whole episode how Tukaram boarded that plane. While leaving his last words were, he had compiled four thousands abhangas. The last abhanga he recited that he compiled and spoke, sang, as he sat on the plane.

ami jati amchya gava amcha rama rama ghyava

This was his last abhang wherein he sings, “I am going back to home, please, accept my Ram Ram Ram Ram, I am going.” He went, the aircraft, Vaikuntha Viman departed and he never returned. Now, these villagers, of course, they were thinking that Tukaram will make a few rounds up there and will come back.

ami jati amchya gava amcha rama rama ghyava

His gaon is right here. But they were disappointed. They were waiting and waiting for hours, for days, but Tukaram never returned as the aircraft never returned, went back to home, back to Vaikuntha or back to Goloka. So, he is giving some proofs like this. You want a proof of Vaikuntha or Vaikuntha exists and people go back to home? Look, there is life of Tukaram or departure of Tukaram, he left for Vaikuntha. Hence, there is no samadhi of Tukaram also. In Alandi there is a Samadhi but there is no samadhi of Tukaram or anywhere on this planet, there is no samadhi of Tukaram. This is another amazing thing, with his own body, he departed. So, it is an amazing evidence of the existence of Vaikuntha of devotees leading the life of devotion, they do go back to home, back to Vaikuntha or Goloka.

kirtaniya sada hari

Tukaram Maharaj always chanted the holy names of Panduranga, Panduranga, jai jai Ram Krishna Hari. So, it was difficult for him to stop singing and chanting. For us, it’s difficult to chant, utter these names, But Tukaram, once he started chanting and singing, he would just go on and on and on and he was unstoppable. So, he was always doing as is expected by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He gave goal to His devotees, kirtanya sada harih! And Tukaram Maharaja, yet, another example of someone who did kirtaniya sada hari all the times.

Then one morning, a person, he was not a gentleman, he was an anti-party, he was an offender, he had come to Tukaram’s home. He inquired, “Tukaba, are you here?” So, the family members told, “No, he would be just now coming. Please hold on, just wait here.” So, after some time, Tukaram returned. During the morning hours, he had gone to the fields to take care of his body, pass stool. Coming back, and this person who was vaisnava aparadhi, Tukaram aparadhi, he saw Tukaram returning. Seeing he had lota in his hand, in Tukaram’s hand, he asked, “Did you take bath?” “No, not yet.” “And you are chanting, doing harinama, kirtana, without taking bath? Such a fool you are! Offender! You do not know the basic rules how to keep clean, ‘suchi’, and then begins the process of worship or chanting or dharmic activities he performed.”

So, Tukaram said, “I am sorry, I, it’s very difficult to follow, for me to follow this rule and only after I have taken my snana, my bath and then I begin my singing or remembering or worshiping. “And Tukaram Maharaja said, “You know, I am not able to stop chanting. It’s beyond me. Something within me is forcing me, dictating me, prompting me to chant and I just cannot stop. If you wish, you could try stopping my chanting.” Then there is this person, the aparadi, the karmakandi, paakhandi, he stepped forward and he held the neck of Tukaram tight so that he does not chant but the chanting did not stop. Now, not only his mouth was chanting, Tukaram’s whole body was chanting. From the pores of his body there was the trance of the holy name of the Lord. His body was trembling and vibrating and singing was on and neither Tukaram was not able to stop chanting on his own and neither any external forces or parties were able to stop that chanting because, in fact, personalities like Tukaram, of course, nobody’s body chants, its soul chants.

So, Tukaram’s soul is chanting and he is chanting and chanting and never stopping. So, this way we also heard and remembered how Tukaram Maharaja was always doing his kirtaniya sada hari activity or process. Now, we also remembered, one thing, there are karmakandis and pakhandis and hypocrites and offenders; offenders of the vaishnavas, aparadis and nama aparadis. And Tukaram was becoming popular and well known, he was loved by all and they were not very happy with the name, fame, glory of Tukaram Maharaja.

Similar to what they did to Sri Namacarya Srila Hari Das Thakura, a prostitute was sent to Tukaram, like was sent to Hari Das Thakura. And the prostitute tried her best and she could not succeed as Tukaram was busy absorbed in bhajan with his veena in one hand, chipdya- some kind of kartal, and he is absorbed and singing, ‘Jai Jai Ram Krishna Hari, Jai Jai Ram Krishna Hari.’

So, what could the poor prostitute do? Tukaram was fully absorbed and fully satisfied within chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no vacancy with something external or outside. Tukaram was calm and just happily chanting. So, prostitute did all that she could do, was dancing and trying to get the attention of Tukaram but she failed. She surrendered unto Tukaram Maharaj, begged for forgiveness for such an offensive attempt to cause his fall down but there was no way maya could, prostitute could cause his fall down. He is like achyuta, he is with achyuta, he is stuck with achyuta, infallible. So, it was not possible, so, very similar to what happened to Namacarya Srila Hari Das Thakur and a prostitute that happened not far from here, Dehu Gaon with Tukaram Maharaj, very same thing. We should be contemplating upon, take inspiration to keep chanting Hare Krishna and we you are not alone and then you could become victorious.

yatra yogesvarah krsno
yatra partho dhanur-dharah
tatra srir vijayo bhutir
dhruva nitir matir mama(BG 18.18)

There is victory and no defeat. So, Tukaram Maharaj became victorious and prostitute also became victorious in a sense, she surrendered unto Tukaram Maharaj and she had a glorious life then onwards. Tukaram Maharaj was free from kamini, kama vaasna and also free from kanchan, the gold or the wealth.

One time, Shivaji Maharaj wanted to send or he did send a special gift, some clothes and ornaments. He had sent his rajadhuta or messenger,Tukaram Maharaj was out of station, was not in. So, his wife, Tukaram’s wife accepted all the gifts. She started wearing ornaments and putting clothes on and giving, “okay my dear, you take this” to son and daughter, and wearing makeup and they were really happy, seeing they’ve never experienced any expensive clothing and ornaments. But Tukaram arrived and he said “No, no, no what are you doing?” and took all those, took away all those ornaments and clothes from children and from wife and returned, “You take them, we don’t need this kind of gift and have no interest in this.

para-dravyesu lostavat

Wealth of others is like dirt or pebbles or rock, no interest, no attempt to enjoy or exploit wealth like this. So, this is Tukaram.

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagad isa kamaye ( Siksastakam verse 4)

We are praying. Tukaram’s prayers were already heard and he had no interest in dhanam the wealth and janam the following and sundarim beautiful women, the opposite sex, he had no interest whatsoever. He has only interest in Krishna’s name and that is wealth, right? That is the wealth.

Golokera prema dhana, dhan, said dhan, prem dhana, so Tukaram had dhana, so he was the wealthiest person in Dehu, in the world in fact. So, he was not, no interest in wealth or this, that. Jai Tukaram Maharaj ki, jai!

So, Shivaji Maharaj did want to give some wealth or some gifts, some gold. So, he thought he is not accepting this, maybe he is thinking others would watch him and he does not want others to see while he is receiving these valuable gifts and ornaments, so let us do this hiding when there is no one around on the wealth available, or made available, then certainly he will grab it. So, thinking so, now that is a little different strategy of Shivaji Maharaj and his gifts deliverers or messengers. So, what they did was one early morning, they went to Indrayani Ghat. They knew that Tukaram Maharaj comes there during the dawn time and there is less light and to take bath. So, they placed gold and ornaments and wealth like that, displayed it and they thought for sure he will be by himself, no one will be able to see him taking it or accepting. So he would go for it but that did not happen. When Tukaram went he saw all ornaments there. They are dazzling, shining golden ornaments. So, Tukaram Maharaj left that place and went to an another ghat to take snana that morning. Another said, “oh, you are taking bath here today? Why not your ghat, every morning you have been in such and such ghat but today you are bathing here?” He said, “I think someone has passed stool there.”

The stool also has complexion like gold. So, he wanted to stay away from the stool, golden stool and so he was fully detached and no hankering, no liking, no wanting wealth like this because he was fully satisfied chanting:

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

And it is possible to be fully satisfied by chanting. How do we know? We know from life of Tukaram. He was happy, fully satisfied. What was the cause of his satisfaction? Joy and the holy name, in another word, Lord’s name, Lord’s pastimes, Lord’s darsana, Lord’s service until the Lord.

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

harer namaiva kevalam This we can understand from. Kindly, Lord has sent such saints, Sant Tukaram in this world. Residence of Pune, Punnya Nagri are very fortunate. Tukaram birth place is just around the corner from here. So, we should make Tukaram a hero and follow the example of Sant Tukaram Maharaj ki, jai! Yesterday also we said that Tukaram Maharaj was a, householder, not a sannyasi like ourselves, like me or Radhanath Maharaj or Gopal Krishna Maharaj. He was a grihastha. Devotees have made a congregation so for them they could see how another grihastha, the special one from their town, from Pune, Dehu, not two towns, they are the same town, so, study his life and teachings, follow his footsteps and make your life perfect, especially by chanting the holy name of the Lord the way Tukaram chanted or relished chanting.

Okay, time has come to stop.

Hari nama sankirtan ki, jai!
Sant Tukaram Maharaj ki, jai!
Srila Prabhupada ki, jai!
Gaura bhakta vrnda ki, jai!

15th July 2019

Let’s internalize and meditate on the Lord

So, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He shared the nectar of Krishna Karnamrita with the devotees those who were around Him. He made Krishna Karnamrita so popular that till date we relish it.

We also remember compiler of Krishna Karnamrita, Bilvamangala Thakura. Previously he was not a very good character person. He was somewhat like dasi pati Ajamila.

He was attached to a prostitute. Once, he wanted to go to meet her on the other side of the bank of the river. It was raining heavily still he wanted to go at any cost to meet her. He was so attached to that prostitute. He saw a trunk of tree with its support he crossed the river but that was not wood but dead body. Chintamani, was the name of the prostitute and was staying at first floor. He saw a rope and climbed finally. But it was not a rope it was a snake. And then he was face to face to that prostitute.

It was great fortune for Bilvamangala Thakur to meet that prostitute. She was surprised to see him. “How did you get here? It is raining so heavily.” She chastised him throwing some lights on his dark mind. If you had attempted to meet Lord instead of meeting me, my body which is full of blood, stool and pus. If you would have tried to see the Lord that would be perfection of your life. Her words had effect on Bilvamangala Thakur. She acted like a siksha guru. And Bilvamangala Thakur accepted her orders as a siksha guru.

And he stopped all his enjoying propensity. And he started his journey to Vrindavan to meet the Lord. First, he wanted to meet the prostitute but now he wanted to meet the Lord. He started his journey to Vrindavan to meet the Lord.

As he was on way to Vrindavan, he was thinking of Lord, he wanted to have audience with the Lord. He was always busy with his sadhana. He was trying to live simply, simple living and high thinking, Krsna conscious thinking. But again, he met another woman, a very chaste woman and he had thoughts of enjoying her. But Lord gave him reminder- same things Chintamani had told him- don’t do this thing, don’t try to enjoy the opposite sex. He asked the lady to give him her hair pins. She did not know what he was going to do with the pins.

papa vasana nako dau doda tyahuni andhada baracha me

The famous statement of Tukaram, if I am going to see the sinful objects or sinful scene then it’s better to be blind. He took two pins in his hands and pierced his eyes and spoiled his eyes. He became blind, he internalized and he only wanted to see Lord within the heart. He moved towards Vrindavan with help of passersby Oh! Where is Vrindavan? Please help! People were helping him on the way to Vrindavan.

He did end up in Vrindavan he had great fortune of meeting Krsna, Krsna became his friend. He had good time with Krsna.

Hare Krishna

14th July 2019

Hare Krishna! Aravade dham ki jai!

After 70th Vyasapuja festival in Pandharpur we, 400-500 devotees have started short pilgrimage, for 3 days and our first stop is Aravade, my birth place, the place where this body took birth. Of course that body is no more, but we could say something like that this body took birth and we visited that location, that spot where I was born, along with seven hundred devotees yesterday.

Devotees were amazed to see the spot, the house in kind of primitive condition, the house it was 70 years ago; they have made an attempt to maintain it. So, the devotees who saw different aspects of the house, they were amazed. Devotees also were equally or more amazed and pleased to see the grand beautiful clean and green opulent Radha Gopal temple in my village here. Then we also had the grand procession in the village; with thousands in attendance we took a tour and of course there was constant chanting of

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

Locals, my neighbors, my friends, my relatives, as I went around visiting devotees, they were greeting us at every step, every door, we were welcomed like a hero’s welcome, as someone from their town has become the spiritual hero. So welcoming! So, it was very heart touching and moving experience of touring village.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai! So, this village has become a very special, extra ordinary village in India where there Radha Gopal are residing deities and we claim that this village is visited by Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We have installed footprints of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu in this village.

In the evening there was program and good attendance and we addressed the assembled villagers and there were head of 70 different villages around my village, from 70 villages, 70 sarpanchas, the heads of villages were also invited and we gave them some gift, we gave them Radha Gopal as a gift, framed photograph of Radha Gopal. So, that was another experience of addressing the gathering last night here in Aravade.

Way back in 1974, I came to the village as a Hare Krishnawala, I had become Hare Krishna devotee and I came for first time in the village. Lot to say; I can’t say all of that, but that also surprised my family members and villagers. Comments they were making were, ‘he used to be such a good boy. What has gone wrong with him? Just see he has become mad.’ But then we used to have in early days, early years of my visit, we used to gather whole village in a school ground. So that used to be festival. So, one year I wrote a report to Srila Prabhupada, it must be 76. I gave report that how grand the festival was and we chanted and we danced and we spoke philosophy and we fed everyone full belly prasad and on top of that I mentioned that one farmer he was so much impressed with our presentation that he approached me towards the end of the program and said ‘Maharaj, from today onwards I am going to chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, 16 rounds of Hare Krishna maha mantra.’ I included that as part of my report. Prabhupada had received the report and he responded that you make that person who is now ready to chant, make him representative of ISKCON in your village. So that gave me hint or indication, clear indication that Prabhupada wanted ISKCON in my village with that one particular chanter as a representative of ISKCON.

So that’s how the idea of starting ISKCON in village came about, originated from Prabhupada, mind and heart. So, he thought of having ISKCON in my village, Aravade. I take that as origin of ISKCON in mind and heart of Srila Prabhupada, part of ISKCON in Aravade. Then we got going and you could see grand ISKCON presence in my little village. There are big fish in small pond, small village and big Hare Krishna. And of course, ISKCON in Aravade is not only for the folks of Aravade but the whole region, hundreds of villages and towns; they considered ISKCON Aravade as a place of pilgrimage. So, we make this all offering, all this outcome as an offering to Srila Prabhupada for his pleasure.

Lord Vitthal, Deities of Lord Vitthal and Radha Gopal are also here to stay and They will be here forever. New generations will take birth and they will depart and yet another generation will be born and gone and like that. Last night I was asking the audience that hundred years from today one of them could come back and take a stop at the situation in this village and who is who.

So, it is guaranteed that none of us, those who were present last night in the gathering they would not be there. Entire new batch would be there on the scene, claiming this land is mine and this house is mine and they would be thrown out. Another batch comes and they make the claim, same land, no, no, it’s my land. So, scenes would be changing, the proprietors would be changing, citizens would come and go, but Radha Gopal would be constant factor or personality who would be here years after years or century after century, for all the time to come. Radha Gopal is meant to be here and of course He is not going to be inactive. Lord will bless all the residents or citizens of this village and of course He is going to give blessings to citizens, villagers and other villages and town around Aravade and that way the center this ISKCON Aravade will do purification, ceto darpan marjanam bhava mahadavagni nirvapanam, so along with Radha Gopal there will be also generations of devotees after devotes another generation will come and they will be worshiping Radha Gopal.

They will be chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna; they will keep studying and distributing Bhagavad Gita. They will keep honoring prasadam of Radha Gopal and distributing Radha Gopal’s Prasad. So, like that the eternal show of Radha Gopal would also continue. And many many generations or all the generations in the future would be benefited by Lord. Not just the Lord, there has to be devotees then Krishna consciousness, Radha Gopal consciousness would reach the masses, the public, people, the villagers. And there are devotees having just temple, so that will be also go on.

Okay so we will conclude our japa talk saying that now we will, the group that is travelling with me will proceed to place which is outside the town, that there is a confluence of two sacred rivers, Krishna Venna and that place was visited by Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that’s where Caitanya Mahaprabhu found Krishna Karnamrita.

He made a copy of it, photostat or whatever way they used to make copy in those days 500 years ago. And He took Krishna Karnamrita with Him and He had delivered that unto devotees in Jagannath Puri. This is Bilvamangal Thakur’s compilation. Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu always relished listening to and contemplating upon Krishna Karnamrita. So now we are proceeding to that location. It is in district, town called Satara and from there we will keep proceeding towards Dehu, the birthplace of Tukaram. We will stay overnight in birthplace of Tukaram tonight. So, from my birthplace we are going to Tukaram’s birthplace.

Dehu is near Pune, outskirts of Pune, just for your information. And during festival in Pandharpur there was a grand presentation, drama, presentation of life and teachings of Tukaram. I was again reminded and very much impressed and elevated, lifted and inspired by that drama presentation two nights ago. That great personality saint Tukaram Maharaj ki Jai!

We have opportunity to visit his home village to get further purified and inspired by his life and teachings.

Gaur Premanande Hari Hari Bol!

13th July 2019

Vyasa Puja Festival part 4

I meant to chant with all the devotees in the temple this morning but I had to do another conference call with the devotees from Australia. They were celebrating Vyasa puja festival. So, I had to address them. So, I could not join chanting with the devotees in Pandharpur temple this morning. So, Vyasa puja celebrations are on and I am getting greetings and reports of Vyasa puja from here and there, in Chittagong, Bangladesh and this and that. So, the news reports and greetings are continuously pouring in.

The main Vyasa puja where I was present was celebrated in Pandharpur on Shayani Ekadashi day, here. This is the biggest day for Lord Vitthal, Pandhuranga, when few million people, we can’t just call them people. Devotees! His devotees come to take His darshan on Shayani Ekadashi. Shayani means go to sleep. So, Lord goes to sleep and with that Chaturmasya begins. And Lord is going to rest for four months now. So, before He goes to sleep, take little break, devotees like to come and see the Lord. So that was today, the big day in Pandharpur. And by that kind Lord I was given birth on the biggest day of Lord of Pandhari, Pandharinath.

There were days when we were celebrating my birthday, Vyasa puja on wrong day, day or two days before the actual day, Shayani Ekadashi. Then we got out calculations together and I realized that I was born on Ekadashi and not on navami. We were celebrating two days before Ekadashi, but, that happened may be 10-15 years ago. So when we got calculations together and I realized, the Lord has given me birth on Shayani Ekadashi day- the biggest day of the Lord in Pandharpur.

I was kind of moved and I remember my emotions stirred up to know, to realize that I was born on Shayani Ekadashi day, when millions of devotees come to Pandharpur to have festivities and main festivity is Netrotsav, Nayanotsav, feast for eyes, that is festival. I want to see the Lord, Lord of their hearts, face to face, Panduranga, Vitthala! And that is the day devotees meet the Lord; it is milan day or reunion day. It is a big day and I realized I was born on that day. I was touched and moved and emotion stirred up and then we started to celebrate Vyasa puja on Shayani Ekadashi day and also started celebrating that in Pandharpur, we have stuck to Pandharpur.

Vyasa puja celebration in Pandharpur is the reason that I was born on Shayani Ekadashi day. It is the biggest day in Pandharpur.

So, on Vyasa puja day that was yesterday herein Pandharpur and devotees were making their offerings and of course many of you wrote your offering and I have them in the form of Vyasa puja book here. And this year we had one book for English offerings and another one for Hindi and Marathi offerings. So, devotees were making offerings yesterday and devotees are writing through email.

Tukaram, all the way from California, he was meant to come here, but he couldn’t manage. So, he wrote offering and like that many other devotees also sending their offerings through email. So, they were glorifying as is expected. And then during my Vyasa puja address yesterday I made one point that these glories, qualities that they were focusing on, Guru Maharaj is compassionate, Guru Maharaj is this and so many things. I said or I reminded that these are qualities of Krishna and some of these qualities Lord has invested in all of us. The source of these qualities, originality of these qualities, and cause of these qualities is Lord. So, anybody who needs to glorify that should be the Lord or unknowingly you are glorifying the Lord, although I am in front there, in front of the assembled devotees. But these qualities are qualities of the Lord. So, He should be getting the credit.

One-time Prithu Maharaj, he was being glorified by the citizens. Prithu Maharaj, he was empowered, Shaktyavesha avatar of the Lord and his citizens were praising him, glorifying him. But then Lord made the point, what is the need to glorify me separately? The glories of the Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead, they exist eternally, they prevail, satyameva jayate. So why are you glorifying me? Glorify the Lord. Lord’s glories are worth glorifying. They are always there. So, he was encouraging his citizens. He was kind of directing them towards the Lord. Don’t make me the target. Don’t think I have this quality. These qualities eternally exist in the Lord. So, I was just remembering Prithu Maharaj’s stand that he took. Why me? Why me? These glories are always here eternally. Glorify the Lord.

I also reminded all assembled devotees that the qualities they are talking about and glorifying those qualities in their spiritual master, I reminded that those qualities are also in you. You are also qualified and you are also then worth glorifying because you belong to the Lord and Lord has invested qualities in you also. So like father like son. So, qualities of the father are found in the son or daughter. So here there are two fathers- spiritual master is father and ultimately Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna, Panduranga Vitthala, He is father of all of us.

So, the spiritual master’s qualities are in his disciples, in his followers and Lord’s qualities are also in every living entity, every part and parcel has qualities of Krishna in minute quantity.

So do not forget or you should remember or remember to revive those qualities and become qualifie. Knowing this, that everyone, all other devotees are parts and parcels of Krishna, they belong to Krishna, they belong to spiritual master, they are Krishna’s property, they are spiritual master’s property, realizing this is also enough to know that connection with Krishna, spiritual master’s connection. So those devotees around us, we should be respecting them, do the ‘amanina manadena’ as Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s expectation, offer all respect to others.

So why offer all respect to others? Because they belong to Krishna; they are Krishna’s devotees and they are worth glorifying or taking refuge in or worth glorifying. They are qualified and hence we should offer all our respect to others as they are Krishna’s and spiritual master’s.

So, Vyasa puja festivals are going on. Devotees have assembled. From Melbourne Australia, 40 devotees have gathered and they are having celebration there. So today here in India or in Pandharpur, we are leaving for Aravade, my birth place. Several hundred devotees are leaving for Aravade. There we will have, not exactly Vyasa puja but something, something. Some welcome and some procession in the village and my family and friends and villagers would be greeting us. Those who will go there, they will have opportunity to not just visit my birth village but birth place also. It is a little house, where I was born and that has been preserved. So those who will go there they will get to see exact location where I was born on this day, 70 years ago. So, this is part of yatra.

We had festivities for 4 days in Pandharpur and then we have 3 days of yatra beginning with Aravade, my birth place today and tomorrow we will proceed to Kolhapur, Mahalaxmi darshan and katha there. And then we will go Krishna Venna confluence, place visited by Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, where He found Krishna Karnamrita. So, we will visit it tomorrow and remember, recite Krishna karanamrita little bit. And then proceed to Dehu, the birth place of Tukaram and day after tomorrow the whole tour of birth place of Tukaram and that birth place is very special amongst many features. This is where Vaikuntha viman (plane) landed some 400 years ago. Tukaram boarded the plane and took off as thousands witnessed this departure of Tukaram for spiritual world. So that is day after tomorrow. So, like that we have beginning with today, 3 days yatra, pilgrimage ahead of us.

Okay so we will stop here. I have to get ready to leave for Aravade. Keep chanting with attention and see you another day chanting japa.

Mean time I want to mention one book has been published. This is in Hindi, based on japa talks. 70 japa talks have been selected and printed in Hindi and because it is a 70th Vyasa puja, we have printed 700 copies and they are kind of being sold on big demand. You could try to get your copy and it could be helpful, inspirational guidelines in this book.

Haribol!

12th July 2019

Lord’s life in Pandharpur

Today there are approximately 7000 devotees chanting with us. I was given birth on this auspicious day; this day is very special for two reasons. Not because it’s my birthday but because it’s ekadasi. So today is my birthday. I am grateful that Lord has given me birth on this day. In my last birth I could not go back. So, I thank the Lord for this birth. How could I say thank you to Lord, even if I say unlimited thank you it will not be enough.

The day I was born 70 years ago right, (laughs) it was a Tuesday. It’s Ram’s day. Krsna was born on Wednesday. So, I was given name Raghunath, as it was Lord Ram’s day. So that was one kind of birth.

Getting human birth is very rare, there are 84 lakh species. But there is something rarer, rarest of rarest that is coming in contact with a devotee like Srila Prabhupada. He gave me birth in Vrndavan; I was born in Vrndavan in Kartik month on Bahulastami. It is the appearance day of Radhakunda that was my real birth, birth within birth.

Hitvaanyatha rupam, all other bodies are discarded. Srila Prabhupada gave me a new birth and with that the chanting of Hare Krsna and be happy.

I am sure Prabhupada prayed, every spiritual master prays when he gives initiation. Chant and you may not be reborn anymore. That is the prayer Srila Prabhupada prayed for me. Every spiritual master says this prayer for his disciple.

Hare Krsna means end of the material existence. If you wish to, I also want to end my material existence in order to begin spiritual life. Especially this is achieved in kaliyuga, by chanting,

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Kabe Ha’be Bolo (from Saranagati)

when will that day come, today is my birthday

You also have a birthday, but you also have two birthdays. How many of you have two birthdays?

Hare Krsna birth, haribol. Maybe in our last life we were born as Hare Krsna but again we have our birth again in Hare Krsna, kabe habe.

Everyday we are born more and more, if we are working on this aparadhe guchi part. The more we are away from apradha, we are born more and more. The more we work on our offences we are born more and more. Every day is our birthday, when we get up, sleep is like short 6 hours death. Something is going on, breathing is going on but almost death. Then when you get up you are born again. So, each day could be better, could be different, more evolved. The day before month, before year, before more, we are born. As we work on aparadha it’s a revised version, purified version, so we have to work on aparadhe guchi.

When will that day come when I will be free from aparadha? I was born 70 years ago, it’s a long time, so we have to work on Harinama. In ruchi we become free, more and more from offences. It’s not going to happen automatically, no, you need special endeavor. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur recommends that you review yourself from one ekadasi to the next. Review your performance, as a devotee, how did I perform?

Even drivers want to know how did they perform with their driving, how is my driving please suggest if I require any improvements, so like that we also like to improve. Devotees make special endeavor to rectify the blunders or faults. This does not happen automatically, efforts are required and it takes, time to sit down and review and then after careful review take informed resolution. Going forward I will not do that and improve, so like that we perform Hari name ruchi.

So, keep chanting. Some devotees say I decided to stop chanting, when asked? They reply my chanting is full of offences so in order not to commit any offenses, I have stopped chanting. Is that the right policy, no.! Japa must be done with or without offences, you should always keep chanting, always, then slowly you will be free from offences, sravanadi suddha. By hearing and hearing, Vasudeva bhakti, keep performing devotional service and result will be yours. You will be free from worldly things and will also develop jnana-knowledge.

Vidya vadhu jivanam, which is life, of wife that is vidya. Hare Krsna or wife. Wife gets life and you become more knowledgeable as you chant Hare Krsna. These are two gifts of chanting- jnana and vairagya. They are two sons of Bhakti Devi. Thoughts continue there is so much in knowledge chanting the glories of holy name of the Lord. Glories of the holy name are unlimited. Every day we discuss something, some vidhi nishedha.

Hare Krsna

11th July 2019

I have always chanted my 16 rounds

Yesterday, I was telling that we have come to the dhama to chant Hare Krsna. I keep on telling in the conference that we should do preparation of today’s japa one night and one day not only one day and one night but many days and many nights before so that we can chant attentively. How should we chant -attentively. So, preparation of chanting is very important. When we sit for chanting we should endeavor to chant attentively. So we should start the preparation one day before. I have to chant tomorrow morning and tomorrow how I have to chant- attentively. So what I have to do and how I have to do the services so that when I sit for chanting tomorrow morning then, I can chant attentively, my mind will be stable, not flickering here and there.

cancalam hi manah krsna pramathi balavad drdham [BG 6.34]

Arjuna declared ‘My mind is restless, turbulent and obstinate.’ My mind is cancal. So, was only Arjuna mind canchalam? No, everyone’s mind is cancal. This must be everyone’s experience. Mind is mind only. It’s an element.

bhumir apo nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eve cha
bhankara itiyam me bhinna prakritir astadha [Bg 7.6]

It’s the nature of mind to flicker here and there. How was your today’s chanting? Haribol!

You are in the dhama and your chanting should be attentive in dhama. To speak of preparation of chanting- yesterday night, yesterday full day we were all busy- we had association of devotees, we had darsana of Lord Vitthal, Nityananda paduka arrived all the way from Mayapur, Nityananda prabhu came. You all had holy dip in Chandrabhaga. All India padayatra arrived and dindis arrived,

ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam [NOI 4TH VERSE]

There was exchange of love in devotees.

guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati

We shared our thought with devotees. Then there was bodhayanta parasparam amongst the devotees. dadāti pratigṛhṇāti, then we gave and accepted gifts from each other. Late in the night we had darsana of Narsingh Bhagwan in a drama, we also heard His roaring sound. bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva, we offered prasadam to devotees and we all honored prasadam. So we had a busy devotional day yesterday. This all was preparation for today’s chanting. This must have definitely helped you all in today’s chanting.

This is festival time so all the leaders and managers are busy, there is construction going on, many things are going on, devotees are arriving, preparations are going on and we all are busy but we also need to chant our rounds. Yesterday many devotees took sankalpa of chanting 16 rounds daily. So, every day we have to chant 16 rounds with all enthusiasm and patience. isn’t it? It is all Srila Prabhupada’s mercy.

I will tell you about myself, by the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu I have chanted daily my rounds since 1972 to 2019. So many years and so many months, many weeks, many days and many hours I have chanted my minimum16 rounds daily. It’s not that I did not have any service. Srila Prabhupada always inspired us to be busy in some services. He was also busy 24 hours but he kept chanting. During Prabhupada centennial we did preparation for 4 years for the centennial celebration in 1996. Padayatra were organized in 100 countries I was busy but I chanted my rounds. I never stopped chanting, I was always chanting.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

I remember once in 1978-80 I was president of ISKCON New Delhi and at that time I was seriously ill and those 2 or 3 days I could not chant, otherwise I have chanted my rounds daily.

So all of you also, we take sankalpa during initiation that I will chant my 16 rounds daily, don’t ever forget that sankalpa. So, whatever we do in ISKCON, as I am saying ISKCON, are you all in ISKCON? Who’s is ISKCON? Are you members of ISKCON? Haribol!

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

ISKCON is also called as Hare Krsna movement or we are known as the Hare Krsna people. “Whi are these people? They are Hare Krsna people”. That’s our identification, we are Hare Krsna people. We did not tell people to call us Hare Krsna. But they all call us as Hare Krsna people. Why are we called Hare Krsna? Because we keep chanting Hare Krsna that’s our only business. People think they always keep chanting Hare Krsna they do not have any other work. That’s our identification and it’s a good identification. We are directly connected to Hare Krsna. People call us “They are Hare Krsna people, they always keep chanting Hare Krsna.”

kirtanya sadahari

satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah

[BG 9.14]

Lord Krsna said in, satatam kirtayanto mam, what do my devotees do? They are always chanting My holy name with all efforts and determination. yatantas ca drdha-vratah.

With great determination My devotees chant My holy name.

Some devotees chant “Hare snik Hare snik snik snik Hare” all inattentive chanting. So, we have to chant daily, regularly Hare Krsna mahamantra. We have to glorify the Lord and perform kirtana of Lord’s holy name and that’s not possible without taking extra efforts or special endeavors.

Chanting Lord’s name is also kirtana and Bhagavatam also describes glories of the Lord.

ado madhe ante hari sarvatra giyate

So the Lord’s glory is sung all over, in Gita, Mahabharat, Bhagavatam. At every moment we have to meditate on our chanting. At every moment we must be Krsna conscious. Whatever services we do, it should be done in a way that it is favorable to our chanting.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Lord Himself, He is in the center of the movement and also, He is center of the lives of devotees. Whatever service we do we should make that service is favorable for our chanting, So Lord should give you and me such brain.

dadāmi buddhi-yogaḿ taḿ yena mām upayānti te [BG 10.10]

Lord says, I will give you the brain so that you come to Me. To whom does the Lord give such brains,

teṣāḿ satata-yuktānāḿ bhajatāḿ prīti-pūrvakam

So, whoever serves Me with love to them, I give such a brain so that they can come to Me. Such brain and strength and inspiration if you all get in the dhama and in this festival you will achieve that, then it’s worth attending such festival.

Hare Krsna

10th July 2019

Harinama should be preached to every nagar and gram/ You are invited to chant with me in Pandharpur

So you all are invited to Pandharpur Dhama, so that you all chant with me. It’s expected that you will be more serious here.

Srila Prabhupada has given me this Harinama preaching service and you are all doing very nice seva. I was given the seva of padayatra in 1984, Srila Prabhupada said “jaredakho tare kahi hae Krsna upadesh”.The padayatra concept was developed by Srila Prabhupada for preaching all over the world. Since then I have been thinking that Prabhupada gave me this seva of preaching Harinama. Also this zoom conference is a medium of preaching Harinama.

Mahaprabhu predicted that His name will be preached all over the world, in every nagar and every gram.

“prithive te ache yata nagaradigram” (Caitanya-bhāgavata, Antya 4.126)

Is there preaching for the buildings or streets of the city? No, but the preaching is for the human beings living in those cities and villages. Everyone can benefit from this harinama, but more benefit is achieved by human beings. The goal is to reach everyone on earth through Harinama, and give them Harinama. Harinama should reach to more and more people. My God brother and God sisters are also preaching and I am preaching and I emphasize and stress strongly on the Hare Krishna mahamantra, as Prabhupada wanted me to preach Harinama all over. Preaching was started by Lord Himself.

”hare Krsna nama Gaura karila prachar “

Main preacher of Harinama was Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. For 6 years Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was walking doing padayatra from one village to another and one day while walking He reached my village also. He first came to Kolhapur and while coming to Pandharpur on the way He came to my village named Aravade 500 years back. And then He implanted there some seeds of Harinama. That time it was not my village, but I was somewhere else. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, came to Pandharpur, why did He come? He came only for preaching or you can say, He came for

dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge [BG 4.8]

Sri Krsna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was reestablishing the principles of dharma. And dharma for Kaliyuga is?

“kali kale dharma harinam sankirtana”.(CC Madhya 11.98)

So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord Himself came to preach.Whose name is Hare Krsna? That’s name of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He said “sarvatra prachr hoillbe mora nama.” Mora nama is Bengali word which means Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and not peacock. The Lord said My name will be heard all over the world, who is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? He is “sri krsna caitanya radha krsna nahi anya”, so He is two in one, the names of Radha and Krsna will be, preached all over the world. Hare Krsna is the name of Radha Krsna, Hare Rama is also Radha Krsna, and so this name is chanted all over the world. And these 16 names in the mantra are names of Radha Krsna only.

So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did preaching village to village, how? He went walking to all the places that He was preaching. Now a day’s people don’t walk. When we were doing padayatra of char dhama,at that time we heard char dhama air yatra, people have spoilt so their health. Yet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He preached all over, did not worry about health issues.

Prabhupada also was making a strategy to preach the holy name, the main goal was to make the prediction of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu come true, not only in Pandharpur but all over the earth. People the padayatris keep coming to Pandharpur from Dehu and Alandi. This is called an oasis in the desert at bank of Chandrabhaga. Prabhupada wanted to spread kirtan all over.

Sri Krsna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was He Indian? Did He just to come to preach about Hinduism, no He came for preaching to all the living entities,

Vasudheva kutulbakam
vittho maza lekurwada sange gopalancha mela”

Leaving the Lord’s abode and Gopal nagari we have taken birth, someone has taken birth in America, some in Russia, some has become South Indian, but that does not make any difference. America is not so far you can come in 20 hours. One devotee said he has come from Jalandhar it took him 3 days to reach Pandharpur. So which is far America or Punjab? All living entities are jiva of the Lord.

mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah [BG 15.7]

So Srila Prabhupada was making special strategy to preach the holy name all over. So under that strategy the main strategy of padayatra and bhakti vriksha and youth preaching, are some mediums for preaching. Has Harinama reached all of you? What does that mean? That means Radha Krsna has reached you all, the Lord has extended His arms for you all as a helping hand. Like He is saying please take Me.

While Vasudeva was crossing Yamuna to Gokul, he was saying koilelo, meaning somebody please take, somebody please take my Gopal, my Devakinandan. So that ghat is named as koilelo ghat. The Lord is saying somebody please take Me. So where there is Harinama, it has to reach our soul not just tongue and our hearts, Harinama has to reach to our souls. So when we chant Hare Krsna maha-mantra. We have to realize that Harinama is Hari Himself. That’s our real self- experience that Harinama is Hari.

abhinatva nama namino

So who is devotee? The soul is devotee, body is not devotee. And who is Lord? Hare Krsna Maha mantra is Lord, it is Krsna. We don’t say kya haimeaning what is it, but we say Harinama kon hai- Who is it, means indicating to the Supreme Personality. So Harinama is Lord and Atma is devotee. So it is meeting of soul and Supreme Lord, is called yoga. That linking of atma and parmatama is called bhakti yoga. This relationship is reestablished between Lord and the soul.

hitvanyatha rupam sva-rupena vyavasthitih (SB 2.10.6)

We will again get situated in our constitutional position. By our sadhana and devotional practice.

By chanting we revive our sleeping Krsna consciousness. Keep trying and practicing with that aim we have come to Pandharpur dhama. We will have Prabhupada ghat opening and I also heard there is big Vyas puja festival. We have to offer prasadam to 7000 devotees. There will be 70 hours kirtan. There are lot sevas you all can serve. 7 new books will be released. We will distribute 70000 Hare Krsna mantra stickers. This festival is yajna, svaha, you can dedicate yourself to this festival, don’t worry you won’t get burned. The anarthas will get burned.

jnanagnih sarva-karmani
bhasma-sat kurute tatha [BG 4.37]

As the blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, like that the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities, the seeds and fruits of papa karma are burned to ashes.

Hare Krishna

9th July 2019

“We want only to serve Visnu or Lord but we also want to serve vaisnavas because then Lord is more pleased with us.”
Hari Hari. Okay so Harikirtan you’re translating? So, we have 576 participants. So, we have 300 devotees around here. Hari Hari Hari. Is that better? Anything? Okay Harikirtan. Hari hari hari hari.

So, of course we try to take up the opportunity everyday to improve our chanting, especially this festival time.
Devotees those who have participated here could take advantage, take this opportunity to improve their chanting. Nama ruci jive daya vaisnava seva. We increase level of attachment, liking to the holy name by serving vaisnavas and vaisnava hridaya and by compassion for the newcomers of fallen souls. So, these are festival times so we should do lot of chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram
Rama Ram Hare Hare.

You do a lot of this, a lot of chanting on your beads. You could chant and dance playing drum and playing karatels. And, so this is big opportunity for vaisnava seva. So many devotees, vaisnavas have arrived and so many are on the way.

So, you could do a wholesale vaisnava seva. Not just retail, maybe one vaisnava or only few vaisnavas for this part of the day you have opportunity to serve vaisnavas but here at the festival with thousands of vaisnavas, all of us have big grand opportunity to serve vaisnavas and they’re going to be around you, around us, day and night, twenty-four hours. So, take full advantage and, at every moment you could think how you could serve the vaisnavas around you.

So, this is the place where all varieties of vaisnavas; senior vaisnavas, Prabhupada disciple vaisnavas, sannyasi vaisnavas, manager vaisnavas and vaisnavas from the congregation, male vaisnavas and female vaisnavas; of course, vaisnava is not a male or a female but you understand. So, we could just look around and think of how you could serve all vaisnavas around you according to their status. Whether they are senior to you and then you should know how to deal with them. And if they are equals then you know that to be friendly with them and if they are juniors, the newcomers are around you then you have to be compassionate , those who are senior, you respect them, of-course obeisance’s should be offered to everybody, all the vaisnavas. But special service could to be done for the senior devotees.

You could touch, bow down and touch the feet of senior vaisnavas. If you come across some equals, you could embrace them. and if they’re juniors then you could touch their head. Bless them. so that’s one way of reciprocating with devotees according to their status; seniority, juniority, equality. Srimad Bhagavatam also says you do different things or different dealings with the vaisnavas around you or in front of you or arriving vaisnavas. You take darshan, darsan, sparsan, asan, and bhojana so a particular statement from Bhagavatam, you do five things. You take darshan of those vaisnavas, you see them, and you are greeting them with your eyes also, you are greeting them with your mind and your heart. you are greeting, welcoming them as you see them, as you take darshan. As sparsan, you touch their feet or embrace them or touch them, these things. And asana give them some seat, to sit down or if its pandaal, you could give bed for them to lie down or you could massage their feet do that with the best kind of touch. You could touch and serve them. So darsan, sparsan, asan you could talk to them, make some enquiries, how they are doing, they need anything? What is on their mind? It’s a give and take and I think you also speak to them your heart, what is on your mind. There’s most importantly bhojana, give them something to eat. You could always offer water. You could offer something to eat, some sweets, khabejal, in Bengali they do not only offer you only water.

Along with the water some sweets are also fed. So, or you could give them food thali. Or you could, during prasadam time, instead of you “me first, I must be the first ones to sit and eat.” You could give up that attitude and “I want to serve, I want to serve, I want to be the first to serve, serve prasad.” Maybe there are other kinds of services. So, these are five, five different ways to deal or communicate with vaisnavas around here.

Kari kara para upakara Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s instruction or expectation from all bharata-vasis,
Bharata-bhumite haila manusya-janma yara, janma sarthaka kari kara para-upakara. (Cc. Ādi 9.41)

If you wish to make your life perfect, you should be in the mood of giving, sharing, so that others are benefitted by whatever you offer, gifts or association or books or katha or prasadam. The mood of giving, this giving, giving para upakara, idam sariram, the sastras also say this human form of life is meant for para upakara, para upakara punya gifts, share, be charitable, don’t be selfish, be bhuri-da be magnanimous. So not only prasadam, but other things we also share, give to others. So that we should try to do during this festival. Giving, Prabhupada also said when he went to the West, other Indians have been coming to the West, they’ve been coming to get something from America or Americans. Give us some job, give us money, give us computers, give us technology, give us this, give us loan, give us. But Prabhupada said I have not come to take but I have come to give. So, following in the footsteps of Srila
Prabhupada, we should develop this mentality of giving others.

And by giving you will be never the loser in fact that is the only way to gain. You give and you get in return. So, this policy of giving, sharing is the best policy. In fact, all souls, spirit souls will be benefitted, spirit souls will be enriched by giving. You will never lose, or never go bankrupt. You will be enriched by giving, be charitable.

There is one interesting and instructive example. I think it is found some where in Mahabharata, I think, but I would like to share with you. This example also shows the difference between this suras and asuras. The holy and the demoniac. So, once a big gathering of asuras got invited and they were to be fed so they all were meant to sit in rows and the food was served on their plates. The condition was that they could use or eat using their hands but the hands are tied at the elbow, or from the shoulder to the wrist there’s some bamboo or some metal rod and its tied so that they cannot bend at the elbow and eat. So, their all, their hands were, each one of their hands were tied like that and plates were filled with very delicious food, nice fragrance, they were also given some spoons in their hands if they wanted to use the spoons but you know, they were able to pick up some food with their fingers or with a spoon but they were not able to bend it. So, it was all making so many attempts to picking up food and eating them but because the hands were tied and not able to bend at the elbow so, they couldn’t eat, they only had to starve and suffer.

And the other party, vaisnava party or the suras, pious people, good people, sabhya gentlemen. Those were in the mood of this giving, sharing, kind of attitude they have. So, they were all invited and then they were also made to sit down and their plates of prasadam in front of them and their hands also were tied like the demoniac party, asabhya, ruffians their hands were tied. So, this party, vaisnava party or the pious gentlemen team party, their hands were also tied similarly, and they were not able to bend at the elbow and they’re sitting, facing each other, in long rows. So, as they’re not able to, they’re picking up the food with their fingers or spoons and they’re not able to bend and eat themselves, but they’re not selfish kind of people. So, they were thinking of feeding others, they’re giving it to others “you first, you first”. So, those who were sitting in the front row, they started feeding them and then those that were sitting in the opposite queue, they started feeding the other ones, who were sitting in front of them. so, like this, everyone ate. Everyone’s belly was full, no one went hungry, everyone was satisfied. This is because of this nature of giving, sharing; “you first, other’s first, I want to serve them. So, this is the difference between devotees and demons, asuri sampradaya and devi sampradaya.

Krishna described this in Bhagavad Gita also. So, by having a devi sampradaya, divine nature, character of wanting to serve others para upakara then there’s parasparam, priti laksanam is there and then everyone had their end of the everyone is benefitted by this association.

Ok, darshan will be opening in just a few minutes so we’ll stop here. There are some hints, some guidelines to follow in regards to visiting vaisnavas and welcoming vaisnavas and serving vaisnavas. By doing so, the goal of joining this festival, which is to increase attachment to the holy name and the holy name is Krishna, developing love for holy name, increasing love for the Lord. So, this goal will be achieved and of course, we don’t want only to serve Vishnu or Lord but we also want to serve vaisnavas because then Lord is more pleased with us. Lord declares that those who claim to be my devotees, they’re not my devotees but those who claim that they’re Lord’s devotees devotees, then Lord says “then they are my devotees.” So, the formula is, the sutra is, we want to serve the Lord and Lord’s devotees, vaisnavas and Vishnu, Panduranga, Pandharinath, Radha-Pandharinath ki jai!
And also, vaisnavas, ananta koti vaisnav-vrnda ki jai!

And, we derive the full benefit of joining this festival.

Nitai-gaura-premanande
Hari-Hari-bol.
vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ.

8th July 2019

Lord never forgets His devotees

The number of participants is 610. So, we are happy. Why am I happy? I am chanting, so I am happy. Chant Hare Krsna and be happy. So I become happy as I chant. And also when I see you all chanting, that makes me happier. Maybe I also become happy as I received this cloth, this is from Jagannath Puri dhama ki jai. [Guru Maharaj referring to a maha cloth around his neck]

One devotee just returned from Jagannath Puri and he offered me this cloth. There is certainly some Jagannath connection with this cloth. As I received this cloth, I thought Jagannath is still remembering me. And, then I thought Jagannath never forgets me, or he has not forgotten me, nor he has forgotten any one of you that is us. The living entities we become conditioned and we forget the Lord. The Lord never ever forgets us. He always keeps remembering us. As sometimes, children when they get old, they get married, they may forget their parents, ignore their parents, go away from their parents. The parents never ever forget their children. They always keep remembering, they are concerned about their children. They care, they want to take care or remember. They are always the well wishers for their children. So, like that, Lord is our father, mother, He is everything for the living entity. So, like parents Lord also never forgets us, although foolishly we forget the Lord. So, as I received this cloth, I was just thinking Lord is remembering, or He is reminding me “I remember you, I remember you or especially as you are chanting now, how could I forget you, you are calling Me.”

Jai Jagannath! So, we are supposed to be Krsna conscious. We were not Krsna conscious for quite some time now and gradually as we are chanting Hare Krsna and we are coming into contact with devotees of Krsna and the disciplic succession we have started remembering the Lord and big reminder of the Lord is as we chant,

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

This is the reminder and this is meant to help us remember Lord, become Lord conscious, Krsna conscious, Jagannath conscious, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu conscious or Panduranga Vithala, Panduranga Panduranga Panduranga Panduranga conscious we become. So, as we are trying to become Krsna conscious. The Lord is always conscious of His devotees, His devotees or non-devotees also. He is conscious of all the living entities.

vedāhaṁ samatītāni
vartamānāni cārjuna
bhaviṣyāṇi ca bhūtāni
māṁ tu veda na kaścana [BG 7.26]

Lord disclosed His mind as He spoke with Arjuna. He said veda aham “I know I know I know and I remember and I am conscious of all the living entities”. And, “I know and I remember their past, present and future”. Of all the living entities He is talking about. “I know them, I remember them, and I am conscious of them, of all living entities.” The trouble part is, Lord says – veda na kaścana – “I know them, but they don’t know Me. I remember them, but they have forgotten Me”, the living entities in this universe, in this world. So, the Lord is always conscious of His devotees and His parts and parcels and we forget the Lord, or we are not conscious of the Lord and it’s now long time. But now, by His grace, he has made us fortunate and brought in contact with His devotees.

tatrāpi durlabhaṁ manye vaikuṇṭha-priya-darśanam [SB 11.2.29]

So, we have received rarest of the gift, rarest of the rare gift that is we have darshan, we could meet, see the devotees of the Lord. vaikuṇṭha-priya-darśanam or we have darshana, sparsana also, lot of things we could, or deal with the devotees of the Lord, we have been brought into contact with the devotees of the Lord. This is also the proof that Lord always had been remembering us, and now He is reminding us through the vaikuntha priya, His devotees.

golokam ca parityajam lokanam prana karanat

The Lord comes into this world, descends, takes avatar that is also Jagannath’s clear indication that we have forgotten, or we wanted to forget, we have forgotten Him, but He doesn’t forget us. That is why He is leaving His abode behind, Goloka behind, He comes to this world, sambhavami yuge yuge, His sole purpose is to communicate with us, extend His helping hand to those who have forgotten Him and, also remind him “This is also how I look like”, Lord appears and gives darsana and devotees take note of it. May be no photography or videography, write it down how Lord looks like and then the pastimes are compiled.

The Lord appears in many dhamas, Lord appears in Ayodhya sometimes, He appears in Ahobilam sometimes, He appears in Mathura, Vrindavan sometimes, the Adi Purusha in Mayapur. He appears in Jagannath Puri as Purusottam. Lord’s name is also Purusottam and abode name is also Purusottam Dhama and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He appears in Mayapur, Navadvipa and later on moves to Jagannath Puri and performs pastimes there in relationship to Jagannath Swami. So, all this becomes the subject matter for remembering the Lord. He appears, gives darsana, this is how I look like. He appear here, there and those places reminds us of the pastimes of the Lord and these are the lilas that becomes the subject matter, or becomes a big reminder of not only He exists, this is how He exists, how He looks like and of all those things.

We also get to realize the quality of the Lord. The qualities of the Lord are so many. Amongst them is His magnanimity, His kindness, hey krsna karuna sindhu He is full of karuna, otherwise why would He come into this world if had no karuna, karunya, compassion, kindness for all of us. So, these are indication that the Lord has never forgotten, He is always remembering us.

Lord appears in this world in the form of arcavigraha and also He keeps reminding us of Him. Deities also perform lilas every day. They are busy; deities are active 24 hours a day. There are festivities associated with the deities, whether that is in Jagannath Puri or Pandharpur. Lord was here for 125 years in this world. The Pundalik, he requested in Pandharpur, “My Lord, thank You very much for giving me darsana, You are very very kind to this fallen soul, that as more and more devotees would visit this dhama in the future they could also get Your darsana if You just stayed on here”. So, this was the appeal of the Pundalik at the lotus feet of Panduranga Vitthal. So, Lord listened to the appeal and He stayed on. Panduranga Vitthal in Pandharpur is the Lord, or this is one form, where Lord has stayed on in this form, and He continues to give darsana, and continues to perform His pastimes here in Pandharpur and keep reminding us of Him. And He also keeps on waiting, as Pundalik had said more devotees would come and You could give them also Your association and your darsana and the opportunity to serve. So, Lord is waiting here for more and more devotees to come to get His darsana and serve Him.

So, some devotees have arrived and more are expected to arrive in Pandharpur. I ended up of talking all these things. I meant to talk about Hera Pancami, Lord’s pastimes in Jagannath Puri.

So, Jagannath is in Gundica, that is Vrindavan and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is spending His time, lot of time in Gundica temple. He is also spending time at Vallabha Udhiyan or garden, Jagannath Vallabha garden and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is in the mood of Vrindavan vasa, Vrindavan bhava. During nine days Jagannath spends time at Gundica temple.

Yeah, so Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is wandering, is doing Vrindavan vihara along with His devotees, His associates. All that area around Gundica temple is Vrindavan and Lord is going from one forest to another forest or from one region to another and He is having Vrindavan vihara, yamuna tira vanacari. There is lots of singing that is going on. It is also described how there is cool breeze flowing, floating around and all fragrance and the cool breeze and like in Vrindavan, there is cool breeze here also we are experiencing. Savan ka mahina pavana kare shor…this is about ashad-shravan, where the pavana, the wind is in my room also yesterday I was listening to the shor of the pavana. So, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates are experiencing that Vrindavan atmosphere or feeling like being in Vrindavan or like feeling at home, being in Gundica is like being in Vrindavan and, Caitanya Caritamrita describes Vasudeva Dutta is singing different songs and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is dancing. Vasudeva Datta moves from tree to tree. He stands under one tree in Vrindavan and is singing one song and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is dancing and He is expressing His emotion and devotion which is hearing through the medium of this song and all those expressions are displayed by corresponding emotions are displayed by Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu through His dance in different mudras, and bhavas and movements they correspond the mood of the song, the theme of the song, the rasa of the song.

Then, at one point, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is encouraging Vrakeshwara pandit to take over the dance, Caitanya Mahaprabhu wants Vrakresvara pandit to dance and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprahbhu Himself begins singing and Svarupa Damodara is also joining in chorus and that goes on. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is singing. He must be singing like gopi, or especially Radharani is singing, He is in Radha bhava, Radha bhava dhyuti, so He is singing like Radha for the pleasure of Sri Krsna and Vrakresvara pandit is doing His dance. Mahaprabhu wants Him to dance.

Today is also Vrakresvara pandit’s disappearance day. So that Vrakresvara pandit is dancing around Gundica in Vrindavan in the presence of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu while Mahaprabhu is singing and Vrakresvara pandit is dancing. He is known for his dance, in fact, he would dance and dance and dance, non-stop, nitya nrtya. And one time he danced, he broke all the records, the ‘Guinness book of records’, he danced for 72 hours. We are planning in Pandharpur, kirtan mela for 72 hours. So we could imagine 3 days and 3 nights. So, as kirtan started, his dance started and he is dancing one night, another day, another night, another day… So, this is not humanly possible, worldly dance. So Vrakresvara pandit is from another world. Such things are only possible in another world or beyond this world. So, that mood and that stamina, that consistency or continuity was displayed by Vrakresvara pandit in the matter of dance. He was that kind of devotee.

Vrakresvara pandit ki jai!

So, today is also Hera Pancami. Hera means to see and pancami means the 5th day. So, on this day Lakshmi goes to see Jagannath at Gundica temple. So, She sits in palanquin, she is very opulently dressed. She is called on this day Suvarna Mahalakshmi and she travels to Gundica temple and a big grand welcome is done. There is reception for her at the Gundica temple. As she enters the temple, She, is seated on the singhasana and She is having a dialogue with Jagannath. She is in an angry mood. She is kind of manini. This is maan of Vaikuntha, or Dwarka, not maan of Radharani, her maan is in Vrindavan. That’s some sort of maan, rosh or angry, not happy with something, Lord has done. First of all He left her behind lonely and left for Vrindavan for 4 days and this is the 5th day, “You have not come back, when will You return?” She is very angry with the Lord. Lord is pacifying her, – “Yes, yes, I have not forgotten, Just now coming, I will come, I will come.” And saying so, He offers a garland to Lakshmi and then Lakshmi is getting ready to leave Gundica temple, leaving for Jagannath mandir. So, before leaving She is ordering Her associates to – “break this chariot. This is the chariot that my Lord used to ride to arrive to Gundica temple…break this chariot.” So, some damage is caused to the chariot and She says “Arrest these Vrindavan devotees and beat them.” Then Lakshmi’s associates, parikaras, and bodyguards they rush forward with sticks, trying to beat, they start beating, “They are the one, they brought my Lord to Vrindavan leaving me behind alone.” So, there is a little war that takes place and then finally she returns to Jagannath mandir.

Hera Pancami mahotsava ki! Jai!

So, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is sitting in Gundica darsana mandap with Svarupa Damodar Gosvami, and before Lakshmi’s arrival that day, which was 500 years ago, there is a dialogue between Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Svarupa Damodar Gosvami, kind of question answers and doubts of Mahaprabhu are cleared by Svarupa Damodar Gosvami. Svarupa Damodar Gosvami is responding and giving replies to the queries of Mahaprabhu. One of the queries was why did Lord leave Lakshmi behind, why did He not bring Her along to Gundica? This was the enquiry made by Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Svarupa Damodar Gosvami replied saying that Lakshmi has no adhikara. She is not eligible, competent, she doesn’t deserve position in Vrindavan, she cannot enter the pastimes, the loving dealings, the kind of the quality of the love that is there in the lila of Vrindavan, loving dealing of Vrindavan, she is not fit for this. Only gopis are fit, only Radharani is fit. Those who want to enter Vrindavan especially madhurya rasa, madhurya sringara, rasa there is mention in Caitanya Caritamrita that there are two things required. They have to have a gopi rupa and gopi bhava. Their form has to be like gopi and their emotions, thoughts also have to be like gopi. Then only they can only enter the rasa dance and come in a close proximity of Vrajendranandana, Sri Krsna. So, Svarupa Damodar Gosvami is explaining why she is not qualified, not eligible to enter Vrindavan pastimes and that is why Lord left her behind in Dwarka.

Hera Pancami Mahotsava Ki Jai!

Jagannath Swami Ki Jai!

Patita pavana Jagannath Ki Jai!