2nd April 2019

LOCAL CALL!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay we will stop here.
Hare Krishna!!