Padayatra glories –Part 1
19 June 2016, Salem
Tamil Nadu.

How many devotees are from padayatra here? We could welcome all padayatra devotees. They are the guests here today and you are the hosts. So the host has to welcome the guest. So we have Salem devotees, congregation devotees from Salem, raise your hands. Oh, it’s a good gathering.
Salem devotees ki jay!

Salem temple devotees also here? I see some brahmacharis. Okay, about ten, very good. Rest of you must be from this village. There is also another, some 5 kms there is a congregation, what is the name of that village? How many are from there you can ask. Not Mecheri, outside. Okay, quite a good number. How many are from this village, small town or village? Okay, there are some. Anyone from vaikuntha? Only one. We all are originally from Vaikuntha. How many of you would like to return to Vaikuntha? Everyone, almost everyone. Once more, he is taking photographs of those who want to go to Vaikuntha. We will send this photograph to the Lord. Let the Lord know so many are interested.

We are very very happy to be with you this evening. Infact, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, they had come to this village a few days ago and they are here. So we all are here because of them or because they are here. Have you taken darsana of Gaura Nitai? We call them Nitai Gaura sundar. There on the chariot, it’s a mobile temple. Moving temple. And Gaura Nitai are travelling everyday to newer and newer towns and villages.
Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jay!
Nityananda Prabhu ki jay!

So they are very kind. First of all they came down to this material existence. Some 500 years ago, the Lord appeared, sambhavami yuge yuge [Bg 4.8] as we hear from Bhagavad Gita.

keho bole purabete ravana badhila
goloker vaibhava lila prakasa korila
[Vasudev Ghosh’s bhajan “Jaya Jagannatha Sacira-nandana”, text 3]

Translation:
“Some wise souls say that in ancient times He killed Ravana. Some say in Gokola He enjoys glorious pastimes.”

Lord Rama appeared in treta yuga and he killed Ravana, among so many other things he did. Then in dvapar yuga, Lord Krsna appeared and he manifested lilas. Goloka lila manifested in Gokul, Vrindavan, 5000 yeras ago. Then comes the Kaliyuga, the present, the current yuga.

sri-radhar bhave ebe gora avatar
hare krishna nam gaura korila pracar”
[Vasudev Ghosh’s bhajan “Jaya Jagannatha Sacira-nandana text 4]

Translation:
“To taste the ecstasy that Radha feels in Her love for Him, He has now incarnated here in the form of Lord Gaura. As Lord Gaura He preaches the chanting of the holy names of the Hare Krsna mantra.”

Then that Lord who had appeared, He always appears in every age. He had appeared as Rama in Treta yuga, he had appeared as Sri Krishna in Dvapar yuga, He appeared as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Kaliyuga. So when He appeared as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says sri-radhar bhave ebe gora avatar. He appeared in the mood of or with the emotions of Radharani. Gaura avtar, and He became also idanim krishnatam gatah. Krishna appears as a Ghanashyama but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared as Gauranga. Shyamsundar appeared as Gaurasundar. So that is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and also Nityananda Prabhu is here. “Hare Krishna nama Gaura karila prachar” and then Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu propagated chanting of Hare Krsna mahaamantra. Like sambhavami yuge yuge [Bg 4.8], why does Lord appear in every age?

“paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge” [Bg 4.8]

Translation:
“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.”

Dharma-samsthapanarthaya, to establish the religion of that age. So this Kaliyuga’s dharma is harinamA sankirtan.
Every time Kali Yuga comes, Harinam Sankirtan is the dharma, probably you’re surprised what is this every time Kali Yuga comes, we don’t hear this, we don’t know what is this every time? How many times is that Kali Yuga comes and gone, probably that could be a question. Have you heard about Brahma, Brahma Visnu Mahesh? In Brahma’s one day, Kali yuga comes thousand times, you know so Dvapara Yuga thousand times, Tetra Yuga thousand times, Satya Yuga thousand times and this is just one day of Brahma.

In fact, just 12 hours of Brahma and another thousand cycles. So, every time Kali yuga comes,

harer nama harer nama harer namaeva kevalam
kalounasty evanasty eva gatiranja ta

The people of this age of Kali are every time reminded, now we are reminding you, you are also reminding others. Caitanya Mahaprabhu reminded and established this Hare Krishna Mantra in this age of Kali. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in Navadvipa Bengal, 500 years ago, Caitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa.

So, He is full of six opulences: Renunciation (vairagya) is one of them, so in that sense we could say He renounced everything. And He started propagation of this chanting of Hare Krishna mahamantra. Lord Krishna was chanting and dancing, chanting this,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama
RamaRama Hare Hare,

Krishna who danced with the gopis in Vrndavan in the banks of Yamuna, now He was dancing with this devotees everywhere.
sundara lala sachirdulala nachata sri harikirtana me

This whole song says, Sundar lal is the same to who was Nanda Dulal now became Sundar Lal, Sachi Dulal, Krishna Caitanya, His name is now Krishna Caitanya, Krishnaya Krishna Caitanya namne, Krishna, now His name is Krishna Caitanya and is dancing in kirtana.

nachata sri harikirtana me
thatai thatai bhajela kol
gana gana tahe janjerarol

The devotees would play the mrdangas and Caitanya Mahaprabhu dancing,

Preme dala dala sunaranga carane nupurabhaje
Gauranga Mahaprabhu with His golden complexions Lord and His long arms,
ajanulambhita bhujou kana kava dato sankirtaneika pitarou,

His long arms and His blooming lotus eyes reaching His ears (karuna parijantam) His broad forehead, was a huge bodied personality, deep naval, raised nose, deep voice, deep intelligence also, long arms, golden form and ankle bells tied around His ankles and immerse of hundreds and thousands of devotees He would dance, as you know Krishna dancing with gopis, you know how many gopis? Crowds of gopis, crowds of gopis, millions of gopis would assemble and dance with Krishna or Krishna dancing with them, the same Krishna is dancing with the devotees in Kirtan and He was propagating chanting of the Holy name which is the best thing to be had in this world or in 14 planet systems, so the Lord travelled all over India, all over south India, He had come to Bangalore, many places.

You know Srirangam? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Srirangam.
Hari Bol!!!

And He had come during the rainy season and stayed there for four months. He was performing kirtan everyday there. In fact, there is a house Vyenkata Bhatta was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s host and Mahaprabhu stayed with Vyenkata Bhatta for four months. When you go to Srirangam next time you could visit that Vyenkata Bhatta residence where Mahaprabhu stayed for four months. They also have the footprints of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s lotus feet installed in front of Srirangam mandir. So like that, I think that is the closest point to this village or to Sailam, Srirangam was the closest. God walked the earth, God was here, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was here .Well he is here also in the form of deity but he was here.
You could take photographs of him. Any photograph, any video, that time there were no videos. But he could read Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes in Chaitanya Charitamrita. He could read Chaitanya Bhagavata, Chaitanya mangal, Chaitanya Charit. There are so many scriptures. Reading those pastimes is like looking at the video.

‘Shastra chakshusha’ – Seeing through the eyes of the scriptures.

By reading those pastimes by hearing those pastimes you could paint a picture of how Caitanya Mahaprabhu looked like. And what did he do and where he went? You could know everything about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This is also called the ‘shruti praman’. we understand by hearing. Lord has a form, lord has a name, lord has qualities, and lord performs pastimes. Just this mantra. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is being made known to the world by this Hare Krishna movement.

Srila Prabhupada ki jay!!
Srila Prabhupada the founder acarya of this international society for Krishna consciousness. He is revealing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to the whole world. People used to only maybe hear about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the past, something something. And whatever they were hearing was not always perfect, concoctions. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the supreme personality of godhead, that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is being presented by this Hare Krishna movement.

Srila Prabhupada, he translated Chaitanya Charitamrita in English and now you could also read that in Kannada, and Marathi,and Chinese, and Japanese, and Dutch and Czechoslovakian and so many languages. And now you could see Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come to your village.
Hari Bol!!

I am here, look at me, this is how I look like, raise your hands, say Hari bol.
‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Caitanya Mahaprabhu is here and his mantra, God gave the mantra to the world.

‘Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum’- He is the original guru.

And he inaugurated this Hare Krishna chanting and propagation of Hare Krishna chanting, he is the inaugurator. So that mantra is now being chanted everywhere. Mantra that was given by God. The best mantra, the appropriate mantra, the right mantra for this age of Kali.

And it’s now going all over the world. This mantra is a global mantra not just a local mantra. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he did not appear for the benefit of Indians only. God doesn’t think Indian are his people and American are some other people and Japanese Pakistanis are some foreigners.
Why would God think like this?

So Gods Mantra is for everybody on this planet. Every Human Being on this Planet. And Lord, he wanted to see the world united under the banner of this one Mantra “Hare Krishna Mahamantra”. Those to chant Hare Krishna, they forget “I’m Indian, I’m Japanese, I’m American, I’m…”, we forget.
Srila Prabhupadji used to say, I heard from him so many times, during public functions that “This devotee is from America, this is from Japan, This is from India, This is from Sri Lanka”, but we all chant Hare Krishna, we don’t fight. Yeah one time the Russia and America, the two superpowers battling, fighting. But devotee from Russia or devotee from America, they don’t fight. Pakistan and Hindustan fighting, but if there’s Hare Krishnas devotee, they don’t fight.

All this thought, low class thought, that this are outsiders, this are my people, this are other people, this is low class thinking. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted that this “Hare Krishna Mahamantra” chanting will go everywhere, every town, every village of this World. And this is what the International Society for Krishna Conciousness had been doing for past 50 years. A propogation of chanting of Hare Krishna.

Hari Hari Krishna ||
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki Jay !!!

So this is the Solution to all the problems, chanting Hare Krishna !! As soon as you chant Hare Krishna, you get connected with Lord. So we would like you to chant. This is on behalf of sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we like to appeal to you all that you please take to this chanting of Hare Krishna Maha-mantra seriously. There are so many difficulties in this world, so many problems. Yes or No? The Solution is chanting Hare Krishna. Then you’ll become Good. Then we become Good People, we become better people, better Human Beings.

Hari Hari !!
Like the Jaghai and Madhai, at sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhus time there were Jagai and Madhai. They were very mad people, very sinful, the troublemakers, there were drunkards, meat eaters, Gamblers, but, luckily or by the grace of the Lord, they came in contact with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and they accepted chanting of Hare Krishna Mahamantra. And as they started chanting Hare Krishna, they became Gentlemen, they became very refined Human Beings, very simple Hearted People, pure hearted, very kind, friendly, helpful, like that.

Sage Valmiki you know, right? What kind of robber he was before he met Narad Muni.But then Naradmuni had nothing. The robbers Is trying to take something, but Narada only had vina with him. And Narad Muni gave him Ram Mantra saying you chant “RAM RAM RAM”.

And because he was so sinful, he couldn’t even chant “RAM”, but he was chanting “MARAMARAMARA”. He became pure heart and his consciousness, he became Pure. He became God realized, he became Ram realized. He had never seen RAM. But he started seeing past times of Sri Ram. Not just Ram, but his acting, moving, doing this, that. And then he would look at Ram in his meditation, and he would write about Ram. Write past times of Ram. He would look at Ram because he has chanted RAM, Sri Ram appeared before him. And he was looking at Ram, seeing, realizing and compiling Ramayan.
The Mrigari (one who kills animals) was a hunter. That Mrigari, the hunter, you know, there’s a mrigari, an enemy of the animals, a hunter. Again, Narada Muni encountered him also and he was not willing to stop killing animals. But finally he agreed, “Okay. Okay. And what should I do?” “Chant Hare Krsna”, he was told and when he started chanting Hare Krsna, his consciousness changed, his thoughts changed, his attitude changed. Then after a long time, he had been chanting and practicing, Narada Muni came again. Then, you know, he should’ve ran to reach his Guru-Maharaj and offer him dandavats, but he was taking extra time. He was bowing down, going this way, jigs-jack, a lot of things he was doing, he was not going fast, straight. So finally, when he reached Guru-Maharaj, Narada Muni said, “hey! what happened, this is not proper. When you heard or saw me, you should have run and come quickly, but you’re just going this way or that way, bowing down, clearing something. What is this? This is not proper.”
So, this mrighari, one time the hunter, the killer of birds and animals, who would kill them mercilessly and when they were being killed, he would enjoy, he would be having a festival, he would dance. But you know, this time, this mrigari, said,” I’m very sorry guru maharaj, I could’ve come running for sure, but in this process I could have killed hundreds and thousands of ants, they were all over. I did not want to hurt them, I was clearing the path, I was removing them, putting them on the side.”

When guru maharaj, Narada muni heard this, he gave a deep embrace to his disciple, Mrighari, “well done, well done.“ The point is this is, this is what happens when you chant hare krishna, You become a different kind of person, you become a good person, a friendly person, you develop 26 qualities of vaisnava as they say. Of course you don’t become God by chanting hare Krishna but you become godly. You develop qualities of God in you, good quality, the best qualities, spiritual qualities. So, this is the need of the hour.

We need good people, we want kind people, we want magnanimous people, we want friendly people, we want all these kinds of people or neighbors or family members or citizens or fellow human beings. So we have seen Ramayana time this happened and 500 years ago Jagai Madai happened and then mrigari sometime in the past that happened, that’s nice, that’s fine. But, is it happening now? What do you think? Those who are chanting Hare Krishna or who have experience of hare krishna or devotees or the movement? Are people improving? Becoming gentle? Are the danavas becoming manavas? You understand danava and manava? I think they should know danavas and manavas? What do you have to say?

Here is Akhildhar prabhu all the way from America, New York. We have someone from New York here. Narak? Prabhupada started preaching from New York or narak. The devotees as they chant hare Krishna, they study Bhagvat Gita, Chaitanya Charitamrit, honor Krishna prashad, they become different people, different kind of citizen. They don’t kill, they are only vegetarians. No more muttonam chikanam. They’re happy with patram, palam and pushpam. No drinking, no smoking. Big, big problems are by drinking and smoking, it’s a huge problem. Big problem. What are you getting? If you chant hare Krishna, you don’t care for this drinking, smoking, you could kick and throw that away and the devotees always think,

sarve sukhina bhavantu,
sarvani bhadrani pashyantu

Let everyone be happy, let everyone be free from all difficulties, diseases, let them all live auspicious mangalmay life. So all padayatris, padayatra devotees have been, they are travelling for past 40 years they are on the road travelling and going from village to village. This is the 40th anniversary. And they have, there’s a record they have just found, we did some calculations and padayatris have walked 250 thousand kilometers in India and around the world, 250 thousand kilometers. Haribol. And these are Padayatra India, this is our 6th round around India. Pradakshina of Bharatvarsha. Like you do pradakshina one temple, the Padayatra is doing entire continent. Going with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s deities, chanting everywhere Hare Krishna Mahamantra, distributing Bhagavad Gita, other scriptures and interacting with people like we are doing tonight. Every night there is, all day, but in the evening also they gather, they go into the village doing. We do shobha yatra, nagar sankirtan. And evening we have aarti, kirtan, talk, movie, we show. Yes!

We could have shown, we have that movie? We have? We can show? We have one movie also. New ISKCON movie. That can be shown. Hare Krishna.

Once again thank you for coming, some of you have travelled some long distances. Thankyou for coming all the way, 100’s of kilometers you have travelled. So understand this Hare Krishna Movement. Our Guru Maharaj used to appeal, “Please understand this movement, very spiritual movement, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Movement”. And join this movement, follow the teachings of this movement, and propagate teachings of this movement. This is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s, Krishna’s movement, God’s movement, God’s organisation. Non-political, non-sectarian and what not. Our only motivation is, that we all take to Krishna Conscious, we surrender unto Krishna.

mam ekam saranam-vraja

I am not god, you are not god, we all are servants of God. Prabhupada used to say this. So Krishna prem is being propagated, distributed in the form of this Holy name. This is not a Karma-kanda dharma or jnana-kand dharma. This is not karma kanda, jnana kanda dharma that goes on.

“bhukti-mukti-siddhi-k?m?–sakali ‘a??nta’”

This is a prem dharma, devotional service dharma. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu propagated or distributed. So we are all souls. And soul is servant of Krishna, devotee of Krishna. In the world we have forgotten all this. So this Hare Krishna Movement on behalf of the lord is reminding everyone all over the world, who we are. Anyway there is so much to say. And it can’t be said in one sitting, one evening. But we also have said, kind of everything in nutshell. Ya main thing is chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra. So all our new guests first time in contact with Hare Krishna Movement, you also.

We don’t want anything else. We want only Krishna and you also need Krishna. This is the only way to be happy. Without Krishna forget it, there’s no happiness. In the world there is only Krishna and Maya, two things. Third thing is us, the soul, tathasta shakti, we are third party. You should understand Krishna, understand Maya also and take a pick. You choose yourself. You choose, Krishna or Maya. maya had been already giving kicks.

“ Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam,
Punarapi janani jatare sayanam
Iha samsaare khalu dusthare,
Krupayaa pare pahi murare.”

Translation:
Again and again one is born,
And again and again one dies,
And again and again one sleeps in the mother’s womb,
Help me to cross,
This limitless sea of life,
Which is uncrossable, my Lord.

I’m sure we had enough kicks of maya, birth death this that, are you not tired? Or you want to try more? So Maya or Krishna. How many of you would go for Krishna? Vote for Krishna. Vote for Krishna.

“krishna-surya sama;maya haya andhakara
yahan krishna tahan nahi mayara adhikara”

Translation:
“Krishna is compared to sunshine and maya is compared to darkness. Whatever there is sunshine, there can not be darkness. As soon as one takes to Krishna consciousness, the darkness of illusion will immediately vanish.” [C.C Madhya 22.31]