The philosophy of Krishna consciousness is topmost
Venue: ISKCON Bangladesh

Hare Krsna, say loudly Gauranga! Wake up call! As they say there are two famous mantras in ISKCON, one which puts you to sleep and one which really wakes you up. Do you know which one is which? Om namo bhagavate..(laughter) and the other one is mahaprasade!. You really jump with that.

aham purvam aham purvam, me first me first with all enthusiasm!
kabe habe sei din amar

When that day will come, when we will hear om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, that will really wake us up? We sit straight, attention! So maintain that posture. One straight line that is yogi posture. Bhogi is (Maharaj is leaning at side). yogi bhava, Krishna’s message is that you become yogis. Of course all over the world there is propagation ‘bhogi bhava’. What is your choice? Take a pick, yogi bhava, bhogi bhava. How many of you want to be yogi? So we welcome all the yogis here. Bhogis are not allowed here (laughter). Hari Hari Gaur Hari!

I told Bhakti Purushottam Maharaj, that I have come with stick (Maharaj holds danda). When anyone seems sleeping (showing danda). This is to pick you up from the ocean. Yeah sometimes when we travel in the west with this danda on the flight, entering the plane some people are scared. Or some also think this is fishing rod, because lot of time we go in summer time which is there fishing time. And we tell them, yes this is fishing rod. This is ocean of material existence and we are fish enjoying there. When devotees come, they fish them out, out of this world (applaud).

So we are happy to see many more devotees today. Seeing your happy faces, seeing your prasanna vadan we become prasanna, haribol. There is no power point as I was expecting, nothing worked here so I will just speak. (Maharaj speaks Bengali).

ami bolbar chesta karbo (Haribol)

Gaudiya vaishnavism is most excellent thing in this world, its super excellent, haribol! And that is the gift of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And that gift is meant for the whole world. By receiving that gift the whole world is getting benefited, united and developing their family spirit or friendly spirit. United nation of the spiritual world! That UNO could not do which is based in New York that is accomplished by International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

How many countries are representing here? If you are from out of Bangladesh, raise your hand. I was told that there are devotees on the safari, from 20 or 25 countries. 32 countries! And we just had Mayapur festival and we had devotees from 70 countries. And the last Krishna Janmastami was celebrated in 150 countries. So devotees, souls from all those countries are getting together, family spirit and getting united. What is uniting them is the Krishna Consciousness. That Krishna Consciousness is inherent, it’s part of soul. Soul is Krishna conscious. All the souls are basically Krishna conscious souls. Not only Indian souls, there is nothing like Indian soul and American soul and African soul.

Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai!

Long back when I was just a little boy in school in Maharashtra, we were shouting slogans. That was the time when China and India were battling. And India is friendly country wanted to invoke spirit of brotherhood. So all over India the school children were going on the streets shouting Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai. So I was a small boy and coming from Maharastrian village, I could not understand, hindi is language and chini is something that you eat and they are supposed to be bhai, brothers. So when I grew up, I understood, chini is referred to China, people of China are called Chini and people of Hindustan are called as Hindi. So later I understood the meaning that people of China and people of India are brothers.

Now when the two persons are brothers, what does that mean? What does that imply? When there is a common father, the two persons have common father then they are brothers. So people of China and people of India are brothers, that implies that they have common father. So who is our common father? Could Modi be the common father or president of China could be the common father of all the people of China and India? No way! Ok you got it, thank you!

So when I finally came to Srila Prabhupada, and he taught us Bhagavad Gita and I read Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Where in Krishna has declared, aham bija pradah pita mata dhata pitamah (BG 14.4)

I am the father of all the living entities.

tvameva mata cha pita tvameva tvameva bandhu cha sakha tvameva,
tvameva vidya dravinam tvameva tvameva sarvam mama dev deva

You are all in all. So then I understood, yes, all the people of China, all the people of India are brothers because common father is Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

And I also wanted to talk on ‘the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is topmost, complete and perfect.’ 25 hundred years ago Lord Buddha appeared. And He propagated sunyavada, voidism. He rejected the Vedas.

veda nindakah nastikah,

Definition of who is atheist? One who rejects Vedas is atheist. So as a result he concluded everything is zero, sunyavada. He did it under some circumstances. He wanted to stop animal killing. Animal killing was so much going on that time. And they were pointing out, oh in karma-kanda section of Vedas, animal killing is strongly recommended. So He had to say, no Vedas. If the Vedas are encouraging you and inspiring you, authorizing that killing then no Vedas! Then Shankar appeared as Sankaracarya and he propagated what is called as advaitavada, nirguna, nirakarvada, also known as mayavada.

mayavadi-bhashya sunile haya sarva-nasa [Cc. Madhya 6.169]
Caitanya Mahaprabhu warned everyone, mayavada bhasya, if you hear that, your

devotion would be destroyed. In fact before Sankaracarya appeared, he was still up there, in Kailash, having a talk with Parvati.

mayavadam asac chastram pracchannam bauddham
uchyate mayaiva kalpitam devi kalau brahmana rupina (Padma Purana 6.236.7)

He said, ‘I will be making my appearance in the age of kali as a brahmana. And I would propagate mayavada which is asat sastra, false. He himself declared, what I am going to propagate is mayavada, it is going to be false, asat sastra. mayaiva kalpitam, I will be doing some kalpana, and I will propagate that. So that mayavada is also known as nirvisesa vada. There is no variety, no variegatedness in Krishna consciousness. Everything is one. Living entity and the Supreme Lord are one. As soon as there are many that means variety, visesa, vaisistya, many
features. He said no everything is one. A-dvaita, not two, a means no and dvaita means two, not two, means everything is one.

So Buddha had come to conclusion that everything is zero, what did he say? Everything is zero. And then Sankaracarya made some progress, he said, no no not zero, everything is one. So one was sunyavada and one was nirvisesa vada, advaita-vada. Then comes Sri Krishna Mahaprabhu. Someone else is also coming in between, but ok Caitanya Mahaprabhu comes. And His vani is Gaurvani, Krishna consciousness.

namaste sarasvate deve gauravani pracarine
nirvisesa shunyavadi paschatya desa tarine

So that Srila Prabhupada, we offer our obeisance’s unto lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. Keep eye on your neighbors, what they are doing (sleeping). This is additional duty. Help your neighbors. Love thy neighbors as thyself. So Srila Prabhupada protected. When this pranam mantra was compiled and devotee started saying this pranam mantra, Srila Prabhupada was preaching in West that time. That is why it is said, paschatya desa tarine, people of western world were saved protected from this voidism and impersonalism.

So after Sankaracarya the four sampradaya acaryas appeared. They all appeared in south India and they propagated, they wrote their commentaries on Vedanta sutra. They concluded the philosophy as two, davitavada. Not zero not one but two! Especially Madhvacarya really stressed on this two. So this living entity and the Lord being two was stressed so much, this became like a pendulum effect. Living entity and Lord is one, this nirvisesa-vada was stressed so much. In order to talk against or do khandan of this mayavada, these four acaryas they stressed on
two, daivta too much stress. Living entity and Lord they are kind of distant from each other. So this was also not fair, they are also very close and similarities are there, they are ghanista.

mamaivamso jivaloke jivabhuta sanatana

So this stressing two too much was unfair. Similarities were not stressed only dissimilarities were stressed.
Then Gaudiya vaishnava acaryas made their presentation. And that was Baladeva Vidyabhusana ki Jay! He wrote commentary on Vedantasutra. One time we Gaudiya vaishnavas did not have our own bhasya. As a result we were not getting rights of worshipping Radha Govinda, Rupa Gosvami’s deity in Jaipur. ‘You are not authorized. Where is your commentary on Vedantasutra?’ Then Baladeva Vidyabhusana was sent by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur to Jaipur. There was big sastrartha and debate and Baladeva Vidyabhusana won, he became victorious.

He wrote a commentary but he gives credit to Govinda to write commentary. It is like Srila Vyasadeva is speaking and Ganesh his secretary is writing. So Baladeva Vidyabhusana took pen and paper and Govinda was doing dictation. Bhasya was completed. Baladeva Vidyabhusana named that bhasya, Govinda bhasya. This is commentary compiled by Govinda. Govinda! Govinda! That bhasya, that philosophy of Gaudiya vaishnavas became known as ‘acintya bhedabheda tattva’. So it has taken 2000 years from Buddha to Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s time. From zero to one to two to one and two, acintya bhedabheda!

Then something more happens. As a result our gaudiya vashnavism became enriched. Before appearance of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all these four acaryas they had come to Mayapur, Navadvipa and Caitanya Mahaprabhu revealed Himself
unto those acaryas and had blessed them also.

So one time Nimbarkacarya was touring Navadvipa and he was in Rudradvipa. He was also blessed by four Kumaras there and they had recommended worship of Radha and Krishna and he was worshipping Radha Krishna in Rudradvipa. And as
he was worshipping Radha and Krishna, something amazing happened. Soon there was no Radha and Krishna, there was Caitanya at the place of Radha and Krishna.

sri krishna caitanya radha krsihna nahi anya

In the age of Kali and especially in Navadvip I appear in combined form.

ekatmanav api deha-bhedam gatau tau caitanyakhyam
prakatam adhuna tad-dvayam caikyam aptam

Original Radha and Krishna are ekatma, one spirit, one entity. For sake of pastime they become two, deha bhedo gatau tau. But now in age of Kali, the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, tad dvayam caikyam aptam, those two Radha and Krishna became one.

So that experience was given, offered by Caitanya Mahaprabhu to Nimbarkacarya. So during that darshan, there was dialogue between two of them and Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, I will be accepting two best qualities from each of those four sampradayas. From Sri sampradaya I will accept ananya bhakti and bhaktajan seva, unalloyed devotion unto the Lord and serving the vaishnavas. Then He said, ‘from Rudra sampradaya I will accept their two best qualities. This is based on Bhaktivinod Thakur’s Navadvipa Mahatmya.

So from Rudra sampradaya, sarvasva tadiya, everything is yours, that kind of spirit and then raga marga. From Madhvacarya I will accept advait khandan or defeating mayavada and nitya krishna murti seva. Madhvacarya and their
sampradaya is known for deity worship, taking care of Krishna, Udupi Krishna.

And from Kumar sampraday I will accept ekanta radhika asraya, exclusive surrender unto Radharani and also Gopi bhava. So this way Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu made His disciplic succession, His parampara, Gaudiya vaishnavism, complete and perfect. So there was

shunyavada-zero then there was one then two then two and one- bhedabheda tattva and further Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted these two qualities from each sampradaya. This way our Gaudiya vaishnava sampradaya, the Krishna
consciousness has become super excellent, Haribol!

So the evolution is complete now. There is no further progress or evolution or adjustment has to be made. It is complete and perfect. And this school of thoughts, this Gaudiya vaishnavism, Gaudiya vaishnava philosophy would be
propagated for next ten thousand years all over the world.

sankirtanaika pitarau

500 years ago we had founding fathers of this Hare Krishna movement or two, sankirtanaika pitarau.

ajanu-lambita- bhujau kanakavadhatau
sankirtanaika-pitarau kamalayataksau
visvambharau dvijavarau yuga-dharma- palau
vande jagat priyakarau karuna-avatarau

Two of them, that is why au au au, sankirtanaika pitarau, kamalayataksau, visvambharau, dvijavarau, yuga dharma palau, you see au au? Dvivachan, like Ramau, ramah ramau.

So these two are Gaur and Nityananda, they have given this super excellent Krishna consciousness. They both came down with this gift of Holy name,

golokera premadhana harinam sankirtana

Both of them were also relishing and propagating Krishna consciousness everywhere. Then Mahaprabhu predicted that His name will be chanted in every town, every village of this world, Hari Bol!

So Srila Prabhupada in order to make this prediction true and to propagate Krishna consciousness all over the world, spread Krishna conscious culture all over the world, spread Krishna conscious festivals all over the world, spread Mahaprasade Govinde all over the world, and spread the Bhagavat dharma and Bhagavat all over the world.

That instruction, Srila Prabhupada received from Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur in 1922. ‘You seem to be very intelligent young man.’ Do you think this was some kind of accident or was it arrangement? Caitanya Mahaprabhu was behind this. He made Bhakti Siddhanta instrument to say this, ‘you propagate in english language, all over the world, western world.’

And Srila Prabhupada took it so seriously. What was said may be just within couple of minutes became the whole foundational thoughts and planning and preparation so that Krishna consciousness will spread all over the world based on that dialogue which lasted for just couple of minutes. And Prabhupada was preparing all life long, life time preparation. So many hardships! You should study the life and teachings of Srila Prabhupada ki Jay!

Then he established Krishna consciousness movement in America and 14 times around the world he went and wherever he went Krishna consciousness was in big demand. And soon the Holy name reached so many towns and villages all over the planet. All the temples go out on the streets for nagar sankirtans in surrounding areas. Prabhupada asked us to do padayatras which is a medium, forum for propagation of the Holy name of the Lord. And we did padayatras in more than 100 countries. And ISKCON padayatris from 100 countries, they have walked 250 thousand kilometers, Hari Bol!

And padayatris do not take one foot out, in front without chanting Hare Krishna mantra. One of our teams started walking from Glasgow in Ireland, Glasgow to Moscow, 5 years every day, devotees were walking and walking, chanting and dancing and in other continents also, so many places. Padayatris not only chant in towns and villages but in between the towns and in between the villages also. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction is being made true, more than true. So this Krishna consciousness movement, holy name and holy books and holy Prasad and holy men, this is the gift of Gauranga to this whole world. As

devotees receive Holy name, wherever living entities, Australia, America, Canada, here there everywhere, they receive Holy name of the Lord. In the beginning they receive holy name then they receive so many other things. They get to know so many many things. They begin reading or sometimes they read first then they chant Hare Krishna. Then from Nama to Dhama, nama the noly name brings you to holy dhama. Everyone who begins chanting the Holy name of the Lord, they come to know about Mayapur dhama ki Jay! Right? And immediately as they chant the holy name of the Lord, they keep thinking, I wish I would like to go to Mayapur one of these days. I want to go to Mayapur.

Mayapur Dhama ki Jay! I want to go to Vrndavan. Yes or no? Then Mayapur becomes our Makka, more than Makka. Hari Bol!

Srila Prabhupada established headquarters of Krishna consciousness movement in Mayapur, the birth place of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We would also want to say that Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction of spreading the holy name to every town and village was fulfilled by Srila Prabhupada. Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s prediction was made true by Srila Prabhupada. Nityananda Prabhu also made one prediction. What was that?

adbhuta mandir hoibe prakasa gaurangera -nityaseva hoibe vikasa

‘There will be astounding temple’, as Nityananda prabhu was taking Jiva Gosvami around Navadvipa, he pointed out, ‘there will be astounding temple, adbhuta mandir hoibe prakasa.’

So that adbhuta mandir prediction also made true by Srila Prabhupada. TOVP ki Jay! Temple Of Vedic Planetarium! It’s almost ready. This year last month we had Sudarshan chakra installation. When that temple will open, ten thousand, how many devotees are here right now? (1,200 something!) So ten times as many devotes, could sit or whatever, not sleep, stand at a time in TOVP. It is that much huge. And that temple will be finally open in four years’ time. 2022! Make note in your diaries. So be there.

That will be 50 th anniversary of ISKCON Mayapur festivals. And that would also be the 100 th anniversary of instructions; Prabhupada received instruction from Bhakti

Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur in 1922. Add 100 year, it becomes 2022. Instruction received and instruction fulfilled in 2022. And that is going to be your temple. That is the temple of the whole world, all the devotees from every town, every village, that is their mother temple. Temple of temples! Which will further unite the world; plans made to propagate Krishna consciousness to different frontiers. ‘How to flood the whole world with Holy name and Krishna consciousness’, this is always plan in Mayapur’s GBC meetings. So the way Krishna consciousness is uniting people, uniting all the countries, all the races, economic backgrounds and genders and colors; there is no other institution, no other organization, no other religious institutions or any other body is accomplishing this task as ISKCON is doing or Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Hare Krishna movement is doing.So world needs Krishna consciousness movement, world needs

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!

World needs Bhagavatam. So what you have accepted and relishing this Krishna consciousness, you should always think how you could care that with others, propagate it far and wide. This is the topmost welfare program on the planet.
Very unique and matchless!

bharat bhumite manusya haila janma jara
janma sarthaka kari karo para upakara

Do this para upakar, propagation of Krishna consciousness.

sarve sukhina bhavantu sarve santu niramayah
sarvani bhadrani pasyantu na kvacit dukhabhabhavet

This is one of the prayers. Let every one be happy. Do you wish this? Is this your prayer? Sarve sukhina bhavantu, sarvani bhadrani pasyantu, let everyone experience auspiciousness. Sarve santu niramayah, let everyone be free from
disease.

I remember, there was hospital opening and I was invited to be guest speaker. And I was praying, sarve santu niramayah, let everyone be free from disease. Owner of the hospital said, ‘maharaj! What will happen to my hospital? If everyone will be free from disease, I better then close’. So certainly that doctor or owner of the hospital, he was not thinking

sarve sukhina bhavantu, sarve santu niramayah

Let everyone be diseased, let my hospital be full, all the indoor beds of indoor patients. Par dukhe sukhi! That is avaishnava. Vaishnavas are par dukhe dukhi. That is why Srila Prabhupada left Vrndavan. He was sukhi in Vrndavan but he left Vrndavan because he saw the whole world is suffering. So take to this Krishna consciousnmess seriously. Understand this Krishna consciousness movement and Krishna consciousness. Relish Krishna consciousness and share this Krishna consciousness; like the ants as soon as they come across a grain of sugar, before they doing mahaprasade govinde and eating, they invite all the ants to come.

Then they are all around there and then mahaprasade govinde.