20240115 Address to Surat Bhakti-vṛkṣa Devotees

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Should I speak in English or Hindi? Rādhā-Ramaṇa Sevaka dāsa says that I should speak in English and he will translate into Hindi and maybe in between he will also speak in Hindi.

I was wanting to go to Surat. But when I came from Kolkata to Ahmedabad, I had some infection on the way. The doctors advised that until I get completely okay I should stay here. I was thinking that Gujarat is the place of pilgrimage of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu also had visited here. Gaurāṅga! Śrīla Prabhupāda also visited Gujarat and I heard that he stayed in Surat for about ten days. You are all very fortunate to have had his blessings. You know that all these places – Vṛndāvana, Mathurā and Dvārakā are all places of pilgrimage. We get mercy when we serve Lord Kṛṣṇa. This way we can get more mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa. There are other places of pilgrimage like Māyāpur dhāma which is also called Navadvīpa dhāma. We also go to Jagannātha Purī. Jagannātha Purī is a dhāma and similar to Dvārakā dhāma. When there is Ratha-yātrā of Lord Jagannātha, the Lord goes from Nīlācala to Sundarācala. Nīlācala is Dvārakā and Sundarācala is Vṛndāvana.

I was in a meeting now from where I came in which there was discussion on the Māyāpur Gurukula. This meeting was an unscheduled meeting and I was told you devotees had come to see me already. So I left that meeting in between and have come to meet all of you. The President of ISKCON Surat also sent me a message to come to Surat as thousands of devotees are waiting to meet me. And I am very grateful that all of you have come here.

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu travelled all around India. About 500 years ago. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu had predicted that His Holy Name will be spread all over India. But for the Western world, He said that His senāpati devotee would come. And after 500 years He would send this senāpati devotee. After 500 years, Śrīla Prabhupāda appeared. And he distributed Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world. Śrīla Prabhupāda travelled around the world about 12 times. Now there are about 800 temples of ISKCON all over the world. I heard that all you devotees are very actively preaching. I would also like to hear about your preaching activities. Kali-yuga is called the Age of sin. In every yuga it gets a bit more. In Satya-yuga there was a spiritual nature in people. In Tretā-yuga people had three qualities, in Dvāpara-yuga they had two and Kali-yuga begins with just one quality, truthfulness. And also since Lord Caitanya appeared in this Kali-yuga, and there is mention in the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa that how in Kali-yuga after 5000 years of Kali-yuga, there will be a ten-thousand-year Golden Age. And naturally then people will be Kṛṣṇa conscious. This would be 5000 years after the beginning of Kali-yuga. Now it is about 5000 years passed in Kali-yuga, and so this Golden Age is about to begin. Great munis and ṛṣis pray that they take birth in this age because in this period it is especially very easy to go back to Godhead!

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu gives His mercy to all very easily. The process He has given is the Harināma saṅkīrtana. Do you know how we do Harināma saṅkīrtana? Haribol! I heard that you are all very famous in doing saṅkīrtana! Who do better kīrtana, Mātājīs or Prabhus? How many of you here know Bengali? I could have spoken in Bengali but most of the people do not understand Bengali.

(Guru Mahārāja heard the reports of the devotees of Surat.)

Jayapatākā Swami: It is very pleasing to be here and hear your reports. How the youth are taking advantage of this preaching. In the material world are after sense-gratification and think that if they succeed in their material activities, they will be happy. However, even if they are able to achieve what they want in the material world, even they are not happy. There is something different they want then. But if they observe bhakti-yoga and serve the Lord, husband and wife serve Lord Kṛṣṇa together then they can be really happy. When Lord Kṛṣṇa, Bhīma and Arjuna went in disguise to Jarāsandha and wanted to ask something from him, Jarāsandha saw that these people did not look like brāhmaṇas. They look like kṣatriyas. But Jarāsandha thought that, “When Lord Viṣṇu had disguised and come as Vāmanadeva, then Jarāsandha thought that even if they are not brāhmaṇas and I grant them what they want, I will become famous.” So he asked them, “What they wanted. I will grant you!” he said. Then Kṛṣṇa disclosed He was Kṛṣṇa and there was Bhīma and Arjuna his younger brother as well and, “We want to fight with you.” Jarāsandha told Kṛṣṇa that he would not fight with Him because He had the history of running away from the battlefield. “You then ran to Dvārakā. I will not fight with Arjuna also because he is younger and weaker. But I can fight with Bhīma.” So, there was a fight for 27 days between Bhīma and Jarāsandha. The whole day they would fight but in the evening they would associate like friends. After the 27^th day Bhīma told Kṛṣṇa that, “Jarāsandha seems to be very strong and I don’t think I can defeat him.” Lord Kṛṣṇa took a branch of the tree and broke it into two. This way Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to say that at birth Jarāsandha was like two children but they were both joined together half and half. Bhīma understood the secret that Lord Kṛṣṇa was telling him and he caught Jarāsandha and put him down. He put his one foot on his body and with the other foot pulled his body and tore it apart. They were all surprised how Jarāsandha was also defeated. After this Bhīma had the opportunity to become a king of that place. But he did not. He just wanted to take Jarāsandha off from that place. This was done just so that Yudhiṣṭhira could perform the rājasūya-yajña. He crowned Jarāsandha’s father as the king. At that time Jarāsandha had imprisoned thousands of kings and so after Jarāsandha had been defeated they were all released. When they were released Lord Kṛṣṇa got them nice clothing and fed them well and then Lord Kṛṣṇa gave them a lecture. How you should rule well as a righteous king and take care of your subjects. And when you leave the world, remember me at the time of death. Then Lord Kṛṣṇa gave each of the kings a ratha and a place to reign. All these pastimes occurred when Lord Kṛṣṇa was in Dvārakā. If devotees serve Lord Kṛṣṇa then they can get unlimited happiness.

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!