My Dear Diskha, Siksha, Sheltered, Aspiring disciples and well wishers,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
We had the good fortune of celebrating Rama Navami festival in Mayapur and
were reminded how the Lord has come as Ramachandra to save His devotees and
to exhibit His wonderful pastimes. Ravana is compared to lust personified
because he was completely controlled by his lust. We should be careful. We
don’t want to be like Ravana, controlled by our material desires or lust,
rather we want to engage ourselves as the eternal servitors of Lord Krsna.
That is the great blessing which His Divine Grace, Abhay Charan
Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada has given us and by the mercy of Lord
Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, we can easily awaken our love for Krishna.
The Ekadasi after Rama Navami was the observance of my Vyasa Puja, or
Appearance Day festival. It happens every year on Kamada Ekadasi, two days
after Rama Navami. Since Ekadasi is a fasting day, devotees just take non
grain prasadam and then on the following day or the weekend, devotees also
celebrate with a grain feast. They do not observe other rituals of Vyasa
Puja on this grain feast day since Vyasa Puja is observed only on one day.
Many of my god brothers and senior disciples in their offerings to me
mentioned how I was dedicated to serving my spiritual master, Srila
Prahupada. For some days this made me feel very proud. As a result I lost
the bliss that I normally feel. Then I realized that I am really not a very
useful servitor of my spiritual master and that I am insignificant.
As soon as I realized my insignificance again, I could taste the
bliss of being the servant of the servant of the devotees. So this material
nature is so tricky that in one second we may feel some pride or some
material thought may come to our mind. In one second we may become
complacent, or think that we are doing something very good and then we may
lose our position on the spiritual plane by becoming body conscious or mind
conscious. Please be careful not to listen to your body or mind in a
material sense, rather use your mind and body in the service of the
intelligence, in the service of Lord Krishna.
Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda have given us a great opportunity
to be Krsna Conscious, although we may not deserve it. They are so merciful
that They have given us this chance.
In Mayapur, the Ganges is flowing and the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium
TOVP is rising high. We are now waiting for the dome. This temple of the
Vedic Planetarium is Prabhupada’s order and it is a great thing that this
temple is coming up in our lifetime.
Here in the bhajan kutir, where it all started, there is a twenty-four hour
Hare Krsna kirtan everyday. One can see it through <www.mayapur.tv>.
Whenever the temple is closed, they show the bhajan kutir and the 24 hour
kirtan.
I used to stay in that grass hut. That was all there was in Mayapur. Srila
Prabhupada also used to stay there. He said that was all that we needed, a
sattvic house but people from around the world may find it difficult to live
there. They may need a rajasic guest house made of bricks, steel, stones,
sand and cement. So he said that we can build a rajasic building for them to
stay comfortably, although the sattvic building made of grass and bamboo is
actually sufficient.
Some of my disciples have said that they would like to see me as I was
before I had the stroke. I was a bit overweight then and I had various
material ailments but I could walk. So it is better to pray that if it
pleases the Lord he may allow me to walk and use all my senses in His
service. I don’t need to return exactly to the form I was in before I had
the stroke because I don’t need the extra weight and the extra diseases.
This year, we would like you all to take advantage of the Purusottama month
that would come up between Janmastami and Radhastami. It is a very special
year and we hope that you will all advance in your Krsna Consciousness.
Thank you very much.
Your well wisher always,
Jayapataka Swami