Day 3 – January 25, 2009 (Morning)
My obeisances to HH Radhanath Swami, HH Chandramauli Maharaj. Srinathji
Prabhu’s father had helped me to get citizenship when I was rejected by the
communists of West Bengal to get citizenship of India.
HH Radhanath Maharaj and HH Gopal Krishna Maharaj kept praying for me so
that I can recover. I am especially indebted to HH Radhanath Maharaj who
kept doctors 24 hours keeping a watch over me in Hunduja hospital. After I
was released in Hinduja hospital, I went to Bhaktivedanta hospital where I
was doing different kinds of therapy. In Hinduja, I used to see sisters a
lot. In Bhaktivedanta hospital, I see more doctors than the sisters. They
are taking nice care of me. They are telling me all kinds of stories about
the hospital there. There was one Bengali lady and she had become completely
atheistic. Her father came to the hospital with cancer of the lungs. So the
spiritual care ladies asked her if she would like to read Bhagavad Gita for
her father. She was not interested, but they encouraged a lot and then she
was inspired. They got a Bhagavad Gita for her in Bengali and she was
reading it for her father. And she got a change of heart. She thought that
the spiritual people were just greedy and were doing for them, but she saw
they are selfless and she got inspired to practice. Eventually her father
left her body. She wanted the Hare Krishna people to perform the final
rights. And she sponsored one of the Monday programs in the hospital. In
this way they are making so many devotees at the hospital. May be I will
become a devotee. They are really touching the heart of many devotees. May
be some of the stories, it is not good to tell because some of the people
may be here as devotees now. They may feel embarrassed.
Last year we went on the safari to Bangladesh. We started off by going to
Kethuri gram. This is the place of Narottam das takur. I am inspired by how
Radhanath Swami went to Bangladesh too. Although in my zone, I don’t get to
visit all the holy places, but yet I go to half the places. I hadn’t been to
Kheturi. I had gone to Sunam gunj, the birth place of Advaita Prabhu. I went
there in helicopter. And the helicopter driver got lost. So he had to land
two times to ask people for directions. And where he landed, there was a
festival going on. We got to the place where Advaita was born, we installed
the deity. Like this so many places are remote, I hadn’t visited them.
Narottam’s birth place is on the side of Padma river. There was a tree
called prema tali where the love of Godhead was left. I went to the tree to
see if there is any leftover love of God. But I think Radhanath Swami took
it all. I am trying to get some remnant. We went to the Padma river to seek
out a few drops there. In the Ganges Bhagirathi, one gets all kinds of pious
activities. But in the Padma river, you get love of Godhead if you are a
vaisnava, but if you are a vaisnava aparadhi, then you get suffering. We had
a dip there. Since then I got this … may be I am a vaisnava aparadhi. I
will try to avoid apradh to vaisnavas. We heard some nice pastimes that at
Kethuri gram, Narrottam das was the crown prince and he wanted to be a
vaisnava. So, he abnegated his throne. They requested him to stay there. So
he stayed and made a temple. He was staying with Ramachandra kaviraj.
One day they saw two educated young men. They were herding buffaloes and
goats with the help of some employees. They thought that these boys must be
doing some Durga puja, that’s why they got these animals. So, Narottam said
it will be nice if we preach them. If they become vaisnavas, it will be
good. Kaviraj said they are not going to listen to us, they are puffed up
brahmanas and they are not going to listen to two vaisnavas. They came up
with a plan that they would have a mock argument following behind the two,
and this way one would take the role of a smarta brahman and the other as a
vaisnava. And they are arguing behind each other. “What are you doing with
these animals?”, “I am going to offer them to Kali, to Durga”. “But don’t
you know that Durga takes only vegetarian food? She eats only what her
husband eats and Siva is a vegetarian.” “No, but we eat all that food”. “The
ghosts and the hobgoblins around, they take it. I think you are not taking
the real prasadam.” Like this they argued back and forth. “Jai Kali Jai
Krishna. It’s all the same”. “No, no, daivihyesha gunamayi. She is the
energy of Krishna, she is not Krishna”. Like this two of those boys heard
every word they said. They thought what are we doing with these animals? Why
are we offering them? Then they went and asked, “Who are you two?” He is
Narottam das takur. He is Ramachandra Kaviraj. They bowed down and they
said, “We want to learn vaisnava tatva from you”. So many young people from
different parts of the world come here. Narottam das takur was also
preaching to the young people as Radhanath Maharaj is doing here. We have
got many BACEs in India, which are following in the footsteps of preaching
many young people. So like this two of them joined Radhanath maharaj’s
bhakta program… I mean Narottam das program [Laugh].
They learnt vaisnava tattva and went to Ramakeli. They wore Vaisnava tilak.
They went back to their father, the great mayavadi, Sivananda. When the
father saw them he said, “Kuladam” worst of the kulas. He wanted them to
wipe off their tilaks and put horizontal tilak. So they started to preach to
their father. “Ohh, what are you doing, you are preaching to me. This is an
insult. My son is preaching to me. I am the father.” He said, he would not
preach to their children, he brought the local pandits. They got preached by
the children, they got convinced, and they started following vaisnava
dharma. (Haribol) So the father started getting angry, what are these
foolish pandits doing. What are they doing? I got a friend digvijaya,
mithiladhisha, he is the greatest pandit, and he conquered all the four
regions. So he asked the digvijaya to come down. Then he came and said, “It
is below my dignity to talk to this young people. I am a digvijay”. What do
you young people think about this? “Get me some elderly person, at least
that will be according to my dignity.” They had a local vaisnava. Her name
is Bhagavadacharya. They brought him and they gave him the slokas they
learnt from Narottam das takur. Digvijay said, “You speak first. I’ll give
you a chance”. Vaisnava is more humble. Vaisnava has more qualities than a
brahmana. A brahmana has 12 qualities, Vaisnava has 13 qualities – 12 plus
Bhakti. I have difficulty in pronouncing B. P, M and F. (sounds)………
may be that’s the helicopter I went. The digvijaya did not have any answer.
Where is this sloka? Where is this sloka? Give me. Its given in the puranas,
upanishads, “O my god, I never studied this. I only studied the smarta
sastra. I am defeater. O NO!!! I should become a vaisnava. But I am not
humble enough to become a vaisnava. I can no longer remain a digvijaya. I am
defeated. I will take the middle path. I will become a beggar.” There is no
such middle path. You should surrender and become a vaisnava. So, he went
around as a beggar, a mendicant and an ex-digvijaya. The vaisnavas are not
eager to go around and defeat them. They want to convince them. They want to
go around and convince people. They don’t want a flag like digvijaya.
When Sivanand Bhattacharya saw that digvijaya got defeated by these boys, he
went bananas. And the children went back to the ashram of Narottam das
takur. They wanted to take initiation. They were two of them. They didn’t
know whom to take initiation from. They respected both. So they decided “You
take from one, I will take from the other. You accept mine as siksha guru
and I will accept yours as siksha guru”. So they took initiation and no one
could tell who is the disciple of whom, because they were serving both
faithfully. So, we see how siksha guru is an important role in Vaisnava
dharma. I hope my disciples take Radhanath Swami as their siksha guru. He
gives nice instructions. He sets a good example.
Narottam wanted to have a Gaur purnima festival. He invited Srinivasacharya
to come. And he asked him to invite all the vaisnavas to come to Gaur
purnima festival. Srinivasacharya, in the mood of service, he said yes, I
must do. Then the whole night he couldn’t sleep. How am I going to get
everyone to come, everyone is feeling separation from Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. Then he dozed down around one or two o’ clock. Lord Chaitanya
appeared in a dream and told him that, “I want you to do this. You go and
get Jahnava devi to come. And he named some more people and told him to
invite every one and they will invite everyone else.” And he woke up and he
realized that this is meant to be. He went to the house of Nityananda where
there was Jahnava devi. It is near to panihati dham (6 kms). He went there
and normally these associates don’t go anywhere. There is too much
separation. But she agreed to come. Because she agreed to come, all the
vaisnavas came along the way. Advaita’s son Achutananda, and they got like
this. Sri kshetra, and from different holy places they got the vaisnavas to
come. Whole Kethuri gram, they were so overwhelmed with happiness that the
vaisnavas are going to come, they decorated the city with sugarcane, water
pots and all auspicious items – banana leaves, banana trees. Like this,
Narottam das takur had a full house of all vaisnavas. He was singing
bhajans. He was singing a song of separation from Lord Chaitanya. Every one
was dancing in ghee. They were dancing in slow motion. [Maharaj starts
singing]
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare…
I cannot sing in the same mood of separation that Narottam sang. May be
there are some people here who can. I got in my hospital room at the evening
Prasad, where different groups of devotees come and sing. And some of them
are very beautiful. They are singing. Most of them are beautiful.
And the kirtan became slowed down, slowed down, it became very intense,
finally Lord Caitanya appeared. He appeared with the associates of Vraja
dham, Navadwip Dham and Jagannath Puri. All of the associates united again
will all of the devotees. And the kirtan went on through a day of Brahma.
And the devotees didn’t feel the time passing. This was a very rare
occasion. I always wish that the Gaur Purnima festival in Mayapur has such a
manifestation. This is the causeless mercy of the Lord that He appeared only
a couple of occasions like this after His departure. This is called aprakata
lila – pastime after being invisible. But sometimes He appeared. Once He
appeared in Swarup ganj. [The name of the place slipped off my mind]
In Srikhand, Narahari Sarkar appeared there after his one year anniversary
of his disappearance. I was thinking it would be nice if Prabhupad appeared,
like Narahari Takur. But these are all alaukik inconceivable leelas. Next to
the Am ghata, where Lord Chaitanya planted the mango tree is this place.
(Not that place, next to it). He goes from Hari hara Kshetra to Aam
ghata….testing to see if you know your dham. (some one replies…Suvarna
Vihar)
Suvarna Vihar…Yes that’s the place Haribol!!!
At suvarna vihar, the king of Suvarna vihar saw Lord Chaitanya there and
there Lord Nityanada was showing Srivas and Sri Jiva Goswami and Lord
Caitanya appeared along with some other associates. These are the only two
places I know of. (If you know of something else please tell me) But two is
enough. We need a third; Lord Caitanya appears to all of our devotees. So
during our yatra in Mayapur we hope Lord Caitanya appears. So this Kirtan
went on in Keturi, the first Gaura purnima festival, every one was so much
estatic, and all of a sudden Lord Caitanya and his associated left, and
every one was so much in separation they were rolling in the ground and
crying at the separation after again being united with lord Chaitanya. And
they looked at Jahnava devi who said continue the kirtan, continue the
kirtan. And the kirtan this is our life, it is the association of Lord
Caitanya and then Srinivas acarya took permission and he installed the 6
deities and performed aarti for them. Now those deities are in Vrindavana at
different places. Deities started to emit their fragrance, so the devotees
as they were doing kirtan, they could smell Lord Krishna’s divine scent. And
then they again felt deep ecstasy. How many of you would like to be at the
first Gaur purnima festival? (Loud HARIBOL from the devotees). HARIBOL!!!
Unfortunately I am not able to get that blessing but may be the first Gaur
purnima festival in the next universe. Lord Caitanya is going from universe
to universe following Krishna’s pastimes. And we get opportunity to be part
of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan movement. Its only 500 years. Not much time has
passed. Specially we need the young people to take this up because they have
more years to spread the movement of Lord Caitanya. That the people get the
mercy of Lord Caitanya.
In the Bhakti Vedanta hospital, so many people are taking up Krishna
Consciousness. I heard about 25-30 a month are taking up. Even there are
many non-Hindu patients. They also ask the devotees to do the final rights
like sprinkling the Ganges water and things like that. That’s what our
doctor does. They say that we are just following the doctor. See… they
want to follow the systems. There is one case where … I don’t know if I
should tell it… (Haribol from the audience) Are you sure? (Again Haribol)
Not very convinced. (A loud HARIBOL) Now you are very convincing. To make it
shorter, the husband took a test and found that he had AIDS. I don’t want to
go in to the details of that. But the wife was under the counselling system,
she was told, serve your husband, of course, avoid relations. So, he was
amazed that his wife could have left him at that movement, but she was
serving him, he became a changed person. He went to the spiritual programs.
He began chanting Japa. He went through another test. And his HIV was
negative. (Loud HARIBOL from audience) Bhagavan Sri Krishna ki… Jai…!!!
This is how one more devotee was made in Bhakti Vedanta hospital. They told
me that one of the nurses dozed off during her night shift. And Prabhupada
appeared to her. He said, “you should read books in the library”. So she
woke up and started reading the books and became a devotee. (Haribol) To be
continued…
Did you hear all these stories? I can’t remember all of them I actually have
to write them down. It shows the magic of chanting and hearing the holy
names. They are giving good medicine as good as they can. That’s a part of
it. But they also give the spiritual care which no one else is giving. They
told me that they are giving courses where other hospitals come and they
learn about spiritual care. Because the human is spirit, mind and the body.
So, we should treat all the three. There is a hospital along the Pune
highway. They have also started the spiritual care. There are so many people
who meet accidents on the high way. They come all wrangled up. Doctors also
need this spiritual care. Radhanath swami has started the spiritual care the
doctors give the material care; together they are forming very nice
spiritual-material care for the patients. Of course many of our doctors are
also spiritually highly qualified and many of them are here for the yatra, a
good break away from their duties there. So let’s give big HARIBOL to the
doctors. Anyway these are little pastimes from Bangaladesh. When I was
coming back by helicopter I was caught in a storm. Every where we went there
was a storm. So the driver said I can’t get anywhere, its all storm. So he
stopped in a village. And thousands of people surrounded us and started
knocking on the window…looking..hey there is a saadhu. The driver was
trying to scare them away, but he wasn’t so successful. They wanted to see
the saadhus. And one lady came she was wearing tilak, and asked are you
Jayapataka Swami, you are my Guru. I got two Gurus, my husband he is a non
veg so he has a fish guru. I have to respect him also. And you are my
vegetarian guru. So she took us to her house and it is a joint family with
three brothers and their wives. So we gave them all a talk on Krishna
Consciousness.
So we drove to the next place and the helicopter was not ready to take off.
That’s my experience with the helicopter. So Bhakticaru Maharaj wanted to go
by helicopter and I said “NO! NO!” So I hope you all had a very good yatra
but you come to the Mayapur for yatra in the future. I thank you for praying
for me in the previous yatra. I hope that I can finish healing soon.
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
GAURANGA!!!