English
6th April 2019
LORD HAS GIVEN ONE ADDITIONAL YEAR TO YOU!
Hare Krishna!!
I am in Solapur. Japa talk is a serious subject, but the sound system is faulty, which is destroying the mood. Today many devotees are sending me good wishes for new year. Specially in Maharashtra this festival is celebrated in a grand way. ISKCON Solapur is celebrating it with a grand Jagannatha Ratha-yatra. This is their eleventh Jagannatha Ratha-yatra celebration.
I was thinking that on this day all over India and specially in Maharashtra, people take a lot of vows
(sankalpas). They make shubh arambh (auspicious beginning) of so many things. Bhogis also make sankalpas. We will do this and that. Or maybe they will think of beginning to chant. We devotees also should take a sankalpa for the new year, not like karmis. From today many start a new business or new work. They enjoy different bhogs and become bhogis and then they become rogi. They are not aware that bhog leads to rog ( disease). The Lord says, ‘yogi bhava’ ( Don't sleep - zo pala tor sam pala {one who sleeps during a lecture is finished} ) This world does anti- Krsna propagation. Lord says, yogi bhava and the world says bhogi bhava. Unfortunately we are in the kingdom of Maya. Here everyone talks about the bhoga.
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
But intelligent devotees take a sankalpa of becoming yogi. World is mad, less intelligent and so much more.
prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya
kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ
mandāḥ sumanda-matayo
manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ.
O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed. (SB. 1.1.10) It is a mad , mad, mad world. Devotees of the Hare Krishna movement take vows of becoming yogis. ‘Achhe din aayenge!’ ( soon there will be better days) by becoming Bhogi, achhe din kabhi nahi aayenge!’ ( If you become 'bhogi’ then good days can never come) Good days will come and go. Ayaram - Gayaram! (They will come and go) So be Japa Yogis. Take a sankalpa to become Japa Yogis. By this yoga we should re-establish our lost relationship with the Lord. It should be
established by chanting Japa. We should take that vow of chanting. 'fir achhe din aayenge!’.( Then
definitely there will be good days) Lord has guaranteed, Prabhupada has also guaranteed that chant Hare Krishna and be happy. This is not a false promise given by people in this material world, but you should realize, this is the promise given by supreme Lord.
ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaḿ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaḿ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ prati-padaḿ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaḿ
sarvātma-snapanaḿ paraḿ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-sańkīrtanam ( Siksastakam Verse 1 )
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said , Chant Hare Krishna and then what will happen? - ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ - your consciousness gets cleansed. There is cleansing of the consciousness. bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaḿ. We are burning in the fire of materialexistence. We will be saved from that fire by Chanting. Like that -vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam. We will also gain intelligence by chanting. ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ. Our happiness will increase at every step. prati-padaḿ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaḿ we will experience happiness at every step. sarvātma- snapanaḿ . What else will happen? There will be shower. We will be swimming in the nectar of the holy name. Haribol!! Caitanya Mahaprabhu said this in Siksastakam which we recite every
morning. Maybe we are not experiencing that now but that's the goal. We will experience that state
of mind and existence , that we are empowered with the nectar.
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ prati-padaḿ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaḿ
Our soul will take bath in the ocean of Harinama. Then paraḿ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-sańkīrtanam. Lord has guaranteed that if we join this then you will be successful.
Success is guaranteed! What is that victory? paraḿ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-sańkīrtanam. We die and take birth again. It's a defeat. Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam punarapi janani jathare sayanam( Verse 21 of 'Bhaja Govindam’ by Adi Sankaracarya) If this goes on you are dying again and again. Birth - death again and again and again , then you are defeated.( You are sleeping, that is also defeat. Sleeping means , you have been defeated by Maya again and again.) So what is the victory?
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so ‘rjuna
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna. (BG 4.9) After leaving this body, you will not take birth again. The chanter will come to the abode where I reside, to Goloka. This is the victory. The poor fellow has died and has been burnt. Others are saying -’ Ram Nama Satya hai’. So Ram nama or Krsna nama is the reality or the truth. They are accepting the truth. Chanting always
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE! Ram Nama, Krsna nama, Hare Krishna nama ‘sat’ or satya hai and by doing japa of this nama we will also become ‘sat’. We will become eternal. We are souls and will remain in that form.
So get your things worked out. Of course on this conference we are doing that, by inspiring everyone to not just chant, but chant attentively. Chanting daily, offenselessly with love. This Japa talk is meant for that, to inform you about it. Otherwise years come and go , but no progress is made. What's the use of this life if we don't make any progress in chanting? If we have not reduced our aparadhas as yet, then the Lord has kindly given us one more year , in this body , in this world.
We should take advantage of this additional year. Happy New year! Then we will become happy. So there are 440 participants on this conference, which will increase gradually. We have to make 700 till Vyasa Puja.
So you could join us on this auspicious occasion of Caitra Pratipada. Make a sankalpa that we will chant on this conference. By that Japa will improve , which is the experience of many. Many have responded by saying Haribol! If you don't know how to chant on this conference, you learn from those who know how to join and get started.
Hare Krishna.