Monthly Archives: November 2019

15 NOVEMBER 2019

CHANTING WITH PRANAYAM – Part 2

As we take in fresh air and retain it, it kind of makes the mind steady, fixed and focused. That kind of activity of the mind is achieved by following the cycle of taking a deep breath and then retaining it. We should observe the function of breathing and what goes into the mind very closely. They work in collaboration. If you could control your breath then you can control your mind. Aasan is also helpful in this process. When the body is in movement there also the mind functions. Sitting down is one kind of activity of the mind. If you sit at one place then it makes the mind
more calm, peaceful and controlled. Sitting is the best posture. It is also associated with the mode of goodness. Sleeping is ignorance and running, walking is in the mode of passion. Sitting is goodness. We need to achieve that goodness of the mind for chanting. We need to transcend the three modes of material nature to achieve the state of pure goodness. We would like to have that state of mind to transcend to. The closest is goodness.

Sitting gives rise to goodness, lying down gives rise to ignorance and walking and running is associated with passion. The idea of having a particular aasan or goal is meditation. The goal is samadhi which is the final step. So all of these steps yam, niyam aasan are meant to serve and help the eighth step to reach the target of samadhi. They are favourable for it. The principal is that whatever is favourable we accept and whatever is unfavourable we reject. So we should watch favourable or near favourable aasan, kind of meditation, kind of breathing. What kind of breathing is favourable for my meditation?

Then there is pratyahar. It's a big step during chanting. Pratyahar means prati- aahar. Normally we do aatyahar.

atyaharah prayasas ca
prajalpo niyamagrahah
jana-sangas ca laulyam ca
ṣadbhir bhaktir vinasyati

TRANSLATION:
One’s devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) over endeavouring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) Practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Krsna consciousness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements. ( NOI verse 2)

Your bhakti is finished. You may lose your devotion if you are doing atyaharah. Eating or acquiring too much is atyaharah

ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca samanyam etat pashubhih naranam
dharmo hi tesham adhiko vishesho dharmena hina pashubhih samanah

TRANSLATION:
Eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating are the four principles of animal life. These are common both to animals and to human beings. But religion is the extra function of the human being. Without religion, human life is no better than animal life. – Mahabharata Aahar is eating. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains that when we talk of aahar we think of food tasted by the tongue. Every sense has its own aahar. Sound is food for the ears and form is food for the eyes. Smell is food for the nose and touch food for the skin. So there are five kinds of aahar. This ashtanga yoga in which anga means part. Alpahar means little, alpa means little and atyaharah is too much of aahar. In yogic principles we talked of ashtanga which means the 8 types out of which the fifth principle is atyaharah. The feeding of the senses and then controlling the minds is the fifth step in order to achieve meditation through dhyan, dharana and samadhi which means total absorption. Totally detached from everything and fully focused.

Chanting fully absorbed, interactive with the Lord. oThe soul is interacting with the Lord. The soul is thinking, feeling, willing, but it is all about the Lord – thinking about the Lord and having feelings about the Lord, executing the will of the Lord.

Speaking of aasan is just not the way you sit. Only that doesn't make a aasan, but where you sit and how you sit and the whole surrounding where you sit and even time could be part of aasan. Time, place and circumstances is part of aasan. Part of aasan is also no mobiles around. Anything which tries to distract or feed you with something other than the process of chanting should be avoided. That is also the part of assan. So aasan pranayam pratyahar is a big step, an important step in order to facilitate you to go to the sixth step which is dhyan, remembrance from where your meditation kind of begins. It has already begun with pranayam, asana and you are kind of getting closer. So this pratyahar is a stumbling block. It doesn't let you go to dhyan, remembrance, meditation. You are bombarded with so many thoughts and contemplations. There may be some fresh things around which could be forms, smells or sounds which could be unfavourable. You have to take care that everything is favourable. The mind is always there which is filled with previous impressions. What you have previously heard and eaten, touched and so on.

Those things begin giving ideas. Then the intelligence joins the mind and starts making strategies for the gratification of the senses. So we have to do this pratyahara.

Someone may say as Bhakti yogis we have nothing to do with pratyahara! Someone may think we are Bhakti Yogis. We have nothing to do with the aasan. Why should we do pranayam? It helps and is favourable. That is pratyahar. a Watch your breath also includes watching your mind. Who is going to watch? Who watches the mind in our body in our system? Intelligence!

indriyani parany ahur
indriyebhyah param mana
manasas tu para buddhir
yo buddheh paratas tu san

TRANSLATION
The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence. (BG 3.42)

Above the mind is intelligence. There is a whole hierarchy, so keeping an eye on the mind is the job of intelligence. In order for us to work on this pratyahara the function of intelligence comes in. You have good, sharp intelligence so watch and quickly analyse and prescribe also. Do this and don't do this. Think like this! Get out! Intelligence should give orders very actively. But if you are sleeping then your intelligence is already turned off. It is not even taking notice. Your intelligence is not noticing that chanting has already stopped. Anyway, the main thing is dhyan,
dharana, samadhi. We could try this. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that there are no hard and fast rules, but that does not mean there is lawlessness. Something has to be done. Some system has to be followed, whatever is favourable or whatever
helps. So this ashtanga yoga is one system.

Try it. It may work for you. If you follow that to some extent you will immediately start looking like yogis, doing something serious. With the devotees just doing japa, you don't get the feel of doing something serious while chanting. I mean you can just go and interrupt him and he doesn't mind. He is kind of waiting for someone to
come and interrupt him. Someone comes and just starts talking,”Hey! What is there? How is this?” We should concentrate on the sound vibration of :

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Gaur Premanande Hari Hari Bol!

14th November 2019

CHANTING WITH PRANAYAM.

I was in Amsterdam and someone asked me how long yogis sit and meditate. How long can you sit thinking of nothing? I could have said 24 hours, but I said for 2 hours. Chant for 2 hours. Hearing that he was very impressed he bowed before me. I told him that while we are chanting it is expected that by chanting we are trying to focus, get fixed up, with no deviation or distraction. You are endeavouring for a perfect goal. Chanting and chanting with that endeavour with practice makes a man or woman perfect.

We are also a kind of looking like yogis – Bhakti-Yogis. Let's say when we are chanting it should give the impression to others that this person is doing some meditation. But that is not the case many times. There are other impressions. We are so casual, and not many rules. And it is not only external, but also internal which others can't see. Something externally also gets exhibited sometimes, some symptoms as Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,

nayanam galad asru dharaya
vadanam gadgada rudhaya gira
pulakair nicitam vapuh kada
tava nam grahane bhavisyati

O My Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing consulantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, when will the hairs me my body stand on the end at the recitation of your name. (Siksastakam Verse 6)

Tears are rolling down My cheeks, while I chant the holy names. When it is internally happening there is some external manifestation in terms of some symptoms like tears, voice getting choked up. That is the highest goal.

I had lately beentalking of this thing. This should give some shape or structure to our chanting, some form. These are some of the principles or practices of Ashtanga yoga which Krsna has presented in the 6th chapter of Bhagavad-gita. And there is the whole of patanjali yoga bhasyas. There are 6 darsanas – shad-darsanas. The goal is meditation or samadhi. The difference between ashtanga yogis and us is that they like to meditate on Paramatma in the heart, and devotees or Vaisnavas also meditate on the Lord. For the Vaisnavas Paramatma is not active. Paramatma doesn't perform Lilas. Paramatma is just there to witness and not do a lot of things. You are moving and wandering about and He is stationary and interactive with the living entity. But also for the Vaisnavas:

premanjana-cchurita-bhakti- vilochanena
santah sadaiva hridayeshu vilokayanti
yam shyama-sundaram achintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Syamasundara, Krishna Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love. Song
Name: Isvara Parama Krsna (Brahma Samhita,Verse 11)

Brahmaji said saintly persons , specially devotees meditate on the the Syamsundara form of the Lord. So there is some difference in the object of meditation. Ashtanga yogis like to meditate on the Paramatma form of the Lord while Vaisnavas especially Gaudiya Vaisnavas like to meditate on the beautiful Radha Syamsundara. Rest of the steps of yogis could be applied or followed by the devotees. I can be applied to the chanting by Vaisnavas.. We will not talk about yam niyam. Aasan, pranayam, pratyahar , dhyan, dharana ,samadhi if we follow this our process remains structured for our chanting. We follow this or are supposed to be following this knowingly or unknowingly. Whenever there are Japa
retreats, these things are talked about for attentive chanting.

I have also conducted Japa retreats many times. Sitting is the best position or aasan, Sukh aasan. There are so many aasans for chanting, but sukh aasan is good enough. You relax, sitting happily.

After aasan there is pranayam, breath control. Take a deep breath and chant as many times as you could manage, 3 times, 4 times. Some of them even manage five times in one breath. In yogas and aasanas a yoga instructor says 'watch your
breath'. So what we do during chanting is watch our chanting. Take a small quota of 3 mantras or 4 mantras , five mantras if you could manage, and you hear. Take a deep breath and chant. So you are not trying to hear 108 mantras at a time, but you hear small chunks. Whenever you are uttering a new mantra hear it properly from the beginning. In retreats it is stressed that when you begin with a new mantra pay attention at the beginning of the mantra and put stress on the beginning of it, 'Hare Krishna', and try to retain that in your memory. You are not only chanting
Krsna but also Hare. Hare Krishna!

Both nostrils help. This is one very foundational principle of the yoga practitioners. Breath then:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hae Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Then breathe and again Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare…… This is very healthy at the same time, physically also beneficial as you end up doing also yoga asanas and breath control pranayama. You remain fresh if you chant like this. Take a deep breath and chant, again take a deep breath and chant and like that. By doing this tissues of the brain are oxygenised. Blood goes to the brain. One of your god brothers is teaching yoga. You can also learn and teach yoga. When we chant, it is not clear whether we are doing exaltation or inhalation. It is not distinctly clear. Half mantra then you are breathing in that means you are not retaining your breath. It is explained in the lungs there are several bags called alveoli. In the walls of this alveoli exchange of gases takes place. On the other side there is blood.

They say it is expected that the carbon dioxide from impure blood is taken into the alveoli which then goes out through the nose and oxygen gets filled the lungs and the blood gets purified, which is very, very important for the upkeep of the body, for the working of the body. So what this pranayam does, is as you have taken a deep breath which is full of oxygen and because you retain that it means your alveoli gets filled with oxygen. You hold that and it means you hold it for the action of exchange to take place so that the blood is purified. When the oxygen is coming out and going into the blood if you throw the air out then the whole process gets mixed up. Pranayam allows the process of breath purification. Then this purified blood filled with Oxygen moves through the whole body and you feel energised and
also the nervous system becomes alert. If chanting is done in this way then that will keep you fresh and not drowsy.
These are the side benefits of chanting in this way along with pranayam.

To be continued …..

12th November 2019

Glories of Kartik Month

Hare Krishna

Today we have 475 participant in the conference. Jagjivan is also in Vrindavan. Today is Kartik Purnima and also Tulsi Saligram marriage.Today is a very auspicious day.Tulsi means Vrinda Devi. Vrindavan means Vrinda Devi's forest.
vrindayah vanam. This forest belongs to Vrinda Devi.She is holding a high status, just like Radharani. But none can match Sri Radharani. If someone can compare with Her, then it's Vrinda Devi.The gopis also get married to Krsna. It's all described in Sastra. Krsna also married Radharani, and in same way with Vrinda Devi and Gopis. In Vrindavan there exists parkiya bhava. Svakiya bhava exits in Dwaraka. In Vrindavan the Lord belongs to the Gopis. They act in parkiiya bhava.

parkiya bhava bhaver jaha brajer prachar.

Daily we pray to Tulsi Maharani and offer water and aarti and sing

namo namah tulasi krsna-preyasi namo namah
radha-krsna-seva pabo ei abilasi

O Tulasi, beloved of Krsna, I bow before you again and again. My desire is to obtain the service of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna.

As you are dear to Krsna, I offer you my humble obeisances. This prayer is very confidential.

ei nivedana dhara, sakhira anugata koro
seva-adhikara diye koro nija dasi
 
4) I beg you to make me a follower of the cowherd damsels of Vraja. Please give me the privilege of devotional service and make me your own maidservant.
 
Feeling associated with this prayer is of very good consciousness. We ask to make us just like them residents of Vrindavan. We sing, but do not contemplate on the prayers. If we think in this way while praying then we are uplifted. We become liberated and our life become successful. We follow Tulasi and Raganuga bhakti. If we follow Tulasi in full understanding then we get all perfection.

Tulsi vivah yagna is also taking place in Dubai, Damodardesh as reported by Shymalangi Mataji. She reported that in Damodardesh lamp offering took place in 6000 homes. I don't know if any other country can compete with Damodardesh. All glories to it's residents.

Today is last day of Damodara month and while we are chanting devotees in Bhubaneshwar were doing sankirtana. They are just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I am not superhuman to be able to read all the reports sent by you and I'm defeated.
Sananandi Radhika is doing Vraja-mandala Parikrama. Today Vraja-mandala Parikrama is going from Rawal to Visrama-ghata. There they will take holy bath.Rawal is the village of Radharani. Caitanya Mahaprabhu started His Parikrama from Visrama-ghata. We started Vraja-mandala Parikrama from Krishna Balaram temple. You can read in Vraja-mandala darsana book. This is last homework for today. I hope and believe that many of you must be reading Vraja- mandala darsana. Param Karuna from Nagpur is reading Vraja-mandala darsana daliy and chanted about 2500 rounds. Solapur did 250 programs and 50,000 devotee did deep daan.

Dayalu Radha from Reunion reported she developed more taste in chanting. Manjulali from Bangalore went to mangal aarti daily in Kartik. She wants to continue everyday. Vamsivadana from Nasik organised a big ceremony for Kartik deep daan. Ganesh Godse is very active in Kartik conducting Bhakti Vriksha. Ganesh is young boy conducting house programs. Param Karuna Prabhu is saying that the experience of Kartik sadhana was very thrilling. You all are writing your experiences, but time is very limited. I am unable to ready all the messages.

But you can write all your special realisations that how Yasoda Damodara touched you.You all are souls .And how do you experience Vraja-mandala darsana and Parikrama.Kartik month is a gift from Sri Krsna.. Mukunda Madhava is also doing
sadhana in Vrindavan. That's why it is called yoga, union. Link between you and Krsna. You can also share your experiences on Loksanga and Let's Chant Together Facebook page. You can share your experiences with other devotee also. This is nothing but guhyam gkahyati prcchati. Rupa Goswami describes this, Shat vidha priti laksanam.

This is nothing but sharing confidential feelings with your heart.Kartik month is a very good month to revive devotional service.This is nothing but symptom of love that you have for other devotees. So I wish you all a happy Kartik Purnima Mahotsava. Today is last day of Kartik. I give my blessings to all of you. We will meet again.

Gokul Dham ki Jai.
Kartik mas ki Jai.

11 NOVEMBER 2019

MAYA OR KRSNA!

Hare Krsna !

Today we have 437 participants. I won't talk about thoughts of my mind, but of my heart.

So the count has increased to 442. Please stop chatting. Don't type anymore. Translator will type in English, so that the English speaking devotees can read, hear and understand. Don't type the thoughts in your mind and heart and also don't send reports. When I will start the japa talk in Hindi Santaram Prabhu from Sangli will translate it into English.

On Saturday, the day before yesterday, a few people worship Shani dev. In Bangalore, Rakhi Ganesh got 2650 people to offer lamps. Shani dev devotees became Damodara devotees. There is more benefit in worshiping Lord Damodara. Wonderful! It's like a headline, "More than 2000 people did Damodara deep daan in Shani dev temple".In Nandagaon more than 100 people did deep daan. This is late news. Yesterday he reported this and today there are so many reports related to Vrindavan and also to Damodara and Giriraja. Many devotees from Noida had gone to Vrindavan in 2 buses and performed Govardhan Parikrama. Govardhan Parikrama is itself Govardhan Puja. Some of those devotees are attending our Japa talk. Ladali Radhika, do you understand Hindi? A little bit? You could read the transcription. Perhaps you could learn Hindi also. In North India, Bengal, we have Keshav Lila, who speaks Hindi.

Many devotees have arrived in Vrindavan and are doing Vrindavan Parikrama and many other devotees who stay near Vrindavan are neighbours of Krsna. They are fortunate that they stay in Vrindavan. Ladali Radhika stays in Vrindavan. Few are also fortunate to stay in Mayapur, which is non-different from Vrindavan. They have become Vraj vasis, Vrindavan vasis or Mayapur vasis. Only two days are remaining of Kartik, today and tomorrow. So, many devotees from Noida, Delhi and other places are running towards Vrindavan, doing Parikrama and chanting more. They are following Damodara Vrata (fast) by going to Vrindavan. Srimati Radhika had written that she has done 3 days Parikrama, but she is not satisfied with it that's why she is taking an oath that she will do the complete Parikrama next year.

There are many places or Lilas in Vraj which are the LordHimself to be seen and which are supposed to be seen again and again, thousands of times. There is nothing to be seen in Noida, Delhi, Moscow, New York, Bangalore, etc. They are
useless. Don't see them. Don't pay attention to it. There is the Lord, devotees of the Lord, many forests, (dwadasa-kanan). They are all to be seen in Vrindavan. There are many places to be seen in Vraj as stated in the scriptures. There is nothing to be seen in this world. Vrindavan is full of scenic spots. Go there and see those
spots. Hear their glories and if you can't go there. At least read books like Srimad-Bhagavatam, Lila Purusottam Sri Krsna book by Srila Prabhupada, or my Vraja-mandal darsana. Then, there is a saying sastra caksusa. When you wear the glasses of these scriptures, then you can see Vrindavan and all scenic spots at a distance. Wherever you are, in Delhi, Moscow or Bangalore, you can see Vrindavan from a distance. It will be like visiting Vrindavan.

We had gone to Sadhana Bhakti devi's house in Nagpur. There a satsanga was happening. A television was also there. I said a few things over there which were harsh and unpalatable words to them.I said that television is not worth watching. This television is an Idiot. I asked them if they want to see something, then see Radha Krsna, have darsana of Radha Krsna, who are the residents of Gokula and Vrindavan. Vrindavan and Gokula are quite far away. This is a real television. Mumbai or Bollywood is not so far away – just hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. Hollywood is also not so far away, only ten thousand kilometres. Naked dances of Bollywood and Hollywood, Idiot actors or actresses, lust or hatred are not so far away, then why do you call it Door-darsana. Radha Krsna's residence is so far in Goloka Vrindavan. Go and see Them, have darsana of Goloka. Then you can say you are watching television or someone at a distance.

Those people understood what I wanted to say. After few months, they had invited me again to their place for Satsanga and when I went back there, I saw they had placed an altar for Radha Krsna instead of the television. It is called a Dev Ghar in Marathi. A Puja room for Radha Krsna. They kicked out the bad people of Mumbai and Hollywood and placed Sri Sri Radha Krsna. I was very surprised and pleased also because this family is now having darsana of Radha Krsna. Vrindavan is worth seeing. Radha Krsna and Their Madhurya Lila's over there are sweet and worth seeing.

adharam madhura vadanam madhuram
nayanam madhura hasitam madhuram
hrdayam madhuram gamanam madhuram
madhuradhi-pater akhilam madhuram

TRANSLATION:
His lips are sweet, His face is sweet His eyes are sweet, His smile is sweet His heart is sweet, His gait is sweet—Everything is sweet about the Emperor of sweetness! (Madhurastakam Verse 1)

As we can read in the Madhurastakam composed by Sri Vallabhacarya, this darsana and hearing is significant to life.
I was telling you that many devotees are trying to relish this in the last two days. Purnanandi Radhika, where are you? Vraja-mandala? So, Purnanandi Radhika is doing Parikrama and going to Radha Rani's Village. Today our Vraja-mandala Parikrama devotees will have the last halt at Radharani's birthplace. They are going from Raman reti in Goloka to Radha Rani's birthplace. Devotees are attending the zoom conference also while doing Parikrama. Purnanandi Radhika is going to Radharani's Village while chanting. Her life is successful as she is in Vrindavan and chanting …

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama,
Rama Rama Hare Hare

… and going to Radharani's village. She is not alone, but with 1500 devotees doing Parikrama. Benefit of Parikrama is also there. What is that? Ujjawal Madhavi and many devotees are doing Parikrama. Ujjawal Madhavi, Are you chanting?Are you doing Parikrama? It's a morning walk.

Devotees who are doing Parikrama will get the benefit of the Parikrama. What is that? While doing parikrama, they will reach the village of Radharani. Do you know Radharani's Village? Who knows?

Radha Rani ki jai! Maharani ki jai!
Barsane wali ki jai jai jai!

Some people think Barsana is the Village of Radharani. Barsana is also a village where Radharani grew up. Her upbringing was done in Barsana, but her birthplace is Rawal which is on the bank of the Yamuna. There is no Yamuna in Barsana. Rawal is situated on the bank of the Yamuna which is not far away from Gokula.

Gokula and Rawal Village, both are situated on the bank of the Yamuna, not far away from each other. It's similar to Nandagrama and Barsana. They are not far away from each other. Today the Parikrama party is going to arrive at Rawal. They are on the way and the whole afternoon that is Aparan, which comes after Madhyan in the afternoon and then Sandhya kaal after Aparan among Ashta kala (the eight periods of the day). Likewise, Pradosh kaal then Sandhya kaal then today's Ratri kaal and then tomorrow's Ushah kaal. All this time, devotees will stay in Radharani's village, Rawal and will lie down and get the dust of the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani. They will touch that dust. Vraja vasis pray to Her that if they get the dust of Her lotus feet then their destiny will change. It will rise their fate. They will be having a revolution in spirit. They will get love of Radha Krsna. There is no end to the fortune of our Parikrama devotees. Aho Bhagyam, Aho Bhagyam, it is said in the Bhagavatam. Avrajoksam- no end of the fortune of Vraja vasis and the Parikrama devotees. Today they will be arriving at Radharani's Village and will stay
there.

itidrk sva-lilabhir ananda-kunde 
sva-ghosam nimajjantam akhyapayantam 
tadiyesita-jnesu bhaktair jitatvam 
punah prematas tam satavrtti vande

By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbues with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence. With great love I again offer my obeisances to Lord Damodara hundreds and hundreds of times. (Damodarastakam Verse 3)

It's Her Lila and not only Damodara Lila. Every Lila of Hers creates an ocean of bliss. In Rawal also devotees will immerse themselves in the ocean of bliss of the pastimes of Radha Krsna. There are only two oceans of bliss, as a statement by Prabhodanand Sarasvati states-

avatirne gaura-candre vistirne prema-sagare,
yena majyanti majyanti te maha anartha sagare
(Prabhodananda Sarasvati, Caitanya Candramrta)

He said that Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Radha Krsna appeared and They created an ocean of bliss of Lila for all of us to dive into it. Sarvatma-snapanam which cleans the heart and soul of all the dust accumulated for years, but those who don't dive into this, those who do not throw themselves into the middle of this ocean of bliss, for them (maha anartha sagare) is there. There is another ocean which is known as maha anartha sagare which means ocean full of sins. There are two oceans – the first ocean of bliss or Lila bliss and the second ocean full of sins.

You think about this. Every person has this choice – Maya or Krsna. There exists only two things, first is Maya and second is Radha Krsna and we, the living entities are third. There is no fourth thing in the world. One there is the internal potency, which is Radha Krsna and Their spiritual world and other is the external potency, which is Maya and her material world and then the third are the living entities known as the marginal energy. There is no fourth energy. We are tathasta – in the middle. We have only two choices. On one side we have Krsna while on another side we have Maya. So, take a pick and think. By the way, you have already decided, but think more about this and decide with determination. So, become nistavan, not only sraddhavan. Nistavan is that state from which a person never takes a
U-turn. He will be fixed and focused.

Two days are remaining of Kartik month. Follow Kartik Vrata according to the Vedas (scriptures) and appeal to everyone to follow. Do it together.

Okay See you again Hare Krsna!

10th November 2019

“DEAR MIND, GO TO VRNDAVANA AND STAY THERE”

There is detailed report by HG Jagannath Asktak Prabhu. You should write less in chatting, but he wrote it in detail. We thank him. He is from Bhuvaneshwar. He likes the japa talk also. Loot sake tor loot. Jagajivan, I thought you are travelling by foot, but you are travelling by bus or car. So you are taking this great pleasure. Today we have 382
participants. The number is less today. It seems devotees are still in yatra. Many devotees from Greater Noida are doing yatra of Vrindavan.They returned yesterday from Vrindavan. They also did Govardhan Parikrama. Like that the devotees who are doing Braja-mandala Parikrama are very fortunate. They are observing this Kartik Vrata for the past one month. Now only two days are left. This is the best thing to do. They will go to Vrindavan in the next 2 days. So, leave all material duties and reside in Vrindavan during Kartik month.

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja

Vraj means to go. So the Lord is asking us to come to His shelter. Also some devotees explain this as the Lord is saying:

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisysmi ms sucah

TRANSLATION:
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.(BG 18.66) mam ekam saranam vraja means He is asking us to come to His shelter by residing in Vraj. So this is another meaning of this verse that devotees would say.

When we say Vrindavan dhama Ki Jai! This means that Krsna Kanhaiya Lal Ki Jai! Bhakti Caitanya, do you understand Hindi ? Or you know only Oriya? Those who were unable to visit Vraja during Kartik can read one chapter of Vraja-mandala darsana every day. In this way not only your mind, but your soul will reach Vrindavan. You will remember Vrindavan, Damodara Lila, and many other lilas. Many different pastimes were performed by the Lord there.

namas te ‘stu damne sphurad-dipti-dhamne 
tvadiyodarayatha visvasya dhamne 
namo radhikayai tvadiya-priyayai 
namo ‘nanta-lilaya devaya tubhyam

TRANSLATION:

O Lord Damodara, I first of all offer my obeisances to the brilliantly effulgent rope which binds Your belly. I then offer my obeisances to Your belly, which is the abode of the entire universe. I humbly bow down to Your most beloved Srimati Radharani, and I offer all obeisances to You, the Supreme Lord, who displays unlimited pastimes.

O Damodara Dev ! Your lilas are anant. We should remember the lilas which the Lord has performed in Vrindavan. As His pastimes are anant, we should remember Them for anant kaal, eternally. We should not contemplate on one lila for some time, but we should always think and remember that pastime. We live only to remember his pastimes. By remembering those pastimes we will enter into those pastimes. Also the Lord has said :

My birth and activities are Divya, Lord doesn’t do karma, he performs pastimes. Lila is the one which is done by his own desire. He plays the pastimes. So he said in Bhagavad-gita that those who understand my birth and pastimes properly, as mentioned in scriptures, or one who knows those pastimes as it is.

tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna

So I was thinking on the same.Those who will understand these pastimes will also get this thought and would hanker to be the part of that lila, Can we also perform these pastitimes with Krsna?

When one will continuously hears these pastimes, gradually he will develop ruci for these pastimes. From ruci (taste) he will attain asakti(attachment), then bhav (emotional attachment) will develop and then we will get prem(pure love). So the Lord said that such a person will not return to this material world. He would not take birth again. So what will happen next ?

janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna

TRANSLATION

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)

I will also explain this verse. The Lord is saying it in Sanskrit that if we understand His vani then we will understand these verses also. So here na means no, eti – go , so such a person will not take birth again. So where will he go – mam eti . Here the Lord used the word eti two times. Mam eti and na eti – the one who will not take birth again – it is one eti. So what will happen next ? He will attain Me – mam eti . You should look in Bhagavad-gita for these verse. This is sandhi viched – mam eti – mam means Me. Me is the Lord . The Lord is saying he will attain Me. So that person or you will get the Lord. I was thinking this is only Nitya Lila Pravisht – Like this we can enter into His lila. There are many kinds of Mukti, but a devotee doesn’t need this mukti.

The 5 types of mukti are:

Sayujya mukti – Mayavadis get it and a bhakta rejects this mukti. Merging with the body of the Lord (means merging into the Brahman effulgence of the Lord.)

Salokya mukti – In this liberation one gains residence on one of the Vaikunṭha planets where the Narayana forms reside. 

Sarupya mukti – In this liberation you get the same form as the 4 armed Lord Narayana and live in the Vaikuntha planets.

Sarsti mukti – When one attains this liberation, he acquires the same opulences(wealth) as the Lord and lives in the Vaikuntha planets. 

Samipya mukti – In this liberation one becomes a personal associate of the Lord and stays in His direct association. This liberation attained by devotees like Arjuna. He was always a friend of the Lord.

We become only soul. The body becomes ashes, and the soul gets its eternal form. It won’t get more bodies. So the soul has its own form. And Sarupya Mukti means we will get a form like the Lord Himself. Our form is also saccidanand. Man is made in image of god.The Lord has made humans in the same form of the Lord. As we are the soul, He is the Super soul. This is acintya-bheda-bhed. Sastri means we will get the wealth and opulence like the Lord. Like Father, like son.

So getting these means we get the dhama of the Lord. I was thinking in the beginning of the japa talk that this is what nitya lila pravistha means. Bhakti sadhna , mam ekam saranam vraja, taking shelter at His lotus Feet, and then aham tvam sarva-papebhyo – means the Lord will free us from all sins.

I would like to tell you a short story. Yesterday I read one pastime mentioned in Padma Purana. It is entitled the Glories of Kartika Vrata. There was a man. His name was Dhaneshwar. He was born in A brahman family, but he became dwija bandhu, This is a term which means if someone is born in a brahmin family, but his activities are not like a brahmin. So like this Dhaneshwar was also involved in bad activities. He left his home and went out for business. Anyaayen dhan sanchayan – he used to get wealth by anyaay. Like this travelled from one city to another, one state to another. And like this he reached one place where many people were gathered together to perform Kartik Vrata and celebrate Damodara month. By the mercy of the Lord he also get involved in this Kartik Vrata. He also got sadhu sanga. He would have also performed deep daan. He would have also heard the pastimes of the Lord and he would have eaten prasada also. In this way he performed all these, but one accident took place. One snake bite him and he died. As soon as he died Yamadutta came there to take him to Yamalok.

They took him to Yamalok and when the Chitragupta checked his database, he checked the account of Dhaneshwara and recited his details to Yamaraja. So in his account there was no pious activity performed. Since his childhood he was involved in bad activities. Yamaraja asked his Yamaduttas to take Dhaneshwar to Narak loka. There are total 28
kinds of Narak loka . Take him to Kumbhipakam narak – boil oil in a big pan and then deep fry him in that oil. So the Yamadutas took Dhaneshwar to Kumbhipakam. The oil was boiling and as soon as they threw Dhaneshwar in that pan the boiling oil became cool. Yamadutta became astonished and they came to Yamaraja and informed him that as soon as we threw him in the boiling oil, the oil became cold. Now how shall we punish him now? Then Narada Muni came there. Narada Muni was a witness of the Damodara vrata that Dhaneshwar had performed for 1 day in that city. So Narada Muni noted this service that he performed in Kartik maas for 1 day, but it was not there in the record of Chitragupta. Narada Muni said, “He performed sankirtana and satsang there.

He was dancing in the kirtana there. He heard katha and also honoured prasada. He also ate the butter of Damodara lila. Yamaraja understood that there is some defect in his record. And immediately he asked for forgiveness from Dhaneshwara. As we know Yamaraja himself is a Maha-bhagavat. He is one of the dwadash (12) Maha-bhagavat. He is very merciful. He can’t do anyaay with anyone. In Padma Purana it is stated that he was sent to Swarga to the city of Kuber, instead of sending him to narak. The Lord freed the sons of Kubera, Nalakuvera and Manigriva in this Damodara lila and sent them back to the city of Kuber. Like wise the Lord sent this Dhaneshwar also there, and he also became free. So what he did to become free?

He performed Damodara Vrata only for 1 day. So like this he was freed from all sins, as the Lord said,

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisysmi ms sucah

By this the Lord’s promise comes true. Now I won’t explain it further, you yourself should think and contemplate on this pastime.

Don’t sleep ….

So I was saying loot sake tor loot. We have only q few more days for Kartik month and we encourage others also to observe Kartik month.

Jai Sri Rama .. Ayodhya dhama ki jai …

We should celebrate Diwali today or you would have celebrated it yesterday. The Supreme court gave the verdict yesterday and it is very joyful news for all of us, We should celebrate Diwali today… We say satyamev jayate which means always truth wins, and Jai Sri Rama, ho gaya kama. The whole world and specially Indians would have felt satyamev jayate and Jai Sri Rama.

So now there will be an opulent temple in the dhama of Sri Rama in Ayodhya . You should also see how you all can participate in this temple.

Gaur Premanande Hari Haribol …

9 NOVEMBER 2019

PASTIMES IN GOKUL!

We have 459 participants today chanting with us. Today being Saturday devotees from Melbourne Australia are also chanting with us. Devansh, Puja and Pandav Sevak are chanting with us.

So many reports are received. My voice is hoarse due to a bad throat. We have got the report of deep daan from Yavatmal. Since the month of Kartik is coming to an end with only a few days remaining which is also termed as Bhishma Panchak devotees have increased their sadhana. Some are doing 64 rounds of chanting.

Many devotees on Vraja-mandala Parikrama do fasting during these days by taking only water or by taking fruits. So this way devotees intensify their sadhana as some of you are reporting that you have done 44 or 64 rounds yesterday. Somebody has finished 64 rounds by this time of the day. Some are seeking blessings from me. Srimati Radhika Mataji from Delhi is seeking blessings for chanting attentively.

You are not supposed to type anything during Japa talk as the transcriber is translating my talk in English and typing it. Till the time I am instructing not to write, somebody has already posted the report. Bala Nandini Mataji from Solapur is observing Bhishma Panchak. Radha Chitta Hari had conducted a program in which more than a hundred people did deep daan and received prasada.

As only a few days of Kartik are remaining Vraja-mandala Parikrama devotees have reached Brahmand – ghata there yesterday and they have stayed there. Brahmand – ghata is like the courtyard of Nanda Maharaja. Yamuna is flowing there and this ghata is on the bank of Yamuna. A very special pastime of the Lord took place over here. This is where Kanhaiya opened his mouth and showed it to Yasoda.

Krsna ate mud! Krsna ate mud! Like this the complaint was done by Balarama and other gopas. So tmother Yasoda told Krsna to open His mouth. The Lord then opened His mouth. There was so much of mud over there. You are talking about
eating a little mud, but the mud is not separate from Me. Mud is inside Me or it has been created by Me. Lord did not say this, but he could have said all this. You are complaining that I have eaten some mud even though I am denying that I haven't. But since you are insisting then see the mud in my mouth Yasoda peeped into the mouth and saw whole Brahmand in the mouth of Krsna. So this ghata is named Brahmand – ghata, where Yasoda witnessed Brahmand in the mouth of Krsna. We are singing daily in the month of Kartik

namas te 'stu damne sphurad-dipti-dhamne
tvadiyodarayatha visvasya dhamne
namo radhikayai tvadiya-priyayai
namo 'nanta-lilaya devaya tubhyam

O Lord, the entire universe was created by  Lord Brahma , who was born from Your abdomen, which was bound with a rope by Mother Yasoda. To this rope I offer my humble obeisances. I offer my obeisances to Your most beloved  Srimati
Radharani  and to Your unlimited pastimes. (Damodarastakam Verse 8)

What is the speciality of your belly? It is the abode of the whole universe. Whole of the Jagat or universe resides in your belly. Tvadiya means your tvadiya udaray namaha. I offer my obeisances unto your belly. Speciality to your belly which is – visvasya dhamne. It is the shelter of the whole universe which lies within You. It is in Your mouth or in Your belly, unto such Damodara I offer my obeisances. Krsna is so wonderful and everything about Him is astonishing and surprising. People bow down wherever there are some miracles. Offer our obeisances to such a Kanhaiya who exhibited such miraculous as ]

pastimes. We keep offering our obeisances at Brahmand – ghata. We offer our obeisances to all the pastimes that took place in Gokul. We offer our obeisances to Kanhaiya and His parents.

krsna jinaka nama hai, gokula jinaka dhama hai
aise sri bhagavana ko (mere) barambara pranama hai

He whose name is Krsna, and whose abode is Gokula – unto such a Supreme Personality of Godhead, I offer my most humble obeisances, again and again. We offer our obeisances to Krsna, the Lord. Why we are offering our obeisances to Him? How is He? Whose name is Krsna. krsna jinaka nama hai, gokula jinaka dhama hai . So we offer our obeisances also to Gokul. And our obeisances to those who reside in that Dhama. Then that becomes koti koti dandavats. We will have to offer our obeisances every moment.

yasoda jinaki maiya hai, nanda ji bapaiya hai
aise sri gopala ko (mere) barambara pranama hai

He whose mother is Yasoda, and whose father is Nandaji – unto such a cowherd boy named Gopala, I offer my most humble obeisances, again and again.

Our obeisances to mother Yasoda.nanda ji bapaiya hai. Our obeisances to Nanda Maharaja. aise sri gopala ko I offer my obeisances unto Gopal who looks after the cows.

radha jinaki jaya hai, adbhuta jinaki maya hai
aise sri ghana-syama ko (mere) barambara pranama hai

In Gokul there were no pastimes with Radha as He was very small. But anyway Radha belongs to Krsna. In Gokul Krsna was very small. Pastimes with Radha start when He was Kisor. Bal-lilas took place in Gokul, which were filled with Vatsalya
bhav. When He was small in Balavastha, there was an exchange of Vatsalya Rasa and He executed all the pastimes related to Vatsalya Rasa over there.

When He grew up a little Sakhya Rasa was exhibited. In Kumara state there was Vatsalya Rasa, in Pauganda state there was Sakhya Rasa with friends and then in the third state which is Kisor Madhurya Rasa is exhibited with Radha and Krsna. Vatsalya Rasa dominates in all the pastimes in Gokul. So we offer obeisances to all such pastimes also.

Our fortunate devotees of Vraja-mandala Parikrama are witnessing all those places at every step in Gokul. Butter stealing pastime took place over here. And Yasoda saw Brahmand in the mouth of Krsna at this place, like that. Sakatasura was killed over here and the pastime with Trnavarta took place over here. And look! At this place Yamal-Arjun trees where standing which were uprooted by Krsna.

Sri-suka uvaca
ekada grha-dasisu
yasoda nanda-gehini
karmantara-niyuktasu
nirmamantha svayam dadhi

yani yaniha gitani
tad-bala-caritani ca
dadhi-nirmanthane kale
smaranti tany agayata

Sri Sukadeva Gosvami continued: One day when mother Yasoda saw that all the maidservants were engaged in other household affairs, she personally began to churn the yogurt. While churning, she remembered the childish activities of Krishna, and in her own way she composed songs and enjoyed singing to herself about all those activities.

That day was Deepavali when this pastime was performed by the Lord. But in Vrindavan no one recognised Him as Lord. He is recognised as their Kanhaiya, their Son. They are in such consciousness. Damodara pastime took place on the day of Deepavali and so this month is called as Damodara month. That is why we are doing deep daan everyday. This Ukhal – bandhan took place in Gokul. Devotees on Vraja-mandala Parikrama will also take darsana of that motar to which the Lord
was tied up by Yashoda. There were two sons of Kuver, who had become trees known as Yamal-Arjun in the courtyard of Nanda Maharaj due to curse of Narada . They were waiting for thousands of years that when Kanhaiya will appear and
deliver them from this curse. On day of Deepavali in the month of Kartik, when Kanhaiya was 3 years 8 months old, He uprooted these trees. Nalakuvera and Manigriva were given liberation by the Lord and they were delivered. They were
bestowed with special devotion.

kuveratmajau baddha-murtyaiva yadvat
tvaya mocitau bhakti-bhajau krtau ca
tatha prema-bhaktim svakam me prayaccha
na mokse graho me ‘sti damodareha

O Lord Damodara, in Your form as a baby Mother Yasoda bound You to a grinding stone with a rope for tying cows. You then freed the sons of Kuvera, Manigriva and Nalakuvara, who were cursed to stand as trees and You gave them the chance to become Your devotees. Please bless me in this same way. I have no desire for liberation into Your effulgence.

We sing this daily in Damodarastakam. tvaya mocitau, O Kanhaiya you have delivered Kuveratmajau means sons of Kuvera. Why atmajau? Because they were two sons. kuveratmajau baddha because these two sons of Kuver were baddha or entrapped in the body of trees.

tatha prema-bhaktim svakam me prayaccha
na mokse graho me ‘sti damodareha

The way you bestowed Your mercy on the sons of Kuver , taha – similarly, Please Oh Lord Damodara bestow Your mercy on me also. Like that we are praying to Kanhaiya daily. If we sing the prayer understanding its meaning then it will be more fruitful. Vraja- mandala Parikrama devotees have reached today, where this Damodar pastime took place. Kanhaiya had stolen butter in his own house on the day of Deepavali. Parikrama devotees also will steal butter today and eat that butter the way Kanhaiya had eaten butter after stealing. He had also distributed the butter to monkeys. So Parikrama devotees like monkeys honour the butter stolen by Kanhaiya. They will enjoy taking part in the pastime of stealing of butter. You all read this pastime in Vraja-mandala darsana. I have just mentioned where the parikrama devotees have reached today so it will be easy for you to read the chapter from the book. We will stop here.

Many of you have reported about various preaching activities which is good news. But amidst all these news there is one news which is not so good news. Our Syamalata Mataji’s very young (less than one year) daughter Laxmi, who was born
in Mayapur left her body yesterday. She was a very sweet child . She also had attended Vyasa Puja this year. She was the smallest person who participated in my Vyasa Puja. So we all will chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra once for her. She was born in Mayapur and left her body there as well. We hope and pray that she will attain service at the Lotus Feet of Radha-Madhav. We all will chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra once.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

All glories to Laxmi Mataji! Pray also for Syamalata Mataji that Radha-Madhav and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra may bestow Their strength on her to bear the loss.

You all also pray for her.
Hare Krishna!

8 November 2019

Today devotees from 503 places are chanting with us. It looks like in Pandharpur they celebrated Ekadasi yesterday. 435 books were distributed by ISKCON Pandharpur. Keshav Prabhu from Pune distributed 1000 japa beads in Pandharpur. We hope that he would have asked those 1000 devotees to take a vow to chant at least 1 round daily. There are so many reports coming from different places. From Gurgaon Radha Chitta Hari Prabhu will perform Harinam Sankirtan in a nearby village where more than 100 devotees and new people will take part in sankirtana. They are also planning a deep daan.

Mahesh and Meera from Bangalore have managed to offer deep daan by 105 people. Hardik Patel from USA managed to perform deep daan by 30 – 40 American students at university. He is preaching in his college and spreading Krishna Consciousness there. We congratulate him for his initiative. Our Jagjivan Prabhu is in Bhandhirvan today along with Vraja-mandala Parikrama will continue from Bhanirvan today. He had darsana of Bhatrond Bihari at Bhandirvan. When
he said that he is taking darsana of Bhatrond Bihari then I was reminded that this Bhandirvan is the same place where the marriage of Radha and Krsna took place. There are so many reports. I read almost all the reports, but I can’t
remember all. These reports are not only for me, but they are for you all. You all must read these reports and get inspiration from them and preach Krishna Consciousness. You should spread this Krishna Consciousness and share Krsna
with others.

Madhavi Gopi Mataji from Thane is asking a question twhether we should focus on Sadhana or Seva and how to manage the two? There is one more question being asked – is reading sastra a service or sadhana?

First of all I would like to inform you all that you can discuss these questions with your counsellor and your devotee friends. As Krsna said in Bhagavad-gita devotees should do bodhyantah parasaparam. It means they should ask each other questions. All of you should have a counsellor and ask such questions to him/her. You can discuss these questions among each other. If you find some questions which are difficult you can ask me. These are basic questions which requires common sense.

So I would like to answer the first question – how to manage service and sadhana? We should find a balance between these two. Everyday we should perform sadhana and everyday we should perform seva. In this way we can find balance between these two. There are a few devotees who only do sadhana and will not perform any seva and on the other hand we have some devotees who will only perform seva and won’t do any sadhana . Both of them are not right. We should do both sadhana and seva. We all have 24 hous in a day and we should plan what services we need to perform in these 24 hours. You should plan your 24 hours in such a way so that you can perform both sadhana and seva simultaneously. This time is for my service and this time is for my sadhana. In this way you can plan your day. We can discuss this. I gave you the answer in short now you should contemplate on it and discuss on this with your counsellor and devotee friends.

Second question is reading scriptures a part of our sadhana or seva ? Answer to this question is that reading scriptures is both sadhana and seva. By reading scriptures we prepare ourselves for service. In sadhana we should also do preaching. If you have read the scriptures properly, if you have understood the sastras then you will be able to perform service. When you have understood the philosophy then you will be able to preach Krishna Consciousness. You will be able to answer the questions of new people as you have founded these answers in scriptures. So as we have reading and teaching that both these are services.

Pathan and paathan both are needed. Tase are the suites of a brahman – pathan paathan , yajan yaajan. They should accept charity and they should give charity. These are the duties of a brahman. So you should perform both, read and teach. In this way you will be able to perform sadhana and seva both.

yare dekho tare kaho krsna upadesa – this is service. So you should keep reading these scriptures. You should chant and read also. This is another kind of balance. There could be a few devotees who will only do reading and won’t chant and there will be few who will only chant but won’t read the scriptures. They won’t perform saravan, kirtana they won’t acquire knowledge. This is not right. So there must be a balance in the two. A balanced life is a healthy life. I
won't talk more on this. You should discuss it with others.

I would like to inform you all that today is a very auspicious Ekadasi called Utthan Ekadasi. Today is the day when the Lord wakes up. The Lord is waking up…. Do you remember 4 months before on there was another Ekadasi and the name of
that Ekadasi was Sayani Ekadasi. I hope that some of you devotees were there in Pandharpur and celebrated Sayani Ekadasi. On the same day the Lord goes to sleep and from then Caturmasa begins which is during the rainy season. The
Lord takes rest for these 4 months. The Lord is not small. He is great so he sleeps for 4 months. When the Lord takes rest all the devotees and Vaisnavs increases their sadhana and seva. During the prakat lila of Caitanya Mahaprabhu
devotees from Orrisa and Bengal would come to Jagannatha Puri and reside there under shelter of Mahaprabhu and Jagannatha Puri.

Such kind of austerities are being performed in many different places like in Pandharpur and Vrindavan also devotees reside for the entire 4 months and perform sadhana and seva. During this time traditionally the parivrajkacarya will
stay in one place, because this rainy season is tough to travel during this time.

Even Narada Muni narrated the pastime how he became a devotee there. He said that great devotees who were very scholarly came and stayed near his village and how Narada Muni got the opportunity to serve these Vaisnavas.

‘sadhu-sanga’, ‘sadhu-sanga’ — sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.

(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta: Madhya-lila 22.54)

Narada Muni said, “By their permission I honoured Krsna prasada. I served those Bhaktivedantas, and as a result I became Narada Muni who was a dasi putra at that time.” How was this possible ? Because of sadhu sang. This is the time of charturmasa and this time is specially reserved for more and more sadhu sang.

During Ramayan, even Lord Ram and Lakshman reached Kishkindha and they both stayed there for 4 months. When Hanuman and company went to search for Sita. Sita was in Lanka at that time and Ram and Lakshman were in Kishkindha which is called Hampi nowadays. Both the brothers spent their time there. We see in Pandharpur during Sayani Ekadasi that millions of pilgrims come to Pandharpur for the darsana of Vitthal. Tukaram Maharaja also would come, “Let’s go for His darsana. Lord is going to take rest and we won’t be able to take His darsana for the next 4 months. And today on Utthan Ekadasi again millions of pilgrims will rush towards Pandharpur to take darsana of the Lord. To have netro utsav – festival for the eyes. The Lord was taking rest for these many months, now He is waking up, and they rush to have his darsana.

Akhiyaan pyasi re … we are hungry and thirsty for His darsana. They all run towards Pandharpur and take darsana of Vitthal and become happy again.

sunder te dhyan ubhe vitewari
kar katawari thehuniya
tulasi har gala kanse pitamber

aawde nirantar techi roop
makr kundale talapti shrwani
kanti koustubhmani virajati
tuka mahne maze hechi sarv sukha
pahin shrimukh aawadine

TRANSLATION:
1. Beautiful, it is, the object of my meditation / standing on a brick, hands placed on waist.
2. A garland of "tulasi" leaves adorns his neck / yellow silken cloth, wrapped around his waist. I adore this image, unceasingly.
3. Crocodile shaped earrings, shine brilliantly by his ears / a pearl called "Kaustubha" regally adorns the necklace.
4. Tuka says, this is my only happiness / I will visualize the face of this image with enthusiasm.

Tukaram Maharaja composed one abhanga in these words and shared his experience of darsana in this very famous abhanga.

tuka mahne maze hechi sarv sukha
pahin shrimukh aawadine

What else does Tukaram want? He only wants Vitthal darsana . His life is successful when he takes darsana of Vitthal.

On Utthan Ekadasi Pandarpur is celebrating this day with great joy and then take bath in Candrabhaga River. Four months before onSayani Ekadasi in Pandharpur we inaugurated Prabhupada Ghata there. Some of you were also there. Today millions of pilgrims are taking bath in same Prabhupada Ghata. Prabhupada ghata reminds whoever takes bath there about Srila Prabhupada.

There is a beautiful Candrabhaga temple also. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also took bath in Candrabhaga. He was very eager when He reached there.

There is a gate – Maha Dwara. Caitanya Mahaprabhu rushed towards Vitthal Mandir from this Maha Dwara and He entered into the darsana mandap of Vitthal Temple. We can remember this lila. We can take these two darsanas at the same time. This is the lila where Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is performing kirtan in Pandarpur and taking darsana of Vitthal. When we remember this lila we take 2 in 1 darsana of Mahaprabhu and Vitthal both.

Utthan Ekdasi ki jai!
Nitai Gaur Premanande!
Hari Haribol

7 NOVEMBER 2019

BUILD THE STRONG FOUNDATION

Hare Krishna!

Devotees are chanting with us from 477 places. Reporting is going on and we welcome that. Haridas Thakur Prabhu delivered Bhagavata Katha to five hundred devotees yesterday in Gurugram. They also did deep daan and there was prasada distribution. 600 people did deep daan in one of the vegetable markets in Sangli in Maharashtra. In Nagpur some devotees had gathered at Shymalangi Mataji’s place and there was some Hari katha about Damodar Lila.

From Pandharpur Bhakta Ganesh is reporting that they distributed 135 Bhagavad-gitas. They also did deep daan and distributed prasada to the assembled people. Those who did the deep daan received prasada, so more than a hundred people received Krsna prasada. Rakhi Ganesh from Bangalore has mentioned that she is reading Vraja-mandala darsana. These are nice reports and you all should also read these. There are only 6 days remaining now of the Kartik month.

Devotees are leaving Noida and rushing towards Vrindavan to catch up with Vraja- mandala Parikrama in the last few days. Sita Kisori Mataji from Greater Noida also conducted deep daan in her colony yesterday. So efforts are going
on. Many are making a lot of effort on the principal aaram haram hai. And there are some who are doing aaram and not doing much. Murali Vadana from the Middle East, are you doing anything? Do something! Deep daan must be going on in the Middle East as the name of that country itself is Damodara Desh. So deep daan must be going on over there, but they are not reporting.

Throughout the day we do our sadhana and also preaching. Whatever service or bhajan we do is of two types. One is sadhana and the other is seva (service). There are many ways in which sadhana can be performed. There are different divisions of sadhana. For the Gaudiya Vaisnavas the primary part of sadhana is kirtana and the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. There are many other different types of sadhana.

And there are multiple ways in which seva can be done, but the prominent one is preaching. Yare dekha, tare kaha krsna-upadesa (CC Madhya 7.128) is there. Preaching and propagation of devotion unto Krsna can also be done in various ways, as I keep telling you. Lila Madhuri Mataji, are you doing something in Los Angeles? Is deep daan being conducted in New
Pandharpur? So I was explaining that there are multiple ways in which preaching can be done.

Yare dekha, tare kaha krsna-upadesa is the order given to all Gaudiya Vaisnavas. We have now become Gaudiya Vaisnavas by the mercy of the Lord. Gaudiya Vaisnavas are supreme among all the Vaisnavas. To become a Gaudiya Vaisnava is an achievement in itself. For all the Gaudiya Vaisnavas sadhana and preaching both are important. I was explaining the same thing in other words yesterday or the day before – bhajananandi and gostyanandi. One immerses oneself in Bhajan and others enjoyed the happiness of gosthi. One is happiness derived out of own sadhana, and in other second part happiness is derived out of preaching. The bhajananandi worships mostly for his own benefit and the gostyanandi
associates with people in order to guide them in Krishna consciousness.

While doing our own sadhana we get some thoughts and realisations in the mind. Sharing that with others is preaching. aachar se prachar. While doing our own sadhana whichever words, sentences from the scriptures we have heard must be shared. This is kirtana. Sravan is for ones own self and kirtana is for ones own self as well as others. sravanam kirtanam visnu smaranam. We do both sravan as well as kirtana. So there is bhajanand as well as gostyanand. In this way only we remember the Lord. sravanam kirtanam visnu smaranam. When we remember the Lord then it is an achievement
because from smaranam comes darsanam. All further realisations starts unfolding due to this.

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo 'si me

TRANSLATION
Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend. (BG 18.65)

Krsna has explained this in Bhagavad-gita. What should be done? Man-mana – remember Me. mad-yaji – engage your mind in Me which essentially means remember Me. Man-mana – let your mind be engaged in remembering Me. If we remember the Lord that means we have become Krishna conscious. Remembrance of the Lord is the state we should reach. The Gopis of Vrindavan did not know about various things but they followed:

smartavyah satatam visnur
vismartavyo na jatucit
sarve vidhi-nisedhah syur
etayor eva kinkarah

TRANSLATION
Krsna is the origin of Lord Visnu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the sastras should be the servants of these two principles. (CC Madhya lila,22.113)

Scriptures have explained two things which we read and understand and that is do's and don’ts. Do this and don't do this. One is explained as vidhi and other as nishedh. Glaring example of this is chant Hare Krishna, follow the four regulative principles. These are all vidhi or do's. Don't eat fish, meat, eggs etc. Don't smoke. Don't gamble. All these things are forbidden and are nishedha. So what is the vidhi? Chant Hare Krishna. Chanting and kirtana is vidhi. This is explained in the verse…

sarve vidhi-nisedhah syur
etayor eva kinkarah
What is the outcome of following all the do's and don'ts?
smartavyah satatam visnur
vismartavyo na jatucit

Remembering the Lord is vidhi or do's. Never forget Krsna is the nishedh or don'ts. It is explained that the Gopis only did this. Gopis are known for doing only two things and nothing else – that is always remembering Krsna and
never forgetting Krsna. One should always remember the Lord and never forget Him. Except these principles the Gopis were unaware of any philosophy. Always remember Krsna and never forget Krsna is all they knew.

Attaining perfection of our sadhana lies in this principle. Devotees do sadhana and then preaching. The objective and fruit of our sadhana is remembrance of the Lord. Our sadhana is successful or safal when we become Krishna conscious, and remain Krishna conscious, like the Gopis. Whatever I said today, if you do only this much your life will be fruitful and successful. Preaching activities will continue leading you to a successful life. So stay busy. Consolidate and concentrate on sadhana and service – bhajananand and gostyanand, aachar and prachar. The fruit of all this is
remembrance of the Lord. vismartavyo na jatucit We should never ever forget the Lord. It's the morning of the day. Morning is the foundation. Build various floors of different activities in a day on a firm foundation. In the morning whatever we discuss like this is food for thought or whatever you study becomes the foundation of our day. You did your chanting in the morning and then heard the Japa talk. You also did mangala aarti etc.

Whatever sadhana you performed in the morning builds the foundation of that day. If the foundation is solid and strong then you can build a large building. On a firm and strong foundation you can build skyscrapers which can touch the sky. If the foundation is weak then you have to think and introspect. Whatever activities we perform during the day will not be impactful, whatever we build throughout the day will keep swaying. Even a mild breeze of Maya can destroy and finish
it. So we must have strong morning sadhana. Get up in the morning and create a strong foundation for the rest of the day.

Have a good day!

Hare Krishna!

6 NOVEMBER 2019

DIFFICULTIES REMIND US OF THE LORD! 

There are 441 devotees chanting with us today. I can see some Deep daan reports. There is one report of Deep daan from Nasik sent by Jagjivan Prabhu  and another by Madhavi Gopi from Thane. I will read all those reports and you can also go through it during the day. Rakhi Ganesh from Bangalore has sent a report. In Gurugram Haridas Thakur Prabhuji is doing Bhagavat Katha as well as conducting Deep daan. In this way many of you are busy getting Deep daan done from others. Some of you are doing it yourself, but are not getting it done from others.   

In Sangli someone is getting others to chant. Please show mercy on others by which the Lord really gets pleased. When you connect others with the Lord or turn them towards the Lord, the Lord notices this effort. We notice it later on when you send the reports, but the  Lord notices it immediately when you connect others with Him. Conducting Deep daan is another such effort of connecting others with the Lord. 

There are many ways by which you can connect people with the Lord. You can distribute Prabhupada’s books to them. You can invite them to the ISKCON Temple or you can conduct a home program or Bhakti vriksha  at home and call them for
that. You can have a small temple at home  and cook good food and offer bhoga and distribute that prasada to others. Deep daan is one such means of connecting them. Are you able to listen to my talk? I won't be able to talk louder than This. You can read the transcription if the transcriber is able to hear me. I am not going to talk much today and that is why I also stopped Japa little earlier. 
   
I had gone to hospital for my treatment. There were many relatives of patients with anxious faces  and seeing them I was feeling very compassionate towards them. Can someone feel compassionate looking at me also? Anyway, I was praying for all those people whose relatives were getting treated over there. I was thinking you all also  should visit it a hospital sometimes. Not as a patient, but just to observe how much grief exists. The Lord has said this world is duhkhalayam asasvatam.

mam upetya punar janma
duhkhalayam asasvatam
napnuvanti mahatmanah
samsiddhim paramam gatah

After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection. (BG 8.15)

If you want to experience that, go to the hospital and observe. That world is full of grief and sorrow. People go to five star hotels and to movie theatres where they feel all happiness. But understand that the effect of such happiness is grief. 
    
I was thinking that everyone should visit a Hospital or a crematorium sometimes so that renunciation ( smashana vairagya – deceptive detachment) starts developing in one's mind. When we go to the hospital some renunciation starts developing and also when we visit a crematorium this renunciation appears. Whenever we hear about someone's final rites being performed we start feeling this renunciation. I am also in the hospital and

jatasya hi dhruvo mrtyur
dhruvam janma mrtasya ca
tasmad apariharye 'rthe
na tvam socitum arhasi

For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.(BG 2.27)

Those who have taken birth here will have to die and so I will also have to die. So remember to visit to a hospital and a crematorium as it arouses such renunciation. 
     
Buddhadev was a young Prince, and he never stepped outside his palace. His name was Siddharth. He was insisting that he be let out to observe the world around. Then his father once sent him to observe the world . What did he observe?
He saw one Leprosy patient.  Then still ahead he saw one old person unable to even cross the road  due to his trembling limbs. On viewing such scenes Siddharth asked his Chariot driver, “What is this? Why is this person is ill? Does everyone fall sick?”  And he got the answer, “ Yes! Everyone falls sick sometime or other.” He further enquired whether he would also fall sick? “ Yes!Yes! No Problem! Even  you will fall sick. And get old. “

Today's youth will be tomorrow's old person. That’s guaranteed. That is the rule of nature and nobody can change it. You will also become old. 
    
When they moved further, there was one procession passing by and people were carrying one person who was lying in white clothes. They all where saying “Rama Nama satya hai! Ram nama satya hai!” Then he enquired what was happening and he was informed that somebody had died.  He had never seen death. His father had kept him away from all such scenes or  situations of death, but now he was witnessing it. Now it was a personal encounter with these things. So he asked, “
Will he be buried or if he is Hindu will he be burnt?” Siddharth asked his Chariot driver whether this person will be taken home back again.  “No!No!  He’s finished. There is no question of going back home.” His body will be turned to ashes as is explained in the Bhagavatam. If the body is buried like Muslims then worms  will eat up  that body. Worms become fat by  striving  on such a dead body. In the Parsi community they keep the dead body to be eaten by the birds and then it is turned into the stool of those birds. So Bhagavatam explains that this body will be turned to ashes or birds stool or worms will eat it up. So there can be a rise in the number of worms and they may become very healthy eating so much. This is how he witnessed certain truths.  

The Lord has explained in Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12  …..janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam There are four causes  of grief in this world and they are birth, death, old age and disease. Siddarth witnessed all these on the way. When he saw all these,  renunciation appeared in his mind. I want to be free from all these griefs. How can I do that? I have seen a lot of grief. I don't want to see more. 

Enough is enough! 

He was a young man and newly married also. But seeing all this he developed so much renunciation that he left his palace and all the wealth and family. Leaving everything he went to Bodhgaya and attained knowledge. He meditated for a long time trying to find solutions for these problems. He then became Buddha. In Bodhgaya there is one tree under which he meditated and become enlightened. From Siddharth he became Buddha! 
   
Dukh me sumiran sab kar
Sukh me kare na koi
Jo sukh me sumiran kar
To dukh kahe ko hoi
Ho kabira, dukh kahe ko hoi

We all remember god, our nearer and dearer only in sad moments, if we do same when we are happy, why will we be ever sad. When grief comes people remember the Lord. “O Lord!  In Marathi they say  He Deva!   He Bhagvan!” They remember their mother or grandmother . No one remembers the Lord in happiness. Is it correct, Ganesh? The Lord has given a lot
of wealth, but someone has gone bankrupt and is reminded of the Lord. All this grief is the reaction of our attempts to become happy. It's cause and effect. Happiness is the cause of grief. Are you all listening to this? 

This is the truth. If someone really tries to understand it, it can change their fate. Happiness is the cause of grief. Repeat it after me. 'Happiness is the cause of grief'. Do you want to become happy? Then you will get grief. Those who don't want to become unhappy or meet with grief should leave the thought of finding happiness in this world. Cast off the thought of giving happiness to the body mind and senses. Find  the method to make the soul happy. Leave the efforts to give entertainment to the mind and happiness to the senses. We make all the efforts to make them
happy, but later it turns into grief. All of you chant Hare Krishna and be  happy. Become a devotee of the Lord. Don't smoke and suffer then there will be cancer. 
     
All of you have now listened to these words of mine, but now think on it, meditate on it and realise it. Imprint these  thoughts in your heart. If there are griefs  in your life,  turn towards the Lord. Remember Him. Try to be free from that grief. Try to go beyond eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Whenever there is any problem in our lives we reach out for a lawyer or a doctor and this one or that person.  These are all efforts of defending. We try to protect ourselves from the dangers.  Sukadev Goswami has said in Bhagavatam 
 
dehapatya-kalatradisv
atma-sainyesv asatsv api
tesam pramatto nidhanam
pasyann api na pasyati

Persons devoid of atma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction. (SB 2.1.4)
  
deha — body; apatya — children wife  etc are sainyesu — fighting soldiers;  asatsu  — fallible;  All this army which we create around us is all asat – useless. Sukadev Goswami has said not one of these can really help or go with us. All these people in time of problem don't remind us of the Lord, turn us to Krsna or give us Krsna prasada.  If they don't do this then whatever they do for us is useless, that's what Sukadev Goswami has said. I am also explaining the same thing to you in the last few minutes. I don't know whether you have understood it or not. Try to understand the matter.  

vipadah santu tah sasvat
tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato darsanam yat syad
apunar bhava-darsanam

“I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.25)

Kunti Maharani is such a great personality who has offered prayers to the the Lord. Prayer for what? vipadah santu tah sasvat… “Oh Lord please keep me putting in dangers.“ Why?  Because whenever any danger comes,  we remember and rush to
the Lord. Whenever we are in danger we remember the Lord and He comes running help us. Either we rush to Him our He comes rushing towards us to protect us, to help us. What happens by that  apunar bhava darsanam.  Kunti Maharani is a
very smart lady. She is very intelligent.
 
je krsna bhaje sai bado chatur. 

You must be knowing all this. Smart is that person, who worships Krsna. So Kunti Maharani is very intelligent. She is praying to let the difficulties come then “Krsna will come to us and we will get to have Your darsana.”

In Prakat Lila she used to get darsana. But if difficulties are there and if we turn to the Lord, do His bhajan , listened to Gita and  Bhagavat or go to the temple, do His Seva then they explain that is the medicine. 

If you are ill what's the diet? Krsna prasada. What's the medicine? 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna 
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare 
Hare Rama Hare Rama 
Rama Rama Hare Hare.
    
If you are ill or there is some difficulty then have Krsna prasada. Chant Hare Krishna then apunar bhava-darsanam Kunti maharani doesn't want any other boon . apunar bhava-darsanam –  apunar- bhava … bhava means bhavasagar. We  don't want to see this  ocean of material world again. We don't want to see Mauritius or Janhavi Ganga will not want to take darsana of Thane again.  So like that apunar bhava-darsanam. We have to understand this thing. We will not see this material ocean again. By this we will turn to Krsna. So whenever we are in difficulties we should turn to Krsna. 

Okay I think you have got the message. I wanted to talk less but the topic was such  that I talked more than usual.
Hare Krishna!

5 November 2019

Lets talk – man ki baat- about something which is in our heart.
Today devotees from 461 places are chanting with us.

Haridas Thakur from Gurugram is doing katha there. More than 500 devotees were present. They performed deep daan also. I suggested to them to distribute books during katha and distribute japa malas to more and more people and ask
them to take vow of chanting at least 1 round every day. Those who are hearing the katha and if they really understand the katha must start chanting also. Book distribution has to be done every time. Whenever you organize any program
there must be book distribution. We should encourage the listeners to take and read Srila Prabhupada’s books. They should also chant. Harer nama eva kevalam… this is yuga dharma.

From Bangladesh Sankirtan Gaur gathered 2500 devotees and celebrated Annakut festival. This is wonderful. Today is someone’s birthday – Pragya, daughter of Jamuna Maiya from Nasik.

You all should wish her a happy birthday by saying – Haribol!
Vimal Krishna is raising his hand and saying Haribol!

There are many functions happening. Param Brahm Prabhu from Ahmedabad does many yatras and sankirtanas. He has performed more than a dozed padayatras in his colony and asked them to perform deep daan also. “Haridas Thakur is the katha going on? Distribute books and japa mala also.” Tulsi Puja from Dubai has done a house program at her house, Ekalavya Prabhu was also there and around 30 devotees were there. They also did deep daan , but I don’t know about book distribution? Stay busy.

Those who are still chanting are taking pleasure in chanting and becoming bhajananandi. They get pleasure in bhajan, which includes chanting, reading and many more. We are Gaudiya Vaisnavas. We should not only become bhajananandi, we should become goshthianand. There are two kinds of anand – Bhajananand and Goshthianand. Bhajananand is only for ourselves, but whatever pleasure we got in our bhajan and then by yare dekho tare kaho krsna updesa, by doing book distribution, by reciting Krsna katha we become Gosthanandi. So we should not only become bhajanandi.

We should become bhajanandi because those who get pleasure in their bhajan can only do preaching. He only can perform bodhyantah parasparam, he can only perform yare dekho tare kaho krsna updesa. He can distribute books and prasada. The one who became sravanand bhajanand, then if he is a Gaudiya Vaisnava it is his duty to distribute this knowledge to others. Invite them and encourage them to chant. Then this goshthianand can be with the family members and others also. You should arrange some program for such goshthianand. There are many forms of this goshthi anand. You should invite
your relatives and friends and become goshtha anandi. It doesn’t mean that this is not important. It is a very important thing and we should all take part in it.

Transcription is happening. I speak slowly so transcription is easy. I speak in Hindi , and Santaram Prabhu from Sangali translates this into English. He chants in this conference and he does this translation into English. You can also read this in English on the website. We are transcribing this japa talk into English for the benefit of the devotees around the world who do not understand Hindi. They can take advantage of this in English. This is not the best thing. They were hearing me in English and now I switched to Hindi. So this is some sort of compromise for English speaking audience. I hope you won’t mind.

Keep reading Vraja-mandala darsana book also. Today our | Parikrama will cross the Yamuna. Last night they were at Kesi ghata. They start everyday at 6 AM. In some time they will reach Nanda-ghata. From Cira-ghata they will reach Nanda-ghata. There also katha will be recited.Today is Navami when Giridhari Sri Krsna lifted Govardhan from Tritiya to Navami, During His Prakat Lila when Ekadasi came, everyone observed fast. Nanda baba also observed fast on Ekadasi. Nand-ghata is the same place where Nanda Maharaja went to take bath. Some associates of Varunadev reached there and they arrested Nanda Maharaja and took him to Varuna-lok. That time was not the right for taking bath, hence they were punishing him.

The nearby residents saw Nanda Maharaja going to take bath, but they were unable to find him after that. So everyone was scared. What had happened? Where is Nanda Maharaja? He was right here. He came to take bath here and now he has disappeared. Where did he go? Near Nanda-ghata is a village known as Bhay gaon (Fear Village). Like wise all the villages of Braj got names like this.

The great grandson of Krsna Vajranabha, gave these names to all the villages. He enquired which pastime the Lord had performed here and based on that he gave these beautiful names to those villages. Vajranabha wanted to reestablish
the glory of Vrindavan. He founded many places, gave names to many villages, made platforms on the places where Rasa-yatra took place. He implemented jhulan where Jhulan-yatra took place. So like this Vajranabha contributed very
much.

In those days Braja was empty. He was feeling there is no one. Vajranabha was born after Krsna left this planet. After that Arjun took Krsna’s queens and some Dvaraka vasis and came to Hastinapur and then they came to Braja also. When
the Pandavas heard the news that Krsna ended His pastimes, they also took a sankalpa of leaving everything. At the same moment they make Pariksit the king of the entire world. Hastinapur was the capital. That time Vajranabha was appointed King of Mathura. So in this way Parikshit became king of Hastinapur and the great grandson of Krsna, Vajranabha became King of Mathura.

Pradyumna Krsna’s son. Pradyumna’s son was Aniruddh and Vajranabha was Aniruddh’s son. When Vajranabha took charge of Mathura-mandala then he established these temples, renovated Braja-mandala and gave names to these villages. He also established many Deities, like Baldev in Dauji, Keshav Dev in Mathura, Govind Dev in Vrindavan, Haridev in Govardhan, along with that he also established Kshetrapal. Bhuteshwar , Rangeshwar is Kshetrapal of Mathura, Chakleshwar is in Govardhan, Nandeshwar is in Nandagram. Like this he established Shivji as Kshetrapal. These services were done by Vajranabha.

Now also if we come to know about the places where the Lords pastimes took place, the credit goes to Vajranabha. I started saying that today Vraja-mandala Parikrama reached Nanda-ghata and I explained to you how and why these places got these names. Who gave these names to these villages ? Today Parikrama bhaktas will cross Yamuna. When Krsna crossed Yamuna with his friends and cows how did he cross? I recited this lila when I was giving a class to the devotees on Vraja-mandala parikrama. There I told them how the cows walked on the water of Yamuna. Krsna played his flute and the liquified Yamuna would become solidified and the cows could easily walk on the river. Likewise the gwala baal would climb on the Akshayvat tree and walk on the long branches of the trees and then jump on the other side of Yamuna. in Bhadravan. That is how they would reach there.

Once we also crossed Yamuna by walking and swimming in Yamuna, but now mostly they cross Yamuna by boats. So like this they will reach Bhadravan and from there the parikrama will go to Bhandirvan and they will stop there for the night. So many pastimes took place in Bhandirvan also. You all can read all these and can contemplate on these pastimes.

Vraja-mandala ki jai …
Damodar maas ki jai…
Gaur Premanande Hari Haribol …

4 NOVEMBER 2019

THE DHAMA IS NON-DIFFERENT FROM THE LORD

Hare Krishna !

Paramananda Prabhu is chanting 66 rounds in Solapur. So whether you chant 16, 32 or 64 rounds your main focus must be towards attentive chanting. Devotees from 445 places are chanting with us. In ISKCON Amravati I saw 150 visitors and many children. They must have chanted with us and did deep daan. So ISKCON Amravati marathon is getting ahead. There is competition amongst the temples and individuals. Let's see who wins this deep daan marathon! You all are sending scores from time to time and we have to prepare the report of the scores at month end. It will report back to Padmamali Prabhu and he will give a brief report summary. Solapur has an idea of making the prisoners offer lamps in coming Ekadasi. They will rescue the prisoners, spread radiance in the prison and enlighten their lives.

There is Katha and deep daan going on in Gurugram. In ISKCON Pandharpur 50 devotees did deep daan in Jagannatha Temple yesterday. As I was telling you, while doing so you can narrate the glories of deep daan , Damodar Lila (pastime) or
the meaning of Damodarastakam. We also inspire you to read Vraja-mandala darsana. Through Vraja-mandala darsana, you can see the photographs of the Lila places, temples and old Deities of Vraja, kundas, Bhojan sthali/ thali, Altars and
things like that. You can see Caitanya Mahaprabhu doing Govardhan Parikrama. You can also see Yama-Yami, that is Yamraja and Yamuna. You can have darsana sitting at home. Bhanu Priya, Are you having darsana?

Make sure you all have this book. Open that chapter and read where the Parikrama is today, like it is going to Ram-ghata, Khelan Van, Akshya Vat and Parikrama will arrive at Chir-ghata and there it will stop today. You can also have darsana of those places. When you read, then you will hear. Audio will turn into Video and will manifest in front of your eyes. We have to see through our ears. By reading, you can see what Parikrama devotees are seeing and what we have experienced during Parikrama. When we read such realisations, then we can also have those realisations. So, we are just sharing our experience and realisation of Vraja- mandala Parikrama of different Lila places. guhyam akhyati prachhati. All Vrindavana lilas and places are confidential. This is nothing but sharing of those confidential pastimes and we can uncover and discover them. There is also the Discover Yourself (DYS) Course, like Bhagavad-gita. By reading, we can realise that there is a covering of the body and the mind above our soul. (Sthula- large Sharira and Sukshma -subtle Sharira). We can discover ourselves and forget the body.

The way Bhagavad-gita discovers the soul, in the same way it also makes self realisation, Lord realisation and realising the dhama. The dhama is also one of the forms of the Lord. While doing Vraja-mandala Parikrama, we are trying to discover and uncover Krsna. We want to have darsana of Sri Krsna and that's why we are discovering the dhama. It cannot be limited to the realisation of the dhama, but also of the Dhamis (residents of the dhama) who are none other than Radha and Krsna. They are Dhamis of Vrindavana and Vraja-mandala. One who stays in the dhama is called a Dhami.

ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis
tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya- kalabhih
goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

TRANSLATION:
I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Radha, resembling His own spiritual 
figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of
Her confidantes [sakhis], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.

(Brahma Samhita, Part 4, Text 37)

Not only Radha Krsna reside here but also asta sakhis and gopis. They are also Dhamis. Everyone who resides here is a Dhami beginning with Radha Krsna, who are the Head and Aradhya Dev (Adorable Idol) because they have those who adore
Them. They are in different Rasas like Sakhya Rasa, Vatsalya Rasa and Madhurya Rasa. All the cowherd boys and cows are also Dhamis.

This is expanding. Every Dham has different Dhamis. Like Sri Rama is Dhami of Ayodhya. We think that Radha Krsna are only Dhamis of Vrindavan but why only Radha Krsna? This dhama is not of Radha Krsna only, because They are never alone.

divyad-vrndaranya-kalpa-drumadhah
srimad-ratnagara-simhasana-sthau
srimad-radha-srila-govinda-devau
presthalibhih sevyamanau smarami

TRANSLATION
In a temple of jewels in Vrndavana, underneath a desire tree, Sri Sri Radha-Govinda, served by Their most confidential associates, sit upon an effulgent throne. I offer my humble obeisances unto Them. (Abhidheyadhideva Pranama)

If Radha Krsna are seated on the throne and there is no one with Them and doing anything, then why there are servants or astasakhis? If there is Vraja Dhama then there is also Vraja vasis. Radha Krsna , all the cowherd boys, Mata Yasoda are Vraja vasis . We need not only discover The dhama or realise the dhama, but we also need to discover the Dhamis of the dhama which are Radha Krsna and all the devotees present in the dhama. The dhama is full of devotees. Here the Dhamis reciprocate with each other. All of them are related to Krsna and their interaction is recognized as Lila by us. Dhama means there is also Dhami.

Now you understand, Radha Krsna are not the only Dhamis, but the entire population of Dhama is Dhami and they remain active 24 hours a day. Then, Ashta Kaliya Lila starts. Lord plays Lila 24 hours a day. You can also discover and
experience it by doing Vraja- mandala parikrama in Damodara month.

One of the Vratas could be,”I will do Vraja-mandala Parikrama this year in Damodara month.'' Experience of Vraja-mandala Parikrama has been compiled in Vraja-mandala darsana for those who are not doing Parikrama and also for those who are doing Parikrama. They also carry this book with them and do Parikrama.

Parikrama devotees also read this book, but those who are not doing Parikrama must especially read so that they can remain engrossed in the mood and thoughts of Damodara.

Today we have less time. I should have mentioned it earlier. Today is Gopashtami. There is something new happening everyday in Damodara month or in Vrindavan. Festivals are happening everyday. Different incidents had taken place everyday and are also going on. Ashtami of Damodara month was Radha-kunda appearance day. This is the second Ashtami of Shukla Pakshabwhich is Gopashtami. Gopashtami was celebrated in Vrindavana. Govardhan Puja started in Kartik month and is still going on. So when Krsna became Pauganda that is when he turned 5 years old the resolution was passed by the Vraja vasis that Krsna will take care of cows now as He has grown up and is capable. Earlier He was taking care of the calves . Today 5000 years ago in Damodara month, Lord was promoted as Gopala from Vatsapal. Vraja vasis had celebrated this day in Nandagrama by decorating Nandagrama, the cows, the cowherd boys and Krsna Balarama were also specially decorated. Swasti Vachan was also performed (a spiritual activity in which benedictory mantra or chanting is recited at the time of the beginning of an auspicious work). Today Krsna became Gopala from Vatsapal. This occasion is called the Gopashtami festival.

We have a big Goshala on the Parikrama path. Devotees doing Parikrama will come across the Goshala on the way. Khelan Van is also there and Viharvana, where Krsna played Gocharan Lila and he had also played in Khelan Van. Parikrama devotees are about to reach there. I need to join them. They will be reminded more regarding Gopashtami Lila. So, Let's stop here! So, you stick to it. Always chant and do deep daan .

Haribol! Damodara Maas ki jai!
Gopashtami Mahotsav ki jai!

3 NOVEMBER 2019

Hare krishna

I am getting news of lamp offering programmes from Noida, Gurugram and many other places.

This is the season of offering lamps. This is Damodara month and there is a marathon going on of offering lamps by Hare Krishna devotees all over the world. We are in Vrindavan now. A few devotees from Mumbai, Thane went to Mayapur now. I
was about to ask them, "Why didn't you come to Vrindavan? Why did you go to Mayapur?" Then I thought that going to Mayapur is the same as going to Vrindavan. Both Vraja-mandala and Gaura-mandala are Goloka.

ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis
tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih
goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who resides in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, who resembles His own spiritual figure and who embodies the ecstatic potency [hlādinī]. Their companions are Her confidantes, who embody extensions of Her bodily form and who are imbued and permeated with ever-blissful spiritual rasa.” (Brahma-samhitsa 5.37)

Although Govinda is always present in His abode (goloka eva nivasaty), He is simultaneously present everywhere. Nothing is unknown to Him, and nothing can be hidden from Him. The example given here compares the Lord to the air, which is within the vast sky and within every body but still is different from everything.

In Vrindavan, Krsna performed many lilas and in Mayapur Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. So both the places are Goloka. There is no difference between them. Devotees celebrate lamp offering utsav in Damodardesh, Dubai in a grand manner.
Yesterday when I was reading Yamuna Sahasranama written by Gargacarya, I realized that one of the names of Yamuna is Shyamalangi. When I went to ISKCON Ichalkaranji, one of my devotees Bharti Devi Dasi asked me what was the meaning of her name? Then yesterday while reading that book I realized Bharti is also one of the names of Yamuna.

Yamuna is named as Kalindi because it's source starts from Kalind Mountain. She is also known as the daughter of Kalind Mountain. Also, Surya Kanya is one of the names of Yamuna. Yamuna is daughter of the Sun and Yamaraj is the son of the Sun god. So Yamuna and Yamraj are brother and sister. We call Yamaraj Yam so Yamuna is Yami. Sister of Yam that is Yami.

Similarly, sister of bak is baki (putna). She is sister of Bakasur, so she is baki (putna) We can have darsana of Yam and Yami at Visram-ghata in Vrindavan. Krsna and many Vraja vasis also visited there the day after Govardhan puja. That day is bhai duj to get the blessings of Yam and Yami after taking a dip in the holy waters of Yamuna.

5000 years have passed that Lord Krsna appeared in this holy land. We can find three things as it is even after 5000 years that is Yamuna, Giri Govardhan and Raman Reti, the sand of Vraja.

Krsna lifted Giriraj Govardhan on the third day from the new moon day and thereafter He was named Giridhari. Once Gargacarya said to Nanda Maharaj during the naming ceremony of Lord Krsna that He will protect everyone when there will be any misery. So during the heavy rainfall Krsna lift Govardhan Mountain and gave shelter to all the Vraja vasis, cows and children for seven days.

2 NOVEMBER 2019

RAJDHANI TURNS DHARMADHANI

I thank you all for chanting with me and with all the devotees from 450 other places. I congratulate all for chanting together. Devotees are chanting from al the way from Torrento. I extend my deep heartfelt gratitude for this.

prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama

In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.”(CC Madhya 25.264) Devotees from all over the planet and from Delhi I can see Madhavi Gauri Mataji also chanting with us. I can see in Toronto that Radhika Raman Prabhu ji is offering arati to his Deities. So all those who are chanting, the Lord is seeing them all. It's not that only I am seeing you while chanting and feeling happy but even the Lord is looking at you. He is having his krpa-dristi vristya dinam batanu. In Damodara maas Lord Damodara is showering his merciful glance on us. Yasoda Damodara are
seeing with Their merciful glances to all those who are chanting. There is vristi. There is a lot of krpa.

Sankirtan Gaur Prabhu from Bangladesh runs a VOICE program for the youth in Bangladesh named 'Giri Govardhan'. He will be gathering 2000 youths from various places and they will be celebrating Annakut festival for Giriraja Govardhan. We thank him and congratulate him for that. Do you understand what Annakut is?

'Anna' is food and 'Kuta' means mountain. 2000 youths from Bangladesh will celebrate this Annakut festival. You can also call it Guru puja Mahotsav. In Gurugram which was previously known as Gurgaon, Bhagavat Katha is going on. Haridas Thakur Prabhuji is doing Bhagavat Katha over there in the presence of more than 300 devotees and they are also conducting the Deep daan everyday over there.

I am still in Noida temple here which is known as Govind-dham and I want to report one good news about yesterday's happening in Delhi. In Delhi there is one place known as Chippiwada. Chippiwada became ISKCON Chippiwada as there was an ISKCON temple inaugurated in Chippiwada yesterday. This is a temple where Prabhupada used to stay before going to foreign lands. In Vrndavana Prabhupada stayed in Radha Damodara Temple and whenever he came to Delhi he would stay in Radha Krishna temple in Chippiwada. He translated the Srimad-Bhagavatam over here and also published Back to Godhead magazines. Before going to US, Srila Prabhupada had made lots of preparations. Some of the preparations were also done from Chippiwada. So Chippiwada is a significant place in Prabhupada's pastimes.

This can be understood that even in Prabhupada's passport the address mentioned was that of Chippiwada temple address. So this place was very important for Prabhupada. Whenever he came and preached in Delhi, he would stay in Chippiwada temple and do book distribution from there. He used to distribute Back to Godhead magazines from there. It was from Chippiwada temple that Srila Prabhupada had gone to meet ex prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The place from where Prabhupada kept in contact with many politicians is Chippiwada. This place is near Jama masjid, near the Red Fort and is almost in Chandani Chowk. This place was taken over by ISKCON with a lot of effort by His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja. Then a lot of renovations were done here and yesterday in the presence of many disciples of Srila Prabhupada this temple was inaugurated.

Earlier this place did not belong to ISKCON, but now it does. If you come to Rajadhani Delhi anytime you will notice that this capital city of India is turning into a Dhaamdhani. ISKCON is converting it into Dharmadhani. There are many temples of ISKCON over here.

Don't think that Delhi is just one of the cities or one of the capitals. There may be one or two temples. Delhi and its surrounding area is called Delhi NCR(National Capital Region). Many surrounding cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurugram, Bahadurgarh are all collectively called NCR. In this NCR there are about 15 ISKCON temples. Some have been completed and some are under construction and still for some temples land is getting acquired. So there will be around 15 to 20 temples. And devotees are making successful efforts to turn this Rajdhani into Dharmadhani. This chain of temples is like a chain of restaurants or hotels. We are planning to start Padayatra in NCR which will keep going from one temple in NCR to other. In this capital last month only when a youth Festival was celebrated there were around 10000 youths who attended it and are getting interested in the Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy. That time the whole of the NCR was vibrating to the rocking kirtana done by the devotees. Harinama is the sound of the Lord and this roaring of Harinama was spreading all over. There was a large amount of distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books, especially the Bhagavad-gita.

Delhi Temple, Punjabi bagh temple all distribute lacs of Bhagavad-gitas during the book distribution Marathon in December. Everyone is getting ready from now for the book distribution Marathon this year. Yesterday I discovered that Noida Temple had given an order of 23000 Bhagavad-gitas which were delivered by BBT. Noida Temple has kept the target of distributing 50,000 Bhagavad-gitas and some other temple have their target as 1 lakh Bhagavad-gita distribution. So in the whole NCR around 4 – 5 lakh Bhagavad-gitas are distributed every year.

In Delhi NCR Gita Jayanti is celebrated, in Radha- Parthasarathi Temple. SrilaPrabhupada also worshiped Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi, and he laid the foundation for the temple of Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi in Delhi. In the beginning
there was no place for the temple and so the Lord used to stay at different places taken on a rental basis. Lord used to stay in the rental temples from Anand-Niketan to the Bengali market and from there to Babar Lane and then Lord reached 21A Phiroz Shah Gandhi Nagar. When ISKCON reached Lajpat Nagar I was given the Seva of being temple president over there. On 8 July 1978 I came to Delhi and since then Delhi Noida has been my base. Since we discussing book marathon I had the recollection of those memories of how Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi would travel from one place to another.

But now Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi have their own big palace. I am trying to explain how ISKCON is turning Rajdhani of India into Dharmadhani. There is a construction of so many temples where kirtana goes on and there is book distribution and prasada distribution, midday meal schemes where meals are served to the school children.

Recently in the Indira Gandhi National Stadium a Youth Festival was conducted by ISKCON in which almost 12000 youths had participated. There was a special program for them. Youth preaching is very actively done in the NCR region. There
are many projects of ISKCON going on in the NCR region and I said earlier, there are many temples in this region. When you chat with other devotees, many devotees from Delhi also are chanting with you.

We are also praying for the residents of this capital region. Pollution has increased to such a bad level in Delhi that yesterday there was a declaration of emergency. The Delhi region was converted into a poisonous gas chamber. The hole of the atmosphere is filled with polluted air due to which the government has declared an emergency for next 5 days where in all the schools will be closed and the construction sites will also be closed. All the devotees here are praying for the wellbeing of all the residents in the NCR region.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Remembering the residents of NCR region you all also please pray for them. Our prayers are also with them.

om sarve bhavantu sukhinah
sarve santu niramayah
sarve bhadrani pasyantu ma kasciddus khabhsgbhaveta

This is a prayer and also a high thinking. It is expected that Hare Krishna devotees will always have high thinking. Your thoughts are not selfish, but for welfare of everyone. Devotees thoughts are for the welfare of all living beings. Devotees are recognised as sarva-bhuta-hite. Those who keep thinking and acting on the objective of welfare of others. So you all such devotees with the high thinking please pray. Hare Krishna maha-mantra is also a prayer. The kirtana of Hare Krishna maha-mantra is a prayer and there are many other players also, but this is a foundational prayer. So please pray for peace around the world, for peace in India and for the fellow residents in the NCR region.

Hare Krishna!

1 NOVEMBER 2019

416 participants are present right now. Some of the regular participants are also present. Some devotees are visiting Mayapur or Vrindavan dhama or maybe about to reach the dhamas. Some are doing Parikrama. Someone has brought devotees for yatra from different places. These are the possibilities due to which participants are less in number. There may be other reasons. When we started this Japa conference in the month of Kartik there were more than 600 participants present. We had even reached 650. But now use your intelligence and think what is happening and make some arrangements to increase the number of participants.

Also reports regarding offering lamps to the Lord(deep daan) have also dropped in number. Deep daan which is done in the Kartik month is not to be done only by yourself. We have to do it ourselves , but we also have to promote deep daan. That is important. You were doing this job for so many years, but arranging Deep daan for a number of students or ordinary people or prisoners is also important. I was getting such reports, but as of now we are not getting reports. We were getting reports from Amravati and Solapur, but it has stopped now. Where are the reports from Solapur? Are you listening? From the other places also. What has happened? Last night I reached Noida. The temple was houseful. So many devotees were present. We have to consider everyone who does Deep daan a devotee. I was about to say that there were so many devotees, guests or visitors who did Deep daan. Ultimately Deep daan must be in progress but it is not getting reported. Look into this matter if anything can be done.

Yesterday morning I was with the devotees doing Parikrama. Approximately 2000 devotees were gathered on the occasion of Srila Prabhupada's Disappearance Day celebration. Many Srila Prabhupada disciples like Dina-bandhu Prabhu, Basu
Ghosh Prabhu originally from Chicago America were present. They narrated events in Hindi. Even Dina-bandhu narrated Prabhupada's remembrance in Hindi.

Sarva Bhauma Prabhu had also come with some other disciples. Some Matajis were also there. Remembrance of Srila Prabhupada was done by narrating memories about him. He also spoke during the early morning hours, during the japa talk how we were singing with choked voices and tears the day when Srila Prabhupada departed from among us. What else could we do? Others were also crying. I prayed at the Lotus Feet of the Lord, “Please keep us in close association of Srila
Prabhupada". Others must have prayed the same. I do not remember now what I was thinking and what were the thoughts arising in my mind. We were just crying and crying. Crying like babies. We were praying that everyone should get Srila Prabhupada's association as much as possible.

During the day I said how Prabhupada remained the chief commander devotee, senapati bhakta, of the great Krishna consciousness movement. How Prabhupada traveled around the globe 14 times. That is why he was called jet age parivrajakacarya. He sat in jumbo jets and was traveling around the globe. How he made the predictions declared by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu long ago come true.

He had to visit many countries and places so he traveled in jumbo jets so that he could travel to as many places as possible in as little time as possible. He was the representative of the Gaudiya Vaisnava parampara, but also a representative of Sri Caitanya. Mahaprabhu – namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine.

He preached according to Gaura vani. He propagated the teachings of Gauranga. He preached Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna and Harinama which is also Gaura vani. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu predicted that, "My names will be broadcasted all over in every town and village.” These were the words of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. He was preaching as the representative of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Also that the preaching of Gaura Vani means preaching of dharma(religion) and Kaliyuga's dharma is Harinama kirtana.

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium. (BG 4.8)

So The Lord appears to establish religion. He appeared, but religion was not established everywhere. Wherever it was not established for that he appointed Srila Prabhupada to do the remaining.
 
kaleh prathama sandhyayam
laksmi- kanto bhavisyati
daru-brahma-samipa-sthah
sannyasi gaura-vigrahah
 
In the first part of Kali-yuga, the Supreme Personality of Godhead will come in a gold-like form. First He will become the husband of Laksmi [Srimati Laksmi Devi, Lord Caitanya’s first wife]. Then He will become a sannyasi, near Lord Jagannath who will appear in a divine wooden form. (Garuda Purana)

Whenever there is preaching about religion and all the people utilize it then they are protected. Dharmo rakshiti rakshitah. Whoever tries to establish religion or establishes religion is always protected. So Kaliyuga's dharma is nama sankirtana. Srila Prabhupada was establishing it on behalf of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

In Gita the Lord says
yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanaa srjamy aham

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself. (BG 4.7)

dharmasya glanir bhavati that is the guilt of dharma. abhyutthanam adharmasya-When adharma increases and spreads then there is loss or degradation of dharma. Adharma was spreading in Kaliyuga. What is adharma? This Kali itself is adharma. If one follows the symptoms of Kali or becomes a servant of Kali then that person becomes adharmi ( sinful ). According to the Bhagavatam eating meat is adharma. Abhakshan bhakshan This is adharma. Wherever there is adharma, there resides Kali. Srila Prabhupada went with Harinama and Bhagavatam as he wanted to establish Bhagavat dharma. So he took Bhagavatam granth and the legacy of Harinama. Srila Prabhupada as the chief commander devotee headed towards the western countries so he started Harinama sankirtana in the streets and avenues of New York. The first sankirtana program was done in Tompkins Square Park. In this way Srila Prabhupada was establishing dharma. Eventually adharma started getting defeated. Defeat of adharma started due to the strength of the Lord in His names. When strength of Harinama collides with that of Kaliyuga then there is battle between dharma and adharma. As the battle begins and there is the roaring of Harinama…

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

… and blowing of conch shells. When Srila Prabhupada started the roaring Sankirtana of Hare Krishna maha mantra on behalf was Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, then listening to this roar the ‘American boys and girls’ as Srila Prabhupada called them went ahead and listen to the roar and taught them the roar. Then the battle with many adharmis or Kali began. Kali was challenging in front of the Lord and Kali had to surrender. He made Kali surrender. We cannot say Prabhupada did it. Instead the Lord and His names did it. Prabhupada was the medium(nimita matra). On behalf of the Lord Prabhupada was sent with Harinama. As the prophecy of harinama was started then the people of the western contries -New Yorkers, Americans received the strength of devotion (bhakti)and experienced the highest taste. This was possible to resist Kali in the form of temptation – eat me, hug me. These were the invitations by Kali or effect. This is that we call gram katha. Whoever drinks liquor or eats meat or does gambling are the representatives of Kali. So there was victory for harinama.

Harinama won and Srila Prabhupada experienced it and others experienced as well. I will speak in brief about the special programme which I will be attending. Srila prabhupada had some disciples in New York. One day Srila Prabhupada called some of them who were serious and were requested to help him in the prophecy of harinama or gaura vani prophecy. I am going to establish The International Society for Krishna Consciousness. So would you like to become a member of it? If it is yes then to be part of the Hare Krishna movement you need to follow regular principles. For the first time Srila prabhupada narrated the regular principles.

They asked about these 4 principles and Prabhupada instructed them on the 4 principles:

1 NO MEAT EATING
2 NO INTOXICATION
3 NO ILLICIT SEX
4 NO GAMBLING

He asked if they were ready to follow these principles. On hearing this those present raised their hands and exclaimed, “Yes, I am ready. Yes, I am ready.” Yesterday in Nandagram as we were celebrating the Disappearance Day of Srila Prabhupada we were remembering that these people of the western countries were ready to follow these 4 regulative principles. This was the epic history of the world. So there was the beginning of the end of Kali. This was the biggest win of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement, Srila Prabhupada's movement. Lord sent Srila Prabhupada in front and was backing him up.This whole world is frustrated with Kali, so Srila Prabhupada relieved then with Sri Caitanya’s Krishna Consciousness Movement, by the prophecy of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with gifts and bhagavata preaching and promoting Krsna prasada.

ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha–davagni-nirvapanam
shreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamritaswadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam

Glory to the Sri Krishna Sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious. (Sri Siksastakam Verse 1)

This was the vision and promise of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If sankirtana was not there then is no question of win or loss. Srila Prabhupada was spreading the sankirtana movement and made them realize that there is a victory.

Sankirtana movement was winning.