19840905 Bhagavad-gita.2.66 Disturbance is Due to Want OF An Ultimate Goal

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on September 5th, 1984, in Goal Fort. The class begins with a reading from the Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 2, Verse 66.

Jayapataka Swami:

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramananda madhavam

One who is not connected with the Supreme [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

Purport: Unless one is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no possibility of peace. So it is confirmed in the Fifth Chapter (5.29) that when one understands that Kṛṣṇa is the only enjoyer of all the good results of sacrifice and penance, that He is the proprietor of all universal manifestations, and that He is the real friend of all living entities, then only can one have real peace. Therefore, if one is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there cannot be a final goal for the mind. Disturbance is due to want of an ultimate goal, and when one is certain that Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer, proprietor and friend of everyone and everything, then one can, with a steady mind, bring about peace. Therefore, one who is engaged without a relationship with Kṛṣṇa is certainly always in distress and is without peace, however much he may make a show of peace and spiritual advancement in life. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a self-manifested peaceful condition which can be achieved only in relationship with Kṛṣṇa.

Thus end the Text 66, Chapter 2, of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita, in the matter of the Contents of the Gita Summarized.

So here Krishna has first summarized, if somebody is satisfied in Krishna consciousness, that all of the threefold miseries of the material existence cease to exist, on the other hand someone else who is not connected with the Supreme, even if they try to achieve some kind of spiritual consciousness, that it is not possible for them to have a steady mind. To have a steady mind one requires transcendental intelligence. That’s not possible without Krishna consciousness, so therefore everything is in a very turbulent wherein it is not possible to have any peace. kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala

Description is given just as, a drop of water is floating on top of a lotus leaf… If you ever seen a picture of a drop of water on a top of a lotus leaf floating on… the water, it just spins on the top, always moving, it’s very unsteady. It’s much more static and smooth, but in its own way it is like you have a very hot pan and you throw a drop of water, and it, tsh that is very violent. Lotus leaf is of course much more smooth and uh, and passive in its own way, but that drop of water just spins on the top. It has no fixed place. Like that, unless the mind is anchored to the lotus feet of Krishna, unless it is fixed on Krishna’s lotus feet in Krishna consciousness, then the mind will always be susceptible to be swept away by any of the six senses, including the mind. So as a result the mind cannot be steady, therefore one cannot be peaceful.

Verses… it also explain that it is like a boat which is on the ocean and it is swept away by the wind. If the boat looses it’s rudder, steering mechanism on the back, then the whole boat gets blown away. So if our intelligence is not fixed in Krishna consciousness then even if we try to remain in some aloof position, in a so-called transcendental position, the senses... the mind will always tend to rest somewhere. Just like a bird, it cannot fly forever. It’s going to settle on some tree. So if we don’t take shelter of Krishna’s lotus uh, feet, the mind is going to take shelter of one of the senses, and then the senses will be agitating the mind, will be drawing the mind away. In this way one again gets drawn into material consciousness.

Just like Visvamitra, he was a born ksatriya but he wanted to become a brahmana. At first the society would not accept him, that “He was ksatriya, how could he become a brahmana?” But the guru said it is possible and following the advice he did some tapasya, and finally he was recognized as a brahmana, but Vasistha Rsi didn’t accept him as an equal, he was proud that he was a brahmana but Vasistha was much greater than an ordinary brahmana, he was a brahmarsi.

Apparently in the level of brahmanahood there are different stages of potency, from brahma to a rsi to a maharsi, finally to a brahmarsi who can go up to the planet of Lord Brahma even. So this is a very long story. There is off and on some competition between Vasistha and Visvamitra, where Visvamitra is trying to gain recognition, trying to advance. One point, he, of course had such a scene with the demigods. One... he would do tapasya and he’d gain his strength and he became so powerful. So one time there was a sudra, and he prayed that he wanted to go to the svarga, that he wanted to go to the heavenly planets, his name was Hariscandra, it is mentioned in the Bhagavatam. So then Vasista... Visvamitra he sent his by his mystic power up to svargaloka, but Indra said “This person is not qualified, he hasn’t gone through the necessary pious activities, he doesn’t have that kind of karma, he should come here.” he sent him back, Then Visvamitra had kept him up, he was half way between svarga and earth, between Indraloka just hanging there, and Visvamitra was very angry that Indra was refusing to accept the person he had sent. So then since he couldn’t but Indra is also not an unpowerful person, so then finally Visvamitra, he created a uh, a entire duplicate uh, heavenly planets. Said, “Alright you won’t go in that than I will make my own.” So with his mystic powers he created an entire heavenly planets, and gave those to Hariscandra, and that confused Indra, that to have simultaneously... just like even in Switzerland, sure if you had two Berns, two Zurichs, it would confuse everyone.

The old Zurich would become envious of the new one, you see, something like, but probably even more confusing when you are talking about the whole planets, and so Indra’s whole position was becoming a little bit uh, dubious. So then to end the uh, confusion of having the whole duplicate planetary systems, he agreed… he made an agreement with Visvamitra, “Alright, we will take Harischandra into the Indraloka, you please cancel out these duplicate planets.”

But in the meantime, Visvamitra lost all of his... because by tapasya he had gained so much power, he was completely expended. After all that because it wasn’t in pure devotional service, so when you are doing devotional service the more you give to Krishna, Krishna again supplies more and more energy, but this Visvamitra was doing not in devotional service, so his energy was depleted, he was finished. Again he had to do tapasya to build up his strength. So somewhere in one of the so many episodes like this, he is moving up in the levels of rsihood. So Indra at one point said, “We have to take care of this uh, person.” So he sent one of his uh, society girls named Menaka, to see if she could distract him and even though he was so much absorbed in uh, meditation when he heard her ankle bells, it broke through his meditation, his austerities, and as a result Sakuntala was born.

So it’s said that even the mind is you see very advanced with austerities and everything, if it is not fixed in Krishna consciousness, it can always be drawn away. Sometimes if somebody is getting up too fast, the demigods get afraid that “Maybe this uh, person will take over our position, they may also obstruct or test.” Same way there was attempt to test Haridas Thakur, but because he was completely fixed in Krishna consciousness, he couldn’t be distracted, even so much so that Mayadevi herself came to try to uh, distract Haridasa Thakura, even Lord Siva has a difficult time, in some ways. Anyways he’s a transcendental position, but it is difficult because nobody can resist it except possibly Lord Siva, the attractions of Maya devi, and but, because of his complete absorbsion in Krishna consciousness, Haridasa Thakuras mind remained fixed, didn’t leave the lotus feet of Krishna, didn’t go to any of the senses. So by being fixed in Krishna, not taking shelter of any of the senses, only Maya can attract through the senses.

When Haridasa Thakura’s total intelligence was fixed in Krishna’s service, he wasn’t at all taking shelter in any of the senses. So Maya devi didn’t have a hold, rather she also confided in him and she took initiation from him into chanting of

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

Of course, you read in Bhagavatam that even great sages, you can underestimate the power of these great sages, who were able to, through their austerities able to do such wonderful things, that uh, but sometimes because of uh, they are not cent percent fixed in serving Krishna, they have some separate motive, may be good motive or to elevate themselves, but the intention is not to give Krishna satisfaction, so also there is some karma, there is some reactions and some instability there. So we find in Bhagavatam, even Vasishta muni and Visvamitra one time they got to cursing each other, and they turned each other to ducks and birds or something like that. So they were such great sages that they became angry and lost their equilibrium and they started cursing each other, so here they became ducks and things.

So apparently before this Visvamitra one time, he tried to curse Vasistha muni, but that curse was caught by Vasishta Muni in his danda, couldn’t effect because… he said that “You are not a brahmarsi, you are maharsi, you don’t have the power over me.”

So then Visvamitra, he again did a tapasya, he went to Brahma or something and he said, “How can I become a brahmarsi?” and he had to do intense tapasyas and things and finally Lord Brahma came and he said, “I want to be a brahmarsi.” So he gave a blessing and he became a brahmarsi. Then he came to Vasistha and said, “Now I am also a brahmarsi.”

Vasistha said, “Yes, congratulations, now you are a brahmarsi, but don’t think that that is the ultimate, there is something higher.”

Visvamitra said, “Something higher!?” All along he had been thinking that that was the highest, like “If I become a brahmarsi I will have made it, as the topmost position.”

He said, “What is higher?” you know, he almost felt cheated. After so many years of tapasya… or not years, but yugas by our calculation.

Then Vasistha Muni said, “No. The narayana-parayanas, the pure devotees of Krishna, there are far above the Brahmarsis. So even a mental son of Brahma like Durvasa muni, he was defeated by Ambarisa Maharaja, so even Ambarisa Maharaja, he was uh, attacked but his mind was steady because he was fixed in Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness is so sublime that even though on doesn’t have this... it’s not necessarily that one has all the superficial tapasyas and things but by the complete dedication at the lotus feet of Krishna, by complete surrender and service one becomes fixed and one comes under the complete shelter... Krishna is yogesvara, He is the master of all mystic powers, in our sampradaya... so we are not concentrating on this mystic powers.

Some yogis teach their disciples that they should meditate so that they can levitate, they come up a few inches and then bounce down and they think that this is a great achievement, but uh… this uh, Prabhupada gives the example that once there was a disciple of Bhaktisiddhantha Saraswati Thakura, he had two... I believe one or two disciples, and he mentioned that what inspired that… he was uh, that scholar was studying Sanskrit and what inspired him about Krishna’s devotional service… I don’t know if there is any trace of them. If anybody did any research, whatever happened to those, you did?

Comment: Yeah. (inaudible)

Jayapataka Swami: Srila Prabhupada mentioned that uh, he said that uh, whatever the eight fold mystic is... they want get uh, smaller than the smallest, greatest than the great… bigger than the biggest, levitate… that already the modern scientists, they have the same objective. Through their microscopes they are trying to look smaller, through their telescopes and rockets they want to get farther, get bigger, through their jet planes they want to travel, the objectives are the same. So this mystic powers are also material, not that they are spiritual, you see. Actually to develop Krishna consciousness is the pure spiritual desire, so our in our disciplic succession, this… mystic powers and such things are always considered on a you see, subordinate level not important. One example, one time in uh, Remuna… Remuna you know when Lord Rama was coming back from Sri Lanka after having rescued Sita in the Puspa Vimana, they came over Orissa on the way to Ayodhya, and one there was one very beautiful place.

Sita said let’s stop there. It’s all coconut trees, and mangoes and very luscious and beautiful. So they just stopped there and uh, in the discussion, they were having a discussion and Ram was telling about His future avatara, where he would appear as a cowherd boy and be playing flute, so Sita wanted to know what that avatar would look like. So they stopped at that place and there with His arrow, Lord Rama carved a deity of Krishna in a stone with a arrow from His... and to show Sita Devi. That Deity is being worshipped in Remuna as Gopinath. That is the ch… Ksirachora Gopinatha Deity, the Deity that stole the condensed milk for Madhavendra Puri. So the seva or the worship of that Deity came to uh, the students of the Six Gosvami’s and the associate of Narottama Das Thakura, Shyamananda Pandit. So his chief disciple was uh, Rasikananda Das, and uh, one time one yogi, he apparently came to Remuna and all the villagers, the pujaris they tell the story that uh, there is a samadhi there to the stick of the nima twig that Rasikananda brushed his teeth with, so why have they put that into a samadhi?

So they explained that one day all the villagers came running to Rasikananda that, “Come, come immediately there is a yogi who is flying through the village on a stick, in a branch.” Rasikananda was brushing his... early in the morning he was brushing his… you know in India they take a twig, it’s called nima… that Lord Caitanya appeared under nima, so the same nima they take a small section of the branch, and you chew on it, and that... because it is a soft branch it becomes like a brush. In fact even the modern medical, dental surgery they say that the best motion for brushing the teeth is the vibrationary circular motion, so when you brush on with twig the only motion you can do is this vibrationary circular motion, but anyway that is another point, everything Vedic has got it’s perfections. These uh, anyways he was brushing with a twig just in case it might seem very primitive but uh, the nima branch itself can... contains all kinds of juices that are very good for the not only for the teeth and gums and everything, but they are good overall for the airs in the body.

There is a story about a man who walked to some place, and on the way he kept using this babool, another type of tree that used to brush the teeth. By the time he reached that place he got leprosy, because although it is very good for the teeth, it is very bad for the airs in the body. Then he was told on the way back you brush your teeth with nima, and by the time he reached back home he was cured of the leprosy, because nima is very good for the airs in the body. Anyways he was brushing his teeth with a twig… not to get off the point, not very interested, and they kept pressing him that, “No, no, you should come and see this yogi, he is flying, he is flying!” Just you know villagers are very simple. In the pada yatra, in uh… the Suhotra Maharaj was saying, “I think that the most simple people in the entire world are this villagers, very simple people.” very simple, very innocent people, when they see someone flying you see, even when they see somebody walking, thousands of them come (laughter) what to speak of somebody flying. So they kept, “No, no, you should see this, he is flying!”

Rasikananda said, “This is not important.” then he took his twig from his mouth and put it under his leg and he flew around the ashram four, five times. “This is not important! Simply chant,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare”

Landed back down and finished brushing his teeth.

So they took that twig and put it… and made it… a monument for it. So our acaryas, they don’t stress these things because Krishna is the master of all mystic powers or if you are carrying out Krishna’s work, well He can… His will will be done. Because these things also they can become very distracting for the mind, so the devotees avoid. In our devotional service… of course previously to engage in this type of devotional service was especially organized by the brahmanas, and by the twice born people, the ksatriyas, the vaisyas, that type of people who are born outside of Vedic culture, normally would be very far from this kind of spiritual concept of life, but Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is so kind that He has given this uh, special uh, benediction, that anybody, they can take to Krishna consciousness, I mean they can get this mercy no matter what their previous qualification or disqualifications may be, but normally it might be difficult to fix the mind on Krishna, but by this process of chanting

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare,

it is… and engaging in the sankirtan movement, it is quite easy to fix the mind on Krishna, still some effort has to be made on our part. We should try to depend on Krishna, and He will also give us the intelligence,

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

And of course, we should follow the intelligence given by the bonafide spiritual master. Here just like Sri Visnupada Harikesa Swami’s giving always good intelligence for printing and distributing Prabhupada’s transcendental literatures, involving everyone is this spiritual sacrifice, so pleasing to the Lord. Like this we follow the higher intelligence, avoiding that type of intelligence pulled by the material senses. Our material senses might be always pulling us, how to enjoy the sense of touch, the taste, the hearing, the seeing, the mind, the smelling, but rather we engage how to do everything for Krishna’s pleasure. In this way the mind becomes fixed, becomes linked with uh, Krishna’s lotus feet, thus it becomes tossed about by these currents of uh, material desire.

Srila Prabhupada explained that as soon as we begin to desire something material, immediately we become in anxiety, so to avoid that anxiety we should always desire to serve Krishna, this is the essential. So this is explained in this verse, if we’re not connected to the supreme we can have a steady mind, can have transcendental intelligence, no possibility of peace, if there is no peace how can there be any happiness? So it is a very important point. Tomorrow we are observing Vamana Dwadasi fast, on Ekadasi and I think you know about how Lord Caitanya observed ekadasi when He was two years.

This ekadasi was very dear to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in fact when He was just two years old, hardly speaking, one day... see normally Lord Caitanya He would cry, then the ladies would go

“Hari Bol Hari Bol!

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare”

Then He would stop crying, but this day even no matter what they did He wouldn’t stop. So after about 10, 15, 20, maybe a half hour of chanting different… He wasn’t… You see, for two years right from the time He was just two years, He would always stop crying, but this time He wasn’t stopping crying, so they called in Jagannath Mishra that, “Please your son is not stopping crying.” it was a new phenomenon. So then Jagannath Mishra put little Caitanya, Nimai on His lap and said, “What’s the matter? Why you are crying”

Immediately stopped crying. He said that “Jagadisa Pandita and Hrdaya Pandita are having a big feast today, offered to the Lord for ekadasi, and I want to have that prasada. Waaaah!”

Jagannatha Misra himself, he didn’t know about any… he got no invitation, because the uh... how the two year old child know, well ekadasi it takes a few years to know about ekadasi. They don’t... you don’t have children do ekadasi normally, so they were… Alright, even if they do it they don’t... they eat what you give them anyways, so… They were astonished that uh, I mean of course Jagadisa Pandita was uh, Jagannath Misra’s close friend, but he live about two or three kilometres away on the other side of the Jalangi, Saraswati River, and they hadn’t informed any… it was ekadasi, but how did Lord Caitanya, I mean little Nimai, how could He know about ekadasi? They couldn’t figure it out. They hadn’t taught Him about ekadasi at that point, and whether there was really a festival that day of if… they didn’t know anything, but he wasn’t stopping crying.

[break]

They went off to the house of Jagadisa Pandita, so there, this was a... once a year, maybe on the same day, I am not sure of the days. Because for the Lord He uh, He doesn’t have to observe ekadasis, we observe ekadasi, you see. We offer the... the Lord can take the grains... You can make sandwiches and all. Today we are offering some special offering for the Lord on ekadasi but they would be taken the next day, and then uh, they went there, and sure they had prepared like about 108 preparations, all little pots and in front of it… in front of the Deities, Jagannath Misra was astonished, “How did He know? I didn’t even know. How did He get the information?”

Then He told Jagadisa Pandita that Visvambhar, Nimai this thing happened and then even Jagadisa Pandita, he said that “Uh, I didn’t tell anybody because nobody can take the feast, it is ekadasi, it is just for the Lord. If… I tell everybody the next day.”

So he took it that uh, nobody knew everything but He knew therefore somehow the Lord is acting through him, some kind of an avesa or something, so He should take the... He can have the offering and uh, they were very happy to give the offerings to little Nimai.

(aside)

You all set up with the slides?

Where? You’re going to show it again? Too late?

Reply: I mean, we didn’t bring it in, so I was…

Jayapataka Swami: Anyways then Lord Caitanya He partook of that prasada, and then both He and Jagadisa Pandita and Hrdaya Pandita, they were overwhelmed. So, in this way Lord Caitanya even from two years old He was encouraging everyone to follow this ekadasi. He requested His mother, when He went to Ja… Jagannatha Puri that one of the few things He requested her, “You follow ekadasi.”

We heard that one time the pandas in Puri, they wanted to uh, force Lord Caitanya to take the grains on ekadasi. “ It’s prasada, You have to take it.”

“Prasada, you can take tomorrow.”

Said, “No no. You have to take it now.” So like this... so apparently… of course this is one of the those things that the devotees in Puri say but… Lord Caitanya bowed down to offer His respect to the prasada, He stayed in that position till the ekadasi was over, then he got up and took prasada, so in this way He was able to outsmart the brahmanas.

Lord Caitanya…

(aside)

Can you set up the thing? Unless you want me to just stop and wait until they get all the mechanics done. Or, I’ll just keep going while they set it up.

So the special purpose of ekadasi is that we should uh, increase our glorification of Govinda, that we don’t take grains on ekadasi, that’s especially to help us to remember the lotus feet of Krishna, and that’s why we also try to increase our chanting while… of course if we are doing important service, then we go on, but that day is especially for making a little special effort to be little more conscious about Krishna. One time somebody asked Srila Prabhupada that… maybe it was me, actually… (laughter) about some of these special days like ekadasi and kartika month that you get… so many bonuses you get, thousand times the… hundred times, something like that… the effort during kartik month by doing things like as if you are doing another time. Similarly ekadasi time you get bonus point.

So Srila Prabhupada, in fact there is stories about how even the husband and wife were having a big argument over something, yelling and throwing things, just you know... full out fight, even in the Vedic times I guess sometimes this things did happen, and as a result they were so absorbed in fighting and uh, whatever arguing with each other over some point, that they fighted through the whole day and through the… and they fought the whole day into the whole night, and their fight, their argument didn’t cease till the next day, they didn’t eat, they didn’t stop for anything. So because that day they had observed, ekadasi happened on that particular day was ekadasi, they didn’t eat the entire day, both of them got libera… got uh, what? Heavenly planets or something like that... just for because they were just fasting even though they were fighting with each other.

So somehow, each one of those ekadasis, it says has some name, it always says uh, some moksada ekadasi… something happened on that ekadasi like that, that ekadasi where husband wife, they were having argument and then they forgot to eat that day, because they were so angry at each other, that they got elevated because it happened that that day was ekadasi, what to speak of somebody is doing to please Krishna. What was the... there was some more… So then Prabhupada wrote me. He wrote me that these... these special days, so they are like in the shops, and the stores sometimes they have special clearance sale, discount sale, so this is to attract new customers. You see, the regular customers they are always coming, that the regular customers, they don’t, whether they have, the certain clientele is there for the shop, so… but to attract some new customers, to attract the new customers on some holiday or something, they offer some discount.

So Srila Prabhupada said that, those who are... fully engaged in Krishna consciousness they are already getting the... you see unlimited mercy, but those who are in a material consciousness, so just to attract them, by… so, “Alright that on this day you get some special bonus.” to get the new customers, so this facilities are, but for the devotees there are anyways, 24 hours, 365 days in a year they are engaged so that not a problem. They’re regular customer, so that I have been using that for some of our folk members, those who are just like beginners, to tell them that “You should…” because in the month of kartika it says, you don’t take any amish, so we don’t take meat anyway, amish means meat, fist, eggs.

So we don’t do it anyway, we are taking pure vegetarian Krishna prasadam rather, so we don’t take any... it’s like a token, we don’t take urad dal. I tell them, you observe vegetarian for that period of time hoping that this will then, if they can do that for a month and that can give them some experience. Just like you are supposed to fast on ekadasi, you have to have a feast on dvadasi. So in Krishna consciousness, fasting and feasting, whenever there is a fast, it is always followed by a feast, or for the devotee fasting or feasting, it’s the same, it is all for Krishna’s...

This is which? The pada yatra, this is the Krishna conscious Olympics, immediate playback by satellite, this is only three days ago, September 2d, of the, what? This is in Dvaraka for the inauguration of our ISKCON padayatra, to prepare for the celebration of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s five hundredth appearance anniversary. Dvaraka of course was in the sea, so the original Dvaraka is disappeared after Krishna’s left, but uh, this is a very old temple which was constructed on the coast near the original place of Krishna’s city, and everyone there is very devoted to Krishna.

(aside)

Take it easy, how come it just keeps moving?

Reply: Well, I had it in my hand, that’s for sure

Jayapataka Swami: That’s better, isn’t it?

See on the top there is a flag that is sixteen meters long and that flag was put up, it’s big flag hosting ceremony that was put up by ISKCON. So somehow, some of the photos were double exposed, but this is the flag, we carry the flag and circumambulate the temple a few times and the flag was touched the lotus feet of the Dvarakadisa deities, they didn’t allow any photo to be taken, he took the blessings of Srila Prabhupada and his name and honor, then we… they hoisted that flag to the top of the temple.

There were about 150 devotees had assembled from all over the uh, world to this.. astaradha came from Germany to perform the uh, pious… think Suhotra Maharaja and two other German devotees are going for 21 days. So after taking the blessings of Dvarakadish at Lokanatha Swami, he is right behind me, he is the commander in chief of the walking part of the padayatra. Right now it is going through Gujarat, Yasomati-Nandana is the regional secretary. So the first aspect is that installing the Nita-Gaura Deities. Si after bathing them with oil, with ghee, they were having a preliminary bath with salt water from the ocean, this is right on the ocean side. So then, after requesting the Lord to come into the uh, or rather to manifest himself as the arca-avatara, then we sh we untied the eye of the Deity.

We didn’t have an ISCKON tulasi nearby, so we had to borrow one from the local temple. (laughter) So the first vision the Lord has is the tulasi, then uh, I think only ISKCON has developed the science of Tulasi worship to that extent, as an actual, whole books and everything on it. Then after showing the tulasi, we showed the Bhagavatam... we showed the mrdanga drum and the karalats to the Lord and then the brought the cow and the calf, and the Lord had the darsana of the cow and calf and Srila Prabhupada.

Here is where the Lord is being shown the mrdanga, there is... this is the eternal paraphernalia, the astra or weapon, of Lord Caitnya Mahaprabhu. So for His pleasure the first things that He sees are important, so then after seeing those uh, selected articles and persons, then we began the bathing ceremony. This is Prabhavisnu swami, assoistant GBC for South East Asia countries, I believe this is Gopala Krishna Goswami Srila Bhagavatapada, acarya for Canada and uh, Bombay, Western India, Gujarat, think that this is backwards.

The very beautiful Deities made in the uh, town Srinivasacarya had his uh, ashram, these Deities are from Bakkura. So we had over 108 uh, pots… clay pots of different substances which uh, the Deity was bathed in… the Deities were bathed in. Purpose of the pada yatra… of course this is a very special, Lord Caitanya’s appearing just to be worshipped all over India, possibly all over the world, that uh, Lord Caitanya came before as a sannyasi, but this time He was coming through on the... we’re taking Him on the reverse route of His tour, but instead of coming as a sannyasi, he is coming as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his eternal associate, Lord Nityananda, Avadhuta.

When the people saw the Deity, I mean you can see that they are overwhelmed, the devotion... they were just speechless and and... in fact the people were… it’s just like… it’s just like, Lord Caitanya’s mercy was so incredible that anyone who saw the Deity later in procession, immediately they would start to chant. They became just stunned to see the uh, pastime of Lord Caitanya appearing, this whole pada yatra. I mean you can actually see from the faces of the people, I mean they are completely uh, absorbed, So... and the devotees, they also tried to further engage the people, this is Nava Yogendra Swami of uh... he is the president of Vrindavana, he is getting everyone chanting and here is one of the brahmanas of the temple. He got inspired, so he started to also dance.

(aside)

Is there is focus on this, too?

Jayapataka Swami: Some devotees came from Nigeria, different devotees around the world, there we simultaneously had a fire sacrifice going on, and a big kirtan, we wanted Lord Caitanya to appear in the midst of a fiery kirtan, so it was kind of a unique in context with our more completely Vedic uh, ceremonies... where we too… here we took the Vedic aspect going on, but we wanted to keep the kirtan going on in the forefront because this was the appearance of Lord Caitan… Just as Lord Caitanya appeared on the full moon day, everyone was chanting, so I said that I won’t call the Lord unless everyone is singing and dancing, so we had about few hundred people all jumping up and down dancing.

Nitai gaur premanande hari hari bol.

Of course there was around 108 preparations offered, here is the arati of the Lord, Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Their lotus feet in the small utsava murti, so now everything is getting ready for the uh, procession, of course this offering was also for Radharani, Appearance celebrations were offered on the very same day.

The very day that Lord Caitanya was appearing, the very day He was going to begin the 6000 kilometers trek retraversing the key points on His six year tour of Western, Southern, and Eastern India. The Lord’s compassion and beauty, it’s uh… just anyone who saw, came in the presence of those Deities they could experience some very sublime mercy. They’ve been present in so many ratha yatras but the mercy of Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda was so intense that uh, you didn’t have to ask the people to chant, they just spontaneously started to chant, that some people just seeing somehow they were just brought to tears, I never saw anything like it before.

So before leaving on our… today… that first day we had to walk eight kilometres or before leaving we respected a little prasadam. This picture just have to, Kala Krishna put them in the left to right, we also they distributed prasadam to the brahmanas. They invited 5,000 brahmanas, this is a few of them, but many of them came and they were very happy to accept the prasadam. Before… while they were getting everything outside, it was about four in the afternoon, we had a special uh, dis... dharma-sabha, discourse on Lord Caitanya, different devotees from around the world were there speaking... Suhotra Maharaj from Germany and uh, Sridhara Maharaja from Canada and Bombay, myself, different groups… had short talks, but most of the people gathered outside where the Deities were being taken to their chariot and uh, there were already thousands of people gathered outside, so… but we were telling those who were interested something about Caitanya, then what we were talking about?

Reply: Suhotra Swami… (inaudible)

Jayapataka Swami: Yea, this is for the Wei Es Ist, this is the picture of the photographer of Wei Es Ist. Oh! From both sides (laughter)

We together, Gopala Krishna Gosvami Maharaja so, we cut the ribbon and inaugurating the... we couldn’t take the picture of the main Deity of Dvarakadisa but there were some sub-Deities of the Lord, just one of the other seems to be double exposed. So from that ancient town of Dvaraka, here now the Lord is uh, on His chariot, which will be pulled by bullock carts and devotees and literally thousands of people have gathered, newspaper uh, men, radio, television, cameraman were also there. The Lord were taking their seat where They will be there for some time to come. The head pujari of the Dvarakadish temple came out and garlanded Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityanada with all respects.

Srila Prabhupada ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Of course Prabhupada had already expressed how he wanted to go on a padayatra in India, in 1977 and even earlier he had expressed that he wanted to go to all the villages. So now actually we are also taking Srila Prabhupada and uh… on the pada yatra, he is leading up the procession and thus uh, hopefully we’ll get his special mercy to fulfil his uh, desire, of going on the… visiting all the villages. In front is Srila Prabhupada’s books, so that people have the opportunity to have Srila Prabhupada’s darshan and the darshan of his books of course, apart from seeing the book’s covers, they would also be able to read and purchase the books, but that’s a separate area. I think it is Gujarati, because it is going to Gujarat.

I took the uh… I think this is the backwards, I was fanning the Deity, (inaudible) It’s backwards. These bulls they are all very nicely decorated with bells and uh, colored threads, big horns, very big horns (laughter), but they seem quite nice, the people were very uh, very enthusiastic people. I mean Dvaraka, the atmosphere in Dvaraka is like being in Vrindavana or Mayapur. So very special atmosphere there. It’s not uh, an ordinary place, you can immediately feel a type of spiritual atmosphere. People would come from a long way to see this historical moment. People were very respectful, respectable and respectful both, devotees they kept up the kirtan going, to go down is little hill in front of the Dvarakadish temple and then out to city.

The first day we only went eight kilometres, normal... normally they would be going about fifteen kilometers per day. The system is that the Deity and the devotees, they will be going like this by foot, by procession, but uh, the rest of the camp is uh, these big pots and everything will be taken by the buses and trucks, there is a pandal where there are big tents for giving programs, and so every morning camp will be broken, packed up into the trucks, taken forward to the next place.

Here is some of the nectar being prepared, very opulent prasadam in the traditional way. Some of the local villagers, they are also very attracted. This actually…

(aside)

you don’t have any pictures of the actual processions. Kalakrishna is here? No but on the highway you took the picture on the road with elephant and everything. Huh? Just in front of the temple, you went on, it’s in front of the temple Huh? To go through the, here is some displays there, Lord Caitanya’s transcendental pastimes worldwide, in ISCKON activities is supposed to be sent from Los Angles, we are still waiting for it to come, expected any day.

The devotees… the village leaders they all came, they’re inspired to see Lord Caitanya’s uh, programs. In every village they are going they are establishing a Namahatta branch, people they didn’t know so much about Lord Caitanya before, but we can see that this is attracting so much interest. In the... this is the tent where they had the evening program, every night there is a program, then they are just taking now their breakfast and they are going to be walking off to the next village which is fifteen kilometers away. The go anywhere twelve to twenty kilometers a day. So normally they leave early in the morning with… cool, it’s a big job picking everything up though because they have literally hundreds of boxes of generators and PA systems, here is the elephant, but uh, elephant is actually, they are very nicely decorations for elephant, I don’t know why. We took many pictures of it, I don’t know why you didn’t find any. Gotta look upstairs. No this is a special elephant procured.... actually Visnupada donated about what, what was it five? At least 5000 and maybe more. Dollars, yeah. So part of the budget was to have the elephant. So elephants, even in the village, tell everyone, even in India, they like to see elephant. So we have nice decorations for the elephant.

In fact Lokanatha Swami requested everyone not to go the first night, so they don’t have, they should actually have living tents and everything but they didn’t have time to set it all up, so most of the devotees were leaving. As they were leaving, elephant just pushed against the bus, and by pushing against the bus, just like nothing, the whole side window of the bus smashed in, glass was thrown all over Sridhar Swami, and uh, so I decided that I wasn’t going out of the camp. I immediately left and left overnight with the devotees and the Deity. Took it as a sign.

Elephant without any effort, it just kind of leaner over the bus, (imitates smashing sound) whole window smashed our, very powerful... Here we are having a little get together to get all the synchronization of the Nama Hatta, the pada yatra, meanwhile of course the Jagannath bus is also there going to accompany the padayatra to distribute books. So the local villagers were very happy to take darshan of Jagannath.

The village people when they saw that the devotees were thirsty, they carried water for the devotees. I was uh, I brought my computer along, (laugter) so we uh, we made uh… we brought a little technology into the padayatra, so we made a printout of all the departments of the pada yatra since we had some experience on these things.

That’s it?

Could have ended with Prabhupada is all. So basically the pada yatra will be going for eighteen months, go from… that’s the far… far…

Why did you take out those pictures, shows Dvaraka as the place where the sun sets. Huh?

You have a light table here or is it all shifted out? Yes, you have one? You can go over it, make it.

It will be going along the Western coast to the far Southern tip of India, and then going up eastern coast back to Mayapur. And so that’s about 6000 kilometers, it works out... it takes about a year and a half. We are very hopeful that in some of the cities, literally hundreds and thousands of people will gather, already people are just joining, they are just coming, sometimes when the pada yatra got in front of the village, two people said I am going to join this pada yatra and follow it for the next 18 months, the family members were embracing them, there was weeping and all, this is a whole emotional you see, event. They are going, they went off, started walking off with the people.. some people came from the, one... two brothers and a sister about uh, 40 years old, they came from Bombay, said “We were… we’ve come here to join the pada yatra, people were riding in, piles of letters,we want to join the pada yatra, so expecting that as it goes on we will go on picking up more and more people, and from one village, all the people from one village always walk to the next village, so just about 1000 people everyday going with the procession.

It’s very… I don’t where all of the… I have to go through... There’s many other very nice pictures which were taken when we were leaving through the town, all the people they all follow it along, the procession was about a mile long, or, I mean a kilometer long.

Any questions?

Each country has got its flag there. The flags haven’t come from L.A. yet, but the flags are procured. Each country is going... has a flag, this was one idea that President of India liked it that all the devotees wherever we have a temple, in any country, the flag should be somewhere there, so showing that Lord Caitanya has so many followers all over the world. Even in the Hong Kong newpaper it published that uh, Hare Krishna was... movement was observing 500th anniversary of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, taking Him in procession, the founder of Hare Krishna movement, Lord Caitanya was worshipped by the Presidednt of India and many big people, and being taken a procession around India. They gave very nice press.

So this is actually uh, already having some international effect, and so as it goes on we hope that it will reach more and more of international eye because specially the people are interested because, many people do this... padayatra means to walk somewhere, they do this in India but very rarely, never it has been international group, people from different countries coming, so that is attracting some uh, attention from the public, from the media. Our purpose is the glorify Lord Caitanya. There are many other aspects, which uh, they are… they... in the cities putting up a three-day pandal program and the padayatra will come and meet that city program, and they have around fifteen dioramas, displays, which also accompany, and they also have this whole Cai... displays from Los Angeles, uh, very nice displays on reincarnation and different philosophical temples of India, around the world, and normally you see Lord Caitanya’s pastimes, display, and everyday 4:30 in the afternoon they would be distributing prasadam to all of the village people, of course the devotee’s would be taking prasadam three times a day. It’s a very purifying, don’t know how to exactly express it, it’s really beyond expressing, but one gets very intense feeling that uh, the whole uh, program is very much uh, being dictated by Lord Caitanya and Nityananda and Srila Prabhupada and one can feel Their presence very intensely when uh, on this particular program.

It’s something very sublime, and Lord Caitanya, They are giving Their mercy, the people they suddenly... They feel, just very happy, you may see people, everyone becomes very happy as soon as they hear about or they see the procession, they just… something seems to like release that inner anandam from their heart.

Transcribed by Sadananda Krishnaprema Das

Revised by Jagannatha dasa Brahmacari

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