19820506-Nrsimha-Caturdasi-Evening-Darshan-for-Devotees-St.Louis-Literal-Version

The following is a class given by His Holiness, Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on May 6th, 1982 in St. Louis.

Jayapataka Swami:

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya

jñānāñjana-śalākayā

cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena

tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ

śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ

sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale

svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ

dadāti sva-padāntikam

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

namo mahā-vadānyāya

kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te

kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-

nāmne gaura-tviṣe namo namaḥ

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi

rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devi

praṇamāmi hari-priye

jaya sri krsna…

jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya

prabhu-nityānanda

jayadvaita gadādhara

śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa

kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

hare rāma hare rāma

rāma rāma hare hare

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

paramananda madhavam

sri-caitanya isvaram

You know that Murari Gupta was reading the thousand names of Vishnu and then when he got up to the name of Lord Nrsimhadeva, Lord Caitanya became absorbed in the mood as the incarnation of Nrsimhadeva and He… grabbing a club, He started roaring and He ran outside on the street yelling, “I am going to kill all those demons.” Just was running out on the streets and when Lord Caitanya did that then the people, they became afraid to see Him roaring and running down the street. Then He could see all the people running away and then He came to His external consciousness thinking, “Well, it’s not good to cause fear in the ordinary people. Srivas and Murari Gupta, they said, “Well, everyone by simply seeing You, Lord Caitanya, they have all been liberated. They have all been delivered.”

There are several six-handed forms of Lord Caitanya. Of course the main one we know is Lord Caitanya, two arms kamandalu and danda, the two arms holding the flute, and two arms: one holding the bow and arrow of Lord Ramachandra. One other six armed form is there some panditas say sometimes the Lord showed with two arms as Krishna, two arms as Caitanya and two arms as Narasimha. In the Narasimha the two hands, one is this way and one is this way. One is up and one is down. Does anyone know why the difference?

Devotee: One is for ripping apart. The other is for holding the entrails.

Jayapataka Swami: (Laughing) No.

Devotee: One is for killing. One is for offering benediction?

Jayapataka Swami: (Inaudible) One is for blessing Prahlada on the head. And the other one is ripping apart. You got one hand right. So, Lord Caitanya is the ocean of mercy and within Him all the avatars are there. Sometimes when Srila Prabhupada observed these appearance days of Vishnu avataras, he would mention a little about the ten avatars or about a number of the avataras because they are all coming from Krishna. But we worship Them in that relationship, not that specifically we set up different temples for each Deity.

I haven’t been to Andhra Pradesh to see all the Andhra Pradesh temples, maybe Vaisesika has been there, but I understand that there is one special Nrsimha deity that devotees come from thousands of miles to see and the deity is offered a mix of water and gur made into like a guraide (Devotees laugh) And one whole glass is given by the devotee and they offer it with the Tulasi down the throat of the Deity. His mouth is open and they put it down and apparently it makes a gurgle, gur gur gur sound and then the Deity spits out half a cup of the gur drink and that is given back as the prasada. Did you see that? Maybe you can give us more detail.

Vaisesika Prabhu: I went there with Bhakti Svarupa Maharaja, and we brought a big bowl of this gur water, we bought it for eight rupees, and then you take it in. The pujari does a special puja for you and you know, says your name and Deity and things, asks for a special benediction (devotees laughing) and then we…

Devotee: You can buy different (inaudible)

Jayapataka Swami: Did you put in a good word there for Sura dasa? (Devotees laughing)

Vaisesika Prabhu: So, what he does is… no matter what size the bowl is… you can buy different sizes, so he offers them in conchshells. He fills up the conchshell once and he pours it down Nrsimhadeva’s mouth, and then he pours another one, and pours another, but when it gets halfway down, no matter what size there is, He stops. He doesn’t take any more, and He leaves the rest. He just… He wont drink any more. It just won’t go down, after half. And if the container’s small, He’ll drink half the small container, and leave the rest, then they give you that as prasada.

Jaya Nrsimhadeva.

Jayapataka Swami: Nrsimha Bhagavan ki

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Then there is another temple that He’s in His ferocious mood. So I understand the whole year they keep Him covered with a thick coating of sandalwood, its in Visakapatnam, you probably saw it (inaudible) and to keep Him cool, they cover Him with sandalwood. And once a year, I think maybe today, Nrsimha Caturdasi or, once a year they take off the sandalwood and then again put… one day you can see the actual Deity and then they cover up again with sandalwood to keep Him cool.

Is that how it…

Vaisesika Prabhu: Yeah.

Jayapataka Swami: Details?

Vaisesika Prabhu: Well, Viskahapatnam is a beautiful temple. It’s uh… there’s huge steps going from about half a mile, all the way up: granite steps. They’ve built all the way up on the top of the hill, and there’s waterfalls coming down and everything, a very beautiful setting. Andhra-pradesh is like uh… real tropical, and then when you get to the top there’s a main temple and inside… there’s many other temples. The main temple’s Nrsimhadeva, and it’s a huge… all you can see when you go in for darsana, is a huge lump of candana. And it’s like… you know, looks like a lingam almost… a siva-lingam, just like, candana, you know? And then uh, the uh, you know once a year, for candana-yatra, they go and they take all the candana off. Thousands of people come and they see it’s Varaha-nrsimha… a form of Varaha-nrsimha. As they say that form of Nrsimhadeva was the one that caught Prahlada Maharaja when he jumped off the cliff… or when he was thrown off the cliff by uh, Hiranyakasipu, and he was caught by Varaha-nrsimha. That’s what they say and if they don’t keep Him covered with candana, then any demon or sinful person who sees Him, He’ll just burn ‘em to ashes.

Jayapataka Swami: Gotta be very careful. (laughter) Then of course after Lord Nrsimhadeva performed the pastime of killing Hiranyakashipu, and then He washed His hands in a lake (inaudible) and then He traversed over the… and He went to Navadweep and rested there. So there, all the demigods, they took the form as villagers and there were different hills, like Indratila, Arkatila, different hills that… they had seven hills and they all came and were worshiping Lord Nrsimhadeva like menial servants.

This year, during the parikrama, ISKCON devotees had the great fortune of visiting and when they went there, there was the lake where the present Deity was recovered in the (inaudible) hills. So the devotees when they find a nice lake in the hot weather they know how to advantage so, taking the dips in the holy dhama. So Lord Nrsimha, and all the different incarnations, they always go to Navadvipa dham. Navadvipa dham is eternal dham. Just like Ayodhya, Mathura.

It is not just that when Lord Ramachandra came, Avyodhya became pure. Ayodhya was always a holy dham because that is the eternal dhama of Ramachandra. Every time He comes, He comes there. Just like recently the Secretary of State went running here and there, went back and forth between Britain and Argentina. So when he would go to Britain he would stop in the embassy and when he went to Argentina he would stop in the embassy because that’s like his home away from home, that is the American property. So like that similar to some degree, the Supreme Lord, when He comes to the material world, He has got His particular dhamas which are directly under His personal, internal potency, His protection. So naturally, He will prefer to rest or to have any pastime in His dhama.

So like when Lord Nrsimha comes He knows that “This is the place where I have My lilas in the Kali yuga. This is the holy dhama.” It doesn’t mean that just because the lilas are done there in Kali yuga, in the other yugas They cannot recognize that this is Their eternal place. Even for instance, there was a king called Suvarna and he was a very materialistic king. He was always worshipping different demigods and trying to get opulence, material fame and power. Name, fame and glory, it is the same old story! It is a new song by Srila Vishnupada – didn’t hear it? Name, fame and glory, it is the same old story! So that is what he wanted. Name, fame and glory, he wanted money, he wanted profit and he was doing so much giving charity, worshipping the brahmanas and so many different things. One day Narada Muni came and told him that “You are wasting your time. Why are you simply wasting all your energy for this material world? The things of this material world will not last. You will not be satisfied. You don’t know that you are living in the holy place of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. You should worship Caitanya Mahaprabhu here and you will get the complete fulfilment of all your desire.” He explained to him who Lord Caitanya was and how He was so merciful.

So Suvarna, the king, even though it was before the Kali-yuga, other yugas, he was worshipping and Lord Caitanya appeared to him and he was just completely overwhelmed to have the holy darshan of Lord Caitanya even it wasn’t in the Kali yuga, but Lord Caitanya is always in His holy dhama. He bowed down to… the king, to Lord Caitanya, paid his obeisances and he jumped up and down and was almost fainting and getting up and finally he prayed to the Lord that “Please don’t forget me. How can I… When will I be able to participate in Your transcendental pastimes?” So then Lord Caitanya said that “Don’t worry, you will take birth as Buddhimanta Khan during My pastimes.” So like this there are so many different pastimes in the holy dham over the ages. So similarly all the different avatars visit the holy dhama and have Their pastimes. Just like in the Dvapara-yuga, Balaram, He visited the holy dham of Mayapura and He killed the Mayasura demon and still there is the field where He killed him, known as the Mayamara Matha or the place where the Maya demon was killed.

When Bhima took the Rajasuya horse and he came up to Mayapura, at that time, there was a king there called King Samudra. So he knew that Bhima was a great devotee of Lord Sri Krishna and then he decided that “I am going to attack Bhima.” You know that how they send the horse, Rajasuya yagna horse, they send off the horse in a different direction. And if the horse goes into the kingdom without being obstructed, then that kingdom is considered to be under the domain of the king who is doing this Rajasuya sacrifice. If they obstruct the horse or if they catch it, that is war.

So the king Samudra tried to capture the horse and he attacked Bhima and he fought so furiously that Bhima was put into a very, very difficult situation. So much so that he thought it was going to be the end. So at that time, Krishna immediately appeared and saved Bhima. Which was all that that king Samudra wanted. So he immediately paid his obeisances to Krishna and said “I just wanted to get Your darshana.” And Kshatriyas: you know that’s how… the way they do things. (laughter)

So in that way Krishna also He came to the holy dhama of Navadvipa. So like that when Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared, He also came into Navadvipa and He was there worshipped by the different demigods and devotees in a very intimate way.

Jayadeva who wrote the song that we sing to Lord Nrsimhadeva

tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-śṛṅgaṁ

dalita-hiraṇyakaśipu-tanu-bhṛṅgam

keśava dhṛta-narahari-rūpa jaya jagadīśa hare

jaya jagadīśa hare

jaya jagadīśa hare

Was written in Jagannatha Puri on Lord Jagannatha I believe. But he also actually lived in Mayapura before he went to Jagannath Puri. There is a place not too far from the birthplace of Lord Caitanya known as Jayadeva Patha. We also went by the Jayadeva Patha this year on our parikrama.

Here is the birthplace of Lord Caitanya, devotees. Here is the parikrama going out unlimited lengths heading toward the Jayadeva Patha. Here are some local villagers offering puja to our Nitai Gaur. Can I have one picture of the Jayadeva Patha? Don’t have it. That was the day they went… Anyway here is looking over the Long Building. So Jayadeva Patha is just over here. Just opposite the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. Out in the field there.

So what happened was that Lakshman Sen was a great devotee and he sent a message that he would like to see Jayadev and make him like his guru because of his poetry. When Jayadeva heard that this king wanted to see him, he said, “No, I am leaving Navadvipa, I won’t associate with any king or worldly people.” He was a pure Brahmana. He said, “Now I am leaving Navadweep, I can’t stay.”

So then Lakshman Sen, he came disguised as an ordinary person and he fell down at the feet of Jayadeva and he paid his obeisances and he begged him that “You have said you are going to leave Navadvipa but I want to beg you not to completely leave Navadvipa.” That, “I may be a king but nonetheless I need the association of devotees, so if you could only just go to the other side of the river and live there, then in that way, we would not be completely bereft from your association.” Some appeal he made for him to stay in any case.

Jayadeva said, “I will stay on the other side of the river, I was testing you by saying you are a worldly person, you are a king therefore I won’t associate with you but I see that you are actually a Vaishnava. So you can come and see me but you have to come in disguise. But because I said I was leaving Navadvipa, I won’t go back on my word, I am going over to the other side and I will stay there.” So that was Champahatti. You went to see Champahatti? Gaur Gadadhara temple. Here’s in the Gaur Gadadhara temple, all the devotees have seen. And that was the big big Gaur Gadadhara temple by Vaninatha I believe… Vaninatha, or… not Vaninatha by another devotee… associate of Lord Caitanya had those Deities carved. And nearby there was where our respected Jayadeva lived.

And the reason that’s called Champahatti is because the champa flowers, there are so many orchards there of these champa flowers. Goloka champa, have you ever smelled Goloka champa? It is just a very sweet flower. So sweet, so nectarine that it is just like the… uh, like a spiritual fragrance. Apparently these… Champa is mentioned in the Bhagavatam as one of the pious, auspicious flowers. So this flower is especially used to worship Krishna.

The gopis used to come all the way from Vrindavan and pick flowers… these champa flowers and bring them back for the raasa lila. Some of the gopis had the special power to be able to do this. So all the orchards were there but then as Kali-yuga came, then the local people started taking the flowers and selling them. So hatti means, like namahatta, hatti, Champahatti means the market place of champa flowers. So today there are not so many champa flowers, you can still see many trees but the name is still there, Champahatti. So that was where Jayadeva was living in that forest of champa flowers, Goloka champa and he was writing some poetry.

At that time Krishna appeared to him… Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared to him when he requested he wanted to see Him in His two handed form as Krishna. So then He appeared as Krishna. Then Jayadeva was satisfied that he wanted to see Krishna in Navadvipa. But the Lord then commanded him that he should go to Jagannatha Puri and that there he had important service that he had to do, that Lord Jagannatha wanted him. So like that there are so many unlimited pastimes that are going on in the holy dham. So also when Nrsimhadeva appeared, He went to the holy dham of Navadvipa Mayapur.

So we take the opportunity of visiting the holy dham to become purified from offences and to become fixed up in devotional service to

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya

prabhu-nityānanda

śrī-advaita gadādhara

śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

This was the order of Srila Prabhupad. Actually our Prahlada Maharaja, he was always remembering Krishna. This is his special quality that Prahlada, he always remembers Krishna, he doesn’t forget. When he was thrown into difficulties, thrown off the cliff and different difficulties, he would never forget Krishna. Actually he was the prince. He had unlimited opportunity to enjoy. His father had defeated even Indra, every material opulence was at his disposal. But instead he was always focused on becoming Krishna conscious. So this irritated his father to no end, that why his son could not being the standard, materialistic demon, and maintain the family tradition. Why Prahlada had to be a devotee?

When Prahlads was telling his father that you should not… he said, “You’re working for the enemy.” He said “Where is the question of enemy? One who controls his senses has no enemies and no friends, like that, he’s equal to everyone.”

And then his father got angry and said “You think are better in controlling your senses than me? Well, I’ll show you, I will kill you, you puffed up brat! Why don’t you be a demon like I tell you?”

Of course even in modern day society one can find some little bit partly perverted and partly similar reflections.

[Break]

Said,“I am only hoping to be purified from that and born in the family of demons naturally I am attached to material enjoyment but I do not want it, I simply want to be a pure devotee and serve Your lotus feet.”

So we advise on this auspicious day to take shelter of Prahlad Maharaja, pray for his…

[break]

…we can follow his footsteps by our desire for pure devotional service. Na me bhakta pranashyati – Lord Caitanya, Krishna, promises “My devotee shall never perish.”

Jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya

prabhu-nityānanda

śrī-advaita gadādhara

śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Any questions?

Devotee: It’s not really on the subject we’re on, I thought you might not mind if I asked you if you could describe something about Gangamata Gosvam…

[break]

Devotee: I was just reading in the Adi-lila, Volume Two if I’m correct.

Jayapataka Swami: I don’t know but I’m just asking (inaudible) She is one of the great female preachers in the Krishna consciousness movement, you see. She gets special blessing from her father who was Lord Nityananda. She and uh, Virbhadra prabhu, Virchandra, they were born at Kharada from Vasudha. Two wives of Lord Nityananda – Jahnava and Vasudha. Jahnava is Revati and Vasudha is Varuni, Lord Balarama’s two consorts. And still today there is a shrine built for the Samadhi of the umbilical cord of Gangamata Goswamini and Virbhadra prabhu. [Editors note: Ganga-devi, the daughter of Lord Nityananda is different from Ganga-mata Gosvamini, who was formerly a princess. See: Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 8.60 Purport.]

Of course there is much more known about Virbhadra prabhu. There is a whole book on it that gives the details of Ganga-devi and Virbhadra. I know some of the pastimes of Virbhadra but very few of Ganga-devi. I have… doing some research now on Ganga-devi. She married Madhavacarya dasa. Sri Madhavacarya. First, they were living in the district of Burdwan near Krishnadas Kaviraj’s birthplace. At one time they were also living in the district of Hooghly. So in the district of Burdwan near Jamatpur where that shrine was destroyed in a flood and we are trying to procure the land and rebuild this small shrine there to commemorate that place. And the temple for Ganga-devi Gosvamini in Hooghly district, we have just contributed ten thousand rupees to fix it up. But I haven’t gone there myself. I was hoping that when I go there we will find out more details about her pastimes. But I understand that she also did some considerable preaching.

Jahnava devi of course had thousands of disciples and followers. And she did a whole – she attended the first Gaura Purnima festival held by… sponsored by Narottama dasa Thakura at Keturi and Srinivas Acarya, Virbhadra prabhu, Acyutananda and many, many other second generation associates of Lord Caitanya, they were there. Because by that time already Nityananda, Advaita, the Pancha Tattva, they had all disappeared but Ramai the younger brother of Srivas went there, the two younger brothers went. And Raghunandan Thakur from Srihatta… Srikhanda and many other devotees literally a thousand principal remaining associates went and thousands of their disciples, like Ramachandra Kaviraja, Shyamananda Pandit I believe, also went with his followers. And then from there Jahnava devi went to see the birthplace of Nityananda, her husband. And from there she went to Vrndavana and then she had some pastimes in Vrndavan. Somehow I believe that in some of these pastimes she is reflecting the personality of Ananga-manjari. There’s the two… but I don’t… I haven’t understood it exactly and I haven’t read any commentary by the acaryas except that the Gaura Ganodesha Dipika mentions Prabhupada… that she’s both like when she is in Vrndavan and other places.

She’s… in Vrndavana there was a very special pastime in Radha Kunda but I don’t remember it just now. There was a special pastime in Radha Kunda – either she got the Radha Kunda excavated in a big way or something happened in Radha Kunda, I just can’t remember it just now. But Jahnava devi was very active. She went to Vrndavan and again she came back. I believe she went twice to Vrndavan. So for a lady for a woman to walk to Vrndavan… she would always have… like when she went to Keturi then she had Minaketana Ramadas, Vrndavandas Thakur, so many different Nityananda Parshada: Abhiram das Thakur and many other.

I believe that Gangadevi Goswamini is an incarnation of Mother Ganges. And Madhavacarya must be Maharaja Santanu. She always lives in the Ganges.

Vaisesika Prabhu: Is it also true that Jagai and Madhai were incarnations of Jaya and Vijaya? The reason I ask is because I was… because they were supposed to take three births, right? But I thought that that would be their forth birth because…

Jayapataka Swami: They took birth in Caitanya-lila because three births was, they were killed by the Lord but the fourth birth they were given Krishna Prema. You see because they said that the Chand Kazi was the Kamsa of the Caitanya-lila. So, he’s the Kamsa of the Caitanya-lila. That was my conclusion that they would put him as one of Jaya and Vijaya because they came as Kamsa and Shishupal. Isn’t that how it works?

Vaisesika Prabhu: It’s Sisupala and Dantavakra, in Krishna…

Jaypataka Swami: Is that it? Well then, Dantavakra and Sisupala, and Kamsa just another. So Chand Kazi is Kamsa.

Vaisesika Prabhu: I was just recently reading Krishna book again. I thought that there was something that I didn’t understand all this time, that Srila Prabhupada explains in the third canto about how His devotees will take birth as demons you know, to assist Him in His pastimes, and sometimes He likes to fight so He wants to fight with devotees. So I just wondered that uh, it seems like, when you read Krishna Book sometimes you’ll see that it just seems that it’s an ordinary demon or it’s not explained so much, but then in another place Srila Prabhupada said that when Krishna fights, He just wants to fight with His devotees, that it’s more fun than just anybody.

Jayapataka Swami: Then in another place Srila Prabhupad said that we should not think that every time Krishna wants to fight a demon a devotee has to fall down from the spiritual world so that He can do it. Vaisesika Prabhu: That may just be demons in the material world, or something. Jayapataka Swami: I thought I saw your hand. That’s what happens when you have a late prasadam. All the blood has gone out of your head. (laughter) How did you like the preaching in South India?

Vaisesika Prabhu: It was ecstatic. It’s really expanding.

Jayapataka Swami: Tell them about the cards. (inaudible)

Vaisesika Prabhu: Oh, the cards. When there’s a large function, Srila Pra… Acaryapada has these special cards that are like… kind of a little contract that he passes out through all the crowds there. The Indians really love it. It says that they vow to chant one round of the Hare Krishna mantra on the beads every day, at least one time a day. So he gets the people to agree in the crowd that they’ll chant one roudn of the Hare Krishna mantra, so there’s anybody that doesn’t object to doing this? And many people raise their hand, and he says, “Okay come up and get your card.” And then they come and get their card and they all fill it out, that they agree: “I such and such, agree to chant one round of Hare Krishna.” Then they bring it back and Srila Pra… Acarypada signs it and it’s serrated so they get to keep one part.

Jayapataka Swami: They keep the certificates. That part has picture… Lord Caitanya’s picture, certifying that he promised with Hare Krishna mantra, Panca-tattva mantra. We get the whatever has the name and address and everything. (laughter)

Devotee: Do they keep their vows.

Vaisesika Prabhu: It was big (inaudible)

Jayaptaka Swami: People are serious, very serious. They take it. I met one person, he started off that way. What happened, there was this guy called Mr. Poddar who came to see me and… there were so many people. It was we were give a darshan of some Indian people and some devotees in Bangalore. (laughter)

(aside)

Devotee: (inaudible) (laughter)

Jayapataka Swami: (inaudible) just a firecracker. We don’t allow firecrackers.

We were preaching and then he came up and he was asking so many questions and he kept challenging the Personality of Godhead and I was trying to present that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then he said that… to make a long story short, he kept insisting in different ways… about impersonality, real Mayavadi. So then he said something that “We want to merge.” and something like that.

I became very impatient and I said that “You take your lunch and you have your chapatti, you have your rice, you have your dal, take it and merge it. Merge and then eat! We are disgusted by this merging. We want vaicitra, variety of Krishna’s personality, Krishna’s pastimes, Krishna… everything it is all transcendental.” So then in the end I gave the same appeal to him that you should chant 108 times. So then I told him that “This is the order of Lord Caitanya that I have to beg you to please chant. So I am begging you to please take up this chanting Hare Krishna.” And he was so startled that after the whole hour discussion he agreed. He signed up.

So that night we had a pandal program outside. I went outside to do pandal program, had a 103 fever, and came back in. Then this one Mr. Agarwal came, he is a real friendly life member that always hangs around there. He came back and said that “I am the director… you did not know who that Mr. Poddar was, he owns 43 companies, he is worth something like Rs. 500 crores, half a billion dollars. He never ever bows down to a Krishna deity, he is an Arya Samaji, they don’t believe in worshiping a Deity and he’s has never agreed to do anything. But he said by… because no sadhu ever begged him to do anything before and that somehow he took it up seriously that, when I was driving him home, he said ‘I promise to chant Hare Krishna and I am going to chant starting tonight!’”

He had his beads and he went to his home and started chanting his Hare Krishna that night. So Agarwal was one of the directors of this company. He said “This is the biggest thing that ever happened. This guy never did anything, you know of this type ever before. So this is a big breakthrough.” So in response, people do it, obviously some people forget but in general many people take it seriously, that is why we take their name and address to send them reminders, to keep the contact otherwise, surely, they will forget. But in general they do take it very seriously.

They have that tradition you know that if they promise, especially they make it a whole ritual, they come up and bow down before the Deity, they offer a flower, we give them a flower. We pssst, put the seal on it. They take it and touch it to their heads and then they come out. Sometimes we make them chant Hare Krishna over the microphone and someone announces, “This is…” You know “Gopalacharya.”You know, “Mr. Rangabhatti Gopalacharya” So when they come out…

I remember this getting people to chant Hare Krishna I found it to be a very inspiring thing. I had a big fight with… on this issue with Gokulacandra… no. Who is the big… He’s in Korea right now, used to be a big book distributor? Devotee: (inaudible)

Jayapataka Swami: Anyway, that we had given two million books out in Bengal and people were coming up, they read the book, they’d come up to the devotees and they’d say that “I agree with your philosophy, now tell me what to do, I want to become Krishna conscious.” So then we would… you know the distributor naturally would say, “Well, buy another book!”

So either he buys a book or he does not have enough money, “So what next?”

So then we say “Why don’t you move in to Mayapur?”

Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi

Revised by Jagannatha dasa Brahmacari