Date: Fri, 6 Jun 97 16:59 SST
From: COM: Jayapataka Swami (GBC) <Jayapataka.Swami
Subject: Everyone is getting Acharyapad concious!
> Dear Srila Acharyapad,
> Please accept our most respectful obeisances at your lotus feet.
> All glories to Srila Prabhupad!All glories to your Divine Grace!
> Your trancendental diary is setting fire to our conciousness here.
> Everyday we are looking forward to more news about You!
> All the devotees here in Muscat are getting more and more Acharyapad
> concious!We have planned to have monthly house programmes to churn out
> the nectar of your pastimes including video shows and lecture tapes of
> your Divine Grace.We are fully booked till December for this programme.
> Hope to have more sales of your audio and video tapes!
> Devotees find their chanting effective when watching your video minus
> the sound while chanting.
> Gurudev,You are transforming us so successfully!We are longing
> for every drop of nectar from your end!
> Everyone is getting more enthusiastic in cell preaching!
>
> We pray to Lord Narasingadev to protect you always.
> All glories to your Divine Grace!
> Your servant,
> Prema Padmini d.d
Well with encouragement like that what can I say or do? I must keep on with the writing it seems.
Actually for PerthDiary it took me almost 2 hours. I may start dictating the
diaries and having it transcribed since I can't spare so much time. I will try
that for the next couple and see how it goes.
Thankyou again for your encouragement.
your ever well wisher,
Jayapataka Swami
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 97 16:59 SST
From: COM: Jayapataka Swami (GBC) <Jayapataka.Swami
Subject: Malaysian Itinerary
Adelaide, Oz
I must thank Malaysian yatra for making the effort to have nicely arranged
programs and well planned schedules. They do a nice plan and things normally
go quite in sequence, although sometimes delays or unexpected things cause
changes, but that is usually later in the day that the effect is felt. I do want to express my gratitude for their nice planning efforts.
My suggestion is that: \\
1) Sometimes unexpected things happen and some slack times to make up or some
planning for the unexpected may also need to be taken into consideration.
2) Schedules need to be managed. Daily review and reminder of the plan in the
morning and someone who follows up and keeps me and others on the track and
doesn't allow interferences to cause us to deviate. Then we can be more true to the schedule.
Re: 28-5-97. Barisal, South Bangladesh--Nama Hatta Preaching Excursio
Jayapataka Swami wrote:
>
>
> Camp: ISKCON Bangalore --- President of India Inaugeral Centennial Function
>
> <<Thank you very much for the detailed report about your transcendental
> activities. It is really inspiring and instructional for all. It is also an
> eye-opener for those who may take Guru for granted.>>
>
> What does it mean: " It is also an eye-opener for those who may take Guru for
> granted."
>
> Could you elaborate a little?
Well I thought that at present there are many disciples like myself who think
that upon
acceptance of GUru our job is over. We may think that it is enough for us
to follow the principles, chant Hare Krishna and carry on with our daily activities,
which may include wasting time on T.V. and spend
a quite a good deal of time in many other activities which may not be connected
with devotional service. In other words we develop a materialistic taste and go
on with the material sense gratification.
And we may also think "now I have taken initiation, it is
enough. Guru is pleased with me. I am o.k. And remain ignorant about the
mood of Guru and his mission" All this I say as taking guru for granted.
I am sorry for not being able to explain better.
But now, upon reading your divine grace's texts, on how your divine grace
continuously
travel and tire and risk yourself in trying to pick up any soul from any corner
of the
earth, I am sure that many "steel-framed" hearts like mine will start melting
and begin
to understand that initiation without any tangible service in your divine
grace's
footsteps will not be able to attract the mercy of Lord Caitanya.
We will at least definitely understand our duty and debt to Guru and begin to
ponder
about making changes in life to assist out Gurudeva better. Sril Acaryapada,
you are
showing your love to Srila Prabhupada. It is very very clear. And so we simply
have
to follow Your Divine Grace, that's all.
May Your Divine Grace help me in the matter of understanding more and more the
principle
of Guru Tattva.
Your servant,
Simhesvara dasa
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 97 16:59 SST
From: COM: Jayapataka Swami (GBC) <Jayapataka.Swami@com.bbt.se>
28-5-97. Barisal, South Bangladesh--Nama Hatta Preaching Excursio
camp: Adelaide
I wonder what the disciples thought I was doing when I was travelling all these
years? The only difference now is I am telling you about it. Didn't my
travelling secretaries ever share this information previously?
Thankyou for the nice letter and explanation. Yes I need help to spread the
message of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and if my disciples and followers and other
supporting devotees of ISKCON don't help me then who will? I am hopeless to
fulfill Srila Prabhupada's Mission without all your help. I should do it on my
own and am duty bound to do so, but since I am not capable of doing it then
Srila Prabhupada has sent me some assistants -
Camp: ISKCON Adelaide, Australia---Radha-Shyamsundar Mandir.
DIARY OF 6 JUNE 1997
Gaurabda 511
My dear spiritual children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Be
always careful to stay under the protective shelter of the lotus feet of Sri
Sri
Guru and Gauranga by chanting the 16 rounds, following the four regulative
principles and keeping your body, your consciousness, your senses and your
speech engaged in favourable devotional service.
Perth, June 6th, 1997.
This morning we have a Japa Workshop with about 25 devotees
participating. HH Prabhavisnu Swami, the local GBC for Australia, is also
present for a 5 day visit. He sits in for two rounds of the workshop, but has
to leave for some urgent business. The devotees chant good japa although a few
areas which could be improved were discovered. I lead Srila Prabhupada guru
puja kirtan and give the Srimad Bhagavatam class. [If any Perth devotees want
to upload highlights of my classes to the Istagosthi it would be appreciated.]
The devotees offered a farewell guru puja with two seats for HH Prabhavisnu
Swami and myself, but in the end Maharaj said he would come tomorrow. So we
put
his photo on the seat and completed the formalities. After a short meeting with
HH Prabhavisnu Swami I left for the airport to Adelaide ISKCON.
6 June 1997 ? Flight to Adelaide Radha-Shyamasundar Temple
The flight to Adelaide is a three-hour flight. I was in seat 2F and, next to
me, in seat 2D, was Bishop Quinn who is in charge of the diocese of 25 churches
and chapels in the rural area south of Perth. The discussion was cordial and
he
told me about an Indian priest who had stayed in his diocese and invited him to
come to India, and when he explained how there are 25 Bishops in Australia and
how, in the major cities, there is an Archbishop and how each Bishop is
independent over his churches. If something goes wrong, or for regional
development, then the Archbishop has a slightly bigger role. He mentioned that
in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney there were Archbishops, for instance. This was
interesting to me because, in ISKCON, we are discussing having more GBCs or
zonal secretaries. At the same time, we have unlimited secretaries in the GBC
body, which would make the meeting impractical. Anyway, I have to write my
diary entry for 4th and 5th June. I had no time to do this while I was in
Perth.
After writing a few urgent letters, I had to write my Diary for the 5th June
and
then I have to write some answers for different questions on congregational
preaching that had come up. However, it took me about two hours to finish the
diary entry for Perth, taking all the time that I had available on the flight.
If it takes so long to write the diaries, it will be very difficult to keep up,
as there are so many other things I have to do. So I am doing today's diary by
dictation to see if I can conserve time in this way and have someone transcribe
it.
When I arrived in Adelaide, I was happy to see Aniruddha dasa, the temple
president of Melbourne and Regional Secretary of Adelaide, along with Kesava
das
and his to-be wife Vedapriya dd, the new temple president of ISKCON Adelaide
and
his to-be wife, as well as some other devotees of the yatra. My disciple,
Gaura
Gopinatha das, was also there with his family. One piece of my luggage did not
come. After going through the formalities of reporting that, we headed off to
the ISKCON Adelaide temple.
Lahitaksa Prabhu kindly drove me to the Temple in his 1941 vintage Pontiac car
which was used as a limousine. The ride to the temple was only about 10
minutes. I left Perth at 11, but because of losing hours in time change, it
was
4 o'clock before I reached the temple, so we had darsana of Radha-Syamasundara
Deities, beautiful marble Deities, somewhere between two to three feet in
height. There are also small Gaura-Nitai Deities, a small Srila Prabhupada
Deity, and on the vyasasana opposite the Deities there was a life-size Srila
Prabhupada murti. In contrast with Perth where there were 50 devotees, here
there were about five devotees chanting. But they were all so very
enthusiastic
and I could find my way from the entrance to the temple into the room where I
was staying by the small trail of flower petals.
The reception guru-puja had been arranged inside the room where I would stay.
After a foot bathing with water and flower petals, arati was performed, and I
gave nice brown cookies with an almond on them to the almost 20 devotees, who
had gathered by this time. I gave a short talk on recent events in my
preaching
to enthuse the devotees. Since the evening program would start at seven ? it
was
almost approaching five; we had not taken lunch yet ? I took a shower and had
lunch. Lunch was almost without any spice, almost like steamed vegetables.
After living in India for so many years, I'm accustomed to taking prasadam with
spice. The doctor said spice is not the problem; the problem is excess ghee
or
salt.
After prasadam there were a few short interviews, then we managed to get my
computer linked up with Email in the next room. By that time, the arati
kirtana
was coming to a close, so I came out and joined in the arati kirtana and, for
another 20 minutes, we chanted and danced. There were about 30 devotees at
that
time, and the two small rooms which comprise the temple and the darsana and
lecture hall were totally filled with the devotees. I tried to take the
devotees around in a circumambulation, but there were so many devotees that it
became a gridlock and no-one was moving forward. So, after two rounds, I
decided to end the circumambulation.
After the kirtana, we had a class on Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila, the part
of the Kurma brahmana. They were discussing how Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave His
mercy in the different villages of South India, and how one person would be
inspired by Lord Caitanya and that person would, in turn, inspire many others,
and those people would become so inspired each would inspire many others. In
this way, the movement spread very quickly. This shows how the bhakti branch
system works. From one branch come many sub-branches; from each sub-branch
come many lesser branches. In this way, you soon have a tree with unlimited
branches, twigs and leaves.
I explained to the 30 devotees present, when I heard that on the Sunday feast
they had 50 ? they may be thinking how this temple remained small for so many
years ? that if everybody took up the preaching in earnest, then in one year,
50
devotees could each make another member of the congregation or devotee of the
temple, and by the end of six months they would have a hundred. Each of them
will become inspired and, by another six months, they would have 200. So, in
one year, they could go from 50 to 200. But the year after that, from 200 in
the next six months, if they all brought one more person, they could have 400.
Another six months, and 400 would go to 800. So, in this way, after two years,
they could go to 800. Finally, after three years, they could go to 1,600 and
3,200 and become a very, very dynamic centre in just three years' time. There
will be so many fires, so many obstacles to block the progress and try to put
up
a smokescreen. But devotees just enthuse everyone in their congregation to
also
bring their friends, make the proper contacts and cultivate them, then our
movement could explode very quickly and reach people everywhere.
There were four guests from Karnataka State of India and one Bengali man. When
I was reading the Bengali in Caitanya-caritamrta, the Bengali man started
speaking to me in Bengali. He said, "You have pronunciation just like
Bengali".
Then I answered to him in Bengali. So he found me out. Other devotees asked
questions also. If you organize it, they could send questions to my
conference.
One Bhakta Tobias will be having an Email connection very shortly, thus they
could receive the answers to their questions.
At the conclusion of that class, some questions called for the President of the
Indian Republic address in Bangalore and I read it out to the assembled
devotees. They were very happy to hear how this senior statesman and top
citizen of India was able to give the message of Krsna to everyone so nicely.
Everyone appreciated the nice words of the President of India.
When I got back to the room, you can imagine how surprised I was when I read
from Madhu Pandit das of ISKCON Bangalore that the Prime Minister of India, who
is coming to the closing ceremony of the games that the President of India
opened, had his secretary phone to express his desire to visit the temple while
he was in the city for the closing ceremony of the national games for children.
The temple president had asked me that, after the temple had been inaugurated
By the President, what else could they get the Prime Minister to inaugurate. He
wanted to know whether I could fly over for the 12th June. This is an amazing
mercy that, by Krsna's kindness, it happens that within one month the President
and Prime Minister of India visit our temple in Bangalore, then surely it will
be very good for India and will help to establish ISKCON with the Indian
government on a proper footing. I'm very excited by this. I am sure that
Prabhupada will be very happy if this can also happen.
Although it is already too late and I should take rest, before I go I have to
answer the urgent letter from Bangalore. I was about to reply that letter
when
one disciple came to see me in a very distraught condition. So I took the
time
out to discuss with her, and then will finish the Email.
I had been writing a letter on the computer when I went to give the interview.
When I came back, my secretary had done something and had wiped out the letter.
I get entangled in answering some mail and it gets later than I expected. I
was
informed by the president that there is only one bathroom for men, and we
worked
out a schedule for the bathroom next morning. In this way, saying my prayers
to
Srila Prabhupada, 6 June 1997 has come to a close. Hare Krsna in
Radha-Shyamasundar temple, Adelaide, Australia. I hope this finds all of you
very blissful in your Krsna consciousness and in good health.
Your ever well-wisher, Jayapataka Swami.
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-8 JPS Diary
Camp: ISKCON Melbourne---Mahaprabhu Mandir & Sri Sri Radha Ballabha Home
DIARY OF 7 JUNE 1997
ISKCON, Adelaide, Australia
Radha-Shyamasundar Temple
My Dear Spiritual Children, pamb&bw/ AGTS{
Please accept my blessings.
It must be a fortunate day. I woke up seeing Aniruddha dasa standing in my
room. I asked what time it was, whether the alarm had gone off. He
informed me that he had just turned it off because it had been ringing for
a long time. I realized I had to get it together and take rest earlier,
get back into regulation.
This morning we have a japa workshop in the temple. There are about eight
devotees participating. One devotee was chanting five-minute rounds; had
to slow him down a bit. Other devotees are chanting nine-minute rounds,
but in order to get them to chant faster and keep a good pronunciation
would take more time. This morning is a tight programme. Our flight is at
10.05 to Melbourne.
There is a question relating to the local Deity worship which I am asked to
advise on. Aniruddha das and I went into the altar to inspect the Deities
and to give advice to the pujaris. It is an opportunity for me to take the
dust from the lotus feet of Syamasundara. Afterward there was Deity
greeting and Srila Prabhupada puja. Then I gave a class on the
Srimad-Bhagavatam, Ninth Canto, Yayati Maharaja. Yayati Maharaja had a
desire to be a pure servitor of Krsna, but somehow he got detoured by
material desires. One has to be very careful not to be detoured, not to
let material desire take one's senses and mind away. This human form of
life is far too valuable to waste it in sense gratification, which is
available even in the births of the stool-eaters like dogs and hogs.
There were about 20 devotees present for the morning Bhagavatam class.
Everyone was very attentive and enthusiastic.
After class, the temple had arranged a nice prasadam snack, but there was
no time. A nice rapport had been established between all the devotees and
myself and, although it was a very short visit, everyone came out to say
goodbye, and they were chanting. As I was being taken by Lohitaksha
Prabhu's 1941 vintage Pontiac, the devotees gathered around, they asked
when I was going to come back and requested that I return quickly. ISKCON
devotees are so wonderful! For me, it's always so painful to be leaving
one group of devotees, and the only pacification is that soon I will be
with another group of devotees.
During the one-hour flight between Adelaide to Melbourne, I was accompanied
by Marici dasa and Aniruddha Prabhu. While flying, I dictated the things
which happened on 6th June in Adelaide, Australia.
The Melbourne arrival was very ecstatic. As we drove up to the rear of the
temple, many male devotees were chanting and as I got out of the car I was
given another garland. I approached the covered gateway, and could see
that the matajis had arrayed themselves in two lines on both sides of the
pathway. On the ground, someone had painted several artistic "rangoli",
symbols of lotus s. As I came forward between the lines of matajis, they
were throwing flowers before me. Many of the faces were all well-known and
dear. The devotees' faces were very bright. Everyone was very happy.
There were well over a hundred devotees assembled! The kirtana followed me
as I greeted different devotees and known faces, spiritual sons and
daughters, nieces and nephews, friends and well-wishers.
We proceeded towards the temple room. I go to the Srila Prabhupada altar
first and offer a garland to Srila Prabhupada and my obeisances, then I
proceed to the main Deities where I offer my obeisances to the large
Gaura-Nitai Deities, after which the temple is named the Mahaprabhu Mandir.
These Deities were personally installed by His Divine Grace Srila A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and are very powerful Deities. They are
able to attract many conditioned souls to the lotus feet of Srila
Prabhupada's preaching movement. Sri Radha-Ballabha, also installed by
Srila Prabhupada, are very enchanting, totally out of this world. Sri
Radha-Ballabha's lotus eyes attract, and His glance is very penetrating.
His lotus feet are very merciful to extend His shelter to the conditioned
souls. Radharani is giving Her blessings and She is looking very young in
Her eternal youthful form "Taruni". I am feeling so much happiness to be
before these Deities, I have no words to express it. This is certainly a
great place of pilgrimage in the Western world. These Deities were
personally worshipped by Srila Prabhupada and brought into the world by
Srila Prabhupada who was so merciful to be here in this distant place of
Melbourne.
The devotees had filled the temple with chanting, and I was offering
extended prayers to the Deities, praying for the welfare of those who are
depending upon me. On the third altar, the Jagannatha-Baladeva-Subhadra, a
large size of three feet or more in height, have very brilliant faces and a
big smile. All the Deities here in Melbourne appear very happy.
I am taken over to the temple theatre where multi-media shows are presented
to the visitors, and there a special program of reception and guru-puja has
been arranged. By this time, the room is filled with devotees; men on one
side and women on the other. An enthusiastic guru-puja, ending with a
'cookie' throw is followed by a class where I explain some of the recent
things that have happened. I tell about my tour, going from Kanai Natsala
up to Katmandu where we met with Srila Prabhavisnu Swami and Srila
Maha-Visnu Swami. At the end of the darshan, we read the President of
India's official Bangalore Temple Inauguration address for the benefit of
the devotees. That was read by Havirdhana Prabhu.
They have arranged in Melbourne a very tight programme with different
activities from morning to night. While I was explaining about my tour in
India, Reverend Ian Hunter also came and listened to my explanation. He is
a Minister of the Episcopal faith who was kind enough to accept a luncheon
engagement. After freshening up, we went for lunch and we had a nice
discussion with Reverend Ian Hunter. He expressed his desire to come with
his wife, Margaret, some time to India and visit Vrndavana, Mayapur and all
the holy places. He has a desire to utilize some of the bhakti-yoga
techniques, including chanting Hare Krsna, to further his Christian
progress in achieving love for Godhead and worshiping Lord Jesus Christ.
He has a universal outlook and sees Krsna consciousness as something not
different from Christianity, although his idea is to present things in a
very chaste way.
This day, the prasadam was cooked by Acintya Rupa devi dasi, the good wife
of Aniruddha Prabhu, and it was a wonderful Western menu with everything
cooked very holistically and purely. After some rest, in the evening at
about 5 o'clock, we went for a walk. It was just getting dark. About 12
devotees accompanied me, including Prana Ballabha das dasa and his good
wife Rupa, who have come from India to Melbourne to spend the time with me
while I am here. As we were walking, we stopped and had a question and
answer session with the devotees. We had some nice exchanges, and got back
in time for the evening program and to quickly finish the interviews for
tomorrow's initiation candidates.
A special yajna had been set up in the temple for the first siksa ceremony
to be held in Melbourne, Australia. Forty-six candidates have been
interviewed and have requested to be given the siksa blessings from the
Deities, which is being administered by the temple president, Aniruddha
Prabhu. As the chief guest, I was asked to give an explanation of the
importance of the siksa programme. I spoke until about quarter to nine,
explaining how this is very important, that in everything we do for Krsna
there is no loss or diminution.
nehabhikrama-naso 'sti
pratyavayo na vidyate
sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trayate mahato bhayat
So everything that is being done in Krsna's service, whether one round,
four rounds, eight rounds, 12 rounds, it is all adding up and Krsna is
giving them mercy. So these 46 members of the congregation who have taken
this blessing to chant Hare Krsna very seriously are feeling very inspired
to be given this special mercy. After they take their vows, they go to
Srila Prabhupada's vyasasana, and the wooden shoes (silver plated) that
Srila Prabhupada had personally worn are placed on their head as a special
blessing; then they take their seats, a very nice ceremony, which
concluded with a special sacrifice.
After the siksa ceremony, I send out the report for the 5th June, 1997 from
my room, then take rest.
I hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 97 13:45 AWST
From: COM: Bhuvana Mohini (dd) HKS (AU)
.com.au>
Subject: Arrival Address in Perth
Jayapataka Swami wrote on 06/06/97
>Dayasara Prabhu asked me to give a class to the approx. 50 devotees who were
>present. I asked what they wanted to hear and they asked for some preaching
>experiences during the recent past. I gave them a run down of highlights
>during
>and after Gaura Purnima festival. I took them upto Kanai Natshala Deity
>installation, but didnt tell them the pastime of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu
and
>said the could only hear it if they asked for it, but no one caught on and
>asked
>for it---so maybe another visit. (Since those pastimes were pre-Diary
days it
>might be nice if Dhriti Gopi dd or someones else in Perth who would like to
>assist transcribed that tape and uploaded the relevant parts to the JPS
>Istagosthi conference to share with the others.)
For the pleasure of all of our dear Godbrothers and Godsisters here is a
copy of Guru Maharaja's Arrival Address here in Perth, Australia, given on
4th July 1997.
This is part one...
After Gaura Purnima we went to Jaganatha Puri, and that was a very special
time, I've been to Jaganatha Puri many times before. This time I was there
only for two days because I had to go Vrndavana for some meetings.We went
to Hari das Thakur's samadhi and remembered the pastimes there how there
is a siddha bakula tree that Hari das Thakura was chanting under and then
some king came and wanted to cut the tree down. It was a nice 500 year old
tree, he wanted to cut it down to make the ratha cart, it was good wood.
The devotee who was there said 'No way! this is Hari das Thakura's tree,
how can you do that? This is a sacred tree,' then the whole day he just
fasted and lay down praying to Krsna, to please protect the tree. Then in
the morning all the wood of the tree had disappeared it was just bark and
the tree had become all kind of bent and everything and the king came and
said this is useless all the wood is gone and went away. The tree is still
like that since then, maybe a hundred years ago or more that happened.
I was very moved this time in Jagannatha Puri remembering the pastimes at
Gaur Gambir, Lord Caitanya's feelings of seperation. Then we went to
Sarvabauma Bhattacarya's house and there the different pastimes that
happened how Nityananda and everyone came and found Caitanya unconsious and
they chanted Hare Krishna and revieved him, we were reading Caitanya
Caritamrta.
After that we rented 13 jeeps and went on a saffari, we went to all the
places that are too far to walk, to the Gundica Temple, then to the
Narasimha Temple where Lord Caitanya chanted. Then to Indradyumna Sarvora,
next we went to the sarvora of Markendeya Rishi's father. We went to places
that normally devotees don't get to see. We went to Narendra Sarvora, took
our bath there, we ended up at the ISKCON land, took a sea bath and then
took Lord Jagannnath's maha-prasadam. That was nice also to see all those
places, I've never even seen my self Markendeya's fathers place. It was
kind of an unusual story because he couldn't have a child, so then he got a
blessing that he could get a son that would only live up to 6 years of age
and then he will die, His parents said 'At least we will have him for 6
years.' Markendeya is the son of Markendura Rishi, he was such a good boy,
Markendeya would worship Lord Siva, there is a Siva Linga there and he was
very suputra, very cooperative, a very wonderful child, then when the 6
years were up, the parents were really sad, so he asked 'Whats wrong, why
is nobody eating?' They told him, 'You're supossed to die today and your
going to be taken by Yamaraja,' so he just went and he held on to the Siva
Lingam and some how he convinced Lord Siva--Lord Siva can do anything, so
even if he's only supposed to life this long he can also extend his life.
Siva came because he was pleased with Markendeya's devotion and gave him a
life span of 7 days of Brahma! Markendaya Rishi is in Srimad Bhagavatam
12th Canto. So, that whole pastime happened there in Jaganatha Puri, which
was interesting.
Then I went to Vridavana, the devotess stayed in Jagannatha Puri. In
Vrndavana, they said that there was no space for me to give class, it was
all taken up, but then it turned out that Ajamila was supossed to give
Bhagavad Gita class but he didin't turn up so they took me over and I gave
class to the devototees. That morning they asked me if I would like to do
the puja and I said sure, but I was a little late, and I remember I was
just running to get there. To do the puja you have to be there a little
early. I could just hear the conches blowing, so I ran and ran in to the
pujari room, my disciple was the one doing the puja so he handed it over to
me, so just as he openned the door I was there! Gopal Krishna Maharaja was
doing the worship of Krishna Balaram and I did Gaura Nitai.
Somewhere amongst these whole events I was just appreciating how wonderful
ISKCON devotees are. I have always thought ISKCON devotees were
wonderful, but I never really felt it as much as I did in these days I was
really thinking how dear all of you are to Krishna and to Srila Prabhupada
and how all the people that are coming to Krishna Consciousness are very
special and they have got the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Somehow it just
really hit home-- how fortunate I was to be in a movement with so many
wonderful devotees, like all of you, who have dedicated your lifes to
serving Srila Prabhupada and Krsna. And how as a humble leader, what ever I
can do to make your journey in Krishna Consciousness better I should
definetaly try to do that. They say that there is 5 billion people on the
planet so how many of them are actually surrendered to Krishna? Only a
small percentage, an insignificant handful of people and those who are
actively serving, even those who chant Hare Krishna--chanting the holy
names on a regular basis is so rare. Every one is so very special and how
everyone has with them the seeds of devotion that they are getting from
Prabhupada from the spiritual master, they can also give that to others.
So you are a very special group of people. Of course we don't want to keep
it small--we want the groups to expand more and more. Every one should
become blissful in Krishna Consciousness.
I was just thinking how Vasudeva Dhatta he was praying, he was getting a
taste from Krishna Consciousness, he was praying that why should he alone
go back to Godhead, why should he alone experience love for Krishna when
every one else in the material world is suffering, so better that I stay
and everyone else go back and I will take all the karma of all the other
living entities. Who can concieve how much compassion was in his heart?
There are some great benolevent people. Jesus Christ was crusified, he took
the sins of his followers but to take the sins of every living entitiy even
the demons even the ants, all living entities, just because he wanted then
all to be happy in love for Krishna. He wanted them all to be happy, just
like he was happy. Of course we can not even imagine so much compassion,
but to some extent we can see that Krishna Consciousness is so sublime, you
can see so many people, practically everybody is being deprived from that
nectar of Krishna Consciousness, the sweet nectar of chanting the holy
name, the appreciation of God as the most beautiful, the most knowledgeabe,
the most wonderful person, full of all opulences, Bhagavan. So many
different realizations were coming.
Then after that quick stay in Vrndavana, (I only stayed for two days) I
went back to Orissa and meet the devotees there. People think that this is
just a tour, by really they don't know. Somebody suggested that we should
change the name to a saffari--a spirtitual saffari! In different places
different devotees get different realizations, in one place, Bhadrack, one
devotee from Berlin got some profound realization When Lord Caitanya was
going back to Vrndavana. Ramananda Raya went up to there with Him, and
there Lord Caitanya took a bath in the Sarundi River and then he told
Ramananda Raya that he should go back now to Jaganataha Puri, you've come
far enough. (This is in the Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya Lila). Then He
started walking away and Ramananda Raya just collopsed in seperation, he
was fainting, his love was so intense that Lord Caitanya couldn't just walk
away, he couldn't just walk off on him when he fainted like that in
seperation. So then Lord Caitanya came back and took Ramananda Rayas head
on His lap and He was also crying,the tears from Lord Caitanya's eyes fell
on Ramananada Raya's face and he woke up. Lord Caitanya said 'I have to go,
you stay' and somehow Lord Caitanya bid farewell and went. The day when we
went there it was raining, it was unuique because somehow steam was coming
up from the river , it was a small river only 50 meteres wide and chest
deep, with a sandy bottom. This is the place there where Lord Caitanya took
His bath. So this devotee said that when she saw that, somehow it really
touched her that Lord Caitanya was really there, that was her realization.
We had a few realization sharing sesssions during the tour.
That morning there was a Nama Hatta meeting, there were hundreds of Nama
Hatta devotees. They wanted to get an abandoned factory to have it as a
Nama hatta center. So we saw that, and they all came there, there was so
many students a big reception, prasadam and everything. So like that we
were going from one place to another. We went to one place, called
Niligiri, this is a very amazing place, they have a public school there
with a temple in it. There are 300 boarding students and they all go to
mangala arati every day and there is another 800 day students. They were
all wearing tilack. The girls were all carrying little bamboo trays and on
top was little plate with a flower and a lamp.They were holding them in two
rows when we came, it was a maha reception with hundred's of students and
they were chanting mantras.You just don't expect it. We just thought it
would be a nama hatta programme with some school children--but what we
found was a Krishna Consciousness public school! The directors of the
school were very inspired by Prabhupada's books and they had set it up
practically like a gurukula. All the students were really fired up! We had
a huge kirtana with the kids. Then we went to the Jagannatha Temple there.
Then we went to Remuna and we saw Ksiracora Gopinatha deity.
The next part will start from the arrival in Kanai Natsala....: Tue, 10 Jun 97
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-8 JPS Diary --Melbourne OZ
Jayapataka Swami's Krsna Conscious DIARY OF 8th JUNE 1997
97.6.8. Melbourne, Australia.
The mangal-arati was very inspiring. It is always wonderful to see the
Deities being greeted by the devotees. The Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai, Sri Sri
Radha-Ballabha, and Sri Sri Jagannath Baladeva Subhadra Deities mangal
arotik is extra special since the Deities are so transcendentally
attractive. This morning, after tulasi-puja, it was announced that we were
having a japa workshop from 5.30 to 6.30 in the theater.
About 20 devotees attended the japa workshop. Here, the devotees were
chanting quite nicely, although, as in other places, we always find some
areas for improvement. One devotee was leaving out one 'Hare Rama';
another a 'Hare'; someone else a 'Krsna'. Somehow or other, devotees
develop a habit of leaving out certain names or mispronouncing the mantras.
Also, the fact that the mantra is Krsna, and how conscious we should be of
Krsna's presence in His mantra form is often not focused upon by the
devotees. The temple president also expressed that he used to chant
eight-minute rounds but, through the japa workshop, his rounds had come
down to six and a half minutes. If you calculate for the rest of the life,
gaining one and a half minutes per round without sacrificing quality, it's
a significant amount of additional time that can be spent in chanting or in
other devotional activities.
Seven o'clock is Deity greeting, and at 7.30 we will start the fire
sacrifice for initiations combined with the Bhagavatam class. I went
upstairs to finalize the names for the three initiation candidates and to
see that the samskara pages are all printed out and ready. Meanwhile,
after the Deity greeting and guru-puja in the temple, they started the 10
offense and the Brahma-samhita chanting. I was informed that everything
was waiting for me. I picked out names with the help of Aniruddha das and
Vijaya Gopikesa das BE these are special names, somehow; I like them very
much BE Caru-caitanya dasa, Ananda-rupini devi dasi and Asesa Sadhini devi
dasi are the three names. In the temple, the verse on Dhruva Maharaja
going back to Godhead had been selected. There, it mentions the importance
of siksa and diksa- guru; how the mother of Dhruva Maharaja also went back
to Godhead for giving "siksa" to Dhruva. Narada Muni was his diksa-guru but
he is already liberated and can go Back to Godhead whenever he likes.
So we discussed about the importance of initiation; how it is important to
take initiation with full faith and dedication; how it connects one to the
disciplic succession; and how, by the mercy of the spiritual master, one
is able to reach Krsna. At the same time, we also elaborated on how
siksa-guru is not different from diksa-guru. Siksa-guru is giving
instruction to help the disciple also get back to the spiritual world, and
that just as Dhruva Maharaja's mother could get back because of helping,
whether they are diksa or siksa disciples, if anyone is able to get back to
Godhead, then that can also help the spiritual master. When I read Srila
Prabhupada's purport in the verse after, where he said, "I feel crippled in
many ways, and I was thinking that if I had one disciple like Dhruva
Maharaja, then that disciple can carry me back to Vaikuntha", Srila
Prabhupada didn't have to say anything like that. Prabhupada was already
in Vaikuntha; he was already in Goloka; he's completely liberated. But,
just to show us humility and to give us a lesson in our consciousness, he
said such things. I couldn't control my emotion and I had to wipe the
tears from my eyes to go on. Srila Prabhupada is so wonderful! Later, a
doctor who was in class thought I had a bad cold seeing me use the tissues
and sent me some antibiotics for it, but he hadn t diagnosed my problem
correctly.
The class continued and we meditated more deeply on the significance of
diksa-guru and siksa-guru. Then it was time to begin the ceremony and we
initiated the three candidates who were very happy. Two were Bengalis who
had settled in Melbourne, and one was the sister of a devotee who had been
chanting now for many years in connection with the devotees. As part of
the fire sacrifice, we also gave anna-prasana for one baby girl, who was
very eager to take prasadam and very co-operative. We also the opportunity
to give Sarveswari devi dasi, who is in an advanced stage of pregnancy, the
Simanta-nayana samskara, with pumsavan samskara included. For that
ceremony, we first installed the fire of mangala and utilized the porcupine
quill, which had been sent to me by devotees for this ceremony. Then to
complete the initiation ceremony we called the Vaisnava agni and completed
the Vaisnava homa (fire sacrifice). I personally performed the fire
sacrifice. It was very hot; the fire blazed very intensely, making me
feel sleepy sometimes under the powerful heat.
Again, there was a guru-puja after the fire sacrifice, which was very well
attended on this Sunday morning. Breakfast was a simple fat-free pancake
with maple syrup and, after the breakfast, we went for a morning walk.
After chanting eight rounds, we stopped and had a question and answer
session. Discussion took place about women as preachers, and the question
came up about Jahnava-devi, who was a spiritual master, giving initiation.
She is the consort of Lord Nityananda Prabhu. Of course, she was always
assisting Lord Nityananda in His presence but, after He left the world, she
took the position as a preacher and initiating guru. We discussed that we
want all the devotees in ISKCON, both men and women, to develop to their
full potential, and if someone has any propensity they would like to use
for Krsna, then it is my keen desire that they should be able to develop
those propensities and potential. We don't want to inhibit anybody from
developing fully in their services to Krsna. Let the sky be the limit and
let people be able to do devotional service to their maximum capacity and
spread this Krsna consciousness movement to every single fallen soul so
that everyone in the universe can become a pure devotee of Krsna.
After this question and answer session, I asked every devotee what was
their goal in devotional service. Some wanted to preach; some wanted to
distribute books; some wanted to do Deity worship or farm; some said they
wanted to preach like me. So this is very nice. Every devotee should know
what their goals are and, at ISKCON, we should try to help them in
fulfilling their goals and aspirations so that they will be fully satisfied
in Krsna consciousness.
After returning to the temple, I had an interview with Dr. Raj Mohan who
had come from Madhya Pradesh and his wife from Bihar. They are aspiring to
take my shelter in the future. I gave them guidance on congregational
preaching, because they are now going to move to Adelaide and will be
important persons to start Bhakti-Vrksa Nama Hatta groups over there.
Today, the lunch was a special South Indian lunch with sambhar and other
South Indian preparations, very nicely prepared by the South Indian
devotees of the temple and congregation.
The Sunday feast begins at 5 o'clock; the feast lecture should be given at
5 o'clock. I was a little late. The class was on Bhagavad-gita 9:13-14.
The class went on till after six, and then there were the questions and
answers, but we cut the questions and answers because we were going to have
a dedicated question and answer session at 7.30 in the Temple Theater. At
the Sunday feast, the whole hall was totally packed. About 60% to 70% of
the guests seemed of Indian origin; the rest of different ethnic groups.
Everyone was very enthusiastic and favorable. More than half of the people
seemed to be already chanting and practicing very seriously.
As I was leaving, I met two middle-aged ladies of Australian background who
mentioned that they had come for the first time, and I arranged for one
Temple mataji to take them for prasadam. Actually, so many new people
come, and we might not give them the special care they need and they might
feel totally disoriented. But these two ladies were very favourable and
they were quite patient even though nobody had actually taken personal care
of them up to that time. Indeed, they mentioned that they could feel the
very positive vibration and that they definitely wanted to come again.
When I left the temple room I passed through the outdoor courtyard and had
some brief discussions with different devotees. I was happy to see Bhakta
John and Krsna-kanta dd; also to see Puspanjali and Bhakta Dave who had
spent eight months in Mayapur; and various other devotees.
The next program was held upstairs in the darsana room. I had a group
darsana with one of the Melbourne Bhakti Vriksa Groups members. Asoka &
Candrika, Srinivas and Bhagya-laksmi Patil requested formal shelter. Sri
Surya-Narayana and Saran devi were accepted as siksa disciples and
aspirants for shelter. We had some nice discussions about the different
programs and preaching. It turned out that Chandrika and Sharan are very
nice bhajan singers and are using their skills very nicely to attract many
people to Krsna through their bhajans.
After 7:30PM the general darsana question and answer session was held. The
theater was quite full. In fact, there was not enough room for people to
get in; maybe over 150 people were seated there; somewhere between 150 to
200. Many different questions were asked. [Possibly Vijaya Gopikesh can
contribute some of the appropriate questions and answers.]
Near the end of the session I was happy when Prana-Vallabha das sent up a
note asking about the panca-tattva, giving me an opportunity to tell some
pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, as I was getting tired answering all
the questions about Jesus Christ and other things that normally come up in
these sessions. At the end, we distributed sweets to everyone. It was
nice to see that the two ladies who had come for the first time sat through
the whole question and answer session and not only expressed their desire
to come again, but also to visit me in India. Also, one lady who was
practising yoga with some yoga group, said she would like to visit us in
Mayapur in December. This evening it has been a very full program. We
ended it before 10PM so that we could get everybody to the morning program
the next day
In this way, Krsna consciousness on Sunday in Melbourne had been a very
complete experience. For me it was very moving to see so many people
interested in Krsna consciousness and dedicated to helping and spreading
this consciousness. For instance, I asked for devotees who would like to
help me in my mission of helping Srila Prabhupada. Many devotees said they
would like to help. I am very grateful that all over the world devotees
are practicing Krsna consciousness and that I'm able to have their
association.
So kindly be very careful in your devotional practices. Kali is not
merciful. If we give him an opportunity he won't give us any breaks or
mercy. So we have to keep very fixed in our Krsna conscious activities and
don't give an inch or MM to Kali to enter in. I hope this finds all of you
in good health.
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-11 Diary (Brisbane Australia)
Camp: Brisbane Gaura Nitai Mandir
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary
June 11th, 1997 Brisbane, Australia.
My Dear Spiritual Children and well-wishers,
Please accept my best wishes and blessings. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada!
During morning Japa period we held Japa Workshop. About 24 men and 12
women participated. Usual problems came up. Most devotees here chant
carefully and slowly, and they are all very sincere about wanting to
improve their quality of japa. Simply by discussing it they become more
conscious and attentive to their japa.
I lead the kirtan for Srila Prabhupada s guru puja and the following
kirtan. The devotees here are enthusiastic and most dance with me in
bliss. The Gaura Nitai Deities here have a very ecstatic smile! The
Deities are very shiny gold colored and about 2 feet (60 cm) in height.
Their altar is high so the Deities are above the eye level of the devotees.
That is proper since we shouldn t be looking down on Deities. Their Lord
s
are very merciful and one feels the mercy radiating out from Their smiling
faces!
The morning program of Srimad Bhagavatam has been combined with an
initiation yajna. Deva Gaurahari d.b. is to take 2nd initiation. Prema
Vikas das has come with Kalavati Sakhi dd with their son Raman for having
his Annaprasanna ceremony performed. One mataji was supposed to take
first initiation, but decided to take together with her husband during the
next opportunity. As the husband took a firm commitment to seriously
prepare himself she agreed to wait. It is nice when husband and wife help
each other to become more advanced in Krishna consciousness.
The Srimad Bhagavatam class covered the seriousness of taking 2nd
initiation. How everything a brahmana does is considered more serious by
Lord Krishna. Therefore, if a brahmana commits suicide instead of just
becoming a ghost they become a Brahma-raksasa (a special kind of
cannibalistic man-eating demon). IF a brahmana commits sinful acts the
karma is greater. If a brahmana does spiritual activities it is also
enhanced. To be a brahmana is very good for spiritual advancement, but if
one isn t strict then it is like "double jeopardy" or higher risk. Srila
Prabhupada explained that this is because a brahmana is supposed to be a
mature stage and thus a brahmana should know better. Like if a policeman
breaks the law and gets caught the punishment is more than if an ordinary
person does so. After explaining all the risks involved I ask Deva
Gaurahari d.b. if he is scared away from taking Brahmana, but he says he
wants to go on with the ceremony.
First we do the first grains ceremony and the svasti vacanam is chanted by
Prema Vikas das who is trained in Mayapur Gurukula under HH Bhakti Vidya
Purna Swami. The ceremony goes very smoothly and Raman eats the prasadam
quite easily. The rice grains should be cooked down to a very soft state,
but here the grains were a little too hard for a baby taking first grains.
After the baby has his grains then at the actual fire yajna site we give
the mantra s to the candidate. A cloth is held so that we can do so and
no
one can see or hear (a kirtan is also going on outside). The ceremony
takes a little longer than scheduled, but everyone seems very ecstatic. I
personally do the fire yajna for the two ceremonies.\
After breakfast we schedule a darshan with the male devotees and then
another darshan only with the female devotees. Each was supposed to last
20 minutes, but in fact they lasted about an hour each. I give the men
some tips on vairagya and practical issues of brahmacary life and household
life.
The mataji s have also a good number of questions and we discuss their
questions. Having gender and asram specific darshans seems to make it
easier for them to attend or participate. The devotees appreciate the
oppurtunity and discuss many topics of interest to them. I am happy to
help in this way and any way possible to get them safely back to Godhead.
One family initiated by another ISKCON guru discuss with me about siksa
guru and related issues. I am happy to help my spiritual nephews and
nieces in a more active way to fulfill their vows to their diksa guru and
help them get Back to Godhead. If they have a deeper faith and see me as a
representative of Lord Krishna for them then I can also accept them as
siksa disciples if their Spiritual Master gives his blessing or has no
objection.
I present to all the temple devotees and a few congregation a mini
introductory seminar on Broad Spectrum Congregational Preaching and the
dynamic aspects of Nama Hatta Bhakti-Vrksa Groups. Tirtharaja das, the
Temple President, is also present. It is very important that the Temple
President show an interest and know the basic principles. If the local
leaders at least give their support and encouragement and a fully dedicated
devotees does the implementation then things can develop very smoothly and
effectively.
We are late for the congregational preaching house program scheduled for
that night. We leave at 8PM and arrive half hour later. A Gujarati family
with a nice assembly of guests are waiting for us. Must be about 50
persons present and the house is packed to the seams. Kirtan has been
going on, I am informed. So we make the class streamlined and have
questions and answers. All express their willingness to chanting and some
are already chanting. After the program I speak with the family members in
Gujarati and hindi. We exchange email address s. They are a nice group
of
people and many are chanting some rounds already. It has become late
already say 10:30PM. Now time to go back to the Temple.
I was hoping to take rest early especially since I must leave by the end of
mangal arotik, but the Temple President wanted copies of my seminars so I
let them copy from my computer. While they copy I dictate the previous
days Diary which Radhikatma will transcribe tomorrow and send me by email.
Another late night. Don t know what to do to correct his. I don t fee
l
tired at night and can go on preaching, but my body can t take it and the
next day will be more sickly. If it wasn t for the disciples reminding m
e
to stop preaching and take rest I don t know what would happen to me.
Srila Prabhupada said it is the guru s duty to see to the disciples
spiritual health and the disciples should see to the guru s physical
well-being and health. Radhikatma das is kind enough to remind me to take
rest.
I hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
To: "COM: JPS Istagosthi (disciples and followers)"
<JPS.Istagosthi@com.bbt.se>
Subject: Goodmorning
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I got this message about a newspaper. My diaries are written primarily
for disciples. But if someone can edit them for general consumption then
maybe it is useful for them. Is anyone going to edit them and send them
to this service?
I hope that this finds you in good health and blissful in K.C.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
DATE: 6/15/97 5:57 PM
RE: Goodmorning
Sender: wlg@aol.com
"For material news, there are so many customers, but when
we put something, spiritual news, no customer. This is the
difficulty. Otherwise... You are thinking of one newspaper daily. We
could issue every second a newspaper about spiritual news." "So this
sixty books is not sufficient. It is simply an introduction to the
spiritual activities of the spiritual world. People have no
interest. They do not know. We are simply trying to introduce it."
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The Good News Gazette
This Internet news bulletin attempts to bring this statement closer
to reality. Perhaps it can be translated in the future into many
languages for the pleasure of all the devotees of the Lord.
We humbly ask all the assembled friends and devotees to share their
mercy with us in the form of personal positive spiritual
experiences, preaching and realizations.
We hope that even if your message is only a line or two, you will
share it with us.
Our goal is to email a newsletter every week and hopefully if the
mercy really begins to flow maybe a newsletter every day etc...!!!
We have no plans to edit the content of the newsletter
Your posting will be "cut and pasted"
So please keep to our goal of providing personal positive spiritual
experiences, preaching and realizations.
Please email your nectar ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!
TO: KRSNASMERC@aol.com
Yours in Srila Prabhupada's service
The staff and Isa das
Subject: 97-6-12 JPS Diary BNE-SYD-LAX
[
June 12th, 1997 Brisbane & Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, Calif., USA.
My Dear Spiritual Children and well-wishers,
Please accept my best wishes and blessings. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada!
Before 4 AM it is time to rise. 6AM flight from Brisbane to Sydney. I
take last mangal arotik darshan of Gaura Nitai Deities and Their Lords
blessings. We hear that the airline counter strictly closes 30 minutes
before departure so we rush to the airport, but reach safely in time thanks
to Bhakta Murugesan s expert driving.
The visit to Brisbane has been very intense and the devotees very
enthusiastic and eager to hear. I am hopeful that with their ambitious
project, which has already raised BD million dollars in donations and
acquired a nice 11 hectars property, they will be able to utilize the
principles of congregational preaching very effectively and build up an
active, dedicated congregation from all their contacts.
SYDNEY:
My dear Godbrother Naresvar Prabhu is waiting for us at the
airport. I was supposed to arrive at 7AM and give morning class in the
Temple but since the flight was delayed that opportunity passed. However,
Atmarama Prabhu, the Temple President was kind enough to arrange a nice
reception for me. Several dozen devotees were chanting outside the temple
to welcome me. Everyone was gearing up for HH Tamal Krishna Goswami s
arrival that night so this was like a "dress rehearsal" to get everyone in
the mood. HH Tamal Krishna Goswami was going to spend a week in Sydney so
many of his disciples had already come waiting for his arrival.
The temple room was freshly painted. Even a few finishing touches were
still being done by one mataji. The purplish color gave a royal feel to
the Temple room and made it very appear very elegant. The petite Deities
of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath are very special. They were personally installed
and worshipped by His Divine Grace Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada. That is a rare and special distinction. In India Deities
installed or worshipped by a great acarya are given special attention and
recognition. This North Sydney temple has become a place of pilgrimage for
devotees around the world since the Deities are installed and worshipped by
Srila Prabhupada.
Last year I was here for the Deities inaugural ceremony and entrance into
the remodeled temple. I had the opportunity of doing some of the fire
sacrifices for the Deity and also did the Bimana Kalash Abhishekam. My
disciple also worships these Deities and this may be a special chance for
me to get some mercy from Their Lordships.
I feel overwhelmed with mercy upon bowing down before Sri Sri Radha
Gopinath, Sri Sri Nitai-Gaura and Jaganath - Baladeva - Subhadra Ji s. S
ri
Sri Radha Gopinath s expression is very loving and attractive. I am very
grateful that Their Lordships allowed me to visit Them again.
The devotees have arranged a foot bathing ceremony and reception. After
that I gave a short class mainly focusing on my appreciation for the
wonderful service of the Sydney devotees and leaders in creating this
facility. After that I also shared some of my recent realizations with
them about the wonderful nature of ISKCON devotees. Everyone seemed to
appreciate the discourse. Atmarama das the Temple President had asked me
to come the previous year, but so far it hadn t been possible. Now he
again invited me to come for 3-7 days and that he would organize a Ratha
Yatra festival if he knew I was coming. He was enthusiastic to have me
visit.
My Godbrother Mandapa das and his good wife had me over for breakfast in
their flat. We had nice discussions and vaisnava exchanges. I went to
Naresvara Prabhu s flat where I was very happy to meet with Manjari dd a
very dear disciple and her family. I had not seen her for many years since
she was forced to leave her preaching service of organizing the Nama Hatta
in Salt Lake, near Calcutta, due to her husband s taking a job in
Australia. I also met another long lost dear spiritual daughter who had
relocated from Calcutta to Sydney. So it was a really wonderful occasion
to meet with disciples from whom I had been cut off materially for some
time. Now the links are all re-established. I really appreciate how they
have kept up responsibly following their vows even though communication
links had been cut off. Disciples should be prepared to always maintain
their vows even if they cannot see or communicate with the Spiritual
Master.
I met other devotees and then it was time to catch my flight to Los
Angeles. Due to crossing the International Date Line I would leave on 12th
and arrive on 12th of June---earlier than when I left. The flight would be
about 14 hours non-stop. One of the longest in existence. I bid farewell
to Marici das who had been sincerely helping me during my tour of
Australia. He was returning to Malaysia. Kaunteya das brahmacari was
waiting for me in L.A. to take up the travelling secretary s duties from
there. This flight I would take alone.
This is continuing the Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary for June 12 in
route
to Los Angeles, Ca. United States of America, Bhu Mandal, the universe of
four headed Brahma. Hare Krishna.
After saying farewell to Nareshvara prabhu
and Marici das, I was on my own only with Prabhupada and Krishna, as I was
trying to get on the plane with all my heavy carry-on luggage, the Qantas
staff tries to make me check my computer, and it would have been very
damaging for the computer. However by Krishna B4s mercy since I was traveli
ng
business class, they let it go, after making me do some gymnastics with the
bags. On flight 007 on Qantas, from Sydney to Los Angeles, I was fortunate
to be on the first seat in business section and the seat next to me was
empty. I had plenty of room to stretch my feet. I had three charged
batteries to answer e-mail and had the Bhagavat Gita. So for the next
three-four hours I spent answering e-mail and then I thought that I should
get some sleep so that I B4d be rested when I get to L.A. So it seems that
I
was also able to sleep for about 5
hrs. Since it was a 14 hrs. flight I occasionally took a walk and went
back into
economy section to stretch my legs. Eventually I used up all my batteries
completing 4 1/2 to 5 hrs. of writing. Sometime went in eating and sometime
went in chanting. Although in business class there was over a dozen channel
with movies and special shows, I didn t see anything that looked useful f
or
my devotional service so I ignored all of those things. I was remembering
the
wonderful times in Australia, association with many nice devotees, a great
potential in preaching. The traumas that some devotees are going through in
trying to become Krsna Concious. I took the opportunity in offering my
prayers to Srila Prabhupada --Guru and Gauranga for the devoteees that are
helping me and for many other devotees that also need help.
In LA, as I was going through immigration an immigration officer saw my
three passports stuck together with dozens of countries stamps, he aske
d,
"what does it feel like to be always traveling?". I said that "it is very
exciting because we are always going on a missionary work spreading the
glories of God and I am always meeting very nice people who are interested
in becoming God concious." He smiled and said "well, welcome back home to
America."
As I left the customs enclosures many devotees were waiting for me:
Bhagavat Krpa das, Mahamadhusana das, Damodara Caitanya Das, Janava Nitai
das, the wife of Bhagavat Krpa das, and other matajis and some other
devotees, including bhakta Israel.
For some reason it took a long time for the car to
come from the parking lot, so I took the opportunity to disscus with two
sankirtan devoteees who are distributing books in L.A. One devotee had come
from Armenia since there are 800,000 Armenian living in the L.A. area. He
was
finding it difficult distributing books in the airport, he never met an
Armenian there, and one out of 20 persons were taking books from him, but
still he was determined to distribute books at any cost. The other devotee
was
a Latin American and he was mainly preaching to the Spanish speaking
people. I asked him how many people took books out of 20 from the latin
community? He
said 19 out of 20 took books. It was interesting, the Westeners was 1 out
of
20 and the Latins 19 out of 20, the exact reverse. Since some people are
naturally more friendly and open to accep Krsna Consciousness, I am
thinking how we have so many preachers in Latin American and also in Latin
counties in Europe, like Spain, Italy, to some extent France. Somehow they
are not seeing the good field that they have, because the Latin people are
more open to KC. They could be flooding these countries with Krsna Prema if
they simply followed up the same people who took the books, and cultivated
them and got them to also chant Hare Krsna and accept KC. We have so much
to do, so much to do.
Damodar Caitanya came in his car and we were off to the LA temple. Since I
had been traveling all night I first took bath and freshen up, had some
prasadam, and rested a bit, then it was time to go for an evening seminar
on
congregational preaching. Before that we went to take darsan of the
Deities.I
offered my postrated obeisances at the beautiful simha-asana of Srila
Prabhupada which has two lions on it and offered my obeisances to the
Gaur Nitai, Rukmini Dwarkadish, and Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Deities.
Gaur
Nitai Deities are very beautiful and happy smiling. Rukmini Dwarkadish are
very merciful, very kind, and all attractive. Jagannath Baladeva Subhadra
are very
powerful, merciful,and very much giving out their presence to the devotees
who come before them. These Jagannath Deities are attracting the largest
crowds for Ratha Yatra in North America today. I begged Their Lordships for
Ther blessings.
Then I went to give the seminar on congregational preaching and for the
successful tour of North America and just asking for blessings for myself
and for devotees
who are dependent upon me. That evening we had a session on the
different ways on making contacts for expanding the preaching, for
developing an expanded congregation.
When the devotees heard that in Melbourne the devotees came up with 108
ideas, they took up the matter in a bit of a competitive spirit and the six
groups kept coming up with new and new ideas, until they were able to
complete something like 120 ideas. I will load them on the Nama Hatta
conference for those interested. (Anyone active in congregational preaching
can be added to the Nama Hatta Forum on COM by contacting Kaunteya JPS.)
We ended the night early to get ready for Mangal Arotrik and Japa Workshop
tomorrow. June 12th was a long day!!!
I hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami: 6/15/97 5:57 PM
RE: Goodmorning
Sender: wlg@aol.com
"For material news, there are so many customers, but when
we put something, spiritual news, no customer. This is the
difficulty. Otherwise... You are thinking of one newspaper daily. We
could issue every second a newspaper about spiritual news." "So this
sixty books is not sufficient. It is simply an introduction to the
spiritual activities of the spiritual world. People have no
interest. They do not know. We are simply trying to introduce it."
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The Good News Gazette
This Internet news bulletin attempts to bring this statement closer
to reality. Perhaps it can be translated in the future into many
languages for the pleasure of all the devotees of the Lord.
We humbly ask all the assembled friends and devotees to share their
mercy with us in the form of personal positive spiritual
experiences, preaching and realizations.
We hope that even if your message is only a line or two, you will
share it with us.
Our goal is to email a newsletter every week and hopefully if the
mercy really begins to flow maybe a newsletter every day etc...!!!
We have no plans to edit the content of the newsletter
Your posting will be "cut and pasted"
So please keep to our goal of providing personal positive spiritual
experiences, preaching and realizations.
Please email your nectar ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!
TO: KRSNASMERC@aol.com
Yours in Srila Prabhupada's service
The staff and Isa das
ps. if you rec'd dup's please reply "delete" from that address
Dear Marici Prabhu, Godbrothers and Godsisters,
At 05:51 16/06/97 SST, you wrote:
>By the way, thank you for your association and services to Srila Acaryapada
>in Brisbane. Will be nice if you can send a message by COM of SA's
>activities there.
Sorry for the delay. Here is a short report of Srila Acaryapada's ecstatic
Brisbane visit.
Srila Acaryapada was met at the airport and at the temple with krtana, and
we immediately did foot bathing and guru puja. After guru puja kirtana HDG
stood up and started playing the big whompers and leading the kirtana,
which turned into 20 minutes of pure bliss, powerhouse kirtana, with all
the devotees merged in kirtana rasa, everyone completely off the mental
platform and Srila Acaryapada dancing and singing, while occasionally
jumping so ecstatically and increasing the speed of the kirtana until it
was almost too much to bear, while all the devotees were running and
dancing, completely transformed. The whole temple seemed totally
transported to another realm of existence, which lasted for the whole two
days of his visit.
Then Srila Acaryapada gave such a sweet reading of Caitanya Caritamrita,
Madhya lila last chapter, being very personal in his dealings with all the
devotees.
After lunch and rest there were darshans. HDG asked that everyone come
together so as not to waste everyone's time. After 1 1/2 hours, with
everyone feeling satisfied that their questions were answered, SA came down
to give class in the temple room. The room was packed with visitors and
devotees, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the reading and class from
Bhagavad gita.
Afterwards more people saw SA in his room taking hot milk with him in a
very intimate atmosphere where everyone felt completely comfortable, then
HDG talked with one disciple before taking rest at around 2 am, after only
2 hours sleep in Melbourne the night before, and probably many nights as
well before that. I personally found it quite difficult to arrange things
such that HDG could take rest at a reasonable hour, but we must do whatever
we can to make this happen. I found that Srila Acaryapada wouldn't ask
anyone to leave if they were having darshan, and that it was up to me to
make the suggestion that he should have lunch, take rest etc. Even at the
home programme HDG didn't really want to eat but when I wasn't expert
enough to avoid the prasadam being put in front of him, he ate without
complaint, but said later that I should have had puffed rice there if I was
going to have him take prasadam at that time. I realised that HDG was
relying on me to organize the physical details of the programme. As HDG
said, it is up to the disciples to look after the physical well being of
the spiritual master, and the spiritual master looks after the spiritual
well being of the disciple.
The next morning Srila Acaryapada woke, took bath, and straight away did a
japa workshop with all the devotees. Everyone really appreciated just
having someone take a personal interest in this basic but most important
aspect of KC and many found great improvement in their chanting afterwards.
HDG is not content to let a minute go by without fully utilising it in
Krishna's service. After kirtana and a fantastic class, in which Srila
Acaryapada was describing in detail the seriousnbess of taking brahman
initiation, HDG personally did the fire yajna for 2nd initiation and baby's
first grain ceremony. Then HDG gave 1 hour darshan for brahmacaries and 1
hour for the ladies, which was very much appreciated by everyone. Then it
was time for lunch (HDG didn't even get time for breakfast on this busy
day.) Over lunch with the TP, there was talk of a well known Gaudiya-math
preacher who had spent a few weeks in this area, giving out names and beads
and attracting support at the farm community near here. Our TP was saying
that it seemed like he was popular because he simply spent time with the
devotees and just gave them encouragement and support. Srila Acaryapada
agreed that this is what many devotees needed, and we saw during his stay
here how he practically demonstrated this by giving so much encouragement
and personal attention to anyone and everyone. His personal dealings leave
everyone fully satisfied due to his purity and genuine compassion. Srila
Acaryapada truly is a great spiritual master who is showering mercy on all
the conditioned souls in this blazing forest fire of material existence
(samsara davanala lidha loka, tranaya karunya ghanaghanatvam).
After a short rest SA again gave darshan to devotees in need, then did a
lightning CP seminar (3 days seminar in 45 minutes) then rushed off to the
home preaching engagement, where everyone was enlivened by Srila
Acaryapada's lecture, then back to the temple, where HDG stayed up late
discussing congregational preaching with the TP and dictating diary entries
for the previous days. These diary entries are quite time consuming for
Srila Acaryapada, but here he could speak the entry into the dictaphone and
Radhikatma Das typed it and sent it to him via com, which saves time.
Finally, SA took rest at around 1.30, only to wake up before 4 for the
flight to Sydney. At the airport HDG was very intimate, asking us all to
sit with him on the seats, then the announcement came and we had to watch
him walk down the corridor to the airplane, disappearing from our
sight...until next time, if we are fortunate. All the devotees in Brisbane
have been talking about Srila Acaryapada's visit and how he is so humble,
and with all good qualities. We can only pray that Krishna will again
allow us to personally serve and hear from our beloved spiritual master,
Srila Acaryapada.
Srila Acaryapada ki jay!!
Your fallen servant,
Deva Gaura Hari das.
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 97 17:18 AST
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-14+15 nyc rath fest JPS P diary
Camp: New York Rathayatra Festival
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary
June 14th & 15th, 1997 in New York.
My Dear spiritual children & well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada!
The airplane from Los Angeles arrived at 4:30 in the morning in
Indianapolis. There was not much chance for me to take any rest. While we
were waiting on the ground, I
used the computer and wrote some more letters catching up with the diary.
Then it was time to go to New York. The stewardess was quite interested and
asked me if I was a Buddhist so I could preach to her for a bit. Now I have
to chant my rounds, so I was chanting, very soon I reached La Guardia
Airport. Nobody was there at the gate to greet me, so I proceeded towards
the
luggage claim, as I reached the luggage claim Rama Kantha das was kind
enough
to be waiting for me. He is my disciple from Bangalore , Karnataka, who
had taken initation there and now is in N.Y. working as a computer
programmer
in Manhattan, living with his wife and child. He set up some Bhakti Vriksa
cell group programs in N.Y.
I didn't know what was going to happen when I got to the N.Y. Temple, so
while he was waiting for the luggage for me, I hooked up my computer to the
pay phone and send out and received all the e-mail, to not waste any
time. We went out on a bit of detour route to the temple since I had to do
some banking work and it took longer than expected. He thought that the
Ratha
Yatra started at 2:00 pm and when we reached the temple at 11:45 we were
informed that the Ratha Yatra started at 12:00. So although some matajis
had
prepared some nice prasadam for me, there was really no time to do anything
but to take a quick shower and race off to the Rath site. As it was, the
Rath
had already gone ten blocks by the time we reached, it was already on
something like 45th St. and Fifth Ave. Fifth Ave. is one of the most famous
roads in the world going to the center of Manhattan, N.Y.City. The Empire
State Building, and Central Square Park and many other famous buildings are
on this road. So Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra are going on their
chariots on
this sacred road. The road has become sacred because of Jagannath is going
every year, otherwise is just a famous mundane road.
Usually in India they always put Jagannath in the rear, and Baladeva in the
front because Baladeva is the senior older brother He should go first to
protect the younger brother, Subhadra is always in the middle. Here in N.Y.
they had Them the opposite way
with Jagannath in the front and Balarama in the back, so I came up from
behind
and I joined into the Balarama kirtan, the devotees after seeing me
chanting with them soon asked me to lead the kirtan. At first since I had
not slept the whole night before and hadn't eaten any prasadam I was
feeling a little uneasy and wondered whether I could keep up chanting, but
after about ten minutes I totally lost concioussness of my body and I was
feeling very blissful chanting and dancing. I must had chanted for about 20
blocks, somewhere on 20th St. another senior devotee came and I gave the
kirtan lead over to him.
There were so many devotees that had been chanting with me, we had about
100 devotees chanting and dancing, that was very nice, but I thought to go
up to the Subhadra's Rath and eventually work my way up to the Jagannath
Rath. After praying for the blessings of Lord Balarama I went forward. As I
was going I was fortunate to meet Bhakti Vallabha Tirtha Swami, an old
friend from the Gaudiya Math where I first stayed for few months when I
came to India in 1970. He is on his first tour to the West, and he wanted
to speak urgently with me, but in the middle of the kirtan and the festival
it was very difficult to do so. So anyway I embraced him and greeted him
briefly but then I had to go on.
I came close to the Subhadra Rath and payed my obeisances but then suddenly
I saw Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, another dear godbrother, who is very active
in the GBC and one of our great thinkers in ISKCON. He told me that he had
just come from Abentheur in Germany where they had a several days workshop
on education in ISKCON. He said that is was definitely a historical event,
landmark decisions were made and now devotees in ISKCON will get the best
opportunity to get a deep Krishna Consciousness philosophy and practice.
The concept of education isn t simply the Gurukula or special courses in
Vrindavan and Mayapur, but that every temple will become an educational
center and even Nama Hattas and other gatherings of devotees would be
utilized for disseminating transcendental knowledge to the members in a
very systematic manner. He was very
enthusiastic about it, and felt that some real headway had been made and
that ISKCON devotees would become much more solidly based and grounded in
our
philosophy, which would make us stand out within the whole sampradaya as
very
solid in Krishna Consciousness philosophy and practices. It sounded very
exciting. So in this few minutes while walking next to Subhadra Devi's and
Prabhupada's Ratha could have some nice association with Ravindra Svarupa
Prabhu and hear some highlights of the recent developments in ISKCON.
Then I was attracted to the kirtan which was being lead by Vrakesvara
Pandit, one of
Prabhupada's disciples who is really famous for kirtan and dancing, so I
joined in the kirtan and I was dancing along with him for about 20 or 30
minutes, maybe about 5 city blocks. The raths are going very slow now
because
the police kept stopping us, then he asked me if I would like to lead the
kirtan, so on his request I began to lead the kirtan and that continued for
almost another hour.
There were very good groups of devotees, a lot of young
matajis were there, a lot of students, and I even saw some disciples from
South
America that had come for the function, and some devotees from Washington
that I
knew. Different devotees were there, it was a big crowd of devotees, and we
were chanting and dancing going back and forward. It was very wonderful to
be
doing kirtan in the midst of this material environment which we were
spiritualizing by the power of the holy name. People were very friendly and
the whole site of the N.Y.C. streets were lined with people watching the
kirtan. Many Indians who had come up were helping in pulling the rath or
and
some were also joining in the kirtan. Every rath had a big crowd of
devotees
and volunteers pulling or walking with the chariots. The kirtans were the
centers of energy in front of the raths, but Jagannath, Baladeva, and
Subhadra were of course the energetic sources and mercy sources of what
inspired
all the devotees to chant and dance. "Jai Jagannath, Jai Jagannath, Jai
Baladeva, Jai Subhadra" "Jaya Prabhupada, Jaya Prabhupada" Kirtan was going
on, devotees were chanting and dancing.
This N.Y. Ratha Yatra Festival is also a kind of trascendental social
event. You meet devotees from Toronto, from Montreal, from Boston, from
Philadelphia, from Gita Nagari, from all over the north-east coast of USA
and
Canada, and even people flying from different countries and places.
Everyone
knows this is one of the historical Ratha Yatras so there was a very large
gathering. I continued to lead the kirtan until we were very near to the
Washington Square Park, then I saw that one of my godbrothers seemed eager
to
also chant so I gave him the lead of the kirtan, went up and joined the
kirtan in front of Lord Jagannath's Ratha Yatra for the last few hundred
meters.
Washington Square Park was filled. We had a very big stage where devotees
were already performing bhajans and a good crowd of people was present.
There were so many booths in the festival indian style, booths on
vegetarianism, on Deity worship, on reincarnation, ISKCON achievements, and
a prasadam booth, and different kinds of exhibitions being displayed.
Danavir Maharaja had a bhakta program booth. There I was able to meet with
so many senior vaisnavas, Danavir Maharaja, Jayadvaita Maharaja, Bhakti
Tirtha Maharaja, etc. For a few minutes I talked to Jayadvaita Maharaja and
Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja and exchanged some sentiments. Bhakti Caru Maharaja
wanted to discuss with me urgently some confidential matters. I also wanted
to go back and change into some dry clothes. I saw many gurukula alumni and
other young devotees taking paper plates filled with prasadam sitting and
talking blissfully. Many members of the public were also lined up and
getting
the prasadam. I went back and discussed with Bhakti Caru Maharaja, we had
some
prasadam together and we discussed about Mayapur and about some GBC issues.
He also shares the same opinion with me about taking care of the devotees
and
about the utility of having a senior vaisnava give instructions. I asked
him
what he thought about the siksa guru situation in ISKCON and he expressed
how
he had always encouraged his disciples to take instructions from senior
devotees and he thought that that kind of support was very positive.
Many devotees from Bengal and Bangladesh are working in the N.Y. area and
they
came to see me in the Washington Square Park. Finally I could get some
prasadam about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. I went and walked around the park
grounds and I saw one devotee from New Jersey who had made an interactive
Bhagavat Gita CD Rom, and he presented one copy to me. It was quite a nice
production where one could select each verse of the Bhagavat Gita and hear
it pronounced in sanskrit and see Prabhupada on a video clip giving a
lecture from that chapter.
Some devotees from Malati Devi's temple in Columbus invited me to visit
them. I spent the next two hours discussing with different devotees,
preaching. Ritadvaja Maharaja from Miami was there with his students.
Sridhar Swami was touring the place. Suddenly at a certain time Sridhar
Swami announced that now we had to take down all the tents and tables and
chairs. Someone asked me to stand up and took away the chair I was sitting
in. The table next to me was taken away, pretty soon the tent that over my
head was also taken away. Finally I surrendered, and also picked up a
pipe and helped carry it. Looks like I gave Sridhar Swami some
trascendental
happiness. By this time it was already 7:30 p.m. so I headed back to the
temple.
I was fortunate to meet His Holiness Romapada Swami in the temple and the
Bhaktivedanta Players from England who had presented a wonderful drama of
the
Ramayana during the festival. In my many visits to England I had known most
of the players from the Manor, so it was nice to see all of them, try to
encourage them on their important service to Krishna. 14th of June was for
me a
very ecstatic time. I got the special darsan of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, very
dear Deities of Srila Prabhupada. These Deities are very mercifully giving
so many blessings to the devotees. I offer my prayers to these special
Deities of Srila Prabhupada. Then it was time to take rest.
15th June, 1997, Radha Govinda Temple, Brooklyn, N.Y.
I stayed in the room with Sridhar Swami on the fourth floor, and made it
in
time for mangalaratik. The temple room was packed with devotees, there was
a
big stage built on one side of the temple room for the evening
Bhaktivedanta
Players dramatic performance. The rest of the temple was filled with
devotees. After mangalartik and Tulasi puja Ram Badhra prabhu, the Temple
President,
was making the announcemnets and I mentioned him that I'd be happy to give
a
japa workshop, so he annouced that, and about 150 devotees, or maybe 200,
stayed
and participated in the japa workshop. Matajis were seated by Srila
Prabhupada and the men were close to the Radha Govinda altar. Even Their
Holinesses Radhanath Swami, Navayogendra Swami, Nityoditya Swami and some
other senior devotees were also present for the japa workshop. Devotees
really appreciate that someone is taking the time to help them. I explained
how I've commited so many offenses to the Holy Name, that if I can help
devotees to chant more attentively and with less offenses to the Holy Name,
I am hoping that I will be forgiven for all my offenses, and will be
able to chant offenseless Harinama.
We also the prayers of Srila Rupa Goswami, the Krsna Nama Astakam for the
japa workshop.
Today I was scheduled to give class. After Prabhupada Puja, they set on top
of the stage my asana for giving the Srimad Bhagavatam class. It seemed
that
the height of my seat was a little bit higher than Prabhupada's, so I had
it
placed a little bit lower than Prabhupada's. I gave the Srimad Bhagavatam
class. The class somehow highlighted cooperation, love, and trust in ISKCON
and the need for taking care of and appreciating the devotee B4s services,
which has been a kind of focus for me since Gaura Purnima. The questions
and answers are going a little bit long so I asked Rama Badhra prabhu what
should I do. Should I end the class for prasadam? NO, prasadam is late, not
until 10:30, you can go on. So since the devotees are so interested into
love
and cooperation we broke into 6 to 8 different groups for a brainstorming
session, each group was brainstorming searching original ideas of what
would be helpful to increase the love and trust within the KC Movement,
amongst the devotees, amongst the leaders and the devotees, and amongst all
of the congregation and devotees, etc.
Many interesting ideas came up, including the need for the leaders to give
more personal care to the devotees, the need of the devotees to learn more
etiquette, to be more introspective, to be more appreciative of each other,
to avoid rumors and
criticism. Many very constructive ideas came up. I am waiting for Manu das
to send
me 97he assured me 97the 40 ideas that came up, then I would share with
the devotees here.
In this way the morning program had already included mangalartik, Tulasi
puja, Prabhupada Puja, Radha Govinda Artik, a japa workshop, a Bhagavatam
class, and the love, trust, and cooperation workshop. It was now 10:30 am
and I really had to go to catch my 12:00 p.m. flight from La Guardia
Airport to New Orleans via Washington
D.C. I got a bite of breakfast with Romapada Swami and then we raced off to
the airport, and reached just in time to catch the flight to Washington
National Airport, where we changed planes to fly to New Orleans. On route I
took the opportunity to answer my e-mail and to chant Hare Krishna.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-15 JPS Diary
Camp: New York City Rathayatra Festival to New Orleans
Diary from June 15, 1997
My Dear spiritual children & well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
(On the route I took the opportunity to answer my e-mail and chant Hare
Krishna)
I couldn't B4t help but to be overwhelmed by the intense visit to N.Y. H
ow
it was so nice to meet so many wonderful vaisnavas and how the program had
been quite intense.I would have stayed in N.Y. for the Sunday Feast, but
they
informed me that there was really no more preaching to do in the evening.
They were just having kirtan and drama and there will be no more lectures.
So
then I took advantage of the opportunity to visit temple in New Orleans for
the Sunday Feast program. As I was leaving the flight, I was fortunate to
meet Subramania and Uman, an Indian family who had just been relocated to
N.O. and it just so happens that their house is next to our Madras temple,
and they had visited the Madras temple. So I was happy to meet with them
and welcome them to the N.O. area, I wanted to establish a nice
relationship with them. When we arrived our flight was a little early so
we found that there
were no devotees at the airport, by the time we reached the baggage area
Pralad Nrisimha and Mano Rupa dd and their children had come
to greet us and received us. So we decided to also help Subramania and Uma
get to their new flat. They said that they would like to come to the temple
to take prasadam and see the deities, and participate in the Sunday Feast.
So we made this arrangements and by that time Radha Prasad das and other
devotees including Bhaktin Candrika also came to take us to the temple.
Someone took the indian family and I went directly to the Temple.
Since it was almost time for the Sunday Feast, I just came and freshened
quickly and went down to give the Sunday Feast lecture. There were about
50 devotees and guest in the temple. The deities here are very unique and
beautiful. The Nitai Gour. The Radha Radha Kanta deities are very
enchanting
and have a very cultural presentation. They remind one of the cultural
heritage of the N.O. area which has been a mix of Latin, French, and
American culture. The small deities of Jaganath, Baladev, and Subhadra
always remind me of the deities inside Rajapur in Mayapur. These deities
are very merciful.
The temple room has nice carved arches which makes it look like
very much cultural like an Indian temple, and Prabhupada is in a family
carved mahogany wooden Vyasa asana in the back on a raised platform. There
is a nicely carved Vyasa asana for the Bhagavatam speaker on the middle of
the temple room on the one side. I seat down and chant the Jaya Radha
Madhava and give the Sunday Feast lecture. I start getting warmed up after
6:30p.m. but they tell me that is now time for Sunday arati, so I end the
class, and take a quick tour of the temple to see how things are doing. Now
there is a new temple president in place Sukhada das, Bhusaya Prabhu, my
godbrother has desided to retire from active Temple President duties
because of his family responsibilities. I am sure he is going to continue
to support the temple, even though he will not be the President.
Sukhada das, the new Temple President, is from east India, this will be a
unique situation with a younger Indian temple president in North America,
could give some good scopes for developing the Indian congregation and for
liking the American and Indian preaching programs.
I was very tired since I had no rest on the small packed plane coming down
from N.Y. so I took a short rest. At 8:00p.m. I was woken and there was
meetings with devotees, I wanted to leave at 9:00p.m. but it became a bit
late so by 9:30p.m. we departed. We went to the New Talavan farm reaching
there about 11:00 p.m. Devotees had left some puffed wheat prasadam. I
wanted to take rest right away, but then when I saw some urgent e-mail
messages, seemed like they couldn't wait, some devotee B4s spiritual life w
as
depending on it, so I stayed up a little later to send off the reply and
took rest.
I hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-16 JPS Preaching Diary
Date: June 16th, 1997
Place: New Talavan and Alachua
Jayapataka Swami KC Diary.
[NOTE: This Diary is written confidentially for H.H. Jayapataka Swami s
disciples, followers and well-wishers and should be understood in that
light. Before being shown to others this may require editing.]
My Dear Spiritual Children, and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings / best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
The morning program at New Talavan was well attended. I led the
Prabhupada Guru-puja. The Deities here are Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sri
Radha Radha-Kantha. The altar area now looks very beautiful with windows of
special stained glass with cakras and carved wood. The whole temple is air
conditioned. Outside was already very warm due to the summer.
Bhagavatam class:
As I am now writing this a couple of days afterwards, can B4t remember the
topic, I remember that I was asked to give my realizations so I told my
realizations about the
importance of the ISKCON devotees, about taking care of devotees, about
siksa
Guru, and about the importance of everybody preaching to all of the
contacts
that they meet, and the things which have mainly been the highlights of my
preaching. Pundarik Prabhu, my godbrother, said that these are very sweet
realizations and we appreciate. It was very nice to be with the devotees
here. We are very sad because this was such a quick visit, usually I spend
some days here, but now I have to get to Alachua for meetings on the
Mayapur
exhibitions.
As I am leaving some of the devotees informed me on how recently they met
so
many favorably people in the area of the Gulf of Mississippi, people who
are
really happy to meet the devotees, people who were interested in K.C. that
they never expected would be interested. That now it seems that climate is
been changing and are looking to the devotees in a much more favorable way,
they want to know more about K.C. Even Mahalaxmi Radha dd mentioned how on
her nutrition class, the nutritionist was saying how sugar and sweets made
one person humble and docile, and her teacher said "just like the Hare
Krishna's make everybody eat a 1/4 kilo of honey every day, that keeps them
very submissive and humble". Then she said "this is completely wrong: I've
been a devotee for 20 years and we don B4t eat a 1/4 kilo of honey every da
y,
nor do we force anybody to eat anything, they can eat whatever they want
within the prasadam" and then there was a discussion, and then the lady
tried
to stick to her point saying that "No, you must eat a lot of sugar." "No
this
is not true, we don B4t eat a lot of sugar." Afterwards one of the other
students became very interested and came to Mahalaxmi Radha dd. He told her
that "Now I have to reevaluate whatever I heard from that teacher, and
actually all I know is that the Hare Krishna's don B4t eat a lot of sugar,
but
I am very interested to know more about the K.C.Movement, please tell me."
Afterward the teacher came up and apologized for her outburst. We can see
that
this is very good opportunity if we just keep our opportunities open to
tell
people about Krishna and to bring them close to the K.C. Movement.
Today was Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi, but if I were in Mayapur I might do
Nirjala or if I was in one place, but to actually travel and going through
airports and moving
around and doing Nirjala didn't B4t make much sense to me, so I took a ligh
t
breakfast of paneer and fruits.
On the drive in to New Orleans I wanted to chant japa, but instead we had a
meeting
with Yogendra Prabhu, the president of the farm, and the new president of
New Orleans, Sukhada das. On the route we stopped by "Touchstone Fine Art",
a devotee business, and met with Vrikodara prabhu, Candrabhanu Prabhu,
Vedantakrit Prabhu, Lokapavana das and Gokularanjana Prabhu, but I couldn't
stay long, we had to go on
quickly to catch the flight at 12:00, and it was about an hour and a half
drive.
Somehow we reached on time at the airport, and there were about 12
devotees to see me off flying to Charlotte. I managed to finish half of my
japa.
The flight was totally crowded, somehow advance seating wasn't booked, so I
was away from Kaunteya but, by Krishna B4s arrangement, the whole flight wa
s
booked except for the seat next to me. So I took the opportunity to answer
my
e-mail and write to different devotees. I continued to write in the airport
in
Charlotte where we had to wait for two hours to get the connection to
Gainesville. From Charlotte to the Gainesville airport we had to go on a
small propeller plane, it was an hour and a half flight. This time I gave
the
computer to Kaunteya das and decided to chant the remaining rounds.
We reached on time in Gainesville, about 6:30 pm and went straight to the
house of Premananda Gour das and Mata Saci, there must have been about over
50 or 60 devotees waiting and they had a reception and many gurukula
students
of Laxmi Moni Mataji. Muralivadaka Prabhu was present and
many devotees of Alachua s New Raman Reti community came. They told me th
at
there are about 25 disciples or children of disciples in the community.
They asked me for some highlights of my tour and I told them about the
Bangalore opening and the tour highlights. Devotees are very eager to hear
about the good transcendental activities of the K.C. Movement. They like to
see how Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu B4s mercy is coming down in the present da
y.
By Lord Caitanya B4s mercy I have got an opportunity to share some of these
experiences since I am getting the opportunity to participate in
many of the very special preaching program on the planet.
The program went till about 9:00 p.m. when the children had to go take rest
in order to attend mangalarati. I was hoping to give a japa workshop the
next morning, but
actually I was still very tired after having no sleep flying from Los
Angeles. Let B4s see if we can make it in time.
I hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-17 JPS Preaching Diary
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary for:---
June 17 1997, Alachua, New Raman Reti ISKCON, Florida, USA.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My Dear Spiritual Children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I reached the temple at 5:30a.m., by that time most of the devotees had
already gone. They had announced that for the next three days I will be
giving Bhagavatam class in a row and that for the next two days I will
give japa workshop so no one had waited for this day, so I took the
opportunity to chant my own japa and went for a japa walk to the
Bhaktivedanta Institute center.
I led the Srila Prabhupada Gurupuja kirtan. The temple room in New Raman
Reti is substantial, possibly 20 to 25 meters long and 12 to 16 meters
wide.
The central deities are approximately 3 foot high Gaur-Nitai deities. On
Lord
Caitanya side of the room all the matajis were present, and on Nityananda
B4s
side of the room there were all the men. The whole temple room was packed
with devotees, well over 100 or maybe close to 200 devotees were present,
possibly more, I didn't count. After the Prabhupada Gurupuja arati there
was
about a 20 minutes kirtan in front of Gaur-Nitai. The devotees were very
enthusiastic, the children in the front were jumping up and down, most of
the
man and women were chanting and dancing very enthusiastically. They handed
me the big whompers so I was utilizing them to increase the kirtan force
but
I held back on the whompers since it was a fairly low 7 or 8 feet ceiling,
I didn't want to harm anyone B4s ears.
After the kirtan I was asked to give Srimad Bhagavatam class. 3rd canto,
chapter 25, verse 29. Mother Devahuti was asking her son Kapila Muni about
how to become K.C. What are the different types of yoga that one can
utilize to reach Krishna? After the Bhagavatam class, Muralivadaka prabhu
requested me to tell the pastime of Kanai
Natasala, , what pastime Lord Caitanya did there. So I explained how
Lord Caitanya manifested His separation of love of Krishna for the first
time
in Kanai Natasala and how now this very holy place was under the care of
ISKCON. The devotees expressed interest to visit Kanai Natasala and have
the
blessings of this holy place. The class was supposed to end at 8:45 a.m.
but
on the request of the devotees to answer their questions it went a little
later.
All morning we met regarding the exhibitions for the Vedic Planetarium
Temple in Sridham Mayapur. I am the director of exhibitions and Priya Vrata
Prabhu is the manager, Sadaputa Prabhu is giving all the scientific
concepts
for the Vedic Planetarium, for the scientific oriented exhibits. We were
also
assisted by Cakrapani das who is our technical staff of the exhibition
department and by Sadaputa B4s assistant Krishna Kripa das.
The first day was introductory discussion, filling everybody in with what
progress had been made in the past six months.
Saci Mata and a group of mothers including Mahojjvala, Mahismati Radha
and others had prepared lunch, so Sadaputa and the team went to Premananda
Gaura B4s for lunch. After lunch we continued meeting over there.
7:00p.m. My Caitanya Caritamrita class was scheduled for the temple room.
I
gave a class on the Adi Lila Ninth Chapter, discussing about Lord Caitanya
and
the tree of bhakti. This class went on into a presentation about getting
the
contacts of the people that we meet and to cultivate them further. We
divided
into 11 different groups, 6 women groups and 5 men groups. One of the women
group was older gurukula girls and also one of small 12 years old gurukula
girls. One of the men groups was Muralivadaka and some of his boys students
from the gurukula. Each group was given 7 minutes to brainstorm how many
places they could meet people, how they could get names and bring people to
cultivate them to become K.C. Harinam dasi was writing down the ideas. In
rotation each group could give one unique idea and we went on rotation.
First
group to ran out of original ideas would become disqualified, in this way
having an elimination competition. Many interesting ideas came up, some
ideas I
hadn't heard in Australia or Los Angeles.
They said that in the Alachua area there are so many families that one way
of cultivating new people is that the small children also participate in
local children sporting groups, and so while the children are playing in
competitions of football or soccer, then the
parents of their team cheer on their children. The devotees child would
be
Govinda das or Krishna das and even the karmi parents would be shouting
"Govinda make a goal! Run Krishna run!", so they are getting so much
ajnata-sukriti by chanting the Holy names of Krishna, not realizing that by
doing so they are wiping out unlimited births worth of karma, chanting the
holy names of Krishna. Like this many ideas, some standard and some unique,
were expressed by the devotees. It was very intense, nobody wanted to give
in, finally after 9:00 pm the gurukula girls had to leave, so I took at
once whatever ideas people had and Muralivadaka B4s group came up with 14
more ideas and his group was the top.
Actually the young gurukula group also had many good ideas, everyone was
very happy to participate in this session and to utilize their intelligence
quite productively. They all agreed that they should keep their eyes and
ears
open, in this way they could cultivate many people if they just remained
conscious of it.
Time to end the evening Caitanya Caritamrita class and Nama Hatta
brainstorming session. Took rest at Premananda Gaura B4s house. This time I
got to rest early to prepare for mangalartik.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Yours in service, Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-18 JPS Preaching Diary
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary
ISKCON New Rama-reti, Alachua, Florida, USA.
Sri Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium EXhibitions Departmental Meetings.
June 18, 1997
My Dear Spiritual Children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
MORNING PROGRAM:
Although it was almost a 20 minute drive from Premananda Gaura B4s house to
the temple, by Krishna B4s mercy I could make it in time for the mangal
arati. It had
a good turn-out, well over 100 devotees. After Tulsi puja, they announced
that there will be japa workshop. There we had bout 25 men and 30 to 40
matajis, including the gurukula girls, participating in the japa workshop.
Muralivadaka prabhu and some other senior Prabhupada disciples were also
present, both on the men and the women side. Since I've been doing this
japa
workshop on every town I think there s no need of repeating exactly what
happened. Of course here one thing I noticed was that most of the devotees
actually were pronouncing their mantras very carefully. Especially when I
went to listen they were quite careful. Still we could help many devotees
and
the main realization I got is that actually the devotees have to improve
their own japa. It is not that I can do anything but simply remind them to
be
attentive and to be careful, they should know some of the techniques of
chanting japa. They should know how to count their beads, how to hold their
beads and things like that. But ultimately the desire to chant and the will
to chant is theirs alone. It is the causeless mercy of Sri Guru and
Krishna if I am able to
to help and serve them as a catalyst for their own self-improvement.
After the japa workshop, that ended at 6:30a.m., I went for a japa walk.
Ramiya prabhu who is the secretary for the GBC in Florida, was very kind to
welcome me and said some encouraging things about the desire to see that
the
congregational preaching expands in Florida. There are already something
like
11 Nama Hatta groups or centers in preaching areas within Florida. It was
very encouraging to hear how many places are getting this opportunity.
Today is the actual tithi for the Panihati Chira Dahi Festival. They
don t
observe anything special but they requested me to give a Caitanya
Caritamrita
class. I had some chira dahi to give and I wanted that it should be offered
to the Deities, since it was Nityananda Prabhu 91s favorite, but somehow th
ey
didn t get it together in time for the offering. Actually the chira dohi
doesn t have to be offered at the offering time since it is anyway a picn
ic
snack, but by the time I found out about it I was already on my way out.
I spoke on the Caitanya Caritamrita Antya Lila on Raghunath das Gosvami. We
talked
about the danda mahotsav, how Raghunath das kept trying to join Caitanya
Mahaprabhu directly, he was not going trough the spiritual master. He was
not going through Lord Nityananda who was the spiritual master, who was the
founder Acarya of the preaching in Bengal under Caitanya Mahaprabhu,
representing Lord Caitanya.
It reminded of how Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, and if
somebody wanted to preach and bypass Srila Prabhupada that was also like a
thieve s work, dishonest in a sense. Lord Nityananda was very merciful an
d
He gave punishment to Raghunath das, but actually that punishment was a
blessing: He told Ragunath das to feed His friends and devotees chira dahi
(flat-rice and yogurt) and fruits. So I explained the whole pastime of
Panihati. We discussed about Guru tattva and the importance of having a
strong Guru-disciple relationship. How one should have utmost faith in the
initiating spiritual master who is also normally the instructing spiritual
master. How sometimes there may be also other spiritual masters who help as
vartma-pradarsaka guru and siksa guru. I mentioned how Jayananda prabhu had
shaved me up and I considered him like my vartma-pradarsaka guru.
Then the questions and answers period. One mataji asked about taking siksa
outside ISKCON, that led to a lengthy discussion which went up almost to
10:00 a.m.. Devotees kept asking me to give different accounts and I
showed how it was quite
dangerous to take instruction outside of ISKCON, because even a small
deviation from Srila Prabhupada teachings can lead us off of the track. If
that questions and answers section could be transcribed , it would be very
good, we could share with the devotees on this and on the "Answer to K.C.
Questions" conferences.
MAYAPUR TEMPLE OF VEDIC PLANETARIUM EXHIBITION MEETINGS:
Our meetings on the Mayapur exhibitions continued and now we were getting
into some really juicy ideas for how to finish our 2001 exhibitions and
utilize them to spread K.C. in a dynamic way. We discussed different
interesting ways how to present the universe and planetarium; also ways of
showing how the history of India and the world needs to be adjusted
according to the Vedic viewpoint. The meetings were interesting and many
other aspects of the exhibits were discussed at some length until lunch
time.
LUNCH AT SADAPUTA PRABHU S AND DEVAMRITA DD S:
Today we were invited to Sadaputa Prabhu s house where his better half
Devamrita dd and Jaya Hari dd had prepared a special luncheon. The prasadam
was an amazing feast although everything was low fat but the variety and
preparations were totally out this world. The devotion that went into the
prasadam could be felt!
The matajis had been cooking and preparing a special spring roll without
oil, a baked spring roll, baked cauliflower and broccoli, boiled beets, a
big salad, hot capatis, rice, a special okra in tomato sauce, string beans
with almond spices, a special spinach, artichoke hearts, and a number of
other things served as the main course. This was a real feast. The dessert
was a combination of a South American preparation of some form of very
light pudding with milk in it and a totally non-fat pumpkin pie. Varieties
of juices were provided and ginger juice to aid digestion at the end. It
was really a wonderful feast. It wasn t so much even the preparations
which were exquisite, but actually the devotion by which the devotees made
the preparations was coming through. Prasadam is not something material and
one can actually appreciate the devotion that goes into the prasadam.
I remember how Lord Caitanya had given Sarvabhauma Battacarya some maha
prasadam from Lord Jagannath which was cashews and they all took the cashew
prasadam and then Lord Caitanya said, "What is cashews? It is simply a nut,
we had these nuts so many times but because this was tasted by Lord
Jagannath, it is something special, because Lord Jagannath has tasted, the
nectar from His lotus mouth has permeated the prasadam", and everyone was
admitting that how prasadam definitively brought the presence of Krishna in
the heart and could taste the nectar of Krishna s presence in the prasada
m.
It certainly seemed that the prasadam today was very much blessed by Radha
and Krishna. Because of the devotion of the devotees who cooked it. There
were many devotees who cooked, I can B4t name everyone but I pray that
Krishna bless all of them with continuous devotional service.
MORE MAYAPUR PLANETARIUM SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS-----
After the prasadam we started noting down on how we could help in different
research activities so that Sadaputa scientific work could progress more
quickly in the areas needed by the Vedic Planetarium exhibitions. Soon the
time was over and I had to go again for the evening class.
Actually we wanted to go for a swim in the springs this evening but it
started pouring rain outside and everyone said that when it is raining the
springs become too cold. So instead we continued meeting until time to go
for class.
This evening there was a class at Premananda Gaura s ,there were about 40
to 50 devotees present. Gradually there were more and more devotees and I
lost count. We gave a class and then had a question and answer session.
Some devotees had questions about accepting a guru. Seems one had lost
faith in gurus and was struggling with that. The questions were friendly
and sometimes intense. Everyone seemed to like the program. We ended at a
reasonable time as tomorrow was mangal arotika and japa workshop.
I hope this finds you all in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: 97-6-19 JPS Preaching Diary
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary for:--
Diary of June 19th 1997
My Dear Spiritual children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings/best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Today was my last day at Alachua and devotees were very eager for the japa
workshop. Someone commented that rarely had they ever seen so many
devotees in the temple after mangal arati. Today there were some new
devotees also, about 30 men and 50 women devotees. After that I led the
kirtan for Prabhupada's guru puja, and gave the Srimad Bhagavatam class.
This morning I went to Laxmi Mani Mataji s girl s gurukula school. Two
girls from the girls gurukula were blowing conchshells at the gateway as
we drove in, and the other girls were chanting in kirtan. They have a
beautiful blue Krsna Deity with white Radharani, and many different Deities
on the altar. I offered my obeisances. Everything was set up for
breakfast. Today we're going to have breakfast together and devotees have
made Bagels and for me a low fat panir (fresh cheese curds) spread and
fruit. I sat on a chair with a table, and all the girls sat in two rows in
front of me on the floor. After prasadam we
had a question and answer period, and many of the students said that they
would write me questions by E-mail, and that they also wanted to receive my
diaries. Karma Yogi dasi asked me questions as well as Kunjabihari dasi and
some other students. Laxmi Mani Mataji is doing a wonderful service for
Srila
Prabhupada. The students are well behaved, intelligent and enthusiastic.
I wish I had more time to spend, but they have classes and I have to go for
my last day of meetings. I really liked my visit and I hope the students
also did.
Today at the Bhaktivedanta Institute House we continued the final session
on
the Mayapur exhibitions, coming to some strategies on what we would do for
the next month.
Today we were invited for lunch at Mahavira Prabhu's, my dear Godbrother
who was with me for some time in Mayapur, and who then went to preach in
Brazil where he was very successful in spreading the Krishna Consciousness
movement. Now he has settled in Alachua, with his wife and family.
Although Mahavir Prabhu is my Godbrother, he insisted on receiving me as a
householder traditionally does when receiving a sannyasi. He bathed my
feet; his wife poured the water while he washed the feet. Lunch prasadam
was very nice, but we had to race out quickly to catch the 3:50PM flight to
Miami for an evening program. The flight was 50 minutes delayed and they
announced that boarding would not begin until 4:30, and to stay near the
gate area. We were sitting outside the security enclosure; I was talking to
the devotees. Suddenly I heard the blast: "All passengers should be on
board." We ran through the gate and they said that the flight was already
closed; we had missed the flight. This was another Thursday afternoon
flight. Srila Prabhupada would always avoid flying or starting a journey
on Thursday afternoon. I knew that but sometimes there seems to be no
alternative and then I am forced to suffer in one way or another. In this
case I was depending on my secretary since I told him to keep an eye out on
the flight, but somehow there was a miscommunication. So
they booked us for the next flight at 6:50PM and we went back to Mahavir's
house, where I took a short nap and then we had a swim in his pool. Then we
caught the next flight to Miami.
In Miami, Raghunatha dasa received us and we went to the house of Sri Radha
Vallabha dasa where a house program was scheduled. Agrani Prabhu, my
godbrother, was there already doing kirtan, and everybody was ready for me
to come and give the lecture. The small living room was packed with
devotees and guests: Latin devotees, Indian devotees, and some Western
devotees. I was asked to speak about the congregational preaching; so we
discussed on the Caitanya Caritamrita, and at the end I asked everybody to
give an idea of how to expand the congregational preaching. In this way,
everyone contributed. I told them that nobody could have prasadam until
they gave their idea for expanding the congregational preaching, so
everybody contributed one idea. By that time it was 10 o'clock. Everyone
took prasadam.
Next I started to discuss with different individual devotees sitting around
me in the living room. One devotee had been chanting 12 rounds for 5 years.
He and his wife said that they wanted to take me as their siksa guru, and
become qualified for initiation in the future. I stayed over at
Raghunatha s house and took rest after midnight.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami: RO
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-20 JPS Preaching Diary (New Panihati)
Jayapataka Swami Travelling & Preaching Diary for:-
June 20th, 1997 at New Panihati (Atlanta), GA, USA.
My Dear Spiritual children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings/best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I took darshan of Sri Sri Radha Vraja-Bihari Deities at the Miami Coconut
Grove Temple. The large Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Deities and Gaura
Nitai Deities were very exciting. The temple has another altar waiting to
be assembled. The Deities are on the balcony, looking down at the temple.
The altar area has been under construction for almost one year. There were
20 devotees waiting for class. As I arrived at the temple, the devotees
were chanting to receive me. I gave Srimad Bhagavatam class. I took
breakfast with Agrani Prabhu. We discussed some ideas in the development of
the Miami preaching and the potential it has.
11:45am. I flew to Atlanta, reaching there at 2:30PM. I wrote some letters
on my computer during the flight.
When I arrived in Atlanta, Priya Krishna dasa, my disciple who works as a
baggage loader for Delta Airlines, was waiting in his Delta Airlines
uniform:
short pants and short-sleeve shirt with the Delta Airlines logo. He was
accompanied by Frank, a limousine driver, that he has hired to take me to
the
temple. He said that all the devotees were supposed to have arrived, but he
hadn't seen anybody. He had to go and unload the next flight, so he asked
Frank to help me with the luggage and escort me to the baggage area.
It turned out that devotees were waiting for me near the luggage area.
Together we went in the stretch-back limousine. Balabhadra Bhattacharya
Prabhu, Temple President in Atlanta, was waiting. Everyone was really busy.
I saw that the New Panihati festival had already begun. So many devotees
were chanting to receive me and they offered a reception on my arrival. I
gave a short reception address and went to get ready for the evening
seminar, which was scheduled to be given right after the arati.
This year the festival of India didn't come so the festival didn t have a
ll
the colorful preaching displays set up. The culture program was on the
main
stage and the prasadam reception booths were set up. Devotees were starting
to arrive from all over. Lord Jagannath is still behind curtains in
preparation for the Rathayatra. He has not fully recovered from the
Snana-yatra. The Gaura Nitai Deities are effulgent. The Radha Madan-Mohan
Deities are smiling. Srila Prabhupada said that the Atlanta temple was a
very
special temple. He gave it the name New Panihati. So here we celebrate the
pastimes that occurred in Old Panihati, which is one of the places where
Lord Caitanya said He resides eternally.
That evening I gave a class which was well attended. I went around and
met the devotees as they came in and it was quite interesting.
I had two rounds to finish off so I was up chanting. Two devotees were
also up chanting. I greeted them and asked how they were. One devotee I
had seen serving for some time in Atlanta, but we had never talked. The
devotee at present had no Spiritual Master. I asked if the devotee had a
siksa guru? The reply was yes. I asked who. The reply was "you". That
took me by surprise. I was being considered as someone s siksa guru, but
I
wasn t externally informed. That might explain why I was drawn to the
person but it always helps to know what relationship someone has with you
so that you can relate better. So it became like a reunion of old friends
or something. Every day has some new surprises! This one was a nice one.
I finished my rounds and took rest.
I hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-21 JPS Trav. Preaching Diary
Jayapataka Swami Travelling Preaching Diary.
June 21, 1997.
New Panihati Festival, Ratha Yatra Day, (Atlanta, GA, USA).
My Dear spiritual Children & well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada.
The New Panihati Temple is a very beautiful temple, situated in a
historical area, protected by the heritage act of the United States. It is
in the traditional Southern America Dixie land style, and has a high
ceiling in the hall. Devotees have put a marble floor. On the left of thealtars are Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra. On the central altar are
Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and on the right altar are Radha Madan-Mohan. Since
this is New Panihati and in Panihati Gaura Nitai are eternally residing,
They were the first deities on the central altar, and They were never
moved to another altar. They have always remained in the centre. On the
other end of the temple hall is Srila Prabhupada on a large Vyasasana made
out of marble, with a big marble lotus behind the back of Srila
Prabhupada.
This is the same Vyasasana that Prabhupada sat on many years ago, when he
came to Atlanta and blessed all the devotees. It was the place that Srila
Prabhupada first sang the Parama Karuna bhajan, where he engaged the
devotees in chanting and dancing in ecstasy.
Morning June 21st, 1997:
Seated by the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, we held a japa workshop.
Because the program the night before was late night, all the devotees had
not yet come into the temple. There were only about a dozen devotees. We
had a nice japa workshop. Gradually the temple room filled up and it was
time for darshan and arati. By now there were hundreds of devotees crowded
in the temple. Darshan, arati and kirtan were very powerful. Devotees were
jumping and chanting.
Balabhadra Bhattacharya Prabhu was leading the kirtan, then different
devotees led. They asked me to lead the kirtan and we continued on well
beyond 8.30 am, over an hour. Everybody clothes were completely wet. The
room was hot, but nobody minded because the kirtan was so intense.
Maharajas were jumping up and down. Men were jumping. Women were dancing
and some were also jumping. Everybody was dancing and chanting, leaping
high in the air. One could sense the presence of Srila Prabhupada and Gaura
Nitai during this wonderful association and kirtan.
Today I was asked to give the class on Caitanya Caritamrita. We discussed
about the famous danda-mahotsava, the festival where Lord Nityananda gave
His punishment to Raghunath Das Goswami. Raghunath Das Goswami was a rich
son of a landlord, who was earning millions and millions of gold coins
every year. But he was always detached from material life and simply wanted
to join the sankirtan movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He even went and
asked Caitanya Mahaprabhu for permission to leave everything and simply
join His sankirtan movement. However, Lord Caitanya told him to stay in his
household life and serve Krishna internally, while acting like a
responsible householder externally. In this way, Raghunath das was sent
back. After a year of acting according to the order of Lord Caitanya, he
became very anxious to again join the sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya
and tried to run away but his father would sent troops to catch him and
bring him back. One day, Raghunath das's father was talking to his wife and
Raghunath das's mother said that 'we should just tie him up' because he was
running away and then Raghunath das's father said: "He has a wife who is
like an angel and he has unlimited wealth and power, if all these things
couldn't tie him down, then what will material ropes do? We will have to
accept the influence of inconceivable providence. Our son has become mad
in love of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtan movement and he doesn't have any
more taste for material life. So what can we do?"
Raghunath das got an idea one day and he decided to see Lord Nityananda in
Panihati. At that time Lord Nityananda was seated on a raised stone
platform under a banyan tree on the banks of the sacred Ganges. Nityananda
Prabhu was so beautiful and His effulgence and presence was expanded around
in a most dynamic manner. Lord Nityananda was surrounded by His associated,
great devotees and sankirtan preachers, all eternally liberated souls. From
a distance Raghunatha das offered his obeisances and Lord Nityananda's
secretary pointed out to Lord Nityananda "There is Raghunath das". So
Nityananda said: "Aha, like a thief staying far away! But today I'm going
to punish him. Come here Raghunath das, accept your punishment!" But
Raghunath das kept lying down paying his obeisances in the distance. So
Lord Nityananda went and put His lotus feet on the head of Raghunath das,
giving him a blessing and He picked him up. "So today I am going to punish
you. My punishment is you have to provide for all my associates here a
picnic feast of flat rice, yoghurt and fruit."
There's a special preparation in Bengal known as Chiradahi, where you soak
the flat rice preparation, and after about 10-15 minutes it becomes soft
and edible. It inflates in the water and then you drain off the excess
water. Of course you have to rinse it once or twice to get off any dust of
the rice and then you soak it once it is clean. After soaking you pour any
excess water and mix it with yoghurt, you add some sweetening and various
kinds of fruits and flavours. So this is a very nice picnic and Nityananda
being in the mood of a cowherd boy, was very eager to enjoy this kind of
pastimes with His associates.
When Raghunath das heard the punishment, he became very happy. What a
wonderful way to use his wealth and what a wonderful service he could do
for Lord Nityananda! Immediately he got his servant to gather all the
ingredients. It became a gigantic festival where tens of thousands of
people start coming to get the feast. Finally He brought Lord Caitanya by
His meditation. So this is a very esoteric festival, because there are
many hidden meanings of what Lord Nityananda was doing. In one sense it was
called danda-mahotsava, and all the meanings of this punishment festival
may not be fully understood. One obvious reason is that he tried to
approach Lord Caitanya without going through Lord Nityananda. If you want
to approach Krishna we always have to go through the spiritual master, we
have to go through the representative of Lord Krishna. And to approach Lord
Caitanya we have to go through the original guru, who is Lord Nityananda
Prabhu. So since Nityananda Prabhu was organizing all the preaching in
Bengal, it was obviously proper etiquette for Raghunath das to come and
give his service to Lord Nityananda and get Lord Nityananda's blessings.
In all these attempts to reach Lord Caitanya he never went through Lord
Nityananda and now Lord Nityananda was punishing him. But Lord Nityananda
s
punishment is mercy, because Lord Nityananda is merciful beyond any
calculation. In this way I was discussing many realizations and
understandings of this transcendental pastime. It is such a profound
pastime that one can always get unlimited realizations. (To hear the
realizations you need to get a copy or transcription of the tape. Here is
no space to put it all.)
Nama Hatta Seminar
On Saturday morning from 10-12.30, a special Nama Hatta seminar was
scheduled. In the beginning not so many devotees came but gradually it
build up and the room became filled up with devotees. Since most of these
devotees were not so much involved in the Nama Hatta or congregational
preaching and they were new, we discussed what are the benefits and uses of
the Nama Hatta: why Nama Hatta or congregational preaching is urgent in
ISKCON. So then I decided to try a new brainstorming session which I never
did before.
This was to brainstorm what was the urgent need for congregational
preaching in ISKCON and why Nama Hatta is important. We broke up into small
groups and each of the groups began to brainstorm on the different reasons
on why it was so important to do congregational preaching, why it was so
urgent to do it. In this way many ideas came out. It became very intense as
the competition grew between each group to come up with better ideas, until
finally we had to have a final play-off. But before the finals could be
finished, there was time for the Jagannath Ratha Yatra and the temple
president, Balabhadra Prabhu, came and said that now it's time to take Lord
Jagannath on the Ratha.
Ratha Yatra at the New Panihati festival
Ratha Yatra, New Panihati is different than in many other places. The
chariot is a medium sized chariot, not too big, not too small. It's about
25 feet high when it's fully extended as compared to the massive Ratha of
London and Calcutta which go possibly 35 or 40'. But here today, so many
devotees came here for the Ratha Yatra. There were about 600 or 1000 or
maybe 1500. It was really difficult to count everyone because people were
coming and going. In the very front of the procession there was a Gaura
Nitai chariot (more like a Temple cart) being drawn by a bull.
There were so many devotees and the men's kirtan was overpowering
everything. I organised one women's kirtan in the very front of the Ratha
Yatra procession, in front of the Gaura Nitai Deities in addition to the
men's kirtan that was in front of Lord Jagannath. The devotees were dancing
in all the stages of the Ratha Yatra. It was about a 2 hour route. For the
first half of the Ratha Yatra, different people were leading and then I was
asked to lead the kirtan, so I took it until almost the end of the Ratha
Yatra. Devotees are very co-operative and despite all my defects, they were
very kind to sing and dance along with me for the remainder of the Ratha
Yatra festival. We went to some area of the town where there were many
boutiques and artists, so we made a special attempt to give them all
invitations for the rest of the New Panihati festival. So many people took
the description of what Ratha Yatra was about and invitations.
NEW PANIHATI FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION 97
Gopanandini devi dasi has made nice prasadam for me and invited me to come
and take prasadam through Kaunteya das, my secretary. But after the Ratha
Yatra, so many devotees gathered everywhere to discuss. There was a big
reunion of devotees so I ended up going from one place to the next meeting
the different devotees. Some devotees I haven't seen for many years, some I
have seen recently and some I was meeting for the first time. This was an
opportunity to discuss. So this was a special opportunity to meet, to
preach to different devotees, to exchange ideas, to renew or establish
relationships, etc..
Two devotees accepted me as their siksa guru, another new devotee had a lot
of doubts and I could help to eradicate the doubts. It was going on like
this hour after hour. They kept asking me to come and take prasadam. If
they would have brought prasadam I couldn't have refused it, but to go a
hundred meters to the house and take prasadam and give up preaching was
difficult. When I was a child I use to love swimming. My mother would call
me for lunch when I was swimming and sometimes I would dive under water and
made believe that I wasn't hearing her. Now I like preaching, I would
rather dive in the ocean of preaching then take prasadam or sleep. But
somehow my body also needs to get prasadam and rest, otherwise I may not be
able to continue with the preaching. I think of this later in quiet
moments, but when I'm in the middle of preaching it's very difficult to
stop.
I was reminded that there were initiations tonight and that I had to finish
the interviews. That struck me and I went to my room to interview the
candidates for initiation. That was more important or at least urgent then
the other preaching I was doing. The initiation ceremony also included one
wedding. To witness the ceremony, the temple was full but not over crowded.
Since there had been some Mahabharat drama before, the ceremony started a
little late. By Krishna's mercy, everything was very blissfully performed.
Prahlad Nrsimha das was the purohit or yajnic priest. We had the married
couple exchange their garlands and the devotees take their vows before the
Deities. Then we closed the deities so that They could take rest.
Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Maha Mahotsava Ki Jay. New Panihati Festival
Ki Jay.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-7-23 JPS Diary -- Columbus
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary June 23rd, 1997
New Panihati ISKCON Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio. USA.
My Dear spiritual children and well wishers,
Please accept my best wishes and blessings. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada.
ISKCON Atlanta morning programme.
Today I'm booked on a flight to Columbus, Ohio at midday so the morning
program is very tight. After class we will have to finish the packing and
then
get on to catch the flight to Malati Mataji s temple.
After the early morning program I gave class in the temple. Many devotees
are present and listening enthusiastically. Somehow the place after the
festival has a different feeling. So many devotees were there and now
they're gone. Still many devotees stayed over and it was here a warming
feeling. After the festival Panihati dhama felt purified possibly due to
all the kirtans and excitement. The vibration was still running high but in
a peaceful way.
I was sad to see that many pots of flat rice and yoghurt were standing
outside the temple and had gone off. Somehow they were not distributed in
time for
everybody to get. Previous years we never had so much go off. There was
only one pot for each flavor but that was disheartening. We had to come
up with some strategy so that next year no ksirah-dahi prasadam is wasted.
By luggage packing was intensely going on. Things were scattered all over.
As Kaunteya das is trying to get the things organized to take 30 kilos of
video tapes to London and another twenty kilos of videotapes to Poland and
to organize all the other things. I don't think devotees appreciate how
much time goes into arranging for airline tickets and coming and going to
the airports and packing and unpacking. It becomes tiring for the secretary
to keep up with all of this.
We have to go immediately if we want to catch the flight, so we are of to
the airport. On the way to the airport I couldn't help but remember the
beautiful deities of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Radha Madan Mohan, Jagannath,
Baladeva, Subhadra, merciful Srila Prabhupada deity of New Panihati. Sriman
Balabhadra Bhattacharya Prabhu and all the other devotees have worked so
enthusiastically for the festival. I'll be missing their association.
Normally I stay longer in North America, I make a trip to South America,
but because the Ratha Yatra in Calcutta is very soon and I'm already
committed to attending some festivals in Europe I have to go now. Srimati
Malati d.d. has invited me for many years to visit her center in Columbus
and when I met her in New York I have agreed to go. Since the devotees in
Philadelphia said my coming on a Monday would not be of much use, therefore
I switch over to Columbus where they were eager to have me.
SRI KRISHNA HOUSE, COLUMBUS, OHIO, ISKCON USA
Columbus airport was fairly small, might say medium small, not like one
of the big gigantic airports that we're used to flying in and out of in
Atlanta and New York, Pittsburgh etc. We came out from the airplane and
we were happy to see some Vaishnavis waiting for us. Manimayi dd a
disciple of Harikesa Swami who is very kind to me and helps me and respects
me as a siksa guru., Bhaktin Jeanette and some other mothers were also
present. Bhaktin Jeanette from Germany begged to take my bag even though it
weighted about 13 kilos and I insisted I could carry it. She said "we are
here in a matajis temple so we're used to do all the work ourselves. Please
give me the mercy to carry your bag". Since she was fairly tall, it looked
like she could handle it, so I let her.
Kaunteya das and myself went along with them and then down the hallway by
the security check, Malati Das Mataji along with another half dozen or so
matajis greeted us. They had mrdangas and kartels and started a soft
kirtan. Walking through the airport terminal I think they were throwing
petals on the floor but had it been men who were chanting in the airport
the security guards might have come forward quickly to have them stopped.
But somehow the security guards do not know what to think of all these
nicely dressed ladies in sarees singing softly Hare Krishna with mrdanga
and kartalas. So all they could do was smile as we walk by.
The luggage was all piled up on one trolly. There was so much that
Kishor das, who had come also to receive us, was not able to see over
the pile of luggage. So Bhaktin Janette again took over and pushed the
luggage cart. Everyone was very enthusiastic and happy to receive us and
we heard that the program that would happen today: reception, lunch
prasadam, a little rest, and then an evening seminar and class.
Somewhere around this time Candrasekhara Swami from ISKCON Chicago and his
assistant had just arrived from New Vrindavan, where they had been
visiting, also came to receive us. He informed he was going to be with us
during my stay. Hari bol! I am fortunate to get so much association!
So we came up to the Krishna House, it's right next to a sprawling
university in Columbus. Just right on the opposite side of the street. One
can see this should be an ideal place to be able to have access to the
students. And calling it the Krishna House was also strategic since
students often call their Fraternity and Sorority houses as "house" so it
is a common use around Universities.
In the temple the devotees were chanting, receiving me with a sweet kirtan.
Beside dancing Radha and Krishna there was a Sri Nathji deity, a Sita -
Rama and Hanuman deity and Gaura Nitai Deity as well as off on the side,
one Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra deity over the fireplace near to the
Prabhupada Vyasasana. I offering my obeisances and prayers to the
Deities. Then assembled devotees insisted on offering guru puja and I
distributed sweets and gave a short talk.
The Krishna House was really a house--- a few stories high house. Half of
the ground floor was the temple room, there were a couple of other rooms
for
reception and kitchen. Second floor one office and three ashram rooms.
Third floor was for matajis only so I can only imagine how that was
like. The House was very clean and neat. They informed me that they had
other houses with ashrams for devotees too.
After prasadam, Malati introduced some of the devotees to me. There was
also an Indian bhakta, who is quite enthusiastic and had many questions.
He was coming to the temple although he was studying at university.
That evening I gave a class which the devotees enthusiastically heard.
And after the class made I made an audio-visual presentation on the Mayapur
project which everyone was interested in. Very few of them had visited
Mayapur and there were many guests present also. The temple was filled with
Indian congregation and some local students. I led a kirtan, everybody was
chanting and dancing very enthusiastically.
These are the highlights of June 23rd, 1997.
Hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami.
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: 97-6-22 JPS Preaching Diary
June 22nd, 1997.
Jayapataka Swami Travelling Preaching Diary
New Panihati chiradahi Danda Mahotsava Festival.
Atlanta, GA, USA.
My Dear Ones,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada.
It has become a tradition for ISKCON Atlanta to have the New Panihati
festival. Today was the main day--the day when over a hundred devotees
will participate in preparing the massive picnic feast for Gaura Nitai and
the other Deities. Everyone will be performing transcendental activities
from morning till night. Mahaguna devi dasi has been working for two
months preparing all the things for this day, so that the offering would
be ready by 1 o'clock. Bhagavatamrita das has come up from Orlanda and has
taken off from work so that he could be here and help in organising the
things in the kitchen. So many devotees have come for helping, even
Madhava-lata and Vishnupada flew in all the way from Rome, Italy, just to
participate in this festival--- flying three days through different
airports and just reaching in time for the festival. It is a day when the
mercy of Lord Nityananda Prabhu flows like rivers of nectar around this
holy place and everyone can experience it very easily if they want.
It is my special service to prepare the 21 different flavors of flat rice
preparations in 108 times 5 different sets of clay pots. Before I enter
the Kitchen, I offer my obeisances to my Spiritual Master Srila Prabhupada
and beg for his causeless mercy then to all the Deities and beg Their
Lordships permission to do this yajna for Their pleasure. I pray to
Raghunath Das to assist him; I pray to Damayanti the sister of Raghava
Pandit and Raghava Pandit who are great cooks for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu;
and finally I pray to Srimati Radharani who is the Supreme Cook to please
take control of the kitchen and my senses and make everything become like
nectar for the pleasure of the Lord and His devotees. That creates in me
emotions which I cannot describe.
I went in the kitchen and found everything ready, the vegetables were cut
for the salty flat rice and yoghurt, fruits were all cut, ready to be mixed
with the condensed milk and yoghurt. So it was time to quickly prepare the
different flavours for offering to Their Lordship, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.
Six varieties of condensed milk, flat rice and fruit flavors; six
varieties of yoghurt sweetened, flat rice and fruits; and six varieties of
flat rice and different salty salad type flavors. That equals 18 flavors.
In addition 108 salty, 108 sweet, 108 condensed milk small individual
family size pots will be made. That adds three more flavors for a total of
21 in all. I mixed the different flavours and then I decorated the top of
one sample pot sweet style. In the next room there was a team of brahmani
matajis ready to put the covering on the hundreds of clay pots following my
pro-forma model.
The team work was incredible in the kitchen. Some devotees were washing and
rinsing the flat rice careful not to over do it and cause it to
disintegrate. Some were cutting and preparing the ingredients while others
were mixing the ingredients. Some were filling the empty pots and others
were carrying them from one place to the decoration room. Others were
decorating the top of the clay pots putting things on the semi-solid flat
rice mix. Others were cleaning up afterwards and always supplying clean
mixer containers for the next flavor.
I had empty clay pots on top of the table and for each flavor I put the
appropriate ingredients in the different clay pots which were already
labeled the night before. This would make it easy to mix each flavor in
the large mixing containers. The fruit and other internal ingredients for
first for the Khir flavors, then the sweet yogurt flavors and finally the
salty flavors were made ready in the different clay pots. And in big
stainless steel drums the flat rice and yoghurt and honey and natural
organic bars of sugar were mixed in the yoghurt flat rice along with the
special ingredients for each of the flavours.
Some matajis were preparing the spices for the New Talavan style offering,
others were putting the toppings on the rest of the clay pots. Everyone was
very busy and active and this time most of the uninitiated devotees had
already gone out to the temple and taking Srila Prabhupada on a procession
around the property of New Panihati dhama. Suddenly we heard a kirtan that
was coming closer and closer. We looked up to see what was happening and
there was Srila Prabhupada standing in the doorway looking at us.
Prabhupada came in the room and gave us his blessings. Prabhupada Ki Jaya!
Everyone offered their obeisances and chanted the glories of Srila
Prabhupada! Then Srila Prabhupada continued on his parikrama (touring) of
the temple.
Devotees in the temple were offering Srila Prabhupada memories of his visit
to Atlanta and other memories while we were doing the final touches for the
offering. It took over an hour for the devotees to lift the hundreds and
hundreds of clay pots which were each decorated with flowers and special
sweets, eatable decorations and savories. On each large pots there was a
mango cut in gourmet style to open like a lotus, also there were rasgulla,
sandesh, a variety of cookies, burfi, sweet butter mixed with rock candy,
decorated fruits, etc.
We ran out of some essential cut ingredients at one point for the salty
offerings. I took advantage to catch up on a few rounds from this morning,
but the delay was critical. Now the offering wasn't made until almost
1.30pm. At least 15 to 20 minutes too late. Even one slight miscalculation
and the whole process gets put behind!
Devotees were chanting and dancing in the temple, waiting for the offering.
They opened the curtains and the whole area in front of the deities was
filled with prasadam. Approximately five hundred clay pots all highly
decorated with natural fruits, sweets & flowers. Sriman Goparaja dasa
offered Jagannath arati, I offered Gaura Nitai's arati, and Bhagavatamrita
Prabhu offered arati to Radha Madan Mohan Deities.
After the arati the kirtan was going on and on, it was very ecstatic.
Everyone was dancing and chanting. They pulled me into lead the kirtan,
which went on for another half hour. Everyone was so ecstatic dancing and
chanting, arms raised. They temple was really Goloka Vrindavan. Everyone
could feel the presence of Gaura Nitai, by the mercy of Raghunath das
Goswami and Srila Prabhupada.
All the big pots were auctioned for donations to cover the festival
expenses and everyone came and received their cira dahi (chipped rice and
yoghurt). I took a sample of each flavor to see how it came out and went
to the open lawn in front of the temple in an open area next to the Murari
Sevak booth. Soon almost fifty devotees gathered around me and we all had
picnic together. Each preparation was really like nectar. It seemed that
Srimati Radharani had heard my prayer and kindly out of Her causeless mercy
made the offering nice and nectarean!
I was called to a special meeting for the development of the Atlanta New
Panihati Project. Balavanta Prabhu and leading members of the community
had gathered near Srila Prabhupada s quarters for a steering committee
inaugural meeting. IT was decided to go along with Balavanta Prabhu s
strategy and he was made the Chairman of the steering committee. A plan
was born to raise funds and fix up all the buildings and develop the
project in a dynamic way.
A fight had broken out between two devotees. One was my disciple the other
a Srila Prabhupada disciple. By the time we reached the fight was over,
but we had to request the devotees who had participated in it to take some
remedial measures to avoid having it happen again. Each blamed the other,
but it takes two to fight. Both are bruised. The devotees had started
chanting when the fight broke out. It was an unwelcome disturbance in an
otherwise totally happy day. The isolated ill effect of this disturbance
was soon forgotten in the ecstasy of the different programs.
I sat down and made myself available in one side of the temple grounds.
Many devotees came and asked questions. Finally I asked everyone who had
rounds to chant and all admitted they did. About 20 devotees were seated
around me. So I started a Japa workshop there and could make up my rounds
while helping others to chant their rounds properly. This went on until it
became late and my secretary reminded me it was time to take rest.
It was an unforgettable day. We had the causeless mercy to engage in
confidential services to the Lord and His pure devotees.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Yours in service, Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-7-14 pre-diary Snapshot
Camp: Moscow -- Sukhareva Festival with Camp for 1000+ devotees
14th July, 1997.
JPS Diary preview...
This is to inform everyone that I am in Moscow at the Sukhareva festival.
Over 1000 devotees have attended this amazing festival. The kirtan last
night went until Mangal Arotrik!!!! Today everyone is leaving. I am also
leaving to Ekaterinburg for a 2 day Nama Hatta seminar at 6AM.
I gave a radio show 2 nights ago and on the 13th about 30 people came to
the festival from the radio show. Several people came to surrender to
Krishna just from the radio show!
Yesterday I gave SB class to over 1000+ devotees. Big response. Massive
initiations ceremony with 80+ first initiations and 6 gurus giving diksa (I
gave 3 initiations). Seminars, interviews, realizations, evening SP
Remembrance period with Gopal Krishna Goswami, Ravindra Svarup Prabhu, and
other SP disciples including myself. I waited upto 12:15AM for the kirtan
to start, but dramas went on so I then went back since I have to fly off
to another city for seminars. Apparently the kirtan started a little
before one AM and went on until mangal arotrik. Now is 5AM and I must
leave by 6AM so just sending off this quick news release to all of you. The
festival was amazing. Stay tuned in for the Diary pages....
Now Russia Hare Krishna is under a heavy attack from the Orthodox church
who has confidentially stated that Hare Krishna is the number one enemy in
their opinion since we have a philosophy and because the Russian people are
coming in such a dedicated manner. Somehow they maneuvered to pass a new
law in both houses of Parliament that would ban all religions in the
country except the orthodox church, jews and islam. If the President
doesn't veto this law our movement would have to go underground in a couple
of years. They will try to ban foreign Hare Krishna's from coming. This
may be our last chance to openly come and preach. They desparately need to
learn how to do nama hatta since it may be the only way they have to preach
if the Orthodox church is successful. Therefore it is really urgent and
important that I spend some time during the next year to firmly establish
Nama Hatta in CIS while I have a chance to move around and get a visa.
I have dictated diaries upto 7th of July and left with Vidvan Gauranga and
hopefully he has gotten them transcribed to send to me.
I don't know if I should send off the diaries from Russia or wait until
Vidvan sends me the backlog I already dictated? In any case here were some
highlights.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-24 JPS Preaching Diary
{NOTE: This is an internal document written from Jayapataka Swami to
disciples and dear devotees who have requested these realizations and
accounts. It may require some editing to be appropriate for public
distribution.]
Jayapataka Preaching Diary June 24th 1997.
My Dear spiritual children & well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada.
"Krsna House", Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Morning program: After mangal arati we had a japa workshop and there were
about 18 participants. Some men from the congregation had also come to
participate in this workshop. Then darshan arati, Srila Prabhupada s gur
u
puja and Srimad Bhagavatam class. The normal program.
After breakfast I met devotees and a number of devotees said that they want
to write to me and also receive copies of the diaries. Different devotees
had different problems and questions. Someone wanted to know about
accepting a siksa-guru. Someone else has been waiting five years to get
initiation but has not been given and is wondering what they should do.
Someone else is interested in serving Mayapur Dham and doing some graphic
art work in the future. Someone else had some general philosophical
questions about Krishna Consciousness.
I realized how every devotee has such individual questions and problems and
they need personalized care to resolve them. I don t see any other recour
se
but to giving some time to the devotees. I am supposed to finish the books
that I am working on, such as the Congregational Preaching Manual and at
the same time be accessible and available to help the devotees so that they
feel that the senior leaders care about them. How is it possible to do all
these,
the question comes up. It seems that some new structuring of our GBC zonal
management system will be needed to actually permit us to fulfill what the
devotees need. In the New York "Love and trust" brainstorming session, the
overriding message was that the devotees wanted to see their senior leaders
in more of a spiritual support role. They were not satisfied in just seeing
them with their sleeves up doing hands-on management and having no time to
see to the devotees problems and to help them. It seems that in order to
fulfill these needs, a lot of delegation of zonal management
responsibilities would be needed, at least for those who are going to or
need to take on the role of providing significant spiritual support for
devotees.
Otherwise how will it be possible?
One mother from New Vrndavan is very interested in the congregational
preaching materials. Also Mother Malati took a copy of all the
Congregational Preaching Journals. If only we can get everyone to implement
congregational preaching systematically, we could expand the presence of
Krishna consciousness so much faster and more effectively.
This morning I take a "brunch" (half breakfast and half lunch) as I have to
catch a midday flight to New York. My flight goes from Columbus to
Washington D.C. and from Washington D.C. to New York. From there I have to
take a car to JFK Airport in New York to catch my British Airways flight to
London. I have to go this one alone because Kaunteya das is booked on a
Delta flight and has gone to another airport. He ll be flying straight to
Poland where he will be waiting for me. Some of the devotees come along and
Chandra Sekhara Maharaja drive me to the airport and at the airport some of
the local devotees are also waiting for me. I give them some last Krishna
conscious guidance before boarding the plane. I thank Manimayi dd for her
wonderful enthusiastic service attitude during my stay. I can t help but
appreciate HG Malati dd and her wonderful temple of enthusiastic devotees.
Journey to New York British Airways Terminal
Rama Kanta das, my South Indian disciple, whose is working in computer
systems analysis in Wall Street, New York, is waiting for me at the
airport.
We get caught in a traffic jam on the way to JFK and our anxiety increases
as we don t know if we will make the flight or not. While driving, I get
a
report from Ramakanta about his plans for setting up an international
computer software enterprise in India. Some qualified people connected to
our movement who are not able to utilize their skills for preaching could
take part in this. He tells me that his wife does not cook for them when
she
has her monthly cycle because they heard that this cannot be offered to
Krishna. But I explained to him that in the home situation, when there is
no
one else to cook and also when they do not even have installed Deities but
pictures, in such an emergency, she can also cook to my understanding. If
there was a big joint family and other people could cook then that s much
better but in the Vedas an emergency doesn t know any rule, especially in
these kinds of extenuating circumstances where one has to cook for the
children and the family.
Somehow we got free from the traffic jam and reached British Airways in
time. I quickly log in with my computer and the last E-mails are written on
the way. While answering e-mail I lose track of the time and I realize that
it is already 11 o clock New York time and I have been on the flight 5
hours. There is only two and a half more hours before landing. I should
have
taken some rest because tomorrow will be a big day. I would be meeting with
the Mayapur Design Office on traffic flow. For the last two hours I take
some rest.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-25 JPS Diary
[
Camp: Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India--Jaganath Rathayatra Festival &
Pandal
Jayapataka Swami Travelling Preaching Diary
[NOTE: This is an internal document written from Jayapataka Swami to
disciples and dear devotees who have requested these realizations and
accounts. It may require some editing to be appropriate for public
distribution.]
My Dear spiritual children,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
July 25th 1997. London, UK.
Mayapur Development Design House, Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, England
Class in Soho Street:
During the previous week over a dozen e-mails have been exchanged making an
intricate arrangement so that I will be taken directly from Heathrow
airport to Soho Street, London, Radha Krishna Temple in order to give the
morning Srimad Bhagavatam class starting at 7:30. I was really relieved
when the flight arrived fifty minutes ahead of time due to a tail wind over
the Atlantic. I quickly got through the customs and immigration; there were
no devotees there possibly because I was still half an hour ahead of time.
I went to the special British Air Executive Arrival lounge and took a
shower and put on fresh cloths and when I came out it was still earlier
than the original scheduled arrival, but now Nitai Caran das and his family
were there waiting to take me to the Downtown London Temple. After about
five to ten minutes with impromptu arrangements, we start heading out
towards his car, but one amazing thing happened. It seemed like we entered
some kind of a time warp. Although the total journey between Heathrow and
Soho was supposed to be 45 minutes, somehow just to get from inside
Heathrow airport out of the parking lot also took 45 minutes. The car
should have been waiting right at the doorway and we could have left
immediately but instead at every step there was an obstacle. Nitai Caran
das had to wait in a queue to get his parking ticket, then another queue to
get on to the lift. He couldn t remember exactly where the car was so the
n
we had to find the car. So then I had so much luggage and he only had one
small compact car with four of us and the luggage didn t fit inside the
boot (trunk). We had to pack it and repack it two or three times until
finally everything could fit in. By the time we left for Soho
street whatever advantage I had gained by my rushing and early arrival had
already been eaten up.
Now we had to go flat out just to make it in time. Then the driver made two
wrong turns each of which again put us behind a further ten minutes. I was
in total anxiety. Mahadyuti Prabhu, the Soho St. Temple President had told
me that I had to be there on time. Even then we had made an arrangement
that if I was a little late then the devotees in the temple were supposed
to sing Radha Madhava and start reading the Sanskrit sloka. He had e-mailed
me the Srimad Bhagavatam verse so that I could read it on the way in the
car. I asked the devotees in the car if they had the Srimad Bhagavatam and
they said that they didn t know anything about it. So many plans but now
everything was vanishing. The only thing to do was to chant my japa as we
got stuck in traffic jam after traffic jam. Finally we arrived in Soho
street about 7:50 am twenty minutes late and as we come up to Soho Street,
we find that about 20 devotees were standing outside chanting and dancing,
everyone eagerly waiting for my arrival. So it seems that I ll still be
able to give the class.
We go upstairs and the room is packed with people. Sri Sri Radha
London-Isvara were smiling upon me. I was very reassured to see Their
beautiful lotus faces. Gaura Nitai were also smiling. I noticed that one of
my disciples was performing the arati and I was very glad that so many of
my
disciples are able to serve these important Deities of ISKCON. I pray that
they do not commit any offenses and are very careful to satisfy these
Deities. Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra were not on Their altar
because They were "sick" after the Snana-Yatra. Ratha Yatra here is on July
6th so now they are in closed quarters.
After the Bhagavatam class, I go downstairs to the Restaurant and we have
a
darshan with about 20 devotees. There is a question and answers session.
They asked so many questions. One disciple of Tamal Krsna Goswami said that
she is the only Mataji there now doing book distribution in Soho Street.
She is very enthusiastic to distribute books. Bhn Lora and her husband
Bhakta Ruben wanted to relocate to Mayapur in the winter. Rama Shakti devi
dasi from Lima, Peru is doing Puja work as is Prema Vikas s sister Maha
Narayani devi dasi. There are several Peruvian devotees here. I take this
time to encourage my disciples and other devotees. I am now reminded that
it is time to go for the meeting in Radlett at the Mayapur Project House. I
have no time to take breakfast as all the time was used up talking to the
nice devotees, so I take breakfast on the way in the car. It was a very
sweet time with the devotees in Soho Street in downtown London. It is
enlivening for me to be able to spend these moments with the devotees.
Mayapur House Meeting
The topic on the agenda was "Traffic Flow". But Akandadhi Prabhu decided to
discuss many different topics and we made some significant progress. I gave
a report from my meetings with Sadaputa Prabhu in Alachua on the Mayapur
exhibitions.
That seemed to change the outlook that they had on certain things and a
kind of brainstorming session came up with an outline of a concept of how
we can group different kinds of exhibitions. Different ideas for improving
traffic
flow in the exhibition areas also came up. The general traffic flow is a
big
issue in the Mayapur temple when up to 100,000 people can be visiting at
any
one time, even 500,000 in a day. How will the people move in and out? How
will they get their shoes? How will they go from the Deity darshans to the
different types of exhibitions, to the parks, to the gardens? All these
things are very complicated and also different kinds of visitors need
different considerations. The devotees who live in Mayapur, we don t want
them to go through huge queues to get in just to see the Deities. This
would
be inhibitive for them. Then there are the visitors who just want to come
and see the Dieties. So many factors have to be taken into account. The
devotees in general do not realize how many man-hours, man-weeks and
man-months are going into planning every detail of the Mayapur Temple for
Vedic Planetarium to satisfy Srila Prabhupada s desires. There are 39
months
left before the construction should start. Things are becoming intense. The
Countdown is on.
The meetings turn out to be very successful. Akandadhi Prabhu said that I
should come every time in between the major Sri Mayapur Development
Committee meetings for more informal and detailed discussions as these are
very helpful to the design team to refine their ideas and see things from
different perspectives.
Brajarani devi dasi from Bhaktivedanta Manor, wife of Narahari Prabhu has
kindly prepared a lunch. Everyone was busy in different engagements that
day and very kindly Bhaktin Alexandra, my dear siksa disciple, is cooking
chapatis and also some of the office staff of Mayapur House are helping to
serve out my lunch. Since I didn t have any sleep the previous night and
even one time while in the meeting I had blacked out temporarily and almost
fell on
Akandadhi Prabhu, I decided to take an hour of rest before resuming the
afternoon session. In spite of my body being very tired and my mind
blacking
out, my consciousness is very enthusiastic and I just want to push on
forward. Unfortunately this physical bio-mechanism known as my body is not
always up to keeping with my pace.
The afternoon sessions follow as in the morning with more fruitful results.
Before giving class, as usual, I went and had darshan of Radha-Gokulananda,
Gaur-Nitai and Sita Ram Laksmana and Hanuman Deities of the Bhaktivedanta
Manor Temple. These Deities are very patient and merciful. I don t know w
hy
more devotees of the congregation aren t eager to come and serve these
Deities. There are so many brahmanas who live around the Manor but I am
told that it is always difficult to get Pujaris for these Deities. Damodar
Pandit das, one of my disciples is worshipping these Deities as a full-time
Pujari, but the Radha Krsna worship requires many Pujaris to keep up the
high standard that they have established here. Just in order to cook the
Mangala-arortik sweets, it takes three full-time devotees. The sweets they
prepare are amazing. Kulangana devi dasi and her two assistants are quite
expert at making "out of this world quality" Mangal arati sweets. On my
arrival I am given a pack of
Mangal aratik sweets (It must be almost a kilo) in different shapes and
styles.
Tonight the class was organized by Kripamoya Prabhu who had various
members of the congregation and devotees. So I was asked to give a Caitanya
Caritamrta class and then go into a discussion about congregational
preaching. We ended with a brainstorming session on different ways of
utilizing our favorable contacts. How many different types of contacts can
we make from whom we could get a favorable reference? This went on until 9
pm and the Deities were opening, but the different groups were fired up to
continue with the competition; so we shifted over to the Prasadam hall
after taking Darshan of Radha Gokulananda and Sita Rama Laksmana Hanuman
and Gaura Nitai Deities.
The brainstorming continues until about 10 o clock and then we stopped fo
r
tabulating the final scores of the competition and giving out maha-prasadam
for the winning groups. Everyone said that they got many ideas from this
exercise and that they wanted to utilize all the opportunities they had for
bringing people closer to Krishna consciousness. Tonight I stayed at
Bhaktivedanta Manor.
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-26 JPS TravP Diary
Jayapataka Swami Travelling Preaching Diary for: June 26th 1997.
Locations: Bhaktivedanta Manor, UK; and Berlin, Germany.
My Dear Ones,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Morning Program: After the morning program, I gave a Japa workshop. Good
turn out: 30-40 devotees, more men today.
I led the Guru Puja kirtana. The devotees are very enthusiastic, dancing
and
leaping high in the air, and then I gave Srimad Bhagavatam class to over
150
devotees. I shared with them some of my realizations on the importance of
ISKCON devotees, how we need to take care of them and my realizations about
siksa guru in ISKCON. The devotees appreciated this mood. After breakfast
I went to the Mayapur Development House as the meetings were to begin
early.
The meetings continued on from the previous day and we went over the
changes that had taken place in the plan due to various structural
considerations and primarily economic considerations. It seems that the
fine details of the concept keep getting changed and soon we have to freeze
and finalize the design so that we can get on to the detailed work. I meet
all the staff at the London House. Some new architects have come onboard
and I was happy to meet them. Bhaktin Andrea has now become Anuragini devi
dasi, having taken initiation from HH Tamal Krishna Swami Maharaja. She and
her family are very close to me and her parents are under my shelter. All
of her family members that I know are always very kind to me. I feel close
to every one of them on a higher spiritual platform.
The meeting goes on until 3:30 pm with only a short break for lunch.
Akandadhi Prabhu, who is the manager of the Mayapur Design Office, feels
happy with the results.
In order to catch my flight to Warsaw I have to leave at 3.30 since the
flight is leaving at 5:50 and it s a rainy day and a Thursday afternoon
which is unlucky. I normally try to avoid traveling on Thursday afternoon;
so I left in the morning from the House. If one leaves in the morning with
all the luggage and openly declares that, "Now I am beginning my journey"
then he gets the benefit of leaving on Thursday morning which is not
inauspicious. But unfortunately I think I only thought that I was leaving
and I didn t openly verbally declare it nor did the other people travelin
g
with me declare. So I was in one mode but they were in another.
I was waiting and waiting until 4 o clock and there was still no sign of
my car. Now it has become a critical mess and I don t see how I can make
it
to the flight. Finally they show up after 4PM and my flight is 5:20PM!!!
There has been some communication breakdown ("space out"). We rush into the
car and off to the Heathrow airport. I arrive with about half an hour
before the flight leaves. Amazing! It seems like I can make it!! We race
to the check-in counter and they tell us that it is too late to check your
luggage in and that I have to take the luggage to the gate. They had no
time to give me a boarding pass; so I just took my ticket. The lady
scribbled something on the ticket and then I tried to go through the
security check. The security people said that the scribble on the ticket
wasn t enough and that I had to get a stamp or a boarding pass. I went ba
ck
to ask the lady for a stamp and she didn t have one. Then Deva Dinadayal
Das runs off somewhere to get a stamp and someone else from British Airways
scribbled something else on the ticket. I went back to the security people
the second time and they said "Stamp or boarding pass, no scribble". Again
Deva Dinadayal runs off somewhere and finally a supervisor provides me with
two boarding passes and with all the difficulty I do not know how we were
going to make that flight.
I now only have 20 minutes to get all the way through to the search,
immigration and get to the gate. Its a huge queue I just start screaming
out. "Ten minutes to my flight! Ten minutes to my flight!" And somebody
says, "Good luck! I hope you make it!" And I go right to the front of the
queue
bypassing 50 people. I put all my luggage on the conveyor belt then go
through. Unfortunately the security staff wanted to see two of the bags.
They often get bewildered by my big karatalas. They want to see the bag
where I had all my electronic equipments.
Unfortunately on this trip I am all alone and I got to lift all the luggage
up onto the conveyor belt. Somehow we get the things started off I check my
watch. We have 10 minutes left. I look at immigration. Nobody there.
Quickly put the stuff on my trolley I ran to the immigration . In the
meantime 5 people had come before me. I didn t scream out I have only ten
minutes to my flight . I should have done but I didn t.
I don t know what happened. Somehow or another three minutes got wasted
waiting in the immigration queue and I run. Actually with all this heavy
luggage running with the trolley, it became out of control and I almost
knocked down a couple of people. Must have been a 150 kilos worth of
luggage stacked up chest high on this trolley. I realise I couldn t reall
y
run with
it, too dangerous, I might smashed into somebody, so I walk as fast as I
can on the curves and run on the straight stretches. Somehow I get to the
gate seven minutes before the take-off. People are still boarding Wow looks
like I made It Unbelievable!
But the British Airways staff said, "Sorry we close our hold 15 minutes
before the flight. We cannot take your luggage. If you had no luggage we
could take you." I wonder why the Check-in Lady didn t check my luggage
in, I would have already made it. I pleaded with the person, said everyone
is waiting for me in Warsaw for a meeting which is urgent. He said,
"Nothing I can do , sorry." He was polite but he was totally unhelpful and
unyielding. I saw people loading luggage through the window and I said ,
"Look the hold is still open." He refused to look and by the time he looked
they were just closing the hold. So he actually had lied to me, the hold
was open when he had said that it was closed. I realized the guy is a
nasty. Thursday afternoon agent. What to do?
I go piled up with my luggage over to the transfer desk. I had to cross
over about half a kilometer of terminals to get to it and go through
another x-ray machine. Finally I go to the first class counter of British
Airways. The lady is super helpful, she tries to see if there is any other
way I can get to Warsaw by rerouting me. She searches every possibility
Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Helsinki. She said "Nothing gets
there tonight. The only thing I can do is
to fly you some where tonight and you catch a morning connection."
She gave me the option of Dusseldorf but I don t know anybody in
Dusseldorf, I ask her another option she said Berlin. I said all right I
have some disciples
in Berlin and the Temple President always asks me to visit . Lets try
Berlin.
The flight leaves at 8PM and gets in at 10.30pm in Berlin. Next morning
at 9 there is a flight on Delta going to Warsaw. All right, lets go for it.
I was thinking whether to go back to London but I thought once I began the
journey, if I try to take any other connection from London the next day, I
will only reach Poland by 4.00 in the afternoon and I had to be in Wroclaw,
Poland in order to give Nama Hatta Seminars the next day. So we are off for
Berlin.
BERLIN, GERMANY.
So now I get on a phone and I call the devotees who had taken me to the
airport to tell them that I had missed my flight. They had been waiting to
see if I had got it but then they gave up and thought I must have left
without asking British Airways whether I had got on the flight or not .
They
had already gone back to their house. I told them that I was going to
Berlin. I then called Berlin and everything gets arranged . The TP is happy
I ll be stopping over, he said I can give the Early morning class at 6.00
am
before leaving for Poland.
Then I phone up Tamoha Krsna in Poland and he tells me that it is better to
drive from Berlin to Wroclaw as it is only a 3-4 hour drive in a car and
than spend the whole day flying to Warsaw and going back and there s no
confirm booking from Warsaw to Wroclaw. So I asked him to arrange from
Berlin, Germany to Poland.
So again I take all the luggage again to the farthest end of Terminal 1 to
Gate 56, a two kilometer walk. Today I was able to chant extra rounds
running with all the luggage and chanting. Instead of a Japa walk, Japa and
walk.
The flight to Berlin was peaceful. I chanted some rounds to cool down and
then go over the pending E-mail. As I leave the terminal I was happy to
see Bhaktin Gaby was waiting for me with some bramacari also from the
Temple. Bhaktin Gaby tells me that her daughter Natalie, who is also under
my shelter, is also coming. She is arriving at mid-night (in one hour) and
Gaby is going to pick her up. They would be happy to drive us if we needed
it to Poland. I said we re going anyway so let s see. I get driven to
the
small house which serves as a temple. I have a spartan clean room and I am
very happy to get some Krsna pasadam.
I hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami-
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Subject: "Following in Srila Prabhupada's Footsteps." Part 2 of 3
This is a paper Badrinarayan Prabhu has just completed entitled "Following in
Srila Prabhupada's Footsteps." It is a reply to "My Heartly Blessings," by
Narayana Maharaj via Bhudhara das.
Unfinished Work?
In his lecture at the Kesavaji Gaudiya Math, September 19th, 1994, Srila
Narayana Maharaja states:
"And I think if he was alive . . . for most one or two years more, . . . he
would [have] completed Ujjvala-nilamani, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu,
Vidagdha-madhava, which are necessary to know Caitanya Mahaprabhu--rasa,
rasika, and rasika sekhara. But . . . we are deprived of that . . . he could
not complete his work."
Srila Prabhupada also stated that his work was unfinished. However, what he
says he left undone is not what Srila Narayana Maharaja has stated. In the last
few months Srila Prabhupada was physically with us, he was asked this question
several times: "Is there anything you have left unfinished?"
Each time Srila Prabhupada gave a similar response: His unfinished work was
establishing varnasrama-dharma. He never once mentioned, whether in a letter,
book, lecture, or private conversation, that his unfinished work was to impart
teachings that were essential for his followers to attain ragatmika-bhakti. He
never once said that he regretted being unable to give us Ujjvala-nilamani or
other intimate Gosvami literature.
ISKCON agrees that the work of Srila Prabhupada is incomplete. It will remain
unfinished as long as the chanting of the Lord's name is not heard in every
town and village. It will remain incomplete until a full set of his books is
present in every house, until all the high-court judges wear tilaka, until no
one goes hungry within a ten-mile radius of our temples. The list goes on and
on.
The preaching work is far from complete, but the teachings and practices given
by Srila Prabhupada certainly are. This author personally sat before Srila
Prabhupada when he said, "I have given you everything. I have given you the
structure; simply go and decorate it. Actually, I have even given you the
decorations--you just have to go and hang them."
No doubt Srila Narayana Maharaja believes introducing "rasa, . . . rasika, and
rasika sekhara" along with the intimate books of the Gosvamis is Srila
Prabhupada's unfinished work, but Srila Prabhupada's recorded statements simply
do not support this contention.
**************************************
Deities' Names
In "My Heartly Blessings" Bhudhara Prabhu quotes Srila Narayana Maharaja as
saying:
"As far as the names Rukmini-Dwarkadisha are concerned, although they are bona
fide names, they are inferior in tattva to Radha-Krishna. Our goal is to serve
Radha-Krishna in Vraja and not Rukmini-Dwarkadisha in Dwaraka."
Bhudhara Prabhu goes on to relate the following story:
"When Prabhupada performed the prana-pratistha (installation) ceremony for
Rukmini-Dvarakadish in LA in 1968, he named the Deities Radha-Krsna, and then
later he went to India.
"When he returned, he found that one disciple had changed the name. Prabhupada
became disturbed and said, 'Krsna has a peacock feather and flute. He is the
son of Nanda Maharaj. Why have you changed the name?' The argument was given
that since the LA temple was opulent and thus attractive to many people, the
names of the Deities should reflect that opulence, . . . to which Srila
Prabhupada replied that Sri Sri Radha-Krsna are supremely opulent. Shortly
thereafter, Prabhupada again went to India, but despite his objections, the
devotees still kept the name as Rukmini-Dvarakadisha."
While investigating this issue, we interviewed four former Los Angeles temple
presidents (including its first one, Dayananda Prabhu), many long-time temple
residents, and several of Srila Prabhupada's personal servants, including Hari
Sauri Prabhu and Srutakirti Prabhu. Not one of them ever heard or witnessed
anything even remotely close to this tale. On the altar in 1968 were a painting
of the Panca-tattva, the Jagannatha Deities, and small brass Radha-Krsna
Deities, who were referred to as "the Radha-Krsna Deities."
Manjuali dasi, who for years oversaw the worship of Sri Sri
Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa, gives the following history:
"The large marble Deities were installed in 1971 and were initially called 'Sri
Sri Radha and Krsna.' Srila Prabhupada had named various communities (New
Vrindaban, New Jagannatha Puri, etc.), and he named the Los Angeles devotee
community 'New Dwaraka' because of the devotees' houses and apartments
surrounding the temple and because of the community's opulence. A year or so
later, when there was a spate of Deity installations and Deity namings (New
York: Sri Sri Radha-Govinda; Dallas: Sri Sri Radha-Kalacandji; Detroit: Sri Sri
Radha-Kunjabihari; Toronto: Sri Sri Radha-Gopinatha; Chicago: Sri Sri
Kishora-Kishori), Jayatirtha asked Srila Prabhupada to name the Deities in LA.
At that time Srila Prabhupada approved the name Sri Sri Rukmini-Dvarakadhisha .
. . to harmonize with the name and mood of the community.
"Although I was not in the room, I also remember that when Jayatirtha asked
Srila Prabhupada if we could then call the little Radha-Krsna Deities Sri Sri
Rukmini-Dwarakanath, Srila Prabhupada approved."
Manjuali relates numerous times when Srila Prabhupada spoke or wrote to her
personally about the care of the Deities, always lovingly referring to Them as
Sri Sri Rukmini-Dwarakadhisa.
The contention that Srila Prabhupada proposed one set of names but that the
devotees argued with him for another, that they then ignored his repeated
requests, and that Srila Prabhupada finally begrudgingly acquiesced to the
desires of his neophyte disciples--such a scenario is completely incongruous
with the mood of the times. The spiritual climate in ISKCON at that time was
one of surrender: longhaired hippies were agreeing to shave up and give up
intoxication, free lovers were consenting to get married, we took it as an
article of faith that no one had landed on the moon, and sannyasis, temple
presidents, and GBCs took orders from Srila Prabhupada like small children.
The fact is that Srila Prabhupada, far from disapproving of the names
Rukmini-Dwarakadhisa, repeatedly used them in his letters and feelingly calling
out to "Dvarakadisha" in love. (See Appendix #2.)
Regarding the Deities in New Delhi, Bhudhara Prabhu states:
"According to Srila Narayana Maharaja, Prabhupada never intended the Delhi
Deities to be called Radha-Partha-sarathi. In the early 70's when Srila
Narayana Maharaja heard Their name, he asked Srila Prabhupada why he had done
that. Prabhupada answered that he had never given Them such a name, as that
would have been a contradiction to his own books."
And yet when Bhakti Charu Maharaja questioned Srila Narayana Maharaja on this
topic only a few months ago, he responded:
"Yes, I said that I could never understand why Swami Maharaja gave the name
Radha-Parthasarathi. Radharani's Krsna is Vrajendrananda's Krsna. Parthasarathi
is Dvarakadhisa Krsna--Vasudeva Krsna. Vrajendranandana . . . Krsna never
leaves Vrindavana, and Srimati Radharani does not go to anyone else. However, I
also said that there must be some reason why Swami Maharaja gave that name."
On the one hand Srila Narayana Maharaja relates how Srila Prabhupada told him
personally that he never gave the name Radha-Parthasarathi, and on the other
Srila Narayana Maharaja later relates how, while he cannot understand why Srila
Prabhupada gave Them the name, he accepts that there must be some legitimate
reason why he did so.
Leaving it to others to reconcile these two versions, we have the following
narration from Hari Sauri Prabhu:
"In 1976 in Nellore, Srila Prabhupada was directly questioned by Acyutananda on
this question. Acyutananda asked, 'At our New Delhi center the Deities are
called Sri Sri Radha-Partha-sarathi. Since Partha-sarathi means "the chariot
driver of Arjuna," how can Radharani, who is present only in Vrndavana-lila, be
included when Krsna is in that role?'
"Prabhupada answered, 'When Krsna is Partha-sarathi, Radha is out of Him? Does
it mean? Radha-krsna-pranaya-vikrtir hladini-saktir. When He is fighting, the
ahladini-sakti is there. It is not manifest."
This exchange calls to mind Srila Prabhupada's installation of Sri Sri
Krsna-Balarama as the central Deities of his Vrndavana temple in 1975. The
whispers from various Gaudiya Matha circles were that Srila Prabhupada was
revealing that he was "only" on the level of sakhya (friendship) or vatsalya
(parental affection). Therefore he did not place Radha-Krsna as the central
Deity.
To all this, Srila Prabhupada laughed and replied that since the temple was
situated at Ramana Reti, where Krsna and Balarama play with Their cowherd
boyfriends in the pleasing sands, and since there were already so many
Radha-Krsna temples in Vrindavana, Srila Prabhupada's preaching strategy was to
install Krsna-Balarama as something unique, to attract the general public to
our temple.
Another reason Srila Prabhupada installed Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama in Vrndavana
was to establish the identity of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. Since everyone in
Vrndavana knows Krsna and Balarama but many do not know Lord Caitanya and Lord
Nityananda, and since the proper worship of Radha-Krsna depends on establishing
a relationship with Guru-Gauranga and Gaura-Nitai (see Cc Adi 7.17, 8.31, and
Madhya 16.281, purports), installing Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama helps lead to the
understanding that in the present age They come as Gaura-Nitai and must be
approached first by one who aspires to worship Radha-Krsna.
Even advanced souls cannot always fathom the ways of an empowered world
preacher like Srila Prabhupada. ISKCON's conclusion, therefore, is that rather
than doubt what Srila Prabhupada gave us or try to change it to fit our
understanding, our safest course is to remain his surrendered followers by
simply accepting with full confidence that the path he has marked out is
complete, perfect, and sublime and will lead us to the highest goal.
**************************************
Vrndavana Encounter
In "My Heartly Blessings," Bhudhara Prabhu describes the following scene from
Srila Prabhupada's final days with us, in his bedroom in Vrndavana. He cites
the Lilamrta, vol.6, pages 399--401 as the reference.
"Prabhupada then requested Srila Narayana Maharaja to bring up his disciples in
Krsna Consciousness after his departure. He told Maharaja that his disciples
knew some things, but that there are so many things they do not know, and so he
asked Srila Narayana Maharaja to guide them. At the same meeting Maharaja
offered, 'You are my guru and I will follow your instructions until my last
breath.'"
Since the reference is the Lilamrta, we inquired about this incident from
Satsvarupa Maharaja. His reply, written on January 23, 1997, follows:
"You have written me about some description in Prabhupada-lilamrta and a quote
from a paper written by the followers of Srila Narayana Maharaja. The quote
from the followers claims that it comes from Prabhupada-lilamrta. But it does
not come from Prabhupada-lilamrta. The only part that is in the Lilamrta is
Srila Narayana Maharaja saying 'Whatever instructions you give me, I will
follow them with absolute sincerity. I consider you my guru.'
"This question has come up before. I remember in 1993 I heard (but did not see)
that Srila Narayana Maharaja made a video in which he said that Prabhupada
spoke to him this sort of instruction and that it was tape-recorded. Some
devotees came to me and asked, 'What about the tape recording?' I had no such
tape recording. In the Lilamrta I worked with tapes that were made in Srila
Prabhupada's room. I did not see anything there about Srila Prabhupada telling
Maharaja that his disciples knew some things but there were many things they
did not know and so Srila Narayana Maharaja should guide us. Yes, my
understanding was the same as what you mentioned--that Prabhupada asked us to
consult Narayana Maharaja and also Sridhara Maharaja for details about how to
observe the samadhi function.
"Of course, I cannot say that such a conversation did not take place. All I can
say is that I did not find any of it on the tapes that I used to create the
Prabhupada Lilamrta (talks in Hindi or Bengali were also translated for my
use).
"I think it will have to go down in history as something Srila Narayana
Maharaja says that Prabhupada said to him, but there is no other record of it
in anyone's tape recordings or diary."
-------------------------------------------------
"My Heartly Blessings" cites a specific time and place, referring to a
conversation described on pages 399 to 401 of the Lilamrta. It so happens that
at the time, Tamal Krsna Maharaja made an exact transcription of this entire
conversation in his diary. The Bengali portions were translated by Bhakti Charu
Maharaja.
In a recent interview, Tamal Krsna Maharaja read his transcription of the
entire conversation aloud. Srila Prabhupada asks Narayana Maharaja to encourage
the ISKCON devotees not to fight with each other, he asks everyone to cooperate
for the sake of preaching, he asks that any offenses he may have committed be
forgiven, and he asks Narayana Maharaja to please help with the details of his
samadhi ceremony. But there is no record of Srila Prabhupada saying to Srila
Narayana Maharaja, "My disciples know some things, but there are so many things
they do not know, and so you please guide them."
In all fairness to Srila Narayana Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada may have once said
informally or in passing (and thus the comment was missed by others), "Please
help them," or something to that effect. Out of kindness, humility, and in the
mood of closing the final chapter, Srila Prabhupada said so many encouraging
words in those last days, even to the point of begging all of his Godbrothers
for forgiveness.
In the ultimate issue, however, what matters is not so much what Srila
Prabhupada may or may not have said to Srila Narayana Maharaja, but what Srila
Prabhupada said to us, his disciples. And there is no record of him ever
instructing the members of ISKCON to take direction from Srila Narayana
Maharaja, other than to seek his advice concerning the details of performing
Srila Prabhupada's samadhi ceremony.
**************************************
Early Days
The followers of Srila Narayana Maharaja paint a picture of him being integral
to Srila Prabhupada's taking sannyasa and coming to the West. Since he is a
disciple of Srila Prabhupada's Godbrother Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja,
Srila Prabhupada had the affectionate relationship with Srila Narayana Maharaja
of a Goduncle to a Godnephew. And since Srila Prabhupada visited and at times
resided in Srila Kesava Maharaja's mathas in Mathura and Navadvip, he and Srila
Narayana Maharaja had a number of personal dealings. Later on, when Srila
Prabhupada resided in Vrndavana, Srila Narayana Maharaja would occasionally
visit him. Srila Narayana Maharaja has often stated that he regards Srila
Prabhupada as his siksa guru.
After reading Bhudhara Prabhu's presentation, one is reminded of another paper,
put out some years ago by the followers of Srila Sridhara Maharaja. In it they
stitch together a picture of Sridhara Maharaja all but launching Srila
Prabhupada to America: "Srila Prabhupada was the arrow, Srila Sridhara Maharaja
the bow."
Not according to Srila Prabhupada himself. Concerning Srila Prabhupada's taking
sannyasa, he credits his own spiritual master, first in writing and then in
dreams, as the motivating force. And He credits Srila Kesava Maharaja with
confirming that instruction and encouraging Srila Prabhupada to follow it. In
October 1968, on the occasion of Srila Kesava Maharaja's disappearance, Srila
Prabhupada spoke on this topic in Seattle. In that lecture he begins by
describing how Srila Kesava Maharaja urged him to take sannyasa. Then Srila
Prabhupada emotionally describes how actually his guru (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati) acted through Srila Kesava Maharaja.
As for coming to the West, Srila Prabhupada would always say "I came
single-handed." Save and except for the words of his spiritual master, Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and the order of Lord Caitanya, Srila
Prabhupada came alone.
**************************************
Initiations
As stated in the introduction, the main purpose of this paper is to spell out
the differences between the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and those of Srila
Narayana Maharaja. One of those differences has to do with the process of
initiation.
Both Sivarama Maharaja and Bhakti Charu Maharaja assert that Srila Narayana
Maharaja teaches that the guru, even when he gives diksa, does not take the
disciple's karma. When asked about this, Srila Narayana Maharaja told Bhakti
Charu Maharaja, "There is no sastric reference for this." In support of the
idea that the guru accepts the disciple's karma, Bhakti Charu Maharaja cites
Hari-bhakti-vilasa 1.77, which clearly states that the guru takes the sinful
reactions of the disciple:
rajni camatyaja dosah
patni-papam sva-bhartari
tatha sisyarjitam papam
guruh prapnoti niscitam
"Just as a king accepts the faults of his minister and a husband the sins of
his wife, similarly a spiritual master receives the sins of his disciples."
Sivarama Maharaja relates that when he questioned Srila Narayana Maharaja about
this several years ago, pointing out Srila Prabhupada's many clear statements
that the guru does in fact accept the disciple's karma, Srila Narayana Maharaja
responded, "This was simply a preaching device. Prabhupada was just trying to
scare you into following strictly."
Another controversy concerns whether Srila Narayana Maharaja has re-initiated
disciples of ISKCON gurus in good standing.
Bhudhara prabhu writes:
"There is no truth to the rumor that Srila Narayana Maharaja 're-initiates'
anyone; nor can any cases be publicly put forth that substantiate this claim.
Srila Narayana Maharaja has stated publicly and privately that he is not
interested in re-initiating anyone. To his knowledge he has not re-initiated
anyone who has been initiated by an ISKCON guru in good standing, neither has
he given first or second initiation to anyone in this situation"
In another section Bhudhara Prabhu quotes Srila Narayana Maharaja:
"The writer questioned Srila Narayana Maharaja on this topic, and he restated
his assertion that he has not, and will never, initiate devotees of existing
gurus."
What follows is but a partial list of devotees who were initiated by ISKCON
gurus in good standing but who have rejected their ISKCON guru and instead
taken shelter of Srila Narayana Maharaja. We emphasize that several of these
devotees have personally informed their ISKCON guru that they have left him and
have clearly stated that they have now taken re-initiation from Srila Narayana
Maharaja.
Parasurama dasa/ Gopal Krsna Maharaja
Vicitra Vasini devi dasi/ Jayapataka Swami
Navadvipa dasa/ Satsvarupa Maharaja
Santi dasi / Harikesa Swami
Parasara Muni dasa/ Gopal Krsna Maharaja
Ramacandra dasa / Gopal Krsna Maharaja
Pavana dasa/ Gopal Krsna Maharaja
Narmada dasi/ Satsvarupa Maharaja
Abhaya Mudra dasi/ Indradyumna Maharaja
Janaki dasi/ Prahladananda Maharaja
Jagannatha Krsna dasa/Satsvarupa Maharaja
Radhastami dasa/ Tamal Krsna Maharaja
Ayodhyapati dasa/ Krsna das Swami
Even if this list is challenged on the basis that there was no fire yajna, when
we study the pertinent statements in "My Heartly Blessings," a clear pattern
emerges.
Bhudhara Prabhu writes: "Much has been made of the Brijabasi nicknames that
Srila Narayana Maharaja uses for a few devotees with whom he has had
long-standing relationships."
Translation: Narayana Maharaja has changed devotees' names.
Bhudhara Prabhu writes: "That many devotees who are not his disciples address
him as 'Gurudeva' is nothing to be alarmed about."
Translation: There are devotees initiated by ISKCON gurus in good standing who,
having given up the instructions and shelter of their ISKCON guru, now address
Srila Narayan Maharaja as "Gurudeva" and see him as their primary spiritual
master.
Bhudhara Prabhu writes: "Sometimes, when asked, he has chanted on the beads. .
. . But this is merely to sanctify them so that the devotee's attention to japa
will be increased."
Translation: Narayana Maharaja has chanted on the beads of devotees initiated
by ISKCON gurus in good standing.
Bhudhara Prabhu writes: "In giving siksha to ISKCON devotees, Srila Narayana
Maharaja has sometimes explained the meaning of the maha-mantra or the Gayatri
mantra. . . . This been done in a supportive mood, and cannot in any way be
called initiation."
Translation: He has spoken the Gayatri mantra into the ear of devotees
initiated by ISKCON gurus in good standing.
If Narayana Maharaja changes the name, chants on the beads, gives the mantra,
and takes up the role of instructing spiritual master, eclipsing the original
ISKCON guru--in other words, if he performs all the elements of diksa except
the lighting of the sacrificial fire, is it not re-initiation in all but name
only?
(It should be noted that there were times when Srila Prabhupada himself did not
hold a fire yajna for initiations.)
Aside from the question of whether or not Narayana Maharaja performed all the
details of diksa, the undeniable fact is that a number of devotees who were
initiated by ISKCON gurus who are at present in good standing have rejected
their ISKCON guru and taken shelter of Srila Narayana Maharaja. And they have
been encouraged in that process. Even if one argues that the relationship
between Srila Narayana Maharaja and these devotees is just a siksha
relationship, it has been entered into without the sanction and blessings of
the initiating spiritual master. Rather, these devotees have taken shelter of
Narayana Maharaja over their diksa gurus' strong objections.
One rationale Narayana Maharaja gives for these re-initiations--and another of
his philosophical differences with Srila Prabhupada--is that harinama-diksa is
not real initiation. In his recent meeting with Bhakti Charu Maharaja, Srila
Narayana Maharaja said, "This is not really initiation. I am just encouraging
them. Real initiation begins with Gayatri."
Sivarama Swami and B. B. Govinda Maharaja have commented that they are certain
Srila Narayana Maharaja knows Srila Prabhupada taught that first initiation is
"real." They are also sure Srila Narayana Maharaja understands that devotees
who have been associated with ISKCON and are now with him see it as such.
In addition, Srila Narayana Maharaja's standards for initiation differ from
Srila Prabhupada's.
On the one hand, Bhudhara Prabhu writes:
"It is false to claim that NM initiates indiscriminately. Generally he follows
the same guidelines as ISKCON."
Yet on the other hand, the following reports have come in:
"As far as hari-nama diksa, we have seen that Narayana Maharaja gives first
initiation very freely. People just come to him on some auspicious day like
Gaura Purnima, he makes a little inquiry as to whether they are vegetarian,
whether they are teetotalers, whether they chant Hare Krsna. He chants on their
beads, gives them neck beads, gives them a picture, and I suppose gives them a
name. With devotees from ISKCON he may be more strict, but with congregational
devotees he is definitely very liberal." (Prahladananda Maharaja)
"In Holland, where Brahma-rata dasa solicited many congregational members to
see Narayana Maharaja, there were seventeen initiations, a number after the
initiates had come for only one or two days. Some of these persons didn't
realize the significance of their actions, and many don't follow the four
regulative principles." (Suhotra Swami)
"In Leicester, I learned from the temple president that Narayana Maharaja
planned to initiate two congregational members who were completely unqualified.
I faxed Narayana Maharaja and asked him to desist. When the temple president
delivered the letter, Narayana Maharaja replied, 'We do not want to create
trouble with ISKCON,' from which I inferred that he would respect my request.
Then he said, 'But giving a name and mala I do for children,' and consequently
he went down and did the initiation anyway." (Sivarama Swami)
How can we square these accounts with Bhudhara Prabhu's comments?
>From "My Heartly Blessings": "The standards that Srila Narayana Maharaja sets
for initiation are more stringent than those which are normally demanded in
ISKCON. His official request to brahminically initiated devotees is that they
chant a minimum of thirty-two rounds of japa mala a day."
The operative phrase here is "brahminically initiated devotees." Since Srila
Narayana Maharaja feels harinama-diksa is not a real initiation, he gives it
liberally, while he maintains a stricter standard for brahmana initiation,
which he considers the real initiation.
Certainly Srila Narayana Maharaja is free to set whatever criteria he deems
appropriate for his own preaching work. We in ISKCON, however, are obliged to
respect the standard set by Srila Prabhupada.
**************************************
(end of part 2 of 3)
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Date: Tue, 10 Jun 97 15:08 SST
From: COM: Premarnava (das) HKS (GBC Corr. Secretary) (NE-BBT) <Premarnava.HKS@com.bbt.se>
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Free Forum <Free.Forum@com.bbt.se> ; ; ;
Subject: "Following in Srila Prabhupada's Footsteps." Part 1 of 3
[Text 656514 from COM]
This is a paper Badrinarayan Prabhu has just completed entitled "Following in
Srila Prabhupada's Footsteps." It is a reply to "My Heartly Blessings," by
Narayana Maharaj via Bhudhara das.
Introduction
Some months ago, the followers of Srila Narayana Maharaja put out a paper
entitled "My Heartly Blessings," which makes a number of claims and places
several challenges before ISKCON. So far there has not been much response from
ISKCON. In some circles this silence has been misunderstood as agreement, or at
least as evidence of the lack of a solid reply. Now Bhudhara Prabhu has written
the following request:
"The writers of this paper . . . would humbly ask the writers of the GBC paper
to step forward and present their case."
So it now appears that it is our unavoidable duty to enter the fray. Since this
paper is a refutation, it may at times have a sharp tone. I apologize in
advance for this and humbly beg the readers for their understanding and mercy.
(In Appendix #1 I have listed some of the acerbic terms used by Bhudhara
Prabhu, lest ISKCON alone be accused of being confrontational.)
The purpose of this paper is simple: to point out the differences between Srila
Prabhupada's instructions, standards, practices, and mood and those of Srila
Narayana Maharaja. Why do those differences matter? The following quotation
sheds light. (The events described here took place at Stinson Beach,
California, in 1967, shortly before Srila Prabhupada returned to India to
regain his health.)
"Devotees worried, speculating on whether they could carry on without Swamaji.
One devotee suggested that perhaps one of Swamiji's Godbrothers should come to
America and fill in for Swamiji and, if the worst happened, take over the
leadership of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. When the
suggestion reached Prabhupada, he considered it without immediately replying.
Mukunda: I was sitting alone with Swamiji in his room, and he was very grave
and silent. His eyes were closed. Then, suddenly, tears began flowing from his
eyes. And he said in a choked voice, "My spiritual master was no ordinary
spiritual master." Then he paused for some time, and wiping the tears from his
cheeks, he said in an even more choked voice, "He saved me." At that point I
began to understand the meaning of "spiritual master" and dropped all
consideration of ever replacing Swamiji.
After two days Prabhupada said he would not call any of his Godbrothers to come
and take care of his disciples. He said, "If this person speaks even one word
different from what I am speaking, there will be great confusion among you."
Actually, he said, the idea was an insult to the spiritual master.
(Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta, 3, "Only He Could Lead Them," pp. 162 and 163)
-------------------------------------------------
The intent of this paper is not to disparage Srila Narayana Maharaja. Its
purpose, again, is simply to point out that Srila Narayana Maharaja's path is
substantively different from the one Srila Prabhupada chalked out. While Srila
Narayana Maharaja certainly has the right to guide his followers as he sees
fit, ISKCON has a sacred duty to maintain its precious legacy, so carefully
crafted by our founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada. Carrying out this duty will benefit us and the many generations to
come.
**************************************
Raganuga-bhakti
The foremost philosophical difference between Srila Prabhupada and Srila
Narayana Maharaja concerns the means for obtaining ultimate perfection in
spiritual life. In numerous lectures and writings, Srila Narayana Maharaja has
stressed that one needs to hear intimate krsna-lila from a "rasika-bhakta" and
to learn various raganuga practices from him. He states that by such hearing
even neophytes become qualified, and that in fact such hearing is necessary for
spiritual advancement.
Much has been volleyed back and forth on this question, and so we see no real
need to add to the papers already written on the topic. But we should point out
that while Bhudhara Prabhu argues in his papers that Srila Narayana Maharaja
does not speak publicly on this subject, Bhudhara then adds, "But if he did in
the past, he does not speak about it so publicly now," and then closes by
saying that even if Srila Narayana Maharaja does in fact stress this topic, it
is necessary and appropriate.
Apart from Bhudhara Prabhu's ambiguous statements, the simple fact is that
Srila Narayana Maharaja does hold this opinion. He promoted this view to the
first ISKCON devotees who visited him, he openly advocated it in his address to
ISKCON devotees at the Kesava Matha in September 1994 and in addresses at the
Krishna-Balarama Temple and Mayapur Chandrodoya Temple before large ISKCON
audiences, and he confirmed his conviction only a few months ago during a
conversation with Bhakti Charu Maharaja in India.
It is not that ISKCON is uninformed about raganuga-bhakti, the propagation of
which forms one part of the dual purpose for Lord Krsna's appearing as Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago. Srila Prabhupada has fully revealed to us
this aspect of the Lord's lila in his commentated translation of the
Caitanya-caritamrta:
-------------------------------------------------
Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi 4.225--26:
TRANSLATION
Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya is the abode of rasa. He Himself tasted the sweetness
of rasa in endless ways. Thus He initiated the dharma for the Age of Kali. The
devotees of Lord Caitanya know all these truths.
PURPORT
Lord Caitanya is Sri Krsna Himself, the absolute enjoyer of the love of the
gopis. He Himself assumes the role of the gopis to taste the predominated
happiness of transcendental mellows. He appeared in that mode, but
simultaneously He propagated the religious process for this age in a most
fascinating way. Only the confidential devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu can
understand this transcendental secret.
-------------------------------------------------
While recognizing and appreciating this intimate aspect of Lord Caitanya's
lila, Srila Prabhupada, in his purports and by his personal example, left no
doubt as to the method and mood by which we were to approach Lord Caitanya and
thus attain this highest perfection.
>From Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 15.162--63:
TRANSLATION
[Vasudeva Datta said to Lord Caitanya:] My Lord, my heart breaks to see the
sufferings of all the conditioned souls; therefore I request You to transfer
the karma of their sinful lives upon my head. My dear Lord, let me suffer
perpetually in a hellish condition, accepting all the sinful reactions of all
living entities. Please finish their diseased material life.
PURPORT
Actually, there cannot be any comparison to Vasudeva Datta. As the perfect
Vaisnava, he was para-duhkha-duhkhi, very much aggrieved to see others suffer.
The entire world is purified simply by the appearance of such a great devotee.
Indeed, by his transcendental presence the whole world is glorified and all
conditioned souls are also glorified. As Narottama dasa Thakura confirms,
Vasudeva Datta is the ideal devotee of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
-------------------------------------------------
In the Antya-lila (3.51), while describing the glories of Haridasa Thakura,
Srila Prabhupada again underlines the mood and practices of "an ideal devotee
of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu":
TRANSLATION
[Lord Caitanya said to Haridasa Thakura:] How will these yavanas be delivered?
To My great unhappiness, I do not see any way.
PURPORT
This verse reveals the significance of Lord Sri Caitanya's appearance as
patita-pavana, the deliverer of all the fallen souls. Srila Narottama dasa
Thakura sings, patita-pavana-hetu tava avatara: "O my Lord, You have appeared
just to deliver all the fallen souls." Mo-sama patita prabhu na paibe ara: "And
among all the fallen souls, I am the lowest." How Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu
was always thinking about the deliverance of the fallen souls is shown by the
statement e duhkha apara ("It is My great unhappiness"). This statement
indicates that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the Supreme Personality of
Godhead Krsna Himself, is always very unhappy to see the fallen souls in the
material world. Therefore He Himself comes as He is, or He comes as a devotee
in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to deliver love of Krsna directly to
the fallen souls. Namo maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradaya te. Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu is so merciful that He not only gives knowledge of Krsna but by His
practical activities teaches everyone how to love Krsna (krsna-prema-pradaya
te). Those who are following in the footsteps of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu should
take the Lord's mission most seriously.
...
One who identifies himself as a follower of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu should feel
like Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who said, iha-sabara kon mate ha-ibe nistara:
"How will all these yavanas be delivered?" Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was always
anxious to deliver the fallen souls because their fallen condition gave Him
great unhappiness. That is the platform on which one can propagate the mission
of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
-------------------------------------------------
In his purport to Srila Haridasa Thakura's response to Lord Caitanya (Cc Antya
3.52), Srila Prabhupada reveals his own ecstatic service mood, the mood members
of ISKCON aspire to emulate.
TRANSLATION
Haridasa Thakura replied, "My dear Lord, do not be in anxiety. Do not be
unhappy to see the condition of the yavanas in material existence."
PURPORT
These words of Haridasa Thakura are just befitting a devotee who has dedicated
his life and soul to the service of the Lord. When the Lord is unhappy because
of the condition of the fallen souls, the devotee consoles Him, saying, "My
dear Lord, do not be in anxiety." This is service. Everyone should adopt the
cause of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to try to relieve Him from the anxiety He
feels. This is actually service to the Lord. One who tries to relieve Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu's anxiety for the fallen souls is certainly a most dear and
confidential devotee of the Lord.
-------------------------------------------------
It is in the above context that we in ISKCON understand Lord Caitanya's "inner
feelings" and read the following statement by Srila Prabhupada in his purport
to Cc Antya 1.117:
PURPORT
The special function of Srila Rupa Gosvami is to establish the feelings of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu. These feelings are His desires that His special mercy be
spread throughout the world in this Kali-yuga.
prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
His desire is that all over the world everyone, in every village and every
town, know of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His sankirtana movement. These are
the inner feelings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Rupa Gosvami committed to
writing all these feelings of the Lord. Now again, by the mercy of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, the same feelings are being spread all over the world by the
servants of the Gosvamis, and devotees who are pure and simple will appreciate
this attempt.
-------------------------------------------------
Srila Prabhupada never intimated that the processes of devotional service he
gave us via ISKCON were only rudimentary or would need revision or elaboration
later on. Rather, he stated the opposite quite emphatically in a conversation
with a devotee on January 28, 1977:
PRABHUPADA: We have got everything clearly stated, that we observe these
regulative principles, chant minimum sixteen rounds, and act as far as possible
for the service of the Lord. Where is the difficulty? PRTHU-PUTRA: Maybe the
realization may not be there.
PRABHUPADA: What is that realization? This is the prescribed duty. So there is
no question of realization. You must do it.
PRTHU-PUTRA: Yes, they must and they also do it. PRABHUPADA: Then where is the
doubt? Let me go on with my duty. That's all. Why shall I be disturbed by so
many things? Let me see whether I am discharging my duties properly. That's
all.
PRTHU-PUTRA: That is what should be told to them.
PRABHUPADA: Yes, he may be very fortunate that he is dreaming [of higher
things]. "All right, keep aside. Do your duty. You are very fortunate. But
don't bother now. First of all be strong and follow." Otherwise, ei chure paka.
Stunted jackfruit. Jackfruit becomes so big, but one fruit, it is so small.
Taya eka channi sa. And it has become ripened. So it has no taste, neither it
can be used for cooking--useless. A small fruit ripened, it is useless either
for this person or that. So do your duty. Guru mukha padma vakya cittete koriya
. . . ara na koriya. That is bhajan. As soon as he deviates--yasya prasadan na
gatih kuto 'pi. He is finished. That has happened to N. . . . It is the effect
of bad association.
. . .
PRABHUPADA: Whatever my parents say, that's all I shall do. I shall do nothing
[else]," then he is safe. . . . And as soon as he manufactures -- finished. So
don't do this. Yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau tasyaite kathita
. . . This is the secret of spiritual success.
. . .
PRABHUPADA: Now, I'll say from my practical life . . . It is not pride.
Actually everyone knows that my Guru Maharaja had thousands of disciples. So
out of thousands of disciples, practically I am a little successful. That
everyone knows. Why? Because I firmly believed in the words of my guru. That's
all. There may be many other Godbrothers, maybe very learned and very advanced,
favored, whatever it may be. . . . So I think sometimes that "Why this
wonderful thing has happened to me?" So I search out. I search out only that I
cent percent believe in the words of my spiritual [master]. That's all, nothing
else. Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya, ara na koriho mane asa.
Don't think any nonsense. Simply execute what your guru has said. That is
success.
-------------------------------------------------
The simple fact is that Srila Narayana Maharaja and Srila Prabhupada differ
significantly in the matter of their moods and the means needed for perfection
in devotional service.
While speaking to one of his BBT trustees, Srila Prabhupada quoted a verse from
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura's "Gurv-astaka": nikunja-yuno
rati-keli-siddhyai ya yalibhir yuktir apeksaniya tatrati-daksyad
ati-vallabhasya. . . . He said that Radharani is making tasteful arrangements
for the gopis to meet Krsna. Lord Caitanya is Radha-Krsna combined, and one
aspect of His lila is to bring the conditioned souls to the lotus feet of Lord
Krsna via His sankirtana movement. Srila Prabhupada said that the esoteric
understanding of sankirtana is that we are also helping in this intimate lila
of bringing the conditioned souls to the lotus feet of the Lord, and in this
way we can become qualified to receive the highest mercy and experience the
highest tastes of bhakti-rasa.
Srila Prabhupada was known to suppress his ecstatic symptoms in his efforts to
push forward the mission of his spiritual master. Serving his guru's orders to
spread Krsna consciousness all over the world was what Srila Prabhupada
declared to be his path to perfection. When asked, "What if you leave your body
outside Vrindavana?", Srila Prabhupada responded by saying that it is glorious
for a fighter to leave his body on the battlefield and that he was praying "for
the benediction to fight like Arjuna, until my last breath." We can see how
Krsna perfectly arranged everything for such a surrendered soul.
Thus Srila Prabhupada was unique among his Godbrothers in the degree of his
attachment to the orders of his spiritual master and in fulfilling his guru's
mission.
Srila Prabhupada repeatedly noted that many members of the Gaudiya Matha were
unable to understand that working cooperatively within the framework of an
institution, under a governing body, was most pleasing to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura and the previous acaryas. The essential maxim is yasya
prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto 'pi. Only by pleasing
one's guru does the Supreme Lord become pleased, and only then is everything
revealed.
Other papers have already made the case that the sincere aspirant who
faithfully serves Srila Prabhupada by following his directions for sadhana and
working wholeheartedly to fulfill the goals of his preaching mission will
automatically come to the highest levels of realization. We do not need to add
anything to or subtract anything from the process Srila Prabhupada established
while personally present on the planet; rather, by absorbing ourselves totally
in fulfilling the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, we will surpass all other
processes. This unflinching faith in and surrender to the orders of one's
spiritual master is Srila Prabhupada's "secret" teaching, the key he gave us to
unlock the highest realizations and tastes.
**************************************
Tulasidasa's Rama-carita-manasa
Last spring (1996), during a public lecture at the Radha-ramana temple in
southern California, Srila Narayana Maharaja declared, "I do not know why
ISKCON's GBC criticizes Tulasi dasa." First, there is question about the
propriety of this comment, which was surely inflammatory, given that his
audience consisted largely of many Indians with a cultural attachment to Tulasi
dasa's book. (A number of ISKCON life members were also there.) But putting
that issue aside, the simple reply to Srila Narayana Maharaja's statement is
"because Srila Prabhupada did," as shown by the following excerpts from an
exchange of letters between Srila Narayana Maharaja and Bhakti Vaidurya Madhava
Maharaja.
-------------------------------------------------
Srila Narayana Maharaja:
"For your information, Tulasi dasaji was a Vaisnava belonging to the Ramananda
sampradaya, a branch of the Sri sampradaya."
"He has not expressed mayavada conclusions in any of his writings."
"If Srila Tulasi dasa was indeed a Mayavadi, then kindly present some concrete
evidence to support your conclusion."
"Although we are substantiating the authority of the Tulasi Ramayana, the
question may be asked why we don't regard it on the same level as the Gaudiya
Vaisnava literature. The reason for this is that although, according to
Vaisnava siddhanta, it is accepted as bhakti scripture in a routine sense, it
does not present a complete description of raganuga (or rupanuga) rasamayi
bhakti."
(Comment: In other words, Narayana Maharaja maintains that Tulasi dasa's book
is authoritative and should be accepted, although it does not contain
descriptions of the highest levels of bhakti exhibited in Krsna's
Vrndavana-lila.)
-------------------------------------------------
Srila Prabhupada's statements concerning Tulasi dasa's Rama-carita-manasa:
"Don't divert your attention in that way. The author of Rama-carita-manasa,
Gosvami Tulasi dasa, has a tint of Mayavadi philosophy. He belongs to the
Ramananda Sampradaya. They are mixed up combination of personalist and
impersonalist. Therefore, the author is not considered as pure Vaisnava."
"Prabhupada responded that Tulasi dasa's Ramayana was popular because there is
very little literature available in Hindi. Otherwise, he did not have a very
good opinion about it."
"When Jayapataka Maharaja suggested that it could be translated by a Gaudiya
Vaisnava and its philosophical errors corrected, Prabhupada dismissed it. 'Why?
Gaudiya Vaisnava has immense literature. Why should they bother with Tulasi
dasa? By reading Tulasi dasa's Rama-carita-manasa, in my experience, I have not
seen a single man come to the spiritual platform. I have not seen a single
man."
[Hari Sauri Prabhu's "A Transcendental Diary," Volume 4, page 205.]
-------------------------------------------------
"Regarding the two books you have mentioned, Sri Rama-carita-manasa by Gosvami
Tulasi dasa is not very authorized, and Ramayana is authorized . The author of
Rama-carita-manasa, Gosvami Tulasi dasa, has a tint of Mayavadi philosophy. He
belongs to the Ramananda sampradaya. They are mixed up combination of
personalists and impersonalist. Therefore, the author is not considered as pure
Vaisnava. Pure Vaisnava is free from all mental contamination of fruitive
activities and mental speculation. The pure Vaisnava is simply, purely disposed
to transcendental loving service to Krishna. The pure Vaishnava rejects
anything which has no pure idea of serving the Supreme Personality." (Letter to
Raktaka, September 6th, 1969)
"From your book 'Soviet Studies of India' I understand that academician Mr. A.
P. Baranikov completed a great translation, working the matter of Tulasi dasa's
'Ramayana' into Russian. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the ripe, mature fruit of the
Vedic knowledge, and Tulasi dasa's Ramayana (Rama-carita-manasa) is but a
partial representative of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The real Ramayana is Valmiki's
Ramayana." (Letter to Professor Kotovsky, June 24th, 1971)
"Actually, Tulasi dasa has expressed his own feelings about his devotion to
Lord Rama, and therefore he has named it Rama-carita-manasa. . . . But people
have misinterpreted; they are going on just it is Ramayana. . . . But real
Ramayana means the Ramayana composed by Valmiki Ramayana. Ramayana composed by
Maharsi Valmiki. And this is-- It is a popular notion that this is Ramayana,
but actually this book is called Rama-carita-manasa. So some of the description
of Rama are there, but not all the description. Rather there are many
differences from the original Valmiki Ramayana." (Lecture in Montreal, August
30, 1968)
Clearly, concerning Tulasi dasa, Srila Prabhupada directs us in one way, Srila
Narayana Maharaja in another.
**************************************
Srila Prabhupada's siksa
As mentioned above, when Srila Narayana Maharaja states in public "I do not
know why ISKCON criticizes Tulasi dasa," the reply is that ISKCON directs
readers away from Tulasi dasa because Srila Prabhupada does. If one is claiming
to be following and revealing Srila Prabhupada's instructions, it behooves one
to know clearly what Srila Prabhupada's teachings are.
Satsvarupa Maharaja, Tamal Krsna Maharaja, Giriraja Maharaja, Sivarama
Maharaja, Dhanurdhara Maharaja, and Bhurijana Prabhu all associated with Srila
Narayana Maharaja at various times over the course of several years. They all
confirm that in his lectures, personal instructions, and private readings Srila
Narayana Maharaja did not consult, quote, or read from Srila Prabhupada's
books. (It is noteworthy that all these devotees have now distanced themselves
from Srila Narayana Maharaja precisely because they have realized that his mood
and teachings differ from Srila Prabhupada's.) One could argue that the reason
he does not know why ISKCON takes certain stands is that he himself is not
fully informed of Srila Prabhupada's teachings and standards. Still, even when
he has been informed of Srila Prabhupada's position on certain topics, Srila
Narayana Maharaja has preferred to teach otherwise.
This is his prerogative. Srila Prabhupada comments in several places in the
Bhagavatam that even great souls may disagree. So his differing with Srila
Prabhupada is not necessarily a fault. The simple fact remains, however, that
on a number of issues Srila Prabhupada teaches one way and Srila Narayana
Maharaja another.
**************************************
Missing letters
Bhudhara Prabhu reports that Srila Prabhupada wrote several hundred letters to
Srila Narayana Maharaja:
"Srila Narayana Maharaja in good faith loaned these letters to ISKCON as his
contribution towards building the Srila Prabhupada archives and for the
official biography written by Satsvarupa Maharaja. Unfortunately they have all
been lost (perhaps burnt in a fire) while in the care of ISKCON."
The number of letters has often been put at "over 300." This would be far more
letters than Srila Prabhupada wrote to anyone else--any GBC member, temple
president, sannyasi, early devotee, or friend in India. It would be well over
two letters a month for the entire time Srila Prabhupada preached after
launching ISKCON in 1966. Yet none of Srila Prabhupada's secretaries can recall
writing more than one or two letters to Srila Narayana Maharaja, if any.
When questioned about this, some of his followers have revised the figure down
to 200 letters, or "several hundred." Even so, the same basic question remains.
Should it be argued that the letters were written before Srila Prabhupada came
to the West, the question then arises, "Why would such a lengthy and rich
written dialogue suddenly stop upon Srila Prabhupada's arrival in America?"
Concerning the statement that the letters were sent to America to provide
source material for Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta, Satsvarupa Maharaja says that
Srila Narayana Maharaja never let him know that such a treasure trove of
letters was on its way or inquired where and how to send it. Nor do Satsvarupa
Maharaja or the devotees then working at the BBT and Archives offices in Los
Angeles recollect ever receiving the letters. Nor is there any record of the
reception of such letters by the BBT or the Archives, nor of any follow-up by
Srila Narayana Maharaja inquiring whether the letters had arrived safely.
When Bhudhara Prabhu says above that the letters were "perhaps burnt in a
fire," he refers to a story that the letters were lost in a fire at Gita-Nagari
in the early 1980's. Pranada dasi, who was Satsvarupa Maharaja's secretary at
the time, oversaw the Gita-Nagari press and was involved in the production of
the Lilamrta. She says:
"I never saw these letters or heard anything about them, and if they had
arrived I would have known. We worked mainly from transcripts of personal
interviews; whatever Prabhupada letters we referenced were photocopies of
originals, and these copies were sent to us from the BBT in LA.
"There was a fire in the house where the Lilamrta research material was kept.
But again, the material stored there consisted of transcripts of interviews and
only copies of letters. As far as I know, there were no Prabhupada letters that
had been sent from Narayana Maharaja. When the work was completed--when all the
Lilamrta volumes were printed and the series of little red books was
done--whatever material we had was sent back to the original owners, the
individuals who gave them to us in the first place."
Assuming that the letters were not burned in the Gita-Nagari fire but that they
were lost in transit from India to America, it is quite surprising that no
copies were made of the originals of this most valuable transcendental
commodity before they were either entrusted by Srila Narayana Maharaja to
someone to deliver by hand or deposited into that mail system notorious the
world over for its unreliability, the Indian postal service.
**************************************
(end of part 1 of 3)
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 97 15:08 SST
From: COM: Premarnava (das) HKS (GBC Corr. Secretary) (NE-BBT) <Premarnava.HKS@com.bbt.se>
To: COM: , Free Forum <Free.Forum@com.bbt.se> COM: ,
Global Free Forum <Global.Free.Forum@com.bbt.se> COM: ,
USA Free Forum <USA.Free.Forum@com.bbt.se> ; ; ;
Subject: "Following in Srila Prabhupada's Footsteps." Part 3 of 3
[Text 656516 from COM]
This is a paper Badrinarayan Prabhu has just completed entitled "Following in
Srila Prabhupada's Footsteps." It is a reply to "My Heartly Blessings," by
Narayana Maharaj via Bhudhara das.
Householder Disciples
Srila Prabhupada laid out a clear code for his householder disciples: intimate
relations are permitted only once a month, and then only for the purpose of
having children and after fifty rounds of japa are chanted.
Bhurijana Prabhu gives the following report based on his talks with Srila
Narayana Maharaja:
"Narayana Maharaja said that no Gaudiya Vaisnava acarya had ever given such
explicit instructions regulating household life. He asked why Srila Prabhupada
bothered with the private affairs of married couples, saying that it is not
really the business of the guru to give instructions on these matters."
Again, Srila Narayana Maharaja is free to teach as he likes; ISKCON follows
Srila Prabhupada.
**************************************
Srila Prabhupada's spiritual identity
Bhudhara Prabhu writes:
"Srila Narayana Maharaja has suggested . . . how we might appreciate what hints
Srila Prabhupada has given us about his nitya-lila."
He then goes on to string together bhajans Srila Prabhupada chanted, book
prefaces, and the sannyasa mantra to make a case for Srila Prabhupada's being
in gopi-bhava.
Whenever Srila Prabhupada was asked about this topic, he would become quiet and
stern. His stock answer, oft repeated, was "That you do not require."
Since we respect Srila Prabhupada's statements on this subject, enough said. We
should simply note that it was not his mood to reveal his spiritual identity to
us, nor do we need to know it. (A final observation: That so much time and
attention has been spent on a topic we "do not require" illustrates the types
of distractions one can fall prey to when there is premature hearing of
"rasa-katha.")
**************************************
Cooperation
"My Heartly Blessings" contains an emotional appeal for an "ecumenical spirit"
among Vaisnava institutions. Bhudhara Prabhu admonishes ISKCON to "transcend
crippling institutional limitations."
No one will deny that Srila Prabhupada would have liked to see more cooperation
between his Godbrothers and ISKCON. Simultaneously, Srila Prabhupada was fully
aware of the sad history resulting from his disciples' association with certain
of his Godbrothers.
Bhudhara Prabhu himself admits as much, while trying to couch his admission in
the following artfully constructed paragraph:
"While we do not want to digress into a review of the history of relations
between the two institutions, it may be helpful to reference some of the
positive aspects of the relationship. This may also lead to a more full
understanding of a history that cannot be summarily discounted by reference to
misunderstandings of the past. It is easy to create catch-phrases that lump the
non-familiar into convenient undesirable categories."
Why don't we want to "digress into a review of the history of relations between
the two institutions"? Because such a digression would inevitably review the
painful history of slights, abuses, and attacks tolerated by Srila Prabhupada
and ISKCON.
What are those "misunderstandings of the past"? Could they be Srila
Prabhupada's numerous warnings to his disciples to avoid mixing with members of
the Gaudiya Matha?
It was not without good cause that Srila Prabhupada wrote the following warning
to Rupanuga Prabhu in a letter dated 28 April 1974:
"We shall be very careful about [my Godbrothers] and not mix with them. This is
my instruction to you all. They cannot help us in our movement, but they are
very competent to harm our natural progress. So we must be very careful about
them."
Actually, ISKCON has tried to be one of the most accommodating of all the
Gaudiya Vaisnava missions. According to Jayapataka Maharaja, a long-time
observer of the relations among the various Gaudiya Mathas, it is practically
unheard-of for the acarya of one matha to expect to be able to travel to
another matha's various branches and be given a forum to lecture to the local
matha's residents and congregation. Yet ISKCON had been willing to try this,
bringing its members to hear from Srila Narayana Maharaja and hosting him at
our various temples. (It is only when the canvassing and criticism by Srila
Narayana Maharaja's followers became intolerable that ISKCON broke off the
relationship.)
Bhudhara Prabhu makes his case for cooperation primarily by presenting excerpts
from Srila Prabhupada's letters and conversations. Further study reveals that
most of those letters and conversations concern Srila Prabhupada's efforts to
work on joint preaching programs through the Bhaktivedanta Charity Trust.
Srila Prabhupada, with his usual genius, was trying to find a way to build a
bond of mutual respect and cooperation between ISKCON and the Gaudiya Matha
while protecting his institution from the Gaudiya Matha's proven tendency to
infiltrate and try to change ISKCON. We are safest if we follow in Srila
Prabhupada's footsteps by cooperating with the Gaudiya Matha in executing
preaching programs in which we have a mutual interest, such as restoring
tirthas and distributing prasadam to large numbers of people. These are, of
course, the very activities of his Bhaktivedanta Charity Trust, as mentioned in
those original letters and conversations.
History teaches us that problems arise not from the institutional distinctions
between ISKCON and the Gaudiya Matha but when Gaudiya Matha members become
instrumental in promoting changes in the practices and philosophy established
by Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada, while the emblem of humility, was adamant that in all formal
contexts his name bear the title "founder-acarya." He insisted that the full
title be used on all ISKCON buildings, books, letterheads, advertisements, etc.
>From the Vedic literature we learn that one of the meanings of the term
founder-acarya (samsthapakacarya) is "he who sets the standards to which all
others conform." Srila Prabhupada clearly intended the standards he established
for the philosophy and practice of Krsna consciousness to remain as the norm
for ISKCON for the next ten thousand years.
Bhudhara Prabhu advocates closer relations with the Gaudiya Matha and cites
Srila Prabhupada's statements about "cooperation" as the basis for this
rapprochement. However, he omits an important principle on which Srila
Prabhupada saw that such cooperation should be based. Bhudhara Prabhu writes:
"From the early days of his mission until his last, Srila Prabhupada encouraged
cooperation with his Godbrothers."
Bhudhara Prabhu quotes the following line from a letter by Srila Prabhupada
dated 5 September 1969:
"I am sure if Gaudiya Mission and I combine together, it will be very nice
thing to preach the cult of Lord Caitanya all over the world."
But Bhudhara Prabhu omits the very next sentence, in which Srila Prabhupada
writes:
"I can reorganize all the branches of the Gaudiya Math in India, and if there
is any financial question, it will be not difficult for our society to help in
that way also."
In other words, the basis for cooperation was to be that Srila Prabhupada, as
the one truly successful worldwide preacher, would "reorganize all the branches
of the Gaudiya Matha." It was not that ISKCON would accept the Gaudiya Matha's
leadership and gradually abandon or alter the standards and philosophical
principles given by Srila Prabhupada.
**************************************
The Original Position of the Jiva
In his public statements and personal communications, Srila Narayana Maharaja
teaches that the jivas cannot fall from the spiritual world.
Even the most adamant "no fall" advocates concede that whenever Srila
Prabhupada was directly asked about the original position of the jivas in the
material world, he replied with his standard answer: "Once we were with Krsna,
but by misusing our free will we have fallen to this material world. By
practicing the science of devotional service to Krsna we can revive our
original consciousness and return back home, back to Godhead."
Srila Narayana Maharaja preaches in one way, Srila Prabhupada in another. No
doubt Srila Narayana Maharaja is fully entitled to present Krsna consciousness
as he likes. Our duty is to accept the version of Srila Prabhupada and preach
as he did.
(See Appendixes #3 and #4.)
**************************************
Conclusion
Bhudhara prabhu writes:
"The GBC's position paper suggests that Srila Narayana Maharaja somehow wants
to 'modify' Srila Prabhupada's legacy. This is so misleading that in
non-ecclesiastical circles it would be considered slanderous."
Before responding to this statement, let us recap what ISKCON is being asked to
embrace:
* A stress on the need for raganuga practices and hearing "rasa-katha from a
rasika-bhakta"
* the broad introduction of literature whose study was previously restricted by
Srila Prabhupada
* a new interpretation of what Srila Prabhupada's "unfinished work" was
* a new meaning of first initiation
* a theory that the guru does not accept the karma of his disciple
* that ISKCON is now to be influenced by unseen letters and decisions not
necessarily based on a deep study of Srila Prabhupada's books
* different standards for first initiation
* different standards for the grhastha-asrama
* a new definition of ISKCON'S role among the various Gaudiya missions
* re-interpretation of the mood of the Deity worship in at least two leading
ISKCON temples
* various theories about Srila Prabhupada's spiritual identity
* a different preaching presentation on the origin of the jiva
In a number of lectures to ISKCON devotees, Srila Narayana Maharaja complained
that he had much to give ISKCON but that he was being blocked by its leaders.
What he wants to give is summarized in the above list. It is difficult to
imagine any ISKCON leader going before Srila Prabhupada and presenting to him
such a list of proposed modifications.
The truth is not slander. There is no question but that there are many
differences between Srila Prabhupada's presentation and that of Srila Narayana
Maharaja.
ISKCON recognizes Srila Narayana Maharaja as an advanced Vaisnava. Its leaders
appreciate his many services to Srila Prabhupada in the past. He is certainly
free to travel all over the world and preach as his realization inspires him,
and ISKCON wishes him success in his efforts.
At the same time, all members of ISKCON, and in particular its leaders, are
enjoined by the following statement of Srila Prabhupada:
"It is not that I disobey my real Spiritual Master and call someone else as
Spiritual Master. That is wrong. It is only that I can call Spiritual Master
[siksa-guru] someone who is teaching me purely what my initiating Spiritual
Master has taught." (Letter to Sri Galim, 20 November 1971)
If we have committed any offenses in the course of this presentation, we assure
Srila Narayana Maharaja and his followers that they are unintended and
regretted. We pray that they will be merciful upon us, understanding that while
these are delicate matters, we are dutybound to speak as we have been taught by
His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.
In the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Badrinarayan dasa
Member ISKCON GBC
June 6, 1997
**************************************
APPENDIXES
Appendix #1
Bhudhara Prabhu criticizes the tone of the GBC position paper regarding ISKCON
devotees' taking siksa from Srila Narayana Maharaja. The following is a
sampling of the terms Bhudhara Prabhu aims at the authors of the GBC paper:
Sophomoric, devious, libelous, lacking common sense, insidious, foolish,
scare-mongering, paranoia, lack of experience and philosophical skill,
dark-minded, lack of open-mindedness, brow-beat the reader, to lack a
generosity of spirit, high-handed ecclesiastical mode of presentation, heresy,
deceitful behavior, dark nature, unseemly.
With all due respect, the old adage "Physician, heal thyself" does come to
mind.
Appendix #2
In the letters that follow Srila Prabhupada refers directly to Sri Sri
Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa. This correspondence certainly forms a strong argument
that he accepted those names. The excerpt from a room conversation shows Srila
Prabhupada personally using the name Dvarakadhisa with affection and intimacy.
Letter, 24 Nov 1976
Thank you very much for the pictures of Rukmini Dvarakadhisa. They are very
nice.
Letter, 10 Nov 1975
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your card dated October 25,
1975, along with the beautiful photographs of Sri Sri Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa of
New Dvaraka.
Letter, 29 Jun 1973
It is very encouraging to hear the arrangement you are making for worship of
Their Lordships Sri Dvarakadhisa and Rukmini. Please do it very nicely and I
shall be glad to see the completed result.
-------------------------------------------------
The following exchange is excerpted from a room conversation recorded in
Vrndavana on June 17, 1977. Here Srila Prabhupada recalls very intimately
addressing Krsna in Los Angeles as Dvarakadhisa as early as 1970. Srila
Prabhupada is describing how he left Vrndavana in 1965 and came to the West,
and then how Krsna sent him back to India to establish temples in Mayapur and
Vrindaban.
-------------------------------------------------
TAMALA KRSNA: Actually, when you intended to go to America, everyone was
advising, "Better not go. It is too dangerous for someone of your age. Do not
go." Someone even said that you may not come back.
SRILA PRABHUPADA: I thought all this. I went to USA not to come back. I left
here hopeless. I did not want to come back. I went with determination that "If
I do this job, I will survive." So Krsna helped me. . . . I made my
headquarters in Los Angeles.
TAMALA KRSNA: Well . . . by your coming here it was wonderful.
SRILA PRABHUPADA: That means Krsna desired. Otherwise I had no plan to come
back here.
TAMALA KRSNA: Your business was in the West. Still it is, you said. Still,
whatever we're doing here--
SRILA PRABHUPADA: Therefore I took this permanent residency.
TAMALA KRSNA: Not intention but... Do you regret having come back to India?
SRILA PRABHUPADA: No, it is well. My plan was like that, but Krsna's plan was
different. When I was coming back, I was speaking to Dvarakadhisa, "I do not
know. I came here to live. Why You are driving me away?" While leaving Los
Angeles I was not happy.
TAMALA KRSNA: Oh, I remember.
SRILA PRABHUPADA: But He had this plan.
TAMALA KRSNA: Pretty nice plan.
SRILA PRABHUPADA: Krsna wanted that "You left Vrndavana. I'll give you better
place in Vrndavana. (chuckles) You were retired in Vrndavana. I obliged you to
leave. Now you come back. I'll give you better place." So He has given a temple
[Krsna-Balarama Mandir] hundred times better than Los Angeles. Is it not?
TAMALA KRSNA: There's nothing comparable in the three worlds.
SRILA PRABHUPADA: Hm. So it is always by His desire.
-------------------------------------------------
Appendix #3
The following is from a letter Srila Prabhupada wrote to Madhu-dvisa Prabhu
when the latter was the GBC for Australia.
Crow And Tal-Fruit Logic
We never had any occasion when we were separated from Krsna. Just like one man
is dreaming and he forgets himself. In dream he creates himself in different
forms: now I am the King discussing like that. This creation of himself is as
seer and subject matter or seen, two things. But as soon as the dream is over,
the "seen" disappears. But the seer remains. Now he is in his original
position.
Our separation from Krsna is like that. We dream this body and so many
relationships with other things. First the attachment comes to enjoy sense
gratification. Even with Krsna desire for sense gratification is there. There
is a dormant attitude for forgetting Krsna and creating an atmosphere for
enjoying independently. Just like at the edge of the beach, sometimes the water
covers, sometimes there is dry sand, coming and going. Our position is like
that, sometimes covered, sometimes free, just like at the edge of the tide. As
soon as we forget, immediately the illusion is there. Just like as soon as we
sleep, dream is there.
We cannot say therefore that we are not with Krsna. As soon as we try to become
Lord, immediately we are covered by Maya. Formerly we were with Krsna in His
lila or sport. But this covering of Maya may be of very, very, very, very long
duration, therefore many creations are coming and going. Due to this long
period of time it is sometimes said that we are ever-conditioned. But his long
duration of time becomes very insignificant when one actually comes to Krsna
consciousness. Just like in a dream we are thinking very long time, but as soon
as we awaken we look at our watch and see it has been a moment only. Just like
with Krsna's friends, they were kept asleep for one year by Brahma, but when
they woke up and Krsna returned before them, they considered that only a moment
had passed.
So this dreaming condition is called non-liberated life, and this is just like
a dream. Although in this material calculation it is a long, long period, as
soon as we come to Krsna consciousness then this period is considered as a
second. For example, Jaya and Vijaya. They had their lila with Krsna, but they
had to come down for their little mistake. They were given mukti, emerging into
the Brahmasayujya after being killed three times as demons. This Brahmasayujya
mukti is non-permanent. Every living entity wants pleasure, but Brahmasayujya
is minus pleasure. There is eternal existence only. So when they do not find
transcendental bliss, they fall down to make a compromise with material bliss.
Just like Vivekananda founded so many schools and hospitals. So even Lord
Brahma, he is still material and wants to lord it over. He may come down to
become a germ, but then he may rise up to Krsna consciousness and go back to
home, back to Godhead. This is the position.
So when I say Yes, there is eternal lila with Krsna, that means on the evidence
of Jaya-Vijaya. Unless one develops full devotional service to Krsna, he goes
up only up to Brahmasayujya but falls down. But after millions and millions of
years of keeping oneself away from the lila of the Lord, when one comes to
Krsna consciousness this period becomes insignificant, just like dreaming.
Because he falls down from Brahmasayujya, he thinks that may be his origin, but
he does not remember that before that even he was with Krsna. So the conclusion
is that whatever may be our past, let us come to Krsna consciousness and
immediately join Krsna. Just like with a diseased man, it is a waste of time to
try to find out how he has become diseased, better to spend time curing the
disease.
On the top of the tree there is a nice tal-fruit. A crow went there and the
fruit fell down, Some panditas, big big learned scholars saw this and
discussed: the fruit fell due to the crow agitating the limb. No, the fruit
fell simultaneously with the crow landing and frightened the crow so he flew
away. No, the fruit was ripe and the weight of the crow landing broke it from
the branch, and so on and so on. What is the use of such discussions? So
whether you were in the Brahmasayujya or with Krsna in His lila, at the moment
you are in neither, so the best policy is to develop your Krsna consciousness
and go there, never mind what is your origin.
Brahmasayujya and Krsna lila--both may be possible, but when you are coming
down from Brahmasayujya or when you are coming down from Krsna lila, that
remains a mystery. But at the present moment we are in Maya's clutches, so at
present our only hope is to become Krsna conscious and go back to Home, back to
Godhead. The real position is servant of Krsna, and servant of Krsna means in
Krsna lila. Directly or indirectly, always we are serving Krsna's lila. Even in
dream. Just like we cannot go out of the sun when it is daytime, so where is
the chance of going out of Krsna lila? The cloud may be there, it may become
very gray and dim, but still the sunlight is there, everywhere, during the
daytime. Because I am part and parcel of Krsna, I am always connected. My
finger, even though it may be diseased, remains part and parcel of my body.
Therefore, we try to treat it, cure it, because it is part and parcel. So Krsna
comes Himself when we forget Him, or He sends His representative.
Awakening or dreaming, I am the same man. As soon as I awaken and see myself, I
see Krsna. Cause and effect are both Krsna. Just like cotton becomes thread and
thread becomes cloth, still, the original cause is cotton. Therefore,
everything is Krsna in the ultimate sense. When we cannot contact Krsna
personally, we contact His energies. So there is no chance to be outside
Krsna's lila. But differences we see under different conditions. Just like in
the pool of water and in the mirror the same me is reflecting, but in different
reflections. One is shimmering, unsteady, one is clear and fixed. Except for
being in Krsna consciousness, we cannot see our actual position rightly,
therefore the learned man sees all living entities as the same parts and
parcels of Krsna. Material existence is impersonal because my real personality
is covered. But we should think that because I am now covered by this clay, I
am diseased, and we should think that I must get to business to get myself
uncovered, not wonder how I got this way. Now the fruit is there, take it and
enjoy, that is your first business. God is not bound by cause. He can change,
He is the Cause of all Causes. Now don't waste your time with this "Kaka taliya
nyaya," crows and tal-fruit logic.
-------------------------------------------------
Appendix #4
"Not Even the Leaves Fall in Vaikuntha," by Satya Narayana dasa and Kundali
dasa:
"Especially dumbfounding is the fact that Srila Prabhupada consistently
answered the direct question either in letters or in person in favor of the
fall. This leads many devotees to believe that of the two versions, he
ultimately favored the fall theory" (Second Wave: Chapter 6, page 123)
********************* END **********************
(end of part 3 of 3)
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-27 JPS Travelling Diary
EVERY TOWN & VILLAGE --- Travelling Preaching Diary by Jayapataka Swami.
{NOTE: This is an internal document written from Jayapataka Swami to
disciples and dear devotees who have requested these realizations and
accounts. It may require some editing to be appropriate for public
distribution.]
27th June ISKCON Berlin, Germany and Wroclaw, Poland.
My Dear Ones,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada.
MORNING PROGRAM:
To my very good fortune Rohini Suta Prabhu my dear god brother, fellow GBC
and guru is present today in Berlin Temple! I am very happy to get some of
his association. I give an early morning 6:00am class. The temple room is
small. Only about 4metres by 6 meters with one corner being the deity room
with a closed curtain. It also has connected to it an open verandah covered
with glass windows on all sides. I sit in the open verandah and give class
in English and those who know English sit with me. One devotee is sitting
at the doorway facing inwards towards the temple room and translates
simultaneously to all the German speaking devotees who are sitting inside.
The two rooms are almost packed full and during the Srimad Bhagavatam class
everyone is very attentive.
Somehow I get inspired and I speak after the Kirtan for over an hour. There
are many intelligent questions and a simultaneous translation continues
throughout. The question and answer period extended the class until almost
8.00am. Then we all jointly participate in Deity greeting and guru puja. I
lead the kirtan and Rohini Suta Prabhu does Srila Prabhupada Guru-Puja.
The devotees enthusiasm inspires the kirtan to continue until about 8.45am.
I knew I should leave to Poland but I couldn t resist taking prasadam wit
h
Rohini Suta Prabhu to get some of his transcendental association. We
discuss about ISKCON s well being and I share some of my recent
realizations about the importance of giving more attention to taking care
of the devotees, about Siksa guru, etc. Now it was getting really late
and time to go but I just had to log onto my E-mail first. There were a
few complications to deal with and then we were ready to leave at around
11.00am. The devotees were so kind to chant kirtan to see us off. I wanted
to show my appreciation so I gave everyone Nrsimha oil on their hands. One
household couple , disciples of Harikesa Swami are also going along with us
to attend my seminars in their mini-camper van. The wife s is Maha Laxmi
Priya devi dasi, a devotee from Poland, and her husband is from Germany. I
decided to ride along with them first since there was more room. All the
matajis go in one car . It takes hours to get to the border and in that
time I was able to get my rounds done to a large degree.
POLISH 97GERMAN LAND BORDER
There is a huge queue at the Polish border. When they see my massive Indian
passport with three passports sewn together they freak out. They even go
and
check the computer, BUT I get cleared and am permitted to leave Germany.
The same thing occurs in Poland. They also check their computer and I again
get cleared. It didn t take so long after all. Unfortunately Bhaktin
Natalie had left her temple in such a hurry that in her haste she had
forgotten to bring her pasport or ECC Identity card. All she had was her
video club card. Neither the German or the Polish Government would let her
leave or enter the country on a video card. Her mother was really upset
because she wanted to go to the
seminars and get some association, but was torn whether to leave her 20
year old daughter to fend for herself or drive her back to Berlin. Didn t
seem like any hope.
By this time I was getting hungry so we took a couple of sandwiches why the
Mother and Daughter negotiated with the German authorities who said that
they could give her some kind of paper ID but the Polish said that they
wouldn t accept it. They wanted something with a photo, so I told Bhaktin
Gaby to put a photo on the Paper Id with a staple and have the German
Officer use his rubber stamp under the photo and that should satisfy the
Polish Immigration. In India Rubber stamps always do the trick. She did
it and somehow by Krishna 91s mercy they got through. Just a little probl
em
and we got held up for over an hour. So we were finally off. It wasn t
so
far from the Polish border to Wroclaw, only 150kms, but the road wasn t a
s
well maintained as in Germany. Even then we reached there in less than 2
hours.
Just on the outskirts of Wroclaw at a pre designated gas station there were
two
devotees waiting for us. I switched cars and went with them. Two men were
there also begging to be taken closer into the town where they could catch
a bus and they kept insisting that since we were Hare Krishnas we were
supposed to help people. So they said, "Hare Krishna, please help us."
The devotees kept saying no. They weren t bums but maybe they had drinken
a
couple of beers or something. They were not fully drunk but they were a
little loud in their behaviour but friendly. So I told them that if they
chanted a full mantra of Hare Krishna then we could take them to the
nearest bus stop. They chanted Hare Krishna so we took them and we dumped
them off at the first bus station. They kept wanting to talk to me but I
didn t have the time since they had nothing useful to ask or say. I was
finishing my E-mail in the car and I knew that once I got to Wroclaw I
would have little time to deal with E-mail so I was typing It out
in the car.
We pulled into the Wroclaw temple and there were over a hundred
devotees waiting there, chanting. They opened the door to the car while I
was still sitting with my computer open on my lap finishing off the last
few
lines of my E-mails. Closing down the computer. Someone takes some
pictures.
It must have been a strange sight to see someone pull up in a car working
on
his computer, Dat Dat Dat .... Dat 97pounding away on the key board. I hav
e
to utilize all the time available 85
WROCLAW POLAND NAMA HATTA SEMINARS & CONGREGATIONAL FESTIVAL.
This is a large temple building. Previously it was a Government bakery or a
hospital or something that the devotees got from the Polish Government
after the fall of Communism. The devotees pay a very low rent for it
because they do Food For Life distribution from there. Now we have heard
that the Government want to take it back as they are now less favorable due
to a change of government and pressure from the Church. The reception room
is quite ample, about 25 feet by about 65 feet. The devotees have arranged
a reception for me with a foot bathing and guru-puja and everything..
I go and have darshan of the Gaura- Nitai deities and Srila Prabhupada.
Here the deities are not installed so the standard here is that anyone with
Harinam initiation can worship Their Lords. The altar and everything is
super clean and it looks like a very high standard from the external
appearances, it just that they have not come up to the Pancaratrik
standard.
I am taken to my quarters which are ample with one wall being windows and
another wall a book cabinet filled with Srila Prabhupada s books. I sha
re
a common bathroom with all the other men. The room I stay in is a darshan
room. During the night I sleep on the floor. After I take some prasadam
it is time to give the evening seminar.
I give a seminar on congregational preaching which ends up in a brain
storming session on the different ways of making contacts. The competition
here is very intense and it was difficult to get the devotees to stop even
at 10 o clock in the night.
Kaunteya dasa is unable to figure out how to log onto the E-mail using the
local internet connection---it will have to wait until tomorrow. There are
gigantic mosquitoes here. The Mayapur mosquitoes are small by comparison,
and they bite with sweet stings; but these Polish mosquitoes are like World
War II bombers. If you get bit by one it swells up into a big WELT?
Unfortunately I learned the hard way and got some bites before I realized
the danger. Thereafter I rubbed neem oil onto all the exposed parts and
that kept away most of the mosquitoes. I didn t expect to have to use my
neem oil here in Poland and was happy that I had it.
Thus ends the Every Town and Village --- Travelling Preaching Diary by
Jayapataka Swami.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 97 17:01 AST
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-28 JPS diary
Every Town & Village --- Jayapataka Swami Traveling Preaching Diary.
{NOTE: This is an internal document written from Jayapataka Swami to
disciples and dear devotees who have requested these realizations and
accounts. It may require some editing to be appropriate for public
distribution.]
JUNE 28TH, 1997. WROCLAV, POLAND.
Nama Hatta Congregational Festival and Seminars.
My Dear Ones,
Please accept my blessings & best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Morning Program.
We had a Japa workshop but nobody had announced it earlier so not as many
devotees came as we had expected. Only about 30 devotees were there. After
this we had deity greeting and Srila Prabhupada guru puja. For the three
days I am here I m giving class and today after the SB class I am free. I
am supposed to go on Harinam at 11.30. After breakfast I am feeling tired
so I rested. When I woke at 11.30 my secretaries misled me and told me that
the Harinam didn t go out saying there was no loudspeaker. So I took
another hours rest. Later on I found out that the Harinam had gone out and
they had
deprived me of the mercy of going with it. The devotees were sad that I
didn t accompany them on Harinam. I certainly would have liked to have
gone. In fact, if I had gone I could have taken rest after Prasadam in any
case. I don t know why my secretaries take things into their own hands li
ke
this. Depriving me of the chance to serve. Life is short. I need as much
harinama as I can get!
In the afternoon I talked to different devotees about their problems.
At 7.00 o clock pm we had the second congregational preaching seminar. Mo
re
than half of the members are all wearing Saris and Dhotis and Tilak. It
seems like only 5-6 people are easily distinguishable that they don t liv
e
in a temple, everyone else looks like they live in a temple. When I ask how
many are members of the congregation, more than half of the people raise
their hands . I don t know why I find it amazing, but somehow it seems s
o!
I am happy so many devotees are participating and the congregation is so
enthusiastic.
The local leader is participating in these seminars and that is encouraging
also. Sometimes when implementing congregational preaching the devotees
get really fired up, but when there s no interest or follow up from the
local leaders then everything falls flat. It s very frustrating. Everyon
e
is into it, everyone wants to do it, but when the leaders have got their
minds preoccupied with the trouble shooting problems and cannot give energy
to the expansion of congregational preaching (which could solve most of
their problems in the long run). It s just like investing money in a bank
for the future. A little bit of energy has to be continually invested in
the congregational preaching, otherwise there will be no end to the
problems which the devotees are facing due to the economic and manpower
shortages of the temples. The devotees are not being recruited as in
previous years and a massive congregation will solve all that in many ways.
Thus ends Diary entry for June 28th,1997 at Wroclav, Poland.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-21 JPS Trav. Preaching Diary
Jayapataka Swami Travelling Preaching Diary.
June 21, 1997.
New Panihati Festival, Ratha Yatra Day, (Atlanta, GA, USA).
My Dear spiritual Children & well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada.
The New Panihati Temple is a very beautiful temple, situated in a
historical area, protected by the heritage act of the United States. It is
in the traditional Southern America Dixie land style, and has a high
ceiling in the hall. Devotees have put a marble floor. On the left of the
three altars are Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra. On the central altar are
Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and on the right altar are Radha Madan-Mohan. Since
this is New Panihati and in Panihati Gaura Nitai are eternally residing,
They were the first deities on the central altar, and They were never
moved to another altar. They have always remained in the centre. On the
other end of the temple hall is Srila Prabhupada on a large Vyasasana made
out of marble, with a big marble lotus behind the back of Srila
Prabhupada.
This is the same Vyasasana that Prabhupada sat on many years ago, when he
came to Atlanta and blessed all the devotees. It was the place that Srila
Prabhupada first sang the Parama Karuna bhajan, where he engaged the
devotees in chanting and dancing in ecstasy.
Morning June 21st, 1997:
Seated by the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, we held a japa workshop.
Because the program the night before was late night, all the devotees had
not yet come into the temple. There were only about a dozen devotees. We
had a nice japa workshop. Gradually the temple room filled up and it was
time for darshan and arati. By now there were hundreds of devotees crowded
in the temple. Darshan, arati and kirtan were very powerful. Devotees were
jumping and chanting.
Balabhadra Bhattacharya Prabhu was leading the kirtan, then different
devotees led. They asked me to lead the kirtan and we continued on well
beyond 8.30 am, over an hour. Everybody clothes were completely wet. The
room was hot, but nobody minded because the kirtan was so intense.
Maharajas were jumping up and down. Men were jumping. Women were dancing
and some were also jumping. Everybody was dancing and chanting, leaping
high in the air. One could sense the presence of Srila Prabhupada and Gaura
Nitai during this wonderful association and kirtan.
Today I was asked to give the class on Caitanya Caritamrita. We discussed
about the famous danda-mahotsava, the festival where Lord Nityananda gave
His punishment to Raghunath Das Goswami. Raghunath Das Goswami was a rich
son of a landlord, who was earning millions and millions of gold coins
every year. But he was always detached from material life and simply wanted
to join the sankirtan movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He even went and
asked Caitanya Mahaprabhu for permission to leave everything and simply
join His sankirtan movement. However, Lord Caitanya told him to stay in his
household life and serve Krishna internally, while acting like a
responsible householder externally. In this way, Raghunath das was sent
back. After a year of acting according to the order of Lord Caitanya, he
became very anxious to again join the sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya
and tried to run away but his father would sent troops to catch him and
bring him back. One day, Raghunath das's father was talking to his wife and
Raghunath das's mother said that 'we should just tie him up' because he was
running away and then Raghunath das's father said: "He has a wife who is
like an angel and he has unlimited wealth and power, if all these things
couldn't tie him down, then what will material ropes do? We will have to
accept the influence of inconceivable providence. Our son has become mad
in love of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtan movement and he doesn't have any
more taste for material life. So what can we do?"
Raghunath das got an idea one day and he decided to see Lord Nityananda in
Panihati. At that time Lord Nityananda was seated on a raised stone
platform under a banyan tree on the banks of the sacred Ganges. Nityananda
Prabhu was so beautiful and His effulgence and presence was expanded around
in a most dynamic manner. Lord Nityananda was surrounded by His associated,
great devotees and sankirtan preachers, all eternally liberated souls. From
a distance Raghunatha das offered his obeisances and Lord Nityananda's
secretary pointed out to Lord Nityananda "There is Raghunath das". So
Nityananda said: "Aha, like a thief staying far away! But today I'm going
to punish him. Come here Raghunath das, accept your punishment!" But
Raghunath das kept lying down paying his obeisances in the distance. So
Lord Nityananda went and put His lotus feet on the head of Raghunath das,
giving him a blessing and He picked him up. "So today I am going to punish
you. My punishment is you have to provide for all my associates here a
picnic feast of flat rice, yoghurt and fruit."
There's a special preparation in Bengal known as Chiradahi, where you soak
the flat rice preparation, and after about 10-15 minutes it becomes soft
and edible. It inflates in the water and then you drain off the excess
water. Of course you have to rinse it once or twice to get off any dust of
the rice and then you soak it once it is clean. After soaking you pour any
excess water and mix it with yoghurt, you add some sweetening and various
kinds of fruits and flavours. So this is a very nice picnic and Nityananda
being in the mood of a cowherd boy, was very eager to enjoy this kind of
pastimes with His associates.
When Raghunath das heard the punishment, he became very happy. What a
wonderful way to use his wealth and what a wonderful service he could do
for Lord Nityananda! Immediately he got his servant to gather all the
ingredients. It became a gigantic festival where tens of thousands of
people start coming to get the feast. Finally He brought Lord Caitanya by
His meditation. So this is a very esoteric festival, because there are
many hidden meanings of what Lord Nityananda was doing. In one sense it was
called danda-mahotsava, and all the meanings of this punishment festival
may not be fully understood. One obvious reason is that he tried to
approach Lord Caitanya without going through Lord Nityananda. If you want
to approach Krishna we always have to go through the spiritual master, we
have to go through the representative of Lord Krishna. And to approach Lord
Caitanya we have to go through the original guru, who is Lord Nityananda
Prabhu. So since Nityananda Prabhu was organizing all the preaching in
Bengal, it was obviously proper etiquette for Raghunath das to come and
give his service to Lord Nityananda and get Lord Nityananda's blessings.
In all these attempts to reach Lord Caitanya he never went through Lord
Nityananda and now Lord Nityananda was punishing him. But Lord Nityananda
s
punishment is mercy, because Lord Nityananda is merciful beyond any
calculation. In this way I was discussing many realizations and
understandings of this transcendental pastime. It is such a profound
pastime that one can always get unlimited realizations. (To hear the
realizations you need to get a copy or transcription of the tape. Here is
no space to put it all.)
Nama Hatta Seminar
On Saturday morning from 10-12.30, a special Nama Hatta seminar was
scheduled. In the beginning not so many devotees came but gradually it
build up and the room became filled up with devotees. Since most of these
devotees were not so much involved in the Nama Hatta or congregational
preaching and they were new, we discussed what are the benefits and uses of
the Nama Hatta: why Nama Hatta or congregational preaching is urgent in
ISKCON. So then I decided to try a new brainstorming session which I never
did before.
This was to brainstorm what was the urgent need for congregational
preaching in ISKCON and why Nama Hatta is important. We broke up into small
groups and each of the groups began to brainstorm on the different reasons
on why it was so important to do congregational preaching, why it was so
urgent to do it. In this way many ideas came out. It became very intense as
the competition grew between each group to come up with better ideas, until
finally we had to have a final play-off. But before the finals could be
finished, there was time for the Jagannath Ratha Yatra and the temple
president, Balabhadra Prabhu, came and said that now it's time to take Lord
Jagannath on the Ratha.
Ratha Yatra at the New Panihati festival
Ratha Yatra, New Panihati is different than in many other places. The
chariot is a medium sized chariot, not too big, not too small. It's about
25 feet high when it's fully extended as compared to the massive Ratha of
London and Calcutta which go possibly 35 or 40'. But here today, so many
devotees came here for the Ratha Yatra. There were about 600 or 1000 or
maybe 1500. It was really difficult to count everyone because people were
coming and going. In the very front of the procession there was a Gaura
Nitai chariot (more like a Temple cart) being drawn by a bull.
There were so many devotees and the men's kirtan was overpowering
everything. I organised one women's kirtan in the very front of the Ratha
Yatra procession, in front of the Gaura Nitai Deities in addition to the
men's kirtan that was in front of Lord Jagannath. The devotees were dancing
in all the stages of the Ratha Yatra. It was about a 2 hour route. For the
first half of the Ratha Yatra, different people were leading and then I was
asked to lead the kirtan, so I took it until almost the end of the Ratha
Yatra. Devotees are very co-operative and despite all my defects, they were
very kind to sing and dance along with me for the remainder of the Ratha
Yatra festival. We went to some area of the town where there were many
boutiques and artists, so we made a special attempt to give them all
invitations for the rest of the New Panihati festival. So many people took
the description of what Ratha Yatra was about and invitations.
NEW PANIHATI FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION 97
Gopanandini devi dasi has made nice prasadam for me and invited me to come
and take prasadam through Kaunteya das, my secretary. But after the Ratha
Yatra, so many devotees gathered everywhere to discuss. There was a big
reunion of devotees so I ended up going from one place to the next meeting
the different devotees. Some devotees I haven't seen for many years, some I
have seen recently and some I was meeting for the first time. This was an
opportunity to discuss. So this was a special opportunity to meet, to
preach to different devotees, to exchange ideas, to renew or establish
relationships, etc..
Two devotees accepted me as their siksa guru, another new devotee had a lot
of doubts and I could help to eradicate the doubts. It was going on like
this hour after hour. They kept asking me to come and take prasadam. If
they would have brought prasadam I couldn't have refused it, but to go a
hundred meters to the house and take prasadam and give up preaching was
difficult. When I was a child I use to love swimming. My mother would call
me for lunch when I was swimming and sometimes I would dive under water and
made believe that I wasn't hearing her. Now I like preaching, I would
rather dive in the ocean of preaching then take prasadam or sleep. But
somehow my body also needs to get prasadam and rest, otherwise I may not be
able to continue with the preaching. I think of this later in quiet
moments, but when I'm in the middle of preaching it's very difficult to
stop.
I was reminded that there were initiations tonight and that I had to finish
the interviews. That struck me and I went to my room to interview the
candidates for initiation. That was more important or at least urgent then
the other preaching I was doing. The initiation ceremony also included one
wedding. To witness the ceremony, the temple was full but not over crowded.
Since there had been some Mahabharat drama before, the ceremony started a
little late. By Krishna's mercy, everything was very blissfully performed.
Prahlad Nrsimha das was the purohit or yajnic priest. We had the married
couple exchange their garlands and the devotees take their vows before the
Deities. Then we closed the deities so that They could take rest.
Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Maha Mahotsava Ki Jay. New Panihati Festival
Ki Jay.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-21 JPS Trav. Preaching Diary
Jayapataka Swami Travelling Preaching Diary.
June 21, 1997.
New Panihati Festival, Ratha Yatra Day, (Atlanta, GA, USA).
My Dear spiritual Children & well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada.
The New Panihati Temple is a very beautiful temple, situated in a
historical area, protected by the heritage act of the United States. It is
in the traditional Southern America Dixie land style, and has a high
ceiling in the hall. Devotees have put a marble floor. On the left of the
three altars are Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra. On the central altar are
Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and on the right altar are Radha Madan-Mohan. Since
this is New Panihati and in Panihati Gaura Nitai are eternally residing, were the first deities on the central altar, and They were never
moved to another altar. They have always remained in the centre. On the
other end of the temple hall is Srila Prabhupada on a large Vyasasana made
out of marble, with a big marble lotus behind the back of Srila
Prabhupada.
This is the same Vyasasana that Prabhupada sat on many years ago, when he
came to Atlanta and blessed all the devotees. It was the place that Srila
Prabhupada first sang the Parama Karuna bhajan, where he engaged the
devotees in chanting and dancing in ecstasy.
Morning June 21st, 1997:
Seated by the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, we held a japa workshop.
Because the program the night before was late night, all the devotees had
not yet come into the temple. There were only about a dozen devotees. We
had a nice japa workshop. Gradually the temple room filled up and it was
time for darshan and arati. By now there were hundreds of devotees crowded
in the temple. Darshan, arati and kirtan were very powerful. Devotees were
jumping and chanting.
Balabhadra Bhattacharya Prabhu was leading the kirtan, then different
devotees led. They asked me to lead the kirtan and we continued on well
beyond 8.30 am, over an hour. Everybody clothes were completely wet. The
room was hot, but nobody minded because the kirtan was so intense.
Maharajas were jumping up and down. Men were jumping. Women were dancing
and some were also jumping. Everybody was dancing and chanting, leaping
high in the air. One could sense the presence of Srila Prabhupada and Gaura
Nitai during this wonderful association and kirtan.
Today I was asked to give the class on Caitanya Caritamrita. We discussed
about the famous danda-mahotsava, the festival where Lord Nityananda gave
His punishment to Raghunath Das Goswami. Raghunath Das Goswami was a rich
son of a landlord, who was earning millions and millions of gold coins
every year. But he was always detached from material life and simply wanted
to join the sankirtan movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He even went and
asked Caitanya Mahaprabhu for permission to leave everything and simply
join His sankirtan movement. However, Lord Caitanya told him to stay in his
household life and serve Krishna internally, while acting like a
responsible householder externally. In this way, Raghunath das was sent
back. After a year of acting according to the order of Lord Caitanya, he
became very anxious to again join the sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya
and tried to run away but his father would sent troops to catch him and
bring him back. One day, Raghunath das's father was talking to his wife and
Raghunath das's mother said that 'we should just tie him up' because he was
running away and then Raghunath das's father said: "He has a wife who is
like an angel and he has unlimited wealth and power, if all these things
couldn't tie him down, then what will material ropes do? We will have to
accept the influence of inconceivable providence. Our son has become mad
in love of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtan movement and he doesn't have any
more taste for material life. So what can we do?"
Raghunath das got an idea one day and he decided to see Lord Nityananda in
Panihati. At that time Lord Nityananda was seated on a raised stone
platform under a banyan tree on the banks of the sacred Ganges. Nityananda
Prabhu was so beautiful and His effulgence and presence was expanded around
in a most dynamic manner. Lord Nityananda was surrounded by His associated,
great devotees and sankirtan preachers, all eternally liberated souls. From
a distance Raghunatha das offered his obeisances and Lord Nityananda's
secretary pointed out to Lord Nityananda "There is Raghunath das". So
Nityananda said: "Aha, like a thief staying far away! But today I'm going
to punish him. Come here Raghunath das, accept your punishment!" But
Raghunath das kept lying down paying his obeisances in the distance. So
Lord Nityananda went and put His lotus feet on the head of Raghunath das,
giving him a blessing and He picked him up. "So today I am going to punish
you. My punishment is you have to provide for all my associates here a
picnic feast of flat rice, yoghurt and fruit."
There's a special preparation in Bengal known as Chiradahi, where you soak
the flat rice preparation, and after about 10-15 minutes it becomes soft
and edible. It inflates in the water and then you drain off the excess
water. Of course you have to rinse it once or twice to get off any dust of
the rice and then you soak it once it is clean. After soaking you pour any
excess water and mix it with yoghurt, you add some sweetening and various
kinds of fruits and flavours. So this is a very nice picnic and Nityananda
being in the mood of a cowherd boy, was very eager to enjoy this kind of
pastimes with His associates.
When Raghunath das heard the punishment, he became very happy. What a
wonderful way to use his wealth and what a wonderful service he could do
for Lord Nityananda! Immediately he got his servant to gather all the
ingredients. It became a gigantic festival where tens of thousands of
people start coming to get the feast. Finally He brought Lord Caitanya by
His meditation. So this is a very esoteric festival, because there are
many hidden meanings of what Lord Nityananda was doing. In one sense it was
called danda-mahotsava, and all the meanings of this punishment festival
may not be fully understood. One obvious reason is that he tried to
approach Lord Caitanya without going through Lord Nityananda. If you want
to approach Krishna we always have to go through the spiritual master, we
have to go through the representative of Lord Krishna. And to approach Lord
Caitanya we have to go through the original guru, who is Lord Nityananda
Prabhu. So since Nityananda Prabhu was organizing all the preaching in
Bengal, it was obviously proper etiquette for Raghunath das to come and
give his service to Lord Nityananda and get Lord Nityananda's blessings.
In all these attempts to reach Lord Caitanya he never went through Lord
Nityananda and now Lord Nityananda was punishing him. But Lord Nityananda
s
punishment is mercy, because Lord Nityananda is merciful beyond any
calculation. In this way I was discussing many realizations and
understandings of this transcendental pastime. It is such a profound
pastime that one can always get unlimited realizations. (To hear the
realizations you need to get a copy or transcription of the tape. Here is
no space to put it all.)
Nama Hatta Seminar
On Saturday morning from 10-12.30, a special Nama Hatta seminar was
scheduled. In the beginning not so many devotees came but gradually it
build up and the room became filled up with devotees. Since most of these
devotees were not so much involved in the Nama Hatta or congregational
preaching and they were new, we discussed what are the benefits and uses of
the Nama Hatta: why Nama Hatta or congregational preaching is urgent in
ISKCON. So then I decided to try a new brainstorming session which I never
did before.
This was to brainstorm what was the urgent need for congregational
preaching in ISKCON and why Nama Hatta is important. We broke up into small
groups and each of the groups began to brainstorm on the different reasons
on why it was so important to do congregational preaching, why it was so
urgent to do it. In this way many ideas came out. It became very intense as
the competition grew between each group to come up with better ideas, until
finally we had to have a final play-off. But before the finals could be
finished, there was time for the Jagannath Ratha Yatra and the temple
president, Balabhadra Prabhu, came and said that now it's time to take Lord
Jagannath on the Ratha.
Ratha Yatra at the New Panihati festival
Ratha Yatra, New Panihati is different than in many other places. The
chariot is a medium sized chariot, not too big, not too small. It's about
25 feet high when it's fully extended as compared to the massive Ratha of
London and Calcutta which go possibly 35 or 40'. But here today, so many
devotees came here for the Ratha Yatra. There were about 600 or 1000 or
maybe 1500. It was really difficult to count everyone because people were
coming and going. In the very front of the procession there was a Gaura
Nitai chariot (more like a Temple cart) being drawn by a bull.
There were so many devotees and the men's kirtan was overpowering
everything. I organised one women's kirtan in the very front of the Ratha
Yatra procession, in front of the Gaura Nitai Deities in addition to the
men's kirtan that was in front of Lord Jagannath. The devotees were dancing
in all the stages of the Ratha Yatra. It was about a 2 hour route. For the
first half of the Ratha Yatra, different people were leading and then I was
asked to lead the kirtan, so I took it until almost the end of the Ratha
Yatra. Devotees are very co-operative and despite all my defects, they were
very kind to sing and dance along with me for the remainder of the Ratha
Yatra festival. We went to some area of the town where there were many
boutiques and artists, so we made a special attempt to give them all
invitations for the rest of the New Panihati festival. So many people took
the description of what Ratha Yatra was about and invitations.
NEW PANIHATI FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION 97
Gopanandini devi dasi has made nice prasadam for me and invited me to come
and take prasadam through Kaunteya das, my secretary. But after the Ratha
Yatra, so many devotees gathered everywhere to discuss. There was a big
reunion of devotees so I ended up going from one place to the next meeting
the different devotees. Some devotees I haven't seen for many years, some I
have seen recently and some I was meeting for the first time. This was an
opportunity to discuss. So this was a special opportunity to meet, to
preach to different devotees, to exchange ideas, to renew or establish
relationships, etc..
Two devotees accepted me as their siksa guru, another new devotee had a lot
of doubts and I could help to eradicate the doubts. It was going on like
this hour after hour. They kept asking me to come and take prasadam. If
they would have brought prasadam I couldn't have refused it, but to go a
hundred meters to the house and take prasadam and give up preaching was
difficult. When I was a child I use to love swimming. My mother would call
me for lunch when I was swimming and sometimes I would dive under water and
made believe that I wasn't hearing her. Now I like preaching, I would
rather dive in the ocean of preaching then take prasadam or sleep. But
somehow my body also needs to get prasadam and rest, otherwise I may not be
able to continue with the preaching. I think of this later in quiet
moments, but when I'm in the middle of preaching it's very difficult to
stop.
I was reminded that there were initiations tonight and that I had to finish
the interviews. That struck me and I went to my room to interview the
candidates for initiation. That was more important or at least urgent then
the other preaching I was doing. The initiation ceremony also included one
wedding. To witness the ceremony, the temple was full but not over crowded.
Since there had been some Mahabharat drama before, the ceremony started a
little late. By Krishna's mercy, everything was very blissfully performed.
Prahlad Nrsimha das was the purohit or yajnic priest. We had the married
couple exchange their garlands and the devotees take their vows before the
Deities. Then we closed the deities so that They could take rest.
Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Maha Mahotsava Ki Jay. New Panihati Festival
Ki Jay.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-17 JPS Preaching Diary
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary for:---
June 17 1997, Alachua, New Raman Reti ISKCON, Florida, USA.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My Dear Spiritual Children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I reached the temple at 5:30a.m., by that time most of the devotees had
already gone. They had announced that for the next three days I will be
giving Bhagavatam class in a row and that for the next two days I will
give japa workshop so no one had waited for this day, so I took the
opportunity to chant my own japa and went for a japa walk to the
Bhaktivedanta Institute center.
I led the Srila Prabhupada Gurupuja kirtan. The temple room in New Raman
Reti is substantial, possibly 20 to 25 meters long and 12 to 16 meters
wide.
The central deities are approximately 3 foot high Gaur-Nitai deities. On
Lord
Caitanya side of the room all the matajis were present, and on Nityananda
B4s
side of the room there were all the men. The whole temple room was packed
with devotees, well over 100 or maybe close to 200 devotees were present,
possibly more, I didn't count. After the Prabhupada Gurupuja arati there
was
about a 20 minutes kirtan in front of Gaur-Nitai. The devotees were very
enthusiastic, the children in the front were jumping up and down, most of
the
man and women were chanting and dancing very enthusiastically. They handed
me the big whompers so I was utilizing them to increase the kirtan force
but
I held back on the whompers since it was a fairly low 7 or 8 feet ceiling,
I didn't want to harm anyone B4s ears.
After the kirtan I was asked to give Srimad Bhagavatam class. 3rd canto,
chapter 25, verse 29. Mother Devahuti was asking her son Kapila Muni about
how to become K.C. What are the different types of yoga that one can
utilize to reach Krishna? After the Bhagavatam class, Muralivadaka prabhu
requested me to tell the pastime of Kanai
Natasala, , what pastime Lord Caitanya did there. So I explained how
Lord Caitanya manifested His separation of love of Krishna for the first
time
in Kanai Natasala and how now this very holy place was under the care of
ISKCON. The devotees expressed interest to visit Kanai Natasala and have
the
blessings of this holy place. The class was supposed to end at 8:45 a.m.
but
on the request of the devotees to answer their questions it went a little
later.
All morning we met regarding the exhibitions for the Vedic Planetarium
Temple in Sridham Mayapur. I am the director of exhibitions and Priya Vrata
Prabhu is the manager, Sadaputa Prabhu is giving all the scientific
concepts
for the Vedic Planetarium, for the scientific oriented exhibits. We were
also
assisted by Cakrapani das who is our technical staff of the exhibition
department and by Sadaputa B4s assistant Krishna Kripa das.
The first day was introductory discussion, filling everybody in with what
progress had been made in the past six months.
Saci Mata and a group of mothers including Mahojjvala, Mahismati Radha
and others had prepared lunch, so Sadaputa and the team went to Premananda
Gaura B4s for lunch. After lunch we continued meeting over there.
7:00p.m. My Caitanya Caritamrita class was scheduled for the temple room.
I
gave a class on the Adi Lila Ninth Chapter, discussing about Lord Caitanya
and
the tree of bhakti. This class went on into a presentation about getting
the
contacts of the people that we meet and to cultivate them further. We
divided
into 11 different groups, 6 women groups and 5 men groups. One of the women
group was older gurukula girls and also one of small 12 years old gurukula
girls. One of the men groups was Muralivadaka and some of his boys students
from the gurukula. Each group was given 7 minutes to brainstorm how many
places they could meet people, how they could get names and bring people to
cultivate them to become K.C. Harinam dasi was writing down the ideas. In
rotation each group could give one unique idea and we went on rotation.
First
group to ran out of original ideas would become disqualified, in this way
having an elimination competition. Many interesting ideas came up, some
ideas I
hadn't heard in Australia or Los Angeles.
They said that in the Alachua area there are so many families that one way
of cultivating new people is that the small children also participate in
local children sporting groups, and so while the children are playing in
competitions of football or soccer, then the
parents of their team cheer on their children. The devotees child would
be
Govinda das or Krishna das and even the karmi parents would be shouting
"Govinda make a goal! Run Krishna run!", so they are getting so much
ajnata-sukriti by chanting the Holy names of Krishna, not realizing that by
doing so they are wiping out unlimited births worth of karma, chanting the
holy names of Krishna. Like this many ideas, some standard and some unique,
were expressed by the devotees. It was very intense, nobody wanted to give
in, finally after 9:00 pm the gurukula girls had to leave, so I took at
once whatever ideas people had and Muralivadaka B4s group came up with 14
more ideas and his group was the top.
Actually the young gurukula group also had many good ideas, everyone was
very happy to participate in this session and to utilize their intelligence
quite productively. They all agreed that they should keep their eyes and
ears
open, in this way they could cultivate many people if they just remained
conscious of it.
Time to end the evening Caitanya Caritamrita class and Nama Hatta
brainstorming session. Took rest at Premananda Gaura B4s house. This time I
got to rest early to prepare for mangalartik.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Yours in service, Jayapataka Swami
--------------569D58871B20
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Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 09:53:50 +0800 (MYT)
From: Caitanya Hari das <chdas@cssun.cs.usm.my>
To: JSSS Malaysia -- Adi Kartri das <adikatr@tm.net.my>,
Guna Sagara Caitanya das <VGunaselan_MVeeriah@notes.seagate.com>,
Javahar <Javahar@pc.jaring.my>, Kalesa das <Kalesa@tm.net.my>,
"Lila Vilasini dd" <vilasini@videonet.it>,
Santi Vardhana Caitanya das <veravik@pl.jaring.my>,
YUWARAJA <yuwaraja@fairchildsemi.com>
Cc: Krpatita <kirupa@usm.my>
Subject: 97-6-18 JPS Preaching Diary (fwd)
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 97 12:02 AST
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
To: "Acyuta d., Medha D.d." <acyuta@cal.indiax.com>,
AdelaideISKCONTobias <hjtnash@netadvantage.com.au>, Adi@Purusha
Subject: 97-6-18 JPS Preaching Diary
[Text 689394 from COM]
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary
ISKCON New Rama-reti, Alachua, Florida, USA.
Sri Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium EXhibitions Departmental Meetings.
June 18, 1997
My Dear Spiritual Children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
MORNING PROGRAM:
Although it was almost a 20 minute drive from Premananda Gaura B4s house to
the temple, by Krishna B4s mercy I could make it in time for the mangal
arati. It had
a good turn-out, well over 100 devotees. After Tulsi puja, they announced
that there will be japa workshop. There we had bout 25 men and 30 to 40
matajis, including the gurukula girls, participating in the japa workshop.
Muralivadaka prabhu and some other senior Prabhupada disciples were also
present, both on the men and the women side. Since I've been doing this
japa
workshop on every town I think there s no need of repeating exactly what
happened. Of course here one thing I noticed was that most of the devotees
actually were pronouncing their mantras very carefully. Especially when I
went to listen they were quite careful. Still we could help many devotees
and
the main realization I got is that actually the devotees have to improve
their own japa. It is not that I can do anything but simply remind them to
be
attentive and to be careful, they should know some of the techniques of
chanting japa. They should know how to count their beads, how to hold their
beads and things like that. But ultimately the desire to chant and the will
to chant is theirs alone. It is the causeless mercy of Sri Guru and
Krishna if I am able to
to help and serve them as a catalyst for their own self-improvement.
After the japa workshop, that ended at 6:30a.m., I went for a japa walk.
Ramiya prabhu who is the secretary for the GBC in Florida, was very kind to
welcome me and said some encouraging things about the desire to see that
the
congregational preaching expands in Florida. There are already something
like
11 Nama Hatta groups or centers in preaching areas within Florida. It was
very encouraging to hear how many places are getting this opportunity.
Today is the actual tithi for the Panihati Chira Dahi Festival. They
don t
observe anything special but they requested me to give a Caitanya
Caritamrita
class. I had some chira dahi to give and I wanted that it should be offered
to the Deities, since it was Nityananda Prabhu 91s favorite, but somehow th
ey
didn t get it together in time for the offering. Actually the chira dohi
doesn t have to be offered at the offering time since it is anyway a picn
ic
snack, but by the time I found out about it I was already on my way out.
I spoke on the Caitanya Caritamrita Antya Lila on Raghunath das Gosvami. We
talked
about the danda mahotsav, how Raghunath das kept trying to join Caitanya
Mahaprabhu directly, he was not going trough the spiritual master. He was
not going through Lord Nityananda who was the spiritual master, who was the
founder Acarya of the preaching in Bengal under Caitanya Mahaprabhu,
representing Lord Caitanya.
It reminded of how Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, and if
somebody wanted to preach and bypass Srila Prabhupada that was also like a
thieve s work, dishonest in a sense. Lord Nityananda was very merciful an
d
He gave punishment to Raghunath das, but actually that punishment was a
blessing: He told Ragunath das to feed His friends and devotees chira dahi
(flat-rice and yogurt) and fruits. So I explained the whole pastime of
Panihati. We discussed about Guru tattva and the importance of having a
strong Guru-disciple relationship. How one should have utmost faith in the
initiating spiritual master who is also normally the instructing spiritual
master. How sometimes there may be also other spiritual masters who help as
vartma-pradarsaka guru and siksa guru. I mentioned how Jayananda prabhu had
shaved me up and I considered him like my vartma-pradarsaka guru.
Then the questions and answers period. One mataji asked about taking siksa
outside ISKCON, that led to a lengthy discussion which went up almost to
10:00 a.m.. Devotees kept asking me to give different accounts and I
showed how it was quite
dangerous to take instruction outside of ISKCON, because even a small
deviation from Srila Prabhupada teachings can lead us off of the track. If
that questions and answers section could be transcribed , it would be very
good, we could share with the devotees on this and on the "Answer to K.C.
Questions" conferences.
MAYAPUR TEMPLE OF VEDIC PLANETARIUM EXHIBITION MEETINGS:
Our meetings on the Mayapur exhibitions continued and now we were getting
into some really juicy ideas for how to finish our 2001 exhibitions and
utilize them to spread K.C. in a dynamic way. We discussed different
interesting ways how to present the universe and planetarium; also ways of
showing how the history of India and the world needs to be adjusted
according to the Vedic viewpoint. The meetings were interesting and many
other aspects of the exhibits were discussed at some length until lunch
time.
LUNCH AT SADAPUTA PRABHU S AND DEVAMRITA DD S:
Today we were invited to Sadaputa Prabhu s house where his better half
Devamrita dd and Jaya Hari dd had prepared a special luncheon. The prasadam
was an amazing feast although everything was low fat but the variety and
preparations were totally out this world. The devotion that went into the
prasadam could be felt!
The matajis had been cooking and preparing a special spring roll without
oil, a baked spring roll, baked cauliflower and broccoli, boiled beets, a
big salad, hot capatis, rice, a special okra in tomato sauce, string beans
with almond spices, a special spinach, artichoke hearts, and a number of
other things served as the main course. This was a real feast. The dessert
was a combination of a South American preparation of some form of very
light pudding with milk in it and a totally non-fat pumpkin pie. Varieties
of juices were provided and ginger juice to aid digestion at the end. It
was really a wonderful feast. It wasn t so much even the preparations
which were exquisite, but actually the devotion by which the devotees made
the preparations was coming through. Prasadam is not something material and
one can actually appreciate the devotion that goes into the prasadam.
I remember how Lord Caitanya had given Sarvabhauma Battacarya some maha
prasadam from Lord Jagannath which was cashews and they all took the cashew
prasadam and then Lord Caitanya said, "What is cashews? It is simply a nut,
we had these nuts so many times but because this was tasted by Lord
Jagannath, it is something special, because Lord Jagannath has tasted, the
nectar from His lotus mouth has permeated the prasadam", and everyone was
admitting that how prasadam definitively brought the presence of Krishna in
the heart and could taste the nectar of Krishna s presence in the prasadam.
It certainly seemed that the prasadam today was very much blessed by Radha
and Krishna. Because of the devotion of the devotees who cooked it. There
were many devotees who cooked, I can B4t name everyone but I pray that
Krishna bless all of them with continuous devotional service.
MORE MAYAPUR PLANETARIUM SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS-----
After the prasadam we started noting down on how we could help in different
research activities so that Sadaputa scientific work could progress more
quickly in the areas needed by the Vedic Planetarium exhibitions. Soon the
time was over and I had to go again for the evening class.
Actually we wanted to go for a swim in the springs this evening but it
started pouring rain outside and everyone said that when it is raining the
springs become too cold. So instead we continued meeting until time to go
for class.
This evening there was a class at Premananda Gaura s ,there were about 40
to 50 devotees present. Gradually there were more and more devotees and I
lost count. We gave a class and then had a question and answer session.
Some devotees had questions about accepting a guru. Seems one had lost
faith in gurus and was struggling with that. The questions were friendly
and sometimes intense. Everyone seemed to like the program. We ended at a
reasonable time as tomorrow was mangal arotika and japa workshop.
I hope this finds you all in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami
: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: 97-6-19 JPS Preaching Diary
Jayapataka Swami Preaching Diary for:--
Diary of June 19th 1997
My Dear Spiritual children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings/best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Today was my last day at Alachua and devotees were very eager for the japa
workshop. Someone commented that rarely had they ever seen so many
devotees in the temple after mangal arati. Today there were some new
devotees also, about 30 men and 50 women devotees. After that I led the
kirtan for Prabhupada's guru puja, and gave the Srimad Bhagavatam class.
This morning I went to Laxmi Mani Mataji s girl s gurukula school. Two
girls from the girls gurukula were blowing conchshells at the gateway as
we drove in, and the other girls were chanting in kirtan. They have a
beautiful blue Krsna Deity with white Radharani, and many different Deities
on the altar. I offered my obeisances. Everything was set up for
breakfast. Today we're going to have breakfast together and devotees have
made Bagels and for me a low fat panir (fresh cheese curds) spread and
fruit. I sat on a chair with a table, and all the girls sat in two rows in
front of me on the floor. After prasadam we
had a question and answer period, and many of the students said that they
would write me questions by E-mail, and that they also wanted to receive my
diaries. Karma Yogi dasi asked me questions as well as Kunjabihari dasi and
some other students. Laxmi Mani Mataji is doing a wonderful service for
Srila
Prabhupada. The students are well behaved, intelligent and enthusiastic.
I wish I had more time to spend, but they have classes and I have to go for
my last day of meetings. I really liked my visit and I hope the students
also did.
Today at the Bhaktivedanta Institute House we continued the final session
on
the Mayapur exhibitions, coming to some strategies on what we would do for
the next month.
Today we were invited for lunch at Mahavira Prabhu's, my dear Godbrother
who was with me for some time in Mayapur, and who then went to preach in
Brazil where he was very successful in spreading the Krishna Consciousness
movement. Now he has settled in Alachua, with his wife and family.
Although Mahavir Prabhu is my Godbrother, he insisted on receiving me as a
householder traditionally does when receiving a sannyasi. He bathed my
feet; his wife poured the water while he washed the feet. Lunch prasadam
was very nice, but we had to race out quickly to catch the 3:50PM flight to
Miami for an evening program. The flight was 50 minutes delayed and they
announced that boarding would not begin until 4:30, and to stay near the
gate area. We were sitting outside the security enclosure; I was talking to
the devotees. Suddenly I heard the blast: "All passengers should be on
board." We ran through the gate and they said that the flight was already
closed; we had missed the flight. This was another Thursday afternoon
flight. Srila Prabhupada would always avoid flying or starting a journey
on Thursday afternoon. I knew that but sometimes there seems to be no
alternative and then I am forced to suffer in one way or another. In this
case I was depending on my secretary since I told him to keep an eye out on
the flight, but somehow there was a miscommunication. So
they booked us for the next flight at 6:50PM and we went back to Mahavir's
house, where I took a short nap and then we had a swim in his pool. Then we
caught the next flight to Miami.
In Miami, Raghunatha dasa received us and we went to the house of Sri Radha
Vallabha dasa where a house program was scheduled. Agrani Prabhu, my
godbrother, was there already doing kirtan, and everybody was ready for me
to come and give the lecture. The small living room was packed with
devotees and guests: Latin devotees, Indian devotees, and some Western
devotees. I was asked to speak about the congregational preaching; so we
discussed on the Caitanya Caritamrita, and at the end I asked everybody to
give an idea of how to expand the congregational preaching. In this way,
everyone contributed. I told them that nobody could have prasadam until
they gave their idea for expanding the congregational preaching, so
everybody contributed one idea. By that time it was 10 o'clock. Everyone
took prasadam.
Next I started to discuss with different individual devotees sitting around
me in the living room. One devotee had been chanting 12 rounds for 5 years.
He and his wife said that they wanted to take me as their siksa guru, and
become qualified for initiation in the future. I stayed over at
Raghunatha s house and took rest after midnight.
I hope this finds you in blissful KC and in good health.
Your ever well wisher, Jayapataka Swami
--------------569D58871B20
>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jayapataka Swami <Jaya_Pataka_Swami@compuserve.com>
Subject: 97-6-20 JPS Preaching Diary (New Panihati)
Jayapataka Swami Travelling & Preaching Diary for:-
June 20th, 1997 at New Panihati (Atlanta), GA, USA.
My Dear Spiritual children and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings/best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I took darshan of Sri Sri Radha Vraja-Bihari Deities at the Miami Coconut
Grove Temple. The large Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Deities and Gaura
Nitai Deities were very exciting. The temple has another altar waiting to
be assembled. The Deities are on the balcony, looking down at the temple.
The altar area has been under construction for almost one year. There were
20 devotees waiting for class. As I arrived at the temple, the devotees
were chanting to receive me. I gave Srimad Bhagavatam class. I took
breakfast with Agrani Prabhu. We discussed some ideas in the development of
the Miami preaching and the potential it has.
11:45am. I flew to Atlanta, reaching there at 2:30PM. I wrote some letters
on my computer during the flight.
When I arrived in Atlanta, Priya Krishna dasa, my disciple who works as a
baggage loader for Delta Airlines, was waiting in his Delta Airlines
uniform:
short pants and short-sleeve shirt with the Delta Airlines logo. He was
accompanied by Frank, a limousine driver, that he has hired to take me to
the
temple. He said that all the devotees were supposed to have arrived, but he
hadn't seen anybody. He had to go and unload the next flight, so he asked
Frank to help me with the luggage and escort me to the baggage area.
It turned out that devotees were waiting for me near the luggage area.
Together we went in the stretch-back limousine. Balabhadra Bhattacharya
Prabhu, Temple President in Atlanta, was waiting. Everyone was really busy.
I saw that the New Panihati festival had already begun. So many devotees
were chanting to receive me and they offered a reception on my arrival.
I gave a short reception address and went to get ready for the evening
seminar, which was scheduled to be given right after the arati.
This year the festival of India didn't come so the festival didn't have a
colorful preaching displays set up. The culture program was on the
main stage and the prasadam reception booths were set up. Devotees were starting
to arrive from all over. Lord Jagannath is still behind curtains in
preparation for the Rathayatra. He has not fully recovered from the
Snana-yatra. The Gaura Nitai Deities are effulgent. The Radha Madan-Mohan
Deities are smiling. Srila Prabhupada said that the Atlanta temple was a
very
special temple. He gave it the name New Panihati. So here we celebrate the
pastimes that occurred in Old Panihati, which is one of the places where
Lord Caitanya said He resides eternally.
That evening I gave a class which was well attended. I went around and
met the devotees as they came in and it was quite interesting.
I had two rounds to finish off so I was up chanting. Two devotees were
also up chanting. I greeted them and asked how they were. One devotee
I had seen serving for some time in Atlanta, but we had never talked.
The devotee at present had no Spiritual Master. I asked if the devotee had a
siksa guru? The reply was yes. I asked who. The reply was "you".
That took me by surprise. I was being considered as someone s siksa guru, but I
wasn't externally informed. That might explain why I was drawn to the
person but it always helps to know what relationship someone has with you
so that you can relate better. So it became like a reunion of old friends
or something. Every day has some new surprises! This one was a nice one.
I finished my rounds and took rest.
I hope this finds you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
Jayapataka Swami