On behalf of our beloved Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupad, we welcome everyone to Sri Radha Gopinath Sunday festival. Our very sincere gratitude to everyone who has so kindly dedicated this precious time to come together to help purify each others hearts though hearing and chanting the glories of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath. Today we are very specially fortunate. We have Srila Prabhupad’s very dear empowered associates who have mercifully descended upon us. I will give brief introduction to each of them because the program is rather late. Everyone knows very well His Holiness Jayadvaitha Swami Maharaj, one of the senior most devotees of our society. He joined in the mid 60s and has been, when he first became a devotee he was immediately a leader in preaching. I remember when I came back from India, 1972 I came to the New York temple and every single day he was giving class and at that time New York was the largest temple in all of ISKCON. His profound understanding of the essence of bhakthi philosophy, his realizations and how he conquers all opposition, dispels all doubts and at the same time he is so simple, so renounced, so strict with himself and so forgiving toward wretched souls like myself.

Jayadvaitha Maharaj is one of the _(02:47)_ of light, of hope, faith and strength in Prabhupad’s society and he has come today to inspire us to participate with full enthusiasm in helping the whole world go Back to Godhead. Let us very enthusiastically welcome His Holiness Jayadvaitha Swami Maharaj.

Haribol.

To his left is sitting the illustrious Niranjan Swami Maharaj. Niranjan Swami Maharaj is so loved and trusted by every variety of devotee. His humility, his absolute dedication to the mission of Prabhupad and Lord Chaithanya, his incredible comprehension and realizations about Gaudia Vaishnava philosophy, his mastery over the devotion and musical aspects of Sankirtan and his sweet nature, never finds faults with others, he just loves to devotees, loves to glorify devotees, loves to be with devotees and through this quality he is teaching all of us what is a Vaishnava. Recently we both fasted for one month and we shared many realizations which are too confidential to discuss in public, mostly dealing with prasad. Let us very enthusiastically welcome His Holiness Niranjan Swami Maharaj. Haribol.

Today it is my very great honour and pleasure to introduce our featured guest Gopala Bhatta Prabhu. Gopala Bhatta Prabhu, in the early 70s and mid 70s, was a very very dedicated powerful leader of our society. At one time he was the temple president of Los Angeles, New Dwaraka which was then the largest more successful temple in all of America. Being a grihastha, wanting to display a proper example of grihastha life, he went into business and became tremendously successful, tremendously skilled in utilizing material and corporate skills and dovetailing them in Krishna’s service. Today all over the world the leaders of the BBT, the leaders of the GBC, the leaders of all of America are calling upon him, literally crying at his door asking for his spiritually realized guidanced package with a very very Krishna conscious perspective of how to actually make bhakthi flourish within the world. The most wonderful thing about Gopala Bhatta Prabhu is he simply loves to associate with devotees, he loves to hear and chant the glories of the Lord and he has a burning passion which Prabhupad personally planted in his heart. Let devotees be happy and powered and let the whole world flourishes under the loving merciful glance of Sri Sri Radha Syamsundar. All over the world literally devotees and especially leaders are looking to him for guidance and he has so kindly come to our temple to give us his very special association. This is the first time he has ever been here. Let us give a very grant welcome to Gopala Bhatta Prabhu. Haribol.

And we also have Gopala Bhatta Prabhu’s son Devala, please stand up. How virtue is Devala Prabhu. He was born and raised as a Hare Krishna devotee. I have a very special relation with him. The first time we met was in St. Peters Cathedral, at Vatican, in Rome, Italy. Do you remember? And ever since that time there has been a very special connection. He is a very sincere and boys like Devala really have the potential for leading the whole generation forward in the spirit of bhakthi. So let us encourage Devala to do just this by welcoming him very heartily to Sri Radha Gopinath temple. Haribol.

Thank you very much. Gopala Bhatta Prabhu, thank you very much for coming and Jayadvaitha Maharaj, will you kindly enlighten us.

Maharaj isn’t leaving me time to speak against those two nice things he said, so I will just speak philosophy. This as much allotted to the devotees at Radha Gopinath Mandir have undertaken to make a special effort to acquaint people with the message of Back to Godhead. Srila Prabhupad started the Back to Godhead magazine in his householder life in Delhi, actually Prabhupad was publishing BTG, to give people the message of Krishna. Godhead means Krishna. The original, actually I was thinking in this time in a very philosophical way that Godhead means the Absolute Truth seen in a sort of a technical manner, but Prabhupad explains one time the meaning of Godhead, that Krishna is Godhead, Prabhupad said means that he is the head God. “Iswara_((11: 15)_”. He is the Supreme controller, he is the Supreme enjoyer, and He is the Supreme friend of all living beings and he comes to this material world to invite us to join him in the spiritual world. The material world, Srila Prabhupad, explained there is no place for a gentleman, our real home is in the spiritual sky with Krishna. Krishna in Bhagavad Gita “ananya (11:52)__”. If we go out and search for any one who always thinks of him and always engages in his service is very easy to obtain, sulabhah, sulabhah. So the purpose of the Back to Godhead magazine, purpose of the Hare Krishna movement is to give us the opportunity always to think of Krishna. “Ananya__” without the need to divert our attention. Even if we have other work that doesn’t mean that we have to divert our attention from Krishna. Krishna told Arjun “mamanusmara _12.44__” you think of me and fight. It is not that Arjun inorder to fight had to forget Krishna. He was thinking of Krishna and fighting. So whatever ones duty, whatever ones work, whatever ones situation in this material world, one can think of Krishna. It is only a question of technique, a question of molding our lives in such a way that we will always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna. Srila Prabhupad gave the examples, the Acharyas gave the example that some women is married, but she has another lover. So she is doing her housework very nicely but her purpose is that my husband may not discover what is going on, but within herself she has an appointment sometime to meet her lover. So she is thinking when will that time come, when will we be able to meet. While she is great busy in her work her mind is completely absorbed in that next meeting with her lover. So this is lover consciousness, material, but the spiritual counterpart is Krishna consciousness. If it is possible materially over some mundane lover, then what to speak of the spiritual. Krishna is much more attractive than any mundane lover, so much so that Rukmini said that any one who is not married to Krishna is married to someone who is just a bag of mucus, bile, and air with some hair on his head and some eyebrows stuck on. In the material world we are all imprisoned in material bodies which were giving so much botheration even from babyhood. There is so much difficulty. Actually babies are good example because they themselves are suffering and they give sufferings to others also. That is the way that the material world is set up. Everyone of us is suffering and everyone of us is giving trouble to others also. That is the material world, but the spiritual world is the world of full pleasure. It is the world where everyone is engaged in his natural joyful occupation in devotion to Krishna, and Krishna is reciprocating the affection of every living being. He is reciprocating with the cows, with the cowherd boys, with Nanda and Yasoda, with the gopis, with the trees, with every living beings, with the monkeys we saw like the other day. He is generous to the monkeys also and he is enjoying and when Krishna is enjoying he is not enjoying alone he is enjoying in the company of all of his devotees and sharing that enjoyment with them. So Krishna says that “mam _(17:03)_”. Those who are fortunate, though remain in this material world where everything is temporary and everything is so troublesome, rather they come back Home, Back to Godhead. They come to me. “Mam “ and punarjanma is finished. No more birth and death. No more disease and old age, no more kicking around in this material world. “Samsi (17:38)__” they attain the supreme perfection by becoming eternal associates of Krishna. The impersonalists are also unfortunate, because after undergoing so much trouble to get free from this material world they lose their personal identity and their opportunity to associate with Krishna. “18:04__” but by retaining our personal identity and developing a loving relationship with Krishna we can attain eternal perfection and never come back, never come back to this material world. Even if one goes to the planet of Brahma one has to come back. Therefore we are not interested in going anywhereelse. Our goal is how to go back home Back to Godhead and at the same time we are interested in we don’t want to go alone. We want to follow Prahlad Maharaj who told Lord Narasimhadev that I don’t want to go back to Godhead by myself but I want to bring everyoneelse with me. So that was Srila Prabhupad’s spirit and in that spirit he started the Back to Godhead to give everyone the message of Krishna and I am very happy that there is a special effort to distribute that message over this coming month here at RadhaGopinath Mandir, actually in Radha Gopinath Mandir everyone is always distributing the message of Krishna sometimes one way sometimes in other way, sometimes the other way. So it is very wonderful and I am sure Srila Prabhupad is always pleased with those who are endeavouring to spread Krishna consciousness, those who are endeavouring to come to Krishna consciousness, those who are associating with Krishna consciousness. Any touch with Krishna makes us fortunate and the more we serve Krishna the more our life becomes successful. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna. “om (20:30)___”. “mukam __”.

Before I begin speaking, I have already begun, first I would like to say that I would like to add few additional words to what Radhanath Maharaj has said about this distinguished Vaishnavas. I will speak briefly on the subject, but I feel compelled to speak about it and I feel very fortunate always to be in the association of His Holiness Jayadvaitha Maharaj. He has always been a very great source of inspiration for my spiritual life and he doesn’t like hearing these things which makes it difficult to speak because by nature I don’t like to do anything that other vaishnavas don’t like, but I am going to do it anyway. Because all of you will like it and you are not (21:53)__. But he has always been a very source of inspiration for my spiritual life. I have known Jayadvaitha Maharaj for many years and I have fine memories of associating with him back in 1970s when he would be very kind to me and regularly come up and visit me when I was a Bhaktha Director in Manhauten in the late 1970s. Jayadvaitha Maharaj was also there in the Manhauten temple and sometimes senior devotees would come and that particular place could sometimes become for me at that time a very lonely place. I was a Bhaktha Director in Manhauten temple and outside the temple there were I think about 220-230 devotees living at that time, big skyscraper building that we had and I was the Bhaktha Director in sixth floor and sometimes I will be there with 30-40 new bhakthas and guests at trying to train them and educate them and they were all people who had some of them generally just _(23:13)_streets in Manhauten and then it was’nt such an easy task that (23:24)__ ask with me. And I was very much dependent even at that time for association of senior godbrothers and Jayadvaitha Maharaj would come very regularly and just open the door, walk in and sit down and start speaking a few words of encouragement to me and that I became so grateful for that association he gave me in those difficult years that I have never been able to forget his companionship and encouragement he gave me at that time and that was the significant, it marked the beginning of our association but we had had much association since then as well. But one thing that always astounded me about his character for which he is recognized even today is his simplicity and renunciation. He would sometimes come into the room, sit down and start speaking to me, sometimes late in the evening when we sit down we talk for few hours and it was late and when it was time go to sleep he would, right in my office, he would just take his chadar, pull it over his head, lay down on the floor, that was taking rest for the night. He wouldn’t even bother to go out the door, go to his room, make himself comfortable whatever, he was comfortable right there. Time to go to rest, take rest, he just pull his chadar over his head, that is the way it was for the night and wake up in the morning before I get up, ofcourse. So he is like that today in one sense because he is so simple, he just is so renounced, he could be anywhere perfectly peaceful and happy in Krishna consciousness. So I admire his quality in him and it gives me very source of inspiration or something just strive for in my own Krishna consciousness.

The real story is that I was coming regularly to take Maharaj’s association. All I knew how to do that and practically speaking was go to sleep. So I used to come in and get Maharaj’s association and become enriched in Krishna consciousness and now I just push up and around and he is preaching in Ukraine, he is preaching in Russia, he is doing such wonderful preaching and he doesn’t consider who is his disciple, who is somebodyelse’s disciple, who is this person, that person, he just extends himself throughout the devotees and I am just always in awe of his compassion and his enthusiasm for spreading Srila Prabhupad’s message.

Now you can talk about someone else.

I have heard this from the two people who are sitting on both side of me. I will speak about somebodyelse. I wanted to speak about Gopala Bhatta Prabhu. I just want to make an additional point because I have a very close relation with Gopala Bhatta Prabhu very very godbrother of mine and this is one aspect which Radhanath Maharaj very nicely presented this evening about Gopala Bhatta Prabhu and actually he covered everything in one sentence. His devotion, his dedication to Prabhupad and his skills that he has for organization and applying those skills for help to benefit our movement. But Gopala Bhatta Prabhu and myself we spend significant amount of time a couple of years ago and last year as well as in Vrindavan and Govardhan and at that time Gopala Bhatta Prabhu was coming to Vrindavan and the only absorption we had in this consciousness at that time is he wanted to awaken deep attachment in chanting the holy name of the Lord. Because he felt at that point in his spiritual life although he has always been chanting his 16 rounds very dedicatedly throughout all of these years, he felt that this particular point in his life he really wanted to increase attachment, genuine pure attachment in chanting the holy name of the Lord and he was going not to just myself, I got more inspiration from his association than I am sure that he got from mine just by seeing how attached he was to wanting to hear about the holy name. But he would go to so many different vaishnavas and very humbly just sitting in their presence and hearing and asking very wonderful questions, all related to the holy name and that was his only meditation day in day out, day in day out, vaishnavas going sitting, and hearing from them about the glories of the holy name of the Lord. Then I was filled with seeing that example in his character and then seeing him subsequence is his visit to Vrindavan and how deeply he was trying to enrich his own life to chanting of the holy names of the Lord that Krishna has reciprocated with his such sincere chanting and the fruit of all that chanting is now he is performing so much service for Srila Prabhupad’s movement and often Prabhupad said one by chanting Hare Krishna or praying to Krishna please engage me in your service Prabhupad would emphasize it that is the definition about prem _ (30:03)_ the Lord please always keep me engaged in your loving devotional service and now because of that attentiveness he had towards his chanting that Krishna has brought him such wonderful opportunities to help expand the glories of the holy names of the Lord throughout every town and village and he is actually dedicating so much of his energy. He was just telling me just this morning we were speaking how one month he has dedicated about four days of that month to his business and all of the rest of the time he dedicated to helping the leaders in North America to expand the chanting of the holy name of the Lord and that I feel that this is also a great wonderful example that we should all look at that somebody who actually understands the importance of chanting purely and the fruit of chanting purely. This is how Krishna reciprocate, sometimes I hear even devotees sometimes will come to me and this former Soviet Union will come to me and speak to me and will say, I have no service. So I feel like in their hearts I do not why I just don’t have anything to do, there is nothing and actually if we understand what is the essence of our Krishna consciousness is specifically enchanting the holy name of the Lord and what does it mean to chant with feeling attachment and anybody who feels that they don’t have any service then they should look within themselves and try to understand why do I not have any service. Have I really understood with a proper mentality how to serve the holy name of the Lord. Have I actually each day before chanting the holy name of the Lord do I offer prayers and meditate on what is the meaning, what am I doing chanting 16 rounds, sometimes devotees they have a meditation that chanting 16 rounds a day means the happiness of chanting 16 rounds a day means to finish them. Happiness is finishing my 16 rounds, that is it. Oh, now that is done. But how much do we actually before chanting submit ourselves because we are servants of the holy name and we should actually submit ourselves with feeling praying to Krishna, please I have no qualification, my heart is filled with so many obstacles on the path of devotional service. What qualification do I have to be a servant. I actually have, if I look within myself and see the desires and attachments in my heart I know that I have no qualification what so ever, but you Krishna you have the power to bestow upon me the opportunity to be engaged in your loving devotional service and unless I feelingly pray to you for this service then how can I ever hope or expect. So always I have to think that service will come by my efforts alone. Service comes from Krishna and it comes down through disciplic succession and if we actually wants to be engaged in devotional service we have to qualify ourselves to be given the most you need privilege, privilege to have somebody approach us on behalf of the Supreme Lord, on behalf of the spiritual master and with the genuine desire to come before and to give us an opportunity here the service is available for those who actually eagerly looking for it. Those who practice day in and day out by _34:10)_ their meditation and by __ sincere chanting and this is a wonderful example to look at in this example is that he did not say or I am not going to come back and I have so many skills and I want to do this, I want to do that we have to accept. Is it? No, I want to serve the holy name of the Lord and by serving the holy name of the Lord everythingelse will naturally come from that. So I see that by that example, by that desire, by that serving desire within his heart that Srila Prabhupad understanding his desire has given him so much service now to assist all the senior leaders and practically in North America as Maharaj said, they are calling him. What can we do, how should we organize this, what do we do this like that, asking so many questions and his reciprocation is all coming from that chanting of the holy names of the Lord. So similarly, we should try to look within our own heart as well and try to examine how much do we have that strong desire to submit ourselves to chanting the holy name of the Lord not in a mindless way of endeavouring to simply complete them by considering that to be criteria of our successful chanting Hare Krishna. The criteria of successful chanting is actually how much we, as Maharaj very nicely explained also in his presentation, is how much we were remembering Krishna, how much we depending upon Krishna. Krishna’s instructions in Bhagavat Gita, the most confidential instruction he has given in Bhagavad Gita is “manmana” (36:03)__ Krishna told Arjuna that man mana bhava that you should always fix your mind upon Me. Madbhakta bhava means to engage all of your senses in serving Me, mad-yaji means to worship Me, engage in the worship of My deity form. “Mam namaskuru, you should offer your obeissances to me. If you do all of these things fixing your mind completely upon Me and devotional service in full dependence upon Me, He says you will come to Me and Srila Viswanatha Chakravarthi Thakura explains in his commentary to this verse and also to the subsequent verse to “man mana __” a very famous verse of Bhagavad Gita which is “sarvadharman ___”Krishna says abandon all varieties of religion, surrender unto Me, I would relieve you from all sinful reactions, do not fear. Srila Viswanatha Chakravarthi Thakur explains that what is this surrender that Krishna is asking, sometimes we think surrender means, you know, just do _ (37:28)_ surrender that is surrender, that is one element of surrender, Yes, do with __, but why should we do it__. He says that all the components of man mana, of surrender, “sarva (37:46)__” is all the components of surrendering to Krishna are established in the preceding verse. Do you want to surrender to Krishna, what is surrender to Krishna means, surrender means man mana bhava, you surrender your mind to me. You surrender your mind means always you are thinking of Me, thinking of My pastimes, thinking of my activities, Back to Godhead in the spiritual world, what is going on in this spiritual world. What is going on in the spiritual world, the residents of Goloka Vrindavan there, they are absorbed, they are engaged in man mana bhava just like Mother Yasoda, her absorption which is very nicely described in the Brihad Bhagavathamritham, how Mother Yasoda she accompanies her son Krishna when he enters into the forest to go out to play with his cowherd boyfriends. Her mind is so much absorbed in Krishna that she doesn’t even want to leave Krishna for a moment. Krishna gathers with all his cowherd boyfriends, they are playing their flutes, and buffalo horns and Mother Yasoda, she is walking out to the outskirts of the village with Krishna and Krishna stops and turns to Mother Yasoda and Mother Yasoda what is she thinking, she is just simply thinking of Krishna. She doesn’t want to leave. She does all these different arrangements. First she gives him some plants to chew then she leaves and turns back to go and then she stops turns around, then she gives him something to eat, then she turns around, yet to be turn, she stops, she looks at Krishna then she comes back and gesture clothes, his clothes, then she turns away back to return home and then she comes back and instructs Krishna to be careful before entering into the forest, you should be very careful, don’t go too deep into the forest, if you do that possibly you will get cuts and scratches by running into the forests and then she turns back just to return and then she turns around looks at Krishna, she comes back and she says to all the Krishna’s friends you should protect Krishna standing all sides of him, minds absorbed man mana bhava , that is the goal of chanting. Her love for Krishna is so intense that for a moment she cannot take her mind off of Krishna. That is how we should surrender our minds to Krishna when we are chanting Hare Krishna we should be surrendering our minds completely to the lotus feet of the holy name of the Lord praying please let me always think of you. “smartha_(40:25)_”. All the rules and regulations that we are performing including the chanting of our japa, including the temple worship, everything is meant to help us to fix our minds upon Krishna and to never forget Krishna. That is man mana bhava and mad bhaktha bhava means is just like Maharaj Ambarish who utilized all his senses completely for the service of the Lord. His ears in hearing the past times of the Lord, his tongue for speaking the glories of the Lord, using his hands for cleansing the temple of the Lord, his feet walking to the temple of the Lord, his hands for touching the bodies of vaishnavas and taking the dust of their lotus feet placing them on his head, full engagement of all of his senses in the service of the Lord. So this is the preparation for going Back to Godhead. Jayadvaitha Maharaj spoke about going back to Godhead and how he was goal of going Back to Godhead he said that Srila Prabhupad said that Godhead was that Krishna is the head God. So in Goloka Vrindavan, Krishna is the head God, he is always the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but in Goloka Vrindavan he assumes that role of becoming completely submissive and subordinate to all loving service of the devotees. The head God all that Godhead or head God is completely covered by Yoga Maya so that everybody is actually looking at Krishna as son, friend, lover, and absorbed 24 hours a day in thoughts and remembrance of him and assuming him in the ways which are most pleasing to him. Going Back to Godhead means to prepare ourselves to go Back to Godhead by remembering the pastimes of the Lord, hearing about his activities, praying to him for the opportunity to always remember him and praying to him for the opportunity to serve him by keeping ourselves always close to the association of superior vaishnavas whose every desire and wish and every word is giving us another opportunity to help us to remember that we are servants of Krishna by becoming servants of the vaishnavas. We actually when we imbibe this consciousness and we chant the holy name of the Lord in this spirit we will see that in the association of so many exalted vaishnavas that we will never have an opportunity to say I have no service. The real benediction that will come from chanting sincerely is like Krishna will keep us closely, very closely bounds into the association of loving vaishnavas such as we are so fortunate to be in today on this auspicious day to keep us so bound that every time they speak is another opportunity we hear always another opportunity how can I serve Krishna by serving his loving devotees. This is the perfection of our chanting of Hare Krishna and therefore I can understand that I have been given this opportunity to speak about this today very kindly by the mercy of His Holiness Radhanath Maharaj who has asked me to speak and simply by that request alone just like two nights ago he did the same thing to me. I walked in, I sat down and started playing in the harmonium in his room and I was thinking I have come in to hear Radhanath Maharaj speak on Sharad Purnima. My heart was, then he walked into the room he said, Maharaj, so go in and speak. What, he says I am very busy, please go and speak, how much time do I have to prepare now. He is always so kind to me, so kind to me, anything he says is an order, it is an order, I take it on my head as an order from his lotus mouth. Therefore I realize into some small degree that if I can go on chanting in some humble spirit and keep myself surrendered by such wonderful vaishnavas like this then Krishna will always give me some opportunity to render some service. So thank you very much Radhanath Maharaj for your kind association and your loving friendship and everythingelse that you have given me in this life. Hare Krishna.

I am speaking only because Radhanath Maharaj has demanded that I speak. I am not actually qualified to speak to you. My godbrothers, my senior godbrothers have offered very nice words, but I am most unqualified to receive those words. So I have offered them to Srila Prabhupad who is so kind and unbelievably generous and I would say that particularly at this moment I am seeing that his greatest gift, although he gave us so many great gifts that you cannot just say that one thing is his greatest gift, but his greatest gift I think is the association of devotees. My senior godbrothers but then all of you and to be in your association just feels so special and it is actually the special devotional work that you people have been doing that has brought me here. I started to work with some of our leaders in North America and started to associate with some of my senior godbrothers to try to chant Hare Krishna better and for the last two years everyone is saying that I have to go to Chowpatty. I have to come here to see you people because of the special mood of devotion and the intense mood of devotion that is going on and so in one sense Radhanath Maharaj invited me here, but in a more real sense the deep devotion that all of you have is what has called me here because I wanted to see you and be in your service in some small way even just to gain your association and so I wanted to thank Radhanath Maharaj for beginning this little journey and inviting me here. Also I wanted to thank Krishnachandra Prabhu who has been so gracious and so wonderful in taking care of me and make me feel instantly like I am a family member and I am like feeling just by being with him for a few hours I am feeling like I am part of this place in some way. So really it has affected me very much. So I thank you very much Krishnachandra Prabhu, you are a very special devotee. So I am not going to say much except because I don’t have words to speak in front of my senior godbrothers except to say one thing. Niranjan Swami and several other of my sannyasi godbrothers truly did help me chant better and I think the secret there is that we spend time with those people that we know are tasting the holy name more than we are. So we find out those people who is tasting the holy name more than I am and then we go to those people and we ask them for their blessings, we ask them for their mercy and their help in chanting better and I think this is a very important process of learning how to chant and so that is what I have been attempting to do. Hare Krishna. Thank you very much.

Last week during the drama festival we witnessed wonderful exhibitions of sincere devotion. Each of the four dramas that the devotees performed was so unique and so deeply filled with sincerity. Srila Prabhupad explained that the spirit of bhakthi is based on our genuineness, our sincerity to please Krishna, to please guru, to please the vaishnavas and to uplift the fallen souls. A devotee simply feels no charm when materialistic people perform extraordinary dramatic pieces. There is no charm in the music of people who are addicted to money and prestige. Devotees appreciate selfless spirit of devotion. These devotees practiced from months together joyfully many working, taking care of children all day, and then the only hours of they have to relax they come for regress practices of dramas, all for one performance. Never again to even show it, one performance, just to please the vaishnavas, knowing if we please the vaishnavas we can please Krishna. Srimad Bhagavatham declares that if you want to give nourishment to the branches, leaves, twigs and flowers of a tree you must water the root. Krishna is the root of everything that exists, but you can’t directly pour water on the root you have to poor water on the fertile soil that is around the root. The devotees are Krishna’s associates. The devotees are always surrounding Krishna’s lotus feet by their hearts of affection. Therefore, by serving the devotees automatically naturally, Krishna, the root of all existence accepts the water of our love and then our whole life flourishes. I wish to thank all the hundreds of devotees who have participated in this wonderful drama festival. In the drama about the life of Srila Bhakthi Siddhantha Saraswathi Thakur there was the conclusion of Srila Prabhupad’s words which are so meaningful and I humbly request that the devotees meditate on just those few seconds of Prabhupad’s words in that tape. They reveal the essence of his heart, his compassion and especially the spirit of his gratitude and appreciation for the vaishnavas. Srila Prabhupad was speaking to devotees who were one third his age, who did not even have a particle or a fraction of his knowledge of the scriptures. He was a paramahamsa who is simply allowing the oceanic love and compassion of his heart to flow and drown people’s lives with meaning, with hope, with faith and with love. He was speaking to primarily neophyte devotees who were struggling, struggling to control their minds and senses, struggling to maintain some sadhana, many of them slipping and falling and Prabhupad having to come and personally just pick them up again and again to keep them on the path. To these devotees who were his own disciples exclusively dependent on his compassion in every step of their spiritual lives, Srila Prabhupad was revealing his heart. He was actually weeping, crying, thinking of the mercy of his Guru Maharaj upon him, thinking of the mercy of his Guru Maharaj and all of us. He was begging, he was pleading that we carry on this great mission. But most strikes my heart when I hear that tape is Prabhupad is crying in appreciation and gratitude for his little baby disciples efforts to assist him in the mission of his Guru Maharaj. He said he is old and at any time he could be taken away sleeping with us, please carry on this great mission, thanking us again and again for whatever efforts we have made to help. That is the heart of one who actually loves Krishna. Today we have seen how Prabhupad has empowered the hearts of these exalted devotees with such deep appreciation, gratitude and affection for each other. Our Nirajan Maharaj was showing his heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for Jayadvaita Maharaj for how he helped him thirty years ago. That is a vaishnav, never forgets. His heart is eternally conquered because Jayadvaita Maharaj so kindly came and slept on his floor and gave him some association which was so precious because it was so real. If we ever forget those devotees who have helped us at any time, we have forgotten Krishna. Because it is Krishna who is manifesting through every devotee to help lift us up. If we loose our gratitude towards any devotee who has ever wants sincerely chant the holy name, that is a deficiency in our appreciation of Krishna. How his Holiness Niranjan Maharaj was appreciating Gopala Bhatta Prabhu. We have heard from him the very essence of Lord Sri Chaithanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings. In what spirit we should approach the supreme deity of the holy name. “_(1:00:24)__”. As we approach Krishna he reveals himself accordingly to us. When we chant the Mahamantra we are approaching Srimati Radharani and her beloved concert Sri Krishna. What is our attitude? Are we approaching with gratitude, with submissiveness, with a deep desire to serve and to please them. If we are not properly loving and respecting devotees, do you think Krishna appreciates our calling out his holy name, not very much. Infact, Sri Chaithanya Mahaprabhu was so bold to declare that if you are criticizing, if you are blaspheming my devotees that when you chant the name, the name will come to punish you. Hare Krishna. So much for the seventh offense to the holy name of committing sins, what to speak of the first offense. If you are blaspheming devotees, if you can’t love and appreciate devotees then Krishna’s name will deal with us according to what we need. “_(1:02:16)___”. Unless we capture the spirit of servant of the servant of the servant, “trinad (1:02:28)___”. Unless we make this our ideal, our aspiration in life, Krishna is not going to be pleased to fully reciprocate with us as with chanting his name. Srila Prabhupad taught us that 99% of all of our spiritual advancement is in chanting Hare Krishna, but he gave us all of his books, he gave us the association of devotees, he gave us so much service to perform along with those devotees, why? Because unless we apply that service spirit toward the vaishnavas we cannot properly approach the holy name. So when we approach the holy name we should introspectically evaluate what is the quality of my service attitude in life. This determines how I can actually approach the Mahamantra. Maharaj was so deeply appreciating almost with tears how Gopala Bhatta was so much wanting to hear from vaishnavas and chant the holy name and beg for service to the vaishnavas in his chanting and thus Krishna has showered so much service on him he hardly has time to do anythingelse. What a gift, what a blessing to have so much service. We should feel so unqualified to render any service to anyone, but yet causelessly the devotees are so merciful that they are actually coming to engage us in their service. That is Krishna’s blessing to give us service. It is the fruit of the chanting of the holy name, to serve with love. All of these wonderful devotees who have come before us today have expressed such genuine appreciation, affection and gratitude. We must learn this from them. Because without that bhakthi is superficial. Srila Prabhupad taught us that. There is a famous story which you have heard of the drunkard who came in 26, II Avenue for no other purpose, but to use the toilet because when you drink alcohol that is one of the side effects, what goes in must come out, no toilet paper obviously he did not know what to do with this little picture of water. In America it is a great mystery when they go into a Hare Krishna’s toilet room. What is this water doing here. Am I supposed to drink water. What do they do when they are responding to the calls of nature, drinking water, some oriental culture, etiquette, hospitality giving water. So he thought these devotees they don’t even have toilet paper, so some days later he came in with a roll of toilet paper which is absolutely useless to the vaishnavas and he brought it into the toilet room. Some of the devotees were probably thinking just to throw him out, but Prabhupad treated him with respect as a gentleman who has come to serve. Prabupad had affection, Prabupad had gratitude because he came to help him even though his help was absolutely useless, he had an intention to do something positive for Prabhupad. That was in 1966 and three decades later we were still talking about this man. All over the world devotees talk about this man, because Prabhupad showed love, respect and gratitude to him. That is the heart of a vaishnava. That is the heart of one who has actually taken shelter of Krishna’s holy name.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Srila Prabhupad explains that in bhakthi the ends and the means are the same. It is that trying to develop these qualities in connection to the holy name, and what is the fruit that we actually realize what we were practicing. Sometimes Prabhupad told new devotees who are really struggling that you are all liberated souls. Yes, Prabhupad, we don’t understand. He said, no you are all. You are all pure devotees. You are following the regulative principles, you are chanting atleast 16 rounds everyday, you are spending the majority of all your time trying to serve, trying to remember Krishna. These are the activities of a pure devotee. You just haven’t realized that you are pure devotees. The difference between a neophyte devotee and a pure devotee is they do practically the same thing, but one is realized and one isn’t. That is Prabhupad’s gift. He has actually given everyone the opportunity to enter directly into the culture of the spiritual world and as we just associate with people in that spirit and practice we become more and more purified and realize. Now we are chanting the holy names perhaps with as an austerity. What will we get out of it. We will continue chanting in love with realization and then like Srila Prabhupad we will actually shed genuine tears of love in gratitude to the assembly of devotees for all that they are doing for us. If that is the way the great Parahamsas think how greatful we should be. We are orderly dependent on the tolerance, the mercy and the kindness of the vaishnavas. So let us learn how to appreciate each other as the senior vaishnavas are appreciating each other. Then entrance into the rome of pure love is accessible. For us His Holiness Jayadvaita Maharaj has so eloquently explained we could tred the real path Back Home Back To Godhead. Srila Prabhupad explains that maya is nescience darkness, Godhead is light. A vaishnava is one who in association with the light of the holy name and the devotees gives light to the world through our words, through our actions, through our thoughts, through our prayers. I thank you very much. At this time let us express our deep gratitude to Gopala Bhatta Prabhu, Jayadvaitha Maharaj, Niranjan Maharaj for performing very very enthusiastic sincere sankirtan. Is that possible? Let us chant very loud from our hearts. We are not musicians, theatrical performers or dancers. We are just simple humble devotees who want to please Krishna and glorify Krishna and make everyone happy in doing so. That’s all. Thank you very very much.