LAST KARTIK YATRA – A DEDICATION TO JAYAPATAKA SWAMI

I am grateful for everyone that have assembled this evening at Sridama Mayapur Dham, especially to H.H. Jaypataka Swami Maharaj.
Last year at this time during our Kartik yatra in Sri Virndavan, we dedicated to H.H Jayapataka Swami Maharaj. Not long before we went to Vrindavan, by Krsna’s inconceivable arrangement, Krishna gave a loving stroke to Srila Jaypataka Maharaj, of course for us it was a great devastation. The senior most active leader in all of ISKCON, that person whom Srila Prabhupada entrusted such a great abundance of his divine grace, according to the doctor there was not even a one percent chance that he could possibly survive. Both doctors of the east and the west confirmed the same conclusion. We were about to cancel the yatra thinking how can we all go to Vrindavan and have a wonderful spiritual experience when our senior most God brother and leader is in critical condition in coma in the hospital. But Srila Prabhupada thought us that in every situation of life the question we should ask is how I could best serve. We have our sentiment, but we chant the Mahamantra with that prayer, please engage me in your service. As the servant of the servant of your servants. So in Mumbai, what could I do for except for short periods every day the hospital would allow everyday to spend some time in his bedside. One day while I was in his bedside I was thinking, wouldn’t it be a better service if 4000 devotees in Vrindavan were all chanting and praying to Krsna to express our love and gratitude to Jaypataka Maharaj and petition his good health? So on that basis we had our yatra. On the very first day we dedicated the yatra to Srila Jaypataka Swami Maharaj. We spoke at some length about the glorious services he has rendered to the Vaishnava community over the last few decades. He joined as a teenager, within a few months he was a temple president, shortly after that he was sent to India, and about a year or so later he was given sanyas. And then he was sent to this apparently isolated rice paddy in West Bengal in Sri Mayapur Dham. He was entrusted for sometime for developing Calcutta and then Mayapur. And over the years, he has attracted 10s and 1000s of people in this world. Speaking fluent Bengally, travelling throughout Bengal and Bangladesh, and gradually all over the world. When Lord Nityananda Prabhu was prophecizing the holy name being chanted in every town and village, may be he was thinking something about what Srila Jayapataka Swami Maharaj would do. He travels around the world about 4 times every year. Going to even the most remote difficult places.
Every day before our lecture and every holy place we went to during our yatra last year, we prayed to Sri Radha Shyamsunder, Sri Radha Madhava, Panca tattva to hear our prayer, our plea for the health of Srila Jaypataka Swami Maharaj. Everyday we were getting updates on the news of his health, but still through our yatra the doctors were of the same opinion, it is next to impossible for him to survive. It wasn’t only the 4000 of us in the holy dham of Vrindavan chanting and praying. But 10s and thousands of devotees all over the world were chanting and praying. One year later in Sri Mayapur dham, that place which Sri Jaypataka Swami Maharaj is so intimately responsible for developing on behalf of Srila Prabhupada, he is with us.
This is great mercy upon us. I humbly request all the devotees to take some moments of silent prayer to restore Srila Jaypataka Maharaj’s health so that next year he would be dancing with us. Let us close our eyes and offer this prayer.
H.H. Jayapataka Maharaj was just at quite intensive GBC meetings for almost 2 weeks in Mumbai and he was scheduled to be in Hyderabad for therapy, but he has especially rearranged his travel plans to come to Mayapur dham for just 2 ½ days to just give us his association.
DAMODAR LILA ON THE EVE OF DIWALI
Today is Diwali. According to Viswanath Cakravarti Thakur, this is the day in the month of Kartik that Lord Krsna performed his Damodar lila. Early in the morning, Yasoda Mayi was eager to celebrate Diwali by making special bhoga to offer to Lord Krsna. We know the beautiful story how she was churning the yogurt into butter singing sweet songs in her love for Gopal and as she was singing and remembering Him, milk was flowing from her body as an expression of her motherly love and Gopal was in bed, he became to drink that milk and ran to his mother. And she began to feed Him. I am going to speak this story very abbreviated, because we want to offer lamps in just a few minutes. And the milk was boiling. So she put Krsna down to save that special milk from the best of all the cows in Vraj Bhumi, she was going to use that milk to make preparations for Gopal. But Krsna took that opportunity to show the world that there should be no priority above His will. So with a stone he broke the pot of yogurt and went to another room. Yasoda Mayi came back and saw the little buttery foot prints of Krsna and the broken pot, she followed that foot prints and there in the courtyard on a upside down grinding mortar, Gopal had taken some butter from a clay pot which was hanging from the ceiling and was eating it and feeding it to the monkeys. She came behind with a small stick and the monkeys began chattering and jumping out of windows and climbing up trees to escape Yasoda Mayi. Krsna saw her and jumped off the grinding mortar and ran. He was just a baby. Yasoda Mayi was chasing after him and he was running. Even the greatest mystics, yogis, tapasvis, scholars that cannot catch Krsna even after many, many lifetimes. But this simple Gopi Yasoda, Krsna allowed Himself to be caught by her. His limbs were, His lips were quivering, His eyes were pouring tears. And he cried to his mother, please put down that stick. I promise you I will never do this again. So she threw down that stick.
MAHAVISNU A PARTIAL EXPANSION OF GOPAL
Queen Kunti was remembering this. He who is feared by fear personified, as Mahavisnu who is a partial expansion of the expansion of a plenary portion of the Lord, He destroys the entire cosmic manifestation with one inhalation. And now you are all breathing so many times, what have you done, nobody cares. He exhales and the entire cosmic manifestation manifests. That is the Lord. And Gopal who even Mahavisnu worships as the all powerful one. He was running in fear of Yasoda crying just to increase His devotees love and to attract the world to that sweet love.
FESTIVAL OF ROPES
Yasoda Mayi to protect Krsna she brought a silk rope to bind Him by waist, but it was 2 fingers too small. She tied more rope to that original rope, to put it around his waist, but again it was 2 fingers too small. She brought more and more and more ropes. Soon other gopis heard about this amazing pastime and they all came from various houses with all their ropes. It was a festival of ropes. All different colour ropes and sizes. And all the gopis were helping Mother Yasoda tie more and more ropes. And every time she put it around, it was exactly 2 fingers too small. Now the ropes were now many kilometers long and Krsna’s waist was the same size. It didn’t expand. In other avatars like Vamanadev, when He wanted to cover some more ground, He expanded into very big size. But Gopal didn’t have to expand. He can be the same size to preserve that motherly affection, but still manifest His unlimited nature. Another time at Brahmanda Ghat, Yasoda Mayi looked to see in Krsna’s mouth to see whether he had eaten dirt as Balaram has accused. And he said “No I have not eaten dirt.” She said, “Let me see”. “All right you see.” “Open your mouth”. And she looked inside, His mouth is small, but the entire universe was in that mouth. All the oceans, all the planets, all the devas, all the living entities, she saw herself. Yet Krsna’s mouth didn’t grow. And in this way Yasoda Mayi could not stop thinking of Gopal as her own child. This is what it means, that God is great.
MEANING OF THE 2 FINGERS
How we can increase the love of his devotees. Gopal was seeing Yashoda mai working so hard but she still could not bind him. So he wanted to show the world that he is bound by the love of his devotees. Yashoda Mai tied the knot. Those 2 fingers, our acaryas explain, what is required to bind Krishna. One is our sincere endeavour. Srila Prabhupada explains if we want o bind Krishna three things are required. To be serious, sincere and have no ulterior motives. That means only for the pleasure of the Lord. And when those are there than the other finger is Krishna’s mercy. Krishna bestows his mercy and reveals himself and allows himself to be controlled by his devotees.
CHILDHOOD PASTIMES OF GAURANGA IN NAVADWIP
Here in Navadvip, we’d like to speak for just a few minutes on some of the child hood pastimes of Lord Gauranga. Where there are parallel to this beautiful childhood lilas of Lord Krishna in Gokul. We heard from Srila Jayapataka Swami Maharaj, how Sri Advaitacharya was fasting and crying out for Krishna to personally appear, because he understood that there was no other way to rescue the lives of the people of this age of Kali and give pure devotional service. And many times Lord Caitanya, throughout his life from the beginning to the end, He declared to the world that it was because of  these prayers of Sri Advaita Prabhu that I came to  this world. To manifest the Harinam sankirtan movement. On that full moon night during the eclipse when every one was in the ganga chanting the names of Hari, in Shantipur Sri Advaita and Haridas thakur they felt such ecstacy in their heartrs that they knew that Krishna appeared. Sri Advaita sent Sita thakurani, his wife, to Sri Navadvip to offer gifts to the child of Saci Mata and Jagannath Misra. When Sita saw this beautiful form of the new born baby child, she was thinking in her heart that that same beautiful boy with the bluish colored complexion , Gopal, has appered again in Sri navadvip, with the most lovely effulgent golden complexion. She knew that the Lord for the sake of his  lila covered all of His devotees with yoga maya potency as Krishna did so that they could not detect that He was actually the Lord that they were praying for, crying for, longing for. Little Nimai, He would cry, and the only thing that could possibly stop Him from crying was if everyone gathered around Him, clap their hands and blissfully chanted Krishna’s names.
Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa , Hare Hare
Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare
And He was just a baby. Crawling around, he would sit on the laps of the gopis, and they would chant for Him, and He would be dancing even though He could not even walk. When He started to walk, like Krishna, He became very naughty. He became very naughty. Sometimes, He would run out to the streets, and He would beg from everybody, bananas and sweets – sandesh. And because of his charming form, everyone had to give Him whatever He wanted. And He would take those sweetmeats, one or two at a time, and run back into the house, and give it to the ladies. Krishna was stealing milk sweets and milk from the gopis, and as Lord Gauranga, he would give it back to them, for the simple price of their chanting the holy names.
Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa , Hare Hare
Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare
Nimai – small child, would run into the neighbors’ houses, and like Krishna, He would break everything that He would see. And He would steal – steal milk sweets, steal butter, steal yogurt. What He didn’t steal, He would throw over. Now, actually, is the Lord a thief? Bhagavad Gita we understand, the basic spiritual principle – sarva-loka maheswaram – that Krishna is the proprietor of everything that exists. So, if we consider anything to be our own, which is connected to Him, we are thieves. But when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was little Nimai, when He would go and steal from the ladies of Navadwip, it is their greatest pleasure.
 
THE SUPREME ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE PASTIMES OF NIMAI IN NAVADWIP AND GOPAL IN VRINDAVAN
Sometimes, the brahmanas would come and complain to Jagannath Misra about the mischievous activities of Nimai. And sometimes the ladies and the girls would complain, just as the gopis would complain to Yasoda mayi. But Vrindavan das Thakur explains how little Nimai in His naughty activities, He gave so much pleasure to His devotees, so much pleasure. But they didn’t know he was Krishna, but he awakened in their hearts such love for him, and there is a parallel to the srimad bhagavatam, that historical conversation between Pariksit Maharaj and Sukadev Goswami. Pariksit Maharaj was stunned, how is it possible sukadev goswami what you have said that all the gopis and the gopas of the elder ages, they all loved Krishna more than their own children. This is humanly impossible. Those of you who are mother if your child is not getting good grades and not so well behaved and may not even treat you as well as your neighbours child, who is getting top grades, Do you love your child less than that? It’s not possible. Parents have a natural affinity and love for their child and favor them. But every single gopi in Vrindavan was loving Krishna more. How is this possible? Sukadev goswami told because Krishna is the paramatma, He is the life force in every living being. When the life force is gone all there is, is a dead corpse. Nobody is attracted that much to a dead corpse, it is the life that person within the body that people love. And Krishna is that life force. He is the source of all spirit souls. Whatever attractiveness any spirit soul has is only because they are an insignificant, infinitesimal part and parcel of Krishna’s all attractive nature. So Ultimately Krishna is the only object of every one’s love. Maya is when we don’t recognize a person’s connection to Krishna. In the same way the devotees of Sri navadwip dham, their love for Nimai was unlimited. It was infinite, it was more than their children, it was more than their own lives, it was more than the whole world. But still they did not know he was God, their worshipable object. Because Like the damodar lila, Krishna wanted to increase the intimacy of their affection. Nimai’s childhood pastimes here in Navadvip were non-different, absolutely non-different from the pastimes of Krishna in Vrindavan.
SIGNIFICANCE OF OFFERING LAMP TO THE LORD
And today we are celebrating on this day of diwali, not only the loving relation between Krishna and Yasoda mayi, but we are all specially meditating and praying and offering our lamps of love to the relationship of love between Nimai and Saci mata. Yashoda mai came as saci devi and gopal came as nimai. So, this beautiful lila of Vatsalya rasa, in its supreme essence is eternally been manifested here in Navadvip and at this very moment, we will all go and offer our lamps of our gratitude to Nimai Sacidevi, Gopal Yashoda mai, on behalf of the lamp it is the lamp of our affection, a lamp of our longing to love. That fire of our longing to love Krishna when we focus on it and nourish it with the fuel of the ghee of the holynames of the lord, of harikatha, of vaishnava association of humble devotional service, it is the ghee that keeps the flame in our heart alive and makes it grow and grow and grow and ultimately it will  burn to ashes all of our false egos all of our separated selfish desires and then that lamp of our love for Krishna it illuminates our hearts. And with that light Krishna reveals Himself. So, we are offering the lamp of our willingness to serve. We are offering the Lamp of our longing to love. And when we offer with the sentiment and the Sincerity, Krishna accepts it. Tonight H.H. Umapati Swami Maharaj told, when the devotees are offering these lamps, I am seeing something very very special. That during the offering of the lamp of all the devotees, radharani’s smile is so special and sweet like no other time. I said Maharaj you are seeing that because your lamp is good lamp. But it was true Srimati Radharani as the bestower of bhakti and when we offer that lamp of our hearts love, the flame of our eagerness to hear eagerness to chant and longing to love.
Offer that lamp of our hearts love of our eagerness to hear, our eagerness to chant. The flame of our eagerness to hear and chant when it is offered with sincerity, Srimati Radharani will smile and that smile is the ultimate benediction and entrance into the eternal abode of the Lord. Krsna has appeared in this age of kali as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the mood of Srimati Radharani, who just wants to see that we are willing to fuel that fire, that little spark of our intent to love, we fuel it with the ghee of the holy names  and service to the Vaishnavas, then He will smile upon us and fulfill that greatest ambition. And Srila Prabhupada explained , even one devotee where that flame is burning, that one heart can illuminate the whole world. 
Now let us go Sri Sri Radha Madhavas temple to offer our lamps of love to Panca tattva, Radha Damodara, our gratitude to Srila Prabhupada and all the vaishnavas. On this auspicious and holy day of Diwali. Thank you very much.