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Mukham karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim
Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinam
Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram
The Kali yuga is the process of chanting the holy names of Hari. By chanting the Lord’s names, that is the sacrifice that is prescribed. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Everyone is going quickly with their material affairs, but this Ratha yatra is a special opportunity for us to render some personal service to the Lord. We can pull the Lord with His ropes, chant and dance Hare Krsna, and in this way you will be performing very special service, and Krsna will never forget. We want all of you to get His blessing. By doing some personal service, His blessings are forthcoming. So hope you will take advantage, and pull the ratha and chant Hare Krsna and in this way, be very happy! Eating the food offered to the Lord is a very special mercy! That is a great austerity that we have to take! Ha! So you are willing to do it? Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu He came in this Kali yuga 500 years ago. Locanadas Thakur sang that sabo avatara sara siromani kevala ananda kanda. Of all the avatars, He was the crown jewel. He gave a process which is fully blissful – singing, dancing, feasting, sounds like a vacation! That is the process of self-realization. So Lord Caitanya He gave us a simple process which is easy to perform. So we hope that all of you will get His bliss, His mercy, chant Hare Krsna and be happy! Hare Krsna!
Our founder acarya is His Divine Grace Abhaycaran Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. And from His childhood he always loved Jagannathdev. At six years of age, he had his own ratha yatra cart. With a kirtan party, he was pulling that on the streets of North Calcutta. So this Ratha Yatra festival, Srila Prabhupada had established all over the world, and in 1968, I was participating in the first Ratha Yatra in San Francisco. There was Jayananda Prabhu who was an engineer, and he designed the ratha, that it would go under the cables of San Francisco. It was a telescopic ratha. Go down under the cables and then up! In Jagannath Puri, they don’t allow any cables on the main road. But in the West, we cannot dictate that. So he had this telescopic ratha. The day of the Ratha Yatra, he also shaved me up! So I thought, let me try Krsna consciousness for a couple of months, and if I like it I will stay. And I have been here ever since! So I joined basically with the Ratha Yatra. The wife of the temple president in Montreal, Canada, she told me that I have to get married if I wanted to go back to Godhead. I asked Srila Prabhupada, I was just 19 and I didn’t know what to do! Too young to get married! Then Srila Prabhupada said, guru will help you to decide, at the age of 25 you can decide. So I told the wife of the president that Srila Prabhupada gave me time to decide. But at 21 he gave me sannyasa. I am trying to serve all the devotees. Srila Prabhupada said to the grihastas that we sannyasis are like your children, you feed us you take care of us – so like that he was very merciful to all the grihastas. So today Lord Caitanya said, whether you are grihasta or a sannyasi, pull the ratha and chant Hare Krsna!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
14 July 2019