Monthly Message (12 February – 14 March 2025)
My dear dīkṣā, sheltered, aspiring, śikṣā, grand-disciples, and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings and best wishes as appropriate.
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Written from my Home base: Śrī Māyāpur Chandradoya Mandir
Date: 14 March 2025
Happy Gaura Pūrṇimā! Gaurabdha 539
I was thinking how in the beginning, in Māyāpur, we only had the grass hut, and there were no people. There were different maṭhas, but they weren’t very developed. Śrīla Prabhupāda sent me to India, to Kolkata in 1970 and I was given the sannyāsa order in Kolkata as the 11th sannyāsī in ISKCON. So, when we came to Māyāpur, in the grass hut Śrīla Prabhupāda said, this is the spiritual world headquarters of Kṛṣṇa consciousness when there was nothing but the grass hut! But Śrīla Prabhupāda could see. He had the vision that this place would be filled with 50,000 devotees and at present 7,000 devotees are living here. Also, every year the number of devotees attending the annual Gaura Pūrṇimā festival has increased. So many people are coming to Māyāpur and Lord Caitanya is gradually being well known. Yesterday alone we had 108,000 visitors!
Everything that Śrīla Prabhupāda did was to fulfill Lord Caitanya’s desires, to make Him known to the people. The TOVP, Māyāpur project, parikramā, and around the world book distribution, Harinām – that all makes Lord Caitanya well known. We should think how we can make Lord Caitanya established as the most merciful avatāra. Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa but He came as a devotee, so His mercy is more. That is why Navadvīpa-dhāma is known as audārya-dhāma which means the dhāma of karuṇā. Navadvīpa is non-different than Vṛndāvana and one can achieve perfection here. Siddha Jagannātha dāsa Babājī, he is called Siddha because he realized Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, he realized his eternal form. He was in Vṛndāvana but because any mistake made there is thousand times multiplied, he came to Navadvīpa and he got his realization here.
We had the silver jubilee celebration of Māyāpur Institute, then Kīrtan Utsav, Śravaṇ Utsav, Navadvīpa-maṇḍala Parikramā and other festivals. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had said that doing the Navadvīpa-maṇḍala parikramā would save the whole universe. Navadvīpa-dhāma has nine islands and each of them represents one of the nine processes of devotional service. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sang “śrī gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, yebā jāne cintāmaṇi, tāra haya vrajabhūmi vāsa” – One who knows that gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi is a cintāmaṇi-dhāma, that person is always residing in Vṛndāvana.
I went to the very first parikramā that was led by Śrīla Prabhupāda and I went to every parikramā since then except the last two years. I know pastimes from various places and I tried to send pastimes recordings to the different parties. So, whenever my health permitted, I tried to address all the different parties. This year we had around 7 parties, International, Bengali, Hindi, South India, etc. There were 4 parties of Bengali devotees. We want devotees, when they go after parikramā to their place, then they should preach the glories of Nityānanda-Gaurāṅga. His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī used to be with us on the parikramā every year and this year we are missing his presence. The International party had the Russians, other Western countries and Indians who speak English. We had about 1,000 Western devotees. After the pandemic, we did not see so many Western devotees. During the parikrama, devotees also distributed many books and sets of Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Every year, on Govinda Dvādaśī we have the festival in Śāntipur. Lord Caitanya said on this tithi, at this place, those who honor prasāda, they will get Govinda-bhakti. This year the festival was even more special because we established the lotus footprints of Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda, and Advaita Ācārya there. It was the desire of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura to install the lotus footprints of Lord Caitanya in Śāntipur. Śrīla Prabhupāda, if he did not get land in Māyāpur, he wanted to make his world headquarters in Śāntipur. Śānti Śākha Gosvāmī showed me letters that were written by Śrīla Prabhupāda regarding this.
Śrīla Prabhupāda was committed to trying to help Lord Caitanya establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, you all have a special responsibility to help Śrīla Prabhupāda to fulfill Lord Caitanya’s prediction and desires. Śrīla Prabhupāda many times said that the order of the guru should be taken as one’s life and soul. I am still here trying to finish what Śrīla Prabhupāda asked me to do. I am trying to follow the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda. I am grateful to all the disciples who are helping me with this. Whatever I have given, the disciples should give that to others.
One of the instructions that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me was to build the TOVP. On 18 February, we had the grand opening of the Legacy Museum of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda in the TOVP. This is the first phase of 1000 sq. ft. in size, the final museum will be 21,000 sq. ft. big. This museum is aimed at preserving all the tādīya (paraphernalia) of Śrīla Prabhupāda in one place.
In the West Wing of the TOVP, we are trying to make a Science Museum of the Vedic Planetarium (SMOVP). I am the Chairman of that. Śrīla Prabhupāda said we should defeat the material atheists, we should show how wonderful is the cosmology of the Bhāgavatam, and that it is very scientific. He said we should also show the four dhāmas mentioned in the Brahma-saṁhitā: Devī-dhāma, Maheśa-dhāma, Hari-dhāma and Goloka-dhāma. We are trying to follow the instruction of Śrīla Prabhupāda. I need help from my disciples to complete this SMOVP. When my disciples or devotees donate from my zones, please inform the TOVP office because TOVP has a deal that my zones, my disciples anywhere in the world who donate to the TOVP, 50% goes to the TOVP Exhibits.
Another instruction that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me was to develop Navadīpa Maṇḍala. We are trying to always research and find new places of pilgrimage in Navadvīpa-maṇḍala. This month was very significant because we purchased some land very near the birthplace of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Śrīla Prabhupāda personally visited this place at least three times and he was very eager to get some place near his birthplace. So, we got some land about 100 or 200 meters away from the birthplace. We also have a deity of Lord Nārāyaṇa with Śrīdevī and Bhūdevī ready to be shifted to Vaikuṇṭhapura, which is Vaikuṇṭha on earth. Śrīdevī was Lakṣmīpriyā and Bhūdevī was Viṣṇupriyā in Gaura-līlā.
Śrīla Prabhupāda also asked me to develop the congregational preaching. One time in Los Angeles on the morning walk, Śrīla Prabhupāda stopped at a church and told me that our centers would be like this where few devotees would live in the temple, and many devotees would be congregational. And this is how our future ISKCON would be. And then later in 1977, I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda for some guidance about potential preaching for the congregational people in India who were already chanting. He said that we can make a department within ISKCON for preaching. He gave some guidelines about that. Then we established the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry (CDM) for which I am the Minister (https://iskconcongregation.com/).
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, he wanted to put 108 lotus footprints of Lord Caitanya. He personally put about 8. But he envisioned that there would be 108. We put some 22 or so in Vṛndāvana last year. This year, after Gaura Pūrṇimā, we will be having the spiritual safari to South India to establish the lotus footprints of Lord Caitanya in different places: Tirupati, Kumbhakonam, Madurai, Śrīraṅgam, Rāmeśvaram, Tirunelveli, and Thiruvananthapuram (https://www.spiritualsafari.com/).
We want all men and women to be experts in explaining the śāstra. Also, systematically study Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Every month I receive very inspiring reports from disciples on how they are preaching and expanding the movement of Lord Caitanya. This year in Māyāpur, MCS (Māyāpur Community Sevakas) organized a special program to recognize the second-generation vaiṣṇavīs for their important contribution to the Māyāpur community. In the 9th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the purport Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions that when it comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, man, woman, śūdra, whatever, there is no difference. So, we should know that serving Kṛṣṇa is the most important thing. I spoke at the program and also gave the certificates.
Lord Caitanya, He brought the holy name from the spiritual world. By chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, one gradually realizes Kṛṣṇa. I am worried that some initiated devotees stopped chanting and they don’t follow the four regulative principles. I want you all to go back to Godhead, and following these principles is our survival. Everyone should chant the holy name, especially those who are initiated should be careful to keep their promise of chanting a minimum of 16 rounds daily and follow the four regulative principles.
This material world is full of suffering. The way to solve this is to get out of this material world. No matter what happens, we should never give up the service of Kṛṣṇa. Nothing should stop us from chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. We want all of you to reach prema in this life. That is the highest achievement in human life.
Jaya Nityānanda! Jaya Gaurāṅga!
Happy Gaura Pūrṇimā!
Your well-wisher always,
Jayapatākā Swāmī