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: 10 February 2025

Happy Nityānanda Trayodaśī! We had a wonderful Vyāsa-pūjā celebration of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. Srila Prabhupada said that the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu is Unnnnnlimited!! One devotee blooped from Kṛṣṇa consciousness then he came back and he was accepted by Śrīla Prabhupāda. And then, some other devotees asked Śrīla Prabhupāda “Why did you accept him?” Then Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “The mercy of Nityānanda is Unnnnnlimited!!”.

This morning, I attended Maṅgala-ārati and darśana-ārati on Māyāpur TV, heard the nectarean class by my dear godbrother His Holiness Devāmṛta Swami, and then later I went to the temple and participated in the abhiṣeka ceremony. There were some Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples and other senior devotees. Pañca-tattva was beautifully decorated in a new yellow outfit. I also took online darśana of the Deities at Ekacakra Dhāma.

So, from today starts a month-long festival. In two days, we have the GBC meetings, and then the ILS, Kīrtan-melā, Navadvīpa-maṇḍala-parikramā, and other festivals. Recently, I went around the temple and saw various developments and facilities for the visitors and devotees. We are trying to offer better facilities for the visiting devotees during the festival.

In Māyāpur, we are very fortunate to be able to worship Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Pañca-tattva, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava Aṣṭa-sakhī, Rādhā-Mādhava Māyāpur-candra, and Śrī Prahlāda Nṛsiṁhadeva. There are a lot of festivals in Māyāpur, and we should take advantage of each of them. Last week, we celebrated Advaita Saptamī. By Śrī Advaita’s mercy, Lord Caitanya descended. We continue receiving 40 to 50,000 pilgrims on a normal day, and on festivals, it is even more. So when we see many visitors coming, we can do a lot of book distribution, engage them in harināma-saṅkīrtana, and various other things. You can give your association to the visitors, tell them about Kṛṣṇa and His different avatāras, and tell them about Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted all of us to be merciful. Māyāpur is the spiritual world headquarters, and people from all over India and the world will come. So, we should be kind to them and help them out if they need any help. You can contact the Help Desk if you would like to be engaged in some service when you are in Māyāpur for the festival.

Lord Caitanya ordered Nityānanda Prabhu and Haridāsa Ṭhākura to go door to door and beg people to take up the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. So, I was thinking, if Lord Nityānanda did this, what to speak of us! In the 80’s, in India and different parts of the world, we had a program trying to encourage people to chant. We had a card to request everyone to chant at least 108 times, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. So, at the end of the lecture, I used to ask people how many could give 8 to 10 minutes daily to chant 108 times, and we used to give them a card where they wrote their details and signed it. And normally, nobody stops at 1; they would do 4, 8, or 16 rounds. So, many people took up the chanting of the Holy Name. One time, I remember, when I was in Bhuvaneśvar, Orissa, on the same day at different times, two people came and offered obeisances and they said, “You saved me, you saved me.” Actually, they both had leprosy and they said one year ago I gave them the card and requested them to chant, and by chanting they got completely cured of their leprosy. So they were very happy and started chanting 16 rounds. Of course, we are not here to cure material diseases and that’s not our purpose. But many people take up chanting with material desires, and they eventually become devotees, and that is our real purpose.

Every evening, we also read from the Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. He describes how we gradually advance in our bhakti-yoga practice. And each step is a step of Kṛṣṇa-prema. Recently, we read about the glories of the Holy Name. Many people say they cannot chant much, only one or two rounds, but if they understand how great the Holy Name is, then it should be easy to chant.

Sometimes devotees approach me saying that they are illiterate so they cannot do Bhakti-śāstrī and they expect me to consider them for brāhmin initiation. So I want the temple presidents or yātrā leaders to make sure that there are arrangements made for illiterate devotees to study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and get their degrees. I got my Bhakti-śāstrī degree from Śrīla Prabhupāda. However, I started studying for Bhakti-vaibhava after my stroke in 2008. So, I cannot write since my right side has paresis. But last year, I completed my Bhakti-vedānta degree. I recorded my answers and my assistants transcribed them. So something like that can be done, or they can do an oral test. I am doing Bhakti-sārvabhauma tests for the Ādi-līlā of Caitanya-caritāmṛta at present. I have two more questions pending for Ādi-līlā.

Gaurāṅgī Gāndhārvikā Devī Dāsī from CDM (Congregational Development Ministry) organized the Pañca-tattva Sevā Challenge from Advaita Saptamī to Nityānanda Trayodaśī. There were around 3600 participants, and it is very inspiring to know that almost 40% of the participants were not ISKCON members. I also addressed all the participants on the first day of the challenge.

Sevā Svarūpa Dāsa organized a Zoom meeting with different preachers all over the world. There were around 200 devotees in the meeting, and I was happy to meet them all. Earlier I got a report about them, and how they are expanding the preaching in their areas. I also addressed them and answered some of the questions. The CDM, Congregational Development Ministry, wants help from all preachers. We want to grow the congregation and help them become pure devotees. Lord Caitanya maybe had three brahmacārīs in Navadvīpa. Everyone else was a congregational member and they were also chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, preaching to the congregation is a very dynamic thing. In this way, we can expand Kṛṣṇa consciousness unlimitedly. Congregational preaching should be spread all over the world. People should be given a platform by which they can practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness from their homes. You can contact the CDM to share your preaching and also if you need any assistance in preaching (https://iskconcongregation.com/contact/). We want everyone to preach.

Māyāpur Academy is offering various courses on Deity worship, and it is a very nice opportunity for devotees from all over the world to come and learn the details of Deity worship in Māyāpur. Recently one batch graduated, and we distributed the certificates to them after the Bhāgavatam class last Saturday.

I receive regular reports from Mahā Kumbha Melā preaching. The latest report I received was that they distributed 3,54,568 Bhagavad-gītās, 8,57,680 small books, 61 sets of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 61 Kṛṣṇa book, and 2,00,000 copies of Śrīla Prabhupāda booklet. I am very grateful to all the devotees who distributed or sponsored the books. In Māyāpur, we have the Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī. We have Pañcaveṇī instead of Triveṇī. Māyāpur Tourism conducted a few trips to take devotees on the amṛt-snān (the most auspicious day) to Pañcaveṇī.

We had a group of devotees from Ujjain visiting Mayapur under the leadership of His Holiness Bhakti Prema Swāmī and another group from ISKCON Dwarka, Delhi. I was very happy to meet all of them and I addressed both the groups. Also, I met a group of devotees from Russia online, who are my grand disciples. There was another group of 70 devotees came from Mangalore under the leadership of Shobhamayi Champaklata devi dasi and her husband Radhaprem Syam das. She is preaching in Kannada to thousands of people and she said about 5000 people have started chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in the last five years.

Every Saturday, after the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class, I visit devotees from Australasia, but in the future, I would like to visit devotees from other parts also. We will work on some systems so that in the evening we can do with Europe and the UK and other places which are behind us. In the morning, we see Australasia and other places that are ahead. So we will make some system.

We had initiation ceremony online for devotees in Bangladesh and I was happy to see many devotees taking up Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously. Those who are initiated, they take a vow to chant 16 rounds and follow 4 regulative principles. I also expect that those who are recommending or guiding the devotees for initiation continue to help them even after initiation and see that they are chanting their minimum 16 rounds and following their initiation vows.

Many times, devotees write to me about their problems and they say because of the problems they stopped chanting and other services. So I was thinking that we are in the material world because somehow we desired that. And we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them. It comes automatically. No one wants misery. But based on our karma, we get it, and in the same way, we get happiness. Material happiness and material misery both are temporary they come and go. But by doing bhakti, we get permanent happiness, the happiness that never goes. So we have the opportunity in the human form of life to go back. There may be different obstacles, but I hope that all of you will stay in Kṛṣṇa-bhakti and serve Kṛṣṇa!

I wanted to mention the instructions that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me in my monthly messages, every month. One of the instructions was to preach unlimitedly Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the whole world. So, we need all the disciples to take this up and help me, as I cannot travel so much in my old age. I try, but I don’t know how much I can do. So I need disciples and devotees in general to help me fulfill this instruction of Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Also, we have a monthly book distribution. Śrīla Prabhupāda asked me to distribute 10,000 big books and 100,000 small books per month. So, some devotees buy from me online when I give class, but I need to have devotees help me all over the world for distributing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. I don’t want the book score credit from you, but you can distribute books and write to my book distribution secretary (jpsbookdistributionsecretariat@gmail.com) that you are inspired by my wish and want to distribute Prabhupāda’s books.

Another instruction that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me was to develop the Gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi. When Lord Caitanya came, many associates also came along with Him. So these places where they appeared are known as śrīpāṭs. But we haven’t had much development. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he made the BSCT, Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust. He established this 7 days before his departure and he made me the lifetime chairman. So that meant that my lifetime service was to see the fulfillment of this Trust objective. There are many objectives. One of the projects is to renovate and maintain all the śrīpāṭs. It is also to unite the Saraswat Disciplic Family.

My Jayapataka Swami App has all the orders that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me. You can also find it on the website https://www.jayapatakaswami.com/help_me/. So you can see which instruction you would like to help me with.

We want all the devotees to chant their rounds, take shelter of the Holy Name, and enthuse others to take up the process of devotional service.

Vows are very important. People make vows. Like Arjuna, he made a vow that he would kill Jayadratha the next day, and the opposing army knew that if Arjuna had said something or taken a vow, he would do it. So they lined up all the mahārathis to protect Jayadratha. But Arjuna had defeated all the mahārathis, and then he was about to kill Jayadratha, but then it appeared that the sun set, so the rule was the battle would be over for the day when the sun sets. So Jayadratha came out, he said, “I did it! I did it! I survived! Arjuna will have to die. Ha Ha Ha Ha!!” Then, by Kṛṣṇa’s power, He made the cloud or whatever had made the sun disappear, He made them go away, and the sun came out again, so the battle was still on. Then Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna to program his arrow in such a way that Jayadratha’s head will fall on his father’s lap. His father had cursed that whoever causes Jayadratha’s head to hit the ground, he would die. So even if Arjuna killed Jayadratha, he will also die. But Arjuna programmed the arrow in such a way that Jayadratha’s head fell on his father’s lap, and the father was shocked, so he threw the head on the ground, and he died.

So when we take a vow, it is very serious. We take a vow to chant 16 rounds, follow the 4 regulative principles—it is very serious. We should try our best to do it. We hope that if people have somehow or rather, they are influenced by māyā and stopped every day chanting or stopped following the regulative principles, I pray to Gaura-Nitāi, I pray to Kṛṣṇa to forgive them, and as Śrīla Prabhupāda said, Nitāi’s mercy is unlimited!

Your well-wisher always,
Jayapatākā Swami

JPS/ssdb