Monthly Message (16 December 2024 – 13 January 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: 16 January 2025
Note: This message is reaching you a little late. Many of the gṛhastha devotees write to me asking about garbhādhāna saṃskāra, so I wanted to compile and send the garbhādhāna saṃskāra document along with this month’s message. There are various books, references, and translations, so I was checking those books, original translations, Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, etc. So, it took some time.
I wish you a happy Christābda New Year 2025! Of course, our new year starts on Gaura Pūrṇimā, but we want to increase our love for Kṛṣṇa, our devotion, every day. In Māyāpur, devotees organized programs to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa bringing in the New Year. On 1st January, 1,05,282 people visited Māyāpur, and on the first Sunday of the year, 5th January, 87,777 pilgrims visited! On the 13th we celebrated Puṣya Abhiṣeka in Māyāpur, and devotees made a very beautiful flower outfit for Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava Aṣṭa Sakhī, Rādhā Mādhava Māyāpur Chandra.
I was thinking that Śrīla Prabhupāda must be so pleased that we get so many visitors coming to our temple, but he would also expect from us that we receive the visitors appropriately, preach to them, inspire them to take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In the early days in Māyāpur, if fifty people came, it was a big thing. I remember Śrīla Prabhupāda; one time we were sitting in the grass hut, and he said, “This grass hut is in the mode of goodness, and this is all you need for spiritual life – live in a grass hut and live by the side of the holy river, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But if we do this, people won’t come here. So we have to build big buildings with concrete and steel and bricks. Those buildings are in the mode of passion. But for preaching, we can build those buildings. But for our own selves, this would be enough.” I was thinking how, in the beginning, we hardly had any pilgrims coming, but Śrīla Prabhupāda could see that in the future, many people would come, and now we have tens of thousands of people visiting Māyāpur every day! We have a great opportunity to preach to them. Tell them how wonderful Kṛṣṇa consciousness is, how much bliss is there in being a devotee.
Apart from pilgrims, there were also various devotee groups visiting Māyāpur from Australia, Malaysia, and other places. 108 devotees from different parts of Australia came to Māyāpur. This is the first time they are organizing such a yātrā from all over Australia, and they had 108 devotees and 16 devotees for initiation! They felt it was a very auspicious number for their first yātrā. I also participated in the Melbourne Pāṇihāṭi festival on Zoom. This year the paintings on the pots were exceptional. I haven’t been to Australia for 9 years; I hope this year it could happen. There was another group of 600 devotees, mainly Hindi-speaking devotees from Ranchi, Dehradun, Vṛndāvana, Kanpur, and Mandi. They were under the leadership of Līlā Puruṣottama dāsa. He is the director of IIT Mandi. I heard that when he became the director, he banned non-veg in the entire IIT Mandi campus, so IIT Mandi became the first IIT to provide only vegetarian food. He also made Bhagavad-gītā compulsory for undergraduate students.
On 3 January 2025, the World Hindu Federation presented me with the Hindu Ratna Award in New Delhi. HH Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami went to Delhi to receive it on my behalf. I was also the Vice Chairman of the World Hindu Federation.
Now, we are just two days past Makara Saṅkrānti and Gaṅgāsāgara melā. Makara Saṅkrānti is celebrated all over India, that is when the sun is said to go to the Northern side. Lord Caitanya received sannyāsa at the auspicious time of Makara Saṅkrānti. Devotees are engaged in book distribution, Harinām saṅkīrtana, prasādam distribution, and other preaching programs at Gaṅgāsāgara. Śrī Sundara Govinda dāsa, president of ISKCON Gaṅgāsāgara, is leading this program. I heard HH Bhakti Vijaya Bhagavata Swami and his team consisting of brahmacārīs and even gṛhasthas are in Prayāgraj at the Mahā Kumbhamelā. They have a goal of distributing 700,000 Bhagavad-gītās. Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the Mahā Kumbhamelā in 1977 and the Ardha Kumbhamelā in 1971. He said one goes to the Kumbha Melā to get association with advanced devotees. But we know that Śrīla Prabhupāda went there just to give association to everybody. I was there with Śrīla Prabhupāda in 1971. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to give classes daily, and he went for Harinām with his disciples, and the sādhus used to bow down to him as he walked.
In South India, they also celebrated Pongal. In Chennai, they used to hold the annual Ratha Yatra festival on this day and I used to attend every year.
Last month, I received many encouraging reports from devotees from different parts of the world. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, as far as Kṛṣṇa consciousness is concerned, men, women, śūdras, whatever, they are all equal. So Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision was that everyone, men and women, would take part in this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement. We want men and women, everyone, to preach. Anuttamā Gandharvikā devī dāsī wrote to me about her preaching to the deaf community. She learned sign language, and she started preaching to the deaf people. She has made 64 weeks of Bhakti Vṛkṣa modules in sign language, and she also encourages them to take part in various services. I was very happy to see how devotees are trying to preach to everyone. Nitai Sevini devī dāsī sent me a report about her preaching in various places to thousands of people. Gaurāṅgī Gandharvikā devī dāsī has been organizing several programs at Bhakti Kids under the Congregational Development Ministry, encouraging children to practice devotional services. Also, Dhameśvarī Mahālakṣmī devī dāsī does wonderful preaching in many schools and villages in Andhra Pradesh.
Many devotees also sent me their book distribution reports. In Māyāpur, for Gītā Jayantī, HH Bhakti Vijaya Bhagavata Swami and his team distributed 11,616 Bhagavad-gītās. HH Bhakti Prema Swami from Ujjain informed me that they organized a Gita Mahostav program which had a participation of 6.5 lakh students from Madhya Pradesh! One of my disciples, Rakṣaka Śrīhari dāsa from Perth, sent me a video report of how he is distributing books while driving Uber. He has set up an altar in his car, and he said no customer leaves his car without receiving prasādam! He distributed 10,142 prasādam cookies, 1,658 Bhagavad-gītās, 829 small books, and 2,319 Dāmodara lamp offerings in the car.
We were also fortunate to observe Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s tirobhava tithi mahotsava. There was a special program organized in the Nāmahaṭṭa Bhavan. Because of my health, I could not go physically, but I sent a recorded homage for Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Also, the disciples of HH Subhaga Swami celebrated his 85th Vyāsapūjā mahotsava in Māyāpur, and I went to the pandal and spoke about my appreciation for Subhaga Swami. I was remembering that he was so dear to Śrīla Prabhupāda and how he did not miss any opportunity to hear from and serve Śrīla Prabhupāda in Māyāpur. In Māyāpur, we also celebrated the Vyāsapūjā of my dear Godbrother HH Niranjana Swami. I sent my homage and a special chadar of Lord Bālajī for him.
I wanted to go to Tirupati to attend the Bureau meetings, but my health team was concerned about my travel, so they suggested that I attend the meetings via Zoom. Revati Ramaṇa dāsa hosted the Bureau meetings in Tirupati this time, and all devotees were very appreciative of the arrangements he made. He also arranged the darśana of Lord Bālajī for them on the last day of the meeting.
I was very happy to watch the new temple opening at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai—Sri Sri Radha Madanmohanji temple. The Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modiji inaugurated the temple. It is very rare and special to have the Prime Minister of India inaugurate the temple. And he spoke for 45 minutes. He spoke about Śrīla Prabhupāda’s dedication and he appreciated how Śrīla Prabhupāda at the age of 70 went preaching when most people retire. He said that this is not only a religion but a movement, a revolution. He also said that he had the association with His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami and had the privilege of inaugurating the biggest Bhagavad-gītā in the whole world. I remember, in 2009, during the Deity installation of this new temple, I was in Bhaktivedanta Hospital, and Safari was organized in Mumbai. So at that time, all the Safari devotees participated in the Deity installation ceremony.
Once a month, I try to give Spanish classes online and meet devotees from Latin America. A few days ago, when I addressed them, there were around 200 devotees from Latin America who joined Zoom and I was very happy to see them.
My secretaries told me that sometimes devotees write to me asking questions that I have already answered previously. I don’t mind replying to all your questions, but usually, I get more emails than I can answer. In December, I received around 950 emails and attended to around 750 emails, though I would like to reply even more. My classes are available in Jayapataka Swami Archives (http://jayapatakaswamiarchives.net/) and also on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcINSh7PGNE_7wEXKeLFOiw). JPS Archives has a separate Question and Answer section (http://jayapatakaswamiarchives.net/questions-and-answers/). Also, there is a feature in my Jayapataka Swami App called “Ask Jayapataka Swami,” where you can search for replies I have given on specific topics. In my daily classes, at present, we are reading from Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura on how to progress in Bhagavad Śraddhā. He explains in detail, how gradually devotees can advance in their Bhakti.
I was remembering that in 1968, when I joined the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, my father was not very pleased, and he wanted me to join the American army. Then I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda what to do, and he told me better to join Kṛṣṇa’s army, and I have been in Kṛṣṇa’s army ever since! Many things happened—in 1989, in Madrid, I was attacked; then, in 2008, I had a stroke; in 2018, I had a kidney and liver transplant—but I am still in Kṛṣṇa’s army.
One devotee, who was very poor, was initiated by me. But when his father died, he inherited all the property, and he became very rich, so he thought, “Now I am rich, so I don’t need to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” So he left everything, he got many friends, but when his money was over, all his friends left him, and then he again started practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So the point is that in any situation, one should be practicing devotional service.
Somebody asked me if I ever wondered, being a devotee, why I was getting sick. So I told him that I have many disciples, and when they are not following their vows very strictly, naturally, I have to suffer. When you take vows at the time of initiation, I, as your guru, vow before Kṛṣṇa. It is my responsibility as a spiritual master to see that all my disciples reach the spiritual world. When the disciples start to break the principles and chant less japa than their vows of 16 rounds, that causes me suffering. Recently I had a fever, pain in my legs, and other things. So when disciples don’t follow, I get sick. I don’t know what more can be wrong. But to try to help people advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I take this risk always. Although I have many physical challenges, actually, by practicing devotional service, associating with devotees, taking darśana of the deities, and trying to fulfill the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the bliss of my Kṛṣṇa consciousness has been increasing. I want all of you also to feel the same bliss that I am experiencing.
Next month, the Gaura Pūrṇimā festival will begin. So, the devotees can start booking their accommodation in Māyāpur. If they don’t get a place then the gṛhastha devotees who reside in Mayapur, they can come forward to help accommodate them for the festival.
You can click this link to download the garbhādhāna saṃskāra document that I mentioned in the beginning:
I hope this helps devotees.
Your well-wisher always,
Jayapatākā Swami
JPS/ssdb