All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada
Hare Krishna,
This is the report about Guru Maharaja’s visit to ISKCON, Coimbatore temple
on Sunday 12th April.
Guru Maharaj had his regular treatments aurvedic and physiotheraphy. He
reached the temple by 7.30 P.M. He had Darshan of Lord Jaganath Baladev and
Subadra Devi. He did arathi to their Lordship and gave an enthusiastic
lecture as usual.
He did a Kirtan before he started the lecture, the lecture goes as follows
Lecture by H.H. Jayapataka Swami Maharaj – Coimbatore (12-04-2009)
Hare Krsna!
…I was attacked by a stroke on the 23th of Oct 2008 and soon I was about
to die but somehow by your prayers and mercy of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead Lord Krsna, I am still here today. I…by the Chikitsa of the Arya
vaidya Pharmacy in Coimbatore. You need to understand what I am saying, you
need this to be repeated? Translation to Tamil?. ..those who are not used to
me speaking will have problem
I was 2 months in Hinduja hospital and 2 months in Bhaktivedanta hospital
undergoing severe therapy. Dr.Siromani was there. Dr.Siromani was with me
the whole time. She knows how I speak. After visiting Mayapur twice, we came
here for the Ayurvedic cure. So I got the permission to visit the deities of
Jagannath, Baladev Subhadra. I can see that devotees are here too.
(Haribol!!) It was a big surprise. Who would think that on Sunday night that
there will be so many devotees? Anyway, we thought!!
As far as the Sunday feat lecture goes, we do want that everyone should
chant
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
This is the yuga dharma of the age. Harer nama harer nama eva kevalam kalau
nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatah
In Satya Yuga, there was meditation. In Tretya yuga there was fire
sacrifice. In Dvapara Yuga, there was the Supreme Lord Krsna Himself. Kalau
tad hari kirtanam. In Kali Yuga, there is chanting of the holy names of
Hari. Andal, one of the Alwars, she personally told to chant Hare Krsna,
chant the names of Krsna. Go on the street, use cymbals, use drums. A couple
of years ago, we came with a safari trip to Coimbatore also and we stopped
in Srirangam where the jeeyar asked us to come and visit him. He is the
acarya coming through the Ramanuja sampradaya. We chanted Hare Krsna there.
He said that you are all incarnations of Andal devi (Haribol!!) and we are
very glad that you are chanting these Holy names. I was also told by
Radhanath swami that he took his yatra of three to four thousand devotees to
Srirangam and it was televised by the local television and the local head
priest, he said that I wish I was a member of ISKCON because they are doing
the real work of Ramanujacarya. And another leader also said..that I also
want to be a member of ISKCON. There was one devotee, a lady, who was having
a lot of problem because she joined the Hare Krsnas. Her parents were saying
why did your leave our sampradaya, Sri sampradaya. After seeing this on the
television that all the leaders are saying that ISKCON is doing the real
work of Ramanujacarya (Haribol!!), they had nothing to say to their
daughter, they said that – you did the right thing, we did not realize.
When Lord Caitanya visited South India, he visited all the temples. Not only
the Visnu temples, but also the Siva temples, the Durga temple, the
Meenakshi temple, Ganesh temple, Murugan temple. He visited all the temples.
But at every temple he would chant the same mantra Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. He would give
this message to everyone, chant the Hare Krsna maha mantra. This is the
mantra for the age of Kali and this mantra can be chanted without any
restriction, not only the brahmanas but anybody of any caste any community
can chant this mantra. So how many of you are regularly chanting? Wow..so
many!! Those who are not chanting should immediately start chanting and
those who are chanting should be very determined that chanting is going on.
This chanting is the link in our heart, our eternal relationship with Krsna.
Somehow since 1977, Prabhupad asked me to be in the GBC body and I was made
the zonal secretary of eastern India. Then since 1978, I have been added to
– Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Then later on I was added to Andhra
Pradesh and in Asia and other countries also. In India – eastern and
southern India. Now you have your zonal secretaries for Coimbatore and
Kerala – Bhakti Vinoda Swami. (Haribol!!). And like that we have many zonal
secretaries around the country, India. And we have Gopal Krsna Swami also
coming to the same hospital; he is the GBC secretary for western and
northern India. We were together since 1968. We were bhaktas together in
ISKCON Montreal. He was at that time working for Pepsi/Cola something and he
got transferred to New York. So we were together. Now we are together in
India.
I was for 2 months in the Bhaktivedanta hospital, this is the hospital where
majority of the doctors are devotees. They were all devotees..but devotee
doctors are not available for some special treatment. They gave me a very
special treatment although I was going there for just physiotherapy. They
used to come around with Jagannath deity everyday to the room. They have a
department called as Spiritual care department and they are the ones who
take around the Jagannath deities. They also have a temple with Jagannath
and Nitai Gaur but bigger Jagannath deities. And the smaller deities go
around in a portable temple. I would ask these ladies who are doing this
spiritual care what latest stories they have. It turned out that they make
25-30 devotees every month just by giving them some spiritual care. And
there are so many stories in my head now.
One guy who came from Delhi, suddenly he was sick and he was put in the ICU.
You know what ICU is? It is Intensive Care Unit. He had various spiritual
books. Then the spiritual care lady asked him, you seem to be interested in
spiritual subject matters. He said, “Yes, but I have a doubt. Everywhere I
go they tell me that their leader is God. When I go to Saibaba, they say
that Saibaba is Bhagavan. I go to Brahmakumaris they say Prajapati is God.
So I am confused who is really God. It can’t be that everbody is God”. They
said -we had this doubt too and we read the Bhagavad Gita where Krsna says
that he is the Supreme personality of Godhead. “Really, finally someone told
me. I wanted to find this out”. Then they gave him six different books –
Bhagavad Gita and different books, Krsna book. Then he started chanting
sixteen rounds (Haribol!!). He got better and went back to Delhi.
I was talking about Lord Caitanya..ok..If you want to hear more stories
about the hospital, I will tell you later, now we do not have much time. But
one more short story, a nurse was sleeping on duty during the night time,
which is not allowed. In her dream Prabhupad came, he said “You should read
my books, they are in the library” (Haribol!!). Then when she started
reading the books, she did not fall sleep anymore.
By our good fortune, we can see that Lord Caitanya’s lila is going on even
today. When I was in the hospital for 4 months, I could see Lord Caitanya’s
activities in the modern day. But here also Lord Caitanya is manifested.
(Haribol!!). Lord Caitanya has said that he has visited all the places in
South India. I do not know if he visited Coimbatore. Did He? But his lotus
feet prints are in the main temples – Srirangam, Ramesvaram, Tirupati,
Mangalgiri, Narasimha temple in Andhra Pradesh. Lord Caitanya was approached
by a brahmana in Andhra Pradesh.
Lord Caitanya visited Karamadi. (Haribol!!!) That is what they whispered in
my ears. Maharaj does not know about it. We can verify, I will go and see
before I leave.. I did not lose my sense of humor.
This brahmana is from Kurmadesh. He approached Lord Caitanya and said “I got
a big house, a beautiful wife, I got money, social position, I got children,
I got cows, I got agricultural land. But somehow I am not feeling satisfied.
I want to join you and be like a sannyasi and travel around. Lord Caitanya
said – You will never repeat these words again. You should not be like a
monkey-like renunciate. Rather you stay in your position and everyone you
meet you tell them the glories of Krsna.
yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna’-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara’ ei desa
That is the order he gave and I already gave the translation.
How many of you are grhasthas? How many are married? All of you, Lord
Caitanya did not want you to make an abrupt change and leave the grhastha
asram. As grhasthas, you should try to serve the Krsna Consciousnes movement
from your house. That is spread the Krsna consciousness movement from your
house. I came here for the opening of this temple. ….And at that time
there were these many people or less I cannot remember. I am glad to see so
many devotees coming regularly over here. This is the first stage of the
temple. We have more land on the back…the plan is to be build a big
temple. We need all the devotees’ enthusiasm.
I should be back by 8 o’ clock; I never told them that I would give a
lecture. I said that I have come for Jagannath darsan. Now don’t tell them.
I am here for 25-35 days. Starting from the 15th, I will be on a very
intensive therapy. I wont be allowed to go out. So some devotees come and
chant bhajan when I take prasad. My right hand is still healing; it means it
still does not have feeling. Little bit, not much. So I have to eat and do
everything with my right hand. I am not very good at it. Like a little kid,
I got all prasad on my bib. But they say that is the only way to get the use
of the right hand back, use it. Make your mind think how to use it.
Only about 5 people can come in the night to chant, 7:30 is the time. You
can also chant in the lunch if you are free. That is at 12:30. Except today
night. Those who want to chant talk to Bhakti Vinod Swami and he will tell
you who is responsible for that. And once my intensive therapy is over, I
will have to again visit the Dhanvantari temple. Then I will come to see the
Jagannath deities again. (Haribol!!)
Sarva Aishwarya dasa has taken sannyas as Bhakti Vinod Swami. In ISKCON, I
do not know the exact number, but we have around 100 sannyasis. And he has
taken a serious responsibility and he wants to take care of all the
devotees. So please extend all your support and give a big Haribol
(Haribol!!).
In the Service of Gurudev
Shantha Gopi Devi Dasi…