Sarva gattah

"Dr Madhavananda prabhu is requesting us not to panic and just keep praying to Krishna positively.

:pray: :pray: :pray: :pray: :pray: :pray: :pray:

Srila Jayapataka Maharaja is not an ordinary person. He is under the divine protection of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

He is very dear to Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees. Let us all pray intensely for Guru Maharaja's recovery. If Krishna wants anything is possible. It is upon His sweet will".

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Maharaj has again showed slight signs of improvement however; the therapeutic process will take weeks if not months. That is as long as there is no more medical set backs and the damage already caused is able to heal. Frankly, it does not look good materially but Spiritually, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

Last update:

(03-Nov-08, 07.30 a.m. report)

Ratnavali dd:

Yesterday around 12am (midnight) by the mercy of Sri Sri Radha Rasabihariji, Jayapataka Maharaja opened his eyes.

The nurse went and informed the servant of Maharaja who is usually in the waiting room. No attendant is allowed to be inside after 11pm in the night. During the day only one attendant is allowed to be besides Maharaja.

The attendant is generally reading Caitanya Caritamrta to Maharaja (even if conscious or not conscious) or he is chanting his japa along with Srila Prabhupada’s japa which is constantly being played.

So the servant rushed inside and opened the Caitanya Caritamrta and showed Srila Prabhupada’s picture in the book to him. Maharaja looked at the picture for a while and he wanted to say something but he was unable.

The nurse wanted to test the level of consciousness of Maharaja. She asked him to raise the left hand and Maharaja slowly lifted his left hand. When he was asked to lift the right hand because of the swelling he wasn’t able to. Then she asked to lift the right and left legs.

Maharaja was trying but he was unable to. Since for the three days he hasn’t been conscious and there were no movements so he his weak right now.

He is only 5% conscious right now.

As long as Maharaja is with life support and in ICU it is very critical. The conscious level keeps fluctuating therefore we should keep praying and chanting for Jayapataka Maharaja intensely until he comes out of the ICU.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

Maharaj has again showed slight signs of improvement however; the therapeutic process will take weeks if not months. That is as long as there is no more medical set backs and the damage already caused is able to heal. Frankly, it does not look good materially but Spiritually, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

Last update:

(03-Nov-08, 07.30 a.m. report)

Ratnavali dd:

Yesterday around 12am (midnight) by the mercy of Sri Sri Radha Rasabihariji, Jayapataka Maharaja opened his eyes.

The nurse went and informed the servant of Maharaja who is usually in the waiting room. No attendant is allowed to be inside after 11pm in the night. During the day only one attendant is allowed to be besides Maharaja

The attendant is generally reading Caitanya Caritamrta to Maharaja (even if conscious or not conscious) or he is chanting his japa along with Srila Prabhupada’s japa which is constantly being played.

So the servant rushed inside and opened the Caitanya Caritamrta and showed Srila Prabhupada’s picture in the book to him. Maharaja looked at the picture for a while and he wanted to say something but he was unable.

The nurse wanted to test the level of consciousness of Maharaja.

She asked him to raise the left hand and Maharaja slowly lifted his left hand. When he was asked to lift the right hand because of the swelling he wasn’t able to. Then she asked to lift the right and left legs

Maharaja was trying but he was unable to. Since for the three days he hasn’t been conscious and there were no movements so he his weak right now.

He is only 5% conscious right now.

As long as Maharaja is with life support and in ICU it is very critical. The conscious level keeps fluctuating therefore we should keep praying and chanting for Jayapataka Maharaja intensely until he comes out of the ICU.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

Message from Dr Madhavananda prabhu

Dr Madhavananda prabhu from the Bhaktivedanta hospital although in Vrindavan Yatra is always in touch with the Hindhuja doctors and the doctors from America.

They constantly discuss regarding Guru Maharaja's situation and the treatment to Guru Maharaja is given accordingly. Dr Madhavananda prabhu is requesting us not to panic and just keep praying to Krishna positively.

Guru Maharaja is not an ordinary person.

He is under the divine protection of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. He is very dear to Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees. Let us all pray intensely for Guru Maharaja's recovery. If Krishna wants anything is possible. It is upon

His sweet will.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

Sunday, November 02, 1.30 pm:

Dr. B S Singhal was brought to the hospital this afternoon by Braja Hari

prabhu, the Temple President of ISKCON Mumbai and also a senior disciple of Jayapataka Swami Guru Maharaja.

Dr. B S Singhal is the Hon Chairperson of MSSI-Mumbai. He is a renowned Neurologist at Bombay Hospital. He examined the reports and as well as Guru Maharaja's present condition.

Since Guru Maharaja is not responding to verbal commands he says it is very critical. He said that the Hinduja doctors are giving the best treatment possible. We now have to only wait and see.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

Message from Dr Madhavananda prabhu

Dr Madhavananda prabhu from the Bhaktivedanta hospital although in Vrindavan Yatra is always in touch with the Hindhuja doctors and the doctors from America.

They constantly discuss regarding Guru Maharaja's situation and the treatment to Guru Maharaja is given accordingly. Dr Madhavananda prabhu is requesting us not to panic and just keep praying to Krishna positively.

Guru Maharaja is not an ordinary person.

He is under the divine protection of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. He is very dear to Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees. Let us all pray intensely for Guru Maharaja's recovery. If Krishna wants anything is possible. It is upon

His sweet will.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

Sunday, November 02, 1.30 pm:

Dr. B S Singhal was brought to the hospital this afternoon by Braja Hari

prabhu, the Temple President of ISKCON Mumbai and also a senior disciple of Jayapataka Swami Guru Maharaja.

Dr. B S Singhal is the Hon Chairperson of MSSI-Mumbai. He is a renowned Neurologist at Bombay Hospital. He examined the reports and as well as Guru Maharaja's present condition.

Since Guru Maharaja is not responding to verbal commands he says it is very critical. He said that the Hinduja doctors are giving the best treatment possible. We now have to only wait and see.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

"Let us keep begging for Lord Krsna's mercy upon our Gurudeva to recover" - Ratnavali dd.

It is all in the hands of the Doctors, the prayers of the devotees and the will and ultimatly the inconceivable plan and mercy of Krsna.

Saturday, November 01, 10.00 pm:

Dr P.P Ashok had visited the hospital around 9pm and was calling Guru

Maharaja for which Guru Maharaja just opened his eyes for few seconds and just moved his head few times.

Doctor will wait and see for tommorrow. Right now the BP is stable.

Let us keep begging for Lord Krsna's mercy upon our Gurudeva to recover. I found some nice quote from Srimad Bhagavatam, regarding taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord by chanting His holy names and praying to Lord Narasimhadeva for protection.

Although it is a long quote it is appropriate and encourages us to chant the holy names for our Guru Maharaja.

"In the Skanda Purana, as well as in other Puranas, there is the following statement: maha-bhagavata nityam kalau kurvanti kirtanam. "During Kali-yuga the great devotees of the Lord always engage in kirtana, chanting the Lord's holy names." It is the nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be merciful, and He is especially merciful to those who, in a helpless condition, take complete shelter of His lotus feet.

One can immediately take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord by chanting His holy names. According to Sridhara Svami, even in previous ages such as Satya-yuga it was not possible for the living entities to achieve the perfection that is available in Kali-yuga.

Srila Jiva Gosvami has explained this as follows.

In former ages such as Satya-yuga human beings were perfectly qualified and easily performed even the most difficult spiritual processes, meditating for many thousands of years practically without eating or sleeping.

Thus, although in any age one who completely takes shelter of the Lord's holy name gets all perfection, the highly qualified inhabitants of Satya-yuga do not consider that merely moving the tongue and lips, chanting the Lord's holy name, is a complete process and that the Lord's holy name is the only shelter within the universe.

They are more attracted to the difficult and elaborate yoga system of meditation, complete with sophisticated sitting postures, painstaking control of the breath and deep, extended meditations in trance on the Personality of Godhead within the heart.

In Satya-yuga sinful life is practically unheard of, and therefore people are not afflicted with the terrible reactions seen in Kali-yuga, such as world war, famine, plague, drought, insanity, etc.

Although in Satya-yuga people always worship the Personality of Godhead as the ultimate goal of life and meticulously follow His laws, called dharma, they do not feel themselves to be in a helpless condition, and thus they do not always experience intense love for the Lord.

However, in Kali-yuga living conditions are so unbearable, modern governments are so obnoxious, our bodies are so ridden by physical and mental disease, and even self-preservation is so troublesome, that the conditioned souls intensely cry out the holy name of Krsna, begging for relief from the onslaught of this age.

The members of the Krsna consciousness movement ISKCON have vivid and unforgettable experiences of the terrible contradictions inherent in human society in this age, and thus they are firmly convinced that there is nothing to be achieved except the mercy of the Supreme Lord.

In ISKCON centers throughout the world we observe wonderfully ecstatic kirtana performances in which men, women and children from all walks of life chant with startling enthusiasm the holy names of Krsna and dance in ecstasy, becoming completely indifferent to so-called public opinion.

In America a prominent professor from Oberlin College visited a Hare Krsna center in California and was astonished by the enthusiasm with which the devotees chant the holy name of Krsna in their congregational performances.

Thus, due to their helpless and pathetic condition, the living entities in

Kali-yuga have great impetus to surrender fully to the holy name of Krsna, putting all of their hope and faith in the Lord's holy name.

Kali-yuga is therefore the best age because in this age, more than in Satya-yuga or other ages, the conditioned souls become disgusted with the kingdom of illusion and surrender fully to the Lord's holy name. This status of full surrender is called paramam santim, or supreme peace.

Srila Madhvacarya has quoted a passage from the book called Svabhavya to the effect that a bona fide spiritual master in disciplic succession is able to understand the mentality and capability of his disciples and engage them in worshiping the particular form of the Lord suitable for them.

In this way the spiritual master destroys all obstacles in the path of his disciples. The general rule is that one must worship the particular form of the Lord that appears in the current yuga.

One may also offer his love and worship to other forms of the Lord that appear in other ages, and specifically one is recommended to chant the holy names of Lord Nrsimhadeva to get all protection. Practically all of these injunctions are being carried out within the ISKCON movement. Within the Krsna consciousness society, men, women and children are all being engaged in worshiping the Lord according to their particular natures.

In addition, according to Caitanya Mahaprabhu's order, we are worshiping Balarama and Krsna, who appeared in Dvapara-yuga, because They are the original Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Similarly, by chanting the Dasavatara-stotra, jaya jagad-isa hare, and by reading Srimad-Bhagavatam, the members of ISKCON worship all of the plenary expansions of the Personality of Godhead.

And after every arati performance devotional prayers are duly chanted to Lord Nrsimhadeva for protection of this movement, which is so essential to human society.

SB 11.5.38, SB 11.5.39, SB 11.5.40, SB 11.5.38-40

Your humble servant, Ratnavali dd<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

"Let us keep begging for Lord Krsna's mercy upon our Gurudeva to recover" - Ratnavali dd.

It is all in the hands of the Doctors, the prayers of the devotees and the will and ultimatly the inconceivable plan and mercy of Krsna.

Saturday, November 01, 10.00 pm:

Dr P.P Ashok had visited the hospital around 9pm and was calling Guru

Maharaja for which Guru Maharaja just opened his eyes for few seconds and just moved his head few times.

Doctor will wait and see for tommorrow. Right now the BP is stable.

Let us keep begging for Lord Krsna's mercy upon our Gurudeva to recover. I found some nice quote from Srimad Bhagavatam, regarding taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord by chanting His holy names and praying to Lord Narasimhadeva for protection.

Although it is a long quote it is appropriate and encourages us to chant the holy names for our Guru Maharaja.

"In the Skanda Purana, as well as in other Puranas, there is the following statement: maha-bhagavata nityam kalau kurvanti kirtanam. "During Kali-yuga the great devotees of the Lord always engage in kirtana, chanting the Lord's holy names." It is the nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be merciful, and He is especially merciful to those who, in a helpless condition, take complete shelter of His lotus feet.

One can immediately take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord by chanting His holy names. According to Sridhara Svami, even in previous ages such as Satya-yuga it was not possible for the living entities to achieve the perfection that is available in Kali-yuga.

Srila Jiva Gosvami has explained this as follows.

In former ages such as Satya-yuga human beings were perfectly qualified and easily performed even the most difficult spiritual processes, meditating for many thousands of years practically without eating or sleeping.

Thus, although in any age one who completely takes shelter of the Lord's holy name gets all perfection, the highly qualified inhabitants of Satya-yuga do not consider that merely moving the tongue and lips, chanting the Lord's holy name, is a complete process and that the Lord's holy name is the only shelter within the universe.

They are more attracted to the difficult and elaborate yoga system of meditation, complete with sophisticated sitting postures, painstaking control of the breath and deep, extended meditations in trance on the Personality of Godhead within the heart.

In Satya-yuga sinful life is practically unheard of, and therefore people are not afflicted with the terrible reactions seen in Kali-yuga, such as world war, famine, plague, drought, insanity, etc.

Although in Satya-yuga people always worship the Personality of Godhead as the ultimate goal of life and meticulously follow His laws, called dharma, they do not feel themselves to be in a helpless condition, and thus they do not always experience intense love for the Lord.

However, in Kali-yuga living conditions are so unbearable, modern governments are so obnoxious, our bodies are so ridden by physical and mental disease, and even self-preservation is so troublesome, that the conditioned souls intensely cry out the holy name of Krsna, begging for relief from the onslaught of this age.

The members of the Krsna consciousness movement ISKCON have vivid and unforgettable experiences of the terrible contradictions inherent in human society in this age, and thus they are firmly convinced that there is nothing to be achieved except the mercy of the Supreme Lord.

In ISKCON centers throughout the world we observe wonderfully ecstatic kirtana performances in which men, women and children from all walks of life chant with startling enthusiasm the holy names of Krsna and dance in ecstasy, becoming completely indifferent to so-called public opinion.

In America a prominent professor from Oberlin College visited a Hare Krsna center in California and was astonished by the enthusiasm with which the devotees chant the holy name of Krsna in their congregational performances.

Thus, due to their helpless and pathetic condition, the living entities in

Kali-yuga have great impetus to surrender fully to the holy name of Krsna, putting all of their hope and faith in the Lord's holy name.

Kali-yuga is therefore the best age because in this age, more than in Satya-yuga or other ages, the conditioned souls become disgusted with the kingdom of illusion and surrender fully to the Lord's holy name. This status of full surrender is called paramam santim, or supreme peace.

Srila Madhvacarya has quoted a passage from the book called Svabhavya to the effect that a bona fide spiritual master in disciplic succession is able to understand the mentality and capability of his disciples and engage them in worshiping the particular form of the Lord suitable for them.

In this way the spiritual master destroys all obstacles in the path of his disciples. The general rule is that one must worship the particular form of the Lord that appears in the current yuga.

One may also offer his love and worship to other forms of the Lord that appear in other ages, and specifically one is recommended to chant the holy names of Lord Nrsimhadeva to get all protection. Practically all of these injunctions are being carried out within the ISKCON movement. Within the Krsna consciousness society, men, women and children are all being engaged in worshiping the Lord according to their particular natures.

In addition, according to Caitanya Mahaprabhu's order, we are worshiping Balarama and Krsna, who appeared in Dvapara-yuga, because They are the original Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Similarly, by chanting the Dasavatara-stotra, jaya jagad-isa hare, and by reading Srimad-Bhagavatam, the members of ISKCON worship all of the plenary expansions of the Personality of Godhead.

And after every arati performance devotional prayers are duly chanted to Lord Nrsimhadeva for protection of this movement, which is so essential to human society.

SB 11.5.38, SB 11.5.39, SB 11.5.40, SB 11.5.38-40

Your humble servant, Ratnavali dd

Jayapataka Swami - "The king was so upset, "Oh I could not smash the Deity! I love smashing Deities!" What a demon, huh? Some people are like that. So then he broke the Ramacandi, the Durga Deity that was there.

Later, Rasikanada was kept in-charge of that place. He had a dream to excavate the pond where that Gopinatha Deity was hidden. He recovered the Gopinatha Deity, built a temple for Gopinatha, because the temple, the other one, must have been smashed or something, and he took charge of the worship.

Rasikananda and his wife made hundreds of thousands of devotees, according to the history. They were super preachers. Even Shyamananda made Rasikananda a guru in his presence. Like in ISKCON we have a few where the guru orders his disciples to take disciples. Rasikananda was one of the main examples of that kind of that the guru wants one of the disciples [unclear] preaching, so they were both preaching simultaneously in different places. Later, Rasikananda inherited the temple responsibility in Remuna.

There is a famous story that one morning he was sitting brushing his teeth with a neem twing. Prabhupada used to use neem twigs. He said, "These toothbrushes are unclean, using again and again." Of course sometimes he used toothbrush, too, but that is because there was no neem twig in the West. But he would change regularly his toothbrush, not keep them until they are like rotting. But he said, "Best is the neem twig, disposable toothbrush." You chew on the end, make a brush out of it, brush your teeth, divide it in half, scrape your tongue, finished. So Rasikananda was sitting in the asrama, in the courtyard of the temple, brushing his teeth early in the morning and the villagers came, "Gurudeva! Gurudeva! There's a yogi in the village, a yogi!"

"So what, there's a yogi in the village?"

"He's flying!"

"Not important."

Another group of villagers came, "Gurudeva, Gurudeva, there's a yogi in the village and he's flying! He's got a stick under his leg and he's flying around." Like the witches, they put broomstick, but somehow, this guy put some kind of stick and sometimes people get this magical power.

"It's not important."

Again a third group came, "Gurudeva! There's a yogi flying, 'phush, phush, phush,' flying in the sky!"

"I told you, it's not important." He took the twig out of his mouth, put it under his leg, and started flying around the asrama. [laughter] "It's not important. If it was important, I would have taught you a long time ago." Landed down again.

Rasikananda Prabhu ki jai!

He's one of these personalities who came down from the spiritual world to help Lord Caitanya's movement spread. It was on this day, on this tithi, he was chanting in the courtyard in front of the Gopinatha Deity. Suddenly, poof, he disappeared. He went back to Godhead. Some of his associates were so struck with separation that they also went back. His samadhi is in the temple courtyard compound of Ksira-cora Gopinatha. Today was his disappearance.

Today also is the disappearance day of Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, the guru of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Rasikananda was 1590 AC. Jagannatha Dasa Babaji was born in 1780. That was probably before the British got here, 1780 AC. And he left, that year it was 25th of February, this is tithi, 1895. So he lived to be 125 years old. He was born in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Mymensingh is about two hours drive north of Dhaka, the capital. I went there several times to do programs. We have to find out his birthplace. I don't know if we can find it out.

He a disciple of Madhusudana Babaji. He lived in Vrindavan, Kuliya, Navadvipa. Bhaktivinoda Thakura met him in Vrindavan as well as here. So we are going to go to his samadhi mandir on the parikrama on the third day. We tell a lot of pastimes about Jagannatha dasa Babaji. I don't want to spoil all those.

There is his samadhi temple there and behind the temple there is the old Ganges. The Ganges at one point had a channel that ran there. He used to chant his japa looking over the Ganges. One day he was chanting his japa in great separation here in Navadvipa dhama. Radha and Krsna revealed themselves to him. Everyone knew he had realization of Radha and Krsna. He was called Siddha Jagannatha dasa Babaji. He was perfected. He had God realization while he was living.

Because of his God realization, he had very much spiritual vision. One pastime I can tell, some wealthy Indian gentleman came and saw him and asked him, because at that time, in India it is quite popular that babas show a little magic and then everyone thinks, "OK they're God." Without mentioning which babas, there are a number of babas who are thought to be God or some incarnation or something. Similarly, any great Guru, they should show some magic.

Even people asked Prabhupada to show magic. "I went to America with forty rupees. Now I have over forty million dollars of temples all over the world in just five-six years with thousands and thousands of disciples. What more magic do you want to see?"

Devotees: Haribol!

Sometimes they say that someone walks on water, so you save fifty paisa. It costs fifty paisa to cross the river by boat.

So they asked Jagannath dasa Babaji to show some magic, show some miracle. He said, "No, no, I don't do that. . . . Eh, get out! Out, out!" He started with hitting his stick on the ground, "Out!"

"What are you doing? There is nothing there."

He said, "No, no, in Vrindavan," I forget which temple, one of these temples, "the Gokulananda temple, there is a goat who is eating the Tulasi by someone's samadhi, I am just scaring that goat away."

"How can you be sitting in Navadvipa scaring a goat away from eating a Tulasi plant in Vrindavan?"

So they sent a telegram to find out if it is true. They said, "Yes, there was a goat eating a Tulasi and the goat was chased away by something."

But the biggest miracle for us, the most important, is that he found the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. We'll go there tomorrow morning and pay obeisances at the birthplace because on the parikrama, we are supposed to first start and end at the birthplace. The international parikrama, the day after tomorrow when we have the parikrama, we won't go to the birthplace because we'll save three miles of walking. You may not appreciate that right now, but you will the day after tomorrow. Even if you don't go on the parikrama, it is nice to go and hear from the different sannyasis about the glories of the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. He found that. He was carried on the head of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. You'll hear about that tomorrow, so I won't. So today is his disappearance day.

In our own ISKCON, our own saint, Tamal Krsna Maharaja, he left the world on this holy day. When I first went to the temple in San Francisco, I saw him and I saw Visnujana. They were very impressive to me. At that time I didn't talk to them, but I saw that they looked like very enthusiastic devotees. Jayananda Prabhu was the one who talked to me. That's another story.

Here in India we were together when we were building that building. These columns where Prabhupada is seated is in the Lotus Building. Behind Radha-Madhava is the Conch Building. This is the temple, separate, connecting the two. The first building we built was the Lotus Building. Prabhupada was very tight. He gave us a 600,000 rupee budget to build that building, which was about, in those days, about seven and a half rupees per dollar, so 600,000, that's less than a 100,000, maybe 85,000 or something dollars. Now it's forty-four, forty-five rupees a dollar, forty-two, I don't know the latest rates, but in those days it was seven and a half, maybe. I don't know. At one point it was seven and a half. Of course it's been changing.

So we decided we wanted to cut the money, we wanted to really save the money, so we decided we'd go out with the steel in the trucks. Tamal Krsna sat in one truck and I sat in another truck. There was one other devotee, I don't remember who, was in the third truck. The three of us were escorting the steel. Why do you have to escort the steel? Who would steal steel?

Along the way, they stopped, after the weigh bridge, they weigh. We had the right amount of steel. The weight was OK. The drivers offered us glasses of milk at the Punjabi Dhaba. We were traveling the whole day, we haven't eaten anything, so a little milk. Milk you can take from anybody. So we decided to take a little milk.

Then somebody came and whispered in my ear because I was the only one who knew Bengali, "They are stealing your steel. They are unloading it from the trucks and throwing it in the ditch. They will pick it up later." So we ran out. You can imagine Tamal Krsna at that moment. We found they were stealing, trying to unload the steel. Like that, we were together many times, many days, getting cement, getting steel, getting stone chips. He was helping us.

He was a great strategist, great preaching strategist. Some points he was here in India in the beginning. Before that I was temple president in Calcutta. It was very hard to please him. I was not very efficient. He was a very efficient person. He really wanted to do the right thing for Prabhupada. Sometimes I'd get chastised. That was his special mercy. But something I never minded because everything he was trying to do for Prabhupada.

In the end, last days, he was serving Prabhupada so nicely. He was anticipating. Prabhupada said, "First class disciple knows what the guru wants even without him telling." It seemed he would always anticipate what Prabhupada wanted. Sometimes Prabhupada wouldn't say anything, he was just lying there in Vrindavan. He would go, [motions]. So like, what does that mean, "Bring me water? Close the window?" He figured out. I was amazed. Like that, "Go and close the window." How did he do that? He was like that. So many times he would ask Prabhupada, "Do you want this, do you want that something?"

In the last days, when he was here, he was just, I don't know if he graduated or he was about to graduate as a PhD from Cambridge. He came here and he was treating everyone, he started these kirtans that we should come and get more absorbed in chanting the Holy Names. For a couple of years he was having this chanting, really going deep into the nectar of the Holy Name.

One day he went with me to the Ganges. We took our holy dip together. He was very especially loving and affectionate during his visits.

I'm remembering how he was the one who made the six buses on the Radha-Damodara party. Was it six? Prabhupada initiated, I think, one hundred and fifty devotees at one time, Chicago, installed Radha-Damodara. Many amazing things. Later Prabhupada asked him to go to China. He opened up China.

Prabhupada suddenly took him away. He left his body in the holy place of Phulia where Haridasa Thakura was chanting 300,000 names in a cave, just about a kilometer from there. So today is his sacred disappearance day. Devotees should go and pay their obeisances to his samadhi. Previous years we had very big celebrations for his disappearance.

Today is a day when many people, three of our Vaisnavas left and went back to Godhead, so it must be a special day for going back, just before the Gaura Purnima.

So this verse we read today, Vidura is also visiting the holy places, chanting. I hope that your pilgrimage, coming to Mayapur, seeing Radha-Madhava, seeing Panca-Tattva, the other deities, Prahlada-Nrsimha, Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra, and other deities while you are here, will purify you. These deities can grant your wishes. Try to ask for something Krsna conscious. Don't ask for something ordinary that you can get just by your karma. Get the mercy to chant and hear and serve and achieve pure devotion for the Lord. Very important verses here. We are learning from Vidura how all the temples are ananta-linga.

I remember once Prabhupada was telling us, we were at an old temple in Panihati, he said, "Look at, it's a five hundred year old temple, but they are still worshiping." The temple was rundown. He said, "At least they are worshiping. I don't know, we are . . . ." ISKCON was only ten years old. He said, "What will happen after twenty-five years? What will happen after a hundred years?" Will the devotees keep worshipping the deities? Will they be careful?" He told us to, "Install a deity you are very enthusiastic, utsaha, enthusiasm, but then later on you may think that the guru, 'Why he has given me all this burden? I have to get up early in the morning. I have to wash the glasses and the plates, make the offering. So much service to do.' If you start thinking like that, then everything is lost.

[We should think,] "The guru is giving me this great fortune, this Deity. I get to serve the Deity, serve Krsna's incarnation, arca-avatara. One of the eight kind of incarnations is the worshipable deity. So Prabhupada is saying, "Utsaha, enthusiasm, and later if you are in maya, it becomes nigraha, neglect, offense."

Sometimes disciples ask me, "Can I worship Radha Krsna? Can I install?" Who will maintain? Like you go to the temples in Vrindavan. We inherited one temple in Bangladesh where there are a thousand deities. If someone wants a deity, we can give you, little donation for the temple, but you have to take very nice care. There is the main deity that was installed by some rich, wonderful devotee, built a big temple, but over the years, people could not maintain the small deities. The children were not devotees anymore. Like we want our children to take on the worship. So they came and leave an endowment to take care of the Deities. Now it's got a thousand deities. Then they gave to us. Now we have a thousand. You've got to wash them with a hose or something. We don't have a hose, I mean, it's like so many deities. When we took it, it was really run down.

Some of these, many of these grhasthas, gurus who were also grhasthas, great pujaris were also grhasthas. People should also give some time to do the deity worship in the temples. Some of the big temples, here we have enough brahmacaris. Some of the grhasthas also come. In Mayapur, Vrindavan Prabhupada said male public worship in the main temples because of the culture, but in other temples, the ladies, too, they worship. That's also important. Everyone in the community should share this burden of love. It's a loving service. How much mercy you'll get by worshipping the deities, it's incalculable.

So Thank you very much.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare - Jayapataka Swami<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Jayapataka Swami - "In 1977 A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, at the age of 82, suffered illness repeatedly and became in a physically weakened state. He decided to discontinue his travelling around the world and take shelter of Vrndavana dhama, the sacred place of Lord Krsna's pastimes.

He listened and chanted Hare Krsna and meditated on the transcendental pastimes of Krsna, throughout the day and night. However, Srila Prabhupada remained in the association of his loving disciples, who assisted him during his final pastime by chanting, very softly and sweetly, the Hare Krsna mantra 24 hours a day.

Srila Prabhupada said that this was his 'nirjana-bhajana', and that his sannyasi disciples, including the translator of this work, had to take over the responsibility of travelling and preaching all over the world, as he would not be able to travel anymore.

This great spiritual master had taken shelter of Lord Krsna in Vrndavana during the last days of this life.

(H. H. Jayapataka Swami - Commentary on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's Vaisnava Ke?, Verse 19)

Jayapataka Swami - "So Vidura began his pilgrimage traveling around the different holy places of India. By his traveling, Yudhisthira later made a quotation that you make the holy places holy because you are carrying Krsna always in your heart. He went as a humble devotee. He was going to get purified from the association of Duryodhana and Dhrtarastra.

So here in this verse, the glories of the holy places is mentioned. In the Padma Purana there is a list of holy places. According to a holy place's ability to counteract sin, purify one from different sins, it is rated. So there is a whole chapter that rates little sins like lying and stealing. There are lots of holy places that can do that. But if you murder somebody, then which holy place? There is a list of those. Then if you murdered a brahmana, then there's a list. Then finally there are seven holy places that if you die there you go back to Godhead immediately. Mayapur is one of them.

Devotees: Haribol!

Prabhupada once arrived in Mayapur, we had a big reception for him, we offered guru-puja. Then he gave his class. He went up to his room, he sat in seat, he took a sip of water. Prabhupada would drink water without touching. He taught us, so we had to drink water without touching. If you touch, your hand is dirty. You touch the Bhagavatam, you just committed an aparadha. You spit on the Bhagavatam according to brahminical standards.

He taught everyone. He gave Brahmananda sweet balls and said, "Throw it in your mouth without touching." If you live in India, you have to learn these things because people notice. They know the standard of cleanliness. In the West, nobody cares. If you drink from a glass of water, nobody thinks twice about it, but in India they notice. You drink, you touch. If you drink without touching, then you can touch the Bhagavatam.

Prabhupada always drank without touching. He had a golden goblet. He drank and then, [sighs]. I can't sigh the way he sighed. He sighed an ecstatic sigh. I just sigh an ordinary sigh.

He said, "Living and dying in Mayapur is all the same."

Devotees: Haribol!

Wow, what does that mean?

He said, "You live in Mayapur, you are living in the holy dham, and when you die in Mayapur, you go back to Godhead. You are living in the spiritual world and when you die you go back to the spiritual world."

It's like this year we are going on the safari to Divyadesa. We are going to the holy places designated by Ramanaujacarya. Some of them are considered like the spiritual world on earth. Prabhupada told us even Haridaspur, where Haridasa Thakur was chanting for one day, within a three mile radius it is a holy tirtha. It is called sripat. Where the Lord's murti is established, then it has a wider area that is affected. It is a whole science.

So Vidura was going to all these temples. Just like Ranganatha is the personal Deity of Lord Ramacandra. He gave to Vibhisana, but he got tricked by the brahmana to leave on Ranganatha Island, Sri Rangam, in the middle of the Kaveri river. So all these deities, the Kancipuram diety, Ramanauja's disciple, Kuresa, who was blinded, he got his eyesight back from the Deity. Even in our Mayapur, Lord Jagannath is always performing so many miracles. When we go there on parikrama, you can hear from the pujaris about his different pastimes. Our Nrsimhadeva also saved one lady from blindness, many different pastimes.

I think this verse is very appropriate for me because I travel around the world. I don't know what most of the places look like. Only I know what Frankfurt looks like because I went on harinama in downtown Frankfurt with the devotees. Otherwise, I don't know what. I went to Koln in Germany. I only know what London looks like because I go on Ratha Yatra. I just go from the airport to the temple and see the Deities. The Deities are so special.

Some of our devotees, some did well, some didn't do well, but the ones who did well took groups of wealthy Indians to see the temples in the west. In this way, going around seeing all the Deities, seeing the wonderful devotees practicing Krsna consciousness in the West. Many of them started chanting japa and become devotees themselves. Even they went on a mixed spiritual tour, see Washington, see New York, then they'd go and see Radha-Govinda, they'd see the different Deities. Actually, they'd get purified. These Deities all over the world also, like we heard a few days ago in the class, embassies.

The Dhams are direct extensions of the spiritual world. The temples are embassies. Like Haridaspur,there was no temple there, but Haridas Thakur stopped and chanted 300,000 names of Krsna there. So Prabhupada said it is a holy place, Sripat, wherever some pure devotees gives a class, that is also sanctified. So all the places they especially established Deities.

We go around Gaura Mandala Bhumi and say, "This Deity was established by Lord Nityananda. This Deity was establish by Bhaktivinoda Thakura. This deity was established by one of the associates of Lord Caitanya." We go there, we bow down, remember that associate. It is so sanctified.

Similarly, the Deities which were installed by Prabhupada or worshiped by Prabhupada, those are more special. In New Panihati, Atlanta, Prabhupada taught the devotees how to chant "parama karuna, pahun dui jana, nitai-gauracandra". He was crying before Gaura-Nitai. Tears of love were pouring from his eyes. He said, "How merciful they are. They have come here to America to deliver the fallen souls." Like that there are worshipable Deities all over the world, giving their mercy out.

For me it's a great pilgrimage to go and visit these Deities. Of course in India, if you can't go anywhere, at least come to Mayapur or Vrindavan or both because here all the holy places are exisiting. They all reside. This is Radharani's place. Radharani made Mayapur Dham for the pleasure of Krsna. So to please Radharani, the supreme energy, all of the holy places have come. Or some say they are all here and from here they expand out to their other external forms. We'll see Naimisaranya on parikrama. We'll see Puskar-tirtha, Kuruksetra, Triveni, Pancaveni, Campaka gardens of Campakalata devi. Campakalata is next to Lalita. She has her own gardens in Mayapur to bring campa flowers to Radha-Krsna by her mystical powers. With their supreme energy, they all have so many potencies. We can't imagine. These deities are unlimited, ananta-linga, unlimited potencies.

We pray, Prabhupada would pray to all the Deities, so many pictures of him standing with folded hands, praying. Once some lady came up to Prabhupada and said "What are you praying?"

Everyone was shocked, how can you just ask someone what they're praying. It's private.

Prabhupada looked at her, then said, "I'm praying that I never leave Krsna consciousness." Whether that was what he was praying or that is what he was instructing her she should pray, we should pray like that anyway. Take the tip. You don't want to leave Krsna consciousness. We want to spend ourselves under the shelter of Lord Krsna's devotional service.

Today is a very special day. It's the disappearance day of three great Vaisnavas, one of whom is a disciple of an associate of Lord Caitanya. Shyamananda Pandit, who helped bring the works of the acaryas with Narottama Dasa Thakura and Srinivasa Acarya. His disciple was Rasikananda, his chief disciple. He had thousands of disciples.

Rasikananda was born as the son of a very wealthy feudal landlord. He was married to Icchadevi. As soon as he met Shyamananda, immediately he knew, his hairs were standing on end. Immediately he knew there was a connection from a previous life, this was his preceptor. He immediately surrendered and begged Shyamananda for initiation, Shyamananda initiated him and his wife. He became Rasikananda and she became Syama Dasi.

Rasikananda and Syama Dasi established Deities in their town where they were the lords, previously the lords. The town was so much, he said the people were so devoted to the Deities, that they changed the name of the town to Gopiballabhpur, all were in love with Gopiballabh, the dear to the gopis, Lord Krsna, hoping that all the townspeople would also develop this love for Radha and Krsna.

Somehow I have a really great fortune that Prabhupada made me the life chairman of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust and gave some of his guru daksina as the seed capital. One of the assignments he gave was to fix up the temples, preserve the ancient temples of Gaura Mandala Bhumi. So somehow this trust has been fixing up the original temple of Rasikananda, which is five hundred years old now, putting up a wall around it, fixing it up. We did so many services, so somehow I got a little mercy there.

Rasikananda was taken to Radha-Gopinatha, Ksira-cora Gopinatha. After Lord Caitanya and Madhavendra Puri visited. Gopinatha stole the ksira, everyone knows that famous story. If you don't, have someone tell you because if I tell it it will take too long. Anyway, the basic thing was, just the short form of it: Madhavendra Puri wanted, since we are talking about Deities, he wanted, everyday they offered condensed milk sweet to this Deity of Gopinatha. Madhavendra Puri was coming from the Sri Nathaji deity. The Gopalji deity, who is now known as Sri Nathaji, was in Vrindavan. He thought, "I'd like to know what this tastes like so that I could offer it to my Gopal deity. Wow! I just committed a big aparadha! It's bhoga. It's an unoffered offering and I thought, 'How would it taste?' This is a big offense. I am an aparadhi."

So he went out and he was chanting his japa and thinking, "Krsna forgive me. I am so offensive."

Then the Deities came in the dream of the pujari that night and said, "We took one of the pots of ksira and put it under our cloth. You can come and get it. In the market there is a devotee called Madhavendra Puri. You can give it to him."

He wasn't thinking about tasting it to enjoy it. He was thinking about offering it to Krsna. So there was really no offense, but he was very humble about the whole thing.

So this pujari woke up. Hours had passed since this Deity stole the offering. He took his shower, got dressed in clean cloth, went, opened the temple, looked, and sure enough, behind the dhoti of Gopinatha, there was the pot of ksira. So the Deity stole the ksira to give to his devotee.

He went out in the market, crying, "Madhavendra Puri! Madhavendra Puri!"

Madhavendra Puri said, "Yes?" No one else was there. It was like one in the morning. He was chanting his japa. He was still feeling so bad. He [the pujari] told him what happened and said, "You are the most fortunate man in the entire world. For you, the Deity has stolen this condensed milk." He gave it to him. Madhavendra Puri offered his obeisances to it, ate the ksira, kept the clay pot. He would eat a little piece of the clay pot every day. So many other pastimes with Madhavendra Puri.

So this Ksira-cora Gopinatha was very famous. There was some king, maybe he was a Muslim king, I don't know. He was a Deity-hater. He was going around smashing Deities in temples. Like the Taliban in Afghanistan were smashing the Buddhas. So when the people in Remuna heard that he was coming, they hid Gopinatha under a pond three miles away.

Jayapataka Swami - "The king was so upset, "Oh I could not smash the Deity! I love smashing Deities!" What a demon, huh? Some people are like that. So then he broke the Ramacandi, the Durga Deity that was there.

Later, Rasikanada was kept in-charge of that place. He had a dream to excavate the pond where that Gopinatha Deity was hidden. He recovered the Gopinatha Deity, built a temple for Gopinatha, because the temple, the other one, must have been smashed or something, and he took charge of the worship.

Rasikananda and his wife made hundreds of thousands of devotees, according to the history. They were super preachers. Even Shyamananda made Rasikananda a guru in his presence. Like in ISKCON we have a few where the guru orders his disciples to take disciples. Rasikananda was one of the main examples of that kind of that the guru wants one of the disciples [unclear] preaching, so they were both preaching simultaneously in different places. Later, Rasikananda inherited the temple responsibility in Remuna.

There is a famous story that one morning he was sitting brushing his teeth with a neem twing. Prabhupada used to use neem twigs. He said, "These toothbrushes are unclean, using again and again." Of course sometimes he used toothbrush, too, but that is because there was no neem twig in the West. But he would change regularly his toothbrush, not keep them until they are like rotting. But he said, "Best is the neem twig, disposable toothbrush." You chew on the end, make a brush out of it, brush your teeth, divide it in half, scrape your tongue, finished. So Rasikananda was sitting in the asrama, in the courtyard of the temple, brushing his teeth early in the morning and the villagers came, "Gurudeva! Gurudeva! There's a yogi in the village, a yogi!"

"So what, there's a yogi in the village?"

"He's flying!"

"Not important."

Another group of villagers came, "Gurudeva, Gurudeva, there's a yogi in the village and he's flying! He's got a stick under his leg and he's flying around." Like the witches, they put broomstick, but somehow, this guy put some kind of stick and sometimes people get this magical power.

"It's not important."

Again a third group came, "Gurudeva! There's a yogi flying, 'phush, phush, phush,' flying in the sky!"

"I told you, it's not important." He took the twig out of his mouth, put it under his leg, and started flying around the asrama. [laughter] "It's not important. If it was important, I would have taught you a long time ago." Landed down again.

Rasikananda Prabhu ki jai!

He's one of these personalities who came down from the spiritual world to help Lord Caitanya's movement spread. It was on this day, on this tithi, he was chanting in the courtyard in front of the Gopinatha Deity. Suddenly, poof, he disappeared. He went back to Godhead. Some of his associates were so struck with separation that they also went back. His samadhi is in the temple courtyard compound of Ksira-cora Gopinatha. Today was his disappearance.

Today also is the disappearance day of Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, the guru of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Rasikananda was 1590 AC. Jagannatha Dasa Babaji was born in 1780. That was probably before the British got here, 1780 AC. And he left, that year it was 25th of February, this is tithi, 1895. So he lived to be 125 years old. He was born in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Mymensingh is about two hours drive north of Dhaka, the capital. I went there several times to do programs. We have to find out his birthplace. I don't know if we can find it out.

He a disciple of Madhusudana Babaji. He lived in Vrindavan, Kuliya, Navadvipa. Bhaktivinoda Thakura met him in Vrindavan as well as here. So we are going to go to his samadhi mandir on the parikrama on the third day. We tell a lot of pastimes about Jagannatha dasa Babaji. I don't want to spoil all those.

There is his samadhi temple there and behind the temple there is the old Ganges. The Ganges at one point had a channel that ran there. He used to chant his japa looking over the Ganges. One day he was chanting his japa in great separation here in Navadvipa dhama. Radha and Krsna revealed themselves to him. Everyone knew he had realization of Radha and Krsna. He was called Siddha Jagannatha dasa Babaji. He was perfected. He had God realization while he was living.

Because of his God realization, he had very much spiritual vision. One pastime I can tell, some wealthy Indian gentleman came and saw him and asked him, because at that time, in India it is quite popular that babas show a little magic and then everyone thinks, "OK they're God." Without mentioning which babas, there are a number of babas who are thought to be God or some incarnation or something. Similarly, any great Guru, they should show some magic.

Even people asked Prabhupada to show magic. "I went to America with forty rupees. Now I have over forty million dollars of temples all over the world in just five-six years with thousands and thousands of disciples. What more magic do you want to see?"

Devotees: Haribol!

Sometimes they say that someone walks on water, so you save fifty paisa. It costs fifty paisa to cross the river by boat.

So they asked Jagannath dasa Babaji to show some magic, show some miracle. He said, "No, no, I don't do that. . . . Eh, get out! Out, out!" He started with hitting his stick on the ground, "Out!"

"What are you doing? There is nothing there."

He said, "No, no, in Vrindavan," I forget which temple, one of these temples, "the Gokulananda temple, there is a goat who is eating the Tulasi by someone's samadhi, I am just scaring that goat away."

"How can you be sitting in Navadvipa scaring a goat away from eating a Tulasi plant in Vrindavan?"

So they sent a telegram to find out if it is true. They said, "Yes, there was a goat eating a Tulasi and the goat was chased away by something."

But the biggest miracle for us, the most important, is that he found the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. We'll go there tomorrow morning and pay obeisances at the birthplace because on the parikrama, we are supposed to first start and end at the birthplace. The international parikrama, the day after tomorrow when we have the parikrama, we won't go to the birthplace because we'll save three miles of walking. You may not appreciate that right now, but you will the day after tomorrow. Even if you don't go on the parikrama, it is nice to go and hear from the different sannyasis about the glories of the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. He found that. He was carried on the head of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. You'll hear about that tomorrow, so I won't. So today is his disappearance day.

In our own ISKCON, our own saint, Tamal Krsna Maharaja, he left the world on this holy day. When I first went to the temple in San Francisco, I saw him and I saw Visnujana. They were very impressive to me. At that time I didn't talk to them, but I saw that they looked like very enthusiastic devotees. Jayananda Prabhu was the one who talked to me. That's another story.

Here in India we were together when we were building that building. These columns where Prabhupada is seated is in the Lotus Building. Behind Radha-Madhava is the Conch Building. This is the temple, separate, connecting the two. The first building we built was the Lotus Building. Prabhupada was very tight. He gave us a 600,000 rupee budget to build that building, which was about, in those days, about seven and a half rupees per dollar, so 600,000, that's less than a 100,000, maybe 85,000 or something dollars. Now it's forty-four, forty-five rupees a dollar, forty-two, I don't know the latest rates, but in those days it was seven and a half, maybe. I don't know. At one point it was seven and a half. Of course it's been changing.

So we decided we wanted to cut the money, we wanted to really save the money, so we decided we'd go out with the steel in the trucks. Tamal Krsna sat in one truck and I sat in another truck. There was one other devotee, I don't remember who, was in the third truck. The three of us were escorting the steel. Why do you have to escort the steel? Who would steal steel?

Along the way, they stopped, after the weigh bridge, they weigh. We had the right amount of steel. The weight was OK. The drivers offered us glasses of milk at the Punjabi Dhaba. We were traveling the whole day, we haven't eaten anything, so a little milk. Milk you can take from anybody. So we decided to take a little milk.

Then somebody came and whispered in my ear because I was the only one who knew Bengali, "They are stealing your steel. They are unloading it from the trucks and throwing it in the ditch. They will pick it up later." So we ran out. You can imagine Tamal Krsna at that moment. We found they were stealing, trying to unload the steel. Like that, we were together many times, many days, getting cement, getting steel, getting stone chips. He was helping us.

He was a great strategist, great preaching strategist. Some points he was here in India in the beginning. Before that I was temple president in Calcutta. It was very hard to please him. I was not very efficient. He was a very efficient person. He really wanted to do the right thing for Prabhupada. Sometimes I'd get chastised. That was his special mercy. But something I never minded because everything he was trying to do for Prabhupada.

In the end, last days, he was serving Prabhupada so nicely. He was anticipating. Prabhupada said, "First class disciple knows what the guru wants even without him telling." It seemed he would always anticipate what Prabhupada wanted. Sometimes Prabhupada wouldn't say anything, he was just lying there in Vrindavan. He would go, [motions]. So like, what does that mean, "Bring me water? Close the window?" He figured out. I was amazed. Like that, "Go and close the window." How did he do that? He was like that. So many times he would ask Prabhupada, "Do you want this, do you want that something?"

In the last days, when he was here, he was just, I don't know if he graduated or he was about to graduate as a PhD from Cambridge. He came here and he was treating everyone, he started these kirtans that we should come and get more absorbed in chanting the Holy Names. For a couple of years he was having this chanting, really going deep into the nectar of the Holy Name.

One day he went with me to the Ganges. We took our holy dip together. He was very especially loving and affectionate during his visits.

I'm remembering how he was the one who made the six buses on the Radha-Damodara party. Was it six? Prabhupada initiated, I think, one hundred and fifty devotees at one time, Chicago, installed Radha-Damodara. Many amazing things. Later Prabhupada asked him to go to China. He opened up China.

Prabhupada suddenly took him away. He left his body in the holy place of Phulia where Haridasa Thakura was chanting 300,000 names in a cave, just about a kilometer from there. So today is his sacred disappearance day. Devotees should go and pay their obeisances to his samadhi. Previous years we had very big celebrations for his disappearance.

Today is a day when many people, three of our Vaisnavas left and went back to Godhead, so it must be a special day for going back, just before the Gaura Purnima.

So this verse we read today, Vidura is also visiting the holy places, chanting. I hope that your pilgrimage, coming to Mayapur, seeing Radha-Madhava, seeing Panca-Tattva, the other deities, Prahlada-Nrsimha, Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra, and other deities while you are here, will purify you. These deities can grant your wishes. Try to ask for something Krsna conscious. Don't ask for something ordinary that you can get just by your karma. Get the mercy to chant and hear and serve and achieve pure devotion for the Lord. Very important verses here. We are learning from Vidura how all the temples are ananta-linga.

I remember once Prabhupada was telling us, we were at an old temple in Panihati, he said, "Look at, it's a five hundred year old temple, but they are still worshiping." The temple was rundown. He said, "At least they are worshiping. I don't know, we are . . . ." ISKCON was only ten years old. He said, "What will happen after twenty-five years? What will happen after a hundred years?" Will the devotees keep worshipping the deities? Will they be careful?" He told us to, "Install a deity you are very enthusiastic, utsaha, enthusiasm, but then later on you may think that the guru, 'Why he has given me all this burden? I have to get up early in the morning. I have to wash the glasses and the plates, make the offering. So much service to do.' If you start thinking like that, then everything is lost.

[We should think,] "The guru is giving me this great fortune, this Deity. I get to serve the Deity, serve Krsna's incarnation, arca-avatara. One of the eight kind of incarnations is the worshipable deity. So Prabhupada is saying, "Utsaha, enthusiasm, and later if you are in maya, it becomes nigraha, neglect, offense."

Sometimes disciples ask me, "Can I worship Radha Krsna? Can I install?" Who will maintain? Like you go to the temples in Vrindavan. We inherited one temple in Bangladesh where there are a thousand deities. If someone wants a deity, we can give you, little donation for the temple, but you have to take very nice care. There is the main deity that was installed by some rich, wonderful devotee, built a big temple, but over the years, people could not maintain the small deities. The children were not devotees anymore. Like we want our children to take on the worship. So they came and leave an endowment to take care of the Deities. Now it's got a thousand deities. Then they gave to us. Now we have a thousand. You've got to wash them with a hose or something. We don't have a hose, I mean, it's like so many deities. When we took it, it was really run down.

Some of these, many of these grhasthas, gurus who were also grhasthas, great pujaris were also grhasthas. People should also give some time to do the deity worship in the temples. Some of the big temples, here we have enough brahmacaris. Some of the grhasthas also come. In Mayapur, Vrindavan Prabhupada said male public worship in the main temples because of the culture, but in other temples, the ladies, too, they worship. That's also important. Everyone in the community should share this burden of love. It's a loving service. How much mercy you'll get by worshipping the deities, it's incalculable.

So Thank you very much.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare - Jayapataka Swami

Jayapataka Swami - "In 1977 A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, at the age of 82, suffered illness repeatedly and became in a physically weakened state. He decided to discontinue his travelling around the world and take shelter of Vrndavana dhama, the sacred place of Lord Krsna's pastimes.

He listened and chanted Hare Krsna and meditated on the transcendental pastimes of Krsna, throughout the day and night. However, Srila Prabhupada remained in the association of his loving disciples, who assisted him during his final pastime by chanting, very softly and sweetly, the Hare Krsna mantra 24 hours a day.

Srila Prabhupada said that this was his 'nirjana-bhajana', and that his sannyasi disciples, including the translator of this work, had to take over the responsibility of travelling and preaching all over the world, as he would not be able to travel anymore.

This great spiritual master had taken shelter of Lord Krsna in Vrndavana during the last days of this life.

(H. H. Jayapataka Swami - Commentary on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's Vaisnava Ke?, Verse 19)

Jayapataka Swami - "So Vidura began his pilgrimage traveling around the different holy places of India. By his traveling, Yudhisthira later made a quotation that you make the holy places holy because you are carrying Krsna always in your heart. He went as a humble devotee. He was going to get purified from the association of Duryodhana and Dhrtarastra.

So here in this verse, the glories of the holy places is mentioned. In the Padma Purana there is a list of holy places. According to a holy place's ability to counteract sin, purify one from different sins, it is rated. So there is a whole chapter that rates little sins like lying and stealing. There are lots of holy places that can do that. But if you murder somebody, then which holy place? There is a list of those. Then if you murdered a brahmana, then there's a list. Then finally there are seven holy places that if you die there you go back to Godhead immediately. Mayapur is one of them.

Devotees: Haribol!

Prabhupada once arrived in Mayapur, we had a big reception for him, we offered guru-puja. Then he gave his class. He went up to his room, he sat in seat, he took a sip of water. Prabhupada would drink water without touching. He taught us, so we had to drink water without touching. If you touch, your hand is dirty. You touch the Bhagavatam, you just committed an aparadha. You spit on the Bhagavatam according to brahminical standards.

He taught everyone. He gave Brahmananda sweet balls and said, "Throw it in your mouth without touching." If you live in India, you have to learn these things because people notice. They know the standard of cleanliness. In the West, nobody cares. If you drink from a glass of water, nobody thinks twice about it, but in India they notice. You drink, you touch. If you drink without touching, then you can touch the Bhagavatam.

Prabhupada always drank without touching. He had a golden goblet. He drank and then, [sighs]. I can't sigh the way he sighed. He sighed an ecstatic sigh. I just sigh an ordinary sigh.

He said, "Living and dying in Mayapur is all the same."

Devotees: Haribol!

Wow, what does that mean?

He said, "You live in Mayapur, you are living in the holy dham, and when you die in Mayapur, you go back to Godhead. You are living in the spiritual world and when you die you go back to the spiritual world."

It's like this year we are going on the safari to Divyadesa. We are going to the holy places designated by Ramanaujacarya. Some of them are considered like the spiritual world on earth. Prabhupada told us even Haridaspur, where Haridasa Thakur was chanting for one day, within a three mile radius it is a holy tirtha. It is called sripat. Where the Lord's murti is established, then it has a wider area that is affected. It is a whole science.

So Vidura was going to all these temples. Just like Ranganatha is the personal Deity of Lord Ramacandra. He gave to Vibhisana, but he got tricked by the brahmana to leave on Ranganatha Island, Sri Rangam, in the middle of the Kaveri river. So all these deities, the Kancipuram diety, Ramanauja's disciple, Kuresa, who was blinded, he got his eyesight back from the Deity. Even in our Mayapur, Lord Jagannath is always performing so many miracles. When we go there on parikrama, you can hear from the pujaris about his different pastimes. Our Nrsimhadeva also saved one lady from blindness, many different pastimes.

I think this verse is very appropriate for me because I travel around the world. I don't know what most of the places look like. Only I know what Frankfurt looks like because I went on harinama in downtown Frankfurt with the devotees. Otherwise, I don't know what. I went to Koln in Germany. I only know what London looks like because I go on Ratha Yatra. I just go from the airport to the temple and see the Deities. The Deities are so special.

Some of our devotees, some did well, some didn't do well, but the ones who did well took groups of wealthy Indians to see the temples in the west. In this way, going around seeing all the Deities, seeing the wonderful devotees practicing Krsna consciousness in the West. Many of them started chanting japa and become devotees themselves. Even they went on a mixed spiritual tour, see Washington, see New York, then they'd go and see Radha-Govinda, they'd see the different Deities. Actually, they'd get purified. These Deities all over the world also, like we heard a few days ago in the class, embassies.

The Dhams are direct extensions of the spiritual world. The temples are embassies. Like Haridaspur,there was no temple there, but Haridas Thakur stopped and chanted 300,000 names of Krsna there. So Prabhupada said it is a holy place, Sripat, wherever some pure devotees gives a class, that is also sanctified. So all the places they especially established Deities.

We go around Gaura Mandala Bhumi and say, "This Deity was established by Lord Nityananda. This Deity was establish by Bhaktivinoda Thakura. This deity was established by one of the associates of Lord Caitanya." We go there, we bow down, remember that associate. It is so sanctified.

Similarly, the Deities which were installed by Prabhupada or worshiped by Prabhupada, those are more special. In New Panihati, Atlanta, Prabhupada taught the devotees how to chant "parama karuna, pahun dui jana, nitai-gauracandra". He was crying before Gaura-Nitai. Tears of love were pouring from his eyes. He said, "How merciful they are. They have come here to America to deliver the fallen souls." Like that there are worshipable Deities all over the world, giving their mercy out.

For me it's a great pilgrimage to go and visit these Deities. Of course in India, if you can't go anywhere, at least come to Mayapur or Vrindavan or both because here all the holy places are exisiting. They all reside. This is Radharani's place. Radharani made Mayapur Dham for the pleasure of Krsna. So to please Radharani, the supreme energy, all of the holy places have come. Or some say they are all here and from here they expand out to their other external forms. We'll see Naimisaranya on parikrama. We'll see Puskar-tirtha, Kuruksetra, Triveni, Pancaveni, Campaka gardens of Campakalata devi. Campakalata is next to Lalita. She has her own gardens in Mayapur to bring campa flowers to Radha-Krsna by her mystical powers. With their supreme energy, they all have so many potencies. We can't imagine. These deities are unlimited, ananta-linga, unlimited potencies.

We pray, Prabhupada would pray to all the Deities, so many pictures of him standing with folded hands, praying. Once some lady came up to Prabhupada and said "What are you praying?"

Everyone was shocked, how can you just ask someone what they're praying. It's private.

Prabhupada looked at her, then said, "I'm praying that I never leave Krsna consciousness." Whether that was what he was praying or that is what he was instructing her she should pray, we should pray like that anyway. Take the tip. You don't want to leave Krsna consciousness. We want to spend ourselves under the shelter of Lord Krsna's devotional service.

Today is a very special day. It's the disappearance day of three great Vaisnavas, one of whom is a disciple of an associate of Lord Caitanya. Shyamananda Pandit, who helped bring the works of the acaryas with Narottama Dasa Thakura and Srinivasa Acarya. His disciple was Rasikananda, his chief disciple. He had thousands of disciples.

Rasikananda was born as the son of a very wealthy feudal landlord. He was married to Icchadevi. As soon as he met Shyamananda, immediately he knew, his hairs were standing on end. Immediately he knew there was a connection from a previous life, this was his preceptor. He immediately surrendered and begged Shyamananda for initiation, Shyamananda initiated him and his wife. He became Rasikananda and she became Syama Dasi.

Rasikananda and Syama Dasi established Deities in their town where they were the lords, previously the lords. The town was so much, he said the people were so devoted to the Deities, that they changed the name of the town to Gopiballabhpur, all were in love with Gopiballabh, the dear to the gopis, Lord Krsna, hoping that all the townspeople would also develop this love for Radha and Krsna.

Somehow I have a really great fortune that Prabhupada made me the life chairman of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust and gave some of his guru daksina as the seed capital. One of the assignments he gave was to fix up the temples, preserve the ancient temples of Gaura Mandala Bhumi. So somehow this trust has been fixing up the original temple of Rasikananda, which is five hundred years old now, putting up a wall around it, fixing it up. We did so many services, so somehow I got a little mercy there.

Rasikananda was taken to Radha-Gopinatha, Ksira-cora Gopinatha. After Lord Caitanya and Madhavendra Puri visited. Gopinatha stole the ksira, everyone knows that famous story. If you don't, have someone tell you because if I tell it it will take too long. Anyway, the basic thing was, just the short form of it: Madhavendra Puri wanted, since we are talking about Deities, he wanted, everyday they offered condensed milk sweet to this Deity of Gopinatha. Madhavendra Puri was coming from the Sri Nathaji deity. The Gopalji deity, who is now known as Sri Nathaji, was in Vrindavan. He thought, "I'd like to know what this tastes like so that I could offer it to my Gopal deity. Wow! I just committed a big aparadha! It's bhoga. It's an unoffered offering and I thought, 'How would it taste?' This is a big offense. I am an aparadhi."

So he went out and he was chanting his japa and thinking, "Krsna forgive me. I am so offensive."

Then the Deities came in the dream of the pujari that night and said, "We took one of the pots of ksira and put it under our cloth. You can come and get it. In the market there is a devotee called Madhavendra Puri. You can give it to him."

He wasn't thinking about tasting it to enjoy it. He was thinking about offering it to Krsna. So there was really no offense, but he was very humble about the whole thing.

So this pujari woke up. Hours had passed since this Deity stole the offering. He took his shower, got dressed in clean cloth, went, opened the temple, looked, and sure enough, behind the dhoti of Gopinatha, there was the pot of ksira. So the Deity stole the ksira to give to his devotee.

He went out in the market, crying, "Madhavendra Puri! Madhavendra Puri!"

Madhavendra Puri said, "Yes?" No one else was there. It was like one in the morning. He was chanting his japa. He was still feeling so bad. He [the pujari] told him what happened and said, "You are the most fortunate man in the entire world. For you, the Deity has stolen this condensed milk." He gave it to him. Madhavendra Puri offered his obeisances to it, ate the ksira, kept the clay pot. He would eat a little piece of the clay pot every day. So many other pastimes with Madhavendra Puri.

So this Ksira-cora Gopinatha was very famous. There was some king, maybe he was a Muslim king, I don't know. He was a Deity-hater. He was going around smashing Deities in temples. Like the Taliban in Afghanistan were smashing the Buddhas. So when the people in Remuna heard that he was coming, they hid Gopinatha under a pond three miles away.

“Babhru das: To underline the quotation provided by Trivikrama Maharaja, here’s something Srila Prabhupada said on a morning walk here in Hawaii:

Jayatirtha: So the purpose of having the Society is to show the devotees how they can always be twenty-four hours engaged according to your instruction.

Prabhupada: Yes, that is helping one another. If I am deficient, by seeing your example I shall correct myself. This is the idea, not that a fool’s paradise: all fools and join together. Not like that. There should be ideal life, at least the leaders, the resident, the GBC. They will show the example, and they will follow. Then it is beneficial. And if all of them are fools? Then it is fool’s paradise. At least, in the blind association, at least if one man has got eyes, then he can lead all the blind men. But if all of them are blind, then it is fool’s paradise.

So somehow or other, we have got now a position. The People like us. So, we should not spoil by personal sense gratification. That is my request. If we can maintain this institution rigidly according to the order, then many people will be benefited. By seeing our behaviour, by character, they will become. Apani acari prabhu jiveri siksaya. The leader should be ideal.

February 3, 1975, Hawaii

So the leaders’ example must be ideal: excellent sadhana, freedom from the pursuit of sense gratification. Otherwise, we’re left with the blind leading the blind in a fool’s paradise.

Yours in service, Babhru das”

Inspiring however, how do you trust so-called leaders who are judgemental and see only what they want to see??

Such BLIND leaders stagnate true religion and make it materialist and political. The treasure of one Temple I know, is not the kind of leader found in a bonafide religious order. A business yes, a devotee, NO. He even dresses like a karmi most of the time and frankly lives like one too. Just being a ‘nice’ guy, doesn't make one a good devotee.

The Karmi quality of ‘Mr. prabhu’ makes him so judgemental, seeing other people for what he ignorantly believes they are, instead of what one really is now. Someone is going to knock him out one day for his ‘judgemental’ insensible ways of communicating with people. It is dangerous to judge people he doesn't know or hasn't seen for 20 years;)

Such fools like Mr. prabhu 'visualizes’ what he speculates others may be, based on his limited knowledge founded in rumour, hearsay, and resentment. This is due to being so arrogantly self-opinionated.

Prognoses doesn’t look good, it appears too much damage may have been done to the brain although time will tell. It is all in the hands of the Doctors, the prayers of the devotees and the will and ultimatly the inconceivable plan and mercy of Krsna.

01-Nov-08, 10 pm report)

Dr. P. P Ashok visited Maharaja and he wasn’t happy with his situation. Maharaja is not conscious and doesn’t respond to any commands.

Brain haemorrage is very unpredictable. Any moment anything can happen.

Blood preassure is also on the higher side and keeps fluctuating.

The doctor says Maharaja can remain like this for a longer period of time. He is still in ICU and with ventilator.

Let us all pray intensely to Krsna. Only Krsna can do something. It is all in His hands.

May Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari cast their most merciful glance upon our beloved Jayapataka Maharaja so that he can come out of this horrifying situation and be with us all again.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

Prognoses doesn’t look good, it appears too much damage may have been done to the brain although time will tell. It is all in the hands of the Doctors, the prayers of the devotees and the will and ultimatly the inconceivable plan and mercy of Krsna.

01-Nov-08, 10 pm report)

Dr. P. P Ashok visited Maharaja and he wasn’t happy with his situation. Maharaja is not conscious and doesn’t respond to any commands.

Brain haemorrage is very unpredictable. Any moment anything can happen.

Blood preassure is also on the higher side and keeps fluctuating.

The doctor says Maharaja can remain like this for a longer period of time. He is still in ICU and with ventilator.

Let us all pray intensely to Krsna. Only Krsna can do something. It is all in His hands.

May Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari cast their most merciful glance upon our beloved Jayapataka Maharaja so that he can come out of this horrifying situation and be with us all again.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

The platelet count today is now 98,000, it needs to reach at least 150,000 for the vessels in the body to stop the sometimes leaking blood that can happen at anytime when high blood pressure developes

Friday, November 1st, 2008 - 6.30 pm:

After the tracheostomy yesterday, Guru Maharaja is not fully conscious. He is resting.

Only once this morning he opened his eyes and after that he is resting

again. At 1.30pm they have turned off the ventilator system.

Guru Maharaja was able to breathe by himself until 7.30pm. They didn't want to strain Guru Maharaja and therefore they have turned on the ventilator system again.

The BP is on the higher side but the doctors say it is alright. The sugar

level is normal. The platelet count is now 98,000 today.

Subhag Maharaja and all the senior devotees are asking us to chant and pray more for our Guru Maharaja's recovery. Only Lord Krishna can perform miracles and without his blessings nothing can happen.

As long as Guru Maharaja is in the ICCU his situation is still critical. Guru Maharaja appeared in a dream to a devotee yesterday and said, "Please keep on chanting. That gives me strength."

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

The platelet count today is now 98,000, it needs to reach at least 150,000 for the vessels in the body to stop the sometimes leaking blood that can happen at anytime when high blood pressure developes

Friday, November Ist, 2008 - 6.30 pm:

After the tracheostomy yesterday, Guru Maharaja is not fully conscious. He is resting.

Only once this morning he opened his eyes and after that he is resting

again. At 1.30pm they have turned off the ventilator system.

Guru Maharaja was able to breathe by himself until 7.30pm. They didn't want to strain Guru Maharaja and therefore they have turned on the ventilator system again.

The BP is on the higher side but the doctors say it is alright. The sugar

level is normal. The platelet count is now 98,000 today.

Subhag Maharaja and all the senior devotees are asking us to chant and pray more for our Guru Maharaja's recovery. Only Lord Krishna can perform miracles and without his blessings nothing can happen.

As long as Guru Maharaja is in the ICCU his situation is still critical. Guru Maharaja appeared in a dream to a devotee yesterday and said, "Please keep on chanting. That gives me strength."

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

Of course everything is in Krsna’s hands. However, Krsna does listen to the sincere prayers of the Vaishnavas!! So Please keep praying

Messages from Godbrothers of HH Jayapataka Swami

Posted below are messages from HH Jayapataka Maharaj’s godbrothers.(compiled by Suvarna Krsna Lila dd)

HH Radhanath Maharaj (25 October 2008):

“4000 devotees are going to pray in Vrindavan. And in Vrindavan to whichever holy place they go, they will be praying for Jayapataka Maharaj. And they are going to dedicate the whole yatra for HH Jayapataka Maharaj.”

Maharaj also mentioned that he is with all of us (all the disciples).Maharaj instructed the Chowpatty temple that the 24hrs kirtan praying for the recovery of HH Jayapataka Maharaj should continue.

HH Ramai Swami Maharaj - “I really do not know exactly what plans the Supreme Personality Sri Krsna and Srila Prabhupada have for HH Jayapataka Swami. As far as we are concerned, we hope that he recovers and stays with us and gives us his association. And helps push on the preaching all around the world as he has always done.

My heart goes to him and my heart goes to all the disciples of Jayapataka Swami. And we are continually praying. I have asked, as a GBC chairman, that some GBCs stay here in Mumbai just to follow the developments as for as his health is concerned.

So some are staying on extra, they have changed their timings and everything like that so that four, five or six GBCs will stay on like that. We are feeling positive by the indications given by the doctors there. Of course everything is in Krsna’s hands!! It could improve by His will and be happy.”

HH Sivaram Swami Maharaj - Hare Krsna! Very often in medical history, there is a thing that doctors say are medically inexplicable, doesn’t make sense to medical science.

And that’s because in the ultimate issue it is not the medical science that determines whether someone becomes healthy or unhealthy because they deal with a very immediate cause and effect but as devotees we know that beyond the immediate movement of organs the reaction to some kind of medication, medicine, treatment is the underlying spiritual energy upon which all matter functions.

And that spiritual energy is directly under spiritual control, which then subsequently controls the material energy. And our faith in regards to the conditions of HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj is that in that way, he is in Krsna’s hands and Krsna is the controller.

Whatever apparent medical indications areican be overridden by the underlying spiritual potency which directs everything. And spiritual potency to cure and direct the material energy can be invoked by the devotees’ desire.

Therefore devotees pray. We pray for the wellbeing of Vaisnavas, we pray that Jayapataka Swami Maharaj may be cured. But we always pray in a certain mood.

Just like Srila Prabhupad taught us to prayi ‘My dear Lord Krsna if you so desire..’. Because we don’t want to voice any type of intention that would appear to be separate from Krsna’s desire. So if it is Krsna’s desire, then we request that ‘You please cure Jayapataka Maharaj’. And the quality of our faith that is parallel and in harmony with Krsna’s desire and quantity of our faith is that we know actually Krsna can do anything.

Atheistic people, materialistic people may have a different vision but as Vaisnavas we know that if Krsna wants ‘mukam karoti vacalam, pangum langhayate girim..’, He can make lame people walk across mountains and make dumb people speak and bring any person of any type of sickness and He can make them completely healthy, against so called medical evidence and medical science because Krsna is the ultimate doctor! Krsna is the ultimate mystic and He is the ultimate controller!.

So we should have faith in that and we should pray in that way and know that certainly Jayapataka Maharaj is not a victim of material energy but he is directly under Krsna’s hands. He is been in Krsna’s hands all this time and now he is also in Krsna’s hands.

So we will pray to Krsna ’so if you want to fulfill the desires of so many disciples, devotees and well wishers of His Divine Grace’. Hare Krsna.”

HG Badrinarayan prabhu - “Jayapataka Maharaj is one of the generals in Lord Caitanya’s army and it is very hard for me to accept that he does not have further duties and battles to win for Krsna. At our meeting yesterday, at the GBC meeting, repeatedly we thought ‘Jayapataka Maharaj would know the answer’.

If Jayapataka Maharaj was here… as far as spirit of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, relationships with Gaudiya Math, how to develop Mayapur, Prabhupada’s instructions and vision for the future temple, he is an irreplaceable storehouse of practical experience and transcendental knowledge and an ocean of Prabhupada’s instructions.

So just like Nrsimha brahmachari, his mind could not go beyond a certain point on the path I cannot picture going on without our Jayapataka Maharaj. Still Krsna has his plan. We don’t have that vision so we simply fold our hands and pray that whatever Krsna wants may it become manifest and we understand it. Hare Krsna.

HG Anuttama Prabhu - “I had the honor of visiting Jayapataka Maharaj in his hospital room, the day after he was taken to the hospital in the morning. And his color was very good. Obviously he was unconscious and in the hospital he was getting treatment of many different fluids, tubes and things like that. He was in the corner room of the intensive care with windows on both sides.

I noticed that sunlight was coming in and sun is always an auspicious and helpful sign. And I spoke into Maharaja’s ear.

I understand often times people in this situation, they can still hear and I told him how much the devotees around the world loved him and devotees around the world are praying for him and I told him that I am praying that Krsna restores his full strength and full health so that we can preach together and serve Prabhupada together for many more years.

And I told him that we are very grateful for his very sweet nature and his loving compassion mood towards so many devotees all over the world. And I offer my obeisances to all the disciples of HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj and I pray that Krsna will give them strength in this difficult time and they offer their most sincere prayers to Lord Krsna.

Srila Prabhupada, when he had serious health crisis he instructed his disciples to pray ‘My dear Lord Krsna, if you so desire, then please let our spiritual master stay for he has not finished his work’. So ultimately situations like this are in the hands of the Lord.

But the signs are good. We are keeping our hope and prayers up and we are praying to Krsna understanding that Krsna has, in the recent years, Prabhupada has called back some of his senior most preachers to help him wherever his mission may be at this time.

And that been very painful but we are hoping this time our prayers will be heard by the Lord and he may bless us and allow us to have more of Jayapataka Maharaja’s association in this world for few more years so we can relish his association in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krsna.

All my prayers and best wishes are to his disciples and well wishers around the world. May we get the strength in each other’s association and remember this and our appreciation for Maharaj for his love and service.

Hare Krsna!

Prabhava Das - May Lord Krsna Protect Jayapataka Maharaja, who has been working so hare to spread

the mission of Lord Caitanya throughout the world tirelessly.He is so dear to all of

his desciples and dear godbrothers.I am praying to Lord Krsna to protect Jayapataka

Maharaja at times that is needed the most.We all love him very much and that we want

to see him recover quickly .Of course , he will from now on spend more time at one

place and take care of his health.Please , Lord Krsna protect and give Your

blessings to Your dear preacher.

I also request many of my friends and godbrothers to make similar prayers to Lord

Krsna from the core your hearts.

Your humble servant

Prabhava das

Pusta Krishna das - "Dear Bhaktas and especially disciples of His Holiness Jayapataka Maharaj,

Please do not despair. I have just now seen that tracheostomy has been done, and this is a wise decision on the part of his physicians. Here in the San Jose, California area, our pulmonary specialists recommend this relatively early also since it protects the injury to the vocal cords that occurs with prolonged intubation, and it facilitates suctioning of secretions from the airways.

Thus, it helps to prevent infections of the lungs or pneumonia which is very dangerous when one is on a ventilator.

The injury to the part of the brain where hemorrhage occurred can play a role in breathing, and so that part of the brain will hopefully recover with time so that our dear Jayapataka Maharaj will recover more and more his capacity to breathe, speak, and interact with his disciples and well-

wishers. Please be patient as this may take some time.

It may also play a role in wakefulness as well. So, Maharaj resting is part of the injury to that part of the brain.

But, remember, he is the atma within the body. His service is under the internal potency of Sri Krishna, so whatever situation he may be placed in, that is the grace of the Supreme Lord.

I have noted in some of the reports that a clicker is being used for Maharaj to chant the Mahamantra internally. There are small tulasi japa malas that have 27 beads. If you can arrange that, and if Maharaj possesses the dexterity to use it, please give him a small tulasi mala to use when he wishes to chant to himself.

I am thinking about my Godbrother frequently in these days, and I am grateful for the updates on his condition. We must be able to see his divine self through this, as he is also feeling the urgency and necessity to take profound shelter of Sri Krishna.

Krishna is our dearmost Friend, and so we must believe that all is for the very best. And, I pray too that this unexpected health emergency will bring out the very best in his disciples as well.

Hare Krishna.

Sincerely,

Pusta Krishna das

It's all up to Krsna!! However, Krsna does listen to the prayers of the Vaishnavas

 

Messages from Godbrothers of HH Jayapataka Swami

Posted below are messages from HH Jayapataka Maharaj’s godbrothers.(compiled by Suvarna Krsna Lila dd)

HH Radhanath Maharaj (25 October 2008):

“4000 devotees are going to pray in Vrindavan. And in Vrindavan to whichever holy place they go, they will be praying for Jayapataka Maharaj. And they are going to dedicate the whole yatra for HH Jayapataka Maharaj.”

Maharaj also mentioned that he is with all of us (all the disciples).Maharaj instructed the Chowpatty temple that the 24hrs kirtan praying for the recovery of HH Jayapataka Maharaj should continue.

HH Ramai Swami Maharaj - “I really do not know exactly what plans the Supreme Personality Sri Krsna and Srila Prabhupada have for HH Jayapataka Swami. As far as we are concerned, we hope that he recovers and stays with us and gives us his association. And helps push on the preaching all around the world as he has always done.

My heart goes to him and my heart goes to all the disciples of Jayapataka Swami. And we are continually praying. I have asked, as a GBC chairman, that some GBCs stay here in Mumbai just to follow the developments as for as his health is concerned.

So some are staying on extra, they have changed their timings and everything like that so that four, five or six GBCs will stay on like that. We are feeling positive by the indications given by the doctors there. Of course everything is in Krsna’s hands!! It could improve by His will and be happy.”

HH Sivaram Swami Maharaj - Hare Krsna! Very often in medical history, there is a thing that doctors say are medically inexplicable, doesn’t make sense to medical science.

And that’s because in the ultimate issue it is not the medical science that determines whether someone becomes healthy or unhealthy because they deal with a very immediate cause and effect but as devotees we know that beyond the immediate movement of organs the reaction to some kind of medication, medicine, treatment is the underlying spiritual energy upon which all matter functions.

And that spiritual energy is directly under spiritual control, which then subsequently controls the material energy. And our faith in regards to the conditions of HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj is that in that way, he is in Krsna’s hands and Krsna is the controller.

Whatever apparent medical indications areican be overridden by the underlying spiritual potency which directs everything. And spiritual potency to cure and direct the material energy can be invoked by the devotees’ desire.

Therefore devotees pray. We pray for the wellbeing of Vaisnavas, we pray that Jayapataka Swami Maharaj may be cured. But we always pray in a certain mood.

Just like Srila Prabhupad taught us to prayi ‘My dear Lord Krsna if you so desire..’. Because we don’t want to voice any type of intention that would appear to be separate from Krsna’s desire. So if it is Krsna’s desire, then we request that ‘You please cure Jayapataka Maharaj’. And the quality of our faith that is parallel and in harmony with Krsna’s desire and quantity of our faith is that we know actually Krsna can do anything.

Atheistic people, materialistic people may have a different vision but as Vaisnavas we know that if Krsna wants ‘mukam karoti vacalam, pangum langhayate girim..’, He can make lame people walk across mountains and make dumb people speak and bring any person of any type of sickness and He can make them completely healthy, against so called medical evidence and medical science because Krsna is the ultimate doctor! Krsna is the ultimate mystic and He is the ultimate controller!.

So we should have faith in that and we should pray in that way and know that certainly Jayapataka Maharaj is not a victim of material energy but he is directly under Krsna’s hands. He is been in Krsna’s hands all this time and now he is also in Krsna’s hands.

So we will pray to Krsna ’so if you want to fulfill the desires of so many disciples, devotees and well wishers of His Divine Grace’. Hare Krsna.”

HG Badrinarayan prabhu - “Jayapataka Maharaj is one of the generals in Lord Caitanya’s army and it is very hard for me to accept that he does not have further duties and battles to win for Krsna. At our meeting yesterday, at the GBC meeting, repeatedly we thought ‘Jayapataka Maharaj would know the answer’.

If Jayapataka Maharaj was here… as far as spirit of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, relationships with Gaudiya Math, how to develop Mayapur, Prabhupada’s instructions and vision for the future temple, he is an irreplaceable storehouse of practical experience and transcendental knowledge and an ocean of Prabhupada’s instructions.

So just like Nrsimha brahmachari, his mind could not go beyond a certain point on the path I cannot picture going on without our Jayapataka Maharaj. Still Krsna has his plan. We don’t have that vision so we simply fold our hands and pray that whatever Krsna wants may it become manifest and we understand it. Hare Krsna.

HG Anuttama Prabhu - “I had the honor of visiting Jayapataka Maharaj in his hospital room, the day after he was taken to the hospital in the morning. And his color was very good. Obviously he was unconscious and in the hospital he was getting treatment of many different fluids, tubes and things like that. He was in the corner room of the intensive care with windows on both sides.

I noticed that sunlight was coming in and sun is always an auspicious and helpful sign. And I spoke into Maharaja’s ear.

I understand often times people in this situation, they can still hear and I told him how much the devotees around the world loved him and devotees around the world are praying for him and I told him that I am praying that Krsna restores his full strength and full health so that we can preach together and serve Prabhupada together for many more years.

And I told him that we are very grateful for his very sweet nature and his loving compassion mood towards so many devotees all over the world. And I offer my obeisances to all the disciples of HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj and I pray that Krsna will give them strength in this difficult time and they offer their most sincere prayers to Lord Krsna.

Srila Prabhupada, when he had serious health crisis he instructed his disciples to pray ‘My dear Lord Krsna, if you so desire, then please let our spiritual master stay for he has not finished his work’. So ultimately situations like this are in the hands of the Lord.

But the signs are good. We are keeping our hope and prayers up and we are praying to Krsna understanding that Krsna has, in the recent years, Prabhupada has called back some of his senior most preachers to help him wherever his mission may be at this time.

And that been very painful but we are hoping this time our prayers will be heard by the Lord and he may bless us and allow us to have more of Jayapataka Maharaja’s association in this world for few more years so we can relish his association in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krsna.

All my prayers and best wishes are to his disciples and well wishers around the world. May we get the strength in each other’s association and remember this and our appreciation for Maharaj for his love and service.

Hare Krsna!

Prabhava Das - May Lord Krsna Protect Jayapataka Maharaja, who has been working so hare to spread

the mission of Lord Caitanya throughout the world tirelessly.He is so dear to all of

his desciples and dear godbrothers.I am praying to Lord Krsna to protect Jayapataka

Maharaja at times that is needed the most.We all love him very much and that we want

to see him recover quickly .Of course , he will from now on spend more time at one

place and take care of his health.Please , Lord Krsna protect and give Your

blessings to Your dear preacher.

I also request many of my friends and godbrothers to make similar prayers to Lord

Krsna from the core your hearts.

Your humble servant

Prabhava das

Pusta Krishna das - "Dear Bhaktas and especially disciples of His Holiness Jayapataka Maharaj,

Please do not despair. I have just now seen that tracheostomy has been done, and this is a wise decision on the part of his physicians. Here in the San Jose, California area, our pulmonary specialists recommend this relatively early also since it protects the injury to the vocal cords that occurs with prolonged intubation, and it facilitates suctioning of secretions from the airways.

Thus, it helps to prevent infections of the lungs or pneumonia which is very dangerous when one is on a ventilator.

The injury to the part of the brain where hemorrhage occurred can play a role in breathing, and so that part of the brain will hopefully recover with time so that our dear Jayapataka Maharaj will recover more and more his capacity to breathe, speak, and interact with his disciples and well-

wishers. Please be patient as this may take some time.

It may also play a role in wakefulness as well. So, Maharaj resting is part of the injury to that part of the brain.

But, remember, he is the atma within the body. His service is under the internal potency of Sri Krishna, so whatever situation he may be placed in, that is the grace of the Supreme Lord.

I have noted in some of the reports that a clicker is being used for Maharaj to chant the Mahamantra internally. There are small tulasi japa malas that have 27 beads. If you can arrange that, and if Maharaj possesses the dexterity to use it, please give him a small tulasi mala to use when he wishes to chant to himself.

I am thinking about my Godbrother frequently in these days, and I am grateful for the updates on his condition. We must be able to see his divine self through this, as he is also feeling the urgency and necessity to take profound shelter of Sri Krishna.

Krishna is our dearmost Friend, and so we must believe that all is for the very best. And, I pray too that this unexpected health emergency will bring out the very best in his disciples as well.

Hare Krishna.

Sincerely,

Pusta Krishna das

It will take sometime, even weeks for Maharaj's body to become stronger. Also, according to expert specialist observers, his body weight will have to come down considerably to assist the healing process and prolong life.

Thursday, October 30, 8.30 pm:

This afternoon the doctors did Tracheostomy.

Tracheostomy is a surgical opening in the trachea (windpipe) that forms a temporary opening to make breathing easier.

They have inserted the ventilator tube into this hole instead of sending the tube through the mouth.

Since Guru Maharaja is unable to breathe by himself they cannot remove the ventilator.

They cannot keep the tubes through the mouth for a long time and it can catch infection. Guru Maharaja also feels uncomfortable with the tubes. Therefore the panel of doctors decided to go for tracheostomy.

Compared to yesterday the consciousness level is down today. There could be different factors. They will wait and see tomorrow. Apart from this the other parameters are stable.

We do not know how many more days it might take for Guru Maharaja to breathe by himself and to be out of ventilator. It is all upto Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna now.

Whatever happened so far is a miracle and we need more miracles for Guru Maharaja to completely come out of this situation successfully.

Your humble servant

Ratnavali<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

It will take sometime, even weeks for Maharaj's body to become stronger. Also, according to expert specialist observers, his body weight will have to come down considerably to assist the healing process and prolong life.

Thursday, October 30, 8.30 pm:

This afternoon the doctors did Tracheostomy.

Tracheostomy is a surgical opening in the trachea (windpipe) that forms a temporary opening to make breathing easier.

They have inserted the ventilator tube into this hole instead of sending the tube through the mouth.

Since Guru Maharaja is unable to breathe by himself they cannot remove the ventilator.

They cannot keep the tubes through the mouth for a long time and it can catch infection. Guru Maharaja also feels uncomfortable with the tubes. Therefore the panel of doctors decided to go for tracheostomy.

Compared to yesterday the consciousness level is down today. There could be different factors. They will wait and see tomorrow. Apart from this the other parameters are stable.

We do not know how many more days it might take for Guru Maharaja to breathe by himself and to be out of ventilator. It is all upto Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna now.

Whatever happened so far is a miracle and we need more miracles for Guru Maharaja to completely come out of this situation successfully.

Your humble servant

Ratnavali

I have often wondered to what extent a voter shares in the karma created by the one he voted for. Or is it he has no karmic responsibility as a voter? I tend to think he does but don't really know.

 

Supposedly a king took on 1/6th of the karma of his subjects good or bad. In a democracy it may become more complicated but surely there must be some entanglement.

 

Anybody know?

Every action has its reaction. Unlike America, everyone in Australia has to vote and if they don't, there is a big fine and even jail. The funny thing is, in the 44 years of voting age, I have NEVER voted.

Although as a person, Obama's minders have expertly markeded him and he WILL be the next President and first black President. Wow, I remember the Birmingham civil rights marches and 1963 speach of Martin Lurther King, followed by an unknown 19 year old boy singing 'Blown in the Wind' (Bob Dylan)

I believe it's a good thing Obama will be elected President because it breaks down barriers of race and even Religion. In fact I believe the civil rights movement of the the 60s greatly indirectly helped Prabhupada's movement

Sterotype parrot devotees that exist in Australia would not understand that but plenty of American devotees will

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=484 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class="size18 black" vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2 height=26>Major terror strikes in India

50 killed, 300 injured<!--/Fullheadline-->

</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2 height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: #616161; LINE-HEIGHT: 18px; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; TEXT-DECORATION: none" colSpan=2>by Krishna Das from Guwahati | Thursday, 30 October , 2008, 17:27

</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2><TABLE style="BORDER-LEFT-COLOR: red; BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: red; BORDER-TOP-COLOR: red; BORDER-RIGHT-COLOR: red" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ash12normalV vAlign=top align=left><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" align=left border=0><!--tr> <td><WImage></td> <td> </td> </tr--><TBODY><TR><TD><!-- google_ad_section_start=sify_article -->Guwahati: It is Baghdad in Guwahati. Three back to back major car bombs followed up by two booby- trapped bombs and if that was not enough seven more bombs in other parts of Assam saw at least 50 dead and 300 injured.

Images of Guwahati serial blast

This was the worst Assam had seen in its 20-year insurgency and contrary to government claims, the ordinary people believe it as an HuJI attack and Congress government was protecting them by bringing ULFA’s name into picture.

With the intensity, timing and ground position of the ULFA coupled together, the needle of suspicion points at the militants of the Islamic organizations that have been taking wings under a blind government of Assam that is keen to defend itself than tackling terrorists.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

30 OCTOBER 2008

Assam was ripped apart by the most devastating terrorist attack of its history when 12 synchronised blasts took place in lower Assam - five in Guwahati including Ganeshguri, Panbazar and Fancy Bazar, three at Kokrajhar, and two at Barpeta Road and Bongaigaon - leaving at least 50 dead and injuring more than 200.

18 serial blast shook Assam

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi confirmed that 48 people dead so far but the toll should go up as at least 50 others were struggling for life in very critical position. He appealed the political parties to stay calm.

“According to information received here, there have been 12 bomb blasts at Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Barpeta Road and Bongaigaon in which 48 persons lost their lives and more than 300 sustained injuries,” he said.

In fact militant's booby trapped Ganeshguri by blastinbg three back to back bombs. With 19 bomb blasts over a period of last six years the Ganeshguri point of the Guwahati city is arguably one of the most bombed place of country.

But today's blast was the worst. “I have seen almost all of these blasts but this was the worst. Today, the cars caught fire and at least 10 persons were charred to death instantly. The previous blasts were of low intensity and did not cause such damage,” said Rabiram Nath, the fruit vendor who escaped because he had gone inside of his shop.

Everybody in the busy Ganeshguri point have become numbed to this fear. “With so many bombs going off everywhere, the fear factor has actually gone. It has become part of our life but today's blast was horrible. I had never seen something like that. One of the injured man's severed leg flew almost 20 feet and came near our shop,” said Joynal Abedin, employed at a biscuit shop in the area.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today reviewed the law and order situation of the state following the serial blasts and expressed dismay over the police's utter failure to stop the bombings.

He summoned the top brass of the Assam police as well as senior of the state officers and gave them a dressing down. The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is arriving tomorrow for an on the spot assessment of the situation. According to the Chief Minster’s office, more para-military forces were being dispatched form neighbouring states to help the state police.

The attack had left the state administration shattered and the security apparatus collapsed as angry mob attacked police and journalists while setting at least half a dozen government vehicle on fire, forcing authorities to open fire and finally clamp indefinite curfew in the Guwahati city.

The blasts have brought Guwahati to a halt with all telephone lines jammed and traffic to a standstill. Business and offices were closed down immediately and thousands of people were left stranded on the roads as public transport was cancelled.

Authorities clamped curfew to stop spreading panic in the state and to check violent angry mobs from attacking government properties. With wailing ambulances and fire brigades rushing from one point to another, the town of Guwahati wore a ghastly war zone look – a sight that is sure to haunt the town folks for days to come.

<!-- google_ad_section_end=sify_article -->

The comic, 31, has devoted himself completely to the Hindu God, and regularly attends Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford, Herts, where he is popular with devotees.

Russell Brand Chants Hare Krishna Mantra

Category: Hare Krishna News

Article Viewed 2041 Times

Russell Brand plans to seek enlightenment to gain control over his bed-hopping habits and drug addiction, by chanting Hare Krishna's mantra.

The comic, 31, has devoted himself completely to the Hindu God, and regularly attends Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford, Herts, where he is popular with devotees.

Brand, recently caught smuggling a pair of brunettes into a Travel Inn - first took up the sect during his battle with hard drugs.

"Russell visits regularly. He has a very deep spiritual side, has read many Krishna texts and talks to us a lot," The Sun quoted a fellow devotee, as saying.

The star, who has bedded Kate Moss and Sadie Frost, ditched heroin several years ago. His pal said: "He did it with the help of our devotees. He feels indebted."

The telly host also jokes about Krishna in his stand-up routines, as Last night he said: "Hare Krishna devotees taught me reality is an illusion and that we ought to be bold when it comes to haircuts. Look at them, they look great."

Followers believe the Hare Krishna mantra brings a higher state of consciousness when heard, spoken, meditated upon or sung.

When Gopal Krishna Maharaja came to visit him, Maharaja took Gopal Krishna Maharaja’s hand and put it on his head and had tears in his eyes.

Last update:

(30-Oct-08, 12:30 p.m. report)

Ratnavali dd:

CT scan report is positive.

The report shows the same situation as the day one and nothing new. Guru Maharaja is coming back to consciousness again like yesterday.

When Gopal Krishna Maharaja came to visit him, Maharaja took Gopal Krishna Maharaja’s hand and put it on his head and had tears in his eyes.

The only biggest hurdle right now is his respiratory system. If that functions well then they could remove the ventilator.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd

—————————–

(30-Oct-08, 10:00 a.m. report)

Ratnavali dd:

Maharaja was given sedatives yesterday in the night as he wants the tubes to be removed. The tubes can be removed only until he is able to breathe normally.

Today in the morning his conscious level is down a bit. They are taking him to the CT scan and then we could have some clear picture.

Devotees are asked to keep on praying especially at this most critical moment.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali ddr