20040719 || Ratha Yātrā || Birmingham, UK #JayapatakaSwamiArchives

In uk.

Birmingham.

Birmingham.

Can you. Ram. Ram. Ram. It's Ram. Ram. Ram. Sam. It's Ram. Ram. Sam. Ram. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's Ram. Ram. It's. It's. It's Ram. Ram. Sam. Ram. Thank you.

Has unlimited farm. Among all these unlimited farms, Lord Jagannath farm is the most merciful form. Generally people they think or they know that Jagannath form of the supreme personal Godhead is incomplete form. But this is not incomplete form. This super complete complete form of supreme personality of Godhead. This Jagannath is very merciful. That's why he is here among us all over the world. He is so expert in giving mercy to everybody. So he has reached to most of the biggest city throughout the world to give his mercy under the Jagannath. His hand is like this. He is calling everybody to embrace. He likes to embrace everyone. Another significance of Lord Jagannath's mercy is you will see everybody has little mercy. When you become merciful to someone, tears come from your eyes. And that comes because you will see in the corner of her eyes is a little red spot there. From this corner Varuna or mercy comes. But after this discussion when we will go back to Havdarsana of Lord Jaganna you will see throughout the along the circle of his eyes as a red mark. So we have little mercy. That's we have little red mark in our eyes. Lord Jagannath is complete merciful. So that's why around his eyes there is a red mark. So this merciful supremac Godhead Lord Jagannath has appeared in Jagannath Puri to deliver all the living entities. But for those they can't go all the way up to there. Our most beloved founder Acharya of International Society for Ka Consciousness. His divine grace Bhaktivedansa in Prahopad has brought Lord the Jagannath here all over the world. So Jagannath is very satisfied now by upon his pure devotees Prabhupada. That how Prabhupada has brought Lord Jagannath Bandhav Subhadra all over the world. So we are very happy to see Lord Jagannath Balinda Subhadra on his chariot. Because scripture says whoever will have Lord Jagannath Darshan when he sits chariot. Because Lord Jagannath is very merciful. But when he comes out of his temple he's super merciful. That time when somebody will have darshan of Lord Jagannath Balada Shivharda and Sudarshan on the chariot, definitely they will be delivered from this material bondage. So I would like to thank all of you for coming to this Nakshatra.

Participated in and observed is a very ancient spiritual tradition which also has its esoteric roots in the pastimes of Lord Ka and Lord Ka's associates. Everyone is attracted by Jagannaths pastimes. And our spiritual master and the founder of this Ka Consciousness movement, His divine grace AC Bhagpodanta Swami Prabhupada introduced this Jagannath Rathi Yatra to present the culture of Ka Consciousness and also a spiritual protest. It's a march. Usually when people have marches down the street, they have a message. This is also a protest march. It is a protest march against.

Well.

Whatever you see around you, that's what it's protesting against. In other words, Western, not just Western, but Western, eastern, modern, worldwide. Materialism, hedonism, atheism.

The.

Search of sensual enjoyment is the ultimate goal of life. This is what Chagannatha Yatra is declaring to be a false paradigm. It's a false direction which is being given predominantly by the leaders of our society to people at large that everyone will be happy if they pursue this materialistic way of life.

Why?

Because there's a basic misconception. That basic misconception is that we are these bodies. Lord Jagannath, who is God himself, is coming out of the temple along with his associates, his devotees. He's inviting everyone and declaring that God is not dead, we are not this body. And that the ultimate goal of life is not simply to pursue material Prabhupada. And we invite you all to participate in this revolution by making a revolution in our individual lives. Ultimately, revolutions only work if people themselves are revolution revolutionaries. So make a revolution, Chant Hare Krishna, read Bhagavad Gita, practice the spiritual values which are being depicted here in this Rath Yatra festival and be happy Hare Krishna. Thank you very much.

Lord Jagannatha Rathi ya. Actually, in 1968, one divine in the Hare Krishna movement in San Francisco. Her name was Malati Devi and she was visiting one store, a curios shop called Kos plus. And she saw this barrel of these little wooden deities, wooden objects, and it said Made in India. She was thinking, oh Swamiji, he's from India, so this is made in India. This must be very, very important, very holy. So she took one of these little objects and she brought it to Srila Prabhupada. At that time, of course, the movement was only about 2 years old.

And.

She Said, Swamiji, I have found this body, this one little deity in Prabhupada. When he saw it, immediately he got down and paid his obeisance and he said, Lord Jagannath has come. Prabhupada was so happy to see this little deity form of Jagannath. And then he said, are there two more? And Malati said, there's many more. He said, no, no, two different ones. So she went back and secured Bala Dev and Lady Subhadra. And from then Srila Prabhupada commissioned one devotee, actually was the husband of Malati named Shyam Sundar to carve large size deities of Lord Jagannath. Prabhupada also said that by the mercy of Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Jagannath has come to the Western world to show his mercy to those of the Christian faith and the Western traditions. Because Lord Jesus Christ spends some time in Jagannath Puri and to reciprocate what is pure. Devotee, the Lord has also come in the form of Jagannath to show his mercy. The Lord comes in two forms in this age. He comes in the form of His Deity and He comes in the form of his holy name. But we really can't understand the deity form unless we very seriously and very regularly with great devotion chant the Lord's holy name Chaito Darpana Marjana. That is the means for purifying our heart in this age. And as the heart becomes purified, then the Lord is actually revealed. Because the Lord is in our hearts. The Lord manifests Himself in his personal form externally to awaken his own personal presence which is in our own heart. So he comes in the form of his name. He comes in the form of His Deity form.

Why?

To simply to give us an opportunity to reawaken our eternal devotional relationship with Him. So simply chant the holy names of the Lord. The Hare Ka Mahamansha, Hare Ka Hare Ka Krishna Ka Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Make one's life a life of devotion. Why should we waste our time with so much foolish pursuits for material sense gratification, but simply end in time and never give rise real satisfaction and happiness. We can see the world today. People have everything that is possible, available through material means. Yet the world is becoming more and more violent, more and more full of hate, more and more difficulties. The number one disease within the world today is mental anxiety or mental health depression. It supersedes all physical disease. And they say within the next 15 years 1/3 of the population will be suffering from mental Disease. Can you imagine? Yet we have everything available in the form of modern amenities to keep the body and mind and senses pleased. Yet no one is happy. Why? Because they have forgotten their eternal relationship with the Supreme Person. So the Lord has come in the form of His Deity and in form of his holy name, out of his compassion for the. For his parts and parcels, the condition, soul suffering in this world simply to show us his mercy and to show us what is real happiness. If we divert our attention away from these temporary ephemeral things of this material world and turn our attention to this supreme personality of godhood and loving devotion and service, then we can truly find real peace, real happiness on a worldwide scale. Thank you very much. Ade Ka.

Today, all over the world, both in Calcutta and the southern states of America, he's always there for us in London.

And he's here today in Berlin. Birmingham. Please put your hands together.

Give a very, very Birmingham warm welcome to His Holiness Jaya Pataka Swam Hare Krishna. I offer my obeisances, respects to his divine grace, Chilaesi Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Viscount founder, Acharya founder, spiritual master. I just wanted to share, wanted to also welcome everyone to this Birmingham festival. I didn't know if you knew, but this year 2002, is the 100th anniversary of his divine grace, AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's own childhood Rath Yatra festival. So this is the centennial Rath Yatra festival here. And we observed that in Kalkon also, where almost half a million people were participating the festival in Sanskrit language, which is the language of the Vedic scriptures, is called Ut Sab. Ut means is a short from the word uttama. Uttama means to transcend ignorance. So. And sav means samasta, everyone. So the UTSAV is a festival to uplift everyone's consciousness above the suffering, above the disharmony, the discord. Then naturally we achieve the peace that everyone wants. We have a lack of peace because we are in ignorance of our own spiritual identity. We're in ignorance of the reality, the higher wonderful reality of God, of transcendence. So to uplift us, there's a festival and that will include here on the stage many different kinds of cultural programs, lectures and discourses and music, dance and so on, a drama. So we hope that everyone will participate very enthusiastically and stay for all of the programs. There's also, I see here that they're distributing prasadam, spiritual foodstuff. This is an act of loving exchange because this Place has become kind of an outdoor temple by the presence of Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra. So wherever the the supreme Lord is the father of everyone, all religions except that God, Allah, Jehovah is the supreme Father. We also believe that there's one supreme God and that we are all his servants and we should serve Him. So he is our eternal Father. So when the son and daughter come to the Father's house, then naturally he feeds them, receives them, takes care of them. So all of you are here. No matter what your religion, what your race, what your caste, what your nationality, whatever it may be, everyone is a son and daughter of Jagannath. You're all welcome to come and take some of the prasadam foodstuff that's given out here in this way. By giving food and receiving the food, it's an act of loving exchange by sharing your mind and receiving, opening your heart to some devotees, to the Lord and receiving also the spiritual discourses. Hearing what discourses are given, try to understand this also an exchange of love. So today there'll be many different senior devotees here. You can get an opportunity to discuss with them, to share some spiritual realization with them, to hear some instruction about Ka Consciousness. So in this way everyone gets an opportunity of getting closer to each other, closer to Ka. Prabhupada said the reason he made the Ka Conscious movement was to bring everyone together to loving exchanges. So we're very grateful to His Divine grace Shila Esi Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, he brought this Rath Yatra festivities here into the uk. He brought it all over the world. We heard from His Holiness how Jagannath walked into the doorway in New York. And since then Jagannath has been giving his mercy all over the world as His Holiness Bhakti Purushatam Swami Maharaj is mentioned. He's very clever. So somehow he's come to all of the major cities of the world, reciprocating Lord Jesus visit to Jagannath Puri. So in this way we have hope every one of you understand how this is such a historic location in Birmingham. And I was here last year and I'm glad to see so many people have come out this year. Thank you very much. Dhanyawat Nandri Anakiri Hare Ka Aspects which enliven the ears, the eyes, the heart and take us to the spiritual platform. The festival of Ka Consciousness is an opportunity for us to use all our artistic expressions to become better devotees of Krishna. And as Prahlad Maharaj Said Komaram Acharyt Pragya. It can start when you're young. So now we have some who are very young and their love for Krishna has started already. But they are a little bit nervous. They're a little bit nervous. Can I ask you all prayers, please to stand. And just because they're a little bit nervous for this dance, please put your hands together. Enjoying themselves here so far today who's been having a good time? So you saw that drama that was just displayed earlier. Me, my mind, my body, the poor soul. There was a. The poor soul was so much troubled by his mind and his body.

Because.

Mind and body had taken over. And this is a situation that's happening in our lives if we don't exercise. Our real self realization is that we get dictated to by the mind and the senses and we get dragged away here and there in the Bhagavad Gita. This is called Manorat, the chariot of the mind, where the horse are the five senses and the drivers the mind and the intelligence and the soul are the riders. So we get taken on a roller coaster ride by these senses. I need this, I'll be happy. Senses tell us we work hard and we give it to our senses. And then when they give it to them, we find our senses are still not happy. No, it wasn't what I really wanted. I know. I really think I need this to be happy. Then we again try for something else and then we find out it's not what we wanted. George Harrison, he said he always thought our dear friend who we are missing his presence here in our. In this world. He said that he thought being rich and famous was what the goal of life was that would make him happy. But when he was rich and famous, he realized this is not where it's at. So he began to look for spiritual solutions. So this is what Ka Consciousness is about, is to give us the spiritual solution which works in the modern age very easily for people. There are many spiritual solutions for this problem, but some of them are very difficult to perform. The Ka conscious solution is different than what most people think about. Generally when we conceive about religion, we think that we have to do a lot of penances and austerities. We have to do a lot of very difficult, accurate difficulties, very difficult meditations, abstinences. But actually Ka consciousness is a unique kind of method for bringing the mind and the senses to become our friends and to work under our control. The system is to engage the senses in Ka service, basically like the silent meditation. If you do the silent meditation. The idea is to stop the sensual activity and just go deep into oneself by meditation. Now that would take many, many years, maybe lifetimes, to actually be able to stop the thoughts, stop the sensual activity to that degree where you can actually control things by stopping everything. We're active people. We're used to working. Most of you are family people. So naturally, it's very difficult. How can you suddenly stop everything? So that's why people think, wait till you get old before you're going to die. Then you can stop everything and you can get into spiritual life. But Ka consciousness is something different. Because our principle is not to say stop, but to do. But do it in connection to Krishna. Anything that's connected to Krishna becomes spiritualized. That's the secret. So if you use the same sensual activity that we are doing every day. We're eating, we're seeing, we're smelling, we're tasting, we're touching, we're smelling.

What?

We got six, right?

The five? Yeah.

So all of these five perceptions, we can do the same things, but instead do it somehow connected to Krishna. Just like we have the deities, so we see the beautiful form of Ka. We use our eyes, we have our ears. You're seeing also. You're seeing the beautiful Bharatyam dances, you're seeing the dramas. So somehow we're engaging our eyes in Krishna's service. We're engaging our ears and hearing. Hearing music, hearing discourses. In this way, we engage the ears.

Smelling.

You can smell the flowers. Very nice.

Here.

You can pass one of these around for everybody to smell. Instead of mind flower, I'll give you one of Prabhupada's flowers.

Here.

Pass it around, please. Maybe I give a rose. Here's a rose. The passion. So here's the census.

Smell.

Sense of touch. Just like he pulled a rod cart, he had to use his sense of touch. Pulling the cart. The Lord mayor, deputy mayor was sweeping the road using his senses of touch. Sometimes you touch the feet of a devotee.

This way.

Somehow, user engaged a sense of touch in Krishna service. We got sense of Vedma. We got seeing, smelling, hearing, touching and tasting. Tasting.

Okay.

Prasadam eat spiritual foodstuff. So all of our activities, we're doing all the activities. What we're doing is instead of doing something which is just mundane, we're spiritualizing the activities. It's a gradual process. Therefore, you want to start it out when you're young. As it was said in the very beginning of our program, Kumara Macharet Pragyo 5 year old children, they were performing the dancing because from the age of five, one should start to practice. So this type of practice, we're not telling people you have to do great austerities or deprivation. We're saying do things which are pleasurable, do things which are sensual, but do that in such a way they're connected to Krishna. We're singing, we're dancing, we're having festival, we're having a good time. How can religion be so much fun? Mostly some religions say that music should be banned because mostly music is done for mundane reasons. But where I do spiritual music, therefore it's not banned in Krishna consciousness. So this very simple way, but you need to practice it and you need to stay immersed in this kind of environment. Just like if you go into a body of water, what's that called? Immersion. We want to be so much filled. All our senses, all our perceptions, all our associations needs to be very intensively connected to Ka for some period of time. And then we can experience what is spiritual happiness. Actually God is the source of all happiness. He's all attracted. The name Krishna is a Sanskrit name for God. Krishna means attraction, all attractive. And Na means the reservoir of all happiness. It's one of the unlimited names of the Supreme Lord. And it means, just as I said, reservoir of all happiness and all attractive. So actually the highest happiness we can get when we are totally connected to Ka. So we want you to try this somewhere in your lifetime. And once if you try it, you'll see that it actually works. That's why people are all over the world, whether here in the UK or whether in Russia or whether in America or anywhere in India, all over the world, people, anyone who practices this process of bhakti yoga, it's a yoga process, they find that very quickly their anxieties, their stress, their material mind and senses start to become controlled. And it's a very effective process, engaging our senses and mind in spiritual activities. Just like at the end of this program, there'll be some people that stay back and they put together all these chairs and they sweep up the place and pick up the garbage and they say, now someone may say that's just, you know, a tedious job or even the Lord Mayor was sweeping the road. It doesn't matter what, whatever you do, connected to Krishna, it becomes a spiritual experience. It becomes something which connects you to the Lord. And that connection immediately makes you feel spiritually happy. Because if you please Krishna, because basically we're part of Krishna. So Krishna is pleased with us, we become pleased. Normally we think we have to please our senses and that will make us happy. But the senses are two edged sword. The same senses that give us happiness, these same senses also give us suffering. Isn't it? Now, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he appeared 500 years ago in India at Mayapur Da. I live in May. Bhakti Purushatam Swami also comes to Mayapur Da every year. We have a big festival there in the month of February and March which we like to invite everyone to come and participate in. This year is the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of our founder Acharya Srila Prabhupada. The first anniversary of disappearance of his personal secretary Tama Vishnagosa. So we're having a special hearing and chanting at Krishna Conscious festival for about three weeks starting in mid February. So anyway, hope you do come. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, his pastimes 500 years ago he was at Logger Hills. There are directly with different people. Some people say you should just do religion in order to get material piety so you can go to heaven. In heaven you enjoy a higher standard of such gratification or so you can get in this lifetime more money, more fame, better comfort. That's one standard that's called Karma Kantra. Another kind where people say you should just do religion to get salvation, to become one with God, to end the cycle of birth and death. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he said these things are easily gotten by someone doing devotional service. These are like side benefits. What the real benefit is, is you develop your natural love for Ka. And when you have this love, then you love all living entities. We want peace in the world. If we can realize this one simple Lord and everyone is his part and parcel. And we love the Supreme Lord. We love everyone. Every animal, every human being, every fly, every entity in the whole world, every plant is all part of that supreme absolute truth. And therefore, if we love the absolute truth, we love everyone. And if you love everyone, then you're at harmony and peace with everyone. That's a very practical, practical method for changing the world as.

People.

Moye was mentioning a kind of spiritual revolution. Revolution to create peace and love in the world. Not based on just some dry sentiment, but actually based on a real realization how we are all connected with each other. Every one of us are connected. We're actually all related. There's a Vedic person, Vasudevam Kutumbakam and one spiritual family under Vasudeva, under Krishna. The whole world is like this, a spiritual family United. But right now we're not united because people don't have this consciousness. So if we want to give that consciousness so that we can have a better harmony, we appreciate that. The Roman Catholic Church archbishop sent his message and we tried to work with all the religions. Everyone who's working for religious and spiritual peace and purity in the world. Spiritual consciousness. We can see the good in everything, take the good out of every religion. And we're working with Muslims, with Christians, with Buddhists, with all the different religions, Jews, Hindus. So this is the China Krishna, a better world that we're living in. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he though was facing this problem that initially when he took the chanting to the streets, people were complaining that this chanting of the names of God is restricted only to priests. And if somebody chants the name of God in public, this is going to somehow be offensive to God.

And this to is going.

Is going to decrease the potency of the name of God. So therefore he was under so much political pressure and social pressure that initially he started chanting behind closed doors in the garden of one of his devotees, Srivas. And in the garden they would get very serious devotees together and they would chant Hare Kishina, Hari Kishina Har Devotee was walking outside and listening what a beautiful song they're all singing in there. But then some envious person came along, was listening, drinking and having intoxication and drugging. So they started singing. What is Heather? What do you think they're doing? I think they're singing inside Hare Krishna. They're singing the names of God. What's the problem? Are you one of them? So initially there was a very big resistance from all the caste Brahmins, from all the people of different religions. They didn't understand why Lord Chaitanya was seeing the names of God. In fact, even the government had banned his chanting. But then he did a public disobedience, civil disobedience. And with 200,000 people, they marched on the government office and they said, we cannot be stopped from executing our own religious belief. If you want to see the names of God, why we should be banned, why we should be stopped? What is wrong with seeing the names of God? And there was such a big public civil disobedience demonstration that finally the government officer came out. We had bandits and he called Caitanya Mahvu. Your uncle used to call me as a brother. So that means you're also just like my nephew. Why you're coming to your uncle's house in such an angry mood? And then Lord Chaitanya said, look, your nephew is coming to you. And you're just making me stand in the street. What kind of host are you? Did the uncle ever do this to the nephew? He said, no, no, please come here. Come in. Come into my house. Sit here on the veranda.

Then.

So Lord, she turned and told everyone to sit down. Cool down everybody. And we discussed with him. And they sat there on the veranda of the house and discussed, Had a long discussion. Some interesting things came to light. At first we're discussing religion. Between Islam and Hindu Dharma. They came to a basic understanding. And then Lord Chaitanya was explaining. And we're seeing the names of God. Why should you stop this? This is good for everyone. This purifies atmosphere, purifies the world. This brings peace and harmony in the world. And then Chan Kazi revealed something. He said, last night I had a dream. I had a dream that I thought it was a dream. In my dream, in my sleep. This half man, half lion, very angry person. Came and stood on my chest. And he started to choose. Chastise me and say. Why did you stop my Kirtan? Why did you stop the chanting of my holy names? If you dare to stop them again, I'm going to rip you into shreds. He took his claws. Because he had lion claws. He took his claws and he swiped across my chest. I was shivering with fear. And when he was talking, he started shaking again. Then he revealed to Lord Chaitanya.

Look at.

He opened up his shirt and showed his chest. And there on his chest, there were claw marks where he had been scratched. Was it a dream? So he said, Now I decided that in my domain, in my area. That I am giving an official edict, governmental edict. That no one should disturb your chanting of Hare Krishna. No one should disturb your chanting of the names of God. And I also tell that my own children, grandchildren, descendants. They should also cooperate with this. So, Lord Shaitan, you sowed that we're where it's needed. Sometimes even you have to be very bold and daring for the right cause. So he took then all the devotees out. Had a huge chanting throughout the whole city. So after that, there was no stopping the public chanting of Hare Krishna. It took such a big demonstration to get that freedom in the East. Here we're fortunate. In a democracy like this. We have the freedom to sing and chant. And have this wonderful procession. To have your interfaith discussion with different religions. To have cultural exchange. We want that this Indian culture. Which is filled with this. What should I say? It's filled with this facility to help to absorb our senses in spiritual thoughts. What they're dancing, what their dramas, what they're. Everything. Of course, sometime it's an Indian language, you may not pick it up. That's why we're very grateful for Piper Moy for translating and explaining everything for those who don't know the Indian languages. Because all these songs and all the music is actually talking about ka talk, talking about spiritual subjects. So right from the very childhood when we're too big, too small to do anything for ourselves, the parents give us first grains, spiritual grains. First time we go to school, first thing we write, they give, take a chalk, and they have us write the name of God. First time we cut our hair, they cut the hair. There's a special ceremony, and they dedicate the first hair cutting to the. To the Lord's lotus feet. They don't actually offer the hair, but they offer the child. There's so many, about 10 different Samskaras, not some samskara that we do when we're very small. And then when we get older, we have to learn to practice ourselves. So we hope that you encourage your children. Learn slokas, learn Puranas, learn Bhagavad Gita, learn this dancing, learn the music. Let the cultural expressions be an opportunity for them to engage their senses in ka service. This is the process of Bhakti yoga. It's very natural, it's very easy, and it's very fun. It's a lot of fun to do it. And by doing it, actually, you are advancing in spiritual program. So this is our very simple explanation of how we can make advancement in spiritual life through this approach, a positive engagement of our mind and senses in these spiritual activities. So thank you again. My name is Jayapadhar Swamy. I live in India and at Mayapur Dham, the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the headquarters of the Hare Ka movement. I do travel around the world. And this is. I was here last year at the Birmingham Rath Yatra, which I heard was the first one. It's the second. I think we should really like to thank the municipality here, the Lord, Mayors and deputy mayors and the whole municipality. They've been very. I think all the Indian community should be very grateful to them. All the cooperation they put forward in helping to have this program here in the town hall, the town square here. I mean, even inside, the free food that was being distributed, they let some of it be cooked here inside this municipal building parking lot. I think that's quite a nice gesture. And I heard they also give some other different helps. So really want to express our gratitude for their cooperation. I hope you all tell them how much you appreciate the help they're giving. And I hope that every year you come here for this Rath Yatra festival and for all the festivals organized by the Birmingham branch of the Hare Ka movement. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.

Thank you.

So I live in India. I speak Bengali. I know a little bit of Hindi also. And also I'm learning a few other languages. I also know a little Nepali and orientation language. Been living now in India 32 years. Indian citizen. So if any. I'll be here for another couple hours. If anybody wants to speak to me, I'm here to do your.

To do your.

At your service, Hare Krishna.

Thank you.

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