Video clips - Jayapataka Maharaj : 08-Feb-09, Report

[Shabdahari Das]

Video clip - Jayapataka Maharaj giving lecture on Phone : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P38JdWR3t0o
Jayapataka Maharaj in Drama : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sX8tmK1e9Y


08-Feb-09, Report from Teja Gaurangi Mataji

During the week Guru Maharaja gave three short lectures through the phone,
from his room in Bhaktivedanta Hospital. One was on Wednesday evening for
the Prerna festival in Chowpatty, the program conducted by ISKCON Youth
Services. The second time Guru Maharaja gave on Nityananda Trayodasi; two
lectures on the same day; first one for the program of the new temple
opening in Aravade (Srila Lokanatha Swami's birth place), and second for the
celebration in Chowpatty temple.

On Sunday 8th February, Guru Maharaja was invited for Sunday feast in Juhu
temple.

We arrived at Juhu around 12:30 pm. Guru Maharaja was welcomed by temple
devotees with a joyful kirtana. First he went to see the Daities in the
temple room, packed with devotees and visitors. Braja Hari Prabhu, temple
president of ISKCON Juhu temple, gave a welcoming speech for Guru Maharaja
and announced that in a few minutes Guru Maharaja will give the lecture in
the hall. The crowd of devotees were following Guru Maharaja all the way to
the hall. At the entrance Srila Vijna Vinasa Nrsimha Swami was waiting to
greet Guru Maharaja and talked with him for a while. Then they entered the
hall, which was full of devotees who were eagerly waiting for Guru Maharaja
with a loud kirtana. Guru Maharaja took his place in the middle of upper
platform with his wheelcahir. On his left side sat Srila Bhakti Vijna Vinasa
Nrsimha Maharaja. Later on came Srila Bhakti Purusottama Swami who also sat
on the side of Guru Maharaja. Siromani Mataji was there to repeat some of
the Guru Maharaja's words, since he was talking on English, and one devotee
was translating it to Hindi. Most of the lecture devotee who was translating
understood by himself. Few times Guru Maharaja addressed the audience in
Hindi, and that created a lot of joy and happiness amongst the devotees.

Guru Maharaja gave a lecture on Nityananda Prabhu. He explained how Lord
Nityananda adviced Madhai to build the bathing ghat for devotees to
neutralize his past offences towards them. We can also purify ourselves from
our offences by doing harinama sankirtana and book distribution. If we give
Krishna consiousness to others we are also going to advance.

Guru Maharaja told about a few pastimes of Lord Nityananda. One of the
pastimes was when Lord Caitanya invited Lord Nityananda on the lunch in the
house of Saci Mata. Saci Mata cooked very nice bhoga and offered it to the
Deities of Krishna-Balaram. After some time she came back in the temple room
and she heard Nityananda talking to Deity of Krishna: "Now is the time of
Kali yuga. This is not Your yuga, this is Gauranga's yuga. That's why these
offerings don't belong to You, they belong to Gauranga!" After hearing this
mother Saci fell unconsious. Lord Caitanya came and tried to revive her back
to consiousness. When she came back, mother Saci could not say any word, she
just went in her room and locked herself in, not talking to anybody. That's
how she was bewildered by the words of Lord Nityananda.

Guru Maharaja was telling the pastime of the first meeting of Lord Caitanya
and Lord Nityananda in the house of Nandana acarya. We were very happy to
hear this pastime from Guru Maharaja's mouth, since the previous evening,
for Nityananda Trayodasi, Devaki Mayi dd and myself enacted a short drama of
this pastime for the pleasure of Guru Maharaja, in his room in the hospital.
Of course, Guru Maharaja's explanation of the pastime was much more sweet
and devotional than our humble presentation of the previous night.

Guru Maharaja mentioned about yesterday's temple opening in Aravade. He
said that Nityananda Trayodashi is very auspicious day for sacred
installations, and how Srila Prabhupada was often doing temple opening
ceremonies on that day, like for the temple in Bhuvaneshvar. Also, ISKCON
temples in Tirupati, Avantipur and Ujjain were opened on Nityananda
Trayodasi day.

Guru Maharaja concluded his lecture explaining how Nityananda Prabhu had
started the Nama Hatta preaching, and how we have different types of
preaching in ISKCON, like bhakti-vriksa, Nama-Hatta and counseling system.
After the lecture Guru Maharaja was distributing the newly published Bhakti
Vriksa book in Hindi to the leaders of bhakti-vriksa groups of Juhu. Mukunda
Madhava Prabhu, the vice-president of ISKCON Juhu told that Juhu has 20
bhakti vriksa groups. He expresed his gratitude to Guru Maharaja for his
inspiring lecture, and wished that Guru Maharaja comes in Juhu again and
again to inspire devotees in their devotional services.

After the lecture Guru Maharaja went to his room to take lunch. Before that
Srila Gopal Krsna Maharaja came to visit him. They were discussing Guru
Maharaja's medical condition, and Maharaja was suggesting some experienced
ayurvedic doctor to check up Guru Maharaja. Three devotees from Slovakia
came to do a short treatment to Guru Maharaja. They are healers, and one of
them is an allopathic doctor as well. They came along with Braja Hari
Prabhu, who confirmed they have helped him a lot. After that Guru Maharaja
was ready to take prasadam, it was already 3 pm. In the meantime Gopal Krsna
Maharaja received a call from the chairman of Hinduja Hospital, who
expressed desire to meet with Guru Maharaja. He was supposed to come in an
hour so. Devotees decided that Guru Maharaja can take a rest after prasadam,
and wait for the Hindhuja brothers. After that we planned to go back
to the hospital. While Guru Maharaja was taking rest, his servants went to
take prasadam in Govinda's restaurant. Around 6 pm Guru Maharaja was ready
to go. We arrived in the hospital around 7 pm.

Syamlal Prabhu, one of the doctors who supervise Guru Maharaja, came in the
evening visit. He checked Guru Maharaja's blood pressure, and found it very
good. Guru Maharaja was expressing his concern about his voice, since his
throat was getting dry due to the medicines for balancing blood pressure.
Doctor Syamlal Prabhu was assuring Guru Maharaja that his voice is also
improving. We confirmed that we could understand almost everything he said.
It seems for Guru Maharaja it is very important to have an understandable
speech, because it's one of the most important tools for preaching.

Your servant,

Teja Gaurangi dd