Fortnightly Message (8 October – 21 October 2025)
Dāmodara Māsa, Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa, Amāvasyā, 539 Gaurabda

My dear dīkṣā, sheltered, aspiring, śikṣā, grand-disciples, and well-wishers,
Please accept my blessings, best wishes, and praṇāms as appropriate.

All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Home Base: Śrī Māyāpur Candrodāya Mandir

Camp: ISKCON Chennai
Date: 21 October 2025

Highlights

Happy Dīpāvalī !

I have been sending my message to all of you every month, and I couldn’t wait for one month to connect with you all, so I thought I could send a message every fortnight. So, starting this month, I will be trying to send a message on Amāvasyā and then another one on Pūrṇimā as my health permits.

I am still in Chennai and as per the doctor’s advice, I am slowly increasing my solid intake. I am also using this time to see the preaching activities in ISKCON Chennai temple, address the devotees, and meet different leaders.

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Message

Śrīla Prabhupāda said in Bhagavad-gītā As It Is Chapter 4, Text 28, where Kṛṣṇa mentions different kinds of sacrifices, that by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and His representatives or the guru, one gets Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy, I got Kṛṣṇa consciousness, although I had no qualifications.

“Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be attained by any one of the above-mentioned types of sacrifice but can be attained only by the mercy of the Lord and His bona fide devotees. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is transcendental.” (BG 4.28, purport)

Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted all his disciples to be gurus, and he mentioned that he would like to see all his disciples as gurus eventually, but they should be qualified. So, while I am alive, I would like to see that many of my disciples get qualified. I have seen that even after the guru leaves, the disciples don’t take up the role of being a guru.

My Message

Śrīla Prabhupāda ordered me to take at least 50,000 disciples, and I have already exceeded that, but the devotees, I don’t know if they are following. Most of them have not taken second initiation.

I would like people to study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and take śāstric courses. Everyone should take Bhakti-śāstrī. Now we have a one-time summative test for managers and for devotees who have many responsible services. They can get Bhakti-śāstrī by just giving one exam, Bhakti-vaibhava by two, and Bhakti-vedānta by three exams. But they should know the philosophy. There is also a Transcend App – one can hear the audiobooks if they cannot read them.

Inspirational Stories

Here in the Chennai ISKCON temple, they have a new educational block called the ISKCON Centre for Value Education (ICVE). It has twelve classrooms and can accommodate 250 students. They regularly conduct Bhakti-śāstrī, Bhagavad-gītā courses, children’s classes, youth programs, etc. Each classroom has facilities for both onsite and online students in one interactive environment. The amazing part about this building is that the funds required for construction were raised entirely through preaching. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ISKCON Chennai launched extensive online preaching initiatives through StudyGita.com. So, the participants of these preaching programs contributed to the building.

Śrīla Prabhupāda once said, “Try to do something wonderful for Kṛṣṇa, and money will come!”

My Realization

In Russia, the ladies say “I am happy” by saying “ya rada,” so somehow or other, they are saying Rādhā’s name without knowing. If you want to ask a lady if she is happy, you say, “ty rada?” and she says, “ya rada.” And to say “we are happy,” they say “mei radhey.” And the door frame or window frame is called “rama.” So, just like in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was saying that the Yavanas may be purified by saying “hā rām,” which in their language means “abominable,” but in Sanskrit “hā rāma” means “O Rāma.” (CC Antya 3.53–54). So, I was wondering whether the receivers of this message, in their language, have any words which are actually names of Kṛṣṇa or Rādhā, etc.

I would like to know if you have any preaching ideas or if you are doing some successful preaching. You can send me your ideas, your reports, your strategies, etc., and we can share them with others.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said how Kṛṣṇa or His devotee can give Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Every person you meet, you should pray, you should bless them, “Kṛṣṇe matir astu” – may you be Kṛṣṇa conscious.” Like that, when you distribute books, try to make people devotees.

The Dāmodara month māhātmya mentions that by offering one lamp, millions of births’ sins are eradicated. So, all of my followers should offer a lamp every day to Dāmodara. If you cannot go to the temple, then offer at your house. And if you love someone, you can encourage them to offer a lamp to Lord Dāmodara.

Your well-wisher always,
Jayapatākā Swami

JPS/rrsdb

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