By Niranjana Swami
I have a lot I could say but I will try to keep it as brief as possible. First of all I really should say that I came to the Lithuanian padayatra this year because of the persistent requests of Ananda Gaurangi. And I am grateful that she was persistent in her requests. I came here with a sinus infection and it just wasn’t going away, but finally the last couple of days my voice started to come back. That’s why I was relatively quiet for the first part of the festival. But nonetheless I don’t think it was that relevant that I was relatively quiet, I was still fully participating as much as I could.
Bhakti Caitanya Swami asked us to share some of our realizations about padayatra, and I do have some realizations that I would like to share. As we were speaking, I was thinking about what Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur said in Sri Bhaktiloka. He talks about what it means to follow the path of the previous mahajanas and how sometimes, if people become proud after accepting the initiation, they do not follow that path but they invent new paths, and they cheat themselves and the rest of the world as well. Bhaktivinoda Thakur therefore gave the criteria of what are the symptoms of somebody who is strictly following the path set by our previous acaryas. He gives Srila Haridasa Thakur as the example of one who strictly follows. Srila Haridas Thakur manifested three symptoms of this fact: his determination for spiritual life, this constant chanting of the holy names of the Lord and his compassion for the fallen souls. Haridas Thakur manifested the three symptoms. He said that he would never give up chanting Hare Krishna, even if they cut his body to pieces. So therefore, in his constant chanting, he manifested his determination and his compassion to others. Never giving up chanting, that was also his compassion towards others, especially when he was challenged by one envious brahmana who said, “ Why are you always loudly chanting the holy names of the Lord ? Why aren’t you just chanting to yourself?” In fact, the brahmana was accusing Haridas Thakur: “ Because of your loud chanting, you are disturbing the Lord”. So the brahmana challenged Haridas Thakur, who then explained that actually the loud chanting of the holy names of the Lord is considered to be a hundred times more potent than simply silent chanting. Wherever Haridas Thakur went, he was always loudly chanting the holy names. And then the brahmana asked him to please explain that, “How could you make such a statement that loud chanting is more beneficial?”Haridas Thakura explained that even the plants, the insects and the reptiles are benefited by the loud chanting of the holy names of the Lord. He said that somebody who just chants softly to himself is only thinking of himself, but somebody who is chanting loudly is actually thinking about the welfare of everyone. And then he gave the reference from Srimad Bhagavatam about the importance of loudly chanting the holy names of the Lord, which stated that even plants, reptiles, plants, animals are all benefited, what to speak of human beings.
So my realization of this Padayatra is that all three elements are here in this festival. You have the loud chanting of the holy names of the Lord, you have the compassion by benefiting others and giving them the opportunity to hear the holy names. And for those who are determined to always be engaged in chanting, not only in this festival, but to continue to go on with this process, even after this festival, this determination is also very pleasing, although just fully participating in this one week event requires determination. So all three elements are there of what is the bona fide path to follow and to properly represent our parampara: constant chanting, compassion and determination. This was very satisfying for me to see this. And especially what was also very, very satisfying to me was seeing that not only we are preserving the parampara by manifesting these three symptoms but that these events are also wonderful opportunity for distributing SrilaPrabhupada’s books. For me that is the icing on the cake. That makes it so sweet. These events are very, very good opportunities to inspire people to want to know more about this. And therefore these are very, very, good opportunities for making Srila Prabhupada’s books available, so not only these people will hear the holy names but they will carry the embodiment of the holy names in their hands. Srila Prabhupada followed in the footsteps of Haridas Thakur and manifested these three symptoms of strictly following the path of the previous acaryas. This fully manifested in these books. So, all of you, by taking part in this event, are given the opportunity to fully take part in properly representing our tradition and our parampara, our sampradaya. This was particularly very inspiring for me.
I am praying that all of you remain firm in your determination to properly represent our sampradaya, our Srila Prabhupada and Haridas Thakur. Incessantly chant the holy names of the Lord, compassionately give them to others and as much as possible help in distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books. In this regard I would like to also thank Santa Maharaja for his determination for seeing that Srila Prabhupada’s books are available for everyone here in Lithuania. We should all be grateful for him for his incessant determination and efforts to keep Srila Prabhupada alive here in the form of his books. Hare Krishna!
