HH BB Govinda Maharaj at the 30th anniversary celebration of the installation of Sri Sri Nitai Gaura-Hari in Johannesburg, South Africa - 18/04/2009

His Holiness Bhakti Brnga Govinda Swami Maharaj an His Holiness Indradyumna Swami Maharaj concluded the program of two days with the most ecstatic kirtan ever. About 300 devotees danced to their potent chanting for about three hours. Below is a pic of Maharaj with kurta soaked from dancing. The devotees were so inspired that no one wanted to leave. It truly felt that the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda were being manifest and distributed to everyone through these two empowered representatives. We pray for a repeat performance in the near future.

HH BB Govinda Maharaj: Hare Krishna. Well at least Indradyumna Swami was temple president and started ratha yatra. I have done nothing here in South Africa except I keep coming periodically and relishing the association of the wonderful devotees of the South African yatra. This is the thirtieth anniversary of the installation of the Deities. In 1977 few years before the installation I was serving in Vrindavan and I would finish my cooking service around two in the afternoon and then I would go have a good scrub and then I would go in to Srila Prabhupada’s room and I would sit there in the afternoon. That was during the final period of Srila Prabhupada’s pastimes in this world. And they would read Srila Prabhupada reports of preaching from around the world because these reports were would really enliven Srila Prabhupada. When he would hear the reports of temples being opened, when he would hear reports of book distribution, when he would hear reports of devotees being made he would become very, very inspired. He would even say, “By hearing reports like this I will live for one hundred years.”

Once when I was sitting there and Tamal Krishna Maharaj was just by Srila Prabhupada’s bed next to Srila Prabhupada and he started reading the news reports or the letters to Srila Prabhupada and there was the report from South Africa about the opening of the Cato Ridge Temple and Srila Prabhupada heard the report of the temple opening and Srila Prabhupada was very enlivened. So Tamal Krishna Maharaj began reporting or started reading and there was one point in the letter, in the report that said that the Krishna Consciousness Movement has been established to defeat bogus yogis. When Srila Prabhupada heard the word bogus yogis he smiled and he said, “Stop. Read it again.” So they read that line again how the Krishna Consciousness Movement was meant to defeat and thrash bogus yogis then Srila Prabhupada started speaking. He started speaking about there are so many bogus teachers from India. In particular he started speaking about two individuals from Bengal and how they done nothing but destroy the spiritual culture of Bengal and then Prabhupada said, “Continue.”

In the next point the article said that the Krishna Consciousness Movement is meant to make people happy, healthy and holy. When Prabhupada heard that he smiled and said, “Stop. Read it again.” So Tamal Krishna Maharaj read it again and Srila Prabhupada said, “This is the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. All of you prior to prior to receiving the mercy of Lord Caitanya your lives were empty, you were not healthy, you were not happy and also you were not holy but Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has changed all of that.” And Srila Prabhupada continued speaking about the great mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So we were all just listening and we had to get real close to Srila Prabhupada. His voice was strong. We all surrounded his bed and were listening and finally Srila Prabhupada stopped speaking and Tamal Krishna Maharaj said, “Srila Prabhupada this Krishna Consciousness Movement is an ocean of bliss.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Mmm what did you say?” And Tamal Krishna Maharaj said, “This Krishna Consciousness Movement is an ocean of bliss.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Mmmm what did you say?” Tamal Krishna Maharah repeated, “Srila Prabhupada this Krishna Consciousness Movement is an ocean of bliss - anandambudhi-vardanam.” When Srila Prabhupada heard anandambudhi-vardanam he was laying flat in his bed and with great effort he brushed his hand into the air and he pointed his finger, his finger was shaking like this, and then Prabhupada said, “Param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam.” And his hand went down and we all said, “Jai Srila Prabhupada.”

So that was Cato Ridge opening, the Deities came. Now thirty years later we are seeing the fruit of devotion in Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I travel all over the world. The South African Yatra has really produced jewels of Vaisnavas. We have our Srila Bhakti Caitanya Swami Maharaj, we have Srila Partha Sarathi Goswami Maharaj, our Syamlall Prabhu has been here for so many years, so many devotees. This is the fruit of sincerely worshipping and following the instructions of Lord Caitanya. In the Srimad Bhagavatam it is said,

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam
sangopangastra-parsadam
yajnaih sankirtana-prayair
yajanti hi su-medhasah (SB 11.5.32)

That in Kali-yuga people who have some intelligence left will understand that the method of worshipping the Lord in this age is the performance of sankirtan yajna, which was taught by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And we should rest assured that if we continue the performance of the sankirtan yajna and continue the worship of the Deities here and continue bringing people to their lotus feet then They will bless us and we will attain the goal of life which is love of Krishna. It is an honor for me to be here with all of you here today who contributed to the worship and the expansion of the Krishna consciousness movement in South Africa and I hope that your success will grow as the years pass by Thank you very much. Hare Krishna! (Loud Applause.)