SB 2.3.17 – Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) Presentation

Devotee: Giriraj Maharaja, is that one personality, again coming from a background like Ambarish Prabhu, very delicately brought up in his life; that he performed tremendous austerities of not only collecting to build the Bombay Temple but also being the President, managing, and going through tremendous unknown miseries of austerities, living on that land in Bombay. And today for that wonderful sukṛti that he has earned of the austerities he performed in Bombay, he is now building Sridham Mayapur Temple. He is here with us to also inspire us how it is so important that all of us become a part of this great temple that is being constructed at the present, so Giriraj Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

As a relatively new devotee in Calcutta, I didn’t really know what was a higher priority or a lower priority to Srila Prabhupada. I just saw that he was absolute and all of his programmes and projects were absolute. But after a while of close observation, I started to distinguish. And so, one morning while Srila Prabhupada was taking his massage on the balcony, I just came up and sat near him and said, “Srila Prabhupada, I’ve been thinking what pleases you the most?”

And Srila Prabhupada was such a person, he was like an ocean of love and compassion and kindness. And even though I was such a new devotee in the movement, I wasn’t saying much of significance, but he said, “This is very important.” And then I said, “First, if we distribute your books and second, if we build a big temple in Mayapur.” And Srila Prabhupada’s face broke into a huge smile. He looked at me with such a kindness of affection. He said, “Yes, you have understood.”

So, I was in Calcutta for a while and Srila Prabhupada spoke about Mayapur. And he went to the west and then he came back to Calcutta with a plan for the Mayapur project. And he called the devotees into his room to discuss the project. And then he raised the question, that sometimes it floods in Mayapur. What will happen to the project if it floods? And he was giving so many different arguments. Like I had heard of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, that He would take one side of an argument and He would repeat all the other arguments of all the disciples who were taking the other position. Then He would take that position and repeat all the other arguments from the other side. So, it was like that, ”Should we build in Mayapur? Shouldn’t we build in Mayapur?” It was going back and forth. Then the conclusion was that we should build in Mayapur.

And then he said if you build this temple, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura will personally take you all back home, back to Godhead. Now in this august assembly here, on this auspicious occasion, a purport to that statement came to mind. And the purport to the statement is included in a purport in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to the verse āyur harati vai puṁsām.

“By rising and setting of the sun the duration of life of everyone decreases, except for those who utilize their time in glorification of the all-good Personality of Godhead. “

And Srila Prabhupada explained that by hearing, the realization, it sends to all the other aspects of the Lord. And then he quotes Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura. He quotes from smrti-shastras. And he says that if one gives charity to an uneducated brahman, in other words an unqualified brahman, whatever what one gives will be returned in equal proportion. If one gives in charity to a half-educated brahman, the amount will be returned double. If one gives in charity to a qualified brahman, the amount will be returned in multiplications of hundreds and thousands. But if one gives to a Veda-pāraga, that means one who has realized the conclusion of the Vedas which is Krishna. . .

In other words, someone like Srila Prabhupada who has realized the conclusion of the Vedas. The amount given will be returned in unlimited multiplications. Now what does that mean? How can we get our unlimited? It can’t be only in the material world because everything in the material world is limited. It can only be from the spiritual world.

So, on the basis of that purport which quotes the smrti-shastras, I’m substantiating that if we build this temple for Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura will take us all back home back to Godhead. Radha Jivan prabhu said, I don’t even remember how he ended the sentence, but he began the sentence by saying; “As a result of all of my austerities in Bombay. . .” and unfortunately my mind wandered at that moment because I was completing the sentence within my mind. I completed it; ”Because of all of my austerities in Juhu, I am now sitting between Jnanivas Prabhu and Ambarish Prabhu.”  And thank-you for being given this wonderful opportunity to serve the servants of the servants of the servants. And I really feel the best service that I can do for you, or any of us can do for anyone is to cooperate with this great mission of flooding the world with love of Godhead.

Hare Krishna.