ISKCON Bangalore Dedication Ceremony - - May 31, 1997

Shree Krishna Chaitanya Nithyananda Radha Gauravatam Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama In this celebration ceremony, Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, President and Project Director, will deliver the welcome and introductory address. Sudayal Sharma, Srimati Sharma, Your Excellency, Sri Kurshat, Sri Krishna Agade. Today, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the centennial of this, and history will edge to pay their respects to His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada. This indicates their feeling of responsibility for deeper values.

The example of the leaders of this caliber can be followed. It is said in Gita, Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues. With deep feelings of happiness, I am honored to welcome the esteemed guests to the dedication ceremony of the Center for Advancement of Culture.

First, I would like to welcome His Excellency, the President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Srimati Vimala Sharma. I request the youngest devotee on Hare Krishna Hill to offer prasadam garlands to His Excellency and Srimati Sharma. Dr.

Swami, Governing Body Commissioner and Guru of ISKCON, is one of the sinuous disciples of Srila Prabhupada. He took to sannyas order at the early age of 21 and has since then been preaching extensively in India and abroad. An Indian citizen, His Holiness speaks fluent Bengali and is very much at home with all aspects of Indian culture. He travels tirelessly around the world, preaching the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu around the world.

Next, I'd like to welcome His Holiness Loknath Swami, who is also a governing body commissioner and guru of his own. He is also a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada. His Holiness has been conducting padayatra personally, walking thousands and thousands of kilometers, not only in India, but he has covered the pathayatra around the world to create an awareness of Indian spiritual culture. The world will now witness the most auspicious event of honoring a pure devotee of the Lord.

Thank you very much. Next, I request His Holiness Jaya Pataka Swami to speak. First, I offer my respectful obeisances to my beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace, the Avacharan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, with respectful greetings and prayers for good health and long life to Your Excellency Dr. Shankar Duryodhana Sharma, the President of India, and the First Lady, Your Excellency Sri Kirsadalam Khan, Governor of Karnataka, the Honorable C.J.H.

Patel, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Honorable Former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri Ramakrishna Hebge, and all the other guests of honor to this auspicious ceremony. We at ISKCON are indeed greatly honored that His Excellency Dr. Shankar Daryl Sharma, the President of India, is present with us today in order to dedicate this Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Center for Advancement of Culture in the remembrance and honor of His Divine Grace Srila Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. on the auspicious occasion of his birth centennial. This center for the advancement of culture is named after Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu since he has given the greatest gift to the world.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has brought the pinnacle of human development and consciousness, something previously available only to a select few of society. within the reach of every common man regardless of their caste, creed, color, nationality, gender, etc. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu divinely appeared only five centuries ago in Sri Mayapur Dham of Bengal and he extensively spread his message of love throughout India. He taught that everyone should protect and purify their consciousness from the degradations and evils of this age of Kali by congregationally chanting the names of Krishna or God known as Sankirtan Yajna. Sri Chaitanya taught that this process sublimely awakens the deep inner spiritual culture inherent in all beings and thus one can easily become a true lover of God.

Not with a limited love but a universal love through which one sees the Lord along with all living entities and energies of the universe as its integral parts and parcels. Thus one achieves true universal respect and love for all beings and nature through Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's vision. This is accepted today by noble thinkers, scientists and religionists alike as the key for creating a new sustainable world order that is required for our future preservation. Siddha A.C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada fulfills a great prediction. Although Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu limited his personal preaching to India, he predicted that his message of divine culture and love would one day spread to every town and village of the world. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted that one of his true followers would spread this message of bhakti throughout the world. Known also as Srila Prabhupada, was chosen by the divine will to fulfill this historic prophecy of Sri Caitanya by taking the Krishna consciousness movement to all continents and most countries of the world in the short span of 12 years.

Srila Prabhupada should be considered as a great cultural and spiritual ambassador of India when he spoke the science of Bhagavad Gita or the Bhagavad Dharma. He did not present it in a sectarian way, nor did he present it as an armchair philosophy meant only for discussion and contemplation, but as something vital for the welfare and upliftment of society, to be practiced actively and to be given freely to others. Srila Prabhupada saw that within Indian culture lied the secrets to universal truths and higher absolute reality. Within the great literatures of India like Bhagavad Gita, unparalleled knowledge of universal principles of karma, of the spiritual equality of mankind, of God as the source of everything, of forgotten histories of the universe and countless other areas of human wisdom.

He never considered the Puranas and Vedas as mythology or imagination. Through the books that he painstakingly wrote in his advanced age and through the lectures he gained in different cities and universities of the world, Srila Prabhupada significantly changed the way the world looked at India and Indian Vedic heritage to a degree that is astounding. Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1966, known also as ISKCON, in order to preserve the essential culture of India and propagate it throughout the world. Since ISKCON has been associated inseparably with the practice of chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, or the Maha Mantra, today ISKCON is known around the world as the Hare Krishna movement.

May it be known on this joyous occasion that over 500 million books on Vedic culture were of Srila Prabhupada's translation and writing have been sold in the world since the movement's inception. Although Srila Prabhupada was such a great scholar, literary genius, dynamic spiritual leader, with hundreds of thousands of followers around the world, although he single-handedly established a flourishing worldwide movement without compromise on the original principles. He implanted in the West a new religious system and delivered to them the deepest truth of Indian spirituality. Srila Prabhupada, out of his humility, preferred not to promote himself.

Rather, Srila Prabhupada preferred to glorify Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Sri Krishna. This centennial celebration provides us all an opportunity to give a befitting appreciation to this great personality, to this great son of India. Now, Srila Prabhupada's vision for India, Srila Prabhupada's vision was that India as a country should provide cultural and spiritual leadership for the world. He had the wisdom and character to forcefully declare to the people in the West that they were suffering from anxiety, distress, moral and cultural degradation due to there being a misdirected civilization preoccupied with the material welfare of the society but neglecting the essential spiritual dimension of man.

So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he said, just as we have in India the two sisters, Saraswati and Lakṣmi, that the West may be having a lot of the Lakṣmi or economic development, but to have a full human development in the world, we also need the Saraswati. And therefore, culture is the way for India to give the world what it needs today. So Srila Prabhupada, in several of his lectures to the leaders in the West, he repeatedly mentioned that he had come to the West not to beg or take anything, but to give them the benefit of this Vedic wisdom to save them from the perils of a godless, atheistic, impersonal, materialistic civilization. So how can we even begin to assess the contribution of a personality like Srila Prabhupada to the cause of rejuvenating and preserving Vedic culture in the world.

Unfortunately in India today, due to the westernization of Indian education system and the overall westernization of the environment, we see how the cream of our youth are often becoming victims of moral and spiritual degradation, some of whom are even taking to drug addiction and abuse. we see how the institution of merit is losing its sanctity due to the unrestricted intermingling among men and women in our educational institutions we see how the frustration and dissatisfaction among the youth is driving tens of thousands of them to irrationally take their own lives and suicide due to neglect of Vedic cultural values and lack of understanding of the higher purpose of life The youth of the country are fast becoming misdirected. The special mission of this Center for Advancement of Culture is to imbibe within the youth of India a feeling of pride and esteem in their own great history, heritage and culture.

In fact, Srila Prabhupada's unprecedented success inspiring people, young people especially, to take to a Vedic way of life surprised many historians, indulgents and governments around the world. Today our mission is to help in forming the youth of India as future world leaders to create peace, harmony and a higher purpose to life in India and the world. In conclusion here, here in Bangalore, although ISKCON had a very humble beginning with only a two-room rented house, we'd always wanted to have a facility to be able to serve the people here. Things began to happen when the government under the chief ministership of Sri Ramakrishna Hetge granted Yaskan the seven acre hillock which was an abandoned stony hillock.

Today after seven years we look back and we see that by the hard efforts here of the devotees and the members of the congregation they have taken this uneven, stony, irregularly shaped land and have created this wonderful facility for the upliftment and preservation of culture. The architecture blend of traditional temple elements with modern technological facilities shows the new India where we can have a synthesis of everything. So compelled very strongly by this vision to fulfill the dream of our founder Acharya, ISKCON local devotees here, they have given their heart to this project, the 26-square temple and complex which stands here today with its elaborate infrastructure and facilities is truly a center to promote the advancement of human culture. We are also hoping that we are sure that the full support that we have got here from all of the local donors will continue to come for the final completion.

There are a few details there. so the mission statement given by his divine grace to the Prabhupada is to give human society the opportunity for a life of happiness, good health peace of mind and development of all good qualities through God consciousness his divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founder of Charia International Society for Krishna Consciousness this is for the Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Center for Advancement of Culture Hare Krishna Next, I request His Excellency, the President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, to deliver his dedication address. His Holiness Loknath Swamiji, Sheikh Hulid Al-Aqsa, Governor of Karnataka, Shijit Patel, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri R.K.

Hegde, MP and former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri R.V. Deshpande, Minister for Media and Nordic Industries, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, Minister for Health, Shri Anand Kumar, Member of Parliament, Shri A.G. Sanadi, Member of Parliament, Shaila Adi P.

Rajkumar, Member of Parliament Shri Madhu Pandit Das, Director of the Project Scholars and Devotees It gives me immense pleasure to associate myself with the inauguration of the Centre for Advancement of Culture of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Here in Bangalore, this magnificent complex is a blend of tradition and modernity. The symbol of the dedication and devotion of ISKCON is the cause of bhakti and service. It is an architectural landmark and I congratulate all those who have worked tirelessly to set up this splendid edifice.

ISKCON has spread the message of bhakti throughout the world. Over the years, the society has provided relief and succor, brought peace and harmony into the lives of millions of people. It has grown and flourished in many countries and continents. On the occasion of the birth centenary, as the founder of this con, Shri A.C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, I pay my tributes to this enlightened soul. I had the good fortune of having his darshan. Playing in the footsteps of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Prabhupada, with determination and devotion, has propagated the message of our ethos of peace and harmony. In today's world, there appears to be a relentless and single-minded pursuit of material wealth and prosperity.

In an improvement in the standards of living of people, particularly in the so-called developed Western countries, the spiritual needs, requirements and aspirations are yet to be met. Material wealth has not necessarily brought happiness and peace of mind. Instead, it has been accompanied by considerable mental stress and tension and has led to a spiral of insatiable greed and desires which remain unfolded. We find it in the United States of America, that they have got the prosperity, but they have misfeeds.

The pursuit of hedonistic pleasures with no regard to the needs of other people, especially those who are less privileged, has brought in its wake discord, discontent and discernment. It is in such a context that a tradition with its philosophy of love, compassion, non-violence and service has acquired new meaning, relevance and significance. The approach of bhakti or devotion, not merely to God, but to all beings who belong to God and of selfless service has increased our seers and saint singers from remote antiquity. The bhakti movement has flourished in every part of India.

The songs of the Alwars and teachings of Sri Ramana Acharya and Sri Madhavacharya in the south, the bhajans of Surdas, Sant Kavir, Mirabai in the north, the abhans of Sant Vakaram, Sant Gyaneshwar in the west, and the kirtas of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Shankardeva and Madhavadeva in the east are still sung and recited in millions of homes. In eastern India, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu propagated the ideas of oneness of man, for God. Bhakti to God manifests itself in love, compassion and service. He did not recognize any barriers of caste or creed.

The repeated chanting of the divine name individually and collectively was one of the paths of salvation. This Shiksha Ashtak Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sings God has expressed his own name in the various ways. He has bestowed all his powers with that name. O Lord of Earth, I do not pray for earthly desires.

My only prayer is God, let my unqualified devotion be to you in all my birth. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, skirtans are sung in thousands of devotees, not merely in India, but due to the efforts of ISKCON throughout the world. The Bhakti Mahārā propagated by Śrīla Prabhupāda has struck a sympathetic chord among the people as though resonating across the oceans and continents. Swamiji's approach is remarkable for its simplicity.

It is not a rigid, ritualistic or merely intellectual approach. It's a personal initiative, emotional faith, based on a passionate love and adoration of the Lord. It's reflected in the singing of kirtans and living a good and decent life, in harmony with oneself, with society and with nature. Srinama Brahmudra's work has given new meaning and direction to the lives of thousands of people.

In India, the activities of ISKCON are rekindling the latent knowledge and awareness among our own people. of our great spiritual and cultural heritage. I believe deeply in our efforts of modernization and growth. We must never forget the philosophy of humanism of our civilization. There can be no real progress and prosperity.

There can be no balanced material and spiritual development. Unless and until poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak in our country prosper and prosper. This can happen only by reinstilling among our people the moral and ethical values of our ethos of love and devotion, compassion and selfless service. Only by helping others can we achieve true happiness and balance in our lives.

It is vital for us to pay heed to this profound message of our tradition, with the values and ideals of our ethos, which must empower our efforts for peace, harmony, progress, prosperity in our society. We must take this message, particularly the youth of our country, since it is in this generation which will shape and guide the destiny of our great nation. I am confident that a new complex with these facilities for the propagation of our ancient culture and its spiritual heritage will strengthen the roots of our people in our civilization and hence contribute to national progress. With these words, I have great pleasure in inaugurating the Centre for Advancement of culture of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

I wish the center years of hopeful endeavor the service of society and all. Now we request His Holiness Jaipur Takaswami to invite His Excellency to formally proclaim the dedication of the center by reading the dedication plaque and placing it before I dedicate the Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Centre for Advancement of Culture for the Promotion of Vedic Culture and Spiritual Learning in honour of His Divine Grace Sri Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on the occasion of his centennial. We also request His Excellency to press the button to unveil the plaque. Next we request His Holiness Jaipataka Swami and His Holiness Lokanath Swami to present the mementos and prasadam, maha-prasadam to the chief guest.

Next we request His Holiness Lokanath Swami to give the vote of thanks. I get the sweet job. Lord Shiva, Sri Sri Radha Krishna Chandra. We start with thanking God.

Thank God. The presiding deity is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, center of city of Bangalore, which is, you all know, it's known as Garden City. It is also known as Electronic City. We are confident that soon this will also become known as place of pilgrimage by the presence of the Lordships in Bangalore City.

Wish of leaders and all the devotees, the first citizen, the President of India, attend at least one of the global centennial events. And that wish has been fulfilled today. For that I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to him on behalf of all the members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness whose founder Acharya is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.

I understand that His Excellency Dr. Shankar Daya Sharma had personally met Srila Prabhupada. His Excellency during his world travels has witnessed the expansion of the Hare Krishna movement founded by Srila Prabhupada. His Excellency has many books compiled by Srila Prabhupada and he admires them very much.

He has appropriately described Srila Prabhupada as enlightened soul. We thank him for his appreciation. The diagnosis of the state of humanity at large, and the contemporary Indians in particular, made by His Excellency and His prescription of repeated chanting of divine names, which we call them as Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram Ram, is something that his confounder and followers are fully in agreement with. We highly appreciate His Excellency's glorification of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the relevance of Chaitanya's kirtans which are only remedy for the present day ills.

Take a note of His Excellency's statement that this complex with its facilities for propagation of ancient culture and spiritual heritage will strengthen the roots of people in our civilization and hence contribute to national progress. On behalf of ISKCON devotees and dedicated followers I would like to assure His Excellency that we will not spare any efforts to meet that cherished goal of strengthening the roots of our people. It becomes obvious from His Holiness Jaipur Dada Maharaj's mission statement which he just read that ISKCON has been already on the job and is promising to rededicate itself for the genuine progress and prosperity of the weakest of the weak in the country by healthy balance of material and spiritual development. I would like to once again thank His Excellency Dr.

Sharmaji and Mrs. Vimal Sharma for inaugurating ISKCON Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Center for Advancement of Culture and dedicating it to service of this glorious nation. And now I would like to thank the Governor of India, Mr. J.H. Patel, who raised the occasion on the day of the opening of the national games in the city.

And the Chief Minister, they both get the credit for sponsoring these games. this must be busiest day of their life but they are here today we thank them I would like to take this opportunity also to thank Sri Indu Bhai Patel and Sri Ram Krishna Hegde as Jaya Pratap Maharaj who helped us great getting allotment of this land on which we have built this complex and this land now has become Hare Krishna Hill they are both our Sri R.V. Deshpande Minister of Industries and Sri Devakar Minister for taking and being with us on this occasion. For to forget you patrons and friends who are sitting in the audience for your generous contribution to your penny list and we approached you and you have generously given us lots of contribution. Not a single penny has come out of Bangalore. everything was collected in bengalore to build this complex so you all must be thanked otherwise we would have just a land and we're just sitting and chanting harry krishna here so thank you all of you thank you everyone on the dais and i'm sorry if i have forgotten didn't mention because that someone is pushing me here next we request His Excellency to go over to the multimedia theater on the ground floor