The Great Power of Calling Out to Him

All through these years, I have observed that Guru Mahārāj would never give jayadhvani in a hurried manner. He would give jayadhvani in with dhīra-sthira bhāva ( a grave, steady, sober mood). He used to say by giving jayadhvani everything is complete.  Though we are provided with a list of jayadhvani to be given and practiced in Sādhan Saket booklet, in Gurudev's utterances of jayadhvani, there was the worship of the Lord and the vaiṣṇavas.


Once in Dehradun, Gurudev gave me lessons on the topic of jayadhvani. He humbly expressed, "I take names of all the Deities of the temples our Gurudev established because my Gurudeva gave the responsibility of all these maṭhs and the service of the deities and as I am not able to sufficiently take care of them. Every morning I give jayadhvani to all the maṭhs and the presiding deities there and offer jayadhvani to them seeking their forgiveness for not being able to serve them well."  

And we have heard from our Gurudev and guru-varga that the meaning of Jai Gurudeva is: hey Gurudev, conquer me, make me your own (ātmasāt), make me your property. We also heard that in our maṭh when Guru Mahārāj or Param Gurudev give jayadhvani, one has to give jayadhvani following them. If some devotee at the back begins talking with others during jayadhvani, (which is not proper etiquette) one of Śrīla Prabhupād's disciples who were residing in our maṭh would catch hold of his arm and take him out of the sankīrtan hall. 

Gurudev taught through his conduct that giving jayadhvani to Guru, Vaiṣṇava and the Lord is a very important limb of bhakti.

 In 2013 in Kolkata when Gurudev's appearance day festival celebrations were taking place, Gurudev chanted the names of Param Gurudev while offering vandanā, he joyfully shouted, "Jai ho, Jai ho, Jai ho!" thrice and everyone present was thrilled by those cheers. We saw Gurudev giving jayadhvani like this whole-heartedly (dil se).

 

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has also expressed this mood of the jayadhvani in his Śrī Nāma-aṣṭakam: "May the glories of your name sound and resound in the whole world (danka baje - drum beats), May the auspicious sounds of your names reverberate the whole atmosphere, and may the sounds of the drums of your Holy Name play and echo.

jaya nāmadheya muni-vṛnda-geya he

jana-rañjanāya param akṣarākṛte

tvam anādarād api manāg udīritaḿ

nikhilogra-tāpa-paṭalīḿ vilumpasi

[O Hari-nāma, O name sung by the sages, O transcendental syllables that bring bliss to the people, even if You are spoken only once, and even if You are spoken disrespectfully, You at once remove the many harsh sufferings of everyone.]

By such jayadhvani all obstacles on the path of devotion are destroyed.  We have heard Gurudeva say that by giving jayadhvani everything is attained.  



In Delhi, once Ashok Prabhuji invited Guru Mahārāj to come and place his holy footprints in a small newly built extension on the rooftop of his old house and Gurudev went climbing up the steps wearing his wooden sandals (khaḍāūṃ).  The time was at about 7.30 or 8pm. In his usual grave sober mood, Gurudev gave jayadhvani first and chanted Narasiṁha-mantra, then pañcatattva and mahāmantra. Later Gurudev raised the question as to if this time was suitable for the inauguration, which is usually done in the early morning or the forenoon, and without referring to panchang (almanac) for an auspicious tithi and time. Then Gurudev gave the answer to that question himself: "Do not think like this.  When Guru, Vaiṣṇavas come and give jai-ghosh, everything is perfectly done. All faults are set right where guru, vaiṣṇavas and Lord's nāmakīrtana are performed.  He also gave a pramāṇa from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

mantratas tantrataś chidraṁ

deśa-kālārha-vastutaḥ

sarvaṁ karoti niśchidram

anusaṅkīrtanaṁ tava

 (ŚB, 8.23.16) 

[All deficiencies, faults in our performance of worship are nullified by an anukīrtana of the Lord's names and all auspiciousness comes here. 

These are Sukracharya's words to Śrī Vāmana Deva. Hearing these words from Gurudev made our faith strong that by giving jais to Gurudev everything is attained, in fact, there is no necessity of any further jais to anyone.



During Śrīla Prabhupād's disappearance festival in Māyāpur, his disciple Bhakti Vicar Bharati Mahārāj told about one elder woman in a village who called out to at the time of her death: 'Ha Prabhupād, Ha Prabhupād" instead of Lord's name and how Prabhupād received her humble prayers. And in Śrīla Bhakti Prakāśa Araṇya Mahārāj's appearance day celebration I got a chance to hear that when he was facing danger while traveling in a boat over a river, he came out into the open area of the boat with his danda and called out to Prabhupād to rescue him, saying, "Jai Prabhupād, Prabhupād rakṣamam, Prabhupād pahimam." At that time, Śrīla Prabhupād was in Bagbazar maṭh at 3 O'clock when the temple was closed.  He called the sevāks and told them to ask pūjārī to open the temple door and sit to sing kirtan before the deities.  When they wondered why at this odd time, he said, "Araṇya Mahārāj is in great difficulty." When kirtan began, the cyclone stopped and Araṇya Mahārāj returned to the maṭh safe.



This is the power in giving jayadhvani to Gurudev, calling to Gurudev. 

—Kṛṣṇananda Prabhu (Kuldeepjī)

Transcript of Gurukathā on Gokul India, 23.4.2020 

Spoken in Hindi, translated to English