Title: Gauranga Name Effect in Scotland

User: Swami Gaurangapada Date: 2007-03-14 06:38:20

 

 

Query: Dear Srila Gaurangapad, we have been spreading the holy name of Gauranga in scotland for the past 15 years and when we go for book distribution, everyone on th street Knows Gauranga already and chants it, but there doesn't seem to be any great purification going on as no one from scotland has joined the temple for the last 10 years. can you explain how we can understand that the holy name is having an effect? externally there doesn't seem to be any changes.. Ys Tom

 

 

Dear Tom, Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! I apologize for the delay in replying to your important question. The devotees in Scotland have done an excellent service of spreading the most confidential Holy Name of Lord Gauranga all over the country. That is why the residents of that country are even more fortunate than the residents of India who do not know about Gauranga's Holy Name where Lord Gauranga appeared.

 

There are two reasons why you are not seeing immediate mass-scale results:

 

(1) The Holy Name of Lord Nityananda is the only possible means to successfully approach the Holy Name of Lord Gauranga. Please read this article and this thread for better understanding of the fact that just as the chanting of the Gaura Gopala Mantra - Gauranga is the necessary means to approach the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, Nityananda Naam is the only sureshot gateway to attaining success in Gauranga Naam. Infact Nityananda's Name is even more merciful and accessible to the conditioned souls than Lord Gauranga's Name. Shri Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada confirms the statement of Shrila Vrindavana Dasa Thakura that only the Holy Name of Lord Nityananda can save the most fallen and foolish people in this age of Kali Yuga and make them self-realized devotees. So I would request the devotees in Scotland to include the wide-scale spreading of the Holy Name of Nityananda with the Holy Name of Gauranga and then behold the miraculous and instant change in the hearts of the people.

 

(2) Even if a person chants once the Holy Name of Gauranga, that soul makes tremendous spiritual advancement which is millions of times greater than any pious or spiritual action in this world. So there is no loss in your preaching in Scotland of spreading the Holy Name of Gauranga. They may not become devotees immediately or move into the temples or show external changes but their soul has been delivered and the process of their soul's journey to the eternal spiritual world has begun. So you should kindly understand that spreading Gaurangs's Name is like throwing seeds everywhere. Some may fructify immediately, some after a few years and some in the next life. But it does the highest benefit to all those who have chanted even once Gauranga's Holy Name. That will never go in vain.

 

Please let me know if you need further explanation.

 

 

Jaya Maharaja, Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to the Sankirtan movement. Thank you for your reply maharaja concerning the Gouranga campaign here in Scotland. I have also learnt from the older devotees here that actually Scotland has changed a lot over the last 20 years due to the devotees preaching. Formerly, devotees would be constantly arrested by the police but now, the devotees are practically never arrested. Why would the police be becoming more lenient? They must be getting purified and becoming more favourable!!! The older devotees say they can certainly see a change in the general mood of people on the street too, that they are more open to chanting and are becoming more friendly. We are currently organizing Gouranga festivals around the North of England for the general public in Halls and theatres. There will be one a month for the next few months. The next Gouranga festival will be held in Sheffield at the Merlin theatre in the Nether edge area on Sunday 21st of May 2006. All are welcome. If you could advertise this festival on your e mail or web page we would be very grateful. It starts from 3pm onwards. There will be drama, chanting, philosophy and of course a nectar feast. The last festival we had was in Bolton last month. It was very nice. About 350 people came, It is very nice also because we put so many Gouranga festival posters all over the city inviting people to come in shop windows, bus stops, traffic lights, and walls etc, so many people who may not come to the festival are still reading and chanting the Holy names. We also distribute about 25,000 flyers with the holy name on it so many people are getting the mercy. If any of your congregation would like to help to advertise these festivals in Uk we would very much appreciate as there is just three of us distributing these posters and flyers in each city, so any help we can get is very nice. The next festival will be in Prteston at the end of June. So if anyone is interested to help please let them phone me on 07845 697 120. We are in Sheffield this week too, so any help we can get from any devotees in that area would be fantastic. Thank you very much Maharaja. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Gouranga Nityananda!!! Your servant Bh tom.

 

 

My dear Tom, Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Jaya Shrila Prabhupada.

 

Thankyou for your enthusiastic reply and for organizing these nice Gauranga festivals. I hope Gauranga's Holy Name is the center of these festivals. Try to make them chant and sing as much Gauranga's Name as possible. And please include the Holy Name of Nityananda without which Lord Gauranga will not be happy. I hope the Scottish people pronounce Gouranga as Gauranga as Gouranga has a different meaning in Sanskrit if it is pronounced literally as Go-uranga. It should be pronounced Ga not Go. Gora is a name of Lord Gauranga but not Goura. It is Gaura. Go means a cow or our senses. So it gets a different meaning. It should be pronounced as Gau not Gou otherwise there is a problem of varna vyavadhana as described in Hari Naam Chintamani and the full benefit of chanting the most merciful Name is not achieved. Even if the Scottish people pronounce Gouranga as Gauranga, the problem is when you write the spelling as Gouranga, the people in other parts of the world will pronounce as Gou instead Gau. So it is my suggestion that it is better to keep one spelling standard which is closest to the actual Sanskrit Gaura Gopala Mantra and that is Gauranga.

 

Even in the Bengali language, some write the spelling as Gouranga and pronounce as Gauranga. But if someone pronounces as Gouranga, then there is one syllable added Go-u-ra-a-nga instead of the 4-syllables of the Gaura Gopala Mantra Gau-ra-a-nga and thus it does not strictly remain as the original Holy Name and Mantra of the Lord. Some make the "a" in the end long as "aa" i.e. Gaurangaa or make it "o" i.e. Gaurango which is also not recommended. The "a" which is long as "aa" is the fifth character not the last character i.e. it is actually Gauraanga. They are my suggestions and I hope they are helpful.