20200726 Zoom Session with Malaysia Youth Devotees

Lecture Code: 20200726-2

Occasion: Addressing ISKCON Malaysian Yout, via Zoom

Date: 26-Jul-2020

Place: Sridham Māyāpur

Transcribed By: Jayarasehswari dd

Transcribed On: 28-Jul-2020

1st Level Proofer: Bhavataarini radhika dd

1st Level Proofed on: 28-Jul-2020

Editorial Changes (non voice): Usha

Date: 25-Jan-2020

 Status: Completed

Source:

https://www.facebook.com/JayapatakaSwami/videos/646475736223175/?app=fbl

Title:

20200726 His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaj, Addressing ISKCON Youth in Malaysia via Zoom from Sri Mayapur Dham, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

paramānanda-mādhavam

Śrī Caitanya Īśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

I am happy to be here with all the youth of Malaysia! Haribol!

(A presentation was made by the youth)

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you very much for showing me some of the youth activities in Malaysia. It is very ecstatic. Festivals, dramas, prasādam, ratha yatras and celebrations.

So Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that in the first slides or first videos, that he was an old man, he was 76, he already had a massive heart attack in 1971, so that the warning was there from Kṛṣṇa that at any time, he may go. So, he was giving in the hands of his young disciples, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Now the youth in Malaysia are the new generation. We were young at that time, but now we are also old! In that sense, I had a warning, in 2008 I had a stroke and they gave me zero per cent to survive! Somehow, I am still here!

But then in 2018 I had a kidney failure, liver was dysfunctional, and then I had a liver and a kidney transplant. Then I had a skin cancer, and that was operated on. So, I getting frequent warnings, and so remembering what Śrīla Prabhupāda said, it is important that our youth in Malaysia take up this Kṛṣṇa consciousness very seriously, be happy and make others happy – spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the message I got. And I saw that there is a lot of potential. Śrīla Prabhupāda addressed the youth that you are the flower   of your country, and you are the future also.

So, the same thing applies also to the youth of Malaysia. You are the flower of the country, you are the future, and it is very important that you take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness very seriously. And see that the movement goes from strength to strength. So, I am very happy to see these various activities of the youth. You have lot of energy, lot of nice, Kṛṣṇa conscious activities. It is very important that you take up more leadership roles and see that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement succeeds. Kali yuga, will always try to divide the devotees. We have to remain united. With Śrīla Prabhupad as our inspiration. He came himself to Malaysia. He inaugurated preaching in Malaysia, and he had the great vision that Malaysia will be very Kṛṣṇa conscious.

So, I want to thank all the youths – boys and girls for their enthusiastic activities, and it is nice to see how Bhakti Vinoda Swami, Janananda Swami, Simheswara das and others are very active, they are all encouraging you to engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I am very happy to see all these nice results. And I want to see more. Tell me when every year you have your activities of the year, it will be very interesting. Also, I would like to present some of this to our GBCs, to let them know the Malaysian youth are very dynamic and active. I offer my obeisance’s to Srila Prabhupada –

nama oḿ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

paramānanda-mādhavam

Śrī Caitanya Īśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

(The youth then made a presentation on the event of the 50th anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda in Malaysia next year.)

 The rate of increase of COVID increases is 1.6. What do they use as a base line? In other words, it is a mystery to you! Ha! Anyway, whatever works, I will certainly pray and offer my blessings to you. What Kṛṣṇa’s plan is, I cannot say, for the world. If you can get the people to chant the names of God, that would be the best solution. We chant the names in Sanskrit like,

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare,

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

But since the majority of Malaysians follow Islam, there are 99 names of Allah in their Quran. So, they could chant some names of Allah. Because this is a kind of punishment from the laws of nature, because we have broken the laws. When we kill, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying, we do one at a time. When Kṛṣṇa kills, He does mass! Now we are seeing in this global pandemic, 13 or 14 million people have got it and 600,000 have passed away. And it is not at its peak yet! It is still increasing. So, that is why people should chant the name of God. Whether they are Christian or Islam or Buddhist, whether they are Kṛṣṇa conscious, Hindus, chant the name of Kṛṣṇa – Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare can mean Hari or Hara. Hara is the name of Rādhā and Hari is the name of Kṛṣṇa.

So, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Everyone should chant that, or chant something of God, if you cannot chant that. Then we can have our program on schedule. They are all racing to find the vaccine, and they are saying they will soon find it! But there is still no vaccine for AIDS. So, they may or may not find the vaccine, that depends on the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. But everyone should chant the names of God, Kṛṣṇa. Anyway, it is nice that you are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s arrival in Malaysia. We hope that everything can go on as scheduled. (The youth invited guru maharaj to attend the festival.) Well, I would like to come, let us see. If there is a cure or vaccine or something Otherwise, I will attend on internet.

 Question and answer session:

 Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa maharaj. How am I supposed to keep compassion on someone who has done wrong to us?

 Guru maharaj: The first canto of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the cow and bull were beaten by the personality of Kali. The cow and bull were representing dharma. But they found all the faults with other things like their own karma, they didn’t blame the personality of Kali.

But Parikshit maharaj he arrested the personality of Kali. Anyway, if someone is causing us difficulty, we don’t hold that person personally responsible. That such things happen because we have done something in the past to deserve it. Maybe not in this life but some previous lives Any way we hope that this person will be saved from any misconceptions. We don’t personally hold any grudge. We don’t wish bad on another. There is a story about this, but I don’t know how many questions are there?

So, there was a hunter, he escaped on to a tree from a tiger. The tiger wanted to eat him. There was a bear in the tree. The tiger said to the bear, knock the hunter down and I will eat him. And the bear said, well, he has taken shelter of my tree, I don’t want to knock him down. So, then the bear went to sleep. The tiger told the hunter, you knock the bear down and I will eat him. So, the hunter knocked the bear, but the bear caught another branch and saved himself. The tiger said, knock down the hunter, he has betrayed you. The bear said, don’t treat one bad deed with another bad deed. So, this was said by Sītā devī. And from this we can learn that we should not treat another person bad, even if they treat us bad. Kṛṣṇa will judge them. Let us not do something that Kṛṣṇa judges us negatively.

 Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa guru maharaj. PAMHO. (Guru maharaj: Accepted) AGTSP! How to manage with our services and sādhana while managing children? Usually whenever I have temple services, I try my best to engage my two sons, Aryanksetra and Gaura Shyamsundar. At the same time, I am in little fear that I might be neglecting them. In this situation, how do I handle them?

Your spiritual daughter, Sītā Sarveswari devī dāsī.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: For the gṛhasthas, taking care of your children is also a devotional service. So, you should not neglect your children. You should see how to do both alright. But you should not neglect the children. That was Śrīla Prabhupāda’s advice.

 Question: Dhamesvara Caitanya das: Hare Kṛṣṇa guru maharaj. PAMHO. Gurudev, as a young gṛhastha currently, my focus is more to material commitments and temple sevā is getting limited due to the commitments. Please advise how to balance both. Some tips please

Guru maharaj: Śrīla Bhakti VinodaThakura, he was a gṛhastha, but he was very expert in time management. So, he had a certain time for his japa. He was working for the British government as a district magistrate. But then he gave time every day for his family. He gave time for chanting japa, doing some preaching, writing books, sleeping. So, he had everything worked out. How many hours for this – nothing was neglected.

So, being a gṛhastha, in the Saṁskāra Dipika, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Goswami mentions that the gṛhastha āśrama is the responsible āśrama. You have many responsibilities. A brahmacārī, he is basically free of these responsibilities. But gṛhasthas, you have to do many things. You have to take care of your wife, your children, your finance, your spiritual life. All these things, nothing can be neglected. So, how to balance, you have to plan out your day. That way if the wife is also Kṛṣṇa conscious, she can help you how to make a very Kṛṣṇa conscious day. So, no time for māyā! All devotional service. Haribol!

 Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Vijayagopal Kṛṣṇa das. Hare Kṛṣṇa guru maharaj. PAMHO. (Guru maharaj: Accepted). Some of us are stuck with work and other commitments. (Same as previous question, so not taken up)

 Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa guru maharaj, PAMRO (Guru maharaj: Accepted). I am following only three of the four principles, which is intoxication. Yet, I am using Tulasī beads. Is that okay? Suresh

 Guru maharaj: I have only heard that if you wear Tulasī beads, you have to be a vegetarian. It would be good if you could also avoid intoxication. Actually, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and engaging in devotional service, that is the highest ecstasy. Why should you depend on something artificial? So, I don’t know which intoxication is capturing you. But it would be good to avoid that. When I was a bhakta in Montreal, there was one new devotee who had joined and he was addicted to smoking.

So, at that time, Śrīla Prabhupāda was very merciful. He said, alright, you can smoke, reduce the smoking gradually one per day and at the end of the week, it will be zero and then stop. Maybe some habit, you should gradually give it up. And then, you want to be fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I look back at those days, I think how I wasted my life and you youth are so fortunate, many of you are born in a family of devotees. Maybe many of you had never had this kind of māyā. So that is very fortunate.

 Question: Geetika Reddy, Hare Kṛṣṇamaharaj, PAMHO, Please tell us how enthusiastically you were engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, with Śrīla Prabhupāda when you were a youth? Please tell us how we can also remain in ISKCON and be enthusiastic like you maharaj? So that we will never ISKCON and remain as enthusiastic as you are till today.

 Guru maharaj: I wanted to find a real guru. And I was looking at different gurus, spiritual leaders, but they all wore lacking in certain ways. Then I met the disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda and I saw that they were very committed devotees. Then I went to see Śrīla Prabhupāda, and by his mercy, I was engaged in his service. So, then I was actually initiated 52 years ago on 24th of July. And what day is it today?

Two days ago, about two weeks after I was initiated, I was made as the temple president of Montreal, Canada. I wrote to Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am very young only 19, how can I be the temple president?

He told me, don’t be body conscious, you are not the body, do the service! Then I said, well, I am not a very old devotee. He said, I will guide you. So, I had no choice, and I said, how my father wanted me to fight in the US army. He told me that better you fight in Kṛṣṇa’s army! Since then, I have been in Kṛṣṇa’s army! Then he told me, be an Indian citizen. So, by his mercy, I was able to be an Indian citizen. Then I realized how Śrīla Prabhupāda had endured so much to give us Kṛṣṇa consciousness. How much we owe to Śrīla Prabhupāda – a debt we can never repay. So, I have been trying to repay it, but I am still unable, but I am trying. I think that if you all realize that how much Śrīla Prabhupāda has given you, how much his disciples are giving you – as you said, Śrīla Prabhupāda personally visited Malaysia, he went to KL, TelukIntan, Penang, Ipoh and he wanted to give his mercy to all of you! So how can you not feel enthusiastic?

To help someone who has done so much for you?

 Question: Raghuvamsi das! (Guru maharaj: Wow!) How the youth in Malaysia as an Islamic country, can propagate or share about the importance of cow protection?

Thank you very much Śrīla guru maharaj. Your servant Raghuvamsi Ramadas.

 Guru maharaj: I haven’t studied the Quran minutely. But I understand that there are verses there which say that we should not kill the cow. We know that the current pandemic is not a human disease. It comes from animals. So, because people kill animals, eat the flesh, therefore they are suffering. So, all these things, now is a good time to preach to people, not to kill animals. This pandemic comes from the animals. And previously there was a mass pandemic that came from mistreating cows. Before that there was swine flu, which comes from the mistreatment of swines in the USA. So, we don’t hear about a tomato pandemic or cucumber pandemic!! Swine flu, pig flu, cow flu. This present pandemic is from bats or something. Anyway, get the people to chant the names of God. And use this opportunity to request people to at least in this pandemic, to not kill and eat animals. Maybe if they get the habit of being vegetarian, then they won’t kill animals in the future. At least not cows.

Lord Caitanya discussed this with the CandKazi. He said that the cow gives you milk. And the bull ploughs the field. In that way, the cow is your mother and the bull is your father? Now how is it that in your religion, they allow you to kill your mother and father and eat them? The CandKazi said, well, in Your śāstra, it has the Gomeda, the sacrifice of cows. Lord Caitanya explained that this is prohibited in the present age. Gomeda and Aswameda are prohibited. But in previous yugas the brāhmaṇas were so powerful that they would kill an old cow and bring it back to life in a new body.

So, like this, Lord Caitanya was preaching at that time, when there was an Islamic government. With all respect, He was in this way, preaching very dynamically. So, I don’t think that it is impossible to preach. We should do so, in a very respectful and assertive manner. Now, with this pandemic which is crippling the whole world, that the killing of animals is a source of this pandemic, so we should avoid this. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

 Can we go on gallery view? (On Zoom). Please take my blessings! Krsner matir astu!

 So, where do we go from here?