20201109 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question and Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 9th, 2020 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Hare Kṛṣṇa dear Guru Mahārāja, daṇḍavat praṇāma. How to encourage a devotee to render unalloyed service to the Lord? And in doing that how can I have that state of mind of being patient and help that devotee to serve and love Kṛṣṇa?

Your daughter,
Saṅgītamayī Gopī devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: Rendering unalloyed service to Kṛṣṇa is a very rare thing. We heard that out of millions of people, one people looks for spiritual life. Out of thousands of those who seek spiritual life, one finds it. Of those thousands of those who find it, it is rare to find one that becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious. So, we should encourage everyone to serve Kṛṣṇa. And we should be good example of pure unalloyed love. We should be serving the Lord without any ulterior motive. That way, naturally we will feel very blissful. That would inspire others to also take it up selflessly. So thank you very much for your enthusiasm. We see that just as the water from the rivers go to the ocean, we can see your devotion is heading towards Kṛṣṇa. Normally the heart is thinking of all material things. So if you are thinking about serving Kṛṣṇa and bringing people closer to Kṛṣṇa, then naturally you will get special mercy. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Next Question. Guru Mahārāja, daṇḍavat praṇāma! How to make our heart softer? - Bhakta Bryan (Columbia).

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, the heart if it does too much austerity, then it will become very hard. Sometimes the heart is like frame and steel. It is very hard. Doesn’t want to melt. So, by rendering pure devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, naturally the heart becomes soft. In this way, we can achieve Kṛṣṇa consciousness in its fullest extent.

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Daṇḍavat praṇāmas Guru Mahārāja! What is the best way to honor the spiritual name that we have received? - Līlāmayī Gaurāṅgī devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: What is the best way to honor the spiritual name? Hmmm. Interesting question! I think that using it is one way to honor it. Like, understanding what it means, Līlāmayī Gaurāṅgī. Līlāmāyī means fully absorbed in the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, Līlāmayī. So in this world the service to Kṛṣṇa is also His pastime. Anyway, Līlāmayī Gaurāṅgī, Gaurāṅgī is the name of Rādhārāṇī. She is golden in color. Today is the day of the appearance of Rādhā-kuṇḍa. So you are Līlāmayī Gaurāṅgī devī dāsī – Rādhārāṇī who is absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, devī you are Her dāsī, you are Her servitor. Haribol!

Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja, daṇḍavat praṇāma! Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1st Canto 6th chapter little boy before, Nārada was so detached by the devotees’ mercy, and he did not cry when his mother died. But myself I am so attached to my family, especially my mother, she is my home schoolteacher, all my family is helping me for devotional service. Is it okay to have attachment with parents? - Ujjvala Nitāi dāsa, USA.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since your mother, your family are helping you for your devotional services, they are kind of vartma-pradarśaka or śikṣā-gurus. And naturally one should feel grateful for their spiritual support and guidance. It would be ok to have attachment for them, as a spiritual expression.

We hear these verses that Deity worship is done very elaborately. However, I worship Gaura Nitāi Deities in my home with very basic standards. What should one’s mood be while worshiping Gaura Nitāi?

Your Daughter,
Mathurā Līleśvarī devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since in Gītā Nāgari they have very special Deities of Rādhā Dāmodara, which were personally worshiped by Śrīla Prabhupāda. So as the community Deities, we try to worship those Deities with the highest standard, very elaborately. And in your house if you have Gaura Nitāi Deities, it will be alright to worship Them with basic standards. If you are worshiping the temple Deity or the community Deity then it has to be done very elaborately.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja, daṇḍavat pranāma. When a person lives with their family who are non-devotees, they cook with onion and garlic and they expect you to eat that food, is it okay to offer to Kṛṣṇa and have it after? How can I make it less sinful?

- Your Spiritual Daughter,
Kusum Bhatt, UK.

Jayapatākā Swami: Kusum, please accept my blessings. Onion and garlic are not offerable to any Deities, what to speak of Viṣṇu Deity, even Drugā, Śiva, Gaṇeśa, Kartikeya, they don’t accept onion and garlic. Also, recently I saw in the internet there was some article, how onion and garlic are bad according to the material scientists. You could say in this Dāmodara month or any month for that matter that you only take kṛṣṇa-prasāda and that you cannot offer onion and garlic to Kṛṣṇa. So they could make special offering to Kṛṣṇa without onion and garlic and you can take that. I don’t know what it takes to convince your parents. Onion and garlic are not suitable to be eaten, cannot really offer it to Kṛṣṇa. Someone was saying that maybe garlic under some doctor’s recommendation, it can be taken. Even then we cannot offer it to Kṛṣṇa. Just as a medicine we say Śrī Viṣṇu three times and take it. Unless you have high blood pressure or something, doctors say that we should take garlic. And I don’t see any other reason to take it. I hope you can solve this problem.

Guru Mahārāja, pease guide: How to read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books regularly without failure? I am skipping frequently from reading. - Paramapuruṣa Mādhava dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Paramapuruṣa Mādhava dāsa, what can I say? How to read Śrīla Prabhupāda books regularly without failure? You say you are skipping frequently from reading. So we would like you to get the different degrees – Bhakti-śāstrī, Bhakti-vaibhava, Bhakti-vedānta, Bhakti-Sārvabhauma. So naturally to get those degrees you have to read those books. So making a system to regularly read, that needs to be done. And initially maybe you don’t have a taste. But after sometime, you develop a taste and then you will be thinking how to get more time to read. So much nectar! In the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we are reading how Yudhiṣṭhira was the emperor of the world. When he heard that Kṛṣṇa had left the world, had gone back home back to Godhead, all the Vṛṣnis also went back, then immediately he enthroned his grandson Parīkṣit and then he went giving up his crown, belt and then he prepared himself to go back home back to Godhead.