20231105 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question & Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 5th, 2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

Question: Is He (Lord Caitanya) an avatāra or avatārī ?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see Lord Caitanya, He would give out mercy which was otherwise very hard to come by. Actually for the Lord to kill some demon or lift up the earth considering that He has unlimited strength, it is not such a wonderful thing. But giving conditioned souls pure love of Kṛṣṇa, that is really something wonderful!

Keyā Rāṇī: How do we constantly stay strong in our sādhana, no matter what? 

Jayapatākā Swami: You see if you taste the nectar at Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, and that is received from Lord Caitanya, so what can be better than that? So we take Kṛṣṇa and we take a drop of the nectar from His lotus feet, that is invaluable. So, we are getting an opportunity to appreciate the wonderful gift of Lord Caitanya, by tasting the nectar coming from His lotus feet.

Golokapriya Gaurāṅgī Devī Dāsī: The Gosvāmī Deities in Vṛndāvana have tilaka on Rādhārāṇī but not in ISKCON. Can you please explain? 

Jayapatākā Swami: You can ask some pūjārīs. We know that in some Deities, they offer and in some they don’t. But the reason why, maybe the pūjārīs know the secret.

Akṣara Govinda dāsa: What is the right way to take shelter of Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet? 

Jayapatākā Swami: We should not do it the wrong way! We would like to offer Lord Caitanya our obeisances at His lotus feet. So, if we are doing in a humble frame of mind and we surrender at the lotus feet of Lord Gaurāṅga, then it should be alright. There was a situation where a brahmacārī was travelling with Lord Caitanya. And Lord Caitanya asked him for some harītakī (myrobalan). So then he went to the village, got some harītakī and gave it to Lord Caitanya. The next day Lord Caitanya asked for some harītakī again. This time the proud brahmacārī, he took it out from his pocket. Lord Caitanya said, “Yesterday it took you so much time, how come today you are able to give it so quickly?” He said, “I kept some.” Lord Caitanya said, “Oh! that means you are having a mentality of a gṛhastha because the gṛhastha saves for a rainy day. But in the renounced order they take whatever Kṛṣṇa gives. You have to get married.” So he was told to get married because he tried to save some harītakī. So Lord Caitanya was very strict and one side He is very soft.

In Agradvīpa upstream a little bit, he became a gṛhastha, his wife died, his son died. So he said, “You asked me to be a gṛhastha when I was not qualified. Who will now do my śrāddha when I die?” The Lord said, “I am your son.” He said, “You are not that kind of son.” “No, I will do it,” the Lord said. So He called the village leaders as a witness He told them that on his death anniversary, take Me to His sāmadhi and I will offer the piṇḍī. So even to this day, I went there with the Safari, they called me in the room. The Deity came in offered the piṇḍī, it was an amazing thing. So this pastime was done by the Gopīnātha Deity for His devotee.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!