20240205 Evening Address | Question-and-Answer session

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Bhagavad-gītā 8.1

arjuna uvāca
kiṁ tad brahmā kim adhyātmaṁ
kiṁ karma puruṣottama
adhibhūtaṁ ca kiṁ proktam
adhidaivaṁ kim ucyate

Translation: Arjuna inquired: O my Lord, O Supreme Person, what is Brahman? What is the self? What are fruitive activities? What is this material manifestation? And what are the demigods? Please explain this to me.

Purport: In this chapter Lord Kṛṣṇa answers different questions from Arjuna, beginning with “What is Brahman?” The Lord also explains karma (fruitive activities), devotional service and yoga principles, and devotional service in its pure form. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains that the Supreme Absolute Truth is known as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. In addition, the living entity, the individual soul, is also called Brahman. Arjuna also inquires about ātmā, which refers to body, soul and mind. According to the Vedic dictionary, ātmā refers to the mind, soul, body and senses also.

Arjuna has addressed the Supreme Lord as Puruṣottama, Supreme Person, which means that he was putting these questions not simply to a friend but to the Supreme Person, knowing Him to be the supreme authority able to give definitive answers.

Bhagavad-gītā 8.2

adhiyajñaḥ kathaṁ ko ’tra
dehe ’smin madhusūdana
prayāṇa-kāle ca kathaṁ
jñeyo ’si niyatātmabhiḥ

Translation: Who is the Lord of sacrifice, and how does He live in the body, O Madhusūdana? And how can those engaged in devotional service know You at the time of death?

Purport: “Lord of sacrifice” may refer to either Indra or Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is the chief of the primal demigods, including Brahmā and Śiva, and Indra is the chief of the administrative demigods. Both Indra and Viṣṇu are worshiped by yajña performances. But here Arjuna asks who is actually the Lord of yajña (sacrifice) and how the Lord is residing within the body of the living entity.

Arjuna addresses the Lord as Madhusūdana because Kṛṣṇa once killed a demon named Madhu. Actually these questions, which are of the nature of doubts, should not have arisen in the mind of Arjuna, because Arjuna is a Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee. Therefore these doubts are like demons. Since Kṛṣṇa is so expert in killing demons, Arjuna here addresses Him as Madhusūdana so that Kṛṣṇa might kill the demonic doubts that arise in Arjuna’s mind.

Now the word prayāṇa-kāle in this verse is very significant because whatever we do in life will be tested at the time of death. Arjuna is very anxious to know of those who are constantly engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What should be their position at that final moment? At the time of death all the bodily functions are disrupted, and the mind is not in a proper condition. Thus disturbed by the bodily situation, one may not be able to remember the Supreme Lord. Mahārāja Kulaśekhara, a great devotee, prays, “My dear Lord, just now I am quite healthy, and it is better that I die immediately so that the swan of my mind can seek entrance at the stem of Your lotus feet.” The metaphor is used because the swan, a bird of the water, takes pleasure in digging into the lotus flowers; its sporting proclivity is to enter the lotus flower. Mahārāja Kulaśekhara says to the Lord, “Now my mind is undisturbed, and I am quite healthy. If I die immediately, thinking of Your lotus feet, then I am sure that my performance of Your devotional service will become perfect. But if I have to wait for my natural death, then I do not know what will happen, because at that time the bodily functions will be disrupted, my throat will be choked up, and I do not know whether I shall be able to chant Your name. Better let me die immediately.” Arjuna questions how a person can fix his mind on Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet at such a time.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: Here Arjuna, asks certain pertinent questions. The question what should be the thought process in the mind of a person at the time of death? And this is known as martya-loka. Because everybody here has to die. And how are we going to face death? And how are we going to get back to Kṛṣṇa? So, Arjuna was asking these questions.

We know that the devotee wants to go back to Godhead. How many of you would like to take birth again and again and again? But now you have taken birth in India. So it is a very auspicious place. Here different avatāras have all appeared – Bhagavān Rāma, Paraśurāma, Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya, and many others. There are other planets and other places in the universe, but India is a special place. This material world is known as a karma-bhūmi. Because here we can do karma, so by this karma normally we get material benefits. And sometimes we go up, sometimes we go down. But doing karma is not a guarantee of leaving this universe. To leave the universe we should do devotional service. Devotional service means that it is directly connected to Kṛṣṇa. So, if we are attached to Kṛṣṇa, we go back to Kṛṣṇa. So the focus of our human life is to develop attachment for Kṛṣṇa. And the reason why we are here, is because we are detached from Kṛṣṇa.

Lord Caitanya showed us that by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, naturally we can develop attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! (Guru Mahārāja did kīrtana)

So in this way by chanting, hearing śravaṇam, kīrtanam, naturally our attachment for Kṛṣṇa develops. And especially the human beings are endowed with this propensity to chant the holy name. Someone told me in Māyāpur there was a dog which came every night. So I hid behind the jāli and saw, and sure enough a dog came, bowed down to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s āsana, paid his obeisances, flat out. Then he got up and left. So we don’t know, we know that some devotees, if they are very offensive they get a body of a monkey or a dog. But it is hard to say who he (the dog) was in his previous life. So, we want to read about Lord Kṛṣṇa, we want to hear His message, and we like to discuss His instructions. So, Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā that is why this is called kṛṣṇa-kathā. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is spoken about Kṛṣṇa. That is also kṛṣṇa-kathā. So somehow or another we should be absorbed in kṛṣṇa-kathā. [Video break]

I heard from Śyāma Rasika dāsa, how Lord Caitanya came to the outskirts of Mumbai and He came about 50 km from Mumbai. So Lord Caitanya, He came very close to the city of Mumbai, I forget the name. Near Mira Road and New Mumbai. Lord Caitanya left His lotus feet here. And naturally the devotees, they can get the blessings of Lord Caitanya. I heard Lord Caitanya also visited Nāsika. That is not so far. At that time it was known as Sūrpāraka and now its name is… It is a great opportunity that Lord Caitanya left His foot dust nearby Mumbai. Who would like to get the dust of Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet? Maybe we can establish His lotus feet there! This is described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā and Mahābhārata. With the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu we can advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And you see those people who had love for Kṛṣṇa they naturally felt great love for Him. That is what we should aspire for. Haribol! Gaurāṅga!

Śrīla Prabhupāda, he desired that Mumbai was his office. Vṛndāvana was his residence and Māyāpur was his place of worship. So, you are all in one of the special places of Śrīla Prabhupāda. And a good place to practice devotional service. We don’t want to take birth again in the material world. Instead of performing puṇya-karma we want to do devotional service. Our devotional service should get us back to Kṛṣṇa. So, many of the devotees here, they are very advanced. And we want them to achieve the perfection of spiritual life. Means you have to be a bit focused. You have to try for it. Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving example like, the fish. When they are caught in the fisherman’s net, the fish flip around. They cannot get out of the net how much ever they try. They do different things but cannot get out like jumping, wriggling. But they stay caught in the net. The fisherman if he throws the fish out of the net the fish get freed. So this is Kṛṣṇa’s net of the material world. You may try to get out but you will not be able unless Kṛṣṇa sets us free! So we want to get out of the net and we want to be free. So, this net is very strong. And the conditioned soul is not able to get out. But by the mercy, if Kṛṣṇa sets us free, then we are free. This material world is meant as a type of prison house. But we want to get out of this prison house. So, normally it is very hard. Lord Caitanya, He made it very easy! Only chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and His name. That is why we everyday chant in the temple. And we can chant in our house, anywhere.

Thank you very much that you are chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Do you have any questions?

Question: Is it possible if someone at the time of death cannot or is not able to remember Kṛṣṇa, can he still go back to Godhead?

Jayapatākā Swami: There are many ways one remembers Kṛṣṇa. Ajāmila, remembered his son, his son’s name was Nārāyaṇa. So at the time of death, he was chanting the name of his son. Somehow, he remembered the original Nārāyaṇa. Like that Kṛṣṇa for His devotee, He also helps. And if the devotee remembers Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will come or He may send His devotees.

Question: How can understand that our preaching activities are going in the right direction or not?

Jayapatākā Swami: If people are answering and accepting your preaching, and becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, then we think our preaching is going well.

Question: Two days ago, your health was not good. I was feeling very sad. What can I do for you?

Jayapatākā Swami: Many devotees are praying for me, doing various sacrifices, so that is helping. Also, devotees if they follow the regulative principles, that also helps me.

Question: Whatever offences we have committed how can we absolve of them and not commit them in the future as well?

Jayapatākā Swami: Firstly, we should avoid doing aparādhas. At the time of initiation, you read the ten offences of the holy name. This is the system so that we don’t break the regulative principles. First, if we commit an offence to someone knowingly, then we can pray for forgiveness. In Māyāpur, there is a place where specially we go we get freed from Vaiṣṇava aparādha. Aparādha-bhañjanera-kuliyā-pāḍa And if you did some aparādhā it can get forgiven by touching the feet of the devotee you offended. And I have seen many shoes outside. I see devotees touching those shoes. You should try to avoid committing offences.

Question: You said that everyone should know. Here we know Rādhā Rāsabihārī. We know Sītā Rāmacandra also, but Gaura Nitāi everyone does not know. In ISKCON there is a system that we need to read Bhagavad-gītā first, then Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and then Caitanya-caritāmṛta. That is the culture in Bangladesh also. You cannot read Caitanya-caritāmṛta before finishing reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I understand that the Caitanya-bhāgavata is very nice for the children also because Nimāi’s pastimes are there. My question is that before finishing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can we also suggest or let the devotees read the Caitanya-bhāgavata and Caitanya-caritāmṛta?

Jayapatākā Swami: When we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa we chant Pañca-tattva before that.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

The thing is that the teachings of Caitanya-caritāmṛta are very advanced. Therefore, as far as the teachings  are concerned we may be able to understand it better there. Now we know in principle, basic, that Lord Caitanya is very merciful, and we can know basic things about Lord Caitanya. But to read Caitanya-caritāmṛta there are some pastimes which are very advanced and we may not understand all the nectar. So we study something before, something after. We know that Lord Caitanya, He has given us the special mercy. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

He (Vrajeśvara Gaura dāsa) is reminding me that in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam introduction Śrīla Prabhupāda has given description of Lord Caitanya in about 50 pages, and you can read that too.

I am finishing my class quickly so you can have your prasāda soon!