20110830 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question-and-Answer session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 30^th, 2011 in Sri Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The Question-and-Answer session was given with English and Bengali translation.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

In this verse is on accepting knowledge from a guru. That by having such knowledge, one will never fall again. And they also realize that everything is a part of Kṛṣṇa. We are all, we are madhyastha-śakti of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And Lakṣmī, Rādhā, they are the internal potency. Actually all the Lakṣmīs, all the sakhīs, all the mañjarīs, all the gopīs, they are all extensions of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. So we are meant to serve Kṛṣṇa, jīvera svarūpa hoye nitya-kṛṣṇa dāsa, but somehow we are trying to imitate Kṛṣṇa. We would like to take the position of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So as a result, we are in this material world. We get equal results for the activities we perform, as we act we get the reactions accordingly. We do not relish the bliss of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. We get a taste of some sort of happiness through sense gratification in this material world. And by this sense perceptions, sometimes we are happy and sometimes we are suffering. Same senses can give us happiness or give us suffering. Now it’s summer season and now we appreciate the fans. But in the winter, we don’t want fan. In the winter we want to be inside, away from wind. So the same breeze will give us happiness in the summer and give us suffering in the winter. So Lord Caitanya is so merciful that he gives us the taste of paramānanda.

Now this is shared by Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura, he says viṣaya chāḍiyā, sei rase majiyā, mukhe bala ‘hari hari’ - Give-up the material attachment and become submerged in the transcendental bliss and chant the names of Hari. So this is the process of Lord Caitanya. (*kīrtana starts*)

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

So Lord Nityānanda, he said I would like to give you the pure bliss. Unadulterated happiness. Prabhupāda said that the happiness in the material world is like having sweet-rice with healthy… sand! So when take it, there is bits in your teeth. Would you like to have sweet-rice with sand?

Devotees: No!

Who wants?

Devotee: Nobody!

Nobody wants! So the pure happiness we can’t get in this material world. But Lord Nityānanda, he instantly gives us this taste of pure happiness in this material world.

Devotees: Hari bol!!

Who wants the mercy of Lord Nityānanda?

Devotees: Hari bol!

Nitāi! (*devotees repeat*)

Nitāi! (*devotees repeat*)

Gaura! (*devotees repeat*)

Gaura! (*devotees repeat*)

So this is the special mercy, if we can simply engage ourselves as Kṛṣṇa dāsa-dāsānudāsa. Lord Caitanya he said, he said I am not a brāhmaṇa I am not a sannyāsī, I am not a gṛhastha. I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro
nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrnāmṛtābdher
gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ

So this is the secret how to get the paramānanda. Now you will have your last chance to get darśana of Rādhā-Mādhva aṣṭa-sakhī, Prahlāda Nṛsiṁhadeva and Pañca-tattva. At about 8:30 they close. Now is your chance to offer prayers or donations or anything. 

We will answer questions now. How many we got?

Translator: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Maharaja. Today we only have 15 questions.

Jayapatākā Swami: Fifteen! (laughter)

We have one question of online from yesterday, can I start with that? Susmita Siani, Gurgaon. 

Question: Dear Guru Mahārāja please accept my humble obeisances. Once I was reading an article in which teachings about great ācāryas were written. One was that the two most valuable things that a devotees has are beads and the guru. And one should not advertise them to one or the other. And one who does so are not so serious. But we all keep glorifying our guru and chant when we are out in the market place. Guru Mahārāja, please help!

Jayapātāka Swami: Sanātana Gosvāmī says that if we say the name of our guru, we should say so very respectfully. We should touch our forehead. [Jayapātāka Swami shows by touching his folded palms to his forehead] and say the name of your guru by saying ‘Śrīla Gurudeva’ and his name, otherwise we don’t. But if they ask, you don’t have to hide. Somehow, our beads are stolen here. You have to be very careful. I know a lot of devotees who have lost their beads. So please be careful with your beads, especially when you get initiated and get the beads from the guru.

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Question: Lord Caitanya said the constitutional position of the living entity is that he is the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. But at tulasī-ārati, every day we sing please make me your maid servant. So how to become a maidservant, from a servant? If you can kindly share a few words on this subject.

Jayapatākā Swami: On this subject, Lord Śiva wanted to enter into rāsa-līlā pastimes but Rādhārāṇī said that there can only be one male and that male is Śrī Kṛṣṇa. If you want to see the rāsa-līlā performance, you have to take a female maidservant form. In this way Lord Śiva accepted the form of a gopī and he is the gate keeper (dvāra-pālaka) of the rāsa arena. And his name is Gopeśvara Śiva. Those who want to enter the rāsa, they have to pass through her. Tulasī is the form of Vṛndā Devī, and by her blessings one can achieve the form of a gopī. Therefore, our ācāryas have prayed under the lotus feet of Tulasī Devī in this way.

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Question: Guru Maharaja, there was a devotee from Dhaka, Bangladesh. He had neck beads and he used to chant sometimes. But he was also eating meat and fish. He was very devoted to Giridhārī and Jagannātha. Earlier this month, he told his sons that my health is not very good. I would like to get some Kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Can you please arrange a little mahā-prasādam? So their sons arranged for some mahāprasādam from the neighbour, who was a devotee. As soon as he took the prasādam, he chanted the name of Giridhārī and Jagannātha and he left the body. What kind of destination will this devotee have? By the way, his śrāddha ceremony is also going to be done with the mahā-prasādam from the Giridhārī temple. 

Jayapatākā Swami: He will get a very good destination! Because Lord Kṛṣṇa declares in the Bhagavad-gītā that one who chants my name at the time of his death will be able to reach me. But if one thinks that, “What is the use of so much sādhanā and hard labor? I will simply think of Kṛṣṇa at the time of death and I will chant his names, and in the meantime, I will eat meat, fish etc.” This does not usually happen all the time. Usually at the time of death, one has so many different thoughts in his mind. But this gentleman was somehow taking the name of Giridhārī and Jagannātha, and he took Kṛṣṇa remnants. He is very good. He is very very fortunate!

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Question (Prachi from Jaipur): How to be equipoised in both happiness and distress?

Jayapatākā Swami: We want to experience Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Therefore, material happiness and material distress are equal to us. At-least if we know everything is temporary, the sadness will leave us soon and also the sukha will leave us soon. So, this a non-permanent situation we should tolerate. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. He allows us to have some material happiness. But we should not think that this is the ultimate goal. We should try and achieve real bhakti.

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Rādhākiśorī Devī dāsī: How should the income in gṛhastha-āśrama be divided?

Jayapatākā Swami: This is a big topic. Rūpa Gosvāmī, he had divided his savings into three parts. He gave half for Kṛṣṇa’s service. He gave one quarter to the family and one quarter he kept for emergency. But some say that this how he divided his savings. So there isn’t an across-the-board consensus exactly how this is done. However, every gṛhastha should see how much he can give every month to Kṛṣṇa’s service. We give that for meeting all the expenses of preaching, some local temple, our guru or some religious projects. That varies from one person to next depending on how much they are able to donate.

You should tell me that there are so many questions, because I cannot go unlimited. So thank you all very much!

Hari Bol!