20161211 A Talk at the ISKCON Mīrā Road Temple

The following is an arrival address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 11th 2016 at Mumbai India. The arrival address was given at Mira Road with Hindi translation.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the topic that we were speaking earlier today, remembering how that yesterday was the Gītā Jayantī month. Lord Caitanya taught us that in this day of Brahmā, He comes once after Kṛṣṇa and He comes to teach how to be a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. He taught by His own example. So Lord Caitanya’s pastimes are super sweet. He was very merciful. Like Kṛṣṇa visited a few houses, Lord Caitanya for six years, He visited a house every day. So apart from the rainy season, He visited so many houses. There He was giving His association to all the conditioned souls, to all the devotees. So this is just one example of how merciful Lord Caitanya was. So I would like to give a chance to you if you have any questions, please ask questions. And then I heard some devotees from Śyāmdeśa have to go and catch a flight. So I have to go meet them. So first of all does anyone have any questions?

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Guru Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa says that whoever surrenders unto Me, to the degree one surrenders unto Me, I reciprocate with him. So what does complete surrender mean and how do we surrender to Kṛṣṇa. One can start chanting 16 rounds and follow the 4 regulative principles, after that how do we know how much are we surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. How do we understand how much we are surrendering to Kṛṣṇa and how do we actually surrender to Kṛṣṇa more?

Jayapatākā Swami: Avoid breaking the regulative principles. That’s one way to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Chanting your 16 rounds and avoiding breaking the principles. One thing about rāgānugā-bhakti is that we try to do our services more diligently, more expertly. You can do a service ordinarily or you can do it with a lot of panache, thinking how to do this in the best possible way. Surrender is not a thing in which you do A, B, C and then surrender. Rādhārāṇī always thinks that She can improve. You think that you are already surrendered and done everything, you are in māyā. If you think I need to increase my bhakti, you are doing well. Some things we do like raising children, we try to raise them very nicely, there is always something that we could do better. You can see areas in which you can improve in but the third party may think that you are doing everything very nicely.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. We are feeling so happy and grateful to have your association Guru Mahārāja. Guru Mahārāja, how do we develop taste in chanting the holy name of the Lord? Every day it is like you know I have to complete 16 rounds and you know it is happening after doing for so many years and even today it is like “Oh Yes! I have finished my 16 rounds”. So when will I, So what is the procedure to develop our taste for chanting the holy name of the Lord more and more. Please advise Guru Mahārāja.

Jayapatākā Swami: 16 rounds are 1 crore names in a year, names of Kṛṣṇa. Haridāsa Ṭhākura, the Nāmācārya used to chant 300,000 names in a day. That means what we would chant in a year, he would chant in a few days. 16 rounds is just a minimum. We try to use our time to distribute Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and do preaching service. This way we can increase our taste. The more and more you chant that’s developing the taste. I was chanting 32 rounds a day. I thought this is very good. But Prabhupāda, he corrected me. He said, “Chant 16 rounds and go out and preach. If you stay here all day, chant whole day, who will go out and preach?” But if we don’t have anything else to do, then we can chant. If you have some preaching, chant 16 rounds and preach.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Devotee: Gurudeva, I would like to know, normally we hear that we should read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books more and more and increase our taste for devotional service and at the same time doing more and more devotional service is also helping us to read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books more and more. So what is the kind of inspiration balance that we should do, we get more from reading books or in actually engaging in practical devotional service? Which part is more important for us?

Jayapatākā Swami: We would like to chant a minimum of 16 rounds a day. Then spend some time reading – an hour or an hour and a half every day. We hear from people that it is hard to get extra time to read. So we also have the Bhagavad-gītā oral and listen to the Gītā in traffic jams, while cooking. One lady made an oral Vaiṣṇava ke that one could read while driving, by hearing! So if we don’t read, we may think that our activities are material. If you don’t chant, you will not get a taste for devotional service. So both are important. It’s a question of balancing. I have some liver problem; if I take too much protein it’s bad for my kidney. If I take too less protein I get ascites, I get swelling. So we have to balance. So if you are a gṛhastha, you have to work, take care of your family. You have to chant, you have to read, and do so many things. So you have to balance. Keeps you out of māyā.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. It is said that by pleasing spiritual master, one can please Kṛṣṇa. So when I asked you last time, you said kṛṣṇa matiḥ astu. Always remember Kṛṣṇa never forget Kṛṣṇa. So if I take that instruction as my life and soul and try and endeavor to always remember Kṛṣṇa does that perfect my life Guru Mahārāja?

Jayapatākā Swami: Always remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him. That will go a long way. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇu-smaraṇam. So the third one from hearing. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇu-smaraṇam, so remembering is very important. Always remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him. Even if you do any other nine processes, that will give you all perfection. So this is the smaraṇam. Also try to be more on the processes. Hearing, hearing from the guru, hearing from the senior devotees, chanting, reading, so try to do as many of the nine processes as possible. So you gave the example of smaraṇam. If you do that perfectly that’s also alright. That’s one of the nine. Chanting 16 rounds is śravaṇam and kīrtanam.

Devotee: Guru Mahārāja, one more question. We have this Hari-nāma initiation and brāhmaṇa initiation in ISKCON. So what is the role of brāhmaṇa initiation in the entire process? Because when we take Hari-nāma initiation we already have your mercy and you know we have completely taken shelter of the guru. So what is the role of brāhmaṇa initiation? What is the importance attached to it?

Jayapatākā Swami: The brāhmaṇa initiation puts you on the fast track. And when you are on the freeway or highway, there is this fast track and slow track. If you want to go faster, you can take brāhmaṇa. It’s not essential. Also if you want to do the deity worship, saṁskāras, then the brāhmaṇical initiation is necessary. The brāhmaṇical initiation means you get pāñcarātrika mantras. But one should be very careful. Like when you are driving on the fast line, you get into an accident, it is more serious, because you were going faster. So if one is matured and can certainly follow strictly, then they can take the second. So the checklist for the second is more difficult. Test is more difficult.