20180510 Evenining Darśana

The following is an evening darshan given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 10th, 2018 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. This evening darshan was about the glories of Puruṣottama month.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpāṁ tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: So fast approaching is the Puruṣottama month. There are twelve months in a year and one can earn good karma. That is called sakāma months. So they think that this extra month if you do not offer fruitive works it is bad. Medhā Ṛṣi, he went to Godhead quite quick and he had a daughter and he did not have time to marry her. So she went to Durvāsā Muni and asked him for a blessing and he advised her that she should follow the Puruṣottama month. And She criticized him and said I came expecting a blessing and you gave me the worst thing! Normally Durvāsā Muni is not somebody you mess around with. He is known to curse. And he thought that this is the daughter of my friend and her offense to the Puruṣottama month is so bad that anything I would curse it would be light compared to that. So then she became very ugly and she started worshipping Lord Śiva and Lord Śiva appeared to her and He asked what do you want? She said, “I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband”. Five times. He said one is enough you asked for five, so you get five husbands. No, no, I just want one she said. But she said five times, so that was given to her. So she took birth as Draupadī and she had five husbands. That is another story.

Since everyone criticized the extra month, she was lamenting that I am being criticized by everyone. So Nārāyaṇa took her up to see Lord Kṛṣṇa and she explained her plight that everyone was calling her mala māsa and so on. So Kṛṣṇa said this will be the month known as Puruṣottama as I am known as Puruṣottama, this month will be known as Puruṣottama. All My good qualities will be present in this month. And one can get spiritual advancement very quickly in this month. This month will be called Puruṣottama month. So like this the month became known as Puruṣottama and every three years there a leap month.

So this is a month of niṣkāma and it is especially good for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One can be a gṛhastha, have kids and at the end of life end up in Goloka. So actually if you want to be Kṛṣṇa conscious it is a very good month. But if you want to go to Svarga or get some good karma, it is not a good month. That is why most of the smārta brāhmaṇas do not like it because they are into sakāma. But the devotees like this and it is good for niṣkāma karma. You observe it by following the basic rules of Kārtika month, offering lamps, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, worshipping the Deities of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and such spiritual activities. Like giving out food to the Vaiṣṇavas, prasādam, even give charity, bathing in the morning if possible. It is not very difficult for devotees. But it has so many glories that even Kṛṣṇa, He cannot say all the glories. I posted a short synopsis but devotees speculate, I will fast for one month, some people do the haviṣyānna. I will be publishing haviṣyānna recipes. Some say they want to do Ekādaśī for one month. It is not said in the śāstra. Do not speculate. Do what is said in the śāstra. For the full time devotees, they take prasādam and observe the Puruṣottama month. If they want the brāhmaṇas can worship the Śālagrāma-śilā. And worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. The vrata lasts for one month, it starts on Amāvasyā and ends on Caturdaśī. So this is a bonus. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he wrote about the glories of Puruṣottama month. Also Sanātana Gosvāmī in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. It is mentioned about it in certain Purāṇas – Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa and mentioned by Vālmīki in the Rāmāyaṇa. It is optional. Prabhupāda did not require that the devotees do this. But in general, our previous ācāryas say that it is a good thing to do. Any way we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, offer lamps, worship the Deities of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. We should hear attentively Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That is what we would do in any case. There was a devotee, he was falling asleep during Bhāgavatam class. Prabhupāda told him go out and plough the fields. He could not stay awake and so, go plough the fields!

So this is Puruṣottama month. Coming to be in mid-May till mid-June. And it changes its location every three years. So this year it is in May. In some other years it has some other place.

Are there any questions?

Prabhupāda did not want us to stop our devotional services. So in Puruṣottama month we can go on with our devotional service plus a little extra.

Question: How this month can be used for preaching like Dāmodara month?

Jayapatākā Swami: This month has three levels. One is for those who are fully doing devotional service. One is for those who are practicing varṇāśrama-dharma and little devotional service. The other one is for those who are partially following varṇāśrama-dharma and for the rest of the time doing devotional service. So I do not think anyone really does varṇāśrama-dharma. That is why we are concentrating on the first one. If someone wants to know we can tell the other two levels. The point is to awaken our love for Kṛṣṇa, to respect Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and since we have lots of people who are partially practicing devotional service – two rounds, four rounds, we can get them to practice some aspect of devotional service. In this way we can preach.

Question: By what name Prabhupāda used to call you Guru Mahārāja?

Jayapatākā Swami: Dāsa. When I was a brahmacārī he called Jayapatākā Dāsa. When he gave me sannyāsa he would call me Jayapatākā Swami or Tridaṇḍi Swami Jayapatākā. And later when I became a guru, I became a Tridaṇḍi Gosvāmī. That is what I remember. Sometimes he would say Mahārāja, sometimes he would call me by name. What is he supposed to call me? Ha!

One more question.

Question: What extra services can a person perform if he or she is away from devotees in the temple? From Dhruv, Arijit Prabhu’s son.

Jayapatākā Swami: Dhruv? One can visit the temple; one can distribute books to other hostel mates. Or pass out some invites to some functions of the temple. They can also chant and read. In temples devotees say they have no time to read, they are too busy! So being separated you get more opportunity to read. And almost anything that do you can do it for pleasing Kṛṣṇa. So you get education, you think I am doing this to use it in Kṛṣṇa’s service because then people will listen to me. Or I will be able to maintain my family. Everything we do, we do that for Kṛṣṇa.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!