20200204 Question and Answer Session

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

Haribol! So, I had Mayapur Executive Board meeting till 7. I went to the meeting that was held at the old Gurukul and I spoke for a few minutes and I came back, it was 8. And then I took my dinner, and it is a little late. Maybe we will have question and answer till 9.30. If anyone has any questions, we can also take over the internet. Campakalatā with 20 devotees from the UK, are they here? He is not from the UK! Ha! Ahlādinī Rādhā has a paper if you want to write down the questions.

Question: How did Murāri Gupta and Caitanya Mahāprabhu meet?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, Murāri Gupta was a physician. He was giving a class on the patañjali-yoga system. So Lord Caitanya as a small child, He was walking by and He didn’t like His devotee giving a class on yoga, on the impersonal yoga. So, He interrupted Murāri Gupta’s class by mimicking what he was saying – And you should do prāṇāyāma, hold your nose (Jayapatākā Swami repeated this like the child Nimāi in a sing song manner!!) And everyone laughed! Ha! Ha! Ha! Murāri Gupta, he was seriously giving a class. You should do your breathing in, breathing out. (Again, Jayapatākā Swami repeated this like the child Nimāi in a sing song manner!) Then he said, “Who are You? You are the son of a brāhmaṇa, why are You acting in this way?” Lord Caitanya said, “Just that you have interrupted your bhakti-yoga, I will interrupt your lunch!” So that day, Lord Caitanya went back to His house, and He dressed up just like Kṛṣṇa. Peacock in His hair, wearing a sash around His waist, having ankle bells, He walked over to Murāri Gupta’s house. Murāri Gupta lived very close to Lord Caitanya’s house. So then Murāri Gupta was taking his prasāda and then Lord Caitanya in a very loud voice, He said, “Murāri Gupta!!!” Murāri Gupta got shocked, “Who is that loud voice?” He went out to the door and he saw little Caitanya. He said, “Just like you have interrupted your bhakti, teaching impersonal yoga, I have interrupted your lunch!” He was wondering, how does this little toddler know bhakti-yoga, haṭha-yoga? And then he walked away - Lord Caitanya walked away. Murāri Gupta thought, He was just like Kṛṣṇa, only He is yellow, golden color, otherwise He is just like Kṛṣṇa. So then he went to the house, at that time Jagannātha Miśra, he was holding Lord Caitanya, smelling His hair. And then his wife would take Him on her lap and she hugged Gaurāṅga and then held Him. Murāri Gupta had walked in but they didn’t see Him. But then he finally saw, he bowed down and started:

namo brahmaṇya-devāya
go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca
jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya
govindāya namo namaḥ

So, Jagannātha Miśra, he was bewildered, why is the greatest physician of Navadvīpa coming to my office and why is he offering kṛṣṇa-praṇāma? He asked Murāri Gupta, “We are very honored that you have come! You are a famous physician of Navadvīpa. Please tell us what can we do for you?” And he looked at Lord Caitanya. He grabbed Jagannātha Miśra, “I am going to tell you something. You are the most fortunate.” “AH, AH, I WANT MUMMY! AHHHHH!” Lord Caitanya started screaming, so he was censored, so he could not speak what he wanted. But he wanted to say that Jagannātha Miśra was the most fortunate person because his son was Kṛṣṇa Himself! Haribol! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! I think that was the first time that Murāri Gupta met with Lord Caitanya. But maybe he met before, I don’t know. But as I can remember it was the first time. At least on this occasion, he realized that the little baby, Gaurāṅga, Gaurahari, Śacīnandana was actually Kṛṣṇa Himself.

Question from Lalitāṅgī Rādhā devī dāsī?

Question: Please accept my respectful obeisances. Dearest Guru Mahārāja. When the disciple breaks his promises, why should the guru take of suffering for the disciple’s mistake. When it is the law of karma, that as you sow you should reap? How far is this that the merciful guru has to suffer for the mindless disciple? – Lalitāṅgī Rādhā devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see the guru presents the disciple to Kṛṣṇa through the guru-paramparā. And if the guru presents an unqualified disciple, then he will be responsible. It says that if a disciple consciously breaks a principle, he is known as a guru-drohī, killer of the guru. Because the guru and him are connected or he or she are connected to the guru in a special relationship. If the disciple does something good, it also benefits the guru. If the disciple does something bad, it also harms the guru. So to one extent, will depend on how Kṛṣṇa judges the matter. If the guru accepted some unqualified disciple, who he should not have accepted, then he will be held responsible by Lord Kṛṣṇa. And that is why I try to - also, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he would have a time where he would observe the disciple, aspiring disciple. So similarly, we have a time, one should chant 16 rounds, follow the four principles for six months, then they can take guru-āśraya. And then they should practice for some more time, minimum six months then they can take first initiation. So I have a checklist that one should read Bhagavad-gītā twice, one should read the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one should read certain books, do some things, learn certain mantras like tilaka mantra, this checklist is available on the website and in my office. Those who take shelter, they should have a checklist because you have to follow most of those things before you can take initiation. Some gurus have disciples wait for two years, three years, four years or more. I thought better than that just having people wait a long time, have some things that they should do so that if they are enthusiastic, they can finish in six months, if they are not enthusiastic, they may take a few years. It is up to them! But if we have no system and we accept disciples who are not sincere, then Kṛṣṇa can hold us responsible. That is why request the sincere disciples, they can do some extra circumambulations to tulasī and offer the results to me.

Submission: Hare Krsna Dear Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisances. I have got the opportunity to serve here in the Māyāpur International School. I need your mercy so that I can serve properly. Please bless me. – Sudevī Jayaśrī.

Question: For brahmacārīs they are staying at the temple, so they are following a particular schedule. What should be the sleeping time, wake up time for gṛhastha devotees? And if anyone is enabled to follow the routine properly, can they progress in their Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Your servant,

Sudevī Jayaśrī.

Jayapatākā Swami: First let me offer my blessings, Sudevī Jayaśrī devī dāsī! Is that alright! She is teaching in the International School. What does she teach? Art? Somehow, I see that here in Māyāpur, after maṅgala-ārati, they have japa class for visitors and sometimes there are 500 visitors, or thousand visitors or 600 visitors. And they come to maṅgala-ārati, they chant one round of japa and we see how auspicious it is, maṅgala-ārati. I see on the Māyāpur TV, I was told by the doctor I should avoid mixing with the crowds, because I am very susceptible to disease. But if one can attend the maṅgala-ārati, that is very auspicious. At least a couple of times a week. If one can attend the guru-pūjā and class, that is also very good. So, how much sleep should the gṛhastha take? How much do you need? Ha! That you can go and attend the maṅgala-ārati. It was my desire that in the Master Plan we should have different smaller temples like community temples so that the gṛhasthas could easily attend. But they haven’t designed that yet. So it is a distance to come from Gaura Nagar or Śacī Nagar to the temple. One lady, she was hit by a car and it was a hit and run, she was found dead. So that is a bit dangerous to go alone on the road. I don’t know. As much as possible, for those gṛhasthas who live in the community, it is very easy for them to attend the maṅgala-ārati. For those of them who live at the extreme end, it may be a bit difficult. At least, sometimes in the week they could attend, other times they could attend the class, the guru-pūjā, you know. This morning program is very auspicious and as much as one can participate, it is very beneficial. Whether one can make advancement? It depends. If you have some reason like small children, cannot leave them alone, cannot take them along, I mean, I think that Kṛṣṇa understands. But otherwise, there is no reason why you shouldn’t attend, then why not? Definitely you benefit. Starting the day by seeing the Deities, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, certainly it is very auspicious.

Question: Guru Mahārāja, Please accept my respectful obeisances. We are from Sacramento, USA. This is our first time in Māyāpur. How should one live in a dhāma? – Aṣṭasakhi Mādhavī devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, for a materialist, a vacation means sleep, on the beach or something! For us, going to a dhāma, we want to do as much service as possible. Because by reading, by chanting by serving, everything and anything we do gets multiplied by a thousand times. So we want to get as much credit as possible. If anything you do, you get a thousand times benefit in the dhāma, then won’t you want to do more service? We have the Pañca-krośa parikramā, the Aṣṭa-krośa, so we have different parikramās, different spiritual activities. So we want to do as much as possible, see the Deities, offer lamp to the Deities, see the different temples. We have the Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā temple in Rājāpur. We have also the Sīmantini Gaurāṅga temple in Rājāpur, next to the Jagannātha temple. So just like Sacramento, Sacrament is the best food. So here just walking is more than an Aśvamedha-yajña. Just lying down is like paying praṇāma. Eating prāsada gives thousand times the benefit. Don’t get sick, don’t eat too much! So Aṣṭasakhi Mādhavi, hope this answers your question.

Any more questions?

Question: Dear Guru Mahārāja. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! Few devotees told me that one has to get the permission of the spiritual master to wear Narasiṁha Kavaca. Is that true? I am humbly asking you permission to wear Narasiṁha Kavaca.

Your eternal servant,

Jayatā Hariṇī devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: If possible, then guru can chant prayer on the Narasiṁha Kavaca and bless it and that way empower it. So better to get permission from the guru and get him to chant on the Narasiṁha Kavaca. But if the guru is not present, you can get another senior devotee to do this.

Question: Indrānuja Govinda dāsa from Croatia: This is from your morning walk with Śrīla Prabhupāda, excerpt, question is about: could you please us more about this Jarāsandha Vaiṣṇava?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, Jarāsandha worshipped Lord Viṣṇu but he wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa. So Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if someone wants to kill Kṛṣṇa, they are a demon. But Jarāsandha he was superficially worshipping Viṣṇu, but he was also trying to kill Kṛṣṇa, who is the source of Viṣṇu. So that is why only he had material opulence. By his worship of Viṣṇu, he gets some material opulence. He didn’t get spiritual blessing. He didn’t get spiritual bliss. Neither did he want to know about spiritual bliss. He only wanted material. So even by worshipping Kṛṣṇa the demons get some material opulence. But if they are not a devotee, if they want to kill Kṛṣṇa, then your worship of Viṣṇu will only get you material benefit. Something you will get benefit, but that will not be the real spiritual bliss. That is the real thing to get. So unfortunately, although Jarāsandha appeared to be a Vaiṣṇava, he was worshipping Viṣṇu, because he wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa, he was considered a demon. Not a real Vaiṣṇava. Jarāsandha Vaiṣṇava is a kind of, you can say, a facetious thing. So called Vaiṣṇava, worshipping Viṣṇu but you want to kill Kṛṣṇa. Are there any more questions?

Alright! Thank you all and good night! Where are the devotees from the UK?