20201117 Zoom Session with ISKCON IYF Kolkata

The following is a Zoom Session with a ISKCON Youth Forum in Kolkata INDIA by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 17th, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

So the doctor is supposed to be healthy and he treats the different patients. Some people are juniors, some are nurses, others are patients. So It is quite normal to see some sick people in the hospital. And so when we go there we don’t get obsessed by the sick people. Rather we go because the doctors, they take care of us. I was in the ICU once in Delhi. ICU is very hellish because people who are very critical, they go there. Someone is crying out, “Mago! Mago! Mago! Mother! I am feeling pain!” And some are standing, “Mago! Mago! Bāp re! Bāp re! So much pain!” And someone is just screaming! “Ahhhhhhhh!” You are supposed to sleep, but everybody is screaming! So, this is the ICU!

In the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, some people are still sick. But we should not be distracted by that. We should rather take our care and try to advance and get out of the ICU. First you go to the normal ward, and then you get discharged. So, like that we should try to get healthy, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. We shouldn’t give up, we should keep on trying, then gradually we will be healthy. And we will be blissful! Haribol!

So we face naturally different anarthas, different problems. And by taking shelter of the spiritual master, we gradually overcome these anarthas. And then we can actually taste spiritual bliss. We can taste bliss at every step. This is mentioned in the first verse of the Śikṣāṣṭaka— pratipadaṁ pūrṇāmṛtā svādanam— nectar at every step. When we get purified, we can taste nectar at every step. It is a gradual process; it may take us some time. But it will happen. So, we are very grateful that the youth are trying to achieve perfection. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying how the young people are the jewels of the country, and we want also that the young, intelligent devotees should take advantage of this human life, and reach the spiritual world at the end of this life. Help many others to also go back home. Sometimes this material world, has different difficulties. This is to teach us that this is not a place where we want to stay. We want to use our life to serve Kṛṣṇa. Whether as a brahmacārī or as a gṛhastha. These are two different āśramas. We should make spiritual life, the center of our existence. And for that reason, we practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness every day. Are there any questions?

Devotee: Can a gṛhastha devotee serve Kṛṣṇa equally like a brahmacārī?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see it depends on one’s nature. In the 8th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there is fight between the king of the elephants and the king of the crocodiles. So the fight was in the water. At one point, the elephant felt that he was losing. Because he is a land animal, and he was in the water. But the crocodile is a water animal. So somehow or another he was in his elements, so he was stronger. In the purport Śrīla Prabhupāda says that we should see what is our nature. That in every situation, we want to fight against māyā. So, if your nature is more vairāgya, then you can be a brahmacārī for a long time. If your nature is more gṛhastha, then you may be in that āśrama. But then it is important to have a devotee wife. So that both of you can fight against māyā as a team, to serve Kṛṣṇa. If the lady is simply māyā, then that will not be very convenient. It is very important to marry a Kṛṣṇa conscious lady, if you want to have a gṛhastha-āśrama. Of course, having a household means you have to work. Unless you have a service at the temple, you have to spend some time earning money. So it is little more of a balancing act. Being a brahmacārī has certain advantages – you don’t have these responsibilities. But again, you have to see what your nature is. If your nature is such that you have to be a gṛhastha, then you should try to find a devotee mate. See how you can do your devotional service together. Unfortunately, people when they look for a mate, they look for a nice face! But actually, you have to deal with the mind. So you should see that they are Kṛṣṇa conscious. One boy, he married a non-devotee, he was asked by his parents. She was a non-veg, but she promised I will be a vegetarian. After they had a baby, she started eating chicken. Then he said, “You promised you will be a vegetarian!” She said, “I promised, I tried, I was a vegetarian for a year. You know what background I came from – sorry, I have to eat meat!” So, better to have a devotee from the beginning. So at least there is less maintenance. Marriage is two people. You have to have the other person on the same wavelength. As brahmacārīs, when you are staying in the āśrama, there are some crazy people also. So there are ups and downs in both sides. Brahmacārīs, you don’t have responsibilities, so you can serve Kṛṣṇa 24 hours. But gṛhasthas can also do a lot of service. So if they make money, they can give some money to the temple. Or they can do various preaching. We want people to serve Kṛṣṇa, no matter what they are.

Śubhamaya Nitāi dāsa: How to remain steady in brahmacārī-āśrama. What are the things to be specially taken care of to be fixed in brahmacārī-āśrama?

Jayapatākā Swami: The secret is to always stay busy in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Mana, kāya, vākya – we want our deeds, our words and our thoughts to be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. If we can engage our intelligence how to expand the preaching, or how to improve our service, that is the best way. If we allow the mind to drift on to the objects of the senses, then naturally we become distracted. So somehow, it is important to have a service, you like to do. That you can be fully absorbed in. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me a lot of very absorbing services. And so that kept me busy, out of māyā. So the devotee who gives you service should see that you are fully engaged. If you are not fully engaged, tell them, because you need to be fully engaged to be free of māyā. As they say, idle mind is a devil’s workshop. If the mind is idle, if we are not fully fixed in our service, then the mind will start to think about māyā. Bhakti-yoga means to be fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Devotee: I am in non-devotee association due to this lockdown situation. I am trying to chant but am not able to continue more than a week and I fall again. It happened to me many times. Guru Mahārāja, how can I overcome this situation and practice in this situation?

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, when you hit the bottom point, you have hit the bottom point. In the Upadeśāmṛta there is a recommendation that one should have the association of devotees. And that you should avoid association of non-devotees. So, it seems that you are in such a situation, that you don’t have control over. So it is difficult to practice devotional service. If you can encourage the people with you to also meditate or chant or something, for an hour or so, then that may be very good. If you cannot do that, then somehow, probably they sleep late. Then you can go to be bed early and get up early and then you chant every morning when they are sleeping. Or you can do your studies, when they wake up. Stay busy that you have less association. The real point of association is to open our heart, hear to other people. Now you want to avoid them because their heart will be filled with non-devotional thoughts. So, somehow or another, spend your time reading. They may consider you as anti-social. Then you can ask them, could you help me understand this? Show some Prabhupāda book. Then they will read it, they will get purified. Or they may say, I don’t have time and go away. So you want to give them association, not take association. And if there is time, you can use your phone to talk with the devotees. In this way, you can have association with the devotees. I visit many devotees virtually. Actually, to associate with me materially, you have to be quarantined for 14-days. I am always associating with devotees, virtually. So you can associate with devotees virtually. And in this way, there is lot of devotee association. So these are a few things that came to my mind.

Devotee: I stay in a rented place near my workplace, far from devotee association. Somehow trying to keep my bhakti life alive. Since everyday I have to do all the housework myself, it is becoming very difficult to find time for book reading and other devotional services, after coming back from office. I can only somehow finish my 16 rounds. In such situation what should I do so that I can stay fixed at your lotus feet?

Jayapatākā Swami: Ladies, they have to do a lot of housework. They ask me similar questions. But you see to be working plus have to do the housework. So, the thing is that now we have the Bhagavad-gītā and different books that only association was face to face, now we can contact each other virtually. You can have an iPod and listen to the audio, Gītā and other audio śāstras. So in this way while doing your work like washing and cooking, you can hear the śāstra. But also you can download the classes from the internet, there is my Jayapatākā Swami App. That gives access to the different JPS Archives and different programs so you can hear the classes. Many other things are there like SoundCloud. You can also attend my daily classes which I give at 7pm. And so there are different ways where you can hear classes, you can associate, on Facebook, YouTube. You can download and you could also associate with different devotees, virtually. So there must be also classes of the IYF which you can attend. So this way you can get some devotee association. Actually, as I said, I don’t have much personal contact with the devotees. But all day long, I am meeting devotees. And I don’t even feel that I am not meeting them. I feel contact with them, as I feel contact with you! It used to be that only association was face to face, now we can contact each other virtually.

Devotee: The Host wanted some guidance from Guru Mahārāja, how to deal with the situation this year.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see in Chennai and Mangaluru, they used to have about 40 devotees attending class. I asked them how did they get more people? They said those 40 devotees have what’s app groups; they have friends. So they contacted all their friends in their what’s app group. They had a poster of Bhagavad-gītā Made Easy course. And in various ways they advertised it, promoted it and reached out. You know how many members they got? 9000! From 40 to 9000, registered! And then I told this in Mangaluru and they did the similar thing. They gave classes in several languages – South Indian, English, Hindi, Bengali. So they were able to get 10 to 11 thousand. So actually, they said that this lockdown has increased the outreach, many, many, many times! Given more opportunity for the devotees in the congregation and the IYF to preach. Before every class, their leader would train them up what to say, and then they would give the class. In Chennai, they used Zoom and paid money. But in Mangaluru they didn’t have money, so they used the Microsoft Google Meet and they got 25 free programs. 275 people for each one. So in that way, they got 10 to 11 thousand people. They didn’t have to pay any money. So there are ways that you can do it. If you use your brain. In Mangaluru, they have already done three batches. And they had lot of donations. For each of the Bhagavad-gītā Made Easy, they had to buy a Bhagavad-gītā. So that way, they sold thousands and thousands of Bhagavad-gītā. So you can write to Nāmaniṣṭha dāsa in Mangaluru or Sukīrti Mādhavī devī dāsī or Amarendra Gaura dāsa in Chennai, So you can write to Nāmaniṣṭha dāsa in Mangaluru or Sukīrti Mādhavī devī dāsī or Amarendra Gaura dāsa in Chennai, and find out how they do it. So, in that way, I don’t think we have really used our maximum potential yet. How we can get to different people to participate. I think that there are a lot of intelligent boys in this voice call. You would probably do much better than the south Indians, but no one has tried it yet! Microsoft had a free program. And there are different programs like this. Try to reach out and see how to deliver the books.

Tomorrow is the Śrīla Prabhupāda disappearance day. I couldn’t answer all the questions. I hope those who want to stay in touch can download the Jayapatākā Swami App, available on Google Play Store and Apple Store.