20220401 Question and Answer Session

Question: At what point we as followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda should start reading the writings of the previous ācāryas and what should be our mood?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda, he wanted that his brahminical disciples be more knowledgeable and therefore he said that to get second initiation one should get Bhakti-śāstri. And he said that sannyāsīs should have Bhakti-vaibhava. And previously he explained to Haṁsadūta and his wife that all my men and women disciples should pass the Bhakti-vedānta degree. At that time Bhakti-vedānta had the Teachings of Lord Caitanya and that they could accept disciples. So of course, in India, they are still debating whether ladies can be gurus. But according to Śrīla Prabhupāda, he said that if they are knowledgeable, they could be guru. So any way I would like to have all my disciples to get the Bhakti-vedānta degree, Bhakti-Sārvabhauma and in this way learn all the philosophy. After that, then Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that we could read Jīva Gosvāmī’s Ṣaṭ-sandarbhas, those who are very qualified. So I think that first devotees should study the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda and then naturally they can after finishing that, could read other books that Śrīla Prabhupāda recommended.

Question: When the spiritual master is alive, his disciples should not accept disciples. How can the disciple after taking Bhakti-vedānta degree initiate in the presence of his guru?

Jayapatākā Swami: If the guru gives instruction to accept disciples, then one has to follow the instructions of the guru. In the Remuna for instance, there is a Deity of Rasikānanda and his guru is Śyāmānanda. So he was a guru in the presence of his guru. Because he got instruction from Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita to accept disciples. I have in Russia, Caitanya Candra Caraṇa dāsa and I asked him to be a guru. He has thousands of disciples, and he is preaching in Russia. Similarly, I am asking other disciples who are qualified, and unless one is asked by the guru it is true that they should not accept disciples. But if the guru asks, if he orders then that has to be carried out by the disciple.

Question: Is vivarta-vāda, nirviśeṣa-vāda and māyāvāda the same?

Jayapatākā Swami: Māyāvāda is like general. Vivarta-vāda, is the way that Śaṅkarācārya explains it, and part of the Māyāvāda. Lord Caitanya showed how that was defective.

Question: You were mentioning yesterday in class about demarcation of Gaura-maṇḍala Bhūmi. And you mentioned the different directions it reaches in West Bengal, Odisha and some parts of Bangladesh. But we also know there were many close associates of Lord Caitanya who have taken birth in other parts of India like South India and Maharashtra, also Lord Caitanya had gone and had pastimes in South India, Maharashtra, Vṛndāvana and other places. How do we consider Gaura-maṇḍala Bhūmi demarcation and what is part of Gaura-maṇḍala Bhūmi?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see Lord Caitanya went to many places. He went to Bangladesh, He went all over South India, He went to Maharashtra, Gujarat. So He also went to Uttara Pradesh, Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana is Vraja and Jagannātha Purī is Śrī Kṣetra. Gaura-maṇḍala Bhūmi is 168 km from Māyāpur. So that means up to Remuṇā in the south. To the South-east we have Puṇḍarika dhāma. And North-east is Advaita Ācārya birthplace. And North-west is beyond Kānāi-Naṭaśālā to the hills. Forgot the name of the hills. So that particular area is known as Gaura-maṇḍala Bhūmi. And in Odisha it is known as Śrī Kṣetra. And in Vṛndāvana it is known as Vraja dhāma. So maybe the associates of Lord Caitanya were from some other place, the holy place around Kāverī river and Śrīraṅgam, that may not be Gaura-maṇḍala Bhūmi but that is a holy place. Like that India has lots of holy rivers, holy places and they are not necessarily Gaura-maṇḍala Bhūmi.

Question: In the purport it was written that accepting of untruth as truth is Vivarta-vāda. Is there a reason that Māyāvāda philosophy is given more emphasis as Vivarta-vāda than the acceptance of the body as the self?

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t understand. Kṛṣṇa’s body is not different from Kṛṣṇa. Our body is different from our self. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. He is transcendental. His body, His self are the same. So the Māyāvādīs they think that Kṛṣṇa’s body and Kṛṣṇa is different. But that is offensive. Kṛṣṇa doesn’t change. He can create, maintain and destroy but He remains the same.

Question: Śrīla Prabhupāda said that in order to preach one must have life. Can you please explain this?

Jayapatākā Swami: Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura he said prāṇa āche jāra sei hetu pracāra. If someone has spiritual life, he can preach. The mistake we make in accepting the impersonalism actually kills our spiritual life. And therefore, we are not able to preach. But if we understand the actual substance of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and then we can easily preach. That is why we want people to study Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, study the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and study the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So how Lord Caitanya convinced these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs is very important, for us to understand. We pray to Śrīla Prabhupāda the way that he explains the philosophy to the voidists and the impersonalists. So similarly, we should understand Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings and we are able to understand the impersonalist idea.

Question: In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11th canto chapter 5 devotees appear in various places in the Age of Kali that those people will be very clear hearted who drinks the water of Kāverī, Tāmaraparaṇī and Padmavatī. Most of the things it says that the devotees in Tāmaraparaṇī are very pure hearted. So just want to understand that if we say the mantra gange ca yamune ca godāvarī sarasvatī…we chant. But we see that in South India they say Kāverī, Tāmaraparaṇī, Godāvarī, Mahānadī. So I want to understand what is the significance of these devotees?

Jayapatākā Swami: You have already read the verses from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You are saying you don’t understand? These are holy rivers. And naturally people born by the holy river they get special benefit. We went on our safari there and in Tāmaraparaṇī the water has copper in it. So these places are very sacred. So, we see that in South India, sannyāsīs and brāhmaṇas still maintain certain rituals. Next to the Godāvarī in Rajahmundry, there was a couple and he was claiming to be Kalki avatāra. Kalki is coming at the end of Kali-yuga. We are about 5,000 years into Kali-yuga. Some devotee went and asked him, “Aren’t you a little early?” He said, “I may not be the Kalki avatāra but I am an avatāra and I am God! I AM GOD!” Śrīla Prabhupāda in Boston in 1969 when he arrived, he got many garlands and he said that they worship the spiritual master like God. But he doesn’t think he is God. If he thinks he is God, he is not G-O-D, he is D-O-G, dog. So Śrīla Prabhupāda he was very clear that he was a devotee.

When I had my stroke I was in the Bhakti Vedanta hospital. So they had a crew who does devotee care. One person used to give me daily report of what happens. He said that there were was one man who have many magazines, spiritual magazines. Brahma-kumārī, so many different religious organizations. So the devotee asked him are you interested in spiritual things. He said, “I am interested but every organization says your father is God. I am confused. Who is really God?” “Our founder says he is not God, he is a devotee of God.” “Wow!” And then he gave the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and he said that, “I never knew that there is a founder who said he is a devotee! So like that in India you have true people and people who are speculators.”

And so when I went Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the Bhagavad-gītā World Assembly and there was a person who had mauna-vratā because they were killing cows. And he had his followers to chant chapters of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīla Prabhupāda had his disciples to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. And then one Māyāvādī sannyāsī he wanted to compete so he said that chant, “Sat-cit-ānanda Kṛṣṇa! Sat-cit-ānanda Kṛṣṇa!” Śrīla Prabhupāda was so angry. But he said just chant and devotees started chanting. So everybody became very happy. You see the Māyāvādī sannyāsī he was speculating some mantra. In India we have many good people and some Māyāvādī, speculators. So that is why we want people to read Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and follow it.