20230107 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.20

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 7th, 2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.3.20.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Today is a very nice verse about hearing and glorifying about Lord Kṛṣṇa. Here those who don’t glorify Kṛṣṇa are compared to snakes and frogs. The ear hole of a snake and tongue of a frog. Now Māyāpur has developed a lot but when I had come first I used to hear the croaking of the frogs. And this way the frog would call out, and attract the snakes. And we used to hear that the snake would swallow the frog. Then the frog would scream but it would be a different type of sound. Have you heard? Unfortunately! Anyway, I am giving you some example to understand the scripture. Śrīla Prabhupāda in Los Angeles, he was speaking on this verse. If your ears are not filled with the glories of Lord Caitanya or Lord Kṛṣṇa, then your ears will be filled with nonsense. And this way, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that this way thousands and thousands of people distribute fictional books. And people are also accepting it all the time with great enthusiasm. When we go on the airplane we see how people are all reading some nonsense literature. Rarely, sometimes we see someone reading the Bhagavad-gītā. I was hearing from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam how the jungle or the forest is in the mode of goodness. The cities and towns are in the mode of passion. And the brothels, casinos and bars are in the mode of ignorance. But the temple of the Lord, the holy dhāmas, the holy rivers, they are transcendental. So by living in the holy dhāma, we are living in the spiritual world.

I was saying in previous classes that if we get 1000 times the benefit, but what is 1000 times zero? Of course, someone said that even lying down in the dhāma is like offering praṇāma to the Deities. So, if someone simply lays down the whole day, they still get something! But if they do actual devotional service and they are hearing the Lord’s glories then they get actual benefit. And those of you who are hearing the class now you are all getting more than a 1000 times benefit. Also those who are hearing Māyāpur TV online, they are also getting the benefit. Haribol! We were reading behind every story of Lord Caitanya there is a sub section called phalaśruti or the results. For example, the history how Raghunātha dāsa performed the ciḍā-dadhi festival at Pānihāṭi. How he offered prasāda to Nitāi and Gaura. And how he received the blessings of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. How he was able to come to Jagannātha Purī. How he was serving Lord Caitanya and was put under the care of Svarūpa Dāmodara. How he was given a cowrie or guñja garland with a Govardhana-śilā. So many histories are given and at the end it says whoever hears this pastime gets the love of Kṛṣṇa. Haribol! We should always fill our ears with the holy message of Kṛṣṇa. We should use our tongue to sing Hare Kṛṣṇa! Not be like a frog, inviting the snake.

Recently a group of gṛhasthas from Sydney, Australia, came here. 110 devotees. Some of those gṛhasthas were actively preaching. Although they were gṛhasthas they were thinking how to bring the people close to Kṛṣṇa. Like this Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that there is no one dearer to Him than one who is preaching. Now I hear that on Christmas, New-Year-day, 34,000 or 38,000 people had prasāda in Māyāpur. Other days, 28,000 or 26,000. And then maybe 1 lac or 1.5 lacs or 2 lac people are coming here. So, there are a lot of people to preach to. We have our Harināma kīrtana. And they see so many people and the public are very eager to see them. They are distributing books as well. Today is the last day of the Marathon. But we can distribute books all through the year. Our saṅkīrtana buses are still continuing book distribution. With His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami, there some 30 gṛhastha devotees who are helping to distribute books. And we hear that every day so many sets, so many books are distributed. That is one thing.

Of course, for gṛhasthas it is very important that they give quality time to their children. One pūjārī wrote to Śrīla Prabhupāda that doing devotional service to the deities is hampered looking after the child. But Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote that your greater responsibility is looking after your child. We heard some gṛhasthas they go for vacation and leave their children neglected. And that neglect could be a cause for future abuse. We don’t want that the child will have this mentality where they will think that my parents don’t love me, they don’t care for me, they only want to worship Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that the children are actually sent by Kṛṣṇa, they are not ordinary children. They are Vaikuṇṭha kids. So they are our future, we have to take very good care of them. And we want all the gṛhasthas, all the brahmacārīs, to be fully engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service.

People who come to Māyāpur, they may come out of curiosity or they may come for various reasons. Now, after coming here, they discuss with the devotees and take a book it, will create a great impact on them for a long time.

So everyone that comes here we have the special opportunity to give them Kṛṣṇa. Actually, people are suffering in this material world. We sing every morning how the material world is like a dāvānala, forest fire. To be in Māyāpur which is our spiritual world headquarters, we get association with many devotees from all over the world. Yesterday or the day before, you heard the class given by His Holiness Śivarāma Mahārāja. So, I heard you appreciated his lecture. How he was talking about his blood pressure. That being an ISKCON leader means high blood pressure! Anyway, many leaders are coming to Māyāpur, and we should see that they all give classes, give us their sat-saṅga.

I am studying for my Bhakti-vedānta degree. And part of that is the 7th canto, which I have read many times before, but I am reading again. And here at the end, it is explained what is an ideal gṛhastha life. And of course, here we know that it is to think about Kṛṣṇa, speak about Kṛṣṇa, to preach. We hope that our brahmacārīs would also be studying Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books very meticulously. There are four levels of brahmacarya. Every āśrama there are four levels. Like in the sannyāsa there is kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, parivrājakācārya and paramahaṁsa. There are four stages of brahmacārīs – what are they? I don’t remember what the four names are. But there are four levels – brahmacārī for one day, one year, until you have studied all the Vedas or finished your studies and the other one is naiṣṭhikī-brahmacārī, brahmacārī for their whole life. So, these are the four levels of brahmacarya. But three levels at the end, they become gṛhasthas. Only one, the naiṣṭhikī, they stay brahmacārī their whole life. But it is not that - actually we want everyone to study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books.

Yesterday I met with Nāma-niṣṭha Prabhu. He came from Mangaluru, Karnataka. They have 7.5 lac people, who are learning through online educational program. And they have 550 Bhakti-śāstri students, online, free! They don’t charge anything, at the end if you want to give any donation, they accept. So that way, they are getting sufficient donations to build a temple. Their brahmacārīs were 6 and now they are 26. But in all their online course, they say the best teachers are the ladies. Of course, they have come to this level because they are studying Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. So, whoever studies the books, they can obviously teach better. We would like to have a competition here who would like to read the books better! We had neglected this aspect previously. Now some of my oldest devotees, they don’t have any degrees. And although now there is a summative examination – one test. Eight questions. But Vidvān Gaurāṅga das he is a paṇḍita, he said they are difficult questions. Better when you are early in your spiritual life, you take the courses. As the days pass on, your responsibilities will increase. I have so much more to say, but no time. Time is over!

I offer you all my best wishes. Kṛṣṇe matir astu! Any questions?

Question: I hear you in many classes you describe how you have become a school student, you are studying this particular course, but it seems that it is falling on us who are many times acting like 1 or 1 and a half or 2 years old, but I think that 1 or 2 years old they are fed all the knowledge. How can we have the situation to study? You are the only one crying in the jungle, there is not much effect. How can we also have the same system you are having that you can suggest?

Jayapatākā Swami: First of all, actually the number of devotees that are reading Śrīla Prabhupāda has increased. Before there was only MI (Māyāpur Institute), now there are many institutes, many study programs in my zone. So, I gave away 175 Bhakti-śāstri degrees in Coimbatore. They want me to give away the 550 Bhakti-śāstri degrees in Mangaluru. I heard, not confirmed that Māyāpur Institute gives away 1,600 Bhakti-śāstri degrees in one year. Anyway, I don’t know how many people in Māyāpur are taking advantage. Śrīla Prabhupāda said taking second initiation is like 12 years old. So you were saying about being 1 and a half years old. Have you not had second initiation? Then you are 12 years old. At least. Anyway, it is a good opportunity, we don’t want ears of snakes and tongues of frogs! We want to fill our ears and tongues with the glories of Lord Caitanya. Haribol!

Question: Very nice class. Reading the phalaśruti, should you read it once and get benefit or do we have to read many times to get the benefit?

Jayapatākā Swami: Even reading once if you listen with attention and faith. If you are thinking of something else, then you will not get the full benefit.

Alright!