20250309 Questions and Answers Session

Jayapatākā Swami: Today we will have questions and answers.

Question: Regarding class on 4^th March 2025. What is the fastest way to cross the anartha nivritti level? How can guru’s mercy help in this regard?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, we offer our prayers and Gāyatrī mantra to guru before we offer to Gaura and Kṛṣṇa. We should think that without the mercy of guru we cannot do anything! And by the mercy of guru, we can get the mercy of Gaura Nitāi. And by the mercy of Gaura Nitāi we can get the mercy of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. We heard that to get to do any service to Kṛṣṇa, we need the mercy of Rādhārāṇī. And it all comes back to the guru, that we need the mercy of the guru.

Question: How can I attain my eternal mañjarī-svarūpa? How can I perfect my spiritual practice my sādhana to become a sādhana-siddha gopī? Additionally, how can I render service to the Supreme Lord and what should be mind set while engaging in that service? I sincerely request your kind guidance in this matter.

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has mentioned some very esoteric things about serving Kṛṣṇa in different rasas. But first we need the mercy of guru. By the mercy of guru, we get the mercy of Nitāi Gaura. We get love of Kṛṣṇa by Nitāi Gaura’s mercy! By Their mercy we can get the mercy of Rādhārāṇī. By Her mercy, we can get our svarūpa. So you cannot jump up, you have to go step by step. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: How fast can we attain perfection or siddha-deha by residing in Māyāpur dhāma or being in vapu association of guru compared to staying anywhere else outside? Please enlighten us dear Gurudeva.

Jayapatākā Swami: What am I supposed to say? How fast? Here it is possible of courses to realize our service quickly. But how much and how pure is your desire? Seeing that we have little desire for some material desire, little desire for some spiritual H thousand times benefit by everything we do. And mistakes are not considered that great. I mean, in Vṛndāvana, the mistakes are multiplied by a thousand. And here they are not multiplied so much. But still if there is nāma-aparādha, sevā-aparādha, that can hold us back. So, just staying in the holy dhāma, that is a factor. But how much and how pure is our desire, those are things that have to be understood. Śrīla Prabhupāda said if we cry like a baby for Kṛṣṇa, we can achieve Kṛṣṇa very quickly! But maybe our desires are divided. Then we need the mercy of Lord Nitāi Gaura to achieve love of Kṛṣṇa.

Bhakti Pracāra Parivrājaka Swami: How to please guru and get his mercy?

Jayapatākā Swami: There are three levels of disciples. Uttama-adhikārī, knows what the guru wants, even if the guru doesn’t tell. And that is very rare. Then there is the madhyama-adhikārī. He is told by the guru what he wants and he carries that out very diligently. Then there is the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. He carries out the guru’s order somehow or another, not very perfectly. So, from that we can understand one way of pleasing the guru. Then of course, the guru wants to please his guru and also Nitāi Gaura. So, if the disciple is able to make many devotees, then the guru may be very pleased.

Question: How to remove being casual in devotional service whilst residing in the dhāma? Sometimes, I could not be in consciousness of that whilst residing in the dhāma. How to overcome this?

Jayapatākā Swami: So after one takes initiation, that is called bhajana-kriyā, next stage is anartha-nivṛtti. So we have to get rid of all the anarthas. Then we achieve the stage of niṣṭhā, fixed, steady devotion. So, it is very important to be serious. And we have to get rid of all the anarthas and other offences to the holy name. So, anarthas, weeds, these are mentioned in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So, one should pull out the weeds, should avoid the anarthas. Otherwise the water of devotional service would go on the weeds and they will grow. So the weeds are lābha, pūjā, pratiṣṭhā, etc. name, fame, desire for adoration, etc. And jīva himsa could be to all human beings and also animals. If someone thinks animals are not worthy, they may end up practicing jīva-hiṁsā. Those are the weeds and there are other aparādhās. So all these things that need to be taken out.

Bhakti Pracāra Parivrājaka Swami: Wants to speak about svarūpa-siddhi with the permission of Guru Mahārāja.

Jayapatākā Swami: Oh he wants to speak from which śāstra? Okay Śikṣāṣṭaka.

Bhakti Pracāra Parivrājaka Swami: So this concept of svarūpa-siddhi and attaining our eternal svarūpa there are a lot of misconceptions on that among devotees. It cannot be artificially imitated and mechanically attained. So this is a gradual process. Ādau śraddhā, sādhu-saṅga, bhajana-kriyā, anartha-nivṛtti, niṣṭhā, ruci, āsakti, and prema. So sādhana is up to āsakti, then bhāva and prema. So when attains the level of bhāva that time some glimpse of siddhi is manifested. And when we attain the perfect stage of love of Godhead, that time our svarūpa will be revealed. And Guru Mahārāja already explained how we can attain that by pleasing guru, we get the mercy of Gaura Nitāi and by please Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, we can get the mercy of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. And by the mercy of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī we can get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and by the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī we can get the svarūpa. But svarūpa, that concept of svarūpa and mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī comes when we attain prema-bhakti. A sādhaka cannot think of that, a sādhaka should focus on anartha-nivṛtti and come to the level of niṣṭhā, ruci and āsakti. So, we should not try artificially try oh, I want to be like that, I want to be like this, I want to be a gopī, I want to be a gopa, this and that, these are artificial things and we land up in spiritual suicide and we will give up the process of devotional service. And go somewhere else and get some other svarūpa. So we should not be so much into that svarūpa. We should focus on our sādhana-bhakti. When we have anarthas, we should have strong focus on sādhana and not committing any offences and try to please sādhu, guru and Vaiṣṇava. Then we can slowly and gradually come to the higher level of sādhana-bhakti, then bhāva-bhakti and then prema-bhakti. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Jayapatākā Swami: Because we were studying Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s book, Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta, and he gives us different levels of sādhana-bhakti and how there are steps towards prema. Then how when we reach bhāva certain things are realized at least primarily. And then bhāva is also known as rati. And from there we go to prema. And he is taking us through all these steps. So we may be on a very low level, but he goes on teaching all the levels. And so, I was told by our translator that the next level of prema, he wrote it in Sanskrit and did not translate it. So maybe it was too deep even for the ordinary people! So, anyway, all these things when we have to deal with the people on the earth, who are influenced by prākṛta-sahajiyās and other, so he was teaching how these things, are mentioned in Lord Caitanya’s śikṣā. But that as he said, it cannot be mechanically achieved, but have to go up gradually step by step. So, he was encouraging the devotees to go up each step and by the mercy of guru we get Nitāi Gaura’s mercy and by Their mercy we get Rādhārāṇī’s mercy and in that way we can gradually rise up to prema. But whether the devotees are doing their sādhana-bhakti, that is the first thing! And someone wrote me a letter today that is it necessary to have faith and love for the guru? So people have these kinds of doubts. So, that is why I decided to have questions and answers.

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!