20250629 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

Question: I am very happy to attend this Ratha-yātrā but I wonder what we should pray to Lord Jagannātha here because generally we pray nīlācala nivāsāya nityāya paramātmane. But now He has come to Sundarācala. So should I still pray this prayer? Please help me with a proper prayer dear Guru Mahārāja.

Jayapataka Swami: Sundarācala Jagannātha! Jaya Jagannātha! Jaya Jagannātha! But you don’t say what you are praying for. You say, nīlācala nivāsāya, nityāya paramātmane, but that is not a request. You can ask Lord Jagannātha that you are surrendering to His lotus feet or planning to surrender and perform devotional service. These were yesterday’s questions?

Question: As I am engaged in devotional service but as I do that, I can see the impurities of my heart more and more clearly. Even though I do not want, the six vices like lust, anger, greed etc., in different ways are rising and therefore I am very sad. Please kindly show me the right path, how I can get rid of these six vices.

Jayapatākā Swami: By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra gradually these things they get cleared. Whichever language you ask question will answer in that language. It takes time. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that it took him twenty years to achieve perfection of life. But, how many lifetimes it will take us, we don’t know. But if you try and with lot of devotion you do japa then it could happen quickly. In this lifetime itself, you can attain the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa!

Question: Thank you for your causeless mercy. I had committed many abominable sins. Even after initiation, I am not firm in my bhakti. I am not able to follow one regulative principle. By your mercy I am continuing my services. I love you and want to serve you life after life. But I love my sense enjoyment more. I am suffering due to my anarthas and past life conditioning. I don’t want to take birth again in this material world. I love you

Guru Mahārāja! Will you please take me in this life to the spiritual world?

Jayapataka Swami: Please write an email to Guru Mahārāja personally about this. jayapataka@gmail.com. So, he or she says I want to serve life after life! But I don’t want to take birth again! Anyway, apart from this, if one is very attached to sex life or other reasons, they can take gṛhastha life. And that is not sinful. Lord Caitanya said: gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Whether you live at home or in the forest please take the names of Lord Hari. If you are having trouble eating, if you want to eat non-veg, then why don’t you eat prasāda? You say you are suffering in the material world. When we are attached to these vices, naturally we have to suffer. I have to finish before 10. This is the last question.

Question: If a devotee goes against, the parents and does bhakti, and the parents become angry, then is that an offence and do we have to suffer the reaction for that? If the parents later become devotees, have I committed Vaiṣṇava offence?

Jayapatākā Swami: If they became devotees later on that is very good. There was a family in Lake Town. And the son, daughter, wife all my disciples. But the father was against. He had third degree cancer. One day from the wall came out two hairy, dark figures, well-built, with fierce big teeth and had leather belts with them. Seeing that the father who was lying down on the bed, and saw them coming at him, very angry! He said, “No, no, no, no! No! No! Not me! Not me!” And he called for the child whose name was Krsna. Then the horrifying figures, the Yamadūtas, disappeared. Then he called his wife and asked for neck beads, japa-mālā, read Bhagavad-gītā to me! I and the family were trying to make that man a devotee year after year, but the Yamadūtas in one second turned him around to be a devotee! So, I hope that this way no Yamadūtas have to come. Here you can pray to Lord Jagannātha, He is here. I surrender to you, I want to serve you! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Nityanānda, Advaita Ācārya, Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana cakra kī jaya!