20251221 Special Class for Youth Girls

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: We would like to welcome all the devotees who are here in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur! Susvāgatam! Jagannātha Purī is aiśvarya-dhāma, Vṛndāvana is mādhurya-dhāma, Navadvīpa dhāma is a special dhāma made by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and here it is known as the mercy dhāma. Here it is easy to reach the supreme destination. Our previous ācārya, Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī was in Vṛndāvana but there every service you do, you get a thousand times benefit. But every offence, every mistake, every anartha, you also get a thousand times the effect. So Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī considering this, decided to come to Navadvīpa dhāma. Here you get a thousand times benefit of every devotional activity. But for the offences you do not get a thousand times effect. So here you can advance a lot in your devotional service.

In the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa it predicts that 5,000 years after Lord Kṛṣṇa a Golden Age would come. People would be naturally more Kṛṣṇa conscious. And that would last for 10,000 years. So, Lord Caitanya came 4,500 years ago, and Śrīla Prabhupāda came 5,000 years after the start of Kali-yuga. The purpose of human birth is actually to start to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa and His expansions and go back to the spiritual world. So, we want you all the take advantage of this rare human birth! Normally, they say when men are attached to their wife, they may take their next birth as a lady! And a lady who is attached to her husband, she will take birth as a male. So we want both husband and wife to be attached to Kṛṣṇa! That you should remind your spouse, your mate to always think of Kṛṣṇa. In this way, human life will be a success.

Lord Caitanya, He said whatever situation you would like to be in, you are in, stay there. Gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko – whether you are a gṛhastha or renounced, always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! You see, most people do not understand their actual position. Bhagavad-gītā was spoken on a battlefield to Arjuna to get him to fight for Kṛṣṇa. How it is very tough to be Kṛṣṇa conscious in the battlefield. So if Arjuna could be so much enlivened by the teachings of Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of us, we are not on the battlefield in war. But there are other challenges in this material world so we should always do bhakti-yoga to overcome them. How much happiness there is in pursuing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, bhakti-yoga, is unparalleled.

This material world is a world of birth, death, disease and old age. So this is a very bad place to be. We should positively learn to be attached to the positive environment in the spiritual world. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad says, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. That means we are all eternal but amongst the eternals the Supreme Eternal is one. We are all people, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is a person, He is the Supreme Person. You see that the different yogas – karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, aṣṭāṅga-yoga – but the highest yoga is bhakti-yoga, where we learn to love Kṛṣṇa! So, this is a rare opportunity and we want in the human life, to take advantage where we can actually develop our affection, our love for Kṛṣṇa!

How many of you have read the Bhagavad-gītā? Not so many! Now, it is important to read these books. To become Kṛṣṇa conscious. In the night canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam purport, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda speaks that when it comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, man, woman, śūdra, whatever, they are all equal. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it glorifies the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas. But there also, Kṛṣṇa says, ladies vaiśyas, śūdras can taken the supreme destination by taking shelter of Me. This is the only system, bhakti-yoga, where ladies can advance to any extent. By other yogas, you cannot achieve Kṛṣṇa. Only by bhakti-yoga can you attain Kṛṣṇa!

Lord Caitanya said,

kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya
yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya

Whether you are a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī or a śūdra, anyone who understands the tattva, teachings of Kṛṣṇa, they are gurus!

So, we would like all the devotees to become expert in bhakti-yoga and deliver all the people they meet. So, we are very thankful that you came here to the holy dhāma of Navadvīpa. And we hope that your visit is enlivening, transcendental and inspiring to you!

So we will dedicate a few minutes for question-and-answer. You can ask in Hindi, English, Bengali. Any questions? If you don’t want to speak write it and send it to the host.

Question: How to see the hand of Kṛṣṇa when a problem arises in our life?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see in this material world, Kṛṣṇa, He doesn’t personally micro-manage the things. But nothing happens without His permission. So people in the material world, they have been here since time immemorial. So what we have done in the last hundred births may be given to us. First, we get the pious activities, then we get the impious reactions – karma and vikarma. So, somehow, we see that for devotees Kṛṣṇa is reducing the reactions we suffer for. Somehow, we are being tested and how we react, how we survive these challenges, that is also seen by Kṛṣṇa. In your heart with the ātmā there is Paramātmā. So when something happens, there is a problem, the devotee takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa helps you in different ways.

In Salt Lake, Kolkata, in Lake Town, there was a person. The wife, the daughter, son everyone was a devotee, but the father was against. One day he was diagnosed with cancer, and he was on his deathbed. This is a true story. So, one day through his room wall, came two people – dark, muscular, carrying leather ropes – they looked like Yamadūtas, the messengers of death! And when he saw them, he was so scared, he said, “No, no, no, not me, not me!” Somehow, he chanted, “Hare Kṛṣṇa!” The Yamadūtas immediately left. He called his wife and said, “I want you have to read Bhagavad-gītā to me! Give me neck beads, give me chanting beads. I realized, what you are doing is right!” “So, in ten decades of preaching what we could not do, the Yamadūtas did it in seconds!” We don’t want that people should have to wait for the Yamadūtas. Do bhakti-yoga and be peaceful and be happy! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: What is the best way to please you and Śrīla Prabhupāda, being in the body of female?

Jayapatākā Swami: It is not difficult to please me, it is very easy! Being Kṛṣṇa conscious and helping me in dissemination of this knowledge. Half of the people in the world are females, probably. And so in India, especially the females are able to preach or talk to other ladies. Maybe it is more easy in the West because of the mixing of men and women. I had done a study, I think still it is easier for ladies to talk to ladies. Anyway, preaching, book distribution, cooking, any service you do for Kṛṣṇa, that is pleasing to me. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said more or less the same thing – distributing books and practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If we don’t develop our affection and devotion for Kṛṣṇa, then we just have negative feelings for all for some reason in the material world. Who would like to go back to the spiritual master, an eternal life, serving Lord Kṛṣṇa?

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!