19830901 Sunday Feast Japa Meditation

The following is a japa meditation class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on September 1st, 1983, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jayapatākā Swami: According to the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says that He is the original personality, that there is no higher truth than Him. He says that all the other demigods including Brahmā and Śiva, are not independent of Him, but are dependent upon Him to different degrees. So we see that the different demigods as being parts of Kṛṣṇa, and that Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it describes that the Param-brahma is known in three phases:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
brahmeti paramātmeti
bhagavān iti śabdyate

(ŚB. 1.2.11) 

That the Absolute Truth is known as Brahman or the impersonal light, as Paramātmā or Supersoul in everyone's heart, localized aspect and it is Bhagavān the Supreme Personality. That Kṛṣṇa is that Supreme Personality,

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ 
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1) 

So, Kṛṣṇa is in the transcendental world. He incarnates as Viṣṇu for maintaining the material world in the mode of goodness. He expands as Lord Śiva for the mode of ignorance, and he empowers an individual jīva as Lord Brahmā for the mode of passion or creation. So creation, destruction, and maintenance are done by Kṛṣṇa in different forms. We take that Śiva and Brahmā are avatāras or expansions of Kṛṣṇa, but they are partial expansion, while Viṣṇu is a direct expansion, therefore even Lord Śiva describes that only Viṣṇu can give liberation from the material world.

The other demigods can give you material facilities in this universe, in this world, but none of them can give you liberation from birth and death. You can go to Umā and get a good husband or wife, whatever, and then Śiva, I guess you get a good husband. You can go to different demigods like Gaṇeśa, to get mystic powers or success. You can go to Brahmā to get knowledge, for some other… Sarasvatī for knowledge or for learning how to play musical instruments. Like that the different demigods, different departments, they are like the secretaries in the government.

The supreme head is Viṣṇu, and Viṣṇu is non-different from Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa is outside of the whole universe. This is how we see, the Absolute Truth… we see Kṛṣṇa as the Absolute Truth, and the… the Hindus' idea that all the gods are the same, we don’t see like that, it’s not the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. We respect all the demigods, we bow down to them as great devotees, as incarnations, depending on their position, but we don’t see them on the same level as Rāma or Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. We follow Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, the four Vaiṣṇava-ācāryas. Hare Kṛṣṇa Is that alright ?

Question: (inaudible) (Laughter)

Jayapatākā Swami: When you have Kṛṣṇa you don’t have to go to the demigods. He can supply, it’s not that Kṛṣṇa can't supply. If you want, you can go to Kṛṣṇa, He can supply anything, but it’s just that He can supply so much more, so if you want to learn how to the demigods you can also find something about that in our books, but we are not promoting that so much. (laughter)

Any other questions? Yes.

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Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is the most potent mantra. (inaudible) Why would Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra be so potent?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see in every age, there is different cycles or ages.

(aside: Why don’t you close the door?

Give the baby, uh... why don't you give her a candy? (laughter) Hungry, no?)

In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa explains that all the different representations of Himself, that each name has got particular potencies. There are different ages, and in each age a mantra is given which is suitable for elevating our consciousness in that age. An om to be chanted properly actually requires some purification. It is not able to lift up a person from the lowest realms of consciousness and take one up to the highest realm. It has a certain range, just like radio waves or certain things they have a range, if you don't like have like a short-wave radio, if you have 10-meter band you can go across the world, but if we have 60-meter band, 40-meter band you can only go 400 miles. Different ranges, so some mantras they have certain ranges how... people that they can actually help. But this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is recommended for this age, that can take one from the lowest point of consciousness up to the most elevated consciousness.

Devotee: Jaya.

Jayapatākā Swami: After you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa for a year or so, then we also have other mantras, which contain the syllable 'Oṁ' and other things, which are chanted, which give a little like a boost in their consciousness which helps, but they are not actually able to be properly chanted without mistake or offence, without already being somewhat purified, and even then they only take one to a certain point, say the point of liberation or... or some certain stage of elevation. Beyond that, then there are outstretched. But this Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting you can continue chanting. Even liberated souls they chant, even though it’s rare. So, therefore it is especially recommended. It's the recommended chant or mantra in this age. Its universal. You find in India even the people who worship demigods, or people who are believe in so many philosophies, everybody... generally speaking, they all chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, so it's like a universal chant. But those who chant it seriously, they will be able to get the full benefit. So, ready?

Devotees : Jaya.

Jayapatākā Swami: Does anyone have any more questions about the chanting?

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Question: Yes, I do. And I'm... not believer, but I wish to be. I want to know, why the beads, really? You know? And I've tried to read right?

Jayapatākā Swami: Right.

Question: And I'm not fully inclined as why.

Jayapatākā Swami: The beads are there to help in the… like touching, to use the sense of touch.

Reply: As a sense, right?

Jayapatākā Swami: The idea is that all the senses are focused in the meditation, that may help you to concentrate.

Comment: Right.

Jayapatākā Swami: Just like if you are chanting without the beads, then after any given amount of time, the mind may just wonder off to somewhere, and it is that much harder to bring it back, but this helps the people like a train of thought, and the… the sense that also this by having something to feel, then it helps the concentration. Now who are actually the initiated members, they chant on beads which have been chanted upon by spiritual master and so then those beads also by chanting on beads regularly, . the beads themselves, just by touching them, you could actually get some spiritual potency. That the beads themselves, contain certain potencies by chanting on them, they become in themselves for meditation, because you are regularly chanting on, using them.

In the beginning when a person chants he makes a lot of mistakes, so when they take initiation we take those and throw them away in a river or something, because we figured out that there is a lot of… but when one is also expert, then chants on the beads given by the spiritual master, then those beads can go on increasing in their potency, and their significance is a 108 beads… 108 beads is also a mystic transcendental number.

Question: (inaudible) the area in which people are... can pick up the transcendental vibration, the area itself where that consciousness is elevated and concentrated for example the temple or the territory...

Jayapatākā Swami: Sure. Wherever the vibration is that will also affect the atmosphere. Just like in the Vedas it’s said that astrologically... that when a lawyer swears in the name of God to say the truth, nothing but the truth, and the judge is also swearing to represent you know, justice and the truth, and both of them are lying, that that pollutes the atmosphere, and that atmosphere... in a subtle way, and that allows different diseases to enter... to form in a subtle atmospheric level... In an ethereal level allows different things like that, when in the name of truth or justice people are just completely dishonest, bogus, then they're... what they're doing, they actually pollute the atmosphere. Comes with plagues, natural disturbances. Just like the screams of animals being slaughtered, and animal slaughter or in general. All these things creates karmas which affect the whole society.

So similarly when you have chanting, when you have transcendental vibration, even if a person just hears it, may just laugh, or look or not... even then it effects their consciousness. I... We've been chanting on the street, and people have seen us and then they have grabbed their ears, go "Ahh!" and run down the streets away, such a… the... Why such a reaction? Because there is something there, either... one way or other it affects people.

So I know it is time for the prasāda. So let’s just have the meditation and in the meantime someone could even start setting up meanwhile. Get the things ready. So we will do a different speed, we will start off slow then work our way up.

You have it written it down anywhere ? Where is the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra? Its a Hare Kṛṣṇa temple, and there's not even a Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Well, I guess we can always go along.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa...

First we chant this one mantra for... of Lord Caitanya to give us some special mercy. Someone could repeat.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare 

Devotee: Let's do more.

Jayapatākā Swami: That only took about 10 minutes. Now, when you're chanting by yourself, you can naturally chant a lot faster and it takes about seven and a half minutes to chant once around these beads. In that way, we chant two hours a day, at least, at the minimum, but even Friends of Kṛṣṇa, Friends of Lord Kṛṣṇa, FOLK members, who have a meeting here, what every Wednesday night? Every Wednesday, they chant at least one round a day, one round of mālā and that gives them a so much spiritual inspiration.

Some of them are chanting eight times, some four, some sixteen also. If you chant sixteen times, that means that one year, you're chanting ten million times the name Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Jaya!