20080121 Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.2.10

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 21^st 2008 in Moscow, Russia. The lecture begins with the reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.10.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.10

kāmasya nendriya-prītir
lābho jīveta yāvatā
jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā
nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ

Translation (by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda kī... Jaya!): Life’s desires should never be directed towards sense gratification. One should desire only a healthy life, or self-preservation, since a human being is meant for inquiry about the Absolute Truth. Nothing else should be the goal of one’s works.

Purport: The completely bewildered material civilization is wrongly directed towards the fulfillment of desires in sense gratification. In such civilization, in all the spheres of life, the ultimate end is sense gratification. In politics, social service, altruism, philanthropy and ultimately in religion or even in salvation, the very same tint of sense gratification is ever-increasingly predominant. In the political field the leaders of men fight with one another to fulfill their personal sense gratification. The voters adore the so-called leaders only when they promise sense gratification. As soon as the voters are dissatisfied in their own sense satisfaction, they dethrone the leaders. The leaders must always disappoint the voters by not satisfying their senses. The same is applicable in all other fields; no one is serious about the problems of life. Even those who are on the path of salvation desire to become one with the Absolute Truth and desire to commit spiritual suicide for sense gratification. But the Bhāgavatam says that one should not live for sense gratification. One should satisfy the senses only in so much as required for self-preservation, and not for sense gratification. Because the body is made of senses, which also require a certain amount of satisfaction, there are regulative directions for satisfaction of such senses. But the senses are not meant for unrestricted enjoyment. For example, marriage or the combination of a man with a woman is necessary for progeny, but it is not meant for sense enjoyment. In the absence of voluntary restraint, there is propaganda for family planning, but foolish men do not know that family planning is automatically executed as soon as there is search after the Absolute Truth. Seekers of the Absolute Truth are never allured by unnecessary engagements in sense gratification because the serious students seeking the Absolute Truth are always overwhelmed with the work of researching the Truth. In every sphere of life, therefore, the ultimate end must be seeking after the Absolute Truth, and that sort of engagement will make one happy because he will be less engaged in varieties of sense gratification. And what that Absolute Truth is is explained as follows.

The next verse describes the Absolute Truth.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.11

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

Translation: Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.

So this was Canto 1, chapter 2, text 10 of the “Divinity and Divine Service” spoken today the 21^st of January 2008 in the ISKCON temple in Moscow, Dinamo area, in the presence of Dayāla Nitāi Śacī-sūta, presiding Deities. [Aside: Those nuts are not offered. You can use them for cooking for the Lord.]

Jayapatākā Swami: So the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is known as the Amala Purāṇa, the spotless Purāṇa and it doesn’t compromise. The complaint that Nārada Muni made to Vyāsadeva, that all the Vedas compromise a little bit or a lot. So they give different, not very clear what’s actually the real thing we are supposed to do. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is purely transcendental. Here it’s saying that the real goal of life should be to find the Absolute Truth and shouldn’t be just going after sense gratification. Sense gratification is the goal, then people just tend to run after gratifying their senses, whatever they want. This way they miss out on valuable time to research the Absolute Truth. Where this material world is like a prison house. Durgā means also prison, or  fortress. And Durgā Devī, Māyā Devī is the prison keeper. If you behave nice in the prison, you get better facilities. But we are still forced to take birth and death – the reincarnation. You are still forced to suffer and enjoy the things in the material world according to your karmas.

When I was flying up here, there was a newspaper article that some famous actress was given a ticket twice for drunken driving in America. She had a choice, go to jail or go through a rehabilitation program. So she took the program. She had to spend three days in jail, just so that she would know what jail was like. Because if she did it again, she was surely going to go to jail. She had to work. She had to help out in the emergency clinic of the hospital for a week or something. I don’t remember one week or two weeks. So that she could see what was the result of reckless driving and how people were coming in all injured. Then she had to work in a morgue to see the dead bodies. So she knew what the ultimate result of drunken driving was. It was a very interesting program. With some time for our gurukula, they need to go also like on a reality tour.

Like a Buddhadeva, he saw a sick man. He said “What’s that?”

His charioteer told him, “It’s a sick man.”

“How does that happen?”

“It happens to everybody. Everybody gets sick. Sometimes the body is sick…”

“I have never been sick.”

“But you could be sick sometimes.”

“That’s horrible! I don’t want to be sick.”

And they were driving along. He saw an old man leaning over, walking.

“What is that?”

“That’s an old man. Old age.”

“What is old age?”

“Everybody grows old. I mean, I am not going to be like this all the time young and healthy. No, you get old.”

“That’s horrible. I don’t want to grow old.”

Then he saw a dead body going, taken by.

“What is that?”

“It’s a dead body.”

“What do you mean dead body?”

“Everybody dies.”

“They die? I am going to die also!?”

“Everybody dies. 100% guaranteed.”

“This is very bad.”

Then he is going and he saw a little baby.

“What’s that?”

“You see, after you die, then you take birth again.”

“This is like insult upon injury. And I have to go through the whole thing again!”

So that time he was known as Siddhārtha. He was a great prince. His father had given him all kinds of sense gratification. And he was told, “Never let him see a sick man, old man, dead man or baby.” Astrologer warned him, “If he sees these, he will change.”

So he saw them. Then he decided he will renounce everything and meditate and find out what is Absolute Truth. How to get out of the cycle of birth, death, old age and disease.

So like that many great souls throughout time, they are looking for this truth. In the Vedas, this planet is known as Bhārata-varṣa, named after the great king Bharata. He also renounced everything and he went to the forest to meditate. He is chanting mantras and meditating. Prabhupāda also said, everyone is looking because Absolute Truth also is absolute happiness. Everyone is looking for the spiritual happiness. The spiritual happiness is described by Ṛṣabhadeva: brahmā-saukhyaṁ tv anantam (ŚB. 5.5.1)—transcendental happiness which is unlimited. Tv anantam, anantam means unlimited. So people are looking for their spiritual happiness, the wise people. And who is that spiritual happiness? There is a personality behind this spiritual happiness. No! You don’t know?

Rādhārāṇī! Jaya Śrī Rādhe-Śyāma! She is Āhladinī-śakti. She is the spiritual blissful śakti. Of course, She was in Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa separated Her. She is that transcendental happiness personified. Everyone is looking for this happiness. How many of you want to be happy? Wow! You too? The highest happiness is the unlimited spiritual happiness. You see, Lord Caitanya, He came, the combined form of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, to give us this spiritual happiness.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya rādhā-kṛṣṇa nahe anya
balarāma haila nitāi

So Lord Caitanya is combined Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. So He is also… but He is the mood of Rādhārāṇi. So He is giving out the spiritual happiness very freely. You see, normally Vedas is four puruṣārthas or purposes. There is dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa: religiosity, and then there is economic development, then there is sense gratification, and then finally there is liberation. So mostly people do religiosity in order to get economic development. When they have money, they have economic development, then they want to enjoy sense gratification. And when they get frustrated in their sense gratification, they want to get liberation.

Lord Caitanya gave the pañcama-puruṣārtha, the fifth highest goal of life, which is Kṛṣṇa-prema. This is the highest form of liberation. One doesn’t annihilate their individuality. They engage themselves in the service of Kṛṣṇa in love. It’s like Hanumān, he is a great devotee of Rāma, another form of Kṛṣṇa. Rāma offered him liberation, “You can merge with My light, with the jyoti.”

But Hanumān, he said, “No, no, I don’t want that. You are my Master, I am your servant. I don’t want anything to come in the way of that. I want to serve you, eternally.” Hanumānjī kī… Jaya! This is the mood of the devotees; they always want to serve the Lord. Sometimes people… we see the devotees are so enthusiastic to do devotional service, they get… the materialistic people, don’t understand why they are doing that. Why do you want to be so religious? Because their idea, ‘Do a little religion, get some money, get some sense gratification’, and they don’t even think about transcendental happiness. Very rare to find someone who wants to get liberation. Or their idea is, ‘Just before we die, we will be a little more spiritual and get liberated.’ Lord Caitanya showed that actually, it’s a highest spiritual happiness to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But it’s a lifelong project. So, they (Lord Caitanya’s followers) said we should orient ourselves that we can achieve it. So that means everything we do, we analyze it from the Kṛṣṇa conscious point of view, “Will this be helpful for me?” That means that just like here, Prabhupāda mentions about having a spiritually oriented family life. Normally, people when they look, “Okay, let me marry someone who is rich or who is famous or who is very handsome to look at, very beautiful.” But they don’t think that, “Is this person spiritual?” That should be a primary consideration. “Will this person be helpful? Can we work together in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in our spiritual life?” Maybe if you are fortunate, you get someone who is rich, good looking and Kṛṣṇa conscious. (laughter) What is really important though is the person should be able to be a companion in your spiritual life. Spiritual compatibility is an important aspect.

Like in India, marriages are still mainly arranged. But sometimes the parents, they don’t have this orientation. They don’t think that what’s spiritually good for my daughter. So, there is astrologers India that help you to find a suitable match. I saw one sign, it says, “Marriage compatibility - Rupees 100.” Then it says, “To make compatibility - 250 rupees.” It’s not compatible. But he has to think about how to make it look compatible. For that you have to pay extra. Because I am also a guru in India, I had a situation where I had a disciple, daughter, spiritual daughter. But the material father, he found a match who was an engineer, seemed to have a good job, but he wasn’t Kṛṣṇa conscious. And even the horoscope showed they weren’t compatible. But he said “No, but he is rich, that’s more important. So, we will just pay the astrologer, he will make it work, you know,” They are not always thinking what’s really good for their children. They may be thinking from their point of view, “A rich husband, it’s good, bas (enough).” I had another (disciple), she is the niece of a high court judge. They arranged a marriage for her, and then the husband was a drunkard. He used to beat her up. So, although divorce is very rare India, she divorced him and went back to her parents. Then later, she became my disciple after this happened. You see people just need to find someone who is not only materially compatible but also spiritually compatible, so that they can practice their Kṛṣṇa consciousness as a family in a regulated way, and also do both the duties properly. By this verse, it doesn’t mean everyone should take sannyāsa, because Prabhupāda is talking about gṛhastha life in the verse, in the purport.

Like now in the Middle east, we have all this Bhakti-vṛkṣa preaching going on. So some of the devotees are fairly well to do, they are making good money in the Middle East. Not everybody. Some people are laborers also. But now because they become Kṛṣṇa conscious, they want to build a house in India. They build a house with a temple, with a kīrtana-hall. Hopefully when they go back to India, they will help to preach. I was just coming now from Middle East, and then one aspiring disciple said, “I am able to chant my 16 rounds in the Middle East.” But when they go to India, they find it hard. Because all the mothers, the aunties, everyone is pressing them with so many different things. “Why do you want to be so religious? Not so important, little bit. You go to temple, pray for 10 minutes and enjoy life”. That, actually we want to realize Kṛṣṇa, we want to get self-realization, we want to develop love of Godhead. This is something that they are not so used to. So, it’s a struggle for them. If it’s a struggle for them, what to speak of in Russia? Your parents probably don’t understand anything what you do. (laughter) When I became a devotee, my father wrote to me and said, “You are no longer my son, I renounce you.” My mother didn’t renounce me, but my father did. After eight years, then my father wrote to me and said, “Okay. Father-father, son-son. Forgive me.” (laugher) And he told his priest when he was dying that he was most proud about his oldest son. *applause*

Devotees: Hari bol!!

I am only sharing this, just that we have to be determined to follow what we believe to be correct. And eventually, hopefully the family members will appreciate.

So, like that. This verse is very important actually, that we want to orient our life, that eventually we want to understand what is the Absolute Truth. To be also to be a spiritual doctor, to be able to help people spiritually along with whatever else we are doing. Everyone needs to do some kind of occupation to survive in the material world. I was in a conference with Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja in Gujarat, just before coming here. And there, one person was giving a presentation, ‘How to do strategic planning for managing ISKCON.’ He put up one quote where Prabhupāda said that, ‘Living in the material world, we need money.’ Being in the material world, you have to have money to survive. Even ISKCON needs money, right? We want to build a temple, we want to distribute prasādam, we want to publish the books, we need money. And the individuals, the families, they also need money. To have a place to live, to have clothes, to have a family, to give something to Kṛṣṇa. So they can publish books, distribute prasādam. Anyway, it was just interesting. Prabhupāda, they gave that quote. Prabhupāda said, “In the material world you need money.” We are not trying to deny that aspect of life. Prabhupāda said, “We are also not against science. Rather we use the technology in Kṛṣṇa’s service.” Here on my table, there’s five tape recorders of different kinds using electronical technology. We are using the loudspeaker. Some people are using video cameras. So, like that we also use technology for Kṛṣṇa’s service.

Recently when I arrived in Australia, I had a fever. They took me to the hospital and they said I had cellulitis, an infection in the leg. They took all kinds of blood tests. So, they are using technology to see what was the situation. So, for various aspects, we use technology. We fly here… we are not against technology, just that’s not the goal of life. It’s a tool we use. The goal of life we should make, ultimately the goal, is that we get become Kṛṣṇa conscious, we have to understand the Absolute Truth side by side with our material survival. Our material desires that we may have. We try to dovetail those in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Do things in such a way that they won’t hamper our spiritual progress.

Like that Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He was known as Nimāi Paṇḍita. He had the most famous Sanskrit ṭol, which is like a Sanskrit academy, when he was just a teenager. His father passed away. So, He went to Gayā to perform piṇḍi – a special ceremony for the deceased forefather. And there, He met Īśvara Purī Mahārāja. Remember, when He was younger, Īśvara Purī Mahārāja would visit His home and His father had him as a guest for some days. So then, He knew that he was a bona fide guru. He asked if He can get initiated.

“How will I get across the ocean of birth and death if I don’t have a bona fide guru?”

But Īśvara Purī said, “No, You’re a very learned scholar. You are a child prodigy. What I can do for You?”

“No, these are all external. But you are a spiritual master. You know the Absolute Truth. I need to get the mantra from you. If you don’t give Me, then I don’t know what’s the use of My living. Where will I find a bona fide guru now?”

So Īśvara Purī didn’t want to be the cause of Him doing something rash like taking His life. He gave Him initiation. He got the mantras. And so, like this Lord Caitanya, He became very ecstatic. He was chanting and dancing. He was so happy to be initiated. Then He saw that many people were watching. “Who is this guy jumping and dancing and chanting?” And then He felt a little shy, everybody was looking at him.

Then He went to do the piṇḍi. So one part was to offer abhiṣeka to the lotus feet of Viṣṇu there. In Gayā there is many different holy places. There is a Bodh Gayā and there is a Viṣṇu Gayā. So Bodh Gayā is where Buddha got his realization. Viṣṇu Gayā is, where people perform this piṇḍi. There is also many other Gayas, all in that area. many holy temples.  Lord Caitanya, first he offered abhiṣeka to this Viṣṇu Gayā, to the Viṣṇupāda, the lotus foot of Viṣṇu. Actually we took the safari there a few years ago. We were going up the Ganges. We took a little detour, because from The Ganges it’s a 110 kilometeres. So we went. And when we were there, they gave, all the devotees a footprint. They put oil on the lotus footprint and put some cloth on it and made an impression. They gave every devotee one cloth impression of Viṣṇupāda. Big foot. Then I got a silver impression. And he came out with a book and showed that previously Prabhupāda had gone there. Prabhupāda written in a book. I think I was with Prabhupāda at that time too. So, they treated us very nice. We were also offering tulasī at the lotus feet of Viṣṇu.

When Lord Caitanya was offering this milk and honey and ghee and doing abhiṣeka, He started feeling very ecstatic and crying in love of Kṛṣṇa. And they offered some plate of bhoga to the Lord. Then they offered that prasādam to his forefather. One of the names for a son is putra and for a daughter is putrī. Because if performing this kind of ceremony, you can deliver your forefather from hell. ‘Pu’ means hell. ‘Tra’ means to deliver. ‘Tri’ means same thing, deliver, but feminine. So like that, the devotee goes back to Godhead and 14 generations of his—seven descendants and seven forefathers—they all get delivered. If you like to do something for your parents, get back to Godhead and they get a free ticket. Pay back any debts you owe to them. So, like that. Then Lord Caitanya, He was feeling so much ecstatic there that he decided he wanted to go to Vṛndāvana right away. “Vṛndāvana Bihārī Lāl Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa kī… Jaya! I am going to Vṛndāvana. I am going to Vṛndāvana.” And He ran across the Phalgu river. He was heading to the other side. Then there was a voice from the sky. “Gaurāṅga! Now it’s not the time to go to Vṛndāvana! You have to go back to Māyāpur-dhāma and start the saṅkīrtana movement. Later you can go to Vṛndāvana”. So the director of His līlā was reminding Him. “Not yet! Hold on!” (laughter) You are going off the script here.”

Then Lord Caitanya, when He got back to Navadvīpa, now He was telling His students about spiritual life, about Kṛṣṇa. So, they were wondering why that changed. “Why now suddenly You are telling us about Kṛṣṇa? Before you just told us about Sanskrit.”

So, He told them. He brought them to the side of the Ganges. He said, “You see, when I went to Gayā, I got initiated, and I realized that Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth. And so now that I realize that the summum bonum, the Supreme Truth is Kṛṣṇa, how can I give you this ordinary education and leave out Kṛṣṇa? So now I have to educate you also with education about Kṛṣṇa. But if you don’t want to stay as My student, then I will give you permission to leave Me.”

Then the lead student stood up and he said that, “Listen, You have always given us the best of education. Our Sanskrit academy is the most famous. It’s the best in Navadvīpa-dhāma. And now if You realize that Kṛṣṇa is Absolute, we still want to follow you. You didn’t teach us this before, so detailed. So now You teach us, we will want to follow. Now you are talking about this Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, but before, you never taught us. We don’t know how to do it. So, if You want us to do that, then You better bring someone to teach us how it’s done.”

And all the students cheered and said, “Yeah! We are with You.” Gaurānga!

Devotees: Gaurānga!

Gaura Hari!

Devotees: Gaura Hari!

Nimāi Paṇḍita kī…!

Devotees: (saying loudly) Jaya!

So, they brought some devotees and taught the students how to do kīrtana. So, like this the saṅkīrtana-movement began. He had thousands of students. So, right from the very beginning, Lord Caitanya had a lot of youths as part of his movement. Youths have a lot of energy. So, like that, very energetic movement. Happy to see here many youths. Not all are youths, but all young at heart. So, like this we should orient ourselves that we can achieve God realization.

I have a disciple who is a doctor and she works in Australia. And the other people in the hospital ask her, “Why are you always happy? I mean, we never see anyone always happy, but you are always happy. Why is that? What’s your secret?” (laughter) So, people, they don’t realize. Because when Bhagavad-gītā tells us when we go after things in the mode of passion, at first we get happiness, and afterwards we get frustration. When we do things in a higher perspective or a Kṛṣṇa conscious perspective, we can always be happy. So, thank you very much for your patience and attention.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Devotees: Haribol! *applaud*

Devotee: Jayapatākā Swami Gurumahārāja kī…!

Devotees: Jaya!

Any question?

Question: I heard that some students watched and started to criticize Lord Caitanya. How to solve the situation?

Jayapatākā Swami: After many years, Lord Caitanya was in an ecstasy and He was chanting the names of the gopīs, how they are such great devotees of Kṛṣṇa. And some students came up and started to chastise. Lord Caitanya got short tempered with them that, “Why you are interrupting my ecstasy? What do you know about all these things?” Whether they were exactly His students or other students, it doesn’t clearly say.

But the students got angry that “Why He is chastising us? Who does He think He is?” Then He saw that as the nature of people is to be, ‘familiarity breeds contempt’. That they are going to commit offenses to Me, it will be bad for their spiritual life. So, He decided that He will take sannyāsa. Because everyone would respect a sannyāsī. Here, Lord Caitanya was very young actually. He was, maybe at that time, still only 24. “That I won’t be able to preach being so young, unless I am a sannyāsī. Then they will respect Me as a sannyāsī.” So, He took sannyāsa at the age of 24. So, that is an external cause of the students. This also predicted in the Vedas, that He would come and 24 years He would be a householder, and 24 years He’d be a sannyāsī.

Devotee: Gurumahārāja! there is one question, which doesn’t let me peace already for a long time. It is said in śāstra and also in your letters in the book ‘Answers to Kṛṣṇa conscious questions’, you describe that the form of the Lord can’t be made whimsically and very strict rules and regulations about proportions and how does Lord look. And also you mentioned that, for example, Advaita Ācārya was looking quite young, inspite he was older member of Pañcattatva and he was always clearly shaved in his head and his face. Śrīvāsa, he also wasn’t young and he was one of the aged Vaiṣṇavas. So how this happened? Is it the will of the artist that the way Pañcattatva is depicted became an object of worship in ISKCON? (laughter)

Jayapatākā Swami: Hmm. Somehow, it’s very popularly shown as Advaita with the hair and the beard. And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura mentions that this became the popular appearance because he is an elderly person. But that actually he was shaved up. That is one verse in Caitanya Bhāgavata. So, somehow Prabhupāda, a couple of times wrote to artists and said that Advaita is older, he has a beard. I raised this issue and brought it up to the SAC, the Spiritual Advisory Council. But they said that since Prabhupāda gave a direct order, we will follow that instead. So I went to appeal that, that Prabhupāda also said that he does everything to please his spiritual master. If his spiritual master said like that, then obviously he wanted to do it that way. Haven’t found the time to write up my appeal. It has to be done very scholarly. But anyway, just see him like that. He is elderly. He is 50 years older than Lord Caitanya. That’s what they want to remind us.

(Devotee: So that means it’s like a symbol, not like a rūpa?)

For me, that’s what it’s like.

How much time we got for questions? How many people went to see, When we had the darśana? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, not so many. 10, 11.

Three more. Three more questions.

Question: Like you mentioned about schedule maker for the pastimes. And, also they are mentioned many times in scriptures that a voice from the sky said, like in Kaṁsa’s case or as you mentioned, Lord Caitanya. To whom belong that mysterious voice from the sky?

Jayapatākā Swami: We know in Vṛndāvana that Vṛndā Devī, she organized the pastimes, and she has her little, she has hundred thousand parrots that fly around and keep her informed of what’s going on. And so they, every day they plan out the pastime for the day. But exactly who is the, whether Śrī Vṛndā Devī is also doing that or another form of Vṛndā Devī in Caitanya-līla, I don’t want to speculate. I don’t know who. I don’t know exactly. Someone is doing it. Must be some incarnation of Vṛndā Devī. But I haven’t read anywhere that, this one is the one who is doing it. We are not allowed to speculate. We only have to say what we know from the scriptures. Vṛndāvana, we know it’s Vṛndā Devī. So, has anyone read? Anyone seen who does it in Navadvīpa? Have to research it. Maybe it’s in the Gaura Gaṇoddeśa Dīpikā.

Devotee: You mentioned different categories of kids who come to the families, pious and some kids who come to us due to being enemies in our previous life or to whom we debted. Can you please tell in details?

Jayapatākā Swami: Last question will be a lady. So, some lady can get prepared. So, in the Padma Purāṇa there is a pastime about a brāhmaṇa who didn’t have any children. And his wife told him that there is five kinds of children. So, we shouldn’t lament because maybe, you don’t know, every child isn’t always favorable. Then she told him about the five kinds of children. Three are negative, one is neutral and, one is positive. One is considered a bad karma. For some kind of bad karma, you have a child that’s very complicated. One is a debtor. From a previous life, you owed somebody money. You never paid them back. So somehow, they get to become your child. So, they are always trying to take from the parents. That way they are getting paid back for what they were owed in the previous life. Then there is an enemy child. Someone who was an enemy from the previous life, and they want to take birth just to cause you trouble. Then the fourth kind is a neutral kind. Those are the three negatives. This is called udāsīna, indifferent. They are not for you, they’re not against you. They are disinterested in spiritual life. I mean your family life. Then the fifth kind is very auspicious. That’s called suputra or suputrī. Someone who is very good son or daughter, they work for the benefit of the parents, well-wisher of the parents, and they can deliver their parents even from a hellish condition. They’re religious children. Those five kinds are mentioned in the Padma Purāṇa.

Okay, the first lady I see with the hands up

Question: What is spiritual compatibility between husband and wife?

Jayapatākā Swami: Both want to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, would be a spiritual compatibility. That they work together. I mean, sometimes the spouse is not very active in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but they also don’t object. They’re like, “You do it. It’s okay. I don’t.” That’s supportive. Supportive. But, then of course, someone who is active, they are chanting, they are helping you with the Deity worship, they work together, try to have a Kṛṣṇa conscious child, do garbhādhāna-saṃskāra, the whole script. There is different… It’s not script. I mean, I don’t know how many different kinds there are, but you know, you can imagine there is different kinds.

There is also people that they object, they don’t want the wife to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. But the wife can be like the wives of Kāliyā, the nāga-patnīs, and pray for the husband to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Since they are already married, well, you have to work with what you have. Try to make them as Kṛṣṇa conscious as possible. Also, that’s where the women have some special potency. It’s that they can offer their food to Kṛṣṇa, even secretly, and give their husband prasādam. Somehow, I know some husbands were negative, but they became positive by the influence of the wife. There could be more details. Sometimes husband and wife are from different sampradāya. So, they are both spiritual. But if they criticize each other’s sampradāya, then it becomes another type of problem. At least, there should be some mutual respect. I have seen dozens of different kinds of situations. It’s something that may not come in the astrological chart. It’s something we have to see whether we are spiritually, what your desire. Someone may be more enthusiastic for spiritual life than the other, and how they are going to accommodate that.

There was one family in Chennai, South India. The husband was a businessman. He would go traveling to Hong Kong, Tokyo, different places. He drank, smoked, more or less everything. Except he was a faithful husband. And he didn’t mind that his wife was Kṛṣṇa conscious. Used to drive her to the temple. He would sit outside in a car and smoke. (laughter) Sometimes he would walk in and see the Deity. He wasn’t against anything, but he just was in māyā. And then they used to, in turns, in her Bhakti-vṛkṣa group, sometime once in a month or so, she would have to host the Bhakti-Vṛkṣa members. So, he tried to be a good cooperative husband, and helped her to serve the guests. One senior devotee was visiting, giving a class that day. So then he asked, “I mean, is it okay to take coffee and tea?”

“Oh, no. This intoxication not good.”

Then he thought, “Well, I better not ask him about whiskey, because if coffee and tea is not good…” (laughter) But, then somehow in that association with the Bhakti-vṛkṣa group, he changed his heart and he decided to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He came and he confessed all these things to me. “So now I am vegetarian, no intoxication, I chant eight rounds trying to get up to 16. In the future I want to take initiation from you. I was saved by your Bhakti-Vṛkṣa program.”

Devotees: Hari bol!! *applause*

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Спасибо! Nice to come here in the winter and see all you nice warm devotees. I was worried that we are going to have Ratha-yātrā without any snow. (laughter) Then I saw on the internet that for Sunday it was predicted snow. Not storm, but like snow. Snow would come. And so, the night before it snowed. So, we had a white Ratha-yātrā.

Devotees: Hari bol! *applauding*

So, it seems that we have some prasādam here. Those who are not allergic to prasādam, (laughter) make two lines, one man, one woman.

Verified by : Sadānanda Kṛṣṇaprema Dāsa