20110830 Question and Answer Session

 Hari Bol!

The following is a Question and Answer session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 30^th, 2011 in Sri Dhama Mayapur, India. The Question and Answer session was given with English and Bengali translation.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim 

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam 

paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram

Hari Om Tat Sat!

In this verse is on one time accepting knowledge from a Guru, that by having such knowledge of one who is another form…1:34-1:35…. and they also realize that everything is a part of Kṛṣṇa. We all are, we are madyastha shakthi of Lord Kṛṣṇa 2:18…. and Lakshmi, Radha they are the internal potency actually all the Lakshmi’s, all the Sakhi’s, all the Manjaris, all the Gopi’s they are all extensions of Srimadhi Radharani. So we are meant to serve Kṛṣṇa, Jīvera svarūpa hoye nitya-Kṛṣṇa dāsa' but somehow we are trying to imitate Kṛṣṇa. We would like to take the position of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So as a result we are in this material world and we are giving him karma’s of what we do. We get equal results for the activities we perform, as we act we get the reactions accordingly. We do not relish the bliss of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, we cannot taste of some sort of happiness through the sense gratification in this material world. And by this sense perceptions, sometimes we are happy and sometimes we are suffering. Same senses can give us happiness or give us suffering. Now it’s summer season and now we are under the fans but in the winter we are not under the fan, in the winter we want to be inside away the wind. So the same breeze will give us happiness in the summer and give us suffering in the winter. So Lord Caitanya is so much to offer that he gives us the taste of parmananda. Now this is shared by Laxmidas Thakur, he says give-up the material attachment and become submerged in the transcendental bliss and say the names of Hari Hari. So this is the process of Lord Caitanya.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So Lord Nityananada, he said I would like to give you the pure bliss neervid sukh neervid sukh….10.04  neervid sukh un-bountiful happiness. Prabhupada said that the happiness in the material world is like having sweet-rice with healthy sand so when taken it bits in your teeth, would you like to have sweet-rice with sand. No. Who wants? Nobody wants. So the pure happiness we can’t get in this material world. But Lord Nityananda he instantly gives us this taste of pure happiness in this material world. Who wants the mercy of Lord Nityananda. Hari Gaur ..Jai Jai Gaur Gaur.

So this is the special mercy, if we can simply engage ourselves as Kṛṣṇadas das-anu-das. Lord Caitanya he said, he said I am not a Brahmin I am not a Sanyasi I am not a Grhastha, I am the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa. So this is the secret how to get the parmaananda. Now that you will have your last chance to get drashan of Radha Madhava, Astha Sakhi, Prahalad Narsimhadev, Panchatatva at about 8:30 they call. Now is your chance to offer prayers or donations or anything. 

We are answering questions now, how many we got?

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Maharaja today we have 15 questions, we have one question of online yesterday, can I start with that?

Devotee question: Sushmeeta Siani Gurugaon. Dear Guru Maharaja please accept my humble obeisances. Once I was reading an article in which teachings about our great acharyaas were written, one was that the two most valuable things that devotees has, are beads and the Guru and one should not advertise them to one or other and one who does so are not so serious but we all keep glorifying our Guru and chant when we are out in the market place. Guru Maharaja please help.

Guru Maharaja: Sanatana Goswami says that if we say the name of our Guru we should say so very respectfully. We should touch our forehead [ GuruMahārāja shows by touching his folded palms to his forehead]  and say name of your Guru by saying Srila Gurudev and his name, otherwise we don’t. This no one tells you but if they ask you have the18:40. Somehow our beads are stolen here and you have to be very careful I know lot of devotees who lost their beads, so please be careful with beads especially when you get initiated and get the beads from the Guru.

Devotee Question: Lord Caitanya said the constitutional position of the living entity is that he is servant of Kṛṣṇa. But at Tulasi Aarthi every day we sing please make me your maid servant, so how to become from the servant to the maid servant. How one can become a maid servant, if you can kindly share a few words on this subject. Your’s little servant, Vanamali ….20.40-20.42

Guru Maharaja: On this subject, Lord Shiva wanted to enter into raaslila past times but Radharani said that there can only be one male and that male is Sri Kṛṣṇa. If you want to see the raasalila performance you have to take a female form. In this way Lord Shiva accepted the form of a Gopi and act as the gate keeper (dwarapalaka) of the raasa arena and his name is Gopeshewhar Shiva. Those who want to enter into the raasa, they have to pass through hurdle. Tulasi is the form of Brindadevi and by her blessings one can achieve the form of a Gopi. Therefore, our Acharyas have prayed under the lotus feet of Tulasi Devi in this way.

Devotee Question: Guru Maharaja one devotee from Mehera in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was living in Dhaka and he used to chant sometimes but he was also eating meat and fish. And he was very devoted to Giridhari and Jagannatha. On this month 7^th of August he told his sons that my health is not very good, I would like to get some Mahaprasadam can you please arrange a little Mahaprasadam. So their neighbor was a devotee of ISKCON so they got a little Mahaprasadam from that devotee’s home. As soon as he took the prasadam, he chanted the name of Giridhari and Jagannatha and he left the body. My question is Guru Mahārāja what kind of destination will this devotee have? By the way his shraddha ceremony would be done with Mahaprasadam from the Giridhari temple. 

Guru Maharaja Answer: He would get a very good destination. Because Lord Kṛṣṇa declares in Bhagavad Gita that one who chants my name at the time of his death will be able to reach me. But if one thinks that, what is the use of so much sadhana and hard labor? I would simply think of Kṛṣṇa at the time of death and I would chant his name and in the meantime I would eat beef, fish etc. This does not usually happen all the time, usually at the time of death one has so many different thoughts in his mind but this gentleman was somehow taking the name of Giridhari and Jagnahatha and he took Kṛṣṇa remnants. He is very good, he is very very fortunate.

 Devotee Prachi from Jaipur: How to be equipoised in both happiness and distress?

Guru Maharaja Answer: 29:24 Kṛṣṇa Bhakti material happiness and material distress as they are equal to us. At-least if we know everything is temporary, the sadness will leave us soon and also the sukh will leave us soon. So this a non-permanent situation we should tolerate. Kṛṣṇa is very kind he allows us to have some material happiness but we should not think that this is the ultimate goal. We should try and achieve real bhakthi.

Devotee Radhakishori Devidasi: How should the income in grhastha ashrama be divided?

Guru Maharaja Answer: This is a big topic. Rupa Gosvami he had divided his savings into three parts. He gave half for Kṛṣṇa’s service, he gave one quarter to the family and one quarter he kept for emergency. But some saints say that this leads to sins so there isn’t across the board consensus exactly how this is done. However, every Grhastha  should see how much he can give to me every month to Kṛṣṇa’s service and then we give that for meeting all the expenses of preaching, some local temple, our Guru, some religious projects. That varies from one person to next depending on how much they are able to donate.

You should tell me that there are so many questions, because I cannot go unlimited.

So thank you all very much.

Hari Bol!