20110907 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question-and-Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swāmi Mahārāja on September 7^th, 2011 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur 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-gurum dīna-tāranam
paramānanda mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya īśvaraṁ

Jayapatākā Swami: If one listens to the instructions of Śrī Kṛṣṇa from the Bhagavad-gītā, then all one’s doubts will become completely cleared. So, if you have transcendental knowledge, then by the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, you have become fixed in the process of bhakti-yoga.

Now Lord Caitanya, He felt great ecstasy. But all the local people thought He was mentally imbalanced. When Mother Śacī went to call Him, then some of the neighbours, they said, “Your son, it seems His vāta, His air, is too high. So, you should give Him some tender coconut. (Ḍāb... Daber jal).”

And one other said, “That will not do. You should give Him daśamūla-taila, and rub it on His head.”

But others said, “No, no, that will not do. You should tie Him with ropes, He is too far gone.”

So, he went to see Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. He said, “I would like to speak with you.”

Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura said, “Sure. What is Your question?”

He said, “Well, people say My air is disturbed. So, I want to find out if I have a disease.”

“What are the symptoms?”

So, Lord Caitanya said, “I cry whenever I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and my hands also stand on end. Tears come in my eyes. Sometimes I uncontrollably laugh, and sometimes I faint. All kinds of things happen when I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.”

Śrīvāsa said, “Hmm… Hmmm…. Hmmmm! Yes, you have a disease! I want that disease too. (*everyone exclaims Hari bol!*) You have the disease of love for Kṛṣṇa. Even Brahmā and Śiva, they also want. So, it is quite natural,”, said Śrīvāsa, “that the local people, they won’t understand. You should come and chant in my house. I have a garden here and I have a wall. I will just let people come who are devotees, and they will understand your ecstasy.” So, that is  how the Śrīvāsa Aṅganā Kīrtana began.

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

Lord Caitanya said to Śrīvāsa, “You saved my life. If I got these different feelings, and if these were some sort of disease, then I would have simply committed suicide because I wouldn’t have been able to cure myself. In spite of getting all these different kinds of symptoms and feelings, if they would have been futile, then what would be use of living? So, you saved my life.”

Gaurāṅga!

So, we should put our faith in Kṛṣṇa’s words. We should put our faith in Nitāi and Gauracandra. What is that verse?

bhaja bhaja bhāi, caitanya-nitāi,
sudṛḍha viśvāsa kari’
viṣaya chāḍiyā, se rase majiyā,
mukhe bala hari hari

So, those who have cut all the doubts with their torch of light, with the sword of knowledge, they really solve their lives. So, are there any questions?

Question: Guru Mahārāja, if a devotee who has taken shelter of an ISKCON guru, after taking aśraya (shelter) if that devotee decides before initiation to take initiation from another spiritual master, will that be an offence?

Jayapatākā Swami: Before the initiation, that’s all a trial period, to wake up. So, if one wants to choose another guru, then the system is: he should take blessings (from the current guru), and tell the guru from whom one wants to take and take his blessings, so that the guru should also give blessings. And that is the system. Taking of shelter is the last test, and the bhakta is testing his guru and the guru is testing the disciple. So, usually the disciple keeps the āśraya guru as the śikṣā-guru and takes the other guru as the dīkṣā-guru.

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Question: Please Mahārāja accept my humble obeisances. I would like to ask you please, if you can tell me, if Śrīmatī Tulasī Devī was with the rest of the gopīs when Kṛṣṇa took their clothes while they were bathing in the Yamunā river, like we can read in the Kṛṣṇa book.

—Mukunda Dāsa, from Alaga, Spain

Jayapatākā Swami: We know that Tulasī in Kṛṣṇa-līlā, she is Vṛndā Devī. She is the one who coordinates the līlās of Kṛṣṇa. She has a whole number of parrots who are flying and telling the pastimes. In vastra-haraṇa-līlā, they don’t particularly state, that I know, of the names of the gopīs. So, how I can say whether affirmatively she was there or not? But since she coordinates the pastimes of the Lord, she may not always be in the līlās.

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Question: Dear Guru Mahārāja, devotees often preach that we should not read Caitanya-caritāmṛta before finishing Bhāgavatam, but if somebody gets more bliss and taste in Gaura-kathā than Kṛṣṇa-kathā, then is it offence to read Caitanya-caritāmṛta before finishing the Bhāgavatam? We know that Mahāprabhu is more merciful that Kṛṣṇa.

—  Maṇigopāla Dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: Maṇigopāla, Prabhupāda wrote the ‘Teachings of Lord Caitanya’ and that book was intended to be read even before reading the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. So, if you want to read something about Lord Caitanya, first read Teachings of Lord Caitanya. Then, if you finish that, later simultaneously you can read the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and the Caitanya-caritāmṛta but you should not give up reading the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

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Question: Most worshipable Guru Mahārāja, in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu we find that a person who has performed great charity, meditation, Deity worship and worshipping the Lord; only a person who has done these things, will the Holy Name of the Lord dance on his tongue. I have been bereft of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness since time immemorial. Will Nāma Prabhu dance on my tongue?

—Your servant, Vanamālī Gaurāṇga dāsa, ISKCON Māyāpur

Jayapatākā Swami: He was what? 

Sujitendriya Prabhu: “I was bereft of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Kṛṣṇa bahirmukha from time immemorial.”

Jayapatākā Swami: How does he know? (laughter) before this life. You are saying that I am bereft of Kṛsṇa Consciousness since time immemorial. How do you know that? Anyway, someone said in the class of Śrīla Prabhupāda; that was in the Ardha Kumbha Melā in 1971. He also asked such a thing, but he thought of this life because he didn’t know what he did in other lives. But he said, in this life I didn’t do any of these things. So, how I am Kṛṣṇa Conscious, and Prabhupāda replied, “I have made your good fortune for you.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda kī…!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Prabhupāda kī…!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Prabhupāda kī…!

Devotees: Jaya!