20161224 Evening Darśana at the Juhu Beach Temple.

20161224 His. Holiness. Jayapatākā Swami gave an evening darshan at the Juhu Beach Temple.

Gurumahārāja: I will stay here this time maybe five or six days. Maybe Mahāvarāha Dāsa can tell the basic schedule. 

Today is our day of rest. So we are going to have questions and answers. Short class. 

This temple is very important to Śrīla Prabhupāda. He came here on his way from Māyāpur to Vṛndāvana. 

By coming here Mr. Reddy offered him some land and asked him to live with him here. At that time there was a draught in Andhra Pradesh, and they had a big yajña at Tirupati, and they had I think 108 kundas. There were chanters, referees, referees of the referees, but there was fiasco. The chanters made so many mistakes that the referees couldn’t really keep up, and the referees of the referees were also overwhelmed. They said instead of raining it produced smoke. Prabhupāda said, they should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and that will bring rain in Kali Yuga. So he came to Hyderabad and he chanted here, and it rained for seven days. [applause] 

Also when he made the temple here, he had some local brāhmaṇas to install the deities, because it is said that he wanted to make sure that people accepted the deities. So at that time I also came. It was a big thing. I think that the Chief Minister then was Mr. Chenna Reddy. Later he was a governor of some other state, but he was a Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. So Prabhupāda was hosting this big V.I.P’s and he was watching from his room how the things were going on. Excuse me.

So they installed the Nitāi Gaura, Rādhā Madana Mohana, Jagannātha-Baladevā-Subhadrā- Sudarshan deities, and they also had a big picture of Venkateshwar. I don’t know if they still have that picture. 

Yes? ............... Yes [audience]

So here Prabhupāda was giving lecture and he was very pleased. In fact although he made one hundred and eight temples all around the world, he left his gurudakshina for only four – Māyāpur, Vṛndāvana, Bombay and Hyderabad. [applause] So you are in a very special temple. 

I went many times also to the Mansell farm. Prabhupāda was there, but I will speak about it in Mansell. 

Question: Who is the first incarnation. Kṛṣṇa or Vsnu? And how can we attain moksha?

Gurumaharaja: Kṛṣṇa is the first personality of Godhead, and all the others come from Him. His first expansion is Balarāma, and then there is the Catur Viha’s – Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Anirudha &  Pradyumna, and then comes Nārāyaṇa. Then from Nārāyaṇa there are 24 form of Nārāyaṇa. Each has their śaṅkha, chakra, gadā, padma in a different position. So, these all in the spiritual world Vaikuṇṭha, and the first expansion in the material world is the Karanādakshāyi Viṣṇu, and from him comes the Garbodakshāyi Viṣṇu and from his comes the Ksidakshāyi Viṣṇu, and the last expansion is sesha. 

So, there are five kinds of moksha – sāyujya, sālokya, sāmīpya, ṣaṣṭi and sāmīpya. So, sayujya means to merge with the jyoti or in the body of the Lord, and that we see for the Māyāvādī’s and the persons who are killed by Kṛṣṇa. Bhakti Yogi’s do not want that. The other four, the devotees accept if it includes the service of the Lord. We can get the other four by bhakti yoga. And you attain sāyujya mukti by jñāna yoga or by being killed by the Lord. 

Question: How to control the material desires?

Gurumahārāja: Very strong. Material desires. And if we are constantly Kṛṣṇa’s service, then it’s easier to control the material desires. Just if you try to control without doing devotional service, then you will be swept away. Kṛṣṇa describes in the third chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, daivī hy eṣā guṇa mayi mama māyā duratayya, that this material energy is my divine potency, it is very difficult to overcome. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām eva taranti te, that if you surrender to Me I will cross you over this māyā. 

So that’s the secret of how to control these desires. 

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. Please accept my humble obeisance’s at you divine feet. When everything goes well in life my remembrance of Kṛṣṇa is more, but in difficulties my mind gets very much disturbed and I do not feel enthusiasm in practicing devotional service. So what should be my consciousness in both of the cases?

Gurumaharaja: We should remember that this world is place of suffering, this is a place of birth and death. So there will be good times and there will be bad times. Mostly bad times. So, if you only think of Kṛṣṇa in the good times, that means that you are not thinking of Kṛṣṇa very much. Actually people think of Kṛṣṇa when they are suffering. 

There are four kinds of people that approach Kṛṣṇa. One is the distressed; the other is the one in need, the inquisitive and the knowledgeable, those who have knowledge.  

So usually when we are in difficulty, we should remember Nṛsṁhadeva or some of the Lord who helps us to cross over this illusion, and when we are having a good time we should think that it is all the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. 

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. Dandavata Prāṇam. 

Śrīla Prabhupāda established ISKCON to give everyone information about our connection with Kṛṣṇa, and how to attain His abode – Goloka Vṛndāvana, but I have seen many ISKCON temples are doing Food for Life. And in the book Science of Self-realization also one part I read, when Hyederabad was affected by severe draught, but Prabhupāda conducted sankirtan yajña rather than doing some philanthropic activities, and I also heard Prabhupāda told, “No one in the 10 kilometre radius of ISKCON temple should be for food. My question is, how to understand Prabhupāda’s mood?

Gurumaharaja: He was seeing how our people were very hungry, and he said that anyone within the ten miles radius of the temple of Vṣnu or Kṛṣṇa, who is the original Vsnu form, they shouldn’t go hungry, just like the children don’t go hungry in the presence of the father. So people should not be hungry in the presence of Kṛṣṇa.

So, his mood of feeding people was spiritual, and also by providing Kṛṣṇa conscious vegetarian food to the children; the government pays something, something’s we get donated and we provide their free mid-day meals. So that way the children can get some Kṛṣṇa conscious food. Hopeful that will help them become devotees in the future. So it’s usually that we give this midday meals within a ten miles radius of our temples, and it is spiritually connected by giving Kṛṣṇa conscious food. So there is no contradiction there. 

Question: How to control sense gratification? I have tried it but it is difficult.

Gurumahārāja: You have to gratify Kṛṣṇa’s senses. Offer nice food to Kṛṣṇa, take the prasādam. By the way happy Ekādashi. [laughter] 

Question: In any condition of life how we can become more and more surrendered?

Gurumahārāja: I said today is the day of my rest. So, we are supposed to end at nine but we are overtime. 

Question: In any condition of life how can we become more and more surrendered and sincere to the lotus feet of Guru and Gaurāṅga?

Gurumahārāja: That’s why every day we offer our obeisance’s to the Guru three times, at least three times, so that we can always be surrendered, and whatever happens we take it as the Lord’s mercy. 

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa. I took vow to sell one hundred books, but uptil now I sold only twenty seven books. Probably I am unable to convince the people to fulfil my vow. So how should I go ahead?

Gurumahārāja: The supersoul has His presence in every person, and praying to Kṛṣṇa to influence that person to do some sevā and buy a book or take the book and give a donation. 

And also you also should read the book yourself, so that if the person asks you, what the book says... “I don’t know. I just sell it.” [laughter] You should rather tell, “This book is so good.” Tell them why it is good. What’s the thing that they are looking for in their life? Tell them that the book will help them find it. How? You should know. Also the month of December is the Gītā Jayantī month, and there is some discount. I don’t know if here, but in Bombay they give the Gītā out for a hundred rupees, and English for 130, Hindi, Marathi – 100. So that’s much cheaper than the normal one’s. “So Sir, this is rare opportunity. There is only nine days in this month.  C’mon you won’t get a chance like this again. This is urgent. Urgent. You are getting the book in such a discount.” [Laughter] Everybody is looking for a discount. 

“Really?”

“Yea, you save money.”

“Where is the book. I want to buy now.” 

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Gurumāhārāja. Please accept my obeisance’s. Mahārāja. How to go about Kṛṣṇa consciousness to family members. I am finding it difficult to preach to them. I invite them for home programs, but they don’t come. Your servant, Venkatapaty Vasudev Dās.

Gurumahārāja: It depends on who your relative is. Senior, junior, equal. What your relationship is. Each person you have to take as a project. Think of how to get this person interested. Sometimes a wife goes to her husband who is not very interested. 

“Oh swami, can you help me. I don’t understand this verse.”