20170107 Addressing the Youths

Following is an evening class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on January 7th 2017 in Coimbatore, India. The evening class was given to the youth.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

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

paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: So I’m very happy to meet so many young people who are practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Some are students and some are working.

The actual purpose of life is to understand who we are and where we are meant to go. Some of the modern scientists would like us to believe that we products of matter. But the Vedas say that life comes from life, that the living spirit is a different thing altogether. That in this material world the body is a machine. The body breaks down, we leave the body, but we don’t die. ‘na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre’ (Bhagavad-gītā 2.20) that the body dies but the soul doesn’t die. We are that spirit soul. Otherwise there will be no meaning to life and unfortunately that’s what many people think. So, we are happy that you are breaking free and thinking for yourself. Some people think that devotees are brainwashed. But, Prabhupāda would say “I have given them a brain. Before they had no brain” So, we are trying to think out of the box, through the eyes of scriptures.

So devotees, they feel very happy. I want you all to be very happy. All these people from all over the world who have taken up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have great happiness because they know why are they here, they know where they are going. So side by side just like there are two tracks of the train, we have our material life and we have our spiritual existence. So, we want to see that, we don’t just have one side. We can live with both sides. So, side by side we have this spiritual side and we know how to survive in this material world. So, if you have any questions? Usually young people have lots of questions. Instead of me doing all the speaking, I can hear what’s on your mind.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Devotee: Guru Mahārāja when we are practicing our spiritual life and doing our material thing activities, it is very different for us to balance both things and it is very hard to struggle in this material world even for existence. So how we can balance?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see we practice what’s known as ‘yukta-vairāgya’, that’s when we use material energy in the service of Kṛṣṇa. So we can do that in such a way, in our studies, in our work, in all our different activities we can see how they help our service to Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, our activities are Kṛṣṇa conscious. Just like if we have a degree, we can use that in Kṛṣṇa’s service.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Daṇḍavat praṇām. My question is like when we are carrying out our preaching activities outside, especially when we are dealing with the young students, what should be our internal attitude so that we present Kṛṣṇa consciousness to them in an effective manner and at the same we don’t get hijacked by our own mind.

Jayapatākā Swami: To be able to speak to the students in such a way that they can relate with you. You have been there, you have done that, so you can speak in such a way that they can understand. At the same time, you know that, this is just a step. So, you don’t get taken away by this. Things in this world give you pleasure but they also give you pain. I met a scientist and he said he was hired to study pain. Pharmaceutical companies pay them because pain killing is a multi-billion dollar business. So I said what did you find out? He said everybody is in pain, he said they have physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain, fireworks [laughter]. All kinds of pain. So, some of the gṛhasthas in their bhakti-vṛkṣas raised their hands and they said, we have financial pain [laughter]; how to balance the finances between the family and so on. So, in this world, the same things that give us pleasure give us pain, the same senses. So, we don’t lose sight of that. Everybody is going through stress, different kinds of pain. So, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, we can get mental and all kinds of pleasure, peace. So, we want to communicate that with the boys, with the youth. So, all my best wishes to all of you.