20170107 Addressing the Youths

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

So I’m very happy to meet so many young people who are practicing Krishna 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 hanyamane sarire’ 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, Prabhupada 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 Krishna 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 Krishna Guru Maharaja  

Jayapataka Maharaja: Hare Krishna!

Devotee: Guru Maharaja 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?

Jayapataka Maharaja: You see we practice what’s known as ‘yukta vairagya’, that’s when we use material energy in the service of Krishna. 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 Krishna. Therefore, our activities are Krishna conscious. Just like if we have a degree, we can use that in Krishna’s service.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja. Dandavat pranams. 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 Krishna conscious to them in an effective manner and at the same we don’t get hijacked by our own mind.

Jayapataka Maharaja: 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, mental pain, emotional pain, fireworks (due to loud noise of fireworks in the background, laughter). All kinds of pain. So, some of the grihastas in their bhakti-vrikshas 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 Krishna, 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.