20190201 Question and Answers Session

Come join us as His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja reads from the new Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book on February 1st, 2019 in Chennai, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

So today because the Creative Committee for the TOVP Exhibits section was originally scheduled for 6 pm to 7 pm, and they changed it to 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm and then then changed to 8 pm to 9 pm! Which is the same time as my class. So it was too late to change it. So we will just have questions and answers today and we are starting late because of reasons beyond our control. Haribol! So if you can write your questions out, it will be easier.

Question: Dear Guru Mahārāja! When we hear from pure devotees, it is said the Lord gets established in the heart. Already the Lord is in our heart as Paramātmā. So during this hearing process, who is getting established and how? Who is it from?

—Śānta Gopī Mātājī

Jayapatākā Swami: Anonymous letter, question. We will not take any more anonymous questions. Although the Supersoul is in our heart, we may not be knowing that; and we are just doing things as if we are the doer. We don’t understand that the Lord is actually doing things for us. So having the Lord fixed in our hearts means that we will be constantly thinking of Kṛṣṇa. We should be doing everything as a service to Kṛṣṇa. So it is a whole change of our subtle body, in the sense that now we feel connection with Kṛṣṇa always. That means He is fixed in our heart.

Question: Dear Guru Mahārāja [Jayapatākā Swami: “Yes!”] again from Śānta Gopī devī dāsī. Is chanting of Holy name yuga-dharma for every Kali-yuga? If yes, does Lord Caitanya come to establish yuga-dharma? How does establishing yuga-dharma happen?

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya comes after Kṛṣṇa, sometimes. And Kṛṣṇa comes once in a day of Brahmā, in the 27th Dvāpara-yuga, and sometimes Lord Caitanya comes after Him in the next Kali-yuga. So the four yugas are 4 million 320 thousand years and Satya-yuga, Tretā-yuga, Dvāpara-yuga, Kali-yuga are 4, 3, 2, 1 [in that ratio]. So Kali-yuga is one tenth of the other yugas. So that that is why Kali-yuga is 432,000 years and we have already been through 5,000 years and now we have 427,000 years left. What is the yuga-dharma of the next yuga, that will be revealed in the various śāstras. But even if it is Harināma, some other avatāra of the Lord will initiate this. In Satya-yuga there was meditation, Tretā-yuga there was yajña and in Dvāpara-yuga there is temple worship. So that is still 4 million years to the next Kali-yuga. So you can tell me what is the next yuga-dharma.

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Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa dear Guru Mahārāja! This is your daughter Satyabhāmā Sādhvī devī dasī. (Jayapatākā Swami: “Oh, thank you Satyabhāmā!”) Gurudeva, What can one do to not forget one’s spiritual master even for a moment?

—Satyabhāmā Sādhvī devī dasī

Jayapatākā Swami: What is the question?

What can one do to not forget one’s spiritual master even for a moment?

Jayapatākā Swami: Very glorious question. We want to always remember guru and Kṛṣṇa. So if we do everything as an offering to guru and Kṛṣṇa, then we will be constantly thinking of Guru and Kṛṣṇa. Like, if you buy a gift for your loved one, now you may be thinking what does that person like? And you pick up some gift, so it maybe that you are thinking about the gift, but you are thinking in the context what does this person like? So therefore, you are always thinking about the person. Even though technically you may not always thinking about him, but all your action is offered to him. So therefore, your thought process is centered around the person you love. So if you love Kṛṣṇa, if you love the guru, it is very easy to think always about guru and Kṛṣṇa.

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Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja! How can we keep our enthusiasm going because not every day we have the same enthusiasm?

—Rasapriya Gopikā devī dāsī, Māyāpur.

Jayapatākā Swami: This is on the stage of anartha-nivṛitti. One of the anarthas is called thick and thin. Sometimes the devotion is very thick, sometimes very thin, so thin and thick. So by following the process and reaching the stage of niṣṭhā, then one will be fixed and there won’t be this thick and thin enthusiasm.

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Question: When Caitanya Mahāprabhu showed the universal form to Advaita Gosāñi at His request, Advaita Gosāñi cried with intense ecstasy and begged with straw between His teeth for devotional service in humility. Do pure, humble devotees actually do that?

—Mālinī Sundarī devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: Advaita Ācārya is considered a topmost devotee. And what He is doing is an example for all to follow. Everyone who is on the level of a topmost devotee, will also be begging from the Lord for service. In the material world, one wants to control to enjoy the material nature; but in spiritual life, one wants to be enjoyed by the Lord. One wants to please the Lord. And one wants to serve the Lord. So the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra means. “Oh Lord! Oh energy of the Lord, please engage me in Your service.” So as we engage in the Lord’s service, in devotees service, our taste for Kṛṣṇa consciousness increases. So the Lord is enjoying His pastimes. He is always happy and the devotees who are participating with His pastimes, they are also happy. Who wants to be happy? [Haribol!] The real happiness is to please Kṛṣṇa. We are part of Kṛṣṇa. When He is pleased, we are all automatically pleased. When He is happy, we are also happy.

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Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa daṇḍavat prāṇam. (Jayapatākā Swami said: Hare Kṛṣṇa daṇḍavat prāṇam!) AGTSP (All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda) Dear Guru Mahārāja, generally, kṣatriyas are known to be passionate but in our sampradāya we are supposed to be in the mode of goodness. How to perform varṇāśrama duties for those who in the kṣatriya-varṇa?

—Śrīdhara Prabhu, Hyderabad

Jayapatākā Swami: Interesting question. You see many of the people whom I thought were kṣatriyas, because their works was like that, Prabhupāda said they were actually śūdras. Because the real kṣatriya works out of religious principles, and they have chivalry; definitely chivalrous, but they have certain rules they follow. They give charity, they have various rules that they follow. For instance when Droṇācārya was the general of the Kurus, during the Kurukṣetra war, he was ruthless, because he wanted to win. But the kṣatriyas, they follow certain codes. They are chivalrous, but they are not ruthless. When a person surrenders, they would spare him. But somehow Droṇācārya was more ruthless than a kṣatriya. Being a brāhmaṇa who taught kṣatriyas. So it is not that a kṣatriya is just passion, but he doesn’t have ignorance. And some are called rājā-ṛṣis, where they are kṣatriya, but they are also paṇḍitas and they are also ṛṣis. So they have goodness and also passion. So being a kṣatriya in Kṛṣṇa consciousness [means] we serve Kṛṣṇa in a particular way. We don’t use our violence against any other devotee, unless it is self-defense. We rather use the violence in accordance with religious principles. So I don’t know if that answers your question but that is the answer that I could think of.

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Question: What is the order we take darśana of Śrī Pañca-tattva – is it okay to take darśana of Lord Nityānanda first?

—Ānanda Kṛṣṇa dāsī from Māyāpur.

Jayapatākā Swami: We say, śrī kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī advaita gadādhara śrīvāsa-ādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛndā so if we follow the Pañca-tattva mantra, that will be the order we see Them in. Lord Caitanya, Nityānanda, Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa, and then all the others. Of course, one may have the shelter of the guru, who is a dear devotee of Nityānanda Prabhu and by Their mercy get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. So how we see the Pañca-tattva, we see in that way. Lord Nityānanda is the servant of Lord Caitanya. And so we are the servant of the servant of the servant of Lord Nityānanda, who is the servant of Lord Caitanya. Some are serving Advaita, some worship Gadādhara and Gaurāṅga. There is a Deity in Ṛtudvīpa of Gaura-Gadādhara, also the personal Deity of Bhakitivinoda Ṭhākura, who is worshipped in Godrumadvīpa is Gaura-Gadāi. Some people worship Gaura-Gadādhara, but most people worship Nitāi-Gaura.

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Question: Dear Guru Mahārāja, [Jayapatākā Swami: Yes!] You mentioned we have seven islands. Do the people there know about Lord Caitanya’s pastimes and teachings. If no, then how to reach them the message?

—Vrajeśvara Gaura dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: What seven islands? Before you mentioned Jambūdvīpa, Lakṣadvīpa and other places in the universe, other dvīpas)

Śānta Gopī devī dāsī: In Navadvīpa dhāma there are nine islands. The seven islands are in the universe islands, part of the Bhāgavatam cosmology – Jambūdvīpa, Lakṣadvīpa and others. How to reach people there?

Jayapatākā Swami: Just worry about your planet first. After this life you can go and help other planets. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was walking one night and he saw… He was looking at the moon, [for] a long time. The disciples were watching him and wondering what does he looking at? Then he turned and told them, “They have become bahir-mukha on the moon! They have become materialistic. We need to go there and preach. Prabhupāda may be there with him and I will go wherever Prabhupāda is. I would like to go… [Jaya!]

So while we are here in this planet, we would like to expand Kṛṣṇa consciousness unlimited in this planet. And then we are ready to go to the next planet. In some of these planets the people living there are on the subtle platform. So they may not visible to us. Unless we have a similar subtle body or some special blessing to see subtle entities or unless they want to show themselves. When they came to offer prayers to Lord Caitanya in the womb of mother Śacī, Lord Caitanya caused their shadows to be visible to mother Śacī and then she started chanting Narasiṁha prayers. And then they realized that they were partially visible to mother Śacī, so they fled away. So there are 14 planetary types and we will explain those in our TOVP Exhibition. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

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