20200108 Evening Darśana

The following is an evening class given by His Holiness Jayapātākā Swami Mahārāja on January 8th, 2020 at New Panihati dham in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate giri

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

paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Golden roses! I would like to thank Martin Maria my spiritual granddaughter for her very active expressive loving dance, very active, very energetic! And also wish Viśvambhar a very memorable and spiritual anniversary of his birth! Are there any questions?

Question: Guru Mahārāja.

Jayapatākā Swami: Yes!

Question: Please accept my respectful obeisances.

Jayapatākā Swami: Accepted!

Question: You went with Śrīla Prabhupāda to Pānihāṭi, how was your experience? Deva Mādhava dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: is he here?

Devotee: Online!

Jayapatākā Swami: It was a wonderful experience! Next question! Ha! How fast I answer! You said there were lots of questions! We got our first śālagrāma-śilā from Pānihāṭi dhām! One pujari came out and gave a śālagrāma-śilā to Śrīla Prabhupāda. I was also present when he was showing the head pujari how to draw a face on the śālagrāma-śilā. You know when Śrīla Prabhupāda went anywhere, did anything, it was very memorable, I think at that time the house of Raghava Pandit was very old. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if they replace this, they should at least have a picture of the previous house, to show people that this is a very ancient place, so people won’t mistake and think it is a new place. It is very old and he went to the tree of Lord Nityānanda, and he was very impressed that the tree was still there! And he wanted that we should somehow take a boat from Kolkata to Māyāpur, stop in Pānihāṭi and give the people a breakfast of ciḍā and dahī, yogurt, flat rice and fruits, and they go to Mayapur. So we have a boat, but unfortunately, it was not designed properly. It takes too long to go, very fancy boat, air conditioned and all that but it doesn’t go that fast as it should! So anyway, we are still trying to work on realizing fully Srila Prabhupāda’s dream for Pānihāṭi. But His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami has obtained the land just next to that tree! So, we go there every year and distribute the flat rice, yogurt, fruits to about a hundred thousand people! That is a big festival! So, Śrīla Prabhupāda went there and he had a vision, how we could develop the place. Eventually, the government changed from a Congress government to a Communist party, CPM and they could care less about the spiritual heritage of Bengal, unfortunately! Next question.

Question: Dearest ŚrĪla Gurudeva!

Jayapatākā Swami: yes!

Question: All Glories to your divine grace! What was your last conversation about, with Śrīla Prabhupāda ?

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know how is it more important, the last, the middle or the first? How are you supposed to remember all? At that time Śrīla Prabhupāda was not speaking so much. He was having the devotees chant in his room, very softly and he was in a very meditative mood. He was holding the picture of Kṛṣṇa Balārāma and sometimes he would wave his hand in the air and you know, sometimes he was translating also, his books. So I took the opportunity, I don’t know if it was the last time or second last, or, that was in the final days. I was massaging his lotus feet and then I just took advantage. Can you hear me? Anybody cannot hear me? If you cannot hear me, raise your hand! I put my head on his lotus feet and that was very memorable for me! Any other question?

Question: Dear spiritual father, the difference between power, misuse of power and the relation between devotional service?

Jayapatākā Swami: Is it a question?

Devotee: I think the question is what is the difference between power, misuse of power and the relation between power and devotional service?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, māyā offers us sense gratification and Kṛṣṇa offers us seva! So whether you want sense gratification or you want seva? If power is used for serving Kṛṣṇa, it is seva! If power is used for your own enjoyment, it is sense gratification! So we want to use everything we have in the service of Kṛṣṇa. And that way we can get unlimited spiritual bliss and by pleasing Kṛṣṇa, if we please Him a little bit, then for us it is like a Tsunami of transcendental bliss! We are very small, Kṛṣṇa is a little pleased, it means it is a flood for us! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: Please accept my humble obeisances.

Jayapatākā Swami: Accepted, but why humble? You say, Guru Mahārāja and humble? When you say Guru Mahārāja, you say Respectful Obeisances. Humble is for like godbrother, humble, but Gurudeva, respectful.

Question: How do I inspire myself to wake up at brāhma–muhūrta time and chant?

Jayapatākā Swami: Set your alarm! ha! ha! Don’t eat too much at night. If you take three pizzas or something, you cannot get up at brāhma–muhūrta, or you may have a dream of pizzas! And you will wonder why do I have dreams of pizzas?! So, eat light, go to bed early and get up early! I am keeping you awake, giving question and answer session. So everyone says, see, Gurudeva, he said go to bed early, but he kept us so late! Anyway, it is my last night, so I am here. You are here because you want to hear something. [haribol]

Question: What are souls who go to Brahmajyoti doing? Are they engaged in any activity?

Jayapatākā Swami: Why do you want to know? Ha! You want to go there?! Ha! Apparently, they don’t, I have no experience, but what we hear from sastra, is that they merge in the light and they cease to have any realization of their individuality. They just become like one drop of water in the ocean. They are still living in a drop, but they don’t realize anything, I mean they realize a certain amount of spiritual bliss, but that bliss is considered like, maybe an ocean of bliss compared to material life, but in comparison with Kṛṣṇa’s service, it is like a hoof print of a calf in the mud, how much water it contains, compared to the ocean. So serving Kṛṣṇa is an ocean of bliss, and the Brahmajyoti realization is insignificant compared to that, although it is a lot compared to the material situation.

Question: Dear most, lovable Guru Mahārāja!

Jayapatākā Swami: Oh!

Question: Please accept my respectful obeisances. I work as a cashier at a grocery store. The store sells fruits, vegetables, and amongst other things, meat.

Jayapatākā Swami: Ah!

Question: Can I get brahminical initiation? Saṅkīrtana Pravartaka Gaurāṅga dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: I heard that he does tremendous amount of seva in the temple! He especially, after feast days, he and his family clean up the temple, mop it and cleaned it. Heard many good things about him! It is a new thing though, cashier handling meat, I have to study the code book of Manu to see if it fits in. So, since we have lots of questions, I will think about it. But there is definitely something to think about. You see, I was mopping up after, the place at the A&W root beer stand, in St. Catherine Street, in Montreal, Canada. Because they said, all of us brahmacārīs, at that time we had no books, they said that all of us somehow or another should get money, to pay for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s flat rent. So, this is what I got, the job. I had to clean up the place. They asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, he has to clean up the place, they serve hamburgers and all kinds of non veg products. So then Śrīla Prabhupāda said, what does he do? They said, he cleans up tables. Oh, he said. Delivering, selling the animal, carrying the animal, killing the animal, and that is all I heard, cooking the animal, eating like that. They said, you eat it, karma has already gone. He just cleans up! Ha! So like that we have to think about, we have to see exactly, do you have to move the meat with your hands, shook shook, or just typing, how much karma you are getting? He pays the bill, you get the karma. But something to think about. We would like it better, not to have to deal with any meat. But whether it fits in the karma or not, I would have to consider that.

Question: What does it mean to get initiated? How to get initiated?

Jayapatākā Swami: Who asked,

Devotee: No name? Mohammad. I am still new in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, being initiated means that we surrender to Kṛṣṇa. We are connected formally with the guru-paramparā, the disciplic succession, through guru from Kṛṣṇa to us. And it means that we formally are taking the shelter of Kṛṣṇa within the disciplic succession. To get initiated in ISKCON, you have to meet the requirements of the guru, which may be different. But as far as the institution, as far as the society, the GBC has prescribed that for the first initiation, one should take a basic exam of 13 questions or so, one should have IDC course, a three-day course, ISKCON Disciple Course, and one can take that on the weekends in the afternoon or several weeks, however many weeks it takes. And, basically that is required. And then, one year, one should chant, six months at least, 16 rounds and then choose your guru that you want to take initiation from, take shelter of the guru, and after six months or whatever minimum, and when you fulfil the other requirements, then you can take initiation, if you have the recommendation of the local temple president.

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja! 

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: I am new to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. My father and I have a distant, toxic relationship,

Jayapatākā Swami: Distant, toxic relationship!

Question: what can I do from where I am, to help him find peace in his life, while still protecting my spiritual development?

Jayapatākā Swami: Can you repeat the last part? It is a difficult question because I don’t know your father, I don’t know you. I thought, that if I tell my mother and father when I came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they would be very happy. I gave up all my bad habits and you know, I felt they would be very happy! I was completely wrong! My father said, if you don’t immediately come here, I will disown you as my son, and I will take your name over to the American draft! You can die in Vietnam! That was a very heavy reaction! And at that time I was visiting Śrīla Prabhupāda in Canada. And I was a draft  graduate at that time and then I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, what should I do? He wants to send me to the Army! And I was a college student, but I left college to join Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So then Śrīla Prabhupāda said, it is better to join Kṛṣṇa’s Army, that was it, I am an Army man ever since! I don’t kill people, I try to save people! Ha! Ha! Later on my father, after eight years, he wrote, I am sorry, father is father and son is son. All that! But it took him eight years! By that time, I was already a sannyāsī, second initiated! But I went to see him. At the time of his death, he was telling the priest, he was just talking about me, because he was a training priest, he had some birth marks. They told him, he would not be successful as a priest, because of the birth marks. And seemed to be quite crazy. And actually I fulfilled his aspiration, but he took a long time to realize it. Anyway, so I don’t know how to help your father because I don’t know how he will take it. Sometimes we have people, in India, who are Christians who join us, or Muslims. But Śrīla Prabhupāda, so to speak, never converted anyone, he convinced them, why, we worship Jesus, He is the Son, who is the Father? You can call Him Jehovah, Allah, or Kṛṣṇa. So it is really a universal path. But for people to understand that, for you to express that, to purify him, good luck! Ha! I don’t know how obedient he is? How close minded? I may come from a different generation! But you can try to, sometimes fathers don’t like to listen to their sons, they have some ego trip. They think that the seniors have nothing to learn from their children. Some people don’t think that way. Sometimes we see if there is any devotee in the vicinity, of similar age like your father, we can ask that devotee to visit the father and talk to him. My mother was with Swavananda prabhu and different parents. She was in a society of parents of Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees. She would visit different people and tell them how it is not so bad. Ha! Whatever! And convince them that they should tolerate. Now we have a different congregation, with the IT influx, of many Indians. But previously we had many western devotees and their parents didn’t understand at all! I think even Indian parents, they are a bit, they don’t like if their son becomes a brahmacārī or sannyāsī or something. So most of our present devotees are married people. So how you can present the matter to your father, it is hard for me to say without knowing. It is a personal relationship; I don’t know what your father is like. But if somehow or another, like in Russia or India, it is very common to see, if a son becomes a devotee or a daughter becomes a devotee, the parents become devotees, everybody. It is like the families are very tight, and if one becomes and they see that person is happy, they all become! Or many become. In one case, the mother, the sons, the daughters, everybody came, except the father – he was against! But then he was diagnosed with cancer, fourth stage, and he was in his bed. And he was still against. But then some hairy, black type of very violent looking people walked through the wall, with leather ropes and fangs. And he said, “No, no, no, no, not me! not me! no, no, no, no, not me! You have the wrong guy!” And then they disappeared! He called his wife and said, I want the Bhagavad-gītā, I want beads! Ha! ha! He changed overnight! So what we couldn’t do for twenty years, the Yamadūtas they did in ten seconds, Ha! ha! you know! So anyway, that just shows us that you never know what will change someone’s viewpoint. Any other question?

Rangesh Prabhu read this out to Guru Mahārāja: A message from a person who has come newly I think, she says: “Hare Kṛṣṇa, my name is Ganga Bhavani. I met Rohini, our neighbour and heard about you, Prabhupāda, and Lord Kṛṣṇa and His teachings from the Bhagavad-gītā. I am so happy to meet you. I wanted to meet you after I heard about you. I feel so fortunate. I wish to see you again in May. Thanks!” [Haribol!]

Thank you! Dhanyavāda! Alright!