20200419 Zoom Session with Singapore Devotees

The following is a zoom session with His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 19th,2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. Zoom Session was given with the Singapore Devotees.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: I am very happy to speak to the Singapore devotees.

This is my zone along with HH Kavicandra Swami and we are very happy that HG Devakīnandana prabhu is helping us.

At the present time, the world is in the grips of this pandemic.

And here in India we are in a lockdown.

Are you locked down in Singapore?

I heard that Singapore is very well organized and well controlled.

Of course, so far the scientists and doctors they don’t have a specific treatment.

They say maybe by September they will have.

They are trying for a vaccine.

They say maybe by next year, but they are trying.

What is missing is that most of the people do not say, by the mercy of God!

They are thinking that science is the only hope.

But even scientists need inspiration from God.

That is why we are trying to get everybody to chant the name of God.

Following Sanātana dharma, we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

That in the Vedas, in the Upaniṣads it is said that there is no better way to destroy the ill-effects of Kali-yuga.

Kali kalmaṣa nāśanam.

In the last verse of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it says by chanting the Harināma, all the miseries of the human beings are mitigated.

And we know that actually what we need is to be in the service attitude to Kṛṣṇa.

But instead in the material life, people are trying to enjoy their senses and they think that that is the goal of life.

But senses sometimes give us happiness and sometimes they give us suffering.

Now in this pandemic, people are suffering.

In fact, the anxiety of the disease is greater than the disease.

The Supreme Court in India has asked the government to chant bhajana and kīrtana and do namaz. 

In Singapore and anywhere we have the possibility of getting the people to chant.

Of course we have to be very careful at the same time, avoid getting infected.

Because this disease is unique.

So wearing a mask when you go out, because in the air the cause of the disease may stay for one minute.

Of course, when the virus hits a hard surface, it may survive for three or four days.

That is why the government is saying wash your hands frequently with soap and water.

Because on your hands you may get the virus, and you touch your face or something else, you transfer the virus.

So by washing the hands we can prevent that.

By maintaining social distancing, if someone has the virus we won’t get it.

If you know any devotee who is positive for the Corona virus, there is a Russian devotee who says that he has a cure.

Some doctor wants to do a study to see if it works.

So far 40 people have been cured.

Anyway, we find that many devotees, like some devotees started Bhagavad-gītā class and it was for beginners.

He did not know how many would be interested.

He was surprised!

500 people joined!

So people are now more receptive.

They know that the government, the doctors, hospitals, they can only do so much!

People are more receptive to spiritual life at the present time. 

We were reading how Śrīla Prabhupāda said sometimes these material miseries are blessings by the Lord.

Material happiness is like kind of an intoxication, makes us think, oh, this world is very nice!

Having some occasional suffering is good, that helps us to become more Kṛṣṇa conscious.

This is the problem in Svarga loka, too much happiness, no suffering!

Here we have enough suffering and enough happiness to balance it out.

So here we can be more easily Kṛṣṇa conscious.

In hell there is too much suffering, in heaven too much enjoyment.

So here we have a balance.

So this is the time for you all to cash in and try to help to spread the message of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

I would like to see the devotees in Singapore.

I am very happy that you are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

This is a special mercy handed down from Śrīla Prabhupāda.

And by the mercy of his representatives, you all are Kṛṣṇa conscious.

So please help the other people to also be Kṛṣṇa conscious.

One last point was that this Corona virus, apparently it came from the animals.

They say that in Wuhan, in China they have a market where they sell bats and snakes and other wild animals.

People eat that, so somehow that disease of the bats came to the human beings.

But they have a similar market in Indonesia, I don’t know if they have such a market in Singapore?

But this is the danger that some people they eat all kinds of strange things.

That brings the disease of the animals to the human beings.

We hear about the swine flu, we hear about this Ebola, all from the animals.

You never hear about tomato flu! Potato flu!

All these flus, all these pandemics are from animals.

Of course we know that majority of the people in the world eat animals.

So this is a good time to influence them to reduce the animal diet.

Anyway, our devotees follow the four principles, so generally we don’t eat any meat, fish, eggs, onion and garlic.

We don’t do intoxication, etc.

So within our habits we are not causing any pandemic.

But we are suffering.

I don’t know if you have seen the recent video of HH Śivarāma Mahārāja.

Some of the videos of the GBC.

They are trying to present that this is a good opportunity to preach.

To spread the knowledge that we are not this body, we are the spirit soul.

And that there is a Supreme Lord and we are all meant to serve Him.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Any questions?

In the future I will speak in Bengali for the Bengali devotees.

If I speak in Bengali majority of the devotees will not understand.

 

Question: In this situation of the pandemic, devotees don’t have facility to gather, to take prasāda, to cook for the community.

We have to depend on the government.

Whatever the government of Singapore supplies, we have to take that and they might put onion and garlic in the food.

So what to do in this situation?

Jayapatākā Swami: This is the for labor type people? (Yes) Not for the families.

It is not an ordinary situation.

It is an emergency.

There is a saying in Sanskrit that says, emergency knows no rules.

I had someone working in the Merchant Navy and they served meat to all the people on board.

But he arranged with the cook to give him a vegetarian meal.

Just like when you go in the train we have sambhar and rice, the sambhar has onion.

We get idli and chutney.

Idli chutney has no onion.

Anyway, you should try to avoid onion and garlic.

What choice do you have?

You can buy some fruits and things and offer that.

And you can take that as prasāda.

Other things, I don’t know what has onion and what doesn’t have onion, try to avoid that.

I was suggesting that you talk to Devakīnandana prabhu, maybe he can try to see that devotees get prasāda.

Anyway, you can get the doctor’s order that you are allergic to onion.

I mean if there are many people at one place they can give you a sabzi without onion.

Anyway, what can you do? You should do the best you can.

Next question. 

Rādhāramanasevaka Dāsa: (Repeating the message received) Devakīnananda prabhu has written to the authorities and trying and the devotees can talk to Devakīnananda prabhu.

And he has given his number 90706870.

Apparently, Kṛṣnacandra prabhu is delivering 130 plates prasāda to devotees in the dormitories.

Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol!

 

Question: There is a lot of stress due to this lockdown and lot of negative energy all around due to this pandemic suffering.

How to remain positive and see this as Kṛṣṇa’s mercy? 

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, we know that this material world is a duḥkhālaya.

And we want to serve Kṛṣṇa.

We know that the real happiness is in serving Kṛṣṇa.

This material suffering as I mentioned in my class, it is the mercy of Kṛṣṇa that we can see how the material world is a place of suffering.

So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, by chanting the Lord’s name, one naturally gets peace and happiness.

So, you see the devotees, they are happy in every situation.

This is because we are attached to serving Kṛṣṇa and not attached to material happiness.

We know that material happiness is temporary and suffering is temporary.

And they are all very superficial.

If we awaken our natural love for Kṛṣṇa, we completely satisfy ourselves.

We are reading every evening, at 6 to 7 pm Indian time Caitanya lila, so there we saw how Advaita Gosāñī and Lord Nityānanda were having an argument.

Actually, after the argument, they embraced each other and laughing and laughing!

So this ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa may manifest in many ways.

We want the devotees to taste this spiritual love of Kṛṣṇa.

Then naturally we will become very fixed and see everything as the Lord’s mercy. 

Hare Kṛṣṇa!