20200908 Zoom Session with Gurgaon Bhakti-vṛkṣa Group

The following is a Zoom meeting with His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 8th,2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. Zoom meeting was held with Gurgaon Bhakti-vrksa Group

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: Hare Kṛṣṇa! I offer my prayers. We know that Kṛṣṇa in the Vedas is described as the source of everything. Lord Śiva says that by chanting one name of Rāma, you chant 1000 names of Viṣṇu. And chanting one name of Kṛṣṇa is equal to 3000 names of Viṣṇu. In this Kali-yuga because we are not qualified to perform all the rituals, yajñas, austerities, therefore the Lord has personally come as His holy name. If we chant the holy name, we can achieve all the results of other processes and more. 18th of September starts the Puruṣottama month. The month is not good for any pious activity, but it is very good for devotional activities. By chanting the holy name, the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa are non-different. But if we chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, we get the personal association of Kṛṣṇa. If we worship Kṛṣṇa, or read the teachings of Kṛṣṇa, then we can get His personal association.

The purpose of human life is, actually to go back to the spiritual world. And there are 8,400,000 different species of life. But only 40,000 are human species. So, by being Kṛṣṇa conscious, we can go back to Kṛṣṇa. So, this human birth is very rare. And we can get in all the births different kinds of sense enjoyment. So while we have a material body there will be happiness, there will be also suffering. So that we cannot avoid. But that should not be the ultimate goal of life. We should try to have Kṛṣṇa consciousness, kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Ladies are more qualified to get kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Anyone, man or woman can achieve. But sometimes the men are a little proud and do not like to bow down before God. Actually, the path of bhakti is the highest yoga, bhakti-yoga. That can be performed in your house. So we try encourage people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, to read the teachings of Kṛṣṇa and to worship Kṛṣṇa in their homes.

We see that the world is being attacked by this invisible virus. And this infection has come from the animals. Some people eat the animal flesh. And as a result, this infection jumped from the animals to the human beings. And we do not have natural antibodies to fight this virus. So this pestilence or pandemic, is because we are breaking the laws of nature, the laws of God. Once it comes to the human beings, everyone suffers. But if we can get all the people to chant the name of Kṛṣṇa then we can transfer ourselves back to the spiritual world and make the world fortunate.

We know that the Vedas say, Nārāyaṇa antaḥ smṛtiḥ – we should remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of death. So we try to do that all our life. So then even if we cannot remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, He remembers us! So, I had one family, the wife, the children, all were my disciples. But the husband was against. He was diagnosed with cancer. And he had like the fourth stage of cancer. One day, some dark men with ropes of leather, they walked through the wall. He said, “No! No! No! No! Not me! I won’t go!” Then they left. Then he called his wife and said, “I want to read the Bhagavad-gītā. I want neck beads, I want to do japa!” “What in 20 years we could not do, the Yamadūtas did in one minute!” So after that he was chanting japa, wearing neck beads, reading Bhagavad-gītā, because he saw that if he did not do this, the guys would take him away and they will take him to a place he did not want to go.

So we want everyone to be very happy, peaceful, chant the name of God and then at the end of this life go back to the spiritual world, where there is no birth, death, old age or disease. I am very grateful that Rādhā Kiśorī is preaching, giving this knowledge freely to everyone. And we are very happy that you are all practicing bhakti-yoga.

Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived in the USA on the 17th of September. So on the 17th of September to the 23rd of September we are having the ‘Holy Name Week’. And we are trying to get one lakh people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. You can become a ‘Fortunate People’ ambassador if you want. Either by zoom or other means, all that people have to do is to chant one Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Where they come for, Gurgaon or wherever, they can say, and say this is for world peace and love. You can do as an offering to your forefathers or for your relatives or anyone, you can do that. Some people offer to the health workers. Anyway, minimum is world peace and love.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

So you can make short videos like this with individuals on your smart phones and we hope to make hundred thousand videos. So you can make ten or twenty or hundred videos. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Any questions?

Question: I am so happy to have you in my home, Kṛṣṇa’s home. I have two questions – one is Puruṣottama māsā is coming, so please guide us how can we serve nicely in this month?

Jayapatākā Swami: So this extra month had no protector. Then Kṛṣṇa said, He would protect it. From then it became to be known as Puruṣottama month. And bhakti-yoga is very much useful in Puruṣottama month. Doing puṇya-karma is not for this month. By doing puṇya-karma, you go to svarga. But in the Puruṣottama month if you do bhakti you go to Goloka Vṛndāvana. This life, you live happily and peacefully and then you go back to Godhead. So especially, I am trying to get all the different things to be put up on the CDM website. But so far, doing devotional things in the month like japa and bhakti is highly recommended. And offering a ghee lamp every day to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is recommended. In this month one should be a vegetarian, if you are not already. Avoid meat, fish, egg, onion and garlic. It says we should not use mustard oil this month. And better not to cook in an iron pot. My cook is scratching his head, how is that possible?! Then he realized he had a zinc pot from Ujjain. Anyway, it is time to see if you can cook in other things than steel or iron. Any other question?

Question: It is told that in mukti a person gets rid of the cycle of birth and old age. Then how can we get out of this material world?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see there are different levels of liberation. There are five types of liberation. One type is called sāyujya, that means merging in the effulgence of the Lord. Devotees never take that. There are four other liberations which devotees may accept if that includes serving the Lord. That is sālokya, sāmīpya, sārūpya, sārṣṭi. So, having a similar eternal form, be in the same planet, having the opulences of the Lord and be in the personal association of the Lord. In the spiritual world there is no birth, death, old age and disease. Once you go there then you don’t come back! And those who go in the impersonal brahma-jyoti, they may come back. They don’t know how to serve Kṛṣṇa! So when they become active again and come down, they think that action is part of the material world. But in the spiritual world they also have action but there the action is for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. So in Vaikuṇṭha He is as Nārāyaṇa and in Goloka He is Kṛṣṇa. Ayodhyā He is as Rāmacandra. So like that according to your taste, according to your devotion, you go to a particular part of the spiritual world. Because you have already experienced that this world is a place of suffering. Once you go back to the spiritual world you don’t want to come back here again. Once you are out of jail, you don’t want to go back to the jail!

Question: Please bless us with Kṛṣṇa’s bhakti so that we can go back to Kṛṣṇa in this very lifetime. I want to take shelter, but I am scared as I am not able to follow the rules and regulations of the paramparā. I feel very unfit for this. Kindly guide. I do chant, I do 16 rounds, but I do it through the whole day. I am not able to get up early in the morning. I don’t read much. So I feel unfit.

Jayapatākā Swami: To take shelter is not that difficult. That is basically a time of testing. Then gradually you read the said books, follow the regulative principles. This is practice time. I don’t get any reaction. It is time for you to see if you can do it. After six months or more, whenever you feel ready, you can take initiation. But you should finish the things in the checklist. You may not wake up early, but somethings you have to do. You need to get some spiritual knowledge. Maybe some like the Bhagavad-gītā they have in the audio form. When you are cooking for your husband, you can hear the Bhagavad-gītā audio. That way you can also finish reading by hearing. Read the Bhagavad-gītā two or three times, what is the problem? The first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, I don’t if there is an audio or not. I read every night when I go to sleep half hour. And although I have read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam many, many times, every time I hear, I get some new ideas. Sometimes you can hear or you can read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But don’t be afraid, you don’t take vows till initiation. So, taking shelter is just a preparation. You can see whether you are ready or not. When you feel ready then you can take initiation.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!