20200912 Zoom Session with Houston Devotees

The following is a Zoom meeting given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 12th, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. Zoom meeting was held with the Houston 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 be here in Houston, ISKCON. And I am very grateful that Kamalamukha has invited me and all the leaders of Houston, ISKCON have welcomed me, so I am very grateful. I came to Houston on the invitation of His Holiness Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami many years ago. At that time there was just a hall, but since then there is a temple and many other facilities. The temple, the Deities, everything has expanded. And I am glad that I am somewhat involved in the temple. Śyāmasundara Prabhu, he personally came, and was serving me and helping me. Previously Kamalamukha was the temple president in New Orleans. Then he shifted to Houston. So we are happy that he is serving the Deities and the community there.

When Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me sannyāsa 50 years ago, I was the 11th sannyāsī in ISKCON. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said that I should engage my mana, kayā, vākya — my mind, my words and my activities in the service of Kṛṣṇa. This way, I should be fully engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Then he taught me a mantra from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and he said Lord Caitanya would chant this mantra after He took sannyāsa: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.23.57:

etāṁ sa āsthāya parātma-niṣṭhām
adhyāsitāṁ pūrvatamair maharṣibhiḥ
ahaṁ tariṣyāmi duranta-pāraṁ
tamo mukundāṅghri-niṣevayaiva

This Avanti brāhmaṇa from Ujjain he took sannyāsa, tridaṇḍī-sannyāsa and he chanted this mantra. It means that I will cross over this ocean of birth and death following the example of the great souls who had gone in advance, by serving the lotus feet of Mukunda or Kṛṣṇa.

So Śrīla Prabhupāda had given me a lot of service, and someone asked what was the secret, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me so much service, I have not time for anything else. Still, I have so much to do. And Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me like 50 or more instructions. And every one of those instructions are very difficult to achieve. Like he said, I should organize distribution of ten thousand Mahā-big books every month, hundred thousand small books. That would score about 70 thousand book score points a month. That was in the 70s. I don’t know what that will be now. But I am just trying to realize that. He also told me to expand the congregational preaching. He made me a member of the GBC, he made me a BBT trustee, and he told me to develop Māyāpur and help to construct the TOVP, and he also told me to develop the exhibits in the TOVP. And many other things. Like, the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charitable Trust, one of our purposes is to unite the Sārasvata family. So, many people gave me sets of Bhāgavatam on the Bhādra Pūrṇimā. Then I distributed 20 sets to the Gauḍīya Maṭhas in Māyāpur who had libraries. Then another like 56 colleges and libraries nearby that we gave. Also to the different Gauḍīya Maṭhas around India. So we are trying to get them to read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. They can understand why we address Śrīla Prabhupāda so greatly. Like that many things, it will take the whole night to develop, but there are many things that Śrīla Prabhupāda has asked me to do. So that keeps me busy. I am very grateful for the devotees from Houston who are helping me.

At 7pm every evening Indian time I speak on the Caitanya-līlā. And we are just up to Lord Caitanya taking sannyāsa. Today Keśava Bhāratī Mahārāja gave Him the name Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. Actually, that name was pronounced from the sky that you should give Him the name: “Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya!” And Keśava Bhāratī said because Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself, by introducing the saṅkīrtana movement, He has awakened the sleeping souls, which we say cetana. So His name was Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. He liked the name, everyone liked the name, all the devotees present started to chant Haribol! Haribol!Haribol! Hari Hari! Jaya Jaya! I am a very insignificant jīva and Śrīla Prabhupāda was served better by Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami. I tried to serve but I was always his servant. But he would call me by Śrīla Prabhupāda. But I am very blessed to have had Tamala Kṛṣṇa Goswami’s association first in San Francisco and later in Calcutta and Māyāpur. Then also in Houston, I mean Dallas!

So this human life is actually meant for serving Kṛṣṇa and taking this opportunity we should make the goal of our life to serve Kṛṣṇa. As we have senses there will be a certain amount of sense pleasures. And also the senses give us suffering. This is not the goal of life. Goal of life should be to serve the senses of Kṛṣṇa.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

(Cc. Madhya 19.170)

So bhakti is being free from all material designations and using our senses to serve the Master of the senses – Master of the senses is Hṛṣīkeśa, He is Lord Kṛṣṇa. So you are very fortunate, you have very nice Deities. By serving the Deities, serving Kṛṣṇa, you can get all the good fortune.

Actually, in a few days on the 18th of September, for one month, the Puruṣottama month begins. That months is especially for devotees. To chant the holy name, to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Give charity, to bathe in the holy river. If you cannot bathe in the holy river, you can chant the name of Gaṅgā three times while taking bath – “Gaṅgā! Gaṅgā! Gaṅgā!” And then your bath becomes Ganges water! This way, in the Puruṣottama month, all the sacred months, all the twelve months in the year do not equal 1/16th of the Puruṣottama month. But it is not good for śubha-karma. It is especially good for bhakti. Whether one has no desire or all desire, they should engage in Kṛṣṇa’s service. In this way you will be very peaceful and happy in this life and go back to Godhead, back to Goloka! So this is a special blessing of the Puruṣottama month which happens once every three years.

I am very happy that somehow by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy, I have been allowed to remain in devotional service. And I can only say that by doing this service, I am getting unlimited spiritual bliss! I hope that all the devotees will please take advantage of the mercy of Nitāi-Gaura. Take advantage of the great teachings and example and mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda to engage in devotional service. Hare Kṛṣṇa! I am very happy to see how the husband and wife, couples are engaging in Kṛṣṇa’s service. This is the perfection of human life. The ācāryas have sung, gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Whether you are a gṛhastha or whether you are in the renounced order, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and make your life perfect.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: What were the events leading to your sannyāsa?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, Śrīla Prabhupāda called me to LA, at that time I was in Toronto, and he told me that he would send me to India as soon as Acyutānanda had his own place. I went and opened up the Chicago temple, along with Bhagavān dāsa. Then I was called up and Śrīla Prabhupāda told me to go to India. I flew to London and then I went to India. I arrived in Calcutta, but Acyutānanda did not have his own place. So for some time, we were staying in the Gauḍīya Maṭha. And then we found our own place. Śrīla Prabhupāda flew in from Japan and he went to that place in South Calcutta. After a while Śrīla Prabhupāda said he had given sannyāsa to nine devotees in LA. He asked Acyutānanda and myself, if we wanted to take sannyāsa. At that time, I thought it was a very glorious thing! I still think but I see it is very difficult to be a sannyāsī in the West. I was fortunate that I was in India! Where it was not so difficult. Anyway on Rādhāṣṭamī day Śrīla Prabhupāda gave Acyutānanda and myself sannyāsa. He said Acyutānanda was the 10th sannyāsī and I was the 11th. Now I think I am the oldest sannyāsī still alive. Basically, that is what happened. Another question?

Question: I wanted to understand some of the tactics to engage the people in devotional service. We just received the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets during the pandemic time. But our temple is closed down and we cannot invite people to visit the temple. So what are some other ways we can help them to connect to Kṛṣṇa?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see since people are restricted from coming to the temple, we have been finding that using the internet is a very good way! At present time, there is a three-day Nāmahaṭṭa sammelan and I heard that yesterday morning 18,000 links were accessed in the morning and in the evening it was 25,000. Each link may have many people. Similarly, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, they had the Bhagavad-gītā Made Easy class – 18 days, 18 chapters. 9,000 people joined up. I told this to Mangaluru and they also started a program. They did not have money to buy the Zoom account. They got from Microsoft Meeting 25 free programs, each one has about 275 capacities. Like that they had 10 to 11 thousand people each time. And they have done it three times. By using Zoom, internet, it is possible to reach out to many people. People seem to be more eager for spiritual life now than ever before! There are experts, you can ask the SPT GBCs some ideas about this. We have Śabda Hari dāsa in Chennai, he is an expert on social media and he gives classes over the internet, how to use this social media platform for preaching. I think that Houston could definitely do a lot of preaching. I don’t know if you are on Māyāpur TV or not. But in that way you will be accessible all over the world.

Hare Krishna!