20200917 Zoom Session with Utkarsa Youth Boys Program

The following is a Zoom Session with Utkarsha Youth Boys program by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 17th, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

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: So since half of my face is paralyzed because of stroke, maybe my speech is not understandable to everyone, so I am having it repeated. I am very happy to be addressing the youths here in Pune, understand that you are all over from India.

We know that Śrīla Prabhupāda, he had a great vision for the educated youth of India. Lord Caitanya had said that being born in India was a special opportunity.

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra
(Cc. Ādi 9.41) 

These were the words of Lord Caitanya. Whoever is born in the holy land of India as a human being, they should perfect their spiritual life and help others. So, we want the youth to perfect their life and also to help others. Perfecting our lives in Kali-yuga is not so difficult, since Lord Caitanya has given His mercy. In India, in this Age of Kali one can easily achieve perfection by chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa. According to the Vedic history, there are four yugas. Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara-yuga – they have meditation, fire sacrifice, worship in the temples as the methods of sacrifice for perfection. But in this Age of Kali we are not qualified to do any of these things, If we want to meditate outside the two-wheeler is going awan! Awan! Awan! How can you meditate? If you go into the forest, you are not used to it. There are cheetahs, snakes, that is also not possible. But Kṛṣṇa had decided to help the people of Kali-yuga. Since He is the Absolute Truth, His name, His pastimes, His qualities are all Absolute. His holy dhāma, everything is absolute one. So that means by chanting His name you will get the same benefit as His personal association. So this is a great opportunity. I met some person, he said he was chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra for 26 years. But he felt no happiness. So I asked him whether he was chanting the name of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He said, “No, I am from a different sampradāya.” So I gave him the name: Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda! I said you chant this verse and then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. I came back to that place after a few months. That person was there. He saw me from a distance. He ran to me and bowed down and lay flat on the ground. He said, “What mantra you have given me? What mantra you gave me? What mantra you gave me? I am feeling so much spiritual happiness.” Normally we chant the divine name of the Lord there are many offences. If we commit offence, we don’t feel the same bliss. But if you chant the name of Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda etc. Nitāi-Gaura, Nitāi-Gaura, Nitāi Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Gaurāṅga! Just like you wear a tie, and you have a knee. Say if you put your tie on your knee that is ‘knee-tie’, ‘Nitāi!’ Then if you want to run, you say Go-run-Go, Go-run-go, Go-run-go. Go-run-go. You all chant very nice! Wow! Nitāi Gaurāṅga!

People are feeling such happiness by chanting the name of Nitāi-Gaura, how to get them to stop! So this is the special blessing that if we chant Nitāi-Gaura, chant the Pañca-tattva mantra and then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, that makes the person very fortunate. In fact, the ‘World Holy Name Week’ starts today. And we are trying to get people all over the world to chant. Probably, you are all sending your short videos into the website. Fortunate-people.com. In India people are still basically theistic. What time is it now? Therefore, this land is also sacred because all the avatāras have visited here! Lord Kṛṣṇa was here, He appeared in Mathurā. Lord Rāma appeared in Ayodhyā. Lord Caitanya appeared in Navadvīpa. And Kṛṣṇa went also to Gujarat to Dvārakā. And then Lord Caitanya travelled around India. Balarāma also travelling around India. I was in a place Narasaraopet in Andhra Pradesh where the king Mucukunda was sleeping and Kṛṣṇa came into his cave and followed by the Kālayavana. Mucukunda had the blessing that if anyone woke him up untimely, by his mere glance they would be turned into ashes. So Kṛṣṇa hid in the shadows and the Kālayavana was following him and saw that Mucukunda was lying on the ground. He thought it was Kṛṣṇa, so he kicked him and Mucukunda woke up untimely and looked up at him and whoosh! He turned into ashes! Like that. Then Kṛṣṇa came up and Mucukunda had the vision of Kṛṣṇa. I told the people of Narasaraopet you are blessed! Kṛṣṇa came here. And also Lord Caitanya had come there. They said they lived in Narasaraopet but they did not know. You are telling us, we don’t know this, we are living here. Many of the people, they don’t know where the different avatāras have gone. I don’t know where the youth are from and if any avatāras visited your city. Kṛṣṇa He visited Chennai and married the queen of Chennai. Kṛṣṇa went to Guwahati, Assam. Arjuna went to Manipur. Lord Caitanya went to the whole South India and West India. Also North India.

Actually to discuss the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, Lord Kṛṣṇa, or Lord Rāma, all the avatāras, these naturally bless one. This is a deep meditation. And because the Lord is absolute, talking about Him is the easiest way to meditate on Him, to get spiritual inspiration. In fact, tomorrow starts the Puruṣottama month which people call it mala-māsā. But actually, Kṛṣṇa adopted this month and said that from thereon it would be known as Puruṣottama month and you will be the king of all months. So you can attend our official website, Purusottamamonth.com. So in this way, by observing the Puruṣottama month, one also gets the special blessing of Kṛṣṇa. You see were are spiritualized, we can go back to the spiritual world. So that is more important than good karma. Good karma is like money in the bank which we can spend. And bad karma is like money in the bad account for which we have to suffer. So, that is why even rich people, they may have disease or they may have litigation, court cases. So because of their good karma they are rich and because of their bad karma they are sick and they are bothered by litigation and other things. So good and bad karma is not absolute good. It is relative. But actually, performing some direct service for Kṛṣṇa, engaging in chanting His names, doing some worship of Kṛṣṇa, serving Kṛṣṇa, reading His books, reading His teachings, all these things develop one spiritually. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying the whole world is like blind. Everyone thinks they are the body. As a result, all the politicians are saying vote for me and I will give you this or that, sense gratification. The whole world is running on getting sense enjoyment. But that is available in the animal kingdom. The special ability of the human being is that we can inquire, “What am I here for? What is the purpose of life? Who am I?” So that answer we get from the Vedas and thus make our life perfect. Once we know who am I, what I am here for, where am I going? Then we can help others. Because they don’t know where they are going. They don’t know who they are. Maybe they are born in India this life, next life maybe they are born in Sudan, who knows. One Indian told me, I want to be born in the USA, svarga or America. I was born in America, I became an Indian citizen. America is not a happy place. Real happiness comes from serving guru and Kṛṣṇa.

Since we are in this material world, we have senses. And the senses are sometimes experiencing pleasure, and sometimes they are experiencing unhappiness, grief. Now there is a world pandemic. The whole world has shut down. People are getting the corona virus because they are breaking the laws of nature. They don’t care about the ecology, they don’t care about killing animals. This disease comes from the animals. Because people eat animals, therefore, they get animal diseases. We have no natural defense. Material science is racing to find the vaccine, we don’t if they will find one or not. The politicians promise, very soon, very soon! We don’t know! There is still no vaccine for some diseases like HIV. So the thing is that if people follow the rules of nature, follow the laws of God, if they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting of God, they can please the Lord. And they can be transferred to the spiritual world at the end of their life. And if the Lord is pleased He can do anything.

So, we are trying to encourage everyone to use this human form of life to achieve spiritual perfection. And to go back to Godhead! But not to go alone! Help many people go with you! I have been visiting different people via Zoom, seeing their homes and it was very nice to see that people are worshiping Deities in their homes, Husband and wife are cooperating together to be spiritual. Also it is very nice to see many āśramas where the āśramites are practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. According to one’s nature, they can choose the āśrama where they can be strongest. But then we should be fighting against māyā. We should be serving the Lord, we should be engaging in bhakti-yoga either as a brahmacārī or as a gṛhastha. Somehow or other we have to engage in Kṛṣṇa’s service. So the advantage of brahmacārī life is that one can get the full energy to serve Kṛṣṇa. And not distracted by serving material duties. But for some people they may feel more comfortable with a family, wife, house, husband. But the point is that they should be gṛhastha-āśrama, they should keep Kṛṣṇa in the center. This is also an āśrama. So, we are dedicated to helping people to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their particular āśrama. Being a sannyāsī, I was able to directly take care of many householders, many people, many sons and daughters and nephews and nieces. So we are trying to help people and we are trying to make the whole world fortunate. To have everybody chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy. We can bring real peace in the world, and bring spiritual love of the Lord and love all others.

I want to give some time for questions and answers. Rādhe Śyāma can we take questions?

Question: How to increase our faith in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and how to get rid of the anarthas?

Jayapatākā Swami: This question was asked by Arjuna to Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā. And Kṛṣṇa said that we should take our sword of knowledge and cut the knot of ignorance. If you read the teachings of Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and if you regularly chant the holy name, then naturally you can understand more and your faith will increase. But it is also important to have good association. You associate with people who are Kṛṣṇa conscious and avoid association with people who are very negative and critical. One should know the philosophy, one should know how to help people, then you can meet with more people and help them. But if you have a bad association in the beginning then it can be very disruptive.

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Question: How to always be humble and remember Kṛṣṇa?

Jayapatākā Swami: How to be always humble? If we think that we are the doer then we tend to be puffed up. If we think that by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa I am able to understand something, that means we are humble.

Question: How to develop faith? How do you develop faith in walking? And how do you know that the ground will not fall in? If you see other people walking you take a step forward, you see that you don’t fall into any ditch, then your faith increases. It is a practical thing. We put the knowledge to practice and then we see the effect. So, you are studying so maybe it is a new thing for you. As Śrīla Prabhupāda said, it is a gradual process. And gradually you increase your faith, increase your realization. How fast one can advance depends on how you put your mind to it. I was thinking, I was looking for a guru, and I was going here and there, so then I thought unless I try this Kṛṣṇa consciousness fully, I won’t know for sure. Let me try and if it works, alright it is done or otherwise will go on and try something else. As Rādhe Śyāma said I have been at it for 52 years. I have never looked back, I have never regretted it.

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Next question.

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Question: You said that Kṛṣṇa loves us more than our parents. But now at least in my stage I am more affectionate to my parents, my mother, and practically I am able to understand the love of my parents towards me. So how can I understand that Kṛṣṇa loves me more than anyone else?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, if we take one step to Kṛṣṇa, He takes ten steps to us. He is more eager to get us out of this material world. Then we are to go. Actually, if you have loving parents, that is also a blessing of Kṛṣṇa. But being in this material world is due to our misuse of our free will. Now you have human birth and are born in India. If you really care about your parents, if you go back to Godhead, then eleven generations back and forward they get a free ticket. You care about your parents? You really love them? Then be a devotee. That is the way to help them. Otherwise, what is the use if they have to take birth again and again and again! Now you are a human being, born in India. There is no guarantee what your next birth is. So we are trying to help you and to help your parents and help everyone.

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Question: I have a doubt. I am practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the past two years under Rādhe Śyāma Prabhu. And I have a desire to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But at the same time, it is an offence to preach beyond our realization. In just two years I have very much less realization.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, the point we should only say what we have understood or heard. We don’t speculate. For instance, if someone asks a question, we don’t know the answer, we speculate and say something. That is the not the way. Better to say, I will find out the answer. You can ask Rādhe Śyāma or read the book. Then you will know the answer, you will go and say, I am ready now! I am ready! I AM READY! Let them come and ask any question! I was distributing books and people would ask me questions. Sometimes I did not know the answers. So I told them, wait, I will tell you tomorrow. I would ask Śrīla Prabhupāda or some senior devotee and then I would go back and say I am ready. You said, you are being guided by Rādhe Śyāma so that is very good! The point is that it is not that you should not preach.But you should not speculate. You should say what you have heard.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

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Question: How can I know who is my spiritual master?

Jayapatākā Swami: That question has been asked to me many times. And there are like 15 questions that you could ask yourself. But basically, you pray to Kṛṣṇa, you pray to Śrīla Prabhupāda to reveal, who you should take shelter of. And whose preaching you feel more connected with Śrīla Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa. Maybe he is your spiritual master. Sometimes you feel connected to several people’s preaching, then you can take more than one as your śikṣā-guru, as the instructing spiritual master. Since there is no limit to how many instructing spiritual masters we can have. And then the one we feel most connected with, we take him as the dīkṣā-guru. I have an application, the Jayapatākā Swami App. Maybe I can try to answer the questions. I don’t know how many questions I can answer now. I am supposed to end at 6.

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Question: You are serving Kṛṣṇa from so many years but when you got the stroke and you were in that condition, how did you take up that situation? Did you not ever feel that since I have been serving Kṛṣṇa and dedicated my life to Kṛṣṇa then why is doing this to me? How did you take that situation?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see having a material body includes having disease and old age. And I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda once, should we desire to live for a long time? He said why do you want to live old age because old age means lot of trouble. I have many disciples. So I have to take their karma. So, although the doctors said that I had zero chance of survival, I am still here! And unfortunately, not every disciple follows all the rules that they vow to follow. So, I have the opportunity to serve my spiritual master, I am very happy with that. And since the stroke and since the other diseases, I also have a liver and a kidney transplant, I got cancer although that was cured. So I am still in the war. I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, “What I should do. My father wanted to turn me down to the Vietnam war draft.” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Better than serving the American army, serve in Kṛṣṇa’s Army!” And I came to India, he told me to be an Indian citizen. So I have been an Indian citizen since 1978. So that is going on. So we all have to die, eventually that happens to everybody. I want to take as many people as possible back to the spiritual world! Haribol! I need your help! I should end here but I will answer one more question!

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Question: If you can share some of your initial days, when you were working, how did you serve Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, I was looking for a spiritual master and I went to San Francisco. I went to the bookstore and saw all the spiritual books were from India. I was an American at that time and said, are there no spiritual books from America? The bookstore owner, he laughed! America! Spiritual! Ha! Ha! Then I asked and he said I have one book. That was on Astral projections. I saw that the writer was living in San Francisco. I went to see him. But then he called me in his room, and he told me I cannot really guide you because I have been grounded for two years! I have not been to astro project for two years. So I saw yogīs, astro projectors, Buddhists, then I thought will go to India and find a guru there. But then I saw the advertisement for the Hare Kṛṣṇa temple. I went to the temple, I read a book called Easy Journey to Other Planets. I like the book, I was a science student. And it was talking about antimatter and everything. Then I was asked to go to the back of the temple where Jayānanda Prabhu was building a ratha for the yātrā. So he engaged me in the building of the ratha. One day I was given a set of beads by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s secretary. So I went to the park since I knew how to practice yoga, I sat in padmāsana and chanted for six hours straight! 32 rounds. First day! Then I thought, “Wow!” I was feeling such trembling in my body, my hairs were standing on end, tears were flowing down my eyes. I never had a meditation like this. So much ecstasy! I went back to the temple and that secretary who had given me the beads, he said, “Do you have those beads?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Those are Śrīla Prabhupāda’s beads! I am not supposed to give them to anyone!” Ha! Ha! After that chanting was not quite the same! Anyway, I could get a glimpse. Then I went to see Śrīla Prabhupāda in Montreal, Canada. And he was very kind to me. He asked me what I was thinking to do. I said, I thought I would go to India. He said, “I will send you, but first I will train you up.” So I was under his direct training. And I could speak a lot but it was a wonderful experience to be with him. That is the first few days!

Thank you very much Rādhe Śyāma. You can please organize another zoom call and we can dedicate more time to answering of questions! You have very bright students! They ask very good questions! Haribol! In the meantime, you can download my app Jayapatākā Swami App, everyone.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!