20200920 Zoom Session with Adelaide devotees

The following is a Zoom Session with His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 20th,2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. Zoom Session with Adelaide 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 visiting Adelaide, Australia, this morning. Morning for us, afternoon for you! So, we know that this is the COVID-19 pandemic time, so I am visiting people by Zoom, by Facebook and other means, virtual visits. Yesterday I was dreaming I was flying. Unfortunately, that is not yet possible! But since I am habituated to visiting many devotees by flying there, so I have been dreaming about it. Anyway, I am happy to be visiting you by Zoom.

The message of Lord Kṛṣṇa is the message of Śrīla Prabhupāda. We should take advantage of this Puruṣottama month and worship Lord Kṛṣṇa. This month can give everything that Kṛṣṇa can give. By observing this month carefully, by offering lamp to Kṛṣṇa, by worshiping the Deities, with 16 upacāras, one can lead a very peaceful and happy life. And after this life go to Goloka Vṛndāvana. It is not very good to go to Svarga, just to Goloka or Vaikuṇṭha!

So this is a very special month for bhakti. The smārtas are not very interested, they call it as mala-māsā, dirty month. But actually, this adhika month was adopted by Kṛṣṇa as the Puruṣottama month. In all the months in the year if you add up all the possible puṇya you can do, that will not be equal to 1/16th of the credit you receive in this month. This month can take you back to Kṛṣṇa. This month is very much appreciated by the sages, by the devotees. It comes once in three years. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he also described that we should observe this month. In the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa it is mentioned. It is a good month for charity, bathing in the holy river. I don’t know in Australia if there are any holy rivers – maybe the ocean. So one can chant Gaṅgā three times while taking bath, that will give you a Ganges bath.

So, we know that our goal in life should be to serve Kṛṣṇa. In the material world everybody takes the goal in life to be materially satisfied. But by serving Kṛṣṇa we can be automatically materially peaceful. Then you can achieve the spiritual world which can solve all the problems.

We were reading how merciful Lord Caitanya was. That He is Kṛṣṇa but in the mood of a devotee. He would be crying for Kṛṣṇa to teach us how we should serve Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes He would be laughing, He would be crying, His hairs would be standing on ends, He would be having different spiritual ecstasies. Sometimes He would faint on the ground. He was showing us how one can be completely ecstatic by serving Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktin Nandini Chawla asked she has been chanting for two months, she is not feeling ecstasy. I told her it is a gradual process. We have to follow for some time and she also said she has some glimpses of happiness. That is a special mercy. Unless you get to bhāva, it is not necessarily immediate. One goes step by step. Then the third step is bhajana-kriyā when you perform devotional service, take initiation and then you can get rid of the various unwanted habits, the anarthas. Then we become steady, niṣṭhā in devotional service. Then we get a taste. That taste is like, every time we do chanting, do service, we get a taste. Then we get attached to the taste, that is āsakti. And after that we receive the ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. Like that you can analyze what level you are in and how much further you have to go. But it may take a few years. But Śrīla Prabhupāda said that it depends, like a baby crying for Kṛṣṇa. If the baby cries very forcefully the mother will immediately come and pick it up. If the baby is half-crying aw aw, aw aw! The mother may not pay much attention. But if the baby really cries aaaaah! The mother runs what happened? What happened? If we really cry for Kṛṣṇa, He will come right away! I told them that just desiring to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, it itself is very auspicious. Most people in the world, they desire something else. Very few people desire Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Now is also the ‘World Holy Name Festival Week’. So this is the time to get people chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Actually, even if they chant one mantra that is the beginning of their spiritual life. The fact that they are doing in the Puruṣottama month is even better. And we have seen the video. So, the Puruṣottama month or the World Holy Name Festival or anything anytime, it is always good to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and to render some devotional service.

Are there any questions? Ādi Puruṣa dāsa, would you like to give a report on what preaching you are doing in this lockdown?

Ādi Puruṣa dāsa: We just started the Puruṣottama month two days ago. We started chanting the Caurāṣṭakam, after guru-pūjā, twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening. We are also advertising that if they want to have Kṛṣṇa at home just like the Dāmodara program, they can contact our temple devotees and then they do simple programs, offering of ghee lamp to the Deities, singing of the Caurāṣṭakam. Of course, after this will be the Dāmodara program next month and we will do the same thing.

Jayapatākā Swami: I tried to find out if Caurāṣṭakam was mentioned by any of our ācāryas. It is a nice bhajana. But apparently the Puṣṭi-mārgīs use that more. This month is particularly for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. And Yaśodā Dāmodara. And there is a mantra that is recommended by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura which is very short:

govardhana dharam vande
gopālam gopa-rūpinam
gokulotsava īśānam
govindam gopikā-priyam

So the Madhvas recommend that we chant this mantra 33 times, but Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said we should chant it again and again, he did not give any number. At the end of the month, it is recommended to cook 33 mālpuas, put them in a pot, either could be an earthenware or brass pot or bell metal or silver or gold. I don’t think many people will use silver or gold. And they give it to some gṛhastha-brāhmaṇa.

Question: This practice was started, the last Puruṣottama month three years ago and should we continue singing the Caurāṣṭakam and sing the new mantra or we sing both?

Jayapatākā Swami: Any way the short mantra that should be definitely chanted. You can chant Caurāṣṭakam – there is nothing wrong, it is a nice bhajana. But in Māyāpur we are chanting some of the known Rādhā Kṛṣṇa bhajanas, which are easier for devotees to chant. So either one. But the short mantra, that should definitely be chanted. There is a www.purusottamamonth.com

Kṛṣṇe matir astu! Haribol!