20201018 Zoom Session with Mayapur IYF Youths

The following is a zoom Session with the Iskcon Māyāpur IYF by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 18th, 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 some of the places they have been doing various kinds of outreach programs. Some places they got a large number of people assisting. I mean, in hundreds and thousands. So, how to make it more accessible to the mass of students. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that this outreach to the modern, educated boys is very important. And in a letter he gave some guidelines. He said that they should not be compelled to shave their head or observe any kind of strict brahmacarya. But they should rather be engaged in whatever they like to do. That they can do easily. He said that it was very important to get the educated boys in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, of course, in the West there is free mixing between the boys and girls. I don’t know if they have a separate program for boys and separate for girls. Of course, here we do. But we want that people should be committed to following a Kṛṣṇa conscious lifestyle. In the West maybe 10% become brahmacārīs and 90% they were rejecting. I don’t know what percentage are willing to join the brahmacārī āśrama here. But we want people to accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness and to make the best use of their human life. Whether they are desirous to be brahmacārī or join gṛhastha life, Lord Caitanya said, gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. And definitely there is some advantage to the vairāgī-āśrama, that we don’t have much distraction or different material engagement. But you know, we want to utilize whatever abilities anyone has and help them to get back home back to Godhead. That is why we started the congregational movement. Not that I was not for the youth or brahmacārī-āśrama, it is just that I want to have program for everyone. So since we already have a brahmacārī program, we needed a gṛhastha program. But the idea is that everyone should lead a Kṛṣṇa conscious lifestyle. And I think that is very important that the boys in the IYF they start to identify with bhakti-yoga. And they decide that they want to lead a spiritually oriented lifestyle through their whole life. If they are desirous of being a brahmacārī, we can facilitate that. Or if they want to be a gṛhastha, we want to help them that they should marry a devotee and they should practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their gṛhastha life. Since the dharma of gṛhastha is dāna, so they should donate a certain quantity for the IYF preaching. And they should themselves also be preachers. So like this, we see that the movement is for everyone. And that we want everyone to be engaged according to their natural ability. Maybe some people may be brahmacārīs for some years and maybe some will stay brahmacārī, some will get married. Whatever the orientation is. We want them to remain Kṛṣṇa conscious. And just like I have some disciple in Delhi, he is a tribal from Assam. So naturally he gets certain benefits. He was trying to get through the IAS exam but he got registered in a legal bar. So then he started practicing legal profession. So he also helps the Delhi temple. Like this, if people want to remain in their occupation that is alright, but they should do Kṛṣṇa’s service. So you could do this self-service like you said Śānta Lakṣmī Narasiṁha, he does some IT service. And that service is to help the Māyāpur Finance/Treasury whatever. I have a disciple in the UK, he is a director of an IT company, and he got a free license from Google in my name.

So, I don’t know how many of you have the Jayapatākā Swami App? I update that several times, I mean five or six times a day. And I will send an update that I had a meeting with the IYF. So, you have the poll, and you can fill it up to see how many have downloaded the App.

So, actually, this is a very specialized service because how to convince an intelligent person is different. I was talking to Śrīla Prabhupāda in Bhubaneswar and Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja, said he was preaching to the scientists and the elite. But at that time I was preaching in the Nāmahaṭṭa and general people. Then we wanted to say that the people would ask the scientists why do you give your theories? Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was preaching each standard. But actually, we need intelligent people to help us to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Bhagavad-gītā says that whatever the leaders do, the intelligent person does, the common people follow. So it is very important that we reach the educated mass, educated class, whatever. I am very much in favor that we should have a very committed preaching to the educated boys. Recently, I have been having regular zoom classes. Sometimes in India, sometimes in South, East India and Bangladesh, sometimes in other parts. So the ladies, they invited me a couple of times to attend their classes. South Indian IYFs they invited me three times. I think this is the second time I spoke to the Māyāpur based IYF. I am very happy you invited me. And I am a very active person, although physically challenged! So if I could hear some more details of your preaching, then I may get some ideas. Like, first we had the Nāmahaṭṭa, because that was Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s program. But Nāmahaṭṭa was good for the village. They asked me what to do in the cities. Then I came up with the Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups. Small groups which are suitable for the city. I don’t know what particular challenges you face and therefore I have really not applied my mind so much because I have to be like put in that situation where I can understand what challenges you are facing, what problems you are facing and I can pray to Kṛṣṇa, pray to Śrīla Prabhupāda and hope for some inspiration. But I am very much interested that we expand among the educated youth.

Śrīla Prabhupāda called the modern educational system like a kind of slaughterhouse. That people are put there, they are taught they are the body and you should work hard to get your sense gratification. They don’t realize the actual purpose of human life. It is just like a sophisticated animal life. And Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was challenged by the Melbourne journalists. They said Australia is a rich country! Ha! Ha! Rich! You are coming from India, you are a poor country! What have you come to take from us? Then Śrīla Prabhupāda, they threw the garland at him and Śrīla Prabhupāda he responded, I have not come to take anything from you. I have come to save you from a cat and dog’s life. What, you are saying we live a cat and dog’s life, they said. Well, you analyze,Śrīla Prabhupāda said. Then he went systematically like what the dogs do.

Āhāra, maithuna, nidrā, bhaya. Even they do the same thing. But humans are more sophisticated. Does that mean that human being is just a sophisticated animal they asked. So then Śrīla Prabhupāda said that human being is meant for something more – meant for spiritual life, meant for answering the questions of life. Meant for solving the real problems of life – birth, death, old age, and disease. So we need to have the intelligent people understand and then help them and at least they can outreach the other intelligent people. So it is very important what you are doing and you should take it up with full enthusiasm. It is not necessarily easy. There will be various challenges and you have to think, pray and then try different things to see how you will solve the problems. You don’t know but in the West, I used to go to the colleges a lot. I have never been invited in India. But I went to like Baton Rouge, the Free Speech Alley – anyone could go there and stand up on a box and speak anything. So I would preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Some fanatical Christian crossed me and said, different things. I was asking those who were experienced in preaching in the West, what should we do? They said, just ask those people some questions they cannot answer. Because our philosophy answers all the questions. So they would come up to me and I would ask them. They would criticize, for instance we believe in reincarnation. So I asked them, why are some people born blind? Some are born crippled? They said it is a mystery! Like that they don’t know anything, everything is a mystery, mystery, mystery! Then all the other students booed them and threw them out! We have all the answers, unfortunately most people don’t know. So therefore, IYF preachers have to learn according to time, place and circumstance, how to present Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy. I thank you all very much and if you have some questions now?

Hare Krishna ! Gurumahārāja!

Question: Sometimes it is happening that due to more office workload, we are not able to do our prescribed service for Kṛṣṇa like preaching. What to do in these cases? Can we think that Kṛṣṇa wants us to leave the current office?

Jayapatākā Swami: This is the advantage maybe of being a brahmacārī. That you don’t have to do intense work. But any way, in the office environment, as you move up the ladder, sometimes you get less time, sometimes you get more time. I have some disciples, they said that they got a job as a director in a company, they could delegate different jobs and do all their required work in a few hours and have more time for preaching and other services. It is hard to understand what the particular job is. It is kind of a disadvantage of working in a place – I heard that sometimes the IT professionals, they make them work more than 8 hours, like 12 hours. And so sometimes it is a different situation. And some people they make them work but they don’t actually have to do much. So they have set up some program on their computer that shows that they are working, but they are actually chanting their japa and the computer automatically types. So I don’t know, when I first came to ISKCON in 1968 we did not have many books, we had to take different jobs. Although I was from a very rich family, since I was looking for some temporary jobs just to pay for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s rent, I had to work in many menial jobs. Some plastic factory, paint factory, all kinds of jobs. Finally, I got a printing job. So when I was at work I would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa but I can understand that there is a problem working. So try to do the best you can.

Question: What is good to do if we have a problem – to write to Guru Mahārāja or to pray to his picture as many times, as our doubts may be very silly or annoying?

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t get what the difficulty is in writing to me? Is it a difficulty you have or there is a difficulty in writing and getting a reply? Sometimes I get more letters than I can reply. But I reply a certain percentage. And we try to answer in the Jayapatākā Swami App. It has various features. Of course, one of the features is that you can see the various social media sites I have. Every night I give class, that is on zoom and Facebook Live. That is in Bengali, Hindi, English and other languages. I don’t know if anyone here knows Chinese but! So you can ask your local leader, local preacher if he can tell you the answer. Otherwise, I don’t have a problem if you write to me. If you ask a silly question, it is alright. I don’t reject anyone, and I try to answer. And if there is already, I have given to this question before, then that may be, I think, we have frequently asked questions in the App. You can see that and if your question has been answered already, then you don’t need to write to me. But if it has not been answered then you can write.

Question: How to avoid hesitation in encouraging and convincing others to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Jayapatākā Swami: See, we are not attached to winning or losing. Rather, our system is that we offer respect to others and we don’t expect any respect for ourselves. So, like one of Lord Caitanya’s associates, he spoke to a Kazi, a Muslim magistrate. He said, “You are very handsome, you are very powerful, rich, intelligent.” Like that. “I just want to ask you one thing? Is it alright?” He said, “Go ahead!” He said, “Please forget all this because when you die all this is gone. Just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa!” The Kazi said, “I will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa tomorrow.” That associate said, “Haribol! Haribol! You just said it! Don’t stop now! Haribol! Haribol!” If you try, you can figure out what is the best way of doing it. And that you are trying Kṛṣṇa will be very pleased that this devotee is trying. So we want to say things that are favorable, which will help the person to listen.

Question: During this pandemic time when we are inspiring the new person, they are chanting for some days, after that they are giving up gradually despite follow up. How to convince them?

Jayapatākā Swami: We know that kāla, deśa, patra, time place and circumstance. The person also. Why that person is stopping chanting? You may talk to him. Find out what his hesitation is. And encourage him and you will know his reason. Most people are just lazy in spiritual life. And if you find the person chanting a little bit, then you could be appreciative. People say, I asked how many round they are chanting, they are very shy, they say only 4 rounds! 4 rounds! Wow! 2.5 million names of Kṛṣṇa in a year! So like that, I try to encourage people and they chant even one round and I try to encourage them and they feel oh wow! He is so happy, and they say I will try to chant 8 rounds.

Question: Even while doing service, mind will say that current service is not good, do sādhana. While doing sādhana mind tells us to do some service. Kindly guide me how to overcome this.

Jayapatākā Swami: I was chanting 32 rounds a day. I felt very proud. I thought I was doing sādhana. Śrīla Prabhupāda asked me, “What are you doing?” I said, “I am chanting 32 rounds!” I thought Śrīla Prabhupāda would be very happy. He said, “If you stay here all day and chant rounds, who will go out and preach? Chant 16 rounds and go out and preach!” So we have a dedicated time every day for chanting. 2 hours a day. 22 hours we can spend in preaching, little time in sleeping and eating.

Question: Could you please help us in genuinely inspiring others, practically I face challenge in getting my audience follow what we try to teach in line with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. It requires a number of times’ repetition. And when we say it again and again, they think, oh, I have heard this. But they don’t consider that they are not following. How to convince them? Nirbhaya Nityānanda dāsa,

Jayapatākā Swami: Nirbhaya Nityānanda dāsa, so your name means you have no fear! But Lord Nityānanda was very merciful. So like that if people you say one way and they are not accepting, then repeating it again and again it did not produce the result even when we said once. Then you have to think what is a new way. Like, recently I went to some program for the children. They said Puruṣottama month challenge. They had different children who participated. So in this way, sometimes by challenge, some debate, we use different tactics. So just like some wives if the husbands were not Kṛṣṇa conscious, would tell them, dear husband, please help me understand this verse? Because the man may be very macho, puffed up! So the lady using her female intelligence she may understand the verse, but she tells the husband, can you help me understand this? He says, well, I am a man, so he looks at the book. So she tricks him to read the book. So what tricks you use to get people to chant, to read, that is something that you have to think a bit out of the box. Haribol!

Question: What is character? How to build a character? Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to face real problems of life and challenges. How to overcome that?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, devotees always depend on Kṛṣṇa. When we face some challenge, we have to learn how to depend on Kṛṣṇa. He is in our heart and He knows what we are facing. So if we say, Kṛṣṇa, what should I do in this case? He can give us intelligence, how to face the problem. And He mentioned that in the Bhagavad-gītā. For His devotees, He gives the intelligence by which to serve Him.

Question: How to preach and convince people in a short duration of time like in the temple, train, or marketplace?

Jayapatākā Swami: In the time, place and circumstance, what is your goal? In the marketplace, what do you want to do? If you can get people to buy a book, then they will read it for hours and hours. Then they will have some understanding. What will you speak in the market? Some place you may want to distribute the books. You have to see the circumstance, what is the best way of preaching.

Question: How to control lusty thoughts and desires while practicing bhakti alone? Sometimes due to lusty desires I am not able to chant properly. So how to overcome this?

Jayapatākā Swami: Arjuna asked a similar question and Kṛṣṇa said that by the sword of knowledge he should cut the knots of illusion. So there are different ways to overcome – one is knowledge. We have to have knowledge. Like in Gajendra Mokṣa līlā, the elephant king and the crocodile king were fighting with each other and they were in the water. So the elephant realized he was a land animal and the crocodile was a water animal and the crocodile was winning. Then he prayed to Lord Viṣṇu, he could remember in his previous life he was a human being, he was saved by Viṣṇu. But in the purport Śrīla Prabhupāda says that we should see which place we are stronger to fight māyā. Even though we may have knowledge and wisdom, maybe our nature is such that we should be gṛhastha but if we can control our lust by knowledge and by engaging in service, keep the mind off from the object of lust, then maybe that is sufficient.

Question: While doing preaching services, I face discouragement a lot and I feel very upset. Please give your blessings how to overcome it. Please bless me I want to become your good disciple. To help you in all aspect to fulfill the mission of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Taptakāñcana Gauracandra dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: You know, it is a learning process. I was preaching in Hindi in the Hindu temple in Bangkok. And somehow I was not getting such a response, so I just tried to learn from that. And everything that happens, we may lose some battles but we want to win the war. So we don’t want to give up. Then we may have to think how to adapt according to the situation.

Question: Even after knowing many a times, what would be favorable for me in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the desire to do in proper mood to get the blessings of senior devotees is weak, how to respond in these situations?

Jayapatākā Swami: If you realize that you are weak in some area, then you want to pray to Kṛṣṇa and get some strength. Pray to Lord Caitanya, pray to Lord Nityānanda, pray to Gurudeva. It is like an athlete. If you don’t win, what do you do? Give up or try harder, train more. You want to get that gold medal for your country. Like that. You want to offer something to Kṛṣṇa.

Question: How can we preach to our relatives and neighbors who generally think that earning money and caring for the bodily maintenance is the goal of life? Chanting, following spiritual principles, etc. are waste of time?

Jayapatākā Swami: That is what we are doing. At least they are your relatives, they listen to you. And you could see what works. Flattery or heart to heart talk. This time there is a pandemic in the world, people are dying, people are getting sick. Maybe you have some relative who got sick. So it is an opportunity to explain that while we do our material work, we have to do some sacrifice for Kṛṣṇa. Because if we don’t that is why all this pandemic is there.

Question: How Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to preach to the college youth? How to make them serious practitioners of Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Jayapatākā Swami: By not making them do a lot of sacrifice. Let them do what they like to do for Kṛṣṇa.

Question: I am facing difficulty in practically applying the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā even though I have read a particular verse, when it comes to applying in a situation I forget it. Need your guidance.

Jayapatākā Swami: You should take cow milk! We read something, we want to apply it,it stays with us. You say at the time you forget. What should I do? I used to go out, I would preach and sometimes I would forget. And I would tell people, ok I will see you tomorrow. Then I would think there was an answer but what is the answer. So I would talk to some senior devotee and I would be ready to face them. Next time I had the answer. Haribol!

Question: I am a banker, the job takes a lot of time. Changing job or going for higher education after resigning, is it a good option to give time to the bhakti process?

Jayapatākā Swami: It is a very personal question, and it is something that you should analyze. How much time, I don’t know what your position is in the bank. How much time it takes. And if you have to go to university or college again and get another degree. Another job. Whether that would be actually beneficial or not. It is a practical question. If I had to make such a decision, I would analyze all the things.

I am very appreciative of your questions, your association. I see all of you on the gallery view. I see some lady also in IYF. Very nice. You should change your phone name like Oppo, Vivo, who is Redme das?!

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

Haribol!