20201024 Zoom Session with Russian Devotees

20201024
ZOOM SESSION WITH RUSSIAN DEVOTEES
ŚRĪDHĀMA, MĀYĀPUR, INDIA

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam 

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Spacebo! I am very happy to be here tonight. I hear that you are observing a worldwide Russian language JSSSS. I do hope you all are very enthused in your devotional service. Now is the difficult time with the COVID virus. We are lamenting for the passing away of many Vaiṣṇavas - Caitanya Nitāi Gosvāmī, Bhakti Charu Swami. Tonight we just heard that HG Yaśomatīnandana passed away. We were glad to hear that Caitanyacandra Caraṇa Dāsa is recovering. Every day I pray for my initiated, aspiring and sikṣā disciples and my grand disciples. We hope that they all are very enthusiastic in devotional service. That there will be a taste for chanting and serving. They will have a desire, enthusiasm for preaching and be very successful. Although different countries are opening up, apparently the virus is still dangerous. So we have to be very careful, best cure is prevention.

Also, it is very important that all the disciples they strictly follow their vows. Because breaking the vows causes suffering for the guru. We were reading how Lord Caitanya, He was chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa in great bliss. Kṛṣṇa and His name are not different. If everyone chants the name of Kṛṣṇa that will give them supreme blessing. We can thus be directly associated with Kṛṣṇa. Everyone, man or woman, they have the potential to be completely purified. So now in a week or so, will be coming the Dāmodara month. Now this is a good opportunity to get many people to offer a lamp to Dāmodara and start to chant. Now we have the Jayapatākā Swami App. In that we update what activities we do in the day. Has everybody downloaded the App? Maybe the organizer can do a poll and find out. How many are going to download and how many did not download. So, I upload messages five or eight times a day. In this way, we hope that everybody can stay in touch. It is translated also in Russian. So, we are trying to help all the devotees. Some of the emails we have are outdated. Audārya Līlā Devī Dāsī in Māyāpur you could tell her if you change your email. Or you could ask her if she has your up-to-date email.

So we see that Lord Caitanya, His pastimes are very sweet. After taking sannyāsa when He went to Śāntipura, He stayed in the house of Advaita Gosāñī, about ten days or two weeks. He requested all the people from Navadvīpa to go back to their homes and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! In that way, He said by husband and wife chanting together, they can achieve Kṛṣṇa. Then He embraced all the devotees. Then He left. Advaita Gosāñī was following behind. Then Advaita said why, my heart is like wood! I am not crying for You! Lord Caitanya said, because if You are crying then I cannot leave. I kept Your love tied up in My cloth in a knot. Then Lord Caitanya untied the knot and Advaita Ācārya began to cry aha! He was crying and crying and crying! Ha! Ha! Lord Caitanya had kept the love of Advaita tied up in His cloth. And when he untied the know the love manifested in Advaita! We want all you devotees to please experience this pure love of Lord Caitanya. That is the purpose of life! Haribol! Gauuuranga! Nityānanda! Nitāi Gaura!

So this is the real purpose of human life. Normally it is very difficult to achieve. But by the mercy of Nitāi Gaura one can achieve it very easily. So, we hope that all of you will experience this divine mercy of Nitāi Gaura. We think we are the body, but we should understand we are the soul. We have the body. When we leave our body, the body loses its beauty because it is dead. We never die. We live forever. So the purpose of life is to leave the material world and go back to Kṛṣṇa. While we are here we like to do devotional service. Materially, we will sometimes be happy, sometimes sad. Sometimes the senses give us pleasure, sometime they give us distress. But the spiritual life is ever blissful! Even though we feel separation from the Lord, that is another form of bliss! If we engage in devotional service, we will always get devotional bliss. Even separation of Kṛṣṇa is also ecstatic. All glories to the devotees! Hare Kṛṣṇa! All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! By Śrīla Prabhupāda going all over the world, he brought us Kṛṣṇa consciousness and that is his special mercy! We thought we were the body, but he told us how we were spirit souls, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Every Saturday morning I give a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class. Every day I give a class on Lord Caitanya’s pastimes in the evening at 7 pm Indian time. Now, a special class for the Russian speaking devotees! Hare Kṛṣṇa! Are there any questions?

Question: I heard from your classes and also reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books sometimes while describing the Caitanya līlā and other līlās they mention some names of railway stations and other locations. Are they going to remain the same for the next ten thousand years? Are they not changing with time?

Jayapatākā Swami: Seems so. Seems that the railway stations names don’t change, at least not very frequently. I haven’t heard. I heard that in Uttar Pradesh they changed some railway station to be called Prayag from Allahabad. But in Bengal I did not hear anything. We are publishing a book on Gaura Maṇḍala Bhūmī and that book will give you the directions. Thank you! You want to visit? Very nice! Actually in Bangladesh there are many holy places that we have. We have the birthplace of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Advaita Gosāñī, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. Like that we have many places. In West Bengal, in Māyāpur, we have our temple, we have a temple in Ekacakra but we do not have the birth place of Nityānanda Prabhu there. So I see that there are some members by the names. Is that in the order of the numbers? Hare Kṛṣṇa! All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!