20201027 Zoom Addressing to BCSM Aspiring devotees

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

Jayapatākā Swami: Today I am speaking in Bengali. Someone told me that we lost Bhakti Cāru Swami, we are unfortunate. But I said that I had the very good fortune of having the association of Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja.

Lord Caitanya said,

'sādhu-saṅga', 'sādhu-saṅga'—sarva-śāstre kaya

lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
(Cc. Madhya 22.54)

Now, we are all certainly fortunate to have had the association of Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja. But he has departed, that is why I am feeling separation. I had hoped that he would stay for a long time but whatever time we had his association, we were very benefited. And we have to always follow his teachings. The amount of devotion he had for Śrīla Prabhupāda and the way he interacted with all the people, that has made an impression in everyone’s hearts. Now, he has gone to Śrīla Prabhupāda. One side we are happy, but not having his association we are sad. And we have to follow his instructions. This way, that we achieve success in this life, we hope. Those of you who are disciples of Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja, in whatever way I can help, I am ready. And those in Māyāpur, we wish that all the aspiring disciples of Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja be assisted. And all the disciples should cooperate and work unitedly. And all the devotees who associated with him are very fortunate. And definitely by this, we have progressed significantly in our lives. I have created a gmail bcs.jps.gmail.com. I check this email. If you have any questions now you can ask.

Question: Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja had emphasized that there should be Vedic schools established and that each of us should make sure we study the scriptures well and then go out to preach. How can we go about the Vedic schools?

Jayapatākā Swami: There is a Vedic gurukula in Māyāpur. To open a Vedic school in Hooghly you should coordinate with the Nāmahaṭṭa there. We have three schools in Māyāpur – one is the Vedic gurukula, another Delhi Board’s School which has about 750 students and there is the Cambridge syllabus school with about 200 students. Along with this they are also educated on Vedic knowledge. In the Vedic school there are studies on mantras, homas, etc.

Question: Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja had wanted us to do Bhakti-vṛkṣa and had promised he would dedicate three months to West Bengal. So we need your help in this.

Jayapatākā Swami: Whatever Kṛṣṇa wills that happens. Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja had said he would go here and there but we can think a lot, but whatever Lord Kṛṣṇa wants we do. Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja had said that we should have Vedic schools and that he would visit different places, for that we are indebted to him. We will try to see if these can be fulfilled. But how many days I will live, the Lord only knows. But Lord Kṛṣṇa took Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja away, we cannot do anything about that. In the hospital where Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja passed away, the staff said that they had not seen such a happy faced person who was passing away. They had seen thousands of dead people but not anyone like Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja. Śrīla Prabhupāda took him away. That way, he departed smilingly. Now, he had many desires, and we will try to fulfill those as far as possible. Now I am in Māyāpur and will try to see that his desires are fulfilled. They had bought a land in Pānihāṭi and one in Tarakeswar. Anyway, from Māyāpur we are trying to see that all the branches develop. Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami said that Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja had desired that devotees should go from village to village and establish Nāmahaṭṭa and do kīrtana.

Question: We are very happy that you are talking to us. How do we bring the devotees who we are training up to you, kindly tell us the procedure.

Jayapatākā Swami: If someone wants shelter, then they should contact Maṇi Gopāla dāsa in our JPS Office and coordinate. I can do this via zoom. If someone wants to be a śikṣā disciple, that is also possible. Whatever way possible I will try to help. Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja has helped me out in different places. He is very dear Godbrother. He was always ready to assist my disciples.

Question: Those disciples of Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja who were ready for initiation, what should they do now?

Jayapatākā Swami: Now if someone wants to take initiation immediately, I had asked the GBC-EC, they said that for at least 6 months after the passing away of Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja, the disciples have to wait. If someone wants to take initiation from me, then it is better they take shelter first. Whichever guru you wish to take initiation from, take shelter under him first. And Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja will always remain your śikṣā-guru. And that way you can follow all his instructions. But you have to take initiation from some guru, one of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples. If you want you can take shelter now and after six months take initiation. But after waiting six months from July, you can take initiation. If someone wants to wait more; they can but at least six months they should wait.

Question: Please bless us that we are able to continue to conduct Bhakti-vṛkṣa programs and preach.

Jayapatākā Swami: I hope that the Bhakti-vṛkṣa preaching goes on well. Now in the month of Dāmodara we are doing various programs. Once the month of Dāmodara begins, there will be various videos released on Bhakti-vṛkṣa preaching. I have a Jayapatākā Swami App. There are different messages published on that every day in Bengali, English and various other languages. This is available in Android and Apple Store. If you have any videos, you can send them to me and I can put them on the App. Kṛṣṇe matir astu! All of you please stay all the time in Kṛṣṇa-bhakti!