20201104 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Zoom Question and Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 4th, 2020 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India.

Question: Reading books for two hours minimum daily. Can you kindly clarify Guru Mahārāja. As a brahmacārī, two hours daily is possible, but as a working devotee can I also read two hours Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and preaching whatever time permits? Or just focus on preaching service with maybe 45 minutes of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books since many times we need absorption?

Your Humble Servant,
Hemāṅga Haladhara dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know where you are based? [Aside: from Bengaluru Guru Mahārāja.] Bengaluru is famous for intense traffic jams. So one could listen to Śrīla Prabhupāda books on the earphone. Or if one is driving in the car use the loudspeaker system. So that also counts for the reading time. So when a lady is cooking she can play Śrīla Prabhupāda’s recorded lectures or Bhagavad-gītā in audio. So, see how much time you have, apart from your work, and how much time can you spend reading and how much time in preaching. If you don’t repeat what you read, you may forget it. So preaching is also part of reading. It helps you to absorb the teachings.

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Question: During our visit to Purī we visited the Ṭoṭā Gopīnātha Mandir and Mahāprabhu’s vastra-samādhi inside the temple. I understand Mahāprabhu’s hair is the only vapu-samādhi available for us now. Kindly help me to understand if the vastra-samādhi could also be considered to be a part of vapu-samādhi?

Your Spiritual Children,
Śrīmān Balarāma Kṛṣṇa dāsa and Śrīrūpa Mādhavī devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: Vapu-samādhi is a part of the body kept in samādhi. And puṣpa-samādhi is the flowers that were on the body, put in the samādhi. Vastra-samādhi would be the cloth He wore. So, I don’t know if we can call it a vapu-samādhi but is certainly auspicious. And there is no difference in one sense between the Lord’s body and the clothes He wore.

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Question: Guru Mahārāja! When I am at my workplace I feel hungry due to lack of time in the morning. I cannot prepare, so I go and buy some snack from the nearby grocery. Dear spiritual father, is it right what I am doing? Those foods like chips and things are made by machines and packed by machines. I don’t think it to be offensive and have it. I offer them mentally and put dry tulasī leaves and consume it. Could this be accepted by the Lord? Is it right? What I have been doing? Please enlighten me Śrīla Gurudeva!

Your Fallen Daughter,
Kackuly Rāṇī, from Dāmodaradeśa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Fruits, salted ingredients, milk products, and nuts, dried fruits, can be offered. They are offerable to the Lord, put fresh tulasī and offer them. Things that are made by machines or people if their ingredients are vegetarian, then we can say Śrī Viṣṇu three times but that is in kind of an emergency. But it is not offerable.

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Question: If there is a good king in a village, the people will also be happy. Like there is Paramātmā residing in our body but still why we are suffering.

Kushal (Kṛṣṇa-kathā deśa)

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t see the correlation between a good king and the Paramātmā. Everybody has Paramātmā in their hearts. But we are doing sinful acts against the advice of the Paramātmā. That is why we are suffering. Our suffering may be due to something that we have done in the past hundred births. We don’t remember but Supersoul does. So He will allow us to suffer if we deserve it. And we offer the Lord a lamp in Kārtika so like that then it says we can be freed from mountains of bad karma. So people who are doing good karma, people who are doing bad karma, they have Paramātmā in their hearts. But those who do the good karma, they get good results. Those who do bad karma, they get bad results.

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Hare Kṛṣṇa dear Gurudeva! All glories to you. Are we able to have spiritual endeavors and desires? If so, to what extent should we have them? Forever grateful for your wonderful words.

Kṛṣṇa and Samyak [Sheltered disciples], UK. 

Jayapatākā Swami: Naturally we can have spiritual desires, spiritual activities. That is what devotional service is, it is a spiritual endeavor. If we desire to have the association of pure devotees, we desire to have mercy of Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya, Have Their mercy those are all spiritual desires.

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Question: You said yesterday in the question and answer session that we should follow the system of regularly chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. In this situation, even with the association of karmīs at work, how can I be regular in chanting the mahā-mantra?

Your fallen son,
Śacīputra Avatāra dāsa 

Jayapatākā Swami: It depends, what your work is. So, his question was we should always chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, how can we do that work? He is from Bangladesh. So, it would depend, what your work is. If you are working in like some factory or something, you can sing while you work. If you are working in an office, naturally you have to do your office work. Before you do your office work you can chant oṁ tat sat! What I am about to do is a service, you are saying this to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Of course, from your salary you can offer bhoga, donate something to the temple and you are also going to survive, you and your family. So in the beginning, you can say oṁ tat sat! If you chant mentally even if you are not able to chant, anyway you are doing your work, which is part of your neutral work.

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Question: I am born in a brāhmaṇa family and has undergone the thread ceremony in the presence of Lord Bālājī and the brāhmaṇa thread was offered to me by our family priest in our native place. Guru Mahārāja, my question is that whether I am qualified to chant Gāyatrī mantra on the basis of the thread ceremony or wait until I get my second initiation in ISKCON? Please guide me in this matter.

Jayapatākā Swami: The sacred thread ceremony is called upanayanam. Those who are not born in dvija family, we give them upanayanam, plus the Pāñcarātrika mantras. So you can chant your smṛti Gāyatrī which is you received with your upanayanam and at the time of second initiation, you will receive your Pāñcarātrika mantras. You will get seven mantras. One is the Vedic, which is the upanayanam and six Pāñcarātrikas. So many of my disciples those who are from India, they already had their upanayanam. So they can continue to chant the smṛti Gāyatrī. And when they receive the second initiation, that is when they receive the Pāñcarātrika mantras. Since in Western countries, or the non-dvijas, they call it brahmanical initiation. Actually, it is brahmanical plus Pāñcarātrika. You already have the brāhmaṇa thread, when you take second initiation, you will receive the Pāñcarātrika mantras. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

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Question: Please help me to understand ton he aspect of wearing gold. Lot of people in our family wear gold. But we have learnt that gold is a place of Kali-puruṣa. As a gṛhastha how to understand and implement this? Please enlighten this fallen souls.

Anand and Janani, Bengaluru.

Jayapatākā Swami: The gold is a pure metal. And we use that to decorate our Deities. But in Kali-yuga maybe people steal gold. So we have to be careful to use pure gold in Deity worship. Sometimes the ladies wear gold ornaments on some special functions. This is allowed for the gṛhasthas. The ladies should not wear her gold ornaments when her husband is away, but she may wear in the presence of her husband, it is very attractive. So now we have paper money. Previously paper money was equal to a certain amount of gold. That is why we call it Pound Sterling because it is based on how much silver you can get. But now there are pounds, euros, rupees and the paper is not equivalent to any specific amount of gold. There is a kind of false economy is part of Kali-yuga. But not that, ladies cannot wear gold ornaments. It is just that it is a little dangerous, so usually they wear during special social functions.

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Question: When we are chanting japa how can be avoid the eleventh offence?

Jayapatākā Swami: Anyway, it is a kind of controversy whether the so called, 11th offence we should fix in the 10th. Anyway, the way to avoid that is concentrating on your chanting. And focusing on the hearing and chanting, seeing the Deities.

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Dear Gurudeva As one of your insignificant daughters Tanusree Mazumdar is going to become a mother, the doctor gave her the date of delivery as 11th November. Please give blessings for my wife and bless whoever the child is coming.

Your Servant of Servant,
Acyuta Arjuneśvara dāsa, Śyāmadeśa. 

Jayapatākā Swami: May she have a safe delivery, her child be a Kṛṣṇa conscious, happy, long live, suputra and may she also be healthy. Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

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Question: Guru Mahārāja! How can I encourage my godsister to be more serious in spiritual life. If she is not able to take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously, and losing taste in devotional activities, how can I help her?

Your Spiritual Daughter,
Saṅgītamayī Gopī devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know why she is losing taste in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And we should see what the cause is and try to answer that problem. If she chants Pañca-tattva mantra more often, that may help her to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and get more taste. If she doesn’t feel connected with me, then she could download the Jayapatākā Swami App, and read the regular message postings.

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Gopati Kṛṣṇa dāsa: Now there is a poll, please participate.

Jayapatākā Swami: Have your friends, godbrothers, godsisters also download the Jayapatākā Swami App.

Gopati Kṛṣṇa dāsa: It is availble in both in Google Play store and Apple Store as well.

Today is the wedding day of Ūrjeśvarī Rādhā Mātājī and Sivakumar family.

Jayapatākā Swami: How many years of anniversaries?

Ūrjeśvarī Rādhā devī dāsī: 19th wedding anniversary. Let us serve your lotus feet together, and bring more sould with our family members. And please bless all our Bhakti-vṛkṣa members.