20201113 Zoom Session with Mathurādeśa Devotees

The following is a Zoom session with the Mathurādeśa devotees by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 13th, 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: I am very happy to be in Mathurādeśa again, particularly in Sīmantadvīpa. Sīmantadvīpa is the first island of Navadvīpa dhāma, the island of hearing, where Sīmantinī Devī received took the dust of the lotus feet of Lord Gaurāṅga. Where Pārvatī, Sīmantinī, she realized her non-difference from Rādhārāṇī. There we have Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā Deities which are 500 years old. For us it is a very important temple. Sīmantadvīpa is a very important place and we are very happy to be visiting there tonight. In the normal system, we know there is dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa, but Lord Caitanya taught that there is a fifth puruṣārtha. That is Prema. Pure love for Kṛṣṇa. And that is the thing that one can achieve either as a gṛhastha or as a vairāgī. Therefore, Lord Caitanya said gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Everyone should chant the holy name. Regardless of what āśrama they are in. Actually, we know that in the varṇāśrama system, there are four varṇas and four āśramas. So, the gṛhastha is also considered an āśrama. That should be keeping Kṛṣṇa in the center. Husband, wife and children, they serve Kṛṣṇa in their house. They chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, they worship the Deity, they offer bhoga to the Deity and eat prasāda. Like this, they celebrate different festivals, and they also preach. I heard from the report that you are doing different online outreach programs. I am very grateful.

You see, in each time, place and circumstance, there is a different system. So here in Sīmantadvīpa in Mathurādeśa, people have to work to maintain themselves. But then they are able to do a lot of outreach programs. In fact, sometimes people feel separation from the nice association, when they go back to India, they want to come back to Mathurādeśa! Because they miss the nice association and the great opportunities they were practicing. If anyone wants to go back to India, we want to give them some nice welcome and service. But we know that there are nice opportunities in Mathurādeśa, Sīmantadvīpa, etc. Many people, they simply think that by economic development they will be happy. But we understand that economic development itself cannot make us happy. And I think you all realize that. The material world is very flickering, one minute we are happy, one minute we are sad. The same senses, they give us happiness and also give us pain. So better to use our senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa. I am very grateful that you are making many devotees, all from new people, also your children. Children is one way of making devotees. And having children’s programs to help them to become devotees. Actually, it is everyone’s choice to be a devotee or not. The parents, they should try to give the environment to the children, so that they could be devotees. And this is the real success of spiritual life. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s parents were devotees, and they arranged a Ratha-yātrā for Śrīla Prabhupāda during his childhood, they gave him practice Deities of Rādhā and Govinda. And every time a sādhu would come to their house, they would plead, please bless my son to get the mercy of Rādhārāṇī. So, like this, the parents inspiring their children to be devotees, the children can become great preachers in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

So, gṛhastha-āśrama is the only āśrama which has this facility of making devotees by making children. And to train them up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We want everyone also to themselves practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In this way, inspire the people around them, their neighbors, work colleagues, their fellow students, their children, whoever they are. By being a devotee one can help other people to become a devotee. A sannyāsī is like a hard shell and gṛhasthas are the soft shell. They come to your house, they see, oh they have a house, they have children. They seem happy. So, I should also practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I will also be happy. They see a sannyāsī, they think, oh we must be renounced. So we want everyone to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their homes.

And this time in the world, there is a global pandemic, naturally people they are in anxiety, they are suffering. So, this is a good opportunity that people are more open and we show how in whatever situation, we have a Protector. Kṛṣṇa is our Well-wisher. He is our friend. He helps us. In this material world there will always be some suffering. And we want to transfer the people back to the spiritual world. So, if people are very much in love with Kṛṣṇa, feeling separation from Kṛṣṇa, then at the end of life they will go back to Kṛṣṇa. Yamarāja told his Yamadūtas, bring those who never chant the names of Kṛṣṇa, and don’t worship Kṛṣṇa. Bring them to me. I will punish them. We don’t want anyone to be punished. So you should all worship Kṛṣṇa and get your friends to worship. In this age, the system is very easy, to chant the holy names. Since Kṛṣṇa and His name are non-different, this system is very powerful. We are not qualified for meditation, homas or temple worship in itself. Therefore, we chant the holy name. Even if we do fire yajña, we do temple worship, we chant the holy name. And that is why Kṛṣṇa is non-different from His name.