20201117 Question and Answer Session

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

Question: How do we deal with a devotee who is very close to us but has a very serious issue with anger, envy, etc. to the point of probably needing professional help. How do we help them? Telling them directly even in a nice manner is not possible because they will erupt like a volcano.

Jayapatākā Swami: Hard to say. I am thinking, I don’t know, you are saying the person is close to you. Maybe you could have a video taken when the person erupts and then show it to that person. If you are the person’s well-wisher but you are afraid that they don’t realize the defect, but this is not philosophical question, this is a practical thing, and so how one should deal depends on each person. I cannot say a standard answer because it may vary from person to person.

Rajeswari Pechimuthu: We have so many different names of Kṛṣṇa in naming the temples like Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Temple, Śrī Śrī Rādhā Gopīnātha Temple, Śrī Śrī Rādhā Pārtha-sārathi Temple, in Māyāpur we have Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava Temple. Even though Rādhārāṇī has different names, why we are not keeping other names of Rādhārāṇī for the Deities?

Jayapatākā Swami: In Bengaluru, they call Gāndharvikā Giridhārī. Some temples they call Rādhā, and some they call Rādhārāṇī, some temples, Rādhikā or Gāndharvikā. But people generally just say Rādhā although there are 108 or thousand names of Rādhā also. But that is up to the people that name the Deities, what name they give. We gave name in Puṇḍarīka dhāma as Vārṣabhānavī. Since Puṇḍarīka is Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja’s avatāra, and one of Rādhārāṇī’s name is Varaṣabhānavī, the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu. The Deity is called Vārṣabhānavī Murāri.

Rasapriya Gopīkā devī dāsī: Many times, because of circumstances also, we are not able to execute the instructions given by the spiritual master. So is it offensive, or are we being proud? How can we overcome offensive mentality?

Jayapatākā Swami: So you have already given the answer. Being offensive, yes! Third offence of the holy name is to disobey the orders of the guru. Are we being proud? Maybe! How to give up this offensive mentality? It is all renunciation. You can renounce it!

Gaurāṅga Prasāda dasa: When a devotee gets well positioned, is that because of his good karma or should we understand that to be the Lord’s mercy?

Jayapatākā Swami: We heard from Śrīla Prabhupāda, today or yesterday I forget, he said by the Lord’s mercy we get opulence. Then we fall in māyā because māyā is very strong. So, we should not think that if we have material opulence, it is not for the mercy of the Lord, it is for our good karma. Because we are given this facility by the mercy of the Lord. For hundred births He can give us any of our karma. So if we have now good karma, that is also the mercy of the Lord. So we should not forget Kṛṣṇa. We should use what we have in Kṛṣṇa’s service.

Kālindī Sundarī devī dāsī: Is it okay to use anger in devotional services? I have so many responsibilities. Sometimes it works nicely and sometimes it doesn’t work until I show anger. One devotee told anger destroys our bhajana.

Jayapatākā Swami: Generally, we use anger if someone offends Kṛṣṇa or guru or Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotees. We don’t use it for false ego. That I am not being followed so I get angry. Let me inspire someone to do something. But it has some cost that our relationship is hampered with that devotee. So, anger is something that we should use in the right sense, and it may be that you feel strongly about something and show some emotion, but that may not be the only way. So, we should see what is the most effective, with the least side effects.