20201128 Question and Answer Session

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

Question: Did you ever feel any mental crisis, being in the ISKCON movement? If yes, how did you overcome such a situation in our movement?

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, when Śrīla Prabhupāda left, I was feeling great separation, I was crying a lot. But I just thought that I had to somehow, my responsibility was to serve him even in his physical absence.

Question: How to avoid seeing fault in devotees and to offend devotees?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda advised us that like there are bees and flies. Bees look for the honey, flies look for scars or tissues or stool or something. So we should be like the bees. We should look at the good qualities of others. And we should fault-find with ourselves. See what are the areas that we can improve. If we see something in some other person, we don’t think is something we should not emulate, then we take it as a negative consideration. And we decide, I won’t do that, otherwise if we are confused, we can humbly ask a question. That I see you as a good example, as a senior devotee, I see that sometime, you go to the bathroom and smoke a cigarette. Can I do that? Something like that. Is that something we should follow? Anyway, that is just a stupid example! One time we had a seminar given by Anuttama dāsa, he is our communication minister. He told us, pick up any person next to you and say something praising them. And say something that is critical. Then say something praising. So, maybe the person next to us we say you are very good example, you attend maṅgala ārati every day. But sometimes I see you lose your temper and I wonder is that something we should do? But I always see you very dedicated to Śrīla Prabhupāda. So when we present in that way, sandwich a critical thing within two praises. So how do we feel? We always feel much better because it is not that the person is just criticizing, he is also saying something nice, he gave some constructive criticism and then said something nice. So this is a good lesson. Thank you for your very nice question! Why did you ask such a question?!! But you are a very nice person!! Haribol! We are meant to have a good time!

Question: I heard that Bhīṣma-pañcaka fast must be broken after maṅgala ārati. I also heard it must be broken after the full moon. Can you kindly help me Gurudeva?

Jayapatākā Swami: I saw in the śātra that the second thing was given. After the sunset or moonrise, we break fast of the Bhīṣma-pañcaka. I never heard after maṅgala ārati.

Question: If senior devotees are not offering corrections or improvement in devotional service and sādhanas to junior devotees, how junior devotees can improve in devotional service?

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, in the sky we see the birds flying in a formation, like a ‘V’. So one bird leads the other birds. So he is kind of teaching by example. He doesn’t carry the other birds on his back, they have to fly their own flight. In bhakti-yoga you have to fly yourself. If you are guided by a senior devotee, that is advantageous. Maybe a senior devotee is shy and think whether you will take it or not, so he may be quiet. You can go and always ask him, prabhu, in what area should I improve myself? And maybe you will be surprised to get many suggestions! Or you can try yourself, seeing the good examples, try to improve yourself. Either way, self-improvement, like the Prime Minister of India was saying ātmā-nirbhār, self-reliant. Or you can ask for help, how can I improve? Or you may get the help without asking. But maybe some senior leader is a bit apprehensive, if I give some advice, whether the devotee will take it or not. Sometimes the people are very you know, self-conscious and if they criticize them they feel very depressed. So if you want some constructive advice, nothing like asking for it. Very rare. You ask Jagat Sākṣi, he gets asked, please tell me how I can improve! Very rare! But if you are thinking like this it is very good, you are a rare soul.

Question: Why Kṛṣṇa sent us to this world?

Jayapatākā Swami: Because He wants to take us back. We are here because somehow, we chose to be here. And therefore, His energy automatically sends us here. But He wants us to come back. So that is why He comes as His avatāra, He repeatedly advises people, even by observing the five-day vratā of the Bhīṣma-pañcaka, one can go back to Godhead. So the Lord is very eager to take us back. And we are attached to stay here. So we are sent here because we wanted to come here. We have minute independence, but we can misuse it, so that is what happened. Now He wants us to go back, why don’t we want to go?

Question: In the class of Caitanya Book Compilation, a young brāhmaṇa had faith that the Gopāla Deity would come and give witness. In our life how should we face such situations when we are troubled at work? How do we pray to Kṛṣṇa to come and protect us from those situations, thoughts, and people? What faith we must have to continue going forward in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Jayapatākā Swami: Somehow the elder brāhmaṇa and the younger brāhmaṇa in their pilgrimage, they ended up in Vṛndāvana. And there the elder brāhmaṇa told the younger brāhmaṇa that he would give his daughter to the younger brāhmaṇa in marriage. The younger brāhmaṇa said, you are rich, you are educated, you are from an aristocratic family. I am not so rich; I am not very educated, and I have no kind of aristocracy. So your family members will not accept me. But the older brāhmaṇa said, no, I want to give you my daughter. Anyway, to make the long story short, he promised in front of the Deity, and the Deity later on He served as a witness. That was a very unique situation and the Lord said that these two devotees are actually His eternal servitors. I am trying to think, we may not have the exact same situation, but we always depend on Kṛṣṇa, in every circumstance and in this material world, there is always some kind of complication. So, by that we should learn that we don’t want to stay here. But while we are here, we try to make the best use of a bad bargain. So we try to engage ourselves in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Just like if somebody gets married, they should try to get married to a devotee. If someone is a brahmacārī, they should always stay busy in service. So that there is no chance of māyā to enter. Like that we make some conscious decisions based on our nature. To see that we always keep Kṛṣṇa in the center, and that we have the most suitable situation for serving Kṛṣṇa.

Question: When Kṛṣṇa reciprocates to our prayers we feel wonderful. On the other hand we feel pride that oh, Kṛṣṇa has reciprocated to me, I am a great devotee. How can we overcome this pride?

Jayapatākā Swami: That was also in Andhra Pradesh, that the leper Vāsudeva was cured by Lord Caitanya. He was afraid that now I will become proud. You embraced me and cure me of my leprosy, so I may become proud. Lord Caitanya said, “Don’t worry, always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and thus you will be protected by Me.” So if we get the blessings of Kṛṣṇa, we shouldn’t be proud, that is His causeless mercy. We don’t deserve it, somehow, He gave us mercy. So we should always be humble and thankful for the Lord’s mercy.

Question: Sometimes we are steady in our devotion and sometimes unsteady. How can we always be steady? Please suggest some practical tips Guru Mahārāja.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, this is one of the anarthas. After we take initiation, that is the stage of bhajana-kriyā, after that is anartha-nivṛitti. We get rid of all the unwanted characteristics and then become niṣṭha, fixed. So if you are experiencing some particular unsteadiness, then you can ask me or some senior devotee how to overcome that. But naturally by advancing in your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you will be able to transcend these anarthas and become very steady.

Question: How can we start nagara-saṅkīrtana in terms of Harināma buses across India and preach Lord Caitanya’s teachings?

Jayapatākā Swami: Oh well, Lokanātha Mahārāja has the pada-yātrā. Now he has recently become the minister of Harināma. So, you could consult with him this idea of having Harināma buses. Maybe our temples they can have once a week, Harināma-yajña. And thus we can spread the Harināma around the cities. I heard in India we have our presence in about 400 places. We have temples, preaching centers, extension centers and outposts and then we have also Nāmahaṭṭas, Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups. If every devotee did Harināma, that would be nice. There are so many BASEs also, they can do Harināma. Having a bus, you have to spend for diesel, there is the overheads of the bus. So, even without the buses we can have the Harināma. In East India sometimes the beggars chant Harināma to beg for money. Śrīla Prabhupāda did not want us to be considered as beggars. So when we go out on Harināma we should give out prasāda or sell some books, we don’t want to appear like beggars. We are there giving out the most sacred holy name. It is a very nice idea that you have. Maybe you can have buses, but we should have all our temples, preaching center, extension centers, Nāmahaṭṭa, Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups, outposts, BASEs, VOICEs everybody. Very nice idea!