20201210 Question & Answer Session

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

Sheltered disciple Pūjā: How to develop compassion and merciful attitude towards other Vaiṣṇavas keeping all the conditioning of one’s mind aside?

Jayapatākā Swami: In the first and second cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Parīkṣit Mahārāja asked how to get rid of the dirty things in the mind. So, this is an important aspect of devotional service. We want to get rid of all the dirty notes from our mind. And naturally there will be blissful thoughts, will take precedence. So practicing devotional service means cleaning the consciousness. Lord Caitanya in His Śikṣāṣṭaka, also taught this. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam – just as a mirror covered by dust, as it is wiped clean, in the same way our consciousness will be cleaned by the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

Rajeśvarī Mātājī: In the Śikṣāṣṭaka, in the eighth verse, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says even if Kṛṣṇa makes me broken hearted by not being present before me, He is completely free to do everything. But practically it is very difficult to imbibe this mood. How can we be in this mood? Kindly enlighten me.

Jayapatākā Swami: It is the mood of love. If you love someone, you will feel like this. So, in the eighth verse of the Śikṣāṣṭaka, naturally we achieve love for Lord Kṛṣṇa. And therefore, we fully surrender to Him.

Aspiring disciple, Harshita Sharma, Delhi: Guru Mahārāja, you always say, there is heart to heart connection between guru and disciple. But please tell what is the position and relationship of your aspiring disciple? How can we connect with you?

Jayapatākā Swami: If you are fully in the mood of a disciple, why won’t there be heart to heart connection?

Harihara Caitanya dasa: What if a disciple breaks his initiation vow? Please enlighten dear father.

Jayapatākā Swami: See normally if one does a sin, then there is some prāyaścita recommended. But there is no higher prāyaścita than devotional service. So if one breaks his vow, he should pray to the Deities. Express to the guru and beg for forgiveness. Then he should try to continue on with his devotional service and avoid breaking a vow again.

Divyāṅgī Lalitā devī dāsī: In the class last week we heard that it is okay to accept the prasāda of Lord Śiva thinking that he is the foremost of Vaiṣṇavas. Similarly, if the prasāda of other devatas like Gaṇeśa, Kartikeya or others are offered to us, should we accept, thinking they are also servitors of the Lord? Is it considered offensive if we don’t take the prasāda?

Jayapatākā Swami: If you think they are separate, then you should not take the prasāda. But if you see that they are devotees, then it is alright to take their prasāda. It will be offensive to refuse it.

Satyabhāmā Sādhavī devī dāsī, Ajmer: I want to bring Deities. I want to serve but I am not very good at deity service. I lack surrender, I lack bhāva, I lack resources needed. I am actually most unqualified materially and spiritually. But I desperately want Gaura Nitāi and Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā at home. Please give your precious advice.

Jayapatākā Swami: You can also worship pictures, called Citra-pāṭ. If you want to worship Deities as practice Deities, then you can tell me what service you want to do and I can give you my blessings.

Harita Mādhavī devī dāsī: What is the benefit of writing realizations by listening to guru’s lectures? Can it be done daily or only on Vyāsa-pūjā day? Please enlighten.

Jayapatākā Swami: There is no such restriction that you cannot write realizations except on the Vyāsa-pūjā day. But on the Vyāsa-pūjā day, everyone should write a homage. Other days, it can be done, if you have some realizations.

Guṇamayī Rādhikā devī dāsī: I am an aspiring devotee. My question is, what is the best way to prevent the mind from thinking of the past and future, when chanting the holy names?

Jayapatākā Swami: You seem to be an initiated devotee. You say, you are an aspiring devotee. I guess that is your humility. As far as chanting, one should chant with full concentration. Hear the chanting. And so we keep bringing the mind back to the sound of the chanting. You can sit in front of Śrīla Prabhupāda Deity or some pictures of the Deities, and like that fix your mind on the Lord while you are chanting. And if you feel sleepy, then stand up and walk or dance the Swami step.

Urjeśvarī Rādhā devī dāsī, Atlanta: Sometimes if we get the reverse result of any service, how to take it positively and how to overcome that situation with enthusiasm. Please guide me.

Jayapatākā Swami: Seems like you are doing service with some expectation and that the result is that you don’t get the result you expected. So, the thing is that we are supposed to be doing our service without expecting any results. We just do it as an offering of love. So, it is not that when we receive any reverse result, we don’t expect any result. So somehow if what we did is not pleasing to someone, then we could ask that person, that I hoped that it would be pleasing to you, what can I do to please you? It depends on the situation.

Sādhana Padmanābhan, Bhakti-vṛkṣa student member, through your spiritual daughter, Lakṣmī Rādhā devī dāsī: After a person leaves the body, during the 11^th or 13^th day after that is that soul still in the material world around his previous family or he is already taken to another world or jurisdiction based on karma? Why is there the 11-day period of abstinence from Deity service?

Jayapatākā Swami: Eleven days is prescribed for brāhmaṇas and for śūdras it is thirty days. For other varṇas it is in between. So, one thing is that we should not be lamenting when we go before the Lord. And it is a fact that brahmanas have more spiritual outlook, therefore the period is less. When the body is cremated, and the soul should go on. So being in some lamentation and in fact there is a certain period when we don’t serve the Lord. That is based on your consciousness. It mentions that the head pūjārī of the Guruvāyūr temple of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he worships the Deity for six months and then they change the head pūjārī. So if there is some death in his family no one tells him. Then he can worship without stop. If you tell him, then he may think, oh, my father died, my mother died! And so that may disturb his worship. Since it was because the soul was hanging around, that would not apply.

Abhaya Caraṇa Nimāi dāsa, Śrīdhāma Māyāpur: We know that chanting our rounds is our utmost priority. But sometimes there is some urge to do some other work. Can you share some general things we can consider whether we should do the activity or our japa?

Jayapatākā Swami: Chanting 16 rounds a day takes somewhere between one and a half hours to two hours. So I think there are 24 hours in a day. So, somehow you have to adjust that you can do both. And consider sleeping takes 6-7 hours and eating maybe one and a half. Like that, there should be enough time for service.

Rasapriyā Gopīkā devī dāsī, Śrīdhāma Māyāpur: Many times, we have to plan to perform devotional services. And because of physical stress or mental stress or some reason, we are not able to do our service as we planned for. Seeking your blessings of how to overcome this mental sickness?

Jayapatākā Swami: Blessings! Kṛṣṇe matir astu! By reading the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that helps one to purify the mind.

Śacīprāṇa Gaurahari dāsa: If someone is unable to distribute books and instead, they sponsor the books, will that be considered as book distribution?

Jayapatākā Swami: That is also book distribution. But you can also try to distribute. Some will take, some will not take. But from your side you can try to convince someone to take.

Padma Gaurāṅgī devī dāsī, Ananta Ānanda deśa: In this material world we have several kinds of relationships, like father, mother, siblings, etc. Sometimes we get into too much attachment with them. Hence this love, attachment becomes a pain for our devotional life. Please guide me Guru Mahārāja how can we get rid of this kind of over attachment?

Jayapatākā Swami: In the prayers of Queen Kuntī, she prayed to Kṛṣṇa that being a woman she had all these family attachments. So she requested Kṛṣṇa to bless her that she may transcend that. And having more love for Kṛṣṇa, is the secret of success. Naturally we will be grateful for the help of our parents and loved ones, but we should see that they are actually representing the real love that Kṛṣṇa has for us. And if we have more love for Kṛṣṇa, that is the secret to our success.

Sheltered daughter, Rajañī: Kindly advise how to overcome ego and jealousy?

Jayapatākā Swami: We see from the histories from last few days, although Śiva is Maheśvara, since he is the Lord of the false ego, somehow even he gets influenced by the ego. And then he offends Kṛṣṇa. Then he prays to Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet that he may be freed from this offensive mentality. He prays for him to stay in a spiritual atmosphere, in the dhāma of the Lord. So, like that if we can stay in a spiritual atmosphere in the abode of the Lord, then naturally our mind can be controlled.

Gītāgamya Gāyatrī devī dāsī: The verse Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 13.30: gopī-bhartu pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. It is so nice to hear, read and understand this verse. We may say your servant but find it very difficult to follow. How to develop this mood by action, words and mind?

Jayapatākā Swami: Servant of the servant of the servant, of the servant, etc. so now we are like, I don’t know exactly, the 33^th in the disciplic succession from Lord Brahmā, and my disciples would be 34^th. So what is hard to understand, servant of the servant of the servant, etc. so cannot put 34 servants between you and Lord Kṛṣṇa. Gopī-bhartu, the husband of the gopīs, pada-kamalayor, the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, servant of the servant, and on it goes. So why do you find it difficult to follow? You are thinking that you are the servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa directly? Even we see that Lakṣmaṇa when He wanted to go with Lord Rāma to the forest, He grabbed the feet of Lord Rāma and He prayed to Sītā, “Please bless me that I can go with Lord Rāma!” Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if you want to go to Kṛṣṇa, you should pray to Rādhārāṇī. And that is why we worship Lord Caitanya because by His mercy we get the mercy of Rādhārāṇī. And we worship Lord Nitāi because by His mercy we get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. So like that, Śrīla Prabhupāda said we should observe Ekādaśī with no grains, no cereals, no pulses. But we see that purāṇas say that we should observe full fast, no water, no sleep at night. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that we just observe no grain, no pulse, no cereal and preach. So Śrīla Prabhupāda is very merciful, and he gave us a system that is easier to follow. And by following the guru, then it is perfect. So, if you serve your guru, then Kṛṣṇa accept that. But it is very difficult to serve Kṛṣṇa directly, He may have very high expectations. So we should be the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa.