20200424 Zoom Session to Kanhaiyādeśa

The following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 24th, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The address was given to the Kanhaiyādeśa devotees via zoom.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

So is there lockdown in Kanhaiyādeśa? (Devotee said: Yes). So why are you locked down? Because they don’t have any cure or treatment for the corona virus! They don’t have any vaccine. They are working hard to find a solution. In the meantime, the best thing is to avoid getting infected. That is why they are having lockdown! And if you go out to do shopping or something, you should wash your hands because the virus may end on your hands. And wear a mask since if anybody coughs the virus may stay in the air for a minute or so, and on a hard surface like a lift or counter, any hard surface, it stays alive for up to 3 days. So, if you touch that it is on your hand. That is why they say, frequently wash your hands. Of course, devotees, they don’t wear their outside shoes in the house. And that is helpful. Because on the road we may have the virus and that may get on your shoes. So like this, when we go out, we take off our shoes when we come in. So like this, that is the material side.

The spiritual side is, we use this opportunity to preach. To tell people to chant! Because even the Supreme Court in India, they said that the fear and anxiety of the corona virus may kill more people than the virus. Someone proved positive of corona virus and although most people recover, he committed suicide. So the Supreme Court said, do bhajana, kīrtana and namaz. So somehow or another people should chant the name of God. So we could use this opportunity because most of your congregation members are devotees, are busy all day working and they only have time on Friday. Although I am meeting on Friday to help you! But many people are locked in their house, all week long. Some places they do Japathon, they do daily Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups or three times a week. They do different classes. Here in Māyāpur we have classes from morning to night. Many places give classes to Gītā Course, Gītā classes. So this way using the internet we can reach out to more people. In Kerala they advertised a Bhagavad-Gītā course for beginners and they were surprised, 500 people joined! So there is a great potential! People know that the doctors, scientists, they can only do so much. And we need at this time take the shelter of the Lord. Everyone is very much receptive to that. And so I hope that you are using every opportunity to have classes, to have different programs, for all the people that you know. So I thank you all for your participation. Now we want all the devotees to work together. We are all the children and grandchildren of Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Prabhupāda is the Founder ācārya of our ISKCON. So ideally, everyone should work together. And if there is any problem, we will consider that. But anyway there should be some national unification. We have in Balarāmadeśa two mandirs, they are separate yatras but they have one national committee and they all work under the GBC and so on. Recently we made Tapana Miśra our zonal supervisor. So he will report to us and tell us how things are going there. He will try to work with each of you. So this is a great opportunity while we are in house, during this corona virus pandemic. To cultivate our own Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to read books, to chant our japa, to worship your home deities, at the same time this is an opportunity to reach out and help others. So we are very grateful to the devotees who are doing some online programs and in this way, we hope that people will be able to advance during this pandemic. If any devotee proves positive or have the symptom of the virus, one Russian doctor, Audārya Dhāma Dāsa, he says he found a treatment for the corona virus! Using ginger and turmeric, which are benign substances, no bad effects. Anyway if you know anyone who wants to be part of that, we are trying to do a study. He said that he has cured 40 people. Our Dr. Binoya Gauracandra is doing a study to see if this can be recommended to a wider audience. No harm in trying if you have the symptoms.

So any way we have been discussing Lord Caitanya’s pastimes and He said, no matter how sinful, how fallen one is, He can deliver them. But He won’t deliver those who are vaiṣṇava-aparādhīs. So we should very careful not to do vaiṣṇava-nindā or blasphemy. That is the worst thing. Because even Lord Caitanya said, He will not give mercy to such people. He is the mercy avatāra! You won’t find anyone more merciful than Him! Even His mother committed some vaiṣṇava-aparādha and He refused to give her love of Kṛṣṇa! Until she got forgiven! So it is a very serious thing. And we hope that all the devotees will be very careful. One thing we learnt during this lockdown, is how the association of Vaiṣṇavas is so dear!! Especially since we don’t have much association because of this lockdown! So we can appreciate how valuable, how important is the association of Vaiṣṇavas! So I have been trying to visit different yātrās, not only in the Middle East, in India, all over the world, and we went to Australia, we went to Singapore, Malaysia, we went to Chennai, South America, North America, Canada, Europe, UK, Russia, China. So we wanted to go to Kanhaiyādeśa earlier. But we were told we should schedule it on a Friday. So today is Friday, we are going now! I don’t know if there is lockdown in Kanhaiyādeśa, what is the difference between Friday and other days? I heard there is a lockdown, so I don’t know, normal working day people work, but in lockdown?? But anyway we are meeting now and we hope that after this session, you can ask the questions, and we will try to visit some homes. Kanhaiyādeśa is part of my zone. But there are many co-GBCs – Bhakti Bṛnga Govinda Swami, Revatī Rāmana Dāsa, Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami. So we are trying to encourage the devotees in the Middle East. No matter, who their guru is, everyone is part of our family. So we want to help all the devotees. Naturally, the devotees, my disciples I am very concerned about, but I am also concerned about everyone.

Question: What pleases you the most?

Jayapatākā Swami: What pleases me the most? Pleasing Śrīla Prabhupāda! Ha! Ha! He asked me to distribute books, expand the congregation, to expand Kṛṣṇa consciousness pracāra unlimitedly, to develop Māyāpur Dhām, to unite the Saraswat family, to develop Navadvīpa-dhāma, to develop Gaura Maṇḍala Bhūmī, and many other things. So you can do any of these things, which one will you do?

Devotee: Right now we are in the service of expanding Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the maximum possible.

Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you. I am happy to visit your house.

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Question: How to recognize a real Vaiṣṇava?

Jayapatākā Swami: Wow, secular altar! Nitāi Gaura, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā. Should have Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā, separate because Rādhārani doesn’t like to be in front of Baladeva. What is the question? How to recognize a real Vaiṣṇava? In Bhagavad-Gītā I think Arjuna asked this question. In the Bhāgavatam this question is asked and the answer is given. So generally, you see the anubhāvas are something that people cannot imitate. The bhāvas, some people may cry, that could be imitated. But the anubhāvas, like losing something material and being unaffected, being always fixed in devotional service, in spite of many difficulties. All these are anubhāvas. They cannot be easily imitated. So there are 11 anubhāvas and you can read about them. So those who have these anubhāvas, you can know them to be Vaiṣṇavas. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

(This is Viśva Kalyāṇa Gaura Dāsa and Srisha.)

Jayapatākā Swami: I am so happy to visit your home and to see how husband and wife are cooperating together to serve Kṛṣṇa.

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Question: How as a disciple can we understand the mood of guru? And his heart?

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, one way is to ask him! Ha! Ha! Otherwise by observing him and hearing his instructions, you can know what he wants. And every guru may be different because we are all persons, we may have differences. But we are united in serving Kṛṣṇa and serving Śrīla Prabhupāda. So like that we want all the devotees to be united in serving guru and Kṛṣṇa.

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Question: You talked about vaiṣṇava-aparādha. How to be careful to avoid offences that are committed unknowingly, vaiṣṇava-aparādhas?

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, that is why when we gather together for programs, we bow down to all the Vaiṣṇavas. We say vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ. We try to forgive everyone for any knowing or unknowing offences. Because if we don’t know about it, we don’t know! Ha! So we may have inadvertently offended someone. So we want to be forgiven for that. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that generally if we ask questions, that is not an offence. Like if we ask an advanced Vaiṣṇava some question, even if it is a personal question. Prabhu, actually you are a very senior devotee and I have been following you. But I see that sometimes you just do this, so I was wondering if I should follow that or not? Ha! So in that way you are asking a question, it is not offensive. But if you say, PRABHU! YOU ARE AN OFFENDER, YOU ARE SMOKING BEHIND THE CAR! Maybe it is not true, or maybe it is true but not something we should present in that way. So, we try to ask questions rather than accuse anyone. Unless you are in a very senior position and you are advising some disciple who is junior. I was made a temple president two weeks after my initiation. So everyone in the temple, many were more senior than me! Ha! So if told them, PRABHU, GO TO THE STORE! They would look at me and say, who are you to tell me? So I would go to people and say, Prabhu, how would you like to go the store? The deities need apples or something! Ha! So if they said no, I would keep asking them! Ha! But I wouldn’t tell them, I would ask them. So somehow that became the thing that I learnt since I was a young president. And it is hard for me to stop that even now!! I am very happy to see that your house is very clean, I feel very devotional in your house!

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Nāmavatāra Kṛṣṇa Dāsa: Jayapatākā Swami, Please accept my respectful obeisances. Please guide us how to check our own envy and how to deal with envious people?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, all the devotees of the Lord are very dear to Kṛṣṇa and even the wife she is very dear to Kṛṣṇa. So if someone maltreats the wife or feels envious against another devotee, Kṛṣṇa will get pain by that. So we don’t want to give Kṛṣṇa pain, we want to give Him pleasure. So we should avoid envying anyone. So you can say that is the only vice that cannot be dovetailed in Kṛṣṇa conscious. We can dovetail greed, we can be greedy to make more devotees for Kṛṣṇa! Ha! We can be angry, angry against those who offend guru and Kṛṣṇa. Every vice can be somehow dovetailed, except envy. So envy is such an evil and detrimental thing. We should see the good qualities of others, like Caitanya Mahāprabhu says in the third verse of His Śikṣāṣṭakaṁ, amānīna mānadena, offer all respect to others, don’t expect any respect for yourself. Hare Kṛṣṇa! 

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Question: How to concentrate only on Kṛṣṇa as our mind is not stable. Am reading Bhagavad-Gītā and Bhāgavatam, and doing japa but not able to focus mind on Kṛṣṇa?

Jayapatākā Swami: Devotional service is a somewhat gradual process. After taking initiation, there is the stage of anartha-nivṛtti, where the mind is somewhat fluctuating. Gradually we rise above that, to become fixed on the level of niṣṭhā. From there we develop a taste. Then when you are recognizing your mind is fluctuating, again and again you have to bring it back to Kṛṣṇa. In that way you can advance in your devotional service. Just like, there is a prayer to the mind, like, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he wrote a book, Vaiṣṇava Ke?, I wrote some commentary on that. Who is a Vaiṣṇava? He is praying to his mind, what kind of a Vaiṣṇava are you? It is a very heavy prayer because he chastises his mind. And Śrīnivāsa Ācārya wrote a book, Manaḥ Śikṣā, Teaching the Mind. So somehow we have to bring the mind under our control. That is the position of bhakti-yoga. We don’t let the mind wander, we keep it engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all the time.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!