20200528 Zoom Session with Delhi IGF

20200528 His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Guru Mahārāja, Zoom Live Darshan to Vaiṣṇavī’s in Delhi, India.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: I am very happy that there are many girls from Delhi area who are participating in this call. I am very pleased that you are so committed to serving Kṛṣṇa. To practice bhakti-yoga one doesn’t have to do any extreme austerities. The point is that one should try to please Kṛṣṇa and that is the meaning of devotional service or bhakti. We chant the holy names –

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Kṛṣṇa and His name are not different. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, we are also serving Kṛṣṇa. In the material world, people want to enjoy life but they don’t know how to do it, because we are not actually the body. Our body has got certain limitations and sometimes we suffer & sometimes we enjoy but usually there is more suffering. This is called the dukhalyam aśāśvatam - it’s temporary, we want to make a permanent solution to be peaceful in the temporary world, it’s not possible. We would like to see people by serving Kṛṣṇa, they can enjoy the maximum peace possible in the material world. But the taste is actually for the spiritual bliss.

Material things we regulate, sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are not. Right now, it’s a heat wave in Delhi, 50 degrees or so, that we have no control. Sometimes, it’s cold in Delhi, sometimes nice, so these are called adhidaivik, they are beyond our control and similarly the present pandemic of the COVID-19 is not in our control. The government, the doctors, the scientists they say that we are working hard to find a vaccine, they want to know the treatment. We have some alternative treatments that seem to work but the real problem is that there is only so far, the government or the doctors can go. The people want to find out what is the solution. The real solution is a spiritual cure of this world and that’s what we hope that the families, the husband-wife will be focused on serving Kṛṣṇa, they will raise their children to be God conscious. In various ways, they will try to spread the holy name around.

Recently, we were reading on the great kīrtan of Lord Chaitanya, the sankirtan to the Chand Kazi and it’s said that even the denizens of the higher planets, they took human form and joined in the kīrtan. People were so blissful that they manifested 4 arms like in Vaikuṇṭha, but they didn’t even notice it, there was so much bliss, so much loving ecstasy that it became a universal kīrtan.

Brahmā, Śiva, Varuṇa, they all came and participated taking human form to chant with Lord Chaitanya, how much bliss! It’s incomparable.

And then Vṛndāvana das Thakur, he was saying that to estimate the wonderful auspicious sound of the ladies who were chanting Hari, it would take me hundred thousand years and I couldn’t do it. So how much auspiciousness was created by the ladies that Vṛndāvana Das Thakur said he couldn’t begin to describe. The whole kīrtan was out of this world. So, we are very glad that intelligent, sensitive, spiritual minded ladies are in Delhi. Being Kṛṣṇa conscious, it is very important because in the future, so many families will be positively affected.

So, I would like to answer questions and I hope that you all become very expert bhakti-yoginis. Recently in Chennai, Sukrti Mādhavī had organized a BG course for beginners and she expected maybe a 100 people would join, but 9,000 signed up. I don’t know how she technically does it, but it shows that people are right now very interested in spiritual subject matters, so please use this opportunity to understand Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and to spread it to your parents, to your colleagues, to your fellow students, to your relatives and as Lord Chaitanya, said Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy!

Haribol!

So, I am very happy to hear that you were chanting the kīrtan when I came in. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, we have to answer questions now.

Sadguru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisance’s.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Please accept my blessings. Krishnera mati astu.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Thank you Guru Mahārāja. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity. Thank you for giving us your darshan.

Some of bhakti-vrksa devotees wanted to ask some questions. So, I will unmute them one by one so that they can ask the questions.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Are you co-host?

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Yes, Guru Mahārāja.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: So, over to you.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: So, Kritika mātājī would like to ask question first.

Devotee (Kritika Mātājī): Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Hareeee Kṛṣṇa!

Devotee: Please accept my humble obeisance’s.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Please accept my blessings

Devotee (Kritika Mātājī): Thank you so much for your divine darshan and for this opportunity. I would like to ask the question, even after doing chanting, reading, and being into bhakti for many years, sometimes, it becomes a very doubtful situation whether really Kṛṣṇa is there or if He is there, he is watching me, He is bothered about me or not, or whether it is like this Kṛṣṇa Conscious process is really true to be followed or not?

What to do in such a doubtful situation?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: I didn’t hear the last part (what to do in such a..) No no, I heard that, before that (sometimes, it doesn’t we don’t know if Kṛṣṇa is there, seeing or not or we are really wondering if this process is true or not). Well, that’s why we have a spiritual master because we may not be able to realize that Kṛṣṇa is there in the beginning.

So, therefore, we take a Guru who we see is there and he has his connection with his Guru, with the paramparā, so that he can answer these doubts. Actually, the doubts are there in the beginning, later one rises above these.

Actually, we can see Kṛṣṇa working at every step and by hearing the pastimes of the Lord we can feel the spiritual bliss. So, devotional service or bhakti-yoga is a gradual process.

There are eight levels – Shraddha – faith, you start to hear, then gradually you develop some knowledge, then sat-saṅga, you like to associate with devotees and you start to practice devotional service that is called bhajan-kriya and then there is getting rid of the doubts, the misgivings and the other problems, that’s called anartha-nivritti. And then one becomes fixed. That is called nishta. And then one after being fixed in devotional service gets a taste that is a constant taste, maybe one has got a flickering taste before, but this is a fixed taste, that you get happiness by doing devotional service, then we become attached to the devotional service, that is called āsakti, and then you reach the stage of bhava which is ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa, when tears come to the eyes, hair stand on end and there is uncontrollable laughter, the eight ecstatic symptoms and then once you are at that point, even before, one realizes that Kṛṣṇa is definitely present and at that point he can experience that loving ecstasy was beyond anything. So, I hope that this answers your question. We want you to taste that ecstasy of serving Kṛṣṇa. Next. Okay, next question.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Yes, Jaya mātājī, please ask your question.

Devotee (Jaya Mātājī): Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful and humble obeisance’s. My question is, in nectar of devotion, it is said that devotional service is very rare. Lord easily offers liberation but He rarely agrees to offer a soul devotional service because by devotional service, the Lord is Himself purchased by the devotee. So how can we understand this? Is it the greatest fortune that we have got to do devotional service or we are still on the periphery of devotional service because we also know that we are not pure at this stage?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: I think she said the Lord doesn’t give liberation but He gives devotional service easy. Did you say that?

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Mātājī, you have to repeat your question once.

Devotee repeats question.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Do you have parents? (yes)

Do you have mother and father? (yes)

So, are you dear to them? (yes).

So, like that if you become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa you become very dear to Him, you purchase Him. Because of your love, you purchase Him. So, He doesn’t give love very easily, because by that He is committed. He can give liberation easily, but giving pure love is very hard and that’s why Lord Caitanya, He is a very special avatar, because He gave out this love very easily without considering that who is qualified and who is not qualified. Even in the recent reading of His saṅkīrtana, some of the people were atheists and very fallen, when they saw Lord Chaitanya dancing, saw His ecstasy, saw His hair standing on end, His chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, how tears were flowing from His eyes, even these atheistic people they fell to the ground and they started chanting, Haribol, Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, we can’t estimate the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. While it says that it’s very difficult to achieve bhakti, we should see how Lord Chaitanya gave this bhakti freely. If someone offers you a million dollars, seven crores, now you are in awe that’s very great thing, but Lord Chaitanya is offering you something much more than that. Why would you not take it? That’s the point here. It’s normally very difficult to get love of Kṛṣṇa. For that ladies are a bit better situated than men because men are very puffed up and they don’t normally accept a superior supreme Godhead initially.

But ladies are used to be at more humble position I think, so they accept that there is a Supreme Godhead. In most religious functions, you see more ladies than men, whether it’s Christian, or Muslim or Hindu. So, the point is that by Lord Chaitanya’s mercy we can get something which is normally very difficult to achieve. He said He’ll give mercy to anyone! No matter, how fallen, how sinful, how hopeless, He’ll give them love of Kṛṣṇa. The only one person He said He won’t give; you know who that is - the blasphemer of devotees. He said I can’t give that. But so, don’t worry about being fallen, we have many acharyas they pray, you are Śrī Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya, you have come to deliver the patita, there is no one more fallen than me. So, if you feel fallen, that is your qualification. If you feel that you are very pious and advanced, aristocratic, beautiful, whatever, that’s not the qualification. To be humble and meek and to consider oneself fallen and being willing and wanting the mercy of Lord Chaitanya- that’s the real qualification, not a disqualification.

So, I am answering this, but they are telling me to answer short. How many questions you got?

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Thank you Guru Mahārāja. So, there are around 10-12 questions.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: How many? (10-12 questions)

SSDD: So, should we go to the next question?

Devotee (Jyoti Kaushik Mātājī): Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, please accept my humble obeisance’s.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: All right, accepted.

Devotee: Mahārāja, before asking the question, I request you to please bless my four-months old child.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Krishnera mati astu.

Devotee: Thank you so much Mahārāja. Mahārāja, my question is that there are so many spiritual masters, we are associated with directly or online, is there any guidelines to choose spiritual master?

How to choose a Guru and how can we know when we are eligible to take initiation?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: As far as which spiritual master you should choose, that’s your personal preference. Who you see as your connection with the Guru paramparā, who you think is merciful to you, who you understand better?

One has one diksha Guru, but they may have many śikṣā Gurus. So, that’s about which Guru to choose. Maybe sometimes one accepts several śikṣā Gurus and then sees which one is better able to answer their questions and then that śikṣā Guru becomes one’s diksha Guru. But you may still keep the same śikṣā Gurus. You can have many śikṣā Gurus, but only one diksha Guru. What was the second part? (When do we know that we are eligible for initiation?)

First of all, the Guru may have his pre-requisites, so one should complete those. And then when we feel we can follow the Guru and we meet his qualifications or pre-requisites then we can take initiation. So, the Guru doesn’t want to ask the disciple to do something which they can’t do, because what is the benefit. But the Guru has to advise what should be done and if he sees some problem, he tells the disciple. That’s why we have a system of taking aspiration, taking shelter, and then one tests oneself if I can follow what the Guru asks. At the time of initiation, you agree to chant 16 rounds, follow the 4 regulative principles, no meat, no fish, no egg, no onion-garlic, no intoxication, no illicit sex or sex outside of marriage and no gambling. And I ask my disciples to help me fulfil Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions. I don’t know if other Gurus ask. So, you can see what each Guru asks, what their nature is, etc. Next question. Thank you for your question.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Thank you Guru Mahārāja. Kamla mātājī you can ask your question.

Devotee (Kamla Mātājī): Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. My humble obeisance’s. So, my question is, how to develop love for Kṛṣṇa? In spite of all the knowledge, we end up doing things mechanically, like we know that we should chant attentively, we know that we should do all the devotional activities out of love for Kṛṣṇa, but we do things mechanically. So how to develop this attitude so that we would be able to achieve the love for Kṛṣṇa? Thank you.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: In the nectar of devotion first there is vidhi marg – one follows the rules and regulations, that’s a bit mechanical. But then at the stage of vidhi marg, if one tries to improve one’s devotion and do the activities in a better way, that’s called raga-marg. Just like you can be asked to clean the floor. And you clean it but you are thinking about many other things, now that’s rules and regulations. Then if you clean the floor with full attention, you think Kṛṣṇa I hope I can please you by this sewa and then that cleaning is considered as raga-nuga. So, you can do any service, put your heart into it, put your mind into it, so then that way naturally you will advance, and you come up with the stage of spontaneous devotion.

Hare Kṛṣṇa.

I’ll answer short, because there are many questions.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Thank you Guru Mahārāja. Aṅkitā Mātājī, you can ask your question now.

Devotee (Aṅkitā Mātājī): Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisance’s. (Guru Mahārāja: Accept my blessings, do you accept?). Yes Mahārāja. Is it mandatory for girls to enter gṛhastha asram?

Can girl practice pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness and serve spiritual master, ISKCON without marriages?

Isn’t marriage an obstacle in advancement in her spiritual life?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: You ask several questions. Is it obligatory to get married? Usually girls get married, it’s very rare not to get married. But we don’t force anyone. Your second question was is marriage an obstacle. It doesn’t have to be, especially if one can marry a devotee and engage in serving Kṛṣṇa together, the husband and wife as a team then it can be very positive, to help raise up a child in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I went to many houses of many gṛhasthas, so how they have the Deities, they offer their meals to the Deities and the husband and wife, they are serving the Deities together, that is ideal.

So, Prabhupāda once said that a lady can be Kṛṣṇa Conscious in any situation. I don’t understand that, but I accept it. (She also asked if it is possible to serve the spiritual master without being married and advance in devotional service like this?) So, whether married or not married, one should serve the spiritual master. And how one can maintain Kṛṣṇa Consciousness in any circumstance is also one of the opulence’s. But ideally you should try…I was in a hospital in Bombay, the Hinduja hospital and there one of the ladies was a technician and she said she was practicing devotional service, she was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, but she was married to a, someone who thought he was a Marati kṣatriya and he said I want to eat meat, I want to eat meat, I am a kṣatriya!!! And you have to cook it for me. And she was such a humble lady that she cooked for him, then she took her bath and cook for the Deities. So, hopefully you will all find nice Kṛṣṇa Conscious husbands and not crazy husbands that insist to cook non-veg, so, I try to help all my disciples anyway and I hope that you will find a proper life partner. You can serve the Guru in any case, married or unmarried. What’s your name again? (Aṅkitā). Thank you Aṅkitā.

(Thank you Mahārāja)

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Who’s next?

 SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Guru Mahārāja I am reading on behalf of one of the devotee, is it okay for the unmarried girls to get initiation, like before marriage, because sometimes, they end up marrying non-devotees, or their parents force them to marry a non-devotee or there is not Kṛṣṇa conscious environment at their home, so they are not able to practice nicely so is it okay if they get initiation before marriage?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Generally, we allow ladies to get initiated before marriage. But when they are married, they have to follow the basic principles, being a vegetarian and such things. So that’s why hopefully the parents will be sensitive to the girl’s situation and if the lady thinks she can follow the principles, she can take initiation and for some woman, when their parents said that they wanted to arrange their marriage to an old friend of parents and they usually have a private meeting before the marriage, that time the girl said I don’t take onion, garlic, I don’t take meat, I don’t cook meat and usually the husband either accepts or he rejects. So, the point is that what’s your limit? What do you want to do? Sometimes, they think that oh I can change my husband, it’s not always possible to change him, but you have to see if he’s basically favourable, he follows the basic principles, then maybe possible. Next question.

Sadguru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Okay, Varṣāṇā Kesavii mātājī, you can ask now.

Devotee (Varṣāṇā Keshavi Mātājī): Hare Kṛṣṇa Śrīla Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisance’s unto your feet. (Guru Mahārāja: Speak a little loud)

Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisance’s unto your feet Guru Mahārāja (Guru Mahārāja: Accept my blessings). Thank you, Guru Mahārāja, thank you for giving your darshan. Guru Mahārāja my question is, how to avoid depressing thoughts of suicide?

Guru Mahārāja: why would you want to commit suicide?

Devotee: Guru Mahārāja sometimes thought comes due to some bad circumstances.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Would you like to be a ghost? (no, Guru Mahārāja) committing suicide means that you kill your external body, but you are still bound to your subtle body.

In Bhagavad-gītā, they describe we have the ahaṅkāra, buddhi and mana - the false ego, intelligence and mind, that’s the subtle body and the gross body is air, ether, fire, earth. So, committing suicide means you destroy the outer body, but you are still stuck to your subtle body, you are still in the mind, then you can’t go out until you serve your time in this body. If you are supposed to live for until 82 years, then you will be a ghost until your 82 years are up. Actually, committing suicide is a very senseless thing and there is that movie- ghosts where it shows how frustrating it is to be a ghost, but you want to enjoy your gross body, but you have no gross body, you have no senses, and you only have the mind. Since this body is given by Kṛṣṇa, we have no right to destroy it. We should rather see how we can be Kṛṣṇa conscious, how we can overcome the obstacles and not get mental about it. This material world is dukhalayam, say someone falls in love with somebody, they want to marry that person, but the other person doesn’t want to marry and he goes with someone else, so I think oh I can’t be happy, I’ll commit suicide. In Coimbatore, they told me that in 3-4 districts, they are called the suicide belt because of such a high number of suicides, many due to family problems. So, we try to help people to not become depressed. Being depressed is due to the false identification with this body and not trying to please Kṛṣṇa.

When you see that like Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā he said in the first chapter I think I will go away and become a mendicant and then Kṛṣṇa preached to him & spoke the whole Bhagavad-gītā. So, then he decided to fight for Kṛṣṇa, so like that join Kṛṣṇa’s army, don’t give up, don’t become depressed. This material world is a depressing place. We should not stay in this material world. If you get bhakti, you can easily get liberation.

Hare Kṛṣṇa.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: What’s her name? (Varṣāṇā Kesavi). Hare Kṛṣṇa. Are you satisfied?

Devotee: Yes, Guru Mahārāja, thank you for such a wonderful answer. It is really satisfying to me.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: So, she is your disciple, Guru Mahārāja. She just got initiation when you came to Delhi on 1 February.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you. You should identify who is my disciple or not. What’s the standard? Are they new, are they aspiring, are they sheltered, or are they initiated?

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Harshita mātājī, I have unmuted you.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Please kindly accept my respectful obeisance’s. Thank you for giving your darshan.

Guru Mahārāja: What’s your relationship with me?

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: She is aspiring from you Guru Mahārāja. You should tell your relationship first with Guru Mahārāja.

Devotee (Harshita Mātājī): Okay, Mahārāja, I am your aspiring spiritual daughter. Please kindly bless me that I can be your bona-fide disciple. (Guru Mahārāja: Krishnera mati astu). Thank you, Guru Mahārāja.

Mahārāja, I have heard that Śrīla Prabhupāda has said that we should simply hear while we chant, we should not think about anything, but it is very difficult to keep the mind focused only on the sound vibration. So, is it bona-fide to think of our favourite Kṛṣṇa Deity or picture or even Gaur-Nitai Deity or picture and pray to them while chanting as actual picture it is not always possible to see? Also, is it bona-fide to think about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, qualities, instructions, etc, while chanting? Thank you.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: While chanting you can watch the Deities or picture of Kṛṣṇa or spiritual master. In this way you can hear and with your eyes you are watching. Naturally when you see a picture of Kṛṣṇa and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, you may start to think or remember some pastime of Kṛṣṇa, so that’s something that happens spontaneously, we don’t have to try to do it. It’s something that happens. You can try to listen. But you may think of some pastime of Kṛṣṇa, that’s all right. I, being the manager in Māyāpur, many thoughts would come to my mind, and they would disturb my chanting, so I had a notebook, I would take a note then I would go back to chanting. And if any thought came up, I would just write in my notebook if it was some material thing I had to do. So, changing the tune, chanting louder or softer, going for a walk and chanting while walking, these are all systems to focus on the mind, focus on Kṛṣṇa with the mind. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Harshita thank you.

Thank you Harshita.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Thank you Guru Mahārāja. I am reading on behalf of one devotee. So, her family is suffering from corona. So, she is in anxiety or a fearful situation. So, she was asking a question, she couldn’t able to join in, but she is asking.

Guru Mahārāja: So, we have some alternative treatments for corona virus. Āyurveda, yoga, many things. And many devotees said it helped them a lot. So, being a vegetarian, and chanting certain mantras, like the Pañca-tattva mantra one time or short Nita-Gauranga- 7 times, chanting 21 times the names of Narsimha Deva –

śrī Nṛsiṁha, jaya Nṛsiṁha, jaya jaya jaya Narsimha

and then chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahāmantra. Understanding that Lord Śiva said one name of Kṛṣṇa is equal to 3000 names of Viṣṇu, one name of Rāma is equal to 1000 names of Viṣṇu and that Hare could mean Hari or Hara, it is a dative sense, so Hare Kṛṣṇa can mean Hari Kṛṣṇa or Hara Kṛṣṇa, so you can chant that and we have some Ayurvedic treatments, in some treatment it’s keeping patches on the left hand and on the left ankle and breathing in some vapors which is from various herbs, we have both Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine. So, if they need those alternative cures, I can send to   Madhavakanta the details of the doctor who is doing the trials, and hopefully, they will help the parents of that devotee. We had 37 devotees in Dhaka, they were proved Corona virus positive and they took this alternative treatments and then within a few days, they were negative. So, we are trying to disseminate this. Of course, devotees chant mantras and are vegetarian, so that’s why we are including this therapy. In Hari-bhakti vilāsa, it says that if there is an incurable disease, chant the name of Hari and it also says to chant the name of Narsingha Deva.

SSDD: Thank you Guru Mahārāja. (Guru Mahārāja: thank you!) Reading one mātājī question. How can we increase our determination and dedication because even after hearing so many lectures, our taste in bhakti is not increasing?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: How can we increase our dedication? Nice question. By having the mercy of Prabhupāda, I never had the problem. I saw how much Prabhupāda cared for us, how much he sacrificed and naturally I wanted to repay. I think that if the person feels grateful, naturally they will want to repay. If a person is very selfish or self-centered they may not appreciate. But gradually we should hope that people will be receptive and they will help in so many ways and they will appreciate the mercy that is handed down by the Guru paramparā and they will become inspired to repay the debts and then they will get a taste for chanting.

Haribol!

Gaurāṅga!

I have to take a short break.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Okay, so can we continue the kīrtan? Anyone wants to do kīrtan? Yes, okay Bhawna mg, you can do. I have just unmuted you.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol. How many more questions?

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Just 2 more questions Guru Mahārāja. One from Richa mātājī and one from Kajal mātājī. Please be ready. I just unmuted you, Richa mātājī, you can ask your question.

Devotee (Richa Mātājī): Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisances unto your feet. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (Guru Mahārāja: Accept my blessings). Thank you so much Guru Mahārāja. Thank you so much. All glories to you. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. My name is Richa. Guru Mahārāja, I am your sheltered disciple. Guru Mahārāja my question is my body is diseased and I am not able to chant nicely. Even many times I am not able to serve your first instruction to chant 16 rounds and I am full of anarthas, my heart is not pure yet and I am not able to chant. I am very much worried that chanting is the only process from which I can clean my heart, but I am not able to do so. So, Guru Mahārāja, how will I purify myself and get out of my anarthas and get your mercy and get Kṛṣṇa’s love?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: What is your health problem?

Devotee: Guru Mahārāja I was having connective tissues disorder. My body has been detoxed completely for 1.5 last years. I was not aware of the problem. Only 2 years back I came to know. The treatment is still going on. 60 % of my body is cured, rest 40% weakness is there and I try my best, but I fail many times.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: You can keep track; say one day you are short on your rounds. Say, you are four rounds short and later on you make it up. Maybe in 2 days or in 3 days, so that way it’s considered you are keeping steady. But if you are sick, then try to do the best you can and hopefully you will get cured and be able to chant more regularly. Otherwise, if you miss some days, keep track and make it up.

Sometimes, people use the counting machine, and chant while they are walking. Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswati Thakur, he was very active, he would chant while walking, he was pacing up and down the room or walking around Rādhā-kuṇḍa. Somehow or other he would keep moving. Some people they like to sit in one place and chant. Some people they like to walk. There are no hard and fast rules for the chanting. I chant a set number of rounds on my beads, then I do exercises and then while I exercise, I chant. So, in a day I may chant more rounds, because I chant on my beads, I chant when I am walking, I chant during exercise, so they add it all up and it comes to a lot. So, Lord Chaitanya would chant on His fingers. So, anyway whatever way you can do, if you are 60% cured, then gradually as you increase your health, you can chant more. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Thank you so much Guru Mahārāja. Thank you.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you my dear spiritual daughter.

SSDD: Kajal mātājī, you can ask your question now. I have unmuted you.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my most respectful obeisances unto your lotus feet. Thank you for this causeless mercy for connecting through zoom.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa. who’s that? Your mother?

Devotee: Yes, she is my mother.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Nice to meet you. What’s your question?

Devotee: Guru Mahārāja my question is, it is recommended that by following instructions of spiritual master, we can serve him. Is there any other way of pleasing spiritual master by rendering service when he is not personally present with me or personally given an instruction?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: You see like my disciples, they take initiation, all disciples rather, they promise to chant 16 rounds a day and follow the 4 regulative principles. To my disciples, I say to help me fulfil Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission. So, he gave me about at least 50 instructions. So, there are plenty of things to do, book distribution, congregational preaching, expanding the movement, so many things. So whichever thing you can do that will help me, I will appreciate.

Devotee: Guru Mahārāja I am your sheltered disciple.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: What’s your mother’s name? (Mamta Srivastava) Does Mamta have any question?

Devotee mother: Guru Mahārāja, please give your blessings so we can do bhakti nicely and progress in bhakti nicely.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Krishnera mati astu.

Devotee: Thank you Guru Mahārāja. I love you Guru Mahārāja, we love you.His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Okay, just one last question from Mahasundari Gaurāṅgī mātājī. You can ask.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Mahasundari Gaurāṅgī Devī Dāsī.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my most respectful obeisance’s unto your lotus feet. Guru Mahārāja thank you for your darshan. I have a question that…

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: I think you have two phones on. Anyway, what’s your question my dear spiritual daughter?

Devotee: I have a guilt that I am not able to serve your Holiness as I am very lazy in preaching services, so please guide me how can I be more proactive in preaching services and please you?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Preaching may be to one person or 10 people or 50 people or 100 people or 1000 people. Preaching means like Lord Caitanya ordered, yāre dekho tāre kāho Kṛṣṇa upadesha. Whoever you meet, tell them the message of Kṛṣṇa. So, how to do that each time, place and person and circumstance may vary but to whatever extent you have influence, try to use that to encourage the person to chant the holy names. Right now, the Supreme Court of India is saying that the anxiety of the corona virus may kill more people than the virus itself. So, they are saying that to recommend people to do bhajan, kīrtana and namaz. So even the Supreme Court said that. So we are saying the same thing that to defeat the anxiety and fear, mantra chanting is very effective. Recently, some doctor did a study and found that the chanting of mantra makes the mind more peaceful, that’s the materialistic viewpoint. We know that by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa, one cleans the heart, one’s devotion is awakened and its beneficial on multiple levels, the side effect is that it makes the mind peaceful. So, anyway whether people like the materialistic viewpoint or the spiritual guidance, we should somehow get them to chant and that will benefit the whole country, the whole world and the individuals. So, I pray every day that you be enthusiastic to spread the message and that you be successful in doing so, so at least you can try. At this time apparently the people are little bit more interested since the fear of corona virus is affecting everyone. Delhi is one of the hot-spots in India. I think Maharashtra is one, Chennai 2, and Delhi 3 or something like that. I don’t keep track, but Delhi is up there, so get the people to chant and that will help them. I appreciate even your desire to help me. Who’s that with you, I see two people with you?

Devotee: Guru Mahārāja, she is my mother and she is my sister.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. Please accept our respectful obeisances Mahārāja.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Please accept my blessings. Krishnera mati astu to all three of you. So, my blessings to everyone. Krishnera mati astu.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Thank you Guru Mahārāja. Please bless that we all can find devotee husband. Most of the girls are looking for devotee husband. So here we are running 5 bhakti vriksha groups by your blessings. I am serving under HG Padma Gopikā mātājī. She is a disciple of HH Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. I got initiation from you in 2015 and I am serving here since then. We have 5 bhakti vriksha groups here for the girls and one for teenage girls and in this lockdown, we started one group and starting one more group from this Saturday. So, we need your blessings for the preaching services and need blessings that all get suitable devotee husbands.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol. Blessings

So, who is initiated, who is sheltered, who is aspiring? Those who are initiated maybe raise your hand. (Devotees raise hands). Those who are sheltered (devotees raise hands). Those who are aspiring (devotees raise hands). Those who are Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja’s disciples. Are they here on the call? Or Kratu Prabhu’s disciple?

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Mātājī who is taking care of girls here – HG Padaṁ Gopikā mātājī, she is disciple of Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, but she is having some problem in speaker in her phone so she is not able to speak.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja and myself we were bhaktas together in Montreal and now we are very close friends. Similarly, Kratu prabhu and others, Radhanath Swami we are all one family. We want all the girls to become very Kṛṣṇa conscious so that they can have Kṛṣṇa conscious children. Hope you will all find a Kṛṣṇa conscious husband. Hare Kṛṣṇa. We have a marriage bureau in Māyāpur and if you want, we will look for some match for you. I thank you all very much, I didn’t do the home visits because you had so many questions. But I can see all of you, I am with you all in your homes and I am very pleased that you are so committed to serving Kṛṣṇa. Don’t be worried that you are not able to chant perfectly or such things, it’s a gradual process. If you desire to please Kṛṣṇa, that’s more important.

Someone may mechanically chant very nicely, but they don’t have any devotion for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa appreciates your desire to please Him. Being a sanyasi, or being an ascetic, or being an impersonalist, or something like that it’s not important. What’s important is your desire, I want to serve Kṛṣṇa, that’s what pleases Kṛṣṇa most. Hare Kṛṣṇa. I thank you very much for having me visit you. If you have any realizations, please send them in. SadGuru Sevanandini, they will send to you…….???

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: So, Guru Mahārāja, we made a feedback form, we will collect feedback like a Google form, so we will collect from all the devotees and we’ll send it you.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: wow! You are very efficient. (thank you, Guru Mahārāja,). Thank you SadGuru Sevanandini, thank you.

SadGuru Sevanandini Devī Dāsī: Thank you Guru Mahārāja for giving us your time and darshan. We are really really very fortunate.

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Haribol.

Names of the devotees in the call are announced.