20210925 Question and Answer Session

Following is the after-class question and session by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on 25^th September 2021 in Śrī Māyāpur Dhāma, India.

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

Lalitāṅgi Rādhā devī dāsī: When can we read the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs?

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta some description of the rāsa-līlā is given. If one feels agitated thinking of material sex life, then they are not ready to hear the pastimes of the rāsa-līlā of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. As far as which books to read of the previous ācāryas, see not all the books are the same. Śrīla Prabhupāda translated the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, by Rūpa Gosvāmī, that is alright to do. Also, Upadeśāmṛta, the work of our previous ācāryas. Caitanya-caritāmṛta is work of our previous ācāryas. So as long as these works are the confidential works of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, one should avoid reading when one is a neophyte. Then you have to read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam first and then after that you can go to the confidential topics if we don’t get agitated.

Śānta Gopī devī dāsī (Tamil): In Navadvīpa some Vṛndāvana pastime places are revealed like Rādhā-kuṇḍa. In the same way, are all pastimes of Kṛṣṇa which we saw in these Vṛndāvana parikramā of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu the equivalent places are present there in Navadvīpa?

Jayapataka Swami: Kṛṣṇa told Rādhārāṇī that the 12 forests of Vṛndāvana dhāma will be manifested in Navadvīpa dhāma. But we may or may not know where they are. Similarly, different pastime places of Vṛndāvana are manifested in Navadvīpa. And Kṛṣṇa said they should all be there but we don’t know. Similarly, pastime places are there but we have not yet found them.