20211009 Q&A Session

The following is the Q&A Session for Śrīmad Bhāgavatam class given on 9th october 2021 by HH Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India.

Question: You said that those who have received the mercy of Lord Caitanya should be very careful and alert. How will we understand that we have been received the mercy of Lord Caitanya? 

Jayapatākā Swami: This question is like, if we have eaten lunch how will we understand if we have eaten lunch or not! By the mercy of Lord Caitanya you will know that you have it. If you have not yet understood, that means you are still a neophyte. If you keep on chanting, keep on practicing and it will be revealed to you. Lord Caitanya, He felt such ecstasy, He used to foam from His lotus mouth and He used to have profuse tears running down His eyes. The deer would lick the foam from his foam and the birds would drink the water from His tears. The deer and birds, they understood, why cannot you? 

Question: How can we navigate the dangers of this material world? Should we be only proactive in devotion and leave the rest to Gaurāṅga? 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya advised, keep your heart always on Lord Kṛṣṇa. Materially do your activities very responsibly. I was mentioning that if somebody falls into the ocean and if he feels let the ocean become peaceful, that is not a possibility. The Atlantic Ocean will be the ocean. And this material world is a place of distress. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam says Bhagavad-gītā. It is a place of suffering and it is temporary. So if you have less suffering you think it is very nice. If you have more suffering you think it is very bad. But the real solution is to leave this place and go back home back to Godhead. 

Subāhu Śacīsuta dāsa, Subhadrā Voice, Caṭṭagrāma: Due to the preaching effort of devotees many people are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness amongst them are many young children who are engaged in studies. They spend a lot of money studying and get financial help from their families and parents. Now these people, when they come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness if we allure them or enthuse them with financial help, do you think this would be a good proposal? What is your opinion in this matter? 

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda, when he went to the West, if somebody started education, he encouraged them to leave. Because he needed helpers to spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But if the people were already advanced in their education, he would tell them to go and finish. So by the colleges, universities we have established bases, kind of spiritual hostels where they can stay and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. We do that. I never heard about giving money for their studies. Now, we don’t encourage people to give up their studies but teach them how to keep their mind of Kṛṣṇa. And many of them become gṛhasthas and some of them become brahmacārīs. We teach them how to serve Kṛṣṇa in any situation. The question of giving money does not arise unless we have a lot of money. But anyway, what is the guarantee that they will be Kṛṣṇa conscious, if we give them money for their education? If we have work for them, we can give them money, like some of the businesses give scholarships but you have to work for the business. So this is something we can consider in the future.