20220218 Question and Answer Session

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Question: It is said that if a person wants to go back to Godhead he or she needs to take dīkṣā. What if a person aspires to take but dies before taking initiation? Which destination the soul will reach Mahārāja? -Bhaktin Vaiṣṇavī

Jayapatākā Swami: Hard to say as the śāstra says one may achieve success just by aspiring. So, by taking dīkṣā, one is more guaranteed but if one is fully thinking of Kṛṣṇa at the time of leaving this body, then he may go back to Kṛṣṇa.

Question: I am stuck in reading the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. I have read Caitanya-caritāmṛta before and heard many stories that are wonderful. But now since few years I cannot read beyond first few books because I don’t understand the philosophy. Should I go on or conclude that I don’t have that level and stick to Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this opportunity to ask my question. - Vallabhī devī dāsī 

Jayapatākā Swami: If you can tell me exactly what philosophy you find difficult then I may be able to answer that.

Question: How can young gṛhastha couples practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness in a way that they can serve and assist you in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission and perfect themselves in one lifetime? Anādi Akṣaya Kṛṣṇa dāsa, SJM, Seshadripuram, Bengaluru, India

Jayapatākā Swami: The gṛhasthas need to keep Kṛṣṇa in the center and by offering their food to Kṛṣṇa, by doing regular ārati to the deities, reading certain amount of śāstra, all these things help to keep one fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Husband and wife should help each other to think of Kṛṣṇa. And you may have Deities in the house and do the various devotional services to keep your self Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Question: Gross body is changing continuously from boyhood to youth to old age, but we are the same being with same spiritual identity. And also, we remember some past memories because we are the living spark which does not change, Guru Mahārāja, please help me understand is there any role of the DNA in maintaining our identity and any role of our mind, intelligence, in remembering past memories? - Prakash, IIT Kanpur, India 

Jayapatākā Swami: We know from Bhagavad-gītā that there is a subtle body and a gross body. The subtle body is mind, intelligence and false ego. So the DNA is external. That may make our bodies similar to our parents’ bodies. But we are not the body. And so, we develop our consciousness separate from the body. And that way, you can develop your spiritual life. So your life is transcendental and by remembering Kṛṣṇa, you achieve your spiritual identity. That is not dependent on DNA.

Question: Gurumaharaja! Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a very blissful process. But some resentment, some bad interactions we had with devotees occupy so much of the mind that absorption and focus in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness because difficult, and again and again same thoughts come when we see that devotee. How to overcome all this and absorb in service to our guru? -Hemāṅga Haladhara dāsa, ISJM Bengaluru, India

Jayapatākā Swami: This is the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Not that you should be focused on bad experiences. That would distract your Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Some bad behavior we may be committed that we would not like to do such bad behavior with others, but other than that we really don’t want to be focused on bad experiences, other than thinking how to avoid such activities. We see that Lord Nityānanda, He was merciful. Even though He was hit on the head with a wine bottle, He did not feel any anger or jealousy to that person. He wanted to give mercy to that person. So like that, everybody in the material world, has some defect and we try to avoid committing mistakes having defects in our spiritual life.

Question: After spending some years in devotional service sometimes it happens that past sinful life come and trouble us in practicing the process. It may be from previous births as well. How should we deal with such a situation Mahārāja? -Harṣavardana Gaurāṅga dāsa, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

Jayapatākā Swami: We want to take shelter of Nitāi-Gaura. Also, Lord Kṛṣṇa. And if we are harassed with memories of our previous mistakes, we should pray for forgiveness, and proceed with devotional service. It is not worth giving attention to these sinful memories.

Question: Regarding first initiation. Apart from four regulative principles, and 16 rounds chanting, and reading Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto 1 etc. do we need to develop any Vaiṣṇava qualities also to be eligible to take first initiation? - Śrīdevī, Hyderabad, India

Jayapatākā Swami: By reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, one should naturally obtain spiritual qualities. And so by reading naturally one gets association with different spiritual personalities, so we try to obtain these qualities. And eventually we can achieve many things. The other qualities that one should have like patience, tolerance, usually that automatically comes through reading.

Question: Is there a time to become completely free from māyā and go to Godhead. How to realize this? -Sujatha Kartikeyan, Chennai, India 

Jayapatākā Swami: It is hard for us to understand when we can go to Godhead. And that time is revealed by Kṛṣṇa. And we cannot go earlier, so we try to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then naturally we think about Lord Kṛṣṇa. Because we don’t know how long we have to live so we should be ready any time to go back to Kṛṣṇa.

Question: Maharaja! No matter how hard I try I cannot escape the association of non-devotees. I am a college student who has to spend my morning till evening, with people who are materialists, Māyāvādīs or atheists. How to stay unaffected and firm on devotional path in such a situation, when I have to spend half of my day in such an association? -Vaniskha, New Delhi, India (Aspiring disciple) 

Jayapatākā Swami: I was reading today how Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī said that in order to be Kṛṣṇa conscious we should have the association of devotees. You say that morning you spend your time with materialists, Māyāvādīs, etc. That seems to be an obstacle. But what we do - we don’t take these people’s association, rather we try to give them association. I don’t know why you would be stuck associating with these materialists. I saw that some devotees are very expert, how to give good association to others and how to avoid bad association for oneself. So if you can keep an eye out on how you can give them good association, then either they take the benefit or they walk away. In the material world, there are so many topics but our Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees want to think about Kṛṣṇa topics. And if every time someone brings up some māyā topics, you can change the topic by bringing up Kṛṣṇa topic.

Question: Could you please explain what is the most effective way to make people realize that we need to take Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously right away. Many people understand the concepts but do not develop the faith. -Indulekhā Karuṇa devī dāsī 
P.S. This is with regard to Bhakti-vṛkṣa. We are a study group discussing Bhagavad-gītā for the last two years but even now there are many doubts in people. I feel responsible for not being a good example for them.

Jayapatākā Swami: Everyone is taking up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, everyone is an individual and what thing impresses one person, may not impress another. So you have to hear a bit what the person likes. The thing is that in the material world people naturally turn to things they like, but if they understand that these things often may lead them astray, then they may be less inclined to do that. And so in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is kevala ānanda kāṇḍa, it is a very blissful process. So if can somehow engage people in chanting, hearing, dancing, serving, then they will get a taste. And you know, I met one person, he was an impersonalist. But then Śrīla Prabhupāda said that there is no use to talk philosophy because in their brain some short circuit is there. But if they like to do sevā, engage them in sevā. By doing sevā they get purified and their whole idea changes. After several years, that person told me that, now I understand about devotional service, because he was practically doing it. Otherwise, philosophically he was off. He got purified by serving Kṛṣṇa.

Thank you very much!