20220221 Question and Answer Session

Question: How do we reciprocate with devotees who prefer to have a bhajanānandī lifestyle within ISKCON?

Jayapataka Swami: We naturally want to associate with goṣṭhyānandīs. We like to associate with devotees who would make more devotees. Bhajanāndīs like to chant by themselves, so there is not much to reciprocate.

Akhilabandhu Gopāla dāsa, Indore, India: How should we deal with favoritism in the material world. If it affects our spiritual life too then it happens among devotees. Guru Mahārāja how to see this?

Jayapataka Swami: I don’t really understand how favoritism can affect. Apparently if someone gets some favoritism, still Kṛṣṇa will analyze us as per our situation, and so, that way we don’t have to worry. But Kṛṣṇa is seeing all you do in His service and so if someone gets favoritism how that could be good or not good. It could be good in the sense if someone gets some facility to do devotional service. It could be bad in the sense that he gets facilities without much effort. So, that way he is deprived of certain mercy from Lord Nitāi Gaura. So I wouldn’t worry about it. You just try to please Nitāi Gaura, please the Deities and naturally someone may give you facilities. You can approach the leaders saying you want more service. Usually, people who approach like that, they get more service. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave the example that in a nest, the baby bird that chirps the loudest gets the worm.

Rasasindhu Śacīsuta dāsa: Is there really any difference between taking the divine initiation from our Śrīla Gurudeva directly or virtually? Please kindly forgive for any of my improper service to you.

Jayapataka Swami: As far as benefit of taking initiation directly or virtually, if you feel initiated you feel connected to the guru, that is what counts. Śrīla Prabhupāda had initiated many devotees by letter. And now sometimes due to the pandemic we have initiations virtually. So, if the spiritual master is accepting you, you are accepting him, then what is the difference? Last question.

Sumitra Kṛṣṇa dāsa: When Śrīla Prabhupāda was instructed by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura to preach in the western world in 1922 why did Śrīla Prabhupāda take so many years to fulfill the order of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura?

Jayapataka Swami: Interesting question. We know that Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was a gṛhastha. He mentioned that in Allahabad he had a house, and it had a special room for visiting preachers. So, he facilitated many Gauḍīya Maṭha preachers. And he said that he wanted to marry a particular, good-looking girl. But his father told him to marry another lady who, in his estimation, was not as beautiful. In one sense he said, that by the mercy of my father it was easier for me to take sannyāsa. Anyway, he was a gṛhastha and had many children, he had responsibilities. Then, he took vānaprastha and finally took sannyāsa. So, in that way, he was able to go to the west and preach. Everybody is different and today we have many devotees who are gṛhasthas but they are doing full devotional service. But maybe at that time, one had to be a sannyāsī to be able to travel freely around the world. Secondly, Śrīla Prabhupāda never forgot the instruction he received in 1922, and he then went to the West, he came to America in 1965.

Thank you very much!