20220510 Question and Answer Session

Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda first time, he met Śrīla Prabhupāda, he told him to preach in the West. Śrīla Prabhupāda said we are under the British rule, who will listen to us? Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura he said, it doesn’t matter. We have a higher message to deliver. So eventually Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the West and he established 108 temples around the world. Now they are preaching in India but initially the devotees from Europe and America they were helping Śrīla Prabhupāda. And Śrīla Prabhupāda was very grateful about their help in spreading the movement. Lord Caitanya’s movement is for everyone, and He gives out His mercy to everyone. We were reading how Lord Caitanya converted all the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs to become Vaiṣṇavas. So there are some questions?

Susevinī Guru Gaurāṅga devī dāsī, USA: What is the difference between Brahmavādī and Māyāvādī?

Jayapatākā Swami: In one sense they are not different. Both believe the impersonal truth is the source. But the Māyāvādī is that they think the material energy creates everything related to personality. They think that Lord Kṛṣṇa although He is an avatāra, that His personality is created by material energy.

Madhumayī Śrī Lakṣmī devī dāsī: It is the mind who takes us away from Kṛṣṇa. One day we were in the spiritual world and in the spiritual world there is no mind. So then how did we come down to the material world?

Jayapatākā Swami: Everyone comes to the material world for different reasons. Basically, we are trying to enjoy the material energy, but we are forced to suffer. So Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he said, if you fall from a ship and you are in the ocean and there are sharks and other things going around you and a boat comes to save you, then don’t ask, how did I fall down? Just get out of the water, and after that when we get back on the ship then we remember.

Question: Is it we choose the spiritual master or is it the spiritual master who mercifully chose us as the disciple?

Jayapatākā Swami: Kṛṣṇa brings you in touch with a bona fide spiritual master but you have the free will to choose him or not. So the bona fide spiritual master doesn’t canvass. Disciples who want to take his shelter or aspire for him, that is their decision. Today we have some aspiring and shelter candidates.