20220706 Question and Answer Session

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

Question: I chant 16 rounds and follow four regulative principles and done Bhakti-śāstri and doing Devotee Care course. What more to do to progress in spiritual life?

Jayapatākā Swami: What initiation has she taken? Harināma. So she could read the Bhagavad-gītā and then Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam first three cantos and take second initiation. Then first six-cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Bhakti-vaibhava degree. Then from 7^th to 12^th cantos Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Bhakti-vedānta degree. Now one girl in Vṛndāvana Bhakti-vedānta and Bhakti-vaibhava degree she has got. Bhakta-vedānta one semester short. But in three months she has to give the exam. Her desire is to do Bhakti-Sārvabhauma degree as well. Other than this, you can do devotional service as nicely as possible. Lord Caitanya had given the instruction:

Yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa āmāra ājñāya hañā tāra’ ei deśa

Question: I wanted to know the significance of ulṭā Ratha-yātrā. As we know that Lord Jagannātha along with Baladeva and Subhadrā Māiyā come to Guṇḍicā which is non-different from Vṛndāvana dhāma. And we bring the Lord to Vṛndāvana by pulling the chariot. What should be the emotion of devotees when we take the Lord back from Guṇḍicā to Dvārakā. We never heard that devotees take Kṛṣṇa back to Dvārakā.

Jayapatākā Swami: So this question was in English, I will answer in English. So in Odisha they chant: Nīlācala candra amār prabhu jagannātha, jaya jagannātha, sundaracala candra amār prabhu jagannātha! Sundaracala candra amār prabhu jagannātha. Sundaracala is Guṇḍicā. You are all sitting in Guṇḍicā. That means you are in Vṛndāvana! So the question was what should be our mood when we take the Lord back to Nīlācala? Actually, it won’t be the Vṛndāvana mood because the vraja-vāsīs do not want to take Kṛṣṇa out of Vṛndāvana. But here in Durgapur I saw a temple where there are Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana cakra, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya. Here you are taking Lord Jagannātha from Vṛndāvana to Vṛndāvana! But Jagannātha Purī is Nīlācala and Sundaracala. But here both are Vṛndāvana.

Question: In the field of preaching sometimes there is a mood of completion. But I am becoming a bit jealous how do I get out of this?

Jayapatākā Swami: In the spiritual world there is competition, but that competition is who can make Kṛṣṇa more happy. Now, jealousy is in the material world. But in the spiritual world if this is done then Kṛṣṇa will not be happy. One person does well, the other person says you have done well, then Kṛṣṇa will be happy. Jealousy should not be there in preaching.

Question: I have nothing too offer you even though I say I want to give my life to you but I am so attached to the material world. But I would like to completely surrender unto you. Please let me know how can I surrender unto your lotus feet and become the recipient of your mercy?

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya said gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko! In the material world whatever we do we should do for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. This is called yukta-vairāgya. Everything is for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. This material world has both happiness and distress. The happiness is nothing much. Lowly and for a flickering moment. But anyway, if there is no happiness it is difficult to live. But with devotional service one should get happiness of the highest order. There is a bhajana in adhivāsa kīrtana: ānandera sīmā nai, ānandera sīmā nai, ānandera sīmā nai, nirānanda dūre jāy, nirānanda dūre jāy. I hope that by this devotional service to Kṛṣṇa you will get unlimited bliss. In this material world we have to bear these problems.

In Karnataka there is a festival called Ugādi, their new year, they give a laḍḍu! Laḍḍu is normally so sweet but if you put this in your mouth, it is bitter sweet, that is made of neem and sweet! This is life! Birth, death, old age and sickness. This is life. This birth, in the womb of a mother, and stay for 9 or 10 months. There when we are there, worms eat you. If the mother eats spicy things, then ah! It is hot! The wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu was pregnant and then Nārada Muni gave her some instructions. The mother forgot but Prahlāda Mahārāja remembered everything. When he was born and he had the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. Anyway, having got this human life, we are better off than the animals. The animals, day and night are searching what will I eat, where will I sleep? They fight and have sex here and there in animal life. But in human life if they do this then what is the use? They eat in a big hotel or sleep in a nice house. Eating, sleeping, mating, defending, both humans and animals do. But the humans have to follow the law, when they are driving, they see a red light they stop. Animals don’t know that, humans know. If the animal crosses the line, then the police will not stop them, right? This is for humans. Dharma is the law laid by the Lord how the humans can go back to Godhead. dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītaṁ [SB 6.3.19] We will try to follow the Lord’s laws. That way if we follow the Lord’s laws we will go back to Godhead.

Question: Can we pray to Kṛṣṇa for advancement in spiritual life. Pure devotees don’t ask anything to Kṛṣṇa but in history we saw that devotees like Draupadī, Gajendra, Pāṇḍavas, Kuntī, devotional service when they were in distress they called Kṛṣṇa. How do we understand this?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see it is not that we cannot pray to Bhagavān for anything. We can pray for spiritual blessings. Anything which is Kṛṣṇa conscious, we can pray for. But we don’t like to pray for anything material. Like if our guru is sick we pray to Kṛṣṇa, Narasiṁhadeva if it so please You, please cure our guru. So normally devotees will add the phrase, if you so desire, if it pleases you. But it is natural for a mother to pray for her children. So Kuntī devī prayed to Kṛṣṇa please see that my children come back from the Kurukṣetra war. Like that some mothers they pray to Kṛṣṇa for protecting their child. Kṛṣṇa says four types of people approach Him. Those who want money, those who are experiencing some difficulties, who are inquisitive and the jnanis, those who are wise, they realize that Kṛṣṇa is everything. But the ones who want money, get freed from distress, once they get money, once they get free of their distress, they tend to forget Kṛṣṇa. The inquisitive and the wise they stay with Bhagavān. These are the pious people. The impious they are also four types.

Question: Why do I get inclined to do sense gratification even after spending so many years in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Jayapatākā Swami: We have been in the material world since time immemorial. So naturally we are habituated to sense gratification. So we have to awaken a higher taste for spiritual bliss. Haribol! Two more questions.

Question: According to my previous bad qualities I have this fault of seeing other faults. How can I rectify myself and become free of this fault? Every time I think I will try to rectify myself, but I end up committing this mistake of seeing others’ faults.

Jayapatākā Swami: You try to find the good qualities in anyone. Lord Caitanya said amāninā mānadena - respect and praise everyone and do not expect praise or respect for yourself. If we have a wound and a fly comes and sits on it, it is not right for us to find fault with the fly. We look for the good qualities in people and praise them. We have a fault that we consider ourselves good and others are at fault. But Lord Caitanya said respect others and don’t expect any respect for ourselves.

Question: Lord Jagannātha why is He black, why Baladeva is white and Subhadrā is golden?

Jayapatākā Swami: That is Their color. Lord Rāmacandra had been green. Gaurāṅga had come he was golden. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nitāi had come in a reddish golden color. Nitāi Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Nitāi Nitaia Nitāi! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Gaurāṅga! NItaia Gaurāṅga! Nitāi Gaurāṅga!