20221024 Evening Darśana

The following is an evening darshan given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 24th,2022 in Śrī Vṛndāvana, India.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Diwali day firecrackers! We heard that in Ayodhyā they lit up the town to welcome Lord Rāma and Mother Sītā. I don’t know if they used firecrackers. Today anyway, Diwali, there is a saying in the Vedas, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya – we should go from the darkness to light. This is also mentioned in Lord Caitanya’s books –

kṛṣṇa—sūrya-sama, māyā haya andhakāra
yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra

(Cc. Madhya 22.31)

We want to bring the light of Kṛṣṇa to everyone’s hearts. In this material world majority of the people think they are this body. And if they can make their body comfortable that is their idea of success in life. But actually, we are born, we have to die. And in between there is old age and disease, different troubles. In the spiritual world there is no birth, no old age, death or disease. Everyone has eternal spiritual bodies. And they are enjoying eternal bliss. We want to send the people back to the spiritual Vṛndāvana. And Vṛndāvana on this earth, gives us a little glimpse. Because now the Rajasthani desert is moving in. And 5000 years ago, Vṛndāvana was lush and green. So now it is the shadow of the formal glories. But spiritually still has the potency. We are recommended to think of Kṛṣṇa, worship Kṛṣṇa and preach for Kṛṣṇa. I decided to go back tonight, but have come back here, going tomorrow. Guess you all are very disappointed. But tomorrow night we have a flight. Tomorrow morning, I hope I will visit the parikramā party and from there straight to Delhi. 

Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ – don’t have any other desires. If you desire simply Kṛṣṇa, then you are a pure devotee. If you want things which are connected to Kṛṣṇa, then that is a way of being a pure devotee. Just like some people say I don’t have a child, please bless me that I have a child. Cats, dogs, everyone has children. So then you can say bless me that I have a Kṛṣṇa conscious, healthy, long lived suputra. Kṛṣṇa consciousness makes it connected with Kṛṣṇa. So like that anything you desire you should somehow add Kṛṣṇa to the equation. And then your desires are considered transcendental.

Question: How to be in Vṛndāvana and please you and Śrīla Prabhupāda and how to deal with the vraja-vāsīs?

Jayapatākā Swami: It is like a multiple question. You can be in Vṛndāvana by being in Vṛndāvana. And how to please Śrīla Prabhupāda and me? I am very pleased if you are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you are studying Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, Śrīla Prabhupāda called that tapasyā in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you are distributing the mercy out that is also very pleasing. And if you are doing Kṛṣṇa conscious sevās, there are nine types of sevās, then that is also pleasing. How to deal with the vraja-vāsīs? What is the problem? How to deal with the vraja-vāsīs in regard to job, work, and association? She is saying vraja-vāsīs, if she is saying in regard to work she has to work for someone. You are staying in Vṛndāvana, then you have to live with vraja-vāsīs. I guess I would just encourage them, they are vraja-vāsīs, they are very fortunate. That they are in Kṛṣṇa’s land, so they should be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Otherwise, what is the use of being a vraja-vāsī. Of course, when I installed the lotus feet this morning, then afterwards a brāhmaṇa vraja-vāsī said I will help you to worship the Śyāma-kuṇḍa. Then he took some water, sprinkled it, tied a thread around my wrist. And then he said, I am a poor brāhmaṇa, please give me some donation. So I gave him some. I saw in Māyāpur, sometimes during the season, the boys come up and say we are having a pūjā program in our pandal for Durgā-pūjā, please give us donation. So I was thinking we are worshiping Kṛṣṇa every day but Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Alright, give them 10 rupees.” So, they are taught they accept whatever they are given. So to make the long story short, just give them 10 rupees and Haribol! So like that Śrīla Prabhupāda would sometimes give them something just to make them happy.

Question: Now we are focusing a lot reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and also doing courses like Bhakti-vaibhava. Now we when we do these courses, it needs a good amount of time. So our preaching has reduced a bit. What will please you more?

Jayapatākā Swami: What would you preach if you don’t read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. You know, we don’t say that by reading, you do not do any preaching. But if you don’t read, what do you preach? Would you speculate something? It is important to read at least in the beginning. Śrīla Prabhupāda told me that to get first initiation, I had to read the Bhagavad-gītā ten times. Then I had these lines marked, one, two, three, four, strike. One, two, three, four, strike. I read ten times and got my first initiation. But by reading Bhagavad-gītā ten times I had so much knowledge of the Gītā that I was giving accredited courses in the university. Although I was a college drop out! And in the McGill University I gave a course but there was no credit. So then, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us a test, I got Bhakti-śāstrī. Recently I want to encourage my disciples, my followers, devotees in general to read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Then the Māyāpur Institute offered me the honorary degrees, because I had read the books so many times. But I thought if I get honorary degree, then that would not encourage the devotees to read. I said, no, I will take the test. And now I have finished the 5th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I got one more canto to go to get my Bhakti-vaibhava. After that I will go for the Bhakti-vedānta. Then I am very glad that I am doing that. It is nice that if you are reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and are getting tested then you read it more carefully. But it doesn’t mean I don’t preach. In fact preaching is going on.

Question: What is that one important prayer that we should pray in the month of Kārtika?

Jayapatākā Swami: Dāmodarāṣṭakam – namāmīśvaraṁ sac-cid-ānanda-rūpaṁ.

Question: Generally, we are godbrothers, we don’t know how to deal amongst godbrothers, especially when we don’t get personal, direct instructions from you. We get very less personal association or direct contact with you especially being in Vṛndāvana. Sometimes we don’t know how to connect with our godbrothers and godsisters and don’t know how to deal with them.

Jayapatākā Swami: How many here have mobile phones? How many of you have the Jayapatākā Swami App? How many don’t have? There are various things – what I do every day. There is also a “Ask Jayapatākā Swami”. And Śrīla Prabhupāda had given me various instructions. Those are written down, which one you want to volunteer? And then there are connections to the social media, with the āratis, many things. I was looking at my app, there are many things. So we are looking for volunteers in the UK, they are saying for Amala Mañjarī devī dāsī to be the local care coordinator. She doesn’t know yet. But the local care coordinators – we can use one or two in Vṛndāvana. So they can connect with me through various means. How to deal with godbrothers or godsisters? I mean, do you have any brothers? How do you deal with them? How do you deal with your godbrothers? Like your brothers?  (He is more close to his godbrothers than his own brothers) Very nice! Of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that our temples are like hospitals. So many devotees are at different stages of being a patient. Some are very advanced devotees like śikṣā-gurus. So, just saying godbrothers, there are senior godbrothers and new godbrothers. Treat them respectfully, nicely and humbly. And I will be very happy. Try to encourage them to engage in devotional service properly. But then you have to hear them first and some of them are a little strange. Some of them are very critical. I did not know that at first. But most of them are very nice. My disciples, men and women, are very nice. But sometimes there are so much things.

Question: How to prepare our consciousness for dīkṣā?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see the point when you take dīkṣā, is to accept your guru as the spiritual doctor, and whatever he says, you are supposed to follow that. If you have any doubt, then very respectfully you should present your doubt and have your question answered. We have stages like aspiring, shelter, when a person can test his faith, test the guru’s ability to answer the questions. Hare Kṛṣṇa! When you are ready to take the guru, you should be able to follow his instructions.

Question: I am doing good sādhanā and have good service in ISKCON. But I do not have that much real joy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, what can I do to feel the bliss in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we should feel happiness but if you are committing offences to the holy name then you will not feel the full happiness. And if you are having different weeds, then the weeds take up the energy of the creeper of devotion. Niṣiddhācāra, kuṭi-nāṭi, jīva-hiṁsā, lābha, pūjā, pratiṣṭhāśā. So, I just mentioned some. These kinds of other desires are distractions to our getting bliss.

Question: We can see how you served Śrīla Prabhupāda whole life with complete dedication and surrender. How can I develop full surrender to the spiritual master and become servant in the true sense, keeping aside false pride? 

Jayapatākā Swami: Just like I am serving my spiritual master, I hope you can learn from my example and serve me.

Question: Śrīla Prabhupāda said that young, married couples should not stay in Vṛndāvana and you also carry the same mood. But some Śrīla Prabhupāda disciples say we can stay in Vṛndāvana, how to understand this and serve Vṛndāvana offenselessly? 

Jayapatākā Swami: As I said, any offence is multiplied a thousand times in Vṛndāvana. In Māyāpur Śrīla Prabhupāda said it is especially good for gṛhasthas. The material world is designed in such a way that even if you don’t want to, you are obliged to commit some offences, some sins. So that is why we recommend that people stay a short time in Vṛndāvana and then go out. In the short time they can be very careful. But if they stay here permanently, then they may commit some sinful activities. That is just the fact.

Question: I read Bhagavad-gītā but I don’t remember. I listen to Bhagavad-gītā and I remember. So should I stop reading?

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, since I had a stroke in 2008, my eyesight is a little poor. So I can read when the fonts are very big. But now I found that either I can have people read to me or I have audio books. So, if you are better equipped to hear class, you can hear the Bhagavad-gītā with the purports. Draviḍa Prabhu and other devotees in California, they have produced audio Bhagavad-gītā. There may be audio gītās in different websites, I don’t know. But usually if you read gītā and use what you read, you can remember it. Like you read it something and that day you think I can use it – when you talk to someone you say, oh, I read this verse in the Bhagavad-gītā today. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (Bg. 2.20).

Question: How do we understand that Navadvīpa-dhāma and Vṛndāvana-dhāma are non-different?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, in the walls here the words ‘Jaya Rādhe’. So Navadvīpa was made by Rādhārāṇī. And when Kṛṣṇa went there, He said, “Oh, you have created this beautiful dhāma for Me! I will bring all the holy places here, so this should be non-different from Vṛndāvana.” And Kṛṣṇa united with Rādhā and took the heart of Rādhā and Her color. So He became Gaurāṅga. With the heart of Rādhārāṇī and He was golden color like Rādhārāṇī. So how do we know? Because Kṛṣṇa said it is non-different from Vṛndāvana.