20230322 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question & Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 22nd, 2023 in Chennai, 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!

Question: It is said that vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Brahma-saṁhitā 5.33). So that means just by reading one cannot please Kṛṣṇa, one can only please Kṛṣṇa by devotion. But then we also say that one should read books. Some people say, why not just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, why to read?

Jayapatākā Swami: Oṁ tat sat! I met a devotee, he said I am reading, there is no need to chant. People make all kinds of excuses. So one can say, we can only chant, no need to read. So I will read and no need to chant. But we should read, we should chant. Now Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was giving his purports, which are a way to associate with Śrīla Prabhupāda. So, I had a lot of personal association with Śrīla Prabhupāda. Even then, to read what Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote is also very important. Because he gave his own purports to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ślokas. The purports included the tikas, of different purvācāryas and also Śrīla Prabhupāda’s own realizations. That is why it is important to read to have the association of Śrīla Prabhupāda. And we should chant, by chanting, it purifies the heart. By reading, when the heart is purified by chanting, then the topics go into the heart. Any other questions?

Question: Śrīla Gurumahārāja! We understand that this is a mercy movement, and we also talk about that people are unqualified and they progress with the help of mercy. At the same time, we have certain standards for initiation and there are other standards. So sometimes devotees say that if a devotee is not able to meet the standards, no problem, by the mercy of the spiritual master, he will come to the standard. So sometimes, he should be allowed for initiation. So, how do we strike the balance between meeting the standards at the same time of course, mercy is required.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya was telling Lord Nityānanda in Jagannātha Purī that We have come down to this material world and We had promised We would deliver four kinds of people who are normally not delivered. He said the mūrkhas, the nīcas, the patītas and the duḥkhitas. So the foolish who think they are the body, people who are born in low birth, Kali-yuga everyone is considered like a śūdra or even lower. And then patīta, the fallen, like one English gentleman requested a sannyāsī that, “I want to be a brāhmaṇa”. “Yes, we can make you a brāhmaṇa”, the sannyāsī said. “What do I have to do?”,the gentleman asked. The sannyāsī said, “Just give up eating meat, fish and egg, taking intoxication, gambling and illicit sex. Do these four things and you can become a brāhmaṇa.” “It is impossible,” the gentleman said. “That is my life!” So, people in the West they are by nature, patīta. The Indians they want to follow the Westerners, so they are also becoming patīta. As a result, they naturally feel sad. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (Bg. 8.15) – Kṛṣṇa described this material world as a place of suffering. But it is temporary. Suffering is temporary, enjoyment is temporary, everything is temporary. That is why people in this world are very sad. Trying to be happy but that produces sadness. These four kinds of people Lord Caitanya said He came down to deliver. We find that even like Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura he was a kṣatriya, he was a crown prince, he abdicated his throne and he took up pure devotional service. He said, “I am very fallen, I am very patīta, please have Your mercy on me.” Actually, he was not fallen, but he presented himself like that to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. So, we humbly present ourselves as fallen, anyway we are fallen but anyway, we find that Lord Caitanya’s devotees, they presented themselves in a very humble way. So if you have someone who is fallen, he can pray to Nitāi Gaura for Their mercy. Proof that they have this mercy, is to give up these four things.

Question: Should we encourage devotees to follow festivals or Kṛṣṇa consciousness every day is a festival? Please kindly help us.

Jayapatākā Swami: Why not? You tell them to observe festivals, tell them to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness every day, do both. Haribol!

Question: We have been following Kṛṣṇa consciousness for so many years. Generally, devotees we see that in the process we have ups and downs. So when we take the case of Bharata Mahārāja, he was so sincere, he was so renounced, and he did his Kṛṣṇa consciousness so carefully, but there we hear that in the bhāva stage he was attracted and had to take another birth because of the offence that he did in a previous birth which he did not even know about. How to come out of it and what is the remedy when we do not know what offences we have committed?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, even Bharata Mahārāja who fell down took birth as a deer. But Kṛṣṇa was merciful on him, and he could remember his previous lives. The next birth he birth as a brāhmaṇa, Jaḍa Bharata and he was taken by some dacoits to be offered to Bhadra-Kālī as a balidāna, sacrifice. But Bhadra-Kālī, she was so angry because he was a pure devotee. She killed all the dacoits and saved Jaḍa Bharata. So we should just do our devotional service and even if we have done some unknown offence, Kṛṣṇa will protect us if we do devotional service. Now, this planet is known as Bhārata-varṣa. And still India is called as Bhārata. It is named after the king Bharata.

Question: We have so many varieties of devotional service, like chanting, reading Śrīla Prabhupāda, Deity worship and visiting holy dhāmas. Sometimes we see that when we are more attracted to one method the other methods are getting less importance and we are not able to do them. So whether more reading or more of chanting, or more of Deity worship or more of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books reading, which one is more important?

Jayapatākā Swami: In every yuga, there is a particular, which is most important. In Kali-yuga, śravaṇam kīrtanam is most important. Reading books is one form of śravaṇam. There are nine practices of devotional service and by practicing any one then also it is possible to be delivered. But in Kali-yuga it is especially recommended that we chant and hear. But we should chant, hear remember, pay obeisances, offer prayers and do the arcanam, and do pāda-sevanam, do some service, considering oneself as the servant of the Lord, considering the Lord as one’s friend and offering everything to the Lord, ātma-nivedenam. These are the nine practices of devotional service.

Question: How can we understand that our chanting is pure?

Jayapatākā Swami: That is the whole question? So, we always consider our chanting as not pure. And we try to improve it, making it more pure. In this way, we will get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. We don’t like to be too proud, oh! my chanting is so pure. We would rather like to present ourselves as very fallen, we need the mercy of Nitāi Gaura. In this way, we can get mercy.

Question: We know that Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to give this love of Godhead mainly when we chant the holy names and when we spread the holy names. So, we see around us many leaders, those who are engaged in missionary activities, and they are assisting in spreading the holy name, but when it comes to taking deeply shelter of the holy name, we do not get much inspiration from them because of their being so much engaged in their service. They may be serving so extensively but when it comes to personal sādhana, it may not be so inspiring for us. How do we understand this? Just because they are engaged in the mission will Lord Caitanya give them love of Godhead or they have to work hard to attain śuddha-nāma?

Jayapatākā Swami: We do not worry about others. Kṛṣṇa will judge. And we try to engage ourselves completely in devotional service. Just like, I was attending two meetings, GBC meeting and then the MOVP meeting, Museum of the Vedic Planetarium. During that time, I was chanting on the pedal. I was hearing and chanting and at the end of four hours, I chanted 1,924 mantras. My right hand is not paralyzed but paresis, don’t have any feeling. Anyway, while exercise I chant Somehow or other I always chant. In this way, I see that one can chant at all times.

Question: How can I build a good character because my mind is very dirty. Please help me, I am patīta.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya says, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa we clean our consciousness. So by chanting you should chant and clean your consciousness.

Question: While chanting my mind is going here and there. I am trying to bring my mind back to chanting and remember, the Deities. How to chant attentively?

Jayapatākā Swami: As the temple president my mind would go on all the work that I had to do. I had to meet the DM (District Magistrate), I had to do this, I had to do that. I used to carry a small book, whenever a thought came up, I would write it down and put it back and then concentrated, otherwise, my mind would again and again think about this thing. Instead, I wrote down in the book and continued chanting. Some kind of way you can think of to write it down or something. I would chant before Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mūrti meditating on his lotus feet.

Question: How can I increase my taste in reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books?

Jayapatākā Swami: Before you read chant your praṇāmas to guru and Śrīla Prabhupāda. In that way read the book with full attention. And then gradually by reading every day your taste will increase.

Question: In the third canto when Brahmājī becomes very pleased with Kardama Muni’s service, Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in the purport that the disciple should get the instructions from the Śrīla Prabhupāda master and execute it word by word. I understand that in terms of sādhana chanting, reading, following regulative principles, that needs to be done. So how much devotees should have their own initiative in Kṛṣṇa consciousness because we may or may not have the association of the spiritual master?

Jayapatākā Swami: How many people here have the Jayapatākā Swami App?  How many read it regularly? I put up daily things on the Jayapatākā Swami App. And that way you can have your association with me as closely as you associate with your mobile phone. I see people talking on their mobile phones often. They can see the App rather. I don’t know. Also, someone told me that I should ask Śrīla Prabhupāda a question. I should glorify Śrīla Prabhupāda, humble myself and ask a question and blessings. So I was doing that every day. And then it became like a ritual. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are all merciful, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am very fallen. I want to serve you eternally, life after life. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he said one day, why do you want to make me come back? I thought I was saying the right thing. Then I said, I want to serve you even life after life. If I don’t make it back to Godhead then I want to serve you here.

Question: My family is not allowing me to leave onion and garlic. What should I do?

Jayapatākā Swami: Breathe on them! In Google there is a whole article on onion and garlic, how detrimental it is. How by taking it one can get all kinds of bad qualities That is Google. But also, in the Purāṇas it says that onion and garlic came from the dead carcass of the cow. By taking onion and garlic one gets the karma of killing cows. I don’t know which your parents will be more influenced by, the Purāṇas or Google? Science or theology? But either way, onion and garlic are very bad.

Thank you very much for asking nice questions.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!