20230424 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question & Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 24th, 2023 in Dallas, Texas, USA.

Question: You mentioned how to increase faith in Lord Caitanya, you said people have faith in Kṛṣṇa, they don’t have faith in Lord Caitanya. Can you please elaborate on that?

Jayapatākā Swami: Last night, someone asked this question in the temple. And were you there? There are different ways we can answer this. You see Rādhārāṇī created Navadvīpa dhāma and She played on the flute. Lord Kṛṣṇa thought who was playing on the flute so beautifully! Who, who is that? Who is that? He came and He saw it was Rādhārāṇī, and She had made a beautiful holy dhāma of nine islands. And then Lord Kṛṣṇa combined with Rādhārāṇī, took Rādhārāṇī’s heart and He took Her complexion. And thus He became the united form of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa of Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu! And He is the form of Kṛṣṇa who is most merciful! We asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, Kṛṣṇa makes us fast till midnight, but on Rādhāṣṭamī we fast only till midday. Why is that? Śrīla Prabhupāda said, Rādhārāṇī is very merciful. So it is very hard to get Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. Normally He gives love of Kṛṣṇa to those who fully surrender to Him. But Lord Caitanya He would give out mercy without considering who is qualified, who is not qualified. If ask it, you get it. Even some people they did not want it but they got it! Ha! So if one understands that Kṛṣṇa’s most merciful form is Lord Caitanya, then actually they naturally they want to have love for Lord Caitanya.

In Mumbai, they have Nitāi-Gaura, they have Śrī Rādhā-Rāsabihārī, Lalitā Viśākhā, and they have Sītā-Rāma Lakṣmaṇa and Hanumān, as worshipable Deities. Of course, as dioramas, they have Tukārāma, Viṭṭala and many others, Narasiṁhadeva, but the worshipable Deities are those three altars. Many people crowd around Rādhā-Rāsabihārī and Sītā-Rāma. But not so many around Nitāi-Gaura. I was explaining in the class that by the mercy of Nitāi-Gaura we get the mercy of Rādhā-Rāsabihārī and Sītā-Rāma. So we should all be praying to Lord Caitanya to get the mercy of all other Deities. If you don’t, it is very hard to get Their mercy. But if you do, it is very easy to get Their mercy. So I was telling earlier today, how Lord Caitanya came down especially in the Golden Age which is supposed to start 5000 years after the beginning of Kali-yuga, this is mentioned in the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa. The Golden Age lasts for ten thousand years. I was reading also recently, at the end of 9th canto and the beginning of the 10th canto how Lord Kṛṣṇa He would have the demoniac forces got puffed up and fight with each other and kill each other. So it seems that for no reason all over the world war is going on. So, all these things are diminishing the demoniac forces and then naturally Lord Caitanya is giving out His mercy freely. So we should naturally, if you are appreciating what Lord Caitanya does, then how can you not help but love him. Haribol Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!

Question: Regarding Caitanya Mahāprabhu mercy you just mentioned that Kṛṣṇa gives mercy it is not easy, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu gives mercy to everyone. So when we are asking for Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mercy are we asking for love for Lord Caitanya or for Lord Kṛṣṇa or both?

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya is Lord Kṛṣṇa. So naturally, I was asked by one paṇḍita in Purī, we hear that devotees of Lord Caitanya have devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa. So where are you situated? Lord Caitanya or Lord Kṛṣṇa?

Devotee: I am fond of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam but the Caitanya-caritāmṛta goes over the top of my head!

Jayapatākā Swami: You see devotees of Lord Caitanya simultaneously are in Śvetadvīpa and Goloka. So that is a special facility of being a devotee of Lord Caitanya. Like Jagadānanda Paṇḍita, he was simultaneously Jagadānanda Paṇḍita and also Satyabhāmā in Dvārakā. Sanātana Gosvāmī is a mañjarī and at the same time he is Sanātana Gosvāmī. Rādhā Kṛṣṇa and the aṣṭa-sakhis, Rūpa Gosvāmī is the 9th sakhi. So, he is simultaneously in caitanya-līlā and kṛṣṇa-līlā. Gadādhara Prabhu is Rādhārāṇī. So in caitanya-līlā he is Gadādhara and in kṛṣṇa-līlā he is Rādhārāṇī. So there is no loss in being devoted to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and we understand that Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa in the mood of being His devotee. Actually, we cannot be God. But if we are a devotee of the Lord, Vaiṣṇava or Vaiṣṇavī, that is actually a wonderful position. So that is being demonstrated by Lord Caitanya and His followers.

Question: How should one fully surrender to guru and Kṛṣṇa? Our mind is so obstinate that at times it does not want to accept authority.

Jayapatākā Swami: Just like we say we are not the body. We also say we are not the mind. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura said that we should beat the mind in the morning with shoes 108 times. In the evening beat with a broomstick 108 times. Who is the boss here, mind or you? You are the eternal spirit soul and you are the real person. Not the mind. We have to tell the mind, who is the boss!

Question: Like you mentioned we are the soul we are not the body. When we leave this body and if we go to the spiritual world, soul is sat-cit-ānanda, but what kind of form we have in the spiritual world? How do we look in the spiritual world?

Jayapatākā Swami: Wonderful! No birth, no disease, no old age, no death! And the body, the form of you is just suitable for your eternal rasa with Lord Kṛṣṇa. Some have sakhya-rasa, some vātsalya-rasa, some have mādhurya-rasa. You may be a man now but you may have another form in the spiritual world. A woman may be a friend of Kṛṣṇa. We know we take birth after birth in the material world, and if you think your husband when you leave the body, then you take the next birth as a man, if you think of your wife, then you take birth as a woman. If you think of Kṛṣṇa, you will go back to the spiritual world. So we are training devotees, they should think of Kṛṣṇa. Spouses should also train their loved ones to think of Kṛṣṇa. How do we look in the spiritual world? So that depends on your rasa. Either, you will be a mother, father, friend, servitor, gopī or queen, depends on your rasa. If you go to Vaikuṇṭha where there is Nārāyaṇa, then we get a similar form like Nārāyaṇa. But He has some special symbols, like the Śrīvatsa mark, like the Kaustuba-maṇi. We don’t have that mark. In the Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta, Gopa Kumāra was in Vaikuṇṭha. Everyone was looking like Nārāyaṇa and they were saying, here is Nārāyaṇa, here is Nārāyaṇa. But they were not Nārāyaṇa, they knew who was the original Nārāyaṇa. Only Nārāyaṇa has this Śrīvatsa mark. Whether you are in Vaikuṇṭha or Goloka, depends on your relation. You have a form but that is dormant. When you are liberated you manifest your original form. So Gopa Kumāra, he was a cowherd friend of Kṛṣṇa, but first went to Vaikuṇṭha, he wanted to embrace Nārāyaṇa. Oh he is God! Nārāyaṇa! You cannot do that. Awe and reverence! But with Kṛṣṇa, you can embrace and wrestle. So you can read the book. Very interesting. Finally, he got to Goloka Vṛndāvana and he got his original position as a cowherd boyfriend. So what is your form? 

Question: You have dedicated your life to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and Śrīla Prabhupāda. 74 years. From 19 to 74 now, you have dedicated your tan, mana, dhana.
(Jayapatākā Swami: 19 years wasted!)
For us we are gṛhasthas, you are our role model and if we want to take even 0.01 per cent of you, as a gṛhastha, you have dedicated your life. What we are doing only is a fraction of maybe what you have dedicated to Śrīla Prabhupāda. You have lot of wealth but we have dedicated a little wealth, you have a lot of time but we have dedicated very little time, but you have given 100% maybe more than 100%. Rūpa Gosvāmī said for gṛhasthas we should give 50% to Kṛṣṇa, 25% for family, how we can dedicate like you? What percentage we should dedicate? You have given 100% 1000% Guru Mahārāja, but percentage wise, how much like funds, energy, our talent, etc. Please bless us and guide us how you want all of us to surrender?

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, these questions are answered in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. That as a sannyāsī, I have to give 100% if I give 99% I am fallen. As a gṛhastha 50%, you are doing great! But sometimes as we were discussing, even if the gṛhasthas, they give 5% or 10% that would be so much. Anyway, the point is actually I have seen like some gṛhasthas, we were hearing this from the Hospital Manager this morning, she wants to serve the GBC. Be a coordinator for all the ministries and all the standing committees. So she is saying in the hospital we have like 34 or 35 specialties. So I want to see each ministry, see what their purpose is and try to help them to do that. She has two kids, one 8 and one 11, she has a job. Naturally she has a husband, but she wants to serve. And she is a disciple of His Holiness Kadamba Kānana Swami Mahārāja, who recently passed away. And he was instructing her how ISKCON should be managed. With the husband’s support she thinks she can do it. It is very impressive. you don’t have to be a sannyāsī in fact a sannyāsī may not have the proper qualifications. So she has the vision how to serve ISKCON. Also, she is chanting her 16 rounds and following the principles. So that is the kind of people we need. People who are very dedicated who want to serve ISKCON. We heard that Kālacāndajī restaurant is the best in Dallas, something like that. Sanātana Kṛṣṇa said not just in Dallas, in the whole world. So, there are different – His Grace Nityānanda Prabhu’s wife she had a team and helped in cooking, she says she doesn’t cook anymore but she does the original menu for it. Like that, don’t hesitate, I am not a sannyāsī, I am not anything, whatever you can do, do it! Haribol! In Detroit they have cow cuddling program. So many people come to cuddle the cows, and they don’t know what to do. But there is special, particular way if they touch the cow, they are happy. The people sign up they say they will never eat cow again. So you can serve Kṛṣṇa, not stereotype, different ways. Some people may give money in dollars, some may cook nice preparations. Some may cuddle cows, or some may do home ārati. Everyone should have this service attitude. If Kṛṣṇa is pleased, guru and Kṛṣṇa are pleased, that is our purpose in life. Haribol! Alright thank you very much!