20230425 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question & Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 25th, 2023 in Dallas, Texas, USA.

Question: Being a gṛhastha and at the same time we do temple service also. It happens sometime it becomes difficult to manage or balance the temple service and gṛhastha life at the same time. What should be more importance – spiritual life, temple service or in gṛhastha-āśrama, gṛhastha services? Sometimes we struggle for that. What is the right solution for that and how do we balance our spiritual life at the same time gṛhastha life also?

Jayapatākā Swami: Interesting question. You see, Kṛṣṇa conscious gṛhasthas, their gṛhastha life is also spiritual. Just like Jagadānanda Paṇḍita he met with Sanātana Gosvāmī, and they were discussing about Lord Caitanya. So, like this Kṛṣṇa conscious gṛhasthas, they could talk about Kṛṣṇa and make plans how to do some spiritual programs in their house. Just like we see that Lord Caitanya being a sannyāsī, He never cooked. But He would go to the gṛhasthas’ houses and take His meals. That was a kind of festival. How would you like to have Lord Caitanya come to your home? So, like this, gṛhasthas should also follow Lord Caitanya’s instructions. yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa (Cc. Madhya 7.128). Like Śrīla Prabhupāda said, he wanted all his gṛhastha followers to be paramahaṁsas. Now, most of these devotees were gṛhasthas, not in the present, but in the past, they were gṛhasthas. So Lord Caitanya was instructing them to go back to their homes and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, like that, if you have some service you can do in the temple, that is a great benefit. But also, the activities they can do in their house which promote Kṛṣṇa consciousness, like Śrīla Prabhupāda was explaining that when they saw Śrīla Prabhupāda, they get frightened, he is a sannyāsī. So, normally gṛhasthas, like we had a guest last night. Gṛhasthas are soft selling! Sannyāsīs they tend to be a bit like hard selling! So like this, we should try to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People may say, oh! He has a wife, she has a husband, they are doing all the things in their house, they are happy, why don’t I be Kṛṣṇa conscious, I will be happy! So gṛhastha is a very important aspect of our preaching. You should not think that somehow it is lower. It is a different style. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Question: I always feel I am not able to serve you enough. So what to do about that?

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, it is good to feel like that. Rādhārāṇī feels She is not doing enough, as much as She could. But we think that She is 100% best, but She is thinking what more I should do? That is the Kṛṣṇa conscious attitude. Not that, oh! I am doing everything I can. Then we won’t try to do more. If we cannot think of how to increase, you could also always ask what more can I do? Or if you have some idea, then you can suggest, can I do this, will this be pleasing? We always should be eager to do something more for Kṛṣṇa. Parents, your children ever come up and say, mom dad, can I do some service for you? Ha! You think, what do they want from me! Ha! But actually if they don’t want anything that would be super! If you think what more you could do and you want permission, then suggest that. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Last question. I have a GBC meeting. It is almost 9.30 pm, I will end here. Have half a minute.

Question: As Śrīla Prabhupāda said, you are an eternal associate of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So you are associating with Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu even now is what we are thinking. Can you share Guru Mahārāja, do you remember any līlās with Caitanya Mahāprabhu that you were present and were dealing with them and presently you are associating? Can you share with us Guru Mahārāja?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda, he did not say that to me. He told me I was born in India before, he said I was a devotee. That is as much as he told me. I saw a few things, it is on the letters from Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he told me not to tell.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!