20230625 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question & Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 25th, 2023 in Kolkata, 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: Last night we gave out Bhakti-śāstrī certificates. That means those people have studied Bhagavad-gītā, Īśopaniṣad, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu and Updeśāmṛta. So there are many courses that Śrīla Prabhupāda established in ISKCON. Bhakti-śāstrī is the first stage. Bhakti-vaibhava is the first six chants of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhakti-vedānta is the last six cantos. So studying Śrīla Prabhupāda’s the translations and purports of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And Bhakti-Sārvabhauma is the study of Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So I hope that all of you will get these degrees. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: Sometimes it happens that when we are practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness our parents are fearful that we will renounce everything and they don’t want to allow us to proceed further. How should we deal with our parents in that condition?

Jayapatākā Swami: Every parent is different. I thought that my parents would be very happy when I came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But my mother and father were not happy. My father he said, “You should completely give up Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise, I will send you to Vietnam to die there.” But I thought my father will be happy. But he was very ugra! My mother, she came up and talked to me. My mother came to India two times. Anyways I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, “My father, he wants to send me to Vietnam to serve the American army. What should I do?” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Better you join Kṛṣṇa’s Army!” So I am a member of Kṛṣṇa’s army ever since. After eight years my father changed. He said, “A son is a son, father is a father!” On his deathbed he was talking to the priest, and he was talking about me. So, it is not very difficult, I think the Indian parents are very affectionate towards their children. So, there are different things that you can do. Once my mother appreciated what I was doing. She went and talked to other mothers and fathers. It was not so bad your son is a part of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. So the parents do not like to hear from the children. But you should have some people of the same age talking to them.

Question: What is the best way to express our gratitude to Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Jayapatākā Swami: By reading his books and carrying out his instructions. He wants you to free yourself from the clutches of māyā and go back home back to Godhead.

Question: How do we reconcile difference amongst senior devotees and if there are contradictory instructions?

Jayapatākā Swami: That is why we have a spiritual master. He is the final authority. And we take his opinion. When there are different opinions, then we take the opinion of our spiritual master, the opinion of the śāstras.

Question: By quoting from Śrīla Prabhupāda you mentioned many times that all your disciples should become paramahaṁsas. How can a conditioned soul reach the paramahaṁsa stage and what is the procedure?

Jayapatākā Swami: So a haṁsa is able to separate a mixture of milk and water, leave the water and drink the milk. A paramahaṁsa means able to take out the spiritual and leave the material. So, husband and wife, they should discuss with each other what they should do to please Kṛṣṇa. Normally, the materialistic couple they discuss how they can enjoy life. But a paramahaṁsa means they separate the spiritual from material and take to spiritual life. It is possible if one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa and practices bhakti-yoga.

Question: How to become non-envious and mature in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya wrote the Śikṣāṣṭaka. In the third verse of the Śikṣāṣṭaka He said to be humble like a blade of grass and tolerant like a tree. To offer all respect to others and not to expect any respect for ourselves. Basically, to be non-envious. In other words, if you always follow the instructions of Lord Caitanya, you will become non-envious.

Question: When we are doing guru-pūjā if some guest comes to us at that time, what should we do as our first priority – to finish the worship of our spiritual master or to receive that devotee?

Jayapatākā Swami: It depends, who that devotee is. If the devotee is a godbrother of the spiritual master, or peer of the spiritual master, of if he is the guru of the spiritual master, then one should offer him respect.

Question: How can I get out of the tendency of committing vaiṣṇava-aparādha even mentally?

Jayapatākā Swami: By offering all respects to others, and you will thus avoid the first offence.

Question: How to cultivate the missionary attitude?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura said prāṇa haite jāra, sei hetu pracāra. So if your spiritual life is there, then you will be automatically cultivating your spiritual life.

Question: How to cultivate dependence on Kṛṣṇa?

Jayapatākā Swami: This ‘how to’ questions are very difficult. So, what is the ‘how to’ question? Depend on Kṛṣṇa! That is why Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a gradual process. When one practices how you gradually depend on Kṛṣṇa, you then depend on Kṛṣṇa. And how to avoid aparādha? Don’t do any!  Anyway, you see all the good qualities in others.

Question: I was reading the section of marriage of Kardama Muni and Devahūti and was feeling sexually agitated by reading the description of their union to procreate children. I was thinking that by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam I am supposed to rise above the sex desire, but here it is happening otherwise. Why is it so and how can I get rid of this problem?

Jayapatākā Swami: How to?! You see, Kali-yuga it is prohibited to take sannyāsa. Most people even if they take sannyāsa, they don’t do the karma-sannyāsa. We stay in āśrama, we live in the association of devotees. Not like in previous ages when sannyāsīs went to the forest. But must people, they are recommended to get married. Then gradually get free from materialistic desires. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he said one should get married to one who is more spiritually advanced. So, Kardama Muni, he told his wife to stay in the gṛhastha-āśrama and he gave her a child, and then he would take sannyāsa. Devahūti, she was the daughter of Manu. And they experienced material pleasure; but, then she told her husband, you promised me a son. And then he gave her a son. That son was the incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu. He is still being worshiped in Gaṅgā-sāgara. And Devahūti, her husband took sannyāsa, but she received the instructions from her son. So that is the subject of the third canto. The Śāṅkhya-yoga by Kapila Muni.

Question: Why did Lord Nityānanda kick Śivānanda Sena and cursed his family for no reason? Why does the Supreme Lord act in such an inconceivable way to affect the faith of a devotee like Śrīkānta in this episode?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śivānanda Sena, he appreciated the kick by Lord Nityānanda. The spiritual master sometimes chastises a devotee who can take it. And one time Śrīla Prabhupāda came into the temple in New York, and everyone bowed down to Śrīla Prabhupāda showing their feet to the Deities. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda used his stick and hit Brahmānanda Prabhu. And said, don’t show your feet to the Deity. At first, Brahmānanda, he was upset because everybody had put their feet to the Deities, why was he singled out? So then, like in Bengal there is a saying, mother teaches her daughter-in-law by chastising her daughter. Like that, Śivānanda Sena, he took it as a blessing, for he made Lord Nityānanda wait for prasāda. Lord Nityānanda, He was very humorous. He would do things very special! He told Raghunātha dāsa in Pānihāṭi, I am going to give you daṇḍa – I will give you punishment. So the punishment was to give a feast of dadhi, ciḍā and fruits. Actually, for Raghunātha dāsa it was not a big thing. He was a millionaire. Those days ciḍā and mangoes were very cheap. So, why was this a punishment? So Lord Nityānanda that is how He decided. So Lord Nityānanda’s nature was to be a bit funny. But He was very tolerant, very merciful. Anyway, I will let you all leave tonight.

Question: Since I came to know that why we have come to this material world, I feel myself fallen and very sinful. Is it ok to think like that?

Jayapatākā Swami: Very good! Lord Caitanya said that we should be very humble to all. To think oneself very sinful, fallen is a humble state of mind. But in the humble state of mind, one should not lose their enthusiasm. They should remain enthusiastic, not to remain in the fallen state. We should not think that I am sinful and therefore I should not practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because we are sinful that is why we should practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That way we can solve our problems.

Thank you very much!