20240210 Evening Address | Question-and-Answer session

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Welcome here to all the devotees. We are reading from the Bhagavad-gītā 8:5:

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

Translation: Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.

Purport: The process of changing one’s nature at the critical moment of death is here explained. A person who at the end of his life quits his body thinking of Kṛṣṇa attains the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord, but it is not true that a person who thinks of something other than Kṛṣṇa attains the same transcendental state. This is a point we should note very carefully. How can one die in the proper state of mind? Mahārāja Bharata, although a great personality, thought of a deer at the end of his life, and so in his next life he was transferred into the body of a deer. Although as a deer he remembered his past activities, he had to accept that animal body. Of course, one’s thoughts during the course of one’s life accumulate to influence one’s thoughts at the moment of death, so this life creates one’s next life. If in one’s present life one lives in the mode of goodness and always thinks of Kṛṣṇa, it is possible for one to remember Kṛṣṇa at the end of one’s life. That will help one be transferred to the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa. If one is transcendentally absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s service, then his next body will be transcendental (spiritual), not material. Therefore the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare is the best process for successfully changing one’s state of being at the end of one’s life.

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Jayapatākā Swami: So that is why we practice japa. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! The reason we always chant is to always remember Kṛṣṇa. This Kali-yuga is full of difficulties. It is said that it is an ocean of faults. But it’s one good quality is that we can chant the name of Kṛṣṇa and that will give us the ultimate perfection. What we could get in Satya-yuga by meditating, in Tretā-yuga by homa yajña, Dvāpara-yuga by arcana, we can get in Kali-yuga by chanting. So we should always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! Especially at the time of death, but if we don’t practice it may not be possible to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. When someone is leaving their body, we would like to help them to remember Kṛṣṇa. There was one lady, she left 40 million dollars to her cat or dog, I forget. I mean like one million is like 8 crores, right? So you leave 350 crores or so to your dog! And after the dog dies, the money would go to charity. So, for the life of that dog, he was the richest dog in the world!

[Audio break] Normally it would take one month to walk between Jagannātha Purī and Bengal. But they were in such ecstasy, always remembering the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa, that it took them about three months. Finally, they reached Pānihāṭi. I told you some of the pastimes in Pānihāṭi. Then, Lord Nityānanda went to Ādi-saptagrāma and then to Navadvīpa dhāma. He paid His respects to Śacīmātā. Śacīmātā requested if You could spend a little more time here, it would be very nice for me.

Lord Nityānanda, He is known as Avadhūta. He had a pearl necklace and He had diamond earrings. He had arm bands on the hands with jewels. Finger rings with precious stones. He had silver ankle bells. So there was a gang of dacoits led by a brāhmaṇa. He was the leader. He called all the dacoits and told them Mā Caṇḍī has sent us all the wealth in one place! We can just rob Nitāi and get the gold, silver, [Audio Break]

The dacoit said Nitāi bhāth kācche. The dacoits speak very rough language. We don’t say bhāth, we say anna or prasāda. But this dacoit said bhāth. So the leader said, “Okay, all the people are dancing and eating. We will rest under this tree and they will soon get tired and they will sleep. Then we will rob them.” They went under a tree and started to meditate. One dacoit said, “I will take the diamond rings, wow!” Another said, “I will take the pearl necklace.” Another said, “I will take some of the jeweled rings.” One said, “I will take the silver ankle bells.” Like this they were meditating on Nitāi’s form. And they all fell asleep and were snoring. They were sleeping all night! When the sun rose, they were still asleep. Crows were cawing, “Caw, caw, caw!” One dacoit woke up and said, “Hey! All of you are sleeping!” The other said, “What were you doing?” So they could not do the thieving in the day-light. So they hid their weapons and went back to their home. “This is because we did not worship Caṇḍī,” the dacoit leader said. “We should offer her nice meat, wine, and then come to steal.” So they did the Caṇḍī-pūjā and they came the next night. But they saw, “What is this? Kyā ho rahā hai? What is going on? Around the house there were all soldiers, infantry - strong guys. Maybe one of them can handle a hundred of us,” one dacoit said. The leader said, “Let us go quick from here before we are spotted. We will come back after a week when these soldiers are gone.” So they escaped. Maybe some king or someone came to see Nitāi and had his soldiers posted out they thought. The soldiers were wearing tilaka and wearing neck beads and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. A week or ten days later it was very dark. That time the dacoits went and attacked the house. But around the house there was a trench. Some fell in the trench. Someone fell in the garbage pit. It started to rain hailstones. It was so strong that the hailstones were hurting them and broke their bones, and they were very much in pain. So they all retreated because it was very difficult. The dacoit leader started to remember that, they fell asleep under the tree, there were infantry soldiers, there were hailstorms and all these things happened. “Every time we tried to attack, we stumbled. Nitāi, He is not an ordinary person,” the dacoit leader said. “We should see Nitāi, He is actually Bhagavān.” So he came and he surrendered to Lord Nityānanda. “Please give me Your shelter.” Some of the devotees, they told Nitāi, “thieves they always tell lies. How do we know that he is not cheating us, he is not a spy?” Nitāi asked the dacoit, “Tell Me! What you have to say about yourself?” The thief, dacoit leader, he admitted, “We came here to harm You, to steal Your wealth. But we faced various difficulties. I realized that You are Bhagavān. I want to take shelter at Your lotus feet.” So normally no thief will admit he had robbed. But he admitted. Therefore, the devotees were convinced. Lord Nityānanda said, “Bring your gang members and have them also surrender.” This way, Lord Nitāi, He got the whole gang of dacoits to take shelter. Jaya Nitāi! Jaya Nitāi Gaura!

Lord Nityānanda was like this, having His pastimes in Bengal. Just like He delivered Jagāi Mādhāi, He delivered this dacoit gang. So we should take shelter of Nitāi Gaura, by Their mercy we can get the shelter of Rādhā Rāsabihārī and Sītā Rāma Lakṣmaṇa Hanumān!

You see, last night I wanted my disciples, just to refresh my memory of their names. But everyone wanted blessings. So that way I gave blessings to everybody. Tomorrow will be initiation. How many are already initiated here? How many are going to be initiated tomorrow? Maybe 80 or 90? How many are taking shelter? I am not sure where the initiations will be. I heard in the Mandapa here. If it is in the morning, it is alright. If it is in the evening, if you are hungry, you can take fruits and milk. Those who are taking shelter they don’t have to fast. Only those who are taking first or second initiation have to fast. His Holiness Rādhānātha Swami is supposed to come tomorrow and we have one more lotus footprints for abhiṣeka which are to be installed. So before initiation we have to have two lectures and the devotees have to take their vows. And then we give them their name and beads. So that program is there. So, at initiation you promise to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare your whole life.

If anyone is single and wants to get married, we also have a Vaiṣṇava Marriage Bureau in my JPS Office in Māyāpur, all over India, all over the world, we have helped people to get married. You can contact them. If there are any questions?

Question: Due to my loud chanting people chanting around me get disturbed, should I go out of sangha and chant?

Jayapatākā Swami: I used to chant very loud as a bhakta. All the devotees went up to Śrīla Prabhupāda and complained. Śrīla Prabhupāda asked, that time we did not have many books, there was one book we had by Professor Sannyal? [22:21] It said that Haridāsa Ṭhākura whenever he thought something material, he would chant louder. So I was a bhakta and I had many material thoughts. And I would chant louder and louder and louder. So I explained that to Śrīla Prabhupāda. He said that was not bad, but I was disturbing all the other devotees. So he told me to chant in the Montreal park.

Question: How to bring children in Kṛṣṇa consciousness with a non-devotee family?

Jayapatākā Swami: It is difficult. Somehow or another you have to do it. One devotee in a family can make the whole family Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Question: Does the spiritual master know everything about the disciple?

Jayapatākā Swami: The spiritual master is not Kṛṣṇa. He may not know everything. He may understand if the disciple is well situated or in difficulty. My disciples send me video reports, I see the video reports and it is very interesting. In this way, I can hear what the disciples are doing. So who is going to send me video reports? Actually, most mobile phones have the facility to take video. It is not so difficult.

Question: After completing 16 rounds how much time to devote for reading or what are the other activities that should be involved on a daily basis with kids at home and with job search?

Jayapatākā Swami: I was seeing how in Taiwan, China, Singapore and various countries the child per mother ratio is [1:1.04]. And as a result, the world population is decreasing. So they are trying various ways to give incentives and parents are offered six months’ leave, husband and wife can be with the baby for six months! And in Singapore this is the Year of the Dragon. The government tells the women to have little dragons! So like that they are trying different ways, offering money, leave, bonus, please have babies! What was the question? Actually, that is tough. I was seeing how much we have to be indebted to our parents. In some countries they say have eight children. Ha! Before in India they were saying each two have only one. Now they are saying have eight. So, if you can make your family Kṛṣṇa conscious that will be easier. What do you think?

Question: How to know spiritual master accepted us for shelter or initiation? It is told that guru will find you. Please guide.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see at the time of initiation you receive the beads from the hands of the guru. So what is the doubt that you have been accepted? And shelter, it is a short ceremony where we have people say the praṇāma-mantra and offer flowers. So, the guru is accepting the disciple under his shelter.

Alright? So send me your videos on preaching. At least once a year! Thank you for attending class. Jaya Nitāi-Gaura!