20240227 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

Question: When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a little boy, He liberated a puppy and gave Him kṛṣṇa-prema. And also, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura mentions how he wants to be just like a dog behind Mahāprabhu. I have seen some devotees raise dogs as well. But in one of your classes, you mentioned that dogs are not present in Goloka as they may tend to urinate on Śrīmatī Tulasī Devī! How do we understand the mood of our ācārya in this regard, gurudeva? Is it ok for devotees to have pets?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, in this material world, things have their use. So here, one may keep a dog. The rules are different. Dog is normally not allowed in the house. They stay outside so that the house is kept pure. According to the system, one may have pets, but they are for a particular use. Like they make keep a dog or something to scare away other animals. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that the good quality of a dog is that he is very loyal and he follows his master.

Question: Śrīla Prabhupāda said that one should search, surrender, and serve a guru. How do I nicely surrender and serve you Guru Mahārāja?

Jayapatākā Swami: There is a system of initiation and first you take shelter of a guru, you test him, ask him questions. And then if you are convinced, he is trying to help you, he doesn’t do anything to hurt you, then you can surrender to him.

Question: How is it that some people are so hardhearted that they have firm belief that there is no God? How can their hearts be transformed?

Jayapatākā Swami: Some people have hard hearts, and they may not believe in God. There were some atheists like this, when they saw Lord Caitanya dancing and feeling ecstasy, they melted! And changed their attitude. So someone may be strong enough that just by their association, they can make the atheists theists! Sometimes they may be changed by philosophy and different things. I was talking to a person, the person was telling how there is no God, he was like expressing his atheism. Suddenly in San Francisco, there was an earthquake and the crystals behind him, the glass behind began to shake and it is a very dangerous thing. And this person was immediately changed. He started saying God save me, God save me! One minute the person was atheistic, and when the danger came and no one could save him, he prayed to God. So what changes people is an interesting question.

You all pray for my disciples Jagatmayī Kīrtidā devī dāsī and also Namo Narasiṁha dāsa who left their bodies. We will chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa for both of their souls to reach the spiritual world.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare /
Hare Rāma,Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

Thank you very much! Haribol!