Question: Sometimes I have more to study, but I do want to do my devotional service as well. But my studies make me anxious. How to keep a balance?

Author: Devotee
Date: 2024-02-20
Jayapatākā Swami: I had said during the class
if we study as a service to the Lord,
then there will be service and study as well.
This way, to have taste for service you have to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra more.
If you do that way, the mind will work well.
Any studies you do you can offer as a service to the Lord.
And it will also help in understanding the economics as well.
You can study and do service in the temple as well.
Some will become engineer, or doctor, they can help the devotees.
In Bangladesh there are about 100-temples and you can help in building new temples, guest houses, youth hostels.
That is why we need engineers. Right?
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Education], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety]

Related Questions

A lot of us who are working and or students, we often face a lot of anxiety and stress at work, and those days our mind does not want to focus on Lord Kṛṣṇa or think of Kṛṣṇa, so what is the best say on those situations, in those days to try to focus or mind to remind us of Kṛṣṇa?
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2023-09-04
Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know why your mind doesn’t want to think about Kṛṣṇa!
Kṛṣṇa is our shelter.
And we can apologize for feeling some anxiety, that I should not be feeling like this,
so we pray to Kṛṣṇa to give us strength,
so that we don’t succumb to these modes of ignorance and passion.
He is our best friend, right?
From seventh - dāsyam, sakhyam, ātma-nivedanam, eighth He is our friend!
You want to tell your friend, you are feeling some anxiety.
What are friends for? Right?
Category: [Emotions / Confusion], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead)], [Sādhanā]
Although our goal is to just serve Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga life after life, there are still many distractions. Why?
Questioner: Bhaktin Pūjā
Date: 2022-09-30
Jayapatākā Swami: You see, this material world is like a prison house.
And if you serve Kṛṣṇa, you get out of this prison.
If you serve guru and Kṛṣṇa, you will be free!
Do you think that the jail keeper will let you go so easy?!
She tests you first to see that you are really sincere.
And when you pass the test, she will offer you her obeisances.
Thank you, you can go back to Godhead!
Category: [Anarthās], [Aparādha (Offenses)], [Emotions / Enthusiasm], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Sādhanā / Sevā]
As a student, what is the best way to preach and remain in Kṛṣṇa consciousness? How to remain focused while chanting?
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2024-02-21
Jayapatākā Swami: If one is preaching, why can one then one not remain fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?
If we understand, just like this pandemic is going on.
That, the material nature gives us the promise that we will be happy.
But we always end up getting kicked!
Lord Caitanya taught that we should tolerate, be tolerant of the happiness,be tolerant of the suffering.
And to develop our natural affection for Kṛṣṇa.
So, by having good association, you will be better equipped in preaching in the college.
The second question?
Before I met the devotees,
I had this problem.
My mind was going here and there and everywhere.
Once I had the process of bhakti-yoga,
it was so nice
that I didn’t want to go anywhere else!
So I don’t really understand this question!
If you practice bhakti-yoga, if you read the books,
then naturally, you will be fixed!
Hare Kṛṣṇa!
At least we can regulate our material life
so that we have Kṛṣṇa in the center.
I am very happy that we have many gṛhasthas here.
Śrīla Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura, he was gṛhastha-guru.
So in his song, about Godrumadvīpa in Nāmahaṭṭa,
he says, Kṛṣṇera samsāra kara, chāri anācāra.
He said, make a Kṛṣṇa conscious family.
Give up the unauthorized activities.
So like eating these creatures and doing different kinds of prohibited things like drinking
or taking narcotics,
naturally that makes one mentally disturbed.
So, he was stating that make a Kṛṣṇa conscious family, and give up the unauthorized things. 
One more question?
Tell me whether you would like more darśanas like this?
How often I should have it?
Thank you very much!
Hare Kṛṣṇa
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Education]
How can we counsel somebody who is depressed, without getting carried away by their problems ourselves?
Questioner: Rasapriya Gopikā devī dāsī, Māyāpur
Date: 2022-10-04
Jayapatākā Swami: Some people are more sentimental, and they get carried away by other people’s problems.
But actually, as Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad-gītā,
we should not lament for the living or the dead.
So by reading the Bhagavad-gītā,
Kṛṣṇa advices how one can
give the teachings of Kṛṣṇa, but avoid being affected by the problems.
Thank you.
Category: [Emotions / Confusion], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings]
How can we keep ourselves unaffected by the non-devotees people around us especially at school?
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2023-09-02
Jayapatākā Swami: Preach to them,
don’t let them preach to you!
Think how you can help them on the path to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Thank you for – you remember Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was in a school with all demon children,
but he preached to them
and he got them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
They said we are kids, we want to play, we don’t want to chant.
He said, you spend half your life sleeping, playing,
Category: [Anarthās / Bad association], [Day-to-day Life], [Day-to-day Life / Education], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings / Association (Sādhu-saṅga)]
How do I balance material and spiritual study? Is not material study a hindrance to spiritual preaching?
Questioner: Jagatbandu Pal
Date: 2022-10-04
Jayapatākā Swami: So we should do our study as a service to Kṛṣṇa.
By this education we will be able to reach out more effectively to many people.
Like Jīva Gosvāmī, he went to university first.
So that he could serve his gurudeva more effectively.
So if you see your education as part of service to Kṛṣṇa and guru,
then it should not be a hindrance,
for your spiritual advancement.
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Education], [Emotions / Confusion], [Sādhanā / Philosophical questions], [Youth]
How to fix our mind on guru and Kṛṣṇa even in trying situations, when it difficult to keep calm on account of mental anxiety ?
Questioner: Antīmā devī dāsī.
Date: 2022-10-17
Jayapatākā Swami: You see we should have the vision of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura,
seeing the difference from material relationship,
and the spiritual reality.
If we have this knowledge,
naturally we can transcend the suffering and troubles of the material world.
But since we are conditioned, and we lament over things which should not be lamented for,
therefore, say one family member dies,
different varṇas have different times or periods, when we are not supposed to go to the temple.
I think brāhmaṇas have 11 days and śūdras 30 days.
So, the more one has spiritual knowledge,
they may be able to recover.
Now I heard that the head priest of the Guruvāyur temple,
if someone dies in his family,
they wouldn’t tell him.
Because if they told him,
he would have to stop worship for so many days.
So, while he is in the six months as head priest.
He would not hear about any misfortune in his family.
Fixing your mind on guru and Kṛṣṇa, is a matter of spiritual wisdom.
Category: [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Guru (Spiritual Master)], [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead)], [Sādhanā / Philosophical questions]
I have some problems related to the body and the mind. Should I chant the Narasiṁha-kavaca and pray to Lord Narasiṁhadeva separately, or just go on chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa ?
Questioner: Hemāṇga Haladhara dāsa
Date: 2022-09-10
Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda said chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
And you can occasionally pray to Lord Prahlāda Narasiṁha,
but as a regular practice chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Health], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Sādhanā / Chanting (Japa)]
I want to know what is the right mood to take the initiation test?
Questioner: Liz Valero
Date: 2022-10-05
Jayapatākā Swami: You have to listen to and read the books.
Understand the teachings, at least the basic books.
If you read the books, the questions are fairly simple. For instance, what is the difference between the body and soul.
You can have the questions in advance, no secret.
So if you want the questions, we can send you.
So any way don’t feel anxiety.
We want you to pass your test.
And if you don’t pass it first time,
you can ask for the answers.
Next time you pass.
I think they are not so difficult.
Why do you believe that Kṛṣṇa is God?
Questions like that, they are very simple.
More complicated for second initiation.
They have to pass Bhakti-śāstri.
For first initiation, they are very simple.
Okay? No anxiety! Be calm!
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Education], [Emotions / Enthusiasm], [Sādhanā / Reading / Śāstra], [Sādhanā / Sevā]
My parents are forcing me to eat meat against my will. What should I do?
Questioner: Misha Kasmagar, Russia
Date: 2022-10-05
Jayapatākā Swami: Why they don’t want you to be vegetarian?
Maybe if you can prove to them that the proteins and the vitamins that you need
from different vegetarian items.
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Children], [Day-to-day Life / Food], [Day-to-day Life / Parents], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Sādhanā / Regulative Principles]
Scripture says that on hearing these pastimes we will be freed from distress. I see that I am still much distressed. Is it because I am not hearing the pastimes with proper attitude and mood?
Questioner: Rasapriya Gopikā Devī Dāsī
Date: 2022-10-24
Maybe shes not hearing? Well I can't say.
She is thinking of her problems, not listening.
Category: [Emotions / Confusion], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead) / Pastimes], [Sādhanā / Philosophical questions]
Sometimes especially at school it is very easy to get swayed by whatever is happening, and sometimes it is very distracting, and other times it is extremely hard to stay focused on Kṛṣṇa 100%. Under the circumstances how can we remember Kṛṣṇa?
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2023-09-02
Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes Yaśodā was boiling milk on the stove
and then Kṛṣṇa was crying.
So it was very intense – what should she do? See the milk or go to see Kṛṣṇa.
So the actual devotional service always has these kinds of special situations,
and how you serve Kṛṣṇa in these moments, Kṛṣṇa is watching you.
It is very easy to serve Kṛṣṇa when everything is ideal,
but when one is being pulled by different māyās and different things then it is more complicated.
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Education]
There are many discussions whether or not we should children to school opposed to gurukula. Home schooling or devotee run schools? In a place where there is no devotee run school or gurukula, is it okay to send our children to karmī-run school, while helping them to learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness at home?
Questioner: Mathurā Līleśvarī devī dāsī, Gītā Nagarī, USA
Date: 2022-01-09
Jayapatākā Swami: You have to see the school I guess.
See what the situation is.
One of my South American disciples,
her daughter went to school,
and accidentally they switched her lunch box
to the non veg box.
She went to the school and complained.
How this the Kārtika or Dāmodara month.
So the school said, oh, you can prepare a lamp offering with all the students?
So then they brought candles
and all the students offered lamps to
Yaśodā Dāmodara.
So you can see what kind of school it is.
Whether it is a parochial school.
Hard do to say. I don’t know why you ask a sannyāsī these things.
You should ask gṛhasthas!
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Education]
When Vidura was insulted by Duryodhana, he converted his adversity into an opportunity to visit holy places and to associate with saintly people. When similar adversities come in our life, how do we act as Vidura did?
Questioner: Akhila Bandhu Gopāla Dāsa [Indore]
Date: 2022-09-06
Jayapatākā Swami: So your question is being answered by Vidura.
He did not get upset, he saw that, he took it as an opportunity to increase his Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
You should not become morose, maybe by this you get rid of bad karma.
And in the material world there is this kind of false criticism.
That is why we want to transfer you to the spiritual world.
You are coming from Madhya Pradesh.
Nice to hear how people are hearing the class from Madhya Pradesh.
Category: [Emotions / Enthusiasm], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead) / Pastimes], [Sādhanā], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings / Association (Sādhu-saṅga)]
When we go to university to study, I do bhakti but my fellow students do not do bhakti. I want to preach to them as I don’t feel good about this. How do I make them understand?
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2024-02-20
Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda said that the path of devotional service happens gradually.
First, you have to say something easy for them.
Chant the name of Kṛṣṇa once and you will be happy.
If someone is interested in doing service to Kṛṣṇa, give them that.
From 17th September to 23rd September the ‘World Holy Name Week’ is being celebrated.
That is why they want many people to get together and chant the holy name.
Those who have smart phone,
make a video in which one time you say that I am from Bangladesh and I am chanting for world peace and happiness and chant:
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare
And send this.
If you chant these names, you will get love for Kṛṣṇa.
There is no need to give much details.
Just say you will be fortunate, just chant the holy name.
We will send the video to America.
Fortunatepeople.com
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Education], [Sādhanā / Preaching]
Where does the stress come from for someone who is increasing his devotional service? Why is it there?
Questioner: Anon
Date: 2022-08-02
Jayapatākā Swami: Attachment.
All off of… Sometimes the stress is external.
Sometimes obstacles are put up by demons.
So that creates a kind of distressful situation,
but if a person by learning to surrender to Kṛṣṇa in those times, by being tolerant, you see...
We have to learn tolerance.
Something that we have forgotten.
Something that can be, tolerance level can be built up, you see.
Just like in the airplane, I was flying over… and... Singapore Airline, there was one person who was very nasty to the steward.
But the steward completely kept his cool and just returned by saying, “Yes, sir,
I will…" The person was completely obnoxious, completely off the wall or something.
But the person just became very cool in reciprocation and just very suavely, you know, replied the person.
I was in Eastern Airways and some person who had drunk a few drinks just said a little something.
An American guy said, “You are not getting any drinks!
You want to stay on the plane?
No drinks! Otherwise, you get off!”
This is the way he dealt, you know.
A person immediately... He could have held it nicer.
“Listen buddy, you had too many.
Take it easy,” you know.
But no, the guy was so much on the air that steward, that as soon as he said, immediately, you know, he got all riled up.
So, you know, it’s a question of training.
Therefore, Singapore Airline gets a number one rating in the world, and Eastern is not within the rating, within America.
They don’t make even the top ten anyway.
But Singapore and Swiss are considered to be the best service in the world in terms of airline just because the stewards there are trained.
So, we can also be trained in tolerance, you see.
Generally, in America, we are trained not to be very tolerant for any kind of austerity.
Rather they go out to no end of creating new inventions - how you can avoid any kind of austerity, you see.
While living in India, one has to always take austerity because there is just no facility for aust… for anything but austerity.
There is no modern facilities like that but... on one level.
Here I find it very austere in the West for other reasons.
Different type of austerities.
Anyway, it is all relative.
But the main thing is we build up our tolerance to accept these different kinds of difficulties that may come up.
And rather than relate with them or start to become body-conscious and mental-conscious unnecessarily -
to become agitated by them, we overcome them by fixing our mind on Kṛṣṇa.
Just like it says in the Nectar of Devotion, “Say that you stub your foot,
at that moment instead of saying ouch or something or whatever some other thing, then you say Kṛṣṇa.
So that you don’t have to take another… just by that alone, you can get liberation.”
So the point is that when you are in distress, then where do you turn to?
You turn to your mind.
You turn to some other shelter.
Where do you take shelter?
When the pressure is on, where do you go for shelter, you know?
I know devotees who chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, but when the going gets rough, when they get agitated, when they have difficulty, you know,
they go out and take a drug on the side.
They bloop, kind of half-bloop, and now they are very weak.
If there is any difficulty, they can’t learn.
They don’t take shelter of Kṛṣṇa.
Instead they go on take drugs.
Therefore, you know, they take a marijuana or something.
Of course, those are people not generally in our temples.
But I know there is people like that.
That as soon as going gets rough, they surrender to māyā, you see.
Instead of chanting more intensely, hearing more carefully, reading the śāstras, absorbing… taking shelter.
My mind is being agitated by something, either my own body or some external cause,
and so at that moment, to actually depend on, take shelter of Kṛṣṇa that is the best training for us.
If we learn to depend on Kṛṣṇa in difficulty, then at time of death,
when it comes the final exam, when that death is facing us, we are not going to turn to something else,
“Oh! I am in big trouble now, give me this, give me no.”
No. Just surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then we go back to Kṛṣṇa.
Death is a very painful thing, painful situation.
So how are we going to face that if we are already completely habituated to facing so many difficulties
and always depending on Kṛṣṇa, if it is a reflex.
Any difficulty comes we learn to depend on Kṛṣṇa.
Then naturally, in death we will depend on Kṛṣṇa.
In every situation, we will depend upon Kṛṣṇa.
Therefore, the devotee is always protected.
But if we learn to depend on any other material thing, then we have to again come back till we learn not to rely on any designation or anything else other than Kṛṣṇa.
He is our only crutch, He is our guide, guru and Kṛṣṇa.
Remember the words of the guru.
Category: [Emotions / Enthusiasm], [Emotions / Stress/Anxiety], [Sādhanā], [Vratās (Austerities)]
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