20231008 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question & Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 8th, 2023 in Mangalore, 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: I thought I will just come and answer a few questions. That is of course, if you have questions. My assistant, His Grace Mahā Varāha dāsa was speaking and we like that everybody gets a chance to hear from different devotees.

We follow the nine processes of devotional service. The first process is hearing, śravaṇam. The second process is singing or hearing, that is also known as kīrtanam. Then we want to remember what has been spoken, that is smaraṇam. We want to do service for Kṛṣṇa, pāda-sevanam. Like that, there are nine processes of devotional service. And we like to perform all of them for the pleasure of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So, do you have any questions? If you write it down then it will be a secret who asked the question! Unless you put your name there! Do they have any question?

Question: How do you know the services we do actually satisfies you?

Jayapatākā Swami: Nice question! Because we should do service to please guru and Kṛṣṇa. Now certain things the guru has said, he would like to be done. Just like I told Nāma-niṣṭhā that I would like a temple to be constructed. So doing that sevā, constructing a temple, he knows that it is pleasing to the guru. Right?

Nāma-niṣṭhā dāsa: Actually, I went to meet Guru Mahārāja and this was in Tirupati. And he was being very kind to me. He told me, “Construct a temple.” So I said, “Please put your hand and order.” That was the time he put his hand on my head and ordered, “Make a beautiful temple with all the facilities.” At that moment we were only three devotees and no money! And I remember next detail he told me, on June 5th Pānihāṭi 2020 that what are you doing? That was an online visit. We hardly had any devotees and I said, “There was nothing to do because everything is closed.” “Why don’t you do like Chennai, Guru Mahārāja”, said. “6,000 devotees attended their course online.” So I thought Sumitra Kṛṣṇa dāsa did 6,000, Nāma-niṣṭhā will do 10,000! And I tried, within four days, 10,000 people registered. And we don’t even know where the money came from, we don’t even know, in fact all the devotees Guru Mahārāja initiated yesterday, all came from online and it is unbelievable.

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa! Thank you, Guru Mahārāja.

Prema Prakāśa Haridāsa (Dr. Parekh): Single most important incident with Śrīla Prabhupāda which you want us to know and learn.

Jayapatākā Swami: You know Śrīla Prabhupāda taught many things. So he was asking what is the most important thing to learn from the spiritual master. So everybody had a different idea. But Śrīla Prabhupāda’s idea was that you should learn pure bhakti, how to serve Kṛṣṇa. This attitude of service is the most important thing. Just like Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the West to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world. He said what is the secret. He said the secret was everything he did was to follow his spiritual master. Like his spiritual master told him to publish books. His spiritual master told him to establish a GBC. So everything he did, he tried to carry out the instruction of his spiritual master. That was his secret of success.

Question: How to take our inabilities in performing some seva and in material life?

Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes someone is expert at something. Sometimes they are not expert. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is expert at everything. So, we try to do all the services for Kṛṣṇa and some services will be well done, and some could be better. So, we ask Kṛṣṇa for mercy to do our services better. And shortcomings are taken as areas that we need to concentrate more on.

Rukmiṇī devī dāsī: Please guide us how to avoid vaiṣṇava-aparādha? .

Jayapatākā Swami: So, first we should know what Vaiṣṇava-aparādha is. That is why at the time of initiation, we tell the ten offences. Then, the second thing is that we avoid committing them! You see, someone may say, oh! I did not know it was an offence! So first thing you should know these are the offences. Just like the first offence is to offend a devotee of the Lord. So you should avoid doing that. And if you do, then you should get forgiven.

Like Mother Śacī, she committed an offence against Lord Advaita. So then Lord Caitanya and many associates, they went to see Advaita Ācārya. He asked what brings everybody here? Then Lord Caitanya said, “Mother Śacī committed an offence against you, therefore she has come to get your forgiveness.” And Advaita Ācārya said, “Mother Śacī, Mother Śacī?!! How can she offend Me?! She is such a wonderful devotee! She carried Lord Caitanya in her womb!” And He started to glorify Mother Śacī for all her devotional service. And then He was so ecstatic glorifying Mother Śacī, that He fainted! Then Lord Caitanya said, “He is not going to forgive you. So what you can do is take the dust from His lotus feet. By taking His dust, you will get forgiven. But if you ask Him to forgive you, He will not do it.” So then, she took the dust from Advaita Ācārya’s lotus feet and then everybody chanted Haribol! The girls, the ladies, did ulu-dhvanī. Ladies only do that. I cannot do that! So like this, then Lord Caitanya, He forgave His mother for her Vaiṣṇava-aparādha.

Question: How to do sakhyam?

Jayapatākā Swami: Be a friend of Kṛṣṇa! Many are friends in Vṛndāvana, Arjuna was also a friend. Uddhava was a friend. So, one can be a friend by following the footsteps of the friend. Are you ready? 

Giridhārī Gopīnātha dāsa: Please give tips or suggestions to concentrate on chanting without distractions or deviations. The mind often goes off. 

Jayapatākā Swami: Gamblers ask, any tip, what horse to bet on? But here you see Śrīla Prabhupāda said that it should take us not more than about two hours to chant 16 rounds. So being a manager for many years in ISKCON, different ideas would trouble my mind of things I had to do. Today I have to see the DM. Today I have to buy this, buy that. So many thoughts come in the mind. So what I do is I have a little notebook and I would write down the thought because otherwise the thought would keep coming back, coming back. I would write the thought to buy something, to do something. Then I would put the book in my pocket and would continue chanting. Sometimes I would see my watch to make sure that I was not taking too much time for chanting. And I would be concentrating on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mūrti.

Ati Sundara Jagannātha dāsa: How to dedicate my life for your service? 

Jayapatākā Swami: When it is some pūjā time, say Dīpāvalī or something, you buy something for your sister, your mother, your loved ones. So while you are buying that you are thinking what does this person like? What should I get? Like that, the act of shopping becomes an act of love. And so in the same way when you want to do something for the spiritual master, you think like that, what will be pleasing? What can be used? And that way, it is an act of love for your spiritual master. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Rāsaraṅginī Rādhikā devī dāsī: How do we know I love Kṛṣṇa?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, you can use Rādhārāṇī’s method and how do you know that you love Kṛṣṇa enough So Rādhārāṇī no matter how much She loves Kṛṣṇa, She thinks I don’t love Kṛṣṇa enough. So why should you think that I love Kṛṣṇa enough? We should never feel that what we are doing, what we love is enough. By trying to serve Kṛṣṇa better, trying to love Kṛṣṇa more, that way you can always increase your bhakti.

Thank you very much!