20240208 Evening Darśana and 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: Today we had a Co-directors’ meeting that went long. It is very nice to see all you devotees very enthusiastically chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa! Haribol! How did you like the installation of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu yesterday? Bhalo legece? Liked it? We were blessed with the participation of their Holinesses Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami and Girirāja Swami. But this was the desire of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura to install the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya wherever He visited. Lord Caitanya is a very special avatāra. Today I heard a lecture by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. He was glorifying Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. One thing that Narendra Modi brought up, that every avatāra gives a little bhakti, but Lord Caitanya gave out that bhakti very freely! Gaurāṅga! So I see that you all have a lot of bhakti. That must be because you received the mercy of Lord Caitanya!

Most people, they don’t even think of God. Lord Caitanya taught us how to love the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I told some Christians, you believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. And you know something about the Son. But you don’t know much about the Father. Nor about the Holy Spirit. So His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he taught us about the Paramātmā, the Holy Spirit, in every one of your hearts is the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Holy Spirit, the Paramātmā. In every one of your hearts! And Paramātmā is an expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So I was telling them that you don’t know much about the Father! But here in India, we have a lot of teachings about Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, about the Father. Lord Caitanya desired that the knowledge about God should be spread all over the world.

The Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa. There is a nice verse today:

Bhagavad-gītā: 8.4

adhibhūtaṁ kṣaro bhāvaḥ
puruṣaś cādhidaivatam
adhiyajño ’ham evātra
dehe deha-bhṛtāṁ vara

Translation: O best of the embodied beings, the physical nature, which is constantly changing, is called adhibhūta [the material manifestation]. The universal form of the Lord, which includes all the demigods, like those of the sun and moon, is called adhidaiva. And I, the Supreme Lord, represented as the Supersoul in the heart of every embodied being, am called adhiyajña [the Lord of sacrifice].

Purport: The physical nature is constantly changing. Material bodies generally pass through six stages: they are born, they grow, they remain for some duration, they produce some by-products, they dwindle, and then they vanish. This physical nature is called adhibhūta. It is created at a certain point and will be annihilated at a certain point. The conception of the universal form of the Supreme Lord, which includes all the demigods and their different planets, is called adhidaivata. And present in the body along with the individual soul is the Supersoul, a plenary representation of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The Supersoul is called the Paramātmā or adhiyajña and is situated in the heart. The word eva is particularly important in the context of this verse because by this word the Lord stresses that the Paramātmā is not different from Him. The Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, seated beside the individual soul, is the witness of the individual soul’s activities and is the source of the soul’s various types of consciousness. The Supersoul gives the individual soul an opportunity to act freely and witnesses his activities. The functions of all these different manifestations of the Supreme Lord automatically become clarified for the pure Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee engaged in transcendental service to the Lord. The gigantic universal form of the Lord called adhidaivata is contemplated by the neophyte who cannot approach the Supreme Lord in His manifestation as Supersoul. The neophyte is advised to contemplate the universal form, or virāṭ-puruṣa, whose legs are considered the lower planets, whose eyes are considered the sun and moon, and whose head is considered the upper planetary system.

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Jayapatākā Swami: So we were talking about the Paramātmā. He is in every one of your hearts. He sees everything you are doing. Have you have done anything you are ashamed of? You see in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you do everything for the sevā of Kṛṣṇa. And there is nothing to be ashamed of if you do things in the right way. Just like the husband and wife pray to the Deities that they want to have Kṛṣṇa conscious, long lived, healthy, suptra or suptrī. But then there is nothing to be ashamed of. But if one doesn’t pray, then they are not trying to have a Kṛṣṇa conscious child. So, there is a saying, that we should not drink water underwater on a fast day. What does that mean? Drinking water underwater on a fast day. Say, you are bathing in the Ganges. No one can see you then when you take a dip. And you secretly take a few sips of water and you come up again and show that you are very austere! The Supersoul in you can see you! But we cannot cheat Kṛṣṇa. Drinking water underwater on a fast day means who are we cheating? So we want to serve Kṛṣṇa in a way that He will be pleased. There is a song by Locana dāsa Ṭhākura, and he says: saba avatāra sāra śiromaṇi, kevala ānanda-kāṇḍa. Of all the avatāras, Lord Caitanya is the sāra śiromaṇi. The crest jewel. And He gives out His mercy freely! The process that He gives, is kevala ānanda-kāṇḍa. Simply bliss! So, Nara Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi gave a process of meditation. Lord Caitanya, His process is chanting, dancing and feasting. What is the problem? Kevala ānanda-kāṇḍa!

So Lord Caitanya actually loves all of you. He was thinking how will these fallen souls get delivered? That you have been born in India is a great blessing! So how many of you downloaded the Jayapatākā Swami App? How many have mobile phones? How many of you do not have the Jayapatākā Swami App? Why don’t you if you have a smart phone, you can look up – Android Google Play Store and I Phone from Apple Store you can download for free. I send out messages everyday, what I do. You know what I do? Why not? See the App. No secret! You can also have a mobile phone and look up the Google Playstore or Apple Store. So we will see how many downloads of the App were there today.

Now is time for question-and-answer. These devotees are wonderful!

Question: Why is Māyāpur dhāma also called audārya-dhāma?

Jayapatākā Swami: What does audārya-dhāma mean – the dhāma of mercy. Jagannātha Purī is known as aiśvarya-dhāma, non-different from Dvārakā. Vṛndāvana is known as mādhurya-dhāma, very sweet. Lord Caitanya appeared in Navadvīpa dhāma. And He gives out kṛṣṇa-prema very freely. Therefore, it is known as audārya-dhāma. And you can get the mercy of the Lord there. Every activity is a thousand times more auspicious there. So when are you coming to Māyāpur?

Question: How can we stay focused in devotional service, especially the youngsters who are studying or working in offices?

Jayapatākā Swami: These how to questions! How to stay focused in bhakti? How should we be strong in bhakti-yoga? One should keep trying. Pray to the Lord, please bless me that I be strong, pray to guru that I am very, very desirous of being strong. Then think you have what it takes to be strong. Think that you need mercy. This māyā-śakti is very, very strong. But one time she also wants kṛṣṇa-prema. But her sevā is to test you. One time, Lord Śiva was chanting. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! And there were earthquakes, tsunamis, all over the universe. And Pārvatī Devī she was thinking now is not the time for mahā-pralaya. So she went back to Kailāsa and said, “Svāmī, Svāmī!” Lord Śiva, he stopped his dancing. He told, “Pārvatī, why did you stop my dancing?” Pārvatī said, “There were earthquakes and tsunamis and in Patāla-loka, and it is not the time for mahā-pralaya.”

Lord Śiva is known as Āśutoṣa, he is very easily satisfied. But Pārvatī was curious, she asked, “What were you chanting? What gave you so much spiritual bliss?” “I was chanting the name of Gaurāṅga!” Lord Śiva said. He comes in Kali-yuga and gives out love of Kṛṣṇa freely. Pārvatī asked, “How can I see Him? How can I get His mercy?” Lord Śiva said, “He is always in Navadvīpa dhāma and you can see Him there.” Pārvatī went to Navadvīpa dhāma and she began chanting: Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Lord Gaurāṅga appeared before Pārvatī Devī. She bowed down and she asked Lord Gaurāṅga that, “They call me Māyā. So I don’t get association with Your pure devotees. They call me the witch Māyā. And I heard You give out love of Kṛṣṇa freely. So I also want Your mercy!” Then Lord Caitanya told her that she was non-different from Rādhārāṇī. That you are the ardha-śakti, therefore you are non-different from Rādhārāṇī who is the internal śakti of the Lord. And in this place you can realize your connection with Rādhārāṇī. Pārvatī Devī took the dust of the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya, Lord Gaurāṅga’s lotus feet and she put it on her forehead between the parting of her hair. The island where she did that is the first island of Navadvīpa dhāma. It is known as Sīmantadvīpa. Because Pārvatī put the dust of Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet on her sīmanta, the parting of her hair. I forgot what your question was! So every island in Māyāpur is connected with devotional service. Just like the first dvīpa is Sīmantadvīpa for hearing. Like that every island is connected with devotion to the Lord.

Question: The ghosts, can they come to our ISKCON temples out of their will and hear the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and get liberated, or if their time in the body of a ghost they have to go through that in any case?

Jayapatākā Swami: This person is worried about the ghosts. Don’t become a bhūta, ghost! Don’t think of committing suicide. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it says that those who worship the ghost become a ghost. It is seen that auspicious things keep the inauspicious bhūtas, pretas, away. But I heard a story that someone sent some ghosts to an ISKCON temple. The devotees were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So some of the ghost got delivered, the others went back to the person that sent them and said these people are very strong. And they attacked the people that sent them. So, chapter 11 of Bhagavad-gītā, it shows how one can be saved from Rākṣasas. If one is an ordinary devotee and commits suicide, they become a ghost. But if one is a brāhmaṇa, second initiated, and they commit suicide, it is said they may be become a brahma-rākṣasa. So I request you, please do not commit suicide. There is a science about bhūtas. But we want to learn the science about Lord Kṛṣṇa. He is saying it is time to end.

Will I see you tomorrow? Hare Kṛṣṇa!