20240212 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: First I would like to thank the drama troupe for their presentation of Lord Nityānanda. You see, Lord Nityānanda, He came down just to help Lord Caitanya. And Nitāi Gaura said we should chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! In this temple, you have Gaura Nitāi and Śrīla Prabhupāda, and his guru. So by the mercy of Gaura Nitāi this Golden Age has started. Kali-yuga is an ocean of defects, but one good quality is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. What you could get in Satya-yuga by meditating, in Tretā-yuga by mahā-yajñas, what you could get in Dvāpara-yuga by arcana, in Kali-yuga you get the same by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. And this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra was brought to this world by Nitāi Gaura.

golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana

This chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa gradually, eventually awakens your dormant love for Kṛṣṇa. And we desire all of you to taste the ecstasy of serving Kṛṣṇa. So we see how this was brought to the world by Gaura Nitāi. Lord Nityānanda, He is empowered by Lord Caitanya to deliver everyone. Since we started late, since the drama took a long time, I won’t speak very long. And if you have any questions, you can ask.

Yesterday, how did you like the ceremonies? Did you like the drama? I was telling you yesterday that our men and women, they are not ordinary. They are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa and we should treat everybody very carefully.

What was your part in the drama? He was one of the friends of Nitāi.

Question: As a gṛhastha, is it always mandatory to wear Vaiṣṇava dress in our home? Of course, maṅgala-ārati, guru-ārati, gaura-ārati, are performed in Vaiṣṇava attired. Is it okay to offer bhoga in karmī clothes while at home?

Jayapatākā Swami: I mean if the husband or someone has to go out working, then they may wear their working clothes and bow down to the Lord. There should be some reason. Vaiṣṇava clothes are more relaxing. But everyone may have some particular situation. So, accordingly they may dress.

Question: How to apply that Kṛṣṇa is the doer concept in our day-to-day dealings?

Jayapatākā Swami: When we do anything right, we don’t want to take the credit. So, we take it as Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. We are small jīva-śakti. When we desire something, that is done through Kṛṣṇa and His energy. So we want to do devotional service by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.

Question: Can we offer tulasī water on Ekādaśī? Should we follow the days when not to pluck her leaves?

Jayapatākā Swami: You should take the advice of pūjārīs like Sevatulya Prabhu, who are very senior and experienced here. I think that on Dvādaśī there is a restriction to not pluck tulasī leaves. But you should ask the head pūjārīs. That is all I know that on Dvādaśī we do not pick. I did not hear there is restriction on any other days.

Question: In the Bhagavad-gītā we read that we are not the body, we are the soul. Can two people of the same gender be together and offer their service to Kṛṣṇa? Is it wrong to have same sex relations?

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, he or she is saying that we are not the body. But the question is being asked simply about the body. So, the man woman relation is specially meant to produce children. People of the same gender are not able to produce children. In America they have stores that sell men’s semen. The hatches ladies they purchase male semen and have children. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is said that husband and wife if they have a relation, it is considered celibacy. Till today, I have read that people of the same gender if they have a relation that is still illicit sex. 

Question: Can we chant with japa-mālā without having bath at 4 am in brāhma-muhūrta, in case we are not well or health is not good?

Jayapatākā Swami: If you are sick, you cannot take bath, this Kṛṣṇa can understand. First if you want you can take an acamana and take a mantra-snāna, mental bath, chanting the śuci-mantra.

Question: Are we responsible for all the thoughts that come in our mind?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, in Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara yugas, any thought you have you are responsible. In Kali-yuga you are responsible for what you do. Not what you think. But if you think bad things again and again, you may have a tendency to do that. Just like we saw in the drama today. Remember Nitāi Gaura, keep Them in your mind. Haribol!

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

Tomorrow night, another class! Maybe the last class I don’t know, in this visit. We haven’t made a plan yet. How many of you have downloading the Jayapatākā Swami App? How many have not? If you have an android smart phone, you can find the app in the Google Play Store. If you have an Apple smart phone you can download from the Apple Play Store. I wrote yesterday’s program Haribol!