Question: If all the living entities got liberated, what would be the use of this material world ?
Author: Anonymous
Date: 2022-07-29
Jayapatākā Swami: You see, this same question was said.
Vāsudeva Datta, one great devotee of Lord Caitanya, he prayed, “I want to deliver all the fallen souls,
let them all go back to Kṛṣṇa and I take all their karma;
I will personally take all of their karma, and I will suffer here forever until all the karma is worked out.
Let them go back to Kṛṣṇa, I alone will suffer.”
And Lord Caitanya, He saw the great compassion of His devotee was crying, embraced him and said that,
“You don’t have to worry, they are already delivered by your desire.”
But as soon as one batch is delivered, there is unlimited jīvātmās that are still now in a dormant stage, in the brahma-jyoti, in different position.
And as soon as one batch of jīvas delivered from the universe, again new jīvātmās come down, so you don’t have to worry; there is always a fresh supply.
Category: [Material World]
Related Questions
Questioner: Akhila Bandhu Gopāla dāsa
Date: 2022-08-27
Jayapatākā Swami: That is wishful thinking!
Do you ever find 100% of the people receptive?
There are always a few who are attached to their material things.
This is in our planet, what to speak of other planets?
I mean, in the lower planets they are very much demoniac.
But anyway, that is not a problem.
If you make everybody a devotee, very good! Kṛṣṇa will not complain.
But there will always be some who will not be interested.
You have the animals, the birds, the trees, the fish,
if you can make all of them Kṛṣṇa conscious, very good!
At least Lord Caitanya He had all the animals chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
So if we can at least get the human beings to be Kṛṣṇa conscious that would be a good thing.
Category: [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead) / Spiritual World / Dhāma], [Material World], [Sādhanā / Philosophical questions]
Questioner: Swapnil Tikale
Date: 2022-10-17
Jayapatākā Swami: No!
Advancement in spiritual life is not dependent on anything material.
If one is born in a rich family, the advantage is that they don’t have to struggle to maintain themselves,
but similar some situations which can be helpful,
but it is not essential,
to make advancement.
Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā that if someone serves Him and doesn’t finish,
they don’t lose,
they are either born in a family of rich merchant
or devotee,
or they take birth in heavenly planets.
So there is no loss by doing devotional service even if one doesn’t finish.
And one can advance in any situation.
Look at Prahlāda Mahārāja, he advanced even he was in the family of demons.
Haribol!
Category: [Material World], [Material World / Guṇas / Modes], [Sādhanā], [Sādhanā / Philosophical questions]
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2022-08-27
Jayapatākā Swami: You see we are trying to remember Kṛṣṇa.
And by following the path of navavida-bhakti we are trying to engage in devotional service.
And therefore, we want to return to the spiritual world to serve Kṛṣṇa personally.
But the karmīs, they are trying to find a solution to their material problems so that they can have interrupted sense gratification.
In this way they take birth after birth after birth after birth.
But we actually have this human life we should take advantage and go back to Godhead.
Category: [Material Sufferings], [Material World], [Sādhanā / Philosophical questions], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings / Vaiṣṇava-qualities]
Questioner: Purnima
Date: 2022-10-22
Jayapatākā Swami: You see,
if one
worships Kṛṣṇa,
chants Hare Kṛṣṇa,
reads Bhāgavatam, Gītā
and other Kṛṣṇa conscious things,
you can make use of this
temporary relationship
*repetitition*
to
be Kṛṣṇa conscious.
To help others be Kṛṣṇa conscious.
and some people have certain desires
so you can regulate these desires
and
cross over all the obstacles.
Although
things are temporary,
they can last for this life.
If you have a Kṛṣṇa conscious husband
then you can practice your Kṛṣṇa consciousness
very peacefully.
So it is important
that a man finds a woman
and a woman finds a man who is krsna consciousness or atleast favorable.
at least favorable.
Maybe you can make him a devotee.
I know some women
who have overestimation of their ability
to make people devotees. (Laughing)
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Married life], [Material World], [Sādhanā / Philosophical questions], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings / Etiquette / Sadācāra], [Women]
Questioner: Ānandinī Sītā devī dāsī
Date: 2022-08-29
Although we have to associate with non-devotees we should not intimately associate with them.
And if we try to give them the holy name, try to give them Bhagavad-gītā, that will be very effective.
We don’t take their association; we give them our association.
Vidura did not go to Dhṛtarāṣṭra to get his satsaṅga.
He went to give his satsaṅga
We should when we meet non-devotees we should think how to bring the person closer to Kṛṣṇa.
Not to engage in prajalpa with them.
Thank you Ānandini Sītā for your question.
Category: [Anarthās], [Anarthās / Bad association], [Anarthās / Māyā], [Material World], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings / Association (Sādhu-saṅga)]
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2023-01-20
Jayapatākā Swami: Pray to Śrīla Prabhupāda, pray to your guru and do your sevā correctly.
Passion means lust. To do it to get some material benefit.
Ignorance means crazy, lazy.
Anger – I will show you that I am the best devotee! I will kill you by my bhakti! And some crazy thing!
So avoid passion and ignorance, and what is left is goodness.
So we do devotional service – hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate –
to please the senses of Kṛṣṇa, not for ourselves.
Questioner: Jānakī Śantirūpā devī dāsī
Date: 2022-09-22
Category: [Day-to-day Life / Children], [Day-to-day Life / Married life], [Day-to-day Life / Parents], [Day-to-day Life / Relatives], [Material World]
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2023-03-13
Jayapatākā Swami: When I was in Canada, I told my pūrvāśrama parents that I had joined Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
And my father said, I should come back immediately and be in the American Army and fight in Vietnam.
So I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda what should I do?
He told me, better you serve in Kṛṣṇa’s army.
So I have been in Kṛṣṇa’s army ever since.
And I am very happy to have visited Russia.
And I also went to Siberia, and I think I went to Omsk.
I also went to Vladivostok, to the Urals,
then to Yekaterinburg and various places.
But now I stay mostly in India, but I travel a little bit.
I think that devotees, they are above these designations of nations.
So, we try to help the devotees from both Russia and Ukraine.
They are all part of Kṛṣṇa’s family.
This war is very superficial.
We hope that people will take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Rather than trying to kill each other!
Haribol!
Category: [Devotee Care], [Material Sufferings], [Material World], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings], [Vaiṣṇava Dealings / Association (Sādhu-saṅga)]
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2023-01-20
Jayapatākā Swami: You see that is why we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa!
That changes our consciousness.
And then we see how this material world is a temporary place of suffering.
Lord Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad-gītā about this material world, it is – duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam.
So we should engage ourselves in Kṛṣṇa’s service.
Doesn’t matter where we are, material world or spiritual world, we do the same activities, engage in Kṛṣṇa’s service.
And I told the story about the Yamadūtas, we want to give them a vacation.
But if we want to give them service, they are ready to do it.
Also, Lord Caitanya revealed how by doing devotional service we get transcendental bliss.
Animals have āhāra, nidrā, bhaya, maithuna.
Human beings have the same plus devotional service.
So, the secret is to engage in devotional service.
Not to be an animal.
The modern world is just to make animal life more comfortable.
Why do the human beings have better, easier life than animals?
Because they have extra time to do devotional service.
I live in New York now and one thing about New York is lots of people, lots of events, lots of noise, lots of money, and I am 25 years old and one of the things I am thinking about is understanding how to balance living in the materialist world and having accomplishments, and meeting people and networking, but also living a peaceful, spiritual fulfilling life. How do I, at 25 who is ambitious and want to serve my community, but also not be attached to so many things, how do I find that balance?
Questioner: Dr Pandit
Date: 2023-11-09
Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya, He told many people that they should keep their heart on Kṛṣṇa,
but they should do their material activities in a very responsible way.
He gave the example that say, a married woman has another lover than her husband.
And so, she does not want to be discovered and does her activities very carefully.
Household activities are very good.
But her mind is always thinking about her lover.
So Lord Caitanya advises keep your mind on Kṛṣṇa,
but do your material activities outwardly in a very responsible way.
That is how He advised to balance the things.
Like, we found that when we first joined Kṛṣṇa consciousness in 1968,
we were chanting on the street,
and we would see people walking by and they would react in different ways.
And we were somehow, we were in a different atmosphere.
And we could see all the mental trips and things that people were going through.
And so, being in New York, you see lots of people, but you can understand what is the real purpose of life?
And while you are in this world, in this life,
you have to do things to make your family work.
But ultimately you want to go back to the spiritual world,
and so that way you keep your mind on Kṛṣṇa.
Questioner: Milan, ISKCON Youth Forum, Baroda
Date: 2022-10-15
Jayapatākā Swami: You see Lord Caitanya, He taught that you can achieve perfection whether you are a vairāgī or a householder.
So, if you are a householder you should try to keep Kṛṣṇa in the center.
I saw one drama from the Chennai youths.
One girl and one boy were playing Yamadūtas and one lady, girl was playing Yamarāja.
She painted her mustache as Yamarāja.
The Yamadūtas they were complaining. Yamarāja! What do we do? These Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees have deities in the houses, they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, they read Bhagavad-gītā, what do we do?
We cannot take them to hell!
Maybe need a way to find another chākrī, another job!
So it was very interesting to see the Yamadūtas complaining.
Actually, one family in Kolkata, the mother, children, were all initiated.
Everyone but the father.
He was dead against.
But then he was diagnosed with cancer.
He was in bed ,
and he saw two hairy people with leather ropes, walk through the wall.
He said, “No, no, no, no! No, no!”
Somehow they left.
He called his wife, “I want the neck bead.
I want the Bhagavad-gītā, I want the japa-mālā.”
What we were trying so long, the Yamadūtas in few minutes they changed him.
So he became very Kṛṣṇa conscious after that.
Category: [Anarthās], [Anarthās / Māyā], [Gauḍīya History / Śrīla Prabhupāda], [Karma / Desires], [Material World], [Sādhanā / Sevā]
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2022-10-05
Jayapatākā Swami: Since He is the Absolute Truth,
so everything is in Him.
But He is bigger than anything else.
So it is not that anyone can contain Kṛṣṇa totally.
He is bigger than everything.
He is the cause of all causes.
And He is without any cause Himself.
Category: [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead)], [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead) / Spiritual World / Dhāma], [Material World], [Sādhanā / Philosophical questions], [Sādhanā / Reading / Śāstra]
Questioner: Jayarāseśvarī devī dāsī
Date: 2022-08-27
Jayapatākā Swami: It is on the border.
Category: [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead) / Spiritual World / Dhāma], [Material World], [Material World / Demigods]
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2024-02-19
Jayapatākā Swami: To take shelter is not that difficult.
That is basically a time of testing.
Then gradually you read the said books,
follow the regulative principles.
This is practice time.
I don’t get any reaction.
It is time for you to see if you can do it.
After six months or more, whenever you feel ready, you can take initiation.
But you should finish the things in the checklist.
You may not wake up early, but somethings you have to do.
You need to get some spiritual knowledge.
Maybe some like the Bhagavad-gītā they have in the audio form.
When you are cooking for your husband, you can hear the Bhagavad-gītā audio.
That way you can also finish reading by hearing.
Read the Bhagavad-gītā two or three times,
what is the problem?
The first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, I don’t if there is an audio or not.
I read every night when I go to sleep half hour.
And although I have read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam many, many times,
every time I hear, I get some new ideas.
Sometimes you can hear or you can read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
But don’t be afraid,
you don’t take vows till initiation.
So, taking shelter is just a preparation.
You can see whether you are ready or not.
When you feel ready then you can take initiation.
Category: [Material Sufferings], [Material World]
Questioner: Murāri Hari dāsa
Date: 2022-10-15
Jayapatākā Swami: You see everybody wants to enjoy,
they want to be happy.
But actually, the real happiness is from the spiritual kingdom.
In the material world everything is temporary.
So it is not possible to get permanent happiness,
and to get some happiness we have to get a lot of suffering also.
Like, old age, disease,
studying,
spend so much time to study,
if you are working,
and other people in your workplace may be envious
and they want to screw you,
so they can look good, so then can be the General Manager.
So we find that Quality Control, Operations, Marketing, they are actually trying to create problem for others.
So real happiness that you get is from Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Then you chant and dance.
Sometimes Lord Caitanya said one feels so much bliss
that they cry, laugh.
So like this they feel very happy.
Everyone wants to feel happy.
But māyā eludes us, she kicks us that we be, will be happy in material life.
That if we have lot of sense gratification, we will happy.
But actually, that doesn’t give real happiness.
So one should use this human birth, to be Kṛṣṇa conscious.
So, if you think you are the body, then this deep-rooted desire to enjoy the body will come.
But if you realize that you are not the body, then you will try to enjoy by giving pleasure to Kṛṣṇa.
And by giving Kṛṣṇa pleasure we feel happier.
Category: [Karma / Desires], [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead) / Spiritual World / Dhāma], [Material World], [Sādhanā / Sevā]
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2023-10-29
Jayapatākā Swami: Very good!
Lord Caitanya said that
we should be very humble to all.
To think oneself very sinful, fallen is a humble state of mind.
But in the humble state of mind, one should not lose their enthusiasm.
They should remain enthusiastic, not to remain in the fallen state.
We should not think that I am sinful and therefore I should not practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Because we are sinful that is why we should practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
That way we can solve our problems.
There are different incarnations with different purposes. Can we worship all the incarnations just like in the material world, they world Lakṣmī devī to get opulence, to get riches. Sarasvatī to get material knowledge, like that are there any incarnations we can worship to destroy our anarthas, like kāma, krodha, lobha etc.?
Questioner: Iśvara Viśvambhara Dāsa
Date: 2022-08-01
Jayapataka Swami: You see we should not worship Lakṣmī for getting material riches.
If we worship Kṛṣṇa, then He has millions of Lakṣmīs with Him.
And Sarasvatī we should worship to get divine knowledge, knowledge of Kṛṣṇa.
Keśava Kāśmīrī was a Digvijayī-paṇḍita.
He had victory all over the world.
He was victorious over all the scholars.
But he got so much mercy from Nimāi Paṇḍita.
He got defeated by Nimāi Paṇḍita.
He prayed to Sarasvatī that, “I was defeated by a young kid! How did you allow that?”
Sarasvatī said, “He is my husband.
I cannot help you therefore.”
Then he went to Lord Caitanya and surrendered.
And then he became a pure Vaiṣṇava.
He became an ācārya in the Nimbārka sampradāya.
Your question, by what avatāra worship will our anarthas be destroyed?
If we surrender to Lord Caitanya, then we can get rid of all the anarthas.
If we need Lord Caitanya’s mercy, we first need to get the mercy of Lord Nityānanda.
Nitāi Gaura! Nityānanda Prabhu is Ādi-guru. Original guru.
Category: [Anarthās], [Kṛṣṇa (Godhead) / Kṛṣṇa's Incarnations], [Material World], [Material World / Demigods], [Emotions]
Questioner: Lakṣmī Jayakumārī
Date: 2023-07-07
Jayapatākā Swami: So Kṛṣṇa can do that,
nothing is impossible for Him.
But if we take the mercy of Vāsudeva Datta,
then we can get liberated to Kṛṣṇa consciousness,
in this lifetime.
We have a lot of similarities, when it comes to both our religions. Especially the garment, the orange, like we wear the white which symbolizes purity, and we are all one considered under God, and doesn’t matter what culture, what color skin you have that is not considered, materialist and all that. We are simple. I noticed that this is almost the same as well. I thought that it was eye opening for me. The reason I am here because I love to understand everybody else’s way of life, their purpose of existence, because in the end we are all like the same. It is all love and we are all humans you know. This is what I want to bring, I want to bring, bring love between everybody. So being here, gaining this experience is everything to me, it was a very eye opening humbling feeling. I do actually have a question that just popped in my mind - do you guys believe in hell or from what I understand, you were saying there is a spiritual world that you guys were?
Questioner: Dukanai
Date: 2023-10-23
Jayapatākā Swami: You see, here it is said there are 14 planetary levels
and so we are on the 7th.
Above us there are six other levels.
We are in the Bhu, then there is Bhuva and Svaha.
Svaha is heaven,
so you can go and have lots of happiness, material.
But material happiness is more or less the same.
But all happiness, little suffering.
Beyond that there are another 4 levels.
Beyond that is the spiritual world.
Where there is no birth, no death, no old age, no disease,
and everybody is in their love of God.
In the material world those who are very pious, religious, but they want their material happiness,
they go up to svarga, heaven.
When their good karma runs out, they come back down.
And then there are seven lower planets,
and they are less God conscious.
Below that there are all hells.
That if you are sinful, then you may be in some hell for sometime, burn off your sins and take birth again.
We are trying to get the people out of this material world.
And the way is if you do sacrifice.
The sacrifice for this day and age is chanting the holy names.
We believe there is one God
you call him Allah, Jehovah or Kṛṣṇa,
but there is one person
He has unlimited names.
In Malaysia, the Christians translated the Bible in Malaysian language.
There instead of saying God, they said Allah,
but the Moslems they objected and said Allah is only for Moslems!
That is the word they use for God.
Then in the parliament they said we should be like the Hindus, they say God has thousands and millions of names, unlimited.
So we don’t ask anyone to give up who are Moslems or Jews or Christians, whatever,
that is like high school, basic school, this is like PhD.
We are just focused, transfer people to the spiritual world and awaken their love for Godhead.
But it is there in the fifth canto there is a whole chapter on the hells,
in the structure of the universe.
So if you have extramarital sex
then a particular hell for that.
If people just kill animals, or enjoy killing them,
there is a hell for that.
If someone cheats someone else, just like there are 26 different hells.
But sometimes some people are so sinful that they have architects to design special hells for them.
What a job!
Any way!
So, there is an interesting pastime that person who judges, he is especially empowered by the Supreme Lord,
and his name is Yamarāja.
Category: [Material World]
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2022-08-31
Jayapatākā Swami: So that is devotional service in sattva-guṇa.
They are going to temple, they are doing some devotional service, may be their standard…
There is nine type of devotional service is subdivided, then again subdivided, then again 81 divisions in each guṇa,
and in the three guṇas.
So, that simply the solution is to preach pure devotional service.
Sometimes because Lord Caitanya’s movement,
He is able to purify even the most fallen people,
that those people who are very much in the mode of goodness, they think, “Well,
this movement of Lord Caitanya is only for the mlecchas, for the fallen people,
for the different type of out castes or whatever,
but for us we follow strictly the conservative varṇāśrama program,
Hinduism, this and that, whatever.”
But the point is that Lord Caitanya’s ocean of nectar is ever expanding
and as an ocean overcomes its boundaries
by the preaching of the devotees,
and we have to be able to show the good example and to present to them
that this is not meant simply for a particular class of people, but it is meant for all classes,
whether their background is sattva-guṇa or whether it is tamo-guṇa or whatever it may be,
it is for everyone.
This is the universal process of this Kali-yuga.
And those who are intelligent, they will accept,
and those who are not intelligent even they don’t accept.
You see, those who are intelligent they accept, and they swim in that ocean of nectar when it floods,
and the others they may not be able to swim but they are swept away anyway, and they are forced to float on the top of it,
because there is no more dry land to stand on,
everywhere there is simply the nectar of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s movement.
In this way by organizing big festivals, by organizing preaching in various way everywhere,
those people, they will not be able to avoid to chant.
So, Lord Caitanya, He said, “Be humble,
beg the people, beg them, go door to door, beg them to take up the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa,
the worship of Kṛṣṇa, the study of Kṛṣṇa’s sacred teachings, Gītā and Bhāgavata.”
He said, “Beg the people.”
Personally, Lord Nityānanda and Haridāsa Ṭhākura, They went door to door begging.
This preaching movement is pure nectar, going and simply begging from the people.
A person is very proud and if you go and you beg from him one thing,
you please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, how can he refuse
that, “No, I won’t chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.”
Is there anyone? How can he refuse if he is proud of being religious,
if we present it in the right way?
But that ability, that is only possible if we get the mercy of our, you see,
the spiritual masters, of Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda,
then if we somehow or another we get Their blessing, we go on trying,
surely some day we will be able to get so many people.
In South India, we were asking the people to take up the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa,
and they are very, they’re strict, but even the high brāhmaṇa class as well as even some Muslims
and other people, they all came forward to pledge that, “They will chant everyday 108 times Hare Kṛṣṇa,
because this is the yuga-dharma.
And they are going to follow the principles of Caitanya Mahāprabhu as far as possible.”
And in one meeting, in Madras alone, 3000 people were signed up.
I went to Delhi.
Lokanātha Swami said, “I don’t think you can do it in Delhi, it is very difficult.”
So, we printed up in one day 100 sheets and then in the middle of the Rāmānandī meeting,
I made an appeal at the end that, “This is the yuga-dharma,
which of you will chant 108 times a day to carry on the torchlight of knowledge of Caitanya Mahāprabhu
for purification in this Kali-yuga?”
And out of the assembly of about 1500 people,
500 people stood up, “We will daily chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, we will follow the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.”
They came up to sign the form.
That Rāmānandī guru, he flipped out, or he completely became wild, took the microphone from me,
said it will cause a disturbance, this that, and gave it to some this Rāmāyaṇa singer
who started immediately singing Tulasī dāsa Rāmāyaṇa, “Rāma-nāma”.
In spite of that people jumped over the stage and signed up and said, “Give me a form. We want to…”
Even one of the Rāmānandī sādhus, he came and said, “I’ll also chant.”
Devotees: Haribol!
Jayapatākā Swami: The point is that this process if we beg the people to chant,
so many people will come forward.
Then all we have to do is, see that after we, they agree to chant, that we
keep some contact and see that they go on chanting.
Anyway, whatever it means, if somehow or another through book distribution, through our appeals…
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he wrote to his disciples.
We found some old letters which are collected, and he wrote a letter to a disciple,
how they can preserve the Māyāpur preaching.
He said that first thing is to establish printing press,
then to distribute, print and distribute books.
And the third thing he said is, go on preaching in Nāmahaṭṭa.
Nāmahaṭṭa means that to get every person to practice, not simply that only full-time devotees practice,
every single person has to be encouraged to practice in their own house, in their own community, you see.
That Prabhupāda said also in the third canto of the Bhāgavatam that, “There is no reason
why every family in every society, in every country of the world
cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in their house every day.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda… This is what Śrīla Prabhupāda kept repeating to us the varṇāśrama preaching.
Varṇāśrama preaching.
We always said, just the devotees said, “No the public, the public, the public.”
Varṇāśrama preaching that is the modern, that is the way Prabhupāda described
it as not different from what Bhaktivinoda said, Nāmahaṭṭa.
It means getting the people to practice.
What is varṇāśrama? Accepting Kṛṣṇa.
If you don’t accept Kṛṣṇa there is no question of varṇāśrama.
So, it is the same program.
Hare Kṛṣṇa!
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2022-08-09
Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes they come as first body as Brahmā.
Human is the first birth that you get a chance to go back.
Brahma at the end of the universe, can go right back.
Unless he becomes materialistic, then from Brahmā they can work their way down to a bug or one can be as human.
That will depend.
It’s not a… No one can say, it is not any, you will find some different evidences in the Vedas.
Coming as a Brahmā or coming as a human, that is not... that may vary from case to case.
We found that Jaya, Vijaya, they came as demons.
Each person, why they are here, why, no one can say exactly.
Everyone is an individual eternally.
And the only way we will know the exact reason how we got into this material world is when we ultimately again we get our liberation.
This is like a dreaming state.
Right now, we are locked into the dream and the whole endeavor is to get out of the dream, to wake up.
So, once we… It’s just like someone is in a kind of coma.
And in the coma, he is dreaming so many things.
And then in that dream, he is going from one dream and then he jumps out and goes to another dream, until finally he can remember someone comes up and says, “Harry! Harry!” [laughter]
And then he comes out of the dream, “Where am I? Right?
Where was I?”
It’s like once you come out of this material world and you come back to your original Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it will be like, I did all those things! I was an animal, and a man, I forgot, I forgot completely about Kṛṣṇa and about my eternal spiritual nature.
And just like a dream.
You never want to go to sleep again, you don’t ever want to come in the material world again.
The thing is one has to want to wake up.
So that’s why the spiritual master is so kind.
Even a person is sleeping, doesn’t want to wake up, they are calling, jīva jāgo, “Wake up, Wake up!
You are not this body.
You are eternal spirit soul.”
And the soul has heard so many things in its life.
You are an American, you are a Bohemian, you are a hippie, you are a conservative, you are republican, you are a democrat, this that.
And never even, doesn’t even come near to waking up the soul.
It is just different! It’s just trying to change the structure of your dream.
But when that pure devotee says, “No, you are an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, you are not this body”, then immediately the soul starts, it is the first time anything that was said is actually directed at the soul.
It starts to move, it starts to wake up.
Then the soul starts to direct the intelligence, what is that? What is he saying?
It’s shocking that the first time one hears that he is a devotee, it may even come as an intense shock.
The first time the devotee is saying, is going right to the soul.
They don’t even speak to the body and the mind; it is going right to the soul.
Because the soul can exert its influence and can control over the mind and the body.
But it has to be awakened, it is has to actually come from the soul, to act in its original, constitutional position.
So how we fell in this material world exactly?
What we were before? When we wake up, when we realize our original position, then we can remember all these things.
So, it is not always a stereotype.
We may come first time as a Brahmā and work our way down and may come in so many ways.
What we were before we came, what was our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, what was our position, how we fell down, what desire we had? - these are different in every case.
Questioner: Acintya Nitāi dāsa
Date: 2022-10-17
Jayapatākā Swami: Well, Śrīla Prabhupāda would scold the devotees in Calcutta,
for placing a dark blue velvet curtain,
which attracted many mosquitos,
and then devotees would kill the mosquitos.
Śrīla Prabhupāda would say, you are attracting them and then killing them.
So, you should put some other curtain,
which would not attract so many mosquitos.
So, if a mosquito is biting us, we may kill it in self-defense,
but we should avoid just killing mosquitos.
Śrīla Prabhupāda would have the dhuna or the frankincense burn in his room and the windows open, and the mosquitos would fly out.
Haridāsa Ṭhākura said that if we loudly chant, then insects and plants would reap the benefit, by hearing the holy name.
There was someone, they took in regression to his previous life,
and he said in his previous life he was a butterfly.
He went into some place, where there was a statue and there was a fruit in front of the statue.
He landed on the fruit
to eat the fruit,
and someone came out and killed him.
In the next life he was a human being,
a devotee,
so in this case, it seemed that he was eating the fruit offering offered to a Deity of Kṛṣṇa,
we don’t know Kṛṣṇa’s Deity or someone else.
Questioner: Devotee
Date: 2023-09-06
- Anarthās
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