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Question: What do you want your disciples to avoid?
Jayapatākā Swami: That we have them promise to avoid breaking the four principles at the time of initiation. They should avoid not chanting 16 rounds. They should avoid the ten offences to the Holy Name. 22-August-2022, ISKCON Hyderabad, India
Question: I want to improve my spiritual and devotional service. I am not able to attend maṅgala-ārati sometimes – is it an offence?
Jayapatākā Swami: It depends for what reason you are not able to attend. You are up late preaching, you are sick or just lazy? If you are just doing out of laziness, it is not proper. 22-August-2022, ISKCON Hyderabad, India
Question: What to do when we know we are falling in bhakti but not be able to save ourselves?
Jayapatākā Swami: Take initiation! We don’t believe that we deliver ourselves. We believe that our guru and Kṛṣṇa delivers us! And we simply try to carry out Their instructions. If you think you are not able to deliver yourself, that is natural, we should not think we...
Question: After taking initiation from you, whom can we consider as our śikṣā-guru? Can we consider a devotee from whom we are getting regular guidance and training as our śikṣā-guru?
Jayapatākā Swami: Now there are two levels of śikṣā-gurus One level is anyone who gives you some appropriate instruction, another one is someone you see on a similar level like the dīkṣā-guru and you accept what is said by the śikṣā-guru as something you have to...
Question: How to manage bhakti and family relationships at the same time, when they are not devotees?
Jayapatākā Swami: Very critical, but you have to think how I can make them devotees. I met a devotee she was an actress. She knew the Bhagavad-gītā cover to cover! But she went to her husband and said, “You are very great, you are very intelligent, please help me! I...
Question: Spiritual master does so much for us, he is so merciful, but my heart is so contaminated. I am stonehearted, I don’t feel anything for him. What should I do to increase my love and devotion to him, dear Mahārāja. Please enlighten me.
Jayapatākā Swami: Interesting question. We don’t want to be a kṛpaṇa – a miser. You are saying how you understand the guru is doing so much for you! But you don’t feel grateful! Is that the way to feel? If someone saves you from a car accident, should you feel...
Question: How do we do sevā in the right consciousness, not in the mode of passion or ignorance?
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...
Question: What were your thoughts when you saw Śrīla Prabhupāda for the first time?
Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, I heard about Śrīla Prabhupāda first and I heard great things! Then I went to Montreal to see Śrīla Prabhupāda. At that time, I could see auras around people. When I saw Śrīla Prabhupāda his aura filled up the whole room, yellow! So what...
Question: How to be fixed in spiritual level of devotion within this material world and how to develop spiritual greed?
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...
Question: How can I impress Śrī Śrī Gaura Nitāi and how can I be one of Their favorite servants?
Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know why you are asking me? Anyway, read the Caitanya-Caritāmṛta and see what pleases Gaura Nitāi! If you do that certainly you will please Gaura Nitāi! And onetime Lord Caitanya after taking sannyāsa He came back to Bengal and He visited the...
Question: Generally, there is a thought among devotees that kids who are devotees by birth never take Kṛṣṇa consciousness so seriously. What should we do as parents to make our kids as genuine devotees?
Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know if that is true. If the parents are serious, usually the children are serious. They did a study in the USA, and they found that parents who were serious, their children were also serious. Then they found that if one parent was serious...
Question: When I cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra on mālā due to some busy schedule of work, in such case how can I complete that gap?
Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know who your guru is but for my disciples, if they have to, they can use the counting machine. Since I had a stroke in 2008, my right side doesn’t fully cooperate. So I have to chant by my left hand and Rādhānātha Swami gave me some chanting...
Question: Can you please let me know what are the services I can do every day that will please you?
Jayapatākā Swami: All the services to the Deities in this temple or any temple of ISKCON will be very pleasing to me. So you can ask the temple leaders what service you can do. Lord Caitanya said, Yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa. Whoever you see, tell them the...
Question: What was the advice given by Śrīla Prabhupāda to you that you would like to give us?
Jayapatākā Swami: Well he gave me many advises, but the main thing was that I should always engage in serving Kṛṣṇa and try to help others to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. He told me to expand the Nāmahaṭṭa and congregational preaching. He told me to distribute, I have to...
Question: How to remove bad habits in the self, being in society and how to increase our spiritual consciousness, ever increasing till the end?
Jayapatākā Swami: You see, bhakti-yoga is a powerful practice. And if you just say stop something, what do you do? Your mind, your senses do not stop. So we do yukta-vairāgya. Everything we do, we do to please Kṛṣṇa. So just like we have to eat. So instead of eating...
Question: Kuntī devī prayed to have calamities so that she always remembered Kṛṣṇa. Is this an ideal way to keep our mind on Kṛṣṇa instead of meditating on our problems?
Jayapatākā Swami: Write to me what you think your problem is. Kuntī Devī, whenever the Pāṇḍavas and Kuntī Devī had problems, Kṛṣṇa came and saved them. So whenever they had problems Kṛṣṇa came so she said she wanted to have problems all the time so that Kṛṣṇa will...
Question: How to deal with older devotees who are moody and ultimately cause fear in new people or community instead of motivation to serve?
Jayapatākā Swami: Good question. So it is important if they are senior devotees talk to them privately. Speak to them how you tried to enthuse these new people but if the older devotees express their doubts to the younger devotees that creates a bad taste. Explain to...
Question: We should surrender the body, mind, and words, but my mind is very uncontrolled. It is very painful that something which I don’t want to remember or think of again, keeps popping up in my mind which may be an offensive thought. Please kindly tell me what should I do?
Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has recommended that when one wakes up in the morning you should beat their mind with shoes 100 times. And before we go to bed beat your mind 108 times with a broomstick. In this way, you are not the mind, your...