PLEASE NOTE, THIS DOCUMENT IS AT DRAFT (NOT PERFECT) STAGE. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO READ WITH GM’S VIDEO IN BACKGROUND.

Mukham karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim
Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinam
Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram

A SPECIAL NEWSCAST FROM JAGANNATH TEMPE KUALA LUMPUR, MALYASIA. SPECIAL! SPECIAL! READ ALL ABOUT IT! LORD JAGANNATH WAS EXTREMELY BATHED ON SNAN YATRA DAY, AND HERE HE HAS BEEN SICK EVER SINCE. AND NOT GIVING DARSHAN! HE IS BEING GIVEN FRUIT JUICES AND OTHER SICK MEDICINE. ALL DEVOTEES ARE VERY ANXIOUS. WE HOPE THAT LORD JAGANNATH RECOVERS BY THE TIME OF THE RATHA YATRA ON JULY 4. WE ARE ALL ANXIOUSLY WAITING – LORD JAGANNATH WILL RECOVER OR NOT! THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT THING! WE ALSO HEARD FROM PURI AND KOLKATA THAT LORD JAGANNATH IS SICK THERE! THIS SEEMS TO BE A WORLDWIDE SYMPTOMATIC THING. LORD JAGANNATH, HE GOT SICK! SO PLEASE, WE WISH LORD JAGANNATH TO RECOVER VERY QUICKLY SO THAT HE CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE RATHA YATRA ON JULY 4 2019. HARIBOL!

So here tomorrow night I will be speaking at the Kuala Lumpur temple. Tonight I was here and this morning I went and cycled 1090 cycles and I did some exercise. We had a Congregational Development Meeting, CDM by Zoom on internet with participants from Malaysia, India, UK and also Mexico. So here for 30 minutes or so I will be giving a question and answer session again. Last night we got a number of questions. I couldn’t answer all. I hope that you are getting your questions, ready and I will answer as much as I can fit in in the 30 minutes. So at 11.30 Malaysian time I have to call it quits! So if you have any questions, you can give now. Any questions.

Question: Harita Madhavi devi dasi: Dear guru maharaj: PAMRO. We have different colors of Govardhan shila based on the footprints of Krsna and the others. why not all other stones around Nandagaon, Barsana where Radha and Krsna performed their lilas not termed into shilas. Can we worship G shila given by Brajwasis. Your spiritual daughter and insignificant servant.

GM: Harita Madhavi. You see Govardhan is said to be not different from Krsna. So therefore some devotees worship Govardhan shilas. Although the hills in Vrndavana are also sacred and some places Krsna or Radha have walked, but although those marks and dust is sacred, they are not the same as Govardhan shilas. Srila Prabhupada said that worship of Govardhan is very spontaneous. Whether one should worship or not, that is a question but we have to analyse for each devotee. But one prerequisite is that the shila should be given by a Brijawasi. Actually Srila Prabhupada did not want shilas to leave Vrndavana because Giriraj wants to stay in Vrndavana, but sometimes He makes exceptions. So whether you are an exception or not, that we have to analyse. Other question.

Q: If two senior devotees have a misunderstanding or a fight, what should be the position of the junior devotee, that he has to go and solve the problem or what should be his situation? Taruni Radhe dd Malaysia

G: If two senior devotees have a disagreement, what should the junior devotee do to avoid it? You see if it is over preaching, there may be a disagreement, one thinks we should distribute books, someone thinks he should build the temple, someone thinks one should build a temple to distribute books, there may be a difference of opinion of which type of preaching is most appropriate. But that is authorized in devotional service. But if one gives a false accusation, a false or fake news as they call it today on the internet or on the social media against some other devotee, and if it is not true, if it is not confirmed and if it is written as if it is true it could be offensive and for a vaisnava aparadh, one may not get love of Krsna. One has to be very careful to avoid vaisnava aparadh. So although one may have a difference of opinion, which way of preaching is better, they should not criticize the other devotee having a different opinion. Rather, they should treat each other with respect. So the only thing a junior devotee could do is he could ask a question – if you are two senior devotees, I respect both of you, you are probably fighting in disagreement, should I take that as an example? Should I follow? What should I do because I respect you as my siksa gurus or senior devotees. So what should I understand of your publicly fighting with each other? If we ask as a question, then it is not an offence. It should not be a challenging question; it should be a sincere inquiry. Next question. Do we need repletion or can you understand what I am saying? If you have difficulty in understanding, say that and we will have someone repeat me.

Question: Lalitangi Radha devi dasi. PAMRO. We observe that your heart is so magnanimous that you hardly criticize anyone. We heard you say in lectures that you respect those who criticize you in public. Please enlighten us, how we follow this vaisnava etiquette?

Guru Maharaj: By following it! Remember that everyone is dear to Krsna. So even though we may be criticized, Lord Caitanya said we should more tolerant than a tree, more humble than a blade of grass, we should offer all respect to others and not expect any respect for ourselves. In this way we can always chant Hare Hare Hare. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Question: Hridaya Vallabhi dd: PMARO My question is, sometimes when we make mistakes in our past and our future gets affected by it, how can we overcome it, realizing our mistake and begging forgiveness from the Lord and also making a promise of not repeating the same? Will this help us to overcome from it and shall we be forgiven for the mistake we committed in the past?

Guru Maharaj: We should not only promise not to do it, but we should not do it again as far as possible. But Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda, are unlimitedly merciful. So They can easily forgive. But we should not take Their forgiving cheap. We should not apologize for it immediately and then do it again and again. After sometime, Srila Prabhupada said, They may not forgive us.

Question: Sucaru Murari das: Dear guru maharaj, PAMRO. One of your instructions for me is to help you by fulfilling the instructions that Srila Prabhupada has given you. How could I know whether the service I am doing will be actually pleasing to you and Srila Prabhupada? It will be very good if there is any senior devotee who is observing us and giving us correction and guidance or direction to go ahead, guru maharaj.

Guru maharaj: Which temple are you working in or from or to? Is there some senior devotee there that can watch you and advise you? You can find out from my secretary Mahavaraha das what are the different, some of the different instructions that Srila Prabhupada gave me. From that you can see if you are doing something that is directly instructed by Srila Prabhupada to me. Generally, any temple, any service, which helps the temple or which helps expand the Krsna consciousness movement, is something which will be pleasing to me. And if you develop spontaneous devotion, of loving ecstatic devotion, I will be more happy. Hare Krsna!

Question: Padmavati Nitai Mata devi dasi, Our mission is to chant Hare Krsna and teach others to chant Hare Krsna and we have our Namacarya as Srila Haridas Thakur. Yet we don’t keep his picture on the altar regularly, except on his disappearance day. How can I understand this and explain to newcomers who ask this question?

Guru maharaj: Where is she? (From London). There are so many pure devotees of the Lord. Anantakoti vaisnava Vrnda ki jai! So it is not possible to keep the picture of everyone on the altar. We keep the five previous acaryas – Srila Prabhupada, Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Gaura Kishoredas babaji, Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakur and Siddha Jagannathdas babaji. And also the six Goswamis. But by worshipping Krsna, by worshipping Nitai Gaur, automatically we are also worshipping all the associates and paarshadas. So Haridas Thakur was also one of the associates of Lord Caitanya. He was one of the associates of Lord Nityananda. So by worshipping Nitai Gaur, automatically Their paarshadas, and Their pure devotees, they are worshipped. So you can tell the devotees, that by worshipping Nitai Gaur, the Namacarya Haridas Thakur is also worshipped. Hare Krsna!

Question: Rukmini Ramana das: Guru maharaj, what to do when we are victim of false criticism?

Guru maharaj: This is what they now call in the modern age “fake news”! They give some fake news against someone, and when you repeat a false criticism ten times, it becomes true! I mean, people take it as the truth. So it actually depends on the context that the criticism is offered in. If some senior devotees are bewildered by the criticism, you may have to answer, so that your side of the story is explained. Otherwise, we don’t take very seriously, any false criticism. While living in this material world, even Krsna was given some false criticism about Akrura and the Syamantaka jewel, in Dwaraka. People started speculating against Krsna. So therefore being in this material world, we are subjected to false rumors. So Krsna, He was able to clear His name. You may see how people are taking the criticism, whether it is necessary to answer or not. Or just, sometimes they say that by answering a criticism, you reinforce it in the minds of the listeners. Oh, he is …, so it must be true. So you have to see how serious it is. Who is affected by it? Sometimes people approach a person directly in some private place and say, prabhu, why are you saying these things against me? I didn’t do that! And then in a friendly way try to have some understanding. Thank you. Are you still in Columbia or ?

Question: Hare Krsna gurudev! Sumalini Lalita devi dasi. When we see a senior devotee or someone in higher position doing something not right, what are we supposed to do?

Guru maharaj: I am not irritated. You may ask a question to someone respectfully that I see you as a senior devotee, but I see that you are smoking under the staircase or whatever that may be, should I follow this example? Like that, you can ask a question. Otherwise you can keep quiet and think that this is one thing I will not do in my life. I will be sincere to my guru maharaj and follow my initiation vows. Someone yesterday asked me that is it alright if you are a senior devotee, to not chant or not follow the principles very seriously? If you want to get love of Krsna, if you want self-realization, then you have to water your creeper. You have to pull out the weeds. You cannot do nisedacar, kuti nati, labh, puja, pratistadi. These different obstacles or weeds in devotional service can take away from your devotional creeper. So Lord Caitanya taught us we should be good gardners. We should avoid vaisnava aparadh, we should take out the weeds that suck energy from our devotional creeper. This way we should water our creeper with the Hare Krsna maha mantra and devotional service and thus we should grow and grow till our creeper takes shelter of Nitai Gaur, Radha Madhava’s lotus feet. Haribol! What time is it?
Last question.

Question: In order to avoid vaisnava aparadh, can we be selective in our association, or can we keep away from such vaisnavas whom we are not comfortable with? Vrajakrsna das, Mayapur.

Guru maharaj: Good idea! To keep away from offensive people! We should select association that is positive and help us to advance in our Krsna consciousness. People who are habitual complainers, offensive, criticizers of vaisnavas, envious, we should respect them as vaisnavas but stay away from them. Don’t intimately associate. We should seek out favorable association – senior devotees who are exemplary, non-envious, non-critical. Haribol!

Thank you all very much and it was nice to spend this time with you. Here from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!

Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
26 June 2019