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Question: When I heard your story about how you came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and how you left your comfortable life in America to take sannyāsa at the age of 21, I was really astounded. What inspired you to make this movement of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu your life’s mission?

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Jayapatākā Swami: You see I was looking for some answer, what was life? I tried different processes – yoga, Buddhism, many different processes. Then I met the devotees in San Francisco, helped build the ratha yatra cart. Then I went to see Śrīla Prabhupāda in Montreal, I told him that I thought I have to go to India to find a guru. He said, ‘I will send you to India, but you should stay here and I will train you up then I will send you to India.’ So then I called up my parents and told my father that I was becoming a priest, I was learning things in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He said, ‘you come back here immediately! Otherwise I will turn your name over to the American Army and you will have to serve in Vietnam and die.’ So I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda what should I do? That my father told me, he wants to turn me over to the American Army. He said, better, you serve in Kṛṣṇa’s army. So since then I joined Kṛṣṇa’s army and have been a member of Kṛṣṇa’s army. Sure enough Śrīla Prabhupāda sent me to India, two weeks after initiation I was temple president in Montreal. Then I helped open the temple in Toronto, helped to open the temple in Chicago.  I was never happy, although I had a comfortable life, my grandfather was a multi-millionaire, my father was a millionaire, but somehow sense gratification did not make me happy! It made me momentarily happy then frustrated. Then, when I came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I was so happy. I WAS SO HAPPY! When I saw Kṛṣṇa and the Brajavasis’ picture in Vṛndāvana, I thought wow! So beautiful! This is what I was looking for!
27-June-2021 Sridham Mayapur, India