Enthusiasm of Jayapataka Swami Maharaj and Malati Devi Prabhu in Krishna Bhakti
I welcome everyone specially our special honored guest. I am very grateful to be with you this evening . We heard from His Holiness Jaya Pataka Swami Maharaj, his realization of winning the game of life, Gauranga Prabhu explained how he had hemorrhaging in the most dangerous part of the brain. One neuron surgeon from Michigan came to meet me just last week and he said the condition that he came through, it’s medically impossible to survive. And, if someone can survive they are usually a vegetable for the rest of their life. Tens and thousand of sincere well-wisher prayed for him throughout the world. They couldn’t do surgery, all they could do just give medication to keep the blood pressure down and just hope for nature to do the rest that all the doctors could do. Somehow other now he is walking, he is giving lectures. The most amazing thing we never hear him complaining, at one time he was so vibrant he was traveling everywhere. Now he at least temporarily in such a very, very crippled limited condition. But when you go to visit him his sense of humor, his hope, his compassion for us is prominent quality of who he is. Even such devastating blow did not in any way shaper form discourage him, how that is possible because he is finding his joy and his purpose in a place that is so much deeper than the skin and the blood and the bone of this body. Even deeper that then the ever changing thoughts of the mind, he is actually deriving his wealth from his soul, from his relationship with God.
We have with us one of our very special guests Malati Devi Prabhu she was also in a similar situation. She was in a hospital where the doctors, the nurses they gave up any hope that she could live. She came out of it somehow other never complaining, grateful for everything she went through, grateful for everything still she has and knowing what she has it is not hers, its entrusted to her to share with others. We find this Malati Prabhu Right here, although still she has incurable disease. One of my God Brother Tamal Krishna Goswami said about her that she just has too many things to do for others people that she doesn’t have time to die. She has no fear of death and she has no fear in life because she is really feeling herself an instrument of a divine power and she is grateful for that therefore her humor, her love, Jayapataka Swami Maharaj’s humor, his love or cannot be disturbed by the unpredictable circumstances of this world around us. In the bible Lord Jesus tells, that we should built our house on solid rock because if you build your house on shifting sand the inevitable storms that will come will cause it to crash down. But, if it is built on the foundation of rock no storm can destroy it. So what is the foundation of our life is it based on the ever shifting circumstances of this world like the economy or the weather or own particular state of popularity, prestige. These things are often times and ultimately they are beyond our control, we have a certain degree of control of what we can accomplish and what we can sustain but beyond our own severe of influence things really are beyond our control. You have to grow old, diseased may come and ultimately there is death.
Best way to thank God is, “whatever we have we should share with others
As His Holiness Devamrita Swami Maharaj like usual so brilliantly explains very succinct and penetrating points and truths, what really is the game of life? In today’s world people are prone to emphasizes in their own aspirations quantity rather than quality. Quantity of money, quantity of power, quantity of prestige, popularity, these things could be very, very helpful for our self’s and others but not at the cost of the quality of our life, of our ideals, of what we live for of what we die for. It is said if you don’t have something so important an ideal, so important that you are living for. If you are not willing to die for something you don’t really have much to live for. Character and integrity are quality and we will be tested in the game of life. Where you be willing to compromise the integrity of sacred ideals that you know are foundational just for some popularity, prestige or for some profit. Perhaps, one of the greatest reasons for all the problem in the world today is, people are doing that. The economic collapse is very much affected by people who were more concerned with their own power, prestige and acquisition of wealth and property then they were with living according to the foundation of integrity, morality, ethics and selfless spirit of service to others. There is a mother find more pleasure in getting a gift or does she find more pleasure in giving to her children and making them happy, it’s an obvious answer. The nature of love is to find satisfaction in giving. Are we living universal spiritual principle, is whatever God entrusted us with in life is meant to be shared with our family, with humanity, with all living beings that compassion brings joy.
Srila Prabhupada our guru Maharaj he had nothing personally but he was the most blissful person I ever met, why? Because internally his whole was built on the foundation of his love for God and he was simply an instrument of sharing that love with every one, this is a universal principle. Years ago, I visited mother Teresa in the ghetto’s of Calcutta. She has nothing, nothing personally but she was joyful, why? She was using her life to give for others.
Values which Radhanath Swami learned from his parents in childhood
What is the game of life? I remember my mother and father when I was a little boy. My father really struggled; he was brought up in the depression in order for his brothers and sisters to go to high schools and college he had to drop out to work to help them. He worked and he worked then he started business and went bankrupt. You may appreciate as business he was the largest dealer ship of Edsel in all of Chicago land, you don’t understand that but any body from America knows the repercussion being an Edsel dealer. He lost everything and he worked and he worked and he worked and eventually he became very wealthy. Threw it all whether he was wealthy, whether he was struggling with practically nothing he and my mother they always taught us the same principle, working, working, working for money somehow other just to keep things stable but they always taught us that money is not very important. We have to do it, we need to do it but the only things that are really important in life according to them were our values, our love for each other and our health. We should never ever compromise any of these things, health may be but our loving relationships and our values should never be compromise for the cheap thrills of money. Later on I became a Swami; I mean I don’t know many things. So sometimes when they would ask, why are you doing this? I said, this is what you taught me and my mother said why you always have to be so extreme, we shouldn’t tell you that. But later when they came to India they so happy, they actually we did tell you that.
Casino means to losing of wealth guaranteed.
What is winning and losing? We see in athletics there are examples in India Cricket players, in America basket ball, foot ball players, people who were really champions brought their teams to champions won all kinds of awards but then did certain things in their lives due to not really emphasizing the inner quality of their values that either put them jail or put historically in shame. You know in Las Vegas there is a casino’s, you all know Las Vegas they play games there many, many different games. People from all over the world especially from India go there. I was amazed, just a couple years ago my aunty my mother sister was in Nursing home Las Vegas. So myself and my friend Garry you all know him we drove Malabo California to Las Vegas just to visit her. While, we were there would like to take a ride down the strip, her nursing home was some distance away. So is said sure I seen it in the movies why not, so we walk down the street and it was amazing there were thousands and thousands of people from India and lot of people from China and Japan more than Americans, at least the day I was seeing. Any ways the Casino’s they never lose, they are set up in such a way that they always win and when they see some winning a lot of their money they were happy because the more you win the more they know you become addicted to that experience of winning and the more you are going to play. Ultimately because the odds are always for them eventually you are going to lose, it’s the way it is set up. The more you win the happier they are, because they know the more you win the more you are going to lose. Because once you taste that winning even if you are losing, losing, losing you have to get that sensation of winning again. Sometimes a little drop comes but then you lose, then another little drop and then you lose, this is the way material nature works.
Death is inevitable
Ultimately we have short lives, I saw statistics after this terrorist attacks in Bombay, then in India what was it like, for every something like thousand people for every one person that dies in a terrorist attack, a thousand people who die in an automobile accident. We should be more afraid of driving in a car to Worli then terrorist attacks. I mean it’s a real problem but there are so many uncertainties in this world and it’s not because you are driving in a Mercedes you are any safer. When those big trucks hit you and I read in New York Times that Ninety percent of truck drivers in India are under the influence of Alcohol. This is not in Back to Godhead magazine, this is New York Times; it’s not Hare Krishna propaganda or anything like, its reality you are driving and you see how so many trucks are on the streets they don’t had very good consciousness. So yes there are dangers and ultimately death, it must come and that time whatever you have gained you lose. Like the Casino, material nature may give you many wins but ultimately takes everything away. We come from dust and ultimately we end as dust. Now this is not a pessimistic view of life, it’s actually meant to bring about optimistic view of life. How is that our Malati and Jayapataka Maharaj even when they are dying they are so hopeful and so happy?
How to remember Krishna in last stage of life?
Just a few years ago we have a devotee name Stoka-kåñëa he was only thirty four years old. He had a wife and new born baby girl and he was diagnosed with cancer, a doctor said he had one month to live. Somehow other he survived about six months but during that time he was always smiling. I remember our Gauranga Prabhu, he told that how a person can smile like this that must something artificial or superficial, you remember. But then when he saw even when he was paralyzed and he couldn’t walk it was emaciated then and his eyes was glistening with joy and he was always smiling and he never complaint and he was trying to make others happy. He was like until his last breath and last day of his life I asked him, I said Stoka-kåñëa are you ready to go. He smiled at me, his teeth glistening, eyes sparkling and he said I am ready to go and he said I know Krishna is waiting for me. So in the materially most hopeless condition he had complete hope, joy and eagerness to give to others. One of my God sister Kunti Devi, she was also was in last stage of cancer and she told wouldn’t trade my position for anyone else in the world, I am so happy. In this stage I have never heard the scriptures so deeply in my heart and I have never chanted the holy name so deeply from my heart, I would not trade this experience for anyone else in the world. She was constantly just trying to give joy, spiritual joy to others. She was paralyzed on a wheel chair and every day she cooking lunch for eighty people. The joy of giving, the joy of loving God, when there is love for God there is love for every living being who are part of God.
Teachings of Bhagavad-Gita “perform your duties but don’t attach to results”
So this is what Bhagavad-Gita is teaching, its teaching a reality that is foundational to all the inevitable changes of this material existence. Bhagavad-Gita is not teaching us to reject or renounce these material existences, be an engineer, be a businessman or women, be a doctor or lawyer, be a good farmer, be a good teacher or a professor, be a good Brahmachari, whatever you may be a good mother or father but with your spiritual foundation in your life. War is a type of game, is it not? War games, its winning or losing but it’s very serious. The Bhagavad-Gita was spoken on a battle field and what does Krishna teach Arjuna, Arjuna wanted to leave battle field because he didn’t want to play that game where somebody have to win or somebody going have to lose and he didn’t to lose and he didn’t want to hurt the other side, if he won very, very difficult. The whole Bhagavad-Gita was Krishna convening Arjuna to play the game, to fight the war but the quality of consciousness in which he should do it. Krishna tells do not be attached to victory or defeat, to honor or dishonor, to success or failure, try your best for victory, and try your best for success do everything within your power but do with the integrity of the foundation of offering the results to me. Srila Jaya pataka Maharaj, explained like this, this akarma, it’s beyond material bondage. When we perform our work our occupation, when we live our life in harmony with the will of God, as an instrument of the compassion of God and we try our best to do it according to our capacity, it’s that effort that makes us success. Our guru dev Srila Prabhupada often said Krishna or God doesn’t what you offer; the Lord sees the intent, the purpose in which it is offered. You can win and lose and you could lose and win because if our intent is right and we try our earnest best for the write cause even if we lose we are victories and if we win we are also victories. There is no losing on the spiritual platform if we have the right intent.
People love to pull each other’s legs in this material world
Krishna tells in Bhagavad-Gita, if you die fighting for the noble cause in a spirit of real devotion then you return to the spiritual world that really winning the game of life and if you live you will be living in the spiritual world in this world. What is difference between material and spiritual? It’s our consciousness, when we see everything in relationship to the Lord we seeing everything through spiritual perspective. When we see everything in its potential connection to the Lord, we are seeing the spiritual world even in this world. The bible says the kingdom of God is within; it’s not that something up there. It’s up there too, but you can’t go there unless you see it within yourself, unless you live in it within yourself. So yes, you can become a millionaire and can become a billionaire but that doesn’t mean that you are going to happy and that doesn’t meant that you are going to do good for the world. May people are prisoners of their own success, I know many people who tell me the same thing they used to be simple they became tremendously wealthy, tremendously powerful but then they say to me, I can’t laugh anymore like I used too. I want that back, I used to be able to laugh hardly for my heart I can’t do that anymore. There is too much pressure, there is too much anxiety. Sometimes when you become like that you don’t know who to trust and not to trust, even your own relatives, it that a quality life? But yet, if they don’t fight constantly to stay where they are and expand, they lose everything because there are so many people trying to destroy them. The bigger you are the more there are the big people trying to destroy you. Jiva jivasa jivanam, when you are little person not too many people care but the bigger the bigger, the bigger the more envy and the more prestige and apprise it is to tear you down, yes in business, in profession, in politics, that very painful.
Quality of life and you can become a billionaire and even the trillionaire no problem but built it on the foundation of quality, a spiritual foundation based on eternal principles. That I am not this body I am the eternal soul and the soul is eternal full of knowledge and full of bliss. The soul has relationship with God the supreme soul, who is all attractive, all beautiful, all loving and to access that love of Krishna and be an instrument of that love through whatever we do is real joy. To live with the character and integrity that will uplift humanity and to be willing to take even potential losses to sustain our integrity that is a great person. A great person is not someone who gains a lot of money, a great person is not a person who gains lot of power or becomes great famous, a great person is not a person who just has many certificates for academic accomplishments. A great person may have all those things or may not, is a person who lives according to the spiritual principles of integrity even in the phase of great risk and temptation. Srila Prabhupada writes, the greatness of a person has to entered, has to be estimated by how one tolerating provoking situations and maintenance their character.
I didn’t see it but there is a famous movie slum dog Millionaire, how many of you saw? I can’t say much about because I didn’t see it but what people told me about a person from neighboring part of Bombay who won some contest a game, yes he won a game and became a millionaire. While in Hollywood and Bollywood there is happily ever after type movies like that, was that a happy ending; he always had a good intent that is the success. Having the right intent is the real success but eventually what happens after movie ends and you know all the people who are trying to take money away from and investing in a wrong place, like so many people in today’s economy. Very unstable, very uncertain; real wealth is within. Especially all of you students it should very much an important part on a priority to develop that spiritual foundation now simultaneously with your striving for your career that is real success. Winning the game of life means to maintain our integrity to have the right intent despite all the winning, losing and the happiness and distress and pleasure and pain and all the dualities that come upon within this world that is success.
Ultimately Krishna tells in Bhagavad-Gita,
anta-käle ca mäm eva
smaran muktvä kalevaram
If we live our life in a spirit of devotion than naturally we will remember Krishna, we will remember God in our life and in our death and we realize there is no death. Change of body, if we remember Krishna at the time of death the soul returns to Krishna forever and in this life if we are remembering Krishna the soul is with Krishna forever.
Story by Srila Prabhupada which reveals our destination
Prabhupada tells story of a prophet that went to a place and was giving benediction. He told the prince better you live, he told the butcher better you neither live nor die, the told the Brahmachari better you die and he told pure devotees either you live or die it doesn’t make any difference. So everyone ask very confusing, what did you mean better you live, better you die, better it doesn’t matter? He said, the prince he has a big beautiful palace, he has so much money, he has so much everything but because of that he has so much ego, he is so arrogant, he thinks that he can do anything. Because of that he is misusing people, he is abusing people, he is neglecting people, and he is engaging his money in all sorts of immoral activities, better you live. Because when he dies all the Karma, all his unethical behavior, all his cruelty to others is all going to come like an avalanche so better you live as long as you can. He said as far as Brahmachari like Gopinath Chandra Prabhu no matter what happens this man is always laughing, yes. I talk to Shyamananda Prabhu one of our very, very leading Brahmachari he said, whenever he gives class Shyamananda and Gopinath Chandra always in the front. He said as soon as I open my mouth he starts laughing and he said the way he laugh he makes everybody laugh. People laugh more at his laughter then what is laughing at, first time I haven’t heard him laugh I was. Now Gopinath Chandra is Graduate of IIT, the Indian Institute of technology. There was a show on sixty minutes a very famous show, I think CBS in America. It was about IIT and there was very, very powerful person who was speaking and he said so hard to get in IIT that my son got rejected from IIT so as a second alternative by I sent him Colombia university in New York which is an {Ivilic 1.33.31} school. How many people are applying every year? Now this is IIT Graduate is telling five to six hundred thousand applicants a year to IIT and about three to four thousand get accepted so you have to be really good. He is the IIT Graduate and he has just a little locker about this big, few little pictures scotch tape to it and he has couple sets of clothes and a couple books and he is always laughing. So this prophets said better you die I don’t want you to die I am just coding the prophet, why because has nothing that everybody of the world wants, he has nothing of that. He has happiness, he is always laughing, he is always smiling, and he is just serving others and happy doing good for other. But material he sleeps on the floor, he doesn’t even has his own room so he sleeps in temple room, where you are sitting now he sleeps and he is not alone, its crowded as now almost but everybody is laying down. He could be having a very high paying job in America but he is sleeping on the floor where you sitting now and he is happy. Better you die because you performing so many austerities a prophet said but because your devotion to God you are going to have eternal happiness in spiritual world, different than the prince.
Then he said to the butcher better neither live or die because you are just seeing so much suffering, you are seeing so much bloodshed, you are hearing the howling of misery pain and agony of other creatures and it’s not a nice life. Then, all the Karma of all the pain you cause to others we are going to have to accept after. So better you neither live nor die.
But then to the saintly person like Malati or Devamrita Swami, he said either you live or die doesn’t make any difference why? Because you are experiencing the love of God in your life and you are an instrument to that love and whatever you do and you realize you not this body, you realize you are not this mind, you have realize the eternality of the soul, you have realize the experience the love of the soul, you are with Krishna now and after you die you will be with Krishna somewhere else in the spiritual sky there is really no difference. It’s better than Hollywood or Bollywood could ever produce, real happily ever after. Happy now or happy after winning the game of life as Jayapataka Maharaj, Devamrita Maharaj already so nicely explained is realizing the real wealth, the real treasure that is within our is always been there to just look in that direction. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu he and his associates it is explained they broke open the treasure chest within the heart of the treasure chest of love of God they opened it up they tasted it, they tasted those fruits of treasure chest. Because it’s so great they simply want to distribute, distribute it to others.
Question: Mother is chanting one round but father is not at all listening?
Answer: Hari, Hari, Arjuna lived at home with Duryodhana. It was a Joint family and it helped him a lot. So most important thing is we should offer respect, we should give affection but at the same time we should be very faithful to our own ideals and values. If you do that they will naturally be transformed, if you try to change them they probably become very stubborn and threatened. If you compromise your own ideals then you can do nothing for them spiritual but if you maintain your ideals but do it in very gracious, humble, respectful way then in course of time they will really understand what you do and they will appreciate. It has seen it happens in almost every youngster. Of course it didn’t happen with Duryodhana but it brought upon the Bhagavad-Gita so that was good, thank you.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai!
Thank you very much!
