Human Life is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth. I was taught by my parents that whenever we go for any social function, we were not to discuss politics, religion, philosophy and a few other things. Basically because people take it down to very theoretical level, it’s very natural that we don’t discuss it on a social level.

The Guru and disciple, the spiritual master and the student relationship is something where the disciple makes an inquiry and tries to eradicate the doubt and listens to the answer. It’s not like a social thing, “What do you think”. But that, “I want to learn that you have to teach me. So I will ask and I will listen. If I have any doubts, I will ask again until my doubts are cleared away.”

A challenging approach or a doubting approach or cynical approach is very difficult for learning. Not that one should blindly accept anything. That is not also recommended. But just as one should ask the question and if you can’t believe it, if you have some doubt, then mention why you are doubting it, put it in a proper way, and then ask again.

So the system mentioned here is to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master, inquire from him submissively and render service unto him.

HH Jayapataka Swami
From the book: Taking Shelter of Krishna
Courtesy: Mathuradesh Publications

“So in the material world people actually are having a hard struggle for existence, but then the devotees they are not having the same kind of struggle. Actually, because of being under the shelter of Krishna, even the so called material things, we have to do in devotional service, everything is blissful! It is like in the river, if you try to swim in the river, if there’s a strong current it sweeps you away, but if you look in the river, you see there are so many fishes in the river, they are swimming.

In spite of the rapids, so many fishes are swimming upstream. So when we see that everything is Krishna’s energy, and when we become one of the Fishes in Krishna’s energy we can swim upstream.

What normal people think to be very austere, very difficult situation, a great difficulty, for the devotee it’s all simply a part of their devotional service. When there is some crisis they take it as Krishna’s mercy; ‘this is forcing me to surrender more intensely to Krishna, to realize there is no other hope other than Krishna ‘. “ 

HH Jayapataka Swami
Lecture
SB 1.3.32

When we took our Safari to South India we went to the Sri Rangam temple and there we chanted Hare Krsna for the acarya of the Sri Rangam temple, one of the 64 temples of Ramanuja and that’s maybe the most important that he has. Then he said, “You are all incarnations of Andal, an incarnation of Lakshmi who chanted the holy name and said everyone should go with karatals and drums in the street and chant the name of Krsna.” He said, “You are all incarnations or representatives of Andal, you are doing.“

And just recently when we had the Tirupati temple opening, the head acarya was going to come for one day just bless it. But he stayed for all the seven days. When he saw some of the gurukuli devotees leading kirtan, and everybody chanting and dancing and all wearing tilaka, then he made a declaration that, “You are doing what we should be doing. This is what Ramanujacarya did, he made people devotees. We have become expert in all the rituals but we are not making new devotees. But you are making the new devotees.”

Then Radhanath Swami told me that he did a programme in Sri Rangam and the acarya had publicly over television said, “I want to be a member of ISKCON. [Devotees: Haribol!] They are doing what Ramanujacarya told us to do.”

HH Jayapataka Swami
Lecture
March 19th, 2008
Sridham Mayapur

In the Siva Purana, the name is mentioned with the syllables. Lord Siva said these two syllables ‘Krish’…’Na’.. these are the reservoir of all pleasure. The all attractive form of the Lord. These two syllables, are param brahma, and they are equal to 3000 times chanting the name of Vishnu, the sahasra-naam of Vishnu.

If you chant 3 times… or if you chant Hare Krishna once… the one name of Krishna has the same effect…That these names are specifically given… There are so many names given, and by chanting those specific vibrations, one gets delivered.

In the Srimad Bhagvatam, it says even if one circumstantially says that vibration he gets delivered. Accidentally if someone says that vibration…

There was one devotee of Lord Caitanya, he would regularly go to one Muslim magistrate and request him to chant “Hare Krishna”. But he would always avoid. but one day he said, “Alright, alright…Tomorrow I will chant Hare Krishna”. Hariiii Booool…..Hariiii Booool…..Hariiii Booool….Hariiii Booool…. “You have already chanted..you have already said the name of Krishna..you’ve begun..now dont stop.go on chanting..you have already delivered by accidentally chanting it. So go on chanting Hare Krishna…Hare Krishna…Krishna Krishna…Hare Hare…Hare Rama…Hare Rama…Rama Rama…Hare Hare…”

HH Jayapataka Swami
Lecture: SB 1.1.14
1989
Chowpatti, Mumbai

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It is also found in Garuda Purana, very interesting, that Lord Shiva was approached by all the Devas, that there was a demon called Andhaka, that they had to destroy him.

So then he took from all the demigods, he took energy, and he made a whole army of celestial energies, with destructive power called…they were called the Matri Danas, the mothers!

But actually they were destructive. Instead of going after the demon, they started to go after the ordinary citizens; They were devouring everything, planets, starts, people, destroying the skies.

So then Lord Shiva, he didn’t know what to do!? So he started to pray to Lord Nrsingadev. I didn’t bring the mantras, beautiful mantra..Lord Shiva praying to Nrsingadev. Om Namo Jagannathaya!..Lord of the Universe..Nrsingaya! So many nice verses that, “You’re..thousands of, brilliant-like thousands of Suns”, and maybe about eight-ten verses, very beautiful..Shiva’s prayers to Nrsingadev in the Garuda Purana.

Then Nrsingadev appeared and Shiva requested Him..”I created these destructive energies. It’s not right that I destroy them, if You can somehow neutralize them I’ll be very grateful.”

So from the Nrsingadev’s mouth, from His tongue manifested thousands of spiritual energies, and then each one of them to one of these destructive energies and neutralized them!

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There are many different Nrsinga temples, in, especially in south India. Ofcourse, here we have our Nrsingapalli, where the Lord Nrsinga was flying over Navadweep then he landed in Nrsingapalli, and he wasn’t approachable after killing Hiranyakashipu, but here he became very approcahable.

So all the devas built cottages around Nrsingadev’s, build Him a cottage and they were serving Him, giving Him bogha and faning and doing all kinds of personal services. So here in Navadweep dham, the Lord is accessable. 

And ofcourse when Murari Gupta was chanting the Vishnu Sahasranam, when he got to Nrsingadev, Lord Caitanya got in the mood of Lord Nrsingadev, ran out with a stick, “Where are the demons?!! Where are the demons, I’ll kill them all!!

People were seeing the huge form of Lord Caitanya with a stick, crying He was going to kill demons and then they all started running. Then Lord  Caitanya when He saw them running, he came back to normal consciousness, then He told Murari Gupta that, “I scared all those people!”. He (Murari gupta) said, “No, just by seeing You in that mood they were all liberated. 

So, Lord Caitanya manifested in Mayapur, in this mood of ‘looking for the demons’, and somehow our Nrsingadev, Sthanu Nrsinga, when He comes out from the column and He is looking for the demons!

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The fight (between Nringadev and Hiranyakashipu) was fairly similar, catching…releasing…flying in the air, fighting with each other. When it was the right time, then Nrsingadev grabbed Hiranyakashipu like a big bug. But this time he sat on his throne, took him and bifurcated him into two…took out the intestine and everything.

And in that lila, it is said that Lakshmidevi could approach (Nringadev). In the Bhagavatam lila He was too angry, even She couldn’t approach. But in this one She could approach. Everyone has little differences. She sat on Nringadev’s lap. The Devas wanted to approach and offer prayers, but it was so intensely effulgent from Nrsingadev, they told…communicated..whispered to Lakshmi that, “Effulgence cooling please!”.

So the Lord has different kinds of jyoti, intense hot jyoti and also cooling jyoti, like moon rays. So then She whispered something in His ear and, He switched the jyoti to ‘cooling’…’cooling mode’. Then everyone came and offered prayers and Prahalad came and offered. Like that..very interesting that, not only one time Nringadev comes.

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So then Nrsingadev, he appeared outside of this big facility, and he was walking through the town..people..all the demons…people living in Hiranyakashipu’s city, they saw Him and got frightened and ran. And He entered into the stadium..whatever you call it, I don’t know…air conditioned facility! And He was flying in the back, in a gigantic form.

And Hiranyakashipu says, “What is this?”, calls his air-force commander, “Tell this, whatever He is, we don’t allow any beasts into our assembly here. He should immediately go out, otherwise if He doesn’t go, kill Him!”

So they went there to tell Nrsingadev to leave! He dint leave. So they went in to attack Him. They say His mane was spread out. If any airplane hit the mane, any missile, it would pulverize into ashes. Just fall down as ashes on the people below. Just like sometimes in the airport you see these, some kind of special lights, bugs fly into and “cheekh”..they get burnt. So so many of these…the whole air-force was destroyed.

Then Hiranyakashipu, he had special missiles. So he told them to release the missile. All kinds of special missiles to immediately destroy anything. So, one after another he was throwing missiles at Nrsingadev. Some would hit His hair and burn. Some Nrsingadev would catch..look at..throw it back..and explode. But nothing was harming Nrsingadev. Finally when all the weapons, all the military, all the air-force, everything was destroyed, then, Hiranyakashipu himself went to attack Nrsingadev.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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In the Padma Purana it mentions that another kalpa, Hiranyakashipu asked, “I can’t be killed by a man, by animal, by deva, not by anything dead or alive”, but he did’nt mention “in our out”. Like in this lila it is not ‘inside or outside’, but in that lila he didn’t mention that. So that’s…didn’t have to be killed in the door-way. So like that some little differences are there in each of the pastimes.

So Hiranyakashipu told Prahalad that, “I’m giving you till 6′oclock, until sundown!” Like in America in the cowboy movies they say, “You got till sundown!.” So I’ll give you till sundown and if by that time your Lord doesn’t come, then you are finished!”

So it is said that there were elaborate arrangements for worshiping Hiranyakashipu. That they built a big air-conditioned facility which was like over a 100km long and 50km wide, very high, so even airplanes could fly inside it.

When one went inside it’s air condition, they didn’t feel heat or cold. Also, without cool, always pleasant, then a special buffet if you’re hungry…you can go, eat what ever you want. But even then if you’re inside you don’t feel very hungry but still if you wanted, you could enjoy.

Then there was a big place.. a big high like altar, with a big throne on it. Hiranyakashipu would sit, and all hundreds and millions of people would be in there and singing Hiranyakashipu kirtan! They didn’t say what was the kirtan you know..”We love you, Hiranyakashipu!” (laughter). “You give us sense gratification, you’re our great guide.” Something like that…I don’t know. Speculating.

So something they had…big gatherings, fountains and beautiful.. So Hiranyakashipu would get worshiped, not as a representative of Visnu but as the supreme himself. But then Prahalad still wouldn’t accept him. So for his mutiny, his impudence, he told him, “You have until sunset, then I’ll kill you!”

TO BE CONTINUED…

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One time, Padma Purana says how when Bhakta Prahalad was preaching about Visnu bhakti and everything then, Hiranyakashipu got very angry and sent his soldiers to kill him. So first they tried…they struck him with a sword. But as soon as the weapon would hit Prahalad, it turned into a blue lotus, Neel Utpal. Blue lotus.

Another soldier came up with a spear and went to stab Prahalad in the heart, “kill him!” But as soon as it touched Prahalad, it turned into a blue lotus. Someone came up with his arrow, “Waargh”..more blue lotuses!

Whatever they would attack him with simply became blue lotuses. So he was covered by a big pile of blue lotuses. There were not able to harm him. Rather they were doing Pushpanjali!

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In the Padma Purana, it mentions that Prahalad, Hiranyakashipu, Nrsingadev, they appear many times. It’s not only this one time. At least 3 different…2 different incarnations in other days of Brahma are described in the Padma Purana.

One of those times he (Hiranyakashipu) worshiped Shiva and got the blessing. Another time he worshiped Brahma again. When he was worshiping Shiva and he wanted Prahalad to admit that he was supreme, then he said that, “Well, ok if you don’t want to admit I’m supreme at least admit that Shiva is supreme..hes above Vishnu.” Prahalad didn’t accept that either.

Prahalad was very fixed up Vaisnava. He knew very clearly who the Supreme was. He got prenatal instruction. In the womb of his mother Kayadu he was instructed by Narada muni.

Narada is very merciful. So he saved Prahalad from the Devas and took her to his ashram, when she was carrying Prahalad, and then instructed her. So later she forgot a lot of the things but Prahalad remembered everything. So before he was born, he was already trained up.

The teachers of Prahalad were amazed where did he get all this information from? And they weren’t teaching all this Visnu-tattva. So they were surprised!

Garuda Purana…I opened it. It’s said,

- If you want to please the Brahmanas, feed them Prasadam..(laughter)
- If you want to please the Kshatriyas, give them Power..
- If you want to please the Vaisyas, give them Profit..
- If you want to please the Sudras, give them Praise..
- If you want to please the children, give them Sweets..

Garuda Purana…now it’s a big hit in India…Garuda Purana..some movie! (laughter)

Vedas give us all kinds of good advise, but some of this advise is not relevant to our self realization. It’s just..it gives really good advise, thats useful. This is written by great sages, as they tell us all so many things.

But this Bhagavat Purana is very special because it tells us the most important things we need to know, about purpose of life, self-realization!

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There are wars in the world because so many animals are slaughtered. Young children as soldiers are sent to die as a reaction for the animals which are killed.

Argentina is one of the major meat producers in the world and thousands of their young men were slaughtered in the war over the Falklands. This is a reaction because so many cows are slaughtered in Argentina. 

So many animals are slaughtered in America and look what happened in Vietnam. How many tens of thousands of Russians died in Afghanistan. Russia is a meat eating country.

Even Sikhs in Punjab, Indians,  are mainly meat eating. Although Guru Nanak was a vegetarian and all Hindu brahmanas were vegetarian before, but now 90% of the Sikhs are meat eaters.

So whether you are riding in the bus, or whether you are riding in a plane, or whether you are riding in the train, we should keep our eyes open how to give Krishna!

Good to always carry a card, carry a book, carry an invitation, carry a gift, carry prasadam.

Now India everyone knows, when they see me they run up and say “PRASAD”. He’s a swami that gives us prasad. If I don’t have prasad I feel very bad.

In fact if you go as a sadhu, they may see you they may think, if you like like me, they may ask you for prasad. Even the cleaners, police, everybody is asking.

So it’s good to GIVE OUT THE MERCY!

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