PLEASE NOTE, *THIS DOCUMENT IS AT DRAFT (NOT PERFECT) STAGE. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO READ WITH GM’S VIDEO IN BACKGROUND.*
Nama Om Vishnu paadaaya..
Hari Haraya Naama Krishna …
Jaya Prabhupada…
Mukham karoti…
Om Tat sat
Question: Dear guru maharaj, PAMRO, Most of the time I am carried away by situations and not able to remain determined in devotional practices. Hence my chant, reading and hearing is not consistent. Please guide me how to remain consistent in any situation. Your insignificant servant, Braja Krsna das
Guru maharaj: Hmmm. He is carried away by situations. Material life is filled with a lot of situations. So if we are carried away by situations, then there is no end to it. So there may be so many situations when Krsna is giving us some tests, whether we will we will be clinging to His lotus feet or be carried away by the situations. We see how in Krsna lila, the cowherd boys, they many times got carried away but they always thought of Krsna. Even when they entered the mouth of Aghasura they thought oh, this looks like a big snake and we are walking right into its mouth. One of them said, Krsna is there, so why should we be worried? So fearlessly they went into the snake’s mouth thinking that Krsna will protect always protects us. And if we could be as determined as they were always thinking that Krsna is there, Krsna is our friend, Krsna will always protect us. So whether the situations carried them away or not, they were fixed in their relationship with Krsna. And they always thought that Krsna will protect us. So if we can be so determined, to always think that Krsna is there, what do we care? Krsna is there! What do we care? Krsna is there! What do we care? Krsna is there! In this way we never stop our chanting, our hearing our reading. Hope it helps you Braja Krishna das.
Question: Hare Krsna dear guru maharaj. We no I live in Sydney with my family. I stay very close to Radha Gopinath temple. Any special instructions that you would like to give us? Your servants, Advaita Vishnu das and Padmini Radha dd
Guru maharaj: So you are very fortunate to stay close to the North Sydney temple. And there the Radha Gopinath deity is being worshipped. As far as I know, Srila Prabhupada visited that temple. So it is one of the rare Sripaats, one of the rare temples that Srila Prabhupada visited. Of course he also visited the Melbourne temple and maybe different temples in Australia. But in the world where there are 6-700 temples, he started 108 and some of those he visited personally. So in India, if some associate of Lord Caitanya visited a place even for 24 hours, that place becomes known as a Sripaat – as a small dham, and everything within 3 miles is considered sacred. So I don’t know exactly if you are staying verrrry close to Radha Gopinath? So if it is within 3 miles, you are in holy dham. Haribol!
Question: (In Bengali) Hare Krishna. I am 23 years plus. I want to serve guru and Gauranga throughout my life. But I am not able to decide whether to be enter brahmachari ashram or grihastha ashram. Please help me. Syamsundar Ashraya das, Birbhum, Bengal.
Guru maharaj: What help should I give? Normally, if anyone said this to Srila Prabhupada, I am not able to decide whether I should get married or remain a brahmachari. Then Srila Prabhupada would say then you get married Ha! To stay a brahmachari is hard it is called brihad vrata. Only if the mind is very steady and determined then only can one stay a brahmachari. But if one is wavering in mind to get married or to stay a brahmachari, then it is better to get married. When I was 19 years old, in the Montreal temple, the president’s wife told me told me that if I didn’t get married, I would not be able to go back to Vaikuntha! I went to Srila Prabhupada and told him that I was 19 years old only, I don’t worry about this and I asked Srila Prabhupada, and he said, when you are 25 years old, guru will see your situation and advise you, now your age is 23 plus, so wait till you are 25, and then I will see.
Question: Hare Krishna guru maharaj: PAMRO: In Lord Caitanya’s pastimes which form or face do we actually worship? Is it Nimai Pandit or Lord Caitanya? Your insignificant servant, Milan Madhav das.
Guru maharaj: Answer: The battery is very, very low! Ha! The answer is YES! Next question. Is it Nimai Pandit we worship or Caitanyadev. We worship Lord Caitanya in all aspects. Actually on the altar we worship Him before He took sanyas, because generally sanyas is for conditioned souls a kind of austerity, to purify themselves. Since Lord Caitanya is Krsna Himself, He is always the purest of the pure. So He doesn’t need to take sanyas for purification. So His taking sanyas is something that the devotees don’t like. He shouldn’t be doing any austerities; He is the Supreme enjoyer. But that is a part of His lila. He banished Sita to the forest and in reciprocation He banished Himself to the forest. But we worship Lord Caitanya when He is Nimai and when He is Lord Caitanya and when He is Gauuuuuranga! Gauuuuuranga! Gauuuuranga! When He expands Himself as Nityananda! Nityananda! Nitaiiii! Nitaaaaaiii! Thank you Milan Madhav das.
Question: Dear guru maharaj. PAMRO. Once your holiness mentioned that Kartik month is for preaching and Baisak month is for austerities. Could you please elaborate on the austerities? Your spiritual son, Sridhar Gaura Bhakta das
Guru maharaj: In Kartik month we offer lamps and we can use this opportunity to expand our contacts. Although some people in Kartik month, they also do some austerities. There is a whole list of things you can give up, and what you get for giving them up. If we don’t take salt for the whole month, then you get a better voice for singing! Like that there is a whole list of things you can give up. But we mainly use it for offering lamps which is an opportunity for new people to render some personal service to Krsna, and everything you do in Kartik month, is multiplied a hundred times.
Baisak month, one is encouraged to do different devotional practices like, taking a bath early, dancing in front of the deities, japa in front of the deities, and actually it is that Kartik for us, we introduce people and Baisak they can do different services.
Question: Dear guru maharaj, PAMHO, Tomorrow is my wedding. Please bless me. Kamala Kausalya devi dasi.
Guru maharaj: She wants blessings. What is her name? Kamala Kausalya devi dasi blessings! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Gaura Nitai Haribol! What time is it? 9.40! Oh it is late! Last question.
Question: How can we serve the vaisnavas with nishtha?
Guru maharaj: Well if nishtha was a name of a sweet, you could give it to them! Nishtha means steady service. So serving the vaisnavas with nishtha, nishtha attentively, respectfully. If you serve them carelessly, spill the pot over their head, don’t pay attention and instead of serving them on the plate serve on the floor, while serving the vaisnava you are looking somewhere else. You should not be like inattentive, they say your body language would also show how much you are focused. So while serving the vaisnavas, you do like this (guru maharaj gestured and spoke like oh, ha, ha, ha, behaving casually and inattentively talking), then they will think he is not paying attention to me, he does not love me. So it is not too difficult to serve with nishtha. You have to be focused and you have to care about serving the vaisnavas. Lord K holds all the vaisnavas very dear, so therefore, we should be very attentive and careful in serving the vaishnavas. Haribol!
So the doctor I went to see this morning and he said that you are steadily progressing. You can see me once every two months! Tomorrow, Lord Gauranga dreams of Lord Nityananda, wow! Cannot wait till tomorrow. Want to hear the dream now! Can we tomorrow have it faster? So nice to see all the vaisnavas. We got back fairly quickly. So I was able to catch the last of the Eastern India Divisional Council and I wanted to see the deities of the boat festival but they had an emergency meeting of Assam, to work out something between Assam and the Namahatta. Then I saw the darshan of the deities, I came up and had prasadam and then I had qu and answers! So tomorrow I would like to go to the boat festival with nistha! Ha Ha! Group photo?
Too late, no more questions! Tomorrow! Haribol!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
9 May 2019
Addendum on 11 May 2019