Jayapataka Swami: Srila Prabhupad never asked, that we have to reject our previous culture. I was born in a Christian family. SP never said to reject Christianity. Lord Jesus, He gave ten commandments and the first commandment is love God. But how to do that? That is bhakti yoga. The nine processes – chanting, remembering, serving, etc. we have a process how to develop love of Godhead. You can tell the Christians, that if you really want to follow Lord Jesus, do bhakti yoga. Lord Caitanya personally taught from the Quran in the Antya Lila. He said Allah is a person. He is impersonal and personal, both. He established that. And many Muslims accepted Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings. He has qualities like Allah is very merciful, He is just, we cannot say or think like a light bulb being very merciful!! Being loving etc. these are all personal qualities. We can present to the Muslims and Christians that actually by practicing bhakti yoga, they can actually achieve the purpose of their sastra, their religion. I used to give class in some churches. I found them very receptive. So we just need to know how to preach. We respect. We can also preach to the Christians in the church. Recently I heard how one devotee, he was giving class in the mosque in the madrasa. He showed them in the Bhagavad-gita it never says the word Hindu. That this book is for everyone. For Christians, for Muslims, for everyone. And I was amazed, because we don’t advertise this, because the fanatic Muslims, they don’t like this. But actually, you can reach out to them. And there are many people who have any faith, so we can also reach out to them. So using this lockdown period, on internet you can teach Bhagavad-gita. In Kerala, a state in South India, which is also one third Christians, one third Muslims, one third Hindus, they advertised Bhagavad-gita class for beginners and 500 people joined. So, anyway we have to go on with our preaching. We respect all the religions. By presenting Krsna consciousness in this universal way, naturally people may be attracted.
17-MAY-2020 SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA
