Vaishnava Qualities - The Life of an aspiring devotee of
Lord Krishna
- by Vishnukanta das
This is a compilation of important
points from the books and lectures of HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj.
Srila Prabhupada had always
stressed on the importance of cultivating Vaishnava qualities that would please
the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. Following his footsteps, his
faithful followers in Iskcon have been propagating this important aspect of
devotional service.
HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj
explains different qualities that are absolutely necessary for an aspiring
devotee to cultivate and serve selflessly. In this article, we shall see many
such points.
Maharaj points out in his lecture in
Sridham Mayapur, 2008 says:
“One time Prabhupada was sitting
with his hand on his head and he was saying, “You don’t know what it is like to
run a world-wide spiritual movement. You don’t know.” The inference, with the
way that he was holding his head, was that it was a big headache.
Prabhupada was so concerned that
we all stay together, that we all work together, that we all cooperate to
spread the Krsna conscious movement. We have many, many devotees now and it’s
important that the devotees get cared for, and feel cared for.
So part of the function to care for the
devotees, is through the diksa guru. He is the
manifestation of the Madana Mohana vigraha, the sambanda
vigraha. There’s also the help of the many different instructing spiritual
masters, or siksa gurus, who is a representative of Govindaji,
the abidheya vigraha. The goal of life is Radha-Gopinatha.”
HH Jayapataka Swami
Vyasa Puja
Lecture – 2008
Sridham Mayapur
Here, he explains the importance of caring for the devotees, helping them nurture the spiritual qualities that pleases Sri Krishna.
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Maharaj stresses on the importance of developing qualities such as meekness, humility, being merciful, etc. in his book Godruma Kalpatavi.
Sridham Mayapur
Here, he explains the importance of caring for the devotees, helping them nurture the spiritual qualities that pleases Sri Krishna.
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Maharaj stresses on the importance of developing qualities such as meekness, humility, being merciful, etc. in his book Godruma Kalpatavi.
“Bhaktivinod Thakura says that one should try to develop good qualities, such as Meekness. One should give credit to others, without desiring aggrandizement or praise.
Another quality appreciated here is Mercy - to help others in Krishna Consciousness. With mercy comes Tolerance. Preaching to the conditioned souls is like being a spiritual doctor, and being intolerant makes it very hard to treat people. One should hate the disease, not the person suffering from the disease.
If we put people into some negative category – ‘These people are like that’ – how can we help them? Srila Prabhupada was very tolerant in facilitating people to chant and associate.”
HH Jayapataka Swami
From the book: Godruma Kalpatavi
Courtesy: ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry
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There are several other very important points explained by Maharaj.
“Lord Chaitanya said
that if you want to develop Love for Godhead, you must know “Vaishnava
Etiquette” – How to behave with Vaishnavas. That is more important. If we don’t
know how to deal properly with Vaishnavas then we commit offenses and
eventually we won’t be able to go very close to Krishna … So it is very
important to know how deal with, behave with each other properly respecting.
Most of the weeds of devotional service are also dealing
with behavior, Kutinaati – diplomatic behavior; play some political situation
with someone. Jivahimsa – treating someone very aggressively to harm a person
emotionally or physically. So lots of
obstacles in our devotional service are there because of bad behavior.
In other case Krishna bhajana means normally practicing
with properly dealing with vaishnavas and say that you are going to save a
vaishnava who is being attacked by beast or wild animal then if we die trying
to save a devotee then we go back to Godhead. Devotees are so dear that they are worth dying for. So if
somebody is worth dying for then why would we offend or deal improperly with
such a person.”
HH Jayapataka
SwamiItaly
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“When we come to Krishna
Consciousness, we have to also become responsible for what we do. If we are a
little careful, Krishna will certainly protect us and then if we are careful
about making mistakes and ask for forgiveness and avoid repeating in the
future, then it is very easy to overcome any mistakes and get back home, Back
to Godhead, and get purely Krishna Conscious.
But if we become careless, become impersonal or sahajiya, we
just start offending Krishna, offending the Vaishnavas, it’s a dangerous thing.
When we come before the deity, we should say that I am a soul surrendered unto
you, we pray for our protection from offenses, from our ignorance and the power
of the illusory energy.
Srila Prabhupada said that when we do Guru Puja everyday,
we beg forgiveness from the Guru for all the offenses we make so that we can
continue to make progress. We can’t
even count how many offenses we make in a day. But we have to try to become
more and more aware of them. If we don’t try to avoid them, then we are
responsible.”
HH Jayapataka
SwamiCourtesy: Mathuradesh Publications
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“Remembering the
instructions of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu to always be engaged in propagating
the glories of Krishna’s holy names for the upliftment of the fallen souls is
the only shelter for the fallen soul aspiring perfection in this present Age.
The alternative passages are actually traps of Maya which
will lead one to fall:
1. Into the pit Mayavadi Conceptions or
2. Into Entanglement in Materialistic Activities under the three material modes.
1. Into the pit Mayavadi Conceptions or
2. Into Entanglement in Materialistic Activities under the three material modes.
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has
so kindly given the world a spiritual society in which every thought, word and
deed can be engaged in Yukta-Vairägya — pure devotional activities offered to
Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
HH Jayapataka
Swami
From the book:
Vaisnava Ke
Verse 10 – Purport
Verse 10 – Purport
