Nitai Guna-Mani amar

Srila Locana Dasa Thakura
Sri Caitanya Mangala
 
“My Lord Nityananda is the Jewel of all Transcendental Qualities”

(1)
nitai guna-mani amar, nitai guna-mani
aniya premer banya bhasailo avani

(2)
premer banya loiya nitai aila gauda-dese
dubilo bhakata-gana dina hina bhase

(3)
dina hina patita pamara nahi bachhe
brahmar durlabha prema sabakare jache

(4)
abaddha karuna-sindhu nitai katiya muhan
ghare ghare bule prema-amiyar ban
 
(5)
lochan bole hena nitai jeba na bhajilo
janiya suniya sei atma-ghati hoilo
 
 
Translation by 
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

It is said that Nityananda Prabhu is more merciful, more magnanimous, more munificent than Gauranga Mahaprabhu. So we are singing that song, nitai guna-mani amara, nitai guna mani…

1. Srila Lochana Dasa Thakura says, “Nitai came to Gauda-desa with a flood of krishna-prema, with a flood of love of Godhead. He made the whole world inundated with that flood of prema.”
 
2. And with that flood, He came and inundated the whole land. Dubilo bhakata-gana dina hina bhase, those who are bhaktas, devotees they all drowned, they all blissfully drowned in that premer banya. But the dina hina, the fallen souls they floated, they floated!
 
3. Nityananda Prabhu offers this pure love of Godhead, indiscriminately. It is pure love of Krshna that is rarely obtained. He distributes this prema with two hands! Two hands! He never discriminates whether one is patita or pamara, most degraded, qualified or not qualified. Brahmar durlabha prema, it is very difficult even on the part of Brahma to get this prema, but Nitai gives it indiscriminately.
 
4. That prema is sindhu, like an ocean; karuna-sindhu, an ocean of mercy. It is said that Nitai broke down the strong embankment of that ocean of love. He completely devastated that dam. That ocean of love is an unlimited ocean. So then a flood came, it rushed in! It was a heavy rush that flooded into every home, ghare ghare bule prema-amiyar ban, and inundated the whole world.
 
5. Srila Locan Dasa Thakura says, “He is an unfortunate fellow who doesn’t take shelter of Nitai and does not do the bhajana of Nityananda Prabhu, not begging for the mercy of Nitai. He willingly commits self-suicide, atma-ghati hoilo.

DOYA KORO MORE NITAI

Srila Kanu Rama Dasa Thakura
 
“Please be Merciful to Me, Lord Nityananda!”

(1)
doya koro more nitai, doya koro more
agatira gati nitai sadhu loke bole
 
(2)
jaya prema bhakti data-pataka tomara
uttama adhama kichhu na kaila bichara
 
(3)
prema dane jagajaner mana kaila sukhi
tumi hena doyara thakura ami kene dukhi
 
(4)
kanu rama dasa bole ki boliba ami
e bada bharasa more kuler thakura tumi
 
 
 Translation by 
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

So wonderfully merciful is Nityananda Prabhu, that we are singing that song by Kanu Rama Dasa, begging for Nityananda’s mercy. Learn this song. It is a very nice song, doya koro more nitai, doya koro more…

1. O Nityananda Prabhu, please shower your mercy on me. All sadhus say, “You are so merciful, You give the right destination to the fallen souls.”
 
2. Lord Nityananda has a flag. That flag gives prema-bhakti. He never discriminates whether one is uttama or adhama, most elevated or most degraded. He gives prema-bhakti to one and all.
 
3. Nityananda Prabhu gives prema to one and all and makes the whole world happy. You are such a merciful Thakura, why am I so unhappy?
 
4. Kanu Rama Dasa says, “What more shall I say? O Lord Nityananda, You are the Lord of our line, parampara. So this is a great hope for me that You are such a merciful Lord there for me.”

NITAI AMAR DOYAR ABADHI

Srila Vrndavana Dasa Thakura
 
“Lord Nityananda is the Last Limit of Mercy”

(1)
are bhai! nitai amar doyar abadhi!
jivere karuna kori,’ dese dese phiri’ phiri’
prema-dhana jache nirabadhi
 
(2)
adwaitera sange ranga, dharane na jaya anga,
gora-preme gada tanu khani
dhuliya dhuliya chale, bahu tuli’ hari bole,
du-nayane bahe nitaiera pani
 
(3)
kapale tilaka sobhe, kutila-kuntala-lole
gunjara antuni chuda tay
kesari jiniya kati, kati tate niladhati
bajana nupura ranga pay
 
(4)
bhubana-mohana besa! majaila sava desa!
rasa bese atta atta hasa!
prabhu mora nityananda kevala ananda-kanda
guna gaya vrndavana dasa
 

Translation by 
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

We observe the holy appearance day of Patita-Pavana, Sri Sri Prema-Data Nitai, Nityananda Thakura whose mercy is limitless. Limitless mercy. There is no limit to it. If any limit is there to mercy, Nitai’s mercy is the last limit, doyar abadhi. Nitai amar doyar abadhi. Abadhi means limit. Nitai is the last limit of mercy. There is no limit to it. So can you get Nitai’s mercy?

1. O Brothers! Lord Nityananda is very, very merciful. Nitai’s mercy is limitless, the last limit of mercy. He travels to all the villages and countries of the world and gives prema-dhana. He gives to one and all.
 
2. He is always cutting jokes with Advaita Acarya. His whole body is made up of the love of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. He is always intoxicated with prema-rasa. An intoxicated person cannot walk. How does He walk? Like that! –dhuliya dhuliya chale. Always raising His arms and saying, Hari bol! Hari bol! Hari bol! And He always sheds tears from His two lotus eyes.
 
3. Nice tilaka is there on His forehead and curling hairs are there decorating, looking very nice. His hair is bound up with that red gunja on the head. His waist is like that of a lion’s and a blue belt is there. His feet look red – ranga pay. And He has put on nupura, a tinkling, tinkling sound is always there.
 
4. His whole form, whole demeanor, and features are all very beautiful. The whole world is enchanted by that beauty. He is always intoxicated in that prema-rasa; always smiling and laughing, “Haa! Haa! Haa! Haa! Haa!” Like that! –Atta atta hasa! Such is Nityananda Rama. Vrndavan Dasa Thakura says, “That Nityananda Prabhu is my Prabhu. He is only full of pleasure, nothing else.”

AKRODHA PARAMANANDA NITYANANDA RAYA

Srila Locana Dasa Thakura
Sri Caitanya Mangala
 
“Lord Nityananda Never Gets Angry”

(1)
akrodha paramananda nityananda raya
abhimana sunya nitai nagare bedaya
 
(2)
adhama patita jiver dware dware giya
harinama maha mantra dena bilaiya
 
(3)
jare dekhe tare kahe dante trna dhori’
amare kiniya laha bhaja gaurahari
 
(4)
eta boli’ nityananda bhume gadi jaya
sonara parvata jena dhulate lotaya
 
(5)
hena avatare jar rati na janmilo
lochana bole sei papi ela ar gelo

1. Lord Nityananda Raya never gets angry. He is always in ecstasy, supreme bliss. He has no false ego. He wanders to every town and village in Nadia chanting Hare Krshna, dancing, and offering krishna-prema to everyone indiscriminately.
2. Sri Nitai goes to every doorstep and knocks on the doors of those who are very much distressed, degraded and fallen and gives them krishna-prema. He says, “Please Chant! Please Chant!”

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

If they do not chant and shut the door, then He rolls there on the ground and cries!
3. Whomever He meets, catching a straw between His teeth, He begs, “O Brothers! Please do the bhajana of Sri Gaurahari and purchase Me, purchase Me, purchase Me.”
4. Saying this, Lord Nityananda rolls on the ground in the dust, cries, and sheds tears, looking like a mountain of gold rolling on the ground.
5. Lord Nityananda is such a merciful incarnation. If someone doesn’t develop love for such an incarnation as Sri Nityananda-Rama, Locana says, “Such a sinful person wastes his life, remains in the cycle of birth and death, and cannot be delivered.”

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
caknur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

sri-caitanya-mano-‘bhintam sthapitam yena bhu-tale
svayam rupah kada mahyam dadati sva-padantikam

vande ‘ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaishnavams ca
sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam
sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krishna-caitanya-devam
sri-radha-krishna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

he krishna karuna-sindho dina-bandho jagat-pate
gopesa gopika-kanta radha-kanta namo ‘stu te

tapta-kancana-gaurangi radhe vrndavanesvari
vrnabhanu-sute devi pranamami hari-priye

namo maha-vadanyaya krishna-prema-pradaya te
krishnaya krishna-caitanya-namne gaura-tvine namah

yad advaitam brahmopaninadi tad apy asya tanu-bha
ya atmantar-yami puruna iti so ’syamsa-vibhavah
nad-aisvaryaih purno ya iha bhagavan sa svayam ayam
na caitanyat krishnaj jagati para-tattvam param iha

“What the Upaninads describe as the impersonal Brahman is but the effulgence of His body, and the Lord known as the Supersoul is but His localized plenary portion. Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krshna Himself, full with six opulences. He is the Absolute Truth, and no other truth is greater than or equal to Him.” (Caitanya-caritamrta adi-lila 2.5)

radha krishna-pranaya-vikrtir hladini saktir asmad
ekatmanav api bhuvi pura deha-bhedam gatau tau
caitanyakhyam prakatam adhuna tad-dvayam caikyam aptam
radha-bhava-dyuti-suvalitam naumi krishna-svarupam

The loving affairs of Sri Radha and Krshna are transcendental manifestations of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency. Although Radha and Krshna are one in Their identity, previously They separated Themselves. Now these two transcendental identities have again united, in the form of Sri Krshna Caitanya. I bow down to Him, who has manifested Himself with the sentiment and complexion of Srimati Radharani although He is Krshna Himself. (Caitanya-caritamrta adi-lila 1.5)

cirad adattam nija-gupta-vittam
sva-prema-namamrtam aty-udarah
a-pamaram yo vitatara gaurah
krshno janebhyas tam aham prapadye

“The most munificent Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Gaurakrishna, distributed to everyone — even the lowest of men — His own confidential treasury in the form of the nectar of love of Himself and the holy name. This was never given to the people at any time before. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.” (Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila 23.1)

gaurah sac-caritamrtamrta-nidhih gauram sadaiva-stuve
gaurena prathitam rahasya-bhajanam gauraya sarvam dade
gauradasti krpalu-ratra na paro gaurasya bhrityo bhavam
gaure gauravamacarami bhagavan gaura-prabho rakna mam

“I pray to Sriman Gauranga Mahaprabhu whose ecstatic transcendental pastimes are like a river of nectar. Gaura has given the path of confidential devotional service. I will completely surrender to Gaura. Is there anyone more merciful than Gaura? I will become a servant of Gaura. I shall preach the glory of Gaura. May my Lord Gaura protect me.” (Gauranga-virudavali by Srila Raghunandana Gosvami)

sri-krishna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

I offer my obeisances to Sri Krshna Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion.

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

ananda-lila-maya-vigrahaya
hemabha-divyac-chavi-sundaraya

tasmai maha-prema-rasa-pradaya
caitanya-candraya namo namas te

O Sri Caitanya-candra, I offer You my repeated obeisances. You are the personification of Krshna’s blissful pastimes, and You are extraordinarily beautiful, having a dazzling golden luster. You have awarded to the people of the world the topmost mellows of ecstatic love for Krshna. (Sri Caitanya-candramrta, text 11)

Sri-Nityanandantakam
Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura

sarac-candra-bhrantim sphurad-amala-kantim gaja-gatim
hari-premonmattam dhrta-parama-sattvam smita-mukham
sadaghurnan-netram kara-kalita-vetram kali-bhidam
bhaje nityanandam bhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

This is Sri Nityanandantakam, eight verses written by Vrndavana Das Thakura in glorification of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu. The first verse says, “The lotus face of Sri Nityananda Prabhu looks cooling like an autumnal moon. Not only like that; it is even more than that. The beauty of Nityananda Prabhu’s face excels the beauty of an autumnal moon. His whole bodily beauty is also very, very wonderful; you cannot compare it to any other beauty. Nityananda Prabhu is like a mad elephant, and His movements are always very, very slow — mrdu-manthara. Nityananda Prabhu is always in an ecstatic mood of krishna-prema.

Therefore we sing that song, brahmara durlabha prema sabakare jache [by Locana dasa Thakura]. Patita-pamara nahi bache, He never discriminates between patitas and pamaras. Indiscriminately He offers prema, krishna-prema, which is very rare and even on the part of Lord Brahma very difficult to get. Uttama adhama kichu na koilo bicara, He never discriminates whether someone is uttama or adhama; He indiscriminately gives krishna-prema.

prema-dane jagatjanera mano kaila sukhi
tumi eno doyara thakura ami kene duhkhi
(Doya Koro Nitai by Kanurama dasa Thakura)

“Indiscriminately He gives prema to one and all. By giving krishna-prema indiscriminately He makes every one happy, but me. He doesn’t give it to me. You are such merciful Thakura, but why am I unhappy? Why?”

akrodha paramananda nityananda raya
abhimana-sunya nitai nagare beray
(by Locana dasa Thakura)

He never gets angry: akrodha. He is paramananda, always in supreme bliss. No sulkiness, abhimana. He’s callous of what people say. In most streets of the towns and villages He offers krishna-prema indiscriminately.

adhama patita jivera dvare dvare giya
harinama mahamantra dena bilaiya
(by Locana dasa Thakura)

He goes to every doorstep, to those who are very, very distressed, degraded and fallen, and gives them prema.

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

jare dekhe tare kahe dante trna kari
amare kiniya laha bhaja gaura-hari
(by Locana dasa Thakura)

Whomever He meets, catching straw in between His teeth, He requests: “O bhai, O brother! Please do the bhajan of Gaurahari and purchase Me! Purchase Me!

eta bali nityananda bhume pari jay
sonara parvata jena dhulate lotay
(by Locana dasa Thakura)

Saying this He rolls on the ground in the dust. It looks like a golden mountain is rolling in the dust. Such is Nityananda. Whose body is transcendental, visuddha-sattva, with an always-smiling face, sahasya bodhana, and eyes that are rapidly moving, to and fro. He has a cane in his hand, and by the beating of that cane He completely destroys the reactions of Kali-yuga, kali-kala-nasa. Who is like the root of krishna-bhakti kalpataru. I pay my obeisances to that Nityananda.

rasanam agaram svajana-gana-sarvasvam atulam
tadiyaika-prana-pramita-vasudha-jahnava-patim
sada-premonmadam param aviditam manda-manasam
bhaje nityanandam bhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

That Nityananda Prabhu is the reservoir of all mellows. He is like the life and soul of all the devotees. Nobody can be compared to Him in the three planetary systems. Who is much more dear to one and all. Who is the beloved husband of Sri Vasudha and Jahnava. Who is always in an ecstatic mood of love, like a mad man, intoxicated with the mellow of love, krishna-prema. Evil minded persons cannot understand Him, who is the very root of the krishna-bhakti kalpavrkna. I pay my obeisances to that Nityananda Prabhu, and I do bhajana of that Nityananda Prabhu.

saci-sunu-prentham nikhila-jagad-intam sukha-mayam
kalau majjaj-jivoddharana-karanoddama-karunam
harer akhyanad va bhava-jaladhi-garvonnati-haram
bhaje nityanandam bhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

He is an embodiment of supreme happiness and blissfulness. There is no limit to His mercy. He is so merciful to the people of Kali-yuga; those who are most degraded and fallen. Who is always busy in chanting and doing hari-sankirtana,

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Thereby He’s destroying the pride of this dreadful ocean of materialistic existence. In other words He’s showing a very easy way of crossing this dreadful ocean of materialistic existence only by chanting hari-nama. That Nityananda, who is the root of the bhakti-lata, bhakti creeper, He is my bhajaniya. I do my bhajana to that Nityananda Prabhu. I pay my obeisances to Him.

aye bhratar ninam kali-kaluninam kim nu bhavita
tatha prayascittam racaya yad-anayasata ime
vrajanti tvam ittham saha bhagavata mantrayati yo
bhaje nityanandam bhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

That Nityananda Prabhu tells Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu: “O My brother, what will be the fate of these people of Kali-yuga? Please, show them a way for deliverance, so that they can approach Your lotus feet, obtain Your lotus feet, and be always in touch with Sriman Mahaprabhu.” To that Nityananda Prabhu I pay my obeisances, and to that Nityananda Prabhu I do my bhajana.

yathentham re bhratah kuru hari-hari-dhvanam anisam
tato vah samsarambudhi-tarana-dayo mayi laget
idam bahu-sphotair atati ratayan yah pratigrham
bhaje nityanandam bhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

That Nityananda Prabhu goes to every doorstep and tells them, “O my brothers, all of you, always engage yourselves in chanting harinama; hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare, hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare. If you do this, you must very easily cross over this dreadful ocean of materialistic existence and I remain a surety for it, for you.” He says, “surety”. Surety, guaranteed, I certify it. I tell you.”
To that Nityananda, who is the root of the bhakti creeper, I pay my obeisances and I do the bhajana of that Nityananda Prabhu.

balat samsarambhonidhi-harana-kumbhodbhavam aho
satam sreyah-sindhushnati-kumuda-bandhum samuditam
khala-sreni-sphurjit-timira-hara-surya-prabham aham
bhaje nityanandam bhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

That Nityananda Prabhu very easily destroys the sinful reactions of the most sinful and degraded people of Kali-yuga, kali-atma-jiva. He is also very, very dear to the devotees. He is always busy doing good to the devotees. He has arisen like a cooling moon, Who is as cool as crores of moons, koti-candra susitala. He is also like the sun Who dispels the darkness of the ignorant fools; the darkness arisen out of sinful activities. He is like a sun for them, because He destroys the sinful reactions of all sinful persons, rascals. To that Nityananda who is the root of the bhakti kalpalata, I pay my obeisances and I do my bhajana to that Nityananda Prabhu.

natantam gayantam harim anuvadantam pathi pathi
vrajantam pasyantam svam api na dayantam jana-ganam
prakurvantam santam sa-karuna-drg-antam prakalanad
bhaje nityanandam bhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

He’s always dancing, and engaged in harinama-sankirtana. He always casts a merciful glance over His dear devotees. In this way He is always moving in the streets of all the towns, cities and villages. He always casts His merciful glance over the devotees, sadhus. To that Nityananda Prabhu, Who is the root of bhakti-kalpa-vrkna, the bhakti tree, I pay my obeisances. I do the bhajana of that Nityananda.

su-bibhranam bhratuh kara-sarasijam komalataram
mitho vaktralokocchalita-paramananda-hrdayam
bhramantam madhuryair ahaha madayantam pura-janan
bhaje nityanandam bhajana-taru-kandam niravadhi

That Nityananda always moves with Gauranga Mahaprabhu, holding His very soft lotus-like palm and Who always looks at the lotus-like face of Gauracandra and becomes ecstatic, blissful. Who always makes the people of the towns, cities and villages happy and blissful by His chanting of the harinama maha-mantra, by doing hari-kirtana. To that Nityananda, Who is the root of the bhakti-kalpa-lata, I pay my obeisances. I do the bhajana of that Nityananda.

rasanam adharam rasika-vara-sad-vaishnava-dhanam
rasagaram saram patita-tati-taram smaranatah
param nityanandantakam idam apurvam pathati yah
tad-anghri-dvandvabjam sphuratu nitaram tasya hrdaye

Vrndavana Das Thakura says that those who daily read and recite this Nityanandantakam of Nityananda Prabhu will get Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy and His lotus feet will be revealed to him, which is very rare. Then that Nityananda Prabhu, who is the life and soul of rasika-bhaktas, the reservoir of all mellows, the essence of all the universes, tri-jagat, the three planetary systems, and by whose remembrance the sinful reactions of the sinful persons are destroyed, will give bhakti-rasa.

Jaya Sri Nityananda Prabhu ki jaya !
Patita pavana Sri Nitaicand ki jaya !
Patita udhara Sri Nityananda Prabhu ki jaya !

Nityananda and Banka Raya

Nityananda Prabhu’s father’s name was Sri Hadai Ojha, and His mother’s name was Padmavati. After Nityananda Prabhu, Padmavati gave birth to another son, whom they called Banka Raya. The two brothers, Nityananda and Banka Raya, took birth in the village of Ekacakra. Close to that village flows the Yamuna-nadi River. In Their boyhood days, Nityananda and Banka Raya played with Their friends on the bank of the river and performed various lilas there, krishna-lila and rama-lila.
Banka means curved in three places, tri-bhangi. So Banka refers to Krshna, Raya to Radharani and when both are combined They are Banka Raya, Gauranga. Krshna and Radha combined is Gauranga. That is the meaning of Banka Raya.

The Big Snake from Dvapara-yuga

The two brothers went to the village called Mayuresvara, which was the village of Their maternal grand-father. Close to the village there was a jungle. Once, when these two brothers were about to enter that jungle, two villagers debarred Them, “Hey, don’t go to that jungle. There is a very big poisonous snake that devours everyone who goes there. No one returns. Please don’t go.” Nityananda Prabhu did not listen to them and They both entered that jungle.
That big poisonous snake was staying under a tamala tree, and as soon as these two brothers entered the jungle it came out, raising his hood and hissing. Nityananda Prabhu was not afraid at all, rather He raised His hand and said, “Eh! Oh, wicked fellow! Dunta, stay there! Stay there! Don’t come forward!” The snake stopped. “Why are you killing and devouring innocent people?” Nityananda Prabhu is Nagaraja, the king of all snakes, Anantadev Naga, so when He told the snake to stop, he stopped. Then He continued and asked, “Why are you doing this?” Then the snake related his history from Dvapara-yuga.

The Pandavas in Ekacakra

The big snake said, “In Dvapara-yuga, after staying in the house of lac, the Panca Pandavas were wandering in disguise as brahmanas, begging alms from village to village. They met Vyasadeva in this Ekacakra village and Vyasadeva told them to stay in the house of one brahmana named Vedasrava. Although, that brahmana was very poor, and would everyday go out to beg for alms, he spared half of his house for the Pandavas to live with their mother Kunti. Everyday four of the five brothers would go out begging for alms, and one brother would remain with Kuntidevi. In this way they would take turns.

The Demon Bakasura

One day, when it was the turn of Bhimasena, Kuntidevi heard that the brahmani of the house was crying. She went to see her and asked, “Why are you crying?” The brahmani said, “There is one demon who lives very close by, only four, or five miles away. His name is Bakasura. That demon would come every day to this village and indiscriminately kill many animals and human beings. So once all the villagers assembled, had a meeting, and made a decision. They requested the demon not to come every day, “We’ll send every day one human being, one cart load of anna, rice and cake, pitha, and two buffaloes for you to eat. Then there is no need for you to come here and disturb us.”
The demon became very happy, “Yes, very good! Why shall I come if you send food every day?’ So they would take turns; today is your turn, the next day his turn, and the day after it was the turn of someone else. In this way, every householder had a turn. It was a very big village, as some villages were clustered together and each householder’s turn would come once in every thirty-three years, two months, and twenty days. The village was that big, with so many people.

Bhima Kills the Demon

So that day it was the turn of the brahmana Vedasrava.
The day before a drummer, while beating his drum, had proclaimed, “Tomorrow it will be Vedasrava’s turn.” There were only four persons in the poor brahmana’s family: Vedasrava the brahmana, his wife Umadevi, a ten year old son Vidyadhara, and their eight years old daughter, Bhanumati.
They arranged two buffaloes, one cart with a load of anna, rice, and pitha, cake. Then the question arose, “Who will go to bring the food to Bakasura?” Vedasrava said: “I will go.” Then his son, the ten year old boy, said, “No, no, father, you don’t go, I will go.” When the son said that, the brahmani started crying. So when Kuntidevi ran there and asked why she was crying, the brahmani told her all this.
Then Kuntidevi said, “Don’t cry. I have five sons. I’ll spare one. You have only one son.” Kuntidevi, knowing the strength of Bhima, said, “I’ll send Bhima. Bhima will kill the demon and then all villagers will be saved.”
Kuntidevi said, “Dear Bhima, go to that demon Bakasura. This brahman family is so kind to us by giving us shelter in times of distress. We should help them. They have only one son and that son has to go as food for Bakasura. They are crying now, so you should go.”
Bhima became very happy, “Yes, I will go!” So Bhima left with that cartload of anna, rice and cake. While eating the anna and cake he was shouting, “Hey, demon Bakasura where are you? Come out! Come out!” The demon came out and saw that someone was eating his food. He became angry and uprooted a big tree and threw it at Bhima. Bhima did the same; he also uprooted a big tree and threw it at the demon. There was a fierce battle between them. At the end Bhima killed that demon, ate everything, and returned with an empty cart.

Arjuna’s Snake Arrow

In the meantime, Arjuna returned and saw that his brother Bhima was not there. So he asked Mother Kunti, “Where is Bhima?” Mother Kunti told him everything, and how Bhima had gone to Bakasura. Arjuna thought, “Oh, brother Bhima has gone alone, he must be fighting with that demon; he must be facing some trouble. So Arjuna said to Mother Kunti, “Mother, I am going to help Bhima. Please stay here in the brahmana’s house.”
He took his Gandiva bow and arrows and left. While he was on his way he thought, “It will take time to get there and my brother Bhima must be facing great trouble.” Thinking like this he decided to shoot his naga-pasa-astra, his snake arrow. While shooting that snake arrow he said, “Oh naga.” Naga means cobra. “You go and bind up that demon.”
While he continued on his way, he met Bhima who was coming back. Bhima told him that the demon was already killed. Arjuna said, “Oh, but I have sent a naga, cobra. He must be wandering there now, and devouring everyone he meets. So I am going to settle him up.”
So Arjuna went there, saw that the cobra was moving about, and said, “Alright you cobra, stay underneath this tamala tree here. You should not move anywhere else and don’t harm anyone.” Then that cobra said, “How can I survive? What shall I eat?” Arjuna said, “Whoever will come to this tamala tree, devour him, but don’t go away from the tree. Don’t devour anyone elsewhere.”
“So from that day on, I am here. Whoever comes here I’m devouring.” That cobra related this story to Nityananda Prabhu.

Nityananda Prabhu Has Only One Earring

Nityananda Prabhu then said to the cobra, “Alright, stay here inside this hole. Don’t come out and don’t devour anyone.” He was devouring innocent human beings. The cobra said, “How can I survive? What shall I eat?” Nityananda Prabhu said, “People will come and worship you and offer food to you, bhoga, and you can eat that. Don’t devour any human beings, animals, or any other creature. Stay inside this hole, and don’t come out of the hole.”
While saying this Nityananda Prabhu took one of His golden earrings out of His ear, and put it on the mouth of the hole. From that day Nityananda Prabhu or Balarama or Baladeva has only one kundala, earring, eka kundala, not two. That kundala has gradually turned into a big block of stone, and a very nice temple is built over it. It is a holy place now, known as kundali-tala, or kundali damana and many people are going there to offer worship and bhoga to that cobra, naga.
These are some of the childhood pastimes of Nityananda Prabhu and there are so many more.

Banka Raya Disappeared

There is also one pastime of Banka Raya, of which I will give you a summary. Once, Banka Raya was overseeing the cultivation of some land. It was a big property of about five or ten hectares of cultivated land, with many weeds. Some labourers were engaged in pulling out the weeds. Around midday Banka Raya said to them, “Alright, you must be hungry now, go home, eat, take some rest and then come back to finish the work.” After all the labourers had left for their houses, Banka Raya Himself uprooted all the weeds of the whole five hectares within one hour, something that these 50 waged labourers couldn’t have done.
When the labourers saw these wonderful activities of Banka Raya, they went to Banka Raya’s father and said, “Pandita Ajna, your younger son Banka Raya told us to go back home, and take food and then He Himself pulled out all the weeds within one hour; it’s so wonderful. All the weeds are still there in several big mounds. Upon hearing this, all the villagers went to see this wonderful activity. His father and mother Padmavati also went, but they couldn’t see Him anywhere; Banka Raya had disappeared.

Nityananda Prabhu Carved the Murti of Bankim Deva

When His mother and the villagers started crying, they heard an aerial voice, “You cannot see me any longer, but this coming Ekadasi, you’ll find Me floating on the Yamuna River in the form of a log of wood. Pick that log up and worship Me.” So that is what happened; on that Ekadasi day at that place, which is now known as Kadamba-khandi, some villagers saw a log of wood floating on the Yamuna River. Nityananda Prabhu Himself lifted that log of wood up and carved a murti of Bankabihari, Krshna. Nityananda Prabhu named the murti Bankim Deva, and He installed that murti. Now there is a temple for that vigraha and on every Nityananda trayodasi day, the Appearance Day of Nityananda Prabhu, a big fair is held in front of that temple. It is said that when Nityananda Prabhu disappeared, He entered into that vigraha. These are only some of the pastimes, but there are many more.

Jaya patita-pavana maha adbhuta karuna maya karunika vigraha Sri Sri Nityananda Prabhu ki jaya!
Sri Nityananda patita-pavana Sri Sri Nityananda Prabhu ki jaya!
Kali kalmasana adbhuta doyal karunika patita-pavana Sri Sri Nityananda Prabhu ki jaya!
Gaur-Nitai premanandi! Hari haribol!
Gaur-Nitai premanandi! Hari haribol!
Nitai-gaur premanandi Hari haribol!

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=24550

Lord Nityananda descended to assist Lord Caitanya in spreading the chanting of the holy names of Lord Krishna in harinama-sankirtana, or the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names, and to bring the mercy of Lord Krishna to the fallen, materially conditioned souls. 

Sri Nityananda was born to a pious brahmana family. His father was Hadai Ojha and mother Padmavati. He also had a brother named Banka Raya. He appeared in the second half of the 15th century, before the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Nityananda was born on Shukia Trayodashi, in the month of Magha, in the year 1473, 12th of February (Shakabda Era – 1395).

Just before the advent of Sri Nityananda a sage came to the home of Padmavati, mother of Nityananda. Upon seeing her, he started dancing and saying repeatedly “This is the womb”. The stranger was Garga Muni in disguise.

He predicted the arrival of Balarama on earth as Sri Nityananda. He emphasized that Padmavati was the reincarnation of Rohini (mother of Balarama), and that she cradled in her womb Balarama, the other self of Nityananda.

He predicted the descent of Nityananda in the month of Magh, on Sukia Trayodashi. Saying this, Garga Muni disappeared. In this connection, one can remember that it was this Garga Muni who revealed the name of Balarama and Krishna in the Court of Nanda so many years before, as described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Although Nityananda Prabhu possessed complete potency in all respects, He abstained from bestowing devotion to Lord Krishna. Thinking that when Lord Gaurachandra manifested, the time would come for distributing love of Godhead, by the order of the Lord. 

By thinking that nothing should be done except by the instruction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the greatness of the Lord’s service was not reduced, and so Nityananda Prabhu awaited the command of the Lord. 

Once, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu approached His devotees and said, “Last night I had a wonderful dream. I saw that an extraordinary chariot appeared. It had the flag of a palm tree, which is the chariot sign of Lord Balarama. And there was a very large and beautiful personality on that chariot and He was repeating over and over again ‘where is the house of Nimai Pandit.’

This extraordinary person, I could understand last night arrived in Navadvipa. He is none other than Balarama Himself. You must go out and you must find Him.”

Srivasa Thakur and Haridasa Thakur went to every home and market place and inquired, have you seen an exalted personality who has come recently? After searching everywhere they came back and told Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we cannot find such a person. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “I’ll personally lead the way.”

Lord Chaitanya came to the house of Nandanacarya and from within the house Lord Nityananda saw His effulgence like millions of moons. When He and Lord Chaitanya met, They both stood stunned, unable to speak with eyes glued to each other.

Lord Nityananda fell down in ecstasy on the ground and Lord Chaitanya embraced Him. As They embraced, rivers of tears flowed from Their eyes. It was then that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda began to dance and chant together in the holy kirtan of the name of Krishna.

It was from that point that Lord Nityananda in the loving service of Sri Gaura Sundara would travel everywhere possible to deliver the holy name.

Source: https://ramaiswami.com/lord-nityananda-appearance-7/

We welcome you on this most auspicious occasion of the appearance day of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. According to the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, the Absolute Truth is realized in three features. Preliminary is Brahman, the impersonal light that emanates from the transcendental form of the Lord. Next is Paramatma, the localized Supersoul within the hearts of all living entities. And the last word in realization of the Absolute is Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. The jnanis who realize the impersonal Brahman experience only the sat, eternal, aspect of the Absolute Truth. The yogis who realize the Paramatma within the heart experience the eternal, sat, and cognizant, cit, features of the Absolute Truth. Only the devotees, who realize Krishna, experience ananda, bliss, which is the goal and ultimate nature of every living entity.

When an interviewer once asked Srila Prabhupada, “What is the goal of life?” Srila Prabhupada replied, “The goal of life is to enjoy.” Now, the effort to enjoy materially, through the mind and senses, leads only to frustration and misery, but spiritually one can enjoy in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that pleasure, unlike the temporary so-called happiness of the material world, is eternal, and that eternal happiness can be realized through the mercy of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Nitya means “eternal” and ananda means “bliss.” So, if we can come in touch with Lord Nityananda, we can realize that eternal bliss for which we are hankering.

How do we become eligible for Lord Nityananda’s mercy? That we can learn from the description of His qualities and pastimes in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, the most authorized book, biography, about the teachings and activities of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda and Their associates. There are a number of verses that summarize the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda, but one is especially instructive, from Adi-lila, Chapter Seventeen: “The Pastimes of Lord Caitanya in His Youth”:

TEXT 17

tabe saci dekhila, rama-krsna–dui bhai
tabe nistarila prabhu jagai-madhai

TRANSLATION

Thereafter Mother Sacidevi saw the brothers Krsna and Balarama in Their manifestation of Lord Caitanya and Nityananda. Then the Lord delivered the two brothers Jagai and Madhai.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

One night Sacidevi dreamt that the Deities in her house, Krsna and Balarama, had taken the forms of Caitanya and Nityananda and were fighting one another, as children do, to eat the naivedya, or offering to the Deities. On the next day, by the will of Lord Caitanya, Sacidevi invited Nityananda to take prasada at her house. Thus Visvambhara (Lord Caitanya) and Nityananda were eating together, and Sacidevi realized that They were none other than Krsna and Balarama. Seeing this, she fainted.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

The story is that Sacidevi had a dream and told her son Nimai, “Last night I had a wonderful dream, and in this dream You and Nityananda went into my Deity room, and You picked up the Deity of Balarama, and Nitai picked up the Deity of Krishna, and the Deities started to protest, ‘You can’t take Us from the altar. You can’t take Us out of the Deity room.’ And You and Nityananda replied, ‘Your days of stealing butter and playing pranks are over. Now You are appearing as brahmans to chant the holy names.’ ” Then They started to fight over Mother Saci’s offerings, and Krishna and Balarama said, “These are meant for Us. You can’t have these.” And Gaura and Nitai were saying, “But now You have appeared as Us so We can take them.”

Mother Saci asked Lord Chaitanya, “What do You think of this dream?” and Lord Chaitanya said, “This is a very wonderful dream, but don’t tell anyone about it.” Because He was concealing His identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He didn’t want anyone to know that He was Krishna and Nityananda was Balarama.

Then Lord Chaitanya said, “I would go into the Deity room to have maha-prasada and see that half of it was gone.” His wife, Vishnu-priya, was listening to this, and He knew that she was listening, so He said, “When I would see that half of the offering was gone, I would suspect that it was Vishnu-priya who took the maha-prasada, but now I am seeing that these Deities are very mystical, and I am suspecting that They Themselves might be eating half of the remnants meant for Us.” He continued, “Anyway, I think tomorrow you should invite Nityananda for lunch.” So, she did, and as They were having lunch, she saw Them transform Themselves into Krishna and Balarama, and she fainted.

PURPORT (continued)

Jagai and Madhai were two brothers born in Navadvipa in a respectable brahmana family who later became addicted to all kinds of sinful activities. By the order of Lord Caitanya, both Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura used to preach the cult of Krsna consciousness door to door. In the course of such preaching they found Jagai and Madhai, two maddened drunken brothers, who, upon seeing them, began to chase them. The next day, Madhai struck Nityananda Prabhu on the head with a piece of earthen pot, thus drawing blood. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard of this, He immediately came to the spot, ready to punish both brothers, but when the all-merciful Lord Gauranga saw Jagai’s repentant behavior, He immediately embraced him. By seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face and embracing Him, both the sinful brothers were at once cleansed. Thus they received initiation into the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra from the Lord and were delivered.

COMMENT

This is a very important pastime of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda, and it is worth considering in detail, because it will give us an insight into the actual mission of Gaura-Nitai and, through parampara (disciplic succession), the mission of Srila Prabhupada and consequently the mission of his followers.

So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ordered Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura to go into Navadvipa to approach whomever they met on the way, and to go door-to-door and approach people at home and request them to chant the name of Krishna, to worship Krishna, to accept Krishna as their life and soul and the treasure of their wealth—and not to distinguish between who was qualified and who was not. Many people in Navadvipa were pious, and when Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura approached them, they accepted the request. And they all developed pure love for Krishna.

One day, as Nityananda and Haridasa Thakura were making their way around Navadvipa, they saw a large crowd of people watching a spectacle from a distance. When they approached, they saw two drunken brothers, Jagai and Madhai. “They were born in a respectable brahman family,” the townspeople explained, “but in their youth they fell into bad association and have engaged in all sorts of sinful, horrible activities. They drink wine, they murder people, they burn down their houses, they loot and rob and plunder them. They rape women. They eat cows’ flesh. There’s not a sin they have not committed. They are extremely dangerous, and the whole of Navadvipa lives in fear of them.”

Nityananda Prabhu thought, “So far, we have been approaching pious folks and they’ve taken up the order of Mahaprabhu and become pure lovers of Krishna, but no one really knows the glories of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy. If we can convert Jagai and Madhai, then everyone will know the magnitude of Mahaprabhu’s mercy.” So Nityananda, accompanied by Haridasa, approached the drunken brothers and delivered the message: “Chant Krishna’s name, worship Krishna, follow Krishna’s instructions, glorify Krishna, and give up your sinful activities.” The two were physically powerful, though—very powerful and very arrogant—and they became enraged: “Who are these people to tell us to worship Krishna and give up our activities?” They decided to kill Haridasa and Nityananda and started to pursue them, shouting, “Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!” They were running after them, and Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura were running for their lives.

While they were fleeing, Nityananda Prabhu said, “Haridasa, I think this is the end of both of us. This is it.” And Haridasa replied, “I think You are right.” Then Nityananda said, “But you were caned in twenty-two marketplaces and Krishna saved you, so why don’t you pray to Krishna now to save us?” And Haridasa said, “Yes, that’s true, but at that time I wasn’t associating with a madman like You. You went up to the two biggest demons on the planet and told them to chant Hare Krishna and give up their sinful activities! All the townspeople told us, ‘Stay away from them; they are very dangerous,’ but You didn’t listen.” Nityananda defended Himself: “You are blaming Me, but actually I’m not the one to blame. It’s your master, Gauranga Mahaprabhu, who’s responsible. Never in the history of the world has a brahman acted like Him, like a king ordering people to go out in the town and approach people whether they are pious or sinful and ask them to chant Hare Krishna. I was just following His order. So don’t blame Me; blame Him.” And He added, “If we don’t obey His order, we’re finished, and if we do obey His order, we’re finished.” Like that, they were joking and laughing as they were fleeing for their lives, Jagai and Madhai in hot pursuit.

Eventually Jagai and Madhai, though strong and powerful and angry, couldn’t keep up. They were a little heavy and quite drunk, so eventually they fell behind, and Nityananda and Haridasa Thakura ran to Mahaprabhu. The Lord had asked them to come report to Him every evening after their preaching, and they told Him what had happened. When He asked, “Who are these Jagai and Madhai?” Gangadasa Pandita and Srivasa Thakura explained, “They are most sinful. The whole of Navadvipa lives in terror because of them. They kill people, they rape women, they burn down people’s houses, they plunder their riches, they drink strong liquor, and they eat cows’ flesh.” Mahaprabhu said, “I will kill them. I will cut them to pieces.” But Nityananda Prabhu—and this is His extreme mercy—said, “No, Lord, don’t do that. Don’t harm them. In Kali-yuga our mission is not to kill the demons but to deliver them. And in Kali-yuga pretty much everyone will be like Jagai and Madhai. So don’t kill them. You give them to Me; I will take charge of them.” Gauranga Mahaprabhu agreed, “All right, I put them in Your charge, and because You want to give them mercy, I predict that very soon they will be delivered.”

While Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was speaking with Nityananda, Haridasa Thakura, who was sitting with Advaita Acharya, said, “You do not know how difficult it is to have a sankirtana partner who is a madman. He is an avadhuta. He goes to people’s houses and steals their butter and yogurt.” If the householder came out and pursued them, Nityananda Prabhu, who was younger, would be gone, and they would catch Haridasa. Sometimes Nityananda would ride on people’s bulls and say, “I am Mahesh!” And sometimes He would milk the cows and drink all the milk. Sometimes He would approach small boys and say, “I’m going to beat you!” and they would become frightened and run home to their parents, and their fathers would come out with sticks to protect their child. And Nityananda would escape, but they’d catch Haridasa, and he would fall at their feet and plead, “Please, please, it’s not what you think.” And sometimes Nityananda would go up to innocent young girls and say, “I want to marry you.” “But,” Haridasa said, “the worst was today. Everyone told us to stay away from these drunken demons, and He went right up to them and said, ‘Give up your sinful activities, surrender to Krishna, and chant Krishna’s name.’ They almost killed us! We barely escaped with our lives.”

Advaita Acharya began to laugh in ecstasy but with a little anger and said, “Why are you surprised? It is the nature for drunkards to associate with other drunkards. Nityananda Prabhu is always intoxicated with krsna-prema, prema-rasa, so it’s natural for Him to want to associate with other drunkards. But you are a naistika-brahmachari, sober and learned, so why are you associating with those three? You let them associate with each other. Why should you get involved with them?” Then He said, “I know the power of My Nityananda, and you will see within one or two days that these rogues will be chanting and dancing in kirtan with us.”

A day or two later, as Nityananda Prabhu was wandering around Navadvipa in His playful mood, He again came upon the two drunk brothers. And again He approached them and delivered the same message, and again Madhai was enraged: “Who is this person? We almost killed him the other day, and still he is coming back. Who does he think he is?” Then he asked, “Who are you? What is your name?” Nitai replied, “I am avadhuta.” And that was it. Madhai picked up a clay pot, and with all of his immense strength he smashed the head of Nityananda Prabhu and cut a big gash. Blood covered Nitai’s face and gradually His whole body. “I don’t mind that you struck Me,” He told Madhai, “but what really pains Me is how much you are suffering in ignorance. Please accept the mercy of Gauranga Mahaprabhu and you’ll be happy.”

That infuriated Madhai even more, so he picked up another pot, wanting to kill Nitai—he was ready to smash Him but Jagai intervened and said, “Stop it! Can’t you see that this is a genuine saintly person, that he actually has love for you and feels compassion for you? He is trying to help you. What will you gain by killing such an innocent soul?”

Meanwhile, the news of Madhai’s attack reached Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and He rushed to the scene—as Prabhupada said, angry as fire—and immediately called for His Sudarshan chakra to kill them. The chakra came like the blazing sun, but Nityananda Prabhu intervened. “Lord, don’t kill them,” He beseeched Mahaprabhu. “I am going to,” Lord Chaitanya replied. “They have harmed My Nitai, and I am going to kill them.” Still, Nityananda said, “But Jagai saved Me. Madhai was wanting to kill Me, but Jagai stopped him; he saved My life.”

When Mahaprabhu heard that, His heart melted and the chakra immediately disappeared. He embraced Jagai and said, “You have saved My Nitai. You have saved My Nitai. I forgive you for all that you have done.” After embracing him, He manifested a four-armed form with the symbols of Vishnu—the club, disc, lotus, and conch—placed His lotus foot on the heart of Jagai, and filled him with ecstatic love for Krishna. And Jagai was weeping in ecstasy.

Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu turned His attention back to Madhai. He was still angry and ready to kill him, but Madhai’s heart had also changed. The Caitanya-bhagavata describes that the two of them, Jagai and Madhai, were so close they were like one soul in two bodies. So, by Jagai’s heart changing, Madhai’s heart also changed. And, of course, he didn’t want to be killed. He said, “You have given mercy to Jagai, but we’re together; we’ve done everything together. Whenever we plundered someone’s house, we did it together. Whenever I burned down someone’s house, he was with me. Whenever I drank liquor, he was with me. Whenever I ate cows’ flesh, he was with me. We did everything together, so why are You giving him mercy and not me? You should give me mercy, too.” Mahaprabhu replied, “No, I will not give you mercy, because you have hurt My Nitai.” Madhai said, “We’ve read in scriptures that so many demons attacked You with weapons and You delivered them all. So You should deliver me too.” And Mahaprabhu replied, “No, I will not deliver you. Nityananda’s body is more dear to Me than My own. Those demons attacked My body and I delivered them, but you attacked Nitai’s body, which is more dear to Me. I will not forgive you.”

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was poised to kill Madhai, and Madhai pleaded for mercy. Then Mahaprabhu showed the way: “You beg for Nitai’s mercy. If He gives you mercy, then I will spare you.” So Madhai prayed to Nityananda Prabhu, and Mahaprabhu told Nitai, “If You actually forgive him, then You should embrace him.” And Nityananda, His whole body still covered with blood, picked up Madhai, who had prostrated himself, and embraced him. That is how merciful He is. Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “All right, I will spare you.” Nitai said, “Now I give him to You.” Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave Madhai prema-bhakti. This is inconceivable—He gave him something that Lord Brahma doesn’t have. He gave him something that great rishis and sages and devas are endeavoring to get. He gave it to Madhai and Jagai, and they were the most horrible, sinful reprobates.

So, all that Nitai wanted came true. Later, back at Mahaprabhu’s house, the devotees had sankirtana, and Mahaprabhu said that all of Nitai’s desires would come true. Nitai was thinking, “If these two demons, the worst on the planet, could receive Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy, then My traveling everywhere and preaching will be successful.” He thought, “If I can convert these two demons to accept the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, then I can actually consider Myself a servant of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And if these two demons can chant and dance in ecstasy with the Vaishnavas, I can consider that My name, Nityananda, has value and is true.”

There was a big festival of kirtan, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Don’t any of you think that Jagai and Madhai are sinful. I will accept all their sinful reactions. Just watch.” And as Gauranga, in His beautiful golden form, began to accept their sinful reactions, His body turned black. “What do You see? What do I look like?” He asked Advaita Acharya. “I see Syamasundara,” Advaita replied. “Gaurasundara has become Syamasundara.” Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, “Now how will I get free from these sinful reactions? It will be through hari-nama-sankirtana. So, all of you do hari-nama-sankirtana, and I will be relieved of these sinful reactions. But then where will the sinful reactions go? Into the hearts of those who blaspheme Vaishnavas, who criticize devotees.”

So, they had ecstatic kirtan, and Mahaprabhu with His black form was dancing in ecstasy, and gradually the black went away; His form became lighter, and He resumed His original beautiful fair Gauranga golden hue.

After this, the Vaishnavas accepted Jagai and Madhai, but especially Madhai felt guilty, because he had tried to kill Nityananda Prabhu, who was the cause of his deliverance; he was very sad. Nityananda Prabhu could see this and inquired, “You’ve been liberated, you’ve been given prema-bhakti—why are you so sad? Don’t be sad.” Madhai replied, “When I think that I tried to kill You, I feel terrible. I just can’t forgive myself.” Nityananda told him, “I accept you like My son. Sometimes a child will hit the parent, but the parent doesn’t take it seriously. I forgive you.” Madhai said, “But what about all the other people I wronged and caused pain to? I was so intoxicated, I don’t even know who they are. I don’t even know how to ask them to forgive me. I hurt so many.” And Nityananda Prabhu said, “You should make a ghata—a very beautiful ghata—with your own hand, and when people come to take bath, you prostrate yourself before them and ask them to forgive you. And serve whoever comes in any menial way. Being close to the Ganga, you will be purified.”

So, Madhai did that, and when people saw how humble he and his brother had become, their hearts melted and they gave them all affection and respect. But there were some people who were still angry, who had been so hurt by the brothers, by Madhai in particular, and seeing him in that humble position, they would take up a stone and throw it at his head. Madhai was now so meek, however, that he would pick up the stone and return it to them, saying, “I am so sinful. I’ve caused so much pain to others. Once is not enough; you should hit me again.” And even the people who were the most upset and angry had to forgive him and embrace him.

This is the mercy of Gaura-Nitai, and that was what Nityananda Prabhu wanted: that people should understand the glory of Mahaprabhu’s mercy. Srila Prabhupada took up the same mood of approaching anyone and everyone—pious or sinful, qualified or unqualified—without discrimination. As Nityananda Prabhu said, in Kali-yuga practically everyone will be like Jagai and Madhai. That may be more apparent in America and Europe than in India—though I did hear a talk in which Srila Prabhupada was discussing how demonic Western civilization is and how the leaders, and pretty much everyone, are demons, but then added, “Actually in my country also, 80 percent are demons.” But still, what Prabhupada encountered in 1965 when he came into America was something that people now, especially people in India, can’t even imagine.

Krsna Candra Prabhu (Hrishikesh Mafatlal), from Mumbai, used to say that people cannot imagine who Srila Prabhupada approached when he went to America. He recommended that everyone see the DVDs of Srila Prabhupada when he came to America, first at 26 Second Avenue in New York, then at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. You just can’t believe, can’t imagine, the type of people he was approaching. And they didn’t always receive him well.

There was one incident when Srila Prabhupada was in New York—I hope you’ve read Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta; everyone should read the Lilamrta, as well as see the DVD series Following Srila Prabhupada—living in a loft in the Bowery, which was the most degraded part of the city, its “Skid Row,” inhabited mostly by drunks. But even they had a little respect. They would be sprawled out on the sidewalk and on the stairs leading up to Prabhupada’s apartment, but somehow they sensed that Prabhupada was a saintly person, and they would try to move over and make room for him to pass.

Prabhupada was staying with a young man who seemed interested in Krishna consciousness. In fact, Prabhupada thought, “I’ll train him as a Vaishnava.” But one day the young man went crazy, probably from taking LSD or something—the 1960s equivalent of the strong wine that Jagai and Madhai were taking five hundred years ago. He went crazy and wanted to attack Srila Prabhupada. And he was ready to kill him, like Madhai was ready to kill Nityananda Prabhu. Srila Prabhupada bolted out of the room and ran down the stairs, with this young man in pursuit—very similar.

It is quite a history, how Srila Prabhupada stayed in different people’s places, and what he endured for the sake of delivering the mercy of Gaura-Nitai is inconceivable. On the boat to America he had suffered two heart attacks, and even in America he had a lot of physical problems. But he endured everything—all these attacks of maya—for the sake of delivering Gaura-Nitai’s mercy to us. And what Nityananda Prabhu wanted in India has been fulfilled by Srila Prabhupada outside India. What Nityananda Prabhu wanted was fulfilled in Bengal, but through Srila Prabhupada it’s been fulfilled throughout the world. So, Srila Prabhupada is really the embodiment of that mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. There’s no one in the history of our sampradaya, no one after Nityananda Prabhu, who has taken up that mood of approaching anyone and everyone without discrimination, without considering who is qualified and who is not.

And it’s the same message: chant Krishna’s name, worship Krishna, accept Krishna as your life and soul—but not in so many words, because the people that Srila Prabhupada was approaching didn’t even know who Krishna was. When Nityananda approached people in Navadvipa, “Chant Krishna’s name, worship Krishna, accept Krishna as your life and soul,” they knew who Krishna was, they knew what He was saying, but in America and Europe nobody knew who Krishna was. So just that “Chant Krishna’s name, worship Krishna” had to be explained in detail in books, and thus Srila Prabhupada wrote so many books to explain who is Krishna, what is Krishna’s name, how to chant Krishna’s name, how to worship Krishna, why we should accept Krishna as our life and soul, why we should surrender to Krishna—the same message that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked Nityananda Prabhu to deliver to everyone, but in an expanded form, because the people Prabhupada was approaching had no idea of Krishna’s identity or instructions.

When we go out with Srila Prabhupada’s books, it is like when Mahaprabhu sent Nityananda and Haridasa to approach people with that message. Sometimes devotees are not well received, but even Nityananda and Haridasa were not always well received. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would have nocturnal kirtans in Srivasa Thakura’s house, and if anyone was proud, he was not allowed to enter. Only humble, pure devotees were allowed. So all these proud people in Navadvipa were upset and angry that they weren’t allowed to join the kirtan, and when Nityananda and Haridasa came, they were angry with them—“Oh, you’ve come from that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srivasa Thakura”—and they spread rumors about them: “They are thieves. They come to your door and say to chant Krishna’s name and worship Krishna, but really what they’re doing is looking in your house to see what you have so that they can come back at night and steal it.” They were spreading a lot of false propaganda. So, we have to accept that, expect it and accept it, without being deterred. It didn’t stop Nityananda Prabhu, and it didn’t stop Srila Prabhupada, and it shouldn’t stop any of us.

So, this is the continuation of Nityananda Prabhu’s mission, and Srila Prabhupada really had that mood. When one of his early disciples came to India and the Calcutta temple president phoned Prabhupada in Bombay to tell him that the devotee was smoking ganja, marijuana, and asked what to do, Prabhupada told his secretary to relay his response: “Tell him that if he doesn’t stop smoking ganja, I will reject him.” Afterwards, Tamal Krishna Goswami asked Prabhupada, “Is it true that if he doesn’t stop smoking ganja, you will reject him?” And Prabhupada said, “No—I cannot reject anyone.” Tamal Krishna Goswami asked, “But don’t you have to draw the line somewhere?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The mercy of Lord Nityananda is unlimited.” So that was Srila Prabhupada’s mood; he was in the mood of Nityananda Prabhu.

We are the recipients of Gaura-Nitai’s mercy through Srila Prabhupada. By Prabhupada’s mercy, we are chanting Krishna’s name and worshipping Krishna, accepting Krishna as the goal of our lives. And it is also by Prabhupada’s mercy and order that we should preach the same message to others. We can speak to our capacity, and whatever our capacity to speak may or may not be, we can give people Srila Prabhupada’s books, which convey the same message of Mahaprabhu. We just elaborate on it and present it in a way that people without any background in Vedic knowledge can understand.

So, on this most sacred and blessed occasion, we can pray to Nityananda Prabhu to inspire and empower us with His mood of humble persuasion. When He approached people, after giving the instruction He would say, “If you accept this instruction, I will consider you more dear to Me than My own life.” And if someone did not accept the sacred instruction, He would prostrate Himself at their feet and beg them to take it. He is Lord Balarama, the first of all of Krishna’s expansions; He is the origin of Maha-Sankarsana, who is in turn the origin of Maha-Vishnu, Karanodakasayi Vishnu, by whose breathing universes are generated from the pores of His body. And then a portion of that Maha-Vishnu is Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, and He enters into every universe and gives birth to Brahma and engineers the creation of every universe. And Ksirodakasayi Vishnu is the Supersoul in everyone’s heart. Nityananda is that Original Supreme Person, and He is rolling in the dust of people’s feet and begging them, “Just chant Hare Krishna.”

I saw that mood in Srila Prabhupada. He often instructed us, but I saw it personally. When we first came to Bombay, there was a program on the terrace of the house where we were staying—Seksaria Bhavan, on Marine Drive. It was very nice, very glamorous, near the sea, and our host, Kailash Seksaria, had invited all the elite, affluent aristocratic people he knew in Bombay. And Prabhupada, with the same humility as Nityananda Prabhu, implored them, “I am taking the straw in my mouth and begging you, please chant Hare Krishna”—just like Nityananda Prabhu.

Prabhupada often quoted a verse by Prabodhananda Sarasvati about how we should approach people the way Nityananda Prabhu approached them. The verse is, dante nidhaya tånakam padayor nipatya: “I take the straw in my mouth.” It is a sign of utter humility. “And I bow at your feet.” kaku-sataà krtva caham bravimi. “And I flatter you a hundred times.” He sadava: “O great learned man.” Sakalam eva vihaya durad: “Whatever you have learned, you keep it far away from you.” And caitanya-candra-caraëe kurutanuragam: “Just accept the mercy of Lord Gauranga, just surrender to Lord Gauranga, become attached to Lord Gauranga’s lotus feet.” And Srila Prabhupada did it himself.

There was a big shipper in Bombay who was avoiding me. I had been successful with many big people in Bombay, but I just couldn’t get through to him at his office—too many secretaries and too many doors. So, one weekend I took a chance and went to his house. The man was totally unprepared, and when he opened the door and saw me, there was a little respect, or etiquette: he didn’t slam the door in my face; he invited me in. I could see that he was very smug, and the first thing he said was, “What can I do for you?” I responded, “I haven’t come so you can do something for me. I’ve come to do something for you.” And he said, “You’ve come to do something for me? What can you do for me?” “I’ve come to engage you in Krishna’s service.”

That evening, when I gave my report to Srila Prabhupada (as Haridasa and Nityananda would give their reports to Mahaprabhu), Prabhupada said, “To preach, you have to be very humble. If you approach a materialistic person and say . . .” Of course, sometimes Prabhupada would say the opposite, so it really depends on the context, but in this case he said, “If you approach someone and say, ‘Everything is Krishna’s property—you’ve stolen it all from Krishna, and you should return it to Krishna, the sooner the better,’ they will get angry: ‘What do you mean? It’s my hard-earned money. What do you mean it belongs to Krishna?’ But if you say, ‘We’re building a temple—I’ve come as a beggar to your door,’ ‘Oh, a beggar has come. Oh, okay, take something and go.’ ”

So, in that humble mood, Nityananda was begging. He wasn’t begging for money; He was begging for people to take the holy name—literally begging, falling at their feet, rolling in the dust, and begging them. And that, in essence, is what Prabhupada did with us.

And none of us would be here today if Srila Prabhupada hadn’t done what he did.

Many Indians have told me, “I’m so glad I met the devotees here in America and became Krishna conscious here.” They say, “I can’t be Krishna conscious like this in India, because of the association of the family members.” I have devotee friends who, when their family members and friends want them to drink alcohol and eat meat, refuse and are questioned, “What’s wrong with you? You went to America and now you’ve come back. You’re supposed to be the leader in these things. Now you won’t even touch them.” So, people everywhere are pretty fallen.

I’ll conclude with one of my favorite statements of Srila Prabhupada’s. He said, “To approach Radha and Krishna, you need the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, and to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, you need the mercy of Lord Nityananda, and to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, you have to approach people like Jagai and Madhai.” So if we ever feel, “Oh, I’m too high, I’m too holy, I can’t approach these people,” we should think of that instruction and Srila Prabhupada’s own example and Nityananda Prabhu’s example and really pray, beg, to be humble instruments of their love and mercy and compassion. As Srila Prabhupada’s guru maharaja told him, that will be good for you and good for the people who hear you. Most of all, we should loudly chant the holy names: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Nityananda-trayodasi, February 12, 2014, San Diego]

Source: https://girirajswami.com/blog/?p=18590

The story of Varaha Dvadasi begins in a time when the universe was facing a great crisis. The demon Hiranyaksha had gained enormous power through severe austerities. With his strength and pride, he attacked the demigods and defeated them one by one. His heart was filled with greed, and his actions were driven by ego and cruelty. He looted gold, wealth, and sacred resources, disturbing the natural balance of creation. His destructive behavior did not stop with material theft. He went so far as to attack Mother Earth herself.

Because of Hiranyaksha’s violence and misuse of power, the Earth was pushed out of her proper place and submerged deep into the Garbhodaka Ocean. Darkness spread across the universe, and fear filled the hearts of all living beings. Crops could not grow, life could not survive, and harmony was completely lost. Seeing this unbearable situation, the demigods understood that only the Supreme Lord could save the universe now.

So today is Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance day – Nityananda Trayodasi therefore we will start our class with a verse from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 1.7

sankarsanah karana-toya-sayi garbhoda-sayi ca payobdhi-sayi sesas ca yasyamsa-kalah sa nitya- nandakhya-ramah saranam mamastu

TRANSLATION: May Sri Nityananda Rama be the object of my constant remembrance. Sankarsana, Sesa Naga and the Visnus who lie on the Karana Ocean, Garbha Ocean and ocean of milk are His plenary portions and the portions of His plenary portions. [CC Adi 1.7]

HH Bhakti Charu Swami: At the beginning of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Nityananda Prabhu’s identity has been revealed in this way. At the beginning Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s identity has been revealed in three slokas and then Nityananda Prabhu’s identity has been revealed in five slokas. Out of those five this is the first one indicating who Nityananda Prabhu is. Nityananda Prabhu is Balarama Himself.

Balarama is Krishna’s first expansion. When Krishna comes as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu once in a day of Brahma to reveal the actual purpose of Krishna’s Braja lila he comes as a devotee and Balarama comes with Him as Nityananda Prabhu. Actually Caitanya Mahaprabhu comes along with His parsadas – His associates and His entourage. Caitanya Mahaprabhu appears as Panca-tattva –
(as we worship in the temple here), whose identity has been revealed as:

panca-tattvatmakam krsnam bhakta-rupa-svarupakam bhaktavataram bhaktakhyam namami bhakta-saktikam [Adi 1.14]

Krishna Himself comes as a devotee, bhakta. And then bhakta-svarup – Nityananda Prabhu comes as bhakta svarup – as a devotee Himself. And an incarnation of bhakta is Mahavisnu Himself who comes as Advaita Acarya. Then bhakta sakti – Gadadhara Pandit, Radharani herself comes as Gadadhara Pandita and then narada Muni comes as Srivas Thakura. Five of Them are identified as the Lord in this five feature – Panca-tattva.

sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

So they came with a specific purpose. The specific purpose is to inundate the whole universe, the whole world with the mercy of Krishna – premer vanya loiya nitai aila gauda-dese [SVA 1978-1996 4: Nitai Guna Mani] And in this mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu plays a very special role. He is the sole distributor. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is coming to distribute this Krishna consciousness and Nityananda Prabhu as the sole selling authority.

As Bhaktivinode Thakur pointed out that there is a market place of the holy name – nama-hatta, the market place of the holy name. And in that market place what is being sold? What is the market place/ It is the market place of the holy name. And who is the mahajana? In that market place of the holy name Nityananda Prabhu is the mahajana. Mahajana means the sole selling authority.

So if anybody wants to buy the holy name he must buy it from the sole selling authority, Nityananda Prabhu – heno nitai bine bhai, radha-krsna paite nai, [song Nitai-Pada-Kamala] The holy name is representing Radha and Krishna and without the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu this Radha Krishna or Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy cannot possibly be available. This had been displayed very wonderfully by the pastimes of the lord with Raghunath Dasa Goswami.

Raghunath Dasa Goswami was the son of a very, very wealthy person. We cannot even imagine what is their opulence like. And Raghunath Dasa Goswami was the only son – not the only son of his father but Raghunath Dasa Goswami was the only son, only male child of an entire family. Such an opulent family, such a wealthy family and the only successor is Raghunath Dasa Goswami. Raghunath Dasa Goswami became attracted to Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s lotus feet and since then he just wanted to run awayand be with Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But whenever he ran away his father used to send his soldiers and get him back. He tried to run away but he didn’t succeed.

Then finally one day he came to know that Nityananda Prabhu came to Pannihati. Pannihati is a place which is not very far from the home in Saptagram which is now known as Triveni. That city is situated in the confluence of three rivers – Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati. When Raghunath Dasa Goswami got to know that Nityananda Prabhu came there he took the opportunity to meet Him. He went there. When Nityananda Prabhu saw him offering obeisances – actually some of Nityananda Prabhu’s associates pointed out that Raghunath is offering obeisances to Him from a distance.

So hearing the name Nityananda Prabhu responded, “Oh finally the thief has come. Bring him to Me. I want to punish him. You are a thief so I should punish you.” And what was the punishment? The punishment was which is celebrated every year as Cidha- dadhi festival – the festival of chipped rice and yoghurt. So that is the punishment that Nityananda Prabhu gave him. “Okay the punishment is that you have to feed Me and all My associates with chipped rice and yoghurt.”

Now the question is why Nityananda Prabhu addressed Raghunath Dasa Goswami as a thief? It is because Caitanaya Mahaprabhu is Nityananda Prabhu’s property. heno nitai bine bhai, radha-krsna paite nai, [ song Nitai-Pada-Kamala] One cannot get Radha Krishna which is Caitanya Mahaprabhu. One cannot possibly get Caitanya Mahaprabhu without Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy. Raghunath Dasa Goswami tried to approach Caitanya Mahaprabhu directly as if he is trying to steal Nityananda Prabhu’s property. That is why he called him a thief.

After this punishment Raghunath Dasa Goswami fed not only Nityananda Prabhu and His associates but he actually fed whoever came there – even the people who came to sell their commodities like sweets and yoghurt and all kinds of sweetmeats and other stuffs. Even they were fed to their hearts content.

Then we see Raghunath Dasa Goswami manages to escape from home and then this time nobody could catch him. Then he went to Jagannath Puri. This time also he did not take the normal route, not the main road. He took the village road and through the forest he actually arrived in Jagannath Puri. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him. Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him because he received the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. So if we want to approach Caitanya Mahaprabhu, if we want to approach Radha Krishna, the purpose of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance or the purpose of Krishna’s appearing as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was simply to give Radha Krishna of Vrindavan – Vraja.

Braja Vrinadavan – the loving relationship of Vraja is very special. Generally devotional service is rendered through vaidhi-bhakti or following the rules and regulations of the scriptures. When one follows the rules and regulations of scriptures and achieves its perfection by following vaidhi-bhakti then he arrives at Vaikuntha. The goal of vaidhi-bhakti is for… but Vrindavan is beyond vaidhi-bhakti. So Krishna actually considered now I have revealed My Vraja-lila.

yathesta vihari’ krsna kare antardhana antardhana kari’ mane kare anumana [Adi 3.13]

After performing His Vraja-lila Krishna went back to the spiritual sky. He disappeared or he withdrew His pastimes, but then He considered I revealed My Vraja-lila but how will anyone ever enter into Vraja, Goloka Vrindavan? Because generally a living entity, a devotee serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead by following Vaidhi-bhakti. But by practicing vaidhi-bhakti we will arrive in Vaikuntha. So the consideration is how will anyone enter into Vrindavan? Because devotional service must be followed by the process of vaidhi.

sruti-smrti-puranadi- pancaratra-vidhim vina aikantiki harer bhaktir utpatayaiva kalpate [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.101]

If one practices or performs devotional service very sincerely, aikantiki, very earnestly he performs his devotional service but if it is not in conformity of the vidhi or sruti, smrti, puranadi etc. then it will simply create a disturbance – utpatayaiva kalpate – it will simply create a disturbance.

So in this way it has been pointed out that devotional service must be executed following vaidhi-bhakti. But the problem is that by following vaidhi-bhakti one will enter into Vaikuntha. But from Vaikuntha there is no access to Vrindavan. One cannot go to Vrindavan from Vaikuntha. So how will one ever enter into Vrindavan? Therefore Krishna thought of one way. And that way is that He became a devotee. He did not come as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He came as a devotee. And when this devotee-Krishna is worshipped following vaidhi-bhakti then one gets access to Goloka Vrindavan. So this has been pointed out in Caitanya-caritamrta third chapter. So this is the way.

Another consideration here is that there are two types of bhakti – vaidhi-bhakti and raganuga-bhakti. Vaidhi-bhakti means as I mentioned earlier, following the rules and regulations of the scriptures – sruti smrti puranadi pancaratra-vidhim but raganuga-bhakti: Raga means love, prema. So the devotees of Vrindavan, their devotion is founded on their intense love for Krishna. Therefore the bhakti in Vrindavan is known as prema-bhakti and the devotees of Vrindavan are known as ragatmika bhaktas the devotees whose identity is simply love for Krishna. So they are known as ragatmika bhakta. And anuga means follow. When one renders devotional service following the ragatmika bhaktas of Vrindavan that becomes raganuga-bhakti. So raganuga-bhakti is the way to enter into Vrindavan.

The problem here is as we just mentioned – that devotional service must be rendered by following the vidhi of the scriptures or rules and regulations of the scriptures but the way to enter into Vrindavan is raganuga-bhakti. Raganuga-bhakti means following the ragatmika bhaktas of Vrindavan.

So Krishna came as a devotee. So who is that devotee that Caitanya Mahaprabhu came as? Srimati Radharani! Krishna is playing the role of Radharani. Krishna became Radharani. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore when one follows Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is he following? When one is rendering his service following Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu he is following Srimati Radharani – the most exhalted ragatmika bhakta of Vrindavan. Therefore vaidhi-bhakti to Caitanya Mahaprabhu is automatically transforming into raganuga-bhakti. This point i wanted to mention emphatically because some individuals are now propagating that Prabhupada did not give everything, indicating that Prabhupada did not give us raganuga-bhakti. But Srila Prabhupada gave us what Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave.

It is Krishna’s divine arrangement that how vaidhi-bhakti will automatically transform into raganuga-bhakti and one will have a direct access to Goloka Vrindavan. Anyway the point here is those who are following Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are the real raganuga bhaktas because they are following Srimati Radharani. Krishna came as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to play the role of Srimati Radharani.

Sometimes devotees ask Radha Krishna came together as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then why do you say Gadadhara Pandit is Srimati Radharani? What is the purpose of Radharani appearing as Gadadhara Pandit? The answer to that is. When Krishna decided to play the role of Radharani, Radharani decided, “Let Me watch. Let Me see how Krishna plays that role.” And that is why She came as Gadadhara Pandit – Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s constant companion. All the time he is with Caitanya Mahaprabhu just watching and appreciating, “Well done Krishna!” [Laughter]

When Krishna came as Caitanya Mahaprabhu Balarama came as Nityananda Prabhu. Balarama came as Nityananda Prabhu – that has been pointed out in this verse. Who is Nityananda Prabhu? Balarama’s expansion is actually catur-vyuha: Vasudeva Sankarsana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna in Dvaraka. Then expands Narayana in Vaikuntha. From that Narayan catur-vyuha expands Karanodakasayi Visnu. Then He expands as Garbhodakasayi Visnu and Ksirodakasayi Visnu. That is being pointed out here that these three purusa avataras are His incarnations. This amsa and also Sesa-naga. They are His amsa and kalah and expansions of His expansions is known as kalah. So that is Nityananda Prabhu whose expansions and expansions are the purusa avataras and Sesa-naga.

So that Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as the son of Hadai Pandita and Padmavati, two very, very exalted devotees in a place known as Ekacakra which is about 150km north of here. I am sure many of you have gone there. How many of you have visited Ekacakra? Wonderful! So that is the place of Nityananda Prabhu. That place is known as Radhadesa – place where the Ganga doesn’t flow. And the place where Ganga doesn’t flow is considered to be an unholy place. So Nityananda Prabhu actually appeared in a place which is considered to be rather unholy because Ganga didn’t flow there. In this way we can see how the Lord appeared in a rather inauspicious place to distribute His mercy in this fallen age of Kali to the most fallen living entities.

The other consideration of course is that Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes are covered. Therefore even though these are all most exalted places but they are not generally known until the lord and his associates appeared. When They appeared then the glory of those places become manifest. What happens when the Lord appears in the dhama or in the holy places? The place becomes full of opulences.

jayati te ‘dhikam janmana vrajah srayata indira sasvad atra hi [SB 10.31.1]

The gopis are singing in the Gopi-gita that, “Ever since you have taken birth in Vrindavan, Krishna Vrindavan has become most fortunate because Indira, Laxmidevi is constantly residing here.” So wherever there is Laxmidevi there is all kinds of opulences and good fortune there. So this is how Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance also caused this Radhadesh to become extremely opulent. People all of a sudden became very happy, very fortunate. There was no disease. There was no scarcity of food. The atmosphere became very beautiful and nature started to shower her mercy abundantly.

Naturally Nityananda Prabhu was very, very dear to His parents. He was an extremely beautiful child. And from His childhood he was constantly absorbed in Krishna consciousness. When children play with their friends Nityananda Prabhu used to invent different types of games centred around the Lords pastimes. “Okay let’s play the pastimes of killing Dhenukasura. Let us go to the Tal forest and I will shake the Tal tree and as the Tal fruits will fall the sound that will be created by the falling of the Tal trees will make Dhenukasura very agitated and he will come.” And one of the boys were to play the role of Dhenukasura and Nityananda Prabhu will smash him. In this way they would just enact different pastimes of the Lord.

One day they were playing the pastimes of Laksmana being struck by Sakti weapon. Nityananda Prabhu was playing the role of Laksmana and one boy was playing the role of Megnath, Indrajith and he hit Him with the shell, Sakti. We can see the shell is actually Sanskrit word – bombshell – Shakti shell! So Laksmana fainted. Nityananda Prabhu playing the part of Laksmana fainted in such a way that there was no sign of life in His body. All the boys became very worried. They thought that He really fainted. So everyone came running and the grownups also saw that there were no signs of life in His body so they became very, very worried.

Then one boy remembered that he was playing the role of Hanuman so he remembered to bring the mountain. So he brought the mountain. Then one boy was supposed to play the doctor. So he brought the mountain to the doctor and said, “Look I could not find the … that you wanted me to collect. I could not find out which one was … so I brought the whole mountain. So you please collect the herb from here.” So the boy who was playing the doctor collected that from there and he rubbed it and held the leaves in front of Nityananda Prabhu’s nose and immediately He came back to His senses. So this is how Nityananda Prabhu was playing His childhood with His friends in total absorption of the pastimes of the Supreme personality of Godhead.

One day one sannyasi came to Ekacakra. It is a Vedic custom that when a sannyasi comes to some place the brahmanas would generally invite him to his house. Generally the sannyasi would accept the invitation of a brahmana. So one such sannyasi came and Hadai Pandit invited him to his house and he came and Hadai Pandit made him stay and have Krishna Prasad. That whole night he spent with Nityananda Prabhu. At that time Nityananda Prabhu was about twelve years old and he spent the night with the sannyasi speaking about krsna-katha.

In the morning when the sannyasi was about to leave (it is also a custom when respected guests like that come home the householder asks him what he can offer him. What he could give him. Generally they give some daksina or some fruits) So when Hadai Pandit asked this sannyasi, the sannyasi told him, “If you really want to give me something then please give me your son.”

Hadai Pandits condition at that time was like that of a person who had been struck by a thunderbolt because he could not bear the separation from Nityananda Prabhu even for a moment. Now here was this sannyasi asking him for his only son! But Hadai Pandit was so truthful that he said, “Okay. Take Him.” This is how Nityananda Prabhu left home at the age of twelve and he started to travel with the sannyasi. He travelled extensively all over India.

When He was in western India Nityananda Prabhu came across Madhavendra Puri and both of them became ecstatic seeing each other. Eventually Nityananda Prabhu took initiation from Madhavendra Puri and He started to travel all over India. He travelled south were He came to Ganga Sagara which is the confluence of the Ganges, the ocean where Kapila Muni’s asrama is.

Then He travelled north to Vrindavan. When He went to Vrindavan he settled down there. He just stayed in Vrindavana until Caitanya Mahaprabhu started His sankirtan movement Caitanya Mahaprabhu also initially was not displaying any devotional attitude as such – devotion to Krishna as such. He was more of a scholar, a logician and undefeatable in debate. Nobody could defeat Him in argument. They are saying that He was so smart, He was so intelligent – naturally! He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He would prove that day is night. [Laughter] And then He will reverse it and prove back that day is day. So this is how brilliant He was.

The devotees like Srivas Thakur used to feel very sad at seeing that such a brilliant personality is not accepting Krishna consciousness. Sometimes they would even try to avoid Him. One day Srivas Thakur was coming from one direction and he saw Caitanya Mahaprabhu is coming from the other direction and he changed his course and started to go in another direction. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was just a young man at that time of about sixteen years old. Seeing that He asked Srivas Thakur, “Why are you avoiding Me? I noticed the moment you saw Me you changed your course. What is the matter with you?”

Srivas Thakur told Him that, “Look Nimai why don’t You take to Krishna consciousness. Why are You wasting Your time in dry logic and arguments?” At that time Caitanya Mahaprabhu told him. “Srivas mark My words. One day I will take to devotional service and I will become such a devotee that you all will become surprised.”

That actually happened when Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to Gaya to perform the sraddha ceremony for His father. There He got to know Isvara Puri was there and He met with him. Caitanya Mahaprabhu had already met Isvara Puri once when Isvara Puri came to Navadvip and became the guest of His father. Now He got to know that Isvara Puri was in Gaya so He met Isvara Puri and begged him to give Him initiation. Isvara Puri gave Him and from that time there was a total transformation in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. That scholar, that logician, the brilliant personality became totally absorbed in krsna-prema. All the time He was crying, “Where is Krishna? Where is Krishna? Where can I find Krishna?”

Some people thought that Caitanya Mahaprabhu actually became mad Madness is caused by the imbalance of air. There are five kinds of air in the body: prana, apana, vyana, samana and udana [Mundaka Upanisad 3.1.9] therefore they thought that He got a disease caused by air which actually meant madness. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was brought to Navadvip by His associates who accompanied Him there. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu started His sankirtan movement. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu started His sankirtan movement Nityananda Prabhu decided to join. So He left Vrindavan and he came to Navadvip. He came to Navadvip but he did not come directly to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He became the guest of Nandanacarya whose house was very close-by.

Nandanacarya was a great devotee and Nityananda Prabhu was staying at his place. One morning Caitanya Mahaprabhu told His devotees, told His associates, “Last night early in the morning I had a dream of one great personality whose complexion was like camphor white. He was carrying a plough and a stick and He arrived here. So the dreams of early morning do not go in vain so such a personality must have arrived here. Now You all go and find Him out and bring Him to Me.”

They all looked around but they couldn’t find Him. They came back to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and reported that they couldn’t find anyone. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Okay! Let us go. I will go and see if I can find Him.” He went straight to Nandanacarya’s house and they found Nityananda Prabhu sitting there in trance totally absorbed in thoughts of Krishna.

Srivas Thakur the recited a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam. And just by hearing that verse Nityananda Prabhu fell on the ground and fainted. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also seeing Nityananda Prabhu in that condition picked Him up and placed Him on His lap and this is how the two brothers met here in Navadvip. This is how Nityananda Prabhu joined Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement.

The Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told Sri Rama Pandit who was Srivas Pandit’s brother to go and report to Advaita Acarya about the arrival of Nityananda Prabhu. So he went and Advaita Acarya immediately came running from Santipura to Navadvip to meet Nityananda Prabhu. In this way now the Panca-tattva became complete. Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu – Nityananda Prabhu came from Vrindavan, Advaita Acarya came from Santipura and Gadadhara Pandit and Srivas Thakura were already here. This is how the sankirtan movement started.

Actually Caitanya Mahaprabhu had told Nityananda Prabhu to stay at Srivas Thakura’s house. So Nityananda Prabhu was residing in Srivas Thakura’s house which is Srivas-angam and is not too far from here. One day Saci-mata told Caitanya Mahaprabhu that she had a dream. Therein she saw that Balarama was there and she was feeding Him all kinds of delicious Prasad. Then she saw in place of Balarama she was feeding Nityananda Prabhu. So when she told Caitanya Mahaprabhu then He said “Okay let us invite Nityananda Prabhu for lunch Prasad.” So Nityananda Prabhu came and he started to call Saci-mata as mother. In this way two brothers became united – Krishna Balarama became united in Their Navadvip lila.

Then Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked Nityananda Prabhu to perform Vyasa-puja. So the arrangement was made for Vyasa-puja. Srivas Thakura gave the garland to Nityananda Prabhu to place on Vyasadeva but Nityananda Prabhu took the garland and placed it on Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Nityananda Prabhu was made to sit down and everyone celebrated His Vyasa-puja. Nityananda Prabhu was a sannyasi so he was carrying His danda and he had a water pot. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu broke His danda and threw it away in the Ganga thus pointing out that Nityananda Prabhu does not need to play the role of a sannyasa. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then Nityananda Prabhu showed His six armed form to all of the devotees. Four arms of Narayana – catur-bhuja and he was also holding a stick or sannyasa danda and water pot.

Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakura to go from door to door and preach Krishna consciousness.

suno suno nityananda, suno haridas sarvatra amar ajna koroho parkas [Sri Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya-Khanda 13.8-10]

Just go and instruct everybody about My instructions – go from door to door
– prati ghare ghare giya koro ei bhiksa – go door to door and beg. Generally people beg for some material thing. But what Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked them to beg for? That please chant the holy names. Please worship Krishna and please practice the process of devotional service. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “In this way You spend the day and in the evening come and report to Me.” So they used to do that every day. Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakura used to go from door to door and beg everyone to chant the holy name of the Lord and lead the life of a devotee.

One day they saw two very dangerous personalities. Everybody was afraid of them. They were so sinful and extremely ferocious. So Nityananda Prabhu consulted with Haridas Thakura that if we can convert these two people then everyone will recognise the glory or greatness of Mahaprabhu’s mission. So thinking that, they approached them. As Nityananda Prabhu approached them that, “Please my dear brothers chant the holy names of the Lord.” These two personalities became extremely insulted.

“You dare to instruct me on what I should do.” They said, “Kill Him! Kill Him!” They were so ferocious actually. They would kill anybody at the bat of an eyelid. They were so dangerous. Just for this act of Nityananda Prabhu they wanted to kill Him. Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakura ran and they chased them. While running they came to a place of a potter who had stacks of clay pots. They hid behind those clay pots and Jagai and Madhai couldn’t find Them.

That evening Haridas Thakura and Nityanada Prabhu went to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and reported what happened. Haridas Thakura was so called afraid. These are pastimes. And he reported to Advaita Acarya, “I am not going to go out with Him anymore. Today i would have lost my life. Both of us would have been dead but by the mercy of the Lord somehow we escaped. These two dacoits are so ferocious that if they caught us they would have killed us. Besides that this guy is completely crazy – Nityananda Prabhu. He is completely crazy! He jumps into the Ganges that is completely infested with crocodiles and he not only jumps into the river but he chases the crocodiles. Sometimes he would steal from the houses of the cowherd folks – gopas. He would steal from their house butter and yoghurt and then he would run. Sometimes if they can catch us they would beat us up. He can run fast but I can’t run that fast.” In this way he was reporting to Srila Advaita Acarya but at the same time Nityananda Prabhu convinced him, “Come. I need a companion to preach with.”

One day again they had encountered Jagai and Madhai and Nityananda Prabhu told him, “Please chant the holy names of the Lord.” They were drinking alcohol from a clay pot. In those days glass bottles were there but they were very rare. Generally they used to use clay-pots. This time Madhai took that clay pot and hit Nityananda Prabhu and He started to bleed. The news reached Caitanya Mahaprabhu and immediately Caitanya Mahaprabhu came. He not only came but He was furious. He started to invoke Sudarsan-chakra. He wanted to kill these two demons. Nityananda Prabhu fell at His feet. While grabbing His feet with both arms he prayed that, “In this incarnation You promised not to use any weapon. So please counteract their demoniac propensities with Your love. That is Your promise. You have killed the demons in this age so please forgive them.”

At that time Madhai wanted to hit Nityananda Prabhu again but Jagai, the elder brother actually stopped him and told him not to do that. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was pleased to hear that. He said, “Okay. So I will forgive you.” So he was forgiven and he saw Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s spiritual form. But Madhai could not see that. Jagai fell at His feet and started to cry. But then Nityananda Prabhu begged Him, “Please forgive the other one also. Although he hit me it doesn’t matter.”

Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “If he begs forgiveness from You falling at Your feet then i may forgive him.” So Madhai did that. In this way these two demons, Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa, Ravana, Kumbhakana and Sisupala and Dantavakra came in three previous ages and became delivered by Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy.

I shall end the class with one small episode of Nityananda Prabhu’s marriage. Nityananda Prabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has two potencies with Him. In South India we notice that all the temples have two Laxmis on both sides – two saktis on two sides. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also had Vinupriya and Laxmipriya. Nityananda Prabhu’s saktis are Jahnavadevi and Vasudhadevi – Sri and Bhu. So Nityananda Prabhu was preaching in Bengal. That was the instruct Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave Him. Caitanya Mahaprabhu told Him to go back to Bengal and preach although He wanted to stay with Caitanya Mahaprabhu when he went to Jagannath Puri.

There is a place called Ambika Kalna which is just the other side of the Ganges. Opposite to Santipura is this place called Ambika Kalna. There was a very exhalted brahamana. His name was Surya Dasa Pandita and his brother was Gauri Dasa Pandita. These two brothers were great devotees of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu actually went to meet them before he took sannyasa. And Gauri Dasa Pandita used to wait for Caitanya Mahaprabhu to come but Caitanya Mahaprabhu decided to take sannyasa so when Mahaprabhu was leaving Gauri Dasa Pandita said, “No You can’t leave. You have to stay.” Then Mahaprabhu said, “Okay. You make a deity of Me and in that deity form I will be here.”

There is a very beautiful episode here. Gauri Dasa Pandita made the deity of Gaura Nitai and then when Caitanya Mahaprabhu was leaving he came running. He said, “Look, You told me that You are going to stay here.” He said, “Yes, there in the house.” He said, “No, no. I don’t want Them. I want You.” So Mahaprabhu went and with Nityananda Prabhu and They became the Deities and the Deities became Nityananda Prabhu and Caitanya Mahaprabhu and They started to walk to the Ganges. Then he came and said, “No You have to come. I want the one that moves and talks.” In this way so many times They went back and forth that Gauri Dasa Pandita could not figure out who is the real Gaura Nitai and who are the deities. These deities are still there in Ambika Kalna which is not too far from here. I am sure many of you have seen those deities.

So Nityananda Prabhu was in Ambika Kalna and the devotees were very ecstatic that Nityananda Prabhu was giving them His association. One day Nityananda Prabhu came to Surya Dasa Pandita and told him, “I want to marry your daughter.” Surya Dasa Pandita said, “I am a brahmana and the custom is that a brahmana’s daughter should be married to a person from a proper caste. And we don’t know what caste You are.” [Laughter] “Besides that we have to also check the horoscope whether it matches.”

So Nityananda Prabhu left and Surya Dasa started to consult with the other devotees there about what should be done. He said, “Last night I had a dream. I saw one personality who is big bodied, like a wrestler’s body and his form is as beautiful as Kandarpa. Kamadeva, Cupid. He was carrying a plough and a stick in his hand. Then I saw him next to my daughter. So I could understand that this is Balarama. I couldn’t figure out what is this dream.” And then somebody said, “Since you dreamt early in the morning then this dream must be true.”

When they were talking like that Jahnavadevi who was just a young girl at that time fainted with a loud sound and they heard the sound of someone falling. They came out of the room and found that Jahnavadevi just fainted. So they immediately called a doctor and the doctor checked her and said, “It is a terrible kind of epilepsy. I can’t cure it. I am sorry i can’t cure this patient.”

Then somebody suggested that it seems that you have committed an offence to Nityananda Prabhu and therefore this is what has happened. So please go and call Him. So Nityananda Prabhu was brought to the house and when the fragrance of Nityananda Prabhu’s body entered into Jahnava Mata’s nostrils she came back to her senses. She sat up and said, “What happened? Where am I?” Saying that she felt very shy and walked inside the house.

In this way the marriage was now arranged for Nityananda Prabhu. With great pomp this wedding ceremony was celebrated. Many, many rich people sponsored the wedding and it was a grand wedding. So after the wedding Nityananda Prabhu stayed in the house of Surya Dasa Pandita for a few days.

One day Vasudhadevi, Jahnavadevi’s sister was serving Nityananda Prabhu. Jahnavadevi cooked and Vasudhadevi was serving. So when she was serving her sari just fell off her head. So she generated two more arms. Because she was serving with two hands and with two other arms she covered her hair. So seeing that Nityananda Prabhu made her sit on His right hand side. In this way Nityananda Prabhu told her father, Suya Dasa Pandita that, “I got married to the elder one, now I want the younger one as a…” Surya dasa’s response was, “Me and everything that belongs to me belongs to You. So take whatever You want.” In this way Nityananda Prabhu united with His two saktis
– Jahnavadevi and Vasudhadevi. Hare Krishna! Sriman Nityananda Prabhu Ki! Jai! Gaura-premanande hari haribol! [Aplause] Hare Krishna. Today it is quiet late so I won’t take any questions – maybe some other time. Gaura- premanande Hari Haribol.

By Bhakti Vigna Vinasa Narasimha Swami

Jaya Jaya Sri Caitanya Jaya Nityananda!
Jaya Advaitacandra Jaya Gaurabhakta vrnda!

So today the auspicious day of the appearance day of Lord Nityananda. We will attempt to speak some of the glories of Lord Nityananda for the pleasure of the devotees.

Lord Nityananda appeared in Ekacakra dhama. Lord Nityananda was the son of Hadai Ojha and Padmavati. Hadai Ojha was brahmana. Padmavati was the daughter of a king, Mukuta Roy. I had the opportunity last week of going to some of the places around Ekacakra with HH Bhakti Nityananda Swami. Of course he is Bengali, so he able to research many of the places and he showed me the place actually where Nityananda’s father in law lived. His name was Mukuta Roy. Actually that place today, there is a saw mill there in that place. But for us its the birthplace of one of the family members in the line of Lord Nityananda.

So Mukuta Roy was a king and as a king he had to go and fight wars. His daughter Padmavati was six years old when he left home. And when he returned home it was twelve years later and his daughter had grown up quite a bit. So much so that when he first saw his daughter he did not recognise her. Instead he looked at her as simply as an attractive young woman. And the girl could understand the thinking of her father. And she went and told her mother. The mother came and told her husband, “You foolish man! This is your own daughter. She is eighteen years old now. You’ve been away from home so long, you do not recognise her.”

So Mukuta Roy when he heard these words he vowed, tomorrow morning I will our daughter married to the first man we meet. And that was Hadai Ojha. So Hadai Ojha and Padmavati were married but Hadai Ojha is a brahmana. He was just doing puja in the different temples there, in Ekacakra, there is many Shiva temples there. He said, “I have no money! How can I take care of your daughter? You are a king. She is used to opulence!” But Mukuta Roy said, “Don’t worry, I will provide everything.” And he donated lands, and treasure, all kinds of dowry were given for the marriage to take place.

So Lord Nityananda appeared in that family and He lived with Padmavati and Hadai Ojha for twelve years. The pastimes of Lord Nityananda there in Ekacakra are described in Caitanya Bhagavata. How in the association of the other children there, they reenacted all the pastimes of the Lord in His different incarnations. And even the local people were amazed that how the children know all of these things. Even we don’t know, we are learning from them. But it was all known to Lord Nityananda. He could guide them and inform them how to perform all of these different pastimes.

Lord Nityananda understood that His parents were deeply attached to Him and that He somehow or other had to get free from their attachment. So it was arranged that a sadhu would come and visit their home. And Hadai Ojha being a dutiful brahmana offered this sannyasi to come to his home and take food and offered all kinds of charities – “Whatever I can provide for you, please tell me! Don’t hesitate to ask.”

So then when it came time for the sannyasi to leave then he said, “You just give me your son! That will be the best thing you can do. I am alone, I am travelling alone. I am a sannyasi.” Just like Lord Caitanya as a sannyasi, He was travelling alone. He wanted to travel alone but the devotees told Him, “No, You should have someone with You. Someone can carry Your danda, or carry Your waterpot, when You have to go begging.”

So in this way this sannyasi told Hadai Ojha that “If your son can come with me it will help me a lot in my travels. I am going to visit all the holy places.” So in this way Lord Nityananda went with this sannyasi, visited all the holy places. But it was not a new experience for Lord Nityananda because Lord Nityananda is not different from Lord Balarama. And Lord Balarama had also visited all the holy places. In order to avoid taking part in the Kuruksetra war Lord Balarama had gone off on pilgrimage and visited all the holy places. In the same way Lord Nityananda was desiring to visit all of these holy places again. Just like once we come to Mayapur and Vrindavana we leave our heart here, right? We have to come back, find our heart again. So this is the nature of the holy places that we can never forget them. And in the same way Lord Nityananda was eager to visit all of those holy places which He had seen in His previous incarnation.

So Lord Nityananda after twenty years of travelling came to live in Vrindavana. And it was in Vrindavana that He heard how the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu were beginning. Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His early childhood, in His youth, He had been a scholar, He had been a logician and He had His own school. But after going to Gaya and being initiated by Isvara Puri, then His bhava, His love for the Lord had been aroused. And He had began having regular kirtana with the devotees. So Lord Nityananda being not different from Lord Caitanya could understand that Lord Caitanya was beginning His pastimes, beginning to inaugurate the sankirtana movement.

Lord Nityananda returned to Mayapur. But before He returned to Mayapur Caitanya Mahaprabhu was informing the devotees there in Mayapur, that very soon a great personality is going to come and visit us. He is going to come here. All the devotees were wondering, “Who is this? We don’t know! What’s happening! Who is this person who is going to come?” And then Lord Caitanya after a few days He said, “That personality came in My dream! He is already here in Mayapur! He came in My dream and He told Me, He is My brother. He is not different from Me. He appeared in My dream and in My dream, He came to My house and He was speaking Hindi!” Could you imagine it? In Bengal speaking Hindi? Nowadays of course because of Hindi movies, and Hindi songs and so on Bengalis also know Hindi. But five hundred years ago it was a different situation. So to be in Bengal, to speak Hindi, its like speaking Chinese. Nobody could understand, right!

So in the dream Lord Caitanya said, “I saw this personality and He was speaking in Hindi – ‘Is this the home of Mahaprabhu? Is this the home of Nimai Pandita.’ ?” And He asked ten or twenty times because no one could understand of course. So Lord Caitanya told all the devotees, “This personality has now come to Mayapur. We have to find Him. You have to go and bring Him here.” So He instructed Srivasa Pandita and Haridasa Thakura, His two very intimate associates who were both maha-bhagavata devotees. And He told them, “Go find this person! He is here in Mayapur! You bring me here!”

So Haridasa and Srivasa Pandita left and they went all over Mayapur. They came back after nine hours and they told Lord Caitanya, “We have searched everywhere! We didn’t just go to the grhastha’s homes, we visited the sannyasi’s. We even went to the homes of the atheists. We went to every home we could find. We cannot find this personality anywhere!”

This the mystery of Lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda is not different from Lord Balarama. And He is the original spiritual master. Without the mercy of Krishna, we cannot contact a spiritual master. In the same way without Lord Caitanya we cannot get connection to Lord Nityananda. We were hearing in the song, we have to have a connection with Lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda is not different from Lord Balarama. He is the original spiritual master. He is visnu-tattva. He is not different from the Lord but He comes in the mood of the servant of the Lord. He is the servitor personality of Godhead. And He comes to teach all of us the mood of rendering service to the Supreme Lord.

So Srivasa Pandita and Haridasa Thakura, they told Lord Caitanya, “We cannot find this person anywhere.” Lord Caitanya said, “I will take you to Him.” And Lord Caitanya then arose and all the devotees followed Him with kirtana and they proceeded to the home of Nandana Acarya. Nandana Acarya’s house is very near, its the next house you could say, its the next temple down the road, on the way to Jalangi we pass the home of Nandana Acarya. Nandana Acarya is also a maha-bhagavata devotee. It is described in the Caitanya Caritamrta that he is the seventeenth branch of the tree of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And it is noteworthy that in his home, it was in his home that not only Lord Nityananda was hiding but later on Advaita Acharya would hide in his home. And sometimes also Lord Caitanya would also come hide in the home of Nandana Acarya.
Lord Caitanya brought all the devotees to the home of Nandana Acarya and they saw this wonderful effulgent personality. His effulgence was like millions of suns and He was tall, decorated in blue garments and a blue turban on His head and with His lips He was chanting the holy names of Krishna. All of the associates of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu were astonished to see this personality. But for Lord Caitanya it was like meeting an old friend.

Lord Caitanya wanted all of the devotees to understand the position of Lord Nityananda. So He requested Srivasa Pandita, “Please recite some verses from the scriptures!” And Srivasa Pandita began to recite a beautiful verse describing Lord Krishna as He enters the forest of Vrindavana. How His head is decorated with peacock ornament and how His ears are decorated with blue coloured flowers and round His neck is the vijayanti garland. His body is covered with a golden coloured cloth and He appears as a best of all the dancers as He enters into the forest of Vrindavana, decorating the earth of Vrindavana with His footprints, with His beautiful footprints on the soil of Vrindavana. He fills the flute with the nectar from His lips and all the cowherd boy are singing His glories.

So Srivasa Pandita recited this verse. And when Lord Nitayananda heard this verse. Then His love for Krishna was aroused. And He began to exhibit all kinds of ecstatic symptoms. He fell to the ground unconscious. Then His body was trembling. His hairs were standing on end. Tears were flowing, all of His cloth became very wet with the tears from His eyes. Lord Caitanya told Srivasa, “Keep reciting!” And he continued to recite. As he recited Lord Nityananda came more to consciousness and continued exhibiting ecstatic symptoms, rolling on the ground in front of all the devotees. All of the devotees seeing Lord Nityananda display this ecstatic love for Krishna, they could understand His exalted position.

Lord Caitanya took Lord Nityananda in His arms and began to caress His body bringing Him back to external consciousness. Lord Caitanya taking Lord Nityananda into His arms caused, brought a smile on the face of Gadadhara Pandita because Gadhadhara Pandita knew the identity of these two personalities. And he understood that usually the situation is reversed because Lord Nityananda is not different from Lord Balarama, not different from His plenary portion Sesa and on the body of Sesa lies the Supreme Lord Lord Naryana. In the same way Lord Balarama is the servant of Lord Krishna. But here Lord Caitanya is taking Lord Nityananda on His lap and started giving service to Him, just the reverse of how it is in the spiritual world.

Lord Caitanya wanted to bring Lord Nityananda back to external consciousness, He began to speak to him and he asked Him, “Where did you come from?” Lord Nityananda replied that, “I visited many places connected with the pastimes of Lord Krishna and I visited many of the temples of the Lord. But everywhere I was not able to find Lord Krishna. I went to so many places of the Lord’s pastimes. ButI could not find Lord Krishna anywhere. I inquired from some learned persons where is Lord Krishna? And they told me that He has appeared in Navadvipa. And He is performing His pastime in chanting the holy name. He has come to inaugurate the sankirtana movement to deliver everyone in the Kaliyuga.” In this way Lord Nityananda was glorifying Lord Caitanya. He wanted everyone to understand the identity of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya wants to glorify Lord Nityananda and Lord Nityananda comes to glorify Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

This is the mood of devotional service. We give service to the Lord and the Lord serves the devotees. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda reveal to us the mood of confidential loving service. Lord Nityananda we said, He came here in Mayapur in the home of Nandana Acarya but generally His pastimes would be performed in the home of Srivasa Pandita. Actually Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu also chose the home of Srivasa Pandita to perform His pastimes. Just as Lord Krishna appeared in Mathura but His pastimes were performed in Vrindavana, in Gokula. In the same way Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared at the Yogapitha, but He came to the home of Srivasa Pandita. And similarly Nityananda came from Ekacakra to the home of Srivasa Pandita and there they inaugurated the sankirtana movement.

Lord Nityananda appeared in the home of Srivasa Pandita, just sometimes behaving almost like a child because Srivasa Pandita and his good wife Malini, are in the mood of vatsalya rasa. They see this Lord Nityananda and Lord Caitanya just like their sons. When Lord Nityananda was living there He was just like a child. He behaved just like a child. But Lord Caitanya instructs all the devotees that never doubt the character of Lord Nityananda. That if you worship to Lord Krishna but do not offer respect to Lord Shiva then you will go Yamaraja. In the same way if you worship Lord Caitanya but do not have respect for Lord Nityananda then it is a great offence. You can never get the goal of life.

Lord Nityananda Prabhu’s pastimes are very difficult to understand. We know that in His previous incarnation as Lord Balarama He went to Naimisaranya. And in Naimisaranya He took a kusa grass and pierced the heart of Romaharsana Suta. That same Lord Balarama comes as Lord Nityananda and in Kaliyuga He takes kusa grass between His own teeth and He falls at the feet of Jagai and Madhai and asks them to chant the holy name. This is the difference in Kaliyuga, that Caitanya Mahaprabhu comes to teach all of us the mood of devotional service, to offer all respects to others and not to be anxious to be respected. Sri Nityananda Prabhu personifies this mood of amanina mana dena (Siksastakam). He would go to all the fallen souls and engage them in the service of Lord Krishna. Of course this was His instruction. Caitanya Mahaprabhu had requested Lord Nityananda and Haridasa that they should go door to door to every home and fall at the feet of the people and beg them to chant the holy name of Krishna, to worship Krishna, and to read the books of Krishna.

Lord Nityananda however sometimes He could become a little, He could behave differently in a manner which would sometimes confuse people as to His identity. And we see this, there is one pastime which takes place when Lord Nityananda is going to Jaganath Puri with all the devotees. Now usually the party would be under the care of Sivananda Sen. Sivananda Sen would have to deal with all the different formalities in the course of the journey to Jagannath Puri. So on one occasion they had to pay taxes on the way and Sivananda Sen was delayed. Lord Nityananda and all the devotees were left without any shelter in the hot sun. On that particular day Lord Nityananda felt hunger. He was feeling very hungry and He had to wait for Sivananda Sen for a long time. During this wait Lord Nityananda became angry and He cursed Sivananda Sen that his sons would die. Hearing the curse of Lord Nityananda the wife of Sivananda Sen began to cry because she thought if Lord Nityananda wants my sons to die, certainly they would die. When Sivananda Sen finally came Lord Nityananda showed His anger and kicked Sivananda Sen. And then when Sivananda Sen heard about how Lord Nityananda had cursed his sons to die, Sivananda Sen replied, “If Lord Nityananda wants our sons to die, let them die!” This is the loving dealing between Lord Nityananda and His confidential devotees.

There is one song taken from the Caitanya Mangala, akrodha paramananda nityananda raya, Lord Caitanya (Nityananda) is described as one who never becomes angry. But this is His transcendental anger. He is performing these pastimes behaving like a hungry man, affected by hunger, affected by anger. But actually it is all His transcendental pastime to exhibit the wonderful qualities of His devotees like Sivananda Sen. Some of the family members became confused however. And one of them had gone off on his own to Jagannath Puri. And it is recorded in the Caitanya Caritamrta that in order to heal the misunderstandings of the family of Sivananda Sen, Lord Caitanya personally instructed His servant Govinda that, “All the remnants of My prasadam should be given to the family of Sivananda Sen.” This is the loving exchange. This is how these two Lord’s reciprocated their loving dealings.

Another wonderful pastime between Lord Nityananda, and Advaita and Caitanya Mahaprabhu took place in Shantipur after Lord Caitanya had taken sannyasa. Lord Nityananda tricked Caitanya Mahaprabhu into coming to Shantipur and then bringing mother Saci and all the devotees. So then a big feast was arranged and Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very happy to see that they were offering so many wonderful preparations for the pleasure of Lord Krishna. However Advaita Acarya then instructed that “These plates are for You, one is for You my Lord. I want You to eat.” But Caitanya Mahaprabhu would say, “No, I am a sannyasi. I cannot eat so much.” But Advaita Acarya told Him, “You cannot fool me. I know that in Jagannath Puri everyday You eat 56 offerings, with many big pots at every offering. So why, this is just a mere morsel for You!” In this way Caitanya Mahaprabhu was induced to sit down and along with Lord Nityananda and Advaita Acarya they began to take prasadam.

Lord Nityananda exhibited His joking mood and began to complain to Advaita that, “ I have been fasting for three days. This is not a mere morsel of food for Me.” Actually they had been coming from Navadvipa, all the way from Katwa where Lord Caitanya took sannyasa, all the way down to Shantipur. It would take some time to walk there. Maybe about three days, I don’t know, maybe not that long. But anyway He told jokingly to Advaita, “I have been fasting for three days. This is not a mere morsel food for Me.” And Advaita requested Him, “Please I am a poor brahmana. I know You can eat 4 or 500 kilos of rice every time. I am a poor brahmana. Kindly accept what I am offering to You.”

So they began to eat. At one point Lord Nityananda then rose up and said that “This is not at all satisfying My hunger.” And then He took some rice and He threw it and it hit the leg of Advaita Acarya. And when that rice stuck to the body of Advaita Acarya then Advaita Acarya began to dance. And this dancing, this shows something of the power of the maha prasadam. The remnants from the plate of pure devotee, actually maha maha prasadam. The remnants of Lord Nityananda touching the body of Advaita Acarya caused him to dance.

Advaita Acarya said, “Just see we do not know what is Your caste and I bring You in my home and You behave like a madman throwing the remnants of Your food at me.” Lord Nityananda told Advaita Acarya, “This is Lord Krishna’s own remnants. This is prasadam. You are making an offence by considering this foodstuff to be ordinary. It is Lord Krishna’s own remnants. For your offence you will have to invite a hundred sannyasi’s to your home and feed them all sumptuously.” Advaita Acarya replied, “After You have come to my home I will never bring another sannyasi to my home. I have lost all my smartha principles.” So this was the joking words between Lord Nityananda and Advaita Acarya.

The point is that Lord Nityananda is no ordinary person. And Advaita Acarya by his words, which not everyone could understand, they are meant to instruct us on the exalted position of Lord Nityananda, that He comes, just like we were singing the song about the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda. That lotus feet, Prabhupada explains that whenever we speak of feet, feet means service. And Lord Nityananda comes to teach all of us the glories of service to the Supreme Lord Krishna or Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Nityananda shows by His own example how to serve Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu by going to even the fallen souls like Jagai and Madhai and requesting to chant the holy names of Lord Krishna.

Our movement is founded in the same basis, to follow in the footsteps of Lord Nityananda, to hold tightly to His lotus feet means to hold firmly, to be fixed in this process of devotional service, to continue to preach the message of Krishna everywhere, to everyone, without discrimination. Lord Nityananda does not consider who is qualified and who is unqualified. Wherever He went He would give love of God.

Actually on one occasion I was telling how sometimes Lord Caitanya would go in hiding. One time they were having kirtana and Lord Caitanya stopped the kirtana and said, “I am not feeling any ecstasy today! What is wrong! I am not getting love of God!” and again they started the kirtana but again Lord Caitanya complained, “I am not getting this love for God anymore! Its not coming today!” Advaita Acarya told Lord Caitanya, he said “The problem is You have given everything to that Lord Nityananda. You put Him in charge of the storehouse of love of God. He has given it to everyone. He has given it to even the gardeners, even to the oil grinders. He has given it to all kinds of people.” Lord Caitanya was not very happy to hear these words. It was like a complaint. At that time Lord Caitanya left that place and hid Himself from Advaita Acarya.

Lord Caitanya was very happy to see devotees follow the mood of Lord Nityananda and to assist Him in the preaching mission. Lord Caitanya even instructed Lord Nityananda that “You don’t have to come to Puri every year. You can remain in Navadvipa, You can remain in Bengal.” Because He knew that if He was in Bengal the preaching would be going on and that is the important thing.

Srila Prabhupada also wants all of us to continue the preaching movement. We come here to Mayapur to imbibe something of the mood of Lord Nityananda and then to go back to our preaching places and continue in that mood of Lord Nityananda. So today, on this day we are all praying for the mercy of Lord Nityananda and that mercy is that without any discrimination we will distribute love of God to everyone. Not looking at their designation or their position or the colour of their skin or their language, without consideration. We will try to distribute this message of Krishna and in this way Lord Nityananda will bestow His mercy on us. By the mercy of Lord Nityananda only we can come to get shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu we can come to understand Radha and Krishna.

Thank you very much! Hare Krishna!

Topic: Lord Varahadeva’s Appearance Anniversary
Verse: SB 3.18.2
Speaker: HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami

dadarsa tatrabhijitam dhara-dharam pronniyamanavanim agra-damstraya musnantam aksna sva-ruco ‘runa-sriya jahasa caho vana-gocaro mrgah

TRANSLATION: He saw there the all-powerful Personality of Godhead in His boar incarnation, bearing the earth upward on the ends of His tusks and robbing him of his splendor with His reddish eyes. The demon laughed: Oh, an amphibious beast!

PURPORT: In a previous chapter we have discussed the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Varaha, the boar. While Varaha, with His tusks, engaged in uplifting the submerged earth from the depths of the waters, this great demon Hiranyaksa met Him and challenged Him, calling Him a beast. Demons cannot understand the incarnations of the Lord; they think that His incarnations as a fish or boar or tortoise are big beasts only. They misunderstand the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even in His human form, and they deride His descent. In the Caitanya-sampradaya there is sometimes a demoniac misconception about the descent of Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu’s body is spiritual, but demoniac persons consider the body of the Supreme Personality to be material, just like ours. Avajananti mam mudhah: [Bg. 9.11] persons who have no intelligence deride the transcendental form of the Lord as material. [End of Srila Prabhupada’s purport to SB 3.18.3]

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: So this wonderful pastime of Lord Varaha as you know from Brahma-samhita,

ramadi-murtisu kala-niyamena tisthan nanavataram akarod bhuvanesu kintu krsnah svayam samabhavat paramah puman yo govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami [Bs 5.39]

So the Lord starting from Rama. There are three Rama’s of course: Balarama is one Rama and then Parasurama and Dasaratha-putra. So the Lord takes different forms for His own pleasure. Rama means also pleasure. There is pleasure in performing this wonderful pastime. As Vedanta-sutra says, Ananda-mayo ‘bhyasat (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12). The Lord is full of ananda, full of bliss. So He enjoys as a boar.

That also shows us that the Lord has a great sense of humor by appearing in such a way to confuse the materialistic atheists. They can’t understand how God can assume that type of form. That is beyond their imagination or material conception. But just to defeat misconception about Himself, He can do anything and everything. He appeared as an animal.

Even this demon Hiranyaksa he thought, “Oh, an amphibious beast!” laughing at the Lord! They think that when the Lord accepts this type of form it is just a big act. That is all! That is their foolishness of course.

We know that this demon Hiranyaksa, him and his brother Hiranyakasipu were the first demons appearing after creation. When the four Kumaras went to visit Vaikuntha they were not allowed to enter so they cursed them. And the Lord of course being compassionate to His servants so He came. The Kumaras wanted to take back their curse so He said, “No. You are great sages so your words must come true. But I offer My servants either to come back to me after three births as demons or asuras or after seven births as devotees. They can choose.”

He gave them the chance to choose what they wanted. The Lord is very kind to always offer the chance to choose freely what they wanted, either to serve Him as asuras or as devotees. One may think why they chose to be demons instead of devotees after seven births. It is better to be a devotee than demon. Isn’t it? So why they chose those births? Because they are very intelligent! They consulted with each other before making the decision. “Why the Lord is offering us to return faster to him as asuras than devotees, why?” They analyzed, “Maybe the Lord wants to fight demons right now at the beginning of creation. So let us please the Lord by becoming demons.”

So they told the Lord, “My dear Lord please give us very demoniac mentality so that we can give You very good fights. To please You.” [Laughter for audience.] That is the whole idea, devotee’s idea. Even if the Lord wants me to be a demon and kill me, if that pleases Him let that be. That is highly advanced. That means full surrender to the Lord just to please Him. The Lord also has this fighting spirit. Otherwise why is it in us, this fighting spirit?

Even as devotees sometimes we fight each other. From where does this come? This is coming from the Lord originally. Everything is coming originally from the Lord. But the Lord uses fighting spirit, His anger only to protect His devotees – not otherwise. So Mother earth, Bhumidevi was in danger and the Lord came to rescue her and fight the demon. He displays his fighting spirit to uplift His devotees.

There is one story in relation to that. In Iran at the time of the Shah (He was the king before.) He went to his people for diplomatic relationships and the government wanted to please him, to have diplomatic political relationship with him so they took him on tour to different museums, different palaces and places. So they went to one museum and in one part of that museum he saw an artifact called guillotine. So he asked what this was for. They said this was for chopping the criminal’s hands. [Laughter from audience.]

He became very interested in it and said, “Oh. I would like to see how it works practically.” They said, “Oh no problem. You can give one of your men and I can ask one of my men to put his head there to be chopped off!” He was very . They said, “No, no, no. The English do not allow that. It is a place for … They cannot go that far to please you. Please forgive us.” He said, ‘then you don’t understand what the meaning of king is. You don’t understand! The servant is willing to sacrifice his life to please even his whimsical desire.

In relation to Krishna lila the devotees are willing to give up their lives to please the Lord. That means full surrender, atmanivedana, willingly! “Yes my Lord, You want me to become a demon and kill me, please do so. Be pleased!” That is difficult for general people to understand. In devotional service this is the goal – to become fully surrendered to the Lord and try to please the Lord in any way that the Lord wants. Isn’t it?

With Hiranyaksa the story is that he stole the earth and sunk it in the Garbhodaka Ocean. And Prabhupada says he was perplexed what to do. He, himself did not feel it. Imagine the Garbhodaka Ocean is filling up half of the universe. Imagine how deep it is. Very, very deep! Not even Lord Brahma could do that difficult task. So he was thinking and praying to the Lord for His help.

Suddenly from his nostrils this tiny boar appeared. He was wondering, “What is this?” And the boar started to grow up and grow up. So huge! Then he realized this must be an incarnation of the Lord because how it can become so huge in one moment! So he started to offer prayers. All the sages were offering prayers and the Lord answered their prayers.

He roared with great force assuring them he will be victorious. So the Lord jumped in the ocean creating huge waves that touched even the heavenly planets. Some of the hairs on the Lord’s body fell in different places and that became the kusha grass. That is why the kusha grass is so holy. They use that in all yajnas because this comes from the hair of Lord Varaha.

So in this fight between Lord Varaha and Hiranyaksa, the Lord was holding Bhumidevi in his tusks at the same time. It was like the moon on the tusks of the Lord. It was very beautiful to see. Imagine just seeing this beautiful form of the Lord. Imagine how big the Lord was that the earth planet was just resting on His tusks. Gigantic! Much bigger than the earth planet itself! So it is wonderful.

The fight was going on. First the Lord took the earth from the floor of the ocean before starting to fight to assure that the earth is in a safe position before fighting the demon. The Devas came to witness the fight. Hiranyaksa actually, Hiranyakasipu shared with his brother the blessing he got from Brahma. So he was very, very powerful. First he went to challenge Varuna for a fight. And Varuna said, “I am very old now for fighting. I have retired from this. Since you are very eager you go and fight Lord Varaha and he will kill foolish demons like you.” Varuna predicted the outcome of the fight but still the foolish demon laughed and challenged the Lord. ‘I will kill Him.” That is their idea.

So in the same way Srila Prabhupada he went into the ocean of Kali-yuga and uplifted us from the depth of Kali-yuga’s ocean. He fought all the impersonalist, mayavadis, sahajiyas, and materialistic scientists. He fought so many demoniac people just to uplift us and pick us up to the platform of Krishna consciousness. So that is the role of guru in Iskcon, to uplift and to help others to come up and to be fixed in Krishna consciousness with the selfless attitude to help others, to be a servant of the servant of the servant. That is the humble attitude for everybody, not just the guru.

In this wonderful fight The Lord came out victorious. Some details are here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam how the fight was. First they started with mace. Big fight! Very powerful! It is said that at a certain moment in the fight the Lord’s gada fell from His hand and all the demigods were very frightened, but the demon being a very big demon he then took advantage of that. The Lord called for His Sudarsan Cakra. And this demon he took up again the mace, gada and was fighting the Lord.

He was defeated so many times that he created an illusion of rain of urine and stool and bones and so many horrible things. And the Lord in one moment with Sudarsan Cakra He dispelled all this magical illusion created by the demon. Finally he left his mace and with his own hand he struck the Lord very powerfully and with the strength that he could smash huge mountains the Lord wasn’t moved at all.

Then the Lord without much effort just slapped him underneath his left ear and his eyeball came out. He died instantly. Jiva Goswami explained that the Lord after striking Hiranyaksa with His tusks He pierced him on his chest. So many wonderful details are there about this Varaha-lila and so many lessons are there to be learnt.

We also hear that after killing Hiranyaksa the Lord married Bhumi-devi. They became wife and husband. There are deities of Bhu-Varaha. Even Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakur established Bhu-Varaha here in Mayapur. There is a deity at Lord Caitanya’s birthplace of Lord Varaha and Bhumi-devi.

So this pastime is very, very important. It is explained that They had a son together and Lord Varaha instructed the son in religious principles and saintly behavior and he was very saintly. But later on he started to have bad association. He started to associate with Mayadanava and by this bad association he became polluted. He became an asura himself. Just see even the son of the Lord, just by bad association became a demon. What to speak of others! How very careful we should be about bad association.

Actually that is the first instruction Lord Caitanya gave to His followers when they asked Him. Asat-sanga-tyaga, — ei vaisnava-acara [Madhya 22.87] First thing is you give up bad association. So this is very, very important. So much so that later on he kidnapped sixteen thousand princesses. He became known as Bhaumasura. So the Lord then had to come and kill His own son to protect His devotees. Just see how neutral the Lord is that even if His own son becomes a demon and is harassing His devotees He is willing to kill Him. And even if the demon becomes devotee he will give him all protection.

In the ‘Nectar of Devotion’ it is explained that one demon was saying, “Actually I am not afraid of Krishna because even if He comes to kill me the only thing I have to do is to just surrendered at His lotus feet and he will give me all protection.’ So that is very intelligent asura!

Mayadanava was also very intelligent demon. When Agnideva was burning the forest he asked permission from the Lord, (He came as a Brahmin.) and the Lord gave him permission because He was having indigestion. They must have put too much ghee on the sacrifices! [Laughter.] Burn all the fire inside and regain His good digestion again. So while He was burning the forest this demon Mayadanava came out. Because he was a demon the Lord was ready to kill him with His Sudarsan Chakra but the demon being very intelligent, he just fell at Arjuna’s feet. He did not fall at the feet of the Lord, he fell at His friend Arjuna’s feet.

So the injunction is that if any surrendered soul comes and fall at your feet you have to give protection. That is the ksatriya dharma. So when Arjuna gave protection or assurance, the Lord immediately stopped taking aim. Very intelligent! They know that, “The devotees are very dear to the Lord and if I take shelter of them I will be spared.” That is very intelligent. The asuras are also assisting the Lord with His pastimes. By taking opposition they are in one way helping the Lord to perform His pastimes and become purified by His wrath.

So they are born also in Krishna lila. Of course we don’t advise anyone to help the Lord in that way but in a favorable way. [Laughter.] Kamsa himself although thinking of the Lord twenty-four hours was still not considered a devotee because he was thinking of the Lord in an inimical way, as an enemy. So he wasn’t performing devotional service because devotional service has to be krsna-anusilanam, favorable to Krishna, to please Krishna. Then it is accepted as devotional service. Otherwise it is not accepted as such.

The need to perform devotional service is most important. Krishna is known as – bhava-grahi janardana. If somebody approaches to serve Him, he knows of their intention, their attitude. And that is the most important thing actually. Prabhupada explained in the ‘Nectar of Devotion’ that not just the service itself but the attitude is most important.

There is one story in Vrindavan: The pujari in the Radha-Govindaji Temple came out to look for some food to offer to the Lord. He did not have. And one beggar arrived. He was going to sell moori. Moori is puffed rice. So he asked him, “Please give me some to offer to the Lord.” The man was a little stingy, “after some time if I sell something I may give you.” “No the offering is now. Please give. Don’t worry. Krishna will.” “No I am very poor and have five sons.” He started giving excuses. Suddenly a strong wind came and blew all his puffed rice away. So he was shouting, ” .Govinda.” The Lord will not accept such an offering by force. No. The Lord wants it naturally. Not by force of circumstance.

So we do service, “Oh I have to do this.”The Lord is in the heart. He is seeing the heart. It is very important to work hard and always have the proper attitude in devotional service. What is the proper attitude? To please Guru and Gauranga, to please Krishna. This is the most important. Everything we do should be with that aim. There should not be any personal ambition. Prabhupada said personal ambition can create so much havoc in our movement. And it has created. I have seen. So we have to be very careful of that. Our only ambition should be to always keep devotee association and humbly serve the mission of Srila Prabhupada with a mood of surrender and try to please others, help others to be more and more enthusiastic in Krishna consciousness.

Each and every one of us has this duty to be an instrument in the Lord’s service, to help inspire others by our own example, by our own behavior, by our intelligence, our speech, money, in which ever way. Lord Caitanya said one should engage in the loving service of the Lord and that is the most important thing. We have to work on this very, very sincerely. Prabhupada said that the most important thing is to be sincere. And that can be lost also. We have seen devotees are very sincere and after some time they stop being sincere. So if we are not careful and always endeavoring with confidence with enthusiasm and patience – Srila Rupa Goswami advised that.

When Srila Prabhupada visited our temple in South America, Venezuela he said utsahan, enthusiasm is very important. Utsahan, enthusiasm means, “I must see Krishna in this very life.” Prabhupada said, “You are already seeing Krishna.” Krishna and his form are non different but still personally it is possible. You have to keep the enthusiasm. Enthusiasm should always be there in your daily activities. As soon as we begin to lose enthusiasm we should immediately try to do something about trying to find good association or one advanced devotee to help us to overcome this obstacle.

So many obstacles will come in our way of spiritual advancement. That is maya’s duty to keep us here in this material world. Of course we know that maya is also a pure devotee. That is her duty. She doesn’t want but that is her duty to the Lord, to test to see whether people are sincere in their desire to serve the Lord. So it is very, very important to always pray to the Lord to always be sincere and surrender to his desires and to give up our own worldly desires in order to fulfill the Lord’s desire.

The material desires we have now are not only our desires because these desires come from the mind and the senses but since we are not the body, we are spirit soul our real desire is the desire of the Lord. And what are the desires of the Lord? To see all of us very happy eternally in His association in service. So that is the Lord’s mission.

He comes in different forms so that he can create varieties of pastimes so that we can come together and sing about His glories, speak about His lilas to His devotees. So there is a wonderful opportunity that the Lord is giving us and we should take full advantage of it. In the wonderful dham, Sridham Mayapur it is natural that devotees are chanting the holy names. Wherever we go around they naturally chant the holy name of the Lord. That is the power of the holy dham that it raises every body’s consciousness to the platform of bhakti, pure devotional service.

That is why Prabhupada wanted devotees to come at least once a year to the holy dham to recharge their batteries and become more enthusiastic in preaching these glories all over the world. So that is the mission, Prabhupada’s mission, Lord Caitanya’s mission and that is the mission we should all have in our lives – to assist Srila Prabhupada and his pure representatives in spreading the glories to the Lord. And for that we ourselves have to become fixed in this transcendental knowledge with full conviction that, “Yes. I am an eternal servant of Krishna. That is my eternal identity.” And we should remind others about their identity also in life.

Then everything is smooth and nice. The Lord’s ananda is always increasing and you want to share this ananda with all living entities. That is why there are so many living entities to increase His ananda by exchanging loving dealings, loving service. So that is the whole idea of this Krishna conscious movement. If I have forgotten something please remind me about the pastimes of the Lord. I will much appreciate it. If anybody has any comments or questions please feel free to ask.

Prabhu: Hare Krishna. You said that Varahadeva picked Bhumi from the Garbodaksa Ocean at that time you mentioned the fight took place. So my question is how we can understand because Varadev appeared in, according to Srimad Bhagavatam when Manu appeared from.. by the union of man and woman. That time Manu asked, “Where should I create from/” That time he said that Bhumi is in the Garbodaksayi Ocean and Varahadeva appeared. But we see Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu alreadt there. And there were so many . already there. It was on earth also. So how we can understand that this two are different.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Tough one! [Laughter.] One saying that we as devotees are very clever. Every time there is something we don’t understand we say acintya, acintya, acintya! [Laughter] Now the thing is this earth planet was not there in creation yet but in all the other planets creation was there. Kadarma Muni was there. Diti was there. All the pastimes were there. Maybe this planet that was at the bottom of the ocean, maybe there was no creation there but in the other planets creation was there. That is how Maharaj Uttanapada became the father of Dhruva Maharaj. Unless Kardama was there and Devahuti was there how Hirayaksa and Hiranyakasipu were born.

Although some devotees say that there are two Varahas – one white Varaha and one reddish Varaha. They appeared in different millenniums but some other commentators say that varaha after killing Hiranyaksa remained inside the ocean until the next millennium and came out again. Some believe that he was in the water for so long. Anything is possible. For the Lord nothing is impossible. So we have to study from different angles of vision. Different possibilities are there also for the Lord’s appearance and pastimes. Is that okay? Hare Krishna. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

Prabhu: How did Lord Varaha leave the material world?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: he appeared from the nostrils of Lord Brahma. That is the way he appeared.

Prabhu: How did he leave?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: How He left? That is a very important question. Actually Srila Prabhupada said that the incarnations of the Lord as animals, as boar or Kurma or Matsya, They are only made for the material world only. They are not in Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha is a bit higher. So they are only meant for the material world. But that doesn’t mean that form is . is going on in all different universes but they are only meant for pastimes inside the material world only. Understand? Yes Mataji?

Mataji: When you were talking about the attitude that constitutes devotional service that we have to be favorable to the Lord but Jaya and Vijay consented to accept the curse and wanted to be demons because they considered that the Lord wanted to fight. So that attitude is favorable because they are doing what the lord wants?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes. Because that was that was the desire of the Lord. Favorable means whatever the Lord desires I am willing to do. “Even if He wants me to be an asura and kill me,” because they were so surrendered souls they agreed.

Mataji: So in the form as Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu they don’t remember the Lord and their attitude is unfavorable or they remember the Lord and their attitude is favorable? In other words are they actually devotees?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: No. No. actually in order for the pastime to be performed nicely they are demons. Yoga maya makes them forget that they are actually eternal devotees. Otherwise how can they fight the Lord? A devotee will never fight the Lord. Never! Of course there are a few exceptions. Jambavan fought with the Lord. He acknowledge that is the Lord but the Lord was pleased by his fighting spirit then he remained. So there are instances like that but in this particular case Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu, they by the potency of yoga maya forgot that they were the door keepers of Vaikuntha. They forgot in order to give a good fight to the Lord. That was to please the Lord, not because they wanted to be demons. Just because the Lord wanted to fight. Is that okay? If there is anything else.

Mataji: It brings up other questions included in the sense that when they become demons the give as in the case of others like Prahlad when they give difficulties to others. So you really have to have a maha-bhagavat vision to see them as devotees serving the Lord. They are causing so much misery.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: No we have to remember that is the pastimes of the Lord. He wanted them in that way. Prabhupada said only three births. Not that they come as demons. no, only that time it happened. Then that is it! Only to fulfill the Lord’s desire. . like Prahlad by being tested by these demons to become more glorious to bring more pleasure to glorify His devotee who is .to test by the demons. So the Lords glories increase in every body’s heart. Hare Krishna.

Prabhu: Hare Krishna. Thank you, Maharaj. For sake of variety and for the sake of the lila I would have thought that the Lord would be true to His nature He incarnates in all different kinds of animals in the creation. Why is it that it seems that the Lord appears again and again as Varaha, againand again as Kurma and then Matsya. Wouldn’t it seem theoretically boring after a while instead of doing something new in the creation? [Laughter.]

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: hare Krishna. That is all material conception that, “Oh I heard this pastime. Tell me new one. That is boring to hear the same thing once again.” That is material misconception. The pastimes of the Lord are new and fresh and pure devotees relish them although repeating them again and again. They relish them because this is eternally going on. And the pastimes always have different varieties. It is not exactly the same every time. There are different variations there also.

Sanatana Goswami explains sometimes Krishna goes to Mathura riding on Kaliya instead of a chariot. So there are varieties of pastimes. Even the Lord’s appearance in different forms, in every appearance there are some varieties of pastimes. Also some details were not mentions in every book it maybe. In different Puranas we find different explanations of that. And the Lord appeared in that way not misconceptions sometimes devotees ay have that we hear that the Lord appeared in all species of life. It doesn’t mean that He appears as a cockroach! [Laughter.} No. the Lord appears in the main forms: As an aquatic as Matsya and Kurma; as a fish as Lord Matsya. Understand? Like that! As a bird who?

Devotee: Garuda?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: garuda is not Visnu tattva. He is a servant of the Lord. Hamsa avatara! Swan. So in different forms the Lord appeared. There are many species. As human being Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. Not all eight million. Not like that! Is that okay? So if we become pure devotees then we will relish all the Lords pastimes repeatedly.

The Lord in Goloka Vrindavan, pretty far out lila going on repeatedly. Not that it is so boring. They are doing the same thing. That is our material contamination that we can’t appreciate the Lord’s lila. We don’t know the bliss of repeating it once and again and again. Because we are still on the mental platform we see it in this way. We have to give up our mental speculation, mental conditioning and come to the spiritual platform then we will relish every time we say the same thing.

Prabhu: We should also remember that these are the Dasavataras. The most prominent ten incarnations. Antarupa – unlimited incarnations. They are not necessarily mentioned in Bhagavatam.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: That is right. It is said that there are as many incarnations of the Lord as there are waves in the ocean. Just imagine who can count the waves. So there are innumerable incarnations, unlimited pastimes the Lord was performing in so many different incarnations all over the universe. And there are millions of universes.

Prabhu: And if he pleases he may come as a cockroach.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: If He wants to. He can do anything and everything.

Prabhu: You say He can do/

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Well generally we do not know. Who knows.

Prabhu: We may not know.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes that is true. But we don’t want to think that the Lord would take such a form.

Prabhu; Who would say he would come as a boar? Prabhupada said it is ugly.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes, yes. Why the Lord came as a boar actually? Because the boar has the ability to take the earth. So He has to go in the Garba Ocean to take out the earth. It is only in a great sense of fury that He has to assume this form. He is very playful actually – the Lord!

Prabhu; Actually Prabhupada mentioned that Lord Boar had lotus eyes. He is very beautiful actually.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes. He is very beautiful.

Prabhu: Another thing – you mentioned that Lord Boar only has pastimes in the material world?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes.

Prabhu: but there is a statement in the Bhagavatam that after he killed Hiranyaksa He went back to the spiritual world, to His own abode where there was a constant tussle.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes.

Prabhu: And ha also mentioned that there are many incarnations of God that have their own abode in the spiritual world.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes, but They have the form of Narayana. That is what Prabhupada explained in a letter to one devotee – that Narayan comes to this material world in different incarnations but when he goes back He is Narayana. He is not there as a Boar. He takes the form of Narayana again. So there is no contradiction there because the Lord is one but he takes different forms. He has His own planet from that particular form he came as such.

Prabhu: Maharaj, with folded hands I ask which acarya’s commentary are you quoting when you say He accepts every species.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Oh Prabhupada said in the Bhagavatam that the Lord appeared in all the species of life. He has mentioned that amongst the aquatic He is Matsya avatara, like that he is mentioning in all the species of life one species in particular He is appearing in that form. He never said you don’t find Prabhupada saying that He appears in the eight million in every one of them as an avatara. So I can openly say that I came to that conclusion by studying Prabhupada’s books. I may be wrong but if you find a quote that supports otherwise please show me. I would be powerless.

Prabhu: . Prahlad Maharaj that He does appear in all species.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: That is the meaning that He appears in all particular animal and aquatics. It doesn’t mean that every form of aquatics.

Prabhu: If I am not mistaken the Brhat-Bhagavatamrta describes how all the different animal forms are there in the spiritual world. Because they worship that form of the Lord in the material world they take that form, the form of the Lord they worship. Hence they have all the varieties of animals there.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Well varieties of forms of animals are need in the spiritual world. Once a devotee asked Prabhupada, “Prabhupada why in the spiritual world in Goloka there are animals and trees and plants.” Prabhupada said, “What do you want, that Krishna dances with Radharani and the gopis with the Brahmajyoti behind and no scenery behind? So Krishna loves variety and for that variety to be there it means even devotees have these different forms. They are not ordinary animals. They are eternally liberated souls and they serve the Lord in that way.

The bees recite Sanskrit verses when they fly near the Lord, humming they recite all this. And all of them are conscious. Pure Krishna conscious living entities assume that form for variety for the Lord’s pleasure. It doesn’t mean that those particular forms of the Lord are there, these devotees have to be incarnations of the Lord in that way.

Prabhu: That is why I am sharing. Sanatan Goswami does say that they do worship that form of the Lord,

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: and that is why they have that form there. But we also have to understand those devotees are nitya-siddhas. Most of them have that form eternally usually. Some devotee may get liberated and assume that form. That is possible. Sanatan Goswami says that possibility is also there. I agree. Whatever the previous acaryas and the scriptures say we accept. Definitely! Of course those who are in santa rasa they may also take a form like that to serve the Lord in that particular way. From different angle of vision we can analyze and study the sastras and the previous acaryas. We will come to the same conclusion. I hope so. [Laughs.]

Prabhu: Please I wanted to know one or two incarnations of actual demons and . when do they come and what are their names .

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Can you repeat the question more clearly?

Prabhu: When they came as Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu and the fourth incarnations as demons?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes, they were the first demons in the material world.

Prabhu: they were cursed to take birth as demons three times. What demons did they come as?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: They became after Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu they became Ravana and Kumbakarna and the last time as Sisupala and Dantavakra. But still by the Lord’s mercy because He was pleased with them they came and extra pastime in Gauranga lila as Jagai and Madhai. They were not killed. They were delivered. They were given Krishna prema because of their wonderful service as demons for three lifetimes. They pleased the Lord so much he gave them participation in Gauranga lila. They achieved prem bhakti. Lord Caitanya is so kind and merciful.

I was thinking about what you said about Sanatan Goswami explaining but if you read the sastra we don’t find an incarnation of the Lord as we know in this universe from our Bhagavata Puranas the Lord appearing as any other form as a bee or a monkey. We don’t know. It could be but the revelation is not given in our sastra. So how are the devotees going to find out about any other forms if it is not there in the sastras. Maybe in other planets the Bhagavatam is bigger more information is given there. Maybe! But atleast in this planet we don’t have more information about other forms of the Lord but what is already given to us.

So in understanding the philosophy of Krishna consciousness we also have to apply our common sense. Logic we can uses to understand the pastimes of the Lord. Is that okay? No? [Laughter.] Okay we agree to disagree. [Laughter.] Haribol.

Prabhu: Hare Krishna Maharaj. A similar statement is there in . canto. There is a sloka [Sanskrit] this is the prayer of I think Prahlad Maharaj. I don’t remember. He says whatever form a devotee meditates on the Lord appears in that particular form. And Srila Prabhupada says over there that it doesn’t mean whatever form the person is meditating Krishna will appear. He has to meditate on the form as mentioned in the scriptures.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Right! So according to what is there described in the scripture that settles our . The Lord appeared . but I am still going to meditate like that. That is more or less mental speculation. It may be true but it is not sure. It is not mentioned in sastra, we should not just make it up. So our basis is sastra, sadhu and guru. And if it is confirmed in the sastra – we can’t just make up our own meditation of different forms of the Lord. I am not saying that you are wrong. Thank you for quoting that.

Prabhu: Due to Prahlad Maharaj also Hiranyakasipu was delivered back to the spiritual world..

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Yes.

Prabhu: Secondly why there are few devotee who worship them?

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: Who? Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu? No ways! Some people in Sri Lanka still worship Ravana. But we don’t worship demons. We worship the Lord. [Laughter.] Hare Krishna. That is concoction also. We don’t worship demons. Only pure devotees!

Prabhu: [indistinct] None of them are not worshipping Ravan. They know that they are demons.

HH Bhakti Sundar Goswami: We burn the image of Ravana because he was acting as a demon. So we don’t like him. Although we understand they were Jaya and Vijaya but still we should not disturb the lila of the Lord acting in a different way. Like sahajiyas for example – the Gauranga nagaris, they want to worship Lord Caitanya as Krishna Himself. Once I went to Navadwip many years ago I saw in one temple – we are not calling them sahajiyas – and I saw Lord Caitanya’s deity with a flute in His hand. I said, “Why you doing this?” they said, “Oh! He is Krishna. He is dancing with the gopis also.”

He is Krishna but he has come as a devotee. We should not disturb this mood, this bhava. So that is very important. Even Prabhupada said that on Ekadasi we don’t offer grains to Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. Why? Because They are playing the parts of devotees so we respect Their feelings, Their bhava. He is Krishna. Still we respect the feelings They have as devotees. Thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai. Grantharaj Srimad-Bhagavatam Ki jaya. Gaurapremanandi, Haribol!

So on the occasion of Varaha’s appearance day, we are reading a verse in relation this pastime. This is from Canto Three, Chapter Eighteen “The Battle Between Boar and Hiranyaksa”, Text number two.

dadarsa tatrabhijitam dhara-dharam
 pronniyamanavanim agra-damstraya
musnantam aksna sva-ruco ’runa-sriya
 jahasa caho vana-gocaro mrgah

Translation:
“He saw there the all-powerful Personality of Godhead in His boar incarnation, bearing the earth upward on the ends of His tusks and robbing him of his splendor with His reddish eyes. The demon laughed: Oh, an amphibious beast!”

HH BVV Narasimha Maharaj:
So we are hearing how Hiranyaksha the king of demons addressed Lord Varaha. Not very nice way to address someone! How would we like to be called a beast? Similarly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, when He hears someone address Him like this, the words pierce His heart.

He replies actually in a few verses forward, a few verses later He will reply to this Hiranyaksha and tell him, “Yes true it is that I am a beast of the jungle! I am meant for eating dogs like you! So the sharp like words of Hiranyaksha do not act actually please the Lord.

And similarly other people also fail to please the Lord, particularly Mayavadi’s when they address the Lord. Because when they read the Vedas, they will give an impersonal conception to the Absolute Truth. In the Caitanya Bhagavata there is a description how one day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had been hearing the glories of Lord Varaha. And while He was relishing the mood of Lord Varaha, He came to the home of Murari Gupta. And at time He chanted the name Sukara! Sukara! Which is boar! Boar! Right? its the name of the boar, Sanskrit for boar. So He chanted the name of Sukara and then He actually, Lord Caitanya actually assumed the form of Lord Varaha while He was in the home of Murari Gupta.

So Lord Varaha also appears here in Navadvipa dhama. Murari Gupta’s house is not far away on the Parikrama. We always visit there. Murari Gupta was a great devotee of Lord Ramachandra. And he was a very intimate associate of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu during His early pastimes.

So Lord Caitanya exhibited the form of Lord Varaha when He came to Murari Gupta’s house. And it was certainly bewildering for Murari Gupta to suddenly find Caitanya Mahaprabhu transformed into the form of Lord Varaha.

When we see our artist’s illustration of Lord Varaha, we notice that Lord Varaha, just like in most of the generally temples, they will show Lord Varaha having two arms. So the artist with our Bhaktivedanta Book Trust inquired from Prabhupada about how to present Lord Varaha. And Prabhupada told them that in the Srimad Bhagavatam Lord Varaha is described as having four hoofs. But he said, you can show two arms, and the back legs should be hoofs. And then they also wondered that Lord Varaha is a boar! Can a boar be attractive? Because the Lord is supposed to be all-attractive. So the Lord does He ever have incarnations which are non-attractive? So Srila Prabhupada told them that Lord Varaha is very beautiful, very attractive. And he said, when you paint Him, you should make Him as attractive as possible.

Because boar!! So Murari Gupta saw Lord Caitanya transformed into the boar, Murari Gupta saw Lord Caitanya transformed into Lord Varaha and then Lord Varaha picked up a water pot. There was a water pot with a spout and Lord Varaha…Lord Caitanya in His form as Lord Varaha then picked up that water pot in His mouth just as Lord Varaha would pick up the earth from the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean.

And in this way Lord Caitanya was revealing to His devotees that He is the Supreme Lord. This was His pastime, this was His way of showing them. He said, “In the past you doubted who I am! Now you know who I am! Now you can see who I am!”

And then He asked Murari Gupta to offer prayers. And Murari Gupta was so astounded to see all of this. It was difficult for him to say much in glorification of the Lord. But then Lord Caitanya began to speak to Murari Gupta and He told him that there are people who worship the Vedas but He said, “There is a particular wretch in Kasi. There is this wretch in Kasi named Prakasananda and he cuts Me to pieces with his teaching of the Vedas.”

So Prakasananda he was of course the leader of the mayavadi sanyasi’s in Benares and later on Lord Caitanya would go there to Benares and deliver Prakasananda. So its mentioned there in Caitanya Bhagavata that in His early pastimes, Lord Caitanya was already aware of this Prakasananda. And He describes how his words were cutting Him to pieces. Why do the mayavadi’s words cut the body of the Lord to pieces? Because they deride His personal form! The Mayavada, they will particularly recite a statement from the Vedas which said “The Lord has no arms and He has no legs. He cannot see but He knows everything. He has no ears but He can hear everything. He has no eyes but He can see everything.”

So they give importance to this kind of statement and then they conclude that the Lord therefore cannot have a form. They do not understand how the Lord can have a spiritual form, a transcendental form. So when the Lord appears in these different incarnations just as Varaha, Kurma or Nrsingha, the body is not material. But it is a fully transcendental spiritual form.

Actually the form of Lord Varaha is described to be the Vedas personified. And this is explained that the Vedas are the breath of the Lord. Now the Vedic knowledge was given, the first student of the Vedas was Lord Brahma. The Vedic knowledge from the Lord was imparted into Lord Brahma. That breath of the Lord was put into Lord Brahma. And then when Lord Varaha appears, He appears from the nostril of Brahma. So what is coming from the nostril? This is actually our breath, so that same breath is actually Lord Varaha. Therefore just as the breath comes from the nostril of Lord Brahma, this is personified Vedas. So Lord Brahma is non different from the personification of the Vedas.

We should understand that there are two different Varaha’s mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam. One is called Sveta Varaha and then there is Rakta Varaha. Meaning one is white and one is red. And they appear at different times, one appears during the Svayambhuva Manu millennium and the other during the Caksusa millennium.

In the earlier chapter it was described how in the beginning of creation Lord Brahma produced Manu and requested him and his wife to procreate the universe. And at that time Manu pointed out to Brahma that the earth planet had fallen into the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean. And Brahma was contemplating what to do? And at that time Lord Varaha appears from the nostril of Brahma.

The form of Lord Varaha, of course He came out from the nostril in a tiny form, but then expanded into a gigantic form which covered the sky all the way up to the planet of Brahma, all the way upto Satyaloka. And then this way Varahadeva into dove into the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean, to pick up the earth from the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean.

The earth and Lord Varaha have a very intimate connection, bhumi. In the Sri Vaishnavism, they worship the Lord along with His two sakti’s, bhu and sri. So this is bhumi, the deity of the earth planet. When Lord Varaha picked up the earth planet from the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean, we are told at that time the earth became impregnated. And the result of her impregnation is she gave birth to a son called Naraka. And this Naraka in the beginning of his life was a good devotee. He served all the brahmanas, he was very pious, very religious. But due to the will of Providence he came into bad association. He associated with some demon called Bana. And after that, then he became offensive against the devotees. And he gave so much trouble to the brahmana’s. And ultimately this child was killed by the Lord.

So Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu also described this to Murari Gupta that, He said, “I cannot tolerate anyone who gives trouble to My devotees.” He said, “ Even My own son if he gives trouble to My devotees, I will kill him.” And of course the Lord did ultimately. This Naraka was killed by the Lord.

So we said Lord Varaha has two incarnations, one is white and one is red. And the second incarnation, it is described that He has a fight with, He is challenged with Hiranyaksha. Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu of course were the two sons of Diti and at the time of their birth there was so much bad omen. There was thunder and lightening and it was very inauspicious circumstances. Everyone could understand that some very demoniac persons were taking their birth. So Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu began to terrorize the universe. And Hiranyaksha, by his name we understand that he is always looking for gold and because of his desire to acquire more and more gold he had dug up most of the earth and he had created some instability in the earth planet resulting in the earth planet falling into the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean.

Hiranyaksha also liked to challenge people, he liked to show his strength, and he went everywhere, looking for a suitable person to fight with. He had gone on once occasion to meet Varuna the god of the sea. Varuna however declined to fight with Hiranyaksha. He told Hiranyaksha, “I am too old now. I wont be able to give you a good fight. But don’t worry, you should find Lord Visnu. And Lord Visnu will certainly give you a good combat! And when Lord Visnu is finished with you, you will find that your body is surrounded by dogs. You will become food for the dogs and vultures. You can be sure of this.”

So hearing these words from Varuna, Hiranyaksha was very eager to find Lord Visnu. And this leads to this verse being spoken that, Lord Visnu in the form of Lord Varaha actually appears to pick up the earth and at that time then He is challenged by Hiranyaksha, calling Him “Oh! You amphibious beast!”

So Lord Varaha first of all picks up the earth, and restores the earth in its position on the surface of the water and then comes back to fight with Hiranyaksha. And there is a great fight because we know that Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakasipu they are not ordinary demons. Anyone who is fighting with the Lord, they are very special personalities. They are almost equal to the Lord. And they had come here with that particular purpose in mind, following the curse of the four Kumaras, the two gate keepers of Vaikuntha, Jaya and Vijaya fell into the material world to take birth as demons three times. In their first birth was as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu.

So the Lord wants a good fight. And as Lord Varaha He had a very nice fight with Hiranyaksha. In fact it was such a fight that even Lord Brahma was worrying because it was coming to the end of the day. He was telling “demons become more powerful towards the end of the day. Please kill him quickly!” and at one point even Lord Varaha lost His mace. They were fighting with maces and at one point Lord Varaha lost His mace and the demigods were watching the fight and they were all worried, “oh no! what’s going to happen!” but then the Lord He has His Sudarshan cakra and He used that to defend Himself.

So then finally just before the end of the day Lord Varaha slaps just on the ear of Hiranyaksha. And the demon Hiranyaksha fell down dead. In this way Lord Varaha fulfilled His mission that the Lord incarnates to give pleasure to the devotees and to annihilate the demons.

So the pastime of Lord Varaha is showing us how the Lord can take any form He likes, He is not limited. Why should the Lord take the form of a boar? Of course the form of a boar was particularly appropriate for His function, because the earth had fallen into the bottom of the sea. So in order to pick up an object from the bottom of some dirty place its appropriate to have the body of a boar.

And this pastime of course is also glorified in Jayadeva Goswami’s Dasavatara Stotra. He describes how the Lord appears in the form of a boar and picks up the earth planet from bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean.

We understand the Lord’s forms to be always transcendental. In the purport Srila Prabhupada talks also about Nityananda, that the body of Lord Nityananda is also spiritual. He is not an ordinary person. But in the material…the Lord appears like an ordinary person. Therefore Prabhupada quotes the relevant verse from the Bhagavad Gita, that the “Foolish mock at Me descending amongst them like an ordinary person. They do not know My transcendental nature and supreme dominion over all that be.”

So Lord Varaha has a wonderful form and He performed wonderful pastimes. When the Lord incarnates in this world, it is not for any just ordinary purpose but it is to fulfill specific functions, special functions, as in this case picking up the earth, and annihilating demons like Hiranyaksha.

So there is one more pastime of Lord Varaha, I wanted to mention which also took place here in Mayapur dhama, in Navadvipa dhama and that was over in Koladvipa. Kola is another Sanskrit word for boar, just like Sukara there is also another word kola. So Koladvipa is one of the nine islands of Navadvipa. And it named after Lord Varaha because in the Satya yuga Lord Varaha appears there. He appeared there to fulfill the desire of one brahmana devotee. There was on Vasudeva vipra who was a very pious brahmana, who was a great devotee of Lord Varaha and he was praying to Lord Varaha, that “Please make my eyes successful. Give me darshan. I want to see Your form. Please make my life successful. If I can have Your darshan then my life is being worthwhile. ” And he was praying like this for many many days. He was a great devotee of Lord Varaha.

So after a long time Lord Varaha appeared to this brahmana Vasudeva and He revealed to this brahmana Vasudeva His transcendental form. If you go over to Navadvipa you can see there is one temple there, a Gaudiya temple which has also the deity of Lord Varaha. So Lord Varaha appears there in Koladvipa and He told this brahmana Vasudeva that “This Navadvipa dhama is very dear to Me. All of My different incarnations are here in this dhama. And in the Kaliyuga I will also come in My most merciful form and at that time I will perform the sankirtana of the holy name.”

And then He requested this brahmana Vasudeva, “You please also come in the Kaliyuga and take part in My sankirtana pastimes. In this way Lord Varaha revealing the nature of His future pastimes to His devotee.

The pastimes of the Lord like Lord Varaha are full of auspiciousness for the devotees. But for demons they are very difficult to understand. If some people who are not devotees come and see this battle between Lord Varaha and Hiranyaksha, they may think, “Oh! The good person is Hiranyaksha. And the demon is this animal, this terrible looking animal. This poor man is fighting with this terrible boar. “

Difficult for people to understand the actual nature of the transcendental nature of the pastimes of the Lord. But for the devotees very easy to understand.

So the Lord’s reply as I said, “True it is that I am a beast of the jungle. I am meant for eating dogs like you.” In England you know they have a very barbaric pastime. Aristocratic people go on horses, they often go for hunting for things like foxes and boars. Boars are very ferocious animals. Wild boars, they have tusks on their which are razor sharp. And when people go hunting for these boars, they often go with many dogs. But many of these dogs are ripped to pieces by these boars because these boars they can fight also. They have these razor sharp tusks and they rip the dogs to pieces.

So very appropriate Lord Varaha’s reply to Hiranyaksha that, “I am meant for eating dogs like you.”

So we want to learn how to speak words which are pleasing to the Lord. So many nice prayers are there. We will hear also in relation to Lord Varaha, when Lord Varaha appears the great sages in the higher planets like Janaloka, Tapaloka, they offer prayers to Lord Varaha and they pray to Him that how “You are the personification of the Vedas” and they say, “we have become purified by the water which has come from Your bodily hairs.”

Lord Varaha had dove into the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean and when you come up…just like you know a dog which goes in the water they shake their body and all the water from their body splashes over everyone. So Lord Varaha, similarly Lord Varaha after picking up the earth planet, then shook His body and the water which came from His body splashed on the great sages in the higher planets. But the great sages said “we have become purified by the water from your bodily hairs.”

You know if a boar was to come and throw, you know, sprinkle water on us, we would run, get out of here. But Lord Varaha when He shakes His body the water which comes from Him, that water is not different from the river Ganges. Just as the water which washes the feet of Lord Vamanadeva is river Ganges and it purifies all of us. In the same way the sages said, “we have become purified from this water coming from Your bodily hair.”

So we will stop here.
Ok thank you. Srimad Bhagavatam ki jaya!

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15309

Varahadeva’s Appearance Day

Sri Varaha deva mahatosav ki

Let us begin by considering the philosophical truth of Krishna’s incarnations, so that way we will get the perspective on His descent to this material world.

Srila Prabhupada spoke about this in 1977. This is exactly 40 years ago in Bhubaneshwar, right? He spoke about Varaha’s appearance. He said “Ramadi murti su kala niyamena.” Krishna, the original adi pursua, is taking various forms. Ramadi murtisu, especially three Ramas, Parasuram, Balaram and Dasarathi Rama. Rama means enjoyment. Krishna’s enjoyment does not mean that when Krishna appeared as a boar he was suffering. Everything is “Anada- cinmaya-rasa- pratibhavitabhih,” every second is imbued and permeated with ever blissful spiritual rasa.

Srila Prabhupada gives an example which we have heard, I think more than one time, about a big man becoming a horse, remember that? He talks about the British Prime Minister Gladstone, a pretty serious man. You don’t imagine that he may become a horse.

He says that somebody came to see Gladstone and the servant told the visitor that the Prime Minister was very busy, so he would have to wait. He was waiting and an hour passed, so he became inquisitive and opened the door a little bit to see what the Prime Minister was doing. What was such an important engagement? The Prime Minister had become a horse and was taking his grandchild on his back and playing like a horse. The important visitor was waiting for one hour. So this is enjoyment.

Similarly, when Krishna appears as Kesavadhrta Sukara Rupa, Varaha Rupa, that doesn’t mean that He is a boar. Prabhupada says he is not a crocodile. No, He is everything, so it’s not by karma. When we become a crocodile, that’s karma, a punishment. Now we are human beings. In my next life I may become a crocodile according to the karma forced by the laws of nature. So, I am taking the shape of crocodile or boar or another type of animal. That is karma; to become a real horse is karma. But Gladstone’s becoming a horse, that is not Karma. That is an enjoyment.

Source https://www.dandavats.com/?p=42776

So today is the transcendental appearance day of Lord Varaha. We have got the regular Bhagavatam verse on the board from Prthu Maharaj’s going back to Godhead. However we are not going to read that this morning. We are going to talk about Lord Varahadev instead because it is an interesting narrative.

There are different incarnations or appearances of Lord Varahadev. Previously the white boar incarnation has been described. The one that is in the Bhagavatam as we receive it is the story about the red incarnation and His fight with the demon Hiranyaksha. So it is an interesting history and one that is very instructive for the devotees because it is a narrative of people feeling sorry. The history is Diti was feeling unusually lusty. She was feeling impelled to the point where she lost control of herself and she approached her husband Kasyapa at an inauspicious time for the purpose of having a child. Of course it is to be noted that it wasn’t even though she was feeling lusty her intention was to have a child. So it was for procreative purposes. You could say it was dharmic nevertheless. However it was still at an improper time of the day because it was sunset and that is just when Lord Siva and his ghostly hordes become active.

Apparently any child that is conceived at that time of the day is likely to be one of those ghostly … taking their next birth. The Vedic principle is not to have sex for procreation or any sex at that time of the day because you don’t know who is coming into the womb. It might not be somebody that you particularly like. So somehow or the other she convinced her husband that don’t wait even a few more minutes. It must be done now because she was impelled by some force or the other. The end result was that immediately these two twins where put into a womb and the afterwards she immediately felt very sorry.

So she was the first person in this whole episode to start feeling sorry. She recognised her mistake immediately because she was a devotee and her husband also was feeling quite sorry. So she prayed to him. In fact she prayed to Lord Siva to excuse her mistake. On account of that although she did this act at an improper time the children that would be born from this will be terrorists. They will not terrorise just one small area but they are going to terrorise the entire universe and afflict everybody. And everybody else is going to be sorry because of what you have done. She was feeling very sorry when she heard that and because of her repentance although the deed itself could not be undone, the result could not be undone. It was modified.

Read More https://www.dandavats.com/?p=10263

Boar is a wild animal, probably not known for its beauty or great work. But when God appears in the form of a boar, He looks extremely beautiful and performs the most wonderful deeds. Just as the Supreme Lord appears in the human society as Lord Rāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa, He also incarnates in the animal society as Varāha (Boar), amongst the birds as Haṁsa (Swan), amongst the aquatics as Matsya (Fish) and so on.

According to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the Supreme Lord appeared as Varāha (a wild boar) twice – once as Ādi-varāha or Śveta-varāha in the Svāyambhuva (first) manvantara and another time as Nīla-varāha or Rakta-varāha in the Cākṣusa (sixth) manvantara. As Śveta-varāha He retrieved the Earth from the depths of Garbhodaka ocean, and as Nīla-varāha, He killed a powerful demon named Hiraṇyākṣa. This article describes the appearance and activities of these two divine boar incarnations of the Supreme Lord.

ĀDI-VARĀHA or ŚVETA-VARĀHA

in SVĀYAMBHUVA (FIRST) MANVANTARA

Lord Brahmā was the first created beings in this universe. He appeared from a lotus that sprouted from the navel of the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu. Having been enlightened personally by the Supreme Lord, Brahmā began his service of creation. His first task was to populate the universe with various types of living entities.

Once, as Brahmā was deliberating on how to accomplish his duty, two personalities appeared from his body. They were Svāyambhuva Manu and his queen Śatarūpā. Manus are the progenitors of mankind. There are fourteen Manus in a day of Brahmā, which lasts for 1000 divya-yugas (divya-yuga is a combination of the four yugas namely Satya, Treta, Dvāpara, and Kali). The reign of a Manu is called Manvantara which lasts for about 71 divya-yugas. The calculation of cosmic time is wonderful to the human thought process that’s accustomed to seeing time only in terms of minutes, hours, days, and years only. The first Manu Svāyambhuva was ready to abide by Brahmā’s instruction to procreate, but he found that there was no place to perform his service since the Earth was merged in the Garbodhaka ocean at that time.

How Is the Boar Divine? – Brahmā contemplated on how to raise the Earth, “While I am creating, the Earth has been inundated. What can we do? Let the Almighty Lord direct us.” Then a small form of Boar (Śveta Varāha), in the size of a thumb, came out of Brahmā’s nostril and within a moment, it grew gigantic in the sky like a great elephant. Whenever there is an emergency in the universe or an acute rise of adharma in this world, the Supreme Lord appears in a suitable form to rectify the situation. Because the Earth was submerged in the ocean, the Lord appeared as a wild boar to retrieve the Earth with His tusks. That is His transcendental pastime. Just because the Lord appeared in the form of a Boar, His potency doesn’t reduce, nor is this form inferior in its divinity. The Lord’s form in any shape is always transcendental and full of knowledge and mercy.

How Does the Boar’s Roar Dispel Fear? – Seeing the gigantic mountainlike Boar, Brahmā and his sons were struck with wonder. To enliven them, Lord Varāha, the master of sacrifices, then roared tumultuously. Because Brahmā and other enlightened brāhmaṇas have the divine knowledge about the Supreme Lord, they are enlivened by His appearance in any of His multi-incarnations. Therefore, the all-auspicious sound (roar) of the all-merciful Lord that echoed in all directions, reassured His devotees, causing them fearlessness. Hearing the thundering roar of the Boar incarnation of Viṣṇu, they didn’t become fearful. The Lord’s resounding roar is an open threat to all demons who might challenge His omnipotence, but to His devotees, that very roar is a reassuring boon.

Why is Varāha the Personification of Vedas? – The Vedas are said to be the breath of the Supreme Lord, and that breath was inhaled by Brahmā, who was enlightened in the Vedic knowledge, by the Supreme Lord Himself. Because Lord Varāha appeared from the nostril of Brahmā, when he breathed out, Varāha is said to be the personification of the Vedas (veda-vitāna-mūrti). The denizens of higher planets named Jana, Tapa, and Satya-lokas chanted mantras from the three Vedas praising Varāhadeva. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, “Whenever there is a glorification of the Lord, it is to be understood that Vedic mantras are being rightly vibrated. The Lord was therefore pleased when such Vedic mantras were chanted, and to encourage His pure devotees, He roared once more and entered the water to rescue the submerged Earth.” (SB 3.13.26 Purport). The Lord has no material form, but His form is always understood in terms of the Vedas. Because the Lord’s form is personified Vedic knowledge, He is the destroyer of all material contamination.

How Did Śveta Varāha Rescue The Earth? – Lord Varāha entered the water playing like an elephant (gajendra-lélā), and flew in the sky, with His tail slashing and His hard hairs quivering. His glance was luminous (like sun and moon). He scattered the clouds with His hooves and white tusks. Although transcendental, He imitated the actions of a Boar and searched after the Earth by smell. His tusks were fearful. He glanced over the sages who were offering prayers and entered the water. He dived into the ocean, whose high waves appeared like its arms as if praying, “O Lord, please protect me and do not cut me in two!” Cleaving the water with His sharp hooves, the Lord found the limits of the unlimited ocean and saw the Earth, and personally lifted it. Thus, He protected the Earth.

NĪLA-VARĀHA or RAKTA-VARĀHA

in CĀKṢUSA (SIXTH) MANVANTARA

The above incident took place in the Svāyambhuva (first) manvantara. The Lord again appeared in the Cākṣusa (sixth) manvantara, as Rakta Varāha and protected the Earth by killing a demon named Hiraṇyākṣa. The following is the story behind this.

What are the Consequences of an Untimely Union? – Kaśyapa Muni was the son of Brahmā. One of his wives, Diti, was once afflicted by lust and an intense desire for a child. Being impatient and envious of her cowives who already had children, Diti approached Kaśyapa in the evening time for union. Kaśyapa dissuaded her saying that the time was inauspicious, as ghosts and their master, Śiva, move about at that time. However, Diti was pressed by Cupid and pulled Kaśyapa by his clothing. Not being so self-controlled, Kaśyapa also gave in to her advances and obliged her unreasonable appeal, uniting with her. Ignorance is not the cause of every mistake. Even, persons in knowledge, commit mistakes due to weak-heartedness and temptations for momentary pleasures. Afterward, Kaśyapa addressed Diti in disdain, “Everything was inauspicious because of your mind’s pollution, defilement of time, negligence of my directions, and apathy towards demigods. As a result, you will have two demoniac sons who will constantly afflict the three worlds, kill innocent and sinless entities, torture women, enrage great souls, and ultimately be killed by the Supreme Lord.” Diti became repentant. Seeing her transformation and patience, Kaśyapa encouraged her, “Your grandson (Prahlāda) will be a great devotee.” This somewhat pacified the aggrieved Diti. Diti held her sons in the womb for 100 years, wanting to delay the trouble of the demigods by her sons and also the death of her sons at the hands of the Lord. By the force of her pregnancy, darkness spread in all directions. The demigods were perplexed and approached Brahmā. Brahmā then narrated the background story of the children in Diti’s womb.

How Did Those Devotees Become Demons? – Once, the four Kumāras had gone to Vaikuṇṭha to see Lord Viṣṇu. They crossed six gates without any obstruction, but at the seventh gate, they were blocked by Jaya and Vijaya, the doorkeepers. The Kumāras were agitated and spoke thus, “How are you suspecting others? Where is the possibility of an enemy coming to Vaikuṇṭha? The apt punishment for you imposters is to go to the material world filled with vices.” Jaya and Vijaya fell at the feet of the Kumāras and prayed that they never forget the Lord. Seeing their humility, the Kumāras felt repentant. Understanding the situation, Lord Viṣṇu appeared there and pacified the lamenting doorkeepers with His affectionate glance, and consoled the fearful Kumāras with His pleasing smile. Viṣṇu humbly apologized to the Kumāras for the offense of Jaya and Vijaya, and said, “The punishment given by you to My doorkeepers, of becoming demons in the material world, was ordained by Me. They will very soon return to Me, meditating on Me in anger.” An ideal master takes responsibility for the mistakes of His servants and helps them without disowning them.

Does God Like to Fight? – The Kumāras circumambulated the Lord and departed. Lord Viṣṇu spoke to Jaya and Vijaya, “Do not fear. Though you will have the mentality of demons, you will always think of Me and serve Me. I will experience pure happiness by fighting with you two.” Only the devotees can satisfy the Lord in every respect, including giving Him the pleasure of fighting. Thus, Jaya and Vijaya left Vaikuṇṭha and entered Diti’s womb. After 100 years of pregnancy, Diti gave birth to her twin sons. Kaśyapa named them Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa. Hiraṇyakaśipu performed austerities and received boons from Brahmā. He started to control all three worlds. Hiraṇyākṣa traveled all over the universe with a fighting spirit. His form, temper, and power scared the demigods. Desiring to sport, he entered the ocean and reached Vibhāvarī, the capital of Varuna, and provoked him for a fight. Varuṇa intelligently replied, “I have grown too old. Only Lord Viṣṇu can satisfy your desire to fight.”

Why Does God Fight with Devotees? – Hiraṇyākṣa learned from Nārada Muni the Lord’s whereabouts and entered into the Garbodhaka ocean. There, he saw the Lord in the form of a boar (Varāha), bearing the Earth on His tusks. He criticized the Lord with ill-names and addressed Him like an animal, forest-dweller, lowest of demigods, and so on. The Lord was pained by these abusive words. God is as sentient as we are. He is satisfied by our prayers and dissatisfied by our harsh words against Him. Seeing that the Earth was frightened, the Lord bore the pain and rose out of water. Varāhadeva challenged Hiraṇyākṣa and after a fierce battle with him, the Lord slapped him in the root of the ear. The demon fell dead like an uprooted tree. Though the Lord could instantly kill the demons, He fights with them just to experience the pleasure of fighting. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, “Sometimes a father takes pleasure in having a mock fight with his small child, and similarly the Lord felt Hiraṇyākṣa’s striking on His body to be like flowers offered for worship. In other words, the Lord desired to fight to enjoy His transcendental bliss; therefore, He enjoyed the attack.” (SB 3.19.16 Purport)

Lord Varāha was glorified by the sages as follows:

namo namas te ‘khila-mantra-devatā-

dravyāya sarva-kratave kriyātmane

vairāgya-bhaktyātmajayānubhāvita-

jñānāya vidyā-gurave namo namaḥ

“O Lord, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are worshipable by universal prayers, Vedic hymns, and sacrificial ingredients. We offer our obeisances unto You. You can be realized by the pure mind freed from all visible and invisible material contamination. We offer our respectful obeisances to You as the supreme spiritual master of knowledge in devotional service.” (SB 3.13.39)

Thus, accomplishing the mission of the demigods, Lord Varāha returned to His own abode being glorified by them.

Gauranga Darshan Das, a disciple of His Holiness Radhanath Swami, is the dean of the Bhaktivedanta Vidyapitha at ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village (GEV), outside Mumbai, and a member of ISKCON Board of Examinations (BoEx). He is a sastric teacher and is the author of Gita Subodhini, Bhagavata Subodhini, Caitanya Subodhini, Disapproved but Not Disowned, Bhagavata Pravaha and other books.

(Varaha Dvadasi Special)

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=93153

The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) will host an online gathering focused on the distribution of Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta, bringing together experienced practitioners from ISV, London, Pune, and other regions. The session will highlight practical strategies, effective presentation techniques, and the deeper spiritual inspiration behind participating in Lord Caitanya’s mission through book distribution.

The gathering will take place on Saturday, February 7, 2026, via Zoom. Participation is open to devotees interested in strengthening their service in the Be a Gardener spirit of global cooperation. The Zoom meeting ID is 882 6207 4108, with the password LIVETOGIVE.

Source: https://iskconnews.org/bbt-to-host-global-gathering-on-caitanya-caritam%e1%b9%9bta-distribution/

By Kasisvar Das  

For most people, December is a month of fatigue, deadlines, and year-end reviews. Yet across cultures—through Christmas, New Year, Hanukkah, or local traditions—December is also expected to bring spiritual renewal, relief, and hope for a better and happier year ahead. It is a natural time for family gatherings, gifts, music, and a sense of miracle.

And what do many Americans do in December? They go on vacation to sunny Florida, especially Miami.

My friends, Īśvara Śyāma Dās and Ekananda Vallabhī Devī Dāsī, a sweet Russian devotee family from New Rāmanā Reti (ISKCON Alachua, Florida), have just returned from their two-week December vacation in Miami as well. But how did they spend it? They held daily harināma saṅkīrtana on the streets and beaches of Miami. Their story is so inspiring that we felt it should be shared with the wider devotee community.

Read more: https://iskconnews.org/harinama-for-the-holidays-devotees-december-outreach-in-miami/

The Bhakti Vriksha Leadership Training Course, along with the Counseling, Care, and Nurturing Course, was held from January 24–26, 2026, at ISKCON Ranchi, Jharkhand. The three-day program brought together more than 150 devotees from the local community and was guided by Madhusudan Mukund Das, Centre Manager of ISKCON Ranchi.

ISKCON Ranchi has emerged as a dynamic preaching center in just three to four years, engaging thousands of devotees through diverse outreach initiatives. These include village, youth, and college preaching programs, the ISKCON Girls Forum, Bhakta Prahlad School, and a Gurukula. The community currently supports four preaching centers, over 30 full-time devotees, more than 50 Bhakti Vriksha groups, 15 youth preaching programs, and a congregation of over 1,000 devotees. During the recent marathon, the community distributed more than 25,000 books.

Participants attended the training with enthusiasm and commitment, expressing renewed determination to expand Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission through systematic preaching and community care. Reflecting on the event, Nityanand Ashraya Das, who shared the news with us, said, “I am grateful to all the Vaishnavas who contributed to the success of this program and humbly request their blessings and prayers for these enthusiastic devotees.”

The program highlighted ISKCON Ranchi’s growing strength in leadership development, congregational care, and sustainable community expansion.

Read more: https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-ranchi-offers-multiple-courses-emerging-as-a-dynamic-preaching-center/

In 1895 Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura published in his “Sajjana-tosani” selected verses from “Śrī Prapannāmṛta”, a 12th century book by Sri Ananta Acarya, son of the great Kuresa, famous disciple and chief associate of Srila Ramanujacarya. The book contains valuable information and biographical accounts of the great founders of the Sri-sampradaya – Nathamuni, Yamunacarya and Ramanuja. It is stated in “Prapannāmṛta” in relation to Ramanujacarya’s birth:

caitre meṣe śukla-pakṣe pañcamyāṁ guru-vāsare |
madhyāhne karkaṭe lagne nakṣatre rudra-daivate ||

“[Ramanuja was born] on the fifth day of the waxing moon during Caitra month [March-April], on Thursday, at noon when Cancer was the ascendant and the Moon was in Ardra-naksatra.” (Sri Prapannamrta, 2.25).

Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu Himself states the following in “Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya” (16.54):

“From Ramanuja I take two essential principles – unalloyed devotion and service to the devotees of the Lord.”

To provide some knowledge of the Sri-sampradaya to the residents of Bengal Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura translated some verses from the section of “Prapannamrta” where Ramanuja instructs his followers and then published them in his “Sajjana-tosani” (Vol.7, numbers 3 and 4, June-July 1895) under a title “Ramanuja Swamir Upadesh”, “Instructions of Ramanuja Swami”. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur quoted some of these verses in his book “Brahmana and Vaiṣṇava”. In honor of Srila Ramanujacarya’s 1000th anniversary celebrations we present here some of his instructions with the English translation of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Bengali translation-cum-explanation.

yā prītir āsīt satataṁ bhagavan-nāma-kīrtane |
sā syāt prītir hi tad-bhakta-nāma-saṅkīrtane ca vaḥ ||9||

As you had an affection for chanting the Lord’s holy names, may you have the same affection for chanting the names of His devotees.

kāraṇaṁ bhagavat-prāpter mahā-bhāgavatāśrayaḥ |
iti matvā dṛḍhaṁ teṣāṁ ājñayā vartayet sadā ||10||

Having realized that the only cause of attaining the Lord is the shelter of the great devotees you should always remain under their guidance.

vihāya viṣṇu-kaiṅkaryaṁ kaiṅkaryaṁ vaiṣṇavasya ca |
vinaśyet sa naraḥ prājñaḥ rāgādi-prerito yadi ||11||
Just as a wise person perishes due to his attachment to sense gratification, similarly any person meets with destruction if he gives up service to Lord Viṣṇu or to His devotees.

vaiṣṇavānām anuṣṭhāne nopāya matim unnayet |
upeyam eva satataṁ unnayet su-mahā-manāḥ ||12||

A wise person should never consider service to Vaiṣṇavas as a method (upāya), but should always consider it to be the goal (upeya). A method-attitude (upāya-buddhi) is when we think that we achieve some other result by serving Vaiṣṇavas. But when we think that Vaiṣṇava-sevā becomes possible only after performing many other pious activities – such attitude is called “goal-attitude” (upeya-buddhi).

nāhūyed eka-vacanān mahābhāgavatān janān |
pūrvāñjaliṁ vaiṣṇavānāṁ dṛṣṭi-mātre ca kārayet ||13||

If one needs to call great Vaiṣṇavas he should not use singular number, which denotes disrespect, but instead he should use plural number denoting respect. When one sees a Vaiṣṇava he should immediately fold his hands with respect.

harer bhagavato viṣṇor vaiṣṇavānāṁ ca sannidhau ||
pādau prasārya na vaset kadācit amalātmanāṁ ||14||

One should not sit near Lord Viṣṇu or pure Vaiṣṇavas with one’s legs spread before them.

vaiṣṇavāgamanaṁ śrutvā gacched abhimukhaṁ tadā |
sākaṁ gacchet kvacid dūraṁ bhaktyā teṣāṁ vinirgame ||19||

When one hears that a Vaiṣṇava is coming one should walk some distance to meet him. When a Vaiṣṇava departs one should walk some distance along with him.

śrī-vaiṣṇavānāṁ sarveṣāṁ deha-chāyā na laṅghayet |
sva-deha-chāyā saṁsparśaṁ vaiṣṇaveṣu na kārayet ||27||

One should not step over the shadow from the Vaiṣṇavas’ body. Also one should not make other Vaiṣṇavas touch one’s own shadow.

yadi praṇamate pūrvaṁ dāso’haṁ iti vaiṣṇavaḥ |
anādare kṛte tasmin aparādho mahān bhavet ||29||

One commits a great offense by disrespecting a Vaiṣṇava who, considering himself a servant, offers his respects first.

vaiṣṇavānāṁ ca janmāni nidrālasyāni yāni ca |
dṛṣṭvā tāny aprakāśyāni janebhyo na vadet kvacit || 30||
teṣāṁ doṣān vihāyāśu guṇāṁś caiva prakīrtayet ||31||

Vaiṣṇavas’ birth, sleep and laziness are not to be disclosed to others. If one sees them one should not tell others anything about them. Quickly giving up their faults one should glorify their good qualities.

viṣṇu-pādodakaṁ caiva bhakta-pādodakan tu vā |
prākṛteṣu ca paśyatsu na pibet toyam uttamam ||32||

One should not drink the great water that washed the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu or of His devotees while being looked upon by materialistic people.

tattva-trayasya jñānena śrī-rahasya-trayasya ca |
rahitasyāṅghri-jaṁ toyaṁ grāhayen na kadācana ||33||

One should never drink the water that washed the feet of a person who is devoid of knowledge of the three tattvas and three rahasyas. Three tattvas are cit (living entities), acit (matter) and Īśvara (God). Bhagavān is one non-dual entity and this non-dual entity possesses two viśeṣas (attributes) – cit and acit. Even if a person devoid of this knowledge has undergone five saṁskāras, still one should not accept the water from his feet.

jñānānuṣṭhāna-yuktasya sadācāra-ratasya ca |
pādodakaṁ vaiṣṇavasya piben nityaṁ prayatnataḥ ||34||

One should endeavor to always drink the water from the feet of the Vaiṣṇavas who possess proper knowledge, in other words the knowledge of artha-pancaka and three tattvas, and is devoted to following proper behavior (sadācara-rata).

māṁ ca bhāgavataiḥ sārddhaṁ sāmya-buddhiṁ na kārayet |
prākṛtānāṁ ca saṁsparśaṁ prāptaḥ prāmādikād yadi |
snātaḥ sacailaḥ sahasā vaiṣṇavāṅghri-jalaṁ pibet ||35||

One should not consider oneself equal to Vaiṣṇavas. As soon as one accidentally touches a materialist one should immediately take bath with one’s cloth on and then drink Vaiṣṇava-caraṇāmṛta.

na grāhayed viṣṇu-tīrthaṁ prākṛtānāṁ gṛheṣu ca |
prākṛtānāṁ nivāsa-sthān na seved viṣṇu-vigrahān ||38||

One should not accept caraṇāmṛta from the śālagrāma-śilā situated in the house of materialistic people. One should not serve the Deity of Lord Viṣṇu situated in the house of materialistic people.

śrī-harer-divya-deśeṣu paśyatsu prākṛteṣv api |
tīrtha-prasāda-grahanaṁ kārayen na tu saṁśayaṁ ||39||

One should accept prasādam from the Lord’s holy places even while being looked upon by materialistic persons residing in those places. One should not have any doubts about this.

yadi śri-vaiṣṇavair dattaṁ prasādaṁ viṣṇu-sannidhau |
upavāsādi-niyama-yukto ‘ham iti na tyajet ||40||

If a Vaiṣṇava gives you some prasādam in front of Lord Viṣṇu you should not refuse it saying “I’m fasting”.

sannidhau vaiṣṇavānāṁ ca sva-guṇān naiva kīrtayet |
śrī-vaiṣṇavānāṁ sānnidhye nānyaṁ paribhavej janaṁ ||42||

One should not sing one’s own glories in front of the Vaiṣṇavas and one should not criticize anyone in front of the Vaiṣṇavas.

dinaika ghaṭīkāyāṁ ca varṇayed guru-sad-guṇān |
dinaika ghaṭikā-madhye hy api viśvāsa-pūrvakam ||
śaṭhāryādi prabandhāṁ vā prabandhān kīrtayed guroḥ ||44||

Every day one should faithfully glorify the good qualities of one’s guru for half an hour. One should certainly devote half an hour every day for glorifying the pastimes of of Sathakopa and other great Acaryas or one’s own guru’s pastimes.

dehābhimāninā sārdhaṁ saha-vāsaṁ na kārayet |

One should not live together with a person who identifies himself with his body.

śrī-vaiṣṇavānāṁ cihnāni dhṛtvāpi viṣayāturaiḥ |
taiḥ sārdhaṁ vañcaka-janaiḥ saha-vāsaṁ na kārayet ||46||

If cheaters attached to sense gratification wear Vaiṣṇava signs still one should not live together with them.

sva-deha-priya-bhogyāni nārpayet paramātmane |
śāstrīya-sarva-bhogāṁs tu viṣṇave tāni cārpayet ||59||

One should not offer to the Supreme Lord those kinds of food and other items which are pleasing to one’s own body. One should offer to Lord Viṣṇu those items which are prescribed by śāstra.

śrīmad bhāgavatārcanaṁ bhagavataḥ pūjā-vidher uttamam |
śrī-viṣṇor avamānanād guru-taraṁ śrī-vaiṣṇavollaṅghanam |
tīrthād acyuta-pādajād guru-taraṁ tīrthaṁ tadīyāṅghri-jam |
tasmān nityam atantrito bhava satāṁ teṣāṁ samārādhane ||65||

The highest rule in worshiping the Lord is worship of His devotees. Neglecting Vaiṣṇavas is more dangerous than disrespecting Lord Viṣṇu. The water from the feet of Vaiṣṇavas is greater than water from the feet of Lord Viṣṇu. Knowing this you should endeavor to serve the Vaiṣṇavas without any laziness.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=84452

In the year 1017 A.D. Sripad Ramanujacarya, a partial incarnation of Lord Ananta Shesha and Laxman appeared on the ‘sasthi’, sixth lunar mansion of the light fortnight in the month of Chaitra, (April-May). He made his appearance in South India, Tundiradesha, at Sriperumbudur, about half way between Kancipuram and Madras. His fathers’ name was Asuri Keshava Somayaji, also known as Sarvakratu Diksitar, who it is believed was either an advaitin, or a smarta. His mother was Kantimati, the grand daughter of the great Vaisnavacarya Yamunacarya.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=94751