ISKCON Desire Tree's Posts (18149)

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In the bustling halls of the University of Johannesburg’s Auckland Park Campus, amidst the whirlwind of academic pursuits and extracurricular activities, there exists a beacon of spiritual guidance and growth: the Bhakti Yoga Society (BYS-UJ). Led by the dedicated efforts of Dinesvara Krsna Das, the society’s outreach project is not just about disseminating teachings; it’s a journey of personal connection and understanding, navigating the diverse cultural and spiritual landscape of the student body.

With a steady influx of new students each year, the BYS-UJ project has become a sanctuary for those seeking deeper meaning and connection amidst the rigors of university life. Dinesvara reflected on the project’s inception, stating, “Our approach was systematic and methodical, ensuring the programs were accessible and digestible for newcomers. It’s crucial not to overwhelm them with too much too soon, considering this is often their first exposure to these concepts.”

The approach is not one-size-fits-all but tailored to meet individuals where they are, addressing their unique concerns and backgrounds. Dinesvara shares insights into the challenges faced, particularly among students from African backgrounds, where cultural perceptions of spiritual practices may differ. He recounted, “In some Bollywood movies that some students may have watched, Krishna is depicted, leading to questions when we introduce chanting. Some may share remembrance about Him or express concerns about Krishna’s association with Hinduism. It’s important to address these queries sensitively to maintain their interest in chanting.”

Read more: https://iskconnews.org/inside-the-bhakti-yoga-societys-preaching-project-at-uj-auckland-park-campus/

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Last weekend, ISKCON devotees joined tens of thousands gathered in Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand, for the annual Holi Festival celebrations. The two events are the result of a partnership between the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Indian Association of Thailand.

In Bangkok, the celebration was held at the expansive “centralwOrld” mall, one of the largest in the world. ISKCON devotees were invited to participate in the official kickoff event, where a joyful kirtan welcomed Mr. Srettha Thavisin, the Prime Minister of Thailand, as he arrived at the festivities. To follow the ongoing service of devotees in Thailand, visit the Facebook pages of ISKCON Bangkok and ISKCON Pattaya . 

Holi or “Color Festivals” are being hosted by ISKCON temples around the world as an inspiring form of outreach and collaboration with the larger communities in their areas. The Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah, may be the most iconic Holi Festival location, with the stunning temple as its backdrop. ISKCON devotees in Utah will be hosting their annual festival on Easter weekend, March 30-31. You can learn more about that event  here

Read more: https://iskconnews.org/devotees-welcome-thailands-prime-minister-at-holi-festival/

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My first stop on today's plane journey was in Montreal. I heard my name over the loudspeaker. It was only for verifying my ID.

My legal name is John Vis but since Montreal is mostly a francophone city, naturally they would address me as John Vi since in French, many last letters, including consonants, get dropped.

So Mister John Vi AKA Bhatimarga Swami, got up with passport to verify. I simply raised the incident because the person at the desk was particularly friendly. Of all the folks I interacted with today he stood out as a shining star, especially over the language adjustment in my name. He was so kind.

But there was one other person, who over the long draggy plane ride also, got my attention. It was time for the meal and my usual Jain meal order didn't come through. Out of innocence the flight attendant asked I wanted the chicken or the other animal option. I was a slight bit disappointed about not having a veg meal offered to me. So I said to her, " I haven't eaten animals in years. My travel agent gets me a veg meal. There's some mistake here.

She was sweet about it. "I'll see if there's anything I can get you in the business class."

"Thank you!" Eventually some nice paratha and okra come my way. It was fine. The woman attendant was apologetic.

I really relished reading the book, "Kirtan Standards by Srila Prabhupada" authored by one of our stalwart monks, Jayadwaita Swami. It made the day less leary. I have been conducting seminars on these Kirtan guidelines on occasion and will be doing one called, "Conscious Kirtan" in West Virginia the first weekend of May.

Source: https://www.thewalkingmonk.net/post/flying-but-not-crying

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The day after Gaura Purnima is celebrated as Jagannath Mishra Festival. Just as Nandababa celebrated Nandotsava in joy the appearance of Lord Sri Krishna, similarly, the wonderful appearance of the Lord increased the happiness of everyone in Srimati Sacidevi’s house. Both Sri Jagannatha Misra’s and Srimati Sacidevi’s hearts heaved joyous waves while looking at the Lord’s beautiful face. 

Sri Visvarupa would pick up his brother in his arms and smile gleefully at the Supreme Lord, the abode of all transcendental joys.

Some chanted mantras of enchantments in the Lord’s room for His protection. The Vishnu Raksa mantra (invoking Lord Vishnu’s protection) or Devi mantra (invoking Durga devi’s protection) were chanted while some people circumambulated the Lord’ house.

The Festival of Jagannath Mishra is an observance of the Jata karma samskara for baby Nimai (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu). Following the fast for Gaura Purnima, which is broken upon the rising of the moon, the next day is held for feasting. On Jagannath Mishra festival day, the devotees meditate upon the Jata karman ceremony.

10994306297?profile=RESIZE_400x10994306862?profile=RESIZE_400xSource: http://www.ramaiswami.com/festival-of-jagannatha-misra-3/

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By Giriraj Swami

Today we are celebrating the appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna, who descended in the age of Kali in the role of a devotee. He appeared on what we now call Gaura-purnima, in the evening of the full moon day in the month of Phalguna. At the time, there was a lunar eclipse, and as was the tradition, as recommended in scripture, Hindus immersed themselves in the Ganges and chanted the holy names. Eclipses are considered inauspicious, and to counteract the inauspiciousness, strict followers of the Vedic scriptures stand in a sacred body of water—a river, a kundaor lake, or the sea—and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. So, from the very beginning Lord Chaitanya was surrounded by the chanting of Hare Krishna, and He induced people to chant Hare Krishna more and more.

Advaita Acharya and Haridasa Thakura danced in ecstasy. On the plea of giving charity to brahmans on the occasion of the eclipse, Advaita Acharya and others distributed various gifts. All the devotees were jubilant, and they danced, performed sankirtana, and gave charity. The whole world was full of auspiciousness, and everyone was filled with transcendental bliss.

nadiya-udayagiri, purnacandra gaurahari,
krpa kari’ ha-ila udaya
papa-tamah haila nasa, tri-jagatera ullasa,
jagabhari’ hari-dhvani haya

“Thus by His causeless mercy the full moon, Gaurahari, rose in the district of Nadia, which is compared to Udayagiri, where the sun first becomes visible. His rising in the sky dissipated the darkness of sinful life, and thus the three worlds became joyful and chanted the holy name of the Lord.” (Cc Adi 13.98)

When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a baby, sometimes He would cry and the elders would try to pacify Him in different ways, as people do when a baby cries. They would try to comfort Him, distract Him, and please Him, but nothing worked. Soon they discovered that if they chanted the holy name of Krishna, He would become peaceful and stop crying. So whenever he would cry, they would chant, and He would immediately become happy. His appearance inspired chanting, and His activities thereafter inspired more chanting.

sei-kale nijalaya, uthiya advaita raya,
nrtya kare anandita-mane
haridase lana sange, hunkara-kirtana-range
kene nace, keha nahi jane

“At that time Sri Advaita Acarya Prabhu, in His own house at Santipura, was dancing in a pleasing mood. Taking Haridasa Thakura with Him, He danced and loudly chanted Hare Krsna. But why they were dancing, no one could understand.” (Cc Adi 13.99)

By His divine will, Krishna arranged for His associates from Goloka Vrindavan to come to earth to join Him in His pastimes as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Some associates played the parts of elders, and they took birth before He did. Advaita Acharya and Haridasa Thakura were elders, and they themselves were friends. In fact, Advaita Acharya is Maha-vishnu, and Thakura Haridasa is Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma is a disciple and direct servant of Maha-vishnu. So, it is natural that they became close.

When the news spread that Jagannatha Misra and Sacimata had given birth to a baby boy, all sorts of respectable brahman gentlemen and ladies came with gifts and blessed the newborn child. Even the wives of the demigods came, disguised as the wives of brahmans, and presented various gifts. The day after the purnima there was a great celebration at Jagannatha Misra’s home. That day is observed today as the festival of Jagannatha Misra, because to celebrate the birth of his son he received various visitors and well-wishers and gave presentations to them all. And in the end, they all feasted.

We shall read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Thirteen, “The Advent of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,” beginning with the chapter summary:

“The thirteenth chapter of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta describes Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance. . . .

“A learned brahmana named Upendra Misra, who resided in the district of Srihatta, was the father of Jagannatha Misra, who came to Navadvipa to study under the direction of Nilambara Cakravarti and then settled there after marrying Nilambara Cakravarti’s daughter, Sacidevi. Sri Sacidevi gave birth to eight children, all daughters, who died one after another immediately after birth. After her ninth pregnancy she gave birth to a son, who was named Visvarupa. Then, in 1407 Saka Era (A.D. 1486), on the full-moon evening of the month of Phalguna, during the constellation of Simha (Leo) on the horizon, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared as the son of Sri Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra. After hearing of the birth of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, learned scholars and brahmanas, bringing many gifts, came to see the newly born baby. Nilambara Cakravarti, who was a great astrologer, immediately prepared a horoscope, and by astrological calculation he saw that the child was a great personality. This chapter describes the symptoms of this great personality.”

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

We can see the resemblance between the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya and those of Lord Krishna. In Mathura, Lord Krishna’s parents, Vasudeva and Devaki, first had six sons, all of whom were killed by Kamsa. Their seventh child was Balarama, but by the arrangement of Yogamaya, under Krishna’s direction, Balarama was transferred from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini in Vrindavan. Thus Devaki appeared to have had a miscarriage.

The eighth child was Krishna. Vasudeva did not want Kamsa to kill—or try to kill— Krishna, and by Yogamaya’s influence all the guards in Kamsa’s prison fell asleep and all the locked doors opened. Vasudeva then carried baby Krishna across the Yamuna to Gokula. There he found that Yasoda had given birth to a baby girl, but she was so exhausted from the labor of childbirth that she didn’t know if she had given birth to a son or a daughter. Vasudeva placed baby Krishna on Yasoda’s bed, picked up her daughter, and carried her back to Kamsa’s prison in Mathura.

As soon as the baby girl was placed in the prison room with Vasudeva and Devaki, she began to cry, and Kamsa concluded that Devaki had given birth to a daughter. Earlier, on the occasion of Devaki’s wedding, Kamsa had heard a voice from the sky (akasa-vani) telling him that the eighth son of Devaki would kill him. This child was a girl, but Kamsa was such a demon, surrounded by such demonic advisors, that he thought, “Let me not take any chances.” He snatched the baby to dash her on a rock and kill her as he had killed the other six children, but she slipped from his hands and flew into the sky, manifesting her form as the goddess Durga, and said, “You fool! The person who will kill you has already taken birth somewhere else.”

This is a striking statement—“the person who will kill you has already taken birth elsewhere”—because from the account so far, Krishna had taken birth in Kamsa’s prison in Mathura. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, as quoted by Srila Prabhupada, cites evidence from within Srimad-Bhagavatam and from other Puranas, such as the Hari-vamsa, that Yasoda gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The girl was an expansion of Yogamaya, and the boy was the original Krishna. When Vasudeva carried Vasudeva Krishna to Gokula, the Vasudeva Krishna entered into the original Krishna, and Vasudeva carried the baby girl back to Mathura.

Here in caitanya-lila we find that Sacidevi gave birth to eight daughters and that all of them died. Then finally she gave birth to a son, Visvarupa. Visvarupa left home at an early age and took sannyasa, and so for all material purposes he was dead. Srila Prabhupada said that sannyasa means civil death. The day on which Visvarupa took sannyasa is called Visvarupa-mahotsava—the same day on which Srila Prabhupada took sannyasa some four hundred years later.

In any case, it was a great occasion that Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra had given birth to a boy, and all the devotees from the area, such as Advaita Acharya and his wife Sita and Srivasa Thakura and his wife Malini, came and brought gifts and offered blessings to the new child.

TEXT 100

dekhi’ uparaga hasi’, sighra ganga-ghate asi’
anande karila ganga-snana
pana uparaga-chale, apanara mano-bale,
brahmanere dila nana dana

TRANSLATION

Seeing the lunar eclipse and laughing, both Advaita Acarya and Haridasa Thakura immediately went to the bank of the Ganges and bathed in the Ganges in great jubilation. Taking advantage of the occasion of the lunar eclipse, Advaita Acarya, by His own mental strength, distributed various types of charity to the brahmanas.

PURPORT

It is the custom of Hindus to give in charity to the poor as much as possible during the time of a lunar or solar eclipse. Advaita Acarya, therefore, taking advantage of the eclipse, distributed many varieties of charity to the brahmanas. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a statement in the Tenth Canto, Third Chapter, Verse Eleven that when Krsna took His birth, Vasudeva immediately took advantage of this moment and distributed ten thousand cows to the brahmanas. It is customary among Hindus that at the time a child is born, especially a male child, the parents distribute great charity in jubilation. Advaita Acarya was actually interested in distributing charity because of Lord Caitanya’s birth at the time of the lunar eclipse. People could not understand, however, why Advaita Acarya was giving such a great variety of things in charity. He did so not because of the lunar eclipse but because of the Lord’s taking birth at that moment. He distributed charity exactly as Vasudeva did at the time of Lord Krsna’s appearance.

COMMENT

In Vedic culture householders observe all auspicious ceremonies by giving in charity. They are happy, and they know they are happy by the grace of the Lord and the devotees. And in their happiness they want to give charity and receive more blessings. When the children become adults and observe their own birth anniversaries, they also give charity. One friend of the Juhu temple who was very strict about Vedic traditions did not like that we celebrated birthdays by giving presents to the birthday boy or girl. He said, “Birthday means the birthday person gives charity.” And he didn’t like birthday cakes either. He said, “You should distribute sandesa, rasagulla, or gulabjamun. Those are real sweets.”

TEXT 101

jagat anandamaya, dekhi’ mane sa-vismaya,
tharethore kahe haridasa
tomara aichana ranga, mora mana parasanna,
dekhi—kichu karye ache bhasa

TRANSLATION

When he saw that the whole world was jubilant, Haridasa Thakura, his mind astonished, directly and indirectly expressed himself to Advaita Acarya: “Your dancing and distributing charity are very pleasing to me. I can understand that there is some special purpose in these actions.”

TEXT 102

acaryaratna, srivasa, haila mane sukhollasa
yai’ snana kaila ganga-jale
anande vihvala mana, kare hari-sankirtana
nana dana kaila mano-bale

TRANSLATION

Acaryaratna [Candrasekhara] and Srivasa Thakura were overwhelmed with joy, and immediately they went to the bank of the Ganges to take bath in the water of the Ganges. Their minds full of happiness, they chanted the Hare Krsna mantra and gave charity by mental strength.

TEXT 103

ei mata bhakta-tati, yanra yei dese sthiti,
tahan tahan pana mano-bale
nace, kare sankirtana, anande vihvala mana,
dana kare grahanera chale

TRANSLATION

In this way all the devotees, wherever they were situated, in every city and every country, danced, performed sankirtana, and gave charity by mental strength on the plea of the lunar eclipse, their minds overwhelmed with joy.

TEXT 104

brahmana-sajjana-nari, nana-dravye thali bhari’
aila sabe yautuka la-iya
yena kanca-sona-dyuti, dekhi’ balakera murti,
asirvada kare sukha pana

TRANSLATION

All sorts of respectable brahmana gentlemen and ladies, carrying plates filled with various gifts, came with their presentations. Seeing the newborn child, whose form resembled natural glaring gold, all of them with happiness offered their blessings.

TEXT 105

savitri, gauri, sarasvati, saci, rambha, arundhati
ara yata deva-narigana
nana-dravye patra bhari’, brahmanira vesa dhari’,
asi’ sabe kare darasana

TRANSLATION

Dressing themselves as the wives of brahmanas, all the celestial ladies, including the wives of Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Lord Nrsimhadeva, King Indra, and Vasistha Muni, along with Rambha, a dancing girl of heaven, came there with varieties of gifts.

PURPORT

When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was a newly born baby, He was visited by the neighboring ladies, most of whom were the wives of respectable brahmanas. In the dress of brahmanas’ wives, celestial ladies like the wives of Lord Brahma and Lord Siva also came to see the newborn child. Ordinary people saw them as neighborhood respectable brahmana ladies, but actually they were all celestial ladies dressed in that way.

COMMENT

Savitri is the wife of Lord Brahma, Gauri is the wife of Lord Shiva, Sarasvati here is mentioned as the wife of Lord Nrsimhadeva, and Saci is the wife of King Indra. They all disguised themselves as brahman ladies, looking like ladies of the neighborhood, and came to offer respects to the newborn baby.

TEXT 106

antarikse deva-gana, gandharva, siddha, carana,
stuti-nrtya kare vadya-gita
nartaka, vadaka, bhata, navadvipe yara nata,
sabe asi’ nace pana prita

TRANSLATION

In outer space all the demigods, including the inhabitants of Gandharvaloka, Siddhaloka, and Caranaloka, offered their prayers and danced with musical songs and the beating of drums. Similarly, in Navadvipa city all the professional dancers, musicians, and blessers gathered together, dancing in great jubilation.

COMMENT

Bhata means “professional blessing-givers.”

PURPORT

As there are professional singers, dancers, and reciters of prayers in the heavenly planets, so in India still there are professional dancers, givers of blessings, and singers, all of whom assemble together during householder ceremonies, especially marriages and birth ceremonies. These professional men earn their livelihood by taking charity on such occasions from the homes of the Hindus. Eunuchs also take advantage of such ceremonies to receive charity. That is their means of livelihood. Such men never become servants or engage themselves in agriculture or business occupations; they simply take charity from neighborhood friends to maintain themselves peacefully. The bhatas are a class of brahmanas who go to such ceremonies to offer blessings by composing poems with references to the Vedic scriptures.

COMMENT

Vedic culture is very beautiful and highly elevated. Even now in India the culture is there, though not as much as before. When I was in Bombay last December, I visited an old friend, a very nice devotee, who was related to the Birlas. And it just so happened that there was an engagement ceremony in the Birla family, from the mother’s side. Sri Brijratan Mohatta had married Seth R. D. Birla’s daughter, and their son’s daughter was becoming engaged. So, I went to the engagement reception, and there I met a bhajana singer named Purushottam Das Jalota. When I first went to India in 1970, he was very popular. He would sing bhajanas in aristocratic Hindus’ homes and give lessons in voice and harmonium. As he grew older, his son, as happens, became his apprentice and also began to sing bhajanas and play harmsonium. So, we invited his son, Anup, who was relatively unknown then, to perform at our auditorium in Juhu.

At the engagement reception Purushottam approached me. He was about eighty-seven then and was wearing a traditional Hindu jacket and cap. After we spoke for some time, he made an indication and said, “Anup is there” and tried to call him—I think for me to bless and encourage his son—but because his voice was not so loud, Anup could not hear him. I said, “That’s all right. I’ll go and see him.”

Anup remembered his first performance in the ISKCON auditorium. I didn’t usually attend such performances, but somehow that evening toward the end of the performance, I had felt drawn into the auditorium. I had found a seat toward the back and sat down. The whole atmosphere had been surcharged—I can’t explain it—and he had sung with such devotion that his words and voice had entered people’s minds and hearts. It had been a very special performance, and the devotees had recorded it and produced an audio cassette shat they would distribute on sankirtana—and it had become a hit. Many people would ask for Anup Jalota’s tape.

When I met Anup at the reception, he said that when he had entered the auditorium he had not been sure whether or not he would pursue a career as a singer. He had prayed, “Lord Krishna, I am Yours. Whatever You want You can do. If You want me to pursue this career, You can make me a success. If You don’t, that’s all right—whatever You wish.” And he remarked that it was because of his performance in the ISKCON auditorium and the recording of it that he had become a success as a singer. (I knew that was the case, but I didn’t want to say it. But he also knew it, and he said it—and it was true.)

That culture and that mood of devotion, of surrender, of dependence on the Lord are becoming rare—but they are still there.s

Now we return to the description of Jagannatha Misra’s festival:

TEXT 107

keba ase keba yaya, keba nace keba gaya,
sambhalite nare kara bola
khandileka duhkha-soka, pramoda-purita loka,
misra haila anande vihvals

TRANSLATION

No one could understand who was coming and who was going, who was dancing and who was singing. Nor could they understand one another’s language. Yet all unhappiness and lamentation were immediately dissipated, and people became all-jubilant. Thus Jagannatha Misra was also overwhelmed with joy.

TEXT 108

acaryaratna, srivasa, jagannatha-misra-pasa,
asi’ tanre kare savadhana
karaila jatakarma, ye achila vidhi-dharma,
tabe misra kare nana dana

TRANSLATION

Candrasekhara Acarya and Srivasa Thakura both came to Jagannatha Misra and drew his attention in various ways. They performed the ritualistic ceremonies prescribed at the time of birth according to religious principles. Jagannatha Misra also gave varieties of charity.

TEXT 109

yautuka paila yata, ghare va achila kata,
saba dhana vipre dila dana
yata nartaka, gayana, bhata, akincana jana,
dhana diya kaila sabara mana

TRANSLATION

Whatever riches Jagannatha Misra collected in the form of gifts and presentations, and whatever he had in his house, he distributed among the brahmanas, professional singers, dancers, bhatas, and the poor. He honored them all by giving them riches in charity.

TEXT 110

srivasera brahmani, nama tanra ‘malini’,
acaryaratnera patni-sange
sindura, haridra, taila, kha-i, kala, narikela,
diya puje narigana range

TRANSLATION

The wife of Srivasa Thakura, whose name was Malini, accompanied by the wife of Candrasekhara [Acaryaratna] and other ladies, came there in great happiness to worship the baby with paraphernalia such as vermilion, turmeric, oil, fused rice, bananas, and coconuts.

PURPORT

Vermilion, kha-i (fused rice), bananas, coconuts, and turmeric mixed with oil are all auspicious gifts for such a ceremony. As there is puffed rice, so there is another preparation of rice called kha-i, or fused rice, which, along with bananas, is taken as a very auspicious presentation. Also, turmeric mixed with oil and vermilion makes an auspicious ointment that is smeared over the body of a newborn baby or a person who is going to marry. These are all auspicious activities in family affairs. We see that five hundred years ago at the birth of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu all these ceremonies were performed rigidly, but at present such ritualistic performances hardly ever take place. Generally a pregnant mother is sent to the hospital, and as soon as her child is born he is washed with an antiseptic, and this concludes everything.

COMMENT

The parents and other elders did whatever they could to ensure the wellbeing of the child in all respects. They knew that the purpose of the child’s life was to serve and please God and that the child’s success in all respects depended on the mercy of God and His devotees.

TEXT 111

advaita-acarya-bharya, jagat-pujita arya,
nama tanra ‘sita thakurani’
acaryera ajna pana, gela upahara lana,
dekhite balaka-siromani

TRANSLATION

One day shortly after Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born, Advaita Acarya’s wife, Sitadevi, who is worshipable by the whole world, took her husband’s permission and went to see that topmost child with all kinds of gifts and presentations

PURPORT

It appears that Advaita Acarya had two different houses, one at Santipura and one at Navadvipa. When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born, Advaita Acarya was residing not at His Navadvipa house but at His Santipura house. Therefore, as formerly explained (text 99), from Advaita’s old paternal house (nijalaya) in Santipura, Sita came to Navadvipa to present gifts to the newborn child, Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

TEXT 112

suvarnera kadi-ba-uli, rajatamudra-pasuli,
suvarnera angada, kankana
du-bahute divya sankha, rajatera malabanka,
svarna-mudrara nana haragana

TRANSLATION

She brought different kinds of golden ornaments, including armlets, necklaces, anklets, and bangles for the hands.

TEXT 113

vyaghra-nakha hema-jadi, kati-pattasutra-dori
hasta-padera yata abharana
citra-varna patta-sadi, buni photo pattapadi,
svarna-raupya-mudra bahu-dhana

TRANSLATION

There were also tiger nails set in gold, waist decorations of silk and lace, ornaments for the hands and legs, nicely printed silken saris, and a child’s garment, also made of silk. Many other riches, including gold and silver coins, were also presented to the child.

PURPORT

From the gifts presented by Sita Thakurani, Advaita Acarya’s wife, it appears that Advaita Acarya was at that time a very rich man. Although brahmanas are not the rich men of society, Advaita Acarya, being the leader of the brahmanas in Santipura, was considerably well-to-do. Therefore He presented many ornaments to the baby, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But Kamalakanta Visvasa’s asking for three hundred rupees from the King of Jagannatha Puri, Maharaja Prataparudra, on the plea that Advaita Acarya was in debt for that amount, indicates that such a rich man, who could present many valuable ornaments, saris, etc., thought it difficult to repay three hundred rupees. Therefore the value of a rupee at that time was many thousands of times what it is now. At present, no one feels difficulty over a debt of three hundred rupees, nor can an ordinary man accumulate such valuable ornaments to present to a friend’s son. Probably the value of three hundred rupees at that time was equal to the present value of thirty thousand rupees.

COMMENT

And the present value of thirty thousand rupees now is probably three hundred thousand rupees—or more.

TEXT 114–116

Riding in a palanquin covered with cloth and accompanied by maidservants, Sita Thakurani came to the house of Jagannatha Misra, bringing with her many auspicious articles such as fresh grass, paddy, gorocana, turmeric, kunkuma and sandalwood. All these presentations filled a large basket.

When Sita Thakurani came to the house of Sacidevi, bringing with her many kinds of eatables, dresses, and other gifts, she was astonished to see the newborn child, for she appreciated that except for a difference in color, the child was directly Krsna of Gokula Himself.

Seeing the transcendental bodily effulgence of the child, each of His nicely constructed limbs full of auspicious signs and resembling a form of gold, Sita Thakurani was very pleased, and because of her maternal affection, she felt as if her heart were melting.

TEXT 117

durva, dhanya, dila sirse, kaila bahu asise,
cirajivi hao dui bhai
dakini-sankhini haite, sanka upajila cite,
dare nama thuila ‘nimai’

TRANSLATION

She blessed the newborn child by placing fresh grass and paddy on His head and saying, “May You be blessed with a long duration of life.” But being afraid of ghosts and witches, she gave the child the name Nimai.

PURPORT

Dakini and Sankhini are two companions of Lord Siva and his wife who are supposed to be extremely inauspicious, having been born of ghostly life. It is believed that such inauspicious living creatures cannot go near a nima tree. At least medically it is accepted that nima wood is extremely antiseptic, and formerly it was customary to have a nima tree in front of one’s house. On very large roads in India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, there are hundreds and thousands of nima trees. Nima wood is so antiseptic that the Ayurvedic science uses it to cure leprosy. Medical scientists have extracted the active principle of the nima tree, which is called margosic acid. Nima is used for many purposes, especially to brush the teeth. In Indian villages ninety percent of the people use nima twigs for this purpose. Because of all the antiseptic effects of the nima tree and because Lord Caitanya was born beneath a nima tree, Sita Thakurani gave the Lord the name Nimai. Later in His youth He was celebrated as Nimai Pandita, and in the neighborhood villages He was called by that name, although His real name was Visvambhara.

COMMENT

Visvambhara means “one who maintains the universe.” Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 9.7) describes how Lord Chaitanya appreciated that name:

prabhu kahe, ami ‘visvambhara’ nama dhari
nama sarthaka haya, yadi preme visva bhari

“Lord Caitanya thought, ‘My name is Visvambhara, “one who maintains the entire universe.” Its meaning will be actualized if I can fill the whole universe with love of Godhead.’ ”

In my youth, my dentist was a family friend who had served in the American Army in India during World War II, and as he worked on my teeth he would tell me about his experiences. He remarked that he would often see Indians squatting along the roads brushing their teeth with twigs. As part of his work, he would treat Indians too, and he said that when he looked into their mouths he was astonished to find the most beautiful white teeth he had ever seen—and without any cavities. And all these people did was brush their teeth with twigs!

TEXT 118

putramata-snanadine, dila vastra vibhusane,
putra-saha misrere sammani’
saci-misrera puja lana, manete harisa hana,
ghare aila sita thakurani

TRANSLATION

On the day the mother and son bathed and left the maternity home, Sita Thakurani gave them all kinds of ornaments and garments and then also honored Jagannatha Misra. Then Sita Thakurani, being honored by mother Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, was greatly happy within her mind, and thus she returned home.

PURPORT

On the fifth day from the birth of a child, as also on the ninth day, the mother bathes either in the Ganges or in another sacred place. This is called niskramana, or the ceremony of coming out of the maternity home. Nowadays the maternity home is a hospital, but formerly in every respectable house one room was set aside as a maternity home where children would take birth, and on the ninth day after the birth of a child the mother would come into the regular rooms in the ceremony called niskramana. Of the ten purificatory processes, niskramana is one. Formerly, especially in Bengal, the higher castes observed four months after the birth of a child as a quarantine. At the end of the fourth month, the mother could see the sun rise. Later the higher castes, namely the brahmanas, ksatriyas, and vaisyas, observed only twenty-one days as a quarantine, whereas the sudras had to observe thirty days. For the sections of society known as kartabhaja and satima, the mother of the child was immediately purified after the quarantine by the throwing of hari-nuta, small pieces of sweetmeat, in sankirtana. Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, with the newborn child, were honored by Sita Thakurani. Similarly, while Sita Thakurani was returning home, she was also honored by Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra. That was the system in respectable families of Bengal.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada was also born in a separate house, under a jackfruit tree, that belonged to his mother’s parents. Last November His Holiness Radhanath Swami and I visited that place in south Calcutta, saw the tree under which Srila Prabhupada was born, and visited the Radha-Krishna temple that his mother frequented, and we imagined how she and the rest of the family must have prayed for the welfare of the new child, whom they named Abhay Charan, “one who is fearless, having taken shelter at Lord Krishna’s lotus feet.”

TEXT 119

aiche saci-jagannatha, putra pana laksminatha,
purna ha-ila sakala vanchita
dhana-dhanye bhare ghara, lokamanya kalevara,
dine dine haya anandita

TRANSLATION

In this way mother Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, having obtained a son who was the husband of the goddess of fortune, had all their desires fulfilled. Their house was always filled with riches and grains. As they saw the beloved body of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, day after day their pleasure increased.

PURPORT

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore everyone offered respects to Him. Even the denizens of heaven used to come in the dress of ordinary men to offer their respect to the Lord. His father and mother, Jagannatha Misra and Sacidevi, seeing the honor of their transcendental son, also became very pleased within their hearts.

TEXT 120

misra—vaisnava, santa, alampata, suddha, danta,
dhana-bhoge nahi abhimana
putrera prabhave yata, dhana asi’ mile, tata,
visnu-prite dvije dena dana

TRANSLATION

Jagannatha Misra was an ideal Vaisnava. He was peaceful, restrained in sense gratification, pure, and controlled. Therefore he had no desire to enjoy material opulence. Whatever money came because of the influence of his transcendental son, he gave it in charity to the brahmanas for the satisfaction of Visnu.

TEXT 121

lagna gani’ harsamati, nilambara cakravarti,
gupte kichu kahila misrere
mahapurusera cihna, lagne ange bhinna bhinna,
dekhi,—ei taribe samsare

TRANSLATION

After calculating the birth moment of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nilambara Cakravarti privately said to Jagannatha Misra that he saw all the different symptoms of a great personality in both the body and birth moment of the child. Thus he understood that in the future this child would deliver all the three worlds.

COMMENT

Although Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had all the signs of a great personality and was in fact the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His father, Jagannatha Misra, considered Him to be simply his son.

As a child, Lord Chaitanya was quite naughty, and Jagannatha Misra would often chide Him and instruct Him in proper behavior. One night Jagannatha Misra had a dream in which a brahman told him, “You do not know anything about your son. Because you think Him to be your son, you rebuke and chastise Him.” Jagannatha Misra replied, “He may be a demigod, a mystic yogi, or a great saint, but whatever He may be, I know Him only as my son, and it is my duty to teach Him religion and morality. Otherwise, how will He learn? Even if He is Lord Narayana Himself, it is the duty of the father to instruct the son.” Even in his dreams, Jagannatha Misra was absorbed in the mellow of pure parental affection.

In his youth, Lord Chaitanya asked an astrologer to tell Him who He was in His past life. Through calculation and meditation, the astrologer saw the brilliantly effulgent form of the Lord as the resting place of the Vaikuntha planets. Struck with wonder, he said, “In Your previous birth You were the shelter of all creation, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full of all opulence. And You are the same Personality of Godhead now.” Lord Chaitanya smiled and said, “I think you do not know very clearly what I was, for I know that in My previous birth I was a cowherd boy. I was born in a family of cowherd men and gave protection to the cows and calves, and because of these pious activities, I have now become the son of a brahman.”

TEXT 122

aiche prabhu saci-ghare, krpaya kaila avatare,
yei iha karaye sravana
gaura-prabhu dayamaya, tanre hayena sadaya,
sei paya tanhara carana

TRANSLATION

In this way Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, out of His causeless mercy, made His advent in the house of Sacidevi. Lord Caitanya is very merciful to anyone who hears this narration of His birth, and thus such a person attains the lotus feet of the Lord.

TEXT 123

paiya manusa janma, ye na sune gaura-guna,
hena janma tara vyartha haila
paiya amrtadhuni, piye visa-garta-pani,
janmiya se kene nahi maila

TRANSLATION

Anyone who attains a human body but does not take to the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is baffled in his opportunity. Amrtadhuni is a flowing river of the nectar of devotional service. If after getting a human body one drinks the water in a poison pit of material happiness instead of the water of such a river, it would be better for him not to have lived, but to have died long ago.

PURPORT

In this connection Srimat Prabodhananda Sarasvati has composed the following verses in his Caitanya-candramrta (37, 36, 34):

acaitanyam idam visvam yadi caitanyam isvaram
na viduh sarva-sastra-jna hy api bhramyanti te janah

“This material world is without Krsna consciousness. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna consciousness personified. Therefore if a very learned scholar or scientist does not understand Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, certainly he is wandering uselessly in this world.”

prasarita-maha-prema-piyusa-rasa-sagare
caitanya-candre prakate yo dino dina eva sah

“A person who does not take advantage of the nectar of devotional service overflowing during the presence of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s cult is certainly the poorest of the poor.”

avatirne gaura-candre vistirne prema-sagare
suprakasita-ratnaughe yo dino dina eva sah

“The advent of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is just like an expanding ocean of nectar. One who does not collect the valuable jewels within this ocean is certainly the poorest of the poor.”

Similarly, Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.3.19, 20, 23) states:

sva-vid-varahostra-kharaih 
samstutah purusah pasuh
na yat-karna-pathopeto 
jatu nama gadagrajah
bile batorukrama-vikraman ye
na srnvatah karna-pute narasya
jihvasati dardurikeva suta
na copagayaty urugaya-gathah
jivan chavo bhagavatanghri-renum
na jatu martyo ’bhilabheta yas tu
sri-visnu-padya manujas tulasyah
svasan chavo yas tu na veda gandham

“A person who has no connection with Krsna consciousness may be a very great personality in so-called human society, but actually he is no better than a great animal. Such big animals are generally praised by other animals like dogs, hogs, camels, and asses. A person who does not lend his aural reception to hearing about the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be considered to have earholes like holes in a field. Although that person has a tongue, it is like the tongue of a frog, which unnecessarily creates a disturbance by croaking, inviting the snake of death. Similarly, a person who neither takes advantage of the dust of the lotus feet of great devotees nor smells the tulasi leaves offered to the lotus feet of the Lord must be considered dead even though he is supposedly working.”

Similarly, Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.1.4 states:

nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanad
bhavausadhac chrotra-mano-’bhiramat
ka uttamasloka-gunanuvadat
puman virajyeta vina pasu-ghnat

“Who but the animal-killer or the killer of the soul will not care to hear glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Such glorification is enjoyed by persons liberated from the contamination of this material world.”

Similarly, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.23.56 says, na tirtha-pada-sevayai jivann api mrto hi sah: “Although a person is apparently living, if he does not serve the lotus feet of great devotees he is to be considered a dead body.”

COMMENT

By the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that of His devotees, especially Srila Prabhupada, we have been given real life—the chance to live in Krishna consciousness

TEXT 124

sri-caitanya-nityananda, acarya advaitacandra,
svarupa-rupa-raghunathadasa
inha-sabara sri-carana, sire vandi nija-dhana,
janma-lila gaila krsnadasa

TRANSLATION

Taking on my head as my own property the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Acarya Advaitacandra, Svarupa Damodara, Rupa Gosvami, and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, I, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, have thus described the advent of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=59450

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Today we continue our celebration of the appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna who descended in the age of Kali in the role of a devotee. He appeared on what we now call Gaura-purnima, in the evening of the full-moon day in the month of Phalguna. At the time, there was a lunar eclipse, and as was the tradition, as was recommended in scripture, Hindus immersed themselves in the Ganges and chanted the holy names. Eclipses are considered inauspicious, and to counteract the inauspiciousness, strict followers of the Vedic scriptures stand in a sacred body of water—a river, a kunda or lake, or the sea—and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. So, from the very beginning, Lord Chaitanya was surrounded by the chanting of Hare Krishna, and He induced people to chant Hare Krishna more and more.

Advaita Acharya and Haridasa Thakura danced in ecstasy. And on the plea of giving charity to brahmans on the occasion of the eclipse, Advaita Acharya and others distributed various gifts. All the devotees were jubilant, and they danced, performed sankirtana, and gave charity. The whole world was full of auspiciousness, and everyone was filled with transcendental bliss.

nadiya-udayagiri, purnacandra gaurahari,
   krpa kari’ ha-ila udaya
papa-tamah haila nasa, tri-jagatera ullasa,
   jagabhari’ hari-dhvani haya

“Thus by His causeless mercy the full moon, Gaurahari, rose in the district of Nadia, which is compared to Udayagiri, where the sun first becomes visible. His rising in the sky dissipated the darkness of sinful life, and thus the three worlds became joyful and chanted the holy name of the Lord.” (Cc Adi 13.98)

When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a baby, sometimes He would cry and the elders would try to pacify Him in different ways, as people do when a baby cries. They would try to comfort Him, distract Him, and please Him, but nothing worked. Soon they discovered that if they chanted the holy name of Krishna, He would become peaceful and stop crying. So thereafter, whenever He cried they would chant, and He would immediately become happy. His appearance inspired chanting, and His activities thereafter inspired more chanting.

sei-kale nijalaya, uthiya advaita raya,
  nrtya kare anandita-mane
haridase lana sange, hunkara-kirtana-range
  kene nace, keha nahi jane

“At that time Sri Advaita Acarya Prabhu, in His own house at Santipura, was dancing in a pleasing mood. Taking Haridasa Thakura with Him, He danced and loudly chanted Hare Krsna. But why they were dancing, no one could understand.” (Cc Adi 13.99)

By His divine will, Krishna arranged for His associates from Goloka Vrindavan to come to earth to join Him in His pastimes as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Some associates played the parts of elders, and they took birth before He did. Advaita Acharya and Haridasa Thakura were elders, and they were friends with each other. Advaita Acharya is Maha-vishnu, and Thakura Haridasa is Lord Brahma, and Lord Brahma is a disciple and direct servant of Maha-vishnu. So it is natural that they became close.

When the news spread that Sacimata had given birth to a baby boy, all sorts of respectable brahman gentlemen and ladies came with gifts and blessed the newborn child. Even the wives of the demigods came, disguised as the wives of brahmans, and presented various gifts. The day after the purnima, there was a great celebration at Jagannatha Mishra’s home. That day is observed today as the festival of Jagannatha Mishra, or the feast of Jagannatha Mishra, because to celebrate the birth of his son he received many visitors and well-wishers and gave presentations to them all. And in the end they all feasted.

We shall read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Thirteen, “The Advent of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,” beginning with the chapter summary:

 “The thirteenth chapter of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta describes Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance. . . .

“A learned brahmana named Upendra Misra, who resided in the district of Srihatta, was the father of Jagannatha Misra, who came to Navadvipa to study under the direction of Nilambara Cakravarti and then settled there after marrying Nilambara Cakravarti’s daughter, Sacidevi. Sri Sacidevi gave birth to eight children, all daughters, who died one after another immediately after birth. After her ninth pregnancy she gave birth to a son, who was named Visvarupa. Then, in 1407 Saka Era (A.D. 1486), on the full-moon evening of the month of Phalguna, during the constellation of Simha (Leo) on the horizon, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared as the son of Sri Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra. After hearing of the birth of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, learned scholars and brahmanas, bringing many gifts, came to see the newly born baby. Nilambara Cakravarti, who was a great astrologer, immediately prepared a horoscope, and by astrological calculation he saw that the child was a great personality. This chapter describes the symptoms of this great personality.”

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

We can see the resemblance between the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya and those of Lord Krishna. In Mathura, Lord Krishna’s parents, Vasudeva and Devaki, first had six sons, all of whom were killed by Kamsa. Their seventh child was Balarama, but by the arrangement of Yogamaya under Krishna’s direction, Balarama was transferred from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini in Vrindavan and thus Devaki appeared to have had a miscarriage.

The eighth child was Krishna. Vasudeva did not want Kamsa to kill—or even try to kill—Krishna, and by Yogamaya’s influence all the guards in Kamsa’s prison fell asleep and all the locked doors opened. Vasudeva then carried baby Krishna across the Yamuna to Gokula. There he found that Yasoda had given birth to a baby girl, but Yasoda was so exhausted from the labor of childbirth that she didn’t know if she had given birth to a son or a daughter. Vasudeva placed baby Krishna on Yasoda’s bed and picked up her daughter, whom he carried back to Kamsa’s prison in Mathura.

As soon as the baby girl was placed in the prison room with Vasudeva and Devaki, she began to cry, and Kamsa realized that Devaki had given birth to a daughter. Earlier, on the occasion of Devaki’s wedding, Kamsa had heard a voice from the sky (akasa-vani) that said that the eighth son of Devaki would kill him. This child was a girl, but Kamsa was such a demon and was surrounded by such demonic advisors that he thought, “Let me not take any chances.” He snatched the baby to dash her on a rock and kill her as he had killed the other six children, but she slipped from his hands and flew into the sky, manifesting her form as the goddess Durga, and said, “You fool! The person who will kill you has already taken birth elsewhere.”

This is a striking statement—“the person who will kill you has already taken birth elsewhere”—because from the account so far, Krishna had taken birth in Kamsa’s prison in Mathura. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, as quoted by Srila Prabhupada, cites evidence from within Srimad-Bhagavatam and from other Puranas, such as the Hari-vamsa, that Yasoda actually gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The girl was an expansion of Yogamaya, and the boy was the original Krishna. When Vasudeva carried Vasudeva Krishna to Gokula, the Vasudeva Krishna entered into the original Krishna, and Vasudeva carried the baby girl back to Mathura.

Here in caitanya-lila we find that Sacidevi gave birth to eight daughters and that all of them died. Then finally she gave birth to a son, Visvarupa. At an early age Visvarupa left home and took sannyasa, and so for all material purposes he was dead. Srila Prabhupada said that sannyasa means civil death. The day on which Visvarupa took sannyasa is called Visvarupa-mahotsava—the same day on which Srila Prabhupada took sannyasa some four hundred years later.

In any case, it was a great occasion that Sacidevi had given birth to a boy, and all the devotees from the area, such as Advaita Acharya and His wife Sita and Srivasa Thakura and his wife, Malini, came and brought gifts and offered blessings to the new child.

TEXT 100

dekhi’ uparaga hasi’, sighra ganga-ghate asi’
  anande karila ganga-snana
pana uparaga-chale, apanara mano-bale,
  brahmanere dila nana dana

TRANSLATION

Seeing the lunar eclipse and laughing, both Advaita Acarya and Haridasa Thakura immediately went to the bank of the Ganges and bathed in the Ganges in great jubilation. Taking advantage of the occasion of the lunar eclipse, Advaita Acarya, by His own mental strength, distributed various types of charity to the brahmanas.

PURPORT

It is the custom of Hindus to give in charity to the poor as much as possible during the time of a lunar or solar eclipse. Advaita Acarya, therefore, taking advantage of the eclipse, distributed many varieties of charity to the brahmanas. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a statement in the Tenth Canto, Third Chapter, Verse Eleven that when Krsna took His birth, Vasudeva immediately took advantage of this moment and distributed ten thousand cows to the brahmanas. It is customary among Hindus that at the time a child is born, especially a male child, the parents distribute great charity in jubilation. Advaita Acarya was actually interested in distributing charity because of Lord Caitanya’s birth at the time of the lunar eclipse. People could not understand, however, why Advaita Acarya was giving such a great variety of things in charity. He did so not because of the lunar eclipse but because of the Lord’s taking birth at that moment. He distributed charity exactly as Vasudeva did at the time of Lord Krsna’s appearance.

COMMENT

In Vedic culture householders observe all auspicious ceremonies by giving in charity. They are happy, and they know they are happy by the grace of the Lord and the devotees. And in their happiness they want to give charity and receive more blessings. When the children become adults and observe their own birth anniversaries, they also give charity. A friend of the Juhu temple who was very strict about Vedic traditions did not like that we celebrated birthdays by giving presents to the birthday boy or girl. He said, “Birthday means the birthday person gives charity.” And he didn’t like birthday cakes either. He said, “You should distribute sandesa, rasagulla, or gulabjamun. Those are real sweets.”

TEXT 101

jagat anandamaya, dekhi’ mane sa-vismaya,
  tharethore kahe haridasa
tomara aichana ranga, mora mana parasanna,
  dekhi—kichu karye ache bhasa

TRANSLATION

When he saw that the whole world was jubilant, Haridasa Thakura, his mind astonished, directly and indirectly expressed himself to Advaita Acarya: “Your dancing and distributing charity are very pleasing to me. I can understand that there is some special purpose in these actions.”

TEXT 102

acaryaratna, srivasa, haila mane sukhollasa
  yai’ snana kaila ganga-jale
anande vihvala mana, kare hari-sankirtana
  nana dana kaila mano-bale

TRANSLATION

Acaryaratna [Candrasekhara] and Srivasa Thakura were overwhelmed with joy, and immediately they went to the bank of the Ganges to take bath in the water of the Ganges. Their minds full of happiness, they chanted the Hare Krsna mantra and gave charity by mental strength.

TEXT 103

ei mata bhakta-tati, yanra yei dese sthiti,
  tahan tahan pana mano-bale
nace, kare sankirtana, anande vihvala mana,
  dana kare grahanera chale

TRANSLATION

In this way all the devotees, wherever they were situated, in every city and every country, danced, performed sankirtana, and gave charity by mental strength on the plea of the lunar eclipse, their minds overwhelmed with joy.

TEXT 104

brahmana-sajjana-nari, nana-dravye thali bhari’
  aila sabe yautuka la-iya
yena kanca-sona-dyuti, dekhi’ balakera murti,
  asirvada kare sukha pana

TRANSLATION

All sorts of respectable brahmana gentlemen and ladies, carrying plates filled with various gifts, came with their presentations. Seeing the newborn child, whose form resembled natural glaring gold, all of them with happiness offered their blessings.

TEXT 105

savitri, gauri, sarasvati, saci, rambha, arundhati
  ara yata deva-narigana
nana-dravye patra bhari’, brahmanira vesa dhari’,
  asi’ sabe kare darasana

TRANSLATION

Dressing themselves as the wives of brahmanas, all the celestial ladies, including the wives of Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Lord Nrsimhadeva, King Indra, and Vasistha Muni, along with Rambha, a dancing girl of heaven, came there with varieties of gifts.

PURPORT

When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was a newly born baby, He was visited by the neighboring ladies, most of whom were the wives of respectable brahmanas. In the dress of brahmanas’ wives, celestial ladies like the wives of Lord Brahma and Lord Siva also came to see the newborn child. Ordinary people saw them as neighborhood respectable brahmana ladies, but actually they were all celestial ladies dressed in that way.

COMMENT

Savitri is the wife of Lord Brahma, Gauri is the wife of Lord Siva, Sarasvati here is mentioned as the wife of Lord Nrsimhadeva, and Saci is the wife of King Indra. They all disguised themselves as brahman ladies, looking like ladies of the neighborhood, and came to offer respects to the newborn baby.

TEXT 106

antarikse deva-gana, gandharva, siddha, carana,
  stuti-nrtya kare vadya-gita
nartaka, vadaka, bhata, navadvipe yara nata,
  sabe asi’ nace pana prita

TRANSLATION

In outer space all the demigods, including the inhabitants of Gandharvaloka, Siddhaloka, and Caranaloka, offered their prayers and danced with musical songs and the beating of drums. Similarly, in Navadvipa city all the professional dancers, musicians, and blessers gathered together, dancing in great jubilation.

COMMENT

Bhata means “professional blessing givers.”

PURPORT

As there are professional singers, dancers, and reciters of prayers in the heavenly planets, so in India still there are professional dancers, givers of blessings, and singers, all of whom assemble together during householder ceremonies, especially marriages and birth ceremonies. These professional men earn their livelihood by taking charity on such occasions from the homes of the Hindus. Eunuchs also take advantage of such ceremonies to receive charity. That is their means of livelihood. Such men never become servants or engage themselves in agriculture or business occupations; they simply take charity from neighborhood friends to maintain themselves peacefully. The bhatas are a class of brahmanas who go to such ceremonies to offer blessings by composing poems with references to the Vedic scriptures.

COMMENT

Vedic culture is very beautiful and highly elevated. Even now in India the culture is there, though not as much as before. When I was in Bombay last December, I visited an old friend, a very nice devotee, who is related to the Birlas. And it just so happened that there was an engagement ceremony in the Birla family, from the mother’s side. Sri Brijratan Mohatta had married Seth R. D. Birla’s daughter, and their son’s daughter was about to be engaged. So, I went to the engagement reception, and there I met a bhajana singer named Purushottam Das Jalota. When I first went to India, in 1970, he was very popular. He sang bhajanas in aristocratic Hindus’ homes and gave lessons in voice and harmonium. As he grew older, his son, as happens, became his apprentice and also began to sing bhajanas and play harmonium. So, we invited his son, who was relatively unknown then, to perform at our auditorium in Juhu.

At the engagement reception Purushottam approached me. He is about eighty-seven now and was wearing a traditional Hindu jacket and cap. After we spoke for some time, he made an indication and said, “Anup is there,” and he tried to call him, but because his voice was not so loud, his son Anup could not hear him. I said, “That’s all right. I’ll go and see him.” I guess the father wanted me to bless and encourage his son.

Anup remembered his first performance in the ISKCON auditorium. I didn’t usually attend such performances, but somehow that evening, near the end of the performance I had felt drawn into the auditorium. I had found a seat toward the back and sat down. The whole atmosphere had been surcharged—I can’t explain it—and he had sung with such devotion that his words and voice had entered people’s minds and hearts. It had been a very special performance, and the devotees had recorded it and produced an audio cassette that they would distribute on sankirtana—and it had become a hit. Many people would come and ask for Anup Jalota’s tape.

When I met Anup at the reception, he remembered that night. He said that when he had entered the auditorium he had not been sure whether or not he would pursue a career as a singer. He had prayed, “Lord Krishna, I am Yours. Whatever You want You can do. If You want me to pursue this career, You can make me a success. If You don’t, that’s all right—whatever You wish.” And he remarked that it was because of his performance in the ISKCON auditorium and the recording of it that he had become a success as a singer. (I knew that was the case, but I didn’t want to say it. But he also knew it, and he said it—and it was true.)

That culture and that mood are becoming rare—that mood of devotion, of surrender, of dependence on the Lord—but they are still there.

Now we return to the description of Jagannatha Mishra’s festival:

TEXT 107

keba ase keba yaya, keba nace keba gaya,
  sambhalite nare kara bola
khandileka duhkha-soka, pramoda-purita loka,
  misra haila anande vihvala

TRANSLATION

No one could understand who was coming and who was going, who was dancing and who was singing. Nor could they understand one another’s language. Yet all unhappiness and lamentation were immediately dissipated, and people became all-jubilant. Thus Jagannatha Misra was also overwhelmed with joy.

TEXT 108

acaryaratna, srivasa, jagannatha-misra-pasa,
  asi’ tanre kare savadhana
karaila jatakarma, ye achila vidhi-dharma,
  tabe misra kare nana dana

TRANSLATION

Candrasekhara Acarya and Srivasa Thakura both came to Jagannatha Misra and drew his attention in various ways. They performed the ritualistic ceremonies prescribed at the time of birth according to religious principles. Jagannatha Misra also gave varieties of charity.

TEXT 109

yautuka paila yata, ghare va achila kata,
  saba dhana vipre dila dana
yata nartaka, gayana, bhata, akincana jana,
  dhana diya kaila sabara mana

TRANSLATION

Whatever riches Jagannatha Misra collected in the form of gifts and presentations, and whatever he had in his house, he distributed among the brahmanas, professional singers, dancers, bhatas, and the poor. He honored them all by giving them riches in charity.

TEXT 110

srivasera brahmani, nama tanra ‘malini’,
  acaryaratnera patni-sange
sindura, haridra, taila, kha-i, kala, narikela,
  diya puje narigana range

TRANSLATION

The wife of Srivasa Thakura, whose name was Malini, accompanied by the wife of Candrasekhara [Acaryaratna] and other ladies, came there in great happiness to worship the baby with paraphernalia such as vermilion, turmeric, oil, fused rice, bananas, and coconuts.

PURPORT

Vermilion, kha-i (fused rice), bananas, coconuts, and turmeric mixed with oil are all auspicious gifts for such a ceremony. As there is puffed rice, so there is another preparation of rice called kha-i, or fused rice, which, along with bananas, is taken as a very auspicious presentation. Also, turmeric mixed with oil and vermilion makes an auspicious ointment that is smeared over the body of a newborn baby or a person who is going to marry. These are all auspicious activities in family affairs. We see that five hundred years ago at the birth of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu all these ceremonies were performed rigidly, but at present such ritualistic performances hardly ever take place. Generally a pregnant mother is sent to the hospital, and as soon as her child is born he is washed with an antiseptic, and this concludes everything.

COMMENT

The parents and other elders did whatever they could to ensure the wellbeing of the child in all respects. They knew that the purpose of the child’s life was to serve and please God and that the child’s success in all respects depended on the mercy of God and His devotees.

TEXT 111

advaita-acarya-bharya, jagat-pujita arya,
  nama tanra ‘sita thakurani’
acaryera ajna pana, gela upahara lana,
  dekhite balaka-siromani

TRANSLATION

One day shortly after Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born, Advaita Acarya’s wife, Sitadevi, who is worshipable by the whole world, took her husband’s permission and went to see that topmost child with all kinds of gifts and presentations

PURPORT

It appears that Advaita Acarya had two different houses, one at Santipura and one at Navadvipa. When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born, Advaita Acarya was residing not at His Navadvipa house but at His Santipura house. Therefore, as formerly explained (text 99), from Advaita’s old paternal house (nijalaya) in Santipura, Sita came to Navadvipa to present gifts to the newborn child, Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

TEXT 112

suvarnera kadi-ba-uli, rajatamudra-pasuli,
  suvarnera angada, kankana
du-bahute divya sankha, rajatera malabanka,|
  svarna-mudrara nana haragana

TRANSLATION

She brought different kinds of golden ornaments, including armlets, necklaces, anklets, and bangles for the hands.

TEXT 113

vyaghra-nakha hema-jadi, kati-pattasutra-dori
  hasta-padera yata abharana
citra-varna patta-sadi, buni photo pattapadi,
  svarna-raupya-mudra bahu-dhana

TRANSLATION

There were also tiger nails set in gold, waist decorations of silk and lace, ornaments for the hands and legs, nicely printed silken saris, and a child’s garment, also made of silk. Many other riches, including gold and silver coins, were also presented to the child.

PURPORT

From the gifts presented by Sita Thakurani, Advaita Acarya’s wife, it appears that Advaita Acarya was at that time a very rich man. Although brahmanas are not the rich men of society, Advaita Acarya, being the leader of the brahmanas in Santipura, was considerably well-to-do. Therefore He presented many ornaments to the baby, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But Kamalakanta Visvasa’s asking for three hundred rupees from the King of Jagannatha Puri, Maharaja Prataparudra, on the plea that Advaita Acarya was in debt for that amount, indicates that such a rich man, who could present many valuable ornaments, saris, etc., thought it difficult to repay three hundred rupees. Therefore the value of a rupee at that time was many thousands of times what it is now. At present, no one feels difficulty over a debt of three hundred rupees, nor can an ordinary man accumulate such valuable ornaments to present to a friend’s son. Probably the value of three hundred rupees at that time was equal to the present value of thirty thousand rupees.

COMMENT

The value of the thirty thousand rupees mentioned in the purport is now probably three hundred thousand rupees or more.

TEXT 114–116

Riding in a palanquin covered with cloth and accompanied by maidservants, Sita Thakurani came to the house of Jagannatha Misra, bringing with her many auspicious articles such as fresh grass, paddy, gorocana, turmeric, kunkuma and sandalwood. All these presentations filled a large basket.

When Sita Thakurani came to the house of Sacidevi, bringing with her many kinds of eatables, dresses, and other gifts, she was astonished to see the newborn child, for she appreciated that except for a difference in color, the child was directly Krsna of Gokula Himself.

Seeing the transcendental bodily effulgence of the child, each of His nicely constructed limbs full of auspicious signs and resembling a form of gold, Sita Thakurani was very pleased, and because of her maternal affection, she felt as if her heart were melting.

TEXT 117

durva, dhanya, dila sirse, kaila bahu asise,
  cirajivi hao dui bhai
dakini-sankhini haite, sanka upajila cite,
  dare nama thuila ‘nimai’

TRANSLATION

She blessed the newborn child by placing fresh grass and paddy on His head and saying, “May You be blessed with a long duration of life.” But being afraid of ghosts and witches, she gave the child the name Nimai.

PURPORT

Dakini and Sankhini are two companions of Lord Siva and his wife who are supposed to be extremely inauspicious, having been born of ghostly life. It is believed that such inauspicious living creatures cannot go near a nima tree. At least medically it is accepted that nima wood is extremely antiseptic, and formerly it was customary to have a nima tree in front of one’s house. On very large roads in India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, there are hundreds and thousands of nima trees. Nima wood is so antiseptic that the Ayurvedic science uses it to cure leprosy. Medical scientists have extracted the active principle of the nima tree, which is called margosic acid. Nima is used for many purposes, especially to brush the teeth. In Indian villages ninety percent of the people use nima twigs for this purpose. Because of all the antiseptic effects of the nima tree and because Lord Caitanya was born beneath a nima tree, Sita Thakurani gave the Lord the name Nimai. Later in His youth He was celebrated as Nimai Pandita, and in the neighborhood villages He was called by that name, although His real name was Visvambhara.

COMMENT

Visvambhara means “one who maintains the universe.” Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 9.7) describes how Lord Chaitanya appreciated that name:

prabhu kahe, ami ‘visvambhara’ nama dhari
nama sarthaka haya, yadi preme visva bhari

“Lord Caitanya thought, ‘My name is Visvambhara, “one who maintains the entire universe.” Its meaning will be actualized if I can fill the whole universe with love of Godhead.’ ”

In my youth, my dentist was a family friend who had served in India during World War II, and as he worked on my teeth he would tell me about his experiences in India as a dentist in the America army. He remarked that he had always seen the native Indians squatting along the roads brushing their teeth with twigs. As part of his work, he would treat Indians too, and he said that when he looked into their mouths he was astonished to see the most beautiful white teeth he had ever seen—without any cavities. And all these people did was brush their teeth with twigs!

TEXT 118

putramata-snanadine, dila vastra vibhusane,
  putra-saha misrere sammani’
saci-misrera puja lana, manete harisa hana,
  ghare aila sita thakurani

TRANSLATION

On the day the mother and son bathed and left the maternity home, Sita Thakurani gave them all kinds of ornaments and garments and then also honored Jagannatha Misra. Then Sita Thakurani, being honored by mother Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, was greatly happy within her mind, and thus she returned home.

PURPORT

On the fifth day from the birth of a child, as also on the ninth day, the mother bathes either in the Ganges or in another sacred place. This is called niskramana, or the ceremony of coming out of the maternity home. Nowadays the maternity home is a hospital, but formerly in every respectable house one room was set aside as a maternity home where children would take birth, and on the ninth day after the birth of a child the mother would come into the regular rooms in the ceremony called niskramana. Of the ten purificatory processes, niskramana is one. Formerly, especially in Bengal, the higher castes observed four months after the birth of a child as a quarantine. At the end of the fourth month, the mother could see the sun rise. Later the higher castes, namely the brahmanas, ksatriyas, and vaisyas, observed only twenty-one days as a quarantine, whereas the sudras had to observe thirty days. For the sections of society known as kartabhaja and satima, the mother of the child was immediately purified after the quarantine by the throwing of hari-nuta, small pieces of sweetmeat, in sankirtana. Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, with the newborn child, were honored by Sita Thakurani. Similarly, while Sita Thakurani was returning home, she was also honored by Sacidevi and Jagannatha Mishra. That was the system in respectable families of Bengal.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada was also born in a separate house, under a jackfruit tree, that belonged to his mother’s parents. Last November His Holiness Radhanath Swami and I visited that place in south Calcutta, saw the tree under which Srila Prabhupada had been born, and visited the Radha-Krishna temple that Prabhupada’s mother had frequented, imagining how she and the rest of the family must have prayed for the welfare of the new child, whom they named Abhay Charan, “one who is fearless, having taken shelter at Lord Krishna’s lotus feet.”

TEXT 119

aiche saci-jagannatha, putra pana laksminatha,
  purna ha-ila sakala vanchita
dhana-dhanye bhare ghara, lokamanya kalevara,
  dine dine haya anandita

TRANSLATION

In this way mother Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, having obtained a son who was the husband of the goddess of fortune, had all their desires fulfilled. Their house was always filled with riches and grains. As they saw the beloved body of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, day after day their pleasure increased.

PURPORT

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore everyone offered respects to Him. Even the denizens of heaven used to come in the dress of ordinary men to offer their respect to the Lord. His father and mother, Jagannatha Misra and Sacidevi, seeing the honor of their transcendental son, also became very pleased within their hearts.

TEXT 120

misra—vaisnava, santa, alampata, suddha, danta,
  dhana-bhoge nahi abhimana
putrera prabhave yata, dhana asi’ mile, tata,
  visnu-prite dvije dena dana

TRANSLATION

Jagannatha Misra was an ideal Vaisnava. He was peaceful, restrained in sense gratification, pure, and controlled. Therefore he had no desire to enjoy material opulence. Whatever money came because of the influence of his transcendental son, he gave it in charity to the brahmanas for the satisfaction of Visnu.

TEXT 121

lagna gani’ harsamati, nilambara cakravarti,
  gupte kichu kahila misrere
mahapurusera cihna, lagne ange bhinna bhinna,
  dekhi,—ei taribe samsare

TRANSLATION

After calculating the birth moment of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nilambara Cakravarti privately said to Jagannatha Misra that he saw all the different symptoms of a great personality in both the body and birth moment of the child. Thus he understood that in the future this child would deliver all the three worlds.

COMMENT

Although Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had all the signs of a great personality and was in fact the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His father, Jagannatha Misra, considered Him to be his son.

As a child, Lord Chaitanya was quite naughty, and Jagannatha Mishra would often chide Him and instruct Him in proper behavior. One night, Jagannatha Mishra had a dream in which a brahman angrily told him, “You do not know anything about your son. Because you think Him to be your son, you rebuke and chastise Him.” Jagannatha Mishra replied, “He may be a demigod, a mystic yogi, or a great saint, but whatever He may be, I know Him only as my son, and it is my duty to teach Him religion and morality. Otherwise, how will He learn? Even if He is Lord Narayana Himself, it is the duty of the father to instruct the son.” Even in his dreams, Jagannatha Mishra was absorbed in the mellow of pure parental affection.

In His youth, Lord Chaitanya asked an astrologer to tell Him who He had been in His past life. Through calculation and meditation, the astrologer saw the brilliantly effulgent form of the Lord as the resting place of the Vaikuntha planets. Struck with wonder, he said, “In Your previous birth You were the shelter of all creation, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full of all opulence. And You are the same Personality of Godhead now.” Lord Chaitanya smiled and said, “I think you do not know very clearly what I was, for I know that in My previous birth I was a cowherd boy. I was born in a family of cowherd men and gave protection to the cows and calves, and because of these pious activities, I have now become the son of a brahman.”

TEXT 122

aiche prabhu saci-ghare, krpaya kaila avatare,
  yei iha karaye sravana
gaura-prabhu dayamaya, tanre hayena sadaya,
  sei paya tanhara carana

TRANSLATION

In this way Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, out of His causeless mercy, made His advent in the house of Sacidevi. Lord Caitanya is very merciful to anyone who hears this narration of His birth, and thus such a person attains the lotus feet of the Lord.

TEXT 123

paiya manusa janma, ye na sune gaura-guna,
  hena janma tara vyartha haila
paiya amrtadhuni, piye visa-garta-pani,
  janmiya se kene nahi maila

TRANSLATION

Anyone who attains a human body but does not take to the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is baffled in his opportunity. Amrtadhuni is a flowing river of the nectar of devotional service. If after getting a human body one drinks the water in a poison pit of material happiness instead of the water of such a river, it would be better for him not to have lived, but to have died long ago.

PURPORT

In this connection Srimat Prabodhananda Sarasvati has composed the following verses in his Caitanya-candramrta (37, 36, 34):

acaitanyam idam visvam yadi caitanyam isvaram
na viduh sarva-sastra-jna hy api bhramyanti te janah

“This material world is without Krsna consciousness. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna consciousness personified. Therefore if a very learned scholar or scientist does not understand Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, certainly he is wandering uselessly in this world.”

prasarita-maha-prema-piyusa-rasa-sagare
caitanya-candre prakate yo dino dina eva sah

“A person who does not take advantage of the nectar of devotional service overflowing during the presence of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s cult is certainly the poorest of the poor.”

avatirne gaura-candre vistirne prema-sagare
suprakasita-ratnaughe yo dino dina eva sah

“The advent of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is just like an expanding ocean of nectar. One who does not collect the valuable jewels within this ocean is certainly the poorest of the poor.”

Similarly, Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.3.19, 20, 23) states:

sva-vid-varahostra-kharaih
  samstutah purusah pasuh
na yat-karna-pathopeto
  jatu nama gadagrajah

 bile batorukrama-vikraman ye
  na srnvatah karna-pute narasya
jihvasati dardurikeva suta
  na copagayaty urugaya-gathah

 jivan chavo bhagavatanghri-renum
  na jatu martyo ’bhilabheta yas tu
sri-visnu-padya manujas tulasyah
  svasan chavo yas tu na veda gandham

“A person who has no connection with Krsna consciousness may be a very great personality in so-called human society, but actually he is no better than a great animal. Such big animals are generally praised by other animals like dogs, hogs, camels, and asses. A person who does not lend his aural reception to hearing about the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be considered to have earholes like holes in a field. Although that person has a tongue, it is like the tongue of a frog, which unnecessarily creates a disturbance by croaking, inviting the snake of death. Similarly, a person who neither takes advantage of the dust of the lotus feet of great devotees nor smells the tulasi leaves offered to the lotus feet of the Lord must be considered dead even though he is supposedly working.”

Similarly, Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.1.4 states:

nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanad
  bhavausadhac chrotra-mano-’bhiramat
ka uttamasloka-gunanuvadat
  puman virajyeta vina pasu-ghnat

“Who but the animal-killer or the killer of the soul will not care to hear glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Such glorification is enjoyed by persons liberated from the contamination of this material world.”

Similarly, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.23.56 says, na tirtha-pada-sevayai jivann api mrto hi sah: “Although a person is apparently living, if he does not serve the lotus feet of great devotees he is to be considered a dead body.”

COMMENT

By the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that of His devotees, especially Srila Prabhupada, we have been given real life—the chance to live in Krishna consciousness

TEXT 124

sri-caitanya-nityananda, acarya advaitacandra,
  svarupa-rupa-raghunathadasa
inha-sabara sri-carana, sire vandi nija-dhana,
  janma-lila gaila krsnadasa

TRANSLATION

Taking on my head as my own property the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Acarya Advaitacandra, Svarupa Damodara, Rupa Gosvami, and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, I, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, have thus described the advent of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Jagannatha Mishra’s festival, March 22, 2008, Dallas]

Source: https://girirajswami.com/blog/?p=17850

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By Sacinandana Swami

To better understand Sri Chaitanya let us ask the question: What induces the Lord to appear?

The answer to this question will help us benefit the most from this auspicious day.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appears when a devotee sincerely cries for His appearance. It is the urgent call of Draupadi that made the Lord appear and cover her with cloth. Similarly, it was Advaita Acarya’s calling in “a thunderous voice” that shook the Lord’s seat in Vaikuntha and made Him come down to the material world. On His own, He has no interest in this world – only when the devotee calls Him does the Lord come.

Advaita Acarya saw that the souls in Kali-yuga suffered without any clue on how to be released from the clutches of material illusion. After deliberating for some time, Advaita Acarya understood that only if the Lord personally appeared and delivered the fallen souls could they stand a chance. So, he went to the bank of the Ganges where he made a little altar and offered Ganga water and tulasi leaves while crying from his heart for the descent of Krishna to come. Advaita repeatedly shouted “please come,” and the Lord could not ignore the sincere and urgent request of His great devotee.

Similarly, it is our eagerness on Gaura Purnima that will move the Lord to show us His mercy and appear in the temple of the heart – hrdaya mandire. Without this eagerness, how will the Lord be inclined to appear to us?

Srila Rupa Goswami praises the Lord’s eagerness to respond to His devotee’s call in his anthology of prayers (Padyavali):

When the Lord heard His devotee’s piteous prayer for help, He felt a great urgency to rescue him. So, He ran out of His palace, and jumped on Garuda’s bare back. Although His commander Visvaksena was there to help Him mount His carrier, and His servant brought His jewelled sandals, He was in too much of a hurry to accept their assistance. Thinking, “Who is calling me in such desperation?” the Lord made such a haste that He forgot everything else. Let us bow down again and again to the Lord’s eagerness to save His devotee which was responsible for His swift departure.

Please know: The Lord always reciprocates with His devotees. He is never silent to a sincere appeal.

May we find the time to turn earnestly to Shri Chaitanya on Gaura Purnima and pray to Him like Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura did:

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu doyā koro more
tomā binā ke doyālu jagat-saḿsāre

“My dear Lord Chaitanya, please be merciful to me, because who can be more merciful than Your Lordship within these three worlds?”

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=72987

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By Giriraj Swami

We welcome you to the most auspicious celebration of Sri Gaura-purnima, the appearance day of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna Chaitanya. According to Vedic scriptures, the Absolute Truth is realized in three features: Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. The impersonalist speculators want to merge and become one with God, one with the impersonal brahmajyoti, which is nothing but the transcendental effulgence emanating from the divine body of Sri Krishna. Beyond the impersonal Brahman is Paramatma, the Lord within the heart; the purusa-avataras—Karanodakasayi Vishnu, Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, and Ksirodakasayi Vishnu—are the soul of the universe, the soul of creation, the soul of souls. And beyond realization of the impersonal Brahman and localized Paramatma is realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, who is the source of Paramatma and Brahman.

That same Krishna who appeared about five thousand years ago appeared again some five hundred years ago as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Why is it that Krishna, who came five thousand years ago and spoke the Bhagavad-gita and exhibited so many pastimes, came again? In the authorized scripture Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Lord Krishna’s thoughts after He had manifested His pastimes on earth five thousand years ago are recorded. These thoughts explain why He came again five hundred years ago as Sri Krishna Chaitanya.

We are all sitting here by the mercy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya and His followers in disciplic succession, especially His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. And practically every activity that takes place here is based on the instructions and example of Krishna Chaitanya. You can hardly find any aspect of the Krishna consciousness movement that is not based on His teachings and precedents. So it is very important—essential—to understand Him, because without understanding Him we cannot really progress very well toward the ultimate goal of life.

We read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Three: “The External Reasons for the Appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,” text 13. After describing the advent of Lord Krishna on earth, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta describes, beginning with text 13:

TEXTS 13–16

Lord Krsna enjoys His transcendental pastimes as long as He wishes, and then He disappears. After disappearing, however, He thinks thus:

“For a long time I have not bestowed unalloyed loving service to Me upon the inhabitants of the world. Without such loving attachment, the existence of the material world is useless.

“Everywhere in the world people worship Me according to scriptural injunctions. But simply by following such regulative principles one cannot attain the loving sentiments of the devotees in Vrajabhumi.

“Knowing My opulences, the whole world looks upon Me with awe and veneration. But devotion made feeble by such reverence does not attract Me.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

After His appearance, Lord Krsna thought that He had not distributed the transcendental personal dealings with His devotees in dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhurya. One may understand the science of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the Vedic literature and thus become a devotee of the Lord and worship Him within the regulative principles described in the scriptures, but one will not know in this way how Lord Krsna is served by the residents of Vrajabhumi. By following scriptural injunctions one may enhance his appreciation for the glories of the Lord, but there is no chance for one to enter into personal dealings with Him. Giving too much attention to understanding the exalted glories of the Lord reduces the chance of one’s entering into personal loving affairs with the Lord. To teach the principles of such loving dealings, the Lord decided to appear as Lord Caitanya.

TEXT 19

yuga-dharma pravartaimu nama-sankirtana
cari bhava-bhakti diya nacamu bhuvana

TRANSLATION

“I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age—nama-sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy name. I shall make the world dance in ecstasy, realizing the four mellows of loving devotional service.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

The Lord came to introduce the yuga-dharma, the recommended process for self-realization, or God realization, in the present age, and that is nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the holy names of the Lord.

TEXT 20

apani karimu bhakta-bhava angikare
apani acari’ bhakti sikhaimu sabare

TRANSLATION

“I shall accept the role of a devotee, and I shall teach devotional service by practicing it Myself.”

PURPORT

When one associates with a pure devotee, he becomes so elevated that he does not aspire even for sarsti, sarupya, samipya, or salokya, because he feels that such liberation is a kind of sense gratification. Pure devotees do not ask anything from the Lord for their personal benefit. Even if offered personal benefits, pure devotees do not accept them, because their only desire is to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead by transcendental loving service.

COMMENT

This is a very important point. Externally one may engage in devotional service, and that is very good, but what really matters in devotional service is the consciousness. We are living in the material world, which is composed of and influenced by the three modes of material nature: tamo-guna, rajo-guna, and sattva-guna—the modes of ignorance, passion, and goodness. Beyond even sattva-guna is suddha-sattva, or the state of vasudeva, which is transcendental to all three modes. Within the material world no one can be in pure ignorance, pure passion, or pure goodness. There is always some mixing of the different modes. Only when one comes to the transcendental platform is one freed from the influence of the modes.

Srila Prabhupada has explained different mentalities that one can have in the practice of devotional service. The same principles are enunciated in the Third Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupada has phrased his explanation in a way that we can easily understand and relate to. Someone engaged in devotional service under the influence of the mode of ignorance will think, “I’m the only devotee. No one else here is a real devotee. I am the only one who is doing anything of value; everyone else is useless.” That is devotional service influenced by the mode of ignorance. In devotional service influenced by the mode of passion, one thinks, “I want to be the best devotee. I want to be known for being the best devotee.” Someone influenced by the mode of goodness will think, “I want to go back home, back to Godhead.” And someone who is transcendentally situated in pure devotional service will think, “I just want to please Krishna.”

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to teach and show by His personal example pure devotional service in which a devotee has no selfish desire even to go back to Godhead. As Srila Prabhupada says, the pure devotee considers liberation of going back to Godhead to be sense gratification. He wants only to serve the Lord. That is pure devotional service. That is what Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to teach and exemplify, and that is what Srila Prabhupada also taught and exemplified and wanted us to follow.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, when the Lord took the place of the incarnation of Kali-yuga to spread the glories of chanting Hare Krsna . . .

COMMENT

This is an important point—that Krishna Himself does not come in every Kali-yuga as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Krishna Himself doesn’t come in every Dvapara-yuga. There is a yuga-avatara, or incarnation, every Satya-yuga, every Treta-yuga, every Dvapara-yuga, and every Kali-yuga, but only once in a day of Brahma, which is about four billion three hundred twenty million years, will Krishna, the original Personality of Godhead, come in Dvapara-yuga, and only once in a day of Brahma will Krishna come again as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Kali-yuga—the Kali-yuga immediately following the Dvapara-yuga in which Krishna appears. So we can just imagine how fortunate we are to be living in the Kali-yuga in which Krishna consciousness appeared.

When Lord Chaitanya was present, He predicted, prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama, sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama: “In every town and village on the surface of the earth, My name (Krishna’s name) will be preached.” That prediction seemed almost inconceivable. Yes, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spread Krishna consciousness throughout India, but the idea of spreading Krishna consciousness throughout the world seemed impossible. Even followers of Lord Chaitanya thought He might be speaking in some poetic or metaphorical way, not that it would actually happen. In Sri Caitanya-mangala, Srila Locana dasa Thakura explains that Lord Chaitanya appeared and preached in Navadvipa to establish the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra as the religious process for the Age of Kali. Lord Chaitanya said, “I want to flood the whole world with the chanting of the holy names. I will personally preach and flood India with the holy name. Later, My commander-in-chief devotee [senapati bhakta] will come, preach in distant countries, and flood the world with the chanting of Hare Krishna.” Senapati means “commander-in-chief.”

A very special soul would be entrusted to do this otherwise-impossible assignment. And that, we know, was His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He left this world in 1977, only thirty-three years ago. So anyone older than thirty-three years was on the planet at the same time as Srila Prabhupada, the senapati bhakta who was personally sent by Krishna, by Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And we are sitting in a temple within his society that was established by one of his direct disciples, Sripada Tamal Krishna Goswami. We have an amazing opportunity, so we should understand how fortunate we are to have this opportunity and take full advantage of it. How? We first have to understand what that means. We have to understand what Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada came to give us, so we can recognize it and accept it.

Lord Chaitanya said, “I shall accept the role of a devotee, and I shall teach devotional service by practicing it Myself.” In the purport Srila Prabhupada says: “Therefore, when the Lord took the place of the incarnation of Kali-yuga . . .” In other words, the Lord Himself doesn’t personally come to be the yuga-avatara in every Kali-yuga.

PURPORT (concluded)

When the Lord took the place of the incarnation of Kali-yuga to spread the glories of chanting Hare Krsna—the system of worship recommended in this age—He also distributed the process of devotional service performed on the platform of transcendental spontaneous love. To teach the highest principles of spiritual life, the Lord Himself appeared as a devotee in the form of Lord Caitanya.

COMMENT

Now I will read from another section of Caitanya-caritamrta about two of the most important principles of devotional service that Lord Chaitanya taught and that we are meant to learn and adopt. This discussion took place between Lord Chaitanya and the Mayavadi sannyasis in Benares. In the Shankara-sampradaya it is expected that sannyasis will study Vedanta, and Varanasi is full of Mayavadis, full of followers or so-called followers of Shankaracharya. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Varanasi, He performed hari-nama-sankirtana, nagara-sankirtana, and hundreds and thousands of people joined Him, but the Mayavadi sannyasis, impersonal sannyasis who want to realize Brahman, could not understand the transcendental activities of the Lord. They thought that the Lord’s activities were material. That’s why they are called Mayavadis, because they themselves are material, on the material platform, and they see the Lord—His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His service—as material, as maya, and therefore they are called Mayavadis. They think that the Deity is material, that in the beginning we may focus on the Deity but that when we are advanced enough, we go beyond the Deity and merge and become one with the impersonal light. In other words, they are atheists.

There is a very nice verse in the Padma Purana saying that anyone who thinks that the Deity is just stone, who thinks that the guru is an ordinary human being, who thinks that a Vaishnava belongs to a certain caste or community, is a resident of hell. That word is used, naraki.

 arcye visnau sila-dhir gurusu nara-matir vaisnave jati-buddhir . . .
sri-visnor namni mantre sakala-kalusa-he sabde-samanya buddhir . . .
yasya va naraki sah

“One who considers the worshipable Deity of Lord Vishnu to be mere stone, the spiritual master to be an ordinary human being, a Vaishnava to belong to a particular caste, and the mantra of the holy name of Vishnu, which destroys all impurities, to be a material vibration, is a resident of hell.” (Padma Purana)

So just consider: if you think that the Deity is made of stone—of course, in theory we may say the Deity is Krishna, but to what extent do we actually believe that the Deity is Krishna, as shown by our behavior? If one thinks that the spiritual master is an ordinary person—and again we may outwardly show respect, but the real test is to what extent we follow the spiritual master’s instructions. If we think that a Vaishnava belongs to a certain community or ethnic group, for example, if I think, “That’s an American Vaishnava,” or an African Vaishnava, a Mexican Vaishnava, or Bengali Vaishnava or Gujarati Vaishnava—that is a hellish mentality (naraki sah).

To really benefit from what Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada came to give us, we have to understand what they taught and practiced so that we can follow their instructions and example. I was discussing Lord Chaitanya’s speaking with the Mayavadi sannyasis. There was a meeting of all the sannyasis of Varanasi, and the leader of the Mayavadi sannyasis asked Lord Chaitanya, “Why don’t you study Vedanta? All sannyasis are supposed to study Vedanta.” Lord Chaitanya replied, guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasana: “My spiritual master considered Me a fool, and therefore he chastised Me.”

This shows what should be the mood of a disciple in relation to the spiritual master. As Srila Prabhupada said, one should always feel himself to be a fool and be ready to be chastised by the guru. In the bodily concept of life we feel insulted: “How dare he call me a fool! Doesn’t he know who I am?” One of Lord Chaitanya’s chief disciples was Srila Sanatana Gosvami, a very learned scholar. He was fluent in Sanskrit and Persian and knowledgeable in scriptures and philosophy, but when he approached Lord Chaitanya, he told Him, “In ordinary dealings people call me a learned scholar, pandit, but I am such a pandit that I do not even know who I am or what is the goal of life. So please instruct me.”

When we come to that position where we feel that we are fools who need to be instructed, we can approach a spiritual master. The same sort of incident took place in the Bhagavad-gita. In the beginning Arjuna was speaking with Krishna more or less on an equal level, talking as friends. Krishna was telling Arjuna that he should fight, and Arjuna was coming up with so many reasons why he should not fight. From a certain point of view, the reasons may have sounded good, but in the end Arjuna came to the point where he admitted he really didn’t know what he should do. And then he told Krishna (like Sanatana Gosvami, in a way), “Now I am confused about my duty.” Sisyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam: “Now I am surrendering to You as Your disciple. Please instruct me.”

karpanya-dosopahata-svabhavah
  prcchami tvam dharma-sammudha-cetah
yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me
  sisyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam

 “Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.” (Gita 2.7) And from that point, when Arjuna surrendered to Krishna as his spiritual master, Krishna was able to instruct him and spoke the Bhagavad-gita.

Guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasana. Lord Chaitanya said, “My spiritual master considered Me to be a fool, and He chastised Me. He told Me, ‘You are not qualified to study Vedanta philosophy.’ ” Was Lord Caitanya unqualified? He is Krishna Himself. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says, vedanta-krd veda-vid: “I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” But Lord Chaitanya was showing us the example that we should not be so proud that we think we can understand Vedanta, because in Kali-yuga you really can’t understand Vedanta. So He was setting the example. “My spiritual master considered Me a fool and said, ‘You are not qualified to study Vedanta philosophy, and therefore You must always chant the holy name of Krishna.’ ” And Lord Chaitanya said, “I took the instructions of My spiritual master to heart and I always chant the holy name, but while chanting, I lose Myself, thus I laugh, cry, dance, and sing just like a madman. I began to think that My knowledge was being covered, so I approached My spiritual master for clarification.”

I will read that verse and purport. It is a very short purport. Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 7: “Lord Caitanya in Five Features.”

TEXT 80

“I saw that I had become mad by chanting the holy name, and I immediately submitted this at the lotus feet of My spiritual master.”

PURPORT

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, as an ideal teacher, shows us how a disciple should deal with his spiritual master. Whenever there is doubt regarding any point, he should refer the matter to his spiritual master for clarification. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that while chanting and dancing He had developed the kind of mad ecstasy that is possible only for a liberated soul. Yet even in His liberated position, He referred everything to His spiritual master whenever there were doubts. Thus in any condition, even when liberated, we should never think ourselves independent of the spiritual master, but must refer to him as soon as there is some doubt regarding our progressive spiritual life.

COMMENT

There are details in how to apply this, but it is the principle that even when we are liberated, we are not independent. We are still subservient to the spiritual master and are meant to be under his control.

Lord Chaitanya’s spiritual master was very pleased because he could understand that Lord Chaitanya had developed ecstatic love for Godhead. This is the benefit of chanting the holy names of Krishna properly. There are offenses to be considered when one chants the holy name, and if one commits offenses while chanting, one will not get the desired result. Caitanya-caritamrta says bahu janma, that one can chant the holy name for many lifetimes, hundreds of lifetimes, thousands of lifetimes, but that if one’s chanting is infested with offenses, one will not get pure love of Godhead, which is meant to be the result of the chanting. So it is understood that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was chanting without offense. Of course, He was Krishna, but as a devotee He was chanting without offense. Therefore He developed ecstatic symptoms of love of Godhead, and His spiritual master was very pleased. It is said that the spiritual master takes more pleasure when he sees a disciple advance than when he advances himself. If a disciple becomes a pure devotee, then the spiritual master can say that his mission is a complete success.

I will skip ahead to an important verse and purport, a short purport:

TEXT 91

bhala haila, paile tumi parama-purusartha
tomara premete ami hailan krtartha

This is Lord Chaitanya’s spiritual master speaking to Him:

TRANSLATION

“It is very good, my dear child, that You have attained the supreme goal of life by developing love of Godhead. Thus You have pleased me very much, and I am very much obliged to You.”

PURPORT

According to the revealed scriptures, if a spiritual master can convert even one soul into a perfectly pure devotee, his mission in life is fulfilled. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura always used to say, “Even at the expense of all the properties, temples and mathas that I have, if I could convert even one person into a pure devotee, my mission would be fulfilled.”

COMMENT

We have heard about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, that he constructed a beautiful marble temple in Calcutta, the Bhag Bazaar Gaudiya Matha, to preach Krishna consciousness, but that his disciples, who were quite neophyte and materialistic, began to fight over the property—who would occupy which room, who would have which position. When he was on parikrama in Vrindavan—this was one of the rare times that Srila Prabhupada got to be with his spiritual master personally—Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura told him, “There will be fire in this Gaudiya Matha.” He could see that there would be the fire of conflict and party interest. And he said, “I have built this beautiful marble temple, but now I am seeing that my disciples are quarreling. If I could, I would sell the marble and use that money to print books.” Then he told Srila Prabhupada, “I had a desire to print some books. If you ever get money, print books.” And that direct instruction from his spiritual master became Srila Prabhupada’s guiding principle in his mission. Of course, he did everything, because it is all part of the process: he established Deities, he established farm projects, he established schools, he did everything, but he took the instruction of his spiritual master to print and distribute books to heart. So, Prabhupada is quoting his guru maharaja here:

PURPORT (concluded)

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura always used to say, “Even at the expense of all the properties, temples and mathas that I have, if I could convert even one person into a pure devotee, my mission would be fulfilled.” It is very difficult, however, to understand the science of Krishna, what to speak of developing love of Godhead. Therefore if by the grace of Lord Caitanya and the spiritual master a disciple attains the standard of pure devotional service, the spiritual master is very happy. The spiritual master is not actually happy if the disciple brings him money, but when he sees that a disciple is following the regulative principles and advancing in spiritual life, he is very glad and feels obliged to such an advanced disciple.

COMMENT

Of course, we accept money to use in Krishna’s service, but not at the expense of following the regulative principles of devotional service. Therefore Srila Prabhupada presents this dichotomy. The two don’t have to be opposed to each other, but they can be, because money is such a thing that even devotees who are trying to make advancement get bewildered. Money is such a thing.

On a morning walk on Juhu Beach, Srila Prabhupada said that money is simply a botheration. It is simply trouble. To get money is a problem, to hold onto the money is a problem, and when you lose the money, that’s also a problem. At every stage, money is a problem. So here Srila Prabhupada says that the spiritual master is not actually happy if the disciple brings him money, but when he sees that a disciple is following the regulative principles and advancing in spiritual life, he is very glad and feels obliged to such an advanced disciple.

Reading this reminded me of an incident in Juhu, Bombay, where, as many of you know, Srila Prabhupada established a big, beautiful temple. One evening Srila Prabhupada was sitting on the terrace of one of the buildings at the back. This was before we actually got permission to build anything on the property. There were some tenement buildings with tenants, and one of the tenants left. So at least we had one apartment where Srila Prabhupada could stay. So, he was sitting on the terrace one evening, and his disciple Haridas was fanning him. At seven o’clock Srila Prabhupada said to Haridas, “Did you hear that?” Haridas strained to hear, but he said, “No.” Srila Prabhupada said, “You don’t hear the sound of kirtan coming from the temple?” Haridas Prabhu listened and said, “No, Srila Prabhupada, I don’t.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “That is exactly the point. There is no kirtan in the temple. It is arati time, but there is no kirtan in the temple. Where are all the devotees?” Haridas Prabhu said, “Well, Srila Prabhupada, they must have gone to the city to collect for the project and haven’t come back yet.” Actually, there was a little speculation there, because it just so happened that that night we were performing kirtan on the request of one of our best life members and donors when his mother passed away, so it wasn’t quite what Haridas said, but Prabhupada’s point is very instructive.

Srila Prabhupada said, “This was not my idea, that the devotees should go to the city and collect all day and night. Our process is to please Krishna. They may go at nine in the morning and return by five in the evening, and then chant in front of the Deities. Otherwise they will become like karmis.” Then he asked Haridas, “Do you know why we were successful in getting this land?” There had been a big struggle. If any of you have read Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta—and I do recommend that every devotee read it—the owner of the land, Mr. Nair, was a prominent person in Bombay. He had been the sheriff, owned one of Bombay’s three English daily newspapers, and was wealthy and influential. So, Srila Prabhupada asked Haridas, “Do you know why we were successful and Mr. Nair wasn’t? We are successful because we try to please Krishna and Krishna is merciful and reciprocates with us. Otherwise, Mr. Nair was much more powerful than we. He had money, influence, his own daily newspaper¾he had contacts, so many politicians and government officers. And who were we? We had no money, no influence, and no support. Yet we were successful because we were simply trying to please Krishna, following the regulative principles of devotional service¾by Krishna’s grace.

“So, we should come and sing and dance in front of the Deities and please Them, and by Their grace we will get all success. We are not successful by our own strength; we are successful by Krishna’s grace.”

This is a very important principle in devotional service: whatever we do, we should do for the pleasure of Krishna and depend on His mercy. We cannot be successful by our own independent endeavors. There is a saying that without the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, even easy things become difficult, and that with the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, even difficult things become easy. So we should endeavor to please Lord Chaitanya, to please the Deities, to please Srila Prabhupada, by following their instructions and adopting their mood. And by that endeavor, under proper guidance, we will be successful in our own personal spiritual lives and successful in preaching, in spreading the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

On this auspicious occasion we pray to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu and Their associates to bless us to become free from the anarthas and avidya within our hearts, to purify our hearts and empower us to serve Them properly as They would like. That’s the only way we can be successful.

Upon his arrival in America, Srila Prabhupada wrote a beautiful poem. Not knowing anyone, not having any money, not having any influence, he prayed to Lord Krishna—the same mood was there from the very beginning, until the very end—“How will I be able to convince them of Your message? Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of passion and ignorance. How will I convince them?” It is a beautiful poem, and we should study it. It is in Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta. We should study whatever we can about Srila Prabhupada. In his poem, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta.” Bhakti means “devotion” and vedanta means “knowledge,” or the end of knowledge. He said, “I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, but I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge. But You are the most expert mystic, and Your causeless mercy can make everything possible. I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.”

And then, at the very end, he said, “I am just like a puppet in Your hands.” Just like a puppet. What life does a puppet have? None. It is a limp doll. So, that was Prabhupada’s humility. He wrote, “I am just like a puppet in Your hands, so if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance. O Lord, make me dance as You like.”

That should be our mood—just puppets in the hands of our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, the previous acharyas, the Deities. “Make me Your puppet. I have no capacity on my own. Make me Your puppet, O Lord, and make me dance as You like.” In that mood we can get this priceless treasure that Lord Chaitanya came to the world to give and that Srila Prabhupada came to the West and travelled all over the world to give us. We pray for their mercy that we may open our hearts to the gift they came to give us and see it in the proper mood. When we truly accept it in our hearts, then we can also give it to others, share it with others, and that’s the second half—to accept it and then to share it.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Gaura-purnima, February 28, 2010, Houston]

Source: https://girirajswami.com/blog/?p=17039

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By HH Bhakti Charu Swami

Gaura-purnima day, The purnima, the full moon of the month of phalgun. These two months, phalgun and caitra is the vasanta season, springtime in India. In India there are six seasons and each season consists of two months. Vasanta, spring is considered to be the king of all seasons – rthuraj. This is the best of the times. Of all the six seasons Vasanta or spring is the best because the whole atmosphere at this time becomes very beautiful. The winter is over and the weather starts to warm up. All the trees and plants become full of flowers.

In this season, Cupid, Madan predominates. The cuckoo birds begin to coo. All the beautiful birds and animals become very active. So in the best of the seasons Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared on a full moon night in this particular place Navadvip. And what is this Navadvip. Navadvip also is a very special place. This is the topmost region of the spiritual sky, Goloka Vrindavan. Goloka Vrindavan is the topmost region of not only the material nature but it is the topmost region of the spiritual world.

When Krishna performs His eternal pastimes with the cowherd community of Vrindavan and of all His activities there His most wonderful activity is His loving exchange with the gopis, the cowherd damsels. And of all the cowherd damsels Srimati Radharani is the topmost. She is the principle gopi. Spiritual sky is Krishna’s manifestation of His internal potency. Spiritual sky comprises of Krishna’s internal potency, anataranga sakti. Hence in that loving relationship there is some competition.

There is a saying in the scriptures, in Ujjvala-nilamani and Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu also that love increases when it faces obstacles. If the love is uninterrupted then the loving relationship becomes stale. So in order to enhance this loving relationship there is this consideration of obstacles. There is a consideration of separation. Separation increases love. Obstacles increase love. Therefore in that region in Goloka Vrindavan there is this consideration. Sometimes there is a obstacle in the love. There is separation. Although radha and Krishna are eternally one, eternally united but still there is a consideration, there is a feeling; there is an experience of separation. Similarly there are obstacles.

These obstacles often take place due to Krishna’s loving exchange with some other gopi. Some other gopis comes and takes Krishna away. Like Candravali appears to be the opposite camp. There appears to be a competition between Candravali’s camp and Radharani’s camp. Who can bring Krishna to their presiding personality! Candravalis group tries to bring Krishna to candrvali. Radharani’s group tries to keep Krishna with Srimati Radharani.

So in this way there are different other gopis and sometimes Krishna has some loving exchanges with them. And that increases Radharani’s anger. That causes Radharani’s anger. So on one such occasion there is a very wonderful internal associate of Krishna, spiritual associate of Krishna. Her name is Viraja. Viraja once took Krishna to her kunja. Kunja means the garden house where they eat, they have their exchanges there.

So Krishna was in Viraja’s kunj, Viraja’s abode and Radharani got to know that Krishna was there. Krishna was missing so She started to look for Krishna all around and at that time when she got to know that Krishna was there at Viraja’s kunj. In order to attract Krishna She created a very beautiful place and it was in the Svetadvip. It is known as the milk island, the island in a milk ocean. In Vrindavan there is a region, which is made of milk. She created an island there. She made that island so beautiful and then she picked up the flute and started to play the flute.

Usually Krishna plays the flute to attract the gopis but here Srimati Radharani started to play the flute to attract Krishna. Now being attracted by the sound of flute played by Srimati Radharani Krishna became so attracted that He immediately came running to Radharani. Krishna was stunned to see the beauty of that place. Krishna said, “Radha this is like new Vrindavan.”

Vrindavan is the most beautiful forest. That region of the spiritual sky has twelve forests and one of them is Vrindavan, which is the best of all the twelve forests. And Krishna said this is the most beautiful Vrindavan. And since it was newly created it was new. It was apparently not there before. Srimati Radharani created it therefore Krishna named that place as New Vrindavan, Nava Vrindavan. And since that place was an island Krishna called it New Island or Navadvip. Dvip means an island. Then what happened? As Krishna embrace Srimati Radharani, Krishna and Radha became one. And that is Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

That is the wonderful aspect of Navadvip, that new island. The first consideration is that this particular place in the spiritual sky has been created by Srimati Radharani. And in that place Srimati Radharani and Krishna became one. That is Navadvip. In Navadvip Krishna manifested in a very special way. Krishna manifests here together with Radharani in one form. That is Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

So in this way in the spiritual sky in Goloka there are two areas -Vrindavan and New Vrindavan and in this New Vrindavan is Navadvip. Now in this New Vrindavan Krishna assumes the mood of Srimati Radharani and in this mood Krishna distributes krsna-prema, once in a day of Brahma.

In a day of Brahma there are fourteen Manus, and the seventh Manu is Vivasvata Manu. And on the twenty eight catur-yuga of Vivasvata Manu – Visvasvata-manvantara Krishna appears. Brajendranandana Krishna. Krishna in this particular age – twenty-eight catur-yuga in the Dvarpara-yuga, end of Dvarpara-yuga,

astavimsa catur-yuge dvaparera sese, vrajera sahite haya krsnera prakase [Cc Adi 3.10]

On the twenty-eight manvantara of Vivasvata Manu, seventh month, almost during the middle part of the day of Brahma. There are fourteen Manus in a day of Brahma. Now seventh Manu is Vivasata Manu. So it is kind of the middle of Brahma’s day. And in one manvantara there are seventy-two catur-yugas and out of the seventy-two the twenty-eight catur-yuga towards the end of Dvarpa-yuga, Brajendranandan Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaj of Vrindavan – the original Supreme Personality of Godhead comes to this material nature. Then after performing His pastimes He considers,

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

After performing His pastimes abundantly Krishna disappears. Krishna becomes unmanifest. Krishna manifests in the material nature and then he becomes unmanifest, kare antardhana. And after withdrawing His pastimes from this planet, Krishna considers,

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

cira-kala nahi kari prema-bhakti dana bhakti vina jagatera nahi avasthana [Cc Adi 3.14]

I do not give the prema-bhakti all the time. In My vraja-lila I have manifested My prema-bhakti. I have expressed or shown everybody My intense loving relationship with the residents of Vrindavan. And what was that, that intense loving relationship that Krishna experiences in Vraja? Those relationships consists of three very special relationships – friendship, parental and conjugal. There are five types of devotional relationships, five types of favourable relationship with Krishna – neutrality, servitorship, friendship, parental and conjugal – santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya. Out of these relationships, three relationships – friendship is very special. Then parental is even more special. Then conjugal is the most special loving relationship. Friendship, parental and conjugal are the three loving relationships that is not available in Vaikuntha. That is available only in Vrindavan.

Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When a devotee develops a loving relationship with Krishna in awe and reverence – that means recognizes that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and he is Krishna’s eternal servant – he serves Krishna in the mellow of servitorship. That is a natural relationship with Krishna, dasya rasa. But beyond that is friendship. Generally friendship cannot be developed with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why? Because friendship takes place between the equals. Who can become equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Therefore it is not possible to become God’s friend. In friendship the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees are equal but in parental relationship the devotees are superior and Krishna is inferior. God has become smaller and devotees have become bigger in parental relationship. So who can become bigger than the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Not possible. And then in conjugal, a loving relationship like that of a young girl and a young girl and a young boy. Now how can one develop that kind of relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Normally it is not possible, but in Vrindavan Krishna made it possible. How? By the arrangement of yoga-maya, Krishna made everyone forget that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In Vrindavan therefore one can develop this kind of relationships with Krishna because Krishna in Vrindavan is not the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Vrindavan Krishna is a cowherd boy. He is not acting like the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is just a cowherd boy and the other residents of Vrindavan do not treat Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They treat Him as their friend, as their son or as their lover. How it has been possible? It is possible only in Vrindavan only by the arrangement of yoga-maya because she made everybody forget that Krishna is God.

This is yoga-maya. Maya means illusion, forgetfulness. But this is a different kind of forgetfulness. It is not an illusion or forgetfulness out of ignorance but it is an illusion of forgetfulness out of intense love. In Vrindavan the love of the devotees for Krishna is so intense that due to their love they forgot who Krishna is. Due to their intense love they simply consider that Krishna is the object of their love and they have no other consideration. That mood is called prema-bhakti.

So Krishna considered, cira-kala nahi kari prema-bhakti dana. I do not bestow, I do not offer this prema-bhakti usually. Generally I do not give this prema-bhakti. This is exclusively meant or deserved for Vrindavan, nowhere else it will appear. So when Krishna manifests His vraja-lila then he manifests His prema-bhakti. But then Krishna considers, “I do not give this prema-bhakti all the time. Now what to do? I have manifested My Vrindavan pastimes but people will not understand it. People will not be able to relate to this pastime.”

It has also been explained by Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. Actually He is expressing Krishna’s feelings. Krishna is saying,

sakala jagate more kare vidhi-bhakti vidhi-bhaktye vraja-bhava paite nahi sakti [Cc Adi 3.15]

Vidhi-bhakti or vaidhi-bhakti means devotional service following the rules and regulations of the scriptures. When a devotee executes his bhakti following the rules and regulations of the scriptures it is called vidhi-bhakti or vaidhi-bhakti. So Krishna is saying that sakala jagate more kare vidhi-bhakti, vidhi-bhaktye vraja-bhava paite nahi sakti – following vidhi-bhakti one cannot understand the mood of Vraja, vraja-bhakti. Vidhi-bhakti is simply based on servitorship and neutrality, santa and dasya. Then Krishna is actually saying,

aisvarya-jnane vidhi-bhajana kariya vaikunthake yaya catur-vidha mukti pana [Cc Adi 3.17]

That in the mood of awe and reveration, awe and reverence, awe and veneration when one renders devotional service following vaidhi-bhakti, he goes to Vaikuntha when he achieves perfection. So it is not possible to understand Vrindavan. They get four types of liberation by following vaidhi-bhakti – sarupya, samipya, salokya and sarsti – and they go to Vaikuntha, but Vraja is beyond Vaikuntha. So He is saying,

aisvarya-jnane vidhi-bhajana kariya vaikunthake yaya catur-vidha mukti pana [Cc Adi 3.17]

Therefore Krishna considered,

yuga-dharma pravartaimu nama-sankirtana cari bhava-bhakti diya nacamu bhuvana [Cc Adi 3.19]

apani karimu bhakta-bhava angikare apani acari’ bhakti sikhaimu sabare [Cc Adi 3.20]

So Krishna actually resolved that, “I will establish the yuga dharma in the age of kali.” Dvarpa yuga. What comes after Dvarpa yuga? Kali-yuga. So at the end of Dvarpa yuga Krishna displayed His vraja-lila and this planet and then Krishna considered, “How to give this vraja-prema to the people. I have performed my pastimes but how will everybody ever enter into Vrindavan?” Therefore Krishna resolved that, “In the age of kali I will appear to establish this yuga dharma. And what is the yuga dharma for the age of kali?… sankirtana is the yuga dharma for the age of kali.

So He says, yuga-dharma pravartaimu nama-sankirtana – “I will establish the yuga dharma of harinam sankirtan and by doing that I will give these four types of relationships – dasya, sakhy, vatsalya and madhurya – and by Myself who has assumed the mood of a devotee, and by acting as a devotee I will teach everybody how to become a devotee of Krishna. In this way I will inundate the age of kali and make everybody dance in ecstasy. I will inundate the entire world with this loving relationship of krsna-prema and make everybody dance in ecstasy.” That is why Sri Krishna came as Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu in this particular place called Navadvip. And what is Navadvip? As I just mentioned earlier, this Navadvip is New Vrindavan. In this Navadvip Radha and Krishna became one. This Navadvip has been created by Srimati Radharani. It is not just an ordinary place. This place has been personally created by Srimati Radharani. So you can well imagine how special this place is.

Just by coming here, just by associating with the devotees of Krishna, just by hearing about Krishna’s activities and pastimes as Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu one can develop krsna-prema. Just by being here, just by offering obeisances, one offers his worship to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just by taking each step in Navadvip one derives the benefit of ten million horse sacrifices, asvamedha yajna. The performance of one horse sacrifice makes one the king of the earth planet. A hundred horse sacrifices makes one the king of heaven, Indra. Now just consider, taking one step in Navadvip one derives the benefit of ten billion horse sacrifices. This is what Navadvip means. Now that we are all here lets try to take that ultimate benefit of this place. Every dust particle of Navadvip is surcharged with spiritual potency. All the trees and plants here are desire trees, kalpavrksa. The cows here are the surabhi cows. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s eternal pastimes are going on here. We simply have to develop our spiritual vision then we will be able to see those pastimes. Caitanya Mahaprabhu manifested this particular place in here on the earth planet in this age of kali with a very special mission, very special purpose. The purpose is to give krsna-prema. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu has been worshipped as,

namo maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradaya te krsnaya krsna-caitanya- namne gaura-tvise namah

[CcMadhya 19.53]

Krsna-prema-pradaya te – the special aspect of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is that He distributes, He gives krsna-prema. That is why Krishna has appeared, krsnaya krsna-caitanya- Krishna has appeared as Caitanya Mahaprabhu to distribute krsna-prema. One verse has been written on the board. The board is so far away that I felt hardly any of you will be able to read the verse from the board therefore I did not get into reading the verse. I will just read the verse now. It says,

anarpita-carim cirat karunayavatirnah kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam harih purata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah sada hrdaya-kandare sphuratu vah saci-nandanah

Meaning anarpita-carim carat that which was not given before for a long long time. In order to distribute that karunayavatirnah kalau. Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu has appeared in the age of kali. And what is that unusual asset? What is that unusual gift that Krishna is giving as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu? unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam – bhakti sri – the wealth of devotion, wealth of His own devotion, sva-bhakti-sriyam in unnatojjvala-rasam, in the most elevate, unnato, most elevated and ujjvala in most brilliant-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam.

Inorder to distribute that harih purata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah. Hari, Sri Krishna has appeared assuming a molten golden form. Krishna’s complexion is syam. Krishna is Syamasundar. That means Krishna’s complexion is dark. It has been described like the monsoon cloud or it is like deep blue, a very, very unique color. Once Prabhupada mentioned that Krishna’s complexion is not a material thing that we can define it by some material description. Krishna’s complexion is spiritual. It is completely non material. So the concept of black that we have in the material nature is not the complexion of Krishna. Similarly the conception of white that we have in the material world that is not the complexion of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is a completely transcendental color but Prabhupada is saying that, that complexion comes very close to the color of monsoon cloud. In monsoon when the cloud appears, it appears to be quite dark.

So that is like Krishna’s complexion. But harih purata-sundara-dyuti- Krishna who is Syamsundar assumed the complexion, which is not dark. It is like molten gold, purata-sundara-dyuti. Purata means molten gold. When gold melts the color that it assumes, it is somewhat like that. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s complexion is like that. Now His complexion is, the complexion that Krishna assumed in this form is the complexion of Srimati Radharani. So Krishna assumed the internal mood of Srimati Radharani and the external complexion of Srimati Radharani. Radha-bhava-dyuti-suvalitam naumi krsna-svarupam [Cc Adi 1.5] Krishna assumed the bhava, the mood of Srimati Radharani and Krishna assumed the complexion of Srimati Radharani. And what is the mood of Srimati Radharani? Radharani’s mood is love for Krishna. Radharani is the personification of that mood which is called maha-bhava. Mahabhava-svarupa sri-radha-thakurani [Cc Adi 4.69] Srimati Radharani is the personification, svarupini. Radha bhava svarupini, maha bhava svarupini. Srimati Radharani is the personification of the most intense love for Krishna.

In simple words we can say, consider love is a substance. The love for Krishna is a substance. If that substance is collected together and you collect it, then that substance takes a form. That form is Srimati Radharani. Materially we cannot understand that. We will never be able to understand that because in the material nature the form and the substance are different but in the spiritual context everything is personified. So this intense love for Krishna is personified, or the love for Krishna is personified in Srimati Radharani. And all those who love Krishna are the expansions of Srimati Radharani.

Again we are trying to intellectually conceive it but it is a totally spiritual consideration. Radharani is the personification of Hladini sakti. Hladini sakti is intensified just as the milk is churned into butter, then butter is made into ghee. In this way the more and more concentrated form of a substance take the shape of a specific form. Similarly the substance of hladini sakti takes the most intense form in mahabhava, the loving relationship. The highest most intense loving relationship with Krishna and that is Srimati Radharani.

So Krishna assumed that mood of Srimati Radharani and the complexion of Srimati Radharani. Radha-bhava-dyuti-suvalitam naumi krsna-svarupam [Cc Adi
1.5] So Krishna assumed the mood of Srimati Radharani and the complexion of Srimati Radharani. Now here also another question comes – these questions are actually raised by the Goswamis, especially Rupa Goswami and Jiva Goswami. They are actually making this point – that Krishna assumed the mood of Srimati Radharani and the complexion of Srimati Radharani, just the mood and complexion. But they are pointing out, no. This mahabhava is Radharani Herself. So when Krishna assumes that mahabhava Krishna actually accepted Srimati Radharani completely in Himself.

In this respect an example is given. A cloth is made with threads. The threads are woven into cloth. From the cloth if you take all the threads away will there be any cloth left? No. Similarly mahabhava svarupini, Srimati Radharani is the personification of mahabhava. So when that mahabhava has been taken up by Krishna then is anything left of Srimati Radharani? No. So Radharani in totality is present in Krishna – Caitanya Mahaprabhu. That when Krishna and Radha becomes one that is Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and at that time Krishna does not remain Krishna, Krishna actually becomes Radha. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna who has become Radha – in simple words that is Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is not Krishna anymore. He is Srimati Radharani. In this appearance what is He doing? In one hand He is distributing the mercy of Krishna, He is distributing krsna-prema.

She is thinking that, “I am craving so much for this krsna-prema.” I know what the value and need is of this. I know this is a necessity of this love for Krishna, krsna-prema. Therefore let everybody have it.” So in that mood of Srimati Radharani, Krishna is distributing this krsna-prema. Therefore, maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradaya te – He is distributing krsna-prema. Krishna -prema that is so rare, that it is even rare for Laksmidevi, what to speak of Brahma and Siva. Although in the scriptures it has been described, brahma durlabha prema – this vraja-prema is rare even for Brahma, this vraja-prema is even rare for Lord Siva but actually this vraja-prema is rare even for Laksmidevi.

Laksmidevi was begging Krishna, “Give me some vraja-prema.” She asked Narayan, “Will you please allow me to enter into Vrindavan and watch Your Vraja pastimes? Will You please allow me to dance in Your rasa-lila?” Narayan said, “Yes, but you have to follow a resident of Vraja in order to become eligible. Laksmidevi said, “How is it possible? I am Laksmi. How can I stoop down to anybody else? That will be and insult to Your position. I am Your eternal consort and I am Laksmi. I cannot bow down to anybody else. I cannot become subservient to anybody else.” Then Narayan said, “Okay. Then forget about entering into Vraja.”

Laksmidevi became so upset that she decided to perform austerity to acquire the eligibility to enter into Vrindavan and due to her intense austerity Krishna personally came to ask, “Laksmi what happened? Why are you performing this austerity?” Then Laksmidevi explained everything to Him and expressed her desire to enter into vraja-lila, to see vraja-prema. Then Krishna took Laksmidevi in His chest and Laksmidevi had to enter into Vrindavan becoming Srivatsa in the chest – as Sri personified in the chest of Sri Krishna.

So this is how rare this krsna-prema is. And this krsna-prema Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is distributing to anyone and everyone. And in His distribution Nityananda Prabhu is the main assisitant and Nityananda Prabhu is distributing it. Mahaprabhu said, “Go ahead, give it to anybody.” And Nityananda Prabhu is announcing, “Please come and take this krsna-prema.”

jare dekhe tare kohe dante trna dhori’ amare kiniya loho bhajo gaura-hari

Whomever He sees He tells him in a very humble mood that, “Please purchase Me with the price of chanting this holy name.”

eto boli’ nityananda bhume gadi jay sonara parvata jeno dhulate lotay

In this way Nityananda Prabhu rolls on the ground and it appears as if a golden mountain is rolling on the ground.

premera banya loiya nitai aila gauda-dese dubilo bhakata-gana dina hina bhase [Nitai guna mani amara]

With the flood of love of krsna-prema Nityananda Prabhu appeared in the land of Gauda-dese and He inundated the whole world filled it with this krsna-prema. Everybody became inundated. Everybody drowned in that love and those who did not submit themselves to this inundation even they got carried away by the waves of this ocean.

This is how mercifully Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to distribute this krsna-prema with the mood of Srimati Radharani. So today is the day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in this Navadvip, in this Nava Vrindavan, a very special Vrindavan where He is distributing krsna-prema. He is still performing His pastimes, [Bengali] Still today, gauravani, Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu Gauranga is performing His pastimes, nitya-lila. Only some fortunate souls get to see those pastimes. Who are those fortunate souls who have developed their spiritual vision? How to develop that spiritual vision? By chanting the holy name, jivan mukhi hi jiva dau (?) The service rendered by different senses – with our ears we hear, with our skin we touch and so forth but what does the tongue do? sevon mukhe hi jivadau [Brs. 1.2.234] What does the tongue or jiva do? Jiva does two activities, tongue speaks and tastes. So if we can engage our tongue in these two very simple activities, chant the holy name of the Lord and honor krsna prasad. Just by doing these two activities svayam eva sphuraty adah – the holy name, Krishna will automatically – svayam eva will become manifest. Is it difficult? [Audience answer, “No.”] Who doesn’t like to eat delicious krsna prasad.

krsna bado doyamoy, koribare jihva jay, swa-prasad-anna dilo bhai

Very mercifully Krishna gave His maha prasad so we can just relish without karma. This will be the service to Krishna through our tongue and we can chant the holy name and by doing that we can experience Krishna in our hearts svayam eva sphuraty adah. Krishna will manifest. Krishna will appear Himself in our hearts. So this is how simple the process is in this age of kali. So now HH Bhakti Purusottama Maharaj will continue the class. [End of recording..]

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=8234

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Gaura Purnima is the celebration of most auspicious and adorable advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – The Golden Avatara.

The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to establish Sankirtana Movement – the yuga dharma for this age of Kali. He appeared on the full moon day in the month of Phalguna in the year 1486 AD at Sridham Mayapura as the son of Sri Jagannath Mishra and Srimati Sachidevi.

In the revealed scriptures Lord Krsna was predicted to appear as Golden Avatara(incarnation) as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to propound and propagate the congregational chanting of Holy name of the Lord “ Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare /Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare “ in order to counteract the contaminating influence of this debilitating and despicable age of quarrel and hypocrisy and attain the spiritual perfection.

In this age there is an ocean of faults in action which incurs irredeemable reaction. People are excessively and exceedingly engrossed in ameliorating material condition of life by neglecting their spiritual elevation and enrichment. Maya is ruling unchallenged and unthreatened due to forgetfulness of God.

In this deplorable and disgraceful condition , only rescue and resort is the unfathomable and unbounded mercy of Lord Chaitanya which makes this abominable age worship-able ,transforms inauspicious to auspicious, joyless to joyful ,unfortunate to fortunate and launching frontal attack on the headquarter of Maya.

That is the reason why Vedic scripture glorifies the Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as most munificent incarnation .In other incarnation Lord demanded surrender first to deliver the fallen soul but Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu freely distributed process for delivering the fallen soul from clutches of Maya without any condition and discrimination.

Lord Chaitanya introduced, induced ,infused the Sankirtana yajna the joyfully chanting and dancing of Holy name of Lord without any requirement of understanding Vedic scripture, undergoing sever austerities of meditation, expensive fire sacrifice and complicated temple worship.

Simply by chanting the Holy Name of Lord Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare one can immediately transcend the negative influence of this dark age and experience the higher taste and discard the lower taste which shackles us in the miserable material Prison house perpetually.

Lord Chaitanya Mercy is a special privilege in this age which empowered and inspired us to triumphantly march out from prison house of material existence on the path of Sankirtana which leads to highest spiritual planet Goloka Vrindavan.

Your Servant

Visvambhar Dasa

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=43668

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Early Miracles Of Caitanya Mahaprabhu

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By Amala Bhakta Dasa

Though Lord Caitanya is known as Krsna’s hidden incarnation,
His biographers have preserved accounts of His displays of divinity.

SOON AFTER LORD CAITANYA began His movement for chanting the holy name of the Lord (sankirtana), many of His followers would sing, dance, and play musical instruments for many hours in glorification of Lord Krsna. Some envious brahmanas resented the Lord’s increasing power and influence over the people and decided to try to check Him at any cost.

These brahmanas complained to the Muslim Kazi, or governor, that Lord Caitanya’s movement was sinful and would result in Navadvipa’s becoming deserted. Many Muslims also complained, but mainly about the resounding noise of the sankirtana. All the fault-finders urged the Kazi to banish the Lord from the city.

These reports greatly angered the Kazi. So one evening, entering a home in which sankirtana was in progress, the Kazi broke a devotee’s drum. He then banned all sankirtana and threatened serious punishment to anyone who violated his order. Shocked and disheartened, the devotees informed Lord Caitanya, who then organized a massive civil disobedience march consisting of hundreds of thousands of devotees engaged in a thunderous sankirtana.

When the demonstration reached the Kazi’s residence, Lord Caitanya conversed with him on several issues, and the governor revealed an amazing experience he’d had.

“On the evening I broke the drum and forbade any further sankirtana,” the Kazi said, “I had a horrifying dream. I saw a dreadful creature with a human body and a lion’s face roaring loudly. He jumped on my chest and savagely laughed at me. Placing His nails on my chest, He said in a grim voice, ‘I shall tear your chest apart the way you broke the drum! You have forbidden the performance of My congregational chanting; therefore I must kill you.'”

“Horribly afraid, I shut my eyes and trembled. Then the man-lion said, ‘I have conquered you just to teach you a lesson. But I will be merciful to you because on that day you did not create a big disturbance. So I have forgiven you and not killed you. But if you do that again, I will destroy you, your entire family, and all the meat-eaters [the Muslims].'”

“After the man-lion said this, He left. I would like you to see the scratches He made over my heart.”

The Kazi then revealed his chest, and as the people there saw the scratches, they were astonished. Everyone realized that Lord Nrsimha, the half-man, half-lion incarnation of God, who had appeared long ago to kill the demon Hiranyakasipu and protect His devotee Prahlada, had again appeared for a similar purpose. But what most people did not know was that Lord Caitanya Himself was also Lord Nrsimha-and thus His sankirtana mission could not be checked.

The Kazi then revealed something equally extraordinary.

On the same day that he had dreamed about Lord Nrsimha, one of his soldiers said, “When I went to stop the congregational chanting, suddenly flames struck my face. My beard was burned and there were blisters on my cheeks.”

Every other orderly who had tried to check the devotees’ sankirtana reported a similar expenence .

But even more remarkable was that some of the complaining Muslims, after hearing the Hare Krsna mantra, began to uncontrollably chant it, even though they had no desire to.

When the conversation ended, the Kazi said to Lord Caitanya, “To all my future descendants, I give this solemn order: No one should ever stop the saiikirtana movement.”

His descendants have respectfully honoured those words.

THE LORD REVIVES A CHILD

One night at Srivasa Thakura’s house, Lord Caitanya, along with His devotees, was deeply absorbed in sankirtana. During the festival, Srivasa Thakura was informed that one of his sons, who had been seriously ill, had just died. To avoid disturbing Lord Caitanya and His devotees, Srivasa forbade his family members from expressing their sorrow and grief at that time. Thus, the blissful chanting and dancing continued without tearful interruptions.

But when the sankirtana ended, the omniscient Lord Caitanya said, “There must have been some calamity in this house.”

He was then told about the death of Srivasa’s son.

“Why wasn’t this news given to Me earlier?” He sorrowfully asked.

Then He went to the deceased body and said, “My dear boy, why are you leaving Srivasa Thakura’s house ?”

The soul of the dead boy re-entered the body and replied, “I’ve lived here for as long as I was destined to. That time is now over. So I’m going someplace else now-to wherever You’re sending me. I’m Your eternal servant, a living being who depends on You. I must act only in harmony with Your wish. I can’t do anything else. I have no such power.”

Hearing these words, all the members of Srivasa Thakura’s family received transcendental knowledge and felt happily assured. Thus, they felt no reason to lament or grieve anymore.

THE LORD REVEALS HIMSELF

One day, in Jagannatha Puri, Lord Caitanya had a philosophical discussion with the famous scholar Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya.

After the Lord defeated him on every point, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya thought, “Lord Caitanya is certainly Lord Krsna Himself. Because I could not understand Him and was very proud of my learning, I have committed many offenses.”

When Sarvabauma denounced himself as an offender and took shelter of Lord Caitanya, the Lord wanted to show him His mercy, so He manifested His four armed Visnu form. Then, just after this, He manifested His original two-armed Krsna form, with a blackish complexion and a flute near His lips.

When Sarvabauma Bhattacarya saw this, he prostrated himself before the Lord. Then he arose and with folded palms offered Lord Caitanya prayers of glorification. By the Lord’s mercy, all truths were revealed to him, and he could understand the importance of chanting God’s holy names and distributing love of God everywhere.

From that time on, Sarvabhauma did not know anything but reverence for the feet of Lord Caitanya. And all his explanations of the revealed scriptures were in strict accordance with the process of devotional service.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15895

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Gaura Purnima by Jayapataka Swami

 

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Paramananda madhavam sri caitanya isvaram. The situation in Navadvip and the whole of India that time was that people were religious but they were not spiritual. They were religious just to show on the outside but actually they did not know the purpose of religion. People spent a lot to marry off their daughter, to put on a big show to show that they were very religious. One such wealthy had no more daughters to marry off then he married a female cat or a female dog or some demigod. So this was not even in scripture. Marriage is for human beings. Like that they were doing all sorts of bogus religious activities just to show off.

The Vaisnavas were seeing how the people were wasting their valuable human life and nobody was taking up the process of bhagavat-dharma. At that time Sitanath Advaita Gosai was feeling very concerned about how to deliver the fallen souls. So He decided to do a special fast and yajna to bring the Lord down. Since He was an avatara of Maha Visnu therefore His name was Advaita. So He is non-different from Krishna. So He said, “Since I am non-different I will bring Him down. He must come also.”

So He began fasting and He was worshipping His saligram sila. By the way they say that saligrama is still in Santipura if you want to see. So He worshipped the saligram with Ganges water and Tulasi leaves and manjaris and loud crying – Govinda, Govinda, Hare Krishna – to bring the Lord down. His loud cries went all over the universe. His worship, his fasting! So this also reached Lord Caitanya and He agreed to come down.

At the same time or a similar time Jagannath Misra and Saci-mata had eight daughters but mysteriously each daughter died after childbirth. Jagannath Misra was very frustrated so he did a Visnu yajna for a son. Thus he was blessed with a son whom he named Visvarupa. Visvarupa was an expansion of Lord Baladeva. So he was Sankarsana. He was very powerful. He had prepared the womb to receive Lord Caitanya.

Then Jagannath Misra had a dream where he saw a radiant light come on his head to his heart and cross over to the heart of Saci-mata and go into her womb. So he told her about his dream. He thought, “A great soul will be born to us.” And then she became pregnant. Everybody changed. They started treating Jagannath Misra with so much respect and they gave him donations. He was a poor brahmana and so doing his duties he barely made ends meet. But now he was getting things were made of gold and silver. He was amazed at what happened. “It was like the goddess of fortune was living in my house.”

Meanwhile the devas knew the Supreme Lord was going to make His appearance and so they came and offered their prayers to Lord Caitanya in the womb of Mother Saci. They prayed that, “You are going to give out love of Krishna freely to all the conditioned souls. So we are Your devotees in the heavenly planets, the devas and we need Your mercy more. We don’t have material problems because in heavenly planets there is a very comfortable lifestyle but we have two problems. One problem is that sometimes the daityas, the asuras attack us and we have to fight against them risking our lives. Secondly we are so comfortable that we forget to worship You. Therefore we live in a kind of sense gratification and as a result we don’t get love of Krishna. So we need Your mercy more. We need Your mercy so that we can get love of Krishna. So please have mercy on us.”

Normally the devas would be invisible but somehow Saci-mata saw their shadows. By the will of the Lord they cast some shadows so she thought a spirit has come so she started to chant Nrsimha mantras –
namas te narasimhaya prahladahlada-dayine hiranyakasipor vaksah-sila-tanka-nakhalaye [Sri Nrsimha Pranama]

So the devas thought, “How can she see us? How does she know we are here? This is all because of the Lord.” So they had to suddenly leave. So they thought so many things are happening. The thirteenth month of her pregnancy had come up so Saci-mata went to see her father who was Nilambara Cakravati. He was a famous astrologer. So they asked him when the child would be born. He said that He will be born this month at an auspicious time. So He was born on a full moon day. That day was a lunar eclipse. Since He is like a moon and is unblemished why would He need in the material moon which is full of marks?

So the moon was covered by Rahu and because of the lunar eclipse at that time all the Hindus went into the water of the Ganges and they thought it was pure to chant. Otherwise they wouldn’t chant the holy names aloud. But in the water they chanted – Govinda, Govinda. Haribol. Haribol, Haribol. Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. So Srivas was hearing the loud chanting of the holy names and he said to his sons, “Why do they say this is an inauspicious day? Listen how everyone is chanting loudly the holy names. This is very auspicious.” The Muslims heard the Hindus chanting and they were making fun, mocking the sinful Hindus – Haribol, Hare Rama hahahaha, Hare Krishna, hahahaha. So somehow or the other everybody was chanting Haribol, Haribol, Haribol Hare Krishna.

At that auspicious time Lord Caitanya appeared at the sunset and moonrise. Then even though they did not know why all the devotees began to dance. They felt so happy. Haridasa Thakura, Advaita Gosai, Srivas and everybody were dancing [Sings] Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. At that time as was customary Saci-mata was outside the house in a little cottage built under the neem tree. So Lord Caitanya was born under a neem tree. Therefore He got the nickname Nimai. A neem tree was considered very auspicious because it would keep away all the evil spirits, ghosts etc.

At that time the village ladies came to visit to see the newborn baby. He was golden in color. Taking the opportunity the heavenly devas descended from the heavenly planets and went along with the local residents to see the baby whom they knew to be an avatara of Lord Krishna. Mother Saci saw these beautiful ladies and wondered where they were all coming from. She did not know that some were devas and some were from other planets. At that time it was all the auspicious – simha, lagna, rasi – all the auspicious stars and astrological influences were there. All the planets lined up just to please the Lord.

On this day actually when the Ganges was brought down by Bhagirath had faced a lot of different problems. One problem was with Jahnu Muni. Jahnu Muni drank the Ganges. That problem was solved and Jahnu Muni re manifested the Ganges but the Ganges stopped outside the birthplace of Lord Caitanya and Bhaghirath was crying, “Why you are stopping?” And she said, “It will soon be Gaura-purnima and I want to be here on that day so that I can get the special blessings then I will go with you down to Sindh.”

So today is also called the Ganganagar(?) day. The day of Lord Hanuman spreading love of Krishna along the Ganges. On this day many devotees like to take their bath. If you go in the morning you will get covered with colors. If you go in the afternoon it should be okay. But you must go in a group. If you are swimming please be very careful. Just dip and out or take some water.

In any case this is a very auspicious day. Lord Krishna although He appeared came in Kali-yuga as a devotee. He did not broadcast that he was the Lord. A few times to some individuals, to Advaita Gosai He showed who He was. Otherwise he would not allow anyone to break the protocol that He was a devotee because that was His lila. As a result many people don’t understand how Lord Caitanya is actually an avatara. But if you see in the various scriptures He was predicted – that the Lord would come in Navadvip, He will be the son of Saci who will live for 24 years as a grhasta and 24 years as a sannyasi. All these things are predicted. So He matches up. He also did activities which no ordinary person could do. Also His symptoms matched with the prediction. So these are the three things how to confirm an avatara.

In two hundred years His movement was covering the whole of the eastern India. It was affected. But somehow there was an influence of sahajyaism that … His movement. People thought that just by imagining they could be considered as a sakhi or some great devotee rather than try to please Krishna, try to serve Krishna, try to do what Krishna wants. Then Krishna will automatically recognise the devotee. Instead they just imagined that I could be whatever I want without doing any real service or sadhana. This was due to the whole influence of the Daityas. They teamed up with Kali to get the …

So our great acaryas like Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had to fight to re-establish Vaisnavism where it belongs. In the time of Bhaktivinoda Thakura there were 30 apasampradayas. He sang about them: aula, baula, kartabhaja, prakrta-sahajiya, sakhi-bheki, jati-gosai, gaura-nagari. All those sampradayas are still there but they are not as strong as they used to be.

One time one of our friends, an editor of a paper had his office and residence in Navadvip brought over one sadhu. She was wearing a sari. I thought this was a chaste lady. She turned around and revealed she was a sakhi bheki. That means a man who is dressed like a lady. The mood was like a sakhi. He wants to experience what it feels like to be a manjari by dressing like one externally.

Prabhupada was saying how Bhaktisiddhanta fought to establish Krishna consciousness and to take away the dominion of the caste brahmanas who were controlling the whole thing. So these caste brahmanas the deferred that anyone who is not born brahmana, even if they are born brahmanas but have some lack in them are not bona fide. So they basically said that such great acaryas like Sanatan Goswami, Rupa Goswami, Narottama Syamananda and so many others are all unbona fide. They are only bona fide. So Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had to go andcall a big meeting and then he said how a Vaisnava has all the qualifications of a brahmana and more.

So these caste brahamanas came together and they said Lord Caitanya is not an avatara. They claimed to be Lord Caitanya’s descendants. Then Bhaktisiddhanta said from the Vedas and the Puranas how Lord Caitanya was predicted. Thus he established lord Caitanya to be actually Krishna avatara. After that these caste brahmanas were defeated.

So Prabhupada was able to initiate devotees all over the world as brahmanas, as Vaisnavas because of the work done by our previous acaryas. We have now the great duty to keep up the fight. Our duty is to establish Lord Caitanya in His rightful position as Krishna Himself who came as a devotee to give freely love of Krishna, to show how to be a devotee and for some internal reasons. So this is our duty. Once Prabhupada said: work now samadhi later.

I went to Srila Prabhupada when I became a devotee. I called my parents and I though they will be very pleased. I called them and told them, “Now I am a devotee and i have all these high moral standards.” My father said, “I am disowning you. I am turning your name over to the American army. You have to fight in the Vietnam.” I went to Prabhupada and said, “What shall I do? My father wants to turn me over to the army.” He said, “Better you fight in Krishna’s army.”

So I joined Krishna’s army. [Applause] So we need a lot of soldiers in an army. I am old now but still I am trying with my last breath to do something for Srila Prabhupada. All of you can please do something to spread this movement. The next thing I like to say he is a very good warrior – Sivarama Maharaj. The parliament n Hungary has declared Iskcon as a bona fide religion. All glories to HH Sivarama Swami and the Hungarian devotees. [Applause] Kirtan or any questions? We have a few minutes for questions.

Prabhu: Maharaj your holiness inspired our enthusiasm and dedicated devotional activities. Today the 526 birth anniversary of Lord Caitanya. You just mentioned that we are all members of the spiritual army of Lord Krishna. We are so much inspired by your devotion and dedication. Just mention please Lord Caitanya is the universal Lord. Why do so many people say that only brahmana can become the pujari of Lord Krishna temple? Why Lord Caitanya mentioned that: prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama, sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama. Lord Caitanya said that: kiba vipra, kiba nyasi, sudra kene naya, yei krsna-tattva-vetta, sei ‘guru’ haya [Cc Madhya 8.128] Why so many spiritual personalities say that only guru should be a brahmana? Hare Krishna. HH Jayapataka Swami: Because some authorities do not know the Vaisnava philosophy. If they know the Vaisnava philosophy they do not say that. That is why you have to read Prabhupada’s books. There are ample books, ample sastra that says that one is brahmana not by birth. Krishna also says: guna-karma-vibhagasah [Bg 4.13] By quality, by work. He does not say janma karma, He says guna karma. So these people just want to establish their birthright. By birth right they are brahmana bandhu. To become a brahmana their parents should have done garbhodana samskara. If they did not do that, then they are not really brahmanas. In Kali-yuga one should be a Vaisnava and then automatically the twelve qualities of a brahmana will manifest in that devotee. There are many examples were the brahmanas did not know Vaisnava philosophy as taught by Srila Prabhupada. They are in their little box. They don’t see the bigger picture. They don’t know all the sastras. To preach in India you have to know the sastra because people are a bit more philosophical.

I was standing in Hyderbad outside the general Post Office and someone walked up to me and said, ‘Excuse me. In chapter 12 of Bhagavad-gita, verse 18 says that…” You don’t get that kind of question in America or London usually while standing on a public street. So here you have to know philosophy. If you do then there is no problem. Sastra supports – we are not just sentimentalists. Mataji: Hare Krishna Maharaj. We are very grateful for the activities we have done in the past few years. Your health condition is not so good. My question is if we do some sinful activities and you have to take them. Is there any way you can teach us how to avoid that or to improve that so that you cannot take too much of our sins? HH Jayapataka Swami: One thing is if you sin a lot, doing sinful activities. Through our daily activities of Tulasi puja, japa, seeing the Deities we can burn lot of karma. From the disciples side they should avoid committing sinful activities. The siksa guru does not get sinful activities unless he gives wrong siksa. The diksa guru gets some reactions if the disciple doesn’t follow. Like Prabhupada said if they come up want to advance in Krishna consciousness and if they are serious and sincere you should not turn them away. So we have some testing to see if people are really serious beyond that what can we do? Kirtan!

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=10366

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Gaura Purnima with Srila Prabhupada

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By HG Srutakirti das

I was fortunate to be with Srila Prabhupada in 1975 when Prabhupada was here in Mayapur for Gaura-purnima in March. And what I wanted to try to do, although it’s not so possible to do, but I am going to try anyway to give just a little bit of an idea of being with Prabhupada and some of the things that Srila Prabhupada was seeing. Not that I know how he was seeing them, but what he was seeing. Because what he did was he traveled around the world in two months at the time. He left Juhu, Bombay, which was a very pet project of Srila Prabhupada’s, that he worked so hard to develop, it is a very wonderful project in Bombay. And he left there June 24th and he was back in Mayapur in less than two months.

In two months Prabhupada traveled around the world and he went to approximately 14 temples in that time. Now, what for me was significant was seeing Srila Prabhupada go from one temple to the next knowing that he was going to be in Mayapur for Gauara-purnima, and seeing so many things. Because what has happened is he had left Bombay and he flew into Japan where he stayed a few days, and then he went to the Hawaii temple, New Navadwip. Hawaii temple was the very first temple in the West Prabhupada named New Navadwip. They were the first temple to have Panca-tattva deities outside of India. So this place is still there, Panca-tattva is still there, Prabhupada’s quarters are there. So he spent time there. Prabhupada said it was one of his favourite places. He described two favourite palces. Sometimes he described other favourite places but he said he liked Juhu and Hawaii very much because they had coconut trees, just like here. So Prabhupada was very fond of dab (coconut drink). He would say, ‘Dab, give me dab.’

So after going to Hawaii and then Los Angeles, he started a very amazing tour and this tour began to take him through Mexico and South America and then through North America. But what I say that was very significant, and I hadn’t seen it so much before, was Prabhupada’s mood when he was in the temple room. Now you can try to imagine. This is not 2008, this was 1975. Prabhupada had spent ten years spreading Krsna consciousness around the world. Previous to that, there was no chanting of Hare Krishna anywhere outside of India. There was no understanding about Lord Caitanya, Panca-tattva, Krishna, all these things didn’t exist. He spent ten years planting this seed of Krishna consciousness everywhere in the world. And now we maybe take these things for granted its so easy, it so nice. Everywhere you go you can see Krishna devotees, you can see the form of the Lord.

But in 1975, by this time there were over 100 temples all around the world and Prabhupada was visiting these temples, some of them for the first time. And when he went to Mexico City there were hundreds of devotees chanting. When Prabhupada was giving class the crowd was like this. There were hundreds of people chanting Hare Krsna in Mexico. And I felt very strongly that Prabhupada was becoming overwhelmed every time he saw Lord Caitanya’s mercy prevalent…he could see it in the numbers of people chanting. And in each temple he would sit down on the vyasasana and he would look onto the altar and there on the altar was Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda standing there smiling and just distributing love of Godhead everywhere. This was Prabhupada’s success.

And Prabhupada would sometimes become overwhelmed in ecstatic feelings seeing devotees in the western world, the land of so many mlecchas. And there I remember one day one lady, and elderly lady she asked, in Spanish, so she asked, at the end there were questions and answers, so she spoke and Hrdayananda Maharaja translated, and she said…because Prabhupada was speaking how important it is at the time of death to remember Krishna…so she said, “Srila Prabhupada, what if at the time of death we remember you?” So Maharaja he translated and Prabhupada he just smiled a little and said,
(soft, humble tone) “That’s alright.” So when I heard that I was very, very happy. To this day it makes me very, very happy to know we just remember Srila Prabhupada even. If we could be so lucky to be serving Srila Prabhupada to the time of our last breath that we can remember him. That would be alright. We have Prabhupada’s guarantee.

So then he went from Mexico city and he went to Caracas, Venezuela. He had never been in Caracas, Venezuela but his disciple were there. There were hundreds of them, chanting Hare Krsna, in 1975. So many wonderful devotees were there. I had lived there for six months the year previous to that so I knew many of the devotees and I was very happy to go back. But as soon as Prabhupada sat down, he looked onto the altar and who was there? Gauranga, Nityananda standing on the altar just showering Their blessings to everyone. Prabhupada just looked at Them and already there were tears in his eyes. Because Prabhupada didn’t think, ‘I am spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world,’ that was not how he thought. He thought, ‘Lord Caitanya He is so merciful,’ so he spoke like that. Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, They are so merciful that They’ve come here to distribute love of God.’

So as he went from place to place and he is approaching Mayapur, he was just so overwhelmed to see that Krishna consciousness was going all around the world. Of course he was giving credit to his disciples, he was giving credit to his spiritual master, to Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur and he was just a humble servant. But we knew, we could understand it was Prabhupada that planted the seed, he watered the seed, and he cultivated all of these seeds, all around the world. With his books he continues to do that.

So he was going to each place. When he was in Caracas he was in the room one day with the devotees giving darshan. It was in the evening and there were mosquitoes. Like in Mayapur we have a few mosquitoes here. So there they also had some mosquitoes. And one of the devotees was looking and he was seeing the mosquitoes were bothering him, but Prabhupada didn’t seem to have any mosquitoes. And he said, “Prabhupada, do mosquitoes…they know you are a pure devotee and they have…they’re not biting you.” And Prabhupada laughed. He said, “Yes. Here the mosquitoes have respect for me. But in Vrindavan they have no such respect.”

Once in Vrindavan he rang the bell. It was 2 o’clock in the morning, he was trying to translate. And he would never ever ring the bell while I was taking rest. He would let me rest. But he rang the bell and when I went into his room, he was sitting in centre of the room just sitting there chanting. He was never sitting just on the floor, he was always behind his desk, translating, speaking, reading. And I came in and offered obeisances, I was asleep and I just looked up and he said, “The mosquito, it has dethroned me.”

But what he was bothered by was, he said, “It is preventing me from doing my translating work.” So it was not that he was just sitting and the mosquito was bothering, but was preventing him from doing his service. So that’s when we got the mosquito net, first time. Just like here behind this seat, we had a big mosquito net around Prabhupada every night, we would put around him. So when he would come in to translate there was no disturbance.

So, from Caracas Prabhupada continued on and then he went to Miami temple. And in Miami he stayed for just one day and one night. And when he arrived, again hundreds of American boys and girls jumping up and down, chanting Hare Krishna. We were jumping up and down because Prabhupada was right in front of us, chanting, playing karatalas and chanting, encouraging us. Sometimes Prabhupada would look and he would go like this (nodding) and then that way he would make you bounce up and down just by his head going like this and then you would just jump up and down. And he would encourage that dancing, ‘Dance for Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda.’

Again he looked on the altar and Lord Caitanya was there. And Lord Nityananda was there, and immediately Prabhupada started speaking about how merciful he said, it was Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. He could see. How merciful was Srila Prabhupada to come to the west and give us this, this Hare Krishna mantra, Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. And as he was talking to the devotees, so personal, and he said, “Maybe in the future you will worship Radha-Krsna” He said, “But then you have to be very careful because with Radha-Krsna worship you cannot make any offenses.” He said, “Lord Caitanya He is very merciful, He will not even accept offenses.” Imagine how merciful the Lord is, how merciful the Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu He doesn’t even accept your offenses, but he said, “Radha-Krsna you must be very careful. But if you get Radha-Krsna or not, that’s okay because Radha-Krsna is there within Lord Caitanya.” So then he went on and spoke some more. (See Folio: Arrival Address, Miami February 25th, 1975)

So then, it got sweeter. Each place he was going to it just got more and more sweet. So then he went to Atlanta in the state of Georgia. In Atlanta when Prabhupada arrived, it was a small temple room, and again hundreds of devotees. And Prabhupada went and he sat down on the Vyasasana and the devotees are just crying, laughing, dancing, jumping. And then Prabhupada began to speak. It was not a big temple room so Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda were not so far away.

And when Prabhupada began to speak he said, “So we have just come…” and he described, “…we were just Los Angeles and then Mexico City, and then Caracas,” then he looked at me and I said “Miami,” and he said “Yes, Miami, and now we are here.” So he was tracing it everywhere he had been seeing the devotees, the Vaisnavas he had created everywhere in the world. Then he said, “So your temple is the best,” and all the devotees just went into ecstasy. And then he said, I’m going to read this, this was his lecture that day. It won’t take long. So Prabhupada was looking at the deities Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, and he said:

“So, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very kind. Parama karuna, paha dui jana. Two Lords, Nitai-Gauracandra, Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.” Now as he was speaking, he was becoming choked up. He wasn’t just speaking. Prabhupada was expressing his emotions about Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. He was completely overwhelmed and his eyes were filled with tears. And then he said, “They have appeared just to reclaim the fallen souls of this age. So They are more kind than Krsna. Krsna, He is also very kind. He comes to deliver. But Krsna demands that first of all surrender. Caitanya Mahaprabhu even does not demand surrender. He is so kind.”

And he couldn’t speak, but he continued, “So take shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and be happy. Thank you very much.” And at that time he just closed his eyes and as he closed his eyes, tears just shot out of his eyes. I was sitting right here [indicates to the front] and devotees were everywhere. It was the most amazing of all the times I was with Prabhupada, it was the most amazing thing. So he just shut his eyes and the room was completely quiet. Prabhupada didn’t move, no-one moved. I don’t even think anyone was breathing because we didn’t want to make one sound because we could understand Prabhupada was in complete ecstasy. And some minutes went by and then finally Prabhupada lifted his head and said, “Chant Hare Krsna.”
(See Folio: Arrival Address, Atlanta February 28th, 1975) So then the devotees they began chanting. And then Prabhupada gradually began playing the karatalas. So many wonderful things happened there, we don’t have time, we just have a short time to speak.

But one thing I have to tell you that happened there. As I said, Prabhupada was… something I had not experienced so much before… he just had this ecstasy that…it just began escaping from him. He was always in control of that, but it was just happening. So every night I would massage Prabhupada in his room there. For three days he stayed there, his quarters are still there just as when he stayed there. So as Prabhupada was laying down in bed, and he had his head up a little bit on the pillow and I was rubbing his legs and rubbing his feet, so the massage was going on for 10 or 15 minutes.

Prabhupada’s massage in the evening was the most personal intimate tie to be with Prabhupada. The lights were out, the room was dark. There would be some light from wherever, and no-one ever entered Prabhupada’s room while he received his evening massage, no-one ever came into Prahupada’s quarters. So it was just him and his servant. So as I was massaging, Prabhupada all of a sudden said, “I like the cowherd boys very much.” When he would speak in the evening it was nothing but nectar, always nectar. So just continued, never stopped massaging. And he was looking at the picture, big painting on the wall at the foot of his bed and he was just looking into it. So I looked and I realized he was looking and this picture was Krsna and Balarama and They were just young boys, 8 years old, and with Them there were thousands of cowherd boys and calves and they were just in the forest of Vrindavan. So Prabhupada was looking at that. So I am massaging.

Then he said, “Every day Krsna and Balarama They would go into the forest in Vrindavan. Before they would go, Their mothers would make lunches, prepare tiffins for Them.” I’m just shaking my head. Prabhupada is speaking very softly. Prabhupada is just there, right there inside that scene and he is speaking about it. When Prabhupada talked, he would just bring you, he would transport you right there. So he said, “Krsna’s mother Yashoda, she would make very nice tiffin and in it there would be puri, halava, kachori, laddhu. And the other cowherd boys, their mothers were not so opulent so their tiffins would have chapatti, rice, subji, like that.”

And then he said, “Then they would go and they would play all day, and they didn’t have the cows. They are just little boys so they would have the calves. The calves were with them. Then finally they would stop for lunch. Sometimes one of the cowherd boys would steal Krsna’s lunch and begin throwing it around, they would play keep-away with Krsna.” I’m just massaging the whole time. He said, “Finally the cowherd boys they would throw their lunch to Krsna and they would sit down with His lunch and they would eat puri, halava, kachori and laddhu. And Krsna would sit with them and He would eat the rice, chapatia and subji.”

He was smiling so brightly. And then he stopped, and I’m still massaging. Then he said, “I just want to go back to the spiritual world and eat kachori and laddhu with Krsna.” Then he closed his eyes and didn’t say anything more and I just kept massaging. So it was something, very rare experience that I could see Prabhupada was just so much ecstasy seeing everyone becoming Krsna conscious all over the world.

I’ll continue on, he went to Dallas, New York, England, Tehran and then he came here Calcutta and Mayapur in time for Gaura-purnima. So it was a very interesting arrival. He went into his room which was just finished in his quarters here in the Lotus Building. Jayapataka Maharaja was there, Bhavananda, Aitryea Rshi from Iran, myself, a few other devotees. So Prabhupada came in and he was very happy. He saw his quarters, the breeze going through and immediately Prabhupada said, “So the devotees all are situated very nicely? They’re all getting milk?”

Prabhupada always cared so much that we were taken care of, everyone of us. And then Bhavananda said, “Yes Srila Prabhupada, everyone has nice facility nice place to stay. Prabhupada it is your mercy.” Prabhupada said, “No, it is not my mercy, it is the mercy of Bhaktivinode Thakur.” And then Bhavananada said, “Prabhupada, you’ve made such a nice place, there is nice breezes, nice verandahs…” Prabhupada said, “I had some idea, but Krsna He provided all the intelligence.” So again he deflected these compliments as they were coming.

So then Prabhupada said, “It is the mercy of Srila Prabhupada,” meaning his spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. And then again the devotees said, ‘Prabhupada it is all your mercy that we are here.’ And Prabhupada said, “Bhaktivindode Thakur predicted that someone would come who would spread Krsna consciousness all around the world. Perhaps I am that person.” The only time Prabhupada ever said ‘perhaps’ or ‘maybe’ is when he would give us a little hint of who he was. Then he would say ‘maybe.’ Like he said, “Perhaps my father knew,” because his father would do anything he wanted, his father would give him. So he said, “Perhaps my father knew,” but that’s all he would say. He wouldn’t go into any detail, he wouldn’t glorify himself, you just had to understand.

So in that way he said, “Perhaps I’m that person.” And as soon as he said it as said, “So have you planted banana trees here in Mayapur?” He completely changed the subject, he wouldn’t even allow us to discuss it. He started talking about planting banana trees and mating a jersey cow with a surabhi cow, he just went off into all these practical details that he wanted done here in Mayapur. So he wouldn’t let us go. But we know, everyone knows, and we should tell everyone around world that Srila Prabhupada is that person that Bhaktivinode Thakur predicted would bring people from all over the world.

In five minutes if you walk from one building to the next, you will gear 20 different languages in the course of five minutes. So Prabhupada is that person who bought everyone here. And he is seeing Lord Caitanya doing this. So Lord Caitanya, He sent Srila Prabhupada here. We all know this, this is not difficult to understand.

So the next day Prabhupada goes into the temple room and again he sees Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda on the altar and again he began speaking about how merciful They are. And in the course of the lecture again Prabhupada went into ecstasy on the vyasasana and just couldn’t say another word, he just stopped. And there was complete silence. Hundreds of devotees, everyone from the west, 500 devotees, and 3 or 4 Bengali devotees, 3 or 4 devotees from Bombay, but everyone was from America, South America, Europe. He had bought them all here.

So then behind Prabhupada there was a sannyasi and Prabhupada was completely quiet. You could hear as they say, a pin drop. No one was even chanting on their beads because their bead would make noise. This is how appreciative we were to be in that atmosphere of ecstasy. We all felt various degrees of ecstasy because it was flowing from Srila Prabhupada. But all of a sudden this devotee, ‘Nama om vishnupadaya…” and he started a kirtan. And Prabhupada opened his eyes. So the kirtan went on, so then we had kirtan. So then after the kirtan, I am going up to the room, up the stairs into Prabhupada’s quarters, Brahmananda was his secretary, and Prabhupada went inside, Brahmananda Maharaja and myself, there was this big discussion outside with different sannyasis, GBCs, temple presidents, about what had happened at the kirtan.

So some devotees were saying, ‘We should have just been quiet, what are we doing? Why did he start chanting? Prabhupada was in ecstasy we should just be quiet.’ And there was another group that said, ‘No, chanting Hare Krishna is always correct. We should chant Hare Krishna, that’s ok.’ So that diversity was there, different opinions coming from different devotees.

So Brahmananda as the secretary, what else could we do, he said, ‘Well I’ll ask Prabhupada.’ So Brahmananda Maharaja and myself we go into Prabhupada’s room and we offer obeisances. And here is Prabhupada he is sitting on a cushion on the floor in his room in Mayapur as he did everywhere in the world. He just sat on a cushion on the floor with a little desk in front of him. So he is just sitting there and he is chanting japa. We come in and offer obeisances and Prabhupada looks up. He hasn’t called us so he is looking with an inquisitive face. I just sat beside him because I thought it was all rather funny.

Brahmananda is trying to think of what to say and he says, ‘Prabhupada, do you know this morning in the temple room, you went into ecstasy,’ and Prabhupada is just looking at him. So he said, ‘We’re having a discussion and we are trying to understand when you go into ecstasy on the vyasasana, what should we do?’ Prabhupada is looking at him and he said so humbly, ‘I don’t do that very often.’ I’m just sitting there and I’m thinking ‘This is really just bizarre.’ Then Brahmananda said, ‘Yes, Srila Prabhupada but like this morning when it happened and that devotee was chanting Hare Krishna, started kirtan and chanting, so…’ and before he could say anything Prabhupada said, ‘It’s not such an important thing.’

‘Yes, but if it happens, what should we do? Should we just sit there or should we chant?’ Prabhupada said ‘Chant Hare Krsna.’

‘Thank you Prabhupada.’

So that was the conclusion. Of course, I was very much in favour of just sitting there, even if it meant we had to sit there for hours. It was just so wonderful seeing Prabhupada do that in our presence, expose himself in that way. It’s something so rare, such rare moments in being with Prabhupada.

So as I said, this discussion was there, so many other discussions but I’m going to have to stop so Maharaja can speak. What I wanted to offer was……that these differences, so much diversity…we spoke here about unity in diversity. So as many disciples as there are, as many GBC as there are, so many different ideas how to spread Krsna consciousness, how to relate to one another, how to do so many other things, how to care for each other. The one thing I see that gives us unity, still to this day is Srila Prabhupada. We cannot be unified………(aside: Thank you) Maharaja said I can speak until
10.30.… it is Prabhupada that unifies us. It’s always Prabhupada that unifies us. As soon as you go into the temple room we offer our obeisances to Srila Prabhupada on the vyasasana. Then we greet the deities and we offer our obeisances again to Srila Prahbupada on the altar. So he is there for all of us. He is not exclusive. This is his society, he is the Founder-acarya and he has so many disciples he has empowered to give initiation, to increase the generations. But we all have the ability to taste the nectar that comes from Srila Prabhupada’s lotus mouth.

When I become his servant everyday I would go into Prabhupada’s room so many times, every day, and from the beginning sometimes I would go into Prabhupada’s room and he would be reading his books. And he would read his books and you would get the same sensation as if we were reading his books. He didn’t have a pen or paper, he wasn’t editing them to see if this is right, that was right, he was relishing these books.

So one day I went in, I been his servant for just a month, 1972 I was 21 years old. He was reading Bhagavad-gita. At this time there was only half a dozen books. First Canto Srimad Bhagavatam was there, Nectar of Devotion, Krsna Book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is….and Prabhupada was reading Bhagavad-gita and he rang his bell so I went in. And I offered obeisances and sat up, and he is holding his book, he has his reading glasses on and he just looks at me. I said, ‘Yes Prabhupada.’

And he said, ‘If you just read this one book, you can become Krsna conscious.’

‘Yes Prabhupada.’

‘You don’t have to read so many books, hundreds of books, this book is so nice, this Bhagavad-gita As It Is, is so nice, if you just read this one book and understand, you can become Krsna conscious.’

‘Yes Prabhupada.’

‘You don’t have to read so many books.’ And then he put his head down and just continued reading. Bhagavad-gita. That was it, he was finished, that’s why he called me in.

When I was with Prabhupada, most of the time he would talk to me I never felt like he was talking to me, I just thought he was speaking. I don’t know why because he was always talking to me because I was right there and he was talking to me very personally. But because I was very foolish and didn’t get that but I felt like he was on the vyasasana giving class, that’s how I felt many times, that he was giving a lecture and he was just talking about Krsna consciousness, not that he was directing it to me. But of course he was. So anyway, I offered obeisances and left.

So several months go by and one afternoon Prabhupada’s in Los Angeles and he rings the bell. So I run into the room and offer obeisances and sit up. He is sitting behind his desk and he is reading Nectar of Devotion, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, translated and commentary by Srila Prabhupada. And he is reading it, his book! Prabhupada is reading his books. Everything he told us to do, that’s what he was doing. He was reading his own books. So I came in and he just looked at me and he said, ‘This Nectar of Devotion is so nice. If you just read this one book you can become Krsna conscious.’ I am speechless, I’m just nodding my head, not even saying anything. ‘This book is so nice.’

Prabhupada is reading it, he is relishing his book like I don’t understand at all to this day. Then he said ‘You don’t have to read any other books, just read this book.’ He knew I wasn’t reading so he kept trying to get me to read something. He said, ‘Just this book, if you read it you can become Krsna conscious. It is so wonderful. Everything is in here. Just read this one book.’ He kept saying, ‘You don’t have to read anything else, just this book.’

‘Yes Prabhupada.’

And then he put his head down and then I could understand now I should go. So I offered obeisances and I left.

Another year goes by. Prabhupada is reading every day, every other day. He is translating every day, every morning, he is reading every day, doing bhajans in his room, playing harmonium, he is a devotee, Krsna’s very dear devotee and friend. So another year goes by, I’ve been with Prabhupada for over two years. He rings his bell and I go in and offer obeisances. He has his reading classes on and he is reading Krsna book. And he looked up at me and everyone knows what he said:

‘This book is so nice. If you just read this book you can become Krsna conscious, just by reading this one book. You don’t have to read so many books, dozens and dozens of books, hundreds of books, just this book, Krsna book. It’s so wonderful. If you just read it and try to understand, you will become Krsna conscious.’

‘Yes Prabhupada.’

‘You don’t have to read so many books. Just this book.’ He is showing me the book. Just me. I’m sitting three feet in front of him and he is just giving me this opportunity. He said, ‘You don’t have to read any other book. Just read this one book.’ And he kept looking at me. He didn’t put his eyes down, he just kept looking at me and I’m going, ‘Yes Prabhupada.’

And he said, ‘You don’t even have to read the whole book. Just one chapter. If you just read one chapter of this book you can become Krsna conscious.’

‘Yes Prabhupada.’ I didn’t know what to do. But he kept looking at me. He didn’t put his head down like the two other times in the past two years, he kept looking at me. And he looked up and said, ‘You don’t even have to read the whole chapter. Just one page,’ and he put his hand, his finger, up and down, ‘Just one page. If you just read one page you can become Krsna conscious.’

‘Yes Prabhupada.’

And he is looking at me, he didn’t take his eyes off me. He kept looking, and he said ‘You don’t even have to read the whole page. Just one line. Just one line of this book, if you read it you can be Krsna conscious. You don’t even have to read the whole line. Just one word. If you pick up this book and read just one word, you can be Krsna conscious. Because Krsna is in every word.’ Haribol. (applause) So then he put his eyes down and he continued reading.

So this is what Srila Prabhupada has given us. Imagine. He has us this book, Krsna book, Bhagavad-gita, all of Srimad Bhagavatam, all of Caitanya Caritamrta, so many books he has given us to read. This is Srila Prabhupada’s legacy. This is where Srila Prabhupada lives for all of us. We all have this ability. Just like I was sitting there. This is what Prabhupada wants from every one of us – sit down, read these books very carefully and you can become Krsna conscious. And if you can’t read all of them, just pick one book and sit down with it and become Krsna conscious.

In an airplane he was reading his Bhagavad-gita As It Is and he turned to Pradyumna and I and said, ‘Who reads their own books? Who do you know who reads their own books? No-one reads their own books. When an author makes a book he puts it down. He reads other people’s books. He doesn’t read his own book once its finished. But here I am reading this Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Why?’

He was on the airplane going to the next temple, and we looked…he said, ‘Because these are not my words. They’re Krsna’s words.’ So this is Srila Prabhupada. Everything he gave us is just coming from Krsna, directly in his books.

I want to thank everyone for giving me the opportunity to speak. I want to thank Jayapataka Maharaja, Bhakti Purusottama Maharaja, all of my Godbrothers, Godsisters, all of the assembled devotees to be able to come here in Mayapur. This is the first class I’ve ever given in Sridham Mayapur so I was so happy that it could happen today. Thank you very, very much. Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Hare Krsna.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=5595

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Sri Gaura Purnima by Giriraj Swami

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We welcome you to the most auspicious celebration of Sri Gaura-purnima, the appearance day of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna Chaitanya. According to Vedic scriptures, the Absolute Truth is realized in three features: Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. Impersonalist speculators want to merge and become one with God, one with t

he impersonal brahmajyoti, which is nothing but the transcendental effulgence emanating from the divine body of Sri Krishna. Beyond the impersonal Brahman is Paramatma, the Lord within the heart, and the purusa-avataras—Karanodakasayi Vishnu, Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, and Ksirodakasayi Vishnu—are the soul of the universe, the soul of creation, the soul of souls. And beyond realization of the impersonal Brahman and localized Paramatma is realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, who is the source of Paramatma and Brahman.

That same Krishna who appeared about five thousand years ago appeared again some five hundred years ago as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Why is it that Krishna, who came five thousand years ago and spoke the Bhagavad-gita and exhibited so many pastimes, came again? In the authorized scripture Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Lord Krishna’s thoughts after He had manifested His pastimes on earth five thousand years ago are recorded. These thoughts explain why He came again five hundred years ago as Sri Krishna Chaitanya.

We are all sitting here by the mercy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya and His followers in disciplic succession, especially His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. And practically every activity that takes place here is based on the instructions and example of Krishna Chaitanya. You can hardly find any aspect of the Krishna consciousness movement that is not based on His teachings and precedents. So it is very important—essential—to understand Him, because without understanding Him we cannot really progress very far toward the ultimate goal of life.

We read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Three: “The External Reasons for the Appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu”:

TEXTS 13–16

Lord Krsna enjoys His transcendental pastimes as long as He wishes, and then He disappears. After disappearing, however, He thinks thus:

“For a long time I have not bestowed unalloyed loving service to Me upon the inhabitants of the world. Without such loving attachment, the existence of the material world is useless.

“Everywhere in the world people worship Me according to scriptural injunctions. But simply by following such regulative principles one cannot attain the loving sentiments of the devotees in Vrajabhumi.

“Knowing My opulences, the whole world looks upon Me with awe and veneration. But devotion made feeble by such reverence does not attract Me.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

After His appearance, Lord Krsna thought that He had not distributed the transcendental personal dealings with His devotees in dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhurya. One may understand the science of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the Vedic literature and thus become a devotee of the Lord and worship Him within the regulative principles described in the scriptures, but one will not know in this way how Lord Krsna is served by the residents of Vrajabhumi. By following scriptural injunctions one may enhance his appreciation for the glories of the Lord, but there is no chance for one to enter into personal dealings with Him. Giving too much attention to understanding the exalted glories of the Lord reduces the chance of one’s entering into personal loving affairs with the Lord. To teach the principles of such loving dealings, the Lord decided to appear as Lord Caitanya.

TEXT 19

yuga-dharma pravartaimu nama-sankirtana
cari bhava-bhakti diya nacamu bhuvana

TRANSLATION

“I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age—nama-sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy name. I shall make the world dance in ecstasy, realizing the four mellows of loving devotional service.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

The Lord came to introduce the yuga-dharma, the recommended process for self-realization, or God realization, in the present age, and that is nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the holy names of the Lord.

TEXT 20

apani karimu bhakta-bhava angikare
apani acari’ bhakti sikhaimu sabare

TRANSLATION

“I shall accept the role of a devotee, and I shall teach devotional service by practicing it Myself.”

PURPORT

When one associates with a pure devotee, he becomes so elevated that he does not aspire even for sarsti, sarupya, samipya, or salokya, because he feels that such liberation is a kind of sense gratification. Pure devotees do not ask anything from the Lord for their personal benefit. Even if offered personal benefits, pure devotees do not accept them, because their only desire is to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead by transcendental loving service.

COMMENT

This is a very important point. One may engage in devotional service externally, and that is very good, but what really matters in devotional service is the consciousness. We are living in the material world, which is composed of and influenced by the three modes of material nature: tamo-guna, rajo-guna, and sattva-guna—the modes of ignorance, passion, and goodness. Beyond even sattva-guna is suddha-sattva, or the state of vasudeva, which is transcendental to all three modes. Within the material world no one can be in pure ignorance, pure passion, or pure goodness. There is always some mixing of the different modes. Only when one comes to the transcendental platform is one freed from the influence of the modes.

Srila Prabhupada has explained different mentalities that one can have in the practice of devotional service. The same principles are enunciated in the Third Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupada has phrased his explanation in a way that we can easily understand and relate to. Someone engaged in devotional service under the influence of the mode of ignorance will think, “I’m the only devotee. No one else here is a real devotee. I am the only one who is doing anything of value; everyone else is useless.” That is devotional service influenced by the mode of ignorance. In devotional service influenced by the mode of passion, one thinks, “I want to be the best devotee. I want to be known for being the best devotee.” Someone influenced by the mode of goodness will think, “I want to go back home, back to Godhead.” And someone who is transcendentally situated in pure devotional service will think, “I just want to please Krishna.”

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to teach and show by His personal example pure devotional service in which a devotee has no selfish desire even to go back to Godhead. As Srila Prabhupada says, the pure devotee considers the liberation of going back to Godhead to be sense gratification. He wants only to serve the Lord. That is pure devotional service. That is what Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to teach and exemplify, and that is what Srila Prabhupada also taught and exemplified and wanted us to follow.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, when the Lord took the place of the incarnation of Kali-yuga to spread the glories of chanting Hare Krsna . . .

COMMENT

This too is an important point—that Krishna Himself does not come in every Kali-yuga as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that Krishna Himself doesn’t come in every Dvapara-yuga. There is a yuga-avatara, or incarnation, every Satya-yuga, every Treta-yuga, every Dvapara-yuga, and every Kali-yuga, but only once in a day of Brahma, which is about four billion three hundred and twenty million years, will Krishna, the original Personality of Godhead, come in Dvapara-yuga, and only once in a day of Brahma will Krishna come again as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Kali-yuga—the Kali-yuga immediately following the Dvapara-yuga in which Krishna appears. How fortunate we are to be living in the Kali-yuga in which Sri Krishna Chaitanya appeared!

When Lord Chaitanya was present, He predicted, prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama, sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama: “In every town and village on the surface of the earth, My name [Krishna’s name] will be preached.” That prediction seemed almost inconceivable. Yes, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spread Krishna consciousness throughout India, but the idea of spreading Krishna consciousness throughout the world seemed impossible. Even followers of Lord Chaitanya thought He might be speaking in some poetic or metaphorical way, not that it would actually happen. In Sri Caitanya-mangala, Srila Locana dasa Thakura explains that Lord Chaitanya appeared and preached in Navadvipa to establish the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra as the religious process for the Age of Kali. Lord Chaitanya said, “I want to flood the whole world with the chanting of the holy names. I will personally preach and flood India with the holy name. Later, My commander-in-chief devotee [senapati bhakta] will come, preach in distant countries, and flood the world with the chanting of Hare Krishna.”

A very special soul would be entrusted to do this otherwise-impossible assignment. And that, we know, was His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He left this world in 1977, only thirty-three years ago. So anyone older than thirty-three years was on the planet at the same time as Srila Prabhupada, the senapati bhakta who was personally sent by Krishna, by Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And we are sitting in a temple within his society that was established by one of his direct disciples, Sripada Tamal Krishna Goswami. We have an amazing opportunity, and we should understand how fortunate we are to have this opportunity and take full advantage of it. How? We first have to understand what that means. We have to understand what Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada came to give us, so that we can recognize it and accept it.

Lord Chaitanya said, “I shall accept the role of a devotee, and I shall teach devotional service by practicing it Myself.” In the purport Srila Prabhupada says, “Therefore, when the Lord took the place of the incarnation of Kali-yuga . . .” In other words, the Lord Himself doesn’t personally come to be the yuga-avatara in every Kali-yuga.

PURPORT (concluded)

When the Lord took the place of the incarnation of Kali-yuga to spread the glories of chanting Hare Krsna—the system of worship recommended in this age—He also distributed the process of devotional service performed on the platform of transcendental spontaneous love. To teach the highest principles of spiritual life, the Lord Himself appeared as a devotee in the form of Lord Caitanya.

COMMENT

Now I will read from another section of Caitanya-caritamrta about two of the most important principles of devotional service that Lord Chaitanya taught and that we are meant to learn and adopt. This discussion took place between Lord Chaitanya and the Mayavadi sannyasis in Benares. In the Shankara-sampradaya it is expected that sannyasis will study Vedanta, and Varanasi is full of Mayavadis, full of followers or so-called followers of Shankaracharya. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Varanasi, He performed hari-nama-sankirtana, nagara-sankirtana, and thousands of people joined Him, but the Mayavadi sannyasis, impersonal sannyasis who want to realize Brahman, could not understand the transcendental activities of the Lord. They thought that the Lord’s activities were material. That’s why they are called Mayavadis, because they themselves are material, on the material platform, and they see the Lord—His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His service—as material, as maya. They think that the Deity is material, that in the beginning we may focus on the Deity but that when we are advanced enough, we go beyond the Deity and merge and become one with the impersonal light. In other words, they are atheists.

There is a very nice verse in the Padma Purana saying that anyone who thinks that the Deity is just stone, who thinks that the guru is an ordinary human being, who thinks that a Vaishnava belongs to a certain caste or community, is a resident of hell. That word is used—naraki.

arcye visnau sila-dhir gurusu nara-matir vaisnave jati-buddhir . . .
sri-visnor namni mantre sakala-kalusa-he sabde-samanya buddhir . . .
yasya va naraki sah

“One who considers the worshipable Deity of Lord Vishnu to be mere stone, the spiritual master to be an ordinary human being, a Vaishnava to belong to a particular caste, and the mantra of the holy name of Vishnu, which destroys all impurities, to be a material vibration, is a resident of hell.” (Padma Purana)

So just consider: If you think the Deity is made of stone—of course, in theory we may say that the Deity is Krishna, but to what extent do we actually believe that the Deity is Krishna, as shown by our behavior? If one thinks that the spiritual master is an ordinary person—and again we may outwardly show respect, but the real test is to what extent we follow the spiritual master’s instructions. If we think that a Vaishnava belongs to a certain community or ethnic group—for example, if I think, “That’s an American Vaishnava,” or an African Vaishnava, a Mexican Vaishnava, or Bengali Vaishnava or Gujarati Vaishnava—that is a hellish mentality (naraki sah).

To really benefit from what Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada came to give us, we have to understand what they taught and practiced, so that we can follow their instructions and example. I was discussing Lord Chaitanya’s speaking with the Mayavadi sannyasis. There was a meeting of all the sannyasis of Varanasi, and the leader of the Mayavadi sannyasis asked Lord Chaitanya, “Why don’t you study Vedanta? All sannyasis are supposed to study Vedanta.” Lord Chaitanya replied, guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasana: “My spiritual master considered Me a fool, and therefore he chastised Me.”

This shows what should be the mood of a disciple in relation to the spiritual master. As Srila Prabhupada said, one should always feel himself to be a fool and be ready to be chastised by the guru. In the bodily concept of life we feel insulted: “How dare he call me a fool! Doesn’t he know who I am?” One of Lord Chaitanya’s chief disciples was Srila Sanatana Gosvami, a very learned scholar. He was fluent in Sanskrit and Persian and knowledgeable in scriptures and philosophy, but when he approached Lord Chaitanya, he told Him, “In ordinary dealings people call me a learned scholar, pandit, but I am such a pandit that I do not even know who I am or what is the goal of life. So please instruct me.”

When we come to that position where we feel that we are fools who need to be instructed, we can approach a spiritual master. The same sort of incident took place in the Bhagavad-gita. In the beginning, Arjuna was speaking with Krishna more or less on an equal level, talking as friends. Krishna was telling Arjuna that he should fight, and Arjuna was coming up with so many reasons why he should not fight. From a certain point of view, the reasons may have sounded good, but in the end, Arjuna came to the point where he admitted he really didn’t know what he should do. And then he told Krishna (like Sanatana Gosvami, in a way), “Now I am confused about my duty.” Sisyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam: “Now I am surrendering to You as Your disciple. Please instruct me.”

karpanya-dosopahata-svabhavah
  prcchami tvam dharma-sammudha-cetah
yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me
  sisyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam

 “Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.” (Gita 2.7) And from that point, when Arjuna surrendered to Krishna as his spiritual master, Krishna was able to instruct him and spoke the Bhagavad-gita.

Guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasana. Lord Chaitanya said, “My spiritual master considered Me to be a fool, and he chastised Me. He told Me, ‘You are not qualified to study Vedanta philosophy.’ ” Was Lord Chaitanya unqualified? He is Krishna Himself. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says, vedanta-krd veda-vid: “I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” But Lord Chaitanya was showing us the example that we should not be so proud that we think we can understand Vedanta, because in Kali-yuga you really can’t understand Vedanta. He was setting the example. “My spiritual master considered Me a fool and said, ‘You are not qualified to study Vedanta philosophy, and therefore You must always chant the holy name of Krishna.’ ” And Lord Chaitanya said, “I took the instructions of My spiritual master to heart and I always chant the holy name, but while chanting, I lose Myself, and thus I laugh, cry, dance, and sing just like a madman. I began to think that My knowledge was being covered, so I approached My spiritual master for clarification.”

I will read that verse and purport. It is a very short purport. Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 7: “Lord Caitanya in Five Features.”

TEXT 80

“I saw that I had become mad by chanting the holy name, and I immediately submitted this at the lotus feet of My spiritual master.”

PURPORT

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, as an ideal teacher, shows us how a disciple should deal with his spiritual master. Whenever there is doubt regarding any point, he should refer the matter to his spiritual master for clarification. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that while chanting and dancing He had developed the kind of mad ecstasy that is possible only for a liberated soul. Yet even in His liberated position, He referred everything to His spiritual master whenever there were doubts. Thus in any condition, even when liberated, we should never think ourselves independent of the spiritual master, but must refer to him as soon as there is some doubt regarding our progressive spiritual life.

COMMENT

There are details in how to apply this, but it is the principle that even when we are liberated, we are not independent. We are still subservient to the spiritual master and are meant to be under his control.

Lord Chaitanya’s spiritual master was very pleased, because he could understand that Lord Chaitanya had developed ecstatic love for Godhead. This is the benefit of chanting the holy names of Krishna properly. There are offenses to be considered when one chants the holy name, and if one commits offenses while chanting, one will not get the desired result. Caitanya-caritamrta says bahu janma, that one can chant the holy name for many lifetimes, hundreds of lifetimes, thousands of lifetimes, but that if one’s chanting is infested with offenses, one will not get pure love of Godhead, which is meant to be the result of the chanting. So, it is understood that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was chanting without offense. Of course, He was Krishna, but as a devotee He was chanting without offense. Therefore He developed ecstatic symptoms of love of Godhead, and His spiritual master was very pleased. It is said that the spiritual master takes more pleasure when he sees a disciple advance than when he himself advances. If a disciple becomes a pure devotee, then the spiritual master can say that his mission is a complete success.

I will skip ahead to an important verse and purport, a short purport:

TEXT 91

bhala haila, paile tumi parama-purusartha
tomara premete ami hailan krtartha

This is Lord Chaitanya’s spiritual master speaking to Him:

TRANSLATION

“It is very good, my dear child, that You have attained the supreme goal of life by developing love of Godhead. Thus You have pleased me very much, and I am very much obliged to You.”

PURPORT

According to the revealed scriptures, if a spiritual master can convert even one soul into a perfectly pure devotee, his mission in life is fulfilled. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura always used to say, “Even at the expense of all the properties, temples and mathas that I have, if I could convert even one person into a pure devotee, my mission would be fulfilled.”

COMMENT

We have heard about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, that he constructed a beautiful marble temple in Calcutta, the Bhag Bazaar Gaudiya Matha, to preach Krishna consciousness, but that his disciples, who were quite neophyte and materialistic, began to fight over the property—who would occupy which room, who would have which position. When he was on parikrama in Vrindavan—this was one of the rare times that Srila Prabhupada got to be with his spiritual master personally—Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura told Prabhupada, “There will be fire in this Gaudiya Matha.” He could see that there would be the fire of conflict and party interest. He said, “I have built this beautiful marble temple, but now I am seeing that my disciples are quarreling. If I could, I would sell the marble and use that money to print books.” Then he told Srila Prabhupada, “I had a desire to print some books. If you ever get money, print books.” And that direct instruction from his spiritual master became Srila Prabhupada’s guiding principle in his mission. Of course, he did everything, because it is all part of the process: he established Deities, he established farm projects, he established schools, he did everything, but he took the instruction of his spiritual master to print and distribute books to heart. So, Prabhupada is quoting his guru maharaja here:

PURPORT (concluded)

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura always used to say, “Even at the expense of all the properties, temples and mathas that I have, if I could convert even one person into a pure devotee, my mission would be fulfilled.” It is very difficult, however, to understand the science of Krishna, what to speak of developing love of Godhead. Therefore if by the grace of Lord Caitanya and the spiritual master a disciple attains the standard of pure devotional service, the spiritual master is very happy. The spiritual master is not actually happy if the disciple brings him money, but when he sees that a disciple is following the regulative principles and advancing in spiritual life, he is very glad and feels obliged to such an advanced disciple.

COMMENT

Of course, we accept money to use in Krishna’s service, but not at the expense of following the regulative principles of devotional service. So, Srila Prabhupada presents this dichotomy. The two don’t have to be opposed to each other, but they can be, because money is such a thing that even devotees who are trying to make advancement get bewildered by it. Money is such a thing.

On a morning walk on Juhu Beach, Srila Prabhupada said that money is simply a botheration; it is simply trouble. To get money is a problem, to hold onto the money is a problem, and when you lose the money, that’s also a problem. At every stage, money is a problem. So, here Srila Prabhupada says that the spiritual master is not actually happy if the disciple brings him money, but when he sees that a disciple is following the regulative principles and advancing in spiritual life, he is very glad and feels obliged to such an advanced disciple.

Reading this reminded me of an incident in Juhu, Bombay, where, as many of you know, Srila Prabhupada established a big, beautiful temple. One evening Srila Prabhupada was sitting on the terrace of one of the buildings at the back. This was before we actually got permission to build anything on the property. There were some tenement buildings with tenants, and one of the tenants left, so at least we had one apartment where Srila Prabhupada could stay. So, he was sitting on the terrace one evening, and his disciple Haridas was fanning him. At seven o’clock Srila Prabhupada said to Haridas, “Did you hear that?” Haridas strained to hear, but he said, “No.” Srila Prabhupada said, “You don’t hear the sound of kirtan coming from the temple?” Haridas Prabhu listened and said, “No, Srila Prabhupada, I don’t.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “That is exactly the point. There is no kirtan in the temple. It is arati time, but there is no kirtan in the temple. Where are all the devotees?” Haridas Prabhu said, “Well, Srila Prabhupada, they must have gone to the city to collect for the project and haven’t come back yet.” Actually, there was a little speculation there, because it just so happened that that night we were performing kirtan on the request of one of our best life members and donors, whose mother had passed away, so it wasn’t quite what Haridas said, but Prabhupada’s point is very instructive.

Srila Prabhupada said, “This was not my idea, that the devotees should go to the city and collect all day and night. Our process is to please Krishna. They may go at nine in the morning and return by five in the evening and then chant in front of the Deities. Otherwise, they will become like karmis.” Then he asked Haridas, “Do you know why we were successful in getting this land?” There had been a big struggle. If any of you have read Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta—and I do recommend that every devotee read it—you would know that the owner of the land, Mr. Nair, was a prominent person in Bombay. He had been the sheriff, owned one of Bombay’s three English daily newspapers, and was wealthy and influential. So, Srila Prabhupada asked Haridas, “Do you know why we were successful and Mr. Nair wasn’t? We are successful because we try to please Krishna and Krishna is merciful and reciprocates with us. Otherwise, Mr. Nair was much more powerful than we. He had money, influence, his own daily newspaper¾he had contacts, so many politicians and government officers. And who were we? We had no money, no influence, and no support. Yet we were successful because we were simply trying to please Krishna, following the regulative principles of devotional service¾by Krishna’s grace.

“So, we should come and sing and dance in front of the Deities and please Them, and by Their grace we will get all success. We are not successful by our own strength; we are successful by Krishna’s grace.”

This is a very important principle in devotional service: Whatever we do, we should do for the pleasure of Krishna, and then depend on His mercy. We cannot be successful by our own independent endeavors. There is a saying that without the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, even easy things become difficult, and that with the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, even difficult things become easy. So, we should endeavor to please Lord Chaitanya, to please the Deities, to please Srila Prabhupada, by following their instructions and adopting their mood. And by that endeavor, under proper guidance, we will be successful in our own personal spiritual lives and successful in preaching, in spreading the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

On this auspicious occasion we pray to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu and Their associates to bless us to become free from the anarthas and avidya within our hearts, to purify our hearts and empower us to serve Them properly as They would like. That’s the only way we can be successful.

Upon his arrival in America, Srila Prabhupada wrote a beautiful poem. Not knowing anyone, not having any money, not having any influence, he prayed to Lord Krishna—the same mood was there from the very beginning, until the very end—“How will I be able to convince them of Your message? Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of passion and ignorance. How will I convince them?” It is a beautiful poem, and we should study it. It is in Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta. We should study whatever we can about Srila Prabhupada. In his poem, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta.” Bhakti means “devotion” and vedanta means “knowledge,” or the end of knowledge. He said, “I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, but I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge. But You are the most expert mystic, and Your causeless mercy can make everything possible. I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.”

And then, at the very end, he said, “I am just like a puppet in Your hands.” Just like a puppet. What life does a puppet have? None. It is a limp doll. That was Prabhupada’s humility. He wrote, “I am just like a puppet in Your hands, so if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance. O Lord, make me dance as You like.”

That should be our mood—just puppets in the hands of our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, the previous acharyas, the Deities. “Make me Your puppet. I have no capacity on my own. Make me Your puppet, O Lord, and make me dance as You like.” In that mood we can get this priceless treasure that Lord Chaitanya came to the world to give and that Srila Prabhupada came to the West and traveled all over the world to give us. We pray for their mercy that we may open our hearts to the gift they came to give us and see it in the proper mood. When we truly accept it in our hearts, then we can also give it to others, share it with others, and that’s the second half—to accept it and then to share it.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Gaura-purnima, February 28, 2010, Houston]

Source: https://girirajswami.com/blog/?p=18718#more-18718

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World Famous Nandgaon's Lathmar Holi

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Holi or the festival of colors is celebrated about ten days after the spring festival. A delightful visual, this festival combines the gaiety of a carnival and the devotional flavour of a religious festival with the singing of amorous songs as unbridled expressions of youth. This is the time when both feelings and colours run riot. Braj seems to be the only place where one comes across a variety of forms in which the festival of Holi is celebrated. The following account records in brief some of the most colourful and ecstatic forms of Holi in Braj.The seat of Shri Radha has all the touch of romanticism. The songs sung by people recall the pranks of Radha and Krishna and their love for each other and the gopis. The visitors move around in large and small groups singing, dancing and applying colours, intoxicated with the thoughts of Radha and Krishna leela. The climax of the festivities is in the afternoon when the gops of Nandgaon come to Barsana to play Holi with the local gopis.

The women play Holi by hitting the men hard with a 2- ½ metre long bamboo staff. The men (gops) protect themselves with shields. The violence of the attack is mellowed down by the singing of folk songs specially composed for the occasion which express, in a variety of ways, how the Holi festival had enraptured the belles of Barsana. The following day the entire scene is re-enacted at Nandgaon. The gops of Barsana are invited to play Holi with the village belles of Nandgaon. The elaborate procedure includes carrying the flag. of the temple of Shriji. The flag is received by the gops of Barsana with devotional singing, and is carried on foot to Nandgaon where all attempts to capture it are foiled by the visiting group. The rest of the festivities at Nandgaon mark devotional singing in the temple, folk singing on the streets followed by the women emerging in a group to play Holi with bamboo staffs.

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- By Saci Gaurasundara Dasa

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12403658861?profile=RESIZE_584xHare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

The Krishna House Retreat May 3-5 in New Vrindavan features leading devotees presenting great and diverse seminars geared for both Krishna conscious newcomers and veterans looking to deepen their spiritual lives.

Early discounted registration ends in three weeks! Join us for a blissful, enlightening and fun weekend. Please share this information with your friends as well.

With appreciation,

Your servant,
Kalakantha das ACBSP

—–
Krishna House Retreat

A weekend of instruction, association, kirtan and fun.

Friday, May 3, 6:00 PM through Sunday, May 5, 1:00 PM.

New Vrindavan Dham

Seminars:

Bhaktimarga Swami: Conscious kirtan.

Fine-tuning our participation in the yuga-dharma.

Includes tips for leading and following kirtan, playing instruments, and dancing in a blissful collective offering to the Lord.

Radhika Raman Prabhu: Finding and Becoming a Mentor

All of us need guidance in our spiritual life. How do we find the appropriate guides for our bhakti? And in time, how can we offer this valuable service to others?

Prabhupada Priya Devi Dasi: Relishing Srila Prabhupada’s Books

How can we best study, understand and apply Srila Prabhupada’s books? How can we improve our study habits? Which books are the highest priority?

Yadunatha Prabhu: Team Building Through Improv

Memorable experiences in Vaishnava cooperation and team building through a series of entertaining and enlightening improvisation exercises.

Vraj Vihari Prabhu: Maintaining Balance in Spiritual Life

In pursuit of Krishna consciousness, how do we maintain our health, sadhana, service and worldly responsibilities in a peaceful, sustainable way?

Plus: – Workshops in Vaishnava Writing, Personal Development, and more.

– Entertainment, including transcendental comedy with Yadunath Prabhu

Registration is limited! $150 per person before April 7, $200 after.

https://www.newvrindaban.com/events-1/krishna-house-retreat

Includes all seminars and entertainment plus Friday and Saturday night accommodations and six prasadam meals: Friday dinner/ Saturday Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner/ Sunday Breakfast and Feast.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=112447

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The final day of the GBC meeting commenced with the worship of Srila Prabhupada and reading from Srimad Bhagavatam 8.5.47.
 
The EC extended a warm welcome to Acyuta Priya Dasa, congratulating him on his appointment as a GBC member. Acyuta Priya Das was designated as Co-GBC alongside Bhaktivaibhava Swami for Ukraine and GBC for Moldova.
The GBC EC assessed the zonal assignments of GBC members.
 
The Appointment of Standing Committees and Global Duty Officers were reviewed and members cast their votes.
 
Prahladananda Swami presented the list of Sannyasa Candidates, with the Valmiki Dasa approved to take sannyasa this year. Other candidates on the sannyasa waiting list are Atmarama Dasa, Govindananda Dasa, Savyasaci Dasa, Rukmini Krishna Dasa, Nanda Kumar Dasa, Shanta Nasimha Dasa, Visvavasu Dasa and Kamalalocan Dasa.
 
In the post-lunch session, the appointments of Ministers, Standing Committees, and Global Duty Officers were reviewed, and members cast their votes. Vaisesika Dasa was appointed as the Minister for Book Distribution, with heartfelt gratitude expressed to Vijaya Dasa for his dedicated service as Minister of Book Distribution over the years. Vijaya Dasa extended his best wishes to Vaisesika Dasa in his new role.
 
Gopal Krishna Goswami was reelected as the Secretary, and Revati Raman Das was appointed as the second-in-line signatory.
 
Krishnadas Kaviraj Dasa (GBC Deputy) facilitated the straw voting process for the following proposals. For each proposal, he presented a summary, resolution, and highlighted the Plus, Minus, and Interesting points.
 
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Members in attendance engaged in detailed discussion for each proposal and cast their votes:
-Leasing of cows suspended
- Initiating in the Presence of One’s Diksa Guru
 
Members expressed appreciation for those who resigned from GBC services - Bhakti-bhusana Swami, Bhaktimarga Swami, Malati Devi (who remains in office till the end of 2023) Niranjana Swami and Radhanath Swami. Gratitude was also extended to Revati Raman Dasa, the outgoing Chair, for his steadfast services during the year 2023.
 
Appreciation and thanks was conveyed to Ananda Tirtha Dasa and Radha Sundari Devi, the Secretariat and all volunteers who contributed various services at the GBC Office throughout the meetings. The volunteers received a gift from Guru Prasad Swami, in-coming Chair, as a token of appreciation.
 
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It was our great honor that Shri Eknath Shinde - एकनाथ संभाजी शिंदे visited the Iskcon temple at Thane at Piramal Vaikuntha and took a tour of the entire temple.

Source: https://dandavats108.blogspot.com/2024/03/chief-minister-of-maharashtra-state.html

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By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

Evolve Club, the Youth Educational arm of ISKCON Chandigarh, has partnered with Chandigarh University to start a Value Added Course called “Life Lessons from Bhagavad Gita” beginning this month.

“We have signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Chandigarh University for this value-added course that will have interactive sessions, workshops, and field activities with students based on the Bhagavad-gita,” said Naamprema Das, Temple Co-president, ISKCON Chandigarh. The course will include different aspects and challenges of youths and how to overcome them, inculcating moral values and developing a positive outlook in life.

In an official announcement, the University’s director, Dr. Ashita Chadha, stated, “This course aims to delve into the timeless wisdom and profound insights offered by the Bhagavad-gita, a sacred scripture revered for its philosophical depth and practical teachings. Through interactive sessions and discussions, participants will explore essential life lessons that are relevant across various facets of existence related to management, leadership, team building, and more.”

Read more: https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-chandigarh-partners-with-university-of-chandigarh/

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The 2024 Krishna House Retreat will be held this year on May 3-5th at ISKCON New Vrindaban in West Virginia, offering an opportunity for both new bhaktas and seasoned devotees to recharge their spiritual batteries in the living fire of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan mission.

“Over the past 16 years, Krishna House communities have introduced hundreds to the simple, joyous life of devotion,” said Brhat Mrdanga Das, Director of Krishna House North America. As a result, they’re full of spiritual vibrancy.” Participants can expect joyful kirtans, inspiring presentations from some of ISKCON’s most engaging teachers, nourishing association, and delicious prasadam, all in the spiritual environs of New Vrindaban Dham. For those who want to live in an ashram or serve as a leader, this is a great chance to get plugged in.

Read more: https://iskconnews.org/2024-krishna-house-retreat-in-may-is-open-for-early-bird-registration/

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