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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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