19790911 Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 7.34

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 11th, 1979, in Los Angeles, California. The class begins with a reading from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, chapter 7, text 34.

Our mother Durgā got the special mercy of Lord Caitanya and that very place it is said in the Navadvīpa Parikramā Māhātmya, or the glories of the Navadvīpa dhāma, that anyone who practices devotional service there becomes blessed by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. So when we went there, by Rādhārāṇī’s mercy, the sevaite or worshippers of Jagannātha, Subhadrā, Balarāma temple of Rājāpur in Sīmantadvīpa. The island of hearing. Each of the nine islands of Navadvīpa correspond with one of the nine practices of devotional service: hearing, chanting, remembering etc… The center island is ātmā-nivedanaṁ, full surrender. Self-surrender.

So this island, just like a lotus has a center and the petals come out; eight petals coming out from the lotus with the center being the full surrender. This petal is the island of hearing, which is most important. So when we went there and heard there transcendental words from Śrīla Rāmeśvara Swami’s lips; he spoke on Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. And by Rādhārāṇī’s mercy, the people there they said, “Please take over the worship of Jagannātha!” They explained to us the history of Jagannātha.

That according to the Navadvīpa Mahātmya and according to the eternal associates of Lord Caitanya like Narahari Cakravartī Ṭhākura, in the previous thousands of years ago, Lord Jagannātha was being disturbed by a demon called Raktabāhu and due to that disturbance he decided to visit Navadvīpa-dhāma. Actually he arranged it. He wanted to come to Navadvīpa, so He had to have an excuse. So He had this demon come at that time. And His servants, their mood is to protect Jagannātha, they took Him up to Navadvīpa. There He could enjoy meditating on His incarnation as Lord Caitanya for some time. After some time some devotee went and annihilated that Raktabāhu demon and again he returned to Jagannātha Puri. This is the historical fact.

About 500 years ago, during the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, one very great and humble devotee known as Jogesh Ganguly; he was feeling great separation from Lord Caitanya. Because he was blind, no one would take him when they went every year, to Jagannātha Purī. And he was thinking, “How will I ever worship Jagannātha?” So he begged people, “Please take me! Please take me to Jagannātha Purī!” So… they agreed, “Yes yes… we will take you.” But in the end no one would take him. Because the mode of transportation was walking and who would walk so far? With a blind man? Over the difficult paths, so many river crossings. So, he was crying and crying. No one would take him. He was crying, lamenting. When he went to sleep, Lord Jagannātha came in his dream and said, “Alright, I will benedict you! You may worship Me. In the morning go to the Ganges and bathe there. I will come to you in the form of a very large Log. You take this Log to a particular leper carpenter and he will carve My form and you will establish Me and worship Me. And thus I will remain with you always.” So… very excited!

When the blind brāhmaṇa awoke, he prepared and went to the Ganges and bathed.  And wonderfully enough, the Lord’s words came true. A very large Log touched against his body. He called the villagers. They came down, lifted up the Log onto the shore, and according to his direction, they took it to this leper carpenter. So they requested the leper that, “You please carve Jagannātha deities.” The leper said, “Me!? Carve Jagannātha?? I am a leper! Look at my hands, I have only stubs! There’s pus! And maggots from the flies are crawling in the stubs of my hands. And black blood is oozing out. How can I carve Jagannātha? My disease and pus will go on His Mūrti. This I cannot do!” So they said, “No! Jagannātha has ordered, you must do. Never mind. His order takes precedence over these considerations. You must do this! This is the order of Jagannātha.” So that leper carpenter finally accepted, and he started to carve by hand chisel. And he carved a mūrti of Jagannātha, Subhadrā and Balarāma. As he is finishing Jagannātha, the last Mūrti; while he is carving, its so difficult. Heś hitting, hitting … the hands are so sore, pus squirts out and he feels such pain! He has to sit down his implement, against rest, wait. Again few more hits …. so painful, so sore, so tender. Finally he completes the Jagannātha set of deities. As he completes, he becomes completely cured of his leprosy!

So these deities were taken and installed and they were worshipped for hundreds of years.  This Jagannātha is very particular about His devotee worshipping him with proper care and attention. So these devotees, gradually started to water down the pūjā. First there were six offerings, then it was four, then it was three, two, one… once a year! Then one year, they forgot. So Jagannātha… whole family was completely wiped out by smallpox. The original love and devotion of Jogesh Ganguly who has long ago gone back to Godhead, that had gradually not been maintained by the descendants due to their material distraction. So Jagannātha was simply sitting there alone for a very long time. Gradually He became covered over by a huge mound of white ants.

About eighty years ago, a brāhmaṇa called Cakravartī had another dream that there was a Jagannātha Mūrti within a white ant hill.  So, he went there; and he dug and he dug and…. in the very middle… White ants are also known as termites and Jagannātha is carved of wood. And termites eat wood. Infact termites in India are so ferocious, they eat anything organic. Infact in Bhubaneśvara, they put concrete down underneath the wooden almirahs for keeping closed and the termites eat through the concrete and go into the wood! They are so ferocious. But somehow Jagannātha, although He was within the middle of his termite hill, he was unscathed. He was as new as could be.

So for eighty years, the grandfather, son and then finally the grandson; they were worshipping.  Three generations. The grandson, 87 years old, he was the one who requested us to take over the pūjā. He felt that ISKCON was the only organization in Māyāpur and in Bengal who had the devotion and the capacity to properly worship Jagannātha. So when I asked Rāmeśvara Swami what he thought, His Divine Grace told me that; Prabhupāda told him, “Eventually we will be required to take responsibility for all these temples.” So we should take this also as our duty. And all the devotees from around the world that were present at the festival, they all contributed a little something. About five thousand rupees was raised, spontaneously, from the different devotees. And we began the process of getting the land transferred and that money was kept for initial work on the Jagannātha mandir. Other money was also allotted from different trusts. So it was much more complicated than we thought. There were 47 shareholders. Because in those three generations, they had many children… and they had children… and they had children. And it had become 43 members or 47 members in that 80 years. And some members, their share was four inches. But they were refusing to sign, that, “Well, this is our birthright.” So many things. So we were feeling that there is some difficulty. Actually Nitāicānd Dāsa, he worked very hard on this.

So I gave instruction, “Till they sign over, don’t start worshipping Jagannātha, because once you start worshipping then They’ll think that, “We are obligated.” Because once you begin worshipping the deity, how can you stop? Your relationship is already there. So don’t start to worship until they give us the land. Otherwise there maybe some complication. They may not give it in the end. It will be in a limbo state.” So I told this to my regional secretary, who delayed about three days to tell it to the pūjārī who went ahead. And he went over and he offered big plates of Rādhā-Mādhava bhoga (the same bhoga is offered to Rādhā-Mādhava, three times every day) to Jagannātha. After three days, the regional secretary finally got around to telling him. And so he felt guilty. Never admitted that he had already began giving the prasāda, the food, bhoga, to the Lord. So he just stopped for another three days.

I was out at the time.  So what happened was after three days, this pūjārī, when he was sleeping he saw a dream. When he went to the Jagannātha mandir, opened the door… THAT NO JAGANNĀTHA! No Jagannātha, no Subhadrā, no Balarāma! Where did they go? He looked everywhere and he couldn’t find them. Finally he looked across the field and there he saw Jagannātha, Subhadrā, Balarāma walking over the field saying “Were going to take to take prasāda with Rādhā-Mādhava. For three days you haven’t fed us!” (laughter) So when the pūjārī woke up he was very… Immediately he prepared the bhoga, took it over, offered… (laugher). So by Jagannātha’s mercy, finally everyone signed and we began to… we prepared new clothes for Jagannātha and we made nice arrangement and started to design how well improve.

Actually, Jagannātha is loved by all the people.  Infact, the local Muslims, they give more donations than the Hindus. Of course, donation means flowers, fruits. Because Jagannātha, He is very quick to give His mercy, immediate! So there was one Muslim man who tried everything but he could never get a son. So someone told him, “Listen, you just go and offer your… some offering to Jagannātha and you pray to him to give you a son. He will give you.” So the Muslim went and he made offering to Lord Jagannātha, bowed down, prayed “Please Lord Jagannātha, give me a son! And then I assure I will give you offerings for the rest of my life.” So within very short time, within one year, he got a male child. So then a few others followed suit. So the local Muslims there, during the recent riots, they protected the Jagannātha mandir. Although there was no actual riot in Māyāpur, but there was some apprehension that it may spread from the 40-mile distance where it was occurring. But here there was no problem at Jagannātha mandir. Everything… that was protected by both communities.

Of course, the previous brāhmaṇa, he tells many stories which… I will just relate one just to give you a sample. That, one day there were three college students who were walking down the dirt road in front of Jagannātha. At that time it was late at night. So there was a very poor brāhmaṇa. His custom was to simply light an oil lamp. He didn’t have any money for ghee so he put some oil. But he had very little oil so after an hour or so it would run dry and he would just sit there chanting his japa:

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare,
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare 

So these boys came.  They saw the building and they said “What is this? What is this place?” Then they saw the brāhmaṇa in the shadows. He said “This is a Jagannātha, Subhadrā Balarāma mandir.” They again looked, “Where? I don’t see any deities! Its all dark! Don’t you have any light?” He said, “No, the light has gone out. I have no more oil.” “Oh! There’s no Jagannātha here!  There’s no deity here. There’s nobody, I think you’re just pulling our leg. You’re just fooling us!”, and they walked off. After they got about fifteen steps, where the oil wick was, a huge eighteen-inch blue flame shot up and the whole Jagannātha room was illuminated just like...by bright light! So the brāhmaṇa called them, “Oh boys!” (laughter) “Come back!” (laughter) “Please come!” So they came back. “See Jagannātha has lit the room for you! But look at the oil lamp!!” They looked. No oil, just flame! (laughter) Hare Krṣṇa! They started… in a custom, they put out the tongue and pull the ear when you make an offense. So they started bowing down, circumambulating… (laughter) and the brāhmaṇa told, “You are blessed by Jagannātha! You must have been devotees in your previous life. Otherwise, why would He have brought you back like this? This is to prove to you that Jagannātha is present. Now you surrender yourself to Kṛṣṇa. You engage in His pure devotional service.” So the boy took a very serious… he promised, “I will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, I will follow.”, paid his obeisances and then he went back.

So like this there are many many stories about this Jagannātha, before ISKCON.  You will be surprised to know, already what has happened since ISKCON. (laughter) (enthusiasm to hear more) Jagannātha is very nice. So, one day the pujāri, he made a mistake and he mixed the bathing ingredients with some salt or something... I forget… something improper. And after bathing Jagannātha, he went on his bicycle and he was driving down the road. In the middle of the road, there was a man laying down. As soon as the pujāri drove by in his bicycle by the man, he jumped up, and screamed, and threw him off the bicycle and ran off! And then somebody came, picked him up and he said, “Oh you’re the Jagannātha pujāri, what did you do wrong today?” (laughter) Then he thought about it and said, “Ohhh….” This happened twice, in two different ways where they made a mistake, two different people, and immediately, within half and hour, [unclear] they got the blessings of Lord Jagannātha. They were reminded that they have to be careful when they worship Him.

So one day what happened is the pujāri, he brought down the bhoga.  Now were preparing prasāda there. They’ve given us a house and a very nice bamboo orchard. Another man has donated about one acre of land that has some bamboos, some goloka-caṁpā trees, some mango tree. And many other people, few other… they want to give us land. This land is very wonderful in Māyāpur because it never floods. It is the highest land in the whole Nadia district. It’s very… very good to have because in case there is a flood, we can take our cows there. So, very nice! There is one small house with three bedrooms. No other rooms, just three bedrooms and a porch and a well. And nearby that house there is one area where, I discovered... I don’t know if it has any special significance or just by accident but… it was a raised area. I found that there, there was a type of white flower which was only used to worship Lord Śiva and Durgā. Never used fonr Kṛṣṇa worship.  And growing with it was a grove of wild tulasī. I mean real tulasī. But I mean it was just growing there. Ordinarily tulasī doesn’t just grow, you don’t find it everywhere. I don’t know, maybe it was planted. I was thinking that because here the Śiva and Durgā plant and the tulasī is together, maybe this is the place Pārvati got mercy. Of course I cant say for sure but there is many very interesting things in that area.

So one day the pujāri brought the bhoga from the mandir and he realized that he forgot to bring the tulasī.  And Jagannātha will not accept any prasāda without tulasī. So he was thinking, “What to do?” The trouble was that there were so many children all around, because the children wait for after the offering, for the little mahāprasāda. So about fifty children were waiting, playing and screaming. He said, “If I go and get the tulasī leaf which is atleast a 100 yards away, at the house, then if I carry the prasāda there and back, first I may drop it cause I already put it out from the tiffin into the whole plate. It will get cold. It will somehow may get spoilt. If I leave it here and go get it, the kids may look at it, touch it, ruin the offering. So he decided, “What to do? Ill just offer it to Jagannātha as it is.” So he took it, he meditated, put it in the deity room, prayed to Jagannātha that He would not take any offense, closed the door. Mind theres only one door to this temple. There is no side-door. One door, he closes the door. This is important, he closed the door. Bowed down, said the mantras, said his Gāyatri, waited fifteen minutes and he opened the door. When he opened the door, there, on the top of the plate, where there was two subjis, chutney, chapāti, dal, fries, salt, lemon and a big pile or rice; on top of the rice there was a big clump of freshly picked tulasī! Where did it come from? We have not figured out yet. If you tell me, you may solve the mystery.

So Jagannātha is very kind that He is allowing ISKCON to worship and we pray that He will be pleased with our service although we are not so capable.  So like this there are many wonderful places around India, around especially Bengal, which are very spiritually potent. And ultimately ISKCON will definitely have to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness through them and manage them. So these are just some of the things that have been happening recently at Māyāpur. The verses we read today mentioned that Lord Caitanya is always accompanied by Nityānanda, His expansion and by the Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. We know that Mahā-Viṣṇu is Jaya Advaita - Śrī Advaita, - Sītānātha. And Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the son of Nityānanda. Nityānanda had two wives, Jāhnavā and Vasudhā. So, His son was Vīracandra Prabhu and His daughter was Gaṅgādevī. So Vīracandra was actually Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. He preached all over Bengal. He established so many temples and made so many Vaiṣṇavas for Lord Nityānanda. He is a great devotee in His transcendental pastimes.

One day I had the opportunity the visit of residence of Lord Nityānanda at Khordaha, on the bank of the sacred Ganges, and I saw the samādhi of the umbilical cord of Vīracandra Prabhu and Gaṅgādevī. And there, there was a temple of Śyāmasundara. And I asked the devotees nearby that place, “How did Śyāmasundara come here?” and so they told me the story of Vīracandra prabhu and how He brought Śyāmasundara one thousand miles, although he weighed five tons, without lifting a hand. Vīracandra Prabhu was engaged in saṅkīrtana with all His devotees with Him, and He was preaching all over the countryside and He was near Hussain Shah, the next descendant, palace. In the vicinity. And He was doing big preaching all over. Actually He is famous because as fast as the Muslims would go and convert the Hindus to Islam religion, He would go and convert twice as many as Vaiṣṇavas! He would go and initiate all of them and after initiation, all would remain pure in the Vaiṣṇava principles. He was so powerful a preacher. So the nawab was a little bit afraid of saintly people, but he also was hoping that He was a bogus. So he wanted to actually try to catch Him and if he did prove to be an untrue sādhu, he would annihilate Him and end the problems.

So he sent someone to please bring Him to the palace.  So Vīracandra went to the palace of the Shaḥ and going to the palace, He saw on the outside a beautiful black rock embedded in the wall of the fortress. Huge rock! Right in the very base, like a foundation stone. And He looked at it and He saw an amazing thing. The rock was sweating! When He saw the rock sweating, He became very attracted. And so He went inside and He saw the Shah. And He was thinking that, “I must get that rock.” So the Shah was testing Him and he said, “You are a real sādhu?” He said, “I am following the order of my spiritual master. He has empowered Me to preach.” “If you cure him, then I will accept that you are a real sādhu.” So Vīrabhadra Prabhu gave him the Harināma and cured him of his disease. The Shah was very pleased. He said “Alright, I am satisfied. You are a bonafide sādhu.” He also explained so many scriptures, defeated so many paṇḍitas there. The Shah was very satisfied. He said, “What do you want? You ask me what you want, I will give you.” He said, “I would just like the black rock outside at the fortress wall.” The king said, “What!? A black rock? What rock is this?” “You have one rock, I just would like to have it.” (laughter) So the king, Shah, goes out, looks. And here he sees this big black stone in the wall of the fortress. He says, “How are you going to get out that rock? It weighs atleast… even a thousand men couldn’t take it out. And if you take it out, the whole fortress will fall down!” (laughter) So Vīrabhadra said, “That’s alright. You just say I can have the rock, I will worry about it.” “Alright! If you can take it out, you can have it.”

So then Vīrabhadra Prabhu came with his saṅkīrtana party, and they sat.  They did kīrtana by the side of the rock, jumping up and down kīrtana. The rock slowly edged out, fell down! (laughter) So then He asked the king, “Please if you would wrap the rock in straw and drop it in the Ganges for me?” The king said, “What!? That’s the craziest thing Ive ever heard!” “Im just asking this one thing.” So he got 500 people, wrapped the rock in straw and carried it on big carts. And then Vīrabhadra came, touched it and then it was tossed into the river. As soon as it hit the Ganges, it floated like a balloon and floated down the Ganges. Meanwhile Vīrabhadra went chanting off with his saṅkīrtana party. (laughter) And they gradually did kīrtana, headed down the Ganges to Khordaha, which is about 30 or 40 miles north of Calcutta. There the rock floated down and stopped at Khordaha, by the bank of the river. So there eventually Vīrabhadra Prabhu came and had the rock taken out. And He saw in a dream that… the deity, the form of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, of Rādhā-Śyāmasundara. So he wanted to make that form.

So first he cut a piece of the rock and carved two deities of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.  After They were carved by the devotee craftsmen, He looked. He had given exact instruction. He said, “No. They’re too small.” So He gave Them a name. I mean… I forgot what they named the other two. But he installed Them in another place. And then He took another piece of the other side of the rock and they carved two more deities. This time He gave the exact instruction. After they finished these, He looked. “The deities are too big.” So He took those deities and installed them in another place. So this time He said, “You must get just in between.” So this time again they carved the deities, and this time they were just according to what He had seen in His dream. So He installed those deities there, Rādhā-Śyāmasundara.

And Lord Nityānanda, He left some very precious items at that temple.  One day Lord Caitanya, in ecstasy, He was chanting and from the top of His head, came a triangular shaped stone from His brahma-randhra. That was grabbed by Nityānanda and kept in a bag around His neck. He would keep three things around His neck. He kept a huge Śālagrāma-śilā, this big, which is in the form of Ananta-śeṣanāga. It is so many snakes curled around and around, and one can see within it there’s so many cakras and different… huge Śalagrāma!  Very… I mean there is nothing like it anywhere. That is the Śalagrāma of Ananta-śeṣanāga, who of course is an incarnation of Nityānanda Balarāma.  And one more thing He had, a special self-manifest Saṅkarṣaṇa-Śiva in the form of a śiva-liṅga, made of a indestructible blue-grey material which is not ordinarily seen on this planet. So these three objects were left in the temple. So the local pujāri told… when I asked how the pūjā is going, he said that, “About ten years ago, there were some mistakes in the pūjā and the deities started to sweat. And whenever the deity sweats, the pujārīs die. So the pujārīs, they are very careful to keep the deity very cool” (laughter) “and well taken care of.”

So there are so many pastimes of the Lord.  And actually we are talking about Lord Caitanya’s sannyāsa. And there was just one thing is that… comes to mind is... when Lord Caitanya finally decided to leave Navadvīpa, He couldn’t tell His mother, He couldn’t tell his wife. They would never agree to let him do tapasyā, to do penance. He is the Lord. He is their loved one. So He decided; one night He just left and headed towards Katwa, which is about 40 miles north of Māyāpur, to the āśrama of Keśava Bhārati, His sannyāsa-guru. So when He went; after a little while Śacī-mātā realized something is wrong in the house. She got up, looked…. “Where is my Nimāi!? Where’s Nimāi? Nimāi! Nimāi! Nimāi!” She realized He is gone. Just like His elder brother, He has gone and taken sannyāsa. She went out looking everywhere. So she started wandering through the fields. Wandering, she went out into the field. She went to the… three villages later. And she was asking everyone, “Where is my Nimāi?? Where is my Nimāi?? Where is my Nimāi??” When the people wouldn’t answer her, she said, “You are all nirdayā! You have no mercy, no compassion! You wont tell me where my Nimāi has gone.”

So this year, during the big flood there, that village of Nidayā (that village where Śacī Mātā went, for 500 years has been known by the name of Nidayā, from her statement), was flooded, and we went there and distributed prasādam. And everyone, Hindu, Muslim, brāhmaṇa, śūdra, everyone they came and took prasāda. They were very appreciative. So I was just thinking that how that place was there and how that name of Nidayā is still known because they didn’t have mercy on Śacī Mātā. That Lord Caitanya, to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he left his birthplace. To travel all over India and train up his followers how to preach the saṅkīrtana, which is life and soul. 

So sometimes it is necessary to cause some people some inconvenience of separation namely family, friends and take the greater mission in hand.  Of course, Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He has done this, what to speak of us. Sometimes we may have to make great sacrifices, no matter what position we may be in. When we see that through that sacrifice I can actually increase my service to spread the saṅkīrtana movement. So of course I could… its already very late. There are few more things that happened but we can leave it for some other day.

I just pray that Śrīla Rāmeśvara Swami will have his mercy upon me to feel the anxiety of spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness.