19900603 Caitanya-caritamrita Antya-līlā 6.32-101

The following is a class given by HH Jayapataka Swami on June 3rd 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia. The class begins with a reading from the Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya Lila chapter 6 text 32 in one o one.

 

So here Raghunath Das had many times tried to go away from his family and join Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Once he met Lord Chaitanya, He told him about yukta vairagya. Told him to remain in his house and serve Krishna, using everything in the service of Krishna favourably. So during that time Raghunath Das, he was doing his devotional service. He was helping his uncle and father in their business of being landlords and tax collectors. It was a feudal system at that time in India. There was emperor. There were kings. There were Lords of different sizes. Raghunath Das was the son of one of the most illustrious landlords in Bengal. He was paid taxes one million two hundred thousand gold coins. Each gold coin in those days used to weigh 1 tula or 11 grams. So that's annular tax 500 years ago. Something like 600 croockerents 2:09 or 600 ounces of gold. 600000 ounces of gold which is multiply 600000 by 400 dollars and today's market, he was paying, you know, hundreds and millions of dollars on taxes. So he said that

“tomāra jyeṭhā nirbuddhi aṣṭa-lakṣa khāya

āmi — bhāgī, āmāre kichu dibāre yuyāya

 “Your father’s elder brother is less intelligent,” he said. “He enjoys 800,000 coins, but since I am also a shareholder, he should give some portion of it to me.

Actually his uncle was apparently not giving all the money in tax. They were allowed, the Lord's were allowed to keep one third and give two third . Since he was giving one million two hundred thousand gold coins,he should have only kept 400000. But he was keeping 800000. So this Mohammaden Chaudhary who was checking on all the taxes, all the landlords. He didn't, he wanted, actually what he wanted was his cud (devotees laughing). So he arrested Raghunath Das. But then Raghunath Das convinced him.

 

yāha tumi, tomāra jyeṭhāre milāha āmāre

ye-mate bhāla haya karuna, bhāra diluṅ tāṅre

“Now you go arrange a meeting between me and your uncle. Let him do whatever he thinks best. I shall completely depend on his decision.”

 

raghunātha āsi’ tabe jyeṭhāre milāila

mleccha-sahita vaśa kaila — saba śānta haila

Raghunātha dāsa arranged a meeting between his uncle and the caudhurī. The matter was settled, and everything was peaceful.

 

ei-mata raghunāthera vatsareka gela

dvitīya vatsare palāite mana kaila

In this way Raghunātha dāsa passed one year exactly like a first-class business manager, but the next year he again decided to leave home.

 

rātre uṭhi’ ekelā calilā palāñā

dūra haite pitā tāṅre ānila dhariyā

He got up alone one night and left, but his father caught him in a distant place and brought him back.

 

ei-mate bāre bāre palāya, dhari’ āne

tabe tāṅra mātā kahe tāṅra pitā sane

This became almost a daily affair. Raghunātha would run away from home, and his father would again bring him back. Then Raghunātha dāsa’s mother spoke to his father as follows.

 

“putra ‘bātula’ ha-ila, ihāya rākhaha bāndhiyā”

tāṅra pitā kahe tāre nirviṇṇa hañā

“Our son has become mad,” she said. “Just keep him by binding him with ropes.” His father, being very unhappy, replied to her as follows.

 

“indra-sama aiśvarya, strī apsarā-sama

e saba bāndhite nārileka yāṅra mana

daḍira bandhane tāṅre rākhibā ke-mate?

janma-dātā pitā nāre ‘prārabdha’ khaṇḍāite

“Raghunātha dāsa, our son, has opulences like Indra, the heavenly king, and his wife is as beautiful as an angel. Yet all this could not tie down his mind.“How then could we keep this boy home by binding him with ropes? It is not possible even for one’s father to nullify the reactions of one’s past activities.

 

caitanya-candrera kṛpā hañāche iṅhāre

caitanya-candrera ‘bātula’ ke rākhite pāre?”

“Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has fully bestowed His mercy on him. Who can keep home such a madman of Caitanyacandra?”

 

tabe raghunātha kichu vicārilā mane

nityānanda-gosāñira pāśa calilā āra dine

Then Raghunātha dāsa considered something in his mind, and the next day he went to Nityānanda Gosāñi

 

pānihāṭi-grāme pāilā prabhura daraśana

kīrtanīyā sevaka saṅge āra bahu-jana

In the village of Pānihāṭi, Raghunātha dāsa obtained an interview with Nityānanda Prabhu, who was accompanied by many kīrtana performers, servants and others.

 

gaṅgā-tīre vṛkṣa-mūle piṇḍāra upare

vasiyāchena — yena koṭī sūryodaya kare

Sitting on a rock under a tree on the bank of the Ganges, Lord Nityānanda seemed as effulgent as hundreds of thousands of rising suns.

 

tale upare bahu-bhakta hañāche veṣṭita

dekhi’ prabhura prabhāva raghunātha — vismita

Many devotees sat on the ground surrounding Him. Seeing the influence of Nityānanda Prabhu, Raghunātha dāsa was astonished.

 

daṇḍavat hañā sei paḍilā kata-dūre

sevaka kahe, — ‘raghunātha daṇḍavat kare’

Raghunātha dāsa offered his obeisances by falling prostrate at a distant place, and the servant of Nityānanda Prabhu pointed out, “There is Raghunātha dāsa, offering You obeisances.”

 

śuni’ prabhu kahe, — “corā dili daraśana

āya, āya, āji tora karimu daṇḍana”

Hearing this, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu said, “You are a thief. Now you have come to see Me. Come here, come here. Today I shall punish you!”

 

prabhu bolāya, teṅho nikaṭe nā kare gamana

ākarṣiyā tāṅra māthe prabhu dharilā caraṇa

The Lord called him, but Raghunātha dāsa did not go near the Lord. Then the Lord forcibly caught him and placed His lotus feet upon Raghunātha dāsa’s head.

 

Nitai Gaur premanande Hari haribol ( devotees saying Hari haribol along with Guru Maharaj)

 

kautukī nityānanda sahaje dayāmaya

raghunāthe kahe kichu hañā sadaya

Lord Nityānanda was by nature very merciful and funny. Being merciful, He spoke to Raghunātha dāsa as follows.

 

“nikaṭe nā āisa, corā, bhāga’ dūre dūre

āji lāg pāñāchi, daṇḍimu tomāre

“You are just like a thief, for instead of coming near, you stay away at a distant place. Now that I have captured you, I shall punish you.

 

So this punishment Nityananda Prabhu is about to meet out Raghunath Das forms a basis of this festival, the Panihati. This is called Panihati. This is called the danda mahotsav. Nityananda Prabhu's giving punishment to Raghunath Das Goswami. So it's Raghunath Das's danda mahotsav. danda meaning punishment, the stick. Prabhupad is seen in the picture holding the stick. So the gurukul, the danda. So punishment also is called danda. This is known as the danda mahotsav. Nityananda Prabhu was preaching all over Bengal on behalf of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Certainly Raghunath Das could have taken association from Nityananda Prabhu directly but somehow he was always trying to run away and go to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So Nityananda Prabhu is the original guru. If someone tries to go directly to the Lord by passing the Guru, he fails. He is not successful. So somehow Raghunath Das got the idea, let me go to see Nityananda Prabhu. So now Nityananda Prabhu is punishing him for his by passing the guru, by passing Nityananda Prabhu. To get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya is very easy if we get the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. So now of course Nityananda Prabhu is doing everything in a merciful and humorous way. So He is, but all these things have a lot of meaning to them and the Gaudiya Vaishnavs, they recognise in order to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, we need the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. Of course Nityananda Prabhu is all merciful. So who will not want to go to Him to get mercy. So Raghunath Das has come to the right place. If he wants to get Lord Chaitanya, he has come to Lord Nityananda. So now Lord Nityananda Prabhu is going to give the punishment to Raghunath Das.

 

dadhi, ciḍā bhakṣaṇa karāha mora gaṇe”

śuni’ ānandita haila raghunātha mane

“Make a festival and feed all My associates yogurt and chipped rice.” Hearing this, Raghunātha dāsa was greatly pleased.

 

Raghunath Das was pleased with his punishment given by the Lord. It was an opportunity to serve the Lord and all His devotees. Raghunath Das had no shortage or capacity when the required opportunity to be able to express his service attitude. So here he was given the opportunity to serve Lord Nityananda and all the other devotees.

 

sei-kṣaṇe nija-loka pāṭhāilā grāme

bhakṣya-dravya loka saba grāma haite āne

Raghunātha dāsa immediately sent his own men to the village to purchase all kinds of eatables and bring them back.

 

ciḍā, dadhi, dugdha, sandeśa, āra cini, kalā

saba dravya ānāñā caudike dharilā

Raghunātha dāsa brought chipped rice, yogurt, milk, sweetmeats, sugar, bananas and other eatables and placed them all around.

 

‘mahotsava’-nāma śuni’ brāhmaṇa-sajjana

āsite lāgila loka asaṅkhya-gaṇana

As soon as they heard that a festival was going to be held, all kinds of brāhmaṇas and other gentlemen began to arrive. Thus there were innumerable people.

 

āra grāmāntara haite sāmagrī ānila

śata dui-cāri holnā tāṅhā ānāila

Seeing the crowd increasing, Raghunātha dāsa arranged to get more eatables from other villages. He also brought two to four hundred large, round earthen pots.

 

baḍa baḍa mṛt-kuṇḍikā ānāila pāṅca sāte

eka vipra prabhu lāgi’ ciḍā bhijāya tāte

He also obtained five or seven especially large earthen pots, and in these pots a brāhmaṇa began soaking chipped rice for the satisfaction of Lord Nityānanda.

 

 This when we say baḍa baḍa mṛt-kuṇḍikā in Bengal because cultivation previously was more seasonal. They didn't have irritation with mechanical means. So primarily they grew rice in the rainy season. So they would sail that rice in different containers. Some would say  make like silos but someone maybe less rice or in a house they would save in huge earthen pots which are either 4 feet, 5 feet or even 6 feet high and about you know this way or upto that way. So you can understand that to prepare the mixtures, one of these very big pots, baḍa baḍa, it's not just, like big enough for the whole man to fit inside. They were mixing up and the other 2 to 400 were round, maybe this size. Something like that or even bigger earthen pots. Of course here, America, we don't get these type of earthen pots. We get some earthen pots but they are not exactly made for chida dahi. We had to adapt them.

 

eka-ṭhāñi tapta-dugdhe ciḍā bhijāñā

ardheka chānila dadhi, cini, kalā diyā

In one place, chipped rice was soaked in hot milk in each of the large pots. Then half the rice was mixed with yogurt, sugar and bananas.

 

āra ardheka ghanāvṛta-dugdhete chānila

cāṅpā-kalā, cini, ghṛta, karpūra tāte dila

The other half was mixed with condensed milk and a special type of banana known as cāṅpā-kalā. Then sugar, clarified butter and camphor were added.

 

cāṅpā-kalā is a special banana sometimes known as butter banana. Because they are yellow like butter. Sometimes they are known as cini cāṅpā or sugar banana  because they are the sweetest of all these bananas. One I went to purchase some seedlings of cāṅpā-kalā from one horticulture research center and the research scientist was begging this is how the banana which has the highest vitamin C of any banana in the world. Therefore it's not ripe, taste a little acidic but when it's fully ripe, it's also the sweetest and it's the most in vitamin C. He is giving a whole lecture on this. How great, this was a unique banana. So in other words, the best ingredients available at that time for procured by Raghunath Das for this picnic feast for Nityananda Prabhu.

 

dhuti pari’ prabhu yadi piṇḍāte vasilā

sāta-kuṇḍī vipra tāṅra āgete dharilā

After Nityānanda Prabhu had changed His cloth for a new one and sat on a raised platform, the brāhmaṇa brought before Him the seven huge pots.

 

cabutarā-upare yata prabhura nija-gaṇe

baḍa baḍa loka vasilā maṇḍalī-racane

On that platform, all the most important associates of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, as well as other important men, sat down in a circle around the Lord.

 

rāmadāsa, sundarānanda, dāsa-gadādhara

murāri, kamalākara, sadāśiva, purandara

Among them were Rāmadāsa, Sundarānanda, Gadādhara dāsa, Murāri, Kamalākara, Sadāśiva and Purandara.

 

These were the names of different associates of Lord Nityananda who were present. They are all famous preachers. Murari was the disciple of Saranga Thakur who was a course sporting in the Ganges. When Saranga Thakur took a vow, the first person he met he would initiate. Because Lord Chaitanya told him, this is the duty of the preacher to accept disciples. So atleast you have to accept one disciple to continue the disciplic succession. So he decided the, but he never fulfilled that. Why you are not taking a disciple. So then he decided that okay, the first person he'll meet, he'll preach him. Give him the mantra. So he went to the Ganges early in the morning before sunrise and someone bumped against him. He said - Oh! This is the first person. So he immediately gave the mantra in his ear. Actually it was a corpse,(devotees laughing) a cadavar floating in the water. But his mantra was so powerful, that brought him back to life. Nitai Gaur Hari haribol ( devotees shouting Hari haribol along with Guru Maharaj). Then he gave him the initiated name Muraru and explained how actually he was a young man who was going for his, marry that day, he went for the traditional Ganges bath and somehow drowned on the day of his wedding, before his wedding. He said you gave me back my life. But since you have given me back my life, so now I am going to stay with you. He didn't go back to that previous existence. So Murari having already died, come back from death, he was fearless. He talked to tigers - Chant Hare Krishna. The tigers Hare Krishna Hare Krishna..( devotees laughing) like that. This is just one of, Gadadhar Das, he was Sripat. He established  where Lord Chaitanya took sanyas in Katwa. His samadhi is also there. He is connected also with Gadadhar Prabhu. He was really active preacher. Sadashiva, all these are very famous devotees. Other devotees were

 

dhanañjaya, jagadīśa, parameśvara-dāsa

maheśa, gaurīdāsa, hoḍa-kṛṣṇadāsa

Dhanañjaya, Jagadīśa, Parameśvara dāsa, Maheśa, Gaurīdāsa and Hoḍa Kṛṣṇadāsa were also there.

 

Mahesh Pandit, also Sripat is there. Near Chakdaha, Prabhupada went to his Sripat. Jagadish Pandit  went to Jagannath Puri also, to see Lord Chaitanya. His Sripat is in Chakdaha. Gauridas whose Sripat is in Ambika kalna, who is the older brother of Suryakhela, who is the father of  consorts of Lord Nityananda - Jahnava and Vasudha Devi. Hoda Krishnadas was a king who became a pure Vaishnava preacher. He was made a guru. He was given the title mahanta and he was also, from him there is a disciplic succession of Vaishnavas. He was the one who arranged the wedding between Nityananda Prabhu and His consorts.

 

uddhāraṇa datta ādi yata nija-gaṇa

upare vasilā saba, ke kare gaṇana?

Similarly, Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura and many other personal associates of the Lord sat on the raised platform with Nityānanda Prabhu. No one could count them all.

 

Prabhupad explains if you can, where you can find the details of all His associates of the Adi Lila or Prabhupad has explained who they are. Of course Uddharana Datta Thakur was a Vaishya by caste, although he is a liberated nitya siddha pure devotee. He was in, appeared in suvarna Bhumi 18 in order to deliver them. Prabhupad also appeared in that same family and one time this family, leaders of their Kulu, whole dynasty, they invited Srila Prabhupad to go to the temple of Uddharana Datta Thakur as a special guest. It was somewhat illustrious, present a Vaishnav in succession. Prabhupad never stressed his family connection but actually we saw the Uddharana Datta Thakur's temple and all of the dynasty from Uddharana Datta Thakur. They were not allowed their daughters or sons to get married before taking initiation. They had to take initiation before they are allowed to get married. Just like they are still maintaining many of the traditions. So that affected Prabhupad very much.

 

 śuni’ paṇḍita bhaṭṭācārya yata vipra āilā

mānya kari’ prabhu sabāre upare vasāilā

Hearing about the festival, all kinds of learned scholars, brāhmaṇas and priests went there. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu honored them and made them sit on the raised platform with Him.

 

dui dui mṛt-kuṇḍikā sabāra āge dila

eke dugdha-ciḍā, āre dadhi-ciḍā kaila

Everyone was offered two earthen pots. In one was put chipped rice with condensed milk, and in the other chipped rice with yogurt.

 

āra yata loka saba cautarā-talāne

maṇḍalī-bandhe vasilā, tāra nā haya gaṇane

All the other people sat in groups around the platform. No one could count how many people were there.

 

ekeka janāre dui dui holnā dila

dadhi-ciḍā dugdha-ciḍā, duite bhijāila

Each and every one of them was supplied two earthen pots — one of chipped rice soaked in yogurt and the other of chipped rice soaked in condensed milk.

 

kona kona vipra upare sthāna nā pāñā

dui holnāya ciḍā bhijāya gaṅgā-tīre giyā

Some of the brāhmaṇas, not having gotten a place on the platform, went to the bank of the Ganges with their two earthen pots and soaked their chipped rice there.

 

So this way so many people came. As soon as the word spread, festival festival mahotsav!!!! Raghunath Das is giving a big feast for Nityananda Prabhu and all of His associates. All the people came and everyone who came, they were offered this maha prasadam, cida- dahi with condensed milk and cida chipped rice. So, so many people came and not only around it , the tree under which Nityananda Prabhu was sitting and the whole area was surrounded. But even the field and not only the field but even the side of the river became packed with people. Finally, there's no room that even people, they took their prasad and went and they were standing inside the river. Some people were standing upto their waist in the Ganges to take. There's no, completely packed with people. Hundreds and thousands of people. Actually even today 500 years from that time, Kali Yuga is so much progressed. But even today 200,000 people come every year to this Panihati festival. There's no advertisement. No banners are needed. No advertising. No newspaper. Everyone knows on this day Nityananda Prabhu had this festival. You go there. Big kirtan festival and every devotee comes and they bring with them in the mood of Raghunath Das, they bring some ingredients. They mix and  they distribute to some other, offered to Nityananda. So they have some Brahmins and the race. Platform is same raised platform is there, that Nityananda Prabhu sat. Small enough but atleast something is still there. The same tree is there. So people go  and then the brahmins offer to the diety of Nitai Gaur and they take the prasadam and distribute to others. Iskcon also goes every year. We distribute to atleast 50,000 of the people. Sometimes 100,000. It's maybe more than you can count. They come and take the cida dahi. Last year, we set up at the house of Raghu Pandit, little bit distant, maybe about 2 city blocks from the tree because there's no room. They packed us, completely packed all around the tree. So the organisers requested us to do it a little distance. So the pujaris and the Raghu Pandit temples are 22:06 ,otherwise, before the first year we were doing it from our boat. We got the boat by the side of the Ganges and we mixed everything in the boat. And from there, some here,we brought the truck. Some here, we set up, a candle in the fields, one city by four. So many  people come, all day, all night. So the time 500 years ago, so many people also came. May be even more that time because Nityananda Prabhu was personally there. So they were just countless people, come for kirtan and for some maha prasadam. This is a simple festival. This is simple but it is very ecstatic festival. Because it is a personal ecstacy of Nityananda Prabhu. We heard that Avani explained Nityananda Prabhu is very funny, is very merciful. So in His ecstacy, His yogurt, He wants to releive the pastimes as Balaram, is a cowherd boy picnicking with Krishna and the gopals. Many of these devotees, they were mentioned here are  goddess gopals. Gauridas Pandit is one of the goddess gopals. Abhiram is one of the... there are many goddess gopals and these are the 12 cowherd boys who came from Goloka Vrindavan to assist Lord Chaitanya, Nityananda. Especially Nityananda Prabhu when He was preaching in Bengal,  they were there when both were there. They were there when Nityananda Prabhu was there. So here Nityananda Prabhu, He became in that ecstacy and He was so merciful that all these people to participate hundreds and thousands of people to participate and become integrated in His pastime. To take prasadam like cowherd boys with Nityananda Prabhu. When they set up, then of course Raghav Pandit himself came. His house was very nearby. He brought all type of cooked prasadam. Rice, dal, sabji, vegetables cooked in, things cooked in ghee.  He said - Here I  offered everything to the diety. So you are engaged in a festival. Here the food is lying untouched by Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu said - Today I'm going to eat this food here and I shall eat at your home in the night.

 

gopa-jāti āmi bahu gopa-gaṇa saṅge

āmi sukha pāi ei pulina-bhojana-raṅge”

“I belong to a community of cowherd boys, and therefore I generally have many cowherd associates with Me. I am happy when we eat together in a picnic like this by the sandy bank of the river.”

 

So this is Nityananda Prabhu's ecstacy and His mercy is giving to all this people. They are all experiencing this ecstacy of picnicking with Nityananda Prabhu like He did 4500 years before in Vrindavan with all the cowherd boys.

 

rāghave vasāñā dui kuṇḍī deoyāilā

rāghava dvividha ciḍā tāte bhijāilā

 So then Nityananda Prabhu gave, made Raghav Pandit sit down and made him also to part. So while they were making the  seats, they had one seat for Lord Chaitanya. They put  His seat. They put a banana leaf for the pots there. Then when everything was arranged like this, Nityananda Prabhu by His meditation, He brought Lord Chaitanya there.

 

mahāprabhu āilā dekhi’ nitāi uṭhilā

tāṅre lañā sabāra ciḍā dekhite lāgilā

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu arrived, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu stood up. They then saw how the others were enjoying the chipped rice with yogurt and condensed milk.

 

Nityananda Prabhu and Lord Chaitanya, they were personally satisfied to see devotees accepting the chipped rice prasadam. I'm sure no one would want to not satisfy Lord Chaitanya Nityananda. Then every once a day we'll  take chipped rice prasadam after the Lord's have accepted. This was their special ecstacy, to see everyone taking the maha prasadam. Then walking amongst all the people, watching them, enjoying them, enjoying seeing them taking the prasadam. Then Lord Nityananda, He started to  take some chipped rice from the pots and He was putting them, chipped rice into the mouth of Lord Chaitanya. Now Lord Chaitanya would take chipped rice and put it in the mouth of Nityananda. So people were watching. This is  a  chipped rice can float up 26:26 ( devotees laughing). 26:26 Lord Chaitanya, only a few could see He was invincible to the mass of the people. They are seeing Nityananda take chipped rice, putty in the air. They don't know what's going on (devotees laughing). But anyway everyone was so ecstatic that they didn't meditate on these things very much. It is completely inconceivable what was going on anyways. So it was over everybody's head( devotees laughing). So in this way Nityananda was walking to all the group s of 26:49 and all the Vaishnavas were standing there. Then some could see, there's Lord Chaitanya. They are seeing what's going on. And some, they could feel what's going on but could not see. Others they don't know what's going on but they are just Haribol!! Haribol!! Nitai Gaur premanande ( devotees shouting Haribol).

 

ki kariyā beḍāya, — ihā keha nāhi jāne

mahāprabhura darśana pāya kona bhāgyavāne

No one could understand what Nityānanda Prabhu was doing as He walked about. Some, however, who were very fortunate, could see that Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also present.

 

tabe hāsi’ nityānanda vasilā āsane

cāri kuṇḍī āroyā ciḍā rākhilā ḍāhine

Then Nityānanda Prabhu smiled and sat down. On His right side He kept four pots of chipped rice that had not been made from boiled paddy.

 

āsana diyā mahāprabhure tāhāṅ vasāilā

dui bhāi tabe ciḍā khāite lāgilā

Lord Nityānanda offered Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu a place and had Him sit down. Then together the two brothers began eating chipped rice.

 

dekhi’ nityānanda-prabhu ānandita hailā

kata kata bhāvāveśa prakāśa karilā

Seeing Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu eating with Him, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu became very happy and exhibited varieties of ecstatic love.

 

ājñā dilā, — ‘hari bali’ karaha bhojana’

‘hari’ ‘hari’-dhvani uṭhi’ bharila bhuvana

Lord Nityānanda Prabhu ordered, “All of you eat, chanting the holy name of Hari.” Immediately the holy names “Hari, Hari” resounded, filling the entire universe.

 

Nitai Gaur premanande Hari haribol (devotees shouting Hari haribol).

 

So everyone, they all were chanting Hari! Hari!. eating and chanting and they are remembering Krishna and Balaram. All of them were feeling seperation from Krishna and Balaram. Actually Srila Prabhupad, even on more than one occasion to Panihati with us and then he showed us one temple which was a very ancient temple, just by the side of the tree under which, Sri Nityananda Prabhu sat. And their it's interesting that there is Revati Balaram temple. Very rare to find Revati Balaram. And also at Prabhupad's ancestoral temple, Radha Govinda, there is also Revati Balaram Deities. Many of you have gone to the temple in Calcutta of Prabhupad's Deities, you will see also Revati Balaram is being worshipped. It's very rare to find, however, but this is a special festival Balaram  because Nityananda is non different than Balaram. Sri Krishna Chaitanya naha Krishna yamna Balaram hoila nitai. So in the ecstacy of transcendental pastimes of the cowherd boys and the pastime of giving the mercy to Raghunath Das in the form of punishment. If we are punished by the Lord, that's also mercy. Sivananda Sena expresses that he accepted the punishment of Nityananda Prabhu as causeless mercy. The devotees take whatever the Lord gives as His mercy. So even if it is punishment, it is mercy. The point is never to be separated from the Lord. That is the real diagnosis, tamasa. The real ignorance is to be seperated from the Lord, therefore we are connected whether the Lord is punishing or  whether He is blessing, it's all mercy. We simply want the eternal connection with the Lord and His servants.

 

nityānanda mahāprabhu — kṛpālu, udāra

raghunāthera bhāgye eta kailā aṅgīkāra

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lord Nityānanda Prabhu are extremely merciful and liberal. It was Raghunātha dāsa’s good fortune that They accepted all these dealings.

 

nityānanda-prabhāva-kṛpā jānibe kon jana?

mahāprabhu āni’ karāya pulina-bhojana

Who can understand the influence and mercy of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu? He is so powerful that He induced Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to come, eat chipped rice on the bank of the Ganges.

 

śrī-rāmadāsādi gopa premāviṣṭa hailā

gaṅgā-tīre ‘yamunā-pulina’ jñāna kailā

All the confidential devotees who were cowherd boys, headed by Śrī Rāmadāsa, were absorbed in ecstatic love. They thought the bank of the Ganges to be the bank of the Yamunā.

 

Srila Prabhupada came here and he saw Nitai Gaurachandra. He said how merciful . I should be nice to hear that, that sort of that tape. Play it in Prabhupad smriti utsav. How merciful Nitai and Gaurachandra are. They are so merciful, out of their causeless mercy, they personally come. Actually Prabhupad became overwhelmed and tears started to flow from his eyes as he was taking the darshan of Nitai and Gaurachandra. Here he chanted the 'parama karuna' song for the first time. Taught the devotees how to chant and they didn't know how to do the one two beat. But normally he is doing ting ting ting, ting ting ting. But this song is pom pom, pom pom, one two one. So teach them how to play the kartals in the proper temple, proper beat. So this, then he named this place as the , this temple as New Panihati. New Panihati dham ki jai!! (devotees saying jai!!). Actually here Nitai Gaurachandra were personally present. They are still present. Prabhupad in his ecstacy,he would appreciate all these pastimes. So even according to the Vaishnava tradition, if some big acharya preaches in the place or does some pastimes, that place becomes recognised as a Sripat. Panihati is a dham because there Lord Nityananda, Lord Chaitanya, the Lords themselves personally appeared. But even if say just a devotee those, I mean some great devotees also go Sripat, just like a dham kind of. Special type of miniature dham. So here Srila Prabhupad came. He had so many pastimes with the devotees. Like, to remember the glories of Srila Prabhupad, focusing on specifically on pastimes how here in Panihati and generally all of these transcendental qualities and pastimes. Because Srila Prabhupad gave the name and initiated the worship of Nitai Gaurachandra here through his visit, so every year we also remember Srila Prabhupad, the founder acharya of the New Panihati dham. On this day also his personal appearance here and his transcendental qualities. Just as Lord Chaitanya was brought by Nityananda Prabhu, so also here Prabhupad personally came and he brought Nitai Gaurachandra. Enjoy taking the chipped rice and yogurt with all the devotees and Lord Chaitanya Nityananda, we can pray to their Lords that one day we will be so fortunate to be able to see how they are dancing amongst all the devotees and how they are also accepting that chida and dahi. How they are observing the devotees taking their prasadam. How they are happy with the festival. One day will be so fortunate to see that, that prayer 35:03. But even though we cannot see it, we can feel how happy the Lord is because although the festival is nothing very special. There are many more opulent festivals and rath yatras all over the world. But just because Lord Nityananda,  Lord Chaitanya become very pleased when the devotees participate in this festival. When they are pleased, naturally devotees become pleased. So everybody leaves with some sublime feeling, transcendental contentment which is inexplicable. If you try to analyse why one feels so happy. You know that the secret is the mercy of Nitai Gaurachandra. Lord Nityananda is very humorous. Lord Chaitanya also  in the presence of  Nityananda, He became also very jolly. And sometimes they express their humour in different ways. Actually one day Nityananda Prabhu and one day mother Saci, she had a dream. When she woke up, she was very perturbed by that dream. She asked Nimai, what is the meaning of this dream?  and Nimai, what dream did you have? And she said, well last night in my dream, I was preparing a meal for the Deities and then I came and I saw, I gave the one plate and I came to get the other. I came back and there I saw a baby You and  Nityananda as babies. We are talking to the diety Krishna and Balaram. Nityananda was talking and He was telling that this bhoga should not go to You. You are from the Dwapara Yuga (devotees laughing). The Lord of this age is Gaurahari. The offering should go to Him. He is the predominate diety in the age of Kali (devotees laughing).  Mother Saci was watching and she couldn't understand. All of a sudden Nityananda Prabhu as a baby wrapped her and said Feed Me! Feed Me! I'm hungry ( devotees laughing). Then she woke up. What does this mean? Your Deities are very active. Also, maybe Nityananda Prabhu is hungry. So I'll go, invite Him for lunch. You can prepare. She was very happy. Meanwhile Nityananda Prabhu had run to the Ganges, jumped in ,swam to the other side and was getting all the kids to chant Hare Krishna. Then He jumped in, swam back. He was in a very jolly mood that day. Then Nityananda saw, on the other side there was Lord Chaitanya standing. And then He said -  Come , You have to take lunch with Me today. He says Alright. And Lord Chaitanya told Him, like listen. No funny business (devotees laughing). What do you mean, no funny. You made funny business. You are the one who is always doing the funny business. I am not doing any display there. Having their discussion amongst each other who is doing the funny business. So they went and mother Saci in her ecstasy, she was so happy to be able to give prasadam to Nitai Gaur. Then after offering to the Deities,she came and she set up the plates, the new plate. In ecstasy somehow she put 3 plates down. Not understanding, it's two, but they put three. In another way, she was outside her self. She was so happy to be able to serve, so filled with pure love, pure Krishna Prema. So she came and then she started to, she brought in the preparations, had to put the preparations on their plates. She went to get more. They started to eat prasad. Then she came back and she looked and glanced at Lord Chaitanya Nityananda. There were sitting Krishna and Balaram eating prasad. She was like Ohh!!!(devotees laughing). Fainted on the ground. Immediately Lord Chaitanya jumped up. Mother Saci!! Mother Saci!!, what's the matter? and she looked and she saw there's Lord Chaitanya, there's  Nityananda. __Go out 39:06 and locked the door. I won't speak to anybody the whole day ( devotees laughing). Lord Chaitanya said I told You not to play around (devotees laughing). But the Lord keeps Himself covered. He's in different pastimes and sometimes He reveals Himself  but since the devotees are covered by yoga maya, they cannot comprehend the significance. It contradicts with their siddha svarupa there, eternal rasas playing at that time, so it becomes overwhelming for their consciousness.Here all the devotees, they are considering themselves Brahmins and Vaishnavas and they all love Nityananda Prabhu and Lord Chaitanya more than their very soul. In this way Lord Nityananda is accepting all of them as His eternal in His eternal service, even so many new people, all people, all devotees meaning the ones who came down from along Vrindavan, they are sitting all around Him but all so many new people. I integrated in the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya. Prabhupad explained that when we leave this body, one of the ways we integrate in Krishna's pastimes is we go to some universe where Krishna, Lord Chaitanya's pastimes are going on and we enter into those pastimes. And then from there we are transferred to the spiritual world. So this way, so many hundreds and thousands of devotees became completely filled with love of Krishna by the mercy of Lord Nityananda integrated in different ways in His pastimes. It became such a famous ocassion that the, when Raghunath Das and his people to buy the things, they came with a big bullock cart with bullock down here. They bring bullock carts of yogurt, of sandesh, rasagulla. Then the shopkeepers, they also come along and they also take their prasad and stay there. Everyone just you know so many, then it became like an ocean of people. Just one after another, they are all coming. Whatever came Raghunath Das just bought it. Then he gave the people back again, take some prasad. You can't go without prasad.So, it was a very funny, very ecstatic situation. Everyone was chanting Hari! Hari! Nitai Gaur premanande Hari haribol ( devotees saying Hari haribol along with Guru Maharaj).41:37 eating and continually chanting 41:40 Hari! in so much Hari! Hari! Gaurahari! Gaurahari! like this , they are all chanting. So people are coming, the whole air is filled with the sound Hari Hari. So then after Nityananda Prabhu finished, washed His hands, he gave Raghunath Das the four parts with all the remnants. He gave the remnants to Raghunath Das. Can’t imagine the causeless mercy Raghunath Das is getting the personal remnants of Nityananda Prabhu. After Lord Nityananda Prabhu finished eating, He washed His hands and mouth, gave Raghunath Das the food remaining in the 4 pots. Then there were 3 other big pots that Nityananda Prabhu had. So they distributed it to all the other devotees giving a morsel each.

 

puṣpa-mālā vipra āni’ prabhu-gale dila

candana āniyā prabhura sarvāṅge lepila

Then a brāhmaṇa brought a flower garland, placed the garland on Nityānanda Prabhu’s neck and smeared sandalwood pulp all over His body.

 

So we had devotees of Nityananda take chida dahi then given Chandan seva. Krishna and Nityananda Prabhu distributed to all the devotees. There were other flower garlands he distributed. Had all the other devotees went for garlands and sandalwood was given to the other devotees. So after receiving the remnants of prasadam by Nityananda Prabhu, Raghunath Das accepted some of that and he distributed the rest to the other devotees.

 

ei ta’ kahiluṅ nityānandera vihāra

‘ciḍā-dadhi-mahotsava’-nāme khyāti yāra

Thus I have described the pastimes of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu in relation to the celebrated festival of chipped rice and yogurt.

 

Then Nityananda Prabhu went and took little rest. There are more pastimes that evening. So actually when Srila Prabhupad, he said that this Panihati was most important. In Bengal, the Panihati, he said that he wanted from BBT funds, from his own, he wanted to  have a big temple built there. Because that time the government was saying, they'll give us a land right there, at that place. So Prabhupad said we'll build a temple right here. Local people objected that sitting place, original sitting place would be disturbed. Prabhupad said No, we'll build a two temple with a big concrete corner. We'll build it on the second floor and the ground floor will remain all as it is. The whole temple will be up, right up on the side of the Ganges. It will have regular motor lawn service, yard service from Calcutta to Panihati, Panihati to Mayapur. Tour will be there. Always coming and going. Everyone was stopped at Panihati. Special chida dahi prasad will be there. So Prabhupad, of course then the government changed, a big communist government somehow. Now maybe there is a chance, now the communist became favourable with us again after 12 years. Now that the Russians came and swept the road for the Jagannath and everything. They melted out a little bit. But initially they were not so favourable. Now they become so helpful. So now maybe there is a chance to get that property. Develop that temple Prabhupad wanted. After that Prabhupad said 44:56 he also said, you participate in this festival here. I remember the first year we went there, explained before that, we didn't have any idea how many people actually were there. And you know sometime I  have the problem of being a little late. So he came with a whole truck load of, it may be a tonne of chipped rice and hundreds of pots of misri dahi ( sweet dahi). So he arrived at about 9.30 or 10 which is actually too late and  had to be there early, early in the morning. Already by that time, the place was completely packed. We went down. Somehow atleast to get to the place, we could only the trucks.It was stopped atleast half a mile away. The closer than that was the  45:43 people. If you took 15 or 20 minutes just to go and come back, it took half hour. With empty hands just to go there and see the situation. So it seemed almost like how we are going to get our tonne or more of chipped rice, chida and all the dahi and sugar and everything to that tree side. See now, of course  we know a day before setup candles everything. But at that time was the first time. We didn't know. We had a Nitai Gaur Deities. So then, we were completely frustrated. I don't know, we really kind of you know blew it sophistiquely. We came, there's no way on getting all the things there. So we were praying to Nitai Gaur what to do. And all of a sudden, although it was a bright day, right over the whole place a little cloud came and shh.. started to rain. So when the rain, all the people went off the road, kind of, like trying to go under the tree or under and the whole road, half mile, suddenly became empty. So all the devotees picked up the 46:41, put the Deities on our heads and  some you know cheerly, all ran down to the you know 46:46 quick while it was still raining. Ran right down shh.. it was like, right to the tree where the and took over. Shut the brahmins up 46:54 you don't want to show them mark any more. This is by surprise. Put the Nitai Gaur Deities there and we made a 108 .Then as soon as we got there, the rain stopped. And then the people when they saw these Deities of Nitai Gaur, Oh! they have got such nice beautiful Deities. One man was there. He was like a balancing and he all of a sudden singing Nitai Gaur Hari Hari abhishek, Nitai Gaur come to Panihati today giving us today the Krishna prem... like that he started singing. Oh! battle, people started jumping up Nitai Gaur Panihati vasache. vasache means they have come, they have come and everyone is. Then people are rolling in the mud there. They are rolling around(devotees laughing) in 47:43. So well we had to people, they go. That is one chanting to the point, they become all completely mad. So then we got there, we got half the things there and it stopped raining. All the people back on the roads and then again somehow we went back to the truck, say another half of the things there. Again the cloud came, shh.. started raining. Then we took all the rest of the things. When it stops, we got there. Lord Chaitanya's special mercy. Nityananda wanted to and then we made a 108 48:17, the clay pots offered to Nitai Gaur and then, see we had no experience. We didn't know how the people there. They are completely spontaneous, you can say. They are just into chanting and getting the mercy. So we are thinking, how to distribute the prasadam. Here's like a hundred, may be thousand. In that area 50,000 people and beyond, you know more. Here we have 108. Filled with you know opulent, nicely decorated things. How to distribute little bit to each. So then one devotee, I don't even remember if it was 48:52 someone, I don't know, one devotee, he took out the pot. He decided, I'll go and distribute. And we saw when the count and we just saw, he was like thousand hands kind of ( devotees laughing). And that person disappeared.(devotees laughing) like a person in the waves of the ocean. Just disappeared. And there was no one over there (devotees laughing). Then about 5 minutes later, he called out between someone late. This is not the way to do it (devotees laughing). Then another devotee climbed up on a tree and was hanging down like  feeding birds, they are going like (devotees laughing). People are very. Now we built big, you know, put bricks, wooden poles and make a queue, so people can't fall over.  But people really, everyone to chant, all the people, they are chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare ( devotees chanting Hare Krishna Mantra along with Guru Maharaj). Nitai Gaurango Nitai Gauranga ( devotees repeat ).

 

So today's a special day for chanting for Nitai and Gaur. I want 50:06 to give them blessing. We want that especially Raghunath Das there, pure devotee, who is first given him the mercy. Later today there is so many, this topic is go on being discussed, the mercy that Raghunath Das got. The later pastimes of the day, there's so many other. Sanyasis and devotees who are explaining these things. But we are praying to Srila Prabhupad for his mercy, so they're able to perform this festival. To remember Srila Prabhupad's voice and so we can serve that 6 goswamis especially Raghunath Das who is specially dear to the Lord. He was the assistant secretary of Swarup Damodar. He was taken later by Lord Chaitanya and given such intimate service. Chaitanya Charitamrita is written from the notes that, mainly from the notes of  Raghunath Das and recorded. He kept detailed notes of all the things and that was heard by Krishnadas Kaviraj, recorded especially to his devotees for the pleasure of their Lords Nitai Gaurachandra. Very happy to see many devotees chanting Hare Krishna and taking prasadam. They want to accept them all as their associates in the picnic on the side of the river Jamuna. We don't have the river Jamuna here. So one may say, how can we have the New Panihati. So the only thing we have to have is a river of nectar flowing from the mouths of all devotees constantly chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare ( devotees chanting Hare Krishna along with Guru Maharaj) and chanting the glories of the Lord’s devotees. Hare Krishna.( devotees shouting Hare Krishna).

 

Any questions...Yes

 

Question: not audible

Guru Maharaj: You see, in Bengal, there's two kinds of rice. There's parboiled and unboiled. Some people, because Bengal is very humid place, the rice doesn't dry so properly and it's harder to make the rice from parboiled paddy.

Rather we say, it's easier if you steam the paddy to make the rice, has less breakage in such a humid place as Bengal. In Orissa, they don't boil the rice, they bury it for 6 months. In other drier places like Rajasthan, they don't boil at all, they are able to crack it. It gets dry enough. If it's not dry enough, then when you try to take the husk of the rice, it cuts. So some of this chida may have that made from rice which was steamed before. But some chida was made from very fine rice which was not all steamed. It was directly made from unboiled rice. I think that, it's refering to that. In other words, for the general distribution, it might have been different qualities of rice but for Nityananda Prabhu, in front of the maha maha prasad especially, they only use the parboiled. They are unboiled chida. You don't have to cook chida. Chida is already cooked. Actually chida is the, the way we see it is, people soak the paddy with the husk on it, means rice with the husk. They soak it and then they let it dry out in the open. Then they cook it in the sand. They have a big pan of sand. Special coarse sand which doesn't stick and they heat the sand with the fire underneath it. And the sand becomes hotter, much hotter than water, like almost as hot as ghee. But it's sand. Then they will put the hot, wet paddy, moist paddy into the sand and it will cook in its own husk. Then they will throw the hot paddy with the sand on the 54:22. The sand will fall through and the hot paddy will stay. Then while it's still hot, they will flatten the paddy. There's various ways of flattening. Now they have a big machine that does it. A big kind of wheel that spins. But I also have seen  like the ladies do it with the theki, they use the wooden thing or they use even the hemp. In the morning, one place I saw 60 year old lady. Completely looked like she was going to a beauty spa or something, in perfect health. Every morning, she would make her own cereal. pav! pav! pounding with the stick, you know, kept in good health and she just, you see. Here we have everything pre packaged, pre made and we don't have to go to the spa or gymnasium and keep fit. But there it's like, you make your cereal in the morning and you are fit ( devotees laughing). You don't have to pay 500$ a year for membership and nothing ( devotees, Guru Maharaj laughing). So anyways the technique I mean, cheer up. But so there must have been, there's also other way. There maybe other ways of making chida. The point is when the rice is hot, when you smash it flat, then the husk over rides and the rice flattens out and then when it cools down, it becomes hardened and stays in that shape. So then it is just soak it. After that, it expands and so on. You make the cereals a picnic. So the people, the farmers, they'll take a some chida with them and they work in the field. When they get hungry, they will just take some, put in the water, wash it off a little bit, let it wait for 10 minutes and then it's ready to eat. It's like instant food. You don't have to put rice, you have to cook and this is already pre cooked. So I don't know, maybe there was a special way of making chida even that I don't know about. Maybe they are talking themselves. Some way of making that chida, some even more opulent way. But...

 

Question: There are 2 kinds of rice , one is white and one is brown.

 

Guru Maharaj:  The brown, that's the par boiled.

Question: The brown one is the cooked one.

Guru Maharaj: Ya

Question: The white one is the sun rise, by sunset, but that's all

Guru Maharaj:Here we don't import into America the brown one. They only import the white one. The brown one takes about 20 mins, you have to soak it. For 20 minutes before it gets soft. The white one, as soon as you put in water, it's very quick. It's also difficult for us because when we are making such big quantities, put in water, it becomes soft. So how to do it without having a break. A big amounts of people, actually the brahmanas, you see,  because it doesn't break. So 56:52 mixing it with all the things, it stays. It only becomes soft after 20 minutes. When I was explaining, I was thinking that red one was the proper but you can 57:01

 

Srila Prabhupada Ki jaya!!

Nitai Gaurachandra ki jaya!

Raghunath Das Goswami ki jaya

Panihati Cida Dahi utsav ki jaya

Bolo Panihati ki jaya

Gaur Premanande Hari Hari bol