19920612 Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya-līlā.6.4-5

Lecture Code: 19920612

Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya-līlā Chapter 6, Verse 4 and 5 Lecture By

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja

 

vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams ca

  sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam

sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devam

sri-radha-Kṛṣṇa-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

 

 

yadyapi antare kṛṣṇa-viyoga bādhaye

bāhire nā prakāśaya bhakta-duḥkha-bhaye 

(CC Antya-līlā 6.4) 

 

So Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed various pastimes with His associates in Jagannātha Purī and varieties of transcendental pleasures. Although Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt pangs of separation from Kṛṣṇa, He did not manifest His feelings externally for He feared the unhappiness of His devotees. It is described how Lord Caitanya.. extreme ecstasy of separation from Lord Kṛṣṇa, beyond description. And how Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara stayed with the Lord constantly to assist Him. So Rāmānanda Rāya is helping Lord Caitanya to study as a friend. And Lord Caitanya was feeling separation from …… These types of 2 04 not clear was helping Rādhārāṇī, Svarūpa Dāmodara... helping Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara... extremely fortunate, most confidential friends of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

 

So when Lord Caitanya returned back to Bengal, in order to..  see Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī, at that time Raghunātha dāsa met Lord Caitanya, begged permission to join Lord Caitanya giving up his family life. But Lord Caitanya taught him that rather than being a markaṭa-vairāgyi, false renunciate, superficially practice Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. He taught that just like sometimes the wife has got some other lover, other than the husband so that time she is very careful not to get caught, she does her own activities very nicely but then her mind is always on the lover. Lord Caitanya said - like this you do your material activities very nicely but keep your mind always on Kṛṣṇa 

 

So this is not Raghunātha dāsa wanted, he wanted to join Lord Caitanya, have His complete association. He carried out the orders of the Lord. He managed his father's and uncle's business and the landowners, landlords very appropriately. Even to the point that when there was a problem with one Mohammedan tax collector, that his father and uncle may take him over his job, and they were cheating on the tax to the (Emperors/Empress). So this tax collector had told the minister that there were some, I am not getting the full fact. So then they went to arrest the Hiraṇya and Govardhana. But as soon as they had got the information... fled away. So instead they arrested Raghunātha dāsa. He didn't know anything. In this way Raghunātha dāsa, he was able to talk so nicely to this Mohammedan tax collector that he won over his heart and eventually he let him go and Raghunātha dāsa was able to bring him needingly between his father, uncle and Mohammedan tax collectors so that some agreement could be worked out mutually. 

 

Like this he was doing so many different material activities, so then his desire to join Lord Caitanya became too strong. But then he tried to remember the way of his father was so rich and powerful he would send a small army to catch him. So then Lord Caitanya allowed Raghunātha dāsa to go to see Lord Nityānanda. That time Lord Nityānanda was in Pānihāṭi How many of you went to the birthplace of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī at Adisaptagram? How many have been in Pānihāṭi? So Pānihāṭi is very lovely, eastern side of the Ganges, and Adisaptagram is on the western side, not so far about 30-40.. bus 20 - 30 miles more . And near to Chibeni So Adisaptagram still the.. there is a, some shrine for Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. So it wasn't very far from where Lord Nityānanda was living in Korthaha which is about 5 km more to Pānihāṭi 5-6 km, could be miles, 4 miles. It wasn't very far. Nityānanda Prabhu was always in Bengal except sometime He would go to Jagannātha Purī. 

 

But somehow Raghunātha dāsa hadn't taken here the mercy of Lord Nityānanda, he had gone directly to Lord Caitanya. Then he was staying in his house doing all his household activities, remembering Kṛṣṇa but he wasn't associating with Lord Nityānanda. So this time somehow he heard that Nityānanda Prabhu was in Pānihāṭi. So he decided to take advantage of His association. And he went to where Lord Nityānanda was. 

 

So when he reached Pānihāṭi, there'a mango a banyan tree just on the side of the Ganges and Nityānanda Prabhu was sitting under this banyan, under this banyan tree and He was radiating rays area. So when Lord..when Raghunātha dāsa met Nityānanda, He was so effulgent, He was, presence was so dynamic, He was like millions of moons. From a distance he paid his obeisances and then Lord Nityānanda was far to look at there - that person offering his obeisance in the distance..It was Raghunātha dāsa So then Nityānanda, when He heard that He said:

 

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!” (CC Antya-līlā 6.47)

 

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. (CC Antya-līlā 6.48)

 

Lord Nityānanda was by nature very merciful and funny. Being merciful, He spoke to Raghunātha dāsa as follows. (CC Antya-līlā 6.49)

 

“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. (CC Antya-līlā 6.50)

 

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. (CC Antya-līlā 6.51)

 

 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. (CC Antya-līlā 6.52)

 

Then he got chipped rice, yoghurt, milk, sweetmeats, sugar, bananas and many other eatables. When people heard, when the Brāhmaṇas and the Vaiṣṇavas heard that there was going to be a festival and everybody came in order to get some mahā-prasāda. So Raghunātha, he saw the size increasing, he ordered more and more ingredients. He saw that more and more people were coming and he made two types of ciḍā, some was with condensed milk with a special banana known as cāṅpā-kalā. Sugar, clarified butter and camphor were added. 

 

Cāṅpā-kalā is a special kind of banana which is available in Bengal. It's a smaller banana, yellow in colour, very thin skin and very sweet, and its skin is fully yellow. When he opened the white banana stem and he cut the banana in the middle butter colour. This is known as one of the sweetest bananas in the whole world. Like one banana research centre supervisor told me that according to statistics, this is the sweetest banana in the whole world, with the most vitamin C. It's fully ripened, vitamin C also very sweet. So when its not ripe it tastes acidic, it is..so much vitamin C. It's fully ripe and the vitamin C also very, very sweet. You have to get them when they are ripe. 

 

So after this Raghunātha dāsa were all that things were offered to Lord Nityānanda. Nityānanda changed His cloth and sat and then given different pots of mahā -prasādam. There is a description of who was present. There were many great devotees present. Among them were Rāmadāsa, Sundarānanda, Gadādhara dāsa, Murāri, Kamalākara, Sadāśiva, Purandara, Dhanañjaya, Jagadīśa, Parameśvara dāsa, Maheśa, Gaurīdāsa and Hoḍa Kṛṣṇadāsa, the King family member. Also Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura and other personal associates of the Lord sat on the raised platform of Nityānanda. No one could count them all. So all kinds of learned scholars, brahmanas and priests, when they heard about the festival, they all came there. Nityānanda told them - “come here and sit by Me”. He gave them all respect. Everybody was with 2 earthen pots- one with ciḍā and one with dadhi and one yoghurt, another one`with condensed milk and ciḍā. 

 

So then after all these illustrious personalities were sitting around Nityānanda So many people were sitting around His platform, that was beyond counting. As more and more people came, more ingredients started to come in from different villages. Those who supplied ingredients, they were also told to sit down, they were given 2 pots. Everyone was given 2 pots with ciḍā dadhi. It became such a crowded festival that there was no more room to stand and land, sit in the land. So people were taking their 2 pots of ciḍā dadhi and they were standing in the Ganges water even up to the waist, taking their prasādam. 

 

And when Lord  Nityānanda saw the ecstasy, He became very happy and Raghunātha Paṇḍita, he came.. Rāghava Paṇḍita came with the plate of prasādam for Lord Nityānanda and informed that they had full rice prasādam waiting for Him. So that time Lord Nityānanda told him that let Me eat all this food here during the day, and I shall eat at your home at 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.” (CC Antya-līlā 6.75)

 

So then Rāghava Paṇḍita came to give Lord Caitanya invitation- come home and take His lunch. He was told- you sit down here, give Me pots, alright. In this way Lord Nityānanda was in ecstasy and the cowherd boys who made the whole land of Pānihāṭi like Vṛndāvana.

 

When He was experiencing this Kulina bhojana, a picnic in the side of the river Ganges so just as Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were sitting by the side of the Yamunā having their picnic. 

 

So then when everybody was seated and taking  prasādam, Nityānanda brought Lord Caitanya there by His meditation. But then as soon as Lord Caitanya arrived, Nityānanda was stood up. And both of them started walking to the people and watching how much everyone was taking  prasādam. Of course the people could only see Lord Nityānanda. Nityānanda was taking rice from the pot, putting it in the mouth of Lord Caitanya, and Lord Caitanya was taking rice from some of the pots and putting it in the mouth of Lord Nityānanda The people, nobody could understand what was going on except for few very fortunate people could see. They were seeing Lord Nityānanda taking the prasadam and putting it in the air, they didn't know what was really going on. Actually Lord Caitanya had come there by Nityānanda Prabhu’s meditation, then He was giving a transcendental mercy. Then Lord Nityānanda He ordered everyone:

 

ājñā dilā, — ‘hari bali’ karaha bhojana’

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

 

“All of you eat, chanting the holy name pof Hari.” Immediately the name “Hari, Hari” resounded, filling the entire universe.(CC Antya-līlā 6.86)

  

‘hari’ ‘hari’ bali’ vaiṣṇava karaye bhojana

pulina-bhojana sabāra ha-ila smaraṇa  

(CC Antya-līlā 6.87)  

 

 When all the Vaiṣṇavas were chanting the holy names “Hari, Hari”. What were they chanting? 

Devotees - “Hari, Hari”, 

Jayapatākā Swami - “Hari, Hari”, 

Devotees - “Hari, Hari”, 

Jayapatākā Swami - “Hari,Hari”,  

Devotees - “Hari,Hari”. 

And eating they remembered how Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma ate with their companions, the cowherd boys on the banks of the Yamunā. 

 

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. (CC Antya-līlā 6.88)

 

Who can understand the unlimited mercy of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu? He was so powerful He could induce Lord Caitanya to come there, immediately 500 kilometres from Jagannātha Purī to the side of the Pānihāṭi river to give His blessings. So this is very special mercy. So Nityānanda Prabhu, He is showing how we can be Kṛṣṇa conscious in the Kali yuga. Lord Nityānanda was, 500 years ago having a pastime in Pānihāṭi. He was in Bengal, thousands of kilometres away from Vṛndāvana, but He was memorised.. remembering the pastimes of Vṛndāvana. And therefore, He was having this kulina bhojan, this special picnic at Pānihāṭi. 

 

So Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that this should be in ISKCON, many places of transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda also instructed that the secret for success in spiritual life is to always remember Kṛṣṇa This is the special mercy that we can… We can also serve the Lord in transcendental separation. By being in separation of the Lord, we can be present with the moon. 

 

So then people heard about the festival, everybody came running. Those were the spontaneous attraction of the people. Even today people spontaneously come to Pānihāṭi, there is no big advertisements sticked up, there is no ads in the newspaper. Simply then anyone knows that this day Pānihāṭi there is a very very, this festival and everybody just shows up. ISKCON also goes there. And we distribute the most prasadam at the present time and we get the mercy of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, and see what happens in the future, not in the past, but presently. Uptil last year we were having very big contingent going there, Bhakti Cāru Maharaj, for many years, he's been maintaining that program, he’s been giving some donations from And more than a hundred thousand people saw, attend the festival during the day, some kind of people were doing this ..I don't know (19:52 not care). 

 

Everybody is chanting, “Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare / Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare”. So all the preaching and chanting and hearing and all were participating and remembering this pastime. Everyone goes to Rāghava Paṇḍita’s house and sees the Maruti tota. There was a tree where Lord Nityānanda was dancing in Rāghava Paṇḍita’s house. Then this tree came and the tree is still growing for 500 years. Although the normal lifespan of that tree is not so long, but by Nityānanda’s mercy, it’s enjoying over there in the samādhi. 

 

There Rāghava Paṇḍita and his sister Damayantī, they were engaged in cooking for Lord Caitanya and one of the places where the Lord says that He is always existing, He said- I'm always where mother Śacī is cooking, where Gadādhara Paṇḍita is making green tamarind chutney, wherever, I am always in Pānihāṭi, also Rāghava Paṇḍita. Like this so many places in the world where Lord Caitanya said He was residing. So even to this date we can see the presence of Lord Caitanya through the festival. So this is how we can be Kṛṣṇa Conscious in the Kali yuga is by remembering Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes, remembering the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and reliving the same through our.. through festivals. 

 

Śrīla Prabhupāda, he would say that here in the west, he could conquer by… by culture. He’s a cultural expression, so he’s coming to save culture. When the senior South East United States, the tourist brochures, they find various attractions, there was a settlement of  Germans, in some place in Georgia, so they have a tourist attraction that they have beer gardens, and people playing accordions and wearing German dresses and this is supposed to be culture, people go there, tourist attraction. The world's largest collection of tin cans in the sea, hundreds and thousands of tin cans, and you can see the birthplace of baby and every, you know, day this strangest type of culture or faith is in North America telling about the civil war. 

 

But why is that these, somehow or other, accepted as very cultural although the culture is very thin but still they take it as some sort of cultural heritage. So then why, why aren't the culture that goes back thousands of years and time immemorial culture which, has been relived by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, culture of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. Actually in Nityānanda  Prabhu's having His pastimes, the picnic pastimes of the residents of Vṛndāvana.

 

So this is actually something amongst deeper. This is a deep, real culture of the spiritual purport and essence, which is lacking here in the Western world. This was people did here some time before, doesn’t have any spiritual significance but it is considered culture is historical, it is so enduring. You find in South America or and there's so many people that, they're worrying about the certain tribes in the Amazon that are about to become extinct and certain languages that may become extinct, only hundred people that speak, Well, that's very nice, but here we're trying to keep ourselves in spiritual cultural life. 

 

The difference is that this spiritual culture can awaken one to one's original spiritual consciousness, it is actually eternal culture, this is a spiritual culture. It is also existing in the spiritual world. Unfortunately many the world when they talk about religion and they restrict, when we talk about culture then they say "Ok, that's very nice", attracting the money, going back to some permission, I don't know what's going on but we were going to ask some permission to perform at all the public schools of California as a cultural program. So although their dance is rasa lila, Maṇipuri culture means Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura established Vaiṣṇava dharma in Maṇipur and they do rāsa-līlā, they do Kṛṣṇa pastimes. Of course they do martial arts, that's not exactly Narottama original culture of that place. (laughter) But.. just, you know. Just like we had a (25:21 not clear).

 

So this way, people there in the west, they expect culture.  So the more we can present our cultural expression, our cultural message, and the idea behind this culture -there is also a very deep spiritual message. Why did Nityānanda Prabhu tell Rāghava Paṇḍita.. Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī that he was like a thief? Why was He saying.. or why going to punish you? What was the whole idea, where did that, as I mentioned earlier Adisaptagram was not very far from Nityānanda. Nityānanda was remaining in Bengal preaching all over Bengal. Why Rāghava Paṇḍita, excuse me, why Raghunātha dāsa  Gosvāmī wasn’t going to see Nityānanda Prabhu? 

 

More if we get the mercy of Nityānanda it is very easy to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. So he was not taking advantage of the association of the Vaisnavas. If we want to advance in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, we need to take the association of Vaisnavas and especially the mercy of the guru. So he wanted to go directly to Lord Caitanya but Lord Caitanya told him, you just worship in your house. 

 

So this time he is going to get the mercy of  Nityānanda, so Lord Nityānanda is saying that you stay away from us like a thief. So this time we caught you, so now we’re going to punish you, why are you staying away? Actually Lord Nityānanda was very eager to give Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī mercy. So as soon as Raghunātha dāsa came, then He immediately gave him mercy, so they come and feed everyone. It's feast today. So then after that, there are also many other pastimes when He actually this feast is simply to give mercy to Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. 

 

But then it can also educate us about the importance of worshipping the guru, point to the guru, taking analysis from the guru because Nityānanda Prabhu was the original guru. He is the original spiritual master, ādi-guru. If we want Lord Caitanya's mercy, the easiest way is going to Lord Nityānanda. Sometimes Nitāi-Gaura worshipped as guru and Gaurāṅga. 

 

So this festival expanded, and then afterwards Lord Nityānanda took different preparations of ciḍā-dadhi, then with even a flower garland, He was there, distributed to all the local sandalwood pulp. So there is a very intimate relationship between Nityānanda Prabhu and the devotees. So then Raghunātha dāsa has come with so many assistants. He took the remnants of Nityānanda Prabhu, and he was very happy to get this mahā-mahā-prasāda , the personal remnants of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. What mercy! 

 

So then we discussed all these topics in Atlanta so, we didn't discuss what happened later on in the day. So the same day Nityānanda Prabhu, He went to the temple of Rāghava Paṇḍita, and began chanting- Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Then Lord Nityānanda induced or influenced all the devotees to chant.

bhakta saba nācāñā nityānanda-rāya

śeṣe nṛtya kare preme jagat bhāsāya 

(CC Antya Lila 6.102)

And finally He Himself began dancing, thus inundating the entire world in ecstatic love.

 

I know in some countries like in Bolivia, they don't let us chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in the street, they say this is your religion, and before you can chant on the street, you have to get registered as a religion, and for 12 years you apply to be registered as a religion, and they are not giving us registration. So they say that this is culture. 

 

In Russia and Soviet Union where there are communists, they say - this is a folk song from India, this culture. So somehow, for us in the beginning, we were able to, many years, to go on preaching like that until undercops or whatever it is German Cops, somebody figured out that Hare Kṛṣṇa was inundating the country. And he said, “Hare Kṛṣṇa and rock n roll are the two biggest modern influences in our country”, that are destructive for the communism. So then they abandoned, they figured it out. But actually this culture, our culture, our history, our religion, everything is very much connected, there is nothing independent, everything is united. So we are right. `

 

I was at the World Hindu Federation meeting in Vietnam or Macao, when the King of Macao he...when he was fill, came there. In his inaugural speech, he mentioned that actually the Vedic culture is such that you cannot separate from the time someone is born to the time they die, all the way through weddings, the various ceremonies, receiving guests, giving in charity, daily activities, business, everything is intermingled. You can't separate the Vedic culture, it's completely all pervasive to every aspect of life. It's not a religion in a ordinary sense, it's a way of life. I know that is very nice that he stressed that. We can see at the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is a, this is a essence of the entire Vedic culture. It's the objective of the whole Vedic culture. To bring one to complete level of Godhead. To bring one to the eternal culture. 

 

So this culture comes originally from the spiritual world, these pastimes are from the spiritual world. We want to keep this alive. So if the tribals and the Amazon can be kept alive and if everything else can go, why not the spiritual culture? Why not in North America, have places where people can come and see spiritual culture being performed as it was, hundreds of years ago in India in its unadulterated form? That would be also very interesting when we are playing to the western people. Sadly even in the they requested the, they give a open invitation for the Maṇipuri dancers to come every year, people who are interested in Vedic culture, eastern culture, something new and interesting for them. 

 

So that's when Prabhupāda wanted to do in the fire project is also to show an alternative lifestyle. To show a spiritual way of life. So many of the fire projects are called after, just like in religion we call after Vṛndāvana or New Tālavana. Tālavana is one of the forests of Vṛndāvana, one of the forests of Vraja, tall forest Nandgaon Tālavana, Vṛndāvana and so on. So this is also one of the forests of Vṛndāvana. Prabhupada wanted to show - agrarian krishi Go Raksha standard of living, based on the cow and the land, a simple way of living with high thinking, is a alternative for the western world, for the whole world. Prabhu was explaining that ecological how in the Western world people are using 30 times more energy destroying the environment 30 times more than, say, somebody in India or Nepal. 

 

So in the similarly spiritual community imbibing this culture of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, we can also the, I don’t know if we can achieve the same standard of Indian terms of ecological ... but at least that would be many times, 30 times more destructive that we can improve on that by the, I’m sure, by simple living standards. If we have to put our mind to it, actually the way we can actually experience rightly ecstasy is by taking up the devotional service in the mood of Lord Nityānanda is taking up this festival. He was, He was there in Vṛndāvana, He wasn’t seeing all the people present as ordinary people. He was seeing them all as his cowherd friends. He got Lord Caitanya there taking food from the pot, putting in each other’s mouth, They were dancing. He was getting everyone to sing “Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa / Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare”. Then that was that pleasure, that was the ecstasy, and was some of the Nāma-haṭṭas in India. 

 

Even now in India, they don't have a sādhu like this yet, but they have in the cities. But they have a little busy on the village. But the Nāma-haṭṭa devotees, they gather together every night and they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in the village, some of them even before they go to work in their fields in the morning they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So then their day is filled with Hare Kṛṣṇa, chanting and the other people trying to use this tactic so that the other villagers, they go and watch the videos instead, so we are trying to keep them watching the chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa instead. Coming back to chanting. 

 

So just like right now we are seeing India was also presented by ra and then the super. The developing nations all want to come up to the standard of Europe and America. So Srila Prabhupāda’s idea was that if America was shown the lead, if America came out with the message that yes we must become more spiritual, the solution to our materialism which is destroying the ecology, which is destroying the world because people are too much into self gratification, the solution is to be more spiritual. If that kind of message would go out to the rest of the world, then people would start to take it seriously. So we have the very great ambition that America and Europe and the developed nations would take up Kṛṣṇa Consciousness in such a dynamic way. That that would have a very big impact on the rest of the world in all these things And actually it would save the world. 

 

So now the intellectuals and the scientists, they have the standards of  very big problems that people are destroying the planet with too much overconsumption but nobody wants to stop. The only way people can stop is when we actually have a higher taste. Then we can have simple living and high thinking. But to develop that higher taste, requires being absorbed and that absorption comes from constant engagement in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Somehow India is very special, it’s home of the Pānihāṭi is a very special place. Prabhupāda said that he wanted to have a temple right on the right where Nityānanda Prabhu was sitting. 

 

And one time the local member of the house that represented the state of Bengal, whatever they call I don’t knowand then just He don’t have, just that one house, single camera system in Bengal. He approached Śrīla Prabhupāda and said “I want to give you Pānihāṭi. I want to give you this”, and so Prabhupāda really liked that. And then he said “Okay, you can build a temple right here on the banks of the Ganges”. And he started to build the temple with the big columns that goes up like 20 feet so that people could come and go, to the banyan tree into the seed of Nityānanda. And the temple would be above that so that it was, you know, a gigantic temple, 100 feet high, right inside the Ganges and just at the same time there would be an open access.  

 

And then Prabhupāda said, you put, have motor service, Calcutta to Māyāpur and every like one stop at Pānihāṭi and have cida dahi breakfast and go on rest of the way to Māyāpur and be the regular service- Calcutta, Pānihāṭi, Māyāpur. By speed boat, motor boat and we went on the, of course we have our own unmotorised boat, we were on the boat in the Ganges and we saw the view, incredible. There are so many temples alongside the Ganges. It's like, we got on the road, Prabhupāda was crying when he saw the road. He said "This is like home. They had, before this was all teak British mansions and temples and so many beautiful things and now they’ve created this industrial area and it's all alongside the roads, tea stalls, iron repair shops and it was complete like horrible. Black stoop everywhere. 

 

Behind you could see that mansions, see that temple, you could see there were temples and mansions all over But at far, you don't normally see it but Prabhupāda was pointing out see now, all of them industrial, you know, degradation and it's going on. And then Prabhupāda said "Just see the people who are living in the country. It's simple life, they have their own cows, their own land, they have the, they have the little lake, the where they could bathe in and a long personal swimming pool. They had everything but then they were lured by the life in the big city and come there, 'you'll make 600 rupees a month, 600 rupees'. Cash! Here in the country that's like 20 dollars in a month, I mean pittance. So much. But in India that was a lot of money, 600 rupees, of course, not more than 1000 rupees, it's very.  So then Prabhupāda was saying they get attracted by the city, they think it's a lot of money, actually it's nothing, when you go to the city, that's nothing. So when they money they have to work in some factory called lalalalalalalala, you know this big factory, so much so hellish, union, this that, there's no money and there's not enough money to live in a good place, so they end up staying in some kind of a slum. Basti, they call it in India, basti. Then they go and then they their so they, they get some country goon.

 

They drink some, you know, spirit, alcohol and get drunk. They gamble their money away, you know, they see prostitutes. Their kids are running around in the slums, they learn to become juvenile delinquents and everything, and they, in the city and so the the people are like destroyed, it's like Kali has taken them and completely finished them off. 

 

So then practically they're not even human, I mean they're just human in name but you 

know, the kind of sentiment the kind of appreciation, the kind of character, it has lost. So he said, I have heard that people go back to the country, go back to the simple. What is this hellish existence in the city? What is that planet? They are much worse off, thousands of times worse off than what they were when they were in a very nice, very, actually simply the people have this idea to work in the city, make their cash, money and somehow more glorious things. but is it we want to preach to nobility of sweating the fear? 

 

Working in the fields. I've seen how these ladies and, they go on this Nāma-haṭṭa tourism, one place they have ciḍā-dadhi festivals. So ciḍā? So we don't have just make some for you. Then they took out the sand and they had some soaked paddy, rice paddy, they put it in the sand, pupupupup it starts cooking in the hot sand and then they have this kind of (happening), wooden dengi they call it for making ciḍā. And one girl was putting a both hands on the side of the seesaw, like a swing, like a seesaw except that it's a big log and one part of the log is longer than the other, so like, one stick holding it out on the seesaw and so they put that, put their body weight and then (list) out the big pot and then goes BOOM - crashing down as they lift to pull up. So it's not very strenuous but like they have to do like kind of the jig pushing down. And then the other, on the other side there's like girl She puts in this hot paddy that was just cooked and BOOM! The thing comes down and flattens it. As soon as it flattens it, it (heightens) and becomes a ciḍā and the husk flies off with the powder. So then as they lift the thing up again and that's split second, she puts her hand in, pulls out the puts them next to the paddy in a Boom shhshhshh Boom shhshhshh Boom, like the old picnic something this flowing in. 

 

Then, we see there's a 60 year old lady and she didn't have enough, she's completely in tip-top shape, good health, every morning you know, making the breakfast, hot breakfast cereal. Then it is offered that to the little deities, that they had in their side of their little household temple they had made, and then they came, you know, 8:30 they came with the breakfast, freshly made, everything. Picked the mango from the tree, bananas from the tree. 

 

So there is the, actually that, you know, you see these pictures, you think this is barbaric, this is like the Middle Ages, people are not progressing, consumer culture. But they're probably, you know, it's very easy for them to go back home, back to Godhead. There's very little frustration, very little stress. Now people at home, you know, all the problems of stress, all the problems of cancer and all these. These are things that were not even known before. Because of so much consumption. 

 

So Prabhupāda wanted to give them alternative way. What is the problem, what was the entertainment of the people and what's the drama in those festivals? The festivals like the festivals were happening spontaneously. So people, as soon as they hear spiritual they came running. They loved these type of festivals, this was that Prabhupāda, even after 50 years ago, there was  the main, the leader, the main thing was the spiritual drama and Caitanya, the Purāṇa. 

 

Even today the biggest TV show that ever happened in India was the Mahābhārata. Hindus, Muslims, Christians- that was like, you know, 80% of the people were watching TV during the Mahābhārata time. We had to change our bus trips to Māyāpur that everybody would, they wouldn't go unless they could reach there before Mahābhārata. There was once, almost an attack by Pakistan in India, they called an emergency cabinet meeting but everybody showed up 45 minutes late. 45 minutes- what's going on here? It's they couldn't miss Mahābhārata. 

 

Just like people their life is in the culture, their life is in the heritage. So we want to present this spiritual culture here in the West also to give people an alternative to, it's just like gross materialism which is destroying the people, destroying the world. So Prabhupāda said we can combine Western technology with Eastern culture, two can be combined. Let the live exactly like they do in the village but they can simplify. They can simplify much more than what they are doing now, use the technology to simplify contradiction with the technology seems to complicate the stuff. To the extent that it can save us time to do more chanting, it's useful. It could be useful. But if it's simply for sense gratification, what's the use? 

 

So here we see Nityānanda, in the night what does He do? He chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, what do we do in our night time? If we are followers of Lord Caitanya what we should rather do in the night-time is get together and have a good kirtan. Otherwise what kind of followers of Lord Caitanya are we? Here Rāghava Paṇḍita and all the associates of Lord Caitanya, they may be all be husbands. Nityānanda Prabhu is a gṛhastha, everybody here is a gṛhastha. What were they doing? They came together to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's the ecstasy that they're all chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and they're dancing. So Lord Caitanya, He was still present there, He hadn't gone, He's always there in Pānihāṭi. So He was observing the dancing of Lord Nityānanda and Nityānanda Prabhu could see this but the others couldn't. So the dancing of Nityānanda Prabhu, like the dancing of Lord Caitanya cannot be compared to anything within these three worlds. That's another, wherever Nityānanda is dancing, Lord Caitanya goes there, He cannot miss Him. Lord Nityānanda’s dancing was so wonderful.

 

 nṛtyera mādhurī kebā varṇibāre pāre

mahāprabhu āise yei nṛtya dekhibāre

 

No one can properly describe the sweetness of Lord Nityānanda’s dancing. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally comes to see it. (CC Antya Lila 6.105)

 

After the dancing and after Lord Nityānanda had taken rest a little bit from the dancing, Rāghava Paṇḍita submitted his request as take prasāda. Nityānanda sat down with Lord Caitanya. Nityānanda made a sitting place for Lord Caitanya. Again, only a few could see Lord Caitanya. Then again they all sat down and there they had prasādam. There were various kinds of pizza, pāyasam, there was cooked rice, varieties of vegetables. Actually, this festival was like a double feast, mid-day, there's ciḍā-dadhi and in the night there's, in the evening there's a full feast of various opulent rice and dal and pizza, rice cakes. Pizza is very nice, various kinds of pizza, thousands of kinds. Some are like little noodles, they cook it in condensed milk, some are like dosa, like rice pancakes and they fill it with coconut filling. Very nice preparations, made some various kinds of ice cream prepared.

 

In this way the supreme mother Rādhārāṇī was personally cooking in the house of Rāghava Paṇḍita. In this way everything was so aromatic and feasting the essence of all sweetness. So then Rāghava, Raghunātha dāsa was watching all this and he was like, completely overwhelmed in ecstasy. He's seeing all this being happening So then they asked him to sit down "You have to also take prasādam". He said "I'll take later", because he wanted the remnants. So everyone took prasādam, he was serving, staying on the side. Then the Rāghava Paṇḍita worshipped Lord Nityānanda and then he gave the personal remnants of Nitāi and Lord Caitanya, gave it to Raghunātha dāsa that "You take this." 

 

This is... Supreme Personality Of Godhead is everywhere but he is personally in the hearts or in the home of the devotee. This fact is sometimes hidden and sometimes manifest, for the Supreme Lord is fully independent. In this way Raghunātha, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī had so much mercy. Next day when he got up after taking bath in the Ganges and Nityānanda gave him, he sat at Lord Nityānanda's lotus feet and begged for forgiveness and asked for His blessings that "I can acheive Lord Caitanya and try to do to You but only I know it's all by Your mercy can I receive this. So if You are merciful then I can acheive the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya. So I beg upon Your lotus feet that is specially merciful to me, then You give the shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya."

 

In this way Nityānanda Prabhu gave His blessings to Raghunātha dāsa and how did Raghunātha dāsa get opulence equal to Indra but he was simply attached to Lord Caitanya.

 

 

Transcribed by Aarthi Mathaji

On: 13-10-2020 

 

Proof Reading By: Amrita Padma Devi Dasi

On 19/10/2020