199403 Navadvīpa Maṇḍala Parikarmā in Hamsavāhana, Navadvipa Dham

(Level 1 transcript)

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Śiva is the, considered the greatest Vaiṣṇava and this pastime Haṁsavāhana illustrates how great a devotee he is? Śukadeva Gosvāmī was speaking on Gaura-Bhāgavata here, The Bhāgavatam of Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. And sages from all over the universe had gathered to hear. Actually, not hear but at Naimiṣāraṇya. Aware Lord Śiva heard about them that he wanted to come here very quickly to not miss the class. So he came on his bull but the bull was not going fast enough for him. Went from Kailāsa he past by Satyaloka. He borrowed the swan carrier, or the Haṁsavāhana of Lord Brahmā and he came flying in on the swan carrier. That, when the sages saw the swan, they thought Lord Brahmā had come, they were quite surprised to see it was Lord Śiva coming on Brahmā’s carrier. So in the river here, if you see there is a small bamboo structure in the water which is protecting the deity. The deity is on manifested when this happened and has been here for a very long time. So this is kept under the water because the deity is so ecstatic, so hot and eager to hear the pastimes that if you don’t keep the deity in the water it will smoke. Once a year the villagers take the deity out of the water and take to the temple visit. And they continuously day and night pouring water on the deity. Water mean liquids. Last year in the month of Caitra many devotees went there including Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, Nitāicandra Mahārāja. I also had the fortunate, of going and all of them queue up and day and night and they are offering Ganges water to the Śiva deity. The deity and the swan with Lord Śiva on the back of the swan. Stone deity. It was quite an interesting pastime when we went there this year. As usual I was a little late, I think Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja and Nitāicandra had got there on time. It was only me, and we reached there at sunset. At that time, we were doing a special pūjā for Lord Śiva and some devotees they were already inside the temple room so they said to me “Please wait fifteen minutes.” So with this parikramā I did some research, where was the Puṣkara for taking the devotees of this tribe. So we went to the Puṣkara tīrtha which was not very far away. When we got to Puṣkara tirtha then a devotee told me that he had kicked over the vessel that was containing the Ganges water. So we didn’t have any Ganges water to offer to Lord Śiva. So then we thought let’s offer Puṣkara water which was a holy tīrtha. So we got the Puṣkara water and came back to Lord Śiva. And what was happening it that they had finished their pūjā and there’s a special thing they do is that they put a certain kind of flower on Lord Śiva and drops of water fall onto the flower. If the wish of the devotee will be fulfilled the flower pops open and flies into the air and falls into the pūjārī’s hand or falls over. If the wish will not be given then the flower just falls over on its side and nothing happens and the pūjārī says “Get out! Get out!” you are not allowed. So we were outside, they were all eagerly waiting to see what it going to happen. And we were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and Gaurāṅga! But inside they were so intense that they said “Stop that chanting!” so we just slowed down the chanting softly and for a long time nothing was happening. And then they said “Okay, chant loud, please chant again!” so we started chanting and the water dropped and the flower popped open and flew into the pūjārī’s hand and he also got excited and said “Haribol! Haribol!” [Haribol!] “Chant louder! We are getting the blessings now” [Haribol!] so anyway we were chanting loudly “Please come in Lord Shiva is very pleased with your chanting” so all the devotees offered their milk and Gaṅgā Puṣkara water. So there were different people there, there were Vaiṣṇava’s there worshipping Śiva because of his coming down to hear the pastimes of Gaurāṅga. There were also Śiva bhakta’s who were also coming to chant “Gaurāṅga!” [Gaurāṅga!]. So this way Lord Śiva was so merciful that he was treating everyone also to the lotus feet of Gaurāṅga. We can see in the Navadvīpa dhāma that Lord Śiva has many pastimes. All the devas are having many pastimes, especially Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. They were having different pastimes. But Lord Śiva is bringing his devotees to the Lotus feet of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. We just heard how Lord Brahmā sent his sons, the seven ṛṣi’s to go and hear about and worship Lord Caitanya. So the devas were directing the devotees, directly the people to take shelter of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They are very pleased when the devotees of the Lord are also bringing people to His lotus feet of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This is the purpose of our Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, is to bring people to the lotus feet of Lord Gaurāṅga! [Gaurāṅga!] and engage them in the saṅkīrtana sacrifice. When we perform saṅkīrtana then the whole world is blessed, and when we are going on Navadvīpa parikramā, when we get to the next place Naimiṣāraṇya we should do some kīrtana there because that will also help to diminish the sinful reactions of the whole world and increase the potency of religiosity. As we’re going around Navadvīpa dhāma which is also the center of everything, this is also diminishing in the whole universe. All the materialistic nature of the people and increasing their potential for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. We can see how eager Śiva was when he came to hear and that eagerness is one of the basic potencies of Kṛṣṇa consciousness that we need to increase. The more we are eager to hear, to chant, to serve. That utsāha, that enthusiasm is the first principle mentioned by Rūpa Gosvāmī. So by meditating on the great enthusiasm of Lord Śiva who was so eager to come to hear the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, we can pray to his lotus feet for the blessing of utsāha, of enthusiasm. And while we are going on this Navadvīpa parikramā we can take advantage of all the ecstatic association and very enthusiastically hear, chant, remember, serve the lotus feet of the Lord. So since we’re stopping in many places we will just speak two minutes here. What do you notice that this tree under which Lord Śiva resides has many backs but when you are chanting then you start to fly, you cant give them one last vibration to liberate them. Gaurāṅga! [Gaurāṅga!]

Everyone has seen that Lord Śiva in the water? The bamboo structure.

Devotee: If you can stand and show us?

Jayapatākā Swami: Also this river is called the Gomatī river. It flows through Naimiṣāraṇya. It’s a sacred river. Over there, see there, there’s some bamboo’s with some green in the middle? That is where Lord Śiva is. Anyone who touches the Śiva whilst he’s under the water, they don’t live to tell anymore (laughter). That’s why it’s not recommended.

(aside) Mahā Viṣṇu is giving water from the Gau-matī.