20040203 Lecture on Śrī Nityānanda Trayodaśī

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 4^th February 2004 in Kṛṣṇa-kathā-deśa on the occasion of Śrī Nityānanda Trayodaśī.

[…] So he saw Nityānanda, then he went down to Bengal with the Abhirāma and they reached Navadvīpa, they stayed in the house of one devotee called Nandana Ācārya. And Lord Caitanya, He didn’t told the devotees that Nityānanda Prabhu has come, one should go out and find out where He is and tell Me. So then the devotees all going over the whole town of Navadvīpa looking for Nitāi. (knocking sound) “Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Excuse me, sir. We are looking for one Nitāi. Do you have any Nityānanda? Nitāi here?” “No! He is one of these Caitanya… Gaurahari’s followers? We don’t have any Nityānanda here.” Okay, next house, (knocking sound) “Hello! Hello! Anybody home? Madam, excuse me. We’re looking for one Nityānanda Prabhu, who came from Vṛndāvana. What about, have seen any sannyāsīs called Nityānanda here?” “Come on, it’s late. Why are you bothering us? Where are we, Nityānanda here! These Gaurāṅga devotees, Hare Kṛṣṇas all the time bothering people. So let us rest in peace.” So they all came back after searching all over the town and nobody could find Nityānanda. Then they went back and told Lord Caitanya, “We couldn’t find Him.” Lord Caitanya asked, “Did you find Him? Did you find Him? Did you find Him? Did you? Did you? What about you? What were you doing? You are all looking for Him. You are all looking for Him. Of course you can’t find Him. Nobody can find God by looking for Him. You don’t know that? All the adults here, they know that. We cannot find God by looking for Him? He has to reveal Himself to you. When the Lord wants to, He reveals Himself. It’s called Bhagavat-darśana. He reveals Himself to the devotee, who is sincerely desiring His service. If you are looking for Him. You can’t find Him. If He doesn’t want to show Himself to you, then you can’t find Him. But I can find Him.” Because Lord Caitanya being Kṛṣṇa, if He wants, He can find Nityānanda. God can find God. Jīvas, we cannot find God unless He reveals us. “Tomorrow we will go and we will find out Nityānanda, who wants to come and find Nityānanda tomorrow?” All the children are fired up. Because you are getting too old. (laughter) So the next day they went out and they were chanting:

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

So this kīrtana party is going all over Navadvīpa. And then it came very close to where Nityānanda Prabhu was staying and Nityānanda could hear them chanting, He could hear them.

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

You can hear them chanting coming closer and closer. He stood up. He was standing up in the courtyard of Nandana Ācārya’s house. And then Lord Caitanya with the kīrtana party came in, right into that house courtyard. And there He saw Nityānanda! And Nityānanda saw, Gaurāṅga! What He see? Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Gaurāṅga! So while They were seeing each other and feeling really ecstatic. So the devas were showering flowers from the sky[?]. There were Gandharvas playing drums in the clouds. And all the devotees were jumping out of joy. It looked almost like Lord Caitanya, He was reddish gold and Lord Caitanya is mellow gold. Lord Caitanya wearing yellow garment. And He is wearing blue garment. But otherwise, He is almost equally tall, similar everything, very beautiful, long arms, lotus eyes. So they were jumping and they were just shouting, “Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!” They were completely overwhelmed with ecstasy.

When the two brothers, this Kṛṣṇa and Balaram meeting again on this planet, on this earth in the Kali-yuga in the form of Gaura and Nityānanda meeting for the first time. It was such a historical moment. How many would like to be there for that meaning for that moment? Haribol! Finally, adults joined together[?] (laughter).

I was just at Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand, anyone went to New Zealand ever? They say, most of the Indian cinema, the high budget ones, a lot of them are filmed in New Zealand. Very nice mountains and hills. So some of those dance routines you see there. We have a temple there. Śrī Rādhā Giridhārī, Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā and Gaura Nitāi. There was this on a 100-acre farm, 100-hectare farm. That’s like 250 acres, which… in India they have so many systems other than acres and acres. They have been building a temple for 14 years. It’s about 120ft tall, 30 meters or more tall. Beautiful architecture, artwork, marble floor, granite floor, wooden carved altars. So on the 17^th of January it was inaugurated. So I flew over there because it was like this also, you want to be there, it’s a historical moment to be able to be at this place. Only once in our lifetime, all the Deities are going to move from the old temple to the new temple. So they gave me the honor to hold Lord Jagannātha, carry Him for the new temple. I could also fan Gaura Nitāi and I could hold Rādhārāṇī for a short time. And I was inaugurated the whole abhiṣeka of Deities, because the head priest is my disciple of the inauguration ceremony. So it was a very wonderful experience, really to be there, we are also having a much bigger experience in Māyāpur, (Kṛṣṇa willing).

Right now, the Deities, the Pañca-tattva are on the road being transported from Kumbakoṇam, Svāmīmalai in Tamil Nadu to Māyāpur, West Bengal. The day that I left India, I phoned up, they told me that they had, the first day reached Nellore, and they were expecting that night to reach Vishakhapatnam. So they are going quite… So, they maybe by now they are somewhere in Orissa or Bengal with the Pañca-tattva, life size Deities – Lord Caitanya, Nityānanda, Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa. And on February 21, 22 and 23, we will be having the prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā of these five Deities, and They will be also established in Their new temple. So this prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā is also like once in a life. Prabhupāda wanted these Deities to be established. Deities are 7ft tall,  (Haribol!) life size Lord Caitanya was 7ft tall, Śrīvāsa is the shortest as per the proportion. They weigh 2,800 kilos solid, eight-metal with the gold, silver, zinc, bronze, so many different metals, copper, iron. So some of you have contributed for this Deity installation. The installation is not only the metal, although we are calculating in terms of the metal, but transporting them, the metal. The whole festival of inauguration or prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā, the 108 fire yajñas, all the different aspects of the inaugural... fixing up the temple, remodeling and moving the Deities into the temple and abhiṣeka, it’s all part of the package. Although Deities are already cast. Somebody can still sponsor part of the festival. That’s another thing that we definitely don’t want to miss. Kṛṣṇa willing, I would like to be there and participate in that historical ceremony.

So like this sometimes historical moment, landmark moments that occurred. So many devotees want to be present for this Deity installation, that it’s a bit tough now to get any reservations if you don’t already have. Last time I found there was 4000–5000 people reserved, that many other people are going to be guest of the community stay in closest... Some devotees from the Middle East own flats in Māyāpur, so then they go and stay there, or they allow other guest stays there. Madana-mohana Caitanya Dāsa from Mathurādeśa, he got a flat in [inaudible] he told that he is not finding devotees...

So sometimes we want to be at that historical moment. So this meeting of Gaura Nitāi that was also a historical moment. Very, very special. There will be many kīrtanas, but then together the two brothers went through Navadvīpa chanting and dancing. So if you see these pastimes in relation to how Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma had Their cowherd boy pastime, they would go out with the calves and the cows into the forest, come back in the afternoon, and here Gaura Nitāi would be chanting in kīrtana going out in the day and coming back in the afternoon. All the townspeople were watching and chanting. But this was the first time. This was the special first time, like Indradyumna Mahārāja, I think you know him, he comes here sometime. He was there also in New Zealand. Sort of those things we doesn’t want to miss. I heard, he is also going to be in Māyāpur. How many here are going for the Māyāpur Deity installation? That’s cool! We will try to do, is have it broadcast by streaming video over Internet. So even here you can see what’s happening. How many do you have Internet? There will definitely be pictures posted and there also be streaming video. So you can try [inaudible] do it. Elaborate arrangement. There will be 108 kuṇḍas. There will be some four or five major kuṇḍas. There will be three stages where there will be pārāyaṇas of Bhāgavatam and Gītā and different śāstras, Prabhupāda’s glories. There will be 72-hours nonstop kīrtanas going on, (Haribol!) with devotees like Bhakti Bhṛṅga Govinda Mahārāja, Lokanātha Swami, and Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja different kīrtana singers are leading. It’s going to be some very special occasion. First, we were all looking for is that the big temple of Māyāpur can build and we can move the Deities like we moved the [inaudible] Deities… Rādhā Mādhava and Aṣṭa sakhis, Pañca-tattva from the existing temporary temple to the main adbhuta-mandir, main temple which is also going in a fast track.

So when Lord Nityānanda, He appears tomorrow and the day before His appearance, we can all make an adhivāsa prayer. Nityānanda Prabhu, He is known dayāmaya – He is most merciful.

hā hā prabhu nityānanda, premānanda sukhī
kṛpābalokana koro āmi boro duḥkhī

Nityānanda, Lord Caitanya, They are the Lord, for They come in the mood of a devotee. Because there was a challenge from the sakhis, from the rāṇīs and from the ladies in kṛṣṇa-līlā, that Kṛṣṇa doesn’t know what His devotees feel for Him. He is always in the master position, Lord position. So He doesn’t know how His devotees are affected by things He does. Probably husbands heard their wives saying, “You don’t understand me. You don’t understand what it’s like to be a wife,” sometime in your life. So this type of sentiment was expressed to Lord Kṛṣṇa. But because He is God, He can do anything. So He said that, “I’ll come in Kali-yuga, not as a Lord, but as My own devotee. So then I will understand what it is that you devotees do.” So it’s very special. And accompanying Him, is Nityānanda, who is Balarāma, also taking the mood as devotee. So Lord Caitanya has two purposes. One is His experiment… [has three purposes], two main ones, external. One is to give the yuga-dharma and spread it in the world. Second is to experience what it’s like to be a devotee. People don’t even understand Kṛṣṇa, what to speak a Lord Caitanya, it’s very esoteric, very comprehension. Our Kṛṣṇa can come as His own devotee to experience what it’s like to be a devotee. And in that mood as a devotee, He wants everyone to be themselves. As a devotee, He gives out love of Kṛṣṇa to everyone without discriminating. You are qualified, you are not qualified. You are qualified. You are not qualified. You are qualified. You are not. He doesn’t do it. Everyone, whether you are qualified or not, you can all have the mercy. So who wants the mercy? (Haribol!) You experience it? (laughter).

Okay, any questions, today for those who want the mercy…

Question: It sometime we face obstacles in our spiritual life.

Answer: And actually, for people to become a devotee, it’s not easy. In Bengali they say, “kaṣṭa nā karile kṛṣṇa mile nā” – if you don’t suffer a little bit, you don’t get Kṛṣṇa. Who is there that hasn’t undergone some tests? Dhruva, was he tested? [Yes!] Prahlāda, was he tested? [Yes!] Is there anybody who hasn’t gone through tests? But sometimes people don’t deal with us properly. That’s also a test. Sometimes we are offered some material facilities, then we think, “Well, I no need Kṛṣṇa, I have all these material facilities.” All kinds of tests. We should think, if I have material facilities, this is all blessings of Kṛṣṇa. Now, I should serve Kṛṣṇa with these facilities. If I have some misfortune, I will use what I have used for Kṛṣṇa’s sevā. If we don’t have anything and we are hardship, fasting. We should anyway think that this is to show that this material life is not an easy place. I should serve Kṛṣṇa.

It said Parīkṣit Mahārāja, when he was a child, he didn’t play around like other children so much. He was always playing with Kṛṣṇa doll. We heard Nityānanda, He was playing dramas. They want everything to be connected to Kṛṣṇa. They have so much natural love for Kṛṣṇa. So we want to provide here for our children some spiritual, educational, and recreational experiences during the Friday programs and other opportunities [inaudible] for the children. Let them develop their natural love for Kṛṣṇa and get the knowledge about our deep heritage and culture. In spiritual life, the closer you get to the guru, there always seems to be also some kind of receivable pulling. Devotees all want to serve the guru. For each other, anyway, try to be a humble servant, not give up, even if there are some tests. Prabhupāda said that the cream rises to the top of the milk, we can’t cold it down, also a sincere, they always arrives to the top. You shouldn’t get mental about it. At the same time, we want to have an ideal relationship between all the devotees and the more than everything all the services can be distributed amongst the different disciples in an equanimous manner. And people can all get an opportunity to do service according to their capability, that would be the ideal arrangement.

Any questions? Tomorrow is a working day.

Devotee: [Requesting a prayers for the speedy recovery of Śubharāma Govinda dāsa].

Jayapatākā Swami: What is his name? Śubharāma Govinda dāsa. Śubharāma Govinda dāsa had a mild heart attack some time ago. He is recovering now. We can all pray that he can have a speedy recovery. If is it so please Lord Kṛṣṇa, as we need his help to give some more time to spread the holy name[?].

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

I’ll give out Narasiṁha oil or sweets?

As you come up I will give you the oil from Narasiṁhadeva and my assistant here will give one of the sweets.

Vaikuṇṭhapati dāsa: Before you distribute, will make a vote of thanks.

Devotee: Everybody sit-down please! Hey don’t push. [End of recording].