20160522 A Sunday Feast Class

20160522 Sunday Feast Class at Iskcon Dallas

JPS: Gauranga 

Devotees: Gauranga

Mukam karoti vacalam 

Pangum langhyate girim 

Yat kripa tamaham vande sri gurum dina tarinam

Paramananda madhavan

Sri Chaitanya ishvaram

JPS: So It’s very nice to be here in Kalachanji Dham and to see so many nice devotees. Just last thing was Narasingh Caturdasi and yesterday was the last day of Vaisakh. Vaisakh month is considered one of the holiest months of the year with Kartik, Vaisakh and Magh. In Vaisakh any devotional activity brings one thousand times the result. Now we are in the month of Jestha, it’s very hot in India. So it’s said that one gets special mercy by giving water to anyone who comes. Just a simple gift of water will give one great mercy from Krishna, because in this hot month of the year, water sometimes you need water very badly. 

So I was just thinking what I was going to speak tonight. There is a pastime given in Dwaraka, where Krishna was visiting the house of Rani Rukmini. So she was so excited that Krishna was coming to her palace. She personally with her maids cleansed the palace, dressed up the kids and then had …06.55-58… brahmanas chating mantras to see receive Lord Krishna to his home and when he came in, with matra’s, music and everything, she puts the kids the kids forward and they all embrace their father, and then they smelled his head and then after all the reception, she brought him to his private quarters, and she bathes his feet and she was crying. 

So Krishna said, “Why you are crying? This is supposed to be a happy moment.”, She kept crying. So he asked, “Well! Was the maid not listening to you, or one of the children was disobedient?” Like this he was asking her different questions and she her shook her hand. She said, “You are the supreme Lord, you know everything.” You know what Brahma is doing in Satya Loka, you know what Siva is doing in Kailash, this is one thing you don’t know? 

“Me I don’t know something, what’s that? Radharani, she knows, I know, but it seems you don’t know.”

“No one ever told him that he didn’t know something.” 

“What do you mean?”

She said, “You don’t know how much we devotees love you, I mean what way we love you.”

So he brought her to sit next to him and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. That moment Narad Muni came through the window flying. He said, “Oh! Gurudev, and he sat him down on the guru asana, Rukmini was putting water, and he was playing the part of a King receiving the guru. But he saw that Narad Muni was agitated. He is said, “Narad you are always peaceful, dhira, but why today I see you agitated? So what’s this?”

“My Lord, I see that the symptoms of the universe show that Your pastimes are soon to end and you will go on to some other universe. Once You leave Kali Yuga will begin, then what will happen to all the conditioned souls. How will they reach you, how will they be saved from this materialistic influence of Kali yuga. So the Krishna, He stood up. 

“Okay I promise you, in this Kali Yuga I will come again to spread the Hari Nam sankirtan and all the people will be delivered, and I will not come as the Lord but as my devotee to satisfy Rukmini. I will take the mood of a devotee, I will take the mood of Radharani and understand what is the lover that my devotees have for me.”

So that was the background, that prediction that Krishna gave, that he will come again in the Kali Yuga as Gauranga.

Gauranga (everyone)

So here Radha-Kalachandiji are so beautiful and Nitai-Gaur, they are a bit smaller. So many people may pass up Nitai-Gaur, and directly try to get the darshan or mercy of Radha-Kalachandiji and Jagannath, Baladev, Subhadra but actually Nitai-Gaur gave the love of Krishna freely. They didn’t consider that you are qualified and you are not qualified, anyone, you want it take it. 

Basically he looted the storehouse of love of Godhead, just like Krishna would steal the butter and give it to monkeys. He gave out lover of Krishna freely to everyone. In fact many people, many devotees from all over the universe (extra-terrestrials), the came to participate in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. 

Lord Brahma himself didn’t want to pass this up and he went to Antardwip, the central island of Nabadwip and there he began chanting, “Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga!”, and Lord Gauranga, Lord Caitanya appeared before Lord Brahma. “Why have you called me?”

Lord Brahma with his four hands paid his obeisances. “My Lord, already half my life is over, still I committing offences here. So I understand that you appear in this kali yuga. I want to be your associate. I want to be forgiven for my offences, not only forgiven but that in the future I will not commit any more offences. I want to develop love of Krishna. Please have your mercy on me.”

“Tathasthu, so be it!”

So he said, “You will appear in a non-Hindu family and this will teach you humility and you will chant everyday 300,000 times the name of Krishna, you will be knows as the nam-acharya, the Acharya of the chanting of the holy name and your name will be Hari Das, you will be my associate. 

So then he disappeared. So Hari Das Thakur, he is actually Brahma Hari Das and so the first 15-16 years  Lord Caitanya acted as a student, a scholar, then he got married, then his father left, but he said that I am maintaining my mother and I am maintaining the household, I am acting like a grihastha and my house is not bricks or bamboo or whatever, the house is created by the grihini or the wife of the house. So being a grihastha without a wife is not proper.

So he was decided to take the grihastha ashram and that he will marry a suitable person. So Laxmipriya, his first wife she died by a snake-bite as she was overwhelmed by the separation from the Lord. She is bhudevi and then he married Visnu priya who is Laxmi as Sri-devi, and as Lord Ram he came as Rita and Laxman. So then Sita asked him when he was visiting Nabadwip and Modadruma Dwip. He said, “Why are you smilling?”

“Oh! I will come here in Kali yuga, this is my eternal abode, and then I will have a golden form, so in this pastime I banished you to the forest, so in that pastime I will banish myself to the forest and you will worship the golden form of me.”

To Sita wasn’t happy about it either. It was both a losing deal. (laugh) She wanted to be with her Lord and so actually sometimes Lord Caitanya would show the 6 handed, Chad Bhuj form, which is two hands of Ram, two hands of Krishna and two hands of Lord Caitanya.

So when Lord Caitanya was still a student, he had an argument with Jagananda Pandit who was a fellow student.  Jagananda was so upset that he sat by the Ganges. All day long he cried. He didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat, all night long he cried. Just before the sunrise, Gauranga came with Gadadhara and they were calling out, “Jagadananda! Jagadannada! Jagadananda! Jagadannada! Jagadananda! Jagadannada! We know you here somewhere, where are you?” (laughter) (applause).

Then he saw Jagananda sitting by the Ganges and Jagananda said, “why are you coming here? This path is filled with small stones, it may hurt hurt your feet”

Then Lord Caitana said, “Come on, I didn’t sleep all night either.”

Gadadhara walked over to Jagadananda. He grabbed the leg of Jagadanada, of Gadadhara and he stood up, then he went back with Gauranga and Gadadhara to the house of Saci Mata and Jagannath Mishra, and so Lord Caitanya, “I couldn’t eat,  I couldn’t sleep, we are friends, sometimes we will have disagreement, when we make up then everything is back to our friendship. Through all this occasions we noticed that how our love for each other increases.”

So then he took a little puffed rice in the house of Saci Mata and then he slept. Then after a little while, Jagannath Misra and Saci Mata came with a big plate of rice with milk poured over it. He took the rice and went back to sleep. Then at school time Jagannath Mishra asked Jagananda Pandit and Nimai, “get up now, it’s time to go to sleep, study your Sanskrit.”

So like this Jagananda revealed something’s he saw and one day he and Gadadhara and Gauranga were running on the side of Alakananda river, and Lord Caitanya saw a parrot, he said, “OH! You are non-different from Sukadev Goswami. Please tell me the glories of Radha and Krishna.” 

The parrot began chanting, “Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura !”

We are going to have a completion here, so Nityananda can be the judge. (laughter)

Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura !

Gaura Gaura !

Gaura Gaura !

Gaura Gaura !

Gaura Gaura !

He covered his ears, “what you are doing? I am a devotee of Radha and Krishna, I want to hear the glories of Radha and Krishna and the parrot said, “well I have been doing this bhajan since time immemorial. So I will chant the same way I always do Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura !”

By Gauranga said, “No, no, no”, he threw the parrot over. (laughter)

“I told you I want to hear the glories of Radha and Krishna, this place is non-different from Vrindavan, so tell me the glories of Radha and Krishna, I don’t feel happy, I am a devote of Radha and Krishna.”

The parrot said, “Yes, this place is non-different from Vrindavan, and I see Radha Rani has appeared here as Gadadhara and You are Krishna, so I will chant the way I am going to chant, and you chant the way you want to chant, Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura ! Gaura Gaura !”

Then Lord Caitanya covered his ears and ran away. (laughter)

So in the Bhagavatam 11th Canto, it is said that the Lord comes in Kali Yuga, but he doesn’t have a blackish form, he spread the harinam sankirtan and he accompanied by his expansions, his associates, his energies, and those who are intelligent they will join him and chant the name of God. So Lord Caitanya came to give out this special mercy and Lord Krishna in the Brahma Baivarta puran who is approached by all the sacred rivers and all the kunda, all the lakes that are sacred and they paid to him that as soon as we meet then Kali Yuga will begin. “People in India they visit the holy river and the leave off the sins, their karmas, so will get overloaded with bad karma. So please take us with you.”, and Ganga was acting as the spokesperson for everyone. 

So Krishna smiled, He said, “You wait 5000 years. Let sinful people bathe in your water for 5000 years, but then a devotee will come who will spread the Harinam sankirtan al over the world and you know how great it is to hear about a pure devotee or see a pure devotee, what to speak when they bathe in your waters, and you will know them because they will be chanting the holy name Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, and this will usher in a golden age, a golden period in the age of kalil, which will last for 10,000 years and after that dark period  of Kali begins what’s known as ghor kaliy, that time you can go underground like the Saraswati River, so the end of Kali Yuga, and then when the Satya Yuga begins you can come out.”

So also in the Caitanya Mangal, Lord Caitanya, He said that he will come and preach over the continent of India, but after 500 years he will send someone- a senapati devotee, that will be a General commanding devotee and that person will preach in the rest of the world. He will give out the bhakti yoga mantra’s and process. 

So Lord Caitanya appeared 4500 years ago after Kali Yuga. Prabhupada came exactly after 5000 years. So who else distributed the message and mercy of Lord Caitanya all over the world, and especially we spend so much time here in Dallas and the special Radha-Kalachanji deities were worshipped by him, so this is one of our holy places in the western world. 

So it is also interesting that Bhaktisidhanta Saraswati Thakur wrote to Prabhupada and said that anyone who helps you they will also receive spiritual blessings.

So who of you would like to help Srila Prabhupada?

Hari Bol (everyone)

If you haven’t raised your hands we will give you a second chance.

Hari Bol (everyone)

(laughter)

So to get the special mercy of Radha-Kalachandji you should pray to Gaur-Nitai first. By their mercy you can get the mercy of Radha-Kalachandji. So before Lord Caitanya started the sankirtan movement, Lord Nityananda was travelling South India and somehow he met Madahavendra Puri. 

Madhavendra Puri is the guru of guru of Lord Caitanya and Madhavendra Puri was in the mood of Radharani. Madavendra Puri was such a rare soul. If he saw a rain cloud similar to the colour of Krishna’s colour, he would immediately faint on the ground and be overwhelmed with separation when he saw Nityananda both Nityananda and he fainted. And when they become conscious they hugged each other and they were crying and Madhavendra Puri said that “I visited many holy places but today I got the proof, I got the proof, I got Nityananda darshan, and Nityananda he was young and he saw Madhavenddra Puri as a guru. They were together for some days and they lost track of time. Day and night they were just talking about Krishna and how the time was going they didn’t have any recollection, and after sometime Nityananda went to Rameshwaram to see where Ram crossed over the bridge to attack Ravan to greet his wife who was kidnapped and then he went to Vrindavan and waited there until Lord Caitanya started his sankirtan movement.So some of our acharyas have said that if you want to get the mercy of Radha-Krishna we should first get the mercy of Lord Nithyanada. By Nityanda’s mercy you get the mercy of Lord Caitanya and by Lord Caitanya’s mercy you get the mercy of Radha_krishna, which  just reminds me in conclusion, one day Radha and Krishna were swinging on a swing, and different friends of Krishna and Gopi friends of Radha Rani were pushing the swing. So one bee was buzzing around Radharani. 

So Krishna told to Madhumangal, “get red of the bee.” So he drove off the bee and he said, “Madhusudhan has left.” Madhu means honey, so that’s one name of a bee, he eats honey, that’s also a name of Krishna. 

As soon as Radharani heard that Madhusudhan has left she started crying in separation, tears were coming in her eyes, she couldn’t see. Krishna is sitting just next to her, “I am here, I am here.”, but she was still crying, and Krishna saw how much love she has for him that even though she is sitting there she is feeling separation. (laughter)  So he started to cry and it filled up a whole lake called the prema sarovar and if you go to Barsana you can see Prema Sarovar, put a few drop on your head, you get prema. 

So like that Radha and Krishna have the supreme love for each other and Krishna loves all of you, and Prabhupada would say that, if Radharani says, “this one is a good devotee, that one is good, then Krishna will surely take you.”

So there is so much transcendental bliss, serving the Lord, and chanting his holy name or dissipating his sankirtana movement, and Nityananda Prabhu is a real fried because he is giving so many ways that you can serve the Lord. 

In the material world you have to serve someone, but it is mainly like a business deal. So you have a job and your boss pays you, he doesn’t love you. You make money for you and he pays you. May be after 25 years you will get a gold watch or something. (laughter) big deal. (laughter), but by serving guru and Krishna you actually get love. 

Tamal Krishna Maharaj gurudev, was one of the rare persons who was always trying to serve Prabhupada, and it is our great loss that Prabhupada took him ahead to whatever service he is doing, but he was the one who started the special relishing of the Lord’s pastimes and chanting. So all the devotees here, there is one purport where Prabhupada says that the grihastha devotees or the preaching sanyasis or the preaching sanyasis, they should also try to preach. I know preaching is a bad word, we say outreach camp (laughter). We don’t like preaching hell and all those things. We are just telling people how wonderful is Krishna and how wonderful it is to serve the Lord. 

Parikshit Maharaj was cursed to die in seven days. So he decided to fast, not take water and just listen for seven days to Sukhadev Goswami, and on the sixth day, I mean it is tenth canto he is hearing Krishna’s pastimes. Think what you would do after six days of no food, no water, ah… where is the feast, where is the water, what’s he doing, he heard some from Sukhadev Goswami, “What else wonderful did the Lord do? What else?” He wanted to hear more and more. He wants to hear more and more, he is not thinking about eating and drinking, he wants to hear the mercy of Lord Krishna. How advanced Parikshit Maharaj is and how we are.

So you have a great opportunity here to serve the archa avatars of the Lord, you have Srila Prabhupada, and to help Gurudev who is also helping Prabhupada. Whoever your gurudev is, you should help them serve Prabhupada and fulfil his mission. 

Hare Krishna.

(grand applause) with Hari Bol.

 Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga!

Gauranga! Gauranga!Gauranga! Gauranga!

Gauranga! Gauranga!Gauranga! Gauranga!

Gauranga! Gauranga!Gauranga! Gauranga!

Gauranga! Gauranga!Gauranga! Gauranga!

Gauranga! Nityananda!

Gauranga! Nityananda!

Gauranga! Nityananda!

Gauranga! Nityananda!

Gauranga! Nityananda!