20170309 A Talk on Lord Caitanya-līlā

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 9th 2017 in Sri Dhama Māyāpur, India. 

The class was given on the day 3 evening of the Sri Caitanya Lila Seminar. 

We are in Māyāpur right? Haribol!! [All devotees joyfully say Haribol!!] In Navadvipa Dham. Shantipur is considered as Mathura of Caitanya Lila. It is  famous for ---1.11 and Vaishnava aparadha. But so many people came to Shantipur today, to observe the Shukla Dvadasi. This was the disappearance day of Madhavendra Puri. Madhavendra Puri was one of the pure Vaishnava sanyasis. So if he walked on the main road, he would meet other sanyasis. And they would invariably be Mayavadis, they would greet him as, Oh!! Narayana to be!! and would use offensive words. He didn’t want that. So he would go by the side of the Ganges. And people would use that path to answer the nature’s call. But he would like to go to see the Ganges.[ Guru Mahārāja repeats] He would like to go to see the Gangeṣ. In that way he could avoid all the Mayavadi sanyasis. And in his travel to Vṛndāvana to get sandalwood for Srinathji, he was walking by the side of the Ganges. He happened to walk into the ashram of Advaita Goswami. Advaita Goswami seeing a Vaishnava, saw him and he stood up and greeted him. And invited him to take prasadam and discuss about Kṛṣṇa. And he found so wonderful the association of Madhavendra Puri, that he had him stay for some days and then he took initiation from him. 

So today is the disappearance day of Madhavendra Puri. Advaita Goswami for his Gurudev had a big festival and invited all the Vaishnavas. So Lord Nityānanda, he was giving garlands and sandalwood as a service, someone else was giving the Bhagavatam class, group of devotees were doing kirtan, some were cooking like Mother Saci and Sita Thakurani wife of Advaita Goswami. They built small sheds to keep all the bhogas, so they kept the food in these sheds, like three sheds for Dahi, some sheds for rice, sheds for the vegetables, huge arrangements. Many cooks, many cutters, vegetable cutters. And Lord Caitanya after about 10 years of his sanyaas he came back to Bengal, on his way to Vṛndavan and he visited the house of Advaita Goswami. He was very impressed and he said that this is not possible for a human being. Advaita must be Shiva or someone, Advaita must be Mahesh. How can do such an elaborate festival? And they gave prasad, big feast  to all of the devotees. Lord Caitanya said that he who on this thithi takes prasadam here, will get Govinda Bhakthi. [All devotees chant Haribol!!] So I hope all of you who are here went there and had some prasadam.  I used to eat there but at this time I didn’t because of my health. I had a few handfuls of khichdi there, to get the blessing. 

So that place is very important. That was the place where Lord Caitanya met Mother Saci after taking sanyaas and Prabhupāda prayed there before going to the USA. So Shantisakha Goswami showed  many letters from Prabhupada [Guru Mahārāja repeats] from Prabhupāda that,  if he wasn’t able to buy land in Mayapur, then he wanted to make his world headquarters in Shantipur. The present Shaivite is the 14th generation of Advaita Goswami. The 10th generation is Vijayakrishna Goswami predicted that world would become filled with sound of mridanga. “Jagat Hoibe Mridanga moy”. [Bengali]  So we all went to Shantipur in the mood of serving Advaita Goswami.

Now, I will continue with Tapana Mishra pastime of Lord Caitanya. Tapana Mishra was a brahmana in East Bengal. He was well versed in the shastras but he could not understand what was the goal of life and how to achieve it. So he had a vision, where a Deva came in his sleep and told him that he should ask Lord Caitanya, that he was actually Narayana, he was Kṛṣṇa and he had come down from the spiritual world. And that he could definitively tell him answers to his question. But he should not reveal to anyone,,[Guru Mahārāja repeats] he should not reveal to anyone, the identity of Lord Caitanya, Nimāi Pandit. So Lord Caitanya advised him that he should go back to his home and worship Kṛṣṇa. He should give up all duplicity and be single pointed with full attention to worship Lord Kṛṣṇa. So he didn’t want Tapana Mishra to give up his ashram and he wanted Tapana Mishra to serve Krishna while remaining a householder.  Kuti-nati  should be avoided, this is duplicity or cheating. We cannot cheat Kṛṣṇa. He will understand what we are doing. Like Prabhupāda said, “Don’t take water under -water on a fast day.” You know what that means, On a fast day, some days are Nirjala fasting. And if you go to the Ganges and take a dip and no one can see you while you are under the water. So if you drink water SLURP….SLURP...SLURP [Guru Mahārāja imitates sound of drinking water][ ALL DEVOTEES LAUGH] and you are very austere. [Guru Mahārāja shows actions of full stomach] [ALL LAUGH] So you will be drinking water under water on a fast day. Kṛṣṇa knows. If you take water under -water, you can fool others but cannot fool Kṛṣṇa. So one worships Kṛṣṇa, to please Kṛṣṇa. 

Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha:  religious activities, economic advancement, sense gratification and liberation these four are considered mundane. The real goal of life is love of Kṛṣṇa, love of Govinda. So some people would think these four things are the goal of life.  To be religious, make a lot of money, joy of sense gratification and when you are frustrated, be liberated, merge into the Brahma jyothi. This is not accepted by the devotees. They want pure devotion for Lord. These things were offered to Hanuman by Lord Rama. But Hanuman didn’t accept. “You are my master and I am your servant. I do not want anything to come in the way. If I have to ask for something, then I will like to embrace you one time like a son embraces his father with great affection.” 

[Sankirtan in the background, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna]

So by this Harinam Sankirtan everything is achieved, by this Harinam Sankirtan you can achieve goal of life and the means for obtaining it [Guru Mahārāja repeats]and the means for obtaining it Hare Rama [ Melodious sankirtan in the background,Guru Mahārāja follows the tune] [ ALL DEVOTEES LAUGH] 

 So the goal of life, is love of Kṛṣṇa and the means to obtain it, is chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra congregationally. So sometimes people are bewildered about Kṛṣṇa,, about love for Kṛṣṇa but all these things are resolved by chanting Hare Krishna. Unless, one chants the names of Kṛṣṇa they cannot resolve their questions. Chant Hare Krishna you can easily realize the uselessness of the insignificant desires,[Sankirtan going on in the background] of the sense enjoyers, of material workers and of the mental speculators. So through this process of sankirtan we can very easily realize, all the questions about the goal of life. So we want to encourage people to chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Other names of Krishna. In the Bṛhad Naradiya Purana there is a mantra which states:-

harer nama harer nama

harer namiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva

nasty eva gatir anyatha

Translation:  In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting the Holy name of the Lord , chanting the Holy name of the Lord, chanting the Holy name of the Lord, there is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way. 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Hare Krishna is known as the Mahamantra, it has 16 names and 32 syllables. Sometimes we do the japa workshop, one thing we do is to ask people to pronounce all the 32 syllables. Some people chant 28 syllables, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Hare.[Devotees laugh] Some people chant Harey. Some people chant 30 syllables. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Harere, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Harere. [All devotees laugh] So one time we have should chant the whole round and tape yourself, see if you chant Hare Krishna mantra 16 words and 32 syllables. According to the Pancharatra system, this Mahamantra can both be chanted as japa and as loud kirtan. Some sampradayas say that you should only chant softly japa Hare Krishna and chant loud Nitai Gaura Hari Bol. So Prabhupāda has said that by loud chanting of the Mahamantra one awakens their love of Kṛṣṇa. By chanting Hare Krishna, japa and kirtan, a person becomes expert in the science of the goal of life and of the process of obtaining it. So one does not get love of God, if they are averse to loud chanting and only chant japa. Or if they only chant the holy name because they like the music accompanying it and they take it as musical entertainment. They are considered as offenders. The science of the goal of life can never manifest in their hearts, if they are determined to commit such offenses. All such offensive rebels against the spiritual masters, are tightly bound to the chains of Māyā they continue to be envious of the pure devotees and instead of attaining auspiciousness they go to hell for ever. So as you practice Krishna consciousness and continue to chant the Mahamantra, the seed of love of Godhead would sprout in your heart and you will understand the goal of life and the process for achieving it. Knowing the Lord and hearing his instructions from his own divine lips, Tapana Mishra,the best of the brahmanas was completely convinced . Again and again he offered his obeisances to the Lord. Tapana Mishra said, “Lord , please allow me to live with you.” and the Lord replied, “ ...you immediately go to Varanasi.” Tapana Mishra expressed his desire to accompany the Lord to Sri Māyāpur. Haribol!! 

He was instructed by the Lord to go to Varanasi. The place of many Mayavadi sanyasis with spiritual conclusions averse to the absolute truth, it is prominent, [Guru Mahārāja repeats] are prominent. As result these people were averse to the chanting of the Holy name in Varanasi. Lord Caitanya said, “I will meet you there and explain to you the truths of the goals of life and the process for attaining it.”  Lord Caitanya then embraced Tapana Mishra, out of ecstatic love the hairs of Tapana Mishra stood on it. Tapana Mishra felt spiritual ecstasy after getting the Lord of Vaikuntha’s embrace. 

At the time of the Lord’s departure, he caught hold of the Lord’s lotus feet and he confidentially described the incident of his dream. The Lord smiled and said, “Whatever you have dreamt is true and don’t disclose this to anyone.” So the Lord again pervade Tapana Mishra to disclose the accounts of his dream to anyone. He smiled and got up to leave at that auspicious moment.

 I had a dream, which I wrote to Srila Prabhupada and he confirmed that the dream was auspicious but he said don’t tell anyone about the dream what I dreamt. So many devotees have approached me and asked, “Please tell us what you dreamt.” I said, “I can’t, I was forbidden.”

 So all these pastimes  happened in East Bengal and then the Lord returned HOME  to Navadvipa Dham. Haribol!! [ all devotees together say Haribol] The Lord of Vaikunta, was walking here, in Navadvipa Dham. How He walked in Bangladesh.  He walked all over India, leaving his scared footprints. Those who participated in his pastimes, are very much blessed. So the pure devotees who have awakened their love for Kṛṣṇa. They are happy to be with their Lord, whether he is in the spiritual world or enjoying pastimes in the material world. Srila Prabhupāda had instructed that his sankirtan movement, his Krishna consciousness movement would be based on teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, chanting the Lord’s Mahamantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. And he had asked the disciples to chant at least 16 rounds a day and he found out that some even failed to chant the 16 rounds and instead they liked to read many books. Attention gets diverted. Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement is based on the chanting of HareKrishna mantra. Just as Lord Caitanya instructed Tapana Mishra, to first fix his mind on this chanting so that the followers of the Krishna consciousness movement strictly follow the advice of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Haribol!! 

 Caitanya Caritāmṛita 1.16.16. 

This year is 1000th anniversary of Ramanujacharya. We had the 500th anniversary sometime ago in 1986, of Lord Caitanya. So we are planning a safari to South India to visit  the birthplace of Ramanujacharya and there we will have some special programs on Ramanujacharya. He is one of the four bonafide Vaishnava disciplic successions and Ramanujacharya is the famous Acharya of one. Srila Prabhupada glorified him in many ways. So one of our programs is to visit his places, on the way we have some Rathayatras, visit some holy places and some retreats and a temple inauguration. So all of you try to attend  with this safari, most of the programs.

Tags: Māyāpur, Santipur, Madhavendra Puri, sandalwood, Srinathji, Advaita Goswami, big feast, world headquarters, Tapana Mishra, householder, real goal of life, Kuti-nati, real goal of life, Hanuman, Harinam sankirtan, japa, loud kirtan, East Bengal, Ramanujacharya, South India safari.