20180528 Śrī Gaurāṅga’s Marriage to Śrī Viṣṇupriyā

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book work 28^th May 2018 in Chennai, India by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Guru Mahārāja. Reading from Caitanya-bhāgavata Ādi-khaṇḍa 15.213

Under the section: Śrī Gaurāṅga’s Marriage to Śrī Viṣṇupriyā

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Jayapatākā Swami: Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Viṣṇupriyā arrived at Śacī Mātā’s house at an auspicious moment in a very joyful mood. So when they arrived there were all auspicious signs and there was chanting of Haribol and women were chanting ulu-dhvani. Nitāi Gaura Hari bol! Haribol! Haribol!

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.213

tabe āi pati-vratā-gaṇa saṅge laiyā
putra-vadhū ghare ānilena harṣa haiyā

Translation: Thereupon Mother Śacī and other chaste women joyfully welcomed their daughter-in-law home.

Jayapatākā Swami: So mother Śacī and all the other married ladies, they welcomed Nimāi’s new bride to her house. And she was offering her daughter-in-law welcome to her new home. She and all the other married ladies escorted Viṣṇupriyā into the house and they were very happy.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.214

gṛhe āsi’ vasilena lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa
jaya-dhvani-maya haila sakala bhuvana

Translation: As Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa sat inside the house, the whole house was filled with sounds of joy.

Jayapatākā Swami: As Lakṣmī and Nārāyaṇa sat inside the house, the residents of the house and neighboring residents, all the ladies were chanting the ulu-dhvani and the house became Vaikuṇṭha.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.215

ki ānanda haila, se akathya-kathana

se mahimā kon jane karibe varṇana?

Translation: The ecstasy that was experienced there is beyond words, therefore who can describe its glories?

Jayapatākā Swami: So the spiritual bliss which they were enjoying, how can one begin to describe it? The ecstasy that they were experiencing is beyond description. So I am not able to describe the glories.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.216

yāṅhāra mūrtira vibhā dekhile nayane
pāpa-mukta hai’ yāya vaikuṇṭha-bhuvane

Translation: Anyone who sees the marriage ceremony of the Supreme Lord is freed from all sinful reactions and returns to Vaikuṇṭha.

Commentary: The marriages based on sense gratification between ordinary men and women are known as bandhana, or bondage. But if a materialist sees the marriage pastimes of Śrī Gaura-Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, with goddess Śrīmatī Viṣṇupriyā-Lakṣmī, then his desire for material enjoyment is vanquished, and as a result of the awakening of transcendental knowledge he will be freed from material existence and attain Vaikuṇṭha.

Jayapatākā Swami: So those who saw this transcendental pastime of the Lord with their eyes, all their sinful reactions were gone and the house became transformed as Vaikuṇṭha. So those who hear about or see this pastime will certainly return to the spiritual world and we should not think this is an ordinary material thing. This is a special pastime of the Lord. In the material world people want to enjoy their senses. But the activities of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa are transcendental. And those who hear about, see these pastimes they are transferred to the spiritual world, Goloka Vṛndāvana. So the person’s desires for material enjoyment is vanquished and he is freed from material existence, to achieve Goloka Vṛndāvana. Haribol!

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.217

se prabhura vibhā loka dekhaye sākṣāt
teñi tā’na nāma—’dayāmaya’ ’dīnanātha’

Translation: Because the Lord allowed everyone to see His marriage, He is known as Dayāmaya, or He who is most merciful, and Dīnanātha, or He who is the Lord of the fallen.

Commentary: In order to destroy the desire for material enjoyment by imparting transcendental knowledge to miserly and materially attached fallen persons, to bring them to their original constitutional position in Vaikuṇṭha, and to award them the eligibility for service that is rarely attained by the demigods, the most merciful Lord exhibited His transcendental marriage pastimes before the eyes of the general people. That is why the pious faithful devotees humbly address the Lord by various names like Ahaituka-kṛpāmaya (He who is causelessly merciful), Amandodayā-dayā-sindhu (He who is an all-auspicious ocean of mercy), and Dīna-bandhu (He who is the friend of the fallen), which are indicative of His causeless mercy.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, The Lord is known as dayāmaya and dīnanātha because He shows these pastimes and dīnanātha means He is merciful on the most fallen souls, dayāmaya is that simply by seeing these pastimes one achieves their spiritual liberation. If one experiences the twenty minutes of pastime, it will take more than hours to explain how the Lord, He looks so beautiful and merciful. How the pastimes of the Lord with Lakṣmī was so amazing. So, even the devas they don’t see such pastimes frequently. But this was experienced by Lord Caitanya. So the Lord is so merciful that by seeing these pastimes of the Lord and Lakṣmī, they achieve what the devas are not able to achieve. So the marriage pastime between Viṣṇupriyā and Lord Viśvambhara is known as ahaituka-kripāmaya. He who is causelessly merciful. Also as amondo doya - doya sindhu, He who is an all auspicious ocean of mercy! And dīnabandhu, one who is most merciful on the most fallen. So Lord Caitanya showed all His mercy [23:31 unclear] this pastime.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.218

tabe yata naṭa, bhāṭa, bhikṣuka-gaṇere
tuṣilena vastra-dhana-vacane sabāre

Translation: Thereafter the Lord satisfied everyone—the dancers, the professional blessers, and the beggars—with cloth, money, and sweet words.

Commentary: One should take note of how the Lord, as an ideal householder and teacher of people, duly respected and awarded gifts to the proper candidates.

Jayapatākā Swami: So giving sweet words, He gave gifts of cloth, to all the bhāṭas, to all the naṭas, all the beggars. So He gave cloth and gifts and respectful words to everyone. He also gave some money to the professional blessers. He also gave… as an ideal householder He gave out gifts profusely to the different participants. He gave to the professional blessers, the dancers, all the other participants. He also gave to the relatives and brāhmaṇas clothing.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.220

buddhimanta-khāne prabhu dilā āliṅgana
tāhāna ānanda ati akathya-kathana

Translation: Then the Lord mercifully embraced Buddhimanta Khān, who felt such ecstasy that it is beyond all description.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Buddhimanta Khān was embraced by Lord Caitanya. And what bliss he felt! There are no words to describe! He was feeling all ecstasy.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.221

e saba līlāra kabhu nāhi pariccheda
’āvirbhāva’ ’tirobhāva’ ei kahe veda

Translation: Although the Vedas describe the Lord’s “appearance” and “disappearance,” there is actually no end to His pastimes.

Commentary: Since the propensity for fruitive activities in the living entities is interrupted in due course of time, no one should illegitimately and offensively consider that the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord, who is the controller of māyā, are equal to the fruitive endeavors of the ordinary living entities. That is why the Vedic literatures have emphatically pointed out the eternal difference between the activities of the Lord, who is the controller of māyā, and the living entities, who are controlled by māyā, and thus forewarned everyone about the dangerous Māyāvāda philosophy. When the Lord with His eternal abode and associates appears (before the eyes of people) in this material world from Goloka-dhāma, it is called the Lord’s avatāra or āvirbhāva, and when the Lord with His eternal abode and associates returns (disappears from the eyes of people) to His eternally unmanifest kingdom of Goloka-dhāma from this material world, it is called the Lord’s antardhāna or tirobhāva. By these activities, the Lord demonstrates the difference between His transcendental pastimes and the birth and death of ordinary living entities. The pastimes of the Supreme Lord are actually unbroken and uninterrupted.

Jayapatākā Swami: So the Lord’s pastimes are perpetually going on, the Vedas describe the appearance and disappearance of the Lord. But actually His pastimes go on continuously and sometimes He is visible, sometimes He is not visible. So no one should think that the Lord’s activities are ordinary, mundane activities. He is actually in control of the material energy. And His activities are not to be confused with activities of the mundane world. So that is why the Vedic literatures emphatically present how the Lord’s activities are transcendental. In the material world we are controlled by māyā but māyā is controlled by Lord Kṛṣṇa. So although He appears before our eyes and disappears, His pastimes go on eternally and He is enjoying the unmanifest pastimes in Goloka Vṛndāvana. So when He is invisible it is called the disappearance or the unmanifest pastime. But His pastimes are actually unbroken and uninterrupted.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.222-223

daṇḍeke e saba līlā yata haiyāche
śata-varṣe tāhā ke varṇibe,—hena āche?

nityānanda-svarūpera ājñā dhari’ śire
sūtra-mātra likhi āmi kṛpā-anusāre

Translation: Who has the ability to describe in one hundred years the pastimes that the Lord performs in a half hour? I have accepted the order of Nityānanda Svarūpa on my head, and by His mercy I am briefly writing about these pastimes.

Jayapatākā Swami: So who has the ability to explain the activities of the Lord done in one daṇḍa or 20 minutes… considering they have a 100 years to do that, it is still not possible to give all the details. So I am describing what I can, but it is very limited. So I am taking the order of Lord Nityānanda on my head and by His mercy I will be able to write about these pastimes.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 15.224

e saba īśvara-līlā ye paḍe, ye śune
se avaśya viharaye gauracandra-sane

Translation: Whoever reads or hears these pastimes of the Supreme Lord certainly associates with Lord Gauracandra.

Jayapatākā Swami: So whoever hears about or reads the pastimes of the Lord is certainly associated with Lord Gaurachandra! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 16.25

tabe viṣṇupriyā-ṭhākurāṇīra pariṇaya

tabe ta’ karila prabhu digvijayī jaya

Translation: Then Lord Caitanya married Viṣṇupriyā, the goddess of fortune, and thereafter He conquered a champion of learning named Keśava Kāśmīrī.

Purport: As in the modern day there are many champions in sports, so in bygone days there were many learned scholars in India who were champions in learning. One such person was Keśava Kāśmīrī, who came from the state of Kashmir. He traveled all over India and at last came to Navadvīpa to challenge the learned scholars there. Unfortunately he could not conquer the learned scholars in Navadvīpa, for he was defeated by the boy scholar Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Later he understood that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is none other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus he surrendered unto Him and later became a pure Vaiṣṇava in the sampradāya of Nimbārka. He wrote Kaustubha-prabhā, a commentary on the Vedānta commentary of the Nimbārka-sampradāya, which is known as the Pārijāta-bhāṣya.

The Bhakti-ratnākara mentions Keśava Kāśmīrī and lists his predecessors in the disciplic succession of the Nimbārka-sampradāya: (1) Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, (2) Viśva Ācārya, (3) Puruṣottama, (4) Vilāsa, (5) Svarūpa, (6) Mādhava, (7) Balabhadra, (8) Padma, (9) Śyāma, (10) Gopāla, (11) Kṛpā, (12) Deva Ācārya, (13) Sundara Bhaṭṭa, (14) Padmanābha, (15) Upendra, (16) Rāmacandra, (17) Vāmana, (18) Kṛṣṇa, (19) Padmākara, (20) Śravaṇa, (21) Bhūri, (22) Mādhava, (23) Śyāma, (24) Gopāla, (25) Balabhadra, (26) Gopīnātha, (27) Keśava, (28) Gokula and (29) Keśava Kāśmīrī. It is stated in the Bhakti-ratnākara that Keśava Kāśmīrī was a favorite devotee of mother Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning. By her grace he was an extremely influential scholar, and he was the greatest champion among all the scholars in the four corners of the country. Therefore he got the title dig-vijayī, which means ”one who has conquered everyone in all directions.” He belonged to a very respectable brāhmaṇa family of Kashmir. Later, by the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he gave up the profession of winning championships and became a great devotee. He joined the Nimbārka-sampradāya, one of the Vaiṣṇava communities of the Vedic culture.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Viṣṇupriyā [37:27 unclear] she gave the Lord victory over the Digvijay who was the champion of learning. Today there are Olympics and other aerobics, so people try to run faster and jump higher. But previously there were people who were expert at learning. They would be able to cite śāstras… in this way someone will be expert in one śāstra, and some in another. So they will have debates and these scholars would go around and challenge others. In this way Keśava Kāśmīrī, he had special blessings of Sarasvatī and he had come from Kashmir. He went all over India challenging everyone and he was finally going to go to the Navadvīpa town where there were millions of scholars. So he wanted to establish himself as the best champion scholar. So, rather than jumping higher, etc. they were busy with scholarship and Lord Caitanya, He was observing this scholastic līlā. So He did not like that people were so proud. So He thought that if I deliver him, it would be good but if I defeat him, then people will take his horses and elephants. So instead He devised His own means and Keśava Kāśmīri became the 29th ācārya in the Nimbārka succession. He imbibed the Vaiṣṇava-dharma. So that is the next pastime.