20181022 Evening Talk

Nama Om…

Mukham karoti…

Su swaagatam to all present and all viewers! Today I had the physiotherapist teach me some new exercises. Everyone says I should breathe in and breathe out, so what does that actually mean? He said, I should breathe from the abdomen, breathe from the sides and breathe from the lungs. In this way he was giving practical examples. He also taught me how to activate the core muscles and many other things. He is supposed to be the best in Chennai. So my day went with this physio practice and some of the different emails that devotees have written. We have here Kalasudha devi dasi from Houston, she is cooking for two weeks. And our normal cook Prasanna gets a little relief for the first time in several years! Because I am not able to go to the temple yet, I was seeing the different aratis and functions on the TV and internet. That is how I spent my day. When I had all the tubes in me I was thinking how Prabhupad in 1967 had the stroke, and he also had all kinds of tubes in him, but he pulled them out and he told his secretary to take him out of the hospital. The doctors were saying you will kill yourself. But he didn’t care, he went back to the Matchless Gifts and although he was paralysed from the neck down, he stayed in the basement and with his mouth he was nonstop giving instructions and lectures to his followers. They would give him a sponge bath and after sometime he regained the faculty of his limbs. So how wonderful Srila Prabhupad was! He was living in the comfort zone of the holy dham of Vrandavan but he left all that to carry out the order of his guru maharaj to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. Lord Caitanya had predicted prithvi the aaache joto nagar aadi graam, sarvatra prachaar hoibe mora naam. That in every town and village of the world My name of the whole world, My holy names will be preached and sung. To a large extent that is already happening and more and more devotees are taking up this mission, to help Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda, Srila Prabhupad, to spread this sankirtan movement. We see how merciful Lord Caitanya was and how He was trying to deliver all the fallen souls. Parama Koruna bohu dui jan Nitai Gaura Chandra. So Lochanadas Thakur he is saying that how merciful are the two Lords Nita Gaura Chandra. Caitanya and Nityananda adopted the mood of the devotees. Nityananda and Haridas were going door to door and asking people to please chant Hare Krishna. How the Lord is so merciful that They goa door to door begging asking people please bolo Krishna bhajo Krishna koro Krishna shikha. As Nitai Gaur They were accessible to the devotees. All the devotees also came and joined with the sankirtan movement of Nitai Gaur. We have devotees like Prahlad Maharaj, Hanuman and so many others they came down to associate with the Lord. Sometimes Krishna although He is very merciful, He is not so approachable. But as Lord Caitanya He was easily approachable to everyone and in this way He was enjoying His scholastic pastimes. He also went around Navadvip dham with Nitai and the kirtan party. They were chanting all over the city. People were amazed how these twins who looked almost alike were chanting and dancing around Navadvip town. Some of the smarta brahmanas, they are very close minded following the rules and regulations. They went to the Chand Kazi and complained that this brahmana Nimai Pandit is chanting the holy names and thus He is weakening the power of the holy names. One should not chant the names of the Lord loud. But He doesn’t care for all these rules so He is destroying the Hindu dharma. So they asked the Chand Kazi to stop Him. So the Chand Kazi went and broke the drums. That place is known as the Kohl bhanga danga. People approached Lord Caitanya and asked what they should do. He said we will not stop chanting the holy name and He told His associates to go find volunteers to chant and march to the house of  the Chand Kazi  and demand a fair treaty. So then about 200,000 people gathered, this was the first time there was civil disobedience for the right cause. They came with torches in their hands. They were shouting, get the Kazi, burn him, burn him down!

So he was a little scared, what he should do. Then he went to the verandah of his house and said Your father in law called me his uncle which means You are my nephew. So why are You coming to my house in such an angry mood? Lord Caitanya said, why are you keeping your nephew standing in the street? So in this way the ice was broken and the Chand Kazi brought Lord Caitanya on to his verandah. And they were discussing the dharma. Lord Caitanya said that the bulls plough the fields and produce grains, so why do you eat the bulls, your father? And the cows produce milk products which are healthy for everyone, so why do you kill the cow? The Chand Kazi said that well although in your Vedas you have the Ashwamedha and Gomedha sacrifices where You also kill the cow. Lord Caitanya said that yes, but that is an old cow which is brought back to life with a new body and like this the Chand Kazi revealed that the previous night he was approached by a half man half lion and the lion said to him, that if you disturb My sankirtan again I will tear you apart. And the lion took His claws and scraped across my chest and he opened his shirt and showed the marks were still there. That was obviously Nrsimhadev. So like this Lord Caitanya convinced the Chand Kazi that the chanting of the holy names was this chanting of the holy names was the method prescribed in the Vedas. So the Chand Kazi said me and my descendants, no one will disturb the chanting of the holy name and he gave the symbol of the Chand Kazi. Chant with this and it will show that You are authorized. So like this they parted as friends and all the chanters were overjoyed because their demonstration was a success. 

So He went to the house of Kolavecha Sridhar and He took rest in his garden. Lord Caitanya said that He was thirsty, can I have some water? Kolavecha Sridhar was going to the neighbour’s house to borrow a fancy glass. Gauranga asked where are you going? So He said this glass is enough, if it is good for My devotee it is good enough for Me. But that was a cast iron, rusty glass and Sridhar took that glass behind himself and said, no, no, it is not good for you. Lord Caitanya having very long arms reached over Kolavecha Sridhar and drank some water Himself. GAURANGA! So Prabhupad would say that Lord Caitanya faced obstacles in His spreading of the sankirtan movement. If you are also facing difficulties it is a symbol that you are also following Lord Gauranga. If you face some difficulty, you should remember Lord Caitanya, He faced many difficulties. And that persevering you get the special mercy ofNitai Gaur Haribol! Gauranga, Nityananda, Advaita, Gadaadhar, Srivas aadi Gaura Bhakti Vrnda!

One question.

Question: Dearest guru maharaj, if you so desire could you please tell us the pastime when Srila Prabhupad called you to show you Krishna Balaram or Gaura Nitai dancing in the gardens next to the Lotus building? Did you see Them? Thank you. Your servant, Vijaya Radha devi dasi.

Guru maharaj: There was a brahmachari who was driving Prabhupad back from the Ratha Yatra in California. Prabhupad said did you see Gaura Nitai dancing amongst the devotees? How beautiful they were! This I heard first hand.