20181106 Śrī Krishna Caitanya Book

Nama Om…

Mukham karoti vacalam..

 Caitanya Bhaagavat

So at the place off Uttara Manasa Lord Caitanya, again offered pinda for His forefathers. He visited the Gaya named Bhima Gaya. There He manifested His pastimes as Gauranga who is non-different from Shri Hari.

So as I said that there are many Gayas in Gaya. So one of those is known as Shiva Gaya and Brahma Gaya. So the Lord went to all the different Gayas and performed the rituals for His forefathers. Thus He went to the Shodasa Gaya finally.

So Lord Caitanya went to these different Gayas and He was assisted by qualified brahmanas. He performed the pinda for His father at a place known as Shodasa Gaya or 16 altars. Jagannath Mishra became distinctly visible to all the people present and he joyfully accepted the offering made by his divine son. So Lord Caitanya not only did these rites to show that example to the people but also made His departed father visibly present and His father also accepted the offerings. 

 When the Lord was at Shodasa Gaya He faithfully offered shraadha  with 16 ingredients.  Thus all His ancestors and forefathers received the benefit.

So on the 16 altars the Lord performed the ritual known as pinda. Thus He was very anxious and desirous of seeing the lotus footprint of Lord Vishnu.

Lord Caitanya took His bath at the Brahma kunda. At Gayashira He came and offered pinda and oblations. 

Then the Lord went to the Vishnu Gaya temple and saw the footprints of Lord Vishnu. He saw all the markings which are characteristically found on the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. Gaurahari became quite jubilant to see the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. But He wondered, how can it be that My eyes have seen the marks on Lord Vishnu’s lotus feet but yet prema has not arisen within My heart?

So with divine garlands and chandan the Lord Himself worshipped the lotus footprint of Lord Vishnu and was very happy and jubilant to do so. 

In this way in all the different places the Lord offered shraadha, pinda and all rituals. He went to the place where He would stay after satisfying all the brahmanas. So Shodasa is a particular type of shraadha in which 16 types of ingredients are offered, namely, land, aasan, a sitting place, water, cloth, ghee lamp, rice, beetle nuts, umbrellas, sandalwood paste flower garlands, fruits, bedding, shoes, cows, gold and sliver, or it may refer to a kind of sacrificial pot. So there are two systems, there is the karma kanda system and there is the vaishnava more spontaneous type of system, more loving system. So in the Vishnu Purana  Aorava spoke to Sagar maharaj and said that oh king, a person goes to Gaya and offers oblations and offers oblations makes his life successful by satisfying his forefathers. So going to Gaya is done by the karma kandis and vaishnavas but their inspiration might be different.

So the son who performs these rituals for his forefathers is known as suputra Su means auspicious. Pu means hell or hellish existence. Tra means to deliver like mantra to deliver the mind. Tantra to use the body to achieve deliverance. So this system is observed by people from time immemorial to go to Gaya and perform the rituals. Lord Caitanya He was wondering why I am not having love for Lord Krishna? This is what human life is actually meant for. That we should awaken our dormant love for Lord Krishna. In Chennai today people are celebrating Diwali. In fact, it is an all India festival. Some people are exploding their fire crackers and fireworks. Some are using this opportunity to have a good time. Some may do it as a system of observing Diwali. For devotees it is a time when we remember the Lord. Just like all the people of Ayodhya opened their hearts to receive Sita and Rama. It was a dark moon night and it would be hard to find Ayodhya in the dark, they were coming by flower airplane. So all the people of Ayodhya put lamps on their houses so that Ayodhya could easily be seen from the air. People in Ayodhya had so much devotion for Rama. At the end of is pastime he entered the nearby Sarayu river. At hath time all the residents of Ayodhya followed Him and went into the river and all were transferred to the spiritual world Haribol! So we heard how Gaya is a holy place of pilgrimage but greater than those is to hear from those who reside in te holy place.  To hear from a pure devotees and elevated souls who live in this place. Bhakti Vinod Thakur was saying that wherever these souls go that place is Vrndavan That those hills in those places are non-different from Govardhan. That the waters nearby are non-different from the Ganges or Yamuna. Like this he showed that he always wanted to serve the vaishnavas. So Lord Caitanya is showing by His example that He is performing all the rituals but He is wondering even though I am doing all these rituals why am I not able to able My dormant love for Krishna?  So this is the real purpose of human life. We should awaken our dormant love for Krishna.