20190105 Viśvambhara describes how He saw Krṣṇa and lost Krṣṇa

The following is a reading from the new Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 5th, 2019 in Chennai, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Today is the appearance day of Bajaraṅga Bali Hanumānjī kī! So today we went to the hospital for once a month checkup. So when we were coming back we found out that it was Hanumān Jayanti. Normally we would try to visit a Hanumān temple.

He was a pure devotee of Lord Rāma. He would do anything to please Rāma. When he heard that His wife, Sītā had kum-kum [kuṅkuma] on her forehead, then Hanumān said, why does She do that? They said it makes Lord Rāma happy. Oh really, is He happy? Then I will wear kum-kum [kuṅkuma] all over. That’s why we see the picture of Hanumān with sindūra or kum-kum [kuṅkuma] all over His body.

When he was a child, he was given all mystic powers by the different devas but being a child, he wanted to swallow the sun, he wanted to do all kinds of mischiefs. So, the devas had him forget that he had mystic powers and he didn’t know until Sītā was captured by Rāvaṇa and it was revealed to him by a ṛṣi that he had all these mystic powers. So then he helped Lord Rāma and he was his dedicated servitor. So Hanumān had an unparalleled service attitude.

He asked what service he could do for Lord Rāma? So Rāma said, if I yawn then you can snap your fingers to keep out the different living entities from entering into my mouth. So Hanumān was watching Lord Rāma awaiting any time that He would yawn. So Lord Rāma couldn’t sleep because Hanumān was so intense. So just to please Hanumān he yawned and when He yawned Hanumān snapped his fingers. So, like this Hanumān is such a great devotee.

So today some million years ago, he appeared and participated in Lord Rāma’s pastimes. He is Murāri Gupta who assisted Lord Caitanya, he was actually the incarnation of Hanumān. So many of the pure devotees of Lord Krṣṇa, they came also with Lord Caitanya and participated in His pastimes. Jaya Hanumānjī kī jaya! Hanumān kī jaya! Jaya Bajaraṅga Bali kī jaya!

Yesterday we had the service to you all, and if there was some word that I pronounced, which was difficult for you to understand, that you would tell me and thus I could practice it and become more expert on it. So today we would like to do the same thing as I give this next class. So we will go until 9.05 pm.

Viśvambhara describes how He saw Krṣṇa and lost Krṣṇa.

Lord Caitanya had gone to Gayā, Bihar, to perform the rituals for His deceased father. There He met Īśvara Purī Mahārāja and took initiation and after which He started to manifest symptoms of love for Godhead. Then He headed back to Navadvīpa where by the side of the Ganges He saw Kṛṣṇa and He will tell how He saw Krṣṇa and how He lost Krṣṇa.

bahirdaśāẏa āsiẏā punarāẏa prabhura premāśrupāta—

bāhya haile ṭhākura sabāra galā dhari’
ye krandana kare tāhā kahite nā pāri

The Lord regained His external consciousness, He started to grab all the devotees by the neck and that crying and those pastimes, when He regained His external consciousness, I am unable to describe.

kṛṣṇavirahārta-gopībhāba vibhābita prabhura kheda (Śrī Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta 41)

amūny adhanyāni dināntarāṇi
hare tvad-ālokanam antareṇa

anātha-bandho karuṇaika-sindho
hā hanta hā hanta kathaṁ nayāmi

So this verse is written by Śrī Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta. He wrote it in Sanskrit. I don’t know Sanskrit.

“Oh my Lord, oh Supreme Personality of Godhead, oh friend of the helpless, You are the only ocean of mercy. Because I have not met You, my inauspicious days and nights have become unbearable. I do not know how shall I pass the time.” So above verse is elaborated in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā chapter 2 verse 59. and the Lord is discussing His feelings of separation for Krṣṇa. So, He is saying that, read the translation:

“How these inauspicious days and nights are not passing for I have not met You. It is difficult to know how to pass all this time but You are the friend of the helpless and an ocean of mercy. Kindly give me Your audience for I am in a precarious position.”

kṛṣṇavirahe kṛṣṇānusandhāna o kṛṣṇalābhārtha atyutkaṇṭhā

“kothā gele pāimu se muralī-vadana!”
balite chāḍaye śvāsa, karaye krandana

Where will I find Krṣṇa who plays on His flute? Where will I go to find Krṣṇa who plays on His flute? As Viśvambhara said this, He sighed deeply and He cried incessantly. This is from Madhya-līlā chapter 2 verse 15. So in Madhya-līlā and in the Antya-līlā, chapter 25 15.24 and 17.53 it is stated that the Lord would cry, “Oh my Lord Krṣṇa, my life and soul, son of Mahārāja Nanda, where shall I go? Where shall I find and obtain You? Oh! Supreme Personality, who plays with flute to Your mouth? What shall I do? Where shall I go? Where can I go to get Krṣṇa? Tell Me how I can find Him? How shall I find Krṣṇa? What shall I do? What should I go? Where can I meet Him? If I cannot find Krṣṇa, My life is leaving Me!”

antaraṅgabhakta-samīpe sīẏa kṛṣṇabiccheda-duḥkha nivedana

sthira hai’ prabhu saba-āpta-gaṇa-sthāne
prabhu bale,“mora duḥkha karoṅ nivedane”

When the Lord became calm and got control of His faculties, the Lord said to His intimate devotees. Now, I will relate to you, the topics of My distress.

prabhu bale, “mora se duḥkhera anta nāi
pāiyā o hārāinu jīvana-kānāi”

Prabhu said, the Lord said, there is no end to sadness of My distress because after achieving Krṣṇa, the Lord of My life, I then lost Him! So Kānāi refers to Nanda-nandana the dear son of Nanda Māhāraja, who is one’s very life.

prabhura nikaṭa guptakathā-śravaṇārtha tām̐hādera upaveśana

sabāra santoṣa haila rahasya śunite
śraddhā kari’ sabe vasilena cāri-bhite

Everyone was satisfied to hear the Lord revealing the secrets of His confidential topics. So, with complete respect and faith they all sat around Him, Lord Viśvambhara.

gopībhāva-vibhābita prabhukartṛka kānāñi nāṭaśālāẏa kṛṣṇa-darśanākhyāna- jñāpana-mukhe kṛṣṇarūpa-barṇana—

“kānāñira nāṭaśālā-nāme eka grāma
gayā haite āsite dekhinu sei sthāna

While returning from Gayā I saw a village named as Kānāi-Nāṭaśālā and it was a village, so coming to that place I had darśana, when I saw that place. So Kānāi-Nāṭaśālā is in Jhārikhaṇḍa state which was previously part of Bihar but they divided Bihar into two – Jhārikhaṇḍa and Bihar. It is on the river Ganges opposite Mālda where Rūpa and Sanātana were working for the emperor Hussain Shah.

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he tells that there is a temple on a small hill and how the lotus footprint of Lord Caitanya also came in, and he also put the lotus foot prints of Lord Caitanya there. There are also ancient footprints of Rādhā and Kānāi. For over 300 years the Rāmānandī sect of Rāma bhaktas were in charge of that place. But they were told that if they were not able to take care of the Deities, they should give the holy place to the most prominent Gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava preacher. So, the Deities were stolen and the 90 plus elderly mahānta came to Mayapur to the ISKCON premises because he heard that His Divine Grace Abhaya Caraṇa Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, was the greatest exponent of Gauḍīya vaiṣṇavism in the modern world. So, he came and he wanted to give over the temple to ISKCON. So then the only process for taking charge of the temple was that someone had to be appointed as the next mahānta, so Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja was given the empowerment as the next mahānta on behalf of ISKCON and Prabhupāda! So, since then we have been responsible for the sevā, pūjā of the Deities and the holy place.

We installed a new Rādhā Krṣṇa Deities with Caitanya Māhāprabhu and that time the Safari from Māyāpur came and brought water from the Ganges up to the top of the hill and with that water we bathed the Deities. With our pujarīs from Māyāpur, we did a grand installation. The Rāmānandīs like to do fire yajña. So they did a fire yajña also and the previous mahānta confided in me that Kānāi-Nāṭaśālā is on top of millions of dollars of China clay. That is white clay which can be made into fine porcelain. So he thought that his own disciples may sell off and keep the money. So he had faith that we would not do that. Since then, and then he passed way, we are still maintaining the ancient place of Kānāi-Nāṭaśālā and the Jhārikhaṇḍa government has built some guest rooms and facilities there, because of all the foreigners who were coming to visit this holy place, they didn’t t have too many holy places. This is one of the rare places and they wanted to develop it. So if you have not visited Kānāi Nāṭaśālā, you should do it, it is a beautiful place, surrounded by forests and trees. That place is just a few miles away from the Farakka barrage where the Ganges is about 6-8 km wide, it comes right up to the place of the hill. But it extends there to 6-8 km.

I think we will stop here. From here Lord Caitanya starts to tell about His seeing Lord Krṣṇa. So if we start we cannot stop.

So we will start tomorrow and go through the whole pastime. Alright? Alright? Are you are alright?

Any questions?

Names of devotees watching online were read.

Marici das! Our leader of the Safari! Do you remember going to Kānāi-nāṭaśālā?

Any relevant questions?

Question: It is stated that Lord Caitanya brought topmost love of Godhead thru Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra but Śrīvāsa, Advaita, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, etc. devotees used to chant the mahā-mantra before the Lord’s appearance and different scriptures also predicted about Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. What was the first, who was the first introducer of the mahā-mantra in this Age? – Souradev Babu.

Jayapatākā Swami: Chanting the name is one thing, but to chant it offenselessly without offenses is the real secret. That is when you awaken your love for Kṛṣṇa. So Lord Caitanya when He introduced the chanting, by chanting His name first, one is absolved of most of the offenses. So in this way one can get unlimited mercy from Lord Caitanya. But even in other yugas, by chanting the holy names one got delivered. Like Ajāmila, he chanted the name of his son Nārāyaṇa, and remembered the original Nārāyaṇa, so he got delivered. There was a lady that became a prostitute when her husband died. She had a parrot who chanted, “Rāma! Rāma!” and she would chant with the parrot “Rāma! Rāma!” and the parrot would answer, “Rāma! Rāma!” and she said, “Rāma! Rāma!” and the parrot would answer, “Rāma! Rāma!” In this way there was constantly Rāma-nāma going and it is said that she developed spontaneous attraction for chanting the name of Rāma. So she was hit by lightning and the Yamadūtas came to get her, as she was doing so many sinful acts but the Viṣṇudūtas came and drove away the Yamadūtas, and they took her and the parrot back to Godhead. So to make the long story short, in the Tretā-yuga, Hanumān had the rocks float with Lord Rāma’s name on it. So like that there are different examples, how the holy names worked not only Kali-yuga but all the yugas. But now the other processes yajñas, temple worship and meditation are hopeless because people of Kali-yuga are so fallen, so for them the only hope is:

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
[Cc. Ādi 17.21]

Question: In the chapter 10 of Caitanya-Bhāgavata, Ṭhākura Vṛndāvana dāsa refers to Murāri Gupta as Rudra (Lord Śiva). We also know Murāri Gupta as Hanumānjī. What is the relation between these personalities? – Lokabandhu Rāmabhadra dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see we would like questions to be asked on today’s topic. You have given us a reference that says that, Murāri Gupta is Hanumān but also he is Rudra. So you can give mail that reference to me, him being Rudra, and I will look it up. Alright?

Question: Please tell us how faithless non-devotees do delivered by Lord Caitanya?     

Jayapatākā Swami: Pāpī tāpī yata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi mādhāi. So how Jagāi and Mādhāi were delivered. That answers your question. They were atheists, offensive, they studied śāstras to find out what is the worst thing they can do, and do that! Here it says, to kill your guru, you should do that, and so they said they will do that! I cannot mention the things they did. They did all these things and still delivered by Lord Nityānanda.