20190218 Śrī Nityānanda Trayodaśī Lecture

Come Join us in His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja reads from new Kṛṣṇa Caitanya book on February 18th 2019, in Chennai, India.

So when you go there you can still see the place they have kept,where the Pāṇḍavas stayed in. So when Lord Nityānanda appeared it is called Garbha-vāsa, where He lived in the womb of His mother, Padmāvatī and His father was Hāḍāi Ojhā. So when He was a child, He would play with other boys. He would play dramas. They played Kṛṣṇa drama, different avatāras’ dramas. 

So one time they were playing the Rāma-līlā. So Nitāi was playing Lakṣmaṇa, which was His role in Rāma-līlā. So the other boy who was playing the party of Indrajit hit Lakṣmaṇa with a special poisoned arrow and the only thing that could bring Him around would be the Sañjīvanī herb. But in the middle of the drama when Nityānanda was unconscious, the mother of Nityānanda came and called everyone to take lunch. "Come on lunch time, take your prasādam!"  But Nitāi was unconscious, He was lying there.

"What happened? What happened? WHAT HAPPENED? NITĀI! NITĀI! NITĀI! Come on! NITĀI! NITĀI!"

So they called His father. He could not do anything, they called the doctor. The doctor came and he said I don’t see anything wrong with Him but He is unconscious. Then Hāḍāi Ojhā said, "What was He doing?" Then they explained that we were playing the drama of Rāma-līlā and He was playing Lakṣmaṇa and He just got hit by the arrow of Indrajit. "So what is the next thing?" Then all the boys remembered that Nitāi Then all the boys remembered that Nitāi told them that don’t forget to get Hanumān to bring the Sañjīvanī. They told this to the father and the father asked, "Who is playing Hanumān?" 

One came forward and said, "I am playing!"

"Bring the Sañjīvanī plant, quick, quick, bring it."

Then he went to bring it. Then he saw a brāhmaṇa who appeared like a devotee but he was he was actually a servant of Rāvaṇa, He said my dear Hanumān, "I have nice bananas and fruits for you. Please take these fruits. Would you like to take a bath in the pond and freshen up?"

So the boy playing Hanumān went to the pond and then a demon alligator, crocodile, came and attacked him. Hanumān, smashed that crocodile and came back and saw that the so called brāhmaṇa was actually a servant of Rāvaṇa! "He said your master is a dog! A DOG! I don’t care anything for him. I am going to get the Sañjīvanī herb for Lord Lakṣmaṇa!" Haribol Bajaraṅg-bali ki jai! Hanumān ki jaya!

So that boy went and he got the herb, he didn’t know which herb, so he got the whole mountain, came back and the boy playing Rāma took some herb from that and gave it to Lakṣmaṇa to smell, He put it under Lakṣmaṇa’s nose, who was Nitāi playing and Nitāi came back to consciousness. Nitāi! Jaya Nitāi! So like this every day they played dramas. And the adults thought how do these boys know all the dramas like they were there! Which was the truth! 

So like this the days passed by and when Nitāi was about 12 years old, one sannyāsī came visiting. And Hāḍāi Ojhā being a liberal brāhmaṇa, he greeted the Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī and offered prasādam. 

He asked him, "If there is anything I could do for you?"

He said, "Well there is something, but do you really mean you want to do something?"

"No I want, I promise you! Will you give me anything I want?"

"Will you give me anything I want? Will you?

"Yes! Yes!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Are you really sure? Yes!"

“I want Nitāi!!! I need a brahmacārī!”

"Nitāi! Nitāi! Nitāi!" (Jayapatākā Swami made sound like crying symblozing mood of Hāḍāi Ojhā)

Now Hāḍāi Ojhā, he did not want to be a bad example for his son, being a brāhmaṇa who told a lie. But he couldn’t live without Nitāi. So he was in a real dilemma. So he had to give Nitāi. He stood at the end of the village and saw Nitāi walking away with the sannyāsī and when they were out of sight, he fainted and fell down and left his body! He couldn’t accept separation from the Lord. 

So like this Lord Nityānanda, He travelled over South India. There He met Mādhavendra Purī and His guru and He got initiated. Finally, He joined Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana movement which I mentioned today in the temple. The last one thing I said, being the younger brother of Kṛṣṇa is a very bad situation. So as Balarāma, He came as the older brother. Nitāi was the godbrother of Īśvara Purī. But He was also the servant of Lord Caitanya.

So almost all the pastimes of Lord Caitanya in Navadvīpa had also Lord Nityānanda, and when Lord Caitanya took sannyāsa, Lord Nityānanda was there with four other devotees, in Katwa. After Lord Caitanya was a sannyāsī, then He was in ecstasy, He wanted to go to Vṛndāvana. So Nityānanda Prabhu told the cowherd boys by the side of the Ganges, that if Lord Caitanya comes and says where is Vṛndāvana? You point South! He jumped into the river and swam down to Navadvīpa. So, when Lord Caitanya came to the Ganges, He asked, "Where is Vṛndāvan? VṚNDĀVANA! VṚNDĀVANA!"

The boys said “That way!” 

But it was actually the other way. So Lord Caitanya went down and then He got to Kālnā, just opposite Śāntipur. He saw Advaita crossing the river in a boat. So He said, "Hmm! What is Advaita doing in Vṛndāvana?!"

Then He realized I am not in Vṛndāvana! "NITĀI CHEATED ME! NITĀI! NITĀI!"

So Advaita said, "No, You are in Vṛndāvana. The Yamunā and Ganges combine together at Prayag. And the western side is Yamunā and eastern side is Gaṅgā. You are on the Yamunā side!" 

So then He brought Lord Caitanya back to Śāntipur. And there He saw His mother and Lord Nityānanda. So, Lord went to Jagannātha Purī and He told Nityānanda that we have started a business of saṅkīrtana in Bengal. But, we didn’t finish. You should go back and finish. And even if You don’t come every year to Jagannātha Purī, it is alright. Because, We should flood the whole Bengal with the saṅkīrtana movement. Lord Nityānanda said, I need some help. I need some devotees. So Lord Caitanya said, "Take whatever You need." So He took about 45 devotees and Abhirāma dāsa and many others. Mīniketana. So, the devotees normally would take one month to walk from Jagannātha Purī to Bengal, or less. But they took three months because they were acting out the different līlās of Lord Kṛṣṇa. They became so ecstatic that instead of following the road, they went zig zag and then they realized they were off the road. 

Then they would ask the villagers, "Where is the road to Bengal?"

"Oh, 25 kilometers that way!"

Then in ecstasy they would cross the road and go the other way. And then they realized that they were off the road again. 

"Which way is Bengal?"

And the villagers would say, "30 kilometers this way! The road!"

So like this they took around three months to reach Pānihāṭi. And then He came to the house of Rāghava Paṇḍita who was cooking in the kitchen with his sister, Damayantī. And then when he saw Lord Nityānanda, he immediately paid his obeisances. 

He said, "How many are you?"

He said, "We are about 45."

"So take a bath in the Ganges and come back in half an hour and I will have a feast prepared for 50 people."

Good cooks! So like this, Lord Nityānanda, He started the saṅkīrtana in Pānihāṭi. First He was sitting and watching them do kīrtana, and He was bathed by the devotees with buckets of Ganges water and then He came back and He wore His dried dhotī and chadar. 

He asked Rāghava Paṇḍita, "I am a cowherd boy, get Me a kadamba garland!" 

Rāghava Paṇḍita said, "I don’t have any kadamba trees! This is not the season for flowers."

"Don’t give Me excuses, go in the garden and get the kadamba flowers."

So he went to his garden, he had a lemon tree and suddenly the lemon tree started to, Bo! Bo! Bo!, Haribol! Jaya Nitāi! (Devotees: Jaya) So He stringed the garland and he came back and offered it to Lord Nityānanda. And then Nityānanda started to dance. Lord Caitanya said, there are five places He will always be present and one of the place is was wherever Nityānanda Prabhu said! He won’t miss that! Ha! Lord Nityānanda is dancing is so out of the world. So, Lord Nityānanda was dancing. All devotees were playing mṛdaṅgas and karatālas. 

Then Lord Nityānanda stopped and said, “Lord Caitanya is here, I can see him but you cannot. He is wearing a garland from South India. By that garland of flower you can smell Him”.

They started smelling. Ha Ha Ha!! Oh Gauuuuuuuuuurāṅga (Devotees: Gaurāṅga!). Then, people standing next to Lord Caitanya, they started to faint. Loud gas, Loud fragrance. By smell of the garland they got realisation. So, like this, people started to roll down in the ground. So this was the kind of kīrtana Lord Nityānanda had. And then the devotees kept the kīrtana going day and night for one month. Gradually more and more people started to congregate one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, up to ten thousand people! They forgot themselves and stayed for three days. Then they remembered that I have a house and family and went back. People would say, "What happened?"

They would say, "Nityānanda! Nityānanda! Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa! Ha! Ha! Ha Ha! Nitāi! Nitāi! Ha! Ha!"

They couldn’t speak. More and more people came to see what was happening! And the kīrtana kept on going and the people were overwhelmed. finally some devotee started jumping from tree top to tree top. One devotee took a huge tree and uprooted it. He started to dance with it. And then Abhirāma he took a 60 feet long bamboo, held it like it was a flute! Held it and played on it. So then, after a while. Rāghava Paṇḍita went to Lord Nityānanda and said all my trees are being uprooted by Your devotees. I won’t be able to offer You bhoga. All the trees are uprooted! Lord Nityānanda took His party and went forward. Village to village. And, wherever He went, people were overwhelmed with His kīrtana-rasa. 

dekha ore bhāi, tribhuvane nāi,
emana dayāla dātā

So Lord Nityānanda, He was giving out the mercy to everyone. He flooded the whole Bengal with saṅkīrtana movement. He got a good response. He told some devotee to stay here, preach here. Like this, He went all over. 

And when Lord Caitanya asked Advaita Gosāñi, “What’s happening in Bengal?”.

Advaita said, “Bengal is flooded, the market is flooded!”

Like sometimes its over supply in the market. He would say the saṅkīrtana market is flooded. 

Jayapatākā Swami and Devotees: Haribol! Jaya Nitāi! Nitāi Gaura! Haribol!