20200103 50th Sannyāsa Anniversay Festival Day 1

So today we are observing the adivas for the kirtan yagna and the ceremonies which are going to follow. Adhivas means that we get ourselves ready to be absorbed in the ceremony. The ceremony is the kirtan mela and various other programs. So kirtan was done by Lord Caitanya and this was described by Basu Ghosh in his kirtan. He described how he did the adivas, the day before and especially on the adivas he recounted how Advaita Gosain, He worshipped the Shaligram shila with Ganges water and Tulasi manjaris. He chanted loudly the holy names, He prayed for Lord Krsna to come down and give out His mercy of love for Godhead to the fallen souls. Advaita Gosain, as the avatar of Mahavishnu, He could give liberation. He is very powerful. But to give love of Krsna, only Krsna can do that. Normally Krsna Himself, He gives to those who surrender to Him, but Lord Caitanya is Krsna’s most merciful avatar. He gave out His mercy without considering who was qualified and who was unqualified. He gave His mercy out freely and there are different things. Like the disappearance day, Govinda Dvadasi, of Madhavendra Puri, Lord Caitanya was at the house of Advaita Gosain in Santipur, and He had made a big festival for the disappearance of His spiritual master. The description is amazing! He created such a feast that did not count in kilos or pounds, they counted in godowns! He had so many godowns of food, godowns of yogurt, godowns of sweetmeats, godowns of banana leaves and so on. Lord Caitanya said that this is not possible for any human being to make such an elaborate arrangement for a feast. And all the devotees, some were doing Bhagavatam class, some were chanting Hare Krsna, some were cooking like, Saci mata, Sita Thakurani, everyone was engaged. Some were bathing the feet of the visitors, some were giving out garlands and sandalwood pulp. The mood of service was so, so, prominent that Lord Caitanya said, whoever takes prasadam here on this thithi, they will get Govinda Prema Bhakti. So Sathi Saka Goswami the previous sevite, he told me, where else did Lord Caitanya say that we could get Krsna bhakti, Govinda bhakti, by eating! So please, Iskcon should take over this festival and he showed me some letters that Srila Prabhupada had written to him, that if he was able to obtain land in Mayapur, he would make his world Head Quarters in Santipur. So that is another secret. Lord Caitanya said, that if someone chants the name of Lord Nityananda, they purchase Him and He gives them love for Krsna! NITYANANDA! NITYANANDA! NITYANANDA! NITYANANDA! NITYANANDA! NITYANANDA! NITYANANDA, GAURANGA! NITYANANDA! GAURANGA! NITYANANDA! Who needs repetition? If you need repetition, no problem. Raise your hand if you need repetition. So, Srila Prabhupada took me a couple of times to Panihati dham, north of Calcutta, between Calcutta and Mayapur. There the original banyan tree is that Lord Nityananda sat under – is still there. And Srila Prabhupada he said, if possible, we should build a temple on stilts so that people can still go to the banyan tree. On the second floor we have a Gaura Nitai temple. He said we should have boat ride from Calcutta to Mayapur and stop on the way in Panihati and give people a Panihati breakfast of chipped rice, yogurt and fruits! Ha! He had many plans for Panihati. In the Caitanya Bhagavat it says that Lord Caitanya resides in five places eternally. One of those places is Panihati dham. So Srila Prabhupada gave this place the name New Panihati. So New Panihati, this place has a very significant cultural heritage. Now, in the adivas kirtan there are two lines I like very much. It is at the end of the kirtan, I don’t know if they sing it here. I taught devotees in South America. I said it has got three words and the first word is Ananda. Everybody knows ananda, it is a very common word, means bliss, ecstasy, happiness. Seema, seema not everybody knows. Seema means limit, frontier border like Atlanta has a big airport, I think the biggest in the USA now. They have a border, but chanting Hare Krsna, there is no border, of the bliss, no limit to the bliss. Anander seema nai, nai means no. Anander seema nai. Anander seema nai. You speak good Bengali. No limit to the bliss of chanting Hare Krsna! Anander seema nai. ANANDER SEEMA NAI! ANANDER SEEMA NAI! ANANDER SEEMAI NAI! ANANDER SEEMA NAI! ANANDER SEEMA NAI! ANANDER SEEMA NAI! There is one other line. Nirananda dure jai. Nirananda is opposite of ananda. Opposite of happiness is unhappiness. It goes dure – far away. Dure jai. Goes far away! Anyone want to be unhappy, don’t be here! Only if you want to be happy, be here! There will be unlimited happiness, unhappiness will go far away! That is what the Harinam kirtan does! Nirananda dure jai! NIRANANDA DURE JAI! NIRANANDA DURE JAI! ANANDER SEEMA NAI! ANANDER SEEMA NAI! ANANDER SEEMA NAI! NIRANANDA DURE JAI! NIRANANDA DURE JAI! You are very good! I was teaching some English to the South Americans! They speak Spanish. So I taught them some English. We wear a tie on our neck. What if we tie it on our knee? It would become knee tie “Ni tai” Ni tai, that way I taught them some English!! And then my knee, myknee, myknee, Nimai, Nimai, Nimai! Comes out like Nimai! Like that I gave some English lessons! Myknee! Nimai, Nimai, Nimai, Nimai! One doctor, he taught, he is a neurologist and he said that chanting the holy name of Gauranga helps to cure patients from addiction. So that is what he said that if you chant Gau rango, Gaurango, Gaurango, Gaurango. Gau ran go! Gaurango! So in this way you can kick your addiction, if you are addicted to cigarettes or anything. But of course you get addicted to chanting! Nitai Gauuuuranga! Because there is no limit to the bliss. Anander seema nai. So Basu Ghosh, he was explaining the kirtan done by Lord Caitanya, they would do it from sunrise to sunrise. We cannot do that here because our neighbors would object if 2 in the morning or 3 in the morning we did kirtan. I think they do it here 10 to 10 I don’t know the exact time. But we have to end at a certain time. But there, they would do kirtan all night until the next morning. And then they would take the deity of Nitai Gaura around the village, and chant Hare Krsna. Take the deity around and they would come back and they would throw a yogurt pot, they would call this, dadi bhangan – breaking the yogurt pot. They would break it and spill the yogurt on each other. Then they would go back. So that would be the system. They would chant nonstop. Now they have 24 hour kirtan, 48 hours, 72 hours and it is a tradition called nama yagna. So we will not get so much time. But we will chant morning to night, about 12 hours and in this way by chanting the holy names we create a vibration which purifies the atmosphere, purifies the neighborhood, purifies the country, purifies the world and purifies our heart. So I am very happy to be here when you are having this kirtan yagna. I heard that Dallas and Alachua – in Alachua I went to one kirtan yagna. And I see that in various parts of the world and USA there have been kirtan melas. So this is very auspicious and I am happy to be here for this kirtan mela. In the various sastras, it says in the age of Kali, the special sacrifice that we can perform is Harinam sankirtan. Golokera prema dhana, Harinam sankirtana. Golokera prema dhana, Harinam sankirtana! So from Goloka Vrndavan in the spiritual world comes this Maha Mantra, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! and by chanting this mantra we can taste the love of Krsna. People talk of love in this world. But actually how to awaken love? That miracle happens by chanting Hare Krsna! So, this chanting is not material. It is something transcendental. Cinmaya. It is spiritual and by chanting, by hearing, by participating in this chanting, we get special blessings of Lord Caitanya. We get purified. So, this is a very auspicious thing that we are having these nama yagnas, nama sacrifices, kirtan melas, in different parts of the country. And this is purifying the world. So are there any questions? Any questions? 

Question: Can you explain the pastime of your going to Panihati and distributing prasadam there?

Guru maharaj: Can I share my experience, yes I can! Next question? They told me I have 15 pastimes. To share my pastime, it will take more than 15 minutes! Then I will share that at the Panihati festival. Hopefully this year I will be able to attend! 

Question: Hare Krsna guru maharaj. Can you explain about building a two storey building in Panihati, I did not understand why?

Guru maharaj: So that the people could go to the banyan tree. We would have our temple elevate above so that people could freely go to the banyan tree and then they could come to our temple also. Is that clear? Why? Srila Prabhupada wanted to have a temple on columns that would raise it above, ten feet above. So that people could have access to the banyan tree. At the same time, sanctify the place, have the temple there. To show that this is a very important, spiritual place, we have the temple. 

Question: Is that banyan tree right on the bank of the Ganges?

Guru maharaj: Yes, right on the Ganges.

Question: Hare Krsna guru maharaj, In Caitanya Caritamrita it is mentioned that Caitanya Bhagavat is the essence of Srimad Bhagavatam. So what is the necessity of reading Srimad Bhagavatama?

Guru maharaj: Lord Citanya He gave three orders – bolo Krsna, bhajo Krsna, koro Krsna siksa. So, one has to chant Hare Krsna, one has to serve Krsna and third is read the teachings of Krsna. So Bhagavad-gita is spoken by Krsna and Srimad Bhagavatam is spoken about Krsna. So devotees of Lord Caitanya are simultaneously Caitanya bhaktas and Krsna bhaktas and they get position in Krsna lila and Caitanya lila at the same time. So it is important for us to also read and study the Srimad Bhagavatam because of all the puranas, of all the Vedas, that is the essence. And that is why. But Srila Prabhupada was saying that the pastimes of Lord Caitanya is very esoteric understanding of Krsna’s pastimes. So Bhakti Vedanta degree, and the Bhakti Sastri, Bhakti Vaibhav, the Bhakti Vedanta is the last six cantos of the Bhagavatam. So that is very essential. Beyond that Bhakti Sarvabhauma is Caitanya lilas, Caitanya siksa and understanding the different paths of bhakti. So Caitanya lila has got some special meaning. So we want to read both the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Caitanya Caritamrita. I am trying to combine the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, in all the different books that tell about Lord Caitanya’s pastimes, and we got up to about or we just started the sankirtan movement and He delivered Jagai and Madhai. But the Caitanya Caritamrita goes deeply into the philosophy and Caitanya Bhagavat tells us about His early life. Caitanya Caritamrita tells us about his later life and Caitanya Mangal here and there, Prema Vivarta, here and there. We are trying to combine all the different books to help the devotees have a more complete understanding of the Caitanya lila. We should definitely read the Srimad Bhagavatam. I require that people read at least up to the third canto to get second initiation. Actually, we should try to read the entire twelve cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam several times. To get first initiation from Srila Prabhupada, I had to, Srila Prabhupada required that I read Bhagavad-gita ten times. I still have the Bhagavad-gita with one, two three, four, five (cross). One, two, three, four, five (cross). After I read ten times, I came for initiation. But here people want initiation, they don’t even read the Gita one time and they say, please, I did not have time the past twelve years, but now I will read it! I promise. Give me initiation. Lord Caitanya told us to study the teachings of Lord Krsna. Gita is one teaching, Bhagavatam is another. So everyone should study Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam and then about Caitanya Mahaprabhu, you want to read the Caitanya Caritamrita and other books of Lord Caitanya. Any more questions?

Question: Hare Krsna guru maharaj. (Guru maharaj said: Hare Krsna). Is it good to have a greed is saying, yes I follow Krsna consciousness in front of non-devotee or who does not follow Krsna consciousness?

Guru maharaj: Greed? What does greed have to do with it? 

Devotee: Because sometimes they kid us that you follow Krsna consciousness, you are from Iskcon, you don’t go to restaurants. 

Guru maharaj: Pride you mean. Yes, I follow bhakti yoga, I follow Krsna conscioiusness. You can say. Some immigration official asked me, are you still existing You are still around? I used to see you doing kirtan in the streets. I don’t see you any more? Are you still existing? Apparently in that city, they don’t do much Harinam. So people actually, they appreciate it. One girl, she saw the devotees chanting. She was living with her parents and they said straight away, no, don’t go there. But then later she became a devotee and she could never forget her whole life this chanting, how happy the people looked. 

Question: Hare Krsna guru maharaj, PAMRO. (Guru maharaj said: accepted). What devotional services we can perform to attract Lord Nityananda’s mercy? Apart from preaching maybe!

Guru maharaj: Very important. You have answered your own question! We chant Hare Krsna then naturally Lord Nityananda, He is very pleased with us. Actually, Nityananda He has such a mercy that Jagai and Madhai – what did they do to get His mercy? They were doing nonsense, they were drunkards, they were criminals, He still gave them mercy. They hit Him on the head, caused Him to bleed! He said, just because you caused Me to bleed, does that mean I will not give you love of Godhead?! How can you avoid the mercy of Lord Nityananda?! You must be trying very hard to avoid His mercy! He is really giving His mercy! We should simply beg. Narottama das Thakur prayed, ha ha prabhu Nityananda, premananda suki, kripa koro kana koro ami bodo duki. Lord Nityananda giving His mercy is always blissful. I am very sad because I don’t have Krsna consciousness. Please have Your mercy on me! Nitai Gaur! Nitai Gaur! Nitai Gaur! So if you can do something to help spread the Caitanya movement, certainly Lord Nityananda will be pleased. But His mercy is very freely given. We should beg for it, we should do whatever we can to serve Him. Hare Krsna! 

So Mahaguna, what is the next program?

Nandasuta prabhu can come later to my room and ask his question.