20200309 Gaura Pūrṇimā Bengali Lecture

20200309 Gaura Pūrṇimā Bengali Lecture

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Gaura Pūrṇimā Auspicious Tithi kī jaya! My good wishes and welcome to all of you! On this auspicious day, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared. On this day, taking bath in the Ganges, we can get Kṛṣṇa-prema! Lots of glories! Can you all understand my speech? Anyone not understanding me, raise your hands?

? Today, when Lord Caitanya appeared, there was a lunar eclipse. And at that time, because there was a lunar eclipse, everyone was taking bath in the Ganges. Mostly, the followers of Sanātana-dharma, the Hindus would at that time not chant the names of Lord Hari loudly. But when they were in the Ganges, they would boldly chant loudly, GOOOVINDA! GOOOOVINDA! HAREEEE KṚṢṆA! HAREEEE KṚṢṆA! But their faith was that when they were in the Ganges, chanting the names of Lord Hari loudly, would not be considered an offence. But outside of the Ganges they did not chant Harināma loudly. The Muslims who were listening to how the Hindus were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and Govinda loudly, they were mimicking them, ha! Ha! Look how these Hindus are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa! This way, they were chanting Harināma during the eclipse.

Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura was thinking, it is said generally that lunar eclipse is inauspicious, but now all the people are chanting harināma! It is so auspicious! And Haridāsa Ṭhākura and Advaita Gosāñī, were very happy and dancing in ecstasy, in Śāntipura. Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! The whole universe on this auspicious day, everyone was in bliss! The Lord came down from Goloka Vṛndāvana on this day! And, golokera prema-dhana harināma saṅkīrtana. And He came down to establish this harināma-saṅkīrtana. That is why, when there is eclipse of the moon, everyone should chant harināma, that is the norm. The śāstras say how Lord Caitanya appeared first in the heart of Jagannātha Miśra and transferred to the heart of mother Śacī. Then, He entered the womb of mother Śacī. Caitanyadeva stayed for 13 months in the womb of mother Śacī, Generally, after 10 months, the birth takes place. Nilāmbara Cakravartī, the father of mother Śacī, was a renowned astrologer. They asked him why was there such a delay? In this age, if there is a slight delay in delivering, they immediately do caesarian! That time there was no such caesarian. Nilāmbara Cakravartī said, no, the delivery will take place at the right time, no need to worry! On this Pūrṇimā day, Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared! When He appeared, He appeared as a golden colored boy and Jagannātha Miśra was overjoyed! That is why the following day, tomorrow, there would be a feast. Many demigoddesses came at this time to take darśana of Caitanyadeva, this avatāra of Kṛṣṇa in Kali-yuga, they came from the heavenly planets, in the disguise as brāhmaṇīs to see Sri Caitanyadeva. Mother Śacī had no idea where these brāhmaṇīs were coming from. The time this took place, the Bengal that was there and the Bengal that is today, there is a difference. At that time there were many devotees in Bengal, there was religion, but they were only worshipping the demigods. Viṣṅu-pūjā was very less. And, everyone in the name of religion used to do various programs for their own sense gratification. They would marry of their girls in a very grand way. And one person seeing the other person marrying off his girl would say, oh your wedding was better than the one I did. As he did not have any more daughter to get married off, he got a male dog and female dog married! Just to show how opulent he was! But this kind of marriage is only done in human society, not in the dog society! Therefore, in the garb of religion, so many irreligious things were going on. Just to please themselves. Dog marriage, what is this? So it was at this time that they were not chanting the names of Lord Hari loudly. You are able to understand me I hope?

Now Lord Caitanyadeva and Nityānanda appeared and therefore we have so many devotees in Bengal. Anyway, I saw that Bengal is no. 1 – in what – the top position in India for non-vegetarians! And vegetarians which state is that – Gujarat! 77% vegetarians. Anyway, we have a lot of work here to do. To spread the message of Lord Gaurāṅga is very vital for us. On this day, Gaurāṅga came down from Goloka Vṛndāvana. The external reason was that Advaita Gosāñī prayed to the Lord, by praying to Śālagrāma-śilā and offering tulasī-mañjarīs and He was chanting loudly and crying, He wished that Kṛṣṇa should come and give prema-bhakti. There is a song we sing on the adhivāsa of kīrtana, and we say, ānandera sīmā nāi, ānandera sīmā nāi, nirānanda dūre jāya, nirānanda dūre jāya. The Lord has given us harināma and there is no limit to the bliss. How much bliss is there in the names of Lord Kṛṣṇa, there is no limit! You can experience kṛṣṇa-bhakti, by chanting the names of Lord Hari, and there is no limit to this bliss. But generally people have no attraction to the holy name, that is why there is unhappiness. Caitanyadeva came so that everyone could get kṛṣṇa-prema! That everyone chants the name of Kṛṣṇa! And He did not appear just for the Bengalis or just for the Indian people, He appeared for the liberation of the whole universe! That is why His name is Viśvambhara, He takes the weight of the whole universe on Himself.

So He preached all over India and distributed harināma. He also called Lord Nityānanda. There is a song that we sing of Lord Nityānanda – song by Śrīla Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura – nadiya godrume nityānanda mahājana, pāṭhiyāche nāmahaṭṭa jīvera kāraṇa. Nityānanda prabhu with the mercy of Lord Caitanya, He disturbed the harināma all over the villages and towns. Many people ask, why Lord Caitanyadev did not spread the harināma all over the world? In answer, Śrīla Abhaycaraṇa Bhaktivedanta Svāmī Prabhupāda said, He left it for me to do! Our previous ācāryas established the path. Śrīla Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura, wrote many books on parikramā. He also discovered the place of birth of Caitanyadeva.

This way, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he used to give initiation and sacred thread, Gayatrī-mantra, to the people who were non-brāhmaṇas. This was not done ever before. But Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura started this for the first time. The caste brāhmaṇas who were envious of him, tried to kill him because of this. But he said, that the Vaiṣṇava has 13 qualities, a brāhmaṇa has 12 qualities, the extra quality is pure bhakti in the Vaiṣṇava. Brāhmaṇa is clean, Śuci haya mūcī yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. If it were not possible, then how would the people of the west worship the various deities in the temples – Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Nitāi-Gaura, Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā, etc. This was necessary. Śrīla Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he went from India all over the world, spreading the message of Lord Caitanyadeva, he spread the movement all over the world. Now on this universe, in India and other places, there is a lot to be done. So many people have yet to get the mercy of Lord Caitanyadeva. Don’t know, we have to keep trying so that everyone gets the mercy of Caitanyadeva. This is very essential. One Mayāvādī guru said, that Caitanya path, Śankarācārya matt. What is this? Ha! Ha! Everyone is seeing that the philosophy is good but they don’t want only Vaiṣṇava dharma as is preached by Caitanyadeva. That is why we have to try to spread the teachings of Lord Caitanyadeva extensively. The situation was not very favorable to the Vaiṣṇavas at the time of the advent of Caitanyadeva. There were a lot of atrocities against the Vaiṣṇavas. But when Caitanyadeva took initiation and returned from Gaya, all the Vaiṣṇavas came back to life! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!

Here in Navadvīpa, there are some pastimes of Gaṅgā. There is an island called Jahnudvīpa where the āśrama of Jahnu muni used to be. The Ganges entered the āśrama and drowned all the people and paraphernalia of the āśrama. So Jahnu muni, drank the Ganges! Slurrrrp! Then Bhagi mahārāja was looking where has Ganga gone? Where is Ganga? After a lot of meditation, he understood that Jahnu muni had drunk the Ganges! He requested Jahnu muni to remanifest the Ganges. But he said, I have digested! DIGESTED! Bhagi mahārāja told him, if you can drink the Ganges, then you can surely remanifest her too! Ha! Then Jahnu muni remanifested Ganges from his knees. So therefore she has a name Jāhnavī. Reappeared from Jahnu muni. Bhagi mahārāja went ahead and then he saw that Ganga had stopped after flowing some distance. What all pastimes Ganga had in Navadvīpa – she disappeared from sight, then suddenly stopped! Bhagi mahārāja asked her why did you stop? She said that in a few days it will be Gaura Pūrṇimā, the appearance of Lord Gaurāṅga! On this day, I want to be in Navadvīpa-dhāma! The śāstras say that those who bathe in the Ganga on this day get love of Kṛṣṇa!

Outside people are playing Holi, be careful! Ha! Ha! Your clothes could get colored if you go.

This dhāma has many glories! Rādhārāṇī, to attract Kṛṣṇa, created Navadvīpa-dhāma. Then She played the flute. Kṛṣṇa, He heard that someone was playing the flute so sweetly and came here! He saw Rādhārani was playing on the flute! Kṛṣṇa, generally He attracts everyone by playing on His flute. But now Rādhārāṇī was attracting Kṛṣṇa by playing on the flute! Kṛṣṇa said, You have created such a beautiful place for Me, therefore I declare that this place is non-different from Vṛndāvana and all the holy places of pilgrimage will come and reside here! This way, Sri Caitanyadeva is Kṛṣṇa with Rādhārāṇī in His heart. He is Kṛṣṇa with the heart of Rādhārāṇī. Gauuuuuranga!

We are reading from the Caitanya-Bhāgavata, that how Lord Caitanyadeva did blissful kīrtana in the garden of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākur. He manifested various ecstacies there of love of Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes He would cry, for one prahara like 3 hours, like the Ganges. He would laugh loudly for three hours! Then He would dance very sweetly, and His feet would touch His head! In this kīrtana, the bliss that He got and all the devotees saw and experienced this was amazing. He would sometimes climb on to the shoulder of some devotee. This way He manifest so many types of ecstasy. Outside people could not see what was happening. They heard the kīrtana. They said, enviously, there is alcohol probably being consumed there and that is why they are shouting and dancing. They asked a person around, what is going on inside? And he said, Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana probably. They said, HA! YOU are probably from their camp!!

There was Capala Gopāla who was an envious Vaiṣṇava, he went to Śrīvasa’s home and smeared his front door with the blood of animals. In the morning when Śrīvasa opened his door he saw the ghastly scene. And Capala Gopāla asked him what is this you were doing Kali pūjā in the night? Śrīvasa said I am a strict Vaiṣṇava, Capala Gopāla said, chi, chi, chi, very bad! But after a few days, Capala Gopāla got leprosy because of having committed a vaisṇava-aparādha, offence. We have to be very careful not to commit vaisṇava-aparādha. When Caitanyadeva was walking by the Ganges and came near Capala Gopāla, then Capala Gopāla begged Him that You are a savior of the fallen, You are most merciful! Please save me! But Caitanyadeva said, no, I will not! Because you offended My devotee, that is why you will rot in different hells! Some Vaiṣṇavas heard this and came to Śrīvasa Ṭhākura and requested him to forgive Capala Gopāla. Śrīvasa said, I am not a Vaiṣṇava, how can I forgive him? How can he have offended me? Then the devotee said, that you do not consider yourself a Vaiṣṇava, but Caitanyadeva says that Capala Gopāla is suffering for the offence he has committed to you. So do you wish that Capala Gopāla should suffer because of you? Śrīvāsa said, no, no, I don’t want him to suffer. So then you go and forgive him they said. Śrīvasa Ṭhākura went and Capala Gopāla fell at his feet and begged, please, forgive me! I have committed an offence. Śrīvasa Ṭhākura forgave him and immediately Caitanyadeva came and embraced Capala Gopāla, and he was rid of his disease of leprosy and all of them started doing saṅkīrtana! Gauuuuranga! Gauuuuranga! Gauranga! This way, all of you please be aware of Caitanyadeva’s instructions with regard to offending a Vaiṣṇava, and be careful.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!