20200719 Recitation of Prayers to The Form of the Lord as Goddess Durgā and Lakṣmī

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 19^th July 2020 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, 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

Introduction: This account of the amazing drama performed at Māmā Ṭhākura’s, Candrasekhara’s house is continuing. At one point in the drama, Lord Nityānanda who was playing the part of Paurṇamāsī, elderly grandmother, hobbling with a stick, white hair, became so ecstatic in love of Kṛṣṇa that in the middle of the drama He fainted. Not only did He faint but all the actors except Lord Caitanya, they fainted and all the audience became filled with ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa, they started to cry, some were embracing the others by the neck, some were touching the lotus feet of others, some were rolling on the ground. It was a wild, wild, situation. Now we see how Lord Caitanya in the form of this drama, He was distributing love of Kṛṣṇa.

Recitation of Prayers to The Form of the Lord as Goddess Durgā and Lakṣmī

Caitanya Maṅgala Madhya-khaṇḍa 2.9.119

tabe saba nijajane, paḍi tāra śrīcaraṇe,
vinaya-vacane kare stuti

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the associates of Lord Caitanya, fell at the Lord’s lotus feet, and with all humility, offered prayers to the Lord.

śrī-stava paḍhe keho, ānande vibhora seho,
vara māge-deha premabhakti

Jayapatākā Swami: Overwhelmed with devotion, someone recited the special Śrī-stava prayer and they were overwhelmed in bliss. They begged to the Lord to give them a boon of pure love and devotion.

Caitanya Maṅgala Madhya-khaṇḍa 2. 9.120

sarvajana stava kare, śuni, sei seikāle,
ādyāśakti paḍi’ gela mane

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Gaurāṅga listening to all the prayers of everyone, at that moment, the Lord remembered the goddess Durgā, the Ādyāśakti.

sei ta āveśa dhare, sarvajana camatkāre,
stava paḍhe kata suragaṇe

Jayapatākā Swami: And then, suddenly He manifested the form of Durgā, goddess Durgā. And He filled all the people with wonder. How many demigods suddenly appeared and recited many prayers.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.164

bhaktagaṇake stava pāṭha karite prabhura ādeśa o bhaktagaṇera vibhinna bhāve stava—

sammukhe rahilā sabe yoḍa-hasta kari’
‘mora stava paḍa’ bale gaurāṅga śrī-hari

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Gaurāṅga, Śrī Hari, in that form, told everyone who was standing in front of Him, who stood with folded hands, He told them, offer Me prayers.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.165

jananī-āveśa bujhilena sarva-gaṇe
sei-rūpe paḍe stuti, mahāprabhu śune

Jayapatākā Swami: All the devotees present understood that the Lord was absorbed in the mood of the Mother, Durgā. So, they offered prayers appropriate for that form, and Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, He heard.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.166

keha paḍe lakṣmī-stava, keha caṇḍī-stuti
sabe stuti paḍe yāhāra yena mati

Jayapatākā Swami: Someone was reciting prayers to Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, someone was offering prayers to Caṇḍī or Durgā devī. Everyone was offering prayers according to their realization.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: Seeing Śrī Gaurasundara in the dress of a śakti, or consort, persons who were situated in false egos of goodness began to pray to Him as Nārāyaṇī-Mahā-Lakṣmī. Others who were situated in false egos of ignorance offered Him the prayers known as Caṇḍikā-stotra.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.167

mālaśī rāga
“jaya jaya jagata-jananī mahāmāyā
duḥkhita jīvere deha’ rāṅgā-pada-chāyā

Jayapatākā Swami: All glories to the mother of the universe, Māhāmāyā. Please give the shade of your lotus feet on the suffering living entities.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: Mahāmāyā, the mother of the universe, awards various miseries to living entities engaged in material enjoyment. To get freedom from these miseries, they take shelter of her. But at that point they are unable to understand what their actual fate will be when they are freed from those miseries. Only those who are fully surrendered to the Supreme Lord achieve the inclination to serve Kṛṣṇa from Mahāmāyā ādyā-śakti. Only they can understand that severe miseries can be vanquished by the influence of unalloyed service to Kṛṣṇa. Service to the son of Nanda is most auspicious for the living entities—this becomes the subject of their prayers to Kātyāyanī.

Jayapatākā Swami: Durgā-devī can give temporary relief from the suffering in the material world. But to get permanent relief, one needs to engage in devotional service to Lord Hari. So that mercy can also be given by Mahāmāyā. That one engages in the Śrī Nandananda’s, Lord Kṛṣṇa’s service. But unfortunately, people, they just want temporary relief, so that they can enjoy material sense gratification. But actually, if they worship Kṛṣṇa, they can get a permanent solution to their problem, and they could have pure love of Kṛṣṇa, which gives unlimited happiness.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.168

jaya jaya ananta-brahmāṇḍa-koṭīśvari!
tumi yuge yuge dharma rākha avatari’

Jayapatākā Swami: All glories to the goddess of innumerable universes! You appear in every millennium, in every yuga, to maintain religious principles.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.169

brahmā, viṣṇu, maheśvare tomāra mahimā
balite nā pāre, anye kebā dibe sīmā

Jayapatākā Swami: Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara, are unable to describe the limit of Your glories. So how can others describe the limit of Your glories?

“You are the goddess of innumerable universes. By the influence of Your energy, the religious principles of the yugas are protected. The three principal deities for the creation, maintenance, and annihilation of the cosmic manifestation are unable to sing Your glories, therefore how will those who are subordinate to them ascertain the limit of Your glories?”

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lords Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśa, execute their will through the unlimited potency of the Mahāmāyā energy. So, this energy has so much power, and one can approach her for material benefits, or one can approach her for spiritual benefits. So, the pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa see her as an energy of Kṛṣṇa and therefore ask her for mercy to serve Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.170

jagat-svarūpā tumi, tumi sarva-śakti
tumi śraddhā, dayā, lajjā, tumi viṣṇu-bhakti

Jayapatākā Swami: You are the form of the universe. You possess all energies. You are faith, mercy, shyness, and you are the personification of Viṣṇu-bhakti, of devotional service to Lord Viṣṇu. So, the material potency is known as three - vidya, avidya and māyā. The Lord, He has 16 internal potencies, three external potencies, and His pleasure potency. So, the pleasure potency is known as Rādhā, Rukmiṇī or Lakṣmī. So, all the energies have their material aspect, and they have their spiritual potency. So, the actual form of the pleasure potency of the Lord, and how She expands is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So, in the material world, the opulence is also the energy of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa explains how everything wonderful in the material world, is a part of His energy or vibhūti. People want the mercy of goddess of fortune Lakṣmī who gives economic development, but one of her names is cañcala – she only stays in one place for a short time. So, somebody has some material, economic development, and then Lakṣmī goes somewhere else. But she always stays with Nārāyaṇa. She always stays with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.31.22. So therefore, one should worship Kṛṣṇa, and then he will always have the presence of Lakṣmī. So, there is a great science behind the different potencies of the Lord. How the Lord is manifesting the unlimited material universes, how He is manifesting the three-fourths vibhūti of the spiritual world, all done through His potencies. So, He is known as Yogeśvara and He has unlimited potencies. So, Lord Caitanya, in this drama, He shows Himself as the internal potency, and the external potency. So, the residents of Vṛndāvana, they forget that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they just love Him, as He is. And so, the Mahāmāyā, or the internal potency of the Lord, they help the devotees to forget the opulences of Kṛṣṇa, and rather have love Kṛṣṇa as He is, not for His opulences. So, the internal potency of the Lord is divided up into different aspects, and in this way, each of the energies of the Lord has specific duties to perform. So, the devotees understand these duties, they understand that the Lord is Śacīdananda. So, the energy is one, and is divided into three.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.171

yata vidyāsakala tomāra mūrti-bheda
‘sarva-prakṛtira śakti tumi’ kahe veda

Jayapatākā Swami: All branches of knowledge are different forms of You. “All the Vedas declare that You are the energy behind all the potencies.”

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.172

nikhila-brahmāṇḍa-gaṇera tumi mātāke
tomāra svarūpa kahite pāre kathā?

Jayapatākā Swami: You are the mother of all the universes. Who can describe Your actual form?

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.173

trijagata-hetu tumi guṇa-traya-mayī
brahmādi tomāre nāhi jāne, ei kahi

Jayapatākā Swami: You are the cause of the three worlds. You are the three modes of material nature. Lord Brahmā and others do not know the extent of Your glories. We say that Brahmā and others, do not know the limit of Your potencies, Your glories.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: Since You are devotional service to Viṣṇu, all varieties of knowledge are simply manifestations of You. You are the cause or potency behind all characteristics of the energetic. The Vedic literatures declare that spiritual energy is the power behind the material creation.

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying in his book “Life Comes from Life” how spiritual energy is the basis of the material world. So, life comes from life. So, the material idea that the world simply comes about accidentally, is unproven and illusory. That actually, behind every creation there is always spiritual energy. So, this is being displayed by Lord Gaurāṅga, on the stage. And so, they are offering prayers to Lakṣmī and Durgā.

Today, I went to see, Mādhava Kānta dāsa took me to Sikkim and Bhutan and Jalaṅgī devī dāsī took me to Taiwan. This evening, I am supposed to go to Birmingham, in the UK, so we have to end here. And we will take a couple of questions, when is the class, oh then one question.

Oh, rain, there is a storm!

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa dear Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisances at your lotus feet. How to see good in a person who did wrong to us? Please enlighten us Guru Mahārāja.

Your aspiring daughter,
Antimā Dās.

Jayapatākā Swami: Read the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how the personality of Kali was beating the cow and the bull. And they always when they were asked who was doing this, they gave some other reason, that this due to our karma, and they have somewhat different reasons. Instead of seeing the persons who are causing the problem as the responsible person. We can see the different reasons why things are happening, and don’t see the person who does wrong, as the reason. See the person rather as a result. In that way, you can see that the person is just acting as an agent, and not consider the person to be guilty. Thank you very much!