20201017 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.16-20

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 17th, 2020 in Sri Dhama Mayapur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.3.16-20.

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

In these five verses we covered so many avatāras. That Lord, He can appear in any form. And Lord Caitanya being the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, He is the source of all the avatāras. So He was experiencing the ecstasy of different avatāras. Last night they read the verses and I don’t know it seems he made a mistake – the first verse they read was about Matsya avatāra. The devotee who read to me last time. I was thinking that Advaita Ācārya had taken the dust from Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet. Most of the time, Lord Caitanya was in the mood of a devotee. Sometimes He would go into ecstasy and take the mood of some incarnation. This way, with the mood of a devotee, Lord Caitanya said that this Advaita Ācārya has taken the dust from My feet and has made Me completely empty! He has stolen My prema! He ran to the Ganges and jumped in. Nityānanda Prabhu ran after Him and also jumped in. And all the devotees when they saw this, they got bewildered, something was not right. Lord Caitanya swam under the water for one kilometer. Nobody can do this but a fish! I think that this is the Matsya avatāra. After 1 kilometer, He came out of the Ganges and then Lord Nityānanda also came out after Him. But this līlā was also to save the Manu. In Christian and Jewish traditions there is also some history of Noah and the boat. The pastime appears very similar. Anyway, apparently this was not just the verse for today. So Kūrma avatāra, we know that His back was itching. So the suras and asuras did the samudra-manthana, churning of the ocean, and they massaged the back of Lord Kūrma. Also, when Lord Caitanya was travelling to South India, He stopped in the Kūrmadeśa. There is a Kūrma Deity there. About an hour and half from Vishakhapatnam. At first, apparently a thousand years ago, the devotees had thought it was Śiva and worshipped the Kūrma-deva Deity. But Rāmānujācārya pointed out that He has four feet, Lord Śiva, the Śiva liṅga, does not have four feet. So since then they are worshiping the Deity as Kūrma deva.

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it is mentioned how Lord Caitanya in that holy place, He gave the instructions. He gave similar instructions all over South India. Like, He gave the instruction yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa āmāra ājñāya hañā tāra’ ei deśa (Cc Madhya 07.128)—whomever you see, you instruct him about the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and by My order become guru, spiritual master. He had many pastimes there in Kūrmadeśa.

One leper called Vāsudeva, he came to see Lord Caitanya one day. But Lord Caitanya had already left. He was crying, “Oh! I missed Him! Hai! Hai!” Then Lord Caitanya appeared back. That Vāsudeva he was so detached, that there would be worms which would fall off his sores on his body, and he would pick them up and put them back on his body. He thought this is my karma to have leprosy. So let the lice eat the flesh, why should they be deprived? He wanted to see Lord Caitanya, so he was crying. And Lord Caitanya reappeared. He is Bhakta-vatsala, He satisfied His devotee. Then He picked up Vāsudeva the leper, and He embraced him. And he was cured from his leprosy. Then he said that, “Oh no! You have cured me, I will become proud!” Lord Caitanya said, “You should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then so in this way, you will not become proud.” Lord Caitanya also told Vāsudeva to preach about Kṛṣṇa. Thus, the living entities will be liberated. And therefore, Kṛṣṇa would very soon accept him as His devotee. In this way after instructing, Lord Caitanya disappeared. The two brāhmaṇas, the Kūrmadeśa brāhmaṇa and Vāsudeva, were embracing each other and crying and dancing in ecstasy, Haribol! Haribol! Grateful that Lord Caitanya had given darśana to them. How much mercy is Caitanya Mahāprabhu having?! Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying we cannot begin to imagine the extent of His mercy!! Lord Caitanya is so merciful, we cannot even imagine, He is parama-karuṇa, most munificent.

So when they churned the ocean, out came the Dhanavantari avatāra. With His mercy, He had the cure of the different material diseases. And in the ayurvedic pharmacy in Coimbatore they have a deity of Dhanavantari. Dhanavantari, I forget all the things He carries, but one of the things Lord Dhanavantari carries is special leeches. One time I had some infection and some bad blood. They had some special Dhanavantari leeches. That they put on my arm or leg, whatever. They sucked the bad blood, and they became fat, and they fell off. They were put in turmeric and they vomited out the bad blood. So when I was having this leech therapy, it went on for about 5 days. And the leeches they only take the bad blood. It is said like there are 26 types of leeches and the Dhanavantari leeches were special. They only take the bad blood. And other leeches may take the good blood. So some of the devotees in Coimbatore wanted to give the leeches some spiritual name! Bhakta this and that! Raktapriya dāsa. Anyway, Dhanavantari, He was the one who gave the medical science.

And then Mohinī Mūrti is the incarnation in the female form. Of course, the demons they are very attached to the female form. And if the woman is beautiful, they believe in the woman. So, as Mohinī, She gave the nectar to the devas. But Rāhu, he realized that Mohinī was giving nectar to the devas. So he went amongst the devas and he got the nectar on his head, but the Sudarśana cakra cut off his head. That is the reason we have the lunar eclipse. The moon eclipse. Also, somehow Lord Śiva got attracted to the form of Mohinī Mūrti. Normally Śiva is considered as dhīra, He is not agitated by anyone. He was embarrassed why He got attracted by Mohinī. Hari, Viṣṇu He came to Śiva and explained that you and I are non-different, so therefore there is no harm if You get attracted to Me. In Godrumadvīpa in Navadvīpa, there is a deity of Hara and Hari, Harihara. Half Hari and half Hara, half Viṣṇu and half Śiva. Like this the Lord sometimes, He manifested this form in Navadvīpa dhāma as Harihara.

Paraśurāma, He had destroyed the kṣatriyas 21 times. Because they didn’t follow the brāhmaṇas. Some of the kṣatriyas they went away to Europe. And that is why the Europeans have got some connection with the Indian culture. In their languages they recognize Indradeva, different names of the devas. Also, Narasiṁhadeva is mentioned. In the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma, when Murāri Gupta was reciting this, hearing this, Lord Caitanya became ecstatic and ran out on the road. In the mood of Narasiṁhadeva, He had a stick and shouting, “Where are the demons? Where are the demons?!” Seeing this all the devotees of Navadvīpa ran away in fear. Then He as embarrassed, He thought, maybe I caused them some fear and have done some offence. But Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura said that they are all blessed to see You in that mood!

So like that we see that our Deities are also in that mood. “Where are the demons?” Just coming out of the pillar. Our Narasiṁhadeva is called Sthāṇu Narasiṁha. He is the most angry form of Lord Narasiṁhadeva. But when Lord Narasiṁhadeva came over to Navadvīpa dhāma, He became very merciful. And all the demigods served Him and worshipped Him. The demigods used to cook and serve Lord Narasiṁhadeva, but earlier Lord Narasiṁhadeva was not approachable like this, but now they could do this intimate service. So this is Narasiṁhapally, we visit in the navadvīpa-maṇḍala-parikramā. Another name of this place is Devapallī. Because the devas, the demigods, worshipped the Lord there.

And Lord Vāmanadeva incarnated here. By Vāmanadeva, the Ganges came into the universe. Gaṅgā is very important for the Navadvīpa dhāma-vāsīs. I am very happy that our devotees organize gaṅgā-pūjā worship. One time, when Lord Caitanya was a small child, about 6 to 7 years, He took the upanayanam. And that is the sacred thread ceremony. Then He went begging from house to house. And they said that He looked like Vāmanadeva. So Lord Caitanya, He was taking the different moods of the different avatāras. One of his names is Rasarāja, Rasaśekhara. He has all the different rasas in Him. His different mellows of devotional service.

How fortunate we are to be in Navadvīpa dhāma! All the different holy places, all the avatāras have their place here. Koladvīpa is the place where Vāmanadeva touched with His lotus feet.

Anyway, Are there any questions?

Question: Gaṅgā coming due to Vāmanadeva and Gaṅgā coming due to king Bhagīratha is the same?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see the Ganges came into the universe by Lord Vāmanadeva. But first she was in the higher planets. Bhagī Mahārāja by tapasya, meditation, he brought her to the earth. But the Ganges said that there is no riverbed, how will I just flow? Bhagī Mahārāja he accepted that he will create a river bed so that mother Gaṅgā can come. That is why one of her names is Bhagīratī. Because Bhagī Mahārāja’s chariot had cut a river bed. The Ganges has many names Bhagīratī is one name, Gaṅgā is another. Any other question.

Question: While doing preaching services sometime, we feel there is growth and suddenly there is a dip in the preaching. Due to which we feel demotivated. Either girls have so much problems from family, and are not able to chant their regular rounds also, one girl get married to a non-devotee, and these girls are all 16 rounders. How to deal with such situations?

Question: While doing preaching services sometime, we feel there is growth and suddenly there is a dip in the preaching. Either girls have so much problems from family, and are not able to chant their regular rounds also, one girl get married to a non-devotee, and these girls are all 16 rounders. How to deal with such situations?

Jayapatākā Swami: The devotees in the USSR, they had so much difficulty while preaching, they were arrested by the KGB. They made beads out of bread. So, we use our fingers to count. We use clicker to count. So, if you cannot chant on beads, you can chant some other way. As far as marrying a non-devotee, try to marry a vegetarian or someone favorable. Now, one of my disciples, her father saw that he got a match of an engineer but the horoscope did not match. He was favorable, he wanted his daughter to marry this engineer, so he was thinking of paying something extra to the astrologer to make the horoscope work. Because he was getting good salary. What can I say about such fathers? We arranged for that girl, a vice president of a bank who was a devotee. But he couldn’t tell that he was a devotee. He asked his father not to tell that he was a devotee. His father said, “I am a brāhmaṇa I cannot lie. But if they don’t ask me, I will not tell.” By Kṛṣṇa’s arrangement, the father had a motorcycle accident and he was in the hospital. Anyway, if a girl is facing about marrying a non-devotee you can tell me, and I can try to help. Last question.

Question: How do we pray to get mercy to help in our spiritual growth?

Jayapatākā Swami: Balavān Śrīnivāsa dāsa from Melbourne, Haribol! You see, asking for blessings for a spiritual goal is not a problem. That is not something separate from Kṛṣṇa’s service. If you ask for something material like good health, good husband, then we say to the Lord, if it so pleases You. But actually, for spiritual blessing, that is alright.

Thank you very much!