20210225 The Glories of Lord Nityānanda

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

This morning I went and had darśana at Lord Nityānanda dhāma! So then I saw ISKCON Ekacakra dhāma, I saw the birthplace of Lord Nityānanda. You heard how Lord Nityānanda had His childhood dramas and we saw that place. We saw all the places in Ekacakra grāma. I went to about 15 temples established by Śrīla Prabhupāda, or where the Deity was worshiped by Śrīla Prabhupāda, and saw Nitāi Gaura. So I am overwhelmed with spiritual bliss! To see so many Nitāi Gauras in ISKCON all over the world! So Lord Nityānanda, we know, He is non-different from Balarāma. Śrī krṣna caitanya rādhā-kṛṣṇa nāhi anya, balarāma haila nitāi. So He travelled all over India and like this He was rejuvenating all the holy places.

Then He came to Navadvīpa when Lord Caitanya started His saṅkīrtana-līlā. Lord Caitanya told His devotees that He had seen a personality coming outside His house in a special chariot. And that He was asking, “Where is Kanhaiyā? Where is Kanhaiyā?” Like this, Lord Nityānanda He came to Navadvīpa and Lord Caitanya sent all the devotees out the find Him. But they could not find Him. And Lord Caitanya said, “Yes, you cannot find God! He has to reveal Himself to you, but I can find Him!” And then Lord Caitanya went and He found Lord Nityānanda in Nandana Ācārya’s house. Which is the Gosvāmī Maṭha next to our Mandir. There He saw Lord Nityānanda and cried out, “Nitāi!” Nityānanda saw Him and said, “Gaura!” And like this the two were saying, “Gaura Nitāi, Gaura Nitāi!” and then They embraced each other. And the whole world was overwhelmed with ecstasy. Then They took out the saṅkīrtana and chanted together. The people of Navadvīpa said, “Now there are two! What is that!”

So like this, Lord Caitanya showed love but Lord Nityānanda showed mercy. He was ordered by Lord Caitanya to give out His mercy. So He delivered Jagāi Mādhāi and although Mādhāi hit Him and caused Him to bleed, He said that, “Just because you caused Me to bleed, it does not mean I will not give you love of Godhead,” and then again said, “He is not an ordinary person – you hit Him, He is bleeding, but He is still talking of love.” He made Mādhāi bow down. So like this, so like this by mercy of Lord Nityānanda, Jagāi and Mādhāi were saved.

Lord Caitanya, He went to South India, but He sent Nityānanda back to Bengal. He left gṛhastha āśrama and took sannyāsa. Although Lord Nityānanda was a brahmacārī. He, Lord Caitanya, told Him to get married. Like this, He was showing that whether one is a brahmacārī or renounced, or a gṛhastha, we can still serve Kṛṣṇa. And Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, golokera prema-dhana, harināma-saṅkīrtana. That this bliss, this ecstasy, this prema is the treasure or world of Goloka. But by Lord Nityānanda’s mercy it is being given out freely to us. So it is something inconceivable, how this highest bliss of life is being given out by Lord Nitāi.

How He established the nāmahaṭṭa and Surabi-kuñja in Navadvīpa. How He married out the daughters of Sūryadāsa Sarakela, Jāhnavā and Vasudhā, and how He had two children of Vasudhā. And that survived the obeisances of Abhirāma Ṭhākura. Abhirāma Ṭhākura paid his obeisances to the previous children but they all died. But then then these two children that survived were the avatāra of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu known as Vīracandra Prabhu and avatāra of Gaṅgā Mayī known as Gaṅgā Mātā Gosvāmīnī. So Gaṅgā Mātā was not eating and Lord Nityānanda told Jāhhavā devī to give her initiation. Then Jāhnavā gave her initiation, and then she started to eat.

So like this Lord Nityānanda was giving out His mercy in Pānihāṭi, He had the ciḍā-dadhi mahotsava. He went and installed different deities of Śyāmasundara. One was too small one was too big. But when they installed the Śyāmasundara Deity was the right side. The other two are still there, but they are in different places.

So like this following, Lord Caitanya’s order, Lord Nityānanda gave out the mercy all over Bengal. And He went to different places, doing Harināma saṅkīrtana. People became overwhelmed and they stated to become followers of Lord Caitanya. So in this way Lord Nityānanda flooded the market, and people in Bengal became followers of Lord Caitanya.

So, today is the appearance day of Lord Nityānanda. How much mercy we are getting, all by the mercy of Lord Nityānanda. He is the original spiritual master, and all the other spiritual masters are representative to Him. So we owe and offer our obeisances, everything to Lord Nityānanda Buy His mercy we get the mercy of guru, by His mercy we get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Without His mercy we cannot get mercy of Rādhā Mādhava. But He is going out the mercy so freely, without considering who is qualified, who is not. So, we should take Lord Nityānanda’s lotus foot dust on our head.

I was trying to see the different Deities of Nitāi Gaura and some places They are visible; some are very tough. People do not realize that by Nitāi Gaura’s mercy, we get the mercy of Rādhā Kṛṣṇa. So they don’t necessarily show the Nitāi Gaura Deities. Actually by Their mercy everything is possible. So we can spread this philosophy. How everyone is searching for happiness, but this is the utmost highest happiness. Maybe one is addicted to physical happiness, so they are not so advanced, that maybe their preoccupation. But gradually, by the mercy of Lord Nityānanda they will realize how this material happiness, this sense gratification is very, very insignificant.

So normally one does not get this opportunity - in the previous yugas they did different practices. It was not so easy to get love of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of Nitāi and Gaura in this Age of Kali, we are getting love which is otherwise impossible and we are bowing down again and again to Lord Nityānanda. We cannot begin to imagine how merciful They are! In Atlanta ISKCON, Śrīla Prabhupāda started chanting: parama karuṇā pahū dui-jana, nitāi gauracandra. He literally started crying and he was saying how merciful are Nitāi Gaura! So we should take advantage of this great opportunity to give love of Kṛṣṇa to everyone.

Lord Nityānanda was especially a mercy avatāra. He was giving out the mercy without considering who deserves it who does not deserve it. He gave to everyone. So Lord Nityānanda is so merciful, and He engaged all the people in chanting. Now our devotees are chanting and dancing all over the world. We should understand how merciful Lord Nityānanda is and how rare is this gift! This is the opportunity for all of us to get Lord Nityānanda’s mercy.

He came here to Navadvīpa after Lord Caitanya left and then He continued to preach the saṅkīrtana movement. And in this way the whole of Bengal was flooded. When Lord Caitanya asked Advaita Gosāñi, “What is the news?” Advaita said, “The market is flooded! So much goods - like it is flooded! It is like if you are seeing something in the market and there is a so much supply” - that is the situation that Lord Nityānanda had distributed the Harināma and all the people were taking it. So in this way, the whole market was flooded.

So like this, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda took the mercy of Lord Nityānanda and spread it all over the world. And now we have to see that this mercy reaches everybody. People, they don’t know how happy they can be if they get the mercy of Nitāi Gaura, and they chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and engage in pure devotional service. So, that is why people from other planets want to take birth in this earthly planet during Kali-yuga, so that they can part in the Harināma saṅkīrtana. And that is a special mercy of Lord Nityānanda. So seeing the different temples Nitāi Gaura Deities, I only visited about 18 or 20 temples! But I was overwhelmed, Śrīla Prabhupāda how he established 108 temples. And now we have 800 but Śrīla Prabhupāda said we should have millions, All, all glories to Nitāi! Nitāi Gaura Haribol!