20210416 Virtual Spiritual Safari Day 4 (South India)

So going on this South India Safari, it has brought many wonderful memories. Of course, in the Virtual Safari we are able to see many Deities. Some of the temples do not allow cameras inside the temple. This morning somehow I was inspired and I saw some videos on YouTube of the abhiṣeka Śrīnivāsa Bālajī, Govinda of Tirumala temple. I saw the Ananta Padmanābha Deity. I don’t know what our Deities are visible on YouTube, but you will be surprised what Deities are there.

In Uḍupī, we heard from the lady that there was ship which was damaged by some heavy storm, and somehow Madhvācārya, he was holding an ārati or something and they saw the light. So they knew there is land and they came out of the storm into the land. So they wanted to give something to Madhvācārya. He said just give me some of the tilaka they had got from Dvārakā, to reduce the weight to balance the ship. So he took two pieces of tilaka, inside was Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. So Balarāma, is established on the beach and Kṛṣṇa is established in Uḍupī.

I am not surprised, in our Safari, devotees went through extreme austerity to bathe in the ocean. Somehow they tolerate this austerity and go into the ocean water. So there we saw the Balarāma Deity, and then we went to Uḍupī and saw the Kṛṣṇa Deity. The Deity, the front door of the temple is totally closed. So you have to see the Deity through the back window, because a devotee was chanting prayers for Uḍupī Kṛṣṇa in the rear of the temple, but he was not allowed into the temple since he was considered a low caste. So the Deity turned around and put a crack in the wall, so He could see the devotee chanting and the devotee could see him. So since then the Deity is facing on the rear of the temple. So to have darśana you have to look through the rear window. So Kṛṣṇa is holding a butter churning rod. Very ecstatic Deity. A young Kṛṣṇa form.

There are 8 maṭhas, 8 temples around the main temple. So during the time of Madhvācārya, he established that each temple would worship the Kṛṣṇa Deity for two months. But after many centuries, the ācārya established that each temple would worship for two years. That means after 14 years the same ācārya would worship the Deity in the temple again. So 14 years he would collect for the worship, and at the time of the pariyāya when they change the responsibility of the temple, then in the two years when they are worshiping the deity they would try to do as much development as possible. That was called pariyāya sevā.

So when Pejāvara Visveśa Tīrtha, he was worshiping the Deity for the 5^th time, I went there to see him, and he was glad that I came and he offered me a cādara. We spoke about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unfortunately, he recently left the world. But we had a very nice association. He was the most far-visioned ācārya in the Madhva-sampradāya.

We saw, we are Brahmā, Madhva, Gauḍīya, ISKCON sampradāya. For us, the original teaching comes from Lord Brahmā. Vyāsadeva gave the knowledge to Madhvācārya in Badrikāśrama. And went down to Mādhavendra Purī and Īśvara Purī, his disciple and then to Lord Caitanya. So from Lord Caitanya it becomes the Gauḍīya line. Of course then Śrīla Prabhupāda is the branch of the Gauḍīya line, so that is where we are in ISKCON.

So our roots are in this Uḍupī and so there are 8 maṭhas and each take charge of the main Deity every 2 years. It rotates form one to the next. So each temple would get a chance once in 14 years. Of course in the ancient time, there were no trains or planes, no roads. So they thought they needed more time to walk, collect and get ready for the worship of the Deity. So that is why they changed from 2 months to 2 years. Of course, now, the question is that whether Madhvācārya’s system of 2 months is better than 2 years. Anyway that is not our problem.

So here, although it is an ancient temple, they let the devotees in. So we are able to have the Deity darśana. And there are also the Garuḍa and Hanumān deity. And after seeing the prasāda distribution, we were able to all partake in the prasāda. The large laḍḍus they give are very light and made from fused rice and gūr, molasses. So there were some brāhmaṇas who are dressed in colored silk garments and they help the pilgrims. So they will go around, asking what did you like, they will ask what did you like, and if you want mahā-prasāda, they will take you. I think that having this kind of facilitators in the temple is very useful.

Anyway when Lord Caitanya visited Uḍupī. Mādhavendra Purī in the Madhva line. And they believe that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. How Lord Caitanya He had some subtle disagreement on the siddhānta. He also visited the Uḍupī temple and of course He accepted the initiation in the Madhva line. Since in the Padma Purāṇa it mentions that one has to receive the mantra from one of the four sampradāyas, from Lord Brahmā, from Lakṣmī, from the four Kumāras, or from Lord Śiva. Today we have seen he places of Rāmānujācārya, he is from the Śrī or Lakṣmī sampradāya. Uḍupī is the Madhva or Lord Brahmā sampradāya, and there is also the four Kumāras which is the Nimbārka sampradāya, and then there is Lord Śiva, Rudra sampradāya, which is Vallabhācārya sampradāya, which is mainly in Gujarat, India. They are known as Puṣṭi-mārga, they worship Kṛṣṇa in vātsalya-bhāva. Lord Caitanya of course, He established worshiping Kṛṣṇa in the Rādhā Kṛṣṇa mood. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that Kṛṣṇa is Gopikā-kāntā, Rādhā-kāntā. So, that is Kṛṣṇa’s identity.

We heard of the discussion between Śrī-sampradāya paṇḍitas in Śrīraṅgam and Lord Caitanya. Also, Lord Caitanya He visited all the temples, the Viṣṇu temple, Durgā temple, and He would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in all the temples. So in our tour of South India, alongside of the western bank, not only we see Uḍupī, there are many holy places. Of course near Uḍupī we have the special university city where we have many devotees, Manipal. Further north, we have the Gokarṇa temple of Lord Śiva. Where Rāvaṇa tried to take the Śiva liṅga from that place, but it did not move. The he bent the Śiva liṅga it became like the ear of a cow, that is why that place is named Gokarṇa, cow’s ear. There are many places that Lord Caitanya visited, Hampi is the capital of the Vijayanagara kings. That place became the market where they sell diamonds, pearls, so people sitting with baggages of diamonds! How rich they were! So like people selling mangoes or cucumbers, they are selling diamonds!

So naturally we cannot visit all these places. But when we do a safari we go to some place and cover all the surrounding temples. Near to Uḍupī is the birthplace of Madhvācārya. Pajaka-kṣetra. So we visit many of these places. Each of the eight temples which are in Uḍupī have their outside branches, which are in the country side. Some of them we also visited. They have their local deities. So it is a very interesting places. And you can imagine we spent a lot of time in this one place. And we had some much to do and so much to see. So we are giving you a kind of an aerial shot.

We have seen Ekanātha Gaura dāsa, behind him was the Tirupati hill. So that is a beautiful hill tract known as Saptagiri, seven hills. Each hill is supposed to be like the head of Anantaśeṣa. So there is someone who wrote on the hill Govinda. Then the TTD head came to us and asked who put that Govinda o the hill. How do you feel when Govinda is written on the hill? Our Deity there is also Govinda. But we could not tell him, but we were very happy.

So in our Safari we do a cultural program, in Tirupati and we have a stage there and various places we have cultural programs. So from Bosnia one time we had Bhakti Mohammad one time. So now we announced from Bosnia, we have to speak, Bhakti Mohammad, oops silence amongst the whole crowd! Who is that Bhakta Mohammad? Wow! So later he was initiated now his name is Mahā Caitanya dāsa but previously he was Bhakta Mohammad. So anyway, having 36 or 40 devotees attending from different countries, that had a great impact on the local people. We saw that Śrīla Prabhupāda between Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana, he would take a number of devotees and he would do different progams in Andhra Pradesh in different places. So he is our original Founder Ācārya of the safari. So we are just trying to follow in his footstep. So like this after Gaura Pūrṇimā in the temple festival, we take our safari to different temples, different places.

When we went to Śrīraṅgam, I think it was the thousand-year abhiṣeka. I don’t know exactly what the function was but there were hundreds and thousands of visitors. They had tickets, no price, just to organize the people, like ticket A, B, D up to H. We were given special tickets A and B. We sat right there on the top of the temple and see the abhiṣeka. They would sometimes shower the abhiṣeka water on the crowds of people. People would be so happy to receive that prasāda water. Of course, we were happy to be there but we were in A and B, which were like the most prestigious place. So you know when we go to different places we hear different pastimes.

So previously, there was kind of rivalry between the Śaivites and Vaiṣṇavites, and so the Śaivite king wanted to arrest Rāmānujācārya, but his gṛhastha secretary posed as Rāmānuja and he wore a sannyāsī cloth. Meanwhile Rāmānujācārya went to Melkoṭe where yesterday we saw Yoga-Narasiṁha They told the secretary of Rāmānujācārya whom they thought to be Rāmānuja, that he should accept Śiva as the supreme. He said no Viṣṇu is the Supreme. And then they said, “You don’t see the truth, we are blinding you!” They poked out his eyes. Then he was singing before the Deity, and the Deity twice offered him anything he wanted. Then he would not ask for him, anything for him, Kūreśa. So ask the Deity, if  He asks you once again, tell him your spiritual master has a property which is incomplete, and he wanted that to be completed.  So then the third time he was standing before the Deity, the Deity said I will give anything you want. He prayed that my spiritual master, has a property which is not complete, please make it complete. Of course Kūreśa his secretary he is incomplete, because he doesn’t have eyes. Then the Lord gave Kūreśa back his eyes. So he could serve Rāmānujācārya.

So like that we know how the Deity in Uḍupī came from the balance of the boat. So there they took tilaka from where the queens of Dvārakā would jumped into the sea when Kṛṣṇa left the planet, and so some somehow Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma’s Deities they were also thrown into the ocean. And they ended up in some tilaka. And that ended up in the boat and that was taken up by Madhvācārya, and he established the Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma temples. Haribol!