20221018 Talk on Rādhā-kuṇḍa Apperance and Question and Answer Session

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

Jayapatākā Swami: We will talk about Lord Caitanya visiting Vṛndāvana. How many here only understand Hindi? Since I had a stroke, I will speak, and he will repeat what I say in English. Whenever Caitanyadeva talked about Lord Kṛṣṇa, His ecstasy increased 100 times. When He actually visited Mathurā His ecstasy increased a 1000-times, when He came to Vṛndāvana, His ecstasy increased 10,000 times. So His secretary Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya, he was worried because in His ecstasy, Lord Caitanya would sometimes dive into the Yamunā, and if he wasn’t there who would pull out Lord Caitanya out of the water? So he was worried about taking care of Lord Caitanya. As long as Lord Caitanya was there, He discovered Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Śyāma-kuṇḍa. It was just shallow water in two fields, and many people were wondering why this sannyāsī is bating in the field. But He revealed that actually this was Rādhā-kuṇḍa and that was Śyāma-kuṇḍa. So He discovered various places in Vraja-maṇḍala. And then He requested Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī and the others of six Gosvāmīs to research and discover all the hidden holy places. Some places like Govardhana He discovered. But many of the places He discovered and then the rest they were discovered by the six Gosvāmīs. Now when you go on Vṛndāvana parikramā, Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā, you can see all these places. So Lord Caitanya, He would remember all the pastimes because He was Vrajendrānandana. He had come as a devotee and taken the mood of Rādhārāṇī. But all the residents of Vṛndāvana the people, the deer, monkeys they were happy because their Vrajendrānandana had come.

So now on this day of Bahulāṣṭamī so many people bathe in the Rādhā-kuṇḍa. We know that Kṛṣṇa, He was attacked by the Ariṣṭāsura. And then He liberated the Ariṣṭāsura. He went to Rādhārāṇī and said, are You happy that I killed the demon? You killed a bull! You are a cow killer. How will You be freed from Your sins? He then dug [audio break] but Rādhārāṇī did not want to take service from Kṛṣṇa, rather She wants to offer kṛṣṇa-sevā. She asked the gopīs to please dig a kuṇḍa here, next to Śyāma-kuṇḍa. And then the gopīs dug the Rādhā-kuṇḍa but there was no water there. She thought I and the gopīs should get the water from the Mānasi-gaṅgā. [Audio break] Lalitā gave an advice, okay let them. Then they cut a connection between Śyāma-kuṇḍa and Rādhā-kuṇḍa. [Audio break] when Lord Caitanya went there it was shallow in a field. Now there is kuṇḍas in Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Śyāma-kuṇḍa. So 4,500 years Vṛndāvana has become [audio break] Lord Caitanya and His followers had discovered these. So, that is the connection of Vraja dhāma and Lord Caitanya. Gaurāṅga! Are there any questions? Write it down.

Question: [Inaudible] can we take bath in Rādhā-kuṇḍa?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda said bathing in Rādhā Kuṇḍa is a privilege for the devotees. But bathing is done like a pūjā. You cannot go and swim. You take a dip and out.

Question: [Inaudible]

Jayapatākā Swami: She had a very close relationship with Her sakhīs and Lalitā is a couple of days older than Her. She appeared Rādhāṣṭāmī and Lalitā came on Ṣaṣṭi. I don’t know if that is the reason, but we find that Lalitā will always be there to give counsel to her dear Rādhārāṇī. Sometimes Rādhārāṇī would be angry with Kṛṣṇa and Lalitā would try to bring Them back together.

Question: [Inaudible]

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya said that the prayers of Advaita Gosāñi brought Him down. He repeatedly said in the Caitanya-bhāgavata that I am here because of the prayers of Advaita. And as far as Lord Caitanya’s relationship with Lord Nityānanda, it was very friendly. Maybe when He was in Vṛndāvana, [audio break]

Śrīla Prabhupāda sent me to Māyāpur and in Māyāpur, naturally we are remembering Lord Caitanya all the time. Because He had His pastimes there. So we hope that all of you will visit Māyāpur and attend the Navadvīpa-maṇḍala parikramā. Lokanātha Mahārāja says what you get in Vṛndāvana in the whole Kārtika month, you will get it in Navadvīpa just in 7 or 9 days!

Supriya Singh: Lord Caitanya came as a devotee, whether we should worship Him as a devotee or the Lord Himself?

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya came as a channa-avatāra. That means He is Kṛṣṇa but He came disguised. But we know who He is now. He cannot fool us anymore! We worship Him as Kṛṣṇa. Gaurāṅga! Gaura Hari!

Ratimaṇi Reṇukā devī dāsī: How can we keep our consciousness in the dhāma?

Jayapatākā Swami: Never leave the dhāma! She asked how can we stay in the dhāma! Never leave it! So, when you are always serving Lord Caitanya and always engaging in His service, that means you are always with Him.

Question: How do we attain Lord Nityānanda mercy?

Jayapatākā Swami: Nityānanda Prabhu is considered as most merciful. He wants to give you mercy more than you want. So you can just pray to Lord Nityānanda, He is here in the temple and ask Him for mercy. Many people go to Rādhā Rāsabihārī, they don’t know that by praying to Nitāi Gaura, they will get the mercy of Rādhā Rāsabihāri.

Ruma: Once Lord Caitanya wanted to do Gaṅgā-pūjā but there were pūjā materials at home. He messed His whole house, I cannot understand this līlā.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya, He is the independent Lord. And He would do things and you may not understand why He does it or not. But once He wants to worship the Ganges, there was no such facility there. So He would naturally get angry. We get angry when we do not get our sense gratification. When He could not serve Kṛṣṇa or Gaṅgā or do some devotional service He would get angry.

Question: Best way to get Mahāprabhu’s mercy on and on and on how to get it?

Jayapatākā Swami: Desiring it is a good quality. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that to get Kṛṣṇa’s mercy we should cry. If we are not crying, we should cry that we are not crying. And if still we are not getting the mercy, we should cry that you are not crying that you are not crying, etc.

Hari Nārāyaṇa dāsa: In the most difficult situation how we can remember and that is the mercy of Lord Caitanya? How do we elevate our consciousness?

Jayapatākā Swami: Hari Nārāyaṇa dāsa. I don’t know what you consider as the worst situation. If I knew then I would answer the question specifically. But since I don’t know, I would answer generally, suffering in this material world, if everything is nice then we would think we should stay here. But sometimes we suffer and Kṛṣṇa’s mercy shows that the situation in this material world is not so good. As He said, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. So this is a temporary place of suffering. But maybe sometimes we suffer, but we actually deserve to suffer much worse. But Kṛṣṇa gave us as a token, suffering. Instead of losing our life, just some pain. I was thinking how by serving Kṛṣṇa we can get such mercy. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

So it is time to take rest!