20221112 Addressing Parikramā Devotees with Hindi Translation

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: How many devotees are there in this Hindi party? 1,800. Tamil party has 400. I did not ask how many are there in Odisha? 4,000. In Bengali there are 6,000. My Bengali is better and I give lectures, but I will try to speak in Hindi. I heard that how Haladhara Mahārāja enthused everyone to read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. This is very nice! Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it is very important that we read these scriptures. As much as we remember Lord Kṛṣṇa, it is that much good for us. How will we think of Kṛṣṇa if we do not read the scriptures about the Lord. This is very much needed. His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami slipped and fell down and lost lot of blood. He was in Vṛndāvana but now he is in Delhi and admitted in the hospital and checkup is going on. We are doing special Narasiṁhadeva pūjā for him and all the GBCs and other devotees are praying for him and we hear just now that Mahārāja is okay now. So we need to be very careful, if we do not follow our rules and regulations of devotional service then our spiritual master will have to suffer.

He is saying if I speak in English, he can translate directly into Hindi. So we want all of you to take advantage of visiting Śrī Kṣetra to listen to the glories of the holy dhāma. Lord Caitanya, He said being a human being, born in India, is very glorious. Bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra (Cc. Ādi 9.41) So being born in India the advantage is that here there are holy dhāmas where the Lord has appeared as Rāma, as Kṛṣṇa, as Lord Caitanya and other avatāras. So, we can take advantage of visiting the holy places to hear about the Lord and His devotional service. Every day, Lord Caitanya would take darśana of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā. And with His associates, He would do kīrtana around the Jagannātha Purī temple. He would do parikramā of the temple, chanting and dancing. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

The King Pratāparudra, he wanted to see Lord Caitanya, face to face. But Lord Caitanya said, I am a sannyāsī, I should not see a viṣayī, a king. But actually, King Pratāparudra was a devotee and He melted Lord Caitanya’s heart when he swept the road in front of Lord Jagannātha. One time, King Pratāparudra was engaged to marry a princess of a neighboring country. But then the king said I won’t marry my daughter to a sweeper. And King Pratāparudra took that as an insult to Lord Jagannātha. Before Bhagavān, we are all sweepers, menial servants. So he went with his army and declared war on that other kingdom. At that time there was lady, she was selling yogurt and two princes were coming, one on a white horse and one on a black horse. One was dark in color and one prince was dark in color. They told the lady we are hungry please give us the yogurt. You have to pay so much paise for this. They said, you give this ring to the king and he will pay you. And he and the other prince took the yogurt and drank it. The king was passing with his army and the lady told the king: “Stop, stop. You owe me money for the yogurt.” And the people pushed her and asked her what she was doing. The king asked “What is that commotion there?” She said, “Oh, two princes went ahead, and they took my yogurt, you have to pay for it.” She said she had a ring from one of them. The king said “let me see my ring. He said, oh, this Lord Jagannātha’s ring! What did the two princes look like?” She said: One was black and one was light.” He said “Kṛṣṇa Balarāma!” So the whole army, they felt very empowered after hearing this. They fought with the other party and the other king surrendered. He sent his daughter there, but the King Prataprudra he said that you wed her to a sweeper. And so one minister said to the king after some time that Mahārāja, who is a bigger sweeper than you? The princess was not guilty of what her father did. And this way the king married the princess.

Once King Pratāparudra, he was on the rooftop of his palace. And he was watching the devotees from Bengal. So he asked Rāmānanda Rāya, who is that devotee. And he said, that is Advaita Gosāñi. Like this each devotee, he wanted to see. So he was very impressed, they were all very effulgent, very amazing to look at. And then he went to see Lord Caitanya. But one devotee, Murāri Gupta, he was outside the Gambhīra and he was crying. He said I am so fallen, I cannot see Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya called him in and said that “You are very dear to Me, you have to come in”. Then He asked where is Haridāsa Ṭhākura? Then Haridāsa Ṭhākura was at Narendra Sarovara. He was crying and saying, “I am too fallen to see Lord Caitanya.” Lord Caitanya was seeing different devotees, there was intense emotions. So then Pratāparudra after sweeping the road in front of Lord Jagannātha, he saw from his rooftop, three ratha carts. And seven saṅkīrtana parties. Then he saw Lord Caitanya simultaneously in all the parties. So, Rāmānanda Rāya said, “You are seeing Lord Caitanya in seven forms, you are very fortunate!” Lord Caitanya is Himself an avatāra, so this is not amazing, He can do so many things. Anyway, eventually Pratāparudra wanted to see Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Actually, when Lord Caitanya was in the Jagannātha Vallabha gardens He rested after doing kīrtana with all His devotees, just opposite the Narendra Sarovara is the Jagannātha Vallabha garden. Lord Caitanya was lying down on a rock. And Rāmānanda Rāya advised King Pratāparudra to dress as an ordinary Vaiṣṇava. No royal clothes, just a white dhoti, tilaka and actually no one had seen the king in ordinary clothes, so no one knew how he looked like. So he went in and said “Can I massage Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet?” Then he went and Lord Caitanya was lying down, he started massaging His legs. And he was reciting the Gopī-gītā. And Lord Caitanya sat up and said “I don’t know who you are, but you have given me priceless jewels of slokas. I am a sannyāsī, I have nothing. I will give you an embrace”. Haribol! Haribol!

So like this, there are so many amazing pastimes between Lord Caitanya and the Purī-vāsīs. I hope you enjoy your stay here in Jagannātha Purī. You have to go to the beach, now or you stay here? I took Jagannātha-prasāda in the afternoon. Now I have to go to the beach to meet another group.