20230320 Safari Address

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: So when the Supreme Lord descends from the spiritual world He comes along with His associates and His energies. He comes with various devotees. So, in Tretā-yuga, the Supreme Personality of Godhead came down as Lord Rāma, and He was accompanied by Bharata, Lakṣmaṇa and Śatrughna. Rāma is non-different from Kṛṣṇa and Lakṣmaṇa is Balarāma. The Catur-vyūha of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna, They all come down as the four brothers. Lord Rāma, He came down with His energy, Sītā Devī. And Sītā is non-different from Bhū Devī. Bhū Devī is with Nārāyaṇa, Nīlā Devī and Śrī Devī. And with Lord Caitanya, Lakṣmīpriyā was Śrī Devī and Viṣṇupriyā was Bhū Devī. Sītā Devī, she is Bhū Devī. So She comes from the earth and goes back to the earth. So, this is the place of Sitamarhi, where Sītā Devī appeared. So She came as Bhū Devī. She is a form of Lakṣmī. And actually, one of the devotees of Lord Rāma was in anxiety as to how Lakṣmī was touched and kidnapped by Rāvaṇa. But actually, when Lakṣmaṇa drew the lakṣmaṇa-rekhā and She came out, there was a fire. That was the actual Sītā who was taken by Agnideva and a chāyā-sītā, a shadow Sītā was given to Rāvaṇa.

There was a lady who had been doing tapasya to get Rāma as her husband. To get Viṣṇu as her husband. And then Rāvaṇa as a brāhmaṇa came by and saw Her and tried to seduce Her. He said, “Anyway I am a Rākṣasa!” - this is another līlā that happened much before. So Rāvaṇa, he said, “I am a rākṣasa, I can just rape You.” But She cursed him that, “If you ever try to take a woman by force, you will die. And a lady will bring your end.” Then She disappeared in the fire. So this lady who cursed Rāvaṇa, She was the chāyā-sītā, Shadow Sītā. The actual Sītā was not taken by Rāvaṇa and nor was she tortured by the witches. When Rāvaṇa was killed by Rāma, and Sītā was freed, they had Sītā go through a fire examination and at that time the real Sītā was given and the chāyā-sītā was taken by Agnideva. So, like this, there were many things.

Sītā is not an ordinary woman, she is Lakṣmī. The bow which 300 people could not lift, that bow Sītā could lift it with one hand. You see Sītā is the daughter of Janaka Mahārāja and it is common with the princesses they would have a svayaṁvara where they choose their husband. And that means the princess chooses her own husband. In this case, She made a system that anyone who can string the bow could marry Her. So, many princes came and tried to lift the bow, but they couldn’t. Finally, Lord Rāma came, and He not only lifted the bow but broke it! So He got the hand of Sītā. So this is Sītā’s appearance place, Sitamarhi. I hope you all remember the great qualities of Mother Sītā. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Since many of the Safaris went to Tirupati, you probably remember that there was the consort of Bālājī, her name was Padmāvatī. So that Padmāvatī is actually, chāyā-sītā. Her name was Vedavatī. And Lakṣmī, Sītā told that since She went through so much austerity, Viṣṇu could marry her. But Rāma took a vow of having only one wife. So She was blessed that She could be the wife of Viṣṇu in Kali-yuga.

Padmāvatī was Vedavatī who was the one that cursed Rāvaṇa. And she was doing austerity to have Viṣṇu as her husband. So She became Padmāvatī in Kali-yuga and married Bālājī. Bālājī who is worshiped as Śrīnivāsa Govinda. Hare Kṛṣṇa! All the pastimes are connected. And the Safari went many times to Tirupati. This is the secret connection between, Sītā, Vedavatī and Tirupati. Thank you very much!