20230429 Address to Devotees

The following is an Address to the ISKCON Austin devotees & Texas by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 29th, 2023.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: I am very sorry that you were waiting last night and collapsed, I was very tired and even this morning I think Śrī Caitanya Caraṇa Prabhu is giving a seminar, after my short speech how he can continue with the seminar. I am very happy to see very beautiful Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā-Kuñjabihārī, Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā Sudarśana cakra. By the mercy of Nitāi-Gaura, we get the mercy of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā.

Lord Caitanya stayed in Nadia for 24 years. And then He took sannyāsa and went to Jagannātha Purī. Six years He travelled throughout India and went to South India, Vṛndāvana and came back to Jagannātha Purī and He was 6 years around India, 18 years in Jagannātha Purī and 24 years in Navadvīpa. So, when He was in Jagannātha Purī, He told Lord Nityānanda, He said, We have come down especially for the mission that there are four kinds of people who normally do not get delivered – the mūrkhas, the foolish people who think they are the body, the nīca, lowborn, the patīta, the fallen and the duḥkhī, the distressed. Any of you ever have had any of these qualifications? So Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda especially have come to deliver these four kinds of people. Anyone. So, if you have had any distress, if you have had any problem, then Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda are there to deliver you. Of course, the pious people, they automatically get delivered. But even the fallen, they get delivered. Lord Caitanya told Lord Nityānanda that since We have come to deliver these kinds of people, You should go back and continue preaching in Bengal. And there is no use for us both to be here in Jagannātha Purī. So, Lord Nityānanda said, alright, give Me some people. About 45 or 50 devotees were given to Lord Nityānanda and He went back to Bengal. Normally, it takes about less than a month to walk to Bengal, but they were so ecstatic that they kept walking off the path. They went like this and then they would be walking and imitating like Kṛṣṇa plays His flute like this and so on. Then they forget where are we? They asked the people around and they said oh, the road to Bengal is about ten miles that way. So they would be enacting some pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. They lost their way and went the other way. The roads were all dirt roads, not like the highways, you cannot go across easily. They asked where are we? The path to Bengal, oh, you have to go that way. Twelve miles. Like this it took them three months to reach Bengal. When they finally reached, they were in Pānihāṭi. Rāghava Paṇḍita he came down and asked Lord Nityānanda, how may are You? He said 50.He said, okay all of You take a bath in the Ganges and come back in an hour, in the meantime I will have fixed a feast for 50 of you. (You need a sound engineer, there is an echo).

So many pastimes happened in Pānihāṭi. Lord Nityānanda He said to Rāghava Paṇḍita. I am a cowherd boy, I want kadamba flowers. I am a cowboy, not like Texas cowboy, I am a Vṛndāvana cowboy. And Rāghava Paṇḍita, now is not the season for kadamba flowers. Lord Nityānanda said, just go and look in your garden, you may just find some. So he went to the garden, there was a lemon tree, buck buck buck buck! all kadamba flowers came on the lemon tree! Haribo!! Jaya Nitāi! He strung a garland and gave to Lord Nityānanda. So Lord Nityānanda is very happy and then He decided to dance. So when He dances, His dancing is so out of this world! And Lord Caitanya said wherever I am, I will be there. He was in South India at that time and Lord Nityānanda danced and Lord Caitanya came there and He was watching. Lord Nityānanda could see Him, others could not. And Lord Nityānanda said Lord Caitanya is here. Everyone is looking around, where is He? they could not see Him. He is wearing this particular garland of flowers which is only available in South India. Everyone started smelling. Someone started smelling Gaurāṅga! and he was in ecstasy! Started rolling on the ground. Someone else smelt it and like this there was like a love gas, prema-gas! Everyone was trying to smell Lord Caitanya’s garland and when they smelt it they became ecstatic in love of Kṛṣṇa.

There are many pastimes. Lord Nityānanda sat on vīrāsana of the yoga posture and devotees came in front of Him, one by one and danced. Every devotee came one after another and they would go before Lord Nityānanda and danced. Like this the kīrtana went on day after day, maybe for a month. Sometimes devotees would be chanting for three days and nights and they would forget to eat and sleep. People would come when they heard about the kīrtana, just to see. After coming, they would get absorbed. Such a wonderful kīrtana, everyone is chanting and dancing. They start to chant and dance and after some days they realize I have a family, I have to go home. So people asked what happened, where were you. All they could say was Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa! Haribol! Another person would go watch the kīrtana and same thing happened to them. So like this Lord Nityānanda was spreading the saṅkīrtana-yajña just by His presence.

Devotees started getting so amazing that like one was jumping from treetop to treetop. And someone else picked up a huge tree with all its roots and started dancing with it. One devotee was holding a 60 feet bamboo and holding like a flute and playing on it. Rāghava Paṇḍita told Lord Nityānanda there will nothing left of my garden, they are pulling out all the trees. Lord Nityānanda took the kīrtana party and went to Khardaha, Belisar and other places. He went to Ādi-saptagrāma. And there they were all suvarṇa-vanikas, vaiśyas who were dealing with gold and jewelry, normally not very spiritual. Busy making money and things. But He was going house to house doing kīrtana. All these businessmen became absorbed in Lord Nityānanda’s kīrtana. Actually, Śrīla Prabhupāda is a descendant of one of those associates of Lord Nityānanda. So like this, Lord Nityānanda was manifesting these navadvīpa-līlas in many different places.

You see, Lord Caitanya He took sannyāsa, He was very austere, but He told Lord Nityānanda to be like a cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana. So Lord Nitāi, He wore diamond ear rings, pearl neck, gold rings, jewels, silver ankle bells, nūpura. There was a gang of dacoits, thieves, they saw him. Wow! He has got lakhs and lakhs and lakhs of rupees in one place. We can rob him. O Caṇḍī! Thank you! They did not realize who Lord Nityānanda was. That He is the first expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa comes, He comes with Balarāma. Like we have Jagannātha and Baladeva. When He comes as Lord Caitanya there is Lord Nityānanda. He always comes as His brother, older or younger. So when He came as Rāmacandra, then Lakṣmaṇa was the same Balarāma but at that time the younger brother. The thieves did not know that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and they planned, that is a whole long story. Anyway, I don’t want to distract you. In the end all those dacoits they became devotees. Lord Nityānanda delivered them in a very unique way. Are you tired?

So, you are very fortunate here to have Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā-Kuñjabihārī and Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā and Sudarśana cakra. So amazing, I did not know what is in Austin, some devotees invited me, please come to Austin. I did not know there were so many temples and devotees in Austin. I was to go to San Antonio and then McAllen and on the way just stop in Austin and some devotees asked me to visit Austin. You have a very beautiful temple. By the mercy of Nitāi-Gaura we can all get kṛṣṇa-bhakti very easily. They did not consider who is qualified, who is not, whoever wants it, They give it. Are there any questions?