20230519 Arrival Address

The following is an evening address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 19th, 2023 in Detroit, USA.

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: So I saw this was called Ekacakra dhāma. So should speak something about Ekacakra dhāma? You see, there is place in Ekacakra dhāma called Garbhavāsa, where Lord Nityānanda was in the womb. And that is where He appeared. So, Ekacakra grāma is a very ancient place. The Pāṇḍavas were in Māyāpur and they went from Māyāpur to Ekacakra. There is still a place in Ekacakra known as the place of the Paṇḍavas. I had a stroke in 2008 and half my face is paralyzed, so that is why he is repeating what I say. Because some people cannot understand what I am saying. Somehow, he can understand! There was a demon, and her name was Hiḍimbā and she would come and eat the villagers, she was a Rākṣasī. So since all the villagers were fearing this demon and they decided to give her one villager a day. Also, the family with whom the Pāṇḍavas were staying with, it was their turn to give one member of their family to Hiḍimbā. Every member of that family was saying, I will go. The father said, “I will, go!” the mother said, “She would go, each member of the family was giving a reason why they should go as a sacrifice. Normally, we think, one person would try to get the other person to go. Oh, but this family was so devoted to each other and so impressed the Pāṇḍavas.” Bhīma said, “I will go.” Then they had a whole bullock cart of eatables. And then Bhīma sat on the cart like he was food for the Rākṣasa. But then Bhīma, he started eating all the food. He is known as Vṛkodara, he has a tremendous appetite, and he is as strong as ten thousand elephants. The demon said, “Hey! He is eating my food!” He started beating on his back. He finished eating. He turned around and they had a good fight. Anyway, he killed the demon. The purport is that the demon lost. Anyway, this Ekacakra dhāma is mentioned as an ancient very holy place. Lord Caitanya is śrī kṛṣṇa-caitanya, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nāhi anya and Lord Nityānanda is balarāma ha-ila nitāi. So in kṛṣṇa-līlā, Lord Balarāma came as the older brother. In rāma-līlā, He came as the younger brother, Lakṣmaṇa. So every day while He was growing up Lord Nityānanda was playing with His friends who were actually the sakhās of Kṛṣṇa in Dvāpara-yuga. We might have gotten mixed up because the demon that Bhīma fought was a man and the female demon who came to Ekacakra was the daughter of Narakāsura. It was another pastime. 

Anyway, Lord Nityānanda in Ekacakra He would enact different kinds of pastimes with His friends. They played dramas with all kinds of pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and His different avatāras. The people were amazed, how do all these children know all these details of these pastimes. Just little children like this! These small children, they knew the pastimes by heart. Just like for example, one time they were playing rāma-līlā. Lord Nityānanda, He was playing the part of Lakṣmaṇa. And so, Indrajit shot Him with an arrow. Then Lakṣmaṇa became unconscious. Then Hanuman had to go and get the healing herb. In the meantime, Padmāvatī, the mother of Lord Nityānanda, she came and said, “Prasāda time! Come for lunch!” But they did not go as Lord Nityānanda was lying down. He was not breathing. Mother Padmāvatī came and said, “What is happening?” She called her husband, the father of Lord Nityānanda, “What is wrong?” He was also distressed. What happened? Call the doctor. The Kavirāja could not figure out anything, nothing was wrong with the boy. Then the father asked, “What was happening, what were you all doing?” They said they were playing rāma-līlā. “Then what happened?” So they explained that then Lord Nityānanda who was playing Lakṣmaṇa was hit by the arrow of Indrajit and Hanumān had gone to get the healing herb. “What is next?” Then the children explained that Hanumān had to bring the herb from the mountain, he doesn’t know which herb, so he has to bring the whole mountain, and that would be put under the nose of Lakṣmaṇa. So then Hāḍāi Ojhā, the father said, “Where is Hanumān?” The boy who was playing the part of Hanumān said, “Right here!”  Like this they were playing drama every day. But their drama was very, very serious.

So where they played under a tree, that tree was known as Ananta-śeṣa tree. The tree leaned over one side like Ananta-śeṣa, like the hoods. So, there is also a temple there across the road of Baṅkim Rāya. Inside that, Lord Nitāi entered into the Deity and departed the world. It is a very special place. It comes in Rāḍhadeśa, a place where the Ganges doesn’t flow.

Lord Nityānanda, I cannot tell all the pastimes, because some of the pastimes are too heart breaking. He travelled all over India and took initiation from they say either from Mādhavendra Purī or from his guru.

So Lord Caitanya started the saṅkīrtana movement, then Lord Nityānanda joined Him. You must be wondering what is the actual reason, why Kṛṣṇa came as Lord Caitanya? You see, in Dvārakā, Rukmiṇī Devī, She was talking to Kṛṣṇa. She said, “Kṛṣṇa, You know everything. You know what Lord Brahmā is doing in Satyaloka, You know what Lord Śiva is doing in Kailāsa. You know what is going on in the ananta-koṭi-brahmāṇḍas. You know what is going on in the material world, in the spiritual world. But there is one thing You don’t know. I know, Rādhārāṇī knows but You don’t know.” No one had ever said that to Kṛṣṇa before. “What is that?” He asked. “I know, Rādhārāṇī knows, but You don’t know.” “What is that?” She said, “You see, You have no one above You, You are the original person, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You don’t know how much Your devotees love You. You don’t know in what way we love You!” He thought about that and He said, “I will come as My devotee in Kali-yuga. I WILL COME AS MY DEVOTEE IN KALI-YUGA! I WILL COME IN KALI-YUGA AS MY DEVOTEE!” That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda!

In the 11th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it mentions:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

(ŚB 11.5.32)

Kṛṣṇa will come but it won’t be in His blackish color. He will come with His expansions, His energies, His devotees, His associates, His weapons, everything. The first expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa is Lord Balarāma and the expansion of Lord Caitanya is Lord Nityānanda. So, one day, Rādhārāṇī was playing on the flute in Māyāpur. She was playing so beautifully that Kṛṣṇa wondered who is playing that flute? He appeared there in Navadvīpa. He said, “You made this dhāma for Me? It is very beautiful – nine islands – Sīmantadvīpa. Madhyadvīpa, Koladvīpa, Ṛtudvīpa, Rudradvīpa, Godrumadvīpa, Jahnudvīpa, Modadrumadvīpa, Antardvīpa. So, He said, this will be non-different from Vṛndāvana. I will call all the holy places here. You see Kṛṣṇa had expanded Himself as Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā. Here He took the heart of Rādhārāṇī and Her color, as Lord Caitanya. And then Her mood. Then He became Lord Caitanya. First Lord Caitanya came and then His expansions, Lord Nityānanda and Advaita they also came. His energies came like Lakṣmīpriyā and Viṣṇupriyā, Śrīdevī, Bhūdevī. Navadvīpa dhāma, Nīlā Devī.

So the place where Lord Nityānanda appeared that is also a dhāma, Ekacakra dhāma. All the places where the Lord and His associates did their pastimes are known as śrīpāṭs. I was thinking, in Los Angeles, I flew from Dubai to Los Angeles, how certain temples which Śrīla Prabhupāda personally established, 108 temples. He came and established the Detroit temple, Devasadhan. He also established Los Angeles, Māyāpur, so many, they were established by Śrīla Prabhupāda. In South India, they have a 108 Divya-deśams. So that includes Mathurā and Dvārakā. They say if you visit all the 108 temples, you go back to Godhead. I was thinking that somehow, we should have the 108 temples that Śrīla Prabhupāda established, should have some special names and at least they should be called śrīpāṭs – Śrīpāṭ Detroit! Haribol! The airlines would love them! I travelled five or six times around the world a year. I have a life-time gold member cards of United Airways, British Airways. I automatically became gold, we have to fly a million miles to get that. But I did not fly to get miles, I flew to please Śrīla Prabhupāda. I am really glad to see so many devotees here. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Actually, Lord Caitanya, He told Lord Nityānanda when He was in Jagannātha Purī. That We both should not stay here in Purī. You should go back and take up where We left off and preach in Bengal. So there was no separate countries, no Bangladesh, only Bengal. We said that We would deliver four kinds of people who normally do not get delivered – the mūrkhas, the foolish who think they are the body, the nīcas, the lowborn, who are born without much culture, no sense of spiritual life, the patītas, the fallen, breaking regulative principles, eating nonveg, and all kinds of nonsense and those who are distressed, the duḥkhīs. So, was anyone like this, have you met anyone like this in your life? Anyone even one of these? Śrīla Prabhupāda, he came as a representative of Lord Nityānanda and delivered these four kinds of people. You all maybe very pious people. But living in America, you know that the habits that people have are not very spiritual. And Śrīla Prabhupāda came to give people that transcendental experience. They were doing yoga, he gave bhakti-yoga, the highest of all yogas.

Anyway, we are late. So I have been recently diagnosed with skin cancer. So weekdays I take my therapy. Weekends, I save for preaching! I came to Michigan. Gan – Michi-gan, gān is a song. We are all singing Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! So there is gān, it is a song and gana is also people. Anyway, we want the people to be Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

We saw Lord Caitanya, the first half of His life He spent in Navadvīpa. The second half, He took sannyāsa, and for six years, He travelled around India, South India, West India, North India everywhere. And He was going around, on the excuse, looking for His older brother. Lord Caitanya said, I am going to go alone because Lord Nityānanda, He broke My daṇḍa and I cannot trust Him! So the devotees, they insisted, please take at least one person with You at least to carry Your things. Lord Caitanya did something in South India that He did not do in Navadvīpa? You know what that is? You don’t know?! What did He do? Everyone He met on the streets, He hugged them and gave them love of Godhead! Whether they were smārtas or some other caste, He did not make any discrimination, He just hugged everybody. At the same time, Nitāi was preaching all over Bengal.

When Lord Caitanya came back to Jagannātha Purī, all the devotees walked from Bengal to see Lord Caitanya. They would arrive before the Ratha-yātrā and then they would do the Guṇḍicā-mārjana with Him and have the Ratha-yātrā. And Pratāparudra Mahārāja, the Gajapati Mahārāja, the King of Purī, he would traditionally sweep the road to inaugurate the Ratha-Yātrā and after go to the roof of His palace. He watched a huge crowd of people on the Grand Road and he saw them in front of the three rathas. He saw something very amazing – he saw that there were seven kīrtana groups – front, side, back, like this, he saw seven Lord Caitanyas! Lord Caitanya was in every kīrtana party, dancing! He could see that but others couldn’t. Some people like Rāmānanda Rāya could see. They were amazed that the king, he was able to see this, that he had this amazing opportunity and Lord Caitanya was giving him very special darśana.

Lord Caitanya had so many pastimes. His pastimes as a child in Navadvīpa, in Gayā, He went to perform the śrāddha and piṇḍī for His father. He took initiation there from Īśvara Purī Mahārāja. And after that He manifested love for Kṛṣṇa. Before that, He was Nimāi Paṇḍita. He did not chant, He was worshiping His household Deity. He was not particularly a devotee. He would respect Vaiṣṇavas like Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. And he would ask them that they should bless Him that He should have His guru and understand Kṛṣṇa. Then, after initiation, He started to manifest His kṛṣṇa-bhakti. On the way back to Bengal from Gayā, He stopped at Kānāi-Nāṭaśālā. It is a holy place by the side of the Ganges. He saw in the distance a cowherd boy playing on His flute. Gradually, He came closer and closer. Then He saw that He was actually, Kṛṣṇa. He had a peacock feather on His turban, played on the flute and started dancing. Three-fold bending form. He went closer – it is Kṛṣṇa! It is Kṛṣṇa! His hair was standing on end. He looked so beautiful. Kṛṣṇa came up to Him and embraced Him! Lord Caitanya was... there were no words to describe! And then Kṛṣṇa ran off. Lord Caitanya was chasing Him. Then He went behind a tree, and became invisible. Lord Caitanya was rolling on the ground in separation. That place is still there. Somehow, the place Kānāi-Nāṭaśālā, the Mahānta, he came to ISKCON. He was told by his previous ācāryas, if they failed to take care of the Deities, they should give the place back to the devotees of the Gauḍīya-sampradāya. Then the Deities were stolen! STOLEN! What worse than that the Deities were stolen! So he came, the Mahānta, had heard that the most famous and greatest preacher of the Gauḍīya-sampradāya was Śrīla Prabhupāda. He came to ISCKON. Then he gave it to ISKCON, the temple. Because the temple is on a mountain of China clay. China clay is very costly. Millions and millions of dollars. He did not trust his disciples that they would not just sell the mountain after he left. So he gave to ISKCON as he saw Śrīla Prabhupāda as the most important preacher of the Gauḍīya-sampradāya. Anyway, I don’t know what the programs are this weekend.

After Lord Caitanya came back from Gayā, He started the saṅkīrtana movement. He became so ecstatic that people thought He had some kind of mental disease. Mother Śacī was calling, “Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Come for lunch! Nimāi! Nimāi! Then three neighbors came and said that, “Your son is stressed out, vāyu-doṣā! Life air is not balanced. Then, one said, give Him tender coconut water to cool Him down. But then, another said, “No, no, that is not sufficient. You have to give Him ten types of root oil, daśamūla oil. Massage on top of His head.” Third one said, “That will not do either. He is really far gone, you have to tie Him up.” Mother Śacī said, “There is nothing wrong with my Son!” Everyone was telling that Lord Caitanya was crazy, He has lost it. Then He went to Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and He said, “Can I ask you a question?” Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura said, “Why not?” People say, “I have a disease,” Lord Caitanya said. “Am I sick, do I have a disease?” “What are Your symptoms,” Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura asked. He said, “Whenever I hear or chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, I get choked up, tears come from My ears, My hairs stand on end, I faint on the ground! People say I am sick. Do I have a disease?” Śrīvāsa said, “Yes! You have a disease! And I also want that disease! You have the disease of love of Godhead!” How many of you want that disease? Haribol! A lot are not raising their hands!

I heard there was a storm in Detroit that diverted some of my secretaries and staff’s flight to Cleveland Ohio! I am sorry I know it is late at night. When I talk of Nitāi-Gaura I lose track of time!