20231202 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.1.32

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja, on December 2nd,2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.1.32.

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 how many of you would like to have the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? So, here we find the secret you can always be associating with the Lord by remembering Him. Akrūra was always in the thought that he would be able to associate with the Lord in a few minutes. Like this, he was absorbed in the thought of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When he saw the lotus footprints of Lord Kṛṣṇa he became ecstatic and fell down on the ground. Here Akrūra, he was seeing the markings of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he was crying and ecstatic. Now we can understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa, He does not come as we come in this material world according to our karma. He is the source of all universes. Creation, maintenance and dissolution everything is in His hands. But He appears to exchange love and affection with His devotees.

In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.8) it is said: paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām

So He was requested by Lord Brahmā that please come down and take away the burden of the earth. But at the same time Lord Kṛṣṇa, He did not come for any personal interest. Like Akrūra, he fell into ecstasy seeing Lord Kṛṣṇa’s lotus foot prints so in this way to exchange love between His devotees, He appears.

I was thinking how Vidura, he is very expert. He was cursed to be a śūdra, but he decided to take that and he became the uncle of Kṛṣṇa. So he was asking what is happening with Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, what is happening with all his relatives. He was asking about Akrūra, he was a pure soul, he was always thinking about Kṛṣṇa. So everybody raised their hands and they had agreed that they wanted to have the association of Kṛṣṇa. So here we see that we can get the association by remembering Him. We hear that Kṛṣṇa never even leaves one step out of Vṛndāvana. But we saw Akrūra came to take Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma away! So there was some mystic thing that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma when They took Their bath in the Yamunā, another Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma came. So now the devotees who always thinks of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in this way are always absorbed in Their association. And devotees by chanting on their beads and by attending the programs, they are always remembering Kṛṣṇa. By doing service for Kṛṣṇa, we are always staying in touch, we are always remembering Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He appeared as a devotee of the Lord and He taught how one can always be absorbed in the association of Kṛṣṇa by thinking of Him. So He spent the first part of His life in Navadvīpa and there He was always chanting the holy name. He approached Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and asked whether He could ask a question. So Śrīvāsa said, “Why not? What is Your question?” He said that, “People say, ‘I am mad.’ They say that, ‘I have a defect, I have a disease.’ Is it correct, do I have a disease?” So Śrīvāsa asked, “What are the symptoms?” Lord Caitanya said, “Whenever I hear the name of Kṛṣṇa I cannot help but cry, sometimes there is quivering in My body, sometimes I faint. So people say, ‘I have a disease, do I have a disease?’” Śrīvāsa said, “Yes, You have a disease. And I also want this disease!” Nobody normally wants a disease, what is he doing? So, Śrīvāsa, he said that, “You have the love of Kṛṣṇa. And people in general will not understand this matter. But if You come to my house I will invite such devotees who will appreciate Your ecstasy.”

This year I went there to Śrīvāsa Aṅgan with Naru Gopāla Prabhu’s parikramā party. This Śrīvāsa Aṅgan was surrounded by a large wall and only certain devotees were allowed in. The devotees heard that Lord Caitanya’s kīrtana was so nice but they could not see or hear that. The envious people said all kinds of crazy things. Some brāhmaṇas went to the Chand Kazi and complained. He is chanting the holy name of the Lord very loudly, it is very offensive. You are only allowed to chant the holy name mentally. But He is ruining the Hindu dharma, He is loudly chanting HARE KṚṢṆA! So that caused the Chand Kazi to break the mṛdaṅga. That is why the place outside the house of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura came to be known as ‘Khol-bhāṅgar-daṅga’ - the place where the mṛdaṅga was broken. They came and told Lord Caitanya that they were threatened by the Chand Kazi that he would take away their dharma. Lord Caitanya said, “No one can stop the saṅkīrtana movement!” And that was the first time He came out and had four different kīrtana groups. He was in the fourth group. By His side there was Nitāi and Gadādhara. Because Mother Śacī had told both of Them that, “In case He falls down, You can pick Him up, You can catch Him before He hits the ground.” So the groups were going into different parts of Navadvīpa and picking up people. There was a Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura group, Haridāsa Ṭhākura group and Advaita Gosāñī group. Then there was Gaurāṅga’s group. And some kind of atheists were laughing at the devotees chanting. But when they saw Lord Caitanya that, He was crying in ecstasy and chanting, they could not keep their atheism longer and got completely transformed. They got into ecstasy, chanting, and dancing and falling on the ground. The kīrtana was heard all over the universe and even in the spiritual world. Lord Indradeva and Vāyudeva came down to see what was happening down here. When Indradeva and Vāyudeva saw that the Supreme Lord was chanting and dancing in ecstasy, they fainted! When they regained consciousness; they took the human form and joined the kīrtana. Gaurāṅga! So the Apsarās started throwing flowers and small conch shells from the sky. The Chand Kazi then finally he of course, things happened and he declared that me and my descendants will not interfere with the saṅkīrtana.

There was a brāhmaṇa from South India, he came to see Lord Jagannātha. Jagannātha Svāmī kī jaya! He was lamenting that he was very poor. And he was fasting, and he started hitting himself and he was lamenting that he had no money. So, he was walking by the ocean. And he saw a gigantic personality 20 or 30 m high, came out of the sea! Then he took the size of a general human form. So the brāhmaṇa went up to him and asked him, “Who are you?” And that person told the brāhmaṇa, “I am who I am! Who are you?” The brāhmaṇa was a simple guy. He said that, “I am a brāhmaṇa, from South India.” So that person, he started walking. The brāhmaṇa was following him. Then that person, he went into Kāśī Miśra’s house and got the darśana of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He offered his obeisances to Lord Caitanya. And Lord Caitanya had him sit by His side. So Lord Caitanya said, “Vibhīṣaṇa, how are you doing?” So Lord Caitanya, all His avatāras, He never forgets! When He was Lord Rāmacandra avatāra then Vibhīṣaṇa had taken His shelter. Then Lakṣmaṇa had said, “He could be a spy, how do we trust him?” Vibhīṣaṇa said, “If I am not sincere, then let me be a king in Kali-yuga.” Because that is horrible! He must therefore be telling the truth! So like that, he was talking with Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya said, “Give this brāhmaṇa some charity.” Vibhīṣaṇa was a king. “This brāhmaṇa is beating Me because he is beating himself before Lord Jagannātha and that is very painful for Lord Jagannātha! So, Lord Jagannātha, He is very favorable to the brāhmaṇas. So give this brāhmaṇa an ocean of wealth and make him happy.” Like that they had some pastime. Vibhīṣaṇa, he went and saw Lord Jagannātha. He tried to lose this brāhmaṇa but he followed him everywhere! So, to make a long story short, he asked Vibhīṣaṇa, “Who is the brāhmaṇa you saw?” Vibhisana said, “You are a stupid brāhmaṇa! A foolish brāhmaṇa! This personality, Caitanyadeva, He is Lord Jagannātha, He is Lord Kṛṣṇa!” Like this, Lord Caitanya, He was having these pastimes on earth.

Lord Kṛṣṇa, He came in the Dvāpara-yuga and had His pastimes. So, we are fortunate that by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy we have knowledge about Lord Caitanya. We have knowledge about Rādhā Mādhava, Narasiṁhadeva. This is all the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda! That all should chant the holy names all the time and think of Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava, Pañca-tattva, this is required all the time. The Six Gosvāmīs, they would be looking everywhere, where are Rādhā Mādhava? The sahajiyās would like to say, “Oh, I have seen Kṛṣṇa!” Caitanyadeva has taught us the real mood of separation, vipralambha-bhāva. So that way, those who are in Māyāpur, we should be absorbed in always remembering Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Haribol!