“About Nityananda-Balarama.” Srila B. S. Goswami Maharaj. February 5, 2012. Gupta Govardhan



English

Srila Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaj 

About Nityananda-Balarama

(February 5, 2012. Gupta Govardhan)

https://mahamandala.com/en/audios/362

 

Goswami Maharaj: Singing songs about how happy my life is on the Volga river. Thames? And there is a festival, and they have (?), and this girl was dressed in traditional Russian dress, and singing this song, like Jamuna, saying, “How happy I am, my life was (?) on the Volga river.” And it was like Vrindavan that mood. Are you okay?

Sadhu Priya Prabhu: Almost. And I’ve thirty seconds.

#00:00:44#

Goswami Maharaj: Right. If you cannot count in Australian, then the stuff has some kick. We know that Mahaprabhu, when He is Nimai Pandit, sometimes He is taking the mood of Nityananda Prabhu and sitting as though He is Balaram and telling Him, “Give Me Your plough,” as Balaram’s weapon is the plough. Well, not weapon, He carries it (?), He can use it that way too. What are the two things? Or the (?) and the plough. So, Mahaprabhu takes the paraphernalia of Nityananda, and They are very happy to see that. And… [Laughs.] And at one point He says, “Give Me vine.” He (?) to be in the bhav of Balaram-Nityananda, “Give Me vine.” And the devotees are just thinking, “What should we do?” Because Balaram is famous for drinking the varuni, some intoxicating type of beverage.

#00:02:08#

We hear from Rupa Goswami in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, that once Baladev in such a mood of intoxication, he told the Jamuna river, “Come here!” and she was afraid to approach Him while He was intoxicated, so she was shrinking away. And with His plough Baladev started dragging the Earth close to the end and Jamuna was coming forcefully that way. And Rupa Goswami says, offer some prayer like, “We pray that Baladev will be pleased with us, when He is in this particular mood.” He said, “Because I could in My mood right now My happiness is such, I could destroy all the universes and everyone in it, and Krishna wouldn’t be angry.” He’d be happy with me, because if Baladev did decide to do something like that, then everybody immediately becomes liberated. Saying, “Not that I will, but I could.”

#00:03:17#

So, when Mahaprabhu start saying, “Give Me vine!” Devotees are thinking, what to do. They take some Ganga-jal, water from the Ganges, and they give that to Mahaprabhu and that He is drinking and exhibiting His divine intoxicate mood. [He is okay? Just playing.] Nityananda Prabhu, He is playing as a child, like right now as we speak, Srila Avadhut Maharaj and Srila Acharya Maharaj, they are in Ekachakra, which is the birth place of Nityananda Prabhu, it’s also the birth place of Chaitanya Saraswat Math in one sense, because that’s where Srila Guru Maharaj prostrated before the, what do they call it? Place of birth, the house of birth, something like bandha-garhi-griha, something. Gopal, what is it called, means birth house, bandha-garbhi, garbha-bari, is it garbha-bari? Garbha-bari.

Nitya Gopal Prabhu: Garbha-stan.

#00:04:57#

Goswami Maharaj: Right. Garbha-stan. Yes, I am thinking of the Guru Maharaja’s sloka. But so that’s where Guru Maharaj lied prostrated saying to Nityananda Prabhu, “You are the dhameshvara, means like the governor of Navadwip.” The person who decides whether you get a visa or not.

#00:05:20#

Many times Guru Maharaj would say, “Passport is insufficient.” It’s good to have a passport, we all know that, everybody here knows that. We don’t have even our Thai ambassador this evening, Krishnapriya Devi, but she is here with us in spirit. So, to get here you have to be given a visa, which means someone has to decide that it’s the interest of the land, that you’re trying to enter for you to come. You’ve already expressed your interest, that is well and good, but the representative of that land needs to say, “Yes, we believe it’s in the interest of our plane to give you a visa to enter. It’s alright.”

#00:06:20#

So, Guru Maharaj his thinking is always very fine and perfect, before he moves or does anything. So, he’s thinking to spend his final days in Navadwip-dham. Because it’s been said that Vrindavan is for the highest section of the liberated souls, only they can be given admission there. So, humbly Guru Maharaj thought, “But we’re told, the non-liberated, they’ll find their fortune in Navadwip.” So, humbly he approach Navadwip. But before going to Navadwip, this is again that refined thinking, “He thinks, Nityananda Prabhu is the dhameshvar, I must first get his permission, so, he goes to Ekachakra. And up to that time, we should also say, that Srila Guru Maharaj was hesitating to accept any disciples. Like Srila Prabhupad’s sister, Pishima, Bhavatarini, she wanted connection with Guru Maharaj, she had first initiation from Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur, and wanted to take second initiation from Srila Guru Maharaj, but Guru Maharaj is humbly deferring, declining, and send her to Aprakrita Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj.

#00:07:48#

So, Guru Maharaj not initiating anyone up to that point even though people were asking. So, he went before Nityananda Prabhu, and prayed, “You’re patita-pavana,” it means, the savior of the most fallen. Sometimes Guru Maharaj will say, “Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy has the greatest disinfecting potency,” like sometimes we need to disinfect something to clean some area, saying, “Nityananda Prabhu, this is the extreme disinfectant for the impure heart, the sinful,” as we find in the pastimes of Jagai and Madhai, the two leading sinners of the day, were saved by the grace of Nityananda Prabhu. So, anyway, Guru Maharaj is lying there, saying, “You’re patita-pavana, please, give me shelter in Navadwip.” And Guru Maharaj said, in his heart he was filled with this inspiration from Nityananda Prabhu, hearing Nityananda’s saying, “But you do not, you’re hesitating to give shelter to the fallen.” Because he wouldn’t initiate. He said, “If you will give shelter to the fallen, then I’ll give you shelter there.” So, that and a few other things in Guru Maharaja’s mind convinced him that he would precede to which part of the Navadwip? What is called aparadh-bhajaner-path, where all the offenders were forgiven their offenses, and there modestly, humbly, you establish Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and those who would come for his connection. We’re very fortunate, that Srila Guru Maharaj would give them the grace of Nityananda Prabhu.

#00:10:02#

So, in that place, in Ekachakra, Nityananda Prabhu lived there for twelve years, His childhood pastimes, and one of His favourite things was to organize lila, play with the other boys of the village. So, He like to do Krishna-lila, Ram-lila, other pastimes and the older people they would, they’re all, we’re told, by the grace of Nityananda Prabhu, He prevented them from understanding totally who He is. So, they are thinking, He is this wonderful boy, that they all love and sometimes they are saying, “How does He know so much about Krishna-lila?” He is Balaram, of Krishna and Balaram (?). He is Balaram, He knows everything about Krishna-lila, but they are surprised, “When He organizes the other children the pastimes are so realistic.” Sometimes from leafs he creates Kaliya, and they have the Kaliya pastime. And many things. But what’s giving particular note there, one thing is that how much love and affection everyone in the village had for Nityananda Prabhu, saying the mothers and fathers loved Him more than their own children, and we know how much a parent loves their own child. But they had even more love and affection for Him, and if they are holding Him on the lap they didn’t want Him to ever go. The boys who are playing with Him, night would come, but no one wants to go home.

#00:11:55#

So, once He’s thinking of the pastimes of the Ramayan. And there of course He plays the part of the Lakshman, and this is of peculiar interest, that normally, Balaram is the elder brother of Krishna, like Ramanuja, name means Krishna, who is the younger brother of Rama. So, He is generally in that elder position, which means that His friendship, there is a little element of vatsalya-rasa, which means concern, care, protection of someone who is younger. But in the Ram-lila, their positions are reversed, Lakshman is the younger brother, and Ramachandra is the elder. So, when Ramachandra is banished, Lakshman wants to protest that, and prevent that from happening, but Ramachandra gives the order to abide by His wish, and he has to follow that.

#00:13:08#

So, Guru Maharaj said, as if like they discuss, as they do, different pastimes, we hear in Chaitanya Bhagavat, sometimes they gesture to one another, no one can understand the hand gestures of Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, They’re talking a secret language, many things. So, once having a private conversation, Nityananda Prabhu is saying, “Those are not My favorite pastimes, because My heart flow is restricted to a certain level, I like when I am the elder brother, and I then can care for You and fully serve You.” Cause it mentioned by Kaviraj Goswami in Chaitanya-charitamrita, says, ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa arsa bhṛtya, in the Nityananda-mahima chapter, He’s saying, “Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa, Krishna alone is the supreme controller, Svayam Bhagavan. Arsa bhṛtya, means everyone else is in the mood of a servant and interestingly enough that includes Balaram. So, Krishna’s first expansion, His other self Baladev, even though He is practically Krishna. Sometime they say, “What’s the difference?” Colour. Krishna’s Shyamasundar blackish, Baladev is showing the white complexion, some very minor differences, in one sense, on a tattva-level, but Baladev, He wants to serve Krishna, He wants to serve Krishna fully. One of His names is Ananta. So, Ananta means unlimited. So, He wants to serve Krishna, He has an unlimited desire to serve Krishna, as well as an unlimited capacity to serve Krishna. So, He serves in extraordinary ways, that we might not think of immediately. Such as, like wherever Krishna’s sitting, the throne, He become the throne. What about Krishna’s clothes? They can’t be ordinary clothes. They are also made out the spiritual substance. They are chinmoy. So, Baladev is the garments of Krishna, the sacred thread of Krishna, the umbrella of Krishna, the umbrella. In His service He becomes everything imaginable to serve Him. So, therefore, Ananta, unlimited. And it says, Shesh, Ananta Shesh. Shesh means many things, one thing it means, the end. Means He understands that the end of all things is service to Krishna. So, Ananta Shesh. In one of His forms, one of His bed forms, is as the divine serpent. Ananta Shesh with His thousands of heads, and we’re told since the beginning of time, before the beginning of time, that Ananta Shesh is singing the glories of Krishna, of Mahaprabhu, Gauranga Mahaprabhu and He is not exhausted His pastimes. [Is there any problem with that? It won’t burn, right? It’s not hot? Okay.]

#00:17:02#

So, when they were playing, this particular day, they’re palying Ram-lila, and Lakshman at one point, who is he fighting? Indrajit, I believe. So, the weapon they are using is a lotus flower, someone boy shoots a lotus flower, and the lotus flower hits Nityananda Prabhu, but He is in the mood of Lakshman, so He falls to the ground unconscious, as if dead. So all the boys start crying because it’s so realistic, then they call Hadai Pandit, His father, His mother, they come and everybody is crying, they don’t what to do, they can’t revive Him, He’s in this, it’s really, a bhav, and ecstasy, so He is in His divine ecstasy of being Lakshman in the Ramayan, and no one can bring Him back to life. And they’ve completely lost their minds at the thought of being separated from Him. But then they remember, one by one, some of the voice say, “Oh, He told us, if this happens there is a way we can revive Him.” What was that? That we have to play out the pastimes of the Ramayan. So that means one boy will have to be Hanuman, he’ll have to go to the Ganda-mandana, mountain, and there is a particular herb there and bring that back and to revive Him. But to do that, that boy will have encounter opposition along the way to fight the, so they start playing the pastimes, while His mother and father they are watching hopefully, and the boys are playing, and the Hanuman boy’s defeating the enemies, finally he goes to Ganda-mandana mountain, and we know Hanuman in the original he knows, this herb is located on this mountain top, but where it is exactly he doesn’t know. So, he is Hanuman, super servitor, he cuts the whole top of the mountain and we’ve seen in many places, Hanuman [laughs] is flying [laughs] and bringing the entire mountain, thinking like, “I figured I’ve got it covered (?)”[Laughs.] It’s in there somewhere, I don’t know exactly. [Laughs.] So, (?) if you can’t bring part of it, take the whole mountain. [Laughs.] So, he returns with that and they take the imaginary medicine and put it before Nityananda playing Lakshman, then gradually He’s revived and everyone is happy.

#00:19:53#

But as great as their happiness was, some sannyasi came vising their house. And their custom in the Vedic culture entertaining of hosting the sannyasis, they always say, “Is there anything else that you would like?” They are giving some prasadam, some place to stay. And that sannyasi told them, “I need an assistant. And your son would be a good assistant.” This is the culture that we cannot properly understand or estimate, it’s also a divine pastime. So, Nityananda Prabhu’s father has to give Nityananda Prabhu by divine arrangement to this visiting sannyasi and he takes Nityananda with him. We’re told Hadai Ojha, His father, became like a stone in separation from Nityananda Prabhu. In Ekachakra they say, his tears filled the nearby pukur, pond, that much crying came from the broken heart in separation of Nitynanda Prabhu’s father. They say for three months he was like a statue unmoving, he was so devastated by that separation.

#00:21:35#

But part of the back story is that Nityananda Prabhu in Ekachakra when He realized that Mahaprabhu was born, Nimai Pandit had appeared, He was waiting for Him, we told, He started roaring loudly, like a lion like roar that was so thunderous like the local people they felt to the ground, they thought it was earthquake, the sky was falling, they didn’t know what has happened. But that was His, like we see sometimes when someone is so relived at gaining something very valuable, like a victory of some kind, they let out, they’re making an intense display of feelings. So, He was so happy to hear that Mahaprabhu had appeared, but still knew it was not time for Them to rendezvous for Their pastimes to intersect. So, when He went with that sannyasi, He ended up touring India all these holy places, going to the South of India, this place, that place. And many years went by, twenty years actually.

#00:23:06#

But toward the end, when He was in Vrindavan, He found the house of Nanda Maharaj, where He and Krishna had Their childhood pastimes. We’re told He felt to the ground in ecstasy, crying and exhibiting ecstatic symptoms in remembrance of all of Their pastimes there, even though externally those places were not excavated of totally visible. Mahaprabhu later gave His instruction to Rupa and Sanatan, to Goswamis. But also He went to many temples. And by His description, He said He would go to the temple and see it was all covered is if there is not Deity there, no Krishna. And the people would say, “Krishna? He is in Navadwip now. He is not on the altar here any more, He is went to Navadwip, He’s appeared there.” So, that gave Him some indication, that it was time to rendezvous with Mahaprabhu. And around that time, Mahaprabhu is also having vision, dreams of Nityananda Prabhu, Balaram. Writing on His chariot furiously going towards Navadwip. So, He told His devotes to go searching Navadwip for this extraordinary personality. And no now could find Him, they’ve searched everywhere, they talk to many people, no one had news where he is. Then Mahaprabhu told one day, “Come with Me.” And He took them to the house of Nandan Acharya, where Guru Maharaj later told, Goswami Maharaj, Aprakrita Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj, established the Math. So, that’s the Nanda bhavan of Nandan Acharya, and Mahaprabhu brought all the devotees there, and then He and Nityananda Prabhu meet for the first time.

#00:25:39#

And Nityanada Prabhu He cannot believe the beauty of Mahaprabhu, how much Krishna who’s now rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa svarūpaṁ, He is enriched with heart and halo of Radharani. As someone asked Guru Maharaj once, if Krishna He is described in the Brahma-samhita as achintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁyaṁ śyāmasundaram achintya guṇa svarūpaṁ, inconceivably beautiful. How much beautiful? Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ, if ten million Cupids with their seductive charm, beauty personified as one that would be an indication of His beauty. And he said, so then what about the beauty of Mahaprabhu? And Guru Maharaj said in this way, “If Rupa Goswami in this particular analysis says of His innumerable qualities Krishna has sixty-four, that are prominent, and then Radharani amongst Her innumerable qualities has twenty-five that are prominent,” he says, “what would be the outcome of the combination of these sixty-four qualities of Krishna and twenty-five qualities of Radharani.” So, as inconceivably beautiful as Krishna is, Mahaprabhu is more so.

#00:27:11#

So, Guru Maharaj writes in Prama-dhama-deva-stotram, koṭi-kāma-mūrchchhitāṅghri-rūpa-rāsa-raṅgaraṁsvarṇa-koṭi-darpaṇābha-deha-varṇa-gauravaṁ, His body is like ten million brilliant mirrors made out of gold, if we made mirrors out of gold, ten million of them, that type of shining. Rupa Goswami says in Chaitanyashtakam,

#00:27:38#

rasoddāmā kāmārbuda-madhura-dhāmojjvala-tanur,
yatīnām uttaṁsas taraṇikara-vidyoti-vasanaḥ
hiraṇyāṇāṁ lakṣmī-bharam abhibhavann āṅgika-ruchā
sa chaitanyaḥ kiṁ me punar api dṛśor yāsyati padam

#00:27:57#

Rasoddāmā kāmārbuda, back to this, if ten million Cupids if full blown cupidity, it their full radiant Cupid-like stage, Cupid to the extreme, ten million of them, that’s rasoddām, rasik expression. Rasoddāmā kāmārbuda, madhura, that sweetness, madhur-ujjvala, radiant beautiful with that type of seductive beauty and charm, this is a hint at the beauty and sweetness of Mahaprabhu, and earlier what Guru Maharaj said in this shloka, ten million Cupids would faint to see the beauty of Mahaprabhu.

#00:29:00#

So, when Nityananda Prabhu sees the beauty of Mahaprabhu, He is dancing wildly, sometimes like galloping like a horse. Sometimes He just stops and starts laughing in divine ecstasy, hysterically, then at the other time He’s falling on the floor crying another time His body is shivering, shaking, hears are standing on the end, He’s running around like mad, devotees are trying to catch Him, they can’t catch Him, Mahaprabhu is trying to catch Him, then He’ll stop start laughing again, and He can’t believe it. And then finally Mahaprabhu catches Him and pulls Him on His lap. And Gadadhar Pandit is thinking, “Oh, look Ananta Shesh has been caught.” Who is normally a bed, ananta-sheshai, is the bed. Saying, “Oh, He has been caught. And now Nimai Pandit He is the bed, and Ananta Shesh is resting on Him.” It said His heart was smiling to see this. And then Nityananda finally, He is astonished to see Mahaprabhu, and He’s thinking, “Is this that Krishna We played in the yard of Nanda Maharaj, that Krishna who dances with the Vraja-gopis? Is it His really that Krishna?” So, Mahaprabhu told Shrivas Thakur, “Sing something appropriate.” And Shrivas Thakur started singing,

#00:30:48#

barhāpīḍaṁ naṭa-vara-vapuḥ karṇayoḥ karṇikāraṁ
bibhrad vāsaḥ kanaka-kapiśaṁ vaijayantīṁ ca mālām
randhrān veṇor adhara-sudhayāpūrayan gopa-vṛndair
vṛndāraṇyaṁ sva-pada-ramaṇaṁ prāviśad gīta-kīrtiḥ

#00:31:09#

It’s a description of Krishna and Balaram surrounded by the cowherd boys entering the Vrindavan forest in the morning, but it’s from the angle of vision of the Vraja-gopis, if we’re saying, “Who is seeing this?” Krishna and Balaram and the cowherd boys are who is being seen. So, who is seeing this, we can understand it’s Radharani and Her group, from Her veranda they are seeing this and saying, “Oh, Krishna with His peacock feather, how beautiful He looks, His curling hear, the vijayanti forest garland, and He looks like Natabara. Means in modern time means like a movie star. How these movie stars, their every gesture is just perfect, they always smiling perfectly, they move perfectly, they are dressed perfectly. Krishna is the ultimate movie star. Natabara… kanaka-kapiśaṁ vaijayantīṁ ca mālām randhrān veṇor adhara-sudhayāpūrayan, saying the, and He is sounding the flute, we’re saying, there is an endless stream of nectar coming from the mouth of Krishna that’s entering the flute and then showering out the flute in the form of sound nectar. So, the liquid nectar enters the flute and comes out as a shower of sound nectar and everyone is regulated by that. It tells Radharani and the Vraja-gopis their necessity, Nanda and Yashoda there, the cowherd boys, everyone is regulated by the flute sound of Krishna. And then it says, vṛndāraṇyaṁ sva-pada-ramaṇaṁ prāviśad gīta-kīrtiḥ, singing, dancing and they’re (?) or dancing upon the earth She is shivering in conjugal ecstasy in response. And when Nityananda hears that it brings about such an intense remembrance of Vrindavan that He loses consciousness and faints, He’s already on the lap of Nimai Pandit at that point.

#00:33:41#

So, and there we’re told, that here usually the servitor defeats the Lord. But here the Lord, it’s a rare instance when Krishna is defeating His devotee. But is that devotee? It’s nonless than Baladev, Balaram, Nityananda Ram, Nityananda Prabhu. And Srila Saraswati Thakur makes a point about what he calls the sevya-vigraha and the sevak-vigraha, saying, “Krishna is the object of service,” like we told ashraya-vigraha, “But ashraya-vigraha of the sevak-vigraha is personified as Baladev.” So, if you don’t worship the ashraya, or the sevak-vigraha, you’re not really worshipping the seva-vigraha, you have no real capacity to do that. So, that Baladev covers all the rasas up to vatsalya and madhura. Guru Maharaj has put it in the phrase, by saying, “Who serves Krishna best is who serves Radharani best. Who serves Radharani best serves Krishna best.” Same principle here. Without Nitai, heno nitāi bine bhāi, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi, without focusing on the service of the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu, rādhā-kṛṣṇa-nitya-līlā, Their pastimes, Their seva is fictitious, it’s insubstantial. Nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe, and in many places, especially in Chaitanya Bhagavat, Mahaprabhu is saying, “If someone doesn’t have love and affection for Nityananda Prabhu they cannot be My real devotee.” He is saying, “If someone has even a remote tinge of envy for Him, they’ll never get My connection.”

#00:36:01#

And, who was it? Someone came and was going to give dandavats to Mahaprabhu first and He stopped him and said, “No, you first give your dandavats to Nityananda Prabhu and then Me.” And one day Mahaprabhu really He wanted to worship Nityananda Prabhu, find some excuse to worship Him. Devotees always wondering about Him little bit. He is told the avadhut. Avadhut means no rules, no regulations, no social, you can’t figure him out. [Laughs.] Some of you are smiling. And understand, if Gurudev gives some name to someone it’s not an accident. And Gurudev told me once too, previously one man had a great love for Srila Gurudev, Srila Govinda Maharaj, he said, “You know, if your name wasn’t Govinda Maharaj, it could have been Avadhut Maharaj.” And he was very happy about that, he liked that very much. It was meant as a very high compliment. “If it wasn’t Govinda Maharaj, you could have been Avadhut Maharaj.” [Laugh.] Really, he told me that once.

#00:37:29#

So, how is he an avadhut? Sometimes He come to the house of Shrivas Thakur, they open the door, He is naked. [Laugh.] And He is in the mood of a child. And Shrivas Thakur’s wife is Malini, and suddenly her breast will fill with milk, and Nityananda Prabhu who is like seven foot six, means over two meters, He sits on her lap and starts sucking her breast out. [Laugh.] And all the devotees are just, “Hare Krishna. Jai Nitai! Doyal Nitai!” And what Mahaprabhu is thinking, that’s what love and affection, “Oh, there is some who will think, ‘Oh, that’s bizarre,’ who don’t have so much faith.” So, once He took His kaupin, His underwear, and gave pieces of this underwear to everyone, and said, “If you put this on your head or wear as an amulet, you’ll get sense control.” You will. So, they realize dealing with Him, Mahaprabhu said, “Oh, I want you to engage in Vyasa-puja, that’s coming up, so, it’ll be nice if you’ll do the Vyasa-puja.” Mahaprabhu was thinking this is the way that we will be able to worship Nityananda Prabhu. Really, they were meant to worship Vyas, but he’ll be the agent for worshiping Vyas.

#00:39:10#

So, was it Shrivas Thakur? They made the arrangements and interestingly, it just sounds so much like the Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Shrivas Thakur says, “I’ll have to get one book.” Like we basically know how to do this, but we also need one book to refer to. [Laughs.] So, they get all the garlands, paraphernalia together and so Shrivas Thakur were saying, “And now the archak, you will take the garlands and worship Vyasadev.” He’s giving instructions to Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu is like, takes the garland and starts muddering (?) some things, some things that no one can understand, they are inexplicable. And he is frozen. And Shrivas Thakur says, “You’re Nityananda. He is hesitating to worship Vyasadev and like this is time. The auspicious time has come to worship Vyas, and Mahaprabhu (?) says, “Dear Nitai, now is the time, You must give the garland to Vyas.” Nityananda takes the garland, puts on Mahaprabhu. [Laughs.] And they are worshiping Mahaprabhu. [Laugh.]

#00:40:57#

Guru Maharaj told, “To not know the glories of Nityananda Prabhu is like not knowing who your mother is.” That level. And he said, vidyā-kule ki koribe tār, Guru Maharaj said, in this line of the Narottam song it is an illusion to those who do not properly recognize Nityananda Prabhu like the three non bona-fide sons of Advaita Acharya, cause that means vidyā-kul, here that, they think they know so much Scripture of my family line is so great. Some of them thought that Nityananda is not necessary, we’re worshipers of Advaita. Things like that. So, it’s mentioned there by Narottam Thakur also in the Chaitanya Bhagavat, Vrindavan Das Thakur who is his heart core associate and follower, he will say, cause really Chaitanya Bhagavat is the where you find extensive descriptions of the glories of Nityananda Prabhu. Sometimes will say, “After all this (?) I am telling you, imploring you to follow the lotus feet of Gaur-Nityananda, They’ll save you, They’ll rescue you, accept Their mercy.” He said, “After all this pleading, all this (?), if you don’t take this mercy, then I want to kick your face in with my left foot.”

#00:42:49#

And so some people would go like, “Oh! How can he say that? That’s not humble. That’s not humility.” Kaviraj Goswami says, jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha, I’m more sinful than Jagai and Madhai, if you hear my name, you’ll lose all your pious credits, if you vibrate my name, you’ll go to hell.” That’s humility of the Vaishnava, and here Vrindavan Das is saying, “If you don’t accept the lotus feet of Nityananda, Gaur-Nityananda, I’ll kick your face with my left foot, that’s even more insulting.” And how will we respond? And Guru Maharaj said, Saraswati Thakur said, “Oh, in this way he has opened a new channel for the Lord’s mercy.” How? And he said, “Like sometimes a child, their parents they have little children with them, especially in the West we’ve seen this too, sometimes they’re introducing or having conversation and then a little kid says something really offensive, or tries to kick somebody, and the parents they have to compensate for the misbehavior of the child and give themselves to that person. He said, so here, “If Nityananda Prabhu,” this is sort of the end of the line, as far as divine mercy comes unless you take, factor in Virachandra Prabhu, His son. So by Vrindavan Das giving a kick then Gaur-Nityananda have to come and offer Themselves to that person as compensation. [Laugh.] So, Saraswati Thakur said, “In this way, he’s opened a new channel.” [Laughs.]

#00:44:55#

And we know so much love and affection Srila Gurudev had for Nityananda Prabhu, we can talk about this, we can repeat things we’ve read, but I think, when I think of interacting with his divine grace, when he would talk about Nityananda Prabhu, there is so much love and affection in his words, in his feelings, his emotions. He would happily think about what Nityananda Prabhu would eat for breakfast. And once when we were at Math and some prasadam was being served, and he asked one devotee like, “Oh, how do you like this particular preparation?” And they sort of naively said, “Oh, I don’t like that one so much, I like some of the other ones better.” And Gurudev he was so hurt, he said, “That was the favorite preparation of Hadai Pandit, Nityananda Prabhu’s father.” Like his heart was pained by that kind of thing. And in his final days, few years back, when being discussed whether he would go for the opening of Ekachakra, the one festival, they were making arrangement to take him by helicopter. He’s showed this picture of Nityananda Prabhu from Nitai Bari, His house stair in Ekachakra, with the Deity of Nityananda is there. And form a distance I thought, “Oh, is it Mahaprabhu?” Like it looked a little like Mahaprabhu Bari. But he said, “This is Nityananda Prabhu. You will not see a more beautiful Nityananda Prabhu than here.” And then as if my reaction wasn’t great enough he said, “Maharaj, I am telling you, you will not see a more beautiful Nityananda than you will see here. And you will go there.”

#00:47:14#

And as Keshava Maharaj and others said he is a satya bhak (?), what he says will come true, so in fact we got to go there last year and see the beauty of the Deity in there. But the only our mixed feeling were that, when we came to the Chaitanya Saraswat Math as inaugurated by Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj, and we saw Gaur and Nityananda, that darshan, cause Acharya Maharaj took us there the evening before the Maharaja’s to see if everything was alright and we were shocked at the beauty of Gaur and Nitai in Ekachakra. And we were also thinking, as Guru Maharaj sometimes told us, when some wonderful Hari-katha was going on, he would say, “Oh, on this moment, perhaps our Guru Maharaj and your Guru Maharaj, they are looking down upon this divine transaction and showering some mercy and blessings.” So, we thought, when we saw the beauty. And I think those who were there, some of you were there, everyone was shocked to see how beautiful these Deities were and the beauty of Their outfits and ornaments. They were wearing turbans. And They’re also, as per Gurudev’s order seven foot six, that size. So, we all felt I think that Srila Gurudev, Srila Guru Maharaj, the Guru-varga, they were looking down and very happy at this.

#00:49:21#

And I think of the local place here, “Grace extended.” That is our theme, grace extended, I like that very much. That’s the concept. Vishtara. Sometimes Guru Maharaj would say, “Gaur and Nityananda started a business and Swami Maharaj took it to America.” [Laughs.] Cause he’s always like the representative of Bengal, so he said, “They’ve started a business, he took it to America.” The rest his history. So, that’s the family business of the achyuta-gotra is grace extended. And there is no more gracious extension than the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu. Nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭī-chandra-suśītala, told ten million moons, like sometimes it’s very hot, like in Thailand and India as well, like the moon will come and you can feel some kind of coolness coming from it, it’s a cooking, soothing to the soul, the body, mind, soul. But we’re told, how soothing are the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu? Koṭī-chandra-suśītala, as if ten million moons, what kind of cool would we feel from that? And relieve. So, we’re very fortunate to be able to remember Him and His divine pastimes at this time.

#00:51:16#

If we want to get a connection with Gauranga. Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu go to Bengal to preach, beacause as indicated by Swami Maharaj and Guru Maharaj, he said, “The Bengalis are hard nut to crack.” So, they needed the maximum strength dose, which means Nityananda Prabhu, he’s giving that assignment, but Mahaprabhu says, “Go, tell them about Krishna! Kṛṣṇa-nām, everything Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.” And what does Nityananda Prabhu say?

#00:51:54#

Bhaja gaurāṅga kaha gaurāṅga laha gaurāṅgera nām, worship Gauranga, talk about Gauranga, take the name of Gauranga. What are we told was Shivananda Sen’s personal mantra to his ishta-devata, (?) mantra, gaura-anga. Who was it he told him one of the great devotees that he was wondering. Do you recall who that was? Was it like Nrisinghananda (?) Brahmachari. One of them. And Shivananda Sen, “I’m wondering did Mahaprabhu really (?)? I’ll just hide in the corner, and if He knows what my actual mantra is.” And they send to him, and go, “He wants to speak to you. Is there Shivananda Sen here?” They bring him in and he says, gaura-anga, you don’t need to fear, you don’t need to hide it anymore. He realizes he is substantial. So, anyway, why?

#00:53:04#

Because why is Nityananda Prabhu apparently violating Mahaprabhu’s order. Because He knows really what’s been expressed perfectly by Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur,

yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde,
vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāsiḥ
tathā tathotsarpati hṛdy akāsmad,
rādhā-padāmbhoja-sudhambu-rāsiḥ,

that if we want a substantial connection with Krishna, with Radha-Krishna, Radha-Krishna-nitya-lila, that divine abode those who are sukriti-van, as in,

#00:53:44#

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

refines theistic intellect, they’ll realize, the entrance into the Vrindavan is through the Navadwip, the entrance into the pastimes of Radha and Krishna at the lotus feet of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. So, Nityananda promote that saying, “If bring them in connection with Gauranga then automatically they get a substantial connection with Radha-Govinda.” Hare Krishna. Nityananda Prabhu avirbhav maha-mahotsava ki ki ki jai!

#00:54:28#

Manasa, can you sing like Nitāi-pada-kamala? It’s already been sung, but sing it one more time. Now is our evening, the moon edition. The moon shine edition to koṭī-chandra-suśītala.

#00:54:56#

And one last thing. Gurudev’s saying, Guru Maharaj got the mystic transmission of the Rupanuga-line from Saraswati Thakur, Gurudev said, everyone knows Guru Maharaj is Rupa Goswami’s men, so, why is he always taking the name of Nityananda? Doyal Nitai, Doyal Nitai. Cause Guru Maharaj said, Krishna Consciousness is so high, so inconceivably wonderful and high, sometimes in discussing it maybe we didn’t express something properly, maybe we committed some offense, “So, if I take the name of Nityananda and return to the foundation, then my position, I’ll be reinstated to my rightful position to lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu, so, I am always praying for the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu too to readjust myself, reposition myself, we know if we’re repositioned at the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu how fortunate we are. Hare Krishna.

Transcribed by Nalina Sundari Devi Dasi
Edited by Tradish Das




←  «Нитьянанда Прабху». Шрила Б. С. Госвами Махарадж. 10 февраля 2006 года. Лахта, Санкт-Петербург | “Nityananda Prabhu.” Srila B. S. Goswami Maharaj. February 10, 2006. Lakhta, Saint Petersburg ·• Архив новостей •· «Безграничная и безусловная милость Нитьянанды Прабху». Шрила Б. С. Говинда Дев-Госвами Махарадж. 15 февраля 2003 года. Навадвипа Дхама, Индия | “The Unlimited, Unconditional Mercy of Nityananda Prabhu.” Srila B. S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. 15 February 2003. Nabadwip Dham, India
 →

English

Srila Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaj 

About Nityananda-Balarama

(February 5, 2012. Gupta Govardhan)

https://mahamandala.com/en/audios/362

 

Goswami Maharaj: Singing songs about how happy my life is on the Volga river. Thames? And there is a festival, and they have (?), and this girl was dressed in traditional Russian dress, and singing this song, like Jamuna, saying, “How happy I am, my life was (?) on the Volga river.” And it was like Vrindavan that mood. Are you okay?

Sadhu Priya Prabhu: Almost. And I’ve thirty seconds.

#00:00:44#

Goswami Maharaj: Right. If you cannot count in Australian, then the stuff has some kick. We know that Mahaprabhu, when He is Nimai Pandit, sometimes He is taking the mood of Nityananda Prabhu and sitting as though He is Balaram and telling Him, “Give Me Your plough,” as Balaram’s weapon is the plough. Well, not weapon, He carries it (?), He can use it that way too. What are the two things? Or the (?) and the plough. So, Mahaprabhu takes the paraphernalia of Nityananda, and They are very happy to see that. And… [Laughs.] And at one point He says, “Give Me vine.” He (?) to be in the bhav of Balaram-Nityananda, “Give Me vine.” And the devotees are just thinking, “What should we do?” Because Balaram is famous for drinking the varuni, some intoxicating type of beverage.

#00:02:08#

We hear from Rupa Goswami in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, that once Baladev in such a mood of intoxication, he told the Jamuna river, “Come here!” and she was afraid to approach Him while He was intoxicated, so she was shrinking away. And with His plough Baladev started dragging the Earth close to the end and Jamuna was coming forcefully that way. And Rupa Goswami says, offer some prayer like, “We pray that Baladev will be pleased with us, when He is in this particular mood.” He said, “Because I could in My mood right now My happiness is such, I could destroy all the universes and everyone in it, and Krishna wouldn’t be angry.” He’d be happy with me, because if Baladev did decide to do something like that, then everybody immediately becomes liberated. Saying, “Not that I will, but I could.”

#00:03:17#

So, when Mahaprabhu start saying, “Give Me vine!” Devotees are thinking, what to do. They take some Ganga-jal, water from the Ganges, and they give that to Mahaprabhu and that He is drinking and exhibiting His divine intoxicate mood. [He is okay? Just playing.] Nityananda Prabhu, He is playing as a child, like right now as we speak, Srila Avadhut Maharaj and Srila Acharya Maharaj, they are in Ekachakra, which is the birth place of Nityananda Prabhu, it’s also the birth place of Chaitanya Saraswat Math in one sense, because that’s where Srila Guru Maharaj prostrated before the, what do they call it? Place of birth, the house of birth, something like bandha-garhi-griha, something. Gopal, what is it called, means birth house, bandha-garbhi, garbha-bari, is it garbha-bari? Garbha-bari.

Nitya Gopal Prabhu: Garbha-stan.

#00:04:57#

Goswami Maharaj: Right. Garbha-stan. Yes, I am thinking of the Guru Maharaja’s sloka. But so that’s where Guru Maharaj lied prostrated saying to Nityananda Prabhu, “You are the dhameshvara, means like the governor of Navadwip.” The person who decides whether you get a visa or not.

#00:05:20#

Many times Guru Maharaj would say, “Passport is insufficient.” It’s good to have a passport, we all know that, everybody here knows that. We don’t have even our Thai ambassador this evening, Krishnapriya Devi, but she is here with us in spirit. So, to get here you have to be given a visa, which means someone has to decide that it’s the interest of the land, that you’re trying to enter for you to come. You’ve already expressed your interest, that is well and good, but the representative of that land needs to say, “Yes, we believe it’s in the interest of our plane to give you a visa to enter. It’s alright.”

#00:06:20#

So, Guru Maharaj his thinking is always very fine and perfect, before he moves or does anything. So, he’s thinking to spend his final days in Navadwip-dham. Because it’s been said that Vrindavan is for the highest section of the liberated souls, only they can be given admission there. So, humbly Guru Maharaj thought, “But we’re told, the non-liberated, they’ll find their fortune in Navadwip.” So, humbly he approach Navadwip. But before going to Navadwip, this is again that refined thinking, “He thinks, Nityananda Prabhu is the dhameshvar, I must first get his permission, so, he goes to Ekachakra. And up to that time, we should also say, that Srila Guru Maharaj was hesitating to accept any disciples. Like Srila Prabhupad’s sister, Pishima, Bhavatarini, she wanted connection with Guru Maharaj, she had first initiation from Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur, and wanted to take second initiation from Srila Guru Maharaj, but Guru Maharaj is humbly deferring, declining, and send her to Aprakrita Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj.

#00:07:48#

So, Guru Maharaj not initiating anyone up to that point even though people were asking. So, he went before Nityananda Prabhu, and prayed, “You’re patita-pavana,” it means, the savior of the most fallen. Sometimes Guru Maharaj will say, “Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy has the greatest disinfecting potency,” like sometimes we need to disinfect something to clean some area, saying, “Nityananda Prabhu, this is the extreme disinfectant for the impure heart, the sinful,” as we find in the pastimes of Jagai and Madhai, the two leading sinners of the day, were saved by the grace of Nityananda Prabhu. So, anyway, Guru Maharaj is lying there, saying, “You’re patita-pavana, please, give me shelter in Navadwip.” And Guru Maharaj said, in his heart he was filled with this inspiration from Nityananda Prabhu, hearing Nityananda’s saying, “But you do not, you’re hesitating to give shelter to the fallen.” Because he wouldn’t initiate. He said, “If you will give shelter to the fallen, then I’ll give you shelter there.” So, that and a few other things in Guru Maharaja’s mind convinced him that he would precede to which part of the Navadwip? What is called aparadh-bhajaner-path, where all the offenders were forgiven their offenses, and there modestly, humbly, you establish Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and those who would come for his connection. We’re very fortunate, that Srila Guru Maharaj would give them the grace of Nityananda Prabhu.

#00:10:02#

So, in that place, in Ekachakra, Nityananda Prabhu lived there for twelve years, His childhood pastimes, and one of His favourite things was to organize lila, play with the other boys of the village. So, He like to do Krishna-lila, Ram-lila, other pastimes and the older people they would, they’re all, we’re told, by the grace of Nityananda Prabhu, He prevented them from understanding totally who He is. So, they are thinking, He is this wonderful boy, that they all love and sometimes they are saying, “How does He know so much about Krishna-lila?” He is Balaram, of Krishna and Balaram (?). He is Balaram, He knows everything about Krishna-lila, but they are surprised, “When He organizes the other children the pastimes are so realistic.” Sometimes from leafs he creates Kaliya, and they have the Kaliya pastime. And many things. But what’s giving particular note there, one thing is that how much love and affection everyone in the village had for Nityananda Prabhu, saying the mothers and fathers loved Him more than their own children, and we know how much a parent loves their own child. But they had even more love and affection for Him, and if they are holding Him on the lap they didn’t want Him to ever go. The boys who are playing with Him, night would come, but no one wants to go home.

#00:11:55#

So, once He’s thinking of the pastimes of the Ramayan. And there of course He plays the part of the Lakshman, and this is of peculiar interest, that normally, Balaram is the elder brother of Krishna, like Ramanuja, name means Krishna, who is the younger brother of Rama. So, He is generally in that elder position, which means that His friendship, there is a little element of vatsalya-rasa, which means concern, care, protection of someone who is younger. But in the Ram-lila, their positions are reversed, Lakshman is the younger brother, and Ramachandra is the elder. So, when Ramachandra is banished, Lakshman wants to protest that, and prevent that from happening, but Ramachandra gives the order to abide by His wish, and he has to follow that.

#00:13:08#

So, Guru Maharaj said, as if like they discuss, as they do, different pastimes, we hear in Chaitanya Bhagavat, sometimes they gesture to one another, no one can understand the hand gestures of Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, They’re talking a secret language, many things. So, once having a private conversation, Nityananda Prabhu is saying, “Those are not My favorite pastimes, because My heart flow is restricted to a certain level, I like when I am the elder brother, and I then can care for You and fully serve You.” Cause it mentioned by Kaviraj Goswami in Chaitanya-charitamrita, says, ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa arsa bhṛtya, in the Nityananda-mahima chapter, He’s saying, “Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa, Krishna alone is the supreme controller, Svayam Bhagavan. Arsa bhṛtya, means everyone else is in the mood of a servant and interestingly enough that includes Balaram. So, Krishna’s first expansion, His other self Baladev, even though He is practically Krishna. Sometime they say, “What’s the difference?” Colour. Krishna’s Shyamasundar blackish, Baladev is showing the white complexion, some very minor differences, in one sense, on a tattva-level, but Baladev, He wants to serve Krishna, He wants to serve Krishna fully. One of His names is Ananta. So, Ananta means unlimited. So, He wants to serve Krishna, He has an unlimited desire to serve Krishna, as well as an unlimited capacity to serve Krishna. So, He serves in extraordinary ways, that we might not think of immediately. Such as, like wherever Krishna’s sitting, the throne, He become the throne. What about Krishna’s clothes? They can’t be ordinary clothes. They are also made out the spiritual substance. They are chinmoy. So, Baladev is the garments of Krishna, the sacred thread of Krishna, the umbrella of Krishna, the umbrella. In His service He becomes everything imaginable to serve Him. So, therefore, Ananta, unlimited. And it says, Shesh, Ananta Shesh. Shesh means many things, one thing it means, the end. Means He understands that the end of all things is service to Krishna. So, Ananta Shesh. In one of His forms, one of His bed forms, is as the divine serpent. Ananta Shesh with His thousands of heads, and we’re told since the beginning of time, before the beginning of time, that Ananta Shesh is singing the glories of Krishna, of Mahaprabhu, Gauranga Mahaprabhu and He is not exhausted His pastimes. [Is there any problem with that? It won’t burn, right? It’s not hot? Okay.]

#00:17:02#

So, when they were playing, this particular day, they’re palying Ram-lila, and Lakshman at one point, who is he fighting? Indrajit, I believe. So, the weapon they are using is a lotus flower, someone boy shoots a lotus flower, and the lotus flower hits Nityananda Prabhu, but He is in the mood of Lakshman, so He falls to the ground unconscious, as if dead. So all the boys start crying because it’s so realistic, then they call Hadai Pandit, His father, His mother, they come and everybody is crying, they don’t what to do, they can’t revive Him, He’s in this, it’s really, a bhav, and ecstasy, so He is in His divine ecstasy of being Lakshman in the Ramayan, and no one can bring Him back to life. And they’ve completely lost their minds at the thought of being separated from Him. But then they remember, one by one, some of the voice say, “Oh, He told us, if this happens there is a way we can revive Him.” What was that? That we have to play out the pastimes of the Ramayan. So that means one boy will have to be Hanuman, he’ll have to go to the Ganda-mandana, mountain, and there is a particular herb there and bring that back and to revive Him. But to do that, that boy will have encounter opposition along the way to fight the, so they start playing the pastimes, while His mother and father they are watching hopefully, and the boys are playing, and the Hanuman boy’s defeating the enemies, finally he goes to Ganda-mandana mountain, and we know Hanuman in the original he knows, this herb is located on this mountain top, but where it is exactly he doesn’t know. So, he is Hanuman, super servitor, he cuts the whole top of the mountain and we’ve seen in many places, Hanuman [laughs] is flying [laughs] and bringing the entire mountain, thinking like, “I figured I’ve got it covered (?)”[Laughs.] It’s in there somewhere, I don’t know exactly. [Laughs.] So, (?) if you can’t bring part of it, take the whole mountain. [Laughs.] So, he returns with that and they take the imaginary medicine and put it before Nityananda playing Lakshman, then gradually He’s revived and everyone is happy.

#00:19:53#

But as great as their happiness was, some sannyasi came vising their house. And their custom in the Vedic culture entertaining of hosting the sannyasis, they always say, “Is there anything else that you would like?” They are giving some prasadam, some place to stay. And that sannyasi told them, “I need an assistant. And your son would be a good assistant.” This is the culture that we cannot properly understand or estimate, it’s also a divine pastime. So, Nityananda Prabhu’s father has to give Nityananda Prabhu by divine arrangement to this visiting sannyasi and he takes Nityananda with him. We’re told Hadai Ojha, His father, became like a stone in separation from Nityananda Prabhu. In Ekachakra they say, his tears filled the nearby pukur, pond, that much crying came from the broken heart in separation of Nitynanda Prabhu’s father. They say for three months he was like a statue unmoving, he was so devastated by that separation.

#00:21:35#

But part of the back story is that Nityananda Prabhu in Ekachakra when He realized that Mahaprabhu was born, Nimai Pandit had appeared, He was waiting for Him, we told, He started roaring loudly, like a lion like roar that was so thunderous like the local people they felt to the ground, they thought it was earthquake, the sky was falling, they didn’t know what has happened. But that was His, like we see sometimes when someone is so relived at gaining something very valuable, like a victory of some kind, they let out, they’re making an intense display of feelings. So, He was so happy to hear that Mahaprabhu had appeared, but still knew it was not time for Them to rendezvous for Their pastimes to intersect. So, when He went with that sannyasi, He ended up touring India all these holy places, going to the South of India, this place, that place. And many years went by, twenty years actually.

#00:23:06#

But toward the end, when He was in Vrindavan, He found the house of Nanda Maharaj, where He and Krishna had Their childhood pastimes. We’re told He felt to the ground in ecstasy, crying and exhibiting ecstatic symptoms in remembrance of all of Their pastimes there, even though externally those places were not excavated of totally visible. Mahaprabhu later gave His instruction to Rupa and Sanatan, to Goswamis. But also He went to many temples. And by His description, He said He would go to the temple and see it was all covered is if there is not Deity there, no Krishna. And the people would say, “Krishna? He is in Navadwip now. He is not on the altar here any more, He is went to Navadwip, He’s appeared there.” So, that gave Him some indication, that it was time to rendezvous with Mahaprabhu. And around that time, Mahaprabhu is also having vision, dreams of Nityananda Prabhu, Balaram. Writing on His chariot furiously going towards Navadwip. So, He told His devotes to go searching Navadwip for this extraordinary personality. And no now could find Him, they’ve searched everywhere, they talk to many people, no one had news where he is. Then Mahaprabhu told one day, “Come with Me.” And He took them to the house of Nandan Acharya, where Guru Maharaj later told, Goswami Maharaj, Aprakrita Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj, established the Math. So, that’s the Nanda bhavan of Nandan Acharya, and Mahaprabhu brought all the devotees there, and then He and Nityananda Prabhu meet for the first time.

#00:25:39#

And Nityanada Prabhu He cannot believe the beauty of Mahaprabhu, how much Krishna who’s now rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa svarūpaṁ, He is enriched with heart and halo of Radharani. As someone asked Guru Maharaj once, if Krishna He is described in the Brahma-samhita as achintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁyaṁ śyāmasundaram achintya guṇa svarūpaṁ, inconceivably beautiful. How much beautiful? Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ, if ten million Cupids with their seductive charm, beauty personified as one that would be an indication of His beauty. And he said, so then what about the beauty of Mahaprabhu? And Guru Maharaj said in this way, “If Rupa Goswami in this particular analysis says of His innumerable qualities Krishna has sixty-four, that are prominent, and then Radharani amongst Her innumerable qualities has twenty-five that are prominent,” he says, “what would be the outcome of the combination of these sixty-four qualities of Krishna and twenty-five qualities of Radharani.” So, as inconceivably beautiful as Krishna is, Mahaprabhu is more so.

#00:27:11#

So, Guru Maharaj writes in Prama-dhama-deva-stotram, koṭi-kāma-mūrchchhitāṅghri-rūpa-rāsa-raṅgaraṁsvarṇa-koṭi-darpaṇābha-deha-varṇa-gauravaṁ, His body is like ten million brilliant mirrors made out of gold, if we made mirrors out of gold, ten million of them, that type of shining. Rupa Goswami says in Chaitanyashtakam,

#00:27:38#

rasoddāmā kāmārbuda-madhura-dhāmojjvala-tanur,
yatīnām uttaṁsas taraṇikara-vidyoti-vasanaḥ
hiraṇyāṇāṁ lakṣmī-bharam abhibhavann āṅgika-ruchā
sa chaitanyaḥ kiṁ me punar api dṛśor yāsyati padam

#00:27:57#

Rasoddāmā kāmārbuda, back to this, if ten million Cupids if full blown cupidity, it their full radiant Cupid-like stage, Cupid to the extreme, ten million of them, that’s rasoddām, rasik expression. Rasoddāmā kāmārbuda, madhura, that sweetness, madhur-ujjvala, radiant beautiful with that type of seductive beauty and charm, this is a hint at the beauty and sweetness of Mahaprabhu, and earlier what Guru Maharaj said in this shloka, ten million Cupids would faint to see the beauty of Mahaprabhu.

#00:29:00#

So, when Nityananda Prabhu sees the beauty of Mahaprabhu, He is dancing wildly, sometimes like galloping like a horse. Sometimes He just stops and starts laughing in divine ecstasy, hysterically, then at the other time He’s falling on the floor crying another time His body is shivering, shaking, hears are standing on the end, He’s running around like mad, devotees are trying to catch Him, they can’t catch Him, Mahaprabhu is trying to catch Him, then He’ll stop start laughing again, and He can’t believe it. And then finally Mahaprabhu catches Him and pulls Him on His lap. And Gadadhar Pandit is thinking, “Oh, look Ananta Shesh has been caught.” Who is normally a bed, ananta-sheshai, is the bed. Saying, “Oh, He has been caught. And now Nimai Pandit He is the bed, and Ananta Shesh is resting on Him.” It said His heart was smiling to see this. And then Nityananda finally, He is astonished to see Mahaprabhu, and He’s thinking, “Is this that Krishna We played in the yard of Nanda Maharaj, that Krishna who dances with the Vraja-gopis? Is it His really that Krishna?” So, Mahaprabhu told Shrivas Thakur, “Sing something appropriate.” And Shrivas Thakur started singing,

#00:30:48#

barhāpīḍaṁ naṭa-vara-vapuḥ karṇayoḥ karṇikāraṁ
bibhrad vāsaḥ kanaka-kapiśaṁ vaijayantīṁ ca mālām
randhrān veṇor adhara-sudhayāpūrayan gopa-vṛndair
vṛndāraṇyaṁ sva-pada-ramaṇaṁ prāviśad gīta-kīrtiḥ

#00:31:09#

It’s a description of Krishna and Balaram surrounded by the cowherd boys entering the Vrindavan forest in the morning, but it’s from the angle of vision of the Vraja-gopis, if we’re saying, “Who is seeing this?” Krishna and Balaram and the cowherd boys are who is being seen. So, who is seeing this, we can understand it’s Radharani and Her group, from Her veranda they are seeing this and saying, “Oh, Krishna with His peacock feather, how beautiful He looks, His curling hear, the vijayanti forest garland, and He looks like Natabara. Means in modern time means like a movie star. How these movie stars, their every gesture is just perfect, they always smiling perfectly, they move perfectly, they are dressed perfectly. Krishna is the ultimate movie star. Natabara… kanaka-kapiśaṁ vaijayantīṁ ca mālām randhrān veṇor adhara-sudhayāpūrayan, saying the, and He is sounding the flute, we’re saying, there is an endless stream of nectar coming from the mouth of Krishna that’s entering the flute and then showering out the flute in the form of sound nectar. So, the liquid nectar enters the flute and comes out as a shower of sound nectar and everyone is regulated by that. It tells Radharani and the Vraja-gopis their necessity, Nanda and Yashoda there, the cowherd boys, everyone is regulated by the flute sound of Krishna. And then it says, vṛndāraṇyaṁ sva-pada-ramaṇaṁ prāviśad gīta-kīrtiḥ, singing, dancing and they’re (?) or dancing upon the earth She is shivering in conjugal ecstasy in response. And when Nityananda hears that it brings about such an intense remembrance of Vrindavan that He loses consciousness and faints, He’s already on the lap of Nimai Pandit at that point.

#00:33:41#

So, and there we’re told, that here usually the servitor defeats the Lord. But here the Lord, it’s a rare instance when Krishna is defeating His devotee. But is that devotee? It’s nonless than Baladev, Balaram, Nityananda Ram, Nityananda Prabhu. And Srila Saraswati Thakur makes a point about what he calls the sevya-vigraha and the sevak-vigraha, saying, “Krishna is the object of service,” like we told ashraya-vigraha, “But ashraya-vigraha of the sevak-vigraha is personified as Baladev.” So, if you don’t worship the ashraya, or the sevak-vigraha, you’re not really worshipping the seva-vigraha, you have no real capacity to do that. So, that Baladev covers all the rasas up to vatsalya and madhura. Guru Maharaj has put it in the phrase, by saying, “Who serves Krishna best is who serves Radharani best. Who serves Radharani best serves Krishna best.” Same principle here. Without Nitai, heno nitāi bine bhāi, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi, without focusing on the service of the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu, rādhā-kṛṣṇa-nitya-līlā, Their pastimes, Their seva is fictitious, it’s insubstantial. Nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe, and in many places, especially in Chaitanya Bhagavat, Mahaprabhu is saying, “If someone doesn’t have love and affection for Nityananda Prabhu they cannot be My real devotee.” He is saying, “If someone has even a remote tinge of envy for Him, they’ll never get My connection.”

#00:36:01#

And, who was it? Someone came and was going to give dandavats to Mahaprabhu first and He stopped him and said, “No, you first give your dandavats to Nityananda Prabhu and then Me.” And one day Mahaprabhu really He wanted to worship Nityananda Prabhu, find some excuse to worship Him. Devotees always wondering about Him little bit. He is told the avadhut. Avadhut means no rules, no regulations, no social, you can’t figure him out. [Laughs.] Some of you are smiling. And understand, if Gurudev gives some name to someone it’s not an accident. And Gurudev told me once too, previously one man had a great love for Srila Gurudev, Srila Govinda Maharaj, he said, “You know, if your name wasn’t Govinda Maharaj, it could have been Avadhut Maharaj.” And he was very happy about that, he liked that very much. It was meant as a very high compliment. “If it wasn’t Govinda Maharaj, you could have been Avadhut Maharaj.” [Laugh.] Really, he told me that once.

#00:37:29#

So, how is he an avadhut? Sometimes He come to the house of Shrivas Thakur, they open the door, He is naked. [Laugh.] And He is in the mood of a child. And Shrivas Thakur’s wife is Malini, and suddenly her breast will fill with milk, and Nityananda Prabhu who is like seven foot six, means over two meters, He sits on her lap and starts sucking her breast out. [Laugh.] And all the devotees are just, “Hare Krishna. Jai Nitai! Doyal Nitai!” And what Mahaprabhu is thinking, that’s what love and affection, “Oh, there is some who will think, ‘Oh, that’s bizarre,’ who don’t have so much faith.” So, once He took His kaupin, His underwear, and gave pieces of this underwear to everyone, and said, “If you put this on your head or wear as an amulet, you’ll get sense control.” You will. So, they realize dealing with Him, Mahaprabhu said, “Oh, I want you to engage in Vyasa-puja, that’s coming up, so, it’ll be nice if you’ll do the Vyasa-puja.” Mahaprabhu was thinking this is the way that we will be able to worship Nityananda Prabhu. Really, they were meant to worship Vyas, but he’ll be the agent for worshiping Vyas.

#00:39:10#

So, was it Shrivas Thakur? They made the arrangements and interestingly, it just sounds so much like the Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Shrivas Thakur says, “I’ll have to get one book.” Like we basically know how to do this, but we also need one book to refer to. [Laughs.] So, they get all the garlands, paraphernalia together and so Shrivas Thakur were saying, “And now the archak, you will take the garlands and worship Vyasadev.” He’s giving instructions to Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu is like, takes the garland and starts muddering (?) some things, some things that no one can understand, they are inexplicable. And he is frozen. And Shrivas Thakur says, “You’re Nityananda. He is hesitating to worship Vyasadev and like this is time. The auspicious time has come to worship Vyas, and Mahaprabhu (?) says, “Dear Nitai, now is the time, You must give the garland to Vyas.” Nityananda takes the garland, puts on Mahaprabhu. [Laughs.] And they are worshiping Mahaprabhu. [Laugh.]

#00:40:57#

Guru Maharaj told, “To not know the glories of Nityananda Prabhu is like not knowing who your mother is.” That level. And he said, vidyā-kule ki koribe tār, Guru Maharaj said, in this line of the Narottam song it is an illusion to those who do not properly recognize Nityananda Prabhu like the three non bona-fide sons of Advaita Acharya, cause that means vidyā-kul, here that, they think they know so much Scripture of my family line is so great. Some of them thought that Nityananda is not necessary, we’re worshipers of Advaita. Things like that. So, it’s mentioned there by Narottam Thakur also in the Chaitanya Bhagavat, Vrindavan Das Thakur who is his heart core associate and follower, he will say, cause really Chaitanya Bhagavat is the where you find extensive descriptions of the glories of Nityananda Prabhu. Sometimes will say, “After all this (?) I am telling you, imploring you to follow the lotus feet of Gaur-Nityananda, They’ll save you, They’ll rescue you, accept Their mercy.” He said, “After all this pleading, all this (?), if you don’t take this mercy, then I want to kick your face in with my left foot.”

#00:42:49#

And so some people would go like, “Oh! How can he say that? That’s not humble. That’s not humility.” Kaviraj Goswami says, jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha, I’m more sinful than Jagai and Madhai, if you hear my name, you’ll lose all your pious credits, if you vibrate my name, you’ll go to hell.” That’s humility of the Vaishnava, and here Vrindavan Das is saying, “If you don’t accept the lotus feet of Nityananda, Gaur-Nityananda, I’ll kick your face with my left foot, that’s even more insulting.” And how will we respond? And Guru Maharaj said, Saraswati Thakur said, “Oh, in this way he has opened a new channel for the Lord’s mercy.” How? And he said, “Like sometimes a child, their parents they have little children with them, especially in the West we’ve seen this too, sometimes they’re introducing or having conversation and then a little kid says something really offensive, or tries to kick somebody, and the parents they have to compensate for the misbehavior of the child and give themselves to that person. He said, so here, “If Nityananda Prabhu,” this is sort of the end of the line, as far as divine mercy comes unless you take, factor in Virachandra Prabhu, His son. So by Vrindavan Das giving a kick then Gaur-Nityananda have to come and offer Themselves to that person as compensation. [Laugh.] So, Saraswati Thakur said, “In this way, he’s opened a new channel.” [Laughs.]

#00:44:55#

And we know so much love and affection Srila Gurudev had for Nityananda Prabhu, we can talk about this, we can repeat things we’ve read, but I think, when I think of interacting with his divine grace, when he would talk about Nityananda Prabhu, there is so much love and affection in his words, in his feelings, his emotions. He would happily think about what Nityananda Prabhu would eat for breakfast. And once when we were at Math and some prasadam was being served, and he asked one devotee like, “Oh, how do you like this particular preparation?” And they sort of naively said, “Oh, I don’t like that one so much, I like some of the other ones better.” And Gurudev he was so hurt, he said, “That was the favorite preparation of Hadai Pandit, Nityananda Prabhu’s father.” Like his heart was pained by that kind of thing. And in his final days, few years back, when being discussed whether he would go for the opening of Ekachakra, the one festival, they were making arrangement to take him by helicopter. He’s showed this picture of Nityananda Prabhu from Nitai Bari, His house stair in Ekachakra, with the Deity of Nityananda is there. And form a distance I thought, “Oh, is it Mahaprabhu?” Like it looked a little like Mahaprabhu Bari. But he said, “This is Nityananda Prabhu. You will not see a more beautiful Nityananda Prabhu than here.” And then as if my reaction wasn’t great enough he said, “Maharaj, I am telling you, you will not see a more beautiful Nityananda than you will see here. And you will go there.”

#00:47:14#

And as Keshava Maharaj and others said he is a satya bhak (?), what he says will come true, so in fact we got to go there last year and see the beauty of the Deity in there. But the only our mixed feeling were that, when we came to the Chaitanya Saraswat Math as inaugurated by Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj, and we saw Gaur and Nityananda, that darshan, cause Acharya Maharaj took us there the evening before the Maharaja’s to see if everything was alright and we were shocked at the beauty of Gaur and Nitai in Ekachakra. And we were also thinking, as Guru Maharaj sometimes told us, when some wonderful Hari-katha was going on, he would say, “Oh, on this moment, perhaps our Guru Maharaj and your Guru Maharaj, they are looking down upon this divine transaction and showering some mercy and blessings.” So, we thought, when we saw the beauty. And I think those who were there, some of you were there, everyone was shocked to see how beautiful these Deities were and the beauty of Their outfits and ornaments. They were wearing turbans. And They’re also, as per Gurudev’s order seven foot six, that size. So, we all felt I think that Srila Gurudev, Srila Guru Maharaj, the Guru-varga, they were looking down and very happy at this.

#00:49:21#

And I think of the local place here, “Grace extended.” That is our theme, grace extended, I like that very much. That’s the concept. Vishtara. Sometimes Guru Maharaj would say, “Gaur and Nityananda started a business and Swami Maharaj took it to America.” [Laughs.] Cause he’s always like the representative of Bengal, so he said, “They’ve started a business, he took it to America.” The rest his history. So, that’s the family business of the achyuta-gotra is grace extended. And there is no more gracious extension than the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu. Nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭī-chandra-suśītala, told ten million moons, like sometimes it’s very hot, like in Thailand and India as well, like the moon will come and you can feel some kind of coolness coming from it, it’s a cooking, soothing to the soul, the body, mind, soul. But we’re told, how soothing are the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu? Koṭī-chandra-suśītala, as if ten million moons, what kind of cool would we feel from that? And relieve. So, we’re very fortunate to be able to remember Him and His divine pastimes at this time.

#00:51:16#

If we want to get a connection with Gauranga. Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu go to Bengal to preach, beacause as indicated by Swami Maharaj and Guru Maharaj, he said, “The Bengalis are hard nut to crack.” So, they needed the maximum strength dose, which means Nityananda Prabhu, he’s giving that assignment, but Mahaprabhu says, “Go, tell them about Krishna! Kṛṣṇa-nām, everything Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.” And what does Nityananda Prabhu say?

#00:51:54#

Bhaja gaurāṅga kaha gaurāṅga laha gaurāṅgera nām, worship Gauranga, talk about Gauranga, take the name of Gauranga. What are we told was Shivananda Sen’s personal mantra to his ishta-devata, (?) mantra, gaura-anga. Who was it he told him one of the great devotees that he was wondering. Do you recall who that was? Was it like Nrisinghananda (?) Brahmachari. One of them. And Shivananda Sen, “I’m wondering did Mahaprabhu really (?)? I’ll just hide in the corner, and if He knows what my actual mantra is.” And they send to him, and go, “He wants to speak to you. Is there Shivananda Sen here?” They bring him in and he says, gaura-anga, you don’t need to fear, you don’t need to hide it anymore. He realizes he is substantial. So, anyway, why?

#00:53:04#

Because why is Nityananda Prabhu apparently violating Mahaprabhu’s order. Because He knows really what’s been expressed perfectly by Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur,

yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde,
vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāsiḥ
tathā tathotsarpati hṛdy akāsmad,
rādhā-padāmbhoja-sudhambu-rāsiḥ,

that if we want a substantial connection with Krishna, with Radha-Krishna, Radha-Krishna-nitya-lila, that divine abode those who are sukriti-van, as in,

#00:53:44#

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

refines theistic intellect, they’ll realize, the entrance into the Vrindavan is through the Navadwip, the entrance into the pastimes of Radha and Krishna at the lotus feet of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. So, Nityananda promote that saying, “If bring them in connection with Gauranga then automatically they get a substantial connection with Radha-Govinda.” Hare Krishna. Nityananda Prabhu avirbhav maha-mahotsava ki ki ki jai!

#00:54:28#

Manasa, can you sing like Nitāi-pada-kamala? It’s already been sung, but sing it one more time. Now is our evening, the moon edition. The moon shine edition to koṭī-chandra-suśītala.

#00:54:56#

And one last thing. Gurudev’s saying, Guru Maharaj got the mystic transmission of the Rupanuga-line from Saraswati Thakur, Gurudev said, everyone knows Guru Maharaj is Rupa Goswami’s men, so, why is he always taking the name of Nityananda? Doyal Nitai, Doyal Nitai. Cause Guru Maharaj said, Krishna Consciousness is so high, so inconceivably wonderful and high, sometimes in discussing it maybe we didn’t express something properly, maybe we committed some offense, “So, if I take the name of Nityananda and return to the foundation, then my position, I’ll be reinstated to my rightful position to lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu, so, I am always praying for the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu too to readjust myself, reposition myself, we know if we’re repositioned at the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu how fortunate we are. Hare Krishna.

Transcribed by Nalina Sundari Devi Dasi
Edited by Tradish Das


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