Nama Om…
Mukham karoti vaachalam…
So today in Chennai is the sacred Mokshada Ekadasi. Today is also the day of the Gita Jayanti. Some 5000 years ago, Lord Krishna spoke on this thithi spoke the Bhagavad Gita in Kurukshetra and still in Kurukshetra you can see the tree where Krishna spoke. On the direction of Srila Prabhupad, Iskcon, under the direction of HH Gopal Krishna Goswami is building a temple at Kurukshetra near the place where the Bhagavad Gita was spoken. So this is a very important place and today is a very important thithi. I hope that many devotees around the world have or will distribute a lot of Bhagavad Gitass today. Bhagavad Gita is a very essential book for all human beings. I gave a talk in English, Bengali and Spanish which I hope you all had a chance to hear. Krishna has given many nice instructions in the Bhagavad Gita As It Is. In the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, He said, sarva dharman parityagya maam ekam sharama varaj, aham tvaam sarva paapebhyo mokshaishyaami maashuchaha. That give up all your duties and simply surrender unto Me and I will free you from all the bad karmas, the sinful reactions and you will come to Me, there is no doubt about this. So today we are reading from the different books on the biography of Sri Sachi Suta. He has come back from Gaya, He is initiated by Ishwara Puri maharaj and He is now fully absorbed in thoughts of Krishna. He told His students that He cannot instruct them any more on the mundane topics because everything He sees is connected to Krishna. So the students said, we want to follow You. Now He is teaching His students how to do kirtan. How to chant congregationally the holy names of Krishna. So He showed them the direction how to chant. Prabhu personally clapped His hands and He personally did kirtan taking His students along with Him. Disha dikhaaya, means showed the direction or the process, the tradition, the method, ascertaining the way. In other words, Lord Vishwambhar taught His students the method to chant Hare Krishna, by demonstrating the process of kirtan. He clapped His hands while chanting.
So the Lord of kirtan Himself showed – demonstrated doing kirtan, chanting His glories, His students surrounded Him and all chanted together. So the Lord is described as Kirtananath which means the father of sankirtan or the inaugurator of the sankirtan or the personification of sankirtan.
So Sachinandan Mahaprabhu absorbed in the nectar of chanting His holy names, the Lord rolled in the dust. From the ecstasy of His holy names He was overpowered. You see He is chanting Krishna kirtan but He is Himself Krishna. So He is the object of the kirtan. The holy names of Krishna and Lord Krishna Himself are non-different. Gaura and Krishna are non-different. So when the Lord sings His own glories, the maadhurya rasa of Lord Krishna the Lord of Goloka in the aishwarya rasa of Narayanan, the Lord of Vaikuntha has manifested. So Krishna Caitanya became absorbed in the nectarean mellow of chanting His holy names and He gave up the absorption in maya which is subordinate to Krishna. So by chanting the holy names of Krishna, the jiva or conditioned soul can also free himself from absorption in the illusory energy of Krishna which is maya. Therefore, it is recommended that everyone chant Hare Krishna in this age of kali, or any bona fide name of the Lord.
So Lord Vishwambhar, He was moving throughout the ground and He was saying chant, chant! And then He would become overwhelmed with ecstasy and crash down on the ground. The earth trembled from His repeated falls.
Hearing the sound of a great uproar of all the students and the Lord chanting together, all the residents of Nadia city came running. They came to the Lord’s house. This can also mean that all the residents of Nadia came running.
All the vaishnavas who lived nearby, immediately came running when they heard the sound of the kirtan.
When all the vaishnavas, the devotees, saw the Lord overwhelmed in ecstasy, they thought they had never seen or experienced anything so wonderful. Great astonishing thing!!
Supremely satisfied inside themselves they thought, now the kirtan, congregational chanting of the holy names has been inaugurated in the town of Nadia, which means in Navadvip.
Such a rare devotion in the universe! My eyes are perfected by seeing this devotion!!
We have seen in this Vishwambhar, the limit of all arrogance, but now we have seen in Him pure love of Godhead, that is even rare for persons like Narada muni and others. Nimai Pandit, He was scholastically the greatest and therefore He was the ultimate display of supreme arrogance of His learning. But now He is manifesting pure love of Krishna which means it is very rare or difficult to attain or uncommon. Haribol!
If such an arrogant person has rare, uncommon devotion like this, we don’t understand what Krishna wants and what this person will ultimately become. On that one purport, two three pages – we can get the book Caitanya Candramrita. So Prabhodananda Saraswati has described Caitanya Mahaprabhu suddenly appeared in this world, so there was no longer any need for yoga, meditation, chanting of mantras, undergoing austerities, renunciation, following strict vows, studying the Vedas or strict principles of behavior. Even those who are reluctant to give up the sinful activities, happily surrendered to the topmost love which is the Crest Jewel of all the goals of life. So how wonderful and opulent is Sri Caitanyadeva that even though the fruitive workers’ mind which are absorbed or engaged in the currents of the formidable fruitive activities became pacified by attaining love of Godhead. Although their minds were hard like stone, they were melted by the transcendental mellows of devotional service. Even the hearts of persons engaged in the intense practice of yoga, retired from such practices and began to dance. In other words, they relished love of Godhead in the kingdom of Adhokshaja. Now that Lord Caitanyadeva had revealed the path of devotional service, materialists have given up talking about mundane things and they have given up debating the scriptures. The yogis have given up the trouble to control their breath through pranayama. The ascetics have given up their austerities and the impersonalists have given up studying Vedanta. No one is attracted to any other thing but the sweet love of devotional service to Krishna. In every home there is Harinaam sankirtan, in every body’s body there are symptoms of ecstasy, like shedding tears and hairs standing on end, and every heart is the most exalted in the sweet path, at least far from the path of the four Vedas. All these know that Lord Gaura has descended to the world.
So I had a personal experience. One person who for several years had practiced yoga in South India, and the yogi visited Mayapur. So we suggested that the yogi chant Hare Krishna. The yogi came back after few days and said that I am feeling more elated than I have ever felt in few years. How can this be! Something wrong there! So unfortunately the person was so attached to the yoga process, that even though he admitted he felt more bliss, more ecstasy, he couldn’t understand why. Actually it is the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Krishna came as Lord Caitanya to give out His pure devotion. So the persons who are filled with materialism, they began to chant and taste the transcendental ecstasy. So this was available to everyone. Even the most sinful. Sometimes n Mayapur we have a flood and Prabhupad said that this indicates that since the birthplace of Lord Caitanya is flooded, therefore the whole world will be flooded with His mercy. So the Lord came down to give this pure love of Krishna freely. Who is a child? Who is an old man? Who is a fool? Who is a woman? Who is fallen? Who is unfortunate? Everyone, everybody in the world is qualified to attain devotional service. The unalloyed mellows of love for the lotus feef of Lord Hari has manifested in heart of all the people who got the mercy of Lord Caitanya. So who here wants the mercy of Lord Caitanya? Haribol!! On the internet? Write a comment “I want the mercy of Lord Caitanya”. So like this Lord Caitanya gave out this love to His students. and those who came and saw. were amazed how all the students were chanting, and how Lord Caitanya is in such ecstasy. Many also began to chant and in this way the sankirtan movement began in Navadvip in Nadia Nagar. So there is much more but you have to read the original Caitanya Bhagavat. One more verse.
After a while, Lord Vishwambhar regained His external consciousness. But the Lord continuously chanted Krishna, Krishna to everyone with great mercy! So we will stop here in the middle of the kirtan and will continue with the kirtan tomorrow!!
So my voice therapist saw my Gita message today and he replied, sounds good, paced well, volume is controlled well. Thanks for sharing. We can work further. Dr. Prakash.
So my teachers listened to the classes! And they tell me what I need to do to improve! Any questions?
Gauuuuuranga, Nityaaaananda!
Question: Caitanya Mahaprabhu showed the ultimate goal is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. My question is there necessity for reading so many scriptures or only by chanting one can achieve this goal?
Guru maharaj: The thing is that by reading Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrita one will have the faith that by chanting we can achieve our desires. We won’t have such faith if we don’t read and also since we want to preach we know the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. Lord Caitanya made three requests – bolo Krishna, chant the holy names of Krishna; bhajo Krishna – worship and serve Krishna; koro Krishna shiksha – study the teachings of Lord Krishna. Bhagavad Gita is personally given by the Lord. Srimad Bhagavatam is about the Lord. So you don’t have to read so many scriptures, just read Gita and Bhagavatam. And then If you want Caitanya Caritamrita, to give a deeper understanding of who Lord Caitanya and Nityananda are. But if one doesn’t know reading and they chant, they can also achieve success. Just like there was a person in South India who read Bhagavad Gita but did not know reading. So then all the people were laughing at him and he was crying. So Lord Caitanya He saw the people were laughing and he was crying and so He went to him and asked why are you crying? And why these people are laughing at you? He said it is maybe because I am illiterate and reading Bhagavad Gita so they laugh. I am crying because I think how merciful is Krishna, He drove the chariot of Arjuna and He spoke the Bhagavad Gita. So this picture of Him driving the chariot of Arjuna, I cannot help it but cry. Lord Caitanya grabbed and embraced him and said you are the real pandit of Bhagavad Gita. Hare Krishna!
Question: Rukmini: If we chant Jai Srila Prabhupad or Jai Guru Maharajr at the time of death what will happen?
Guru maharaj: By chanting Prabhupad’s name we should probably remember that Prabhupad is bringing the message from Lord Krishna and by remembering Krishna at the time of leaving the body, you go back to Godhead. So by remembering Prabhupad at the time of leaving one’s body, that is also auspicious.
Question: Anjana Gopika DD: Are all the inhabitants of Navadvip the eternal associates of Lord Caitanya?
Guru maharaj: Someone asked this of Lord Nityananda and He said that some devotees are actually residing in the dham but some are living on the crust, just on top of the dham. And therefore they are not getting the same mercy. But to be a resident of Navadvip at the time of Lord Caitanya is truly full of mercy.
So now it is 9.40pm. We will end here. Someone should take note of the questions. Hare Krishna!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
19 December 2018