Nama Om Vishnu paadaaya..
Hari Haraya Naama Krishna …
Jaya Radha Madhava…
Mukham karoti…
The intelligent people of kali yuga will do devotional service to the Lord and how will they do this, by the process of yagnas and sankirtan. There are many kinds of yagnas but the most appropriate yagna for this kali yuga is Hari naam sankirtan, congregational chanting of the holy names.
Lord Krishna’s leela in dvapara yuga which He manifest, He got lot of bliss in that leela. But the people of kali yuga would be devoid of experiencing that bliss. How can these people experience that happiness? That is why the Lord made up His mind to incarnate as a devotee of the Lord and that He will distribute love of Vraja. Haribol! Haribol! He appeared 533 years ago on this thithi. In this very place, Mayapur dham, Mahaprabhu appeared. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, janma karma cha me divyam. Prabhupad said that Mahaprabhu’s appearance place is a little away but this Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir is the karma sthaan – the place of activities of the Lord. Krishna appeared in Mathura but immediately He went to Vraja dham. This way the birth place is sacred but the place of activities of the Lord is more sacred. Advaita Gosain was praying on the banks of the Ganges for the Lord to appear. The Shaligram shila that He worshipped is still in Shantipur today. He offered prayers to this Shaligram shila by offering Tulasi manjari and Ganges water. He said, if I am Advaita, then let my name be validated and let the Lord appear! Haribol! And He was crying and imploring to the Lord to come. This way, not in this material world, not in the fourteen worlds, His Hari naam kirtan pierced through all the lokas and reached Goloka dham. This way the Lord says, I came because Advaita, you called Me! That very place where Advaita Gosain called to Mahaprabhu, we had been there and honored and distributed prasadam.
First, Caitanya Mahaprabhu entered the consciousness of Jagannath Mishra and from his heart, He entered the heart of Sachi mata. Ordinary people unite by way of implanting a seed but this was not that kind of a union – it was from heart to heart. Then Sachi mata was pregnant. Earlier, Vishwarup prabhu who is an incarnation of Sankarshan appeared in Sachi mata’s womb and cleaned it up. Someone asked, why didn’t Nityananda prabhu appear in the same family? Nityananda Prakash, Vishwarup, He appeared in the same family. Nityananda appeared in Birbhum jila, Ekachakra village and from there He manifest His leelas. But He also appeared in the same family, but in the form of Vishwarup. The devas came to offer prayers when Mahaprabhu was in the womb. The devas offered prayers saying we have come from the heavenly planets, and we hear that You are going to distribute love of Godhead to all. WE ALSO WANT! WE ALSO WANT! We don’t want the material sense gratification, we have enough and more of it. But in pursuit of these material pleasures we forget to offer prayers to You! Another problem is the demons keep attacking us as well. Our humble prayer is that we get Krishna prema from You! Ordinary people cannot see the devas with their material eyes, but when the devas came to offer prayers to Lord Caitanyadev, Sachi mata saw their shadows. Sachi mata got scared that may be some ghosts had come! Namaste Nrsimhaaya – she started praying and the devas disappeared. The devas saw that Lord Krishna is going to manifest His leela here and they left that place. Sachi mata’s father, Nilambhar Chakravarti was a renowned astrologer. He predicted that He, the Lord, would appear after thirteen months. Exactly 533 years ago on this very thithi, Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared! Haribol! We are so fortunate that we are getting this opportunity to be here. 533 years ago on this very thithi was the lunar eclipse. In Navadvip dham the influence of Bengal was so that people would not chant the Hari naam loudly. Only a few vaishnavas would chant loudly. But generally the people were under the notion that chanting of the holy names should be done softly. But the Ganges is sacred and when they bathed in the Ganges, they started loudly chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. During that lunar eclipse they chanted loudly. Haribol! Haribol! Hare Krishna! Govinda! Govindam Adi Purusham Tam aham bhajami! The Muslims and others who were watching this, started making fun of them. See, these Hindus, what they are saying, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna! See how they are saying Govinda! Govinda! In this way unknowingly they were also chanting the holy names! Haribol! The whole world was chanting kirtan. Haridas Thakur and Advaita Gosain were so ecstatic and started dancing then. HARIBOL! HARIBOL! This way the whole universe was blessed. Christopher Columbus discovered America then six years ago. At that very time Caitanyadev appeared. When He appeared the neighboring brahmanis came to see Him. Taking this opportunity, the devis and devatas took human form and came to see the Lord. The brahmanis did ulu dhwani! The whole universe was happiness on the appearance of Lord Caitanyadev. The next day Sita Thakurani and Advaita Gosain came to see Mahaprabhu with lots of gifts. Druba grass and other sacred items as well. I don’t remember all but they brought many gifts. That way all the brahmanis experienced bliss. Jagannath Mishra was extremely happy. Sachi mata had eight miscarriages before this when eight girl children were lost. Jagannath Mishra did special Vishnu prayers to get a male child. This way, Vishwarup and Vishwambhar appeared. Vishwarup is an incarnation of Sankarshana and Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the combined form of Radha and Krishna. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu started crying a lot. They brought a doctor to check Him up, but the doctor said there is nothing wrong with the child. Then some women started chanting Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu stopped crying! Then He started smiling. When the women stopped chanting, then Caitanya Mahaprabhu would start crying again immediately in the child form! Whenever, day and night, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was awake, the women had to do kirtan – Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! On the one hand, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the yuga avatar and established the yuga dharma of the congregational chanting of the holy name. Harer Naam Harer Naam Harer Naam eiva kevalam, kalo naastyaivai naastyaivai naastayaivai gatir anytha. This is from the Brihad Naradiya Purana. But He is Krishna Himself. But Krishna varnam tvisha Krishnam – He is Krishna Himself but not the same colour as Krishna. He was golden Gauranga! Gauuuuuuuranga! Gauuuuuuuuuranga! GAuuuuuuuuuuranga! Sango pango aastra paarshadam. His expansions were Balaram, Sankarshan. Balaram came in the form of Nitai. Sri Krishna Caitanya Radha Krishna nahi anyo Balaram hoilo Nitai. Sri Krishna Caitanya is non-different from Radha and Krishna and Balaram is Nitai. His shakti tattvas, energies, were Gadaadhar and Jagadananda Pandit. Ramananda Rai was His branch. Swarup Damodar was Lalita. This way His various energies also appeared. Also His associate, Srivas who was Narada muni appeared and He had many, many associates. His weapons were khol and kartals, drums and cymbals. His beautiful form was also His weapon. He instructed that bolo Krishna bhajo Krishna koro Krishna shikha. We chant the Hare Krishna naam and this is Krishna bhajan and Krishna’s service. Krishna shikha, teachings – Gita was spoken by the Lord Himself, and Srimad Bhagavatam is about the glories of the Lord. So these Gita and Bhagavatam should be read by every devotee. How many of you have read the Bhagavad Gita and the 12 cantos of the Bhagavatam, please raise your hands? Some people. Every family should have a set of Srimad Bhagavatam at home. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu became a sanyasi in the renounced order and was touring, He said, jaare dekho taare kaho Krishna upadesh, Aamar aagya hoya taara yei desh. That everyone should preach the names and glories of Krishna and this is the special instruction. I am very happy that many of you as a family, husband wife, have come. And it is advisable that as a husband and wife team they should do devotional service. Everyone, husband, wife, men, women, should follow the instructions of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And try to make your children also Krishna conscious. Haribol! Haribol! A lot can be said about the children but there is one thing that is hundred per cent certain, that they are our future! We may not be there but they will be around. And you have to make sure that they have devotion to Lord Caitanya. If husband and wife are devotees, why won’t the children not be devotees? Haribol! Bhakti Vinod Thakur was a grihastha. All his children were devotees and two of them sanyasis.
Today is the day Caitanyadev appeared in this world. Those who are here today are so fortunate! The Lord appeared here in this very place! And Srila Prabhupad brought us the message of Caitanyadev, His teachings. Also, I am very happy to see so many devotees! This place is not enough. Why should be settle for such a small hall? Maharaj is saying, we need a big dharam shaala. Ten thousand namahatta devotees will stay or what? This Navadvip dham is called Audharya dham, dham of mercy. Here mercy is very easily got! When Caitanyadev was present as Nimai Pandit people did not understand. When He went and took sanyas, then they understood how much they loved Him. After ten years He went to Vidyanagar. He did not tell anyone He had come. He asked for Sachi mata to be brought. But the news spread around that Gauranga had come. GAURANGA HAD COME! GAURANGA! GAURANGA HAS COME! Someone was working, someone cooking, but they left all that and ran to the Ganga Ghat to see the Lord. The boatmen were saying please, please there are too many on the boat but the people would not pay heed and the boats sank! What could the people do? The boats had sunk! They all jumped into the Ganges! Haribol! And swam across! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! This way chanting Nitai Gauranga kirtan the colour of the Ganges was not orangish that day. It became black! Mahaprabhu was in the house of Vidya Vaachaspathi. Everyone came to the house of Vidya Vaachaspathi and started chanting Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Haribol! Then Vidya Vaachaspathi told Gauranga Mahaprabhu that if You don’t give darshan to the people they will break my house down. So Mahaprabhu went out and everyone offered obeisances to Him all together. Haribol! Mahaprabhu addressed them and asked them to chant Hare Krishna and then He went back into the house. But then almost instantly He went two miles away. But the people outside wanted to see Mahaprabhu again. But Vidya Vaachaspathi told them that Mahaprabhu was no more inside the house, he asked that five of you come in and verify for yourself. This way there are so many leelas of Caitanyadev. So these leelas were enacted here in Navadvip dham, Gaura Mandal, Bangladesh, and parts of Bihar, Jharkhand. Gauranga leela – Jei bo jane chintamani, taar hoye vraj bhumi vaas. Those who know this place is filled with wish fulfilling jewels, they attain residence in Vraja. You are all very fortunate, you are related to Gauranga. Mahaprabhu said, Bharata bhumi te janma hoilo jaar, janma shaartaka kori koro paro upakaar. Those who are blessed to be born in Bharat, India, they should attain perfection of life by serving others. We want that each one of your lives are perfected! And by your preaching you will spread auspiciousness all over the world! I will end here. You will now hear from Gauranga Prema Maharaj!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
21 March 2019