Nama Om Vishnu paadaaya..
Hari Haraya Naama Krishna …
Jaya Prabhupada…
Mukham karoti…
So there is a write up here on the Mandara Parbat Lila bhumi. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had His pastime there, and the safari will visit there tomorrow. This is the last section of the Gaura Mandal Bhumi. It is situated in the district of Bhagalpur, in the state of Bihar. There is a deity there of Sri Sri Madhusudhana, in Baisigram, which is 5 km from the peak of the Mandara hills. The deity of Madhusudhan is a four handed Narayana deity. On either side, He has Lakshmi devi and Saraswati devi, and anybody, without prejudice of caste, creed, religion or nationality, can offer Tulasi leaves to the lotus feet of Sri Madhusudhana! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! One time the deity was at the peak of Mandara hill. Mandara hill is a hill that was used on the back of Kurmadev, for the devas and demons to churn the ocean. So this Mandara hill is a very ancient, spiritual place. On the way to Gaya when Caitanya Mahaprabhu saw the deity, He started dancing in ecstasy and He had His fever pastime in that place, where He said He needed a foot wash from a brahmana, to cure His fever. So 500 years ago when Lord Caitanya visited Mandara hills, the deity was on the peak, but later the deity was brought down and kept at Baisigram, to protect the deity from attacks of terrorists like Kalapalaada. Since then Sri Madhusudhan and His consorts have been staying at Baisigram. It is an ancient temple. There are broken pieces of devas and devis on the walls, and also scattered all over. There is one four feet wide carved lion around the entire mountain, and this is known as Anantanag. So the devas and asuras used the Mandara hill as the churning rod, and the Vasuki snake was used as the rope in the churning of the ocean. So there are signs of churning the ocean still there visible around the mountain. There is a secret temple of Lord Nrsimhadev, IN A CAVE! And the demons and terrorists could not find Him. But you can have a darshan of Lord Nrsimhadev inside the cave with the help of light. Since ancient times Lord Nrsimhadev has been there inside the cave. Some write up in Mythili language is there beneath the Nrsimhadev cave. Pujaris at this place say that there is a description of a confidential place, where a huge treasure or huge wealth has been kept hidden. If you can find it, we can finish the TOVP!! Well, any way we will finish it somehow, but this is a shortcut! So there is a small cottage which is in the midway of Baisigram and Mandara hill. So Mandara hill peak and Baisigram are 5 km away from each other. Midway there is a small cottage of a sanyasi. And there is a small pond by the name Akash Ganga, 15 feet above the sanyasi cottage. Inside the pond there is a big conch made of stones. The stairs were going to the pond. There are two temples at the peak of Mandara Parbat. In one templer there is a pair of footprints, these are the footprint of Mahaprabhu, according to the devotees of Mahaprabhu. Another temple belongs to the Jains. There is a broken ancient temple at the foothill. So the Madhusudhana deity is brought to the top of Mandara hill from Baisigram on the last day of Poush month, and a big festival is celebrated. A little distance from the ancient temple, there is a small temple having the footprints of Sriman Mahaprabhu was built by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. And he got financial help of a local devotee named Indra Narayan Chandra, 90 years ago. That temple was renovated by the Bhakti Vedanta Swami Charity Trust, Sri Mayapur, Nadia District. Haribol! The founder of this trust is His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupad ki jai! This audio message may be sent to Marici das. We will send the Spanish version from Gaurangi Gandarvika. You are translating into Spanish? No? Too bad!
Now we will read out some verses from the Caitanya Book compilation. This section is on Nityananda as Anantadeva.
Today Devagauranga das is not here. So Shubhanga Govinda das will do the reading.
So Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva, the four Kumaras – Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanat Kumar, Vyasadev, Shukadev, Narada muni etc. are known as devotees.
Sri Anantadeva is worshipped by all the aforementioned devotees. He has thousands of heads, and is the reservoir of all devotional mellows. In the Srimad Bhagavatam 10.2.5 Shukadev Goswami tells to Maharaj Parikshit, a plenary portion of Lord Krishna entered the womb of Devaki, as her 7th child, arousing her pleasure and lamentation. That plenary portion is celebrated by great sages as Anantadeva, who belongs to Krishna’s second quadruple expansion. So the expansion of Sankarshan is Anantadev. Lord Sankarshan is also known as Ananta. He is the origin of all incarnations in the material world. Prior to the appearance of Lord Krishna, this Anantadeva will appear as Baladev, just to please Lord Krishna in His transcendental pastimes. So the glories of Anantadeva given here are that, He is independent, and His thousands of mouths and hoods glorify the Lord, and cannot find an end to His good qualities. So He is existing before the creation, and after the dissolution.
Lord Ananta he is the first expansion of the Lord. He is the master of all mystic powers. He is the Supreme Lord, He is also a devotee, a vaishnava. His glories have no end. No one amongst the jivas can know His glories fully. So one reason why Sankarshan or Balaram is known as Anantadeva is because, Ananta means unlimited. So the Lord’s good qualities are unlimited. So He wishes the welfare of all the living entities in this material world. He remains in His abode, and restrains His anger and intolerance. So in the original text, each word of the verse is given a purport by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Me, ma, yogi, Ishwara. So it is a huge purport.
You heard about Anantadev’s service to Krishna. Now listen to how Anantadev stays in the lower planetary system of Patala loka. So Lord Anantadev is self-supported. And from Patala loka all His influence is spread.
Sri Narada muni plays his tumburu and in Lord Brahma’s assembly, he glorifies Lord Anantadeva. Narada muni has composed many transcendental verses in praise of Lord Anantadeva. Tumburu is a name in Sanskrit of the veena, which is carried by Narada muni. Another meaning of tumburu is, elite singers of the Gandharvas. So Lord Brahma has an assembly called the Manasi, where the Gandharvas such as tumburu, play their musical instruments. This is described in the Sri Nilakaanta commentary on the Mahabharata, wherein Narada describes Brahma’s assembly to Yudhisthira. A group of 20 Gandharvas and apsaras come to Brahma’s assembly. Apart from them, there are seven other principal Gandharvas present there, including, Hansa, Haha, Huhu, Vishwavaasu, Ruchi, Vrshana and Tumburu. So the Gandharva loka is a planet where the musicians go. And there the people are all very expert and very accomplished musicians. So some of the very great compositions on this earth are revealed to the writers, to the musicians, by the Gandharvas. Imagine a whole planet of super musicians! Singers and players of musical instruments. Narada muni sings blissful verses of his own compositions, accompanied by his stringed instrument, or a celestial singer known as tumburu. So are there any questions?
Swarup Damodar swami, he arranged one congress of the synthesis of science and religion, for more than a month. One was arranged in Bombay, one in Calcutta and maybe other places. So one of the heads of one university asked the different religious leaders, there were representatives there from Christianity, Islam, Jewish and other faiths. So this head, the Dean of the university, asked what do the other religions think about, if they find life on other planets. They said they would be finished because their theology was very much earth based. But in Krishna consciousness, we believe that every planet has life, in some dimension or other. So for us, it is quite normal to hear about Gandharvas from Gandharva loka, or apsaras, dancing girls from the heavenly planets, and so on. We believe that, there is life in every planet. So if it proven that there is life on other planets, then the other religions say we don’t know what to say.
So there is a question here from Rohini Bhatia.
Question: What is the destination of a devotee who leaves his body after first initiation, and never got a chance for second initiation although following all regulations and trying to follow orders of the spiritual master?
Guru maharaj: As I understand, if they leave the body thinking about Krishna, or if they have served Krishna throughout their lives, or the last section of their lives after their initiation, then they go back to Krishna. Second initiation is not essential.
Question: Hare Krishna guru maharaj, PAMHO (Guru maharaj said: HAREKRISHNA!) Difficult to control anger in day to day life. Please give tips to control. Your insignificant servant, Ranjani Gopika devi dasi.
Guru maharaj: We want to use the anger in the service of Krishna. So if we get angry if someone offends a devotee, or if we are angry because someone says something blasphemous about Krishna, that is reasonable. We avoid anger for other mundane reasons. Someone doesn’t like the shape of your nose, or you have a pimple on your nose. Everyone is feeling their nose! Ha! Some mundane reason we get angry, you are not giving me the sense gratification I want, therefore I am angry with you. I want to control you. If you don’t let me control you, I am angry. uummm. All these mundane reasons which are not acceptable. So if we use our anger for the right reasons, then we can control our anger for the wrong reasons. If someone makes a certain commitment and they don’t follow thru with it, then it may be a cause of anger. But there are other ways to express our dissatisfaction. In some ways Krishna may be protecting us. Last question.
Question: Bandhu Madhav das. Guru Maharaj In Srila Prabhupad’s books we read a lot of instructions about how to respect and treat the spiritual master. Do they apply to shiksha guru also? Your servant.
Guru maharaj: Bandu Madhav das. The question here is, do they apply to our shiksha guru also? Bandhu Madhav das from Bengaluru. You see what is the definition of a shiksha guru? Sometimes anyone who instructs us, we take them as a shiksha guru. But actually, they may be prabhus, they may be someone we respect them as our master, but they may not be shiksha guru, in the higher sense. Shiksha guru, on the level of diksha guru should be respected. Such a shiksha guru is generally authorized by the diksha guru. Someone takes the counsellor or their Bhakti Vriksha leader as a shiksha guru, that is not necessarily the same. What they instruct may not have the absolute nature, but they should definitely not be disrespected. We shouldn’t disrespect any vaishnava, any human being, for that matter. But especially the guru or someone on the equal platform with the guru. Someone who shows you the way, gives you practical instruction, he or she is a kind of shiksha guru. But they are not the same – there is different levels of shiksha guru. And the level when one is on the similar level like diksha guru, or even higher, is someone you should be very respectful to. I had a disciple who had some counsellor, and she thought that well, my counsellor is my shiksha guru, but she had a very simple question, and the counsellor gave a very cryptic answer, which was very difficult to understand, which was more complicated than her question! So who is qualified to be a shiksha guru, that should be ascertained, and what level of shiksha guru are they. If the so called shiksha guru speculates and gives false instructions, it is counterproductive. But if one gives appropriate instructions at the time and place that is useful.
Alright, thank you very much.
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
04 April 2019