Gaura Purnima lecture by HH Jayapataka Swami

[Guest guest]

>From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir

 

March 26, 2005, Gaura Purnima

Verse: Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 3.52

Speaker: HH Jayapataka Swami

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[iMPORTANT NOTE: This is only a paraphrased summary compiled from our notes

from the Gaura Purnima lecture. Thus some sections may be incomplete or not

fully accurate.]

 

 

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra-parsadam

yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah

 

TRANSLATION: In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational

chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the

names of Krsna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krsna

Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and

confidential companions.

 

"In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to

worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the name of Krsna.

Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krsna Himself. He is

accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential

companions."

 

PURPORT: This text is from Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.32). Srila Jiva Gosvami

has explained this verse in his commentary on the Bhagavatam, known as the

Krama-sandarbha, wherein he says that Lord Krsna also appears with a golden

complexion. That golden Lord Krsna is Lord Caitanya, who is worshiped by

intelligent men in this age. That is confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam by Garga

Muni, who said that although the child Krsna was blackish, He also appears

in three other colors-red, white and yellow. He exhibited His white and red

complexions in the Satya and Treta ages respectively. He did not exhibit the

remaining color, yellow-gold, until He appeared as Lord Caitanya, who is

known as Gaura Hari. ["Gaurahari!, Gaurahari!"]

 

Srila Jiva Gosvami explains that krsna-varnam means Sri Krsna Caitanya.

Krsna-varna and Krsna Caitanya are equivalent. The name Krsna appears with

both Lord Krsna and Lord Caitanya Krsna. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He always engages in describing Krsna

and thus enjoys transcendental bliss by chanting and remembering His name

and form. Lord Krsna Himself appears as Lord Caitanya to preach the highest

gospel.

 

Lord Caitanya always chants the holy name of Krsna and describes it also,

and because He is Krsna Himself, whoever meets Him will automatically chant

the holy name of Krsna and later describe it to others. He injects one with

transcendental Krsna consciousness, which merges the chanter in

transcendental bliss. In all respects, therefore, He appears before everyone

as Krsna, either by personality or by sound. Simply by seeing Lord Caitanya

one at once remembers Lord Krsna. One may therefore accept Him as

visnu-tattva. In other words, Lord Caitanya is Lord Krsna Himself.

 

Sangopangastra-parsadam further indicates that Lord Caitanya is Lord Krsna.

His body is always decorated with ornaments of sandalwood and with

sandalwood paste. By His superexcellent beauty He subdues all the people of

the age. In other descents the Lord sometimes used weapons to defeat the

demoniac, but in this age the Lord subdues them with His all-attractive

figure as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Jiva Gosvami explains that His beauty

is His astra, or weapon, to subdue the demons. Because He is all-attractive,

it is to be understood that all the demigods lived with Him as His

companions. His acts were uncommon and His associates wonderful. When He

propagated the sankirtana movement, He attracted many great scholars and

acaryas, especially in Bengal and Orissa. Lord Caitanya is always

accompanied by His best associates like Lord Nityananda ["Nityananda!"],

Advaita ["Advaita!"], Gadadhara ["Gadadhara!"], and Srivasa ["Srivasa!"].

 

Srila Jiva Gosvami cites a verse from the Vedic literature which says that

there is no necessity of performing sacrificial demonstrations or ceremonial

functions. He comments that instead of engaging in such external, pompous

exhibitions, all people, regardless of caste, color or creed, can assemble

together and chant Hare Krsna ["Hare Krsna!"] to worship Lord Caitanya.

Krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam [sB 11.5.32] indicates that prominence should be

given to the name of Krsna. Lord Caitanya taught Krsna consciousness and

chanted the name of Krsna. Therefore, to worship Lord Caitanya, everyone

should together chant the maha-mantra-Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna,

Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. To propagate worship

in churches, temples or mosques is not possible, because people have lost

interest in that. But anywhere and everywhere, people can chant Hare Krsna.

Thus worshiping Lord Caitanya, they can perform the highest activity and

fulfill the highest religious purpose of satisfying the Supreme Lord.

 

Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, a famous disciple of Lord Caitanya, said,

"The principle of transcendental devotional service having been lost, Sri

Krsna Caitanya has appeared in order to deliver again the process of

devotion. He is so kind that He is distributing love of Krsna. Everyone

should be attracted more and more to His lotus feet, as humming bees are

attracted to a lotus flower." [End of purport]

 

 

I've been asked by Hari Sauri Prabhu to make an announcement: the Nitai(?)

dancers from England are performing a dance on Pancatattva on the main stage

at 8:00 pm. Now I'm going back to Jayapataka Swami mode.

 

[Reads from a lecture by Srila Prabhupada on Gaura Purnima 1976, which fell

on March 16 that year]

 

"In this way, my Lord, You have appeared in different incarnations-as human

beings, as animals, as a great saintly person, as demigods and as a fish and

a tortoise. In this way You maintain the whole creation in different

planetary systems and kill the demoniac principles in every age. My Lord,

You therefore protect the principles of religion. In the age of Kali You do

not assert Yourself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore You are

known as Tri-yuga, or the Lord who appears in three yugas."

 

So Prabhupada then quoted the same verse that we quoted, krsna varnam

tvisakrsnam. And then he said:

 

'In the Kali-yuga He's not appearing as other incarnations, not like

Nrsimhadeva or many, Vamanadeva, Lord Ramacandra. He is appearing as a

devotee. Why? Now, this is the most magnanimous avatara. People are so

foolish, they could not understand Krsna. When Krsna said, sarva-dharman

parityajya mam ekam saranam [bg. 18.66], they took it: "Who is this person

ordering like that, Sarva-dharman parityajya? What right?" That is our

material disease. If somebody is ordered to do something, he protests, "Who

are you to order me?" This is the position. God Himself, Krsna, what can He

say? He orders, the Supreme Person, Supreme Being. He must order. He's the

supreme controller. He must order. That is God. But we are so foolish that

when God orders that "You do this," we take it otherwise: "Oh, who is this

man? He's ordering like that. And sarva-dharman parityajya, 'giving up

everything'? Why shall I give Him?" Sarva-dharman: "I have created so many

dharmas, 'isms.' I shall give it up? Why shall I give it up?" Therefore the

same Lord came again as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. . . .

 

'If we want to understand the transcendental position of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, then we have to go through guru, guru-parampara

system.

 

krsnaya krsna-caitanya-namne gaura-tvise namah.

 

'Yes. So this is channah-avatara. He's Krsna, He has come to give you

krsna-prema, but He's acting like a Krsna devotee. This is covered. He is

not commanding now, "You do this." Yes, He's commanding, "Do this," but in

different way. Because people misunderstood, "Oh, who is this person

commanding?" Even some so-called rascal scholar, he has said, "It's too much

to demand." They have remarked like that. Yes, sophisticated persons, they

are thinking like that.

 

'But our process is to submit. Unless we submit, there is no hope of

advancing in Krsna consciousness. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teaching.

 

'So Krsna taught everything for becoming Krsna conscious, but still, we are

so rascal we could not understand Krsna. Therefore Krsna came again: "These

rascals failed to understand Me, and now I shall teach how to become a

devotee of Krsna by My personal behavior." That is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,

by His personal... Don't think that because He's playing the part... Just

like somebody is giving massage to my body. So he's not giving properly. So

immediately I take his hand and I began to give massage, "Do like this. Do

like this." That does not mean I am masseur or I am servant of that person.

Similarly, don't forget that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Sri-krsna-caitanya radha-krsna nahe anya. You

are worshiping Radha-Krsna, and there is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's Deity also.

There are some parties, they protest, "Why Caitanya Mahaprabhu's Deity

should be placed along with Krsna?" But they do not know sri-krsna-caitanya

radha-krsna nahe anya. It is not different.'

 

'So today is the birthday or appearance day of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and

this is the birthplace, this Mayapura, and you are all present here. It is a

good fortune. Always remember Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and chant

sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda...

Devotees: ...sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda.

 

Prabhupada: This will make your life perfect. Thank you very much.' (end)

 

 

Jayapataka Maharaja: This year was the Prabhupada reunion so I thought to

remind ourselves a little bit about how he used to preach here.

 

When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu entered into the womb of Mother Saci she became

very beautiful with every week, month. People were wondering who is she

carrying that is making her so beautiful, effulgent, so charismatic?

Jagannath Misra mentioned to Mother Saci that everything has changed in our

house since you conceived. It's always been economically difficult for us,

but now it's like Laksmi is in our house. Mother Saci said I see some kind

of entities in the sky chanting mantras. . . .

 

Actually the demigods were coming and offering prayers to Lord Caitanya;

they knew that the Lord is going to give mercy freely. He's not going to

force anyone but by overwhelming love he's going to destroy demoniac

tendencies in everyone, so the demigods were praying that "You are the most

wonderful incarnation. You appear in other yugas but You don't give love of

Godhead so freely. . . in Krsna avatara You do, but to those people who

don't surrender you don't give it. So this is the speciality. We are coming

from the heavenly planets to get Your mercy also. We want to get Your mercy,

we also want to get love for Godhead. We're living in the heavenly planets,

where there are only two problems. We get attacked occasionally by demons

and have to fight them. And the second problem is there's so much sense

gratification in heaven that we forget to surrender to Your lotus feet and

serve You. Therefore we're missing out on the greatest mercy. . . in this

incarnation don't deprive us." They were praying humbly like that.

 

The verse was to be read, so I'll speak for just 30 minutes.

 

Then the demigods were praying like that, Sacimata was discussing like this

with Jagannath Misra about all the changes in their house. She had a twelve

month extended pregnancy. . . so they were wondering what's going to happen.

So Jagannath Misra went to Nilambara Cakravarti Thakur, his father-in-law,

who was a great astrologer and he did a calculation and said the pregnancy

would be up to 13th month. And on the lunar eclipse the moon of Gauracandra

will appear. So that was the prediction and he became peaceful.

 

One day Advaita Acarya just appeared in the houes of Jagannath Misra and was

looking at Mother Saci. They were surprised as Advaita Acarya was leader of

all the brahmanas. They fanned him and wanted to bathe his feet, but he was

just looking at Mother Saci. Then he got up and walked around Mother Saci

seven times. They protested, "We want to worship you, what are you doing?"

And then he gave some sandalwood and said "Put this on your wife's stomach

for keeping cool." They realised "Obviously he's not worshipping us, we must

be having a very special child."

 

Now before Lord Caitanya appeared, Nabadwip was a very materialistic mix.

The people were not spiritual. They were performing all kinds of demigod

worship. They were spending huge amounts of money for the weddings of their

daughters. It was all for a show. So the Vaisnavas were ridiculed by the

caste brahmanas. People were competing. . . . "Oh, the other brahmana had

his daughter married". Or even dog wedding, just for ostentation as there is

no such thing as a dog's wedding. So the whole situation was very difficult

for preaching. . . they were totally materialistically religious. They were

not having love of Godhead.

 

??Day before yesterday, we should hear, reflect and we should apply. We

should go deeper, deeper into these things. Just prior to Lord Caitanya's

appearance. Even when He appeared, He faced persecutions from Chand Kazi.

Eventually everything was overcome. But there are always going to be so many

kinds of tests. We should be always determined to follow Srila Prabhupada

and Caitanya Mahaprabhu and simply hold on to the feet of Caitanya

Mahaprabhu, Nitai and Gauranga. In this way Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has

come to destroy the demoniac principles. Like Maha-visnu Maharaja, he gets

everyone to sing and chant. Like this we get everyone to chant and dance.

And by the magic of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy.? But we have to be

determined.

 

I just wanted to share with you on what happened when Lord Caitanya

appeared. They were inspired to go down to the Ganges and chant Hare Krsna.

.. . and everybody was chanting. Srivasa started seeing the glories of the

eclipse. Because the smarta-brahmanas say that it is offensive to say the

names of God loud, but now even the non-Hindus were chanting "Haribol!

Haribol! Hare Krsna! Hare Krsna!" Not only that, even in the heavenly

planets, knowing that the Lord had appeared, they were playing their

dundubhi drums. Practically the whole universe was filled with the Harinama.

Nitai Gaura Sitanath Premanande!

 

And everyone was overwhelmed with transcendental bliss. There should be a

non-stop lunar eclipse. And then Lord Caitanya was born. . . Gaura-canda,

Gaura-canda, Gaura-canda. He had a golden beautiful face. No one had seen

such a beautiful face. Haribol! And the ladies were doing ulu-dhvani, which

I cannot do. Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! There were this automatic sound.

Jagannatha Misra became ecstatic. Haribol! Haribol! People were wondering,

there must be some reason why we have become so happy. Advaita Acarya

started to distribute profuse charity. He was celebrating the appearance of

the Lord. He saw that He was born in simha-lagna, which is very auspicious.

He found Him exactly like Krsna's form. Lord Caitanya was so beautiful. He

said this child will be king of the brahmanas, the Gaudesvara. He is

nondifferent from Lord Naryana. He will establish sanatana-dharma all over

the world. He will attract everyone to follow Him.

 

If we can get everyone to take up chanting Hare Krsna the whole world will

become a better place. We have to continue. We are very happy to see that so

many devotees have come to fulfill Srila Prabhupada's mission, Caitanya

Mahaprabhu's programme. As Srila Prabhupada said, this will make your life

perfect. Thank you very much.