Our Worshipable Deities Are Gaura-gadadhara

[Guest guest]

Tomorrow you are going to a special place of pilgrimage. There you will see that the servitors of the Jagannath temple, known as Pandas, hold a very special position. There is a saying, "If you love me, love my dog." It means, if you love me, you will also show your love to my dog; then I will know that you really love me. Lord Jagannath has given the Pandas the position of controllers there, so whatever they do, we have no say in that.

 

Mahaprasada is available all over the world, but in Jagannath-kshetra it is different. There the Pandas don't let just anyone go inside the temple. They especially do not let anyone enter the temple whom they consider to be low-class or mlecchas. But when Mahaprasada comes out of that very same temple, then they will eat it out of the hands of the most low-class people, the mlecchas. This means that they follow some customs. They follow a custom that was introduced by Lord Jagannath.

 

 

Ramanujacharyya wanted to break that custom, but what was the result of that? Ramanujacharyya wanted the worship of Lord Jagannath to be done in the vidhi-marga. There are some rules and regulations in the Vedas, and especially in the Manu-samhita, and he wanted the worship to be done in a bona fide way following these rules and regulations. He thought the way the Pandas were doing the worship was not the customary way, the mantras they were using were not the right ones, and he wanted that the worship be done in the right way. All the scholars there were defeated by him. The next day, the final meeting was supposed to take place, and the King would have been forced to introduce the Vedic way of worship. While Ramanujacharyya was sleeping that night, his bed was thrown three hundred miles away to Kurmakshetra. In the morning he wondered where he was, and found that it was Kurmakshetra. In those days there were no aeroplanes. It was not possible that someone chloroformed him at night and carried him away by aeroplane. But Ramanujacharyya really saw that he was in Kurmakshetra, with his whole entourage; Lord Jagannath had transported them Himself. Lord Jagannath also gave him a dream in which He told him, "The way I am being served here will continue. Please do not interfere. Go from here."

 

It is hard to find accommodation in a special place like this. But by the influence of Srila Guru Maharaj and the mercy of Lord Jagannath we found some accommodation and built a temple of Sri Sri Nitai Chaitanyadev and guesthouse there, and now we have been able to acquire a bit more space. Now Srila Guru Maharaj's desires are fulfilled, so we can see that Lord Jagannath has some special goodwill towards us. Before, I could not go there in spite of a lot of effort, but now Lord Jagannath is dragging me there every now and then.

 

I do not know if tomorrow I will be able to go with you. I am praying to Lord Jagannath, because I know I will only be able to go if He takes me there, not otherwise. But He has attracted all of you. That is why you have all come here, and joining with the sadhus and the devotees of this ashrama, you have found the opportunity to go there. You see, money is needed in every situation in life. To survive and go through our daily lives, money is always spent. Yet money is not everything. There is no guarantee that if I have money I will be able to go. This is a truth that has been proved many times in my life. You all pray to Lord Jagannath that He will take us safely there, and then bring us all back safely to where we are doing our respective seva. This is our only prayer today. We have nothing else for which to pray.

 

We are not going sightseeing but we are going to a place of pilgrimage, a holy place. Going there will purify us: body, mind, and soul. We are going to the shore of the sea. Mahaprabhu has said, "From today this ocean has become a maha-tirtha." As it is, the ocean is a great place of pilgrimage, because the waters of all the holy rivers merge there. In addition to that, at the disappearance of Srila Haridas Thakur, Mahaprabhu danced with his body in His arms, and when He bathed his body in the ocean, Mahaprabhu said, "From today the ocean has really become a great place of pilgrimage."

 

Why? It is said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, "Those who always carry Gadadhara, the Supreme Lord, in their heart, if they cannot purify the places of pilgrimage, then who can? They are places of pilgrimage personified, and they have no need to go on pilgrimage."

 

Then why do they go to places of pilgrimage? The really sinful people contaminate the places of pilgrimage. Everyone and everything has a particular capacity. We also have a particular capacity, that is, the burden of our sin is so great that even a place of pilgrimage cannot digest it. This is how a place of pilgrimage automatically becomes contaminated. At that time the great personalities who carry the Supreme Lord in their heart, appear there. As soon as they bathe in the holy water, the water becomes clean, as if a purifying agent has cleansed it. That is their natural capacity. Mahaprabhu has demonstrated the supreme example of this. Mahaprabhu said that the ocean at Puri became the greatest place of pilgrimage when He bathed the body of Haridas Thakur there. Haridas Thakur used to chant three hundred thousand names of the Lord every day. He even purified the animate and inanimate environment around him when he chanted aloud. His purity was beyond question.

 

The Western devotees who have come to India will not be allowed to enter the Jagannath Temple, but still they go there again and again, because they are attracted by Mahaprabhu's Pastimes in Jagannath-Dham.

 

Of all the places, Mahaprabhu chose Jagannath-Dham, which is non-different from Kurukshetra. Bhaktivinoda Thakur has said that Kurukshetra is the highest place of worship for us. Why? Where the hankering is greatest, that is the highest place of fulfilment. If you do not have hunger, you will not be able to enjoy even a sumptuous feast. If on the other hand you are starving, even rice with salt or spinach will taste like ambrosia. In my childhood I had malaria, and my doctor recommended something called, "poder bhat." Do you know how poder bhat is made? A little bit of rice is boiled over a fire that is fuelled with a few cow dung patties, and it takes a very long time to boil. So the rice was boiling for hours and I was looking at it, thinking when I will be able to eat it.

 

This demand that comes from inside is the highest thing for us. This is called hankering, and this is raganuga-bhakti.

 

The kind of devotion which is, krishna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita which one's entire consciousness is soaked in the nectar of loving devotion for Krishna is not ordinary devotion. The demand of such love is also not a small demand.

 

The Lord Himself says,

 

sadhavo hrdayam mahyam

sadhnam hrdayam tv aham

mad-anyat te na jananti

naham tebhyo manag api

(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 9.4.68)

 

The Lord is telling Durvasa Muni, "There is nothing I can do. My pure devotees have bound Me with their love, and I have also bound them with My love. Thus we are indebted to each other. I cannot be impartial."

 

Krishna says, "My devotees charm Me with their seva. Their only demand is to serve Me. They don't want anything else." If in the process of seva they feel some joy or happiness, then they think they have committed some offence; they feel they are probably in the mood of enjoyment. Just to see that, Krishna gives them a lot of seva. He gives them so much seva that they become intoxicated with it. Krishna thinks, "What is this? Radharani becomes so ecstatic by seeing Me? What is the depth of that ecstasy? How can I measure it? I cannot measure it, because I cannot become Radharani." Then:

 

shri-radhaya pranaya-mahima kidrisho vanayaiva

svadyo yenadbhuta-madhurima kidrisho va madiya

saukhya casya mad-anubhavata kidrisha veti lobh

 

Mahaprabhu went to Jagannath-Dham, which is Kurukshetra. Why? Because there Srimati Radharani is thinking, "My Lord is tearing My heart apart." Srimati Radharani knows that Krishna is Her life and soul. But there She sees that He is surrounded by His children, friends, relatives, and queens, and they are all swarming over the whole place. She is just a simple milkmaid who would generally not be given any attention in such a royal gathering. But they gave Her attention, and in a very special way. They requested Her to show them the Rasa Dance, which is performed only in Vrindavan. When they saw that, they were amazed. They said, "We have never experienced anything so wonderful." Then Radharani smiled. She said, "What have you seen? You have seen a headless body, a dead thing. You have not seen the real thing: that you can see only in Vrindavan. Where is that Yamuna? Where are the groves of kadamba trees? Where is the chirping of the peacocks and parrots? And where is the Lord of our hearts, Krishna, who plays the flute and herds the cows? None of those things are here, so how can you see the Rasa dance here? What you have seen is the shadow. If you want to see the real thing, you have to go to Vrindavan."

 

On another occasion Krishna told Uddhava what the highest fulfilment of bhakti is.

 

na tatha me priyatama atmayonir na shankara

na ca sankarshano na shrir-naivatma ca yatha bhavan

(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 11.14.15)

 

("My dear Uddhava, even Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Lord Sankarshana, the goddess of fortune Lakshmidevi and indeed My own self are not as dear to Me as you are.") But Uddhava himself was thinking,

 

asam aho carana-renu-jusham aham syat,

vrindavane kim api gulma-lataushadhinam

ya dustyajam svajanam aryya-patha- ca hitva

bhejur mukunda-padavim shrutibhir vimrigyam

(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.48.61)

 

When Uddhava went to Vrndavan he was so charmed by seeing the Gopis love, their devotion, their attraction, and their affection for Krishna, that he said, "For life after life, I only desire one thing: I want to become a speck of dust in Vrindavan. Not only that, I want to be one of those who are worthy of receiving that dust, the plants and creepers of Vrindavan, and live here for all eternity. Here in the land of Vrindavan, Krishna has performed His Pastimes, and His companions, the Gopis, also roam around here. If I can be born as a small creeper so that I may get the dust of their lotus feet on my head, that will be my highest fortune."

 

Such are the glories of Krishna, and the intense feeling of separation from Him: Vipralambha. Mahaprabhu has shown us the highest limit of that Vipralambha in Sri Nilacala-Dham.

 

Sri Gadadhara Pandit, who kept Mahaprabhu in the depths of his heart, and performed the supreme seva, also lived there. Mahaprabhu took sannyasa and went to Jagannath Puri, and by His desire Lord Gopinath became manifest. When you go to Puri you will all see Lord Gopinath there. Both the feelings of Mahaprabhu and the feelings of Gadadhara Pandit were described in a beautiful shloka by our Srila Guru Maharaj:

 

nilambhodhitate sada svavirahakshepanvitam bandhavam

shrimad-bhagavati katha madiraya sanjivayan bhati yah

shrimad bhagavatam sada svanayanashrayanaipjayan

gosvami-pravaro gadadhara-vibhur bhayad mad eka gatih

 

The lotus feet of Gadadhara Pandit are our sole treasure. He resided by the ocean of Vipralambha which was manifest by his life and soul, Lord Gauranga, who took everything from him. Mahaprabhu was suffering separation from Krishna, and His feelings of separation were so intense, that sometimes His body became elongated, sometimes He retracted His limbs like a tortoise, and sometimes His joints became separated.

 

So Mahaprabhu, Sri Krishna Himself, suffered intense separation from Krishna, and He was enlivened by hearing topics about Lord Krishna from Gadadhara Pandit: When a person is in intense grief, what does he do? He becomes blinded by his grief, and he cannot decide how he will find some peace, so he drinks alcohol. Sri Gadadhara Pandit provided such intoxication for Mahaprabhu by enlivening Him with the intoxicating topics of Srimad-Bhagavatam. This is how he served the Lord of his heart.

 

And how were Gadadhara Pandit's own feelings of separation? He is seeing that his beloved Lord is in front of him, and his Lord is suffering so intensely that He is becoming unconscious now and then. All the eight symptoms of separation can be seen in His body, such as perspiring, trembling, tears, becoming stunned, changing of bodily colour, etc., but there is nothing he can do about it. Lamenting this, continuous floods of tears flowed from his eyes.

 

Whenever Gadadhara Pandit read the Bhagavatam, he became so mad with feelings of separation from Krishna that his tears would wash away the letters on the page. The proof of this is when Srinivasa Acharyya came to him to study Srimad-Bhagavatam, Gadadhara Pandit told him, "My dear son, when I was reading Bhagavatam to Mahaprabhu all the letters in my book were washed away, therefore I cannot now read to you from this book. Please find a book somewhere. Mahaprabhu instructed me in my dream, saying you were coming. But you need to have a book. I have memorised everything, but you need a book also." Gadadhara Pandit thus worshipped the Bhagavatam with his tears. Is it necessary to have any ingredients to worship? One's own tears are the best ingredients.

 

The lotus feet of this Gadadhara Pandit are our ultimate destination. Our worshipable Deities are Gaura-Gadadhara, and the supreme demonstration of their Vipralambha was seen in Nilacala-Dham.

 

In Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Krishna Dasa Kaviraj has given such deep meanings of the shlokas of Srimad-Bhagavatam, and he has exposed such great inner wealth from them that it is beyond our imagination. When Mahaprabhu sees Lord Jagannath in Rathayatra, He prays like this:

 

ahus ca te nalina-nabha padaravindam

yogeshvarair hridi vicintyam agadha-bodhaih

samsara-kripa-patitottaranavalambam

geham jusham api manasy udiyat sada nah

(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.82.49)

 

("O lotus-navelled one, Your lotus feet, eternally held as the object of meditation within the hearts of the greatest yogis of profound intellect, are the only resort for delivering those souls fallen into the well of material life. May those holy lotus feet graciously appear within the hearts of we ordinary household ladies.")

 

And in Chaitanya-caritamrita we find these shlokas:

 

anyera hridaya mana, mora mana-vrindavana,

"manevane" eka kari jani

taha' tomara .-dvaya, karaha yadi udaya,

tabe tomara prna kripa mani

(Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 13.137)

 

(Speaking in the mood of Srimati Radharani, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, "For most people, the mind and heart are one, but because My mind is never separated from Vrindavan, I consider My mind and Vrindavan to be one. My mind is already Vrindavan, and since You like Vrindavan, will You please place Your lotus feet there? I would deem that Your full mercy.")

 

prana-natha, shuna mora satya nivedana

vraja amara sadana, taha' tomara sangama,

na paile na rahe jivana

(Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 13.138)

 

("My dear Lord, kindly hear My true submission. My home is Vrindavan, and I wish Your association there. But if I do not get it, then it will be very difficult for Me to keep My life.")

 

purve uddhava-dvare, ebe sakshat amare,

yogajane kahila upaya

tumi vidagdha, kripamaya, janaha amara hridaya,

more aiche kahite na yuyaya

(Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 13.139)

("My dear Krishna, formerly, when You were staying in Mathura, You sent Uddhava to teach Me knowledge and meditation. Now You Yourself are speaking the same thing, but my mind doesn't accept it. There is no place in My mind for all these superficial things. You are artful and gracious, and You know well my heart it does not befit You to speak to me in this way.")

 

nahe gopi yogeshvara, .-kamala tomara,

dhyana kari paibe santosha

tomara vakya-paripati, tara madhye kutinati,

shuni gopira aro badhe rosha

(Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 13.141)

 

(The Gopis are not like the mystic yogis. They will never be satisfied simply by meditating on Your lotus feet and imitating the so-called yogis. Teaching the Gopis about so called meditation is another kind of duplicity. When they are instructed to undergo mystic yoga practices, they are not at all satisfied. On the contrary, they become more angry with You.")

 

What intense feelings of separation the Gopis had! "What are You saying to whom?"

 

deha-smriti nahi yara, sa'sara-kpa kaha' tara,

taha haite na cahe uddhara

(Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 13.142)

 

The Gopis are saying, "People worship You to be delivered from material existence, but that is not our kind of worship. We do not want to be delivered. We do not even remember our bodies. What do we care about material existence? And You are saying we will be delivered from material existence!"

 

ahush ca te nalina-nabha padaravindam yogeshvarair hridi vicintyam agadha-bodhaih: 'those processes are only for people who want to be delivered. Your lotus feet are our only goal." Taha' tomara .-dvaya, karaha yadi udaya, tabe tomara prna kripa mani.

 

In Nilacala-Dham, there has been the utmost cultivation of such intense feelings of Vipralambha.

 

candidasa, vidyapati, rayera nataka-giti,

karnamrita, shri gita-govinda

svarpa-ramananda-sane, mahaprabhu ratri-dine,

gaya, shune parama ananda

(Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 2.77)

 

("He also passed His time reading the books and singing the songs of Chandidas and Vidyapati, and listening to quotations from the Jagannath-vallabha-nartaka, Krishna-karnamrita and Gita-govinda. Thus in the association of Svarpa Damodara and Raya Ramananda, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu passed His days and nights chanting and hearing with supreme ecstasy.")

 

So tomorrow you are going to that place. Lord Jagannath has attracted you by His mercy. We will all feel our goals fulfilled there, and if we can humbly offer ourselves, then we will become complete.

 

om prnam adah prnam idam

purnat prnam udacyate

purnasya prnam adaya

purnam evavashishyate

(Sri Ishopanishad, Invocation)

 

We may be very small, but He is infinite. If we can establish a relationship with the infinite, then just as when you subtract zero from zero, zero remains, similarly when you subtract infinity from infinity, infinity will remain. So we can become complete. So please go to Jagannath-Dham with such feelings in your heart.

 

There is happiness and misery everywhere at home and outside. I definitely know that you do not care too much about such things. But still, at times such feelings come to us because we have material bodies. This body is like a spoiled brat that does not like to tolerate any inconvenience. The more comfort it gets, the more comfort it wants. But comfort is our enemy. There is no need for such comforts in our life.

 

As elephants, we have eaten so many jungles, and our hunger was not satisfied. As pigs, we have eaten mountains of stool, and our hunger was not satisfied. For life after life we have searched for comfort, but we have not found it. So now we must separate ourselves from such comforts and search for Lord Krishna, the Ocean of Pleasure, the Personification of all Mellows. We can have Him in our vision by initiating ourselves in bhakti-yoga. This will fulfil our highest mission, and this should be the object of our greatest desire.

 

Please, you all go there with such desires in your heart. I am sure there will be some inconveniences. Our brahmacari Prabhus are all very respectable and affectionate, and they will try their best to give you all facility, but still you may face some austerity.

 

Please go with such desires to Lord Jagannath, that by His mercy He will appear in our vision, and He will give us the dust of His Holy Dham, so that we can travel there. This is our only desire and prayer.

 

va-cha-kalpatarubhyash ca kripa-sindhubhya eva ca

patitanam pavanebhyo vaishnavebhyo namo namah

 

 

More articles by Srila B S Govinda Maharaj can be found at:

 

http://www.mandala.com.au/gurudev/