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25 June 2020
Krsna! Please Return to Vrindavan!
Gaur Premanande Hari Haribol! It's good that you all are chanting.
Jagannatha Swami Nayana patha gami bhavatu me
We are eager to have darsana of Lord Jagannatha. That Jagannatha who is,
vāsudeva ghoṣa bole kori joḍa hāt jei gaura sei kṛṣṇa sei jagannāth
Translation Vasudeva Ghosa says: folding my hands, I declare: Gauranga is Krsna and He is Jagannatha. ( Song - Jay Jay Jagannath, by Vasudev Ghosh)
That Jagannatha has reached Vrindavan. Two days back we were discussing that He is coming! He is coming!! And finally He has arrived. Aayore! Aayore ! He has reached. Hare Krsna! Hare Krsna !
Jagannatha Swami, who is Krsna has reached Vrindavan along with Baladeva and Subhadra. Rejoice! It's good news. For 100 years the Vraja Vasis were waiting. Radharani, Nanda baba and mother Yasoda and all the Gopa friends, the cows and all the animate and inanimate objects of Vrindavan were waiting eagerly, "When will Krsna return? Why is He not returning yet?" - We want Krsna!
yugayitam nimeshena chakshusha pravrishayitam shunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me
Translation O Govinda! Feeling Your separation, I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence. ( Siksastakam, Verse 7)
Without Govinda all of Vrindavan is vacant. Then finally Krsna returned. When He was leaving Vrindavan to go to Mathura, many had raised objections, specially the Gopis. All efforts possible were made so that Krsna should not leave Vrindavan, but in spite of that Krsna left for Mathura. It was a matter of the curse which Radharani had received - 'You will be separated from Krsna for 100 years!' Yesterday we had discussed this. In this way the curse started manifesting. It was day one when Akrur took Krsna and Balarama with him to Mathura. All the Gopis exclaimed, “O Akrur! You are very krur (cruel) that you are taking our Krsna away from us.' Ultimately he took both of Them away. Krsna, while going to Mathura promised them, ‘I will return very soon! I have some things to deal with in Mathura.’ He didn't explain to them what it was, 'vinasaya ca duskrutam' will take place. Kamsa will be killed.
He had not informed anyone why He was going, and which pastimes He will be performing in Mathura. There was wrestling in a big wrestling arena at Kansa-Tila, and there Kamsa was killed. Many residents of Vrindavan and Nanda baba had also gone to Mathura, but not with Krsna. It was advertised that there will be a big fire sacrifice and the residents of Vraja can come with all their milk products ( Gorus) like milk, curd, butter ghee etc.
Whatever was to take place in Mathura was already finished and Krsna’s friends and other residents of Vrindavan along with Nanda baba were getting ready to return. Krsna and Balarama were not ready to return yet. When it was time to return they said, “Yesham aha. We will return.” “Why are You saying that You will return later? Come with us.”
“No ! No! I have to stay longer. I will have to spend time with My mother and father, Vasudev and Devaki for some time. When I was born I was with them only for a few minutes and then for the last 11 years they were deprived of My association. That is why I must stay with them for some time. After that I will return. Yesham aha! Both of us will return. You take some of these gifts for the residents of Vrindavan who couldn't manage to come here for the festival in Mathura.”
Depressed Nanda baba and the other residents returned. After returning, those residents of Vrindavan who had not participated in the festival at Mathura enquired about the whereabouts of Krsna. They said that He will return later and had sent some gifts for them. The Vraja vasis exclaimed, 'We don't want any gifts. We only want Krsna!' They were disappointed with Nanda baba, because he didn't bring Krsna along with him and had just brought these gifts.
Krsna stayed in Mathura for 18 years and from there he moved to Dvaraka. In Dvaraka he stayed for 60 to 70 years. At the time of the solar eclipse, He had come to Kuruksetra to take bath in Surya-kunda and the other holy lakes over there. Before coming he had informed the residents of Vrindavan by sending a letter that He would be coming to Kuruksetra. “If you we want to meet Me, come to Kuruksetra. I also want to meet you all.” Then all the residents of Dvaraka as well as Vrindavan reached there. They stayed at Kuruksetra for 3 months. They were meeting each other. There were devotees with Vatsalya bhava, friends with Sakhya-bhava and with Radharani and the Gopis visrambhya madhurya bhava. During this time, on one of the days , Krsna, Balarama and Subhadra became Jagannatha Balabhadra and Subhadra. I will not narrate now how this happened as you all know about it and if you don't know, then find out about it. They became like Jagannatha , Baladeva and Subhadra of Puri. They were in those forms for some time only and then they became normal again. Their meeting and associating with each other was continuing at Kurukshetra. In such a way three months passed, but for them it felt like 3 minutes. When you are having fun, time passes quickly. They had good fun. Nice experiences for which they were yearning all these years.
In the tenth Canto of Bhagavatam, Nanda baba is talking to Krsna at Kuruksetra. ‘Nanda baba uvaca' - this is not the verse, but is explained in the purport of the 10th canto, chapter 84, verse 67 and 68. I am sharing the screen with you. You can watch on your smart phones. At least phones are smart, but I don't know no whether the user of the phone is also smart. Nanda Maharaja said, 'I will give up many lives for even one drop of Your perspiration. Return to Vrindavan now. I cannot spend even another single moment over here.' That time he went to his friend Vasudev and pleaded, 'Please send Krsna back to Vrindavan.' Then he went to Ugrasen and requested, 'Please order my friend Vasudev to send Krsna back to Vrindavan. If you won't do it, I will drown myself here in Parasparam Lake. If you don't believe me you can witness this fact. We, the residents of Vraja, have not come here to get purified on the occasion of the solar eclipse. You may have come for that reason. Our objective of coming here is different. We want to take Krsna back to Vrindavan. Else we will die over here.'
On hearing such distressed words, Vasudev tried to pacify them by trying to give them many valuable gifts. Previously also others had tried to do this. Vasudev, who was an expert in politics, had taken advice from other experts and tried to satisfy Nanda Maharaja by saying , "O my friend, Vrajaraj! It's true that none of you can remain alive without Krsna. How can we let you die like this? In some way or another I will send Krsna back to Vrindavan. When we all return to Dvaraka along with all the residents of Dvaraka, where there are many women without any shelter, then I will send Krsna back to Vrindavan, the very next day at some auspicious time. I promise you this a thousand times. We have come here along with Krsna so we will also have to return with Him. Otherwise what will the other residents of Dvaraka who have not come here, think about us. You are expert and intelligent in understanding all this, so I request you to please pardon me for this.” Then Ugrasen said, 'O Vrajapati , I am the witness to what Vasudev has said. I take a vow that even if I have to use force, I will do that and send Krsna back to Vrindavan.'
Then Krsna took Balarama and Uddhava along with Him and confided in Nanda baba in a solitary place. Krsna said , "O Father! If I will leave these Vrisni's and come to Vrindavan now they will die due to separation from Me. Many demons who are more powerful than Kesi and Aristasur will come to wipe them out. Think about this. Because I am the all knower, I also know about the future and so I am aware what things are going to happen. If you are willing to listen I will explain those to you. On returning to Dvaraka , I will get an invitation from Yudhisthir and I will go and participate in their Rajasuya sacrifice. I will kill Sisupal over there. After returning to Dvaraka I will kill Salva. Then I will travel to the southern region and there I will kill Dantavakra in a place known as Datiya. By doing this I will save you all. Then I will come to Vrindavan.
I will meet all My friends and with all happiness I will sit on your lap. Then without any hindrance I will spend life happily with all the Vraja vasis. The almighty Lord has written this fate for Me.” Who knows which Vidhata the Lord is talking about. “In your fate also it is written that till the time I return, you will undergo the pain of separation from Me. None of our fates can be changed. For this reason gather courage for leaving Me here and return to Vrindavan. Before I return, if any one of you feels distressed due to My separation, and if you want to feed Me some special items, or you want to play with Me, or want to take my darsana, then close your eyes and I will appear in front of you to fulfil your desire. I will convert your grief into flowers and fulfil all your desires, I promise you this. All My friends, whom I have saved from the terrible forest fire are witness to this.”
This is also one of the pastimes. His friends were distressed when a fire broke out in Bhandirvana. All His friends and cows were screaming for help. That time Krsna told them, nimilayat lochanani… Friends and dear cows close your eyes. As soon as they closed their eyes, Krisna drank that fire. He also said ma abhayishya - Do not fear. Don't panic, just close your eyes and I will handle the rest. Then He had asked them to open their eyes and to their surprise there was no cyclone, no fire and no problem. Similarly He is assuring that He will protect them also. Better days will be there soon. Have firm faith.
After getting assurance by this statement of Krsna and understanding that happiness and satisfaction of his son is supreme , Nanda Maharaja accepted all the gifts and accompanied by a huge army of Yadus he started for Vrindavan.
All glories to Vrindavan dhama. Thus all residents of Vrindavan returned to Vrindavan and the residents of Dvaraka reached Dvaraka.
We will see what happens further , when we get time. Till then…Hare Krsna! Haribol!