English
Date: 14th March 2024
Speaker: HG Aacharya Prabhuji
Theme: NavadvipMandal Parikrama
Hare Krsna! Today is the 3rd day of Navadvip Mandal parikrama. Yesterday Parikrama was in Rudra Dvipa. Now we are going to SimantaDvipa. Just now we passed MegherChara. Now also here it is cloudy, but it is not raining. But CaitanyaMahaprabhu was doing kirtan in Navadvip, and very heavy rain started. Devotees were having trouble. Everyone was wet. So, CaitanyaMahaprabhu made everyone to perform loud kirtan. And Mahaprabhu played Karatal loudly and by that karatal sound all clouds dispersed. Thus, He saved all devotees and rain fell at some other place. We just had darsan of that place.
Sub theme- ‘Chand Kazi’ pastime
Almost 1500 devotees are walking in parikrama. And this road goes to our ISKCON’s Jagannath temple. Few steps from here is Chanda Kazi samadhi. Chanda Kazi stopped sankirtanof CaitanyaMahaprabhu.There used to be a lot of kirtan in Mayapur. Wherever you will go there would be NamaSankirtan.But those who were against Vaisnavs, they told Chand Kazi that these people are chanting the name of Hari at almost every place. They can do theirworship at home. Because of their loud kirtan, we are not able to sleep in the night.Like this they complainedto Chand Kazi. Chand Kazi came and stopped Sankirtan. And he also broke mrdangasof some devotees.
So, we are going to move ahead after having darsan of Chand Kazi Samadhi. Now also we can see that broken mrdanga in SrivasAngan. SrivasAngan and Chand Kazi samadhi is not far from each other. This iswhere devotees used to do kirtan. So, Chand Kazi stopped sankirtan.Then Mahaprabhu in his dream took the form of Narsimha and sat on his chest. Mahaprabhu scratched him with His nails. Chandkaziwas very frightened.Mahaprabhu (Narasimha) said,‘this is My sankirtan movement. This time I am forgiving you, but if you will stop this sankirtan again, then I will not leave you. I will tear open your chest.’Chand Kazi was very frightened. When he woke up, he saw nail marks on his body. Like this Chand Kazi pastime took place here.
Even before this incident, Chanda Kazi had tried to stop sankirtan a couple of times.CaitanyaMahaprabhu hadmore devotees than the number of devotees present right now here. So many devotees used to come in Sankirtan. So, in the protest,Mahaprabhuand devotees in great number came to Chand Kazi's house while performing loud sankirtan. They were holding fire torch in their hands. It seemed as if they will burn the house of Chanda Kazi. But at that time Chand Kazi said,I will not stop thisSankirtanmovement and I will tell to my descendants that this Sankirtanshould never be stopped. Now in Mayapur if we will do sankirtan at other places, Muslims oppose. But if we do sankirtanin Mayapur, then there is no problem.
Sub theme- Pastimes which took place at Rudra Dvipa
Yesterday Guru Maharaj came to parikrama. We were in Rudra dvipa. At that place the pastime of Pancha-mukhi Shiva took place. And many Acaryas had come there, Ramanucharya, Shankaracharya, Nimbarkacarya. And if one spends three nights in Navadvip, he gets the benefit of visiting all the holy places of the entireuniverse.And if one does austerities or perform sadhana in Rudra Dvipa, he gets thousand folds spiritual benefits. This is mentioned in the scriptures.
Yesterday Guru Maharaj wasmentioning various names of Shiva Parvati, like Rudra Rudrani, Bhava Bhavani, Shiva Shivani etc. So, in Rudra DvipaNimbarkacarya performed austerities for many days. For 11 days he worshiped Lord Shiva by offering Bel leaf and Gangawater. Shivaji was very pleased and by his blessing Nimbarkacarya had darsan of Chatus-Kumar.Chatus-Kumar were nakedand they used to perform austerities in the form of small children.Then by the mercy of Nimbarkacaryaeveryone haddarsan of Radha Krsna and later on haddarsan of GaurangaMahaprabhu at same place. 800 yearsago,Mahaprabhu appeared before Nimbarkacaraya and said, ‘See, I am the combined form of Radha and Krsna and I have appeared in the form of Mahaprabhu.’ Mahaprabhu gave him darsan first in the form of Radha Krsna and then in the form of CaitanyaMahaprabhu. He told that, in Kaliyuga there will be sankirtan everywhere. When Mahaprabhu disappeared,Nimbarkacarya felt deep sorrow. He started to cry. So, to pacify himMahaprabhu appeared again and said, ‘you do not worry. I will come in Kaliyuga and that time you can see Me once again.’
Then in KaliyugaNimbarkacaryacame in the form of KesavaKasmiri.And he used to defeat everyone. Then he had debate with Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhudefeated him. Nimbarkacaryaas KesavaKasmiri was a learned pandit. He defeated everyone else, butMahaprabhu defeated him.KesavaKasmiri became very happy, and then he became a devotee of Mahaprabhu.
So, now you are havingdarsan of Chand Kazi’s samadhi. So Mahaprabhushowered His mercy on Chanda Kazi and he became a devotee. He was born in a Muslim family, but by the mercy of Mahaprabhu, everyone can become devotee of the Lord.
kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā
ābhīra-śumbhāyavanāḥkhasādayaḥ
ye ’nye ca pāpāyad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ
śudhyantitasmaiprabhaviṣṇavenamaḥ
Translation-
Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him. [ŚB 2.4.18]
Chanda Kazi was none other than Kamsa, uncle of Krsna.Mahaprabhu took the form of Narasimha (and came in the dream of Chanda Kazi) and along with thousands of people He came to Chanda Kazi’s home. That time Chanda Kazi said, ‘I am your uncle’.
So, we are at his Samadhi. There is only one door. Devotees are taking darsan and doing parikrama. Here is a very old tree.Devotees are also moving ahead after having darsan and offering obeisances. From here we will go to Srinivas Angan. There Chand Kazi had broken Mridanga.
Yesterday also it was told, come and do this Navadvip Mandal parikrama. It is very blissful. We do picnics, but that do not give us spiritual bliss. Here we get association and darsan of so many pure devotees, anddarsan of Ganga. Ganga flows from Gomukha, Gangotri to Ganga Sagar, and wherever you take bath in Ganga, she will give salvation, but here in Mayapur, if someone takes bath in Ganga, she gives devotion. When Guru Maharaj came inNavadvip, he was telling that, everywhere there is Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati, but here is PanchVeni, five rivers come together.
Sub theme- Nimai leaving home and Nidaya village
So, at SrivasAnganCaitanyaMahaprabhu,AdvaitaAcaryaand other devotees used to do Kirtan. And Visvaroop used to come here and do a lot of Katha Kirtan with Advaita Acarya. And later He left to take Sannyas. After His sannyasa, (after few years) Nimai took sannyasa. Before RudraDvipa there was one village namedas Nirdaya. CaitanyaMahaprabhu ran away from His home at night without telling anyone, except four or five people. SoHe went at night through this way. Sachimata asked many devotees in this village, ‘have you seen Nimai?’ Many people said that He is going to take sannyasa. Guru Maharaj was also calling, ‘Nimai, Nimai!’ Sachi Mata was running and falling down, again she was getting up and running, calling loudly ‘NimaiNimai! Where are you Nimai?’ She asks everyone, ‘have you seen Nimai?’ People were saying, ‘No we haven’t seen Him.’ She was asking even to trees and animals. No one was giving any reply. Therefore, she said the people of this village are very cruel, nirdayi, they do not have hearts. That’s why that village became Nirdaya.So, in the month of Magha, on the day of Makar Sankranti, Nimaitook Sannyas. This is very cool river. Specially in winter waster is icy cool. Swimming in such cold water CaitanyaMahaprabhu went to Katawa. So we had darsan of Nirdaya, Nidaya village.
Sub theme- Bhakti SiddhantaSaraswati Thakur and CaitanyaGaudiyaMatha
YadiPrabhupadnahoite tokyahoito, yadiBhakti Siddhant Saraswati Maharaj nahoite to kyahoitomeans ifBhakti Siddhant SaraswatiMaharaj would not be there, then there wouldn’t beSrilaPrabhupada, and if Prabhupada wouldn’t be there then we wouldalso not be there.Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Maharaj was a pure devotee. He established 64 GaudiyaMathas. Still, he sat at one place and chanted Sata-kotiHoly names. He was not much interested in eating.He used to eat only in one leaf bowl.Just likeHaridas Thakur he chanted Holy name to teach us that no matter how big devotee you are, you must haveto chant the holy name.
So, after 5 minuteswe will reach to CaitanyaGaudiyaMatha, the first matha established by Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Maharaj. There you can understand that there is no difference between Mayapur and Navadvipa.There at CaitanyaGaudiyaMatha we will have darsan of beautiful Deities, GandharvikaGiridhari.Just beside that he established Radhakund and Shyamakund. There is no difference betweenRadhakund and Shyamakundof Vrindavan and Mayapur. They are one and same. He also established Govardhan here.Then thereis even the samadhi of his spiritual master, Sri Gaur Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj. Many people were saying that Gaur Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj is my spiritual master. I will give him Samadhi. But Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Maharaj said, ‘no’. This is a big pastime. So, therewe can have darsan of his Samadhi as well.
Sub Theme- Murari Gupta
Then moving ahead, we will have darsan of Murari Gupta. He is Hanuman. We have heard many times from Guru Maharaj's lotus mouth that in the Mahaprakashlila, Lord Mahaprabhu showed that Murari Gupta is Hanuman. Hanuman is a devotee of Lord Rama.So Murari Gupta had intense love for Lord Rama, but we are GaudiyaVaisnavas.So Mahaprabhu was saying, ‘devotion to Krsna is superior. If we chant one time ‘Krsna’ then it gives the result of chanting three times ‘Rama’.So,you worship Krsna.’He had faith in this, and many times he thought to have devotion forKrsna, but from inside he had a devotional feeling for LordRama. So500 years ago, Hanumanjiappeared in the form of Murari Gupta.
Sometimes Murari Gupta used to say Mayavadiphilosophy, everything is one, like that. One-timeMurari Gupta was having prasada.Atma and Paramtma are not one. They have difference. So, he was having prasad. Nimai was very small. Krsnawas very naughty, similarly Mahaprabhualso, there is no difference between Mahaprabhuand Krsna. Nimai was small child. He urinated in the plate of Murari Gupta.And He said, ‘there is no difference between prasad and urine.’ So, like this to explain that everything is not one, and Lord and the devotee are different, He played this pastime.
There you will not see the Deity of Radha Krsna, as Murari Gupta was devotee of Lord Rama. So we will have darsan of Rama Sita Laxman and Hanuman. Now, here is the house of AvadhutNitaiPrabhu, ourGodbrother. He lives in Mayapur. There, all the chariots of our Padayatras are constructed.
Here we can see CaitanyaGaudiyaMatha of Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Maharaj. This year was the 150th birthday of Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Maharaj. So,they put a huge pandal here. Many Sanyasis, Gurus of various Gaudiyamathas, and many of ISKCON senior devotees and sannyasis also came here. So, in the alter we can have darsan of GandharvikaGiridari.And then in the temple we can have darsan of many Acharyas, and also acharyas of the four sampradayas. So, this is gate number 2 of CaitanyaGaudiyamatha. Inside the matha there is Rahakund, Shyamakund and Giriraj Govardhan. The guru of Bhakti Siddhant SaraswatiMaharaj, Gaur Kishore Das Babaji Maharaj said, ‘you never go to Kolkata, because Cities are filled with mode of passion. Villages are in mode of Goodness.’So Bhakti SiddhantaSaraswati Thakur used to live in Kolkata for very few days. In these few days, he established GaudiyaMatha at places like UltaDhanga. A pure devotee of Lord has no influence of mode of passion on him. Maya cannot touch him. Bhakti Siddhant Maharaj spent most of his time here in CaitanyaGaudiyamatha.
There are many more pastimes. You can read CaitanyaCaritamrta and Caitanya Bhagavat written by Vrindavan Das Thakur.Yesterday Guru Maharaj came and did lot of kirtan and described Mahaprabhu's intimatepastimes. Back there is sankirtan party and many of these sankirtan devotees are from Mayapur.And if there is any bird or kite or animal then it is not an ordinary animal. It is a devotee of Lord. This land became sacred by the dust from the lotus feet of Bhakti Siddhant SaraswatiMaharaj and Gaur Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj. Mahaprabhu also used to come many times here and it is called MausirBadi.CaitanyaMahaprabhu's mother was Sachi Mata and here was Sachi Mata's sister. Now I forgot the name which was told by IstadevaPrabhuin the morning. Chandrashekhar Acarya was her husband's name. So Mahaprabhu's birth place is half a kilometer from here and here is house of Mahaprabhu's aunt, Mausirbadi, house of aunt. Here Mahaprabhuused to come and had many pastimes. There is samadhi temple of Bhakti Siddhant SaraswatiMaharaj. This is Shyamakund. You can do manasikacamana. Thereis Radhakund.CaitanyaGaudiyaMatha was the first mathaestablished by Bhakti SiddhantaSaraswati Thakur. Here is GandharvikaGiridhari.You also have darshan of the Lord, while sitting at your homes. You will be very happy and will get the same benefit. Now we are taking darsan of Gaur Kishor DasBabajiMaharaj’s samadhi stali. So here we have Shyamakund and Radhakund. Wherever devotees of Lord go, Dhama manifests there.This is such a divine pastime place.
Here we can see diorama. Bhakti Siddhant SaraswatiMaharaj made such dioramas and preached to many people. Thesedioramas do work of 1000 words. We can see many pastimes here.So, from here Parikram will go to SrivasAngan, CaitanyaMahaprabhu's birth place, andthen to the Sripat ofMurari Gupta. Then Parikrama will come back here. Here we will have katha.Many sannyasis come here. Many times, Guru Maharaj also came here. Today Bhakti Purushottam Maharaj and many other senior devotees will come. There will be katha and kirtan.
Sub theme- Kolavecha Shridhar
After that we will go to Kolavecha Shridhar. He had no material wealth, but he had spiritual wealth. He had great devotion for GaurangaMahaprabhu. His business was selling banana flower and leaves.Now we eat in plastic plates and varieties of plates, but in those days, people used to eat only on banana leaf plates. He used to collect banana leaves from garden, but it was also not his own garden. He used to sell plates and bowls made of banana leaves. He used to earn very little from it. Yet half of that money he was using in the service of Ganga and the other half was used for personal expenses. The house was like the hut ofSudama. Just as he had nothing, Shridhar had no food or clothes.Yet Mahaprabhu used to go to see him every day and would say, you are very rich, I need some leaf bowls. The price of leaf bowl was two paisa.Mahaprabhu used to say, you are asking a lot. At other places it is cheaper. You are earning more. Reality was Shridhar was selling things on very cheap rates. Yet Mahaprabhu used to say, you are asking more. So Shridhar used to say, if you want,then take it, otherwise take from another place.But Mahaprabhu used to say, no, I want to take from you only, but reduce your rate. Forcefully Mahapuru used to give less money and sometimes He didn't even give money. Externally Shridhar was getting angry, but internally he used to love Mahaprabhu. He enjoyed these dealing with Nimai. Every day Mahaprabhu used to go to his place and sit near Shridhar.Shridhar had only one old vessel and he used to cook food in it. The sun and moon could be seen from the roof of the house, such was his roof, full of holes. But he used to do loud kirtan. People used to say,‘he is hungry. He has nothing to eat, that's why he shouts so loudly.’No one can remain hungry in the dhamaof the Lord. A person who eats four rotis gets two rotis, but no one remains hungry. Mahaprabhu loved him very much. When Mahaprabhu was going to take sannyasa, every person gave Mahaprabhusome gift.On that same day, Shridhar brought pumpkin, here they call Kumara.Mahaprabhu accepted everyone's gift, but the greatest gift was Shridhar's pumpkin. Last sabjiMahaprabhu ate before His sannyasa, made by the hands of Sachi Mata was this Kumara sabji.
So, I was not prepared to give Japa Talk. IstadevaPrabhuwas supposed to speak. But he is busy in management so he asked me to talk. Whatever came in my mind, I told you.You should come to this Dham. It is very purifying. You should place Dham in your heart. This Navadvipa Dham is a very merciful, audaryadham. Dwarka Dham is AiswaryaDham. It was the city of gold. Even today we can see that in Dwarka and Gujarat, but in Vrindavan there is Madhurya Bhava. Madhuryalilagunarupanamnam!Brajavasis, especially Gopis, worship Lord in Madhurya bhava.Navadvip Dham is audaryadham, means very magnanimous, merciful dham. If someone sleeps in Navadvip Dham, then it is considered as offeringobeisances. Yesterday, Guru Maharaj was telling,if you will do Parikramaof the entire universe, then how many births you will have to take. But if you will do Navadvipa Mandal parikrama, then you will get the result of Parikramaof the entire universe. Guru Maharaj has greatly blessed us.First Parikrama was done by NityanandaPrabhu and Jiva Goswami,but later it was discontinued. Later BhaktiVinod Thakur wanted this Parikrama to start again. It is written in the Navadvip Mandal mahatyma. Many things are told about this Parikrama. He told three things, one is to start the Namahatta, preaching centers, second is doing Navadvip Mandal parikrama, and third is to perform sankirtan. Soanyone who does this Navadvip Mandal parikrama or spends even a day or a night in Navadvipa, he attains love of Krsnavery easily, which is very difficult to obtain even by Brahma. Such is this transcendentalDham. You come here at least once in your lifetime.
I also had no idea who is Mahaprabhu, who is Krsna, who is Radha Rani,NityanandPrabhu, I knew nothing. I just chanted the holy name in my village and reached in Dham, Navadvip Dham, Vrindavan Dham. So, if you chant the holy name seriously, then the Holy namewill take you to Dham. There are lots of pastimes. The association of the devotees is –
sādhu saṅga sādhu saṅga sarva śāstra kaya
lavamātra sādhu saṅge sarva siddhi haya
Translation-
The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.[Cc. Madhya 22.54]
As soon as you come here, no need to prepare prasad in the kitchen, do marketing, and so many things are there. But come here, just doparikramaand have very nice prasad, listen to the katha. There are three things to do, to come to the Dham, to do Parikrama and to have Prasad, to listen to the katha, to take the name of Lord.
Here we see Giriraj. Bhakti SiddhantSaraswati Maharaj has established. It takes 7-8 hours todo Parikramaof GirirajGovardhan, but here it takes only 2 minutes for theparikramaofGiriraj. Giriraj Parikrama’s benefityou receive immediately in Navadvipa. We go to the temple of Radha Damodarand do four parikramas, and get result of Girirajparikrama. Giriraj was given to Sanatan Goswami, as he became old and was not giving up doing parikrama of Giriraj.Then Lord Sri Krsna placed His feet on the shila of Giriraj and made the sign of flute, and gave that shila to SanatanGosvami. By doing four parikramas of that Shila, we get result of one complete Giriraj parikrama.Here BhaktiSiddhantaSaraswati Maharaj Ji mercifully has revealed this place.
Thank you. First please forgive me. IstadevPrabhu was about to speak, but he was very busy. Arrangements for 1500 people’s accommodation and Prasadam, arrangements for the speakers, and so many things. That is why he asked me to talk. Definitely there weremistakes in my talk, please forgive me for that. Hare Krsna!
