"......Govinda Ghosh was travelling with Lord Caitanya as His brahmacari assistant.
And, Lord Caitanya said, I have some indigestion, give Me some haritaki.
So he went into the village and he got Lord Gauranga, Lord Caitanya some haritaki.
The next day they were in Agradvip and Lord Caitanya said I need a haritaki again! Within a few minutes, Govinda Gosh offered haritaki........"
You can read the full pastime of Lord Chaitanya in the below link, but the mention of Haritaki(Gallnut) for indigestion is something to learn from.
It is of great value in Ayurveda.
As per RajVallabh Nigantu:
यस्य माता गृहे नास्ति, तस्य माता हरीतकी।
कदाचिद् कुप्यते माता, नोदरस्था हरीतकी ॥
(अर्थात् हरीतकी मनुष्यों की माता के समान हित करने वाली है। माता तो कभी-कभी कुपित भी हो जाती है, परन्तु उदर स्थिति अर्थात् खायी हुई हरड़ कभी भी अपकारी नहीं होती। )
YASYA MATA GRIHE NASTI ,TASYA MATA HARITAKI
KADACHIT KUPYATE MATA NODARASTA HARITAKI
For a person whose Mother is not at home,HARITAKI is like a mother...
Even a Mother can get annoyed sometimes but HARITAKI never gives any negative effect.
A nice video about Haritaki:
A Great Use of Haritaki
Entire lecture by HH Jayapataka Swami Gurumaharaj
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20200218 JAYAPATAKA SWAMI GURU MAHARAJ, SRAVANA UTSAVA DAY 1, SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA
Mukham karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim
Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinam
Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram
“Acintya can sit next to Sujitendriya in case he has any difficulty understanding me. Can you understand what I say in English, or do you need repetition? Ok. If I start to fade off or something, tell me! So, I am supposed to speak on the sankirtan movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But I would like to speak how Lord Caitanya and His associates did devotee care in the sankirtan movement. Just like in the song of the namahatta, Nadiya Godrume Nityananda Mahajan, pati ace namahatta jivera karan. Lord Nityananda, He gave the namahatta to help the fallen souls. The fallen jivas, they have to suffer birth, death, old age, disease. They are suffering so much! So, Lord Nityananda, He set a process of namahatta or sankirtan in order to help the jivas to go back to Godhead. And, just like Atul Krsna prabhu mentioned Jagai Madhai, Madhai, hit Nityananda prabhu with a broken wine bottle. And, Lord Nityananda, He was bleeding! But He said, just because you caused Me to bleed, I won’t give you love of Godhead? So Jagai he told Madhai, He is not an ordinary soul, you just hit Him and He is bleeding, but He is talking about love!! Ha! Ha! So, Jagai influenced Madhai to bow down. And then, Lord Caitanya, He promised He would not use any weapon of violence. But His long standing promise was that His devotees will not perish. So He called His Sudarsana cakra. But Lord Nityananda said, I beg You please! Give Me these two in charity! And, Lord Caitanya said that if they promise not to do these misdeeds anymore, I will forgive them! Jagai Madhai lived by the side of the Ganges. But they never bathed in the Ganges! Ha! So Lord Caitanya said, they should bathe in the Ganges and come back and then they can be initiated.
Now, when Lord Caitanya was acting as Nimai Pandit, He knew all the sastra, He could defeat anyone. In fact, He could prove a person wrong, then prove Him right, then prove him wrong! ABAAR!! (Again) But when the Digvijay Keshava Kashmiri came to Navadvip and with great arrogance challenged that who are you? Come on and debate, otherwise sign my jaya pataka that you lost. (Guru maharaj asked Sujitendriya prabhu: You speak English or Bengali? And he replied, guru maharaj, you spoke in Bengali, so I am speaking in English! Guru maharaj laughed, Ha! Ha!). So it says that Lord Caitanya actually thought that if I defeat him publicly, he will suffer embarrassment, people will loot his belongings! But he is too proud, I need to humble him. So how Lord Caitanya as Nimai Pandit, He was thinking about Keshava Kashmiri. He was manifesting devotee care!! He wanted to humble him, at the same time, He didn’t want to destroy him. He wanted to help him. So He defeated him in a very, what to say, very gentlemanly manner! And, He memorized all the verses that were composed by Keshava Kashmiri and He asked him what are the good and bad points of your poetry? He asked Keshava Kashmiri in all your verses, say what is the good and bad quality? Keshava Kashmiri said, my poetry has no faults! So Lord Caitanya gave verbatim, the verse 57! Keshava Kashmiri was bewildered, how did you memorize all the verses? He said, just as Krsna has blessed you with a good learning, so I have been blessed with a good memory! Ha! Then Lord Caitanya said what were the good and bad aspects of the poetry. I remember one defect was that he said, Bhavani Bartu – the husband of the wife of Lord Siva. So, it is confusing! Does Durga have two husbands? Bhavani already means the wife of Bhava, or Siva. So saying Bhavani Bartu, her husband. So, like that, He pointed out some defects. So Keshava Kashmiri, he was speechless, his mind went blank! And he was a great devotee of Saraswati. And so he prayed to Saraswati, why did you allow me to be defeated by this youngster? She said, you see, He is My Husband! Ha! So I cannot help you against Him! Ha! So the next day, Keshava Kashmiri went to the house of Nimai Pandit. And he bowed down and said, please reveal to me, who You are? So He revealed His actual identity as Krsna! So Keshava Kashmiri, he gave up being a Digvijay and debater, and became an acarya in the Nimbarka sampradaya. There are four bona fide sampradayas – Brahma, Rudra, Laksmi and four Kumaras. So, Nimbarka is a guru in the four Kumaras sampradaya.
That reminds me that Jagai Madhai, they went also to Lord Caitanya’s house, the next day. And Lord Caitanya brought both of them to the Ganges side. He said, put a Tulasi in My hand, give Me all your sins, ALL YOUR SINS! My Lord, as many hairs as I have on my head, I have done more sins! So I feel very embarrassed to give all my sins to You! So what devotee care, Bhakatavatsala, Lord Caitanya was giving!! Put the Tulasi in My hand! I WILL TAKE ALL YOUR SINS! Then they put Tulasi in His hand. For a minute, Gauranga became Shyamanga! One second! Then, Jagai Madhai, all their bad karma, vikarma, was destroyed by Lord Caitanya. They saw this in the Patala loka, there was a big commotion amongst all the accountants. Yamaraja’s principle bookkeepers were talking amongst themselves. Yamaraja came out and saw the commotion. Lord Gauranga has wiped out the karma of Jagai and Madhai! How much bad karma did they have? If you were to put it down in writing, it would take godowns after godowns! We had a special architect design for them a custom made hell! Ha! Hearing this Yamaraja, he fainted! So they were trying to revive Yamaraja! Around that time, Lord Siva came. He said, oh, what happened to Yamaraja? They told Him what happened. He said, he is not unconscious by being shocked. HE IS IN ECSTASY! He has become ecstatic thinking of the mercy of Lord Gauranga and then fell unconscious! Haribol! Gauuuuuranga! Gauuranga Gauranga! If you want to revive him, you have to chant Hare Krsna! Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna HARE Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! Everybody in Yamaloka started dancing and singing in kirtan. Not only that, even in the Devaloka, everyone was chanting. Gauuuuranga! Nityananda!
The sankirtan movement can liberate the whole universe! The Navadvip parikrama that you do, there are different parties, that has a tremendous effect on the whole universe! Haribol! So, Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakur, he said while on the parikrama, he said, my next disciple who crosses over the ocean, he will bring people from all over the world. I will not live to see it, but it will HAPPEN! IT WILL HAPPEN! Haribol! Ha! So he predicted coming of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. And Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur said that people would come from all over the world and do this parikrama. They would tell their Indian brothers, that we have accepted the shelter of the lotus feet of Sacinandana! Please embrace us and don’t think of any prejudice or caste, color, creed or anything. And then they embrace each other! Men embrace the men and women the women! So we were doing that for a number of years. That is the mercy and predictions of our previous acaryas. And Srila Prabhupada, took his first parikrama out, and he was the one who established that we do Navadvip Parikrama. So, like this, Lord Caitanya has shown His extreme care for all His devotees. I forget who, there was one devotee in Vrndavana, when any of the Bengali devotees would come, he would give them mustard oil. Ha! Ha! Because, it is very dry in Vrndavana and here in Bengal, it is very humid. So therefore the Bengalis needed the mustard oil to adapt to the dry climate! Just like this year we have the South Indian parikrama party added! And they like sour things like yogurt, tamarind. So, apparently they are bringing their equipment up. I heard that one machine has been purchased in Coimbatore which would cook 1000 idlis at a time. The International party may want to try it out one day!! And one day the South Indian party should have Pongal, which is like South Indian Khichdi. That way the International Party can get idli. Ha! Anyway, we are very grateful to Srila Prabhupada – he could have stayed in Vrndavana, and easily he could have gone back to the spiritual world. But he was thinking about the people in the western world, that they are suffering in ignorance. So, he took great difficulty to cross the ocean by cargo ship! He only had seven dollars! And only one box of Srimad Bhagavatam. He had heart attack, he wasn’t used to the rough seas. And he had a dream where Krsna came and said, I am taking you across the ocean! After that the Atlantic Ocean became very peaceful like the Pacific Ocean. So Srila Prabhupada, he crossed the ocean and he brought the sankirtan andolan, the sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya to the western countries. Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!
Lord Caitanya had said that in every town and village of the world, His name would be sung. So, Srila Prabhupada had that vision. He was telling that to his fellow residents of Vraja. But they said, no, no, that means civilized world, India! But Srila Prabhupada said, no, prithvi te means the whole world! The others, they couldn’t believe it. But Srila Prabhupada had faith, and he carried out the order of his guru, and therefore today we have the International Society for Krsna Consciousness! The disciples of Srila Prabhupada, men and women, we have some limited time we can be here. You have to carry on this movement, after we go! You have to continue carrying on the great thing that Srila Prabhupada established. So, everyone should take to the occupation of preaching! Srila Prabhupada said, books are the basis, preaching is the essence. So, we need to understand Srila Prabhupada’s mood and keep the sankirtan andolan spreading and growing. ( Guru maharaj said: I said andolan, he said movement of the repeater!) Sometime I think in English, sometime in Bengali, sometime in Spanish!!
So, anyway, caring for the other devotees is very important. Lord Caitanya said in His third verse of the Siksastakam, amaanina mana dena kirtaniya sada Harihi. Give respect to all others, and don’t expect any respect for yourself. In this way, you can constantly chant the holy names of Krsna! Someone asked me, what to do if someone treats you bad or enviously, what should you do? Do you take vengeance? What did Nityananda prabhu when He was hit by Madhai? He said, just because you hit Me, does that me I will not give you love of Godhead? So we should not seek vengeance. We want to help everyone. Lord Caitanya, He was in this mood of helping everyone. But sometimes, He would test devotees! Kolaveca Sridhar, He went and tested him many times. When He was doing the 21 hour Mahaprakash lila. And everyone could see, He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He called for Kolaveca Sridhar, bring him here. And when some devotees went to Sridhar and told him that Nimai Pandit wants to see you, he was so humble, he fainted!! So what could do the devotees do? They picked him and carried him. Then, they put him in front of Lord Caitanya. At that time, Lord Gauranga was manifesting Brahmajyoti. Lord Nityananda was holding an umbrella over His head. One devotee was fanning Him. So, when Kolaveca Sridhar regained consciousness, Lord Caitanya said, I want to give you a boon, what do you want? I will make you a king and you will have a big kingdom with many ministers and horses and things. I don’t want that! I don’t want! I will give you mystic power! Anima lagima praapti etc. siddhis. No, no, I don’t want. I can give you the liberation you can merge in the nirakara. No, no, I don’t want that, no, no! WHAT DO YOU WANT? TELL ME WHAT DO YOU WANT? I want, if I have to ask for something, if I am qualified, in all your incarnations, if I can provide your vegetables and fruits’ requirement and if I can see that smiling face of that brahmana boy, that is what I want! But if I am not qualified for that, please allow me to take birth in the family of your devotees. Then Lord Caitanya said, I GIVE YOU THE BLESSING OF PURE KRSNA PREMA! So when the devotees heard how a hawker in the street, who sells bananas and thors (banana stem), he got Krsna Prema! Ha! Ha! Lord Caitanya! They were overwhelmed, they pulled their hair and fell to the ground! HARIBOL! HARIBOL! GAUUUUURANGA! GAUUUUURANGA! GAUUUUUURANGA! Talk about devotee care! Ha! Ha! What Lord Caitanya gave is incomparable!
Locanadas Thakur, he is saying, and Srila Prabhupada sang this in New Panihati Dham, Atlanta. Parama koruna pahu dui jana Nitai Gaura candra. Saba avatar sara shiromani, kevala ananda kanda. Amongst all the avatars, Lord Nitai and Gauracandra are the crown jewels! Nrsimhadev taught Prahlad how He could meditate, and thus we have Yoga Nrsimha deity. But Lord Caitanya, His process is singing Hare Krsna, dancing, reading Bhagavatam and Gita and taking Krsna prasad. And we take this austerity of Krsna prasad! Ha! Ha! So, what time is it?
How Lord Caitanya, He gave out His mercy, without considering who is qualified and who is unqualified, is truly amazing! How the devotees, I remember one pastime, Govinda Ghosh was travelling with Lord Caitanya as His brahmacari assistant. And, Lord Caitanya said, I have some indigestion, give Me some haritaki. So he went into the village and he got Lord Gauranga, Lord Caitanya some haritaki. The next day they were in Agradvip and Lord Caitanya said I need a haritaki again! Within a few minutes, Govinda Gosh offered haritaki. So Lord Caitanya said, how were you so fast? I kept a few extra, in case You needed it. Oh, then you have a grihasta mentality, saving for a rainy day! So you have to get married! Ha! Ha! He had no parents but it was the order of Lord Caitanya, so he took grihasta life. He had a wife, he was serving the Gopinath deity. He had a male santan, child. But then his wife she died somehow, snakebite or something. And then, the boy was also killed! So he became, Govinda Ghosh became very disturbed. So the deity Gopinath complained that you are not serving Me properly! I was a brahmacari, I was ordered by Lord Caitanya to take grihasta ashram. Obviously, I wasn’t qualified to be a brahmacari. So I had a son, after I die he will perform my shraadha ceremony. But my wife, my son, all died! The deity said, I am your son! But you are not that kind of son, you are not going to perform my final rites. So if I promise to do that you will serve Me properly, the deity asked. Alright, I will call the village leaders. Then he announced and, the deity spoke to them - on the day of the death anniversary, material world anniversary, of Govinda Ghosh, I should be taken to perform pindi and shradha for him. So, how Lord Gopinath, He was also caring for His devotee. One year we went there with the safari. It was that day. And the Gopinath deity was taken to the samadhi of Govinda Ghosh. I mean, I think there are three brothers – Basu Ghosh, Govinda Gosh and Madhava Ghosh. Between Govinda and Madhava, I think it was Govinda Ghosh. Anyway, the pujari dragged me into the samadhi and Ganga das, he was at the doorway. And then they dropped the rice pindi from the hand of the deity. And they said that the black stone deity changed during this ceremony. I felt like something different was happening. People were, one side were the ladies, other side were the men. One lady, she was trying to get in and see what is happening. From behind her, another lady pulled her by her hair and a big fight was going on. How to see what was going on inside? Somehow I was in the middle of this storm! So, poor Ganga das, with his watch, he had so much skin off his scalp! Any way that is Bengal enthusiasm! But inside how the deity was satisfying the wish of his deity even after 500 years! So that festival is still going on, you can see it after Gaura Purnima, on Ekadasi or after.
Similarly, Srila Prabhupada said that no one in a ten-mile radius should go hungry. Krsna is everyone’s father. And in the presence of the parents, the child never goes hungry. So, since this is a temple of Krsna, we should see that everyone is fed Krsna prasad. Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s devotee care was manifested throughout His sankirtan movement. And Srila Prabhupada, he brought that same attitude of Lord Caitanya around the world. Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Gauuuuranga! Gauuuuuranga! Gauuranga! Nityananda! Nityananda! Nityananda! Haribol! 8.27 pm Any questions?
Question: Hare Krsna maharaj. (Guru maharaj said: Hare Krsna) I wanted to ask that you mentioned that Keshava Kashmiri when he realized that Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, later on he became an acarya in the Nimbarka sampradaya. So when he realized the position of the Supreme Lord, Lord Caitanya, why did not become a direct disciple or follower of the Gaudiya sampradaya?
Guru maharaj: You see when Keshava Kashmiri met Nimai Pandit, that was still many years before He started the sankirtan andolan. Many years He was acting as Nimai Pandit, when He went to Gaya and He was initiated by Iswara Puri, then He started to manifest love of Krsna. And in Kanhainatashala He had a darshan of Krsna, Krsna embraced Him. And when He returned to Navadvip, He was changed! He was Gauuuura Hari! We are reading that part on the Lotus building top now. Other question?
Question: Hare Krsna maharaj. You said that Jagai Madhai are just offering the Tulasi to Lord Caitanya. They have cleared all sins. They not only did the sins, they offended the vaisnavas also. So how we can understand this maharaj?
Guru maharaj: Madhai built a Madhai ghat. And then the Navadvipvasis, Mayapurvasis used Madhai ghat. And that forgave him of the offences he committed on the residents of Navadvip. That means by helping people in their spiritual life, we get forgiven for our offences. That is why we chant the name of the Lord LOUD! GAUUUUURANGA!
Question: Hare Krsna guru maharaj (Guru maharaj said: Hare Krsna! ) Like you said, Srila Prabhupada said, no body in a ten-mile radius of our place should go hungry without prasad. So, some of our affluent temples, the security and some staff employed that carry bags for sannyasis and devotees, they are not given any prasad. And the temples receive so much Laksmi day after day for free prasadam and these poor security and other devotees who are serving there in the heat and cold, they are serving us. And it gives great pain to me that they are not given prasad. And for two years I tried to speak to the management and the senior leaders of Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Temple in Delhi, that please give them prasad, from so many years they are serving. And for two years I tried but you know. I am an insignificant person, but it gives great pain to my heart and my humble request and prayer at your lotus feet, guru maharaj, if you could take this up in the GBC that these people who are serving us with their heart and soul, they don’t get prasad and they feel so bad. I had so much tears in my heart you know, please guru maharaj, please take this up at the GBC, my humble prayer at your lotus feet!
Guru maharaj: Write me an email and I will forward it to the management, whichever temple you are talking about. Thank you.”
Alright! Thank you all!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2536495366621315&id=100007826289791
And, Lord Caitanya said, I have some indigestion, give Me some haritaki.
So he went into the village and he got Lord Gauranga, Lord Caitanya some haritaki.
The next day they were in Agradvip and Lord Caitanya said I need a haritaki again! Within a few minutes, Govinda Gosh offered haritaki........"
You can read the full pastime of Lord Chaitanya in the below link, but the mention of Haritaki(Gallnut) for indigestion is something to learn from.
It is of great value in Ayurveda.
As per RajVallabh Nigantu:
यस्य माता गृहे नास्ति, तस्य माता हरीतकी।
कदाचिद् कुप्यते माता, नोदरस्था हरीतकी ॥
(अर्थात् हरीतकी मनुष्यों की माता के समान हित करने वाली है। माता तो कभी-कभी कुपित भी हो जाती है, परन्तु उदर स्थिति अर्थात् खायी हुई हरड़ कभी भी अपकारी नहीं होती। )
YASYA MATA GRIHE NASTI ,TASYA MATA HARITAKI
KADACHIT KUPYATE MATA NODARASTA HARITAKI
For a person whose Mother is not at home,HARITAKI is like a mother...
Even a Mother can get annoyed sometimes but HARITAKI never gives any negative effect.
A nice video about Haritaki:
A Great Use of Haritaki
Entire lecture by HH Jayapataka Swami Gurumaharaj
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20200218 JAYAPATAKA SWAMI GURU MAHARAJ, SRAVANA UTSAVA DAY 1, SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA
Mukham karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim
Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinam
Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram
“Acintya can sit next to Sujitendriya in case he has any difficulty understanding me. Can you understand what I say in English, or do you need repetition? Ok. If I start to fade off or something, tell me! So, I am supposed to speak on the sankirtan movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But I would like to speak how Lord Caitanya and His associates did devotee care in the sankirtan movement. Just like in the song of the namahatta, Nadiya Godrume Nityananda Mahajan, pati ace namahatta jivera karan. Lord Nityananda, He gave the namahatta to help the fallen souls. The fallen jivas, they have to suffer birth, death, old age, disease. They are suffering so much! So, Lord Nityananda, He set a process of namahatta or sankirtan in order to help the jivas to go back to Godhead. And, just like Atul Krsna prabhu mentioned Jagai Madhai, Madhai, hit Nityananda prabhu with a broken wine bottle. And, Lord Nityananda, He was bleeding! But He said, just because you caused Me to bleed, I won’t give you love of Godhead? So Jagai he told Madhai, He is not an ordinary soul, you just hit Him and He is bleeding, but He is talking about love!! Ha! Ha! So, Jagai influenced Madhai to bow down. And then, Lord Caitanya, He promised He would not use any weapon of violence. But His long standing promise was that His devotees will not perish. So He called His Sudarsana cakra. But Lord Nityananda said, I beg You please! Give Me these two in charity! And, Lord Caitanya said that if they promise not to do these misdeeds anymore, I will forgive them! Jagai Madhai lived by the side of the Ganges. But they never bathed in the Ganges! Ha! So Lord Caitanya said, they should bathe in the Ganges and come back and then they can be initiated.
Now, when Lord Caitanya was acting as Nimai Pandit, He knew all the sastra, He could defeat anyone. In fact, He could prove a person wrong, then prove Him right, then prove him wrong! ABAAR!! (Again) But when the Digvijay Keshava Kashmiri came to Navadvip and with great arrogance challenged that who are you? Come on and debate, otherwise sign my jaya pataka that you lost. (Guru maharaj asked Sujitendriya prabhu: You speak English or Bengali? And he replied, guru maharaj, you spoke in Bengali, so I am speaking in English! Guru maharaj laughed, Ha! Ha!). So it says that Lord Caitanya actually thought that if I defeat him publicly, he will suffer embarrassment, people will loot his belongings! But he is too proud, I need to humble him. So how Lord Caitanya as Nimai Pandit, He was thinking about Keshava Kashmiri. He was manifesting devotee care!! He wanted to humble him, at the same time, He didn’t want to destroy him. He wanted to help him. So He defeated him in a very, what to say, very gentlemanly manner! And, He memorized all the verses that were composed by Keshava Kashmiri and He asked him what are the good and bad points of your poetry? He asked Keshava Kashmiri in all your verses, say what is the good and bad quality? Keshava Kashmiri said, my poetry has no faults! So Lord Caitanya gave verbatim, the verse 57! Keshava Kashmiri was bewildered, how did you memorize all the verses? He said, just as Krsna has blessed you with a good learning, so I have been blessed with a good memory! Ha! Then Lord Caitanya said what were the good and bad aspects of the poetry. I remember one defect was that he said, Bhavani Bartu – the husband of the wife of Lord Siva. So, it is confusing! Does Durga have two husbands? Bhavani already means the wife of Bhava, or Siva. So saying Bhavani Bartu, her husband. So, like that, He pointed out some defects. So Keshava Kashmiri, he was speechless, his mind went blank! And he was a great devotee of Saraswati. And so he prayed to Saraswati, why did you allow me to be defeated by this youngster? She said, you see, He is My Husband! Ha! So I cannot help you against Him! Ha! So the next day, Keshava Kashmiri went to the house of Nimai Pandit. And he bowed down and said, please reveal to me, who You are? So He revealed His actual identity as Krsna! So Keshava Kashmiri, he gave up being a Digvijay and debater, and became an acarya in the Nimbarka sampradaya. There are four bona fide sampradayas – Brahma, Rudra, Laksmi and four Kumaras. So, Nimbarka is a guru in the four Kumaras sampradaya.
That reminds me that Jagai Madhai, they went also to Lord Caitanya’s house, the next day. And Lord Caitanya brought both of them to the Ganges side. He said, put a Tulasi in My hand, give Me all your sins, ALL YOUR SINS! My Lord, as many hairs as I have on my head, I have done more sins! So I feel very embarrassed to give all my sins to You! So what devotee care, Bhakatavatsala, Lord Caitanya was giving!! Put the Tulasi in My hand! I WILL TAKE ALL YOUR SINS! Then they put Tulasi in His hand. For a minute, Gauranga became Shyamanga! One second! Then, Jagai Madhai, all their bad karma, vikarma, was destroyed by Lord Caitanya. They saw this in the Patala loka, there was a big commotion amongst all the accountants. Yamaraja’s principle bookkeepers were talking amongst themselves. Yamaraja came out and saw the commotion. Lord Gauranga has wiped out the karma of Jagai and Madhai! How much bad karma did they have? If you were to put it down in writing, it would take godowns after godowns! We had a special architect design for them a custom made hell! Ha! Hearing this Yamaraja, he fainted! So they were trying to revive Yamaraja! Around that time, Lord Siva came. He said, oh, what happened to Yamaraja? They told Him what happened. He said, he is not unconscious by being shocked. HE IS IN ECSTASY! He has become ecstatic thinking of the mercy of Lord Gauranga and then fell unconscious! Haribol! Gauuuuuranga! Gauuranga Gauranga! If you want to revive him, you have to chant Hare Krsna! Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna HARE Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! Everybody in Yamaloka started dancing and singing in kirtan. Not only that, even in the Devaloka, everyone was chanting. Gauuuuranga! Nityananda!
The sankirtan movement can liberate the whole universe! The Navadvip parikrama that you do, there are different parties, that has a tremendous effect on the whole universe! Haribol! So, Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakur, he said while on the parikrama, he said, my next disciple who crosses over the ocean, he will bring people from all over the world. I will not live to see it, but it will HAPPEN! IT WILL HAPPEN! Haribol! Ha! So he predicted coming of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. And Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur said that people would come from all over the world and do this parikrama. They would tell their Indian brothers, that we have accepted the shelter of the lotus feet of Sacinandana! Please embrace us and don’t think of any prejudice or caste, color, creed or anything. And then they embrace each other! Men embrace the men and women the women! So we were doing that for a number of years. That is the mercy and predictions of our previous acaryas. And Srila Prabhupada, took his first parikrama out, and he was the one who established that we do Navadvip Parikrama. So, like this, Lord Caitanya has shown His extreme care for all His devotees. I forget who, there was one devotee in Vrndavana, when any of the Bengali devotees would come, he would give them mustard oil. Ha! Ha! Because, it is very dry in Vrndavana and here in Bengal, it is very humid. So therefore the Bengalis needed the mustard oil to adapt to the dry climate! Just like this year we have the South Indian parikrama party added! And they like sour things like yogurt, tamarind. So, apparently they are bringing their equipment up. I heard that one machine has been purchased in Coimbatore which would cook 1000 idlis at a time. The International party may want to try it out one day!! And one day the South Indian party should have Pongal, which is like South Indian Khichdi. That way the International Party can get idli. Ha! Anyway, we are very grateful to Srila Prabhupada – he could have stayed in Vrndavana, and easily he could have gone back to the spiritual world. But he was thinking about the people in the western world, that they are suffering in ignorance. So, he took great difficulty to cross the ocean by cargo ship! He only had seven dollars! And only one box of Srimad Bhagavatam. He had heart attack, he wasn’t used to the rough seas. And he had a dream where Krsna came and said, I am taking you across the ocean! After that the Atlantic Ocean became very peaceful like the Pacific Ocean. So Srila Prabhupada, he crossed the ocean and he brought the sankirtan andolan, the sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya to the western countries. Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!
Lord Caitanya had said that in every town and village of the world, His name would be sung. So, Srila Prabhupada had that vision. He was telling that to his fellow residents of Vraja. But they said, no, no, that means civilized world, India! But Srila Prabhupada said, no, prithvi te means the whole world! The others, they couldn’t believe it. But Srila Prabhupada had faith, and he carried out the order of his guru, and therefore today we have the International Society for Krsna Consciousness! The disciples of Srila Prabhupada, men and women, we have some limited time we can be here. You have to carry on this movement, after we go! You have to continue carrying on the great thing that Srila Prabhupada established. So, everyone should take to the occupation of preaching! Srila Prabhupada said, books are the basis, preaching is the essence. So, we need to understand Srila Prabhupada’s mood and keep the sankirtan andolan spreading and growing. ( Guru maharaj said: I said andolan, he said movement of the repeater!) Sometime I think in English, sometime in Bengali, sometime in Spanish!!
So, anyway, caring for the other devotees is very important. Lord Caitanya said in His third verse of the Siksastakam, amaanina mana dena kirtaniya sada Harihi. Give respect to all others, and don’t expect any respect for yourself. In this way, you can constantly chant the holy names of Krsna! Someone asked me, what to do if someone treats you bad or enviously, what should you do? Do you take vengeance? What did Nityananda prabhu when He was hit by Madhai? He said, just because you hit Me, does that me I will not give you love of Godhead? So we should not seek vengeance. We want to help everyone. Lord Caitanya, He was in this mood of helping everyone. But sometimes, He would test devotees! Kolaveca Sridhar, He went and tested him many times. When He was doing the 21 hour Mahaprakash lila. And everyone could see, He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He called for Kolaveca Sridhar, bring him here. And when some devotees went to Sridhar and told him that Nimai Pandit wants to see you, he was so humble, he fainted!! So what could do the devotees do? They picked him and carried him. Then, they put him in front of Lord Caitanya. At that time, Lord Gauranga was manifesting Brahmajyoti. Lord Nityananda was holding an umbrella over His head. One devotee was fanning Him. So, when Kolaveca Sridhar regained consciousness, Lord Caitanya said, I want to give you a boon, what do you want? I will make you a king and you will have a big kingdom with many ministers and horses and things. I don’t want that! I don’t want! I will give you mystic power! Anima lagima praapti etc. siddhis. No, no, I don’t want. I can give you the liberation you can merge in the nirakara. No, no, I don’t want that, no, no! WHAT DO YOU WANT? TELL ME WHAT DO YOU WANT? I want, if I have to ask for something, if I am qualified, in all your incarnations, if I can provide your vegetables and fruits’ requirement and if I can see that smiling face of that brahmana boy, that is what I want! But if I am not qualified for that, please allow me to take birth in the family of your devotees. Then Lord Caitanya said, I GIVE YOU THE BLESSING OF PURE KRSNA PREMA! So when the devotees heard how a hawker in the street, who sells bananas and thors (banana stem), he got Krsna Prema! Ha! Ha! Lord Caitanya! They were overwhelmed, they pulled their hair and fell to the ground! HARIBOL! HARIBOL! GAUUUUURANGA! GAUUUUURANGA! GAUUUUUURANGA! Talk about devotee care! Ha! Ha! What Lord Caitanya gave is incomparable!
Locanadas Thakur, he is saying, and Srila Prabhupada sang this in New Panihati Dham, Atlanta. Parama koruna pahu dui jana Nitai Gaura candra. Saba avatar sara shiromani, kevala ananda kanda. Amongst all the avatars, Lord Nitai and Gauracandra are the crown jewels! Nrsimhadev taught Prahlad how He could meditate, and thus we have Yoga Nrsimha deity. But Lord Caitanya, His process is singing Hare Krsna, dancing, reading Bhagavatam and Gita and taking Krsna prasad. And we take this austerity of Krsna prasad! Ha! Ha! So, what time is it?
How Lord Caitanya, He gave out His mercy, without considering who is qualified and who is unqualified, is truly amazing! How the devotees, I remember one pastime, Govinda Ghosh was travelling with Lord Caitanya as His brahmacari assistant. And, Lord Caitanya said, I have some indigestion, give Me some haritaki. So he went into the village and he got Lord Gauranga, Lord Caitanya some haritaki. The next day they were in Agradvip and Lord Caitanya said I need a haritaki again! Within a few minutes, Govinda Gosh offered haritaki. So Lord Caitanya said, how were you so fast? I kept a few extra, in case You needed it. Oh, then you have a grihasta mentality, saving for a rainy day! So you have to get married! Ha! Ha! He had no parents but it was the order of Lord Caitanya, so he took grihasta life. He had a wife, he was serving the Gopinath deity. He had a male santan, child. But then his wife she died somehow, snakebite or something. And then, the boy was also killed! So he became, Govinda Ghosh became very disturbed. So the deity Gopinath complained that you are not serving Me properly! I was a brahmacari, I was ordered by Lord Caitanya to take grihasta ashram. Obviously, I wasn’t qualified to be a brahmacari. So I had a son, after I die he will perform my shraadha ceremony. But my wife, my son, all died! The deity said, I am your son! But you are not that kind of son, you are not going to perform my final rites. So if I promise to do that you will serve Me properly, the deity asked. Alright, I will call the village leaders. Then he announced and, the deity spoke to them - on the day of the death anniversary, material world anniversary, of Govinda Ghosh, I should be taken to perform pindi and shradha for him. So, how Lord Gopinath, He was also caring for His devotee. One year we went there with the safari. It was that day. And the Gopinath deity was taken to the samadhi of Govinda Ghosh. I mean, I think there are three brothers – Basu Ghosh, Govinda Gosh and Madhava Ghosh. Between Govinda and Madhava, I think it was Govinda Ghosh. Anyway, the pujari dragged me into the samadhi and Ganga das, he was at the doorway. And then they dropped the rice pindi from the hand of the deity. And they said that the black stone deity changed during this ceremony. I felt like something different was happening. People were, one side were the ladies, other side were the men. One lady, she was trying to get in and see what is happening. From behind her, another lady pulled her by her hair and a big fight was going on. How to see what was going on inside? Somehow I was in the middle of this storm! So, poor Ganga das, with his watch, he had so much skin off his scalp! Any way that is Bengal enthusiasm! But inside how the deity was satisfying the wish of his deity even after 500 years! So that festival is still going on, you can see it after Gaura Purnima, on Ekadasi or after.
Similarly, Srila Prabhupada said that no one in a ten-mile radius should go hungry. Krsna is everyone’s father. And in the presence of the parents, the child never goes hungry. So, since this is a temple of Krsna, we should see that everyone is fed Krsna prasad. Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s devotee care was manifested throughout His sankirtan movement. And Srila Prabhupada, he brought that same attitude of Lord Caitanya around the world. Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Gauuuuranga! Gauuuuuranga! Gauuranga! Nityananda! Nityananda! Nityananda! Haribol! 8.27 pm Any questions?
Question: Hare Krsna maharaj. (Guru maharaj said: Hare Krsna) I wanted to ask that you mentioned that Keshava Kashmiri when he realized that Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, later on he became an acarya in the Nimbarka sampradaya. So when he realized the position of the Supreme Lord, Lord Caitanya, why did not become a direct disciple or follower of the Gaudiya sampradaya?
Guru maharaj: You see when Keshava Kashmiri met Nimai Pandit, that was still many years before He started the sankirtan andolan. Many years He was acting as Nimai Pandit, when He went to Gaya and He was initiated by Iswara Puri, then He started to manifest love of Krsna. And in Kanhainatashala He had a darshan of Krsna, Krsna embraced Him. And when He returned to Navadvip, He was changed! He was Gauuuura Hari! We are reading that part on the Lotus building top now. Other question?
Question: Hare Krsna maharaj. You said that Jagai Madhai are just offering the Tulasi to Lord Caitanya. They have cleared all sins. They not only did the sins, they offended the vaisnavas also. So how we can understand this maharaj?
Guru maharaj: Madhai built a Madhai ghat. And then the Navadvipvasis, Mayapurvasis used Madhai ghat. And that forgave him of the offences he committed on the residents of Navadvip. That means by helping people in their spiritual life, we get forgiven for our offences. That is why we chant the name of the Lord LOUD! GAUUUUURANGA!
Question: Hare Krsna guru maharaj (Guru maharaj said: Hare Krsna! ) Like you said, Srila Prabhupada said, no body in a ten-mile radius of our place should go hungry without prasad. So, some of our affluent temples, the security and some staff employed that carry bags for sannyasis and devotees, they are not given any prasad. And the temples receive so much Laksmi day after day for free prasadam and these poor security and other devotees who are serving there in the heat and cold, they are serving us. And it gives great pain to me that they are not given prasad. And for two years I tried to speak to the management and the senior leaders of Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Temple in Delhi, that please give them prasad, from so many years they are serving. And for two years I tried but you know. I am an insignificant person, but it gives great pain to my heart and my humble request and prayer at your lotus feet, guru maharaj, if you could take this up in the GBC that these people who are serving us with their heart and soul, they don’t get prasad and they feel so bad. I had so much tears in my heart you know, please guru maharaj, please take this up at the GBC, my humble prayer at your lotus feet!
Guru maharaj: Write me an email and I will forward it to the management, whichever temple you are talking about. Thank you.”
Alright! Thank you all!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
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