20200626 The Lord Respects Nārāyaṇī by Giving Her Remnants of His Food

The following is the reading from the new Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 26th June 2020 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ
śrī caitanya iśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Chapter: The Lord Respects Nārāyaṇī by Giving Her Remnants of His Food

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 17.230

śrīvāsabhrātusputrī nārāyaṇīke svīya ucchiṣṭa-pradāna —
tabe ta’ karilā saba bhakte vara dāna
ucchiṣṭa diyā nārāyaṇīra karila sammāna

Translation: Thereafter the Lord charitably bestowed His benediction upon all His devotees. He gave the remnants of His food to Nārāyaṇī, showing her special respect.

Purport: Nārāyaṇī was a niece of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, and later she became the mother of Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. In this connection the sahajiyās cite a malicious story that after eating the remnants of Lord Caitanya’s food Nārāyaṇī became pregnant and gave birth to Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. The rascal sahajiyās may manufacture such false statements, but no one should believe them because they are motivated by enmity against the Vaiṣṇavas.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.290

granthakārera jananī nārāyaṇīra śrīcaitanyara bhojanāvaśeṣa prāpti—
bhojanera avaśeṣa yateka āchila
nārāyaṇī puṇyavatī tāhā se pāila

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lord Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu after taking His meal, the remnants that were left, He bestowed on Nārāyaṇī. The pious, fortunate, Nārāyaṇī, received these remnants. So, Lord Caitanya, in His mood as Kṛṣṇa, was giving benedictions to all the devotees. But He gave the remnants of His prasāda to Nārāyaṇī, the pious Nārāyaṇī, so this was a special mercy that she received.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.291

śrīvāsera bhrātṛ-sutābālikā ajñāna
tāhāre bhojana-śeṣa prabhu kare dāna

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita’s brother’s daughter, innocent girl, Lord Gaurāṅga gave her the remnants of His prasāda. We know that the remnants of the Lord’s prasāda is very special mercy, and somehow, He was bestowing on the young girl, Nārāyaṇī, His special mercy.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.292

parama ānande khāya prabhura prasāda
sakala vaiṣṇava tāṅre kare āśīrvāda

Jayapatākā Swami: In great loving ecstasy, she ate the Lord Gaurāṅga’s remnants, all the Vaiṣṇavas present blessed her.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.293

dhanya dhanya ei se sevila nārāyaṇa
bālikā-svabhāve dhanya ihāra jīvana

Jayapatākā Swami: She is most fortunate because she served Lord Nārāyaṇa, although she was a young girl, her life became glorious, became blessed.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.294

mahāprabhura nārāyaṇīke kṛṣṇapremānande krandana karite ājñā evaṁ bālikāra tadrūpa karaṇa—
khāile prabhura ājñā haya,—“nārāyaṇī
kṛṣṇera paramānande kānda dekhi śuni”

Jayapatākā Swami: While she was eating the Lord’s prasāda remnants, Lord Gaurāṅga gave her the following order “Nārāyaṇī, in transcendental loving ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa, cry, let Me see, let Me hear!”

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.295

hena prabhu caitanyera ājñāra prabhāva
‘kṛṣṇa’ bali’ kānde ati bālikā-svabhāva

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya’s order had such force, that the innocent young girl began to cry, by calling out the names of Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya gave Nārāyaṇī the order, to chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, and manifest the loving ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so she began to cry, chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.296

nārāyaṇīra ‘caitanyāvaśeṣapātrī’ ākhyā—
adyāpiha vaiṣṇava-maṇḍale ei dhvani
“gaurāṅgera avaśeṣa-pātra nārāyaṇī”

Jayapatākā Swami: Even today, the Vaiṣṇava society knows this, especially proclaims this, that Nārāyaṇī is the recipient of Gaurāṅga’s prasāda remnants.

Puport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Ṭhākura): In the course of narrating topics concerning his mother, the author describes the past incident of how his mother received the Lord’s remnants.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍca 2.2.19: Saintly Nārāyaṇī was Śrīvāsa’s brother’s unmarried daughter, her skin had a sweet luster. Having obtained the prasāda of Śrī Hari she wept loudly.

Jayapatākā Swami: Although Nārāyaṇī was a young, innocent girl, she already had ecstatic, loving symptoms of love of Godhead. After getting Lord Gaurāṅga’s mahā-prasāda remnants, she was weeping very loudly. So, this shows that she was a very special devotee, and that doesn’t matter how old one is, to be a lover of Kṛṣṇa, it’s possible at any age.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhakura's
Śrī Śrīmad Gaurāṅga-līlā-smaraṇa-maṅgala-stotram 32

gaṅgā-dāso muraripu-bhiṣak śrīdharaḥ śukla-vastraḥ sarve yasya praṇati-nirataḥ prema-pūrṇā babhūvuḥ yasyocchiṣṭāśana-suratikā śrīla-nārāyaṇī ca taṁ gaurāṅgaṁ parama-puruṣaṁ divya-mūrtiṁ smarāmi

Translation: Gaṅga dāsa, the physician Murārī Gupta, Kholaveca Śrīdhara, and Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī were full of love and devotion for Him. Śrīla Nārāyaṇī-devī was delighted to eat the remnants of His meal. I meditate on Lord Gaurāṅga, the Supreme Person, whose form is splendid and transcendental.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya gave His special mercy to different devotees, which are mentioned here, and also, Nārāyaṇī devī got the remnants of His meal. So, in this way, she also manifested spontaneous symptoms of love for Kṛṣṇa. Lord Gaurāṅga, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He brought out all these different symptoms, in different devotees, so all these pastimes are transcendental and glorious.

Thus ends the chapter, The Lord Respects Nārāyaṇī by Giving Her Remnants of His Food.

So, the devotees can appreciate how wonderful it would be to get Lord Gaurāṅga’s prasāda remnants. Who would like to get Lord Gaurāṅga’s prasāda? Nārāyaṇī, she got this blessing. Actually, Śrīvāsa’s family was blessed in so many ways! Nārāyaṇī is Śrīvāsa Prabhu’s niece, and Śrīvāsa’s son was brought back to life by Lord Caitanya, and Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda accepted Śrīvāsa as Their father. Here we are hearing how Nārāyaṇī, the niece of Śrīvāsa, how she got special blessing, and we also know, that she is the mother of Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. In this way, Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura wrote the history of Lord Caitanya. He is known as the Vyāsadevā of Caitanya-līlā. So, he got the special blessing of hearing about Lord Caitanya’s pastimes from his mother, Nārāyaṇī.

Are there any questions?

Question: Sometimes we hear that Nārāyaṇī by taking Lord Caitanya’s remnants, she felt ecstatic symptoms for Lord Kṛṣṇa. But sometimes we see we get Pañca-tattva’s mahā-prasāda from the temple, we accept the prasāda of the Pañca-tattva, but we are not feeling such ecstatic symptoms, why is it so?

-Gopati Kṛṣṇa Dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: Nārāyaṇī was a great devotee. If you are not feeling ecstasy, that is your misfortune. It is not the fault of the remnants, it’s your lack of adhikāra, to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. You should be lamenting, why you don’t feel ecstasy, even when you take the prasāda remnants of the Deities.

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Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja! Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! Our temple is located on the fourth floor in a residential building. Is it an offence if we do not dance at ārati but simply stand or sit because the neighbors are disturbed?

—Your spiritual daughter,
Yogeśvarī Jāhnavā devī dāsī, Kazakhstan.

Jayapatākā Swami: We have to adapt according to time, place and circumstance, and maybe in some places, in some circumstances, we cannot necessarily chant and dance. So, in such circumstances, we chant and mentally dance.

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Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa dear Guru Mahārāja! (Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa!) Please accept my respectful obeisances. (Jayapatākā Swami: Accepted.) In some countries there are regular disciples’ meeting, in some not yet. Please explain how important is it for you that your disciples come together and glorify you, read your books, etc. Can meetings be online or are periodic face to face meetings important too? How important is it for your disciples to unite and build a family atmosphere among themselves?

—Your servant,
Mary, Munich, Germay.

Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you Mary. “Wie gehts!” [In German “How are you?”] In Māyāpur they have weekly JSSS meeting, and in many cities they have every week, some places every two weeks, and some places, every one month. So, whether you can meet online, I have no objection. It would be nice to have at least once a month. But you can also connect to those who have more frequently. The other thing is that the disciples sometimes say that they don’t feel connected to the guru. So, it seems if they hear from other disciples, and other devotees, it makes them feel more connected. I think that it’s useful for disciples to meet sometime.

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Question: Please accept my humble obeisances. How to increase our adhikāra, dear Guru Mahārāja, in order to increase our good fortune to get love of Kṛṣṇa, just by tasting the remnants of Lord Gaurāṅga?

—Acala Hari dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: The more we practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, advancement increases. So, by taking the prasāda of Kṛṣṇa, of Gaurāṅga, our love for Kṛṣṇa can increase. Just like getting rid of the anarthās, and becoming fixed or niṣṭhā, then we advance step by step, until we have loving ecstasy for Kṛṣṇa, then taking prasāda can be an impetus for love of Kṛṣṇa.

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Question: Dearest Guru Mahārāja! Please accept my respectful obeisances unto Your Lotus Feet. How could I get back my pure devotional sense to guru and Vaiṣṇavas and Their Lordships, Nitāi-Gaurāṅga?

—Your spiritual daughter,
Mīnākṣī Rādhikā devī dāsī

Jayapatākā Swami: It seems like a personal question, and usually for personal questions, one can write me an email. But usually, if one feels they have lost their devotional spirit, to guru and Vaiṣṇavas, and the Lords, Nitāi-Gaurāṅga, maybe due to offences. So somehow one should get forgiven for such aparādhas. But, to know certainly, you will have to write to me.

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Last question

Question: Please accept my respectful obeisances. Guru Mahārāja, Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita’s son had the opportunity to take part in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. I couldn’t understand how he could choose to go back to Godhead, that this opportunity? Thank you.

—Your insignificant servant,
Lalitāṅgī Rādhā devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see Śrīvāsa’s son explained that his power is small. Lord Caitanya’s power is great. So, it wasn’t that he chose to leave. But his time was up, and he had to go, and this was decided by Kṛṣṇa. So, that day I was explaining, that when Kṛṣṇa decides, we have to go. That’s why we are praying that if it pleases Kṛṣṇa, please allow Bhakti Cāru Swami to stay. So it wasn’t that Śrīvāsa’s son wanted to leave Lord Caitanya’s pastime. He was happy to stay, but his time was up, and he had to go back to Godhead.