20220516 Bidding Farewell to the Residents of Kāśī, Part 2

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 16th, 2022 in Śrī  Dhāma 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!

So today from the compilation of Lord Caitanya book:

Bidding Farewell to the Residents of Kāśī, Part 2

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 1.246

chaya vatsara itastataḥ gamanāgamana-rūpa ‘madhya-līlā’ :—

chaya vatsara aiche prabhu karilā vilāsa
kabhu iti-uti, kabhu kṣetra-vāsa

Translation: The Lord traveled all over India for six years. He was sometimes here and sometimes there, performing His transcendental pastimes, and sometimes He remained at Jagannātha Purī.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, for six years Lord Caitanya was travelling over South India, West India, East India and North India.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 1.247

purīte bhakta-saṅge nitya kīrtana o jagannātha-darśana :—

ānande bhakta-saṅge sadā kīrtana-vilāsa
jagannātha-daraśana, premera vilāsa

Translation: While at Jagannātha Purī, the Lord passed His time in great joy by performing saṅkīrtana and visiting the temple of Jagannātha in great ecstasy.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this was explained how did the kīrtana around the Jagannātha Purī temple and how He would participate in the Ratha-yātrā and then He went to His travels

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Antya-khaṇḍa 5.123

sabāra kariyā manoratha pūrṇa kāma
punaḥāilena prabhu nīlācala-dhāma

Translation: The Lord fulfilled everyone’s desires and then returned to Nīlācala.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya in His travels, he was giving out Kṛṣṇa-prema freely to all the people and thus al the peoples desires were fulfilled.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Antya-khaṇḍa 5.124

gauḍa-deśe punar-bāra prabhura vihara
ihā ye śunaye tāra duḥkha nahe āra

Translation: One who hears these pastimes of the Lord’s return to Bengal will never suffer any distress.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the special blessing by Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, Lord Caitanya in His return visit to Bengal He satisfied so many people. He went to Śāntipura to Vidyānagara and up to Rāmakeli and Mālda to deliver Rūpa and Sanātana and then He started to go Vṛndāvana and got as far as Kānāi Nāṭaśālā, because so many thousands of people were with them and Sanātana Gosvāmī advised that this is not the way to go Vṛndāvana with thousands of people with Him. So, Lord Caitanya returned to Jagannātha Purī and then went to Vṛndāvana via Jhārikhaṇḍa forest.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.222

saṅgī balabhadrasaha prabhura kṛṣṇānveṣaṇa-ceṣṭāya pūrvabat jhārikhaṇḍa -pathe purī-yātrā :—

ethā mahāprabhu yadi nīlādri calilā
nirjana vana-pathe yāite mahā sukha pāilā

Translation: As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was returning to Jagannātha Purī, He passed through the solitary forest, and He received great pleasure in doing so.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, on His way through the forest while going He got all animals to chant and dance. Since He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead He knew the languages of the animals and all the people.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25. 223

sukhe cali’ āise prabhu balabhadra-saṅge
pūrvavat mṛgādi-saṅge kailā nānā-raṅge

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu happily returned to Jagannātha Purī in the company of His servant, Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya. As previously, the Lord performed many pleasing pastimes with the forest animals.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya would get the animals to chant which is normally not possible so His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda said, we cannot imitate Lord Caitanya, but at least we can get the human beings to chant and dance.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Śeṣa Khaṇḍa 3.3.1

nīlācale cale prabhu hariṣa-hiyāya
“hā hā jagannātha!” bali anurāge dhāya

Translation: In a joyful mood Lord Caitanya moved quickly toward Nilacala with great attachment exclaiming, “Ha! Ha! Jagannātha!”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya was in ecstasy thinking of Lord Jagannātha and He was chanting ha! ha! Jagannātha hari bol!

Caitanya Maṅgala, Śeṣa Khaṇḍa 3.3.2

premānande cale prabhu siṁhera gamane
saṁhati calite nāre saṅgera yata jane

Translation: Being blissful in kṛṣṇa-prema, Lord Caitanya moved like a lion. He was moving so fast that His associates could not keep up.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya was practically racing to Jagannātha Purī.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca 4.13.21

Translation: After embracing Sanātana, Tapana Miśra, and the other devotees to their full satisfaction, the illustrious Lord swiftly set off, eager to see Jagannātha Svāmī.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, (note: this verse should have probably gone earlier) Lord Caitanya was very merciful with devotees, he embraced them and went to see Lord Jagannātha. It’s the mercy of Lord Caitanya to be embraced by Him, it is incalculable.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Bidding Farewell to the Residents of Kāśī, Part 2

Under the section: Return to Nīlācala

So, we can see that He came the same way via the Jhārikhaṇḍa jungle getting all the animals to chant and dance. He was completely fearlessly, where the tigers and deer’s were embracing each other and nobody was afraid. in this way He returned to Nīlācala.

So this was a short class, anybody has any questions?

Devotees are kindly... The devotees are requested to please post their questions online in the zoom chat.

Any questions here?

Dear Gurudeva, please accept my humble obeisances. (Accepted!)

Question: Why does Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī not have the same tilaka as Lord Kṛṣṇa ?

Jayapatākā Swami: Any questions on this verse?

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa dear Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. How should we make sure we don't offend while preaching to new people ?

*repeating the question*

Jayapatākā Swami: Offense.. is a spiritual thing. While preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness why would you offend new people ? We should not refer to anyone depending on their gender, race.. or color, anything material. but encourage people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Question: How can we inspire more people to chant and dance as instructed by Śrīla Prabhupāda?

—Your spiritual daughter, Yamuneśvarī devī dāsī

*repeating the question*

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, if you chant and dance, that in itself would be very inspiring. Gaurāṇgī Gandharvikā, she sent me a video of how they were chanting and dancing… very nice! And I think.. the way to inspire more people to chant is to chant yourself. Naturally by having a group, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and inspiring other people to join in.

I saw in New Orleans, before the Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras. Christians went.. and they had signs... "TURN OR BURN!". Such were the signs. "Accept Jesus or burn in hell!". I did not see anyone joining in. But when we went with our kīrtana, people were buying roses and throwing at our feet Some people joined with the kīrtana. So they see, they like.. how we were performing, singing and dancing.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Question: Dear Gurumahārāja, please accept my respectful obeisances. (Accepted!) Why Sanātana Gosvāmī did not want Lord Caitanya to go to Vṛndāvana with many people?

—Ramyā Vṛṇdāvana DD

*repeating the question*

Jayapatākā Swami: So in.. Kanāi Nāṭaśāla, there were like thousands of people joining in with Lord Caitanya. So traveling with all these thousands of people was.. a bit.. difficult. And Sanātana Gosvāmī thought that the mood of Lord Caitanya was to visit the holy places of Vṛṇdāvana in more of a meditative mood. So getting all these people following would be disturbing. Also.. since Lord Caitanya was in Vṛṇdāvana he went to the different forests and he uncovered the Rādhā Kuṇḍa. He.. revealed many holy places. So.. Sanātana Gosvāmī was seeing... that having these thousands of people following him would not be very suitable for his purpose.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Gurudeva! Please accept my respectful obeisances. If a devotee offends another Vaiṣṇava to a degree whereby that person will not come to more Kṛṣṇa conscious programs, how does this affect the devotee? What can we do as the third party?

*repeating the question*

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know exactly what offense keeps someone away from the temple. But as the third party, you can go talk to that person, hear them out and encourage them to participate. And not take this other person's words seriously.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Question: Dearmost Guru Mahārāja, please accept my respectful obeisances. Sometimes when invited to take prasādam, it is some diplomatic reason and we understand it is not served out of love. I hesitate to go or take prasādam. It is an offense to prasādam. How to handle this kind of situation ?

– Your spiritual daughter, Śāntā gopī devī dāsī

Jayapatākā Swami: We don’t take food offered by non-devotees. And if it is a devotee, I don’t know if there is an ulterior motive. If you have something else to do, you can say that. If you have somewhere else to go, you can go. The point is if you can preach to that person or if you can cultivate them... why would the devotee have ulterior motives ? And if it is a devotee, I don’t know if there is an ulterior motive. If you have something else to do, you can say that. If you have somewhere else to go, you can go. The point is if you can preach to that person or you can cultivate them. Why would a devotee have ulterior motives ?

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa dear Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my most respectful obeisances unto your lotus feet. Our eternal bonding is with Kṛṣṇa and all relationships in this material world are temporary. On knowing that, how a girl can convince herself to make a bond with someone which is temporary ?

—Purnima

*repeating the question*

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, if one worships Kṛṣṇa, chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, reads Bhāgavatam, Gītā and other Kṛṣṇa conscious things, you can make use of this temporary relationship *repetitition* to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. To help others be Kṛṣṇa conscious. and some people have certain desires so you can regulate these desires and cross over all the obstacles. Although things are temporary, they can last for this life. If you have a Kṛṣṇa conscious husband then you can practice your Kṛṣṇa consciousness very peacefully. So it is important that a man finds a woman and a woman finds a man who is krsna consciousness or atleast favorable. at least favorable. Maybe you can make him a devotee. I know some women who have overestimation of their ability to make people devotees. (Laughing)

Okay!