20231125 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.1.22

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 25th, 2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur,India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.1.22 & 23.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So today we heard about Vidura completing his pilgrimage. And we heard how on the top of every Kṛṣṇa temple, there is a Cakra. That is why sometimes Lord Kṛṣṇa is known as Cakrī. Like there are triśūlas, tridents, on top of Śiva temples, on top of Viṣṇu temples there are Cakras. You can see how on top of the TOVP there was a Cakra installed. One time, Abhimanyu [It is Aśvatthāmā], he approached Lord Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā. And Kṛṣṇa asked him, “What can I do for you?” He said, “I would like to have Your Cakra because the Cakra is invincible. If I have the Cakra then no one will be able to conquer You.” Kṛṣṇa said, “Hmmm, interesting! I am a bit tired, I was carrying the same weapon. So, if you want you can take the Cakra! But, if you can lift it!” So Abhimanyu [It is Aśvatthāmā], he was very happy. “Wow! I will have the Cakra, I will become invincible, no one in the world can defeat me!” So he went to take the Cakra. But the Cakra was too heavy! He could not lift it! He tried his best but no way he could lift it! Oooo… how sad! Because the Cakra is also an expansion of Kṛṣṇa. So, this history is there. But Kṛṣṇa is known as Cakrī, and has the Cakra, and no one else can lift it.

Now Vidura had travelled extensively all over India to all the holy places. In this time, the Kurukṣetra war had taken place. So Yudhiṣṭhira, he was crowned as the emperor of the world. So Vidura got the information. So he was threatened by Duryodhana and on the basis of that he had left. Now, this Navadvīpa Dhāma is one of dhāmas and so many people come here, the devas and others, they bathe in the Ganges, they perform Harināma saṅkīrtana. So this Navadvīpa dhāma is a place of pilgrimage. Kṛṣṇa said, that whatever results or qualities one will achieve by visiting Vṛndāvana one will get the same results by visiting this holy Navadvīpa dhāma.

So Lord Nityānanda, He was with Lord Caitanya in Jagannātha Purī. Lord Caitanya, He talked with Lord Nityānanda privately. Whatever mission we started in Navadvīpa dhāma in Bengal, that mission needs to be completed now. Now You return to Bengal and revive the saṅkīrtana movement. It was already started by Lord Caitanya and Him but They had left, so it was not finished, so Lord Caitanya was telling Lord Nityānanda to go and finish it. So Lord Nityānanda, He, after getting the order from Lord Caitanya, He went back to Bengal. First, He came to Pānihāṭi and then He had different pastimes there. Then He went to Ādi-saptagrāma. The scriptures say that the way the saṅkīrtana movement was victorious in Navadvīpa. In the same way it was successful in Ādi-saptagrāma. Although Ādi-saptagrāma is filled with gold merchants. Normally, they are busy with their business. But with Lord Nityānanda’s association, they got fully absorbed in Harināma saṅkīrtana. Like this Lord Nityānanda went to various places but finally He came to Navadvīpa dhāma. Now He met Mother Śacī. Mother Śacī requested Him that please stay in Navadvīpa for some time.

So, Lord Nityānanda in Navadvīpa, He established the Nāmahaṭṭa. He was taking out the kīrtana. Lord Nityānanda, He was wearing various kinds of jewels. He had diamond earrings, pearl necklace, His fingers each one had a golden ring with different jewels. On His lotus legs He had ankle bells with jewels. Silver nūpura, anklets with jewels. So there was one brāhmaṇa, he was the head of a group of dacoits. He was a very cruel and sinful brāhmaṇa. He could kill people in cold blood! So he was the leader of the dacoits. He told the dacoits, we search a lot to see where is money! But Mā Caṇḍī has given us so much mercy, that all the money has come with Lord Nityānanda. Diamonds, pearls and many beautiful jewels worth crores and crores. We will not need to search for any more wealth! So they decided they would do the robbery that night. So they sent one person to spy to see what was happening. He saw that Nityānanda Prabhu was having rice, prasāda. But there were many people chanting around Him. The spy went back and gave the news. He, Nityānanda, is eating rice. The dacoits speak very crudely. We say anna, literary word for rice but they say bhāta, rice. Anyway, the dacoit explained that there were many people around chanting and dancing. The leader, he said, “Alright, they will go to sleep in some time. Then we will strike! So let us until then rest under this tree.” And all the dacoits went under the tree and started to talk. They said, “I want His diamond earrings.” Another one said, “I want the pearl necklace.” Another one said, “I want some of the golden rings.” One said, “I want His nūpuras, anklets.” Like this they were all meditating on the form of Lord Nityānanda! But then they fell asleep! Snore! Snore! The whole night passed! Even the sun rose, but they did not wake up! The crow started to caw. Caw, caw, caw! That woke them up! One said, “You are sleeping!” “What are you doing” they asked. Then it was daytime so they could not really strike. Then they kept all their weapons and kept them in the forest and then went back to their home. The leader of the dacoits said, “We did not worship Caṇḍī, we did not give her offering. We have to do very good pūjā, offer her meat, wine.” Then we will come back tomorrow. And we will get the gold, we will the diamonds! We will get the pearls!

Next day after doing the Caṇḍī pūjā they came back. But around the house on four sides there were soldiers. These were strong soldiers! Each one had a neck bead. But they looked like they were from some other planet. Each one looked so strong, he could take care of a hundred at least! So, they were thinking where did these come from? Maybe some king is seeing Lord Nityānanda who has left some soldiers outside. We better hide quickly because if they find us, we will be finished. We will come back after a week. So after a week or ten days, they came back with all their weapons. But there was cloudy and dark therefore they could not see anything. So they approached the house, and around the house there was a trench. So, some fell in the trench. There was a hole where they throw all the garbage, but it was so dark they could not see anything, somebody fell in that garbage pit. And their bones were broken. Leeches, worms, they started to bite them. They were facing various problems. It started to rain hailstones! They were getting hit with the hailstones. Then the leader of the dacoits, he suddenly got his intelligence. No matter what we try, always it gets worse. Actually Lord Nityānanda, He is not an ordinary person! So then, the dacoit brāhmaṇa, he approached Lord Nityānanda, he said, “I want to take your shelter.” But some other devotees, they said, “No, he may be a spy, how can you trust a dacoit? To trust a dacoit, the dacoits, they don’t speak anything but lies.” Lord Nityānanda asked that fallen, dacoit brāhmaṇa, “What is your motive? Give me the story, what have you come here for?” Then the brāhmaṇa, he was crying. He said, “We had come to cause harm to You. We wanted to steal Your jewels. But these things happened to us. I think we now understand that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that we cannot harm You this way.” Like this, he told the truth and he convinced everybody that he was genuine. So he asked Lord Nityānanda for mercy! Lord Nityananda said, “He would give mercy but He wanted him to bring the other dacoits to surrender.” I am shortening the story because it is late. In this way Lord Nityānanda, He gained a whole party of dacoits in the saṅkīrtana movement!

So just as Vidura was visiting various holy places, Lord Nityānanda visited Navadvīpa dhāma, but He made it a holy place also by His presence. Lord Nityānanda, He is an expansion of Lord Caitanya, He knew how to bring these dacoits around. So, we pray to Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda, for Their mercy. Lord Nityānanda, He came down to deliver the sinful people. Then all the dacoits, they promised that they would not do any more dacoity. So one way we can get free from various sinful reactions, one way is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. But there is a special way, one can write the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.