20240122 Lord Rāmacandra’s Pastimes

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: I speak Bengali, but I don’t know how many here know Bengali. I speak Hindi but not very fluent. I will speak in English and that will be translated into Hindi. After class if anyone wants to meet and ask me anything you could do so.

Today was a very historic day, the prāṇa-pratiṣṭha, the Deity of Rāma-lālā is being installed in the birth place of Rāma, Ayodhyā. I also got the invite to go to Ayodhyā but because of my health issues I could not go there. Lord Rāma is the Absolute Lord who came in Tretā-yuga. The Lord incarnated in this world and the Lord does incarnate in different incarnations. We are very fortunate that in this ISKCON Ahmedabad on the right there are the Deities of Rāma Sītā Lakṣmaṇa Hanumān, and worship is done to them. And you also have Śrī Rādhā Govindajī and Śrīnāthajī in the center. On the left are the Gaura Nitāi Deities and Śrīla Prabhupāda and His guru, our great guru.

We are not Māyāvādīs, we believe the Lord is a person. And we have full faith in this that the Lord is a person and has a personality. In every brahmāṇḍa, universe, the Lord expands as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. But in some special situations the Lord comes down as Himself on this earth. In the day of Brahmā the Lord incarnates as Lord Rāma. And in the day of Brahmā the Lord also comes as Lord Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes, after incarnating as Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord comes as Lord Caitanya. In our temple in ISKCON Vṛndāvana we have the Deities of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Lakṣmaṇa has incarnated in the form of Balarāma. Lord Rāmacandra incarnated as Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Rāma came especially to defeat and kill Rāvaṇa. So His mission was to kill Rāvaṇa. But Rāvaṇa had a special blessing that he could not be killed by any demon, rākṣasa, or demigod, etc. But he did not know that he could be killed by a human being.

In the Satya-yuga when the Lord killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, He incarnated as Lord Narasiṁhadeva. Hiraṇyakaśipu had this boon that he could not be killed by man or beast, or demon. In the Tretā-yuga Rāvaṇa was not afraid of humans, he rather ate humans for his meal. And he ate the animals too. When he asked for a boon he did not ask that he not be killed by any human. Because he did not consider humans as worth anything. Rāvaṇa had the boon to be not killed by all categories of living entities but he only did not specify not being killed by humans. The Lord told the demigods and the sages to come down as monkeys. But they were not ordinary monkeys. They were demigods who incarnated as monkeys. They looked like monkeys, but they had strength as they were originally demigods. But they did not use their weapons as demigods, but they lifted mountains and threw them! When Lord Rāma came as a human, then the demigods and sages incarnated as monkeys and other animals. But Lord Rāma right from His younger days displayed many of His special qualities. And He incarnated with His associates. Lord Rāma incarnated as the Supreme Person, and Lakṣmaṇa was His first expansion. Śatrughna and Bharata also came. The Lord this way descended from the spiritual world and incarnated and expanded in these four forms. Vaikuṇṭha dhāma – there are two – one in which Lord Nārāyaṇa is there and in the other which is above this is where Lord Rāma is. And above this is Kṛṣṇaloka.

Lord Rāma would very strictly follow the rules and regulations. He had taken the oath of having only one wife. But Kṛṣṇa, this was not the case. Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 queens. Some of the sages came to Lord Rāma and wanted to become His wives but Lord Rāma told them that He would not be able to fulfill their wish as He had taken the vow of one wife. Lord Rāma got married only once. The form of Kṛṣṇa is also the form of Rāma. But Lord Rāma was loved by one and all. Lord Caitanya, in His pastimes, incarnated as His own devotee.

You are very fortunate that you are all residing in a holy dhāma. There are many places of pilgrimage in India. Lord Kṛṣṇa had His pastimes in Vṛndāvana, Mathurā and Dvārakā. Lord Rāma had His pastimes in Ayodhyā and other places. We all know this history that Queen Kaikeyī had two boons that she could ask of King Daśaratha. She asked for her two boons just at the time that Lord Rāma was going to be crowned the king. She said that firstly she wanted her son Bharata to be crowned king and the second is that Rāma be banished from the kingdom for fourteen years. When Lord Rāma heard this, he was not at all disappointed. He said that because His father had promised two boons to Kaikeyī, He would follow those two desires. If someone takes even a small thing from us, we get every angry! But Lord Rāma did not show any disappointment. He was very composed. Bharata, when he got to know of this he told his mother Kaikeyī that he did not consider her to be his mother any more. You may be the queen, but you will not be my mother any more. I went to that place which is in Citrakūṭa where Bharata had declared that if my brother lives in the forest, I will also live in the forest. He kept the sandals of Lord Rāma on the throne. When the Ayodhyā-vāsīs came to know that Bharata had left the palace and when to the forest in Citrakūṭa, they tried to bring him back. I trust that all of you know the pastimes of Lord Rāma well. How Sītā was kidnapped in the absence of Lord Rāma. And how all the sages who had come down as monkeys fought with Rāvaṇa’s army. In this way they killed all the demons who were on the side of Rāvaṇa. Lord Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa were humans and their army consisted of monkeys. And we heard how Mandodarī asked Rāvaṇa to return Sītā to Rāma and how Rāvaṇa’s brother Vibhīṣaṇa also requested Rāvaṇa to return Sītā to Rāma. But Rāvaṇa got angry and told Vibhīṣaṇa, you are my enemy, go and join Lord Rāma’s side. So Vibhīṣaṇa was rejected by Rāvaṇa. So he went to Lord Rāma and told Him that Rāvaṇa had rejected him and he wanted to serve Lord Rāma. Lakṣmaṇa said that perhaps Vibhīṣaṇa is a spy. Vibhīṣaṇa said that if I am not telling the truth then I will take birth as a king in Kali-yuga since in Kali-yuga kings are powerless. Lakṣmaṇa then agreed that Vibhīṣaṇa was saying the truth. We saw recently on internet that when some kings were coronated many people wrote and rejected them as their king. So in Tretā-yuga there was Lord Rāma, in Dvāpara-yuga Lord Kṛṣṇa and in Kali-yuga, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lord Kṛṣṇa had these wonderful pastimes with His amazing qualities. Once Rukmiṇī told Lord Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā that, “You know everything. You know what Lord Brahmā is doing in Satyaloka, You know what Lord Śiva is doing in Kailāsa, You know what is happening all the ananta-koṭi-brahmāṇḍas. But there is one thing You do not know – Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, but You don’t know.” Nobody ever told Kṛṣṇa that there was something He did not know! And Lord Rāma also did not know. Lord Kṛṣṇa asked, “What is it that even I don’t know?” Rukmiṇī said that, “You don’t know how much Your devotees love You and in what way we love You! Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, but You don’t know.” That means that Sītā devī knows but Lord Rāma does not know. “So what is it that I don’t know?” Kṛṣṇa said. Rukmiṇī said, “How much Your devotees love You and how much they love You!” Lord Kṛṣṇa told Rukmiṇī in Dvāpara-yuga, “I will come as My devotee in Kali-yuga. I will come in Kali-yuga as My devotee.” Haribol! That is why the Lord came as His own devotee, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lakṣmaṇa came as Nitāi. So Kṛṣṇa Balarāma came as Lord Caitanya and Nitāi. In Tretā-yuga Lord Rāma came and killed Rāvaṇa. In Dvāpara-yuga came Lord Kṛṣṇa and came to kill the miscreants. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu came as His own devotee and had no restrictions on Himself like Lord Rāma had. Of course, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a gṛhastha for 24 years and 24 years as a sannyāsī. Lord Rāma and His brother had their bow and arrows. And He fought Rāvaṇa. And His faithful servant was Hanumān. But when He came as Lord Kṛṣṇa, He used to play the flute. In caitanya-līlā He came as His devotee.

There is one pastime of Lord Caitanya which was mentioned in the Caitanya-maṅgala or Caitanya-bhāgavata. There was a very poor brāhmaṇa from South India, he came to Jagannātha Purī. Because he was very poor, he was praying that he get a lot of wealth. He was hitting his head and begging the Lord to please give him wealth. One day this brāhmaṇa was walking along the seashore in Jagannātha Purī. A very huge man came out of the sea. He could have been about 100 feet tall! When he came out of the water he came down to the size of an ordinary human. The brāhmaṇa went up to him and asked him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am who I am, who are you?” He said, “I am a poor brāhmaṇa from Tamil Nadu.” Then this man who came out of the sea walked towards the temple in Jagannātha Purī. He went into the house of Kāśī Miśra and then he saw Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya told him to come and sit next to Him. Lord Caitanya told that person, “How are you Vibhīṣaṇa? How are you doing?” So the person who came out of the sea and became a normal human was no other than Vibhīṣaṇa. He was the king of Laṅka and he is still there and he came to meet Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu told Vibhīṣaṇa, “You are a wealthy king, please give this poor brāhmaṇa some money.” The brāhmaṇa asked Vibhīṣaṇa, “Who was this sannyāsī you were talking with?” Vibhīṣaṇa said, “You fool, you are most foolish! He is Jagannātha, He is like Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana.”

śrī rāma jaya rāma jaya jaya rāma!

I have been told that it is now my time for prasāda. I want to reiterate that today the Deity of Lord Rāma is being installed in the birthplace of Lord Rāma. Vṛndāvana, Mathurā and Dvārakā are all places of pilgrimage. You are all dhāma-vāsīs. Lord Caitanya travelled all over India. He came to Gujarat also. Svarūpa Dāmodara in his kaḍacā has written about Caitanya Mahāprabhu. [Audio break] The Chief Minister had said that he hoped that there will be a temple in Mathurā as well. I hope that there will be some such temple in Gujarat too. [Audio break] We also heard that Sugrīva had approached Lord Rāma to help him fight with Vālī. And that if he was successful, he would come with his monkey army to help bring Sītā back from Laṅka. But Lord Rāma after that got very angry as after that Sugrīva had not done anything. But Lord Rāma did not show His anger externally. So He sent His devotee Hanumān to Sugrīva to ask him, “If he wanted to help Lord Rāma or he wanted to go the way Vālī had gone!” Sugrīva understood and then he came up to help bring Sītā back.

The name Rāma is very sweet. In the spiritual world there is a special Ayodhyā dhāma. When Lord Rāma ended His pastimes in this world then all the residents of Ayodhyā also went along with Him. We see how the Lord who is the same, takes different incarnations, but His mood changes. Lord Caitanya is Lord Rāma, but Their moods are different. In Kali-yuga everybody has some desires. No one in this Kali-yuga can say that he has not committed any sin. Lord Caitanya, He came as a devotee, but He is the same Lord Rāma as well. Very few people understand how the Lord incarnates in different yugas in different moods and with different feelings. [Audio break] Rāvaṇa was very foolish.

Lord Caitanya, He was talking to a devotee of Rāma who had a doubt in his mind. How Sītā devī is the goddess of fortune, but how a demon can kidnap Lakṣmī the goddess of fortune. So this devotee had this doubt. Caitanya Mahāprabhu quoting the śāstras said He saw in the śāstra how the real Sītā went into Agnideva and the Chāyā-Sītā emerged from the fire. After that it is said how Mother Sītā also had to give a fire test. That time Agnideva returned the real Sītā and consumed the Chāyā-Sītā. The real Sītā requested Lord Rāma to accept Chāyā-Sītā also as His wife but Lord Rāma said that He had taken the vow of having only one wife. In Tirupati they said that the Chāyā-Sītā of Dvāpara-yuga is in Tirupati, by the name Padmāvatī. There is only one God but He has unlimited forms. Tretā-yuga He came as Lord Rāma, in Dvāpara-yuga as Lord Kṛṣṇa and in Kali-yuga He came as Gaurāṅga!

If you follow Christianity or any other religion, they all accept there is one God. But the Christian religion there is not much description of God. But there are the Ten Commandments and the first one is that you should love God. Lord Caitanya told the Muslims that actually in the Qur’an that Allah is a person. Most followers of Islam do not believe that Allah is a person. Actually, I met a Muslim scholar a Ph.D. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that Allah is a person, how do you say He is not a person. He said that how in the Qur’an there is a śloka which says that Allah is a light. But there are many verses that say how the Lord is very merciful, very happy! You will never see a light bulb and say this light bulb is very merciful! Lord Rāma is the Supreme Person and has so many qualities.

Thank you very much for coming here on this sacred day! Hare Kṛṣṇa!