19870412 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.5.15

The following is a class by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, on April 12^th, 1987, in Sridham Mayapur in India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 6^th Canto, chapter 5, text 15.

tat-saṅga-bhraṁśitaiśvaryaṁ
saṁsarantaṁ kubhāryavat
tad-gatīr abudhasyeha
kim asat-karmabhir bhavet

tat-saṅga — by association with the prostitute of intelligence; bhraṁśita — taken away; aiśvaryam — the opulence of independence; saṁsarantam — undergoing the material way of life; ku-bhārya-vat — exactly like a person who has a polluted wife; tat-gatīḥ — the movements of the polluted intelligence; abudhasya — of one who does not know; iha — in this world; kim asat-karmabhiḥ bhavet — what can be the benefit of performing temporary fruitive activities.

[Nārada Muni had also spoken of a man who is the husband of the prostitute. The Haryaśvas understood this as follows.] If one becomes the husband of a prostitute, he loses all independence. Similarly, if a living entity has polluted intelligence, he prolongs his materialistic life. Frustrated by material nature, he must follow the movements of the intelligence, which brings various conditions of happiness and distress. If one performs fruitive activities under such conditions, what will be the benefit?

Purport (by Śrīla Prabhupāda): Polluted intelligence has been compared to a prostitute. One who has not purified his intelligence is said to be controlled by that prostitute. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.41), vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana: those who are actually serious are conducted by one kind of intelligence, namely, intelligence in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo 'vyavasāyinām: one who is not fixed in proper intelligence discovers many modes of life. Thus involved in material activities, he is exposed to the different modes of material nature and subjected to varieties of so-called happiness and distress. If a man becomes the husband of a prostitute, he cannot be happy, and similarly one who follows the dictations of material intelligence and material consciousness will never be happy.

One must judiciously understand the activities of material nature. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.27):

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
 guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate

"The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature." Although one follows the dictations of material nature, he happily thinks himself the master or husband of material nature. Scientists, for example, try to be the masters of material nature, life after life, not caring to understand the Supreme Person, under whose direction everything within this material world is moving. Trying to be the masters of material nature, they are imitation gods who declare to the public that scientific advancement will one day be able to avoid the so-called control of God. In fact, however, the living being, unable to control the rulings of God, is forced to associate with the prostitute of polluted intelligence and accept various material bodies. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (13.22):

puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi
bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān
kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya
sad-asad-yoni-janmasu

"The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species." If one fully engages in temporary fruitive activities and does not solve this real problem, what profit will he gain?

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Swami purport to Canto 6, chapter 5, text 15, of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Purports of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

The previous verse explained:

[Nārada Muni had described a woman who is a professional prostitute. The Haryaśvas understood the identity of this woman.] Mixed with the mode of passion, the unsteady intelligence of every living entity is like a prostitute who changes dresses just to attract one's attention. If one fully engages in temporary fruitive activities, not understanding how this is taking place, what does he actually gain? (Translation - ŚB. 6.5.14)

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Nārada Muni had given some allegorical instructions, which were almost like riddles. But the Haryaśvas could understand the purport. Normally when they give a philosophical point, they then give some example to demonstrate that. Nārada Muni gave the examples without the philosophical explanation. The Haryaśvas, they are giving the philosophical explanation to the examples he gave, understanding the meaning. This is an interesting form of discussion. This had also happened when Nārada Muni explained some stories to the King, Mahārāja Prācīnabarhi, in the story of Purañjana.

In any case, today we are discussing about the intelligence. Intelligence is normally polluted, or affected, by the mode of passion in the material world. When this happens, it means the intelligence is always very fickle, very changing, going from one thing to the next, trying to rationalize and find what will give one happiness. When one doesn’t feel happy with one thing, he goes on to the next. In this way, one is always going from one thing to another, and the consciousness is not at all fixed. Sometimes the intelligence may be splayed into different directions. This can become so acute, that a person could become schizophrenic, having even a split personality, or having various types of mental problems, all due to a mind not being properly controlled by the intelligence. So, to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it's essential to bring the intelligence under the control of the ātmā.

There is a famous example, I am sure everyone has heard. Śrīla Prabhupāda explained the difference between the activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and material activities. That material activities are based in the gross matter. Gross matter forms, or objects, of sense gratification. So, the senses of the body, they are concentrating on the objects of the senses. The objects of seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, thinking, smelling. Then, the mind is engaged in providing information and input for the senses. The intelligence guides the mind in serving the senses, which are serving dull matter, and the soul or the living force in the body, that is simply going on blindly following. So ultimately, in material life, everything is headed towards serving dull matter.

The reverse is true for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the object of service is Kṛṣṇa. The soul, or ātmā, is surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. And the intelligence is engaged under the service of the soul. The intelligence directs the mind. Because, say a thought comes in the mind, we can intelligently decide to think about that, or to change the thought. For instance, someone gets angry, and he thinks, 'I should kill this person. He is my enemy.' Now, one's intelligence could tell, 'This is not a good thought! If you continue thinking in this way, you will go to jail. It will be a bad karma, sinful. Cause you so many troubles.’ Something like that.’ Or one's intelligence in the mode of ignorance, may direct one, 'Yes, you want to kill the person, here is how to do it. It’s a good idea.’ So, the intelligence is able to discriminate between different ideas coming up in the mind. So, the Kṛṣṇa conscious intelligence takes the mind away from thoughts which are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, and applies the mind on thoughts which are beneficial to one’s spiritual advancement. So then the mind engages the senses in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities, thinking of different Kṛṣṇa conscious ideas for serving. And the senses use the dull matter in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Just like this book is made out of so many material elements. It took intelligence to translate, to typeset, and publish this book, distribute it. So, all that intelligence is Kṛṣṇa conscious intelligence, because it is being used for Kṛṣṇa. Same intelligence is also used to print a pornographic book, but there the object is simply to get some form of temporary sense gratification, without any higher spiritual objective. So, in this way, either one’s energy is being directed upwards towards Kṛṣṇa: going from dull matter, to the senses to the mind, to the intelligence, to the soul, to Kṛṣṇa. Or the opposite is true that all the energy is being directed down to serving the objects of the senses. And those who are self-realized souls, they understand there is a difference between matter and the living force. When my mother came to Māyāpur in 1977, my pūrvāśrama mother (my previous āśrama’s mother – sannyāsī’s previous life is considered the previous āśrama. It’s a new life now). So that āśrama’s mother, when she came here and saw Śrīla Prabhupāda, she didn’t have an understanding about what was matter and what was spirit. So Prabhupāda took the time to personally preach to her, and explained to her that how we should understand that in the body there is a living force, there is a dynamic energy, and this dynamic energy is actually who we are, that’s the self. When that dynamic living force leaves the body, the body is considered dead or as dull matter. When that living force is in the body, then the body is alive. Actual life has nothing to do with the body. The body is a complicated mechanism made of the elements of nature, to allow the living force to function in the material world, according to its karmas, according to its desires. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda was able to—in this very simple example—impress very deeply on my previous āśrama’s mother regarding this basic truth of spiritual life.

So, we have the choice of bringing the intelligence under the soul. Or allowing the intelligence to simply be fickle and go here and there, serving material nature. If you let the mind free, you think that’s freedom. The mind can think of anything. Create any kind of plan for enjoying material nature, but that is not considered real freedom. According to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that entity has a polluted intelligence, and by that type of intelligence, one will lose all freedom.

Just as… say a householder has a very faithful wife. Householder is also good husband, protecting his wife. Husband and wife are very faithful to each other. Now, he is free to do various activities, do his occupation, without very much anxiety. But his wife, if she is very unfaithful—or compared here—she is like a prostitute, as soon as she gets a chance, she will cheat on him and go with some other man. Then he will be always in anxiety, because he may be also attached to his wife. So then, he will always have to think of various ways of keeping his wife satisfied day and night, and keeping her from being… always be occupied with her, otherwise she will go off with some other man. So actually, where is his freedom? He is totally tied down. So, if one’s intelligence is like that, if it’s in Kṛṣṇa, then one is actually free to engage in so many different devotional services for Kṛṣṇa, to engage the mind and the senses with various types of activities, then one can be very peaceful, and actually choose a proper direction where one can be developed fully, one’s full potential. But when one’s intelligence is uncontrolled, then even though one may have an idea, ‘At this time, let me do this particular thing’, because the intelligence is uncontrolled, it’s being controlled rather by the lower impulses, then as soon as something different influences that intelligence, then one’s intelligence is taken off of his previous track, and it goes to some other direction. You can see, just like a small child, who’s intelligence is not fully developed, they may be doing something, they may even have a 100 rupee note. But if you offer, “Here take a lozenge”. As soon as the senses see the lozenge, the mind gets attracted. The undeveloped intelligence thinks, ‘Yes, I should enjoy this lozenge.’ So, just give me that piece of paper and you take the lozenge. So they give the 100 rupee note, they will take the 10 paisa lozenge. Then after having lozenge, then after few minutes, something awkward may come. In this way the mind is going, there is no control.

So, even a grown person, their intelligence is developed. So they have more sophisticated plans and they have a particular way they are going. But that intelligence can also be easily deviated. For instance, Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa was a great king. He was an emperor. He had many other kings under him. He was efficient in his government and political activity. I don’t know if there is anyone who is as efficient as Kaṁsa was in the world today, as far as administration. But Kaṁsa was a total materialist. He was envious of Kṛṣṇa (God). That’s one of the symptoms normally materialists develop. Some are simply materialistic, and some are materialistic plus envious of Kṛṣṇa. Those who are simply materialistic, they are considered innocent people, they can easily be saved. Materialism is not a permanent disease. That is a superficial covering of the soul. But in Kaṁsa's case, it was a very compounded thing. But nonetheless, the symptoms are similar in terms of the material activity. Whether you are just a gross materialist, or whether one is a gross materialist demon. In terms of material activities, it's the same. The difference is that someone who is very inimical to Kṛṣṇa, it's harder for them to awaken their spiritual consciousness. And for one who may simply be in illusion, it's easy for them to awaken their spiritual consciousness. There is no obstacle as such. Because material consciousness is simply due to ignorance of our real spiritual transcendental position. If we have transcendental knowledge, we can easily transcend the material ignorance. Just like it was dark at maṅgala-ārati, but right after maṅgala-ārati, the sun came up. The darkness went away. Then we can see everything. So in the same way, one may be in ignorance and be acting as a total materialist, due to not understanding who one is. That there is a difference between matter and spirit. That there are higher laws controlling the material nature. And that as a human being, with our developed intelligence, we should overcome these laws by proper activities, and not simply be moved here and there as a type of pawn of the material nature.

So Kaṁsa, at the time of his sister's marriage—Devakī—he was taking his sister and his new brother in law, Vasudeva, in his chariot. It's the Indian custom that when the husband and wife, the bride goes to the husband's house, some relative, normally say a brother should accompany, so that she won't feel any inconvenience, or abandoned, or anything. The Indian system is that the bride goes to the house and lives with the husband. Now of course this joint family is breaking up. But the previous system was that the son will continue to live with his mother and father, and wife will go and live with that family. In this way, there is a type of joint family system which is still very prevalent everywhere in India, except gradually getting decayed in the bigger cities. So, in this time, Kaṁsa was taking his sister Devakī and Vasudeva, his brother in law, in his chariot. Accompanied with so many musicians and other attendants. All of a sudden there was a daiva-vāṇī, or a type of oracle from the sky, that Devakī's eight son, Kṛṣṇa, would kill Kaṁsa. So as soon as Kaṁsa heard that, even though he was driving the chariot for his sister and brother in law, he was being a perfect host and a brother, it was the wedding day, there were so many relative. As soon as he heard that, immediately his intelligence switched, ‘I must defend myself.’ And he immediately saw his sister as his enemy. Pulled out his sword, grabbed his sister by the hair, and immediately proceeded to cut her head off, until Vasudeva objected that, “Please don't kill your sister.” Of course that's another story. The point is that Kaṁsa, he may have had one type of intelligence. That, ‘Let me please my sister. Let me make my brother in law happy. Let me be the perfect host. Let me be the perfect brother.’ In this way, as soon as another interest took prominence, his intelligence changed and he became a totally different person. Hateful, angry, murderous, cruel, killing an innocent woman. Just on the basis of some oracle, suddenly he became totally transformed.

So, this is the difficulty in material life. A person may appear very nice, very wonderful. But if they are materialistic, if their intelligence is simply based in the material world, you cannot depend upon them, however nice they might be. If somehow their intelligence sees that their own interests, their material interests—depending on their particular conception at that time, and that conception is also subject to change—then they can totally change and become a different person. But a devotee, because his intelligence is fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the devotee is totally fixed in serving Kṛṣṇa, that they do not change in this way. Therefore, a devotee is considered to be the satsaṅga, or real good association for advancing in spiritual life.

For instance, Vidura. Vidura was the brother of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Dhṛtarāṣṭra was a blind king. He had 100 sons. Although they were not blind, but they were spiritually blind. They were envious of Kṛṣṇa's devotees, the Pāṇḍavas. And they were very materialistic. So they kept making plans to eliminate their cousin brothers, various political intrigues to assassinate them so that they could enjoy the absolute authority over a kingdom which was not rightfully theirs. Now Vidura, he was a neutral party. He could see that what they were doing was ultimately bad for their own future. It was, in every respect, improper and inauspicious. It was simply going to create suffering for them. And he would go and he would give good advice to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, but Dhṛtarāṣṭra wouldn't take it, normally. One time it reached such ahead, that when Vidura gave advice to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Duryodhana, especially not to listen to Duryodhana—his eldest son—because he was giving advice which was simply meant to destroy the entire dynasty by engaging everyone in a useless war. Duryodhana became so hateful, he started to just criticize Vidura, calling him as a dog, and so many just critical words. As a result, Vidura, he simply thought, “What is the use of staying here and giving advice when no one is going to listen to it?” So he left, and he went and visited all the holy places in India, and left them to suffer their own fate. He didn't have any bad feeling. He was hurt that his relatives were criticising what he was trying to offer. But that was a temporary sentiment. He just had proper intelligence, and he thought what to do? 'Let me do something which will be more beneficial. Even though they are the emperors, they not listening to my good advice.' So, he went and visited the holy places. In the meantime, the Kurukṣetra war was held, and Duryodhana and his brothers were killed. Had they listened to Vidura's good advice, they could have avoided.

See how the difference in intelligence? One's intelligence, if it's fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are saved from making so many blunders, which will simply cause suffering. A person whose intelligence is fixed in material nature, material desires, they are going to be swept away by so many currents of the material world. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He came to give us very simple method of engaging our intelligence, by giving us Kṛṣṇa's service. First we need to purify the intelligence, because it's polluted. Suddenly if you are going to say that, “Now I'm going to think just like a Kṛṣṇa conscious person”, even if a person has that desire, he cannot just suddenly change the momentum, and the way in which we have been thinking and willing and feeling, just in one second. Because the consciousness isn't pure, it's polluted. We need to purify them. So we purify that consciousness. Of course, that purification is not dependent upon time, but that purification is actually to engage the mind-intelligence in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, spreading the saṅkīrtana movement, engaging in devotional service, worshipping Kṛṣṇa, and studying these Vedic literatures which purify the intelligence, to understand how everything is working in this world, and what is our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, and how we can engage in Kṛṣṇa's service, and what is the perfection of life.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He engaged different devotees in different types of devotional service. Like Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. When Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī came to Him in Pānihāṭi, he told Raghunātha dāsa that, 'I'm going to punish you, because you tried to jump over the guru.' Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he wanted to go to join Lord Caitanya's movement. So several times, he tried to run away from home. He ran away from home and tried to join Lord Caitanya. Now Raghunātha dāsa's father was a very rich landlord. In fact, he had to pay annual taxes to the emperor, 1.2 million gold coins. A krugerrand gold coin now is worth 400 dollars, and those days a gold coin was what? A tola. How many tolas was a gold coin?

Devotee: One tola.

So that’s 11 grams, or you can say, more than a third of an ounce. So that means, at least even by todays time, he was just paying annual taxes of over 150 million dollars. But in those days they just used a conch shell. They didn't even use the coins for normal things, they just used conch shells. A person could live his whole life on one gold coin. What to speak of what he was keeping as his own share. That was what he was paying in taxes. So, Raghunātha dāsa, he had all facilities. His uncle and father were fantastically rich. But he didn't have any attachment for it. He wanted to join Lord Caitanya and simply engage in the saṅkīrtana movement. But Lord Caitanya told him, “No you just remain in your house, and engage all the facilities for Kṛṣṇa.” So after a long time, Raghunātha dāsa was thinking, 'Why is it that I am not able to join Lord Caitanya?' So, he went to see Lord Nityānanda. And Lord Nityānanda told him that I am going to punish you because you tried to approach Kṛṣṇa Himself. Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa. You tried to directly approach Kṛṣṇa without going through the guru. Nityānanda is the original guru. If you want to approach Lord Caitanya, you have to go through Lord Nityānanda. Just like if you want to approach Kṛṣṇa, you have to go through guru. So then, Lord Nityānanda said that, “Your punishment will be you have to make a big feast for all the devotees here.” And because it's hot weather, just like one month from now, when it gets a little warmer; more or less the same heat, but after a while it gets a little overwhelming. So Kṛṣṇa sends a kind of relief. He sends a lot of fruit. Litchis, Mangoes, Jackfruit, Banana, Jāma, all different types of fruit. If you see now, you see the baby mangoes just in front of the temple, the mangoes are on the tree here. So Kṛṣṇa sends the right food at the right time. So when it's very warm, especially, you like to take very cooling food.

So Lord Nityānanda, it's the month of June. Beginning of June, end of May, this festival falls. He requested that, “You provide a feast of yogurt, flattened rice and fruits.” So, Raghunātha dāsa, in Pānihāṭi, he sent all of his aides. Of course, he was a very rich person, so he had no difficulty. So, he started ordering. And they have very big clay pots, known as jālas in Bengal. I don't know, in other parts they may also have. But a jāla is sometimes 6 feet, or 2 meters high. So he had very big jālas brought. Huge clay pots. He filled them with ciḍā, dahī… and cini-cāṅpā-kalā is a type of banana, that according to scientists believe is the highest percentage of sugar of any banana in the world. They are known as cini-cāṅpā or sugar cāṅpā bananas. So like this, he got various high quality fruits, mixed it together with ciḍā and dahī. In other pots he used condensed milk and puffed rice. This is inflated rice. Popped rice, its actually popped open. Known as khai.

So, busy making all these preparations, gradually more and more people, they heard there was going to be a big feast. In Bengal, if you say there is going to be a mahotsava, or a feast, people come out of nowhere. Yesterday you saw, maybe you saw the drama, dance drama of the Oriyan dance troupe. Lord Nityānanda started to throw lāḍḍūs into the crowd. Everyone immediately grabbed for it. So, this is the custom here. If there is a prasādam feast, the people, they like to get some prasāda. Even if it’s a small amount, they will be very happy. So, as soon as they heard that Lord Nityānanda had called for devotees to be fed, immediately everyone came, and as one person saw, “Where you going?”

“There's a special festival feast going on!”

Just spontaneously, no one was invited. Until this day, this festival is still being held. So then, they all started to come to the Pānihāṭi Ganges side, where Lord Nityānanda was sitting on a raised platform under a banyan tree, and where Raghunātha dāsa, he saw there was more and more people coming. He sent his servants, “Bring more!” So, they had to go further into the village, and they were filling up bullock carts with yogurt, fruit, grain, and there was a continuous caravan of various supplies coming in. And as more supplies were coming, more people were coming. So it just kept on going. Then Rāghava Paṇḍita, he came to give Lord Nityānanda lunch. He said, “Now it's time to come and eat your rice, dāl and sabjīs.”

And Lord Nityānanda said, “I will take lunch in the evening. Today we are having a picnic here, under the tree.” So then, Lord Nityānanda, He was given his two pots. All of his associates were given ciḍā and dahī, and fruits and condensed milk and khai. The puffed rice and flattened rice. So in this way, they were taking prasādam. And they made a seat for Lord Caitanya. Although Lord Caitanya was at that time in Jagannātha Purī. But Lord Caitanya actually came through His mystic opulence, and He was present there, taking the prasāda with Lord Nityānanda. And those who were very fortunate, they could see. And Lord Nityānanda, He came completely in the mood of being in the forest with the cowherd boys. Just like that big picture in the prasāda pavilion. On one side is actually this pastime of Pānihāṭi I believe. On another side is the boys in Vṛndāvana, taking picnic with Kṛṣṇa. So Lord Nityānanda, He started to take the ciḍā and dahī, and started to feed it to Lord Caitanya. He started to go around, and just as Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, they would treat all of their devotees as equals. Sakhya-rasa, or the rasa of friendship, means that Kṛṣṇa treats His friends as equals. And the friends treat Kṛṣṇa as a friend, as an equal. They don't consider Kṛṣṇa to be God. They consider Kṛṣṇa just to be their dearmost friend. So in this mood, Lord Nityānanda was taking food from everyone's pot, and He was eating it. And He was giving it to Lord Caitanya, and He was eating. And actually, what mood they have, of course we cannot fully understand or explain. But they were having their pastimes in this way, taking the food from their own devotees. But when the people were watching, they couldn't, they were seeing Nityānanda take some prasāda from the pot, and then put it in the air, and it was disappearing. Yes, He was feeding it to Lord Caitanya, but then His hand went, and He was taking... So, people couldn't really understand what was going on. Meanwhile, Raghunātha dāsa, he was using his intelligence, how to feed the hundreds of thousands, and hundreds of thousands who were coming. And so he had to continue making more and more arrangements and more and more people were coming. Finally, the people, they were standing on the Ganges side, and some were being pushed into the water. There was standing in the water. Some were up to their chest in the water, eating prasāda! There was no room on the land.

Actually, Kṛṣṇa gives intelligence to the devotees, how to serve. In this way, their intelligence is considered purified, because they are using it to serve Kṛṣṇa. And māyā, she gives her intelligence to those who want to enjoy the material world. But that intelligence is considered polluted, by māyā. And therefore one forgets his spiritual position in relationship to Kṛṣṇa. This Pānihāṭi festival, it shows that how Raghunātha dāsa used his intelligence, and how he pleased Lord Nityānanda. Actually this Pānihāṭi festival is still going on, and Prabhupāda, he wanted us to participate in that festival and actually he instructed some devotees to build a temple there on that place where Lord Nityānanda sat with Lord Caitanya for this festival. We hope that in the future that can… In fact, we authorized the BBT funds to be used for that project. It was so important to Him. He said there could be motorized launch service in Calcutta to Māyāpur, taking people by boat, by motor boat, and on the way, they could stop for a quick picnic at Pānihāṭi, and then go on. Now there is just a is tree there, but there is no temple at that place. So when we first went to the Pānihāṭi festival after Prabhupāda had requested us to go, we brought Nitāi-Gaura Deities in the boat, and we brought provisions from Māyāpur and various places by lorry. We never been to a Pānihāṭi festival before. When we got there, we were late as usual. At least the usual for me. It was about 9 o' clock, 10 o' clock, in the morning. By that time already, a couple hundred thousand people had gathered. Up to 3-4 hundred thousand get there, and the roads were totally blocked. And there was no way to get the prasāda to the tree. First the boat came and brought Nitāi-Gaura. So when Nitāi-Gaura came, the people that were there chanting, one minstrel, one like senior, all of a sudden he saw Lord Nityānanda, beautiful Deity of Nitāi Padakamala, the boat Deities that Prabhupāda installed, and when he saw, he started to sing in Bengali. He started to sing, 'Nityānanda has come.' And he started to sing, “Nityānanda eseche Nityānanda eseche - Nityānanda has come! Nityānanda has come! He has come to give us mercy. He has come to give mercy to us.” And then in this way he started singing. Everyone started chanting and shouting, “Haribol! Haribol.” We put Lord Nityānanda and Lord Caitanya right on the seat. Well, they never expected us to be there either, otherwise a number of professional brāhmaṇas normally take that seat and do their particular pastimes at that place. But we didn't know this, we somehow came because this person was singing, everyone was chanting. Lord Nityānanda, Lord Caitanya, got established there, and the brāhmaṇas had to move over, which they weren't so happy about, but there was nothing to be done. But there was no way of getting the ciḍā and yogurt and everything through the hundreds of thousands of people, through very narrow roads, about 1 km away, to that place. So I was just thinking, “Kṛṣṇa, how we going to do this? We wanted to distribute ciḍā and dahī to all the people, offer you bhoga, and distribute the prasādam to all these people.” All of a sudden, there was a blue sky, there was nothing like, all of a sudden, a black cloud came right overhead and it started to just pour rain. Just heavy, intense rain pour. Then singers started to sing, “Take a look! Nityānanda is raining mercy on us!”All of a sudden, because of the heavy rain, all the people that were in the road, *poof!* they went off the road, and they went by the side, by the buildings, and under the trees, and for that moment the road was empty. Immediately, we sent someone and brought all the provisions. As much as we could bring on their heads, they brought it all down to the tree. As soon as they got to the tree, the cloud stopped raining. *boom!* The people went back on the road and it was closed up. Only half the provisions had got there. Then someone forgot to bring the yogurt. They just brought all the ciḍā. We said, “Oh no! How we going to? Now we can't have ciḍā and dahī, without the dahī, without the yoghurt. So then, somehow again the devotees went back, they are waiting. They are trying to figure out how they are going to take the yogurt through this huge crowd. All of a sudden, again the cloud came, poured rain, again the road opened, they brought the yogurt down to the side of the tree. By that time they had already cleaned all the ciḍā, and cut the fruit and everything. They got there to the tree with the hundreds and hundreds of kilos of yogurt, and then boom, the rain stopped. Then we made the ciḍā-dahī, offered 108 clay pots of ciḍā and dahī to Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda in many big drums, and we started to distribute the prasādam. That’s a whole other pastime. Actually, about 25000 people at least we were able. I don't know how many, at least 25000 - 50000 got, by Lord Caitanya's mercy. So, that pastime is still going on, all because the devotee, Raghunātha dāsa, started to think, “Why is it that I am refused by Lord Caitanya? Maybe I should go to Lord Nityānanda and get His instruction.” This is proper. A devotee should think, 'What are the obstacles in my path? Let me go to the Guru and find out. Why is it that I am not able to progress?' He went there and Nityānanda gave him a service and purified him, and then later He also gave him the blessing he could join Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So he went back and he became the personal assistant of Svarūpa Dāmodara in Jagannātha Purī, having the opportunity to personally associate with Lord Caitanya on a day to day basis. So, that festival is still going on. Devotees go there every year, and continue to distribute prasādam, and now we have a separate pandal. They have given us a separate place where we have a pandal, and we build different arrangements, so people can come and take prasāda without trampling each other. And it's very well appreciated.

Actually that time when it was raining, and the people who got that prasāda, they became so ecstatic, that I saw some people because it was a little muddy because of the rain, they started rolling in the mud. Or they fell in the mud and it was alright, they were just dancing. They were totally beyond the bodily conception of life at that moment. They were simply absorbed in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then after taking a little prasādam, then they go in the Ganges, take their little bath. In this way, the whole day is spent chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, taking a little prasāda, and that’s the entire pastime. And everyone is totally happy, totally satisfied. So, we of course owe our eternal gratitude to Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, and of course to Lord Nityānanda. So, we should also use our intelligence and take the shelter of Lord Nityānanda's representatives, and understand what is the actual purpose of life, and then fix our consciousness in achieving the Absolute Truth, in achieving the real purpose of life. Otherwise, we will just be drawn from here to there, we will lose our freedom. By fixing the consciousness in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one actually becomes a truly person, a liberated person.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Devotee: Jaya Śrīla Ācāryapāda ki!

Devotees: Jaya!