199403 Navadvīpa Maṇḍala Parikramā in Haṁsavāhana, Navadvīpa-dhāma

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami during the Navadvīpa-Maṇḍala Parikramā. This class occurred in March of 1994. The talk is about Haṁsavāhana.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Śiva is considered the greatest Vaiṣṇava, and this pastime of Haṁsavāhana illustrates how great a devotee he is. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was speaking on Gaura-bhāgavata here, the Bhāgavatam of Lord Caitanya’s pastimes, and sages from all over the universe had gathered to hear. Actually, not here but at Naimiṣāraṇya. When Lord Śiva heard about that, then he wanted to come here very quickly to not miss the class. So he came on his bull, but the bull was not going fast enough for him. Went from Kailāsa, he passed by Satya-loka. He borrowed the swan carrier—or the Haṁsavāhana—of Lord Brahmā and he came flying on the swan carrier. When the sages saw the swan, they thought Lord Brahmā had come. They were quite surprised to see it was Lord Śiva coming on Brahmā’s carrier. So in the river here, if you see there is a small bamboo structure in the water which is protecting the deity. The deity manifested when this happened and has been here for a very long time. So this is kept under the water because the deity is so ecstatic, so hot and eager to hear the pastimes, that if you don’t keep the deity in the water, it starts to smoke. Once a year the villagers take the deity out of the water and take to the temple where we visited. And they continuously day and night are pouring water on the deity. Water, milk, liquids. Last year in the month of Caitra many devotees went there, including Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, Nitāicandra Mahārāja. I also had the good fortune of going, and all villagers queue up, and day and night and they are offering Ganges water to the Śiva deity. The deity with the swan, with Lord Śiva on the back of the swan. Stone deity. It was kind of an interesting pastime when we went there this year. As usual I was a little late, I think Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja and Nitāicandra Mahārāja had got there on time. I was a little late, and we reached there, the sun set. At that time, they were doing a special pūjā for Lord Śiva. And some devotees, they were inside the temple room, so they requested me “Please wait fifteen minutes.” So with this parikramā I went to research where was the Puṣkara-tīrtha, for taking the devotees of this tribe. So we went to the Puṣkara-tīrtha which was not very far away. When we got to Puṣkara-tīrtha, then a devotee told me that he had kicked over the vessel that was containing the Ganges water. So we didn’t have any more Ganges water to offer to Lord Śiva. So then we thought let’s offer Puṣkara water, which was a holy tīrtha. So we got the Puṣkara water and came back to Lord Śiva. And what was happening was that they had finished their pūjā, and a special thing they do is they put a certain kind of flower on Lord Śiva, and drops of water fall onto the flower. If the wish of the devotee will be fulfilled, the flower pops open and flies into the air and falls into the pūjārī’s hand or falls over. If the wish will not be given, then the flower just falls over on its side and nothing happens, and the pūjārī says “Get out! Get out!” So we were outside, they were all eagerly excited to see what is going to happen. And we were chanting, “Hare Kṛṣṇa!” and “Gaurāṅga!” But inside they were so intense, they said, “Stop that chanting!”, so we just slowed down the chanting softly and for a long time nothing was happening. So then they said “Okay, chant loud, please chant again!” So we started chanting and the water dropped, and the flower popped open and flew into the pūjārī’s hand, and he also got excited and said “Haribol! Haribol! Chant louder! We are getting the blessings now” So when we were chanting loudly, “Please come in! Lord Śiva is very pleased by your chanting.” So after all the devotees offered their milk, and Gaṅgā water, Puṣkara water. So there were different people there. There were Vaiṣṇavas there worshipping Śiva because of his coming down to hear the pastimes of Gaurāṅga. There were also Śiva-bhakta’s who were also coming and chanting “Gaurāṅga!” So this way Lord Śiva was so merciful that he was bringing everyone also to the lotus feet of Gaurāṅga.

We can see in the Navadvīpa-dhāma that Lord Śiva has many pastimes. All the devas are having many pastimes, especially Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. They were having different pastimes. But Lord Śiva is bringing his devotees to the lotus feet of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. We just heard how Lord Brahmā sent his sons, the seven ṛṣīs to go and hear about and worship Lord Caitanya. So the devas were directing the devotees, directing the people to take shelter of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They are very pleased when the devotees of the Lord are also bringing people to the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The purpose of our Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, is to bring people to the lotus feet of Lord Gaurāṅga and engage them in the saṅkīrtana sacrifice. When we perform saṅkīrtana then the whole world is blessed, and when we are going on Navadvīpa-parikramā, when we get to the next place Naimiṣāraṇya we should do some kīrtana there, because that will also help to diminish the sinful reactions in the whole world and increase the potency of religiosity. As we’re going around Navadvīpa-dhāma which is also the center of everything, this is also diminishing in the whole universe—all the materialistic natures of the people—and increasing their potential for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. We can see how eager Śiva was when he came to hear, and that eagerness is one of the basic potencies of Kṛṣṇa consciousness that we need to increase. The more we are eager to hear, to chant, to serve, that utsāha—enthusiasm is the first principle mentioned by Rūpa Gosvāmī. So by meditating on the great enthusiasm of Lord Śiva who was so eager to come to hear the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, we can pray to his lotus feet for the blessing of utsāha, of enthusiasm. And while we are going on this Navadvīpa-parikramā, we can take advantage of all the ecstatic association and very enthusiastically hear, chant, remember, serve the lotus feet of the Lord. So since we’re stopping in many places we will just speak two minutes here. One thing is notice that this tree under which Lord Śiva resides has many bats, but when you are chanting they all start to fly. You can give them one last vibration to liberate them. 

* Gaurāṅga! *

Everyone has seen where Lord Śiva in the water? The bamboo structure?

Also, this river is called the Gomatī river. It flows through Naimiṣāraṇya. It’s a sacred river. Over there, see there, there’s some bamboos with some green in the middle? That is where Lord Śiva is. Anyone who touches Śiva whilst he’s under the water, they don’t live to tell anymore (laughter). That’s why it’s not recommended.

Mahā Viṣṇu Mahārāja is giving water from the Gomatī.