20180805 Śrī Nimāi’s visit to Gayā

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book compilation class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 5, 2018, in Chennai, India.

Under the section: Śrī Nimāi’s visit to Gayā

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Jayapatākā Swami: Today we will continue the Caitanya book. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 17.29

snāna kari’ pitṛ-deva kariyā arcana

gayāte praviṣṭa hailā śrī-śacīnandana

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Śacīnandana took His bath and did the worship to His forefathers. This way He entered into the dhāma of Gayā. So He is the transcendental Lord, He doesn’t have to do any of these things. But He wants to show that conditioned souls, they should. So He assumes the role of a son to offer tarpan to His father, offering tarpaṇa, offering piṇḍa. So in this way He is teaching the conditioned souls what they should do. In case the forefathers have become ghosts or they have assumed some sinful type of birth, by the child descendant offering piṇḍa to the lotus feet of Gayā, they are delivered from this sinful situation. So, this is mentioned in the Vāyu Purāṇa, Śveta-varāha-kalpa, and Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 114-116 [unclear] this should be performed.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 17.30

gayā tīrtha-rāje prabhu praviṣṭa haiyā

namaskarilena prabhu śrīkara yuḍiyā

Jayapatākā Swami: So the king of all holy places is Gayā. And the Lord, He entered the area of Gayā. The Lord with folded hands, He offered His obeisances to the king of all holy places. When I came to Māyāpur for the first time I bowed down my head in the mud on the… at the Māyāpur dhāma. You see Lord Caitanya is the most merciful incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. So Lord Caitanya, He manifested His bhakta-vātsalya, His affection for devotees’ mood. Therefore, He went to Gayā.

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya:

Translation: “After crossing the river He travelled to the great and holy tīrthas named Brahma kuṇḍa.” near the chief city of Bihar named Rājagiri. There He performed worship of His forefathers, and the devatas to encourage people to follow vedic injunctions.

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.54

eimate prabhu dvija-bhakti prakāśiyā
punaḥ punaḥ nadī-tīrthe uttarila giyā

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lord, He manifested devotion to the twice born, again and again He crossed different rivers and went to the holy places there, and He preceded His journey to Gayā. So all these injunctions in the purāṇas, in the Vedas, they are given so that the conditioned souls can destroy their bad karma and become followers of the Lord’s order, devotees.

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.55

snāna-devārccana tithi karilā takhana
pitṛkārya samādhiyā karilā gamana

Jayapatākā Swami: And in each of the rivers He took His bath, He worshipped different devas, and He performed work for the deliverance of His forefathers. And in this way, He proceeded. Especially His father was Jagannātha Miśra, and He wanted to perform these ceremonies for his welfare. Of course, Jagannātha Miśra, already went back to Godhead. He left his body in the Ganges River. He was taken on a spiritual airplane to the spiritual world. But still Lord Caitanya played the part of a dutiful son, and He performed all these rituals for His father’s welfare. So sometimes gṛhasthas ask me whether they should perform piṇḍa. So we can see that by the example of Nimāi Paṇḍita that He would offer these rituals for His forefathers’ benefit even though His forefathers went back to Godhead, He still was showing to the conditioned souls to the people of the world, what they should do. They should follow the Vedic injunctions.

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya:

Translation: “The Lord went to Rājagiri with the brāhmaṇas and spread bliss. At Brahma-sarovara He completed excellent rites for His forefathers with respect.”

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.56

tabe ta uttama tīrtha-rājagiri nāma
brahmā-kuṇḍe giyā prabhu kaila snānadāna

Jayapatākā Swami: So one of the highly situated tīrthas, places of pilgrimage was known as Rājagiri. There, there was a Brahma-kuṇḍa. So, the Lord went to Brahma-kuṇḍa, performed His spiritual oblations, bath and gave charity.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 17.31

brahma-kuṇḍe āsi’ prabhu karilena snāna

yathocita kailā pitṛ-devera sammāna

Jayapatākā Swami: So the Lord went to Brahma-kuṇḍa. There He performed His bathing līlā as provided in the śāstra, He offered obeisances and rituals respectfully to His forefathers. On one hand the Lord is attracting the common people by these pastimes. At the same time there is some spiritual significance. Even though one may be doing for some material reason, worshipping the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu or other holy places, it certainly has some spiritual effect. I went to Gayā and they showed a book, all the people who visited. So it had His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s name, and I was honored to see that I was also there with Prabhupāda. So these holy places were visited by the Lord and His pure devotees. This Caitanya-caritāmṛta Mahā-kāvya is Sanskrit poetry. So I am just having them read the translation.

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya:

Translation: “At all the excellent holy places He completed the rites for the forefathers according to the rules. With the pure zealous brahmanas, He entered Gayā.”

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya:

Translation: “Thus for the sake of His father the Lord along with many brāhmaṇas finally arrived at Gayā. Śrī Gaurāṅga was eager to behold the footprint of Lord Viṣṇu, the wielder of the club.”

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.57

devapūjā pitṛpūjā kaila sei ṭhāya
viṣṇupada dekhibāre calilā tvarāya

Jayapatākā Swami: There He worshipped the devas, forefathers. He was very eager to see the Viṣṇupāda, to see Lord Viṣṇu’s lotus footprint. He went to that temple of the lotus footprint of the Lord.

So, there are 18 purāṇas. 6 in the mode of goodness, 6 in the mode of passion and 6 for those who are in ignorance. The purāṇas all lead one to Lord Kṛṣṇa but are some more applicable in different modes.

They gave us impressions of the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu. I think they gave me a silver copy. They gave for everyone a copy in cloth. So in this way one could be purified. They say that Gayāsura said that he would stay lying down with Viṣṇu’s lotus foot on his chest as long as someone came to offer piṇḍa. If nobody came one day, he would rise up again. There is a round kuṇḍa and the footprint is in the middle. And they offer worship to that lotus footprint, and they offer tulasī leaves. Oṁ Viṣṇave namaḥ! Oṁ Gadādharāya namaḥ! like that they offer.

Any questions?