20181115 Śrī Gaurāṅga's return to Navadvīpa from Gayā-dhāma

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book compilation class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 15, 2018 in Chennai, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya 4.71: ityavasare mahāprabhu dīrgha dinera para gṛhe āgamana kariyā loka nīti nipuṇa o praphulla vadanā nijera jananīke sandarśana karilena.

Jayapatākā Swami: After a long time Gaurasundara Mahāprabhu, He arrived at His house and following the rituals which were common in those days by the people, in a very careful way and with a happy face He saw His joyful mother.

(The therapist said, it is very good if I bring out the mucus.)

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.105

namaskāra kari śacī māyera caraṇe
gharere vidāya dilā yata saṅgigaṇe

Jayapatākā Swami: When He reached His house, He bid farewell to His pilgrim companions. He entered His home and offered His obeisances to mother Śacī, to the lotus feet of mother Śacī.

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya 4.72: anantara mahāprabhu samutsuka citte jananīra pādapadmera dhūli hasta dvārā grahaṇa pūrvaka mastake dhāraṇa kariyā bhūmite daṇḍavat patita haiyā praṇāma karilena.

Jayapatākā Swami: So the unlimited Lord, Mahāprabhu, with great enthusiasm He bowed down before His mother, He took the dust from her lotus feet and with His hand placed it on His head. Prostrating Himself on the ground before His mother, He offered His obeisances.

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya 4.73: takhana punarāya kāṅsya, vaṁśī, vīṇā o muraja prabhṛtira manohara dhvani haite lāgila.

Jayapatākā Swami: At that time again the instruments of kāṅsya, vaṁśī, vīnā and sirāj and other things in a very attractive manner, to attract the mind, they began to resound.

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.106

putra kole kari śacī ānandita mane
hariṣe premāra nīra jhare dunayane

Jayapatākā Swami: Taking her beloved Son on her lap, mother Śacī with a very blissful mind, joyfully, her two eyes were filled with tears of love and the tears streamed from her eyes.

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.107

pulakita saba aṁga kampa kalevara
ānande dhāila saba nadīyā nagara

Jayapatākā Swami: All the people of Nadīyā-nagara of Navadvīpa, they came running to see Lord Caitanya. With their hairs standing on end, their bodies quivering in ecstasy, their different limbs were trembling all over the body.

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya 4.74-75: tatpare śacī taptakāñcana tulya gauravarṇa śubhravasanadhārī nija putreura śarīra avalokana kariyā tadīya āgamana mahotsave ullāsita haiyā narttaka, vādaka, gāyaka, bhikṣuka o brāhmaṇadigake yatheṣṭa dhana dāna karite lāgilena.

Jayapatākā Swami: So mother Śacī seeing her Son, with a golden complexion like color of molten gold, like a new golden creeper, she arranged a great festival to celebrate His arrival. For that festival she had dancers, musicians, singers, beggars – bhikṣuka, and brāhmaṇas, and she gave sufficient wealth in charity to all those present.

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya 4.76: se yāhā hauka eirūpe sakala jīvera tāpopaśamana, ati dayālu mahāprabhu pauṣa māsera ante gaya haite gṛhe āgamana karilena, tadanantara māghamāsera prathama dina haite nirantara nija kīrtana rasa dvārā prakāśa o āveśa dina 2: pṛthivīte nikṣepa karite lāgilena.

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lord who destroys all the sufferings of the conditioned souls who was very merciful arrived in the Pauṣa-māsā, it is in the winter, maybe January, and that coming from Gayā to arrive at His own house. So later in the month of Māgha from the first day, He started without stop to have His own kīrtana and mellows were manifested in the following days all over the world, all over India, started to distribute His science of bhakti-yoga.

Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya 4.77: eirūpe karuṇānidhi mahāprabhura utsave samasta ceṣṭā ākṣipta haoyāya tini kṣaṇe 2 lomāñcera sahita muktakaṇṭhe gāna evaṁ pade 2 bārambāra rodana karite lāgilena.

Jayapatākā Swami: This is from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta Mahā-kāvya. His actions emanated festivities and so Mahāprabhu who is the ocean of mercy with all His activities showing the festivity mood, He daily performed morning and evening, with full voice, He sang again-and-again the holy names, singing and He was crying, and His hairs were standing on end.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍacā 1.16.12: premabhare dhairyarahita haiyā prabhu gṛhe vāsa karileo kakhanao krandana, kakhanao vā ucca śabda karena. muhurmuhu bhīṣaṇa cītkāra karena, kakhanao vā kampānvita haiyā gadgadavākye ‘hare kṛṣṇa hare rāma’ nāma kīrtana karite thākena.

Jayapatākā Swami: This is from Murāri Gupta’s Kaḍcā and his notes are done in Sanskrit and someone translated it into Bengali. So they are filled with love, the love very impatiently, the Lord, although staying in His house, He would sometimes cry, sometimes He would shout loudly, and moment to moment He would cry out so loud with quivering of His body and His voice choked up in His throat would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, nāma-kīrtana. So He would remain chanting the nāma-kīrtana, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma.

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.108

viṣṇupriyā hiyā mājhe ānanda hillola
dharite nā pāre aṁga sukhera nāhi ora

Jayapatākā Swami: Viṣṇupriyā, she was filled with transcendental bliss. She could not control the happiness in her body. Her bliss knew no end.

Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Ādi 7.109

ānande āilā prabhu āpana ābāsa
gaurāguṇa gāya sukhe e locanadāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: So in great bliss, in this way the Lord returned to His own house. Lord Gaura’s transcendental glories are sung with great happiness by Locana dāsa.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi 17.140

navadvīpe āgamanānte prabhura hṛdaye kṛṣṇa-viraha-premera udaya o navanavabhāve vṛddhi—

navadvīpe gauracandra karilā vijaya
dine-dine bāḍe prema-bhaktira udaya

Jayapatākā Swami: After Lord Gauracandra returned to Navadvīpa, day by day His loving sentiments of prema-bhakti arose and increased.

This is how Lord Caitanya started the saṅkīrtana movement. He got initiated in Gayā and He went to see and worship the Viṣṇu footprint, He was filled with love of Kṛṣṇa. On His way to Vṛndāvana, a voice came from the sky told Him it was time to return to Navadvīpa and He would go to Vṛndāvana later. So He returned with His brāhmaṇa and student companions to Navadvīpa dhāma. There day-by-day He was chanting and His devotional ecstasies were increasing. That is the end of this chapter. By some calculation this is the end of the Ādi-līlā because after this it is the saṅkīrtana movement. Then He takes sannyāsa and He moves to Śāntipur and then to Jagannātha Purī. Then He travels all over India for six years and then He stays in Jagannātha Purī where He has other types of ecstasies, separation of Lord Kṛṣṇa. He is manifesting the mood of Rādhārāṇī then. So now it is the beginning of the saṅkīrtana movement. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Any questions?

Question: Lord Caitanya is the magnanimous incarnation where He accepted even Jagāi and Mādhāi even after their sinful activities, why did He kick out His servant Kālakṛṣṇa dāsa. Apparently if we see, Jagāi and Mādhāi had done more sinful activities than Kālakṛṣṇa dāsa but then Kālakṛṣṇa dāsa was thrown out of service but Jagāi and Mādhāi were accepted?

Jayapatākā Swami: Kālakṛṣṇa dāsa was not thrown out of service. He was not allowed to render personal service to Lord Caitanya, because had broken the regulative principles. But he went back to Bengal and there he joined up with Lord Nityānanda and in his śrīpāṭ in Bengal, there is his samādhi and samādhi of his disciples. So later on Lord Nityānanda also authorized him to be an initiating guru. So just that Lord Caitanya did not allow him to render personal service to Him anymore, but he was kept in devotional association, and he told mother Śacī about Lord Caitanya’s activities while He was travelling all over India. Jagāi Mādhāi, they were allowed to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and they did not particularly do personal service to Lord Caitanya or even to Lord Nityānanda. They were engaged in devotional service. They stayed sometime in Navadvīpa and then and moved to Katwa and their samādhis are in Katwa. It is said that they would go every day to the Ganges chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and dancing, with tears in their eyes bathe in the Ganges and come back to the āśrama. So they had the mercy of Lord Caitanya in a particular way. Also Kālakṛṣṇa dāsa, he got mercy in a particular way. So you can say that His mercy was higher than Jagāi and Mādhāi’s. Any other question?

No matter what your status was before you are a devotee, once you are devotee all those things are forgotten, and one can render service to Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya said, it is offensive if anyone thinks of Jagāi and Mādhāi by their former activities. Now they are devotees they should be respected as devotees.

So thank you all for watching, Hare Kṛṣṇa!