19810605-Arrival-Address-What-Percent-Do-We-Give-To-Krsna-Literal-Version

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on June 5th, 1981, at New Talavan farm Carrier, Mississippi.

Jayapataka Swami: Lord Caitanya appearance is a very great mystery. The Lord kept it that way because His pastime was to come as a devotee, like if the king wants to go among all the citizens and see as an ordinary citizen and if He already announces in advance that the king is going to come as an ordinary citizen, then everyone would be, “A person will walk down the Picayune Street. Don’t tell anybody.” Then all the streets would be lined with people, “Okay, where the person is coming?”

So although it is mentioned in the sastras that Krsna is coming, but by Yoga-maya this somehow wasn’t broadcast before Lord Caitanya’s coming in a broad way. It was kept a secret, and revealed just to a few great souls. Of course, as Lord Caitanya came, those who were highly qualified they could understand that, “This is not an ordinary person. This is Krsna himself, come as Caitanya Mahaprabhu as was predicted.” Ordinary people they more or less forgot those predictions which was actually helping Caitanya Mahaprabhu to fulfill His pastime which was to simply remain as a devotee and to chant Hare Krsna with everyone.

Just like in the Dvapara-yuga, when the five Pandavas were exiled, at that time, you know they had fourteen years of vanavasa,of residing in the exile, in the forest. So, the last year which is known as the ajnata-vasa, ajnata means unknown. They had to stay completely un… concealed. If Duryodhana could find them out in that year, then again, another fourteen years they had to stay. So it was very imperative that they had to remain concealed in that one year.

So they went to Ekacakra, the birthplace of Nityananda Prabhu and they were there for some time, and that place of the Pandavas residence is still preserved even today. (inaudible) Of course all around now just rice fields but one place they have kept that grove where pandavas stayed, so there Yudhisthira had a dream. In the dream Caitanya Mahaprabhu‘s birthplace, Navadvipa dhama Nadia, that secret was revealed to him. That Krsna will appear in Kali-yuga in this sacred dhama, so he took his brothers and Draupadi and they all went Navadvipa, Mayapura dhama and there finally when they walked and they reached there first they killed a few demons, helping the sadhus.

They resided there for some time and in a dream Yudhishthira could see the Gauranga form. To see Caitanya Mahaprabhu with golden form with flower garlands the bumble bees flying everywhere and his broad chest and uh, thin waist looks like a lion’s waist, broad chest like a doorway. Now Lord Caitanya was smiling and said that. “In Kaliyuga I’ll be coming here, and you and your brothers you will be participating in My pastimes and you will go to Orissa, Jagannatha Puri. You will appear there all of you together and you will be My associates.” Then Lord Caitanya disappeared, and Yudhishthira woke up and he was crying then there was daiva-vani “You should go.” Daiva-vani means a voice from the sky, a demigod, unseen voice comes, no microphone, nothing, comes from the heavens.

Like Kamsa, he had a daiva-vani, that he will be killed by the eighth son of Devaki: Daiva-vani – the divine voice. Daiva-vani said “Go to Orissa, Jagannatha Puri, and help… and purify the place of all the miscreants.” So they didn’t like to go, but they had to follow the instruction.

When Nityananda Prabhu, He was taking Jiva Gosvami around, the holy dhama of Navadvipa, He pointed out all these things, that, “Here is the kumbha, the lake of Draupadi devi and here is the hill of Yudhisthira, and in this way there are so many places connected with Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”

In fact throughout the ages all the avataras and all the acaryas and all the great devotees they all visit Navadvipa-dhama, one time or another, it is considered to be the cream of all the holy tirthas because this has to do with the sacred, secret mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

That… As you know that… we pray every day to Caitanya Mahaprabhu that He is “namo maha vadanyaya krsna-prema pradayate” He is giving out what Krsna Himself didn’t give out. So He is the most merciful. Krsna demanded “Sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja, Surrender unto Me and I will give you complete protection.” But surrendering unto Krsna is a very tall order.

Just like Krsna told Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita “You completely fix your mind on Me undeviatingly, this is the topmost yoga. You completely fix your mind on Me.” but what did Arjuna say? Said that it is more difficult than to control a hurricane. “My mind is just going here and there, so it is very difficult anyway to control the mind. So he was asking for some easier process, so then Lord Krsna told him ‘You do the abhyasa-yoga, by practice, you control the mind.” So Krsna, He demanded full surrender and He guarantees full protection.

But Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His mercy was such that if someone has a desire to be Krsna conscious… see the desire isthere and if one chants Hare Krsna, takes Krsna-prasadam, then one gets his mercy. Even one may not be fully surrendered but simply desires to be surrendered desires to be Krsna conscious and chants Hare Krsna, and then he gets Nitai and Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy. They are very merciful. I n fact there is no one more merciful as Lord Caitanya, Nityananda and His associates. They’re giving you straight mercy, so…

Different Acarya’s just like Madhvacarya one time he visited in Navadvipa dhama with his disciples, and there in a dream, he also saw Caitanya Mahaprabhu was revealing his beautiful form to Madhvacarya and told him “I am going will appear in your sampradaya now you should go out and smash all the Mayavadis and their misinterpretation of the scriptures.” And of course Madhvacarya wanted to remain in Navadvipa.
He said, “No you should go out and defeat these Mayavadis’ philosophy to establish the position of the Deity and when I come then I will finally establish the truth of the sampradaya or the science of Krsna consciousness.”

So like this, Madhvacarya….yesterday I was… explained how Ramanujacarya came to Navadvipa dham and I explained how Sankaracarya came. All different Acarya’s in all the ages they came to Navadvipa because that place being Lord Caitanya’s dhama, is connected with Lord Caitanya eternally and therefore is eternally in the transcendental platform. So here we are bringing Caitanya Mahaprabhu, bringing Radha Krsna and on the invitation of the devotees, they are accepting the worship.

So wherever the Lord is being served, that place becomes transcendental place. So we should be very careful to keep the transcendental mood around the Deities at the maximum purity, maximum force so that anyone coming into that atmosphere will feel the prabhava, or the effect, the influence of that transcendental association. This is possible to create by the devotion of the devotees. The dhama is not limited to time and place. Of course that place where Lord Caitanya appears is eternally under his Yoga-maya.

Even one doesn't work very hard still the dhama has got some transcendental potency through the ages and those who are pure they can realize that. And by chanting there, then of course whatever fog may just try to that obscures that even from the external, that is easily wiped away.

Of course other parts of the world the darkness is everywhere and wherever Krsna is being worshiped wherever the devotees are constantly engaged in his service of glorification, chanting his holy names, there light is produced, and in the darkness that light is a shining shelter for all the fallen souls. So to make that light brighter and brighter so that the effect will go further and further, that is always the intention and role of the devotees. Ultimately what Lord Caitanya predicted

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma

sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma

that, “In every town and village throughout the world, My message shall be sung.” So every time in villages where Lord Caitanya’s message has been sung ,that means everywhere there will be the light ,the whole darkness will be destroyed.

So coming in the darkness here we find the light in New Talavan and that light we should bring in to our hearts and cleanse our hearts so that Krsna will reside there also. When our heart is cleaned of garbage then Krsna will reside there, personally guiding the devotees. The devotee can see Krsna face to face not (indistinct), so when you… ceto darpana marjnana, cleanse your heart and allow Krsna to come in your heart , and when he resides there, that is also considered to be the dhama or the holy place – the heart of the devotee in which the Lord is residing.

So, the more that we cleanse our heart the more that our heart is being prepared for Krsna to come and reside in His full manifestation, in His full form. And individually and collectively, we cooperate with each other knowing that Krsna is more pleased when we cooperate with each other, when we serve Him in a cooperative mood, just like the Pracetās, they were under the water for ten-thousand years cooperatively worshiping the Lord. Nārāyaṇa told them that, “Because you are all cooperatively worshiping, this is giving Me much more transcendental pleasure more than individually serving, individually chanting.”

When we chant together, when we serve together, when we cooperate together, it creates something nice to the glory of the Lord Nitai-Gaura and great devotees, previous Acaryas, our spiritual master and the Vaisnavas, that gives Krsna and the Vaisnava’s great transcendental pleasure. It is their mercy that we are brought together and we have this chance to perfect our lives by serving their lotus feet. So much energy is used in peoples’ life this way and that way, if we give our energy to Krsna, back to the powerhouse, then it closes the circuit otherwise all that energies is like short circuit.

Wire is coming from the powerhouse and going back to the powerhouse and therefore there is the light coming but if there is just the wire coming and no wire going back then, only one wire will not create any light. There has to be two wires, coming and going. So everyone is trying to take from Krsna, that’s why it’s all going short circuit into the ground, into here and there. So there is no actual beneficial light, a lot of waste of energy. So when the closed circuit is there, coming from Krsna and going back to Krsna, then everything is perfect. So here is the place for closing the circuit, serving their lordships the divine master.

Jaya Sri Guru Gauranga, Nitai Gaura!

[Aside] These Deities are?

Radha? Radha-Radhikakantha. Radha-Radhakantha

Jaya! Sri Sri Radha-Radhakantha ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Jaya Nitai, Guru Gauranga ki

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Any questions?

Question: (Indistinct)

Jayapataka Swami: The dhama is where Caitanya Mahaprabhu appears is called the dhama, or where the Lord appears is called the dhama. When the whole universe is destroyed, the dhama is not destroyed. And where the pure devotees appear it is called the Sripatha. Dhama is just an area like - Vrindavana is 84 krosa. That’s 168 miles, the Vraja-mandala, under… 32 krosa, something like that. 84 krosa, pretty big, and then Navadvipa-mandala is solo krosa, or 32 miles .Ordinarily Sripada where great Vaisnava’s are born that is… Prabhupada said three miles. Within three miles area, that place becomes sanctified.

So, of course that is the reason why someone takes birth somewhere, or why is a temple established at a certain place, I don’t think that anyone can make a blanket statement that what is the past, present and future of all those places. But, in general, one may take it that even someplace where there is no previous spiritual history that by worshiping Krsna by establishing the Deity,worshiping, chanting, that place comes under the Yoga-maya, comes under the holy dhama, but generally, other places where there are in like in India, so many people have temples, but they don’t generally claim that those temples were eternally, before or after that… but everyone knows that where the Deity’s being worshiped, Vaisnava’s are living, that place becomes a transcendental place, becomes the abode of the Lord, becomes a dhama in that respect it becomes the shelter of the fallen souls.

But that fallen souls… the devotees, they have to maintain that vibration. Just like there's a… if there is… some very great offence occurs inside the temple, sometimes they have to bathe the Deity in milk because… to purify the atmosphere. Sometimes you have to do different things, outside of the dhama these things are recommended. So it’s like… in Holland, there the land is below the sea-level, but they dike it all up becomes nice, fertile land. So all around is all Maya, but by practicing our Krsna consciousness, by serving properly, by creating always the mood of chanting so that Maya is kept out, and this place becomes part… is the part of the spiritual kingdom.

Now, which place may have some previous history, whether some avatara in some yuga touched down in a particular place whether there is some history, that of course requires some divine revelation that you won’t find readily in the scriptures. You’d have to search whether this place was such a place that anyone ever visited in a previous… millions and millions of years. That may be revealed by the Lord. But this can remain eternally. But of course all the devotees, they’ll all go back to Godhead. Even after Lord Caitanya’s movement leaves the world, what will happen ten thousand years from now?

As the Kali-yuga progresses, all these Deities will have to be hidden underground somewhere, possibly. Prabhupada said all the Vaisnavas will have to go underground, but ten thousand years is a long time. We can worry about it that then, hopefully by that time everyone will already be back in Goloka.

Even Govardhana is gradually sinking in the earth, at the end of Kali Yuga even Govardhana will be invisible. Sometimes the dhama is appearing sometimes it is retracting. And the people will become too sinful, so now here the dhama is appearing what is the previous history, before and maybe by our sincere service it maybe the Lord will reveal what pastimes have (inaudible) hear in the past, but just by Srila Prabhupada visiting here, Srila Prabhuapada came here, that alone has made this a holy place. Bhaktivinoda Thakura said that wherever Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s devotees or Caitanya Mahaprabhu himself spent even a moment, that place is a sacred place and he wants to go and visit all those places and purify himself.

Such a great associate as Srila Prabhupada has come here and that alone has made this a tirtha. Now it’s being further expanded by so much service and preaching. As far as possible always feel the vibration of the holy name. I was telling (inaudible) prabhu how so many devotees in India, they were very anxious to visit all these places which Prabhupada has put his lotus foot. Take all these places as great places of pilgrimage.

Haridaspur, we have a temple… Haridasa Thakura spent one night there. And since 500 years, the whole village is named Haridaspur. The high school is named after Haridasa Thakura and all the people worship Haridasa every year, the day he came there, they have a festival, the appearance day, and just one day there and chanted six… his three lakhs of names. Srila Prabhupada said “Yes it’s a fact. A great soul like that comes that if sits and… why one day? Even one moment, that place becomes (inaudible)

Any other question?

Question: (inaudible)

Jayapataka Swami: Well just like the Pandavas, it appears that their life was more filled with difficulty than ordinary people, although they were the personal associates of Lord Krsna. They had so many difficulties, most people never have so much… anyone had so much difficulty how they could survive? That’s what they had. They were given a house made of lac which was set on fire, they were trying to be poisoned, their wife was trying to be uh, molested and disgraced and offended in the royal assembly. They were banished for fourteen years, cheating, finally the kuruksetra battle. Like that so many different difficulties, unconceivable.

So it says that uh, the more that you rub sandalwood, the more that the sweet scent comes out. The more that you crush sugarcane, the more that the sweet juice comes out. The more that you repeatedly heat the gold, the more luster comes there, shining metal. Similarly, the more… kāṣcaṁ kāṣcaṁ punar api punah. kāṣcanaṁ kāṣcanānaṁ

[Editor’s note:
“ghṛṣṭaṁ ghṛṣṭaṁ punar api punaś candanaṁ cāru-gandhaṁ chinnaṁ chinnaṁ punar api punaḥ svādu caivekṣu-khaṇḍam dagdhaṁ dagdhaṁ punar api punaḥ kāṣcanaṁ kānta-rūpaṁ na prāṇānte prakṛti-vikṛtir jāyate saj-janānām”]

The more that a sadhu is… a devotee is put in different type of difficult situation, the more his true color, his mettle, his faith in Krsna becomes manifest, and finally at the time of death, he is unwavering. He fixes in mind on Krsna.

So, of course, there are many trials. The materialists they get their moment of joy. We don’t wish anyone bad. Someone else is getting rain. They’re prospering, no doubt they have also been benefited by seeing the devotees, so many ways, or they may be enjoying the results of their pious activities from their previous lives, or this life. We are directly dependent on Krsna. Krsna gives us rain it is Krsna mercy if Krsna is not giving rain then it Krsna mercy. They are getting rain due to their karma; whatever we get that will be due to Krsna. We see any success or any difficulty as being under the hand of Krsna.

But, either way, we remain Krsna consciousness; because Krsna chooses not to give us something or to give us something we, in our part continue to do free from offenses our service properly. And beyond that, we are sincerely trying. We go on doing our duty. Because the cows are not our cows, the land not our land, it is Krsna’s land, Krsna’s cows. So we do our duty to serve Krsna.

Whether He wants to water the land for His cows… if He doesn’t give water, we have to see some other way, we are His servants so we do whatever we can to protect His things. So if Krsna made it very easy, then maybe we wouldn’t have so many opportunities for service. Who can understand Krsna’s purpose? Just like I was sick one time, Prabhupada told me that sickness gets rid of the poisons in the body, so as the result of the sickness actually helped me to get better. And after that my health for the next two years, increased more and more, although I was very sick for one year, off and on, with various types of fever.

You can take it that at the difficult times that Krsna is testing you. Are you a fair-weather friend, fair-weather devotee, or you are devotee through thick and thin? So many people say, “Yes I am a devotee.” but as soon as he gets a little rough… Krsna wants to see what type of devotion we all have. Or Maya might also. She tests in a different way. Krsna allows her the opportunity. I know in Mayapur now; we are getting plenty of rain by Krsna’s mercy. But sometimes… Three years ago we got so much rain that it flooded twenty feet. So Krsna, He may do anything.

So sometimes… Krsna He will always try to teach us, but we have to be intelligent enough to learn what are His lessons, so that if there is a lesson to be learned we learn from it, so that again we don’t have to taught in anymore gross way. It’s better to learn with least possible gross example, just by hearing or by understanding. Krsna is always teaching us and we should always be looking at “How can I improve my devotion, where is my defect?” Not thinking that “Already I am devotee, therefore I have made it. I am first-class.” Then you start thinking, “Why Krsna is not doing this? Why He’s not doing that?” So we are taking the position of one of Krsna wives almost. After He marries, then of course, then they’re saying, “Where’s my parijata flower? My this, my that. ” Of course they have that relationship with Krsna. And not tried improving it. They make so many demands.

That opportunity may come, but first you have to establish the relationship. So, those who are the most advanced devotees, of course, they always feel themselves to be uh, improperly serving Krsna, insufficiently serving Krsna, at least, and they are always searching for ways how to increase that service, how to make it more pure, more pleasing to Krsna.

Are we giving every thought-word deed to Krsna or 50 % or 30 % 10 %. What percent are we giving? By chanting and taking the mercy of Nitai-gaura, how much we have been able to focus our Krsna conscious energy actually to the place where it is supposed to go, and how much has been scattered here and there? Also devotees need to be purified. Ultimately bhakti is also a purification.

Anything else? Is that alright? Hare Krsna.

---

Tags lord Caitanya , Srila Prabhupada, Haridas Thakur, Pandavas, Yudhishtir , Draupadi, govardhan , Kali yuga , ekachakra , Navadvipaa dham

Transcribed by Sachi janani devi dasi 4th July, 2014 Revised by Jagannatha dasa Brahmacari