8 November 2023

You are far away from the world here at Badrinath. Badrinath dhama ki Jaya!

The five Pandavas had left everything and moved towards Badrinath dhama It’s a beautiful and silent place. Every sanatani wants to go to Badrinath once in his life on Char-dhama Yatra. And above all the dhamas is Vrndavana Dhama. Vrndavana dhama ki Jaya!

It’s beyond all the Tirtha Sthalis. Krsna is the source of all incarnations. Like that the source of all the dhamas is Vrndavana Dhama.

All avatars are in the avatari.

advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam
adyam purana-purusam nava-yauvanam ca
vedesu durlabham adurlabham atma-bhaktau
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

Translation:

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal purusa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth. (Sri brahma-samhita 5.33)

We can realise here that all the dhamas are in Vrndavana Dhama. That’s why it’s called Adi-badri.

The source of Badrinath in the North is this Adi-badri. The Badrinath in the Himalayas is an extension of this Adi-badri. Nanda baba and Yasoda Maiya and other Vrajavasis had a desire to go on Badrinath yatra. There is a possibility that they were thinking of going North. This is my thinking. So Nanda baba said to Krsna, Balarama and others, “Let’s go to Badrinath.”

Krsna brought them here and pointed towards the mountains and said, “See the Himalayas.” I also said to my god brother, Gurudev Prabhu to see the Himalayas. Mostly people do not know that these mountains are the Himalayas. Even I did not know.

Sri Krsna finished the pastimes here and wanted to return to His dhama.

krsne sva-dhamopagate
dharma-jnanadibhih saha
kalau nasta-drsam esa
puranarko ‘dhunoditah

Translation:

This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Krsna to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the age of Kali shall get light from this Purana. (SB 1.3.43)

When Uddhava got the news and he said, “I will also go back with you.” But Krsna said, “No, you go to Badrinath. Uddhava followed the order and came to Badrinath. Did you have darshan of Uddhava?

Uddhava is also at Uddhava Baithak at Gulma Lata. In this universe, there are 9 Varsas and 7 Islands.

Bharat Varsha is one of them and every Varsha has their preacher. In Bharat Varsha, Narada Muni is the leading preacher. Vyasa Dev is also there. Ganesh Gufa is also there, but you can’t see it. You listen and see and believe. In Badrikasram there is a cave in which Vyasadev was dictating and Ganesh who was writing like a stenographer. I had gone to Badrinath in 1977 in November. It was very cold. Devotees woke up, but continued sleeping in their sleeping bags. And then we got up and performed kirtana and were warmed up.

There we have Tapta Kunda with boiling water. Here we also have a Tapta Kunda, but there is cold water. In the boiling water in Tapta Kunda people even cook their rice. Who can make such arrangements? Only Lord Krsna can. So it’s very cold there from Diwali to Akshay Tritiya and it’s closed. But the pujari keeps all bhoga there for the closed period. When the gate is opened on Akshaya Tritiya, all the Bhoga is used up. It’s said Narada Muni and demigods worship the Lord in that closed period. The military is there. They say that they hear the sound of the conch shell and bells during that closed period.

Narada Muni keeps travelling all over. Narada Muni once said to the Lord, “Oh Lord, people ask me what the Lord is doing now? So I have to always tell them that the Lord is lying down and Laxmiji is massaging His feet. But that’s not very inspiring. People will say that if the Lord is resting we should also rest.”

The Lord thought, “I will renounce every thing and do tapasya.” Thinking this He came to Badrinath, but it was occupied by Shivji and Parvati Maiya.

The Lord took the form of a Baby and was crying for help. Seeing this Parvati Maiya was filled with compassion, but Shivji said, “No. Don’t go. It may be some Maya.”

But Parvati Maiya could not stop herself and took the Baby and kept Him in her house. Shivji and Parvati went to Gauri Kunda. When they came back and knocked on the door, there was no response from the inside. Shivji understood it was the Lord and He has encroached on their place. Then they moved to Kedarnath.

The Lord stayed here and did tapasya as Nara Narayan.

rsabha uvaca
nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke
kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye
tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam
suddhyed yasmad brahma-saukhyam tv anantam

Translation:

Lord Rsabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one’s heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever. (SB 5.5.1)

When Brahma appeared, he also heard two words ta… pa and he also did tapasya. The Lord did Tapasya here. Laxmiji comes here and stays in the form of Badri trees. She is serving here as the Badri trees. Badri means Laxmi. Nath is Lord. So it’s Sri Sri Badrinarayan. Sri Sri Laxmi Narayan ki jaya!

From Badrinath yatra in 1977 we returned to Vrndavana. Our party’s name was Narada Muni Sankirtan Travelling Party. Prabhupada had asked us which book was distributed most. He liked book distribution very much.

He has filled his Bhava in his books so he says, “If you want to know me, read my books. I will never die till my books are there.”

We told Prabhupada that we showed his Bhagavad Gita to Vyasadev. Prabhupada was happy to hear this. I also said one more thing to Prabhupada which one of Prabhupada’s disciples did not like.

There is a Bhima Pul in Badrikasrama. And now only Bhima and Yudhishthir were remaining. Once Bhima had an encounter with Hanuman. Hanuman was sitting on the way and his tail was in the way so Bhima thought he is an ordinary monkey. Hanuman said, “Please leave my tail. I am old.” Bhima could not even move his tail an inch. Then Hanuman showed his original form. Bhima and Hanuman both are Vayu Putra.

Hanuman said to Bhima, “If you need me, you can call me.” Hanuman was on the flag of Arjuna’s chariot in the Kurukshetra war. From Bhima Pul in Badrikasrama Bhima had gone to the Lord’s abode. I told this to Prabhupada, but my god brother did not like it. He felt I am reminding Prabhupada of going back to the Lord’s abode.

Badri Narayan darshan is a very special Abhishek. There are very few temples where we can have darsana of the Abhishek of the Lord – Pandharpur, Badrinath, Kshir chora Gopinath. We can see Their Abhishek.

All of have reached Badrikasrama. You are fortunate. Is the Yatra going on wonderfully?

Madhuvan is Tapo Stali of Dhruva Maharaja and here the Lord did tapasya. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also came here. Also at Tapta Kunda, water has washed His lotus feet. The birds are also sleeping now. This is very normal. The sun is up means the light is on. Night is for sleeping and the night light is the moon.

Vrindadevi is like a temple commander. She makes all arrangements for The Lord’s pastime.

Kakati is a monkey who wakes up Radha and Krsna as they are resting after Rasa lila and tells them to go home before all at home wake up. There is a place named Sanket where Krsna and Radha make gestures and give their message to each other as to where they will meet. Yasoda Maiya puts Krsna to sleep and leaves, but Krsna gets up and goes to the forest for Rasa lila. Krsna plays His flute and only the Gopis can hear the flute and they leave home and go to the forest for Rasa dance. Then is it is jaya radha madhava kunja bihari. They also have snacks and they dance together and then they rest.

I wanted to tell you that we should go to bed early, but we do night duty and we are busy. So tomorrow via Kedarnath, you will be going to Kamyavan. There are many places of darsana in Kamyavan. Many Kundas and temples like, Sri Lanka and Ashok vatika. There are many monkeys. Ram setu made by monkeys, is there. Gopis said to Krsna, “You just keep talking.” So the Lord showed the Gopis how He made Ram Setu. Krsna became Rama and the monkeys came and the construction of Ram Setu began.