Day of Remembrance of our glorious acaryas 30th January 2020

30th January 2020

Day of Remembrance of our glorious acaryas!

Hari Hari!

Today early morning we were there in Radha Damodar temple, ISKCON Solapur and devotees had gathered in big numbers and they are also chanting on the zoom conference. Yesterday I had said that we will be discussing the conversation between Raya Ramanand and Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but after mangala arati it was announced that there are many Vaisnava tithis of significance today. If you had gone to an ISKCON temple for mangala aarti you would also have heard these announcements. Today we will discuss the significance of these Vaisnava tithis.

Our acaryas are to be remembered in the morning. There is the disappearance day of some and appearance day of a few, and there is also Vasant Panchami and Sarasvati puja today. What should we celebrate and who all should we remember? We will talk about these tithis and talk about the glories of these acaryas by which they will bless us which will lead to improving our consciousness. That will also lead to improving the quality of our japa. We also may get some bhava bhakti or develop loving emotions towards the Lord. There are so many unwanted things imprinted and stuck in our brain. We keep on remembering or have to remember at times some notorious personalities or demons, as we keep meeting such demons, people with demonic mentalities, terrorists, actors , politicians . But remembering our acarya is the auspicious remembrance. Whatever we hear and read we keep remembering that and in this way we keep remembering characterless personalities. In place of such remembrance when we replace that with auspicious remembrance of acaryas then the other memories will get wiped off which will lead to our welfare. In Marathi they say,

Thor mahatme houn gele
Charitra tyanche paha Jara
Aapan tyanchya saman whave
Hach sapade bodh khara.

In this it is said that one should read and hear the glorious characters of great personalities and acaryas and get inspired by that. Develop determination that we too can imbibe such good qualities. We cannot become similar to them, but we can definitely follow in their footsteps. Bole taisa chale tyachi vandavi paule. We should not be imitating them, but we have to follow in their footsteps. By this we will gain enthusiasm and will be able to progress in our devotional life. This is also termed ‘acaryopasana’ which is the worship of acaryas. Remembering them is also a type of worship. Let’s see how many of them we can remember in this conference. This is a challenge for me as there are so many appearance and disappearance days and Vaisnava tithis today. There are very few days like this in the year and today is such a rare day.

Today is Vasant Panchami. Today is the first day of Vasant Ritu. In Vrindavan , Radharani sometimes goes to her in laws place in Javat and sometimes she is with her parents. Today she comes to Barsana from Javat. In Javat there are many restrictions and Jatila and Kutila constantly keep watch on her and do not let her meet Krsna. They constantly keep creating some obstacles in meeting Krsna. But on the day of Vasant panchami Radharani goes to Barsana, so she is free and can meet Krsna without any restriction, which makes her happy. I have also read somewhere that Nanda Maharaja gives time to Krsna for playing. From today onwards for 40 days Krsna doesn’t go to herd His cows. There is no Gocaran Lila. Krsna will play with his friends, gopi and with Radharani. It’s vacation for Krsna. Whenever there is vacation what do children do? “We will play! We will play! It’s time for playing.” There is lot of significance of Vasant Panchami.

There was one associate of Caitanya Mahaprabhu named Kavi Karnapur, who was the son of Sivananda Sen. He has written so many glories of Vasant Panchami. He has narrated beautifully so many astonishing past times of Vasant Panchami. You all should also read that sometimes.

bṛhat-sāma tathā sāmnāṁ
gāyatrī chandasām aham
māsānāṁ mārga-śīrṣo ‘ham
ṛtūnāṁ kusumākaraḥ

Translation:
Of the hymns in the Sama Veda I am the Brhat-sama, and of poetry I am the Gayatri. Of months I am Margasirsa [November-December], and of seasons I am flower-bearing spring. ( BG. 10.35)

The Lord has explained in the 10th chapter of Bhagavad-Gita His various opulences that, out of all seasons , “I am the Vasant Rutu.” Kusumakaraha, – Kusum is a flower. The season in which there is the blooming of so many flowers and the cuckoo starts singing sweetly kuho ss kuhu ss . The Lord explains that, ‘Such season of Vasant is Me only.’

In Navadwip there is one island called as Ritu-dwip. There was a conference of all the seasons before the appearance of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They were discussing in which season the Lord would appear? Everyone was boasting that it will be during his time. There is the season of Varsha and Grishma, Sharad , and Shishir. Like that there are six of them. Each ones time period is for 2 months. But at the end Vasant season exclaimed, ‘Stop this discussion. Lord will appear in Vasant only’. You will notice that Gaur Purnima falls in Vasant season itself. All glories to such season of Vasant! All glories to Vasant Panchami! It’s Panchami, the fifth day of the bright fortnight. Raag Vasant is sung during this time. There is also the significance of the colour yellow on Vasant panchami. Yellow coloured garments and yellow flowers are used in Vrindavan for the Lord. Today so many ISKCON Ratha-yatras are being conducted.

Earlier on we could celebrate Ratrha-yatra on which ever day we wanted. There were no restrictions. But now there are certain restrictions that have been put in place by the pandas in Jagannatha Puri. However today’s day is considered one of the auspicious days when Ratha-yatras can be conducted and so there are many Ratha-yatras today in India as well as outside India. In Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Latur and many other places Rath-yatras are being conducted.

Today is also the appearance day of Pundarik Vidyanidhi.

tapta-kanchana-gaurangi
radhe vrindavaneshvari
vrishabhanu-sute devi
pranamami hari-priye

Translation:
“O Srimati Radharani, I offer my respects to You whose bodily complexion is like molten gold. O Goddess, You are the queen of Vrindavana. You are the daughter of King Vrishabhanu, and are very dear to Lord Krsna.” ( Sri Radhika pranam mantra)

King Vrsabanu, father of Radharani appeared in the form of Pundarik Vidyanidhi. Vrsabanu of Sri Krisna Lila or Radha-Krsna Lila. King of Barasana, father of Radharani appeared in the form of Pundarik Vidyanidhi in Gaur Lila. It was observed that Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu had special affection for Pundarik Vidyanidhi. He used to love him very much and why not? As Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Radharani herself. Radharani in the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu had special affection for Pundarika Vidyanidhi. Pundarik Vidyanidhi became disciple of Madhavendra Puri, and then Gadadhar became disciple of Pundarik Vidyanidhi.

jaya sri-Krsna-caitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
Srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

Translation:
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara Pandit, Srivas Thakur, and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya.

This Gadadhar from Panca tattva is also Radharani. Gadadhar accepted to become a disciple of Pundarik Vidyanidhi. So you see the connection. Radharani has become Gadadhar and Vrsabanu has become Pundarik Vidyanidhi.

Today is also the appearance day of Sri Raghunandan Thakur. All glories to his appearance day!! Raghunandan is from the place called Sri-khand. Many of the associates and followers of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to do Katha over there. Then the whole team from Sri-khand would come to Jagannatha Puri for Ratha-yatra, to get direction and association of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This Raghunandan Acarya was from Srik-hand. Mukund Datta , Madhav and Narahari Sarkar were three brothers. Raghunandan acarya was the son of Mukund Datta . But this son was more mature in devotion than his father.

Once Mukund Datta had to go to Howrah station and he instructed Raghunandan to offer bhoga to the Lord. He told him not to eat food without offering. Raghunandan should eat only after Lord has eaten. So Raghunandan offered bhoga to the Lord and the Lord ate it. We offer all the time, but at that time He finished all the food in the plate. When Mukund Datta returned he asked for the maha prasada from the offered bhoga. But Raghunandan said that nothing was left and the Lord ate up everything. Then he told Raghunandan to show him how the Lord eats. “Offer bhoga again. I want to see.” Then again lunch was prepared and offered again along with the chanting of mantras. That time Mukund
Datta was hiding behind the curtain to see whether the Lord really eats. But that time Lord did not finish the whole plate, but ate only laddu and that to only half. Mukund Datta saw this. Father enquired from Raghunandan why the Lord ate only half a laddu? Raghunandan replied that some time back the Lord had taken a full meal , so how could He eat 2 meals at a time. If His stomach would have been empty he would have eaten everything, but that was not the case so He ate only half of the laddu. Raghunandan was such an acarya , who had such a close, deep and loving relationship with the Lord. Once when Raghunandan acarya and Mukund Datta were present in front of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He asked them, who is the father and who is the son out of both of you? Sri Mukund Datta replied that Raghunandan is my father. Father is usually older than the son. But one type of old age is according to the number of years and the other type is counted by the knowledge one has. One is ‘vayovriddha’ and other is ‘Jnanavridha’.

Raghunandan was so full of devotion that his father admitted that he is more progressed in devotion than him and so he is his father. Raghunandan acarya is the inspiration for Gaudiya Vaisnavas. To become Gaudiya Vaisnava is in itself glorious. There are four authentic Vaisnava sampradayas. Out of which Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya is supreme as they are in Radha bhav or Gopi bhav. They follow Raganuga bhakti path. Due to this Gaudiya Vaisnavism is best.

Acaryas like Raghunath das Goswami are the crest jewel of this glorious Gaudiya Vaisnava parampara. We may discuss any number of past times of such acaryas but they are not enough. He was the son of big landlord and he met Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Santipur when he was very young. His family was preventing him from giving himself totally to the service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.’They then galyat bandhala londhana.’ Some heavy object is tied around the neck of cows or buffaloes which is called as londhana. They got him married. Still very tactfully he broke all the ties of material attraction. He had met Haridas Thakur in Saptagram to get his association. Further he was blessed by Vidyananda Prabhu and he ran towards Jagannatha Puri and join the Krishna conscious movement. Caitanya Mahaprabhu kept him in the association of Swarupa Damodara and told him to take care of Raghunatha das Goswami. Because of this later he was recognised as Swaruper Raghu. Swarupa Damodara became Counsellor and Raghunath das Goswami became counsellee. Raghunatha das Goswami wrote a diary about the various pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu which he performed there. This was called Kadcha. Whatever he saw and experienced hewrote. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu completed His manifest past times and returned, then Raghunatha das Goswami was very distressed by separation from Mahaprabhu and wanted to commit suicide. He went to Vrindavan. There other Goswami from shad Goswami Vrinda like Sanatana Goswami tried to pacify him. Then Raghunatha Das Goswami agreed and stayed there in Vrindavan for a further 40 years on the bank of Radha-kunda. Krsna das Kaviraj Goswami also stayed there on the bank of Radha-kunda. Later Krsna das Kaviraj Goswami wrote Caitanya-caritamrta as he was requested by others to write a scripture explaining the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Krsna das Kaviraj Goswami had heard of the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu from others, but had never met Him. In Vrindavan Raghunatha Das Goswami daily explained the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu to the people. On the basis of the diary which was written by Raghunatha Das Goswami, Krsna das Kaviraj Goswami compiled Caitanya-caritamrta.

tyaktva turnam asesha-mandala-pati-srenim sada tuccha-vat
bhutva dina-ganesakau karunaya kaupina-kanthasritau
gopi-bhava-rasamritabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau muhur
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

Translation:
These Gosvamis left their very comfortable lives as ministers, Zamindars and learned scholars and joined Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement, just to show mercy to the fallen souls of the world (dina-ganesakau karunaya). Accepting very humble lives as mendicants, wearing no more than loincloths and torn quilts (kaupina-kantha), they lived in Vrndavana and followed Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s order to excavate Vrndavana’s lost glories. (Verse 4 of Shad-goswami astakam.
Narrated by Srinivasacarya)

All the Goswamis were emblems of magnanimity. They left everything wearing only kopin and a torn quilt . It was very simple living.

sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-natibhih kalavasani-kritau
nidrahara-viharakadi-vijitau catyanta-dinau ca yau
radha-Krsna-guna-smriter madhurimanandena sammohitau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau ( Shad-goswami astakam verse 6)

All of you want to chant properly? Then you should follow Raghunatha Das Goswami and all the Shad Goswamis. They chanted sankya poorvak. This much chanting must be finished. They respected all. Not that they only offered obeisances to the Lord or worship the Lord only, but they also offered obeisances to the devotees of the Lord again and again and honoured them, fell at their feet. This was also the behaviour of Raghunatha Das Goswami. There were two Goswamis named as Raghunatha. One was Raghunatha bhatta Goswami and the other one is Raghunatha Das Goswami. His samadhi is there on the bank of Radha-kunda.

On the day of Vasant panchami Sri Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur went back to Godhead. Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur is also a prominent name among Vaisnavas. At one time he was the only protector and chief acarya of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya. He was from Bengal. He reached Vrindavan and stayed there. He had a disciple named Baladev Vidyabhusan. Viswanath Chakravarti has written many books, which are available. All glories to disappearance day of Srila Viswanath Chakravarty Thakur.

Today is the appearance day of Vishnupriya Devi. Vishnupriya was the second wife of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The first one was Laxmipriya. Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to East Bengal and at that time Laxmipriya left her body in pain of separation from Him. Then on advise of Saci Mata Caitanya Mahaprabhu married again. He didn’t spend much time with her as shortly after marriage He accepted the renounced order. Caitanya Mahaprabhu had given His own Deity to her and told her that He is non different from the Deity and she should worship That. Vishnupriya worshiped that Deity . There is one famous temple of Dhameswar Mahaprabhu in Navadwip. That deity of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is still present over there. It is a very important temple. Whenever we go to that side in Navadwip we make it a point to take darsana of Dhameswar Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu’s padukas are also there. The pujari keeps them on the head and we are blessed by the touch of the padukas of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Along with the worship of this Deity she also used to do worship of Harinama.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

She would worship the name. She had taken shelter of Harinama. While chanting she kept grains of rice at her side. After finishing one round moved a grain of rice to the other side. We hear about this one grain after one mantra or after one round both. Whatever rice was collected in that way was the rice she would have. Most of her time was spent in chanting only. Chanting means remembrance of the Lord. sravanam kirtanam visnohu smaranam – she would remember Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Mahaprabhu was an Avadhut. He was visiting various places during Madhya lila. He met one person named Jagannatha Khatri. Visnupriya was in Mayapur. Being a renunciate it was not possible for Visnupriya to get the association of her husband, but she associated with Him by chanting His names. All glories to appearance day of Visnupriya Devi!

Today is also Sarasvati puja also. Sarasvati is considered as one of the goddesses among many demigods. Vagyisha Isha yasya vadane …

Vak means vachan. Words of glorification. Isha means swamini. Yasya vadane of the mouth. She is present in the lotus face of the Lord. She is one of the potencies of the Lord. Whenever the Lord speaks Sarasvati makes Him speak. She serves Him. Laxmi yasya vakshyasi. Laksmi Devi is present on the chest of the Lord.

Out of the following three saktis – Samvit, Sandini and Hladini – Samvit sakti is present in the heart of the Lord. Sarasvati puja mahotsav ki Jay!

All should chant more on this auspicious day. It’s a time for darsana now.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Hare Krishna!