Mahaprabhu returns to Jagannatha Puri

Tukaram Maharaja was also a follower of Mahaprabhu. As Gaudiya Vaisnava’s we also say that he received diksa from Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Let’s sing his abhanga

avade he rupa, gojire saguna
pahata lochana sukhavale
ata drustipude ayasachi tu rahe
jo me tuza pahe vedo veda
lacavale mana lagali se godi
tejivan sodi ayase zale
tuka mane aamhi kalije ladiwali
puravavi aali mai bape

jaya sri-krishna-Caitanya prabhu nityananda sri-adwaita gadadhara shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

I welcome you all Gaurbhakta vrindas. You are also devotees of Srila Prabhupada. We are always devotees of Prabhupada and Gauranga. There is no shifting. In the morning we are bhaktas of Gauranga and in the evening, Prabhupada. We are dasanudas.

Now on the way to Jagannatha Puri Mahaprabhu had gone to Remuna and He also took darsana of “Sakshi Gopal”. Then He reached Jagannatha Puri. His first darsana of Jagannatha Swami was wonderful. It is in such a state of mind that the Gopis take darsana of Krsna. They drink the beauty of Krsna, take that darsana to their heart and close the window. Then there is only Krsna and the Gopi. There they can meet him constantly with no fear of anybody.

Like that premanjana-churita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva hridayeshu vilokayanti: [Bs. 5.38]

The devotees whose eyes are anointed with the love of God, ointment see God, Krsna, within their hearts twenty-four hours a day.

Gopis are sadhavis. This was also the condition of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When He took darsana of Jagannatha Swami, He wanted to embrace the Lord. But He could not as He would fall unconscious. Hence His associates prevented Him from going near the Lord. They let Him stand near the Garuda stambha, so that He had its support while taking darsana of the Lord.

Last month I had gone to Jagannatha Puri. My state of mind can never be like Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but a panda there took me near the Garuda stambha.

pashu-pakhi jhure, pashana vidore
shuni yar guna gantha

By Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s touch the stambha melted. His bhava was mahabhava. The Panda showed me Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s finger prints. He made me touch the finger prints. For sometime I had a little romancha, thinking how Caitanya Mahaprabhu took darsana.

>Caitanya Mahaprabhu was also in Pandharpur once. It is a special dhama for Gaudiya Vaisnavas because some incidents took place there which connects Pandharpur to Gaudiya Vaisnavasim.

Visvarupa had come here. Nityananda Prabhu had also visited Pandharpur. Visvarupa was the 9th son of Saci mata and Caitanya Mahaprabhu the 10th. Visvarupa was Balaram in ansarupa. He was not fully Balaram. Like Radha Rani is fully Radha and Gadadhar Pandit was Radha in ansarupa.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to go on a South Indian yatra, but His associates wanted to know why. He said: “I want to search for my brother, Visvarupa.” That was just an excuse because He knew that his brother had gone back to Godhead. How did He know this? He is sarvagya. He knows everything. His goal was dharma-samsthapanarthaya. He had also appeared to establish dharma. He will go for yatra doing sankirtana and establish sankirtana dharma.

kali kaler dharma nama sankirtana

Caitanya Mahaprabhu was on the South India yatra for 6 years. He met Srirangapuri, a disciple of Madhavendra Puri. This is also one more Gaudiya Vaisnava connection. Srirangapuri must have stayed in Pandharpur. What was the connection between them? Srirangapuri was God uncle of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, God brother of His guru, Isvarpuri. They both gave Krsna Katha for 7 days. At the end of the katha Srirangapuri said : “I had gone to Navadvipa with Madhavendra Puri. When we were there, we received an invitation from Jagannath Misra. He offered us prasada. His wife Saci mata made a dish called mocha-khanda. We got the news that their elder son Visvarupa had gone on a yatra and reached Pandharpur. From there He went back to Godhead. This was not news for Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but He displayed a look of ignorance. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard this from Srirangapuri, He realised that they had gone to his house.

Here I want to say that Visvarupa could have selected any place to leave the planet. There are so many places, but He selected Pandharpur. There is a description of this in the Madhya Lila. He would have bathed in the Chandrabhaga River and taken darsana of Lord Panduranga. Normally He would just stay at one place for a day or even half a day and walk away in the middle of the night to avoid the crowd of people intent on following Him in morning. In Srirangam He stayed for four months in Caturmasa.

So now Caitanya Mahaprabhu is in Jagannatha Puri.

Balaram did yatra of the whole Bharatvarsa, He did not want to fight in the battle of Kuruksetra.

brajendra-nandana jei, saci-suta hoilo sei, balarama hoilo nitai

The very same Balaram appeared as Nityananda Prabhu. He went on a yatra that lasted 20 years. He started His yatra when Caitanya Mahaprabhu was 12 years old and came back when Mahaprabhu was 32. Once Nityananda Prabhu met Madhavendra Puri who went from Vrndavana to Shantipur. He gave diksha to Advaita Acarya and then he went to Remuna. He stayed there and served Ksira chor Gopinatha. His samadhi is also there.

Nityananda Prabhu had gone to setubandha with Madhavendra Puri. It is said that Nityananda Prabhu took diksha from Madhavendra Puri, but in Caitanya Bhagavat Vrindavan Das Thakur says Nityananda Prabhu took diksha from Laxmipati Tirtha. Laxmipati Tirtha had come to Pandarpur and at time and he took dikaha from him.

So Nityananda Prabhu’s diksha stali was Pandarpur dhama. This is also another Gaudiya Vaisava connection.

Way back in1986 we were searching for the samadhi of Visvarupa. We saw many samadhis on the bank of the Chandrabhaga. We searched for a long time, but we did not find Visvarupa’s samadhi. Then we came to the realisation that there is no samadhi of Lord Ram or Balaram? So the Lord does not have a Samadhi. We established foot prints of Nityananda Prabhu and Visvarupa in Pandharpur.

ISKCON Aravade is also going to establish foot prints of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The inauguration will be on 26 January 2017 inauguration. Caitanya Mahaprabhu had gone to my village Aravade. I don’t know whether He stayed there. He had visited Aravade, and the proof is village named Gaurgaon near Aravade.

Pandharpur has strong connections with Gaudiya Vaisnavism. Lord did shravan kirtan lila, snana lila there in Pandharpur.

purve yabe mahaprabhu calila daksine
prataparudra raja tabe bolaila sarvabhaume ( CC Madhya Lila 10.3)

When Mahaprabhu departed for South India, King Prataparudra called Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya to his palace and asked about Mahaprabhu.

sunilana tomara ghare eka mahasaya
gauda ha-ite aila, te?ho maha-krpamaya (CC Madhya Lila 10.5)

The King said to the Bhattacarya, “I have heard that a great personality has come from Bengal and is staying at your home. I have also heard that He is very, very merciful.

tomare bahu krpa kaila, kahe sarva-jana
krpa kari’ karaha more tanhara darsana (CC Madhya Lila 10.6)

“I have also heard that this great personality has shown you great favor. At any rate, this is what I hear from many different people. Now, being merciful upon me, you should do me the favor of arranging an interview.”

bhatta kahe, — ye sunila saba satya haya
tanra darsana tomara ghatana na haya (CC Madhya Lila 10.7)

The Bhattacarya replied, “All that you have heard is true, but as far as an interview is concerned, it is very difficult to arrange.

virakta sannyasi tenho rahena nirjane
svapneha na karena tenho raja-darasane (CC Madhya Lila 10.8)

“Sri Mahaprabhu is in the renounced order and is very much detached from worldly affairs. He stays in solitary places, and even in dreams He does not grant interviews to a king.

tathapi prakare toma karaitama darasana
samprati karila tenho daksina gamana (CC Madhya Lila 10.9)

“Still, I would have tried to arrange your interview, but He has recently left to tour South India.”

raja kahe, — jagannatha chaadi’ kene gela
bhatta kahe, — mahantera ei eka lila (CC Madhya Lila 10.10)

The King asked, “Why has He left Jagannatha Puri?”

tirtha pavitra karite kare tirtha-bhramana
sei chale nistaraye samsarika jana (CC Madhya Lila 10.11)

“Great saints go to holy places of pilgrimage in order to purify them. For that reason Mahaprabhu is visiting many tirthas and delivering many, many conditioned souls.

bhavad-vidha bhagavatas
tirthi-bhutah svayam vibho
tirthi-kurvanti tirthani
svanta?-sthena gada-bhrta (CC Madhya Lila 10.12)

“Saints of your caliber are themselves places of pilgrimage. Because of their purity, they are constant companions of the Lord, and therefore they can purify even the places of pilgrimage.’

tirthi-kurvanti tirthani ( SB 1.13.10)

Devotees are holy places personified. Because they carry the Personality of Godhead within their heart, they turn all the places into places of pilgrimages. And Mahaprabhu is Lord Himself. This was the realization of King Prataprudra.

raja kahe, — tanre tumi yaite kene dile
paya padi’ yatna kari’ kene na rakhile (CC Madhya Lila 10.14)

Upon hearing this, the King replied, “Why did you allow Him to leave? Why didn’t you fall at His lotus feet and keep Him here?”

Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya replied, “Sri Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself and is completely independent. Being Lord Krsna Himself, He is not dependent on anyone. “Still, I endeavored very hard to keep Him here, but because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and completely independent, I was not successful.” The King said, “Bhattacarya, you are the most learned and experienced person I know. Therefore when you address Sri Mahaprabhu as Lord Krsna, I accept this as the truth.

When Sri Mahaprabhu returns, I wish to see Him just once in order to make my eyes perfect.”

bha??acarya kahe, — tenho asibe alpa-kale
rahite tanre eka sthana cahiye virale (CC Madhya Lila 10.19)

Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya a replied, “His Holiness Lord Sri Mahaprabhu will return very soon. I wish to have a nice place ready for Him, a place solitary and peaceful. “Lord’s residence should be very secluded and also near the temple of Jagannatha. Please consider this proposal and give me a nice place for Him.” The King replied, “Kasi Misra’s house is exactly what you require. It is near the temple and is very secluded, calm and quiet.”

When Kasi Misra heard the proposal, he said, “I am very fortunate that Sri Mahaprabhu, the Lord of all prabhus, will stay at my home.”

All the residents of Jagannatha Puri were early waiting for Mahaprabhu and when the eagerness reached its height Mahaprabhu came to Puri

ara dina mahaprabhu bhattacaryera sange
jagannatha darasana kaila maha-range (CC Madhya Lila 10.29)

The next day Sri Mahaprabhu arrived and went with Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya with great enthusiasm, to see the temple of Lord Jagannatha. After seeing Lord Jagannatha, Sri Mahaprabhu left the temple. The Bhattacarya then took Him to the house of Kasi Misra. When Sri Mahaprabhu arrived at his house, Kasi Misra immediately fell down at His lotus feet and surrendered himself and all his possessions. This is how Kasi Misra was fully surrendered to the Lord.

manasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor
arpilu tuwa pade, nanda-kisor!

Bhaktivinod Thakur says Mind, body, and family, whatever may be mine, I have surrendered at Your lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda!

Sri Mahaprabhu then showed Kasi Misra His four-armed form. Then, accepting him for His service, the Lord embraced him.

Mahaprabhu was very pleased to see the house of Kasi Misra. Do you know that place? Have you seen it? Yes, the Gambhira. It’s a very serious place. Here Mahaprabhu will stay here now and meet many devotees which we will hear about tomorrow.

Thank You.