How to get away from Corona? Go for Gauranga

02 04 2020 [1:01:33] Katha Day 1 [Online katha] Venue: Theur, Pune

jaya jaya sri krsna caitanya jay nityananda jay advaita-candra jaya gaura bhakta vrnda

All are welcome, I don’t know who is there and where you are out there. Wherever you are and whoever you are we heartily welcome you to Karuna Avatar Gaura Bhagavan katha. Today is our first day and let’s see how many days we carry on. We wish to go on for a while. So there is too much of Corona so we are trying to distance ourselves from Corona virus and we all need karuna of Karuna avatar, Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Hence Karuna Avatar Gaura Bhagavan Katha.

I don’t have to ask this question do you want corona virus? Of course not. Then how to get away distance from this corona? Go for Gauranga. Go for karuna avatar. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki Jaya. I mean the world was in big trouble 500 years ago. It’s always in trouble. Sometimes there are more troubles. So 500 years ago also there were lots of difficulties. So Advaita Acarya had appeared before Gauranga and he had done what we called some advance party work. He was making observations and doing diagnosis on world situation. What had happened was,

yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati

Whenever there is decline in the religious principles then what happens?

abhyutthanam adharmasya

Whenever there is the rise in irreligious principles more and more sin is getting committed.

tadatmanam srjamy aham

Then I appear. So Advaita Acarya came to a conclusion that this is the right time this world needs Gauranga and he prayed in Shantipur at the banks of Ganga. He was offering Ganga jala, Tulasi dala. Offering sacred water of Ganga and Tulasi leaves unto His deities, Shaligram shila and praying for the merciful advent of the Lord. And in response to that plea of Advaita Acarya, karuna avatar Gauranga appeared. So the world is again in big trouble.

Janma mrtyu jara vyadhi are the troubling reasons and one of them is vyadhi. Vyadhi is illness, sickness, disease. And here it has come Carona virus and we are all been harassed big big super powers are bowing down to the virus and they are trying to get rid of this virus. They are trying and they will always keep trying. And this is the defense that we all get into. The whole world also remains busy in eating, sleeping, mating, defending. The whole world together is trying to defend. Nothing seems to be working out at the moment. And there is so much corona virus consciousness. Corono virus corona virus eva kevalam [laughter] like that .

Now solution, if nothing else works, one thing could work for sure is,
harer nama eva kevalam. The holy name of the Lord. And Lord brought that for us. Lord says, I am your friend and I have come with the medicine, I have come with Harinama aushadhi. And Lord has prescribed,

harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha

“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting of the holy name of ONLY Lord Hari. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.” (Brhad Naradiya Purana)

And this holy name is the karuna kindness of Gauranga. This is His gift in the form of a holy name. Well of course He Himself is gift. He gifted Himself. He gifted Himself to the whole world. One form is the holy name.

kali kale nama rupe krsna avatar

Lord appeared in two forms, in the form of holy name and then He appeared as Nimai, the karuna avatar the beautiful Sachidananda vigraha. So that karuna avatar. Gauranga Nityananda, both these Lords are merciful and magnanimous. So when we say karuna avatar we will have to say they are two of them.

ajanu-lambita-bhujau kanakavadatau
sankirtanaika-pitarau kamalayatakshau
visvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-palau
vande jagat-priyakarau karunavatarau

What did you hear at the end? Karunavatarau. Two Lords Gauranga and Nityananda they appeared as Karunavatarau. And what kind of Lords they are. They are full of karuna, kindness. Their magnanimity is an outstanding quality. They are full of qualities, they are reservoir of qualities but one quality that stands out is their Karuna avatara. Their kindness, their magnanimity. As we always sing or say,

he krsna karuna-sindhu dina-bandho jagat-pate
gopesa gopika-kanta radha-kanta namo ‘stu te

Hey Krishna means oh Krishna. What kind of Krishna? Karuna-sindhu. You are karuna-sindhu ocean of mercy. And who am I? I am dina bandho, the wretched, the fallen and the pauper, the bankrupt hence I am running after you.

krsna se tomara, krsna dite paro,
tomara sakati ache
ami to’ ka?gala, ‘krsna’ ‘krsna’ boli’,
dhai tava pache pache

We say that to the vaishnavas. We say you have Krishna and you are competent to give that Krishna to me. And look at me the pauper, the bankrupt please give me Krishna, give me Krishna. So that’s what I am saying. Lord is karuna-sindhu but I am dina but again Lord is dina-bandhu. The friend of the poor. That’s a good combination. Lord is karuna-sindhu and at the same time He is dina-bandhu, friend of the poor. So we are those poor fellows and Gauranga is full of karuna and Nityananda prabhu is full of karuna. So we beg for that mercy. For ourselves and the world we need mercy, God’s grace, Gauranga’s mercy. So we pray unto Gauranga Nityananda They may shower the merciful glance upon all of us here in this world the ocean of corona. Please pick us up and engage us in your service.

We have decided and I am not the only one, there are so many devotees remembering and sharing Krishna katha, Krishna nama, Krishna prasada with the rest of the world. So I thought why not I also remember Gauranga. I have heard of Gauranga and I remember something something about Gauranga. So I would also share my memories whatever about Gauranga, my memories. They may be memories of His nama, rupa, guna, lila dham and His associates. So we will each day say something about the nama or rupa or guna or lila or dhama or the associates of Gauranga.

gaurangera madhura-lila, jar karne pravesila,
hridoya nirmala bhelo tar

As we hear either Gauranga lila or His pastimes or qualities or about His abode. What happens? His heart would become nirmal, free from dirt and contamination. So we would like to hold this Sravan utsav or Karna-utsav, feast for the ears. Festival because there is feast going on. Ear is hearing. Ears could hear and enjoy. And have a festival. In Mayapur they have Sravan- utsav or Karna-tsav same thing. This utsav or festival increases our utsaha we become enthusiastic. This corona is dampening our spirit. Everyone is almost in depression, feeling depressed, feeling lonely. So we need something to lift up our spirits. I thought this Sravan-utsav, Gauranga katha mahotsav will play that role. This would enthuse us, lift us.
Krishna das Kaviraj Goswami says in mangalacarana of Chaitanya Charitamrta in the beginning.

sada hridaya-kandare sphuratu vah shacinandanaha

“May that Lord, who is known as the son of Srimati Shacidevi, be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart.” (Cc. Adi, 1.4.)

So what happens as we have feast for our ears, ultimately what we drink with our ears it reaches our heart and that is where we reside. Living entities base is the heart and we are based in the heart. We want to make sure that this Gaurangera madhura lila reaches the heart. And ultimately we want our soul to drink this nectar. And Krishna das Kaviraj Goswami says, that Shachinandan in the form of His pastime or qualities inspire you and uplift you.

hridaya kandare, hridaya that’s heart, kandara that is a cave. We kind of live in the caves. As a soul lives in the cave called heart. So as soon as we hear about Gauranga , Gauranga will enrich us, inspire us. Then we will be delighted we will be happy. Rupa Goswami Prabhupada also has glorified Gauranga. A famous poem that we sing,

namo maha-vadanyaya krishna-prema-pradaya te
krishnaya krishna-chaitanya- namne gaura-tvishe namah

Finally for second time Rupa and Anupam his brother they met Caitanya Mahaprahu. In the beginning they did not go all the way to Him from a distance they were seeing this all. Gauranga Mahaprabhu is in Prayag on the banks of the confluence of Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati. And Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was heading towards Bindu Madhava temple. Big crowd was following Him. Gauranga Mahaprabhu was in great ecstasy chanting and dancing, totally oblivious to the surroundings. So here comes the two brothers’. They had darsana of Gauranga and later on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to His residence. These two brothers arrived there, from a distance they are offering their dandavat pranams again and again.
dante trina dhari, holding straw in between their teeth. They were falling with folding hands they are getting up they would offer this prayer.

namo maha-vadanyaya krishna-prema-pradaya te
krishnaya krishna-chaitanya- namne gaura-tvishe namah

O most munificent incarnation! You are Krishna Himself appearing as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Srimati Radharani, and You are widely distributing pure love of Krishna. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.

If anybody knew Gauranga fully well that was Rupa Goswami. Whatever was on the mind of Gauranga. He was confident to read the mind of Gauranga. That’s Rupa Goswami’s realization, look at Gauranga this most magnanimous Gauranga.

Narottam Das Thakura also has sung yet another famous song.

sri krsna chaitanya prabhu daya karo more
tuma bin ke dayalu jagata samsare

So this is another great acarya Narottam Das Thakura. tuma bina ke dayalu. Besides you who else is there as much kind as you are. May be others are kind but you are kindest you are most kind.

patita pavana hetu tava avatar

You have appeared to uplift the fallen and if you look around Nartottam Das Thakura say, you will find me to be the most fallen. You are most magnanimous and I am most fallen. It’s a good match, right good match.
Of course he was not fallen. He was Narottam, best among human beings. But he is taking that role or is teaching us how to pray. So we are adham, we should be admitting that mosama patita who is fallen like me. And who is magnanimous like you. So please oh magnanimous Lord please please be kind unto me and unto the world also. The same song Narottam Das continues singing about Nityananda Prabhu also.

ha ha prabhu nityananda, premananda sukhi
kripabalokana koro ami boro duhkhi

One is sukhi and one is dukhi. Who is sukhi? Nityananda Prabhu, he is happy all the time. He is full of happiness. He is sat cid ananda vigraha. So you are full of ananda or sukh and I am full of dukha this is not fair. My dear Lord, please shower your merciful glance upon me and upon the world all around me. Narottam Das T hakura is praying on our behalf. We donot know how to pray but he is teaching us how to pray.

Then Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami in the very beginning of Chaitanya Charitamrta there is a statement that says.

anarpita-carim cirat karunayavatirnah kalau

Oh Lord, you have appeared after a long time infact after a kalpa. Last time He had appeared in the previous day of Brahma. And after long time He appeared and anarpita something that no other avatar of the Lord give that karuna you are distributing. Sharing with this world. Karunayavatirnah kalau. You have appeared, what is the cause ? Because you are so kind. Kindness. The kind nature has compelled you to appear. So your nature the quality or magnanimity is a cause of your appearance.

golokam ca parityejya lokanam trana karanam

One of the Puranas say, Lord left Goloka behind. When Lord was observing the lokas, planets or specially this earthly planet and see how they are in suffering being tortured, born again and again birth, death, old age, disease seeing all that. And of course as we said earlier this communication and observation was made by Advaita Acarya and he had informed the Lord, my dear Lord this is going on please come so Lord appeared.

Prabhodananda Saraswati Thakura says,

avatirne gaura chandre vistirne prema sagare
So what does Lord do? Avatirne Gauranga appeared and vistirne prema sagare. He expanded the ocean of love of godhead. Then Prabhodananda Saraswati Thakura says,

yena majyanti majyanti te maha anartha sagare

But those who do not jump into the premasagar, dive deeper into that sagar for them there is another ocean waiting for them. And what is the nature of that ocean, it is maha anartha sagar it is full of anarthas.

kaler dosa nidhe rajan

Sukadev Goswami also said, this kaliyuga this material world will be full of faults. So Prabhodananda Saraswati Thakura says, that Gauranga Mahaprabhu appeared and expanded the ocean of love of Godhead. Those who do not jump into swim, into dive, into that ocean for them there is another ocean is awaiting and that ocean is faulty ocean, full of faults maha anartha sagar.

So right now for them it is corona virus maha sagar . The world is become the ocean it is spreading like a wild fire. The whole situation is out of control and it’s all over. So there are two sagars -two oceans. One ocean is prema sagar.

anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamritaswadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam

Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, the chanting of the holy name

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

As one chants his anandam ambudhi sagar, the ocean of ananda, the bliss is ever expanding. The living entity could drown, could take bath in this ananda sagara. For the world there are only two sagara right now two oceans, Corona sagar and Karuna sagar . There is difference between the two sagars, two oceans. So maintain distance this is the only way you could do is maintaining distance and go for Gauranga. Go for listening His sweet pastimes or go for hearing the holy name of the Lord. And a lot of other items are holy and sweet in relationship with the Lord.

Sri Krishna Chaitanya appeared at the juncture of day and the night. But prior to that during the day as if Lord could not wait till late in the evening. During the day Lord appeared. Lord appeared in the form of holy name. And you know what it was? It was a moon eclipse day. So lot of people were going to take a dip in Ganga. That day not only Hindus or pious people were coming but lots of sinful people, lot of meat eaters, drinkers, women hunters, gamblers all were literally running to Ganga and they were all taking holy dip and they were all chanting,

Haribol Haribol Haribol

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So this is magnanimity of Lord. He was making sinful people giving dictation from within and bringing them to the holy place on the holy day of His appearance. And getting them to chant holy name of the Lord. Sinful people, atheist they were all running to Navadvipa to Ganga to take a holy dip and chant the holy names of the Lord. This is one of the many examples of Lord’s magnanimity. Everything about Lord is magnanimous. He’s been merciful to Jagai and Madhai.

deena hina yat chila hari naame udharilo tarasakshi jagai madhai”

The fallen sinful people could be liberated. Someone may ask. What is the proof? Prove it. So the proof is Jagai and Madhai. They received the kindness of Gauranga and Nityananda Prabhu .The famous pastime of Jagai Madhai udhar. So as this Jagai and Madhai had offended Nityananda Prabhu. They hit him and he was bleeding and Gauranga Mahaprabhu gets to know. Then He comes in the direction of this spot where Jagai Madhai had encounter with Nityananda and Haridas. And Mahaprabhu on the way to that spot, He had Sudarshan chakra. Lord cannot tolerate offence to His devotees, so He wanted to cut them to pieces. Then of course one hard party and one soft party. Hard approach soft approach. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was kind of being very harsh and hard but Nityananda Prabhu was like, no no no you can’t do this. In this age not this weapon. What weapon? Weapon is,

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

And this to Jagai and Madhai. Jagadananad and Madhavanada Bandopadhyaya. Ofcourse that was their name. They were watching observing the dealings conversations between Gauranga and Nityananda Prabhu and by seeing both of them by hearing them their hearts melted. And they surrendered unto the Lord, unto the holy name of the Lord also. They accepted the gift of the holy name. And agreed to follow the four regulative principles. From today we will not – no meat eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex, no gambling. And these two personalities were totally transformed and they became such humble souls. Humility personified they have a big ghat famous ghat not far from Yogapitha. Pilgrims would come; they would bow down at their feet and render all kinds of services unto the pilgrims so they became great servants of Gauranga and Gaura bhaktas.

Chaitany Mahaprabhu he takes sannyas this and that because of his magnanimous nature He couldn’t just contain that magnanimity. It was just out bursting and overflowing. So He couldn’t stay behind at home couldn’t distance Himself from masses of people. So He takes sannyas and giving up all the comfort zone and leaving behind young beautiful wife and elderly mother Sachi mata. Big sacrifice for what? Because of His magnanimity. Then He travels the next 6 years Lord is going every town, every village going from door to door practically. And wherever He goes whichever town He stations Himself for overnight stay. Again He is not going to stay whole night. He would get up in the middle of the night and hit the road to next village. Otherwise if He would get up after everyone else is gotten up then they would see Him going everybody would follow so in order to avoid that situation Mahaprabhu would many times in the middle of the night he would get up and go. But the night before He would conduct huge kirtana. Out of nowhere people would turn up hundreds and thousands and He would kindly get them to chant and dance. And this tall Gauranga with His raised arms He would chant. Because He was tall, people all around were able to have a nice darsana of Gauranga and in the middle of the kirtana Mahaprabhu would also jump high in the sky and easy then everyone is having beautiful sarvanga sundar darsana of Gauranga. Everyone around Him has gone mad and He is making them dance chant and He inspires them by saying Hariiii bol. It’s like lifting all of them and down. Haribol. And so He toured South India, east India then North India on the way to Vrindavan Mahaprabhu is passing through Jharkhand forest and He was kind to not only human beings but He was kind to animals.

pasu pakhi jhure pasan vidare suni jaira guna gatha, as guna gatha

Then description of His qualities and pastimes and there is a whole display of that. And as one hears that even animals would begin meditating upon and the rock would melt so that extraordinary pastime in Jharkhand forest. Caitanya Mahaprabhu getting animals on the ground and the birds in the sky. Get them to chant and dance. And transforming them into pure bhaktas and their animal nature and animalistic tendencies is no more there. The deer and tiger are walking in that kirtana procession next to each other shoulder to shoulder. By seeing that scene Mahaprabhu is so delighted so happy to see that there is no enmity no, envy, all friendly dealings. He saw the tiger and the deer they were embracing each other and they were kissing each other and as Mahaprabhu saw that scene he started exclaiming Vrindavan Dham ki Jay. He was on the way to Vrndavan . Jharkhand is on the way to Vrndavan you know halfway through. When He saw that dealings of those animals with each other that reminded Him of Vrndavan. This is Vrndavan. This is Vrndavan. I have reached Vrndavan.

I had many more pastimes that I thought I would share with you about Lord’s magnanimity but time and tide waits for none. So maybe we will continue in one of the upcoming sessions at least on this topic of Lord’s magnanimity, magnanimous pastime. Of Course all pastimes are magnanimous but some are more outstanding. So it’s time to stop around this time tomorrow is Rama Navami so we will continue talking about Rama and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes of Rama in Navadwipa or Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s encounter or meeting with Rama Bhaktas.

Hare Krishna