Lord Nityananda’s Mercy
Date: 2nd August, 2020
Lecture online Bangladesh
[1:28:56]

I can understand Bengali but not speak, so I will speak in Hindi. In Bangladesh sravan utsava is going on. That’s a festival for ears. Tomorrow is Balaram purnima, balarama hoilo nitai . I was told to talk about mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. So at that time these lines came to my mind.

ha ha Prabhu nityananda, premananda sukhi
krpabalokana koro ami boro duhkhi

So Narottam Das Thakur says, prays to Lord Nityananda. He says, ha ha Prabhu, nityananda premananda-sukhi: “My dear Lord Nityananda, You are always joyful in spiritual bliss. Since You always appear very happy, I have come to You because I am most unhappy. If You kindly put Your glance over me, I may also become happy.”

O Nityananda Prabhu, just look at me, I am very distressed. It’s not good, please shower your mercy on us. So Nityananda Prabhu is famous for His mercy.

sri guru karuna sindhu
adhama janara bandhu

We keep singing this, so guru is an ocean of mercy and Nityananda Prabhu is Adi guru, guru of all gurus. Balaram is also guru. Certainly such a guru always has his merciful glance on everyone and to distribute His mercy, Nityananda Prabhu has appeared.

Gaura nityananda bol haribol haribol

Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu both appeared and they both are famous as being magnanimous, maha-vadanyaya.

namo maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradayate [CC Madhya 19.53]

O most munificent incarnation! So both Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu both are maha-vadanyaya.

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

In Vraj mandal parikrama when we go to Dauji near Gokul, there we get to hear,

dauji ke bhaiya krishna kanahiya, krishna kanahiya dauji ka bhaiya

One party says, dauji ke bhaiya and other party says, krsna kanahiya

So Dauji means Balarama and Dauji’s brother is Krishna. So in this way devotees sing the glories of Krishna and Balarama. In Navadvipa parikrama, Jayapataka Maharaja, he taught us, he must be the one made this chant very famous Gauranga- Nityananda, Nityananda- Gauranga. In Vraja we sing, dauji ka bhaiya krishna kanhaiya and in Navadvipa we sing Gauranga- Nityananda, this proves brajendra nandana jei, saci suta hoilo sei.

So this Balarama appears as Nityananda in Ekachakra gram in Bengal at the house of Hadai Pandit and Padmavati’s house. He performed his bala lilas in Ekachakra gram. Then a saint came to their house. He was received and served nicely. When he was about to leave he made a special demand from this family, please give me Nityananda Prabhu I want Nityananda, I want Nityanand. As he was parivrajakacarya he needed someone for help. So he left Ekachakra gram. Nityananda Prabhu came out of Ekachakra gram and travelled everywhere for preaching in the same way as Balarama performed His yatra of India. From this we can understand, balarama hoilo nitai. Balaram also travelded and Nityananda Prabhu also travelled. Nityananda Prabhu travelled everywhere and while travelling when He reached Vrndavan at the bank of Radhakunda then He got the news that His Lord, His Mahaprabhu, Caitanya Mahaprabhu had appeared.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai

After hearing this He directly moved to Navadvipa, Bengal. Gauranga Nityananda met at Nandana Acarya’s house in Navadvipa. The age of Caitanya Mahaprabhu was 20 years old. After that Gauranga Nityananda stayed together.

sankirtana eka pitaro

Lord Caitanya and Nityananda Prabhu are the two fathers of sankirtana, founding fathers of sankirtana. They both performed sankirtana at Srivas angan, all Pancha Tattvas used to join the movement. Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa and after that Nityananda Prabhu left for Jagannath Puri. At one time Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, you always stay with me Nityananda Prabhu, now you go to Bengal. Then Nityananda Prabhu left for Bengal with dvadash gopals.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu had ordered to Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakur,

suno suno nityananda, suno haridas sarvatra amar ajna koroho prakas
prati ghare ghare giya koro ei bhiksa bolo `krsna’, bhajo krsna, koro krsna-siksa

Now Nityananda Prabhu will play the role of a guru, its Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s instructions. Nityananda Prabhu first came to Pannihati there 24 hours day and night kirtans were going on. Kirtan. So there he was establishing dharma, dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge. Nityananda Prabhu will establish dharma and propagate dharma all over, that’s all mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. He is dinabandhu, He is karunasindhu, Nityananda prbahu. That is why Bhakti Vinod Thakur in his song says,

Nadiya godrome nityananda Mahajana
patiyache nam-hatta jivera karana

Caitanya Mahaprabhu made Nityananda GBC, governing body commissioner and pracharak.
patrapatra-vicara nahi, nahi sthanasthana
yei yanha paya, tanha kare prema-dana [CC Adi 7.23]

Translation: In distributing love of Godhead, Caitanya Mah?prabhu and His associates did not consider who was a fit candidate and who was not, nor where such distribution should or should not take place. They made no conditions. Wherever they got the opportunity, the members of the Pañca-tattva distributed love of Godhead.

There was no discrimination Krishna prema was distributed all over. Nityananda Prabhu distributed Krishna prem everywhere. So once when Nityananda Prabhu was in Panihatti, there came Raghunath Das and he received special mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. When Raghunath Das came Nityananda Prabhu was sitting with his students on the banks of Ganga. Nityananda Prabhu asked has Raghunath Das come, someone said yes he is hiding and sitting behind. As Raghunath Das came Nityananda Prabhu blessed him by keeping His lotus feet on his head. And also said that you are a thief, I will punish you, you have to feed dahi chida to all devotees. Raghunath Das did the seva and thus he got mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu through Nityananda Prabhu.

So Nityananda Prabhu was preaching Jagai Madhai. You know the story, when someone among Jagai Madhai threw stone on Nityananda Prabhu and He got hurt. As Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard that Nityananda Prabhu was hit, He immediately called for Sudarshan Chakra and as Cakra came there next was vinashayacha duskritam, He was ready to kill the demons. But who saved their lives? That was Nityananda Prabhu, He reminded Caitanya Mahaprabhu, oh Lord you cannot destroy the anarthas by this kind of weapons in this Kaliyuga. Jagai and Madhai were hearing all this and then Jagai Madhai surrendered to Guara -Nityananda. Then they said we will leave all the sinful activities and chant the holy name. We will follow four regulative principles, no intoxication, no gambling, no illicit sex, no meat eating, we will only chant and perform kirtana.

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

dina-hina jata chilo, hari-name uddharilo, tara sakshi jagai madhai

Translation: The holy name delivered all those souls who were lowly and wretched. The two sinners Jagai and Madhai are evidence of this.

Is there any proof that the holy name delivers the sinful?? Yes yes, tara sakshi jagai madhai. This is the proof. It was a team effort of Gauranga and Nityananda Prabhus. When we go for preaching we have to keep two approaches, soft and hard and thus do preaching. In this Jagai Madhai deliverance, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was hard and tough like vajra. He was about to use His chakra. But the soft nature, the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu saved Jagai and Madhai. All glories to Nityananda Prabhu.

It’s not that today Nityananda is not there, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is not there. He is still there in Navadvipa, Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu are still performing their lilas. And fortunate ones can have darsana of those Gaura lilas and Nityananda lilas.

adyapa lila kare gaura rai
kon kon bhagyavan dekhi bare pare

Srila Prabhupada established ISKCON, he is founder of ISKCON. But Srila Prabhupada established ISKCON on behalf of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and even today the work is going on and many Jagai and Madhai are being delivered all over the world. Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu are only behind this. This movement is doing so many things, it is done by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu only. Senapati bhakta of this sankirtan army, Srila Prabhupada was made instrumental by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But the work of delivering the fallen Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu are doing and devotees are just instruments.

The order Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave to Haridas Thakur and Nityananda Prabhu was prati ghare ghare giya koro ei bhiksa, bolo krishna, bhajo krishna, koro krishna-siksa, the same order is given to all of us also. So all the preaching projects are going on under the direction of Nityananda Prabhu, He is the original spiritual master and by Him only all the preaching projects are going on. Nityananda Prabhu was preaching on behalf of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

yare dekha, tare kaha k???a-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa [CCMadhya 7.128]

Translation: “Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Krsna as they are given in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.”

He is our eternal spiritual master. In kaliyuga the most important way of preaching is holy name, harinama sankirtan.

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

The preaching mission which Caitanya Mahaprabhu started and Nityananda Prabhu did and then Srila Prabhupada did, that we have to take it ahead.

Prithvite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

Translation: “In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.”

Preach My name. One cannot preach unless he has compassion or karuna in his heart. Nityananda Prabhu was full of these qualities, He was karunasindhu. Nitai gunamani amar.

I was thinking when Jiva Goswami came to Navadvipa he directly went to Srivas Thakur’s house. Nityananda Prabhu was staying here in those days and He became dhama guru for Jiva goswami and performed Navadvipa mandal parikrama. This is the work of a spiritual master, acarya. Nityananda Prabhu revealed the Navadvipa dhama, He disclosed all the places in Navadvipa. This is simantadvipa, here Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave darsana to Parvati and she put the dust of the dvipa in her hair part so that dvipa came to be known as simantadvipa. Nityananda Prabhu described all the lilasthalis to Jiva Goswami and if one does such parikrama that will deliver the whole world.

If Nityananda Prabhu was not there then there would be no parikrama then Bhakti Vinod Thakur would not have written the Navadvipa mahatmya book. In that book he writes that these parikramas will deliver the whole world. yadi nitai na hoite, there would have been no revelations. Then ISKCON won’t have been established and parikramas won’t have been there. There is no limit to mercy of Nityananda Prabhu.

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

We should pray at the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu so that His mercy reaches us also. In fact if you all are hearing lectures in sravan utsav then you have already got the mercy. And if you are like Jagai and Madhai then by chanting you will get mukti and bhakti.

Where I am sitting is Pandharpur, Maharashtra. Nityananda Prabhu came here when he was travelling. He was initiated by Laxmipati tirtha, that’s the glory of Pandharpur dhama. And in this dham the Chandrabhaga river which is non different from Ganga flows and on her bank we have a temple and also we have established Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhus lotus feet here. Also Caitanya Mahaprabhu had come to Pandharpur, He said I want to go to South India. Everyone asked why you want to go? I want to search for My brother Visvarupa and then He went for a south India yatra. Then He reached pandharpur and as He got the news that Visvarupa had come to Pandharpur. First Nityananda Prabhu came here then Chaitanya Mahaprahu came. Before Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came here Visvarupa had come. This Chaitanya Mahaprabhu knew from a Gaudiya Vaishnava, he said that when I went Navadvipa with Madhavendra puri, we reached the house of Jagannath Mishra, he welcomed us very nicely and Saci mata had prepared nice prasadam for us. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said oh you had gone to my house, Saci mata is my mother and Visvarupa is my elder brother. Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked do you know about my brother something, he has taken sannyasa. He said, yes your brother had taken sannyasa and he came to Pandharpur and stayed here. His name was Shankararanya Swami and from here only he went back to Godhead. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu got the news in this way.

Visvarup is the expansion of Balarama, balarama hoilo nitai, Balaram becomes Nityananda and also Visvarupa. First Balaram appeared as 7th child and then Krishna came as 8th child, like that first Visvarupa appeared and then Nimai appeared. Dauji appears as Visvarupa, elder brother. One understanding is that Visvarupa went back to Godhead and another is he entered Nityananda Prabhu, two in one, Nityananda Prabhu and Visvarupa together.

Jai jai nityananda premananda sukhi kripa va lokan karo ami bado dukhi

So again and again we pray at the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu so that He showers His mercy on us and not only us but on the whole world His mercy should be showered. So that people suffering from Corona get karuna of Nityananda Prabhu. Whoever gets mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, it’s his duty to preach. All the acarya preach on behalf of Nityananda Prabhu.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur preached on behalf of Him, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur preached on behalf of Him, Srila Prabhupada preached on His behalf and Jayapataka Maharaja is preaching on His behalf, Bhakti Caru Maharaj was preaching on His behalf. We all have to distribute the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. How?

prati ghare ghare giya koro ei bhiksa bolo `krsna’, bhajo krsna, koro krsna-siksa.

By doing this or by yare dekha tare kaha ‘krsna’-upadesa. Or by sankirtana of hare krishna mahamantra and book distribution and prasadam distribution and by observing different festivals like sravan utsava and many more like Janmashtami mahotsav, Radhastami mahotsav, Jhulan yatra, Kartik vrata, Gaur Purnima festival. So our dharma is to spread the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu and Gauranga Mahaprabhu all over. Let’s follow that.

Question Answer Session

Question 1: Nityananda Prabhu is a disciple of Madhavendra Puri or Laxmipati Tirtha?
Answer: Nityananda Prabhu was disciple of both Madhavendra Puri and Laxmipati Tirtha. Caitanya Bhagavat states that Nityananda Prabhu was a disciple of Laxmipati Tirtha. Both understandings are there. He took diksha from Madhavendra Puri. It’s said that Laxmipati Tirtha initiated Madhavendra Puri and then Madhavendra Puri initiated Nityananda Prabhu. And second understanding is as stated in Caitanya Bhagavat, that Nityananda Prabhu was initiated by Laxmipati Tirtha. So there are two references or may be may be diksha guru and another siksha guru such relation can be there.

Question 2: How can we please Nityananda Prabhu?
Answer: By preaching,

golokam ca parityajya, lokanam trana karanat

When Lord sees jivas suffering then He also becomes sad so He appears and preaches, to make them happy. This is His motive of appearance, He wants to make people happy. So with our efforts if we can make some people happy by preaching then Nityananda Prabhu will be very happy.

yasya prasadad bhagavat prasado
yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto pi

We have to give His prasad to as many people as we can. We have to distribute Srila Parbhupada books to as many people as we can, we have to take people for dhama yatra. And then we can take them to Ekachakra gram. So the purpose of preaching is to please the Lord.

nama nache jiva nache

Nityananda Prabhu is very happy when He sees jiva dancing on the holy name and if you are successful in making some people happy then Nityananda Prabhu will be happy and will come to give you darsana. If we contribute to the temple building then Nityananda Prabhu will be happy, so do something for that. Also when you please your spiritual master then Nityananda Prabhu will be pleased because guru is the representative of Nityananda Prabhu. Try to understand what is on Nityananda Prabhu’s mind, He wants all people to come back home. So do something that people take up holy name, nama se dhama tak. Wherever a person is in Germany, America if he gets the holy name he tries to go to Mayapur thus taking them from nama to dhama.

Question 3: Tomorrow is Balarama jayanti which food items He likes and which games He likes and what are the reasons for his happiness?
Answer: For games, balavasta krida sakta

When Nityananda Prabhu was going to school He used to enact the pastimes of Krishna lila, Dhenukasura lila or Pralambasura vadha. Then once He became Laxman and there was war and Laxman fell unconscious as the bell rang all children went to class but Nityananda Prabhu was still unconscious. All the children went home but Nityananda Prabhu was lying there only. When Hadai pandit and Padmavati came searching for him, He was lying down on the ground. So they remembered that today they were playing Ramayan lila but as the bell rang the child who was Hanuman ran home forgetting his role. So all kids were called and Hanuman was sent to bring the herb and then gave it to smell and Nityananda Prabhu was again conscious, He jumped up and said where is Ravan? So these kinds of games Nityananda Prabhu used to play.

Question 4: I feel more attraction for Nityananda Prabhu is that sin?
Answer: It’s not an offence, if naturally that’s happening but such attraction will stay or change one can’t say.

hitva anyatha rupam sva-rupe?a vyavasthitih [SB 2.10.6]

Some sadhaka are attracted to Radha Krishna and some are attracted to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. These attractions are not final, there can be changes.
There are two parts of Golok, one is Vrndavan and another is Navadvipa or Svetadvipa, those who are attracted to Radha Krishna reach Vrindavan and those who are attracted to Guara Nitai reach the Navadvipa part of Golok and those who are attracted to both reach both the places, but it’s too early for now, we can’t jump to any conclusion. There may be some changes, wait and see, keep patience.

Question 5: There is Vrndavan, Mathura in the spiritual world. Is there any place in the spiritual world where Gaura Nitai are chanting and dancing?

Answer: Gaura and Nitai are always together, like if Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself than Balaram is his prakash. Krishna and Balarama are almost the same, Prabhupada says if Krishna is 100% Lord and Balaram is 98% Lord, they are very close in regard to their godhood. So like that Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu are same they are always together, like brothers.
During Rama-lila also they are together, Who is Rama Laksaman, Krishna is Rama and Balaram is Laksaman. So Rama Laxman in Treta Yuga, Krishna Balarama in Dwapar yuga and in Kaliyuga Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. So they are always together, wherever Nityananda Prabhu is dancing there Caitanya Mahaprabhu appears like he appeared at Panihati festival. During the dahi chida festival, as Nityananda was dancing, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu rushed there. So they are inseparable, they cannot be separated.

Nitai Gaura Premananda haribol haribol!!