Wakeup sleeping soul
Dated: June 10 th 2018
Venue: Heidelberg Germany

jiv jago, jiv jago, gauracanda bole
kota nidra jao maya-pisacira kole

bhajibo boliya ese samsara-bhitare
bhuliya rohile tumi avidyara bhare

tomare loite ami hoinu avatara
ami bina bandhu ara ke ache tomara

enechi aushadhi maya nasibaro lagi
hari-nama maha-mantra lao tumi magi’

bhakativinoda prabhu-carane pariya
sei hari-nama-mantra loilo magiya

This is song by one of our great acaryas, Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakur ki jai! I just assume that you know Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakur. But even if you do not know that’s ok, he is father of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur.

It begins with jiva jago, it’s said twice, jiva jago jiva jago. What is jiva? Soul! And where is the soul? Yeah it is in the heart. Everybody’s heart or only in Indian’s hearts? Everybody’s heart! So this is address to jiva, the living entity. Jiva is also called as atma, spirit soul. Jago means wake up. Wake up spirit soul.

Jiva jago jiva jago gauracanda bole, bole means speaking. Who is speaking or addressing jiva or living entity? Gauracanda bole! That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Gauracanda or Gauracandra like Krsnacandra, Ramacandra, you heard these names right? So Gauracanda is calling out or addressing and inspiring. Oh jiva please wake up. Please wake up.

So when body sleeps at night, some people sleep day and night. Today is Sunday, we were going through villages and there were no people. And we were informed that they are sleeping. When they are hungry they get up. So body wakes up after eight hours, six hours or ten hours. But soul had been sleeping from long time. There is not even calculation of how much time, can’t say. For long long long, could be for ages, soul had been sleeping.

And Bhakti Vinoda Thakur says, kota nidra jao maya pisacira kole, kole means the lap. Like children sleep on the lap of the mother. So the souls here in this world are sleeping on the lap of witch called Maya. Maya is addressed as a witch. Do you know witch? So Maya’s lap or in illusion, as conditioned they are, they had been sleeping, sleeping souls! All over the world they are sleeping. Soul is sleeping during the night, through out the night, through out the day, next day, next night next day, always sleeping. He had been sleeping from long long time.

Bhakti Vinoda Thakur is saying Gauranga, Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Now Gauranga has come, Gauracandra has come, so oh sleeping soul please get up. Wherever they are, oh American sleeping souls, German sleeping souls or Indian
sleeping souls! Of course soul is a soul. Soul cannot be Indian or German or Japanese or African, right?
You are studying Bhagavad Gita from quite some time, some of you are very advanced students sitting here; they have quite of mixed group here. They have some new friends, new guests, very recently introduced to Krsna consciousness
and some of you are around from long. They have woken up from quite some time. And some are just now waking up. Lot many are still sleeping there. They haven’t yet come here. Souls are sleeping. As soon as they wake up, they run to
Hare Krsna temple. They have not come that means they are still sleeping. So Gauracanda bole, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is calling, please get up, please wake up. Please wake up sleeping soul, wake up! Wake up call!

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!

This is alarm, wake up call. Your alarm clock wakes you up, some kind of morning tune or some tune that wakes you up. So for sleeping souls, to wake them up, this is the mantra that is waking souls up. Gauranga is calling. This song is of course interesting. But there is deep philosophy and understanding behind or as a foundation of the song. So going through the song, the next stanza is,

bhajibo baliya ese samsara bhitare
bhuliya rohile tumi avidyara bhare

So what did Bhakti Vinoda Thakur say next, bhajibo, ami bhajibo baliya ese samsara bhitare. Do you not remember oh soul, do you not remember when you were in the womb of your mother and you were getting tortured, inconvenience
and what not. In the womb situation is not very comfortable. We can’t even speak or stretch, no air conditioner there, all dark, can’t move, you are bitten; so in that condition, soul calls, help help help, get me out of here. And then soul says, my dear Lord just one more time get me out of here. I promise, bhajibo, this is what this song is saying, bhajibo, I will worship You, I will surrender unto You, I will serve You.

By saying so and then the child or baby is born. This is described in Bhagavatam also by Lord Kapila deva. What living entity goes through, the torture. It is called suffering, four kinds of sufferings, birth, death, old age and disease. We can imagine or we even get to see the sufferings, old person’s sufferings, old age suffering, disease suffering, death, oh it’s terrifying. But we lot of time do not have idea how birth is suffering? May be the mother or pregnant lady or child labor, she is giving birth to the child, may be she is also suffering and child is also.

We probably could think limited, suffering is only limited when child is taking birth. But for all the time the child is in the womb there is worse than hell. So Kaplila Deva has explained all that in the third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. So Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakur is basing his song on those statements of Lord Kapila Deva or descriptions of Kapila Deva and Bhagavatam. So living entity promised, bhajibo, I promise, I will worship You, bhajibo baliya ese samsara bhitare. Samsara, this world, you come into the world after promising that you
will worship, but scene changes.

Bhuliya rohile tumi avidyara bhare, as soon as you are born, and then surrounded by mummy and daddy and other relatives, they pamper you or they even brain wash you through such education system. Like Hiranyakashipu had sent Prahlad to gurukul school and who were the teachers? Shanda and Amarka, they were graduate in demonism, post graduates, they had master’s degree in all the demoniac principles and nature. And they were appointed teachers of Prahlad maharaj and other students also. Something similar, that goes on in present education system world wide, everywhere. And people are covered with illusion and ignorance. Hari Hari! Darwin’s theory of what? Evolution? This theory and that theory and what not!

There is so much to say. These are the thoughts on Bhakti Vinoda Thakur’s mind while he is composing this song, avidyara bhare. More educated you are, there are less chances of you taking Krsna consciousness. This is in India, experienced. Less educated villagers, simple people, innocent people they have no difficulty, chant Hare Krsna, they say Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, immediately. So they have that faith, faith is there. And all the people from Bombay, Pune their lips are little bit open and if someone is asking them to say Hare Krsna,
immediately they close their lips tight. Make sure Hare Krsna does not come out of the mouth. Suppose we tell them to raise arms and say Hare Krsna (Maharaja showing how these people fold their arms and tight their lips) they fold their arms and close their lips tight. So this is the practical experience, we are experiencing this, avidyara bhare, full of ignorance. So you promised in the womb that you will worship Lord but something else happened. You took birth and your up bringing and brain washing, and you forgot your promise.

tomare loite ami hoinu avatara ami bina bandhu ara ke ache tomara

The Lord who is asking the living entities to wake up, jiva jago, Gauracanda bole, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is calling, speaking, talking, addressing living entities, please get up. Now Lord says to those living entities, tomara loite ami hoinu avatara, just for your sake I have taken birth. I appeared just for you, Oh dear soul, My dear child. Of course jiva the living entity is child of the Lord. And Lord, the Supreme father is addressing the living entity, just for your sake, I know how much you are going through.

avatirne gauracandre vistirne prema sagare

I have come to give some prema, love, affection because you had been going through a lot in this world, birth death old age. For your sake I have appeared hoinu avatara, I have descended, all away leaving My abode behind I have
descended to this world. I have come to Mayapur. Lord came, He came to the same earth and He did not come for the sake of Indians or Hindus. He appeared for everybody, because everybody is also suffering. Do they suffer in Germany? Yeah? We don’t think so! In India we don’t think. Germany is like a heaven and everyone wants to be like that Germans, imitates Germans or Americans. Well that doesn’t seem to be the case. Suffering is everywhere.

I am supposed to be giving talk on Bhagavad Gita, so this is Bhagavad Gita talk also. Lord said birth, death, old age and disease are cause of suffering. So do people in Germany die? Because the law is if you have taken birth, you must die. And this is law that is mentioned in Bhagavad Gita. By reading or hearing that, people of Germany shouldn’t say, oh come on, this is not for us. This is for Indians. Hindu God has spoken this. We have different country or different God, we have Jehovah. Well that doesn’t matter. Birth, death, old age and disease are
for every single living entity. Not just humans, but even animals, birds, trees, they all go through this cycle.
So Lord’s point here is you know I have appeared, knowing that you are suffering from long long long time. I have come, hoinu avatara, I have descended. Of course Lord appeared in India, which is not true. To think Lord has appeared in India is offence, ignorance. Lord appears in Navadvipa, ok. Lord appears in Vrnadavan, fine. But Vrndavan and Navadvipa are not in India. They are not part of India, not part of this planet, because one day there will be no earth. But Mayapur will continue to exist. Vrndavan will not be touched, by the fire of devastation, annihilation, mahapralaya takes place. Siva takes his damaru, dim dim dim and begins dance, tandav nrtya, activates mode of ignorance which is cause of destruction. So everything else will be destroyed, India, Germany, America, sure. But Vrndavan Mayapur remain untouched, as it is, untouched. So do not think, why does your Lord appears in India every time? Why every time He appears there? You could tell, He doesn’t appear in India. He appears in
Vrndavan. Vrndavan is not in India.

One time when, also in Bhagavatam, that whole earthly planet fell down from its position, location, in lower regions of the universe; then Lord appears as a boar, Varaha incarnation.

kesava dhrta sukara rupa jay jagadisa hare, jai jagadisa hare

So Lord purposely, with purpose, who could go in dirty filthy place? Only sukara, a hog, a pig! So Lord took form looking like that, but He is not a pig like Indian pigs. He is beautiful and His body is fragrant and you could take a photograph, sweet Lord. So what He did? Lord went all the way down looking and He found the earth, Lord lifted earth, put it on the tusks, like elephant has tusks, the jungaly (wild) boar they have these tusks. So Lord held earth on His tusks and Lord comes up.

And He takes little rest. Do you know where He was rested? He was sitting in Mathura, at the banks of Yamuna, at the place called Visrama ghat, visrama is rest, resting place, Varaha rested. So Varaha was resting in Mathura, at the banks of Yamuna and where was the earth? Earth was still on the tusks. Get the idea? So Vrndavan Mathura Mayapur had not fallen, it was in tact wherever it is. It remained there and Varaha is sitting in Mathura. So this is one illustration you might want to call. It explains how Vrndavan and Mayapur are not in India. Hari
Hari!

So Lord says, ami bina bandhu ara ke ache tumara, I have appeared and who else is your friend other than Myself oh jiva, oh child, oh son, oh my boy or girl. Your friend is here. Who else is your friend other than Myself? And who is friend? How is friend known? Friend in need is friend in deed. So everyone is in need of something. All the living entities are in need of something, help help help! Other than the Supreme Lord, Supreme father, Supreme friend, Krsna and now Krsna Caitanya, who else could help you? suhrdam sarva bhutanam, this is not in the song book. Lord said, He spoke to Arjuna, suhrdam sarva bhutanam, I am the friend of all the living entities.
jnatva mam santim rcchati (BG 5.29) If you know this then you will be peaceful and blissful eventually, Lord says that. It is peace formula, shanti sutra.

bhoktarama yajna tapasam sarva loka mahesvaram and also suhrdam sarva bhutanam jnatva mam santimrcchati, by knowing these three items, one of these is Lord is, Krsna is your best friend, suhrdam sarva bhutanam.
So Lord is saying or Caitanya Mahaprabhu is addressing or reminding living entities.

ami bina bandhu ara ke ache tomara
enechi ausadhi maya nasibaro lagi
hari nama maha mantra lao tumi magi

Then Lord says, I am your friend, your need or help, and I have solution, I have some prescription for you and what is that? Enechi aushadhi maya, aushadhi, aushadha, some of you know aushadha? (asking in Marathi to someone-) Mahiti ahe ka aushada manaje kaya? Medicine! I have come with the medicine, you are in need of help and I have come with medicine, enechi ausadhi maya, nasibaro lagi. And what is that ausadhi? Hari nama maha mantra lao tumi magi, Hari nama is that medicine.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!

Just please ask for the medicine. You should feel, Oh I need it, I want it. I will give it to you, but you ask for it, Lord says, ask for it. And then Bhakti Vinoda Thakur says, Bhakti Vinoda prabhu carane padiya sei hari nama mantra loilo magiya, and as soon as Bhakti Vinoda thakur, he found out as Lord says, please ask for this
medicine, ask for the cure and Bhakti Vinoda Thakur rushed before, Hey I want it, I want it, Lord I want it! I am throwing myself at Your feet my dear Lord, carane padiya, I fall at Your feet and I am begging, please give that medicine to me, give me the maha mantra. Bhakti Vinoda Thakur is our acharya. He is taking the leadership and setting the example. Bhakti Vinoda Thakur says, please give that medicine of Mahamantra.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!