Rama and Gauranga connections

02 04 2020 [57:51] Jai Sri Rama

krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! he!
krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! he!
krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! raksa mam!
krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! krsna! p?hi mam!
rama! raghava! rama! raghava! rama! raghava! raksa mam!
krsna! kesava! krsna! kesava krsna! kesava! pahi mam!.

This was also Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s very favourite chant or song. He chanted Krsna Kesava, Krsna Kesava Krsna Kesava pahi mam as well as He chanted Rama Raghava, Rama Raghava, Rama Raghava raksa mam. He did not see the difference. They are one and the same Personality. Rama. Krishna, and here Rama has now become or Krishna has now become Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Or Rama and Laksaman of Tretayuga, They become Krsna or Balarama of dwapar yuga and They become Gaura Nitai of kali yuga.

Today is Rama navmi mahotsav and I’m sure Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu also celebrated Rama navmi mahotsav. It is being celebrated for a million years now. Lord Rama who appeared on this day, Rama navmi day in Tretayuga and it wasn’t just Rama appeared that day, Laksaman also appeared and Bharata appeared and Shatrughna appeared. So, we could very easily say today is not only Rama navmi, today is also Laksaman navmi, Bharata navmi, Shatrughna navmi because They are the catur, the quadruple expansions of the Lord. One is Vasudeva then one is Sankarsana, the third one is Pradyumna and forth one is Aniruddha. So,

.ramadi-murtishu kala-niyamena tishthan nanavatar amakarod bhuvaneshukintu
krsnah svayam samabhavat paramaha pumanyo govindamadi-purusham tam ahambhajami.

So, this whole programming or whole scheduling, niyamenatishtan, niyam, there’s a whole plan, the master plan of Lord’s appearance. Ramadi-murtishu, Rama and other murtis, other forms appear one after the other and they keep appearing according to this statement of Brahma.
Krsnah svayam, svayam samabhavat.

Now, Krsna is svayam Bhagavan, so He is Gauranga svayam Bhagavan and Krsna and Gauranga are known as avatari and others are avatar. Beginning with Sri Rama, Ramadi-murtishu. So, this happened a million years ago in Ayodhya on this day.

So, Ayodhya is easily a million years old. Of course, Ayodhya is also eternal but Ayodhya was also created by Manu, that is also understanding. Ayodhya, the capital of the Raghuvamsi’s, the descendents of Raghu dynasty. They ruled from Ayodhya and Ayodhya is called Ayodhya because no one could in battle defeat the kings or emperors of Ayodhya. And this Ayodhya is on the bank of a river called Sarayu as Krsna appeared in Mathura which is on bank of Jammuna and Gauranga appeared on the banks of Ganga. Sri Rama appeared on the banks of Sarayu river.

Sarayu river that manifested from the mind of Brahma, manas. So, from the mind of Brahman appears manasarovar and the origin of the Sarayu river is in this lake called manasarovar which is in the top of Himalayan mountains. So, that is where Lord Rama, we must say and remember that Lord Laksamana, Lord Bharata and Lord Shatrughna appeared on this day.

I was just thinking as Jaya Vijay, the gatekeepers of Vaikunthalok they were cursed; “Okay, you will be born as demons, three times”. So, in Satya yuga Jaya Vijay appeared, they appear as Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu and Lord appears as Narasimha and Varaha and They kill. Varaha kills Hiranyaksa and Narasimha kills Hiranyakasipu. Then comes the next age; Tretayuga. Again, Jaya Vijay are appearing now as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and Rama killed both of them. Then again Jaya Vijay appear as Shishupala and Dantavakra and Krsna killed both of them. And this was the time for Jaya and Vijay to return, they were cursed to take birth as demons and then they would return and resume their door-keeper keeping duties but then they got the news that soon at the beginning of the age of Kali, Lord is going to be appearing as Gauranga. And He’s going to be performing very sweet pastimes. So, they changed their minds and instead of returning back to Vaikuntha, they stayed on, kind of extended their visa for longer and they stayed to take part in Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s and Nityananda Prabhu’s pastimes and they appeared as Jagai and Madhai. We were talking about this Jagai and Madhai or uddharlila by Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

So, in previous ages, in previous incarnations or forms, Lord was killing the demoniac bodies using different weapons but this time in the beginning of Kali, Lords have appeared as Gauranga and Nityananda. They do not use any weapon, in fact, we see Gauranga and Nityananda They are empty-handed, raised arms-bahu tule. And they have no weapons. However, there is a weapon, the holy name becomes the weapon or even the associates of the Lord is considered, mentioned in the Bhagavatam, sangopangastra-parsadam. His associates also acting like a weapon, the holy name is acting like a weapon, even the beautiful forms of Gauranga and Nityananda are acting like a weapon, They would kill. The beauty of the Lord would kill the demoniac thoughts and consciousness.

So, this time Jaya Vijay, they are Jagai and Madhai. Their bodies were not killed, their bad consciousness, worldly consciousness, maya consciousness was killed, was eradicated by Gauranga Mahaprabhu and this is magnanimity of Gauranga. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His abode, Navadvip dhama is the origin of all the abodes, all of the dhamas in the universe have origin in Vrindavan dhama or Navadvip dhama.
So in previous kalpa, as Rama had appeared and then He was exiled then Rama and Sita and Lakshaman went into the forest. So, they had come to Navadvip and they were residing in this forest or island and there’s also forest-like situation there. So, Rama-Sita, Lakshman they were residing in Modadrumadvipa. We were talking about the previous kalpa under a huge banyan tree the parnakurti, the thatched roof. The hut was prepared and they were residing there happily, so that dvipa is called Modadrumadvipa. Druma means forest or trees all around and Moda means giving pleasure so that Modadrumadvipa and the surroundings, the forest and the beauty gave all the pleasure to Rama, Lakshaman, Sita. There are nine islands and nine navavidha bhakti, nine processes of devotional services are performed in different islands. Beginning with Simantadvipa-sravanam and Godrumadvipa- kirtanam and Madhyadvipa- smaranam, like that. As we keep going island after island after island we come to Modadrumadvipa and the process of devotional service performed there is dasyam. No wonder why dasyam is performed there because Hanuman is eternally serving the lotus feet of Sri Rama there. This Modadrumadvipa is non-different from Ayodhya. Our original Ayodhya is this, Modadrumadvipa.

So, one time, the same time they’re supposed to be on exile, and they had come to Modadrumadvip. So, in that Modadrumadvipa the previous kalpa. As Rama, Lakshaman proceeded, Rama is the greenish form surrounded by the green bushes and trees and leaves in the midst of that, Rama is seated there with the greenish complexion holding His bow gracefully. The matted locks of hair on the top of His head, lotus-eyed Sri Rama, He was smiling. He thought of something and then He started smiling and Sita enquired, “May I know, Prabhu why are you smiling? I don’t see any reason or anything happening around that would cause You to smile.” So, having enquired by Sita like this, Rama spoke, answered. Rama said “In this dhama, now He is talking addressing, mentioning this dhama as Navadbipa dhama, I will appear in the beginning of the age of Kali. I will appear in a golden-complexioned form as Gauranga and I will in Gauranga form, I will perform My educational pastimes, I will become known as Nimai Pandit, learned. Then I will perform, inaugurate sankirtana movement in Navadvipa. I will chant and dance and then at the age of twenty-four, I will take sannyasai and leave for Jagannath Puri leaving my mother crying and so will my wife, Visnupriya of course would be also crying. So having heard this, Sita said, “Is that a good thing to do? That you leave home, leave your mother crying and Visnupriya crying? Is that the right thing to do? Causing them suffering?” Then Rama explains: “Sita, I know you know the truth but you are playing to be ignorant and enquiring from me, clarification so I will explain”.

Rama said that devotees enjoy in two ways, dealing in two ways with Me. Prema-bhakti is of two kinds. One is in union called sambhog, devotees enjoy and relish My association and other way, other times they enjoy is while they are separated from Me and the feeling, intense separation and that is called vipralambha. But I will tell you Site that there is a very special and additional and thousand-fold greater pleasure in this vipralambha condition, in separation condition. So you are calling that mother would cry and My wife would be crying, yes but that gives them joy, intense pleasure. So, there are two ways.”

Rama was explaining like that, sambhog and vipralambha, both are joyful. Rama also explained that after separation when there is a union then that union is very special, joyful experience also. And Rama explains that the Kaushalya, My mother now in this pastime, she will appear as Sacimata and you Sita, you will appear as Visnupriya. Rama also said “When I take sannyasa and go away from home then Visnupriya will worship My deity form.” He also said that in this avatar as Sri Rama one time you will also be banished. Sita went to the forest twice once with Sri Rama and Lakshaman and another time she was just banished anyway there’s a whole reason and the pastime. So, when you will be banished, you will be in the forest, I will also feel separation from you and I will make a deity of you Sita and I will worship your deity form in Ayodhya while you will be that time in the forest.

Rama also said “For Me, this is Ayodhya, we are in Ayodhya and this is more complete Ayodhya. I love this Ayodhya, Modadrumadvipa Ayodhya.” So, we could see how Rama and Gauranga, sei Krsna are non-different and They have come in different ages and in different forms. Navadvipa is also Ayodhya, at least the Modadrumadvipa one of the islands of Navadvipa is non-different from Ayodhya.

During Gauranga’s pastimes, there was a devotee called Murari Gupta. He also stayed in Mayapur not far from Yogapith and he was a devotee, great devotee of Sri Rama. He would worship Rama and chant the names of Sri Rama. One time, the Hare Krsna’s or Hare Krsna devotees many associates and Caitanya Mahaprabhu approached Murari Gupta, they surrounded, they sat down around Murari Gupta, kind of preaching “Why don’t you chant Hare Krsna, why don’t you worship Sri Krsna?” So, Murari Gupta kind of agree, “Okay, I will give a try”. And then they all dispersed.

So, that night Murari Gupta had a sleepless night and of course he had tried to become worshiper of Sri Krsna that afternoon, that evening, before going to bed but that was not working out. “No,no,no,no,no jai Sri Rama, jai Sri Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama”. Now he couldn’t manage become worshipper of Sri Krsna. So, next day or so, he approached all those devotees who had preached to him, attempted to kind of convert him. He said; “I’m sorry, I can’t do it. I have to worship my Rama”. And this Murari Gupta was Hanuman himself. Hanuman appeared in Gauranga’s pastimes in the form of Murari Gupta. Then one time there was a very extraordinary times, the pastime that Gauranga Mahaprabhu performed at the house of Srivasa Thakur. Lord was totally different that day and all this time He was trying to hide, conceal His identity as Gaura Bhagavan as Supreme Personality of Godhead but that day He decided to reveal His true identity and He sent messengers everywhere; “Call everybody, call everyone, call everyone”. And as devotees were arriving, that Srivasa Thakur’s house, that hall was getting expanded and expanded and expanded and hundreds and thousands and thousands of devotees were pouring in into the hall. And in the audience, in the hall there was also Murari Gupta.

So, devotees the Lord was dealing with each one of them, one after the other and as per their relationship, the mellow, Lord was revealing that form and dealing with them accordingly; dasya rasa, sakya rasa, vatsalya rasa or madhurya rasa or he was revealing His different forms also accordingly as many forms are there. He was revealing them as per necessity as per those devotees, different devotees relationships and. So, then there was the turn of Murari Gupta, talking dealing with Murari Gupta. So, Gauranga give darsana to Murari Gupta in Rama form, there was the Sri Rama in front of Murari Gupta. Greenish, no more golden form. Greenish Sri Rama. Jai Sri Rama and as this Rama bhakta Hanuman, Murari Gupta, as he was taking darsana of Sri Rama then he was looking at himself and he was not Murari Gupta anymore, he had himself transformed into Hanuman form. He was Hanuman including, there was a tail in the back.

Jai Hanuman. Jai Sri Rama.

Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s darsana called sad-bhuja darsana, is also very famous. Lord gave sad-bhuja darsana to Sarvabauma Bhattacarya in Jagannatha Puri. It is some places, they said He gave catur-bhuja darsana but there is also mention of Him giving sad-bhuja darsana and as we had visited Jagannatha Puri and Sarvabauma Bhattacarya’s home or place where CaitanyaMahaprabhu was residing, we saw six-armed form in Jagannath Puri also. To Sarvabauma Bhattacarya He gave that darsana with the six-arms. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also gave darsana to Nityananda Prabhu on His vyasa puja day. They were celebrating Nityananda’s vyasa puja day. In the middle of the celebration Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu transformed himself into this six-armed form. So, what were those six arms. They were a set of three arms. The two arms were holding bow and arrow and those arms were greenish in colour, jai Sri Rama! And other two arms were holding flute and they were of bluish complexion, jai Sri Krsna! Another two arms were holding in one kamandalu and other one danda, jai Sri Krsna Caitanya. They are also called one is Rama Candra then there’s Krsna Candra, Caitanya Candra. They are all candra’s, well beautiful like candra’s. Not beautiful like one candra but bahu-koti Chandra jinni vadana ujjwala. Effulgent like candra’s or moons.

So, Lord has proven He is Krsna, He is Sri Rama, He is Gauranga. This is like, jei Gaura sei Krsna sei Jagannath also we say. One who is Krsna is Gauranga is Jagannath so is Rama. And Rama is in fact very amongst billions and trillions and countless anadimananta-rupam. Rama is very special or in one statement from Bhagavatamrtakan, small scripture or commentary by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura. There are three very special personalities. There is Narasimha, Sri Rama and Sri Krsna. They’re in one very special category. So, many different kinds of incarnations. This avatar and lila avatar and guna avatar and saktyavesha avatar, manvantara avatar. So, while describing these different kinds of incarnations then he concludes in saying three are very special; Narasimha, Sri Rama and Sri Krsna.

Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is not different from Krsna. He is not different from Sri Rama. This also was revealed or we could understand through Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes in South India during South India travels. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, came to Siddha Bat in South India. There, Lord took darsana of Sita Rama deities, enjoyed darsana of Sita Rama and danced in ecstasy in the temple in front of the deity of Sita-Rama, Lakshaman, Hanuman. Then He received invitation from a brahmin “Please come, you could take biksha, take meal, take prasada, noon, raj bhogaprasada at my place”. So, Mahaprabhu agreed and went along with him, so, this person he only chanted, “rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama rama”. It is described in Caitanya Caritamrta. He would not nothing else, nothing else he would utter. Only name of rama, rama, rama, rama, rama. So, that was, of course Gauranga was of course very happy that this brahman was chanting only Rama’s name. so, He enjoyed prasadam at this brahmin’s asrama and Mahaprahu continued His travels but after some time, Mahaprabhu returned to the same Siddha Bat and He met same brahmin and this time Gauranga Mahaprabhu was surprised he was not chanting rama, rama, rama anymore. He was chanting,

Krsna, Krsna, Krsna, Krsna, Krsna, Krsna, Krsna he.
Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna pahi mam.

And he was chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna KrsnaKrishn Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama RamaRama Hare Hare. So, Mahaprabhu inquired, “What happened? Last time I was here with you only thing you would chant was Rama Rama but now you have abandoned that and you are only chanting Krsna Krsna or chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna. What happened? Now what is your position? Why has this happened?” And then there is a scriptural reference a dialogue between Siva and Parvati in I don’t know one of the Puranas where Siva, he says,

Rama Rameti Rameti Rame Rame manorame
saharsa namatattulyam Rama namavaranane.

Siva says, I always chant Rama Rama Rama Rama Rame, I take great pleasure, Siva is saying, I take great pleasure Rame, pleasure in what? Rame. In Rama I take great pleasure. Or chanting the names of Rama I take great pleasure o Manorame, Manorama, Parvati. But then he also said in the same statement, Siva is talking. A thousand names of Visnu, Visnu saharsanama is equal to one name of Sri Rama and then he goes on to add. Three names of Rama is equal to one name of Krsna. So, this is the kind of stand also of this brahmin also and since he has started chanting Krsna Krsna Krsna or Hare Krsna Hare Krsna.

Now brahmin says, “To tell you the truth, from the time, last time I had audience with you, I met I had darsana with you, as soon as you left I tried to chant Rama Rama Rama name as usual, but I could not do so. Something within me compelled me to switch over to this Krsna Krsna Krsna or Hare Krsna Hare Krsna. And I know You were the cause or meeting or me taking Your darsana and to tell You the truth, you also asked my stand. I think You are, You are Krsna Yourself so as I came in contact with You, o Gauranga I have gone mad or I have just started chanting this Krsna name of Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, You are Sri Krsna!”

So, Mahaprabhu had revealed Himself also unto that brahmin His true identity. I am, I am Krsna but He tells, “Don’t tell this, this is just between you and Me, okay? Don’t spread the word around about this”. So, this is one brahmins story from South India but then Caitanya Mahaprabhu had encounter with one brahmin, Ramadas Vipra. He was called as Ramadas Vipra. He was from Madhurai. This brahmin also invited Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu to his asrama which was in the forest to take lunch prasadam at noontime. So, there goes Gauranga with this brahmin and well after a while it was the time. He says, “O! Brahmin where is the prasadam, where is lunch? It’s noon time“. And the brahmin responds, “you know, we are in the forest and it is very difficult to get the ingredients for cooking in the forest”. And then he stopped, paused and said, “Whenever Lakshaman returnes with fruits, roots, vegetables, Sita will cook and then make offering to Sri Rama, feed Sri Rama.” So, when Gauranga heard this explanation He was amused and very happy to see the kind of mood this brahmin had. But then this brahmin managed to cook and feed Gauraga. By three Mahaprabhu had finally had His lunch prasad and after he honoured prasad He said, “Now you eat!”. And brahmin said, “No no I am going to fast. How could I eat when Sitarani gets kidnapped by raksasa Ravana and she’s held captive in Lanka? I cannot eat! I am feeling like giving up my life by entering the fire or drowning myself into the water. My full body is burning but why my life is not leaving the body”.

Then Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Calm down, sit down.” And Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu was talking, preaching to him and giving explanation, explaining that the real Sita. The transcendental Sita, Sita. Her from is pure spiritual, it cannot even be seen by the materialist what to speak of touching it. Yes, Ravana did go to Pancavati and so when it was time for him to kidnap, attempt to kidnap, Sita took shelter of Agnideva. She entered the fire and Agnideva created Maya, Maya-Sita. The false Sita and this is how Ravan was cheated and he went thinking happily that he had kidnapped Sita but oh brahmin you should understand this Sita of Rama cannot be kidnapped by anybody what to speak of Ravana, she was untouched. So, by hearing this explanation, this brahmin was pacified and by this time it was evening time, he took his meal.

Mahaprabhu proceeded, continued His travels and now He was in Rameshvaram and there He met a group of scholarly brahmins. They were discussing the same episode of Sita being kidnapped by Ravana. They had Kurmapurana in front them and they were scrutinising and studying and they’re understanding was the right understanding, it was right from the sastra. And that Kurmapurana also said after Rama had killed Ravana, He goes to Ashokvan where Sita was kept. So, there Ram and Sita met and there was a Sita-pariksa. Sita was examined, is she contaminated or adulterated. So, at that time Kurmapurana explains Sita who had entered the fire, the Agnidevata, Agni fire in Panchavati on the banks of Godavari. In Sri Lanka as Rama met and the Agni-pariksa was there. She walks out of fire, the original Sita so Maya-Sita was made to disappear by Agnidevata. Agnidevata had created Maya-Sita before and now she was made to disappear and this is how Rama and Sita union took place.

So, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very, very happy with what the brahmins were discussing so He made a copy of this manuscript from Kurmapurana and Caitanya Mahaprabu walked all the way to Madhurai, met that brahmin and gave that Kurmapurana reference asked him to study. So, Caitanya Mahaprabhu took this trouble, He wanted to. He already had explained but then He gave sastric reference to this brahmin also and then brahmin was further convinced.

Jai Sri Rama. Sita-Rama. Lakshaman, Hanuman ki jai! Jai Gauranga!

We will continue, today is Rama Navmi so we tried to say Rama and Gauranga sei Krsna all of these connections. Although they are non-different from each other and like that. So, we’ll continue with our series of these talks. Karuna-avatar Gaura Bhagavan katha. So, I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Til then, Jai Sri Rama. Gauranga.