The centre of Sankirtan Movement is Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Dated: May 26^th 2018

Venue: Radhadesh (Belgium)

Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakur has compiled the Gaura arati glorifying Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Gauranga Gauranga.

bhakti vinoda dekhe gorara sampada

He ends this arati, prarthana saying ‘bhakti vinoda dekhe gorara sampada’

Bhakti Vinoda Thakur he sees, he realises and is writing talking about the gaurara sampada-the opulences of Gauranga, glories of Gauranga and arati.

kiba jaya jaya goracander aratiko sobha

I remember those old days, good old days fight to lead the sandhya arati in Radha Rasa Bihari temple in Juhu Mumbai. There we grew up as brahmacaries. As soon as the curtain opened, several of us would begin singing. The humbler ones would drop and one of them would take over and carry forward singing- kiba jaya jaya.

I used to be one of those fighters getting in there. Such a beautiful arati. As Bhakti Vinoda Thakur sings, there is performance of Gaura arati on the banks of Jahnavi. Mayapur is on the banks of Ganga, Ganga Maiya ki jai. I was also on the banks of Ganga just a few days ago, elsewhere not in Mayapur.

Then he describes who else is there,

kiba dakhine nitaicand

 Here dakhine means right and in the middle is Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and to His right Nityananda Prabhu is standing and to His left is Gadadhara.

 kiba dakhine nitaicand bame gadadhara

Now lot of time we always sing but we do not fully grasp or understand what we are singing. Then he says,

bosiyache goracand ratna-simhasane

Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is seated on ratna simhasan, throne made of ratna bedecked with jewels .

arati koren brahma-adi deva-gane

Of course we see head pujari performing arati of deities of Gauranga, Radha Gopinath but Bhakti Vinoda Thakur says –look here is Brahma, Lord Brahma is performing arati and in attendance Adi deva-gane. There are so many others Devis and Devtas assembled and on their behalf Brahma is performing arati.

“yam brahma varunendra–rudra–marutah stunvanti divyaih stavair” in Bhagavatam .

This is how Brahma,Chandra, Indra you know some of these names out of 330 million Demigods. They all glorify Gauranga, they glorify Sri Krishna Chaitanya, they glorify let us say Chaitanya Chandra, they glorify Krishna Chandra, they glorify Ram Chandra-the personality of God head. The Demigods glorify Him. So Bhakti Vinoda Thakur writes, Brahma has come and all the Demigods are there. Gaurara Sampada, this is the opulence and status of Gauranga .This is Gauranga and Brahma glorifies and worships Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Gauranga, Gauranga.

narahari-adi kori camara dhulaya

While he is being worshipped, his associate Narahari is fanning, whisking camara.

basu-ghos-adi gaya

There are very special devotees, there are three Ghoshs, they are singing.  Basu Ghosh out of the three was a leading singer.

 “Jai Jai Jagannath” you have heard this song. He has compiled many songs also including this “Jai Jai Jagannath”. There towards the end of that song we sing,

vasudeva ghosa bole kori joda hat

Vasudev with his folded hands, with all humility at his command, he wants to boldly declare, what is the declaration?

“jei gaura sei krsna sei jagannath”

He says jei Gaura, Gauranga, Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai.  Jagannath and Gaura are Shri Krishna. In other words there is no difference between Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Jagannath and Sri Krishna. So in this song Vasudev Ghosh is singing with folded hands, so that Vasu Ghosh is singing. So all devotees present are rendering service unto the Lord in different ways. Now what is happening, mridangas are being played and also hand cymbals are being played. These are two instruments sets and then another one sankha Brahma is blowing conch shell in the beginning and in the end and many others are blowing conch shells. Blowing conch shell means broadcasting the glories of the Lord. Lord is glorious. Glories of the Lord, glories of the Lord. Lord is coming, that is what blowing of sankha signifies.

kiba bahu-ko?i candra jinni vadana ujjvala

Bhakti Vinoda Thakur continues to sing, writes in that arati  that from His body, the Personality of Gauranga,

kiba bahu-ko?i candra jinni vadana ujjvala

Lord is brilliant and now how much brilliance? “bahu koti candra jinni”, millions of moons rays emanating from the Personality of Godhead. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki Jai. That is what some realizes only those rays, also known as Braham jyoti. Brahma  jyoti, there are some who say, I have realized, I have realized God. What have you seen? I saw the light

 “aham brahmasmi”

Some unfortunate think, the light coming from the form of the Lord is all in all, that is everything. That is just the effulgence.

“brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate”

Brahma is just one feature of the Personality of Godhead. Origin of that Brahmajyoti is the Personality of Godhead-beautiful person that He is! Gaura Sundar. That is why we say Shyam Sundar and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is said Gaura Sundar. Sundar means beautiful. Gaura Sundar is Sarvanga Sundar. His all parts, everything is sundara.

gala-dese bana-mala kore jhalamala

Then the Lord is wearing garland, the long garland hanging from the neck of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.Meditation of all these elements, information, knowledge help us to systematically meditate on the Personality of Godhead. Then towards the end of that arati, Bhakti Vinoda Thakur says,

  “siva-suka-narada preme gada-gada”.There in attendance are Shiva, Brahma and Narada Muni and thus

 “siva-suka-narada preme gada-gada”

Shiva is playing his damroo -dum dum and He is doing nritya. Shiva is also known as Natraja .The best dancer is Shiva. There are different types of dances. At the time of annihilation the dance is called tandava Nritya. He also dances in kirtana and Narada muni is playing on his Veena. They are singing and dancing and their voices are getting choked, preme gada-gada.

bhakti vinoda dekhe gorara sampada

Bhakti Vinoda Thakur says, these are the glories of Gauranga Mahaprabhu which he sings right in the form of Gaura arati song. The centre of this Hare Krishna Movement is Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. World had been worshipping Sri Ram, glorifying Sri Ram Chandra and Sri Krishna Chandra. Very recently Lord appeared as Chaitanya Chandra only 528 years ago in Mayapur. Srila Prabhupada founded this International Society of Krishna Consciousness to glorify Gauranga and execute the will of Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

“sankirtanai kapitarau kamalai takashau

vishwambharau dwijbharau yugdharampaalau

 vande jagat priya karau karunavatarau”

This is how Chaitanya- bhagavat begins. Now one is Srimad-Bhagavatam, there is another Bhagavata called Chaitanya- bhagavata that glorifies Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Vyasdeva who compiled Bhagavatam appeared again as Vrindavan Das Thakur and he compiled Chaitanya-bhagavata now. Beginning of Chaitanya-bhagavata is,

ajanu-lambita-bhujau

 That Lord who has long arms. kanakavadatau” that Lord with golden complexion. He was Shyam Sundar and now He has become Gaura Sundar.

“sankirtanaika-pitarau kamalayataksau visvambharau ”

 He is the founding father of Sankirtana movement. ISKCON was founded by Lord  Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself.

“kamalayataksau” means blooming lotus eyes which reach “karnaparyanta.” Lords eyes are compared to fully bloomed lotus and they reach His ears. Ours do not reach but we stretch by applying something. We try to imitate Lord’s beauty.

This mantra of Chaitanya-bhagavata is talking of two Lords and that is why it is said,

 sankirtanaika-pitarau kamalayataksau visvambharau.

‘Au’ means there are two Lords, one is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and another one is Nityananda. Gaura Nityananda bol, haribol  but you should say one time, two times, you say this then it is ok. One time means saying haribol haribol. Prabhupada stopped me saying many times in1976 during Radhastami time in New Delhi kirtana, not just me but others also. In ISKCON we were doing  haribol haribol Guara Nityananda bol haribol ,Jai Advait bol haribol, Shri Gadadhar bol haribol haribol. Gaudiya matha was doing sankirtan like that. When we went to Mayapur festival we used to pick up some new, so stop it. So Gauranga and Nityananda.

Gauranga is “brajendra-nandana jei, saci-suta hoilo sei”

The son of Nanda Maharaja has now become son of  Saci and Jagannath Mishra.

“balarama hoile nitai” Balarama has appeared as Nityananda. In Dwapara yuga Krishna and Balarama. In Kaliyuga they are Gaura and Nitai. In Treta yuga they were Rama and Laxman. This is how it works. Ram Lakshman of Treta yuga become Krishna and Balarama in Dwapara yuga and Gauranga and Nityananda.

So “vishvambharau” they are maintainers, maintainers of this world. When Gauranga appeared His official name was Vishvambhara. Nilambara Chakravarati the father of Saci Mata was a big pandit,jyotishi and he did the Namakaran samskara of the Lord as Garga Muni had named Krishna and Balarama. Nilambara Chakravarati said “your name is Vishvambara”.So “vishvambharau dvijabharau” the best among dvija’s, the brahmanas. Nityananda was son of another brahman from Ekchakra Grama, Hadai Pandit. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is son of Jagganath Mishra.

“visvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma palau” and together they doing yuga-dharma palan or sthapana.

“paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge”

You know in the battle field of Kurukshetra, Krishna informed Arjuna. He appeared to protect His devotees and annihilate demons and that way established dharma. So Krishna appeared as Sri Krishna Chaitanya now. When Mahaprabhu was given sannyasa Keshava Bharati gave Him this name. Your name is Sri Krishna Chaitanya. Chaitanya gives chetana the consciousness, ecstasies and excitement to the dull life. Life is boring, routine and troublesome. Then Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared and then He put back life. The souls were revived and empowered and stirred up. Keshava Bharati said “that is what you would do”. Hence your name is Sri Krishna Chaitanya. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made the lives of devotees lively-lively life. Spiritual life Krishna conscious life is like that and that is due to Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

“sankirtanaika-pitarau kamalayataksau
visvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-palau
vande jagat priya-karau karunavatarau”

We offer our obeisances unto Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu the karunavatarau. He is karuna avatar, merciful, magnanimous incarnation of the Lord.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare

King Nimi asked Karbhajan Muni, one of the nine Yogendras some questions. The questions raised were, “please tell me in which age,  with what kind of complexion the Lord appears? What is the main activity or past times and how is He worshipped in different ages?

So the answer to these questions is in Bhagavatam. Karbhajan Muni said in 11 Canto a very famous statement

“krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra-parsadam yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah”

So the answer was which I already said. It is enough? When Sukdeva Swami spoke to King Parikshit, he would just say only that much.

“krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra-parsadam yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah”

Then the next mantra, the next mantra, the next mantra. As they heard, they would really understand. What does it mean? They could understand what that mantra has to say. They would realize the purport of the mantra. King Parikshit was realizing “krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam”.So  the answer is, to say in our language. We are souls, soul’s language is Sanskrit .We have to learn it so that you do not face difficulty when you get back home as you are foreigner here. Sanskrit is very refined and well defined language. It is pure and potent language. This language is spoken by Gods. Gods speak this language, Hari Hari. So Krishnavarnam.The answer was “krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam’’. The Lord will appear.  He is Lord.

 krsna krsna krsna krsna hey krsna krsna krsna pahi mam

Now what would Lord do? He would say Krsna Krsna-glorify Krishna. So krsnavarnam. And here Lord will be busy chanting and singing. Hari Hari. This is the answer to the question. How would God be worshipped? This is the age of Kali or kaliyuga in which the world is very ignorant. There was Satyuga,Treta yuga, Dwapara and then Kaliyuga.

Who knows Mr.Darwin? He came up with his theory not long ago about the most evolved entities. He was an  English man some 200 years ago. His birth ceremony, anniversary or something was celebrated recently. He said that apes are the most evolved entity.Everything started with amoeba-ba means father-baap. Our baap is of amoeba. We are descendants of ape/vanar/monkey. So this version of human being is some 5 or 10 thousand years old. Full-fledged human beings came into being some 1000 years ago. You forgot your Mahabharat. This is all bogus .We say this in the presence of the Lord. Even Arjuna said –“all that you are saying My Lord is nothing but the truth”. In the 10 chapter of Bhagvad-gita Arjun said,

“sarvam etat ritam manye yanmam vadsi keshav” 

“All that you are speaking is nothing but the truth My dear Lord”

It is already said, sahastrayugam paryantam. The Brahma that we talked about a little while ago. Brahma’s one day is equal to sahastrayugam paryantam, thousand cycles of 4 yugas(4 ages-Satyuga,Treta, Dwapara and Kaliyug-one cycle)Thousand cycles like this is one day of Brahma. You can further calculate, multiplied by 7 is one week of Brahma, multiply that by 4 is one month of Brahma, multiply that by 12 is one  year of Brahma, multiply by 100 is one span of Brahma which is equal to one breath of the Lord.

 How many times Lord takes the breath? It is always eternal. Is God great yes or not ? This is greatness of God. Srila Prabhupada used to say, whole world says God is great. Even in Christianity its said, God is great. Then you have to refer to Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavatam, Mahabharata,Vedas and Puranas. That is where you find complete glory, unlimited glories of Gauranga and Sri Krishna. Why did I say all this? In the age of Kali, Lord appears. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would be worshipped or Lord will be worshipped by chanting. Let us continue worshipping Lord by chanting.

Hare Krishna