Gaur Purnima class – How Ratha Yatra fulfilled external and internal reasons for Lord Chaitanya’s appearance
Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki Jai Hare Krishna I seek the blessings of all the devotees here that I can speak something about the infinite glories of Shri Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu on his supremely auspicious appearance day Jiya Shri Krishna Chaitanya Shri Rathagiri Nanarathaya Yenaasi Jagatam Yenaasi Jagatam Chitram Jagannathopi Vismithaha In the Chaitanya Charita Amrit every chapter that Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami narrates begins with a Sanskrit verse that is a prayer to Lord Chaitanya which describes in summary the past time that is going to be described in that chapter so I'll talk about today how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's descent to this world is in many ways fulfilled through his performance of his Rath Yatra past time and how Shri Prabhupada by establishing Rath Yatra all over the world carried on gloriously that legacy of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so this verse specifically says Jiya Shri Krishna Chaitanya may that Lord Chaitanya live forever what did he do? Shri Rathagiri Nanarathaya one who in front of the Ratha card danced and what was the nature of that dance? Yenaasi Jagatam Chitram that the whole world was astonished Chitram was filled with wonder on seeing this dance and not only was the whole world filled with wonder but even the lord of the world Jagannathopivismita even the lord of the world was filled with wonder so Lord Chaitanya dance was wondrous for everyone for people in the world as well as the lord of the world normally speaking in this world whatever is attractive to worldly people is something which gets us into worldly illusion and the lord normally asks us to desist from that if we want to become attracted to him so bhakti is such a wonderful form of spirituality that when you perform bhakti we can attract the lord but bhakti can be performed in such a multifarious and inclusive way that it can attract the people of the world also so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had these two aspects there is compassion for the world and connection with the lord both of which are demonstrated in the Pratyatravastam Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's descent and the various reasons for that descent are described in the Adilila in the first few chapters, first described mentioned and then elaborated over the chapters thank you so there broadly speaking one mission of his is that he has come as the Yuga Avatar to spread the chanting of the holy names so that people in this world can be elevated along with that he has come to taste the sweetness of Radharani's love for him and both these purposes are simultaneously fulfilled in the Pratyatravastams if you look at lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's descent he was on this world for 48 years out of which for the first 20 years he was Chaitanya Bhagwat says relishing the nectar of scholarship he was relishing the Gyanamrut not the Paktiamrut then he manifested his devotion and for 4 years in Navadvip he performed ecstatic devotional pastimes most of them were inside either Shrivasangam, Shrivasthakur's place or in Chandrashekharacharya's place then when the Kazi tried to oppose and broke Amritanga Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came out in public and we see with every apparent adversity Chaitanya Mahaprabhu actually expanded his outreach initially it was devotees coming together and relishing but when Chand Kazi interrupted then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came in public and was the first majestic public Harinam Sankirtan Kazi with all his military power was defeated then when there was another kind of attack that was the attack of criticism that he is a brahmana why is he publicly chanting the names of Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu expanded his outreach further by taking sannyas and then this is where the Adi Leela ends the Maddi Leela has 25 chapters which actually describes Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's travelling to various places which is done in 6 years from the age of 24 to 30 and this is the time when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is widely going across the length and the breadth of the country inundating everyone with love for Krishna then the Anta Leela describes Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's return to Puri where he settles and in this at one level Chaitanya Mahaprabhu does not leave Puri so how is he preaching in fact 18 years of his life he spends in Puri so out of the time when he actually manifested his role as a devotee 10 years, 4 was in Navdeep 6 was travelling but the remaining 18 he was in Puri itself but in Puri what was he doing he was actually deepening his devotional connections through the 6 fold loving exchanges with the devotees whom he had met in different parts of the world so Rupa Goswami came to meet him, Sanatana Goswami came to meet him and the other Goswamis came and he sent them to Vrindavan and they were all the devotees from Navdeep would come and he would meet them and he would fill them with spiritual inspiration and then that's how he relished and shared the taste of Krishna and especially for all these devotees when they would come to Puri they would come at the time of the Rath Yatra 4 seasons of Chaturmasya, Rath Yatra festival would be the highlight and in the Rath Yatra multiple levels and layers of loving reciprocations would be going on and they revealed the multifaceted purposes that Lord Chaitanya served through his actions so Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when he would be dancing and performing Kirtans, there would be 4 levels of many we could say but 4 broad levels of loving exchanges that would be happening.
One is between him and his devotees he would personally choose who will lead the Kirtan there will be 7 Kirtan parties, who will sing, who will dance who will be following and when all of them were dancing everybody, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made them feel as if he was with them and them alone everybody felt Chaitanya Mahaprabhu just in their group and they felt so special they felt so cherished, they felt so loved Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the leader of the devotees, he was reciprocating with the devotees by being personally present over there so the reciprocation between him and his devotees is one level of reciprocation another was between him and the people in Chandra those who would come and observe the Ratha Yatra festival Ratha Yatra festival itself was historic and majestic but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's ecstasy would take it to an entirely different level thousands and millions of people would come at that time and they would all be eager to have just a sight of Lord Chaitanya and he would be so filled with ecstasy that people would be overwhelmed just by seeing him God becomes a reality for us by associating with whom, associating with those for whom God is a reality we can't perceive God very tangibly immediately but for those for whom God is a living reality Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would be Premon Mad, Divine Madness, not just he would be in ecstasy but there were three different kinds of transformations that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would go through many but the three broad categories, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu while dancing in front of Jagannath he was at a different level of reality, he would sometimes have different alternate visions sometimes those visions would lead to transformations in his body and sometimes his actions would also be based on that reality so what he was seeing, how that seeing was affecting him in terms of what was happening in his body and how he was acting, sometimes Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would meet his devotees and they were talking and next moment Lord had disappeared already gone and they would look and he had just gone near a tree and he was swooned over there and then they would bring him back to consciousness and they would say, I saw Krishna behind the tree he was playing his flute and calling me and he ran and I ran there and he disappeared so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was at one level, he was at our level of reality but he was also at another level of reality and so God becomes a reality for us by associating with those for whom God is a reality and so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu whose divine ecstasy was what made millions of people come there and Shri Prabhupada was similar, when he was preaching in the west, there was a newspaper article where he said that he spoke to what was probably the toughest audience in the world, the most sceptical audience and he infused not just faith in God but love for God which is far far higher so now if we can say that the representative of the general people was Pratap Rudra, of course Pratap Rudra was himself a great devotee but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had not yet accepted him in his ranks because he was a king and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's sanyasi was keeping some distance from him but at that time when Pratap Rudra personally cleaned the road in front of Lord Jagannath with a broom, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saw this humility of Pratap Rudra he became very pleased with him and then when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was dancing in all the different parties the devotees who were there in those parties they thought the Lord was with us only but Pratap Rudra who was with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya Pratap Rudra saw how astonishing that Lord Chaitanya is there with everyone how was it possible and when he told this to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya who was like his minister, priest minister, guide so Pratap Rudra said Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said you have received the mercy of Lord Chaitanya that you have been able to see this mystical wondrous event of Lord Chaitanya manifesting his mystical potency by which he expanded himself into multiple forms and reciprocated love with his devotees so in the scriptures it is said that Krishna's divinity his spirituality is not easily pursuable it is when we do service then by that service the Lord reveals his greatness he reveals his sweetness and this is what happened to Shri Pratap Rudra because he rendered humble service the Lord was pleased and the Lord revealed his sweetness Shri Prabhupada he translated bhakti as devotional service not just as devotion because yes devotion is an emotion but it is experienced when we render service so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was not just attracting everyone through his dancing at that time but he was also revealing more and more of his greatness and sweetness to those who were approaching him with a service attitude and this is how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was attracting the world the devotees were captivated by his dancing and so were the people in general ultimately we can get Krishna's mercy in different ways but Krishna's greatest mercy is Krishna himself when Krishna reveals his sweetness Krishna reveals his greatness and we become attracted to him then that is Krishna's greatest mercy and that is what Lord Chaitanya was doing in his descent when he has come to establish the Yuga Dharma it is not just the rule of law that is established you are dharmic and you will be rewarded you are adharmic you will be punished Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wants to establish love the loving reciprocation between him and his devotees which takes one far beyond the rule of law law is where there is fear of God Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is actually manifesting love for God himself and is sharing that love for God for others in the Chaitanya Bhagwat it is said that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descended from the spiritual world with a garland filled with flowers of love of Krishna and as he descended to the world he garlanded the whole world with this love for Krishna Sadarudaya Kandare Spuratu Vahashachinandana one of the invocation prayers is that may that Lord Chaitanya be always manifest in the heart Sadarudaya Kandare in the cave of our heart where there is so much darkness may that Lord who is Purat Yuti Kandare Pasandipita who is effulgent like gold may he be manifested so this was Lord Chaitanya manifesting his compassion to attract people towards him by revealing his sweetness, revealing his greatness now along with that and from Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's perspective he was reciprocating love with Jagannath there are two ways in which this reciprocation was happening Lord Chaitanya is both the Lord himself and he is also the devotee of the Lord so Lord Chaitanya for some people they understood that he is Krishna himself some people thought he is a great saint he is a great sanyasi, he is a great devotee and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu bestowed mercy on both kinds of people so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when he is playing the role of a devotee he is dancing for the pleasure of Jagannath and he is as a sanyasi leading the cart it is an immensely purifying festival where Lord Jagannath comes out and gives darshan to everyone in his supreme mood of mercy so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as a devotee is dancing in front of his Lord and in this way he is demonstrating how we can offer our devotion to the Lord Bhakti has been revealed in the Vedic scriptures but it was not stressed so much so Bhakti was especially revealed in an emphatic way in the Srimad Bhagavatam and thereafter the various Sampradayas the Vaishya Sampradayas they talked about Bhakti in a very sweet and devotional way. It was Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's special contribution however that he made Bhakti a completely inclusive activity Harinam was stressed in the scriptures but Harinam Sankirtan in the form of dancing in the streets dancing to exhibit to express exuberant devotion that was Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's distinctive contribution in many traditional temples in India they are very sweet Kirtans but often they are in the mood of reverence where the Kirtan is more a performance than a participatory exercise where we go and we stand in front of the Lord and there are some people who are playing some instruments and the Aarti is being performed that is also very spiritually uplifting Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu however said that Kirtan is not just a performance where others are performing but it is a participation he would dance and inspire everyone else to dance so the dance of devotion that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited was a way in which the body mind and heart are all together offered to Krishna sometimes people think of spirituality means we have to reject the body we have to reject the mind and we offer the soul to spiritual reality but through the dancing which is of course a literal activity but which also symbolises the inclusiveness of the devotion that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu offered every single aspect of our being is meant to be offered to the Lord so Jeev Goswami in Sandarbha says that different Avatars come with different Avatars come with different weapons so Ram came with the bow and arrow, Parashuram had his axe, so what was the weapon of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so he says it was his beauty, the beauty with which he would dance and sing would captivate the hearts, so this was what he was offering to the Lord, so he was reciprocating love with Jagannath as a devotee at a much more internal level we know Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descended for tasting Radharani's love this is fascinating that Krishna who knows everything needs to know something and to know something he has to become someone other than himself we normally say that God is omniscient, so Krishna knows everything, so how is it that Krishna did not know about the love of Srimati Radharani in fact not only did Krishna feel as if I don't know, Krishna felt actually I am being deprived when he was performing the Rastila with the Gopis especially Radharani he could observe the ecstasy that they were experiencing and he felt I am not experiencing this ecstasy what is going on how is this that I am not experiencing what they are experiencing Bhakti is very mysterious sometimes somebody may be speaking or singing and they are experiencing something but the audience may be experiencing something deeper because how Krishna reveals himself to different people is different at different times Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, how is it that they are experiencing more ecstasy than me and what can I do to experience that so normally when we say that God knows everything Krishna is present in our hearts and Krishna knows our desires even before we know them he senses our desires for example, the fragrance of flowers is sensed by a person close to the flower like that the super soul senses so does Krishna know what we are going through or does Krishna experience what we are going through sometimes if somebody is in a great distress we may say I can understand what you are going through, actually we can't understand because we are not that person, of course if we are close to them and we have understood their nature, their situation then we may have a better understanding of them than somebody else who is not that close to them but every person is an individual and the first person experience which we have each one of us has that is not replicable so Krishna can know what we are going through but for him to experience Krishna could know Gopis are in so much ecstasy but for him to experience that God had to become someone else so the Chaitanya Charitamruta describes how Krishna desired the one absolute truth became two and the two became one so the Upanishads often talk about how the absolute is one and that is definitely true but the absolute is not one in the sense that it is static the absolute is ecstatic and that ecstasy is through the reciprocation of love so that one Radha and Krishna they are one soul but manifest in two bodies and then they reciprocate love but when Krishna wanted to experience what is Radharani's mysterious love there are three aspects to it now what is the greatness of her love and what is it in me that attracts that stimulates such love and Krishna is not just an object of meditation the Bhagavatam actually begins with dhimahi satyam param dhimahi meditate on the absolute truth but two verses later that same Bhagavatam says pibat bhagvat rasalayam muhur aho rasika bhuvibhavuka it is not just meditate on the absolute truth drink relish rasa so the Bhagavatam in a sense is like a spiritual autobiography of Sukadeva Goswami where he was initially a monist who was meditating on the absolute truth but from there he became a personalist who was relishing the absolute truth so the similarly when we conceal the absolute truth if we conceal that absolute truth only as oneness then we meditate on the majesty on the greatness of that oneness but the absolute truth is filled with love and there was immense loving reciprocation between the lord and his devotees so the Bhagavatam is telling yes dhimahi meditation is good but further is pibat, drink the rasa pibat bhagvat rasalayam drink this nectar Chaitanya Chaitanya Chaitanya Amrit describes how the lord himself desires to drink this nectar of love so in that sense there is a progression the Bhagavad Gita describes the identity of God who is God aham sarvasya prabhavo mattaya sarvam pravartate Krishna is God the Shrimad Bhagavatam describes the activity of God, his many descents and how he performs various leelas in those descents the Chaitanya Charita Amrit describes the mentality of God, what does he think what are his desires so the identity, the activity and the mentality the vision of God becomes closer and closer oh this is the king we identify the king what does the king do, oh king does this morning does this, does this that's come to know better but then if we talk with them, we come to know their mind then we come to know them even more so we get a very intimate picture of God through the Chaitanya Charita Amrit and not only this intimate picture sometimes even when we talk with someone, then we talk something something practical, something functional, do this, do that but sometimes when we are close to someone then they may share their heart they may share their deepest concerns they may share their deepest desires and then we feel privileged oh something so confidential you are sharing with me so Chaitanya Charita Amrit describes how God shares his most confidential desires at one level his desire is that everybody be delivered and that's why he decides again and again sambhavami yuge yuge but his intimate desire is he wants to experience the love the joy that his devotees experience so the three aspects of what is her love, what is it in me that attracts that love and when I reciprocate with her, what is the joy that she experiences Krishna is not just an object of meditation he is a person who offers reciprocation so it's not just Krishna is attractive but he is also a person so this is what Lord Chaitanya wanted to understand and this mission in many ways he fulfilled in Rath Yatra Rath Yatra is an amazing festival where Krishna has become Jagannath and he is Krishna in separation from Radharani and that same Krishna has become Chaitanya who is dancing in front of Jagannath and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is manifesting the mood of Radharani in separation from Krishna so the Rath Yatra how is the festival manifest when at Kurukshetra the Gopis met Krishna they conceived, let us make a chariot and pull the Lord so those who are pulling the Lord they are Radharani and her associates Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is in that role so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna himself Radha Bhava Diti Suvalitam Navami Krishna Swaroopam he is Krishna but he is in the mood of Radharani and which mood of Radharani the mood of Radharani where there is separation, she is feeling immense separation from Krishna and longing for Krishna to come back in fact the Gopis normally when there is a chariot there is a charioteer who operates the chariot and there are horses which pull the chariot but the Gopis love for Krishna was so great that they were so eager that Lord come back to Vrindavan that they said we will pull the cart normally horses require lot of strength to pull and the Gopis they were coward girls but they were so eager that the Lord come that they were pulling themselves and they were pulling not just with the labour of their hands but they were also pulling with the love of their hearts the labour of their hands and the love of their hearts both was combined as they were pulling the Lord and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he was pulling the Lord, he was not pulling by actually holding the ropes he was pulling by his beautiful dancing why would Lord Krishna want to come back to Vrindavan, he is drawn by the love of the Gopis, the love of the Vrajivasis and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was manifesting that love so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna in the mood of Radharani in separation from Krishna and Jagannath is Krishna in separation from Radharani in fact Krishna has assumed that form, his eyes have become big his limbs have withdrawn into his body his mouth is open it's all because he is in ecstasy remembering the Vrindavan Vrajivasis so Krishna has become transformed into Jagannath out of separation from Radharani and similarly Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in his eagerness let me be united with Krishna he is dancing and inviting Krishna to come back and this is the highest reciprocation of the spiritual world which happens in the intimate groves of Vrindavan between Krishna and Radharani that is being exhibited for everyone but only for those who have the eyes and the heart, they can understand so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that's why as he was dancing and dancing eventually Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's associates they were doing kirtans initially but they started reciting verses and all the verses were about, initially Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mood was, in the mood of offering respects to Krishna Jayati Jayati Devo Deva ki Nanda Noyam he is offering prayers to Krishna in the mood of reverence Oh Krishna you are so great but as the yatra proceeds and goes deeper and deeper, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu enters into a deeper mood where he is experiencing the love of Srimati Radharani and he feels that this is Krishna and let me get him back so Who is the lord of Vrindavan? He has gone to Mathura Where shall I see? How shall I live? Not being able to see you my heart is in agony Oh, oh loud one my mind is wandering, I do not know what to do What should I do, oh lord? So this is the mood of Radharani in separation from Krishna And this separation It is now moving towards union As Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the mood of Radharani is dancing Is pulling lord Jagannath Now through this What is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Sometimes he would go out of sight The people would be pulling As he was performing a dance Sometimes he would just go out of sight, he would go behind Jagannath And when he would go behind Jagannath The card would stop moving The people would pull and pull and pull But The lord would not move Because the lord was not simply going From one place to another He was going because he was drawn by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Drawn by Radharani's love So when Radharani was no longer visible Radharani was no longer dancing He would not move And sometimes The chariot would just stop And then Nobody, even elephants Would come and elephants would pull And nobody would be able to move And then lord Chaitanya would come And just touch his head, gently with the head Normally when we want to apply force We would apply force with our head How much force can we apply with our head to something But the touch of the head Simply symbolised Lord Chaitanya's desire And the lord started moving It was lord Chaitanya Who was drawing Jagannath It was Radharani whose love Was drawing Krishna back to Vrindavan So this Is the festival Of the Ratha Yatra And here Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Is fulfilling both his purposes He is Manifesting compassion for the world By attracting them By revealing his beauty, his sweetness And he is fulfilling his own purpose Of tasting The love of Srimati Radharani For Radharani Her love at one level It was very intense When she was separated from Krishna When will Krishna come But now that Krishna is coming That love which was in separation Is moving towards union It is becoming even more ecstatic So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is experiencing That sublime sweetness And he is in ecstasy So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu When he descended to this world He actually inspired His devotees also To join in this ecstatic dance Of love And different devotees Joined in different ways Some came to Jagannath Puri And danced with him The Goswamis, their service required them To be in Vrindavan Sometimes they were able to come Sometimes they were not able to come But they would perform Kirtan over there And they would In their own ways They would write books And they by writing books Glorifying Krishna To fulfil the mandate Which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had given them They spread the ecstasy Of love of God In their own place, in their own way Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Leela And his followers There were only three of them There was In Bengal, in Orissa And in Vrindavan Chaitanya Mahaprabhu inspired all of them But every one of them Performed their service in their own way If you see In Bengal, the devotees Would perform Arinaam Sankirtan And that was the primary mood over there Bengal at that time Was ruled by Muslims And to build temples was not very easy At that time Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not instruct The devotees in Bengal to build temples They performed ecstatic Kirtans And they wrote books And the books that were written In Bengal Were in Bengal about the past times Of Lord Chaitanya And in that way The same Lord who had appeared over there Performed his childhood and youth pastimes over there Those memories were kept fresh So the devotees in Vrindavan On the other hand They were in The place of Krishna Bhakti So they wrote books primarily In Sanskrit And their books were not primarily About Lord Chaitanya Their books were about Krishna Revealing The high esoteric Aspects of Krishna Krishna's personality, Krishna's Madhurya Prem, Krishna's Parakiya Bahau That had not been revealed Even in Vrindavan at that time So the Goswamis All offer obeisances to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu As their inspirer It is by his mercy we are writing But the Kirtan that they were doing Was not so much Gaur Kirtan It was Krishna Kirtan They were glorifying Lord Krishna But they were all with the blessings of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu And he asked them to build temples He asked them to revive the holy places He asked them to write books Glorifying Krishna Bhakti And glorifying Describing how to practise Krishna Bhakti All these four missions the Goswamis Performed over there And in Puri itself Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He performed Kirtans And there In front of Jagannath Through his intimate loving reciprocations With his devotees And with the Lord He attracted everyone To the highest levels of love So this Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Also during his times He attracted Different people to glorify The Lord in different ways Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is known as the Merciful Incarnation So the Merciful Incarnation means that He manifests his mercy Attracts people to the highest level But he attracts them from where they are So at that time in Bengal Kavya Poetry was very present Natak, drama was very widely present Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Encouraged his followers To write beautiful poetry To write a captivating drama And in that way He attracted people To Krishna's lotus feet There is a very beautiful verse Which describes It is both Giving profound devotional purport But it is also very Attractively poetic It is describing how Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is such a merciful Incarnation of the Lord So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Is this So this was described Chashwat bhakti binodaya Samadaya madhurya maradaya Shri Chaitanya daya Nidheta daya Bhuyat amandodaya Bhuyat amandodaya So it plays with the word Daya 12 times in the same verse And what is it describing How Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a supreme Manifestation of mercy In fact there is a whole genre of poetry Called Chitra Kavitmani Where they take just one or two Words And describe the Lord's past tense So Rupa Goswami has written such poetry Where he describes For example he describes the Govardhan Leela And he just uses two words Two letters Dha and Ra To describe the full Govardhan Leela Dhare dharadhar dharam dharadhar Dura rudhi dheera dheera Radha dheerodham radha Dhuram dharam So just two words dha and ra Dhare dharadhar dharam dharadhar Dura rudhi dheera dheera Radha dheerodham radha Dhuram dharam So like that What he has done is It's not just wordplay It's majestic wordplay I have not seen anything like this even in English In fact there is one verse Which describes the Brahma Vimohan Leela Using only one letter Only one sound Na It's only one sound One syllable na But it is describing how Brahmaji After seeing that Krishna had Completely bewildered him He comes in front of Krishna and offers prayers With tears in his eyes Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu In this way he has inspired Different devotees in different ways To offer Their creativity, their devotion Their ability in the Lord's service And Shri Prabhupada Of the Senapati Bhakta The commander of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Mission Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made a prediction Bharat Bhoomi Te Hoila Manushi Janmajaar Janma Sarthak Kareen Kar Paropkaar That Prithvi Te Aache Edha Nagar Adhigraam Sarvatra Pachaar Hoime Moranaam In every town and village My name will be chanted So this was thought By different people in different ways Now maybe Prithvi refers to India and people Will chant in India But Shri Prabhupada had that faith Shri Prabhupada took the Lord's prediction As his Responsibility So somebody can say If Krishna's prediction, Krishna will fulfil it That is not the mood of a devotee Devotee's mood is That if it is Krishna's prediction It is my responsibility to fulfil it In the Bhagavad Gita At the end it is Yatra Yogeshwara Krishna Yatra Partha Dhanur Dhara Tatra Sri Vijaya Bhutir Dhruvani Tirma Tirmama Wherever there is Krishna And wherever there is Arjuna, there is victory Now it's interesting Because at one level we say that Lakshmi Devi She is the goddess of fortune And she is there wherever Krishna is So why is Arjuna Wherever there is Krishna there will be victory Wherever there is Krishna there will be opulence Wherever there is Krishna there will be all good things But why does the Bhagavad Gita conclude Not just where there is Krishna Where there is Krishna and where there is Arjuna Both of them together there will be victory There will be joy So that is because the whole Bhagavad Gita's mood Is not about What God can do It is what we are Meant to do in service to God Krishna told Arjuna that I have already Defeated In 11.33 he says the enemy is already Defeated but You take the credit You become the instrument So the mood of bhakti Is not just to Celebrate God's omnipotence It is also to become A channel for God's omnipotence To manifest through us So that Krishna's Mercy manifests in this world So Srila Prabhupada demonstrated that That Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's prophecy was going to come true But he took the responsibility He became the instrument And he travelled All over the world And among the many ways In which Srila Prabhupada Spread the legacy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu It was Prominently one attractive expression Was the Ratha Yatra Right in his childhood Srila Prabhupada Performed Ratha Yatra And then When he was starting the Krishna Consciousness Movement Also he established the Ratha Yatra And what did he do Through this Ratha Yatra He attracted people from all walks of life To come and dance and sing The hippies at that time liked to do All kinds of far out things Crazy things But even for them to dance On the streets That was way way far out Just right on the middle of the road Now if in the past If they had taken LSD And started dancing on the streets The police would have come and arrested them But now Prabhupada arranged them For the dance of Ratha Yatra And the police was escorting them now So This was How Srila Prabhupada The same mood of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Chaitanya Mahaprabhu channelled Everyone to engage in Krishna Bhakti Just as he didn't just sing The holy names but he danced That means the whole body was used in the process of Bhakti So Srila Prabhupada Engaged everything In the process of Bhakti But how did Srila Prabhupada start the Ratha Yatra Once he was walking on the Terrace And he was just chanting and he saw a flatbed truck And I saw the flatbed truck And thought We could put Jagannath Baldev Subhadra here And we could perform a chariot Festival So now how many of us will see a flatbed truck And see that as a potential chariot For Lord Jagannath That was Srila Prabhupada's Profound devotion Now it is Krishna consciousness can be understood in many different ways We can just be absorbed in Krishna Thinking about Krishna's Vrindavan pastimes Krishna's exalted pastimes That's wonderful Prabhupada says in Bhagavad Gita Parport Krishna consciousness means To desire everything For Krishna We desire Krishna That is one level of Krishna consciousness We want to be absorbed in Krishna But another level of Krishna consciousness is Not just that we desire Krishna But we desire everything for Krishna A devotee's mood Is not just to oneself To offer oneself and one's consciousness to Krishna A devotee's mood is also to Offer the world, the best of the world To Krishna And that was Srila Prabhupada's Distinctive contribution His heart was offered to Krishna Many of the followers of Sri Yantana Mahaprabhu Their hearts were offered to Krishna Srila Prabhupada also wanted to offer the world To Krishna And it was that desire With which he Travelled all over the world Especially Srila Prabhupada Initially when he went to America On the boat Jaladhoota He writes that It is the nectar I am reading the Chaitanya Leela And that is the nectar that is sustaining me On this journey If we see Srila Prabhupada first went to America He landed He didn't know whether to turn left or right There was practically no one to receive him There was just an employee who put him on a bus Then Srila Prabhupada Just kept persevering Trying to share Krishna's message When he first time he flew From New York to San Francisco At that time Mukunda Later he became Mahamukunda He had arranged for a whole group of people To be there Chanting and dancing And even before Prabhupada stepped over there There was a group of 50 to 100 people On the airport singing and dancing Prabhupada was overwhelmed with joy So wonderful that Earlier when he came to one place Nobody knew anything Even before he came people were dancing And singing And later on Srila Prabhupada came to Central America That time There was a good community of devotees there And that meant the whole Rajdhamandir bus party Had also come over there Hundreds of devotees were dancing and singing Srila Prabhupada had come to the South American continent For the first time And there were the deities of Gaur Nithay And Prabhupada was Overwhelmed with ecstasy Normally Prabhupada kept his ecstasy Within himself He did not exhibit it but on a few occasions That profound ecstasy Just came out And at that time That Srila Prabhupada Who had Gone to the West To tell people about Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nithyananda Who did not know anything about it That same Gaur Nithay Had their plan And when Srila Prabhupada went to North America Nobody knew about it But when he went to South America Actually Gaur Nithay were already there Devotees were already there And Prabhupada When he started singing And giving class He was so overwhelmed with ecstasy Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Says that That The throat started choking Tears started coming from the eyes Prabhupada said Gaur Nithay They are so merciful Just take shelter of them Just take shelter of them And they will deliver you So Srila Prabhupada He has come to give us That shelter of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Not just shelter From the material world But shelter of the spiritual world Not just shelter from the distresses Of this world But the ecstasy of the spiritual world Now what we have been saved from And what we have been Saved for They are two different things We have been saved from the temptations And the illusions and the tribulations of this world We have not just been saved from that We have been saved for something We have been saved So that we can assist Srila Prabhupada In his service to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu And if we forget What we have been saved for Then we will relapse into What we were saved from All our past conditions will start coming Because it is not that we by our will power Have become pure It is by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada By the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu That purity, whatever little we have Has been bestowed upon us To the extent we become Servants of Srila Prabhupada Then just as Pratap Rudra Was shown the majestic beauty Of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu The wonder of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Similarly when we serve Srila Prabhupada Assist him Then the beauty of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu The glory of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Will be revealed to us And that same wonderful Lord Will manifest in our heart So Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Appeared in Gaurapurnima in this world And we pray that he Appear in our hearts on this day And captivate our hearts Sadar Udayakandare Spuratu Vahashachinandana Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki Srila Prabhupada ki Gaurabhakta Vrindaki Hai Gaur Premanand Hai Gaur Thank you very much Hare Krishna I can ask a question.