Gauranga Shata Nama 01 – Relish the nectar shared by the moon of Mayapur

Thank you.

Hare Krishna. Jagannatha Sudhakar. This is Gauranga Shatana in the first verse.

Jagannatha Sudha Mahaprabhu Vishwambhara. So Lord Chaitanya is the son of Jagannatha Mishra. When the Lord descends to this world, he, especially in his personable incarnation such as Krishna, Ram and of course Lord Chaitanya, he has a full family.

So he has a father, he has a mother and this gives us a very endearing understanding of the absolute truth. So Jagannatha Sudha, so Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descended to this world as the son of Jagannatha Mishra, who was a virtuous, erudite and caring Brahmana. So the Mahaprabhu Vishwambhara, he is Mahaprabhu.

The word Mahaprabhu is a combination of Mahabhava and Prabhu. So Prabhu refers to the Lord, Mahabhava refers to the emotion that Srimati Radharani relishes, the rasa that Radharani relishes in her pure, spotless devotion to Krishna. So Mahaprabhu means that Lord who is the Prabhu manifesting in the Mahabhava of Srimati Radharani.

So it is Krishna manifesting as Radharani. Radha bhava dhuti suvalitam naumi krishnaswaroopam As Krishnadas Kaviraj Swami says, Radha bhava dhuti suvalitam He accepts the bhava, the complexion and the dhuti. Dhuti is the effulgence of the complexion and bhava is the mood.

He accepts the mood and the complexion of Srimati Radharani. Radha bhava dhuti suvalitam naumi krishnaswaroopam He is Krishna coming as Radharani, coming in the mood and the complexion of Radharani. So that is conveyed by the name Mahaprabhu.

Jagannatha Suddha Mahaprabhu Vishwambhara Vishwambhara He is the maintainer of the world. Vishwambhara was one of the names that Lord Chaitanya was given when he appeared in this world. And now he is the maintainer of the world in many ways.

One way of course is that it is he who is manifesting as Vishnu. Vishnu is non-different from him. And we know the three purusha avatars Mahavishnu, Garbhodaksha Vishnu, Shivodaksha Vishnu They are the maintainers of the world.

They oversee. Vishnu himself is the manifestation, Sattva-guna avatar as it is said, and he maintains the world. And further, whenever there is a disruption of the cosmic order, the devatas go to him for help.

Beyond that, life itself in the material existence, no matter how well it is maintained, ends in death. So for the soul, the sustenance of life is in love. And that love for Krishna, which actually sustains our life eternally, that love is what Lord Chaitanya gives to all of us.

And thus he maintains us eternally. He maintains our heart, our soul with love. And thus he elevates us to eternal existence.

So that is the inner import of the meaning Vishwambhar. And how it applies to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with his special moon. Mayapur Shashi Navatvipa Sudhakar This Lord is Mayapur Shashi.

He is the moon of Mayapur. The significance of the usage moon is that the moon is illuminating at the same time it is soothing. The sun is illuminating but often the sun is scalding.

Sometimes it is so hot that it burns. And it is uncomfortable. As the moonlight is soothing.

So Mayapur Shashi And Now what is Mayapur? What is the connection between a place and a moon? It is the Lord manifested at a particular place. And he himself is a soothing sweet incarnation of the Lord. So he illuminated the world from Mayapur.

So the moon doesn't belong to any particular place. But the moon the speciality of the moon of Lord Chaitanya is that he manifested in Mayapur. So in that sense he is Mayapur Shashi.

And then he is Navadvipa Sudhakar. And Navadvipa is the place where Lord Chaitanya appeared where he appeared with actually the place where there are nine islands. Those islands will be mentioned in the Koran which is the name later.

And Navadvipa Sudhakar Sudhakar means Sudha is nectar. Kar means one who spreads or provides. So he spread nectar in Navadvipa and through Navadvipa everywhere else.

Such is the glorious Lord on whom we meditate. So Kauranga Shatanaam by Bhaktivinoda Thakur is Nectarian flow of the names of Lord Chaitanya. And there is in the tradition of the names there is no invocation, no offering of obeisances.

It is just a recitation of the names. And by meditating on such names we can enrich our remembrance of Krishna, our remembrance of Lord Chaitanya. And by thus remembering the Lord, his sweet pastimes, his great mercy, we can also feel inspired to take shelter of his mercy as it is manifested in the holy name, in the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.

Which is the great gift that he has given us. Shri Kauranga Mahaprabhu ki Jai.