Gauranga Shata Nama 22 – Relish the dhama in recollection and association

Gauram Vashatanaam. Vrindavan Anandamurthy, Balabhadra Sanghi, Yavana Uddhari Bhatta, Balabhera Rangi, Vrindavan Anandamurthy.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was from the early days when he manifested his devotion, long before he took sannyas, he had a fervent desire to go to Vrindavan and because he was a householder and he had family responsibilities, he could not go. As soon as he took sannyas, his dream and his immediate plan was to go to Vrindavan, but Advaita Acharya Bhattacharya Prabhu arranged him to come to Shantipur and then there Sachi Mata met him and requested him that please stay in Jagannath Puri. So for many years Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's cherished aspiration to go to Vrindavan was thwarted and after that he went to South India, he came back from South India and when he desired to go to Vrindavan, again and again devotees told him to please wait for Athyatra, please wait for this festival, please wait for that festival.

So Chaitanya Charitamrita describes one full chapter, 16th chapter of the Madhya Lila where the Lord desires to go to Vrindavan, but is unable to go and he actually begins to go, he travels to Vrindavan in chapter 17 and he reaches Vrindavan in chapter 18. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so much in Vraja consciousness that even before he reached Vrindavan, he was absorbed in Vrindavan consciousness. So any forest that he would see, he would think of it to be Vrindavan, any hill that he would see, he would think of that, we go over the river that he would see, he would think of it to be Yamuna and in this way he stayed absorbed in Vrindavan consciousness.

And Chaitanya Charitamrita describes how his ecstasy kept increasing more and more and more when he was normally ecstatic, when he started thinking about Vrindavan, his ecstasy increased more. When he started moving towards Vrindavan, his ecstasy increased even more. When he came to Mathura, which is the part of Rajamundry, broader Rajamundry, his ecstasy went up a million times and when he was actually in Vrindavan, his ecstasy was unlimited.

It had reached the extent, so Vrindavan Anandamurthy, Mahaprabhu was himself the personified form of the ecstasy of the bliss of Vrindavan. Anandamurthy, Ballabhadra Sanghi, Ballabhadra Sanghi, that he had gone there with Ballabhadra Bhattacharya and there in Vrindavan, we will see how Ballabhadra Bhattacharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu expressed his gratitude to him. Although Ballabhadra was his servant, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that it is you who has safely brought me to Vrindavan and you have granted me so much ecstasy.

I am forever grateful to you for this. Ballabhadra Bhattacharya was so humble that he said, my dear lord, although I am unworthy, you have allowed an insignificant bird to become like Garuda. So Ballabhadra Bhattacharya here shows how he understood that Garuda carries Lord Vishnu.

He was not carrying but he was accompanying, assisting, serving. So basically he also had the position of, a position somewhat similar to Garuda and he said that this is simply the mercy of the Lord, such were the loving reciprocations between Lord Chaitanya and his servant Ballabhadra. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Vrindavan and stayed for two months over there and Vrindavan Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was going from Vrindavan towards Kashi for the Magh Mela.

At that time along the way there were some Yavanas who initially thought that because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had fallen into an ecstatic trance, they thought that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was being, or they accused his associates that you have given him poison and something akin to Dhaturi and you want to steal from him, you have stolen from him. So at that time his associates were frightened but there was Sanodiya Brahmin with them who was fearless and who tried to counter them and instead counter intimidate them. At that time Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to consciousness and suddenly jumped up and saddled down calling out loudly Krishna, Krishna and seeing this the Yavanas were impressed and then they asked, they started talking with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu preached to them.

He talked from the Quran and talked from the Vedas and guided them towards the devotional essence that is often overlooked within the Quran, that is the essence of the Quran. And they became so inspired and transformed that they became Vaishnavas. One of them was a prince, one of them was a Pandit, was a learned Maulvi within the Muslim community and another was a prince and they all became devotees and they started chanting the Lord's glories and the Lord's names and they got great ecstasy and they got love for God by Lord Chaitanya's mercy and later on they would travel and wherever they would go they would be singing the Lord's names and they were called Pathan Vaishnavas.

So, So, one of the exalted Vaishnavas that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met during his North India tour was Vallabha Bhatta. Vallabha Bhatta is Vallabhacharya who is considered the founder of the Pushti Marg and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met him in the Kashi-Varanasi area and there he spoke, they discussed intimate pastimes about Krishna and Vallabha Bhatta was amazed by the sheer depth and intensity of the devotional ecstasy and the love for Krishna that was manifested in the person of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and both of them became immersed in discussing the pastimes of Krishna. A devotee always remembers Krishna and a devotee treasures nothing more than that which stimulates further remembrance of Krishna and another devotee whose association stimulates that remembrance is a treasure and especially if that devotee is also an advanced devotee who is also deeply absorbed in remembrance of Krishna then that treasure that is there in that devotee's association becomes the greatest treasure.

So, such is the Lord who delights in love for Krishna and by His mercy, by tapping the gifts of bhakti, of the holy name that He has given us we too can get drop of that delight in bhakti which He personifies and relishes eternally. Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki jaya. Thank you.