Jahnava Devi – Carrying on the legacy amidst adversity

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
on this sacred occasion associated with Srimati Janma Devi let us meditate briefly on the distinctive and unique position that she has in the Gauri Sampradaya Janma Devi Janma Devi is one of the two wives of Shri Nityanand Prabhu Nityanand Prabhu as we know is Balaramji and the Gauragonanda is Deepika which describes the connections between Lord Chaitanya’s associates and Krishna’s associates says that the two wives of Nityanand Prabhu the two sisters Vasudha and Janwa they were actually the wives Varuni and Rivati so Janwa Devi she had to take up the enormous responsibility that came after the quick departures or after the departure of the leading Vaishnavas of Lord Chaitanya’s generation she was both at a personal as well as a spiritual level material as well as spiritual level of course everything about her is spiritual but still she, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu after he departed it was quite in one sense unexpected at a young age of 40 Chaitanya Mahaprabhu departed and then after that the mission went on but then the other associates also started departing, Nityanand Prabhu departed and then after that actually the Goswamis were there in Vrindavan but in Bengal although the influence of Vaishnavism of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy was enormously there but still the mantle of leadership actually most of the leaders of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s times they departed and it eventually fell on Shri Jumati Janava Devi at a personal level also her husband departed and then actually she did not have any children but Vasudha her co-wife and sister she had nine children out of which seven passed away and only one daughter Ganga and one son Veerabhadra they survived and soon after that Nityanand Prabhu departed Janava also departed and then in this way she was actually so bereaved but rather than sinking into any kind of grief she took up she was such an exalted Vaishnav that she took up the leadership and she would preach it vigorously, fearlessly and actually many people who were outcasts from the Vedic perspective they were attracted and inspired and transformed by her illustrious example and not only that by her actions by her words and the revitalization or the resurgence of Gaudiya Vaishnavism that happened one of the pioneering events in Bengal was actually the subsequent generation of devotees Artham Das Thakur Srinath Acharya, they all came from Vrindavan where they had gone to take training from Jivagoswami and they came to Bengal area and there in Artham Das Thakur’s place they had the first Kaur Purnima festival and there among all the illustrious Vaishnavas that were present, Smt. Janava Devi was selected as was considered widely as the leader and she in keeping with the dignity of her feminine position, she took charge of the cooking and all the arrangements that were required for the hundreds and hundreds of devotees that come from everywhere to Kheturi Gram and not only that she would also in keeping with the Vaishnava tradition travel go on pilgrimages and she went all the way to Vrindavan and there the Goswamis received her with the highest reverence Ram Das Goswami came and fell at her feet and Janava Devi actually even in Vrindavan she was travelling and she would hear the flute of Krishna and she would she almost faint in ecstasy, so many of the ecstatic symptoms and ecstatic visions that Shaitan Mahaprabhu had, Janava Devi also had those visions and Janava Devi further was one of the pioneers in the smooth succession of Gaudiya Vaishnavism from generation of Shaitan Mahaprabhu to the generation of, to the next generation that is Vrindavan Das Thakur Srinivasa Acharya and she carried on the mantle gracefully and eventually she disappeared mysteriously into the DT and in this way she demonstrated the extraordinary nature of her devotion that in this way actually we can pray to Janava Mataji, Janava Devi that just as she bestowed her mercy on so many people far and wide she may bestow her mercy on us too so that we can also become the recipient of Shaitan Mahaprabhu’s mercy in a deep transformational way and share it with others with Janava Devi ki Jai Thank you