Lord Nityananda’s Appearance Day

Giriraj Swami: We shall read the explanation of the song Manaḥ-śikṣā, Teachings to the Mind from Prarthana, by Srila Narottama dasa Thakura.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a very nice song sung by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. He is advising that nitāi-pada, the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda. . . Kamala means lotus feet, er, lotus, and pada means feet. It is just a shelter where you will get the soothing moonlight not only of one, but of millions of moons. Just we have to imagine what is the aggregate total value of the soothing shine of millions of moons.

Jagat, this material world, which is progressing towards hell, and there is always a blazing fire, everyone is struggling hard, nobody finds peace. Therefore, if the world wants to have real peace, then it should take shelter under the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda, which is supposed to be cooling like the shining moon, millions in number.

Jurāy means relief. If you actually want relief from the struggle of existence, and if you actually want to extinguish the blazing fire of material pangs, then Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura advises, “Please take shelter of Lord Nityānanda.”

What will be the result of accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda? He says that heno nitāi bine bhāi: "Unless you take shelter under the shade of lotus feet of Nityānanda,” rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi, "it will be very difficult to approach Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.”

This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for approaching Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, to be associated with the Supreme Lord in His sublime pleasure dance. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura’s advice is that “If you actually want to enter into the dancing party of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, then you must take shelter of the lotus feet of Nityānanda.”

So such persons who have no contact with Nityānanda, they accept this illusion as fact, this illusory body as fact. Then he says, nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe. He says that “If you actually want to approach the association of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, then try to achieve the mercy of Lord Nityānanda. When He will be merciful upon you, then you will be able to approach Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.” Dharo nitāi-caraṇa duḥkhāni. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura advises us that “You firmly catch the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda.”

COMMENT

So, for Gaudiya Vaishnavas, followers of   Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the ultimate goal of our spiritual practices is to achieve the association of, and the service of Radha and Krishna. But in order to do so, one must take shelter of Lord Nityananda. In one class, Srila Prabhupada said that in order to approach Radha-Krishna, one must get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. In order to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, one must get the mercy of Lord Nityananda. And in order to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, one must approach people like Jagai and Madhai.

Jagai and Madhai were very sinful, fallen, degraded people, and it was Lord Nityananda’s mercy that He approached them, at great personal risk, and ultimately, delivered them. And because Nitai wanted to deliver them, Lord Chaitanya gave them His mercy. After they received the mercy of Lord Nityananda, they received the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. So, most people in the present age resemble Jagai and Madhai. They may be very highly placed in academic circles, in political circles, in business circles, but, in terms of their behavior, in terms of their habits, they are like Jagai and Madhai, very fallen and sinful. And what to speak of the ordinary people on the street, they are also the same, fallen and sinful. So, it was the desire of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura should approach such people, and bolo kṛṣṇa, tell them to chant Krishna, bhajo kṛṣṇa, tell them to worship Krishna, and koro kṛṣṇa-śikṣā, tell them to follow Krishna’s instructions.

So, with this order from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura went out into the streets and attempted to induce people to chant the holy name of Krishna, worship Lord Krishna, and follow the instructions of Krishna. And in the course of their effort, they encountered Jagai and Madhai.

I think most of you know the story of how Jagai and Madhai abused Nityananda Prabhu, and ultimately, threw a pot at the head of Nityananda Prabhu and hit Him, which caused blood to flow. The news reached Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He came rushing to the spot with His Sudarsana chakra, ready to kill the offenders, but Nityananda Prabhu intervened. He told the Lord, “In previous ages, You came to kill the demons and protect the devotees, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, but in this age, You haven’t appeared as a kshatriya, You’ve appeared as a brahman. And in this age, everyone will be sinful, and if You are going to kill Jagai and Madhai, You’ll have to kill everyone in Kali-yuga.”

So, in Kali-yuga, we don’t kill them physically, but we kill their demonic mentalities and awaken them to Krishna consciousness. Now, Jagai and Madhai were under the serious threat of the Sudarsana chakra, and when they heard Lord Nityananda’s merciful words to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they surrendered to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Lord forgave them for their offenses and engaged them in devotional service. They rendered very humble service to the Vaishnavas, and were accepted among the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. That was the mood of Nityananda Prabhu on the order of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, to approach the most fallen souls and engage them in devotional service. And through disciplic succession, the same mood has come down to us through Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, our Srila Prabhupada.

It’s said that the spiritual master engages the disciples in such a way that they can get the mercy of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada had great faith in the process of distributing mercy, that in the process of distributing mercy, one gets the greatest mercy. He gave the example that a father may have many children, and he loves all the children equally, but the youngest child, who is most dependent on the father, will get the most attention from the father. If the father is crossing the street with a number of children and a car is coming, the father will think first of the youngest child, who’s most dependent on the father’s protection.

So, the preacher is like the youngest child, because he risks everything for the sake of the mission, and faces many dangers, takes many risks, and in the process, has no real shelter other than the lotus feet of Guru and Gauranga. And that child, if you will, is the special object of mercy for the father, for the Lord, and the previous acharyas.

So, Srila Prabhupada had personal realization of the effects of taking shelter of the order of one’s spiritual master, which is ultimately the order of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, coming through disciplic succession.

He left India all alone at the age of sixty-nine, celebrated his seventieth birthday at sea, suffered two heart attacks on the way. Ultimately, he arrived alone in New York with seven dollars, which was what he was allowed in for an exchange for rupees, which is not even enough to last one day in New York. And thereafter, he took risk after risk. Why? He wanted to fulfill the order of his spiritual master, which again is the order of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, coming to him through disciplic succession, and he wanted to show mercy to the fallen souls.

Before Srila Prabhupada left for America, he was staying at the Scindia Colony in Andheri, which is the next suburb after Juhu, and he was trying to get his formalities completed for his trip. And Sumati Morarji was the owner of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, who gave Prabhupada free passage on a cargo carrier to America. Her secretary sort of joked with Srila Prabhupada, “I know why you are going to America. Everyone wants to go to America. You want to see America and enjoy.” And of course, she was joking. Srila Prabhupada replied, “What have I got to enjoy? My life is finished. But there is a young generation of boys and girls there who are frustrated and unhappy. So, I want to help them, to make them happy.”

So, that was Srila Prabhupada’s mood. He was most obedient to the order of the spiritual master and superiors, and at the same time, he felt genuine compassion for the fallen souls, for us. And on the order of his spiritual master and in the mood of compassion, he came and faced so many dangers and took so many risks. And thus, he became the object of the utmost mercy of the Lord and the paramparā. And based on his own faith and realization, he wanted to engage his followers in the same mode, in the same mood, of selfless service to the spiritual master, to the paramparā, and to the fallen souls.

And therefore, he encapsulated volumes and volumes of philosophy, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Caitanya-bhāgavata, songs of our previous acharyas in this simple aphorism, that in order to approach Radha-Krishna, one must get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. In order to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, one must get the mercy of Lord Nityananda. And in order to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, one must approach people like Jagai and Madhai.

So, it’s not easy, it’s definitely not easy. We just read briefly from the purport to the song, but just from the very beginning, jagata jurāy, the material world, as Prabhupada says, is heading towards hell, and that is very clear. It’s heading to hell because people’s mentalities are hellish, and to preach to people with hellish mentalities is not easy, it takes a tremendous effort, care, love, tact. As Srila Prabhupada said, he had to expend gallons of blood just to make one devotee.

But what other purpose do we have? What other means do we have? So, we make the effort, and if one really does have faith in the order of the superiors and surrenders to the order, and of course, actually practices Krishna consciousness and tastes the nectar of Krishna consciousness, then he’ll get the intelligence and the power to preach.

That was another point that Srila Prabhupada emphasized, which is that to have the potency to preach, we have to practice. By proper hearing and chanting of the holy names, and glories, and pastimes of the Lord, we’ll get some realization of Krishna consciousness. And with our realization of Krishna consciousness will come the desire to share Krishna consciousness with others, and with it will also come the potency and intelligence to preach, to assist the mission, which is engaged in the service of preaching.

So, we all have our parts to play. We should find out what is our part, what is our service, and make our contribution to please Srila Prabhupada and the paramparā, Nityananda Prabhu and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and by Their pleasure and mercy, we will get everything.

There is one verse in the Bible, Jesus says, “If you lose yourself to My service, you will not be lost, you will find yourself or I will find you.” So, it’s sort of like that, if we lose ourselves to the service of Guru and Gauranga, we will find ourselves, or They will find us and deliver us. Hare Krishna.