Panihati Cida-dadhi Festival

Giriraj Swami: I feel very fortunate and blessed and honored to be here among such August association. We very much depend on the support of the association of devotees. I’m on a very wobbly teetering platform, but I have two strong pillars on either side to keep me from tipping over. And then I have all of you in front of me to encourage me.

Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, I hadn’t thought of it for a few years, but when Tukaram Prabhu introduced me, I remembered that Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was the emblem of what I thought I would like to be like as a devotee. And the process of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s renunciation and release from family life is very instructive for all of us.

Actually, when Raghunatha dasa met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Shantipur, he was already in the mood to leave the family. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed him, “Don’t be a crazy fellow.” This is Srila Prabhupada’s translation. “But you should stay where you are and externally act like an ordinary expert, manager, but internally, be detached and think of Radha and Krishna.”

And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used the phrase markaṭa-vairāgya, the renunciation of a monkey. Monkeys appear to be very renounced. They live in the jungle, they just eat fruits, they have no real residence or comforts. They appear to be very renounced. But as Srila Prabhupada says, “Each monkey has two dozen lady monkeys.” So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu advised Raghunatha dasa, “No markaṭa-vairāgya.” And in contrast to markaṭa-vairāgya or phalgu-vairāgya is yukta-vairāgya.

Yukta-vairāgya means to see everything in relation to Krishna and use everything in an appropriate way in the service of Krishna without attachment. And this is a very advanced stage, because one can achieve that only by bhakti, because it’s not external; it’s internal.

Once in Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if you are directly under a light, there is no shadow, but if you go a little to one side or the other, there will be a shadow. He said, “If you want to enjoy something for yourself that’s going to one side, that creates a shadow. And if you want to renounce something that’s going too far on the other side, that also creates a shadow.”

A devotee sees that everything belongs to Krishna, nothing is his. Therefore, he has nothing to enjoy and he has nothing to renounce. To renounce something that doesn’t belong to you makes no sense. If I say, “I renounce the Brooklyn bridge.” What is the meaning? You don’t own the Brooklyn Bridge. So, we don’t own anything. So, what is the meaning of our renouncing it? Similarly, we don’t own anything, so what right do we have to enjoy it? It’s not ours to enjoy.

So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had advised Raghunatha dasa to return home and to externally execute all of his affairs very expertly and properly, but internally, to be detached and to think of his Lord.

So, I’m going to relate some of this to my experience with Srila Prabhupada as an instruction and a reminder. So, I had that idea to go to Vrindavan and just be like Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, but Srila Prabhupada had his estate, Juhu project, and he wanted me to manage it. So, I didn’t say anything, but he understood my mind. So, he said, “Raghunatha dasa managed his father’s estate very expertly, and then he went to Vrindavan and became a Gosvami. So, first you stay here, manage your spiritual father’s property very expertly.”

Now, another point that Tukaram Prabhu made was about my tattered clothes. That is not an exaggeration, they were torn and tattered and faded. But Srila Prabhupada had a different idea of how I should look, and it shows how gently Srila Prabhupada corrected me. I’m sure he did deal differently with different disciples, but he corrected me very gently and he said, “It is said that one who is known as a brahman does not have to wear a thread.” And then he said, “People know you and they like you, but still, you should dress nicely.” So, yukta-vairāgya.

So, as we heard so beautifully described and clearly explained, Raghunatha dasa did return home, but when he had the opportunity to meet Nityananda Prabhu at Panihati, he went, and he got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. And it is really by the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu that one both develops detachment and can be relieved of circumstantial encumbrances. This is a very important point. Narottama dasa Thakura sings āra kabe nitāi-cānder koruṇā hoibe
saḿsāra-bāsanā mora kabe tuccha ha'be, “When Lord Nityananda is merciful to me, then material desires will become insignificant.” And we get Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy. We pray for it, yes, but more than just praying, we render service.

Again, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami received that order, and he celebrated the Panihati dadhi-ciḍā festival. And after that, he wanted to serve Nityananda Prabhu and the devotees with some of his wealth. And so, he met with Raghava Pandit, who was one of the confidential associates of the Lord, who lived nearby, and he drew up a list of Nityananda Prabhu and all of His associates, and he determined how much gold he wanted to give to each, according to their status.

But again, he was so shy and humble, he didn’t want name and fame for his service, he just wanted to quietly leave the money with Raghava Pandit and let him distribute it to the Lord’s associates after he had left.

So, that also shows us the mood of humble service; not for name and fame, or any sort of personal gain, and not neglecting anyone. Yes, he gave more to Nityananda Prabhu and His more confidential associates, but he did not neglect anyone. Bound to the very last person, he made sure that he gave something to everyone. And that is that mood of dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, of being the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord. Nityananda Prabhu blessed Raghunatha dasa, even Chaitanya Mahaprabhu blessed Raghunatha. He said, “The mercy of Krishna is more powerful than anything. Whatever obstacles you face, when the time comes, will be removed by the mercy of Krishna.”

And so, Raghunatha dasa had that faith, and with that faith, he followed the instructions. And by following the instructions, he got mercy. And it’s really the most fundamental principle of spiritual life, to execute the orders of his spiritual master. But Raghunatha dasa, as we learn, had many spiritual masters. And this is another very important instruction.

He was initiated by Yadunandanacharya, who was a great devotee and associate of Mahaprabhu. Yadunandanacharya’s close friend was Balaramacharya, and he was another guru for Raghunatha dasa. And as you know, as a young boy, as a student, he visited Haridasa Thakura and served him and got his blessings. And it’s mentioned, some say that it was actually the mercy of Haridasa Thakura that they fructified and brought him to the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

And then when he did finally escape from home by the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu and he reached Jagannatha Puri, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu placed Raghunatha dasa under the care of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, who was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s secretary. So, Raghunatha dasa became the assistant, secretary assistant to the secretary. And then after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His immediate associates left, Raghunatha dasa felt so much grief and separation that he felt, “What is the use of living in this world without Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates?”

So, he went to Vrindavan with the intention of giving up his life by jumping from Govardhana Hill. But first, he wanted to offer respect to Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami. And as we have heard, Sanatana Gosvami spoke to Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, “You had so much personal association with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. You should not leave, but you should stay with us and share with us what you experienced and realized from your association with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.” And they accepted him; Rupa and Sanatana accepted him as their third brother.

So, so many Vaishnavas gave Raghunatha dasa shelter and guidance and love and affection. And we need that. Krishna consciousness is not sectarian. It’s not based on designations. To the contrary, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam, when we are free from designations, then we can actually engage in devotional service. So, with that purified consciousness, we can serve Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, our guru-paramparā, and all of the Vaishnavas without material conceptions [Unintelligible 00:20:51] or black or white designations we might have in mind.

Even then, Raghunatha did so much service in Vrindavan. He excavated Radha-kunda and really wrote some very beautiful poems in the mood of service to Radha and Krishna. So, he is one of our gurus, Maharaja said, original guru.

But we need that love and affection and service, guidance and service. And as Srila Prabhupada has explained, “A parent, a teacher, a guru, a doctor, they are natural well-wishers of their dependents. They actually want to give mercy to their dependents. But their dependents need to act in such a way as to allow them to bestow their mercy that they are so eager to give, and the way one encourages them is by submission and service and humble inquiry.”

So, although the mercy is causeless, we can act in such a way as to be the fortunate recipients or receptacles for that mercy. And by being a humble servant of the servant of the servant of the servant and following the instructions that are given to us, we become eligible to receive that mercy.

And that’s why all of us are here. We’ve all received some mercy. Otherwise, why would we be here? What qualifications do we have? What were we before? I mean, I can’t say it for everyone here, but in general terms, what were we before and why are we here now? It’s only because we received the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu and our guru-paramparā. And that’s the only thing that keeps us here.

It can happen that someone comes and then goes, we don’t want that to happen, but if we always remain in the mood of the humble servant of the servant of servants, ready to execute their orders with the desire to please them, not for any personal honor or recognition or gain, then they will extend their shelter to us and give us their protection, and we will stay in this wonderful association under their shelter.

So, Nityananda Prabhu is so merciful. Caitanya-caritāmṛta says that He is so intoxicated with love of God that He is ready to bestow His mercy on anyone who falls down before Him. So, that’s all we have to do, we just have to surrender. Give up our false prestige, false designations, false conceptions, admit that we are nothing, and just fall down before Him, and He will give us His mercy, as He did to Raghunatha dasa Gosvami.

So, on this auspicious occasion, in this August Assembly, we pray for the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu for all conditioned souls, including ourselves, and for the mercy of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami to guide us, to show us the way to follow in his footsteps and the footsteps of his predecessors and in the footsteps of his followers. And if we are able to do that, and we are, any one of us can so desire, the path will be clear, and it will be as if they take us by the hand or the little finger and meet us along the path.

And we have so many others with us on the same path, and we want to go together. If someone is struggling, stumbling along the way, happens to fall down, no problem, the way to help the person, help him get up again, take him by the hand and continue on our progressive march together. Hare Krishna.