CC Adi 1.2 – The Mercy of Lord Nityananda Is Unlimited

Giriraj Swami: So, I welcome you all to the most auspicious celebration of Sri Nityananda-trayodashi, the Appearance Day of the all-merciful Lord Nityananda. According to Vedic literature, Krishna is the source of everything. He is the original Personality of Godhead, and Balarama is His first expansion. And the same Krishna and Balarama have appeared again in the present age of Kali as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. Driving here, it was broad day light, but I saw before me the moon, almost-full moon, and then I turned and saw the sun. The sun and the moon, both. And it reminded me of the very second verse of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which is the authorized account of the philosophy and pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu written just after He wound up His manifest pastimes. So, I will read that verse and discuss how it applies to us. Repeat after me, please.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter One,

TEXT 2

vande śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-

nityānandau sahoditau

gauḍodaye puṣpavantau

citrau śan-dau tamo-nudau

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauḍa to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.

COMMENT

So we, in the material world, are covered by the darkness of ignorance. By nature, we are spiritual beings, we have the same qualities as Krishna, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, we are eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. But when we come under the influence of the material energy, we forget our actual position, and in ignorance of our actual identities, we identify with the body. And instead of thinking of ourselves as the eternal servants of Krishna, which is our actual identity, we think of ourselves as imitation Krishnas or would-be Krishnas. And thus, we suffer the threefold miseries of material existence.

Srila Sanatana Gosvami, a very learned scholar and expert diplomat, presented himself before Lord Chaitanya as a fool. He said “ke ami” - “In ordinary affairs, people consider me to be very learned, and they call me pandit, but I am so learned I don’t even know who I am. So, “ke ami—who am I? And why am I being forced to suffer the threefold miseries of material existence?” So, when one comes to that position of inquiring as to his actual identity and how to get out of the miseries of material life, he is a candidate for further advancement in devotional service and spiritual life. And Lord Chaitanya replied, “Who are you? jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa. You are in more general terms—the    constitutional position of the living entity is that he is the eternal servant of Krishna.” So, this is most important.

Once, I was sitting with Srila Prabhupada in his room in Calcutta, and, in a relaxed mood but thoughtful mood he said, “I think all of my disciples understand that they are eternal servants of Krishna.” Now I thought, Well, this is very basic, of course. But it is not just a matter of theoretical knowledge, it is really a matter of practical realization. Anyone who has been exposed to the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, if someone asks you what is your identity, what is your constitutional position, you can say, “I am the eternal servant of Krishna,” and that is correct. But do we act on that platform? Now, I will give you an idea of how to measure to what extent you act on that platform.

So now, coming back to the verse, They descended to eradicate the darkness of ignorance, and bestow wonderful benediction upon all. So, this statement is parallel to the first verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam means that by chanting the holy names of Krishna, one’s consciousness is purified, the dirty things are cleansed from the mirror of the mind. And what are those dirty things? Just like if you have a mirror and if it is covered with dirt, you can’t see yourself. So, the dirt is the material contamination that covers our actual identity, and we do not see ourselves as we are, as the eternal servants of Krishna. And the very first verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam enumerates so many other benefits to the performance of saṅkīrtana, and those benefits can be included in this phrase: “Wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.” So, this purpose of the Lord’s descent is fulfilled through the performance of saṅkīrtana, especially the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. And that chanting is very easy. We simply open our mouths, and say Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. So, it is very simple and very enjoyable.

But in the next verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, placing himself in our position, says, “My dear Lord, You are so merciful that You have made Yourself easily approachable in Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attachment for them.” And Srila Prabhupada explains that because we commit offenses while chanting, we do not have taste. So when we do it, it can be very blissful, it is. But we really don’t have so much taste, and so, we stop chanting. But if someone makes an effort to chant, in the proper way. The first verse is to encourage us to chant, that is the first thing, chant. Then, the second verse is chant in the proper way, without committing offenses. And when we do that, make that effort to chant with attention, one of the offenses is to be inattentive. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that the offense of inattention gives rise to all the other offenses. So, it is very important to chant with attention.

And so, following the second verse, we make every effort to chant with attention. And guess what we will find? It is not so easy. It is very easy to chant with the mouth, but it is not so easy to fix the mind on the sound of the holy name. The mind is always going here and there. And if we analyze what is the underlying principle of the mind’s wanderings, we will find it is ignorance, it is false identification with the body. We are thinking about the body and the expansions of the body. And that psychology of wanting to be the Lord, if we analyze our thoughts, we will see that the underlying principle is we are trying to be the controller, we are trying to be the proprietor, we are trying to be the enjoyer. And our mind is dwelling on all these different thoughts, dwelling, and jumping. So, when we chant, we will find that we alone do not have the strength to control the mind. And so, we pray to Krishna, pray to the holy name, pray to Lord Nityananda, pray to Srila Prabhupada, pray to our gurus, to help us. And that is the third verse of the Siksastakam, tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ—one should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind.

Now, when you are really trying your best to chant with attention, without offense, and you discover how weak and fallen you are, and how you need help from superiors to do such a simple thing as chant the holy name and hear it, you become humble. It is a natural consequence. And when one is actually humble in that mood, amāninā mānadena, ready to offer respects to others and not wanting any respect for oneself, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly. So, this is the specific method, by which Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda have come to remove the darkness of ignorance and bestow wonderful benediction upon all.

And Srila Prabhupada really has acted as the instrument to fulfill the mission of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. Of course, there were devotees in India from the beginning of time, and they have endeavored for spiritual perfection. But in the present age of Kali-yuga, the holy name of Krishna was not known outside of India, and Srila Prabhupada was the one who acted as the instrument for Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda to bring the holy names to us. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu desired it, pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma. But for four centuries, that desire and prediction were not fulfilled. And it was Srila Prabhupada who did it, and it is inconceivable. I hope that all of you have read, or will read very soon, Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, because it describes what Srila Prabhupada did for us to enable us to be sitting very nicely here in this temple in New Dvaraka, hearing about Gaura-Nitai, and chanting the holy names. And some devotees have even suggested, and I appreciate the truth in it, that one should, or must, see the early footage of Srila Prabhupada, the films of Srila Prabhupada when he first came to America. Because some people could not imagine what the people were like, who Srila Prabhupada was encountering when he first came, and that he could induce them to chant and dance and hear the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, and by the gradual process of purification give up all illicit activities that work against spiritual progress. It is inconceivable. And Srila Prabhupada almost never rejected anyone.

There was one incident in India that I recall when one of Srila Prabhupada’s early disciple had come to India and somehow fallen into bad association, maybe fallen into past habits, and he was indulging in smoking ganja, marijuana, hashish. And so, at the time, Prabhupada was in Bombay, and the disciple was in Calcutta. So, I guess the temple president from Calcutta phoned and informed Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada said to tell him that if he doesn’t stop smoking ganja, Prabhupada would reject him. But later, Tamal Krishna Goswami asked Srila Prabhupada, “Is that true that you would reject him?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “No, I cannot reject anyone.” And Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “But don’t you have to draw the line somewhere?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The mercy of Lord Nityananda is unlimited.” [applause] Sri Nityananda Prabhu ki jaya! And that made such a deep impression on me about Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. And we are also supposed to follow in that line of mercy. The Krishna consciousness movement means that we are meant to taste Krishna consciousness by chanting and hearing in the proper way, and we are also meant to distribute Krishna consciousness. And so, we need to have that magnanimous mood of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu.

In the very beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā, after the friendly talks between Krishna and Arjuna, Arjuna understood that he was confused and he needed instruction from Krishna. Just depending on his own, so-called intelligence, so-called knowledge, he was not getting any solution. And so, he surrendered to Krishna, śiṣyas te ‘haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam, “Now I am a soul surrendered unto you, please instruct me.” And in that section of the Bhagavad-gītā, the word is used kṛpaṇa, miserly weakness. Who is a miser? A miser is someone who has a valuable asset, but he doesn’t use it. A miser has a lot of money, but he just keeps it under his pillow, it doesn’t do anyone any good. So, we should not be miserly. Now, in its context in the Bhagavad-gītā it means we have this valuable human form of life, which we can use to realize God; to realize ourselves and to realize God. So, if we don’t use the valuable human form that we have, use it for Krishna consciousness, we are like misers, we have something very valuable, but we are not using it for any good purpose.

But taking that a step further, I thought it can also apply to us if we have this knowledge, and we don’t distribute it to others, we are keeping it for ourselves. Yes, we want to be happy, we want to be relieved from karmic reactions, and we don’t want to face karmic punishment in the future, so that is all well and good for me, but we should not be misers and keep that knowledge just for our own use. And we should follow the example of Lord Chaitanya and especially Lord Nityananda and Srila Prabhupada, and distribute the holy name, distribute the knowledge of Krishna consciousness. And that will please them very much. And by their pleasure, we will be able to progress.

I often like to quote a statement that Srila Prabhupada made here, in Los Angeles, I believe. Our goal as followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Radha and Krishna. So, Srila Prabhupada said, “In order to approach Radha and Krishna, one needs the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. And to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, one needs the mercy of Lord Nityananda. And to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, one must approach people like Jagai and Madhai. [laughter] So, it starts with the Jagais and Madhais of this world, which sort of includes us, or at least the way we were before we met Srila Prabhupada and his devotees. So, it starts with that, and it ends up in the most exalted realm of Goloka, Vrindavan with Radha and Krishna. So, it is such a sublime process, we can’t even imagine. I mean, it is so sublime, it is so simple, but we have to do it, that is all. If we just do it and make the effort to do it properly, it will happen exactly as described in the verse, the darkness of ignorance that confuses us will be dissipated, and the wonderful benedictions promised in the Śikṣāṣṭakam and so many other places in the Vedic literature, they will be realized by us. It won’t just be theoretical, but it will be realized by us. And then nothing will be able to take us away from Krishna consciousness.

Right now, we chant, and suddenly, our mind is gone, we don’t know how it happened, but when we practice and become advanced, it will happen, our mind may wander for a moment and it is back to Krishna. We don’t know how it happened but suddenly, it is back to Krishna, like we can’t forget Krishna. Now, it is so hard to remember Him; the time will come, we can’t forget Krishna. And for a moment it might happen and without knowing how we are back on Krishna. So, that is all possible by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Nityananda. They have come and given us the method, but we have to do our part and follow it. And if we just make the effort to follow it, they will give us all. . . [blowing of conchshell], and we will be successful by their grace. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!

Gaura-bhakta-vrinda ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol

Devotees: Haribol!