NOI 4 – The Lotus Feet of Lord Nityananda

Giriraj Swami:

PURPORT by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

This is a very nice song sung by Narottama dasa Thakura. He advises that nitāi-pada-kamala, the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda (kamala means “lotus,” and pada means “feet"), are a shelter where one will get the soothing moonlight not only of one, but of millions of moons. We can just imagine the aggregate total value of the soothing shine of millions of moons.

In this material world (jagat), which is progressing toward hell, there is always a blazing fire, and everyone is struggling hard without finding peace; therefore, if the world wants to have real peace, it should take shelter under the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, which are cooling like the shining of a million moons

Juraya means “relief.” If one actually wants relief from the struggle of existence and actually wants to extinguish the blazing fire of material pangs, Narottama dasa Thakura advises, “Please take shelter of Lord Nityananda.” What will be the result of accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda? He says, heno nitāi bine bhāi: unless one takes shelter under the shade of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi—it will be very difficult for him to approach Radha-Krishna. The aim of this Krishna consciousness movement is to enable us to approach Radha-Krishna and associate with the Supreme Lord in His sublime pleasure dance.

COMMENT

According to what I just read, what is the aim of the Krishna consciousness movement? Raise your hand. My dear devotees, I just read Srila Prabhupada said, “The aim of the Krishna consciousness movement is. . .” What is the aim of the Krishna consciousness movement? Okay, I will read it again. Now, please pay attention, this is Srila Prabhupada speaking, this is not some waste of time. Rather being absorbed in whatever our minds were telling us while I was reading, that might be a waste of time, but hearing this is not a waste of time. We are members of the Krishna consciousness movement; we should know what the aim is. 

PURPORT (continued)

The aim of this Krishna consciousness movement is to enable us to approach Radha-Krishna and associate with the Supreme Lord in His sublime pleasure dance

COMMENT

What is the sublime pleasure dance? 

Devotee: rāsa dance.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, the rāsa dance.

PURPORT (continued)

Narottama dasa Thakura advises that if one actually wants to enter into the dancing party of Radha-Krishna, he must accept the shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda. Then he says, se sambandha nāhi jā'r —sambandha means relationship. Bṛthā jamna gelo tā'r. sambandha means “connection” or “contact.” Anyone who has not contacted a relationship with Nityananda is understood to have spoiled his human birth.

COMMENT

I just read it. What constitutes, according to what Srila Prabhupada just said, wasting this human birth? 

Devotee 1: [05:54 inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. 

PURPORT (continued)

Anyone who does not make a relationship with Nityananda is simply spoiling the boon of his human form of life. Why is he spoiling it? Sei paśu boro durācār. Sei means “that,” paśu means “animal,”

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada would call people “Animals” if they weren’t Krishna conscious, but he is also following his predecessors, here Narottama dasa Thakura is saying the same thing.

PURPORT (continued)

Sei means “that,” paśu means “animal,” and durācār means “misbehaved” or “the most misbehaved.” Without elevation to Krishna consciousness through the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Nityananda, life is simply spoiled in the animal propensities of sense gratification. Narottama dasa says that ordinary animals can be tamed, but when a human being is animalistic, having only animal propensities, he is most horrible, for he cannot be tamed. Ordinary cats and dogs or even a tiger can be tamed, but when a human being goes out of his way and neglects to take to the human activity of Krishna consciousness, his higher intelligence will simply be misused for animal propensities, and it is very difficult to tame him.

The enactment of state laws cannot make a thief an honest man—because his heart is polluted, he cannot be tamed. Every man sees that a person who commits criminal offenses is punished by the government, and also in scriptural injunctions punishment in hell is mentioned. But despite hearing from scripture and seeing the action of the state laws, the demoniac cannot be tamed.

COMMENT

This is a common experience, that people commit crimes and they may be put in prison, and then when they come out, they commit crime again. Because their hearts have not been purified. This is also discussed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that one may engage in some sort of atonement, and you could say that serving time in jail is a sort of atonement, but unless one’s heart is cleansed, that atonement will not be effective. It is compared to hātī mātā, the bathing of the elephant. The elephant takes a bath and cleanses itself very nicely, and then it comes out and rolls in the dust. But this, taking shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, will cleanse our heart and then we won’t be misbehaved animals. 

PURPORT (continued)

What are they doing? Nitāi nā bolilo mukhe. Since they do not know who Nityananda is, they never say the names of Lord Nityananda and Lord Caitanya. Majilo saṁsāra-sukhe. Majilo means “becomes absorbed.” They become absorbed in so-called material enjoyment. They don’t care who Lord Caitanya and Nityananda are, and therefore they go deep down into material existence. Vidyā-kule ki koribe tār: if one has no connection with Nityananda, and if he does not come to Krishna consciousness, his vidyā, or his so-called academic education, and kula, birth in a high family or great nation, will not protect him. Regardless of whether one is born in a very big family or nation or has a very advanced academic education, at the time of death nature’s law will act, his work will be finished, and he will get another body according to that work.

Why are these human animals acting in this way? Ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā. They have become maddened by a false concept of bodily life, and thus they have forgotten their eternal relationship with Nityananda.

COMMENT

Now I should mention here, as we often do, the importance of association. Because sitting here in this association, it is very easy to identify ourselves as servants of Lord Nityananda, Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya. But once we leave this company, and if our circumstances are such, we become exposed to the association of people who are more or less animals involved in sense gratification. We can be influenced by them, and therefore, we should associate with devotees as much as possible. A real friendship, a real affection should be with devotion. 

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that in the workplace or the students in educational institutions, we have to associate, we can’t avoid it. But Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that we can associate in a polite way, in a formal way, but we should not develop real affectionate relationships with such people. Because if we do, we will be affected by their association and fall down to whatever degree, in whatever subtle or gross way. So it is very important, and I am seeing here there are devotees of many different ages. Damodara, how old are you?

Devotee 2: Eleven

Giriraj Swami: Eleven. Do you have friends who are devotees?

Devotee 2: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. That is a good position to be in. And we are fortunate we have a school for our children. Not everyone will go to a devotee school, but we really need those affectionate relationships with devotees. There are programs we had here a few years ago, the Pandava sena retreat. They had different things for it; TSI, his son got initiated. It is very important that at every stage, children and adults have associations. 

It was very interesting because when I initiated—not initiated, but took part in the Pandava sena retreat that was held here some years ago. I was here, mother Rukmini was here, one devotee named Parthasarathi, who had fought in the middle east, was here, mother Rukmini was here. So many very nice senior devotees were here. But at the end of the retreat, when we asked the youth what was most memorable to them or most significant to them, one of the things that they commonly mentioned was being able to associate with peers, being able to share with them the challenges they faced and hear from them how they dealt with the challenges. I think they went out to some lake, some ways out of town, and it turned out that at the place of that excursion, there was a lot of opening up of young people and that was very significant to them. We talked about association. What does that mean? Rupa Gosvami explains in The Nectar of Instruction:

[NOI 4]

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti

guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati

bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva

ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

Guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati means “Revealing one’s mind in confidence.” It is very important that devotees are able to do that, otherwise, we keep things inside and sometimes they fester and they grow bigger than they really need to do. We need that type of association, guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. We can reveal our mind in confidence, and we also have to be confidential, otherwise, we reveal our mind in confidence and then the next thing we know it is all over Facebook or whatever, all over the town, then we won’t be able to reveal our mind in confidence because we won’t have faith that our confidence is being maintained. It is very important to have that association. 

Coming back to Nitai-pada-kamala, the idea is that we can realize the truth of this song in the association of devotees. And even if we are together now and we have a sense of it, when we get into other association, we can forget it, we can be carried away in a different way. I am saying, sticking to the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda means sticking to the lotus feet of His devotees, Srila Prabhupada’s devotees. 

PURPORT (continued)

Why are these human animals acting in this way? Ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā. They have become maddened by a false concept of bodily life, and thus they have forgotten their eternal relationship with Nityananda. Asatyere satya kori māni: such forgetful persons accept the illusory energy as factual.

COMMENT

Asat means “False, untrue,” and sat means “True or eternal.” Kari māni - they take what is impermanent or false to be true and real, and therefore they pursue those illusory things, they think those things are real. And what is real, the lotus feet of Nityananda, they think is unreal. They have it reversed, backwards. 

PURPORT (continued)

Asatyere satya kori māni: such forgetful persons accept the illusory energy as factual. Asatyere refers to that which is not a fact, or, in other words, maya. Maya means that which has no existence but is a temporary illusion only. Persons who have no contact with Nityananda accept this illusory body as factual. Narottama dasa Thakura then says, nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe: “If you actually want to approach the association of Radha-Krishna, you must achieve the mercy of Lord Nityananda first. When He is merciful toward you, then you will be able to approach Radha-Krishna.”

COMMENT

Which is the aim of the Krishna consciousness movement.

PURPORT (continued)

When He is merciful toward you, then you will be able to approach Radha-Krishna.” Dharo nitāi-caraṇa du'khani.

Narottama dasa advises that one firmly catch the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda. Then again he says, nitai-carana satya.

COMMENT

So, he is saying sat and asat. He is saying here. . .

PURPORT (continued)

nitai-carana satya. One should not misunderstand and think that as he has caught hold of maya, similarly the lotus feet of Nityananda may also be something like that maya, or illusion. Therefore Narottama dasa confirms, nitāi-caraṇa satya: the lotus feet of Nityananda are not illusion; they are a fact. Tāhāra sevaka nitya: and one who engages in the transcendental loving service of Nityananda is also transcendental.

COMMENT

So nitāiyer caraṇa satya, the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are satya, and tāṅhāra sevaka, His servant is nitya, eternal. There is no difference. 

PURPORT (continued)

If one engages in the transcendental loving service of Nityananda in Krishna consciousness, he immediately achieves his transcendental position on the spiritual platform, which is eternal and blissful. Therefore he advises, nitāi-pada sadā koro āśā: always try to catch the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda. Narottama boro dukhī. Narottama dasa Thakura, the acarya, is taking the position that he is very unhappy. Actually, he is representing ourselves. He says, “My dear Lord, I am very unhappy.” Nitāi more koro sukhī: “Therefore I am praying to Lord Nityananda to make me happy.” Rākho rāṅgā caraṇera pāśa: “Please keep me in a corner of Your lotus feet.”

COMMENT

One disciple asked Srila Prabhupada that “Narottama dasa Thakura’s praying, “I am very unhappy, please make me happy,” isn’t that a selfish desire? We are not supposed to pray for our own happiness. And Srila Prabhupada explained that that happiness can be achieved only in spiritual life. So he is actually praying to Lord Nityananda to accept him under His shelter because that will make him happy.

In conclusion, in one talk, Srila Prabhupada summed up this whole philosophy in a few sentences, very striking sentences. He said that in order to approach Radha and Kṛishna, one must get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, and 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. We just been hearing from the Caitanya Bhagavat, the story of how Lord Nityananda delivered Jagai and Madhai. That was what Srila Prabhupada taught us. He did it and he engaged us in doing it. 

There is a very nice devotee in Mumbai named Krishna Candra dasa, very a wonderful devotee, and a big industrialist. He said that he felt everyone should see the videos of Srila Prabhupada when he first came to America. He said, “Without seeing those videos, you cannot imagine the type of people that Srila Prabhupada was mixing with.” I mean, okay, we hear hippies and there is an interview—how many of you saw the Hare Krishna movie? Yes, so there is that interview on television, and he asked Prabhupada, “What is a hippie?” because Prabhupada had said, “We are taking hippies and making them happies.” So he asked, “What is a hippie?” and Srila Prabhupada replied, “That you should know better. Something extraordinary.” [Laughter]. So, how extraordinary were they? You can’t imagine. But Krishna Candra Prabhu was saying that everyone should see those early videos to see what kind of people Srila Prabhupada was mixing with, it was extraordinary. At Tompkins Square Park and Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, he did kirtan at Hippie Hill. 

This is Srila Prabhupada, this is Lord Nityananda and this is our mission. I will just repeat that little sutra that Srila Prabhupada gave that sums up this whole philosophy that in order to approach Radha and Krishna, you must get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. To get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, you must get the mercy of Lord Nityananda. And in order to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, you must approach people like Jagai and Madhai. Approaching people like Jagai Madhai down here ends up with approaching Radha and Krishna.

Hare Krishna.