We are here in Navadvipa-dhama because of ahaituki-kripa, that is the unlimited and causeless mercy of Guru, Vaishnavas & Nityananda Prabhu. For some days we have been doing parikrama, the same as when Nityananda Prabhu had taken Srila Jiva Gosvamipada and performed Navadvipa parikrama. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, in Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya, gives a beautiful description so we can understand the greatness of this dhama, and thus he glorified Navadvipa in this beautiful way. Yesterday we went to Ekachakra, it is a very beautiful place and there we took the darshana of Nityananda Prabhu’s janma-sthali (place of birth). From the lotus mouth of Vaishnavas we have heard all the glories of this place which they heard through our guru-parampara (disciplic succession).
On this very day, Vrajendra-nandana Shyamasundara Himself appeared in this world with Radha’s bhava and Her complexion. In the Chaitanya-bhagavata, it is told that in Dvapara-yuga Krishna comes as the son of Nanda Maharaja. Suta means ‘son’ so therefore nanda–suta means the son of Nanda Maharaja. Vrajendra-nandana Shyamasundara appeared from the womb of mother Saci-devi as her son, and He is known as Sacinandana Gaurahari. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s lila is eternal and Navadvipa-dhama and Vrindavana-dhama are one, this is their greatness. On one side you have Navadvipa-dhama and on the other side you have Vrindavana-dhama. There are no differences between both of these dhamas. A coin has two sides, but both sides are a part of the one coin. In the same way, Gaura-dhama and Vrindavana-dhama are non-different from each other. But for the sake of performing pastimes, we are seeing them in two different forms, audarya-mayi-lila and madhurya-mayi-lila.
There are two types of lilas. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s lila is audarya-lila. What is the meaning of audarya? Magnanimity and munificence. Look how great this lila is, because in it He distributes prema to everybody without any discrimination. This is why these pastimes are audarya-mayi-lila. Madhurya-mayi-lilas are Krishna’s lilas in Vrindavana. The madhurya-mayi-lilas are very beautiful and take place in the eternal Goloka Vrindavana dhama. Krishna Himself is actually always in the nitya-mayi dhama in His gauranga–svarupa (form). But He did not give this darshana to everyone.
What is Bhagavan’s form? His form and His atma, that is, His body and soul, are one. Our body and atma, though, are different from each other. You are looking at my body, but my atma, which is the soul within, is different from my body. So only by performing bhajana can we know our eternal soul.
Mahaprabhu’s lila and Krishna’s lila are one, but have manifested into two forms. The first is audarya-mayi-lila and the second is madhurya-mayi-lila. He takes very beautiful forms. What evidence is given in support of this? Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s eternal svarupa is forever in Goloka Vrindavana. You cannot justify this by simple lip-service, you must have shastra-jnana, evidence from the scriptures that Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself. Is He Krishna Himself or not? This is the question.
Our acharyas have given a very beautiful vichara, consideration and evidence of this. In the eternal Goloka Vrindavana dhama, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s lila is also there. Where? In Nidhuvana. Some people are saying, “Oh, Mahaprabhu’s lila is not in Vrindavana.” But it is not like this. Mahaprabhu’s dhama is included in Vrindavana-dhama. Please remember this. Navadvipa-dhama is included in Vrindavana-dhama. But it is hidden, gupta. In Mahaprabhu’s lilas and dhama you cannot see Gokula Vrindavana in its real form. For example, in Vrindavana you have Shyama-kunda, Radha-kunda and there they are in close proximity, but in Navadvipa dhama they are far away from each other. By performing bhajana and sadhana, on their own these truths will manifest and one will eventually realise them.
If you have performed Navadvipa-dhama parikrama, then you will also attain the fruits of performing Vrindavana parikrama. Because Vrindavana parikrama is included in Navadvipa parikrama. The Yamuna river has four forests on one side and on the other there are five forests. The Ganges river also has four forests on one side and on the other there are five forests. How many are there in total? Nine. Just as in Vrindavana-dhama, there are places such as Khadiravana, Talavana, Nidhuvana and Nikunjavana. And here in Navadvipa, we have visited places like Antardvipa, Yogapitha, and all the places just mentioned are here in Vrindavana also. But we cannot see this because of Yogamaya. When will we be able to see these places? Only by mercy. When Yogamaya removes her spell of illusion, only then we will have the real darshana of the dhama.
Some people are saying Mahaprabhu’s lila is not in Vrindavana, but this is wrong. Because Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also manifested Himself and His whole dhama within Vrindavana. But how did He manifest it there? In a hidden way, gupta (confidential) way.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came for the reason of chanting the holy names and performing this nama-sankirtana yajna.” On Phalguna-purnima, during this month, Mahaprabhu appeared. When Mahaprabhu appeared, what did Yogamaya do? She was hiding in Nidhuvana. Mahaprabhu’s lila is in the spiritual world, in both Vrindavana-dhama and in Navadvipa-dhama. But in Vrindavana, this lila is covered, it is there in a hidden way. In one of the granthas by Srila Vishvanatha Chakravartipada, he very beautifully describes how in Vrindavana, in Nidhuvana, Radhaji Herself is coming with Her sakhis to see Her prana priyatam, Her dearmost Govinda perform these loving pastimes.
After it becomes dark, all of the sakhis are going into their homes. What are Radhika and Krishna then doing in this nikunja (secluded grove where amorous pastimes are taking place)? They are going to take rest there. Their eyes barely stay open, They cannot seem to keep Their eyes open anymore. Why? Because the other evening They had a lot of activities. What did They do? Nitya-gita, eternally, the whole night They were singing and dancing with so much bliss. After this, Radha and Krishna became tired. At that moment Vrinda-devi decorated this beautiful nikunja where Radha and Krishna could take rest.
What were all of the sakhis doing during this time? What were the manjaris doing? They were all there, taking darshana of Radha and Govinda. The manjaris had to make small holes in the nikunja, so they could see Them from the side. Radha and Krishna now were resting, both of Them were in a very deep sleep, unaware of what was happening. Krishna is lila-purushottama and lila-dhari, He always knows what kinds of lilas to perform.
In Vraja, Krishna sleeps. Does Thakuraji ever sleep like Krishna? Only for the sake of performing His lilas, does He sleep. Bhagavan comes in a human-like form and performs His lilas. So it was the middle of the night and Radharani woke up. Then Radhaji awoke Krishna by saying, “O prana priyatam Krishna, wake up! wake up! I had such a dream and in My dream one personality came.” Krishna replied, “O Radhe, tell Me what did he look like? What was the dream like?”
When most people have a bad dream, they wake up very quickly, and if they have a nice dream they go back to sleep for a long time. But our shastras state it should be the complete opposite way. If a bad dream comes at night, you should wake up and then go back to sleep because the inauspiciousness will then go away. What should you do if you have a very good dream? If you have a good dream, then you should wake up. Otherwise how will you know that you just had a good dream? Once you are awake then you will know, “Oh I have seen this dream.” It is very important when you wake up that you do not go back to sleep again.
Also, if you have an auspicious dream, a good dream, do not tell anyone. If you tell someone, the fruits of this dream cannot come true. This is written in our shastras. Svapna-vijnana is knowledge of dreams. If you have a bad dream, wake up and then go to sleep again. But if you have a good dream, then do not go back to sleep. You have to remember this. Do you understand?
So at midnight, Srimati Radhika woke up. Then She woke Her prana priyatam Govinda by saying, “O Krishna! I had this dream.” Krishna then asked, “What kind of dream was it? Good or bad?” Radharani told Krishna, “It was a bad dream, I had a bad dream and I cannot forget it.” Krishna then asked Her, “What kind of bad dream did You see?” Srimati Radhika replied, “I was with someone else instead of You.” In our shastras, scriptures, it is written that if a chaste lady sees another man in her dream, then it is bad.
For example, if a woman has a dream that they are walking with another man, it is a bad dream. And if they dream of their husband, then it is a good dream. So Srimati Radhika told, “In My dream I had darshana, I saw another man.” Her mind became very disturbed.
So Radhaji said, “I have had a bad dream. So what can I do but tell You about it?” Krishna said, “Ok, what kind of bad dream did You have? Tell Me.” Radhaji told, “My prana priyatam Govinda, in My dream there was a very beautiful brahmana. This very beautiful brahmana’s hands came to his knees. He had very long arms and he had such a beautiful complexion. I saw a brahmana like this, and not only this, he was singing, ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare’.
“He was very beautiful, just like a divine personality. I can not forget him. He had very large beautiful eyes and a very beautiful nose. His hands and feet were also very beautiful. His form had a golden complexion (tapta kanchana) emanating a golden glow from his body. In twelve places he had tilaka. This beautiful person was walking, his head was shaved. He was walking and from his eyes tears were flowing. His two arms were in the air as he was chanting, ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.’
“When I saw this brahmana I became a little scared.” Srimati Radhika continued, “O, I have dreamt about another person. This brahmana was dancing and chanting ‘Hare Krishna’ with very high and ecstatic moods. When this brahmana said, ‘Hare’, I was thinking he was calling Me. Tell Me please, who is this brahmana and why has he appeared in My dream? Hey Govinda, hey prana priyatam, O, besides You I have not even thought of another person in My life before.”
Krishna listened to this katha and said, “Did You see something more?” Radhaji said, “This brahmana, when he was chanting, ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare’, he began to dance.”
Krishna asked, “How did You know He was a brahmana? She replied, “In his lap, he had his kanthimala and a brahmanical thread which was very pure.”
Krishna then said, “What else did he have?” Srimati Radhika told Krishna, “A shikha on his head. Sometimes while he was chanting this maha-mantra I saw that he is none other than You and I combined. I saw Radha and Krishna as one person. I saw him chanting as Radha and Krishna, as one. That brahmana was very beautiful.” Krishna heard this katha from Srimati Radhika and said, “O Radhe! You are My dearmost. Who You saw is not just an ordinary person. This brahmana which You saw is none other than Me.” Then Radhaji said, “O, how did You take sannyasa? And how did You have such a large form?” Krishna said, “O Radhe! I have unlimited forms. You only see My form as Krishna in My Vrindavana-dhama darshana. But besides this form, there are unlimited forms and unlimited dhamas also, ananta-rupa.” Then Radhaji said, “How can this be? Ananta-rupa, ananta-svarupa?” Then Krishna Himself showed Her all of His forms. Just as Krishna had shown Arjuna His universal form, Krishna showed His svarupas (unlimited forms) to Radharani. And what did He do? He also showed His gauranga–svarupa.
What is this gauranga–svarupa darshana that Radharani saw? The gauranga–svarupa is very beautiful. If somebody just once has darshana of Gauranga’s svarupa then all of his wishes will be fulfilled. In this way Krishna manifested His Matsya, Kurma and Varaha incarnations and also all of His other incarnations. Then after each incarnation manifested Radhaji said, “This is not the svarupa.” At the end Krishna manifested His gauranga–svarupa and Radhaji said, “Yes, this is the svarupa I took darshana of in My dream.” The svarupa was very beautiful with very long arms.
ājānu-lambita-bhujau kanakāvadātau saṅkīrtanaika-pitarau kamalāyatākṣau viśvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-pālau vande jagat priya-karau karuṇāvatārau
Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila 17.108)
[He has arms that extend to His knees, and His eyes are like the petals of a lotus. In His person are all the transcendental symptoms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]
In this form He is giving this karuna, this mercy to all living entities. Krishna has a very beautiful form but when Radharani saw the svarupa of the extraordinarily beautiful form of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu She said, “Yes, this is the svarupa I saw in My dream.”
Radharani asked, “How can You take sannyasa? Because taking sannyasa means You are detached from everything. But You are not. I do not know what You are doing with all of the gopis in the rasa-lila…”
Radharani continued, “How can You be that sannyasi? Look, Your complexion is blackish, but the brahmana has a golden complexion, tapta kanchana gauranga.” Krishna told, “O Radhe! In these transcendental pastimes in Vrindavana-dhama, everything has chetana, consciousness, and I took Your complexion and Your mood and I appeared in the material world. During one day of the life span of Brahma, I take this gauranga–svarupa and appear in the material world and You all have to come with Me. In this gauranga–svarupa, You will all come with Me to distribute this love to all the living entities.” Radhaji then said, “No, I will not go. My Giriraja Govardhana is not there, Radha-kunda, Shyama-kunda are not there, I will not go to that place.” So then Krishna told, “Hey Radhe, for You especially I will also manifest this Vrindavana-dhama.”
In this way Krishna manifested His aprakrita, transcendental Vrindavana-dhama and came with all of His associates like Gadadhara Pandita and Srivasa Thakura. Why am I saying this? In the same way you are now seeing Mahaprabhu’s rupa, in aprakrita, transcendental Goloka Vrindavana dhama, Mahaprabhu’s svarupa is also there. Just like in Vrindavana, Krishna’s darshana is there. When Krishna comes to this material world we have the same darshana present as in the nitya Goloka Vrindavana. In the eternal abode and in bhagavad–vastu you cannot achieve transcendental knowledge with material knowledge. You can only realise this through bhajana and sadhana and from this realisation one can have true darshana. This is why in Vrindavana Krishna Himself showed the forms of Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, etc. He showed all these unlimited incarnations.
Still, some big panditas are saying, “By doing Vrindavana parikrama you can only attain the fruits of Vrindavana parikrama, but not the fruits if one were to perform Navadvipa-dhama parikrama.” But this is not the way, because dhamas are chin-mayi, they are transcendental, Navadvipa is also in Vrindavana’s presence.
Lilas are very vast in nature just like the reflection of a banyan tree. In this bhagavat–lila you can not have Krishna’s darshana with material senses. You need anubhava, you need transcendental realisations in your heart to have Krishna’s darshana.
Returning to the story, Radha had darshana of Krishna’s unlimited forms, like Matsya, Kurma and Varaha avataras. After seeing all of these forms, She saw His gauranga–svarupa and then hearing Krishna’s explanation, She said, “I do not want to go to the material world.” How did Krishna reply to Her? He said, “Oh, by Yogamaya I will manifest everything there. You have to come during this Kali-yuga to preach nama-sankirtana and to deliver all of the living entities.” Then Radhaji said, “Where Giriraja Govardhana is not present and where Radha-kunda, Shyama-kunda are not present, there I will not go.” So Krishna by His Yogamaya manifested the entire dhama, that is Radha-kunda, Shyama-kunda and Giriraja Govardhana. He manifested everything. What is this place where we are now sitting? We are sitting in the lap of Giriraja Govardhana, the valley of Giriraja Govardhana. And where is Radha-kunda? The other day we went to visit this place.
How is this possible? What is the dhama actually? It is just like a lotus, sometimes it will close and sometimes open. The lotus flower opens with the moon’s rays and closes with the sun’s rays. In this way sometimes when we are looking at the dhama it is open and sometimes it is also closed, becoming smaller. So Radhaji did not want to come. But Krishna told, “O Radhe, You have to come and I will manifest this same Vrindavana-dhama.” So, what did Krishna do?
By the wish of Srimati Radhika, He manifested all of Vrindavana-dhama in Navadvipa. Mathura, Vrindavana, Nandagaon, Varshana, Ter-kadamba; He manifested all of these holy places in Navadvipa. When Radhaji saw this She was very pleased. Then what did She do? She came in the form of Gadadhara Pandita. Radhaji came as Gadadhara Pandita, and who was Svarupa Damodara? Lalita-sakhi. Similarly, all of His associates came and Krishna Himself came in the form of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and distributed this prema to everybody. In this way the evidence is given that Mahaprabhu is also in Vrindavana.
Inside Krishna there is Mahaprabhu and inside Mahaprabhu there is also Krishna. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada said, “Krishna is Mahaprabhu and Mahaprabhu is also Krishna.” The evidence given supports this; Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu manifested all of His associates in various places and He appeared in Mayapura. The other day we went there, where Mahaprabhu’s janma-lila took place, it is such a beautiful place where He enacted His birth pastimes. It was a very beautiful place, but that place became hidden and then captured by Muslim people. So, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura took Sri Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja and confirmed the location of that birthplace again. Afterwards, through the efforts of Srila Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja and his associates, that place was recovered and re-established as the birthplace of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Date: 02 March 2018 Location: Navadvipa
Transcriber: Sanatana dasa (USA) Editor: Damodara dasa (UK), Sanatana dasa (USA) Integrity check: Divya-premamayi dasi (Slovakia) Proofreader: Chandrika dasi (UK) Image: Ananda-svarupini dasi (Poland)
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