After so many years I have got the opportunity to come to Ludhiana. In 1972, Sri Narendra Ka-poor (Narahari Dasadhikari), father of Sri Rakesh Kapoor, brought our Gurudev here for the first time. From 1972 to 1978 our Gurudev used to come here every year. He used to give dis-courses here. That time also Nagar-Sankirtan used to start from here. In his remembrance, we continue to start Nagar-Sankirtan from here only.
Today is a very special and an auspicious Tithi, the appearance day of Nityanand Prabhu who is non-different from Baladeva. Today is fasting and there will be a feast tomorrow. One should observe fast on the appearance day of Vishnu-avataras. We take fruits and other things which are allowed in fasting but not rice, wheat or any kind of grains. They are prohibited on Ekadashi and other fasting days. Though one can accept things which are allowed during fasting, in a lit-tle quantity. Such observances of vows is only for us, there is no fasting for the Lord. He must be offered full meal like the other days. When I come here, I get the opportunity to speak in Hindi but my Hindi is not that fluent. I cannot speak in Punjabi but I understand a little bit (Guruji is speaking a few words in Punjabi!!). Though I speak in Hindi, my accent is Bengali, you will have to listen attentively.
Sri Nityanand Prabhu, the redeemer of fallen souls, appeared in Ekachakra Dham, which is near Bolpur in Virabhum district, West Bengal. This place also has connection with Mahabharata. He appeared accepting Hadai Pandit and Padmavati Devi as His parents in a top class Brahmin family.
Sri Baladeva was Lakshman, the younger brother of Rama, in the pastimes of Lord Ra-ma. As a younger brother, He always had to abide by the orders of Rama and because of that He was not able to serve Him as per His desires. He was unhappy for that. He thought that it would have been better if He has the position of an elder brother so that He can serve Him as per His desires. And therefore in Krishna-lila, He appeared as Baladeva, the elder brother of Krishna. As an elder brother, He controlled Krishna.
Nityanand Prabhu is non-different from Baladeva. Narottam Thakur, an acharya in our lineage has written his kirtan,
vrajendranandan jei
śacī -suta hailo sei,
balarāma hailo nitāi
dīna-hīna jata chilo
hari-nāme uddhārilo, ,
tāra śākṣī jagāi mādhāi
Who is Vrajendranandan? He is the son of the king of the Vraja (Nand Maharaj)—Sri Krishna, the Supreme Lord. After narrating about all the avataras in Srimad Bhagavatam, Vedavyas Mu-ni writes,
ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ
kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.28)
After writing about the pastimes of Lord Rama, Narsimha etc., Vedavyas Muni writes, “They all are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but no one is equal to Krishna. kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam—Krishna is the Original Supreme Lord.”
Krishna is the reservoir of all mellows. All the twelve mellows are present in Him in their complete form.
When we visited Mathura, the Birth place of Lord Krishna, we had darsan of Rangeshwar Mahadev there. Near to Rangeshwar Mahadev there is Rangalaya. When Kamsa came to know that Krishna, the son of Nand Maharaj, is destined to kill him, he played a trick to kill Him and Balaram. Vrajavasis like wrestling, so he arranged a wrestling competition and in-vited Krishna and Balaram to take part in it. He invited all the Vrajavasis to witness the compe-tition. To kill Krishna-Baladev, he got a mad elephant named Kuvlapith. Kamsa thought the ele-phant would kill Them and the blame will not come on him. He also had an alternative plan, in case the elephant cannot kill Them then Chanura-Mushtika, the powerful wrestlers, would chal-lenge both of Them for wrestling and would kill them. Externally, Krishna-Balaram looked like small children, so Kamsa thought his wrestlers would kill Them easily in wrestling and so no one would blame him. He sent Akrura, the only friend he had who belonged to Yadu dynasty, to in-vite Krishna-Balarama, Nanda Maharaj and other Vrajavasis.
Krishna-Balaram arrived in Mathura. On Their way, they delivered Kubja, the hunch-backed woman. They arrived at the arena where a wrestling match was arranged for Them. The elephant trainer was waiting for Them at the gate. He sent the intoxicated elephant to-wards Krishna to kill Him. The elephant obstructed the path of Krishna-Balaram and attacked Them. In response to which, Krishna caught hold of its trunk and hurled it in the air and killed the elephant. Though externally Krishna looked like a small boy, He is All Powerful. He is Infi-nite, the limitless.
We visit Brahmanda-ghat, in Gokul Mahavan. Why is that place called Brahmanda-ghat? A child, whatever he sees, he puts that in his mouth. There, in Brahmanda-ghat, Krishna, the little child, performs the pastime of eating clay. By seeing Him doing so, all the cowherd boys go to Yasoda Devi and complain, “O dear Mother, Krishna is eating clay”.
“Huttt.. He cannot eat clay. If He does so, He will get stomach disease, I do not believe you. You have got no knowledge. I will ask His elder brother Balaram.”
When asked by mother Yasoda, Balaram responded, “Yes.. Yes.. Krishna has eaten clay.”
Listening the same from Balaram, mother Yasoda approached Krishna angrily. She saw that Krishna has something in His mouth. She angrily said, “You do not have the knowledge. If you eat this, it will harm You; it will create insects in Your stomach; do not You know this? I shall give You a slap.”
Krishna gets frightened and opens His mouth, Yasoda Devi beholds the whole universe in the small mouth of the child. How does the whole universe appear in the mouth of the little boy? How does it enter into Him? She saw mountains, rivers and everything inside the mouth of the small boy. He is Supreme Lord and His powers are inconceivable. Rabindranath Tagore said, simara madhye asim tumi—You are Infinite within the finite. Externally He looks like finite but He is Infinite. But so called gyanis (dry speculators) cannot understand this. He has inconceiva-ble powers.
avatārāvalī-bījaṁ
hatāri-gati-dāyakaḥ
ātmārāma-gaṇākarṣīty
amī kṛṣṇe kilādbhutāḥ
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 23.81)
“He is the original source of all avataras; He bestows salvation to one who is killed by Him, and He attracts even the persons who are satisfied in themselves. All these qualities are wonderfully present in Krishna. Not only one, He can show Infinite Brahmandas in His mouth.”
When all the Gopis complain against Krishna saying that He goes to their houses and steals but-ter, curd, milk etc., Yashoda Devi asks Him, “Have You done so? “
“No, no, they are speaking lies.”
But once Yashoda Devi herself personally witnesses Krishna stealing milk items from the house of one Gopi. She thinks if she will not do anything to Him then He will get out of her control. So she decides to punish Him. She thinks, “What should I do? He is so wicked and naughty. How should I punish Him?”
Something strikes her and she decides to bind Krishna with a rope. She immediately brings a rope and starts binding the small belly of Krishna with it, but she finds the rope to be two fingers short. She brings another rope and joins it to the first one and again tries to bind Him, but it again turns out two fingers short. She collects all the ropes of Gokul Mahavan and joins them together but in spite of doing so she could not tie it around the small belly of Gopal. It always turns out two fingers less, what is this? Yashoda Devi gets tired of doing so much en-deavoring. She is surprised. But today she has made up her mind to fasten Him. She is tired and sweating heavily. All the flowers from her hair fall on the ground. Other Gopis are laughing, witnessing her unsuccessful efforts to fasten the small child.
Realizing the tiredness of His mother and her strong desire to fasten Him, Krishna thinks Himself that if I accept her binding then she will be satisfied. Subdued by motherly affec-tion, He accepts to be tied up by the first rope she had brought! How does this happen? Earlier, every time she added a rope, it was two fingers short; not one finger or three fingers or four fingers. What do these two fingers represent? One is Supreme Lord’s grace without which no-body can bind Him and the other is the sincere effort of the aspirant to attract His grace. So both of them are required; His grace and our desire to serve Guru, Vaishnava and Bhagavan without any deceitfulness. The mother is tired but she has not given up her endeavor and ulti-mately Krishna accepts her bindings.
(Now coming back to the main topic) Karbhajan Muni spoke to Nimi Maharaj; this comes in Srimad Bhagavatam, about the Holy Divine Advent of the Supreme Lord in this Kaliyu-ga,
kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.32)
“He Who is always devoted to uttering the two syllables ‘kṛ’ and ‘ṣṇa’ and by that is devotional-ly inclined to search for Krishna; Whose essential parts are Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Advaita Acharya; Whose accessory limbs are His sheltered devotees—Srivas Pandit etc.; Whose weapon is Harinam—the Holy Name; Whose personal and most dear associates are Sri Gada-dhar Pandit, Swarup Damodar, Ray Ramananda, Sanatan, Rupa etc.; Whose charming colour is akrishna—signifying the golden colour of that very Gaura Sundara—inside Krishna and outside Gaura, the effulgence of the combined manifestation of Radha Krishna; will be worshipped by highly talented persons in this Kaliyuga by means of sankirtan-yagya.”
When Gargacharya goes to Nand-bhavan for the naming ceremony of Krishna, He tells Nanda Maharaj, “Your child has already appeared previously in three different complexions. Now in Dvaparyuga, He has come with dark complexion. And in Kali-yuga, He comes with yel-low complexion.”
In Srimad Bhagavatam, the proof is there in this regard. You will find the proof in so many scriptures.
Nityanand Prabhu is Balaram Himself. Balaram is non-different from Krishna. He has taken the mood of a devotee and is serving the Lord teaching us on how to serve Him. Balaram acts as Guru. Ontologically, He is non-different from Krishna but He acts as Guru to teach us. Ontologically, Nityanand Prabhu is Guru but in Gaura-lila, He accepts the mood of a devotee. Krishna also takes the mood of Radharani, the mood of a devotee and came as Gauranga Ma-haprabhu. He is antar krishna, bahir gaur—from within He is Krishna Himself and out-side He is Gaura. He appears in this very Kaliyuga of Vaivasvata Manvantar by taking the form and mood of worship of Radharani, principally to taste the sweetness of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna that Radharani relishes all the time by worshiping Him constantly. He desires to experi-ence the attraction, taste and the ecstatic feelings that manifests in Radharani out of Her Love for Him. And to do so, He takes Her mood and appears as Gauranga Mahaprabhu in this special 28th Kali-yuga of this Vaivasvata Manvantar.
Kali-yuga has the duration of four million, three hundred thousand years. Double the span of Kali-yuga is the span of Dvapar-yuga. Triple the span of Kali-yuga is Treta-yuga. And four times the span of Kali-yuga is span of Satya-yuga. And seventy one such Chatur-yuga is the life span of one Manu and fourteen such Manu’s life span is one day of Brahma and also same is his night. In the Dvapara-yuga of this seventh Manvantar, Krishna Himself appears, and in the Kali-yuga which follows this Dvapara-yuga, He comes as Gauranga Mahaprabhu.
In Chaitanya Charitamrita, it is written there that Mahaprabhu declares,
yuga-dharma pravartāimu nāma-saṅkīrtana
cāri bhāva-bhakti diyā nācāmu bhuvana
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 3.19)
“I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age, Nama-sankirtan (congregational chanting of the Holy Name). I shall make the world dance in ecstasy, making them experience the loving devotional service in any of the four mellows—dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya.”
Krishna says,
yuga-dharma-pravartana haya aṁśa haite
āmā binā anye nāre vraja-prema dite
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 3.26)
“My plenary portion, Vishnu also can establish the principles of religion for each age (Yuga Dharma). But No one other than Me, however, can bestow Vraja-prem, the loving service per-formed by the residents of Vraja.”
aṣṭāviṁśa catur-yuge dvāparera śeṣe
vrajera sahite haya kṛṣṇera prakāśe
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 3.10)
“At the end of the Dvapara-yuga of the twenty-eighth Divya-yuga, Lord Krishna appears on the earth with the full paraphernalia of His eternal Vraja-dhama.”
chira-kāla nāhi kari prema-bhakti dāna
bhakti binā jagatera nāhi avasthāna
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 3.14)
“For a long time I have not bestowed the unalloyed loving service to Me upon the inhabitants of the world. Without such loving attachment, the existence of the material world is useless.”
‘Chira-kala’—for a long time. Mahaprabhu appears once in a day of Brahma to distribute the Divine Love for Sri Krishna. We cannot even think about the duration of one day of Brahma. Therefore Mahaprabhu utters the word, chira-kala—long time.
He further says,
sakala jagate more kare vidhi-bhakti
vidhi-bhaktye vraja-bhāva paite nāhi śakti
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 3.15)
“Everywhere in the world people worship Me with reverence (vaidhi-bhakti) following the rules and regulations prescribed in scriptures. But simply by following such rules and regu-lations one cannot attain the loving service mood of Vraja-vasis.”
By worshiping Supreme Lord with spiritual injunctions, one can get the service of Lax-mi-Narayan but not the loving service of Nandnandan Krishna. One can get Nandnandan Krish-na only by spontaneous loving devotion. So in this special Kali-yuga of Vaivasvata Manvantar, Gauranga Mahaprabhu appears by taking the mood and bodily lustre of Radharani, principally to taste the sweetness of the Supreme Lord Krishna that She experiences in His service. We are very fortunate to have taken birth in this special Kali-yuga in which Nandnandan Krishna Him-self appears as Gauranga Mahaprabhu to distribute the Divine Love which is rare to attain.
Srila Rupa Goswami writes,
anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalua
samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam
hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ
sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ śacī-nandanaḥ
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 1.4)
“May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Srimati Sachi Devi be transcendentally situ-ated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what none of the avataras have ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mel-low of conjugal love.”
So Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu distributes the Divine Love which none of the other ava-taras have ever offered.
namo mahā-vādānyāya
kṛṣṇa-prema pradāya te,
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ
Lord Sri Gauranga is Mahavadanyayathe Most Magnanimous. And Lord Nityanand Who is Balaram Himself is non-different manifestation of Lord Sri Gauranga only. Balaram-tattva is not ordinary Tattva. Sri Baladeva—the original Sankarshana (Mula-Sankarshan), has the form of a cowherd boy in Vraja and that of a kshatriya in Puri (Dvarakapuri). Sankarshana of the first catur-vyuha (quadruple expansion) in Dvaraka is an amsha-avatara of Mula-Sankarshana (cow-herd Baladeva). Sankarshana, who is in the second catur-vyuha of Narayana in Vaikuntha, is Maha-Sankarshana—an amsha-avatara of Mula-Sankarshana in the form of a kshatriya belong-ing to the first catur-vyuha in Dvaraka. Karanodakashayi Maha-Vishnu, the first Purusha-avatara, is the amsha-avatara of Maha-Sankarshana and the Supersoul of Maya-Prakriti. Kar-anodakashayi Maha-Vishnu’s expansion as Garbhodakashayi Vishnu—the second purusha-avatara (Pradyumna), enters into all the universes. Garbhodakashayi Vishnu’s expanded form is the third purusha-avatara—Sri Kshirodakashayi Vishnu in the form of Aniruddha who is the in-dwelling Super soul of the individual universes, as well as the individual living beings. It is Sri Kshirodakashayi Vishnu, who, upon being prayed to by the demigods, appears millennium after millennium to annihilate the miscreants, to deliver the pious and to re-establish the principles of religion. Sri Kshirodakashayi Vishnu’s expanded form (amsha-avatara) is Shesh—Anantadeva. In his explanation of Nityananda-tattva, Sri Krishna Das Kaviraja Goswami has explained Sri Baladeva-tattva in this way. Sri Baladeva is non- different from Nityananda-tattva:
saṅkarṣaṇaḥ kāraṇa-toya-śāyī garbhoda-śāyī ca
payobdhi-śāyī śeṣaś ca yasyāṁśa-kalāḥ sa
nityā-nandākhya-rāmaḥ śaraṇaṁ mamāstu
(Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi 1.7 & 5.7)
“May Sri Nityananda Ram be the object of my constant remembrance. Sakarshana, Shesh, Kar-anodakashayi Vishnu, Garbhodakashayi Vishnu and Kshirodakashayi Vishnu are His plenary por-tions and the portions of His plenary portions.”
Nityanand Prabhu appeared in this world twelve years before Lord Gauranga’s advent. When at the time of Lord Gauranga’s advent, Nityanand Prabhu started roaring (hunkara) to make everyone know that the Lord is appearing. He then enacted the pastimes of visiting dif-ferent pilgrim places and went to Vrindavan. There He started looking for His younger brother. He searched for Krishna throughout the Vraja Dham but He could not find Him. He felt intense separation from Him. He is asking everyone about His younger brother. There He came to know that Krishna has appeared in Navdvipa Dham. He became anxious and immediately came to Navdvipa. After going there, He did not go directly to Lord Gauranga. He wanted to see wheth-er the Lord has love for Him or not. He hid Himself in Nandan Acharya Bhavan. What to speak of the great fortune of Nandan Acharya as Lord Balaram Himself has come there. Nandan Acharya is serving the Lord. Sri Vrindavan Das Thakur writes,
ājānu-lambita-bhujau kanakāvadatau
saṅkīrtanaika-pitarau kamalāyatakṣau
visvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-pālau
vande jagat priya-karau karuṇāvatārau
(Chaitanya Bhagavata Adi 1.1)
The form of the Lord is very beautiful with lotus like eyes and hands stretching to His knees. His bodily complexion resembled that of molten gold. Sri Nityananda Prabhu is the ‘Ashraya Vigra-ha’. His bodily features resembled exactly that of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Both of them preached the religion of Sankirtan (singing and chanting the Holy Names of the Lord). His eyes were of the shape of lotus petals. Vishvambhar or Gauranga Mahaprabhu was a Brahmin by birth and so also Nityananda Prabhu. In Krishna-lila, the Supreme Lord is in the mellow of Madhurya (conjugal love) but here in Gaura-lila, that same Supreme Lord is in the mellow of Audarya (munificence). The yuga-dharma for Kali-yuga is Harinama Sankirtan (singing and chanting the Holy Names of the Lord). The Supreme Lord Himself is the preacher of such dhar-ma in Kali-yuga. The Supreme Lord is the maintainer and the protector of the yuga-dharma and He is also the supreme well-wisher of the living entities. Gauranga Mahaprabhu is like the sun and Sri Nityananda Prabhu is like the moon. It is exactly like the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna who is like the sun and Baladeva like the moon. He is called ‘Karuna-avatara’ (mercy personified) and had bestowed Divine Love to each and every living entity. There is one Kirtan which you have not sung here,
nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭi-candra-suśītala
je chāyāy jagata jurāy
“The lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are a shelter where one will get the soothing moonlight not only of one, but of millions of moons. If the world wants to have real peace, it should take the shelter of Lord Nityananda.”
heno nitāi bine bhāi, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi
dṛḍha kori’ dharo nitāir pāy
“Unless one takes shelter under the shade of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, it is not possible for him to attain Radha-Krishna. For that he must firmly catch hold of the lotus feet of Lord Nit-yananda.”
Actually one can never receive the service of Sri Radha Krishna by ignoring Nityananda Prabhu. Who shall give us devotion? Sri Nityananda Prabhu will give us the devotion which will make us eligible to have the audience of Sri Radha Krishna. Without the grace of Sri Nityananda Prabhu we will not be able to realize nor see Sri Radha Krishna. Without the grace of Dauji (Baladeva), one will not be able to achieve the service of Sri Krishna. Likewise, without the grace of Nityananda Prabhu, one will not be able to attract the grace of Gauranga Mahaprab-hu.
se sambandha nāhi jā’r, vṛthā janma gelo tā’r sei paśu boro durācār
nitāi nā bolilo mukhe, majilo saḿsāra-sukhe vidyā-kule ki koribe tār
“Anyone who has not established his relationship with Nityananda Prabhu is understood to have spoiled his valuable human birth. Such a human being is actually an uncontrollable animal. Be-cause he never uttered the holy name of Nityananda, he has become merged into the so-called material happiness. What can his useless education and family traditions do to help him?”
We human beings generally think that we will become happy if we get worldly benedic-tions like lots of money, beautiful wife, nice progeny (son), good education etc. But in reality such sort of happiness is only a temporary illusion and not real happiness at all. It is something like a mirage in a desert. When the sun shines on the hot sand of a desert, it gives the optical illusion of the presence of a water body. Being in illusion, the living being moves forward and forward towards the so-called water-body which keeps on receding back and back. In actuality there is no water-body but only an illusion which makes the sand appear to be a water-body. One will be able to quench his thirst only by drinking water but in a desert when one sees the optical illusion of a water-body and keeps on running after it, his thirst will not be quenched. So the living being keeps on running after happiness in despair but gets frustrated. Where will he find happiness? He should just do a round-about turn towards the Supreme Lord. When one be-comes averse to the Supreme Lord, the illusory energy of the Lord called ‘maya’ envelops him. The meaning of the word ‘Ma’+’Ya’ is ‘not that’.
The Supreme Lord is purna sad-chid-ananda (full eternity, full knowledge and full bliss). When one forgets the Supreme Lord, he will face asad (non-eternity, unhappiness etc.). Though it looks like sad-chid-ananda but it is exactly the opposite. This world is devoid of knowledge though it appears to be full of knowledge. If someone wants to get entrapped in this world then he will always be in want of happiness and knowledge. If someone wants bliss he will have to submit to Sri Krishna who is also called ‘raso-vaisah’—bliss personified. The Supreme Lord Krishna is ‘rasa personified’ or the personification of bliss.
In the Western countries there is a phrase which says “The Absolute is for itself and by itself.” But we do not call Him as the ‘it God’ but we call Him as the ‘He God’, the masculine part of Godhead. The Supreme Lord doesn’t remain for anybody. The Absolute is for Himself and by Himself. He is All-powerful. So the Supreme Lord, who is bliss personified, is all-powerful and all-knowledge in full. Only by the grace of bliss can one get bliss. We make the first mistake by trying to acquire bliss by means of our own efforts. When we try to get happiness by our own efforts we come in contact with maya, the illusory energy of the Lord, which only gives us mis-eries. But the Supreme Lord, who is bliss personified, is All-powerful and cannot be attained forcefully. Ananda or bliss which is the Supreme Lord Himself can take the initiative. On-ly by the grace of ananda or bliss can one get bliss, not otherwise. We commit a Himala-yan blunder when we think that ananda or bliss is subservient to us and we can get it by means of our own efforts. We commit a Himalayan blunder by thinking like this. We should not think that bliss is subservient to us. It is never possible.
Anu-chetan or an infinitesimal particle of consciousness resides in the body of a living entity and this is the reason one has love for the body. When that particle of conscious-ness leaves the body, does anybody love the dead body? Even one loves a parrot since it can talk and can give some happiness. But when it dies, its body is thrown away. Anu-sad-chid-ananda, or the soul, is different from the body but still it gives happiness. When that anu-sad-chid-ananda or minute particle of consciousness leaves the body, the dead body doesn’t give bliss to anybody. One should turn towards vibhu-chetan which is the cause of such infinite anu-chetan. One should try to attain Krishna-prema. Sri Chaitanya Ma-haprabhu had come along with Nityananda Prabhu to distribute Krishna-prema (Divine Love for Sri Krishna) to the conditioned souls of this world. Mahaprabhu had come to distribute Krishna-prema, which is loving Krishna in the mood of a lover (Madhurya-rasa) to all the living beings irrespective of their caste, creed, gender, religion and eligibility. The two Lords (Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu) rescued even great sinners like Jagadananda Bandopadhyay and Madhavananda Bandopadhyay. Before performing this pastime, Mahaprabhu had ordered Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Haridas Thakur like this,
shuna shuna nityananda! shuna haridasa!
sarvatra amara ajna karaha prakasha
“Listen, listen, Nityananda! Listen, Haridasa! Make My command known everywhere!”
Creator Brahma appeared as Haridas Thakur in Gaura Lila. In Krishna Lila, Brahma played the pastimes of stealing the cows and cowherd boyfriends of Krishna and in order not to get infatuated again by pride, creator Brahma appeared in a low caste Muslim family in Gaura Lila. He was a sincere devotee who used to chant three lakh Harinama daily.
Mahaprabhu ordered Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Haridas Prabhu to preach His or-der everywhere.
prati ghare ghare giya koro ei bhiksa
bolo `krsna’, bhajo krsna, koro krsna-siksa
“Go from house to house and beg from all the residents, ‘Please chant Krishna’s name, worship Krishna, and teach others to follow Krishna’s instructions’.”
He told both of them that they should themselves chant the Holy Names of the Lord. They should make others chant the Holy Names and then at the end of the day they should in-form Him of what they had preached. Accepting the orders of Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakur went and preached door to door where they faced the most sinful and dan-gerous Jagai and Madhai. All the people warned them not to approach the two brothers. But in spite of being warned they approached Jagai and Madhai. Nityananda Prabhu spoke to them of Mahaprabhu’s order to worship Krishna and chant His Names. This enraged the brothers very much and out of anger they chased Nityananda and Haridas. Nityananda Prabhu ran away quickly on being chased. He was younger in age compared to Haridas Thakur who was much older than Him and couldn’t run fast due to his advanced age. All these are pastimes. Then Haridas Thakur went to Mahaprabhu and complained to Him about the incident. He told Ma-haprabhu that Nityananda Prabhu is mad since He went to preach to the two dacoits who chased them and that he was somehow able to run away with his life. He then told Mahaprabhu that he will not go out to preach with Nityananda Prabhu again. Nityananda Prabhu told that he has come to rescue all including the greatest sinners. Unless sinners are rescued how will the fame of Mahaprabhu be spread far and wide? Later Nityananda Prabhu went out to preach alone where He met those two brats and again said to them, “prabhu r adeshe mora magiya ei bhiksha, bolo krishna, bhaja krishna, kara krishna shiksha”—by the order of Mahaprabhu, I beg you both to utter the Name Krishna, worship Him and accept the teachings of Krishna. On hear-ing this both the brothers became very angry and one of them, namely Madhai, violently at-tacked Nityananda Prabhu. He threw a big mud pot towards Nityananda Prabhu, which struck His head and He started bleeding. But the elder brother desisted Madhai from further attacking him. In spite of being severely wounded, Nityananda Prabhu still kept on asking the brothers to chant the Names of Krishna. The news of Nityananda being brutally attacked by the brothers reached Mahaprabhu who rushed to the spot immediately.
In His pastimes as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, the Lord was determined to never take up weapons unlike His pastimes as Rama or Krishna where He killed demons. In this pastime Ma-haprabhu was set for killing the demonic attitude in the living beings. But on seeing Nityananda attacked brutally, He called for His disc weapon Sudarshan Chakra by calling—‘chakra, chak-ra…’ The disc weapon arrived immediately on being summoned by Mahaprabhu. On seeing the disc weapon being summoned to kill the brothers, Nityananda Prabhu rushed to Mahaprabhu and fell at His feet requesting Him to call back His disc weapon. By the request of Nityananda Prabhu, Mahaprabhu forgave Jagai since He tried to save Nityananda Prabhu. Madhai was however rescued by Nityananda Prabhu since he committed offence at His feet. Though Jagai and Madhai were big sinners and committed many crimes they never criticized Vishnu and the Vaishnavas. One should not commit offences at the lotus feet of Sadhus and Vaishnavas by criti-cizing them. Once Nityananda Prabhu also got angry at a person who committed offence at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava. The person was Ramachandra Khan, a landlord who sent a prostitute to Haridas Thakur to defame him. But in turn the prostitute was herself liberated by Haridas Thakur.
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