Once Srila Prabhupada, on this holy day of Nityananda trayodashi, he spoke to us about glories of Sri Nityananda prabhu and he began by singing a beautiful song by Srila Lochan Das Thakur:
parama koruna, pahū dui jana
nitāi gauracandra
saba avatāra-sāra śiromani
kevala ānanda-kanda
bhajo bhajo bhāi, caitanya nitāi
sudriha biśwāsa kori
visaya chādiyā, se rase majiyā,
mukhe bolo hari hari
Why are Nitai Gaur Chandra called Param Karuna?
Nitai Gaur Chandra; these two brothers, they are parama Karuna. They are supremely merciful. And why are they so merciful, because they are the essence of all the avtaars. They are the crown jewels of all the incarnations of Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because they are distributing pure love of Krishna, indiscriminately for everyone and they have made the process so joyful and so easy.
Kewala Anandakanda
Simply by chanting, by dancing, by feasting on the holy remnants of Krishna Prasad anyone whoever they may be can attain the supreme perfection of premabhakti.
Srila Rupa Goswami has prayed,
namo mahā-vadānyāya
krsna-prema-pradāya te
krsnāya krsna-caitanya-
nāmne gaura-tvise namah
I offer my love and prayers, I surrender my life to the lotus feet of Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu, because He is the most munificent of all incarnations. He is bringing the realization of the highest love; the conjugal love of Radha and Krishna freely to everyone everywhere who simply accepts His holy names.
But Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu manifest His mercy to an extent beyond His own capacity to His eternal servitor and beloved devotee, Shri Nityananda Prabhu. Shri Nityananda is the incarnation of Shri Balraamji as described by Narottam Das Thakur.
brajendra-nandana jei, śacī-suta hoilo sei,
balarāma hoilo nitāi
The divine son of the king of Braja; Shri Krishna has descended as Sachinandan; Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Lord Shri Balaraamji; Rohininandan has appeared as Lord Nityananda.
Story of appearance and childhood pastimes of Lord Nityananda
Lord Nityananda was born in the holy village of Ekachakra what is now in West Bengal; in the district of Radhadesh. He was born to two very pious and pure devotees of the Lord, Shri Hadai Pandit and Padmavati Devi. This afternoon we have already discussed for several hours, in our lecture the glorious life of Shri Nityananda Prabhu. He was the life and soul; the joy of everyone. He was the all attractive personality in whom everyone centered their lives; their love.
But He had descended upon this earth, not simply to give His love and mercy to a few but to distribute love of Krishna far and wide to all living beings. So by His own divine arrangement although His father, mother, all His friends and all the people of Ekachakra their hearts were exclusively attached and depending on His love. At the slight age of 12 years old, by divine arrangement He left them all behind to become a part of the family of all humanity and to deliver them the name of Krishna. He travelled throughout all the holy places of North, South, East and West of Bharatvarsha. In Western province of India he met His eternal Guru and beloved spiritual master Shri Madhavendra Puri. The transcendental ecstasy of that union cannot be expressed in words. And then He continued His travels to Jagannath Puri and then to Shri Vrindavan Dham. Then in Vrindavan Dham He arrived when His age was twenty years old and he stayed at Shringarvat. Amongst the Gaudiya Vaishnavas sometimes this holy place in Vraj dham is called as Nityananda Vat. It is situated on banks of holy Yamuna and there immersed in sweet mood of Balaramji as a sakha , a cowherd boy, He spend His days in ecstatic love. He worshiped the whole of holy land of Vraj Dham with such reverence and devotion, that His favorite pastime was like a child to simply roll in the dust. And in the mood of Shri Balramji He would just find the children of Vraj Dham who were herding the cows and He would spend His whole day just playing with them, completely immersed in Shri Krishna and Balram leela. He forgot eating, sleeping or even drinking water. In His heart, He was meditating on Lord Gaura Sundar; His eternal master. He had appeared in Shri Navadwip Dham but for the first part of His leela He concealed His relation. As Nimai Pandit, He was behaving like a scholar. And the devotees of Navadwipa who were very-very small tiny percentage they were seeing how the mass of the population were so much drenched in materialistic life and sense gratification, they used to pray to Lord Krishna that only if this Nimai would become a devotee.
When we see the beauty of His golden complexion, His elongated arms that reached down to His knees, His beautiful-beautiful lotus eyes, His black, shiny, cascading hair coming down His shoulder, when we see this boy, our ecstatic love for Krishna immediately increases and awakens. If only He would take to the chanting of holy names, He could induce the whole creation to chant the holy names. And He is so learned that in His grammatical gymnastics, He can defeat everyone, even the greatest of all scholars, and He is only a child. So they would pray, please my Lord! make Nimai a devotee. He used to tease the devotees; He would catch them and would challenge them with some grammatical argument and the devotees they only liked to talk about Krishna, they didn’t like to waste time talking about all this academics. He would not let them go until they would argue with Him and He would completely defeat them. And after they were thoroughly defeated He would take up their argument and defeat Himself. Thereafter He completely defeated Himself He would take His original argument and defeat their argument. The devotees were just struck with wonder.
One day Mukunda who was His class friend, was a very-very great devotee who would sing so beautiful that anyone who heard his chanting of the holy names of Krishna his heart would melt. But he hated talking about anything but Krishna. And Nimai pandit would grab him and stole him for hours talking about all grammatical rules and regulations. One day Mukunda who was walking and he saw Nimai, he very-very cleverly walked in other direction very fast to get away. Nimai was with His friends and He said, ‘Where is this Mukunda going? Why is he running away from Me?’ His friends said, ‘No, No, Mukund is very gentle man he must have some very important business. And Nimai said, ‘No, No, it is because he loves to talk about Krishna and he hates to talk about all nonsense that I talk about. He is simply waiting for the day when I would become a devotee. But I tell you someday I would become such a devotee that the whole universe will fall at My feet. Someday I will become such a devotee that the whole universe will be resounding the holy names of Krishna upon my command.
Shri Gauranga Mahaparbhu ki Jai!
Then He would go on with His arguments.
Pastime of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu-Why Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is called Gauranga?
But by the mercy of Shri Ishwara Puri who was an exalted disciple of Shri Madhavendra Puri in the holy land of Gaya, the Lord in His association completely transformed. You see Gauranga Mahaprabhu wanted to show by His own example that however great one may be without the mercy of guru no one can approach Krishna’s love.
Although He is embodiment of supreme love, Kaviraj Goswami explains that in Goloka Vrindavan Lord Shri Krishna was wondering in His heart, what is this about Me that attracts Shri Radha Rani to such an extent? That Her ecstasy is far beyond anything that I have ever experienced. Her love is so powerful that I am always bound by the rope of that love, I am always subordinate to that love. I want to taste the sweetness of that love myself. Therefore Shri Krishna decided to incarnate in this world with the love of Shri Radha in His heart.
Lord Shri Krishna told Shri Radhika Rani that I am going to descend into the world and I am going with My form but I am going to have Your heart, Your love. Shri Radhika Rani She was thinking, always thinking of the pleasure of Govinda. She said, ‘ If You appear in My Bhava, in this mahabhava, anytime You think of Yourself, anytime You chant Your name, You will fall in such an ecstatic trance of love, that You will fall to the ground and sometimes You would roll in the rocks and stones and I cannot bear seeing that happen to You. Therefore, I will cover Your body with My luster to protect You.
Therefore when Krishna descended, He was Gauranga, although He was Krishna He had the love and the complexion of Shri Radhika Rani. So Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu is the embodiment of highest principle of prema, in fact it is from Him, it is from Shri Gauranga, Shri Radha Rani’s heart, that all love is emanating. Whatever bhakti is possessed by anyone it is only by the mercy of Shrimati Radhika Rani and that bhakti is only a tiny little part and parcel of Her mahabhava. So why did the embodiment of the sweetest supreme love, why did He need a Guru? Because Shri Gaura Sunder appeared in the guise of a devotee to set example, how all living being must follow the path, of following Parampara, then accepting the humble position of servitor of Guru. He worshiped His Gurudeva with such love and devotion, it is described in Chaitanya Charitamrita that once He went to His Guru’s birthplace He took the dirt from that place and wrapped it in cloth and every day He would eat it and cried with tears of love. So when His Guru Maharaja initiated Him into the chanting of the holy names of Krishna, tears fell from His eyes, His heart was simply beating with ecstatic love twenty four hours a day. He was always immersed in the divine vipralambha seva, the intensity of the ecstasy of love of separation of Shri Radha Rani. And when He returned to Navadwipa from Gaya dham, how everyone was astonished to see Him, they had never seen such ecstatic transformation of love coming from anyone. And His every word and every song was simply a glorification of Shri Krishna. Then He brought all the devotees together, they all surrendered unto His lotus feet and then He led them all in Hari Naam Sankirtan. Through the streets of Navadwipa with their arms raised with love pouring from their hearts, they would chant –
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
The divine love of Gaura-Nitai
So Lord Nityananda Prabhu was simply waiting for this day. He left Shrigaravat in Vrindavan and came to Navadwipa and the grand glorious reunion of these two brothers was such an exhibition of spiritual love that all the devotees simply fell to the ground unconscious upon seeing the meeting of these two brothers. They literally bathed each other in tears. And then the two brothers together began to chant and to dance. Anyone who heard the sweet sound of this chanting and saw the beauty of their graceful dance, their hearts would transform to Goloka Vrindavan. Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained to the devotees that Lord Nityananda know Him that His body is more dear then My own, Because of His mercy, His love and His compassion to all the living beings, He is My lord and master.
The power of holy names
The power of the mercy Shri Nityananda Prabhu in distributing the holy names was most gloriously exemplified in the wonderful pastime that delivered Jagai and Madhai. Shri Narottam Das Thakur says –
dīna-hīna yata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo,
tāra śākṣī jagāi mādhāi
That the supreme power, that the holy name of Krishna can deliver the most sinful of all sinners, is exemplified by the pastime of Jagai and Madhai. I would like to briefly summarize this beautiful narration which is found in the Chaitanya Bhagwata by Vrindavan Das Thakur. Please kindly hear with great attention. For those of you who are sleeping ‘Jeeva Jago, Jeeva jago, Gaurachandra bole. Lord Chiatanya Mahaprabhu has specifically come to wake us up.
It is described by Vrindavan Das Thakur that in this age of Kaliyuga, all of us are more or less Jagais and Madhais and this narration is so powerful that same mercy and affect that took place in the life of Jagai and Madhai can take place in our life by simply hearing the story with a submissive heart.
Pastime of Jagai and Madhai
One day Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu suddenly expressed very very deep feeling in His heart and He called upon Lord Nityananda and Srila Hari Das Thakur. Hari Das Thakur as you know was born in Muslim family but by chanting the holy name he became the super most proponent of love of God.
So Lord Gauranga with great feeling of love in His heart told Lord Nityananda and Hari Das Thakur and He told them that ‘I want you to go to every house, to every shop, to every person in all the land and I want you to humbly beg them to take the names of Krishna, to worship Krishna, to make Krishna their life and soul and in this way achieve the love of God, human life’s perfection, and do not let anyone go unless they accept the holy names. You don’t have to say anything else to them but simply chant the holy names.’
So Lord Nityananda and Hari Das Thakur, how humbly they accepted this order of Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. It is described that Lord Nityananda would go to people’s houses, even to the most fallen, sinful, even to the outcastes and He made no discrimination and with folded arms begged them,’ kindly chant the holy names of Krishna, please worship Krishna because it is Krishna who is your only shelter, your only friend and He is the supreme treasure of wealth in your life’. And if they refused; He would fall upon His hands and knees and He would beg them,’ kindly do not waste your human form of life which is so difficult to attain, take the name of Krishna, it is your only hope. And if he still refused He would prostrate himself in full dandavats and clasp onto their feet and would cry with tears of love and compassion and begged them,’ Please, I beg you to take the names of Krishna. Why must you accept the tortures of birth and death, simply chant the holy names and enter into the ocean of the love of God.’ And if they would still refused He would roll in the dust before them pleading with them to kindly take the names of Gauranga.
Who is Lord Nityananda?
Please try to understand that Lord Nityananda is Lord Balaram; the first expansion of ‘Govindam Adi Purusha tamham bhajami’. He is the source of all incarnations. Of all the avataars of the Lord, where have we found any so loving and compassionate to the conditioned souls. The same people that Rama would have killed with His bows and arrows, that Krishna would have severed their heads with His Sudarshan Chakra, Lord Nityananda the same personality was falling in their feet, humbly begging them to take the holy names.
Then every evening after going from sunrise to sunset in this service they would return to Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s home and there they would report to Him and explain to Him of their day’s activities and He would listen with great pleasure. But it was not easy for them. The pious people when they would see, they would then call, o! How merciful and compassionate these two great sadhus are spreading the love of God everywhere. Let us honor them and respect them and invite them to our homes and offer them food and drink and gifts. But these two pious people Nityananda and Hari Das Thakur said,’ No, no, we have not come to beg anything of you save and except that you take the names of Krishna.’
But the mundane scholars and athiests when they would see these two brothers and they would chastise them criticize them and mentally drenched, what are they doing running around, rolling in the ground, begging the people to chant these mantras. They are crazy because of their association with the mad man Nimai pandit. Under Him they have completely gone mad and now they are trying to make everyone else mad.
And there were others who were high caste Brahamans who were not allowed in the house of Shri Hari Das Thakur during the nocturnal kirtans. They would radiate, Ah! Who’re these insolent pair of rascals. Let us beat them. Let us beat them. They would even chase after them. Blaspheme and criticize them. And others considered that Lord Nityananda and Hari Das Thakur were nothing more than dacoits and they were entering people’s homes just to gain the secret information to bring back to their gangs. So these people when they would be approached by them or even see them they would say, ‘let us beat them, let us arrest them, they should be in prison these rascals.’
See since time immemorial preaching has never been easy thing. From the day of Prahlad to this day and every day and every day in between preachers have always been harassed and prosecuted. But Hari Das Thakur and Lord Nityananda they simply smiled and laughed at these blasphemies and abuses and they went on with their service.
One day they came across two drunkards who were totally intoxicated causing a terrible scene, violent scene, beating people shouting tumultuously, terrible obscenities, they had huge massive, fat powerful bodies. They were sinful of all sinners. These two drunkards it is explained that there wasn’t a single sin that they had not committed. They would consume liquor, they would slaughter cows, they would eat beef, they would rob people’s home, they would burn people’s homes, they would rape innocent women, they would murder people even Brahmans as a daily activity and yet they had so much power that no one dared to try to stop their nefarious activities. So Lord Nityananda and Hari Das when saw these two drunkards in the public streets,’ they asked someone who are they?’ People told them these are Jagai and Madhai. They were born in first class Brahman family but due to bad association from their early childhood they simply abuse people and then create violence where ever they go. Then the people told them please don’t ask them to chant Hare Krishna because if you dare you would never escape with your life.
Lord Nityananda turned to Hari Das Thakur and said, ‘Hari Das, I think if we can get these people chant the holy names how much we will glorify the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. He was considering that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has personally incarnated to deliver the most fallen souls and who is more fallen than them.
Now a person was even touched by their shadow, they would run to the Ganges to take bath. But after they take the holy names and take the mercy of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu their association will be more purifying than the Ganges itself.
Hari Das you remember when you were beaten by those Muslims in twenty two market places, do you remember how by your mercy and prayers they became devotees too. So I think you are the only one who can save them, so go and preach to them.
Hari Das Thakur said,’ o! my Lord Nityananda, actually I am just an animal. You are the supreme most merciful expansion of Lord Gauranga. Only you can deliver them. So I think you should preach to them. So both these two great souls, Hari Das and Lord Nityananda with great love fearlessly came before Jagai and Madhai. These two sinners when they looked at them, they couldn’t believe it. Who are these Sadhus coming to talk to us? They glanced upon Hari Das Thakur and Lord Nityananda with such wrath and hate in their eyes, that it looked that if you say a word you are dead. Lord Nityananda with eyes full of love and compassion said to them,’ Please my dear brothers do not waste your life in such sinful activities, hellish suffering awaits you. Please chant the holy names of Krishna. Krishna is your only friend. He is your only shelter. He is the great treasure and wealth of your life. Worship Him with undivided devotion.’
Jagai and Madhai they became so furious that they turned towards them and said “Beat them. Kill them. Catch them.” And they attacked Nityananda and Hari Das Thakur. On seeing that they were about to be murdered they started running away and they were running and running and running and these two brothers were running as fast as they could to catch them and kill them.
As they were running Hari Das Thakur turned to Lord Nityananda and said what am I preaching with someone like you foolish. Just see I am associating with a mad man like you and now we would never get out of this alive.
Lord Nityananda said, ‘My dear Hari Das now yourself and I are in good mess and I don’t think we will live through this. Hari Das Thakur said this is what I get from taking the advice of an Avdhuta. But because they have seen you Hari Das Thakur said and because they have learnt the holy names from your lips, I am quite confident that they will be delivered and become Lord’s undivided associates.
Speaking in this manner they ran as fast as they could and Jagai and Madhai; they were so big and so fat and so drunk that they just couldn’t keep up. So they just start screaming and yelling abuses on them. And Nityananda prabhu and Hari Das Prabhu went back to Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and reported the day’s activities. Shri Gaurang Mahaprabhu said,’ who are these two people? These Jagai and Madhai? And Srinivas Thakur and Ganga Das Pandit explained what sinful people they are, the most sinful of all sinners; there has never been such sinners in the face of the earth.
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said Ah! Such sinners, chasing My devotees; I will go and kill such sinners right now. Then Lord Nityananda Prabhu said, ‘No, My dear Lord please, if You that; I will not have any service for You because in this age of kali, sooner or later everyone is going to be like this. So please give me some service. If You kill them then You’ll kill everyone and I will have no more service. So please allow Me to go back and preach to them tomorrow.
Then Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exclaimed with such love that He said,’ by the mercy of Lord Nityananda these two souls will become purified saints, Paramhamsas of the highest order.
Now these Jagai and Madhai were so fearful that nobody dared to go near them. At night they would make camps near the banks of Ganges and not far from there was the house of Srivas Thakur where Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu held kirtans throughout the night; every night. And sometimes they would hear the chanting and in a completely drunken and offensive way started imitating the chanting and dancing in a drunken way.
It is explained this chanting that they would hear very intensely would increase their desire to take wine. They were very-very fallen souls. For most people the holy names increases the love and detaches you from sense enjoyment but when they would hear the holy names they would become more and more lusty for wine.
So one day Lord Nityananda He purposely came to where they were.
When they saw Him they couldn’t believe and they said, ‘You were lucky; You escaped with Your life last time; You rascal; You are going to die, if You come one step closer to us.’ And with abusive and offensive and harsh language, they asked, ’what’s Your name?’ The Lord Nityananda replied, ‘they call Me Avadhuta. Kindly take the names of Krishna.’
And at that time Madhai raged with anger, picked up a pot; the pot which was used to hold the wine and he took that pot and with all his power he crashed it on the head of Nityananda Prabhu. And it made such a sound of cracking, it was enough to kill twenty men. And the blood started pouring from the head of Nityananda Prabhu; covering His face and covering all of His clothes.
Nityananda simply smiled and looked at him and said, ‘what you have done to Me, I do not mind but what you are doing to your life breaks My heart. Please take the names of Krishna’.
And Madhai looked at Him and said, ‘You dare to spite me in this way by standing before me still. And he took his pot and said, ‘now You are dead’. And he again went to crash the pot over the head of Nityananda but at that moment, Jagai his brother stopped him and said, ‘My dear brother, can’t you see the compassion and love of the saint? Why are you hurting Him’?
By that time people had reported the incident to Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There when He heard of the offense that was being committed to His beloved servant. He became so enraged that His eyes burnt red as hot coals and with raging fire He ran to the scene of the crime and lifted His finger and called out, ‘Chakra; Chakra’.
And Sudarshan Chakra ominously began to whorl about His finger and to over these two sinful brothers.
When Jagai and Madhai saw the rath of Gauranga more deadly than the wrath of Narsingha dev personified and Sudarshan Chakra brilliant like millions of suns ready to severe their heads, they became very sober and fearful.
Then Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu in a voice full of divine wrath said, ‘ for the offense done to My devotee today; you will die’. Lord Nityananda with such love and such kindness He held the arm of Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and said, ‘Please My Lord; Do not hurt them.’ He said, ‘ actually My Lord, what really happened is Madhai went to hit me but Jagai was so kind that he stopped him but accidently the pot fell on My head. But it doesn’t even hurt; I promise My Lord, it doesn’t even hurt the slightest. Look I am smiling. Please be kind upon them. Do not injure them. Show them Your love and mercy’.
Lord Nityananda turned to Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu and then He said, ‘I pray My Lord, if I have a accredited any pious credits throughout My devotional service, throughout My life that to be were to that credit be that I may take on the sins of these rascals and make them Your devotees’.
How Jagai and Madhai were liberated by the merciful Lord?
And when Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu heard that Jagai had tried to protect Lord Nityananda, His heart softened and Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu with great love He embraced Jagai and upon His embrace love of God entered into his heart and he fell to the ground unconscious in soar of ecstasy and fell at the feet of Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu begged His forgiveness. And Lord Gauranga said to Jagai,’ Because you have tried to protect My devotee today I am giving you the perfection of all perfections that even Brahama and Shiva are aspiring for , Premabhakti, love of Krishna’.
And Jagai with ecstatic tears flowing from his eyes fell at the feet of Gauranga and at the feet of Lord Nityananda.
Upon seeing this Madhai’s heart also changed and he also fell at the feet of Lord Gauranga and he said,’ We are two brothers; all our sins we’ve committed throughout our lives, we’ve done together. All the murders, all the cow slaughter, all the meat we’ve eaten, all the rapes, all the houses we’ve burnt; we’ve done it altogether. We are equal in sins and in every way, so why you have given him love of God and you are leaving me aside.
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, ‘Because you have offended Nityananda; I have no power to forgive you. It is only if you fall at the lotus feet of Nityananda and gain His favour the love of God will come to your life’. So Madhai fell at the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said to Lord Nityananda, ‘You see Madhai is at Your feet and if You forgive him Your life will be perfect. Kindly lift him and embrace him.
Lord Nityananda who was still soaked with blood, the blood which was still gushing out from His head, embraced Madhai and when He embraced; His own shakti of love entered his heart.
So they were both rolling into the ground, so repenting for their sins that Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told them that you must wow to Me now that you will never sin again.Now my Lord we’ve attained the eternal shelter of Your lotus feet and our only engagements will be Your loving service. So Lord Gauranga said, ‘Now you come home with Me. So Jagai and Madhai came to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s home and Sachi Mata cooked prasad for everyone and all the great devotees of the Lord were assembled there. Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu begged all the vaishnavas to forgive Jagai and Madhai and bless them Krishna’s love. And then there was the wonderful kirtan.
A miraculous revelation of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
And when Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda Prabhu and all the devotees began to dance, Jagai and Madhai upon seeing this kirtan and hearing the holy names just started to dance and chant to ecstasy. Then during the kirtan Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu showed such mercy to them that they were simply swooning and bathing and drowning in the ocean of Krishna’s prem. And after this kirtan Lord Gauranga told the devotees never let anyone accuse these man of being sinners again. All of their sins have gone away. Now they were only to be known as devotees; bhaktas and I want to show you where their sins have gone. Then Lord Gauranga stood with Jagai and Madhai before them and all the devotees around Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, I will personally assume all their sins because they are dear to Lord Nityananda.
And all the sins of Jagai and Madhai merged into the body of Lord Gauranga and the beautiful golden form of Lord Gauranga, right before all the devotees transformed into glitch black complexion. The blackness of their sins colored the body of Lord Gauranga. And at that time all the devotees were so fearful; they were so shocked seeing the Lord with the black body filled with the sins of Jagai and Madhai. But Advaita Acarya knew what exactly the Lord was doing. So in a joking voice Shri Advaita said to the Lord,’ Ah! now you look like Krishna. Then everyone began to laugh. And then Lord Gauranga said, ‘Now you see My body is black and is burning with the sins of Jagai and Madhai. Now chant perform the congregational chanting of the holy names because this congregational chanting is so powerful that it will liberate Me from all of their sins. Then what He said is very instructive to all of us. He said, ‘where will these sins go? Anyone who offends My devotees, these sins will go into them. And they had a really beautiful kirtan and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu became Gauranga. So after this wonderful leela everyone went to their homes. Now it is described that the demigods Brahma, Shiva, Chandra, Vayu, Yamaraj; they were so much excited by lord Gauranga’s avataar that they would come personally to the house of Nimai to watch His beautiful activities every day. But they would come in disguise so that no one could see them. So on this particular day they were astonished to see that the two most sinful people in whole of universe how possibly they could be liberated. So the demigods turned to Yamaraj and said, ‘ Yamaraj, please tell us what are the extent of two men’s sins? So Yamaraj turned to his secretary whose name is Chitragupta. Chitragupta was in charge of compiling of the list of all the sins of everyone. Many Yamadutas would help him. Yamaraj said, ‘I want to know the extent of these two men, these Jagai and Madhai; what their sins were? Chitragupta said it is impossible to tell you. He said, ‘I practically have my whole staff to keep track but I can’t keep up with their sins. If I try to tell you I would have to tell you then I would have to tell millions and millions and millions of offenses and I don’t want to burden you with all of that because there is no end. But I will give you a hint. Our files are deep, deep, deep pits, practically pits with endless bottoms filled to the brims with the records of their sins and in your yamaloka we just don’t have any more rooms anywhere else. There is no sin that they have not committed. innumerably. We are so very grateful to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu because now all these sins are washed away. Now we can take all these files and we can dump them in the ocean. And when Yamaraj heard about the extent of the sins of Jagai and Madhai and how Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had transformed them into blissful loving devotees of the Lord; he fell unconscious and chants the loving ecstacy of love of Krishna. Yamaraj just chanted,’ Jai Gaura hari !Jai Gaura Hari! Ecstatic love of Krishna, he fell unconscious. And Brahma, Shiva , and the other demigods saw that there he was lying unconscious, they asked Chitragupta, ‘What happened to Yamaraj?’ He said, ‘ I think he is suffering from some ecstasy. The ecstasy of love of God. Lord Gauranga is giving it everywhere. So to revive him, Lord Brahama and Shiva and Narada all started chanting the holy names of Krishna in the ear of Yamaraj. And upon hearing this kirtan Yamaraj leaped up in the air and started chanting .
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna; Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama; Rama Rama Hare Hare
So these two brothers they would rise early in the morning around 3 O’clock AM. They would take bath in Ganga and before even eating one morsel of food they would chant two Lakhs of the holy names of Krishna. And they were constantly immersed in the humble loving service of the servants of the Lord and became so humble and so grateful for the mercy of Lord Nityananda that all the devotees would be pouring their mercy on them like anything. The people of the society were simply thinking just see the infinite glory of the Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the two sinful most dacoits of the anyone, now they are such humble, gentle Vaishnavas. This is the power of the holy names. But Madhai he felt so bad, even though he was immersed in ecstatic love of God, every second of the day he remembered how he smashed Nityananda’s head with the pot that made Him bleed. And this thought was driving him mad with guilt. He couldn’t find a moments peace. He simply cried day and night. And one day he met Lord Nityananda Prabhu in a lonely place. And he prostrated himself at the lotus feet of the Lord Nityananda and bathed His lotus feet with his tears. He said, ‘My dear Lord I beg You kindly forgive me for the sin that I have committed. Then Lord Nityananda lifted him up and embraced him with great love. He said, ‘Madhai, I love you like My own child. If a child hits or kicks his own parent, parent doesn’t take it seriously that is the nature of My love for you.
Then Madhai said, ‘You have forgiven me my Lord but I have offended so many Vaishnavas and so many innocent people, I don’t even know who they are? I don’t even know where they are? How could I beg forgiveness from all of them. This thought is burning with such a pain in my heart. Then Lord Nityananda said, ‘I will give you a service by which you can gain the forgiveness of everyone. You go to the bank of the Ganges and with your hand you make a Ghat and invite everyone to come and bathe there. Whoever comes you fall at their feet and beg them to forgive you for your sins and because you will also be rendering service to mother Ganga who is purifier of all sins, in this way you will be satisfied.
So Madhai took that service as the goal of his life. He took a small shovel and started digging a beautiful ghat and anyone who would come he would fall at their feet and beg them, ‘Please forgive me for my innumerable sins and offences. Please I beg you kindly forgive me. I am the most sinful of all sinners. Please be kind upon me and pray to Krishna that I will be delivered. In this way he humbly approached everyone that came by. And when people would see humility of Jagai, tears would flow from their eyes.
In this way the mercy of Lord Nityananda was revealed in such a munificent way to the world. You see Lord Nityananda’s mercy flows like water. The nature of water is that it goes to the lowest place. So the nature of Lord Nityananda’s mercy is always flowing to the most sinful and to the most fallen. Therefore Narottam Das Thakur has prayed,
‘ Patita pawaan hetu tava avataara, Mo sam patita prabhu na paaibe aara
My dear Lord Nityananda Prabhu and Gauranga Mahaprabhu You are patita paawan, You have come to deliver the most sinful but my feeling is this that if You look and search everywhere You will find there is no more sinful person than me. So please You grant me Your mercy. This is the proper spirit in which You can achieve the mercy of Lord Nityananda and Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
How can one receive the mercy of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda?
Trinad api sunichena, taror api sahishnuna
Amaanina maana dena, kirtaniyaa sadaa harih (cc20,21)
One who is more humble than the grass, more tolerant than a tree. Ready to offer all respects to the others and doesn’t expect anything in return, such a person can chant the holy names of Krishna constantly.
You see in this material world the laws of the land are based on justice. And the laws of karma are also based on justice. An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, but the mercy of supreme Lord Shri Krishna is not based on justice, it is based on love. It does not discriminate who is qualified and who is not qualified. It does not consider what you have done and what you have not done. It is falling like rain for everyone. The only qualification required is simply a humble heart to accept it.
Therefore we should chant the holy names with this humble state of mind considering ourselves to be the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord simply beckoning the causeless mercy of the Lord with a prayerful heart then Krishna will reveal Himself with the divine sound of His name.
Nityananda Trayodashi- auspicious appearance day of Lord Nityananda
And on this most holy and auspicious occasion of Shri Nityananda Trayodashi, it is the most befitting and most auspicious time because so many great saintly devotees have gathered together for one purpose and one purpose alone to glorify the mercy of Lord Nityananda and Lord Chaitanya by chanting the holy names. So this time I will beg to appeal with great respects at the feet of all Vaishnavas, please there is no treasure, there is no wealth, there is nothing in whole of creation that has any value what so ever save and accept the mercy of Shri Radha and Krishna which is so munificently coming in this age of Kali with the grace of Lord Chaitanya, Lord Nityananda. And Their mercy is given to us in Hare Krishna Mahamantra; the name of Krishna. Please outside of the association of sadhus and outside the name of Krishna, there is nothing attainable in this world. Kindly keep your mind fixed always on this truth alone. Never allow the trappings of Maya to even create a consideration that there is anything else worth living for. That our families, our homes, our education, our occupation, whatever we have that it all be exclusively dedicated to the loving service of the devotees and the holy names.
So now the beautiful aarati for the birth of Lord Nityananda will take place for it is the greatest and most wonderful way ; we can offer our gratitude and our love to the Lord, to unite with one another’s hearts, to come together with great enthusiasm and devotion to call out His holy names. Lord Nityananda’s divine mercy is most manifested when we put aside all of our false ego, come together in the assembly of devotees with love and trust in our hearts and together share the beauty of these holy names.
This is the supreme fortune to have this opportunity this evening. Forget your fatigue, forget your hunger and thirst and simply drink the sweet sound of the holy name of Krishna. And let us make this kirtan a glorious offering for the pleasure of Shri Shri Nitai Gaura Chandra.
Nitai Gaura Premanandey Hari Haribol!
Jai Jai Shri Radhey!!!
