śrī śrī guru-gaurāṅgau jayataḥ |
8th Caitra, Wednesday—1334 |
[March 21, 1928]
Mahāprabhu’s Birthplace
In Śrī Navadvīpa, is Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya-deva’s birthplace. That Navadvīpa is on the eastern bank of the Gaṅgā. During the age of Kali, or the age of argument, this location has been switched. The eastern bank of Navadvīpa is now on the western bank. Ancient Navadvīpa was on Gaṅgā’s eastern bank. Even today, everyone identifies that area as ‘Antara-dvīpa’ or Bhitara-dvīpa [‘Inner Island’]; and Rāmacandrapura, Kā̃kuḍa māṭha [Kā̃kuḍa field], on the western bank of the Gaṅgā, is called ‘Bāhira-dvīpa’ [‘Outer Island’]. Everyone in Kuliyā Pāhāḍapura knows this fact. Once little Pāla Saheb became the landlord of Kā̃kuḍa-māṭha, why has he raised the flag of his Bāhira-dvīpa land as being Antara-dvīpa land? On whose enticement and to what end has he subverted the truth in this way? Why little Pāla Saheb’s manager came from Chakdaha on the advice of Sarutia’s veśa-wearing Siṁhajī and helped him raise this flag, we have not been able to understand. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya says, “That which appears to be artha [wealth] to those who are averse to Īśvara is actually anartha [worthless].” Caitanya-deva has preached that if one does not renounce sense enjoyers and illicit connection with women, then the result in the realm of bhajana is like consuming poison. Today, in Śrī Caitanya-deva’s own name, those opposed to the bhajana He taught are actively going against His wishes and opposing Him. The singer Rāmadāsa Bābājī supposedly belongs to the lineage of niṣkiñcana parama-bhāgavata Śrīla Jagannātha Dāsa Bābājī Mahāśaya. Has he not committed an offense at Vaiṣṇava-Sārvabhauma’s feet by going against the place designated by Vaiṣṇava-Sārvabhauma as Mahāprabhu’s birthplace? The veśa-dhārī [“garb-wearing”] Siṁhajī of Sarutia, who goes by the name Kuñjarāra Bābājī, has committed serious offenses at the feet of Vaiṣṇava-Sārvabhauma. Have they not demonstrated guru-droha (antagonism to guru)? The antagonism Choṭa Pālajī is throwing himself into as per the advice of Sarutia’s Siṁhajī is counter-productive to the efforts of hari-sevā made by his father’s elder brother Parama-bhāgavata Rājarṣi Bhakti-bhūṣaṇa. Taking the support of Siṁhajī despite hearing and knowing all this does not bring honor to Choṭa Pālajī’s family legacy. Has Choṭa Pāla Saheb decided to charge against the truth because he is compelled as a citizen of the Pāikapāḍā King to accept Sarutia Siṁha’s recommendations because Siṁhaj, the inaugurator of Gaurāṅga-siṁha’s birthplace, is his bosses’ ancestor? In this context, he has profitted immensely by demonstrating acts of service to the Siṁha Mahāśaya dynasty. Postmaster Bābu, a brahmin from Dogacchi and descendant of Balarāma, failed to prop up Gaura-nāgarī-vāda, so he has ended up a supporter of Gaurāṅga-siṁha’s birthplace as a way of making up for that. Everything is possible during the age of Kali. How did an eighty-year-old see the Rāma-Sītā temple that collapsed in 1799 CE? That is something that needs to be looked at. The current year is 1849 Śakābdā, so an eighty-year-old would have been born in 1769 Śakābdā, or 1847 CE. So we have failed to comprehend how he saw a temple that disappeared 48 years before his current birth, unless it was in his previous birth. It seems he remembers his past life. Siṁha Bābājī, newly arrived from Sarutia, has utterly tremendous courage to explain all this, and the means to understand what he is saying is simply astounding. Now that Engineer Bābu has gotten the facts from Sub-engineer Bābājī, he is putting together a committee, and to lay a foundation for the formation of such a committee, we figure he will acquire some pieces of stone as evidence. We figure he is thinking of ancient Navadvīpa Māyāpura’s ancient glory, Ballāla Sena’s Dhipi, which he helped preserve for the government while in their employ. If there is no use for uncle, then best he goes on a Ganges pilgrimage. [Better the archaeological evidence from Ballāla Dhipi goes to some use.] Now the engineers are running around on the orders of the sub-engineer, but usually it has always been the sub-engineers who followed the lead of the engineers. Their policy entails that Bāhira-dvīpa is Antara-dvīpa. The engineers are subservient to the sub-engineers! An eighty-year-old man is capable of seeing a temple that disappeared 48 years before his birth!! Bringing all these ludicrous claims before an educated society at the start of the 20th century is simply laughable. The information in Vai. Digdarśinī, which is full of errors, is standard reading for Calcutta University’s M.A. exam. So, everything is possible!
Śrī Navadvīpa Dhāma has a 32 mile circumference. The whole of Navadvīpa is circumambulated in nine days of Navadvīpa Parikramā. This surely everyone knows. So where did these people come to know that Navadvīpa is 32 miles large? If you just think about that once, you will be able to understand what is going on. Śrī Caitanya-deva belongs to Vaikuṇṭha. A brahmāṇḍa fifty koṭi yojana in size is even smaller than a measure of twelve fingers compared to Vaikuṇṭha. The frivolous speculations of people who are happy to accept that the relocation of Śrī Caitanya-deva’s birthplace from Śrī Māyāpura Yogapīṭha to a spot some 2 or 3 miles away can be attributed to “meteoric disturbance” cannot be the subject of serious discussion anymore. Śrī Caitanya-deva is present within each and every sub-atomic particle in a Śrī Māyāpura that is infinite millions of yojanas huge. Therefore, His appearance place is not confined to the inert lumps of empirical deliberators. This too is something they cannot understand. Where the material lumps interrupt the vision of transcendence, the Sat Sāhitya Pariṣat [“society of genuine literature”] gets replaced by some fanciful editor or member of the Baṅgiya Sāhitya Pariṣat who is intoxicated in singing a ballad of the discovery of the birthsite to satisfy his own personal vendetta. No one of the Sat Sāhitya Pariṣat condones any of these efforts.
Sāmpradāyikatā
“Sectarianism”
Vaiṣṇavas are always endeavouring to establish a mood of brotherhood with the whole world, so sectarianism cannot remain among them. Though virulent sectarianism is observed among bhāravāhī [“burden-bearing”] individuals who are Vaiṣṇavas only in name, there is truly no manner of sectarianism among sāragrāhī Vaiṣṇavas. Some may be surprisesd to hear this and say, “What is this you’re saying? We see among Vaiṣṇavas there are Śrī, Brahma, Rudra, Sanaka—these four types of sectarian differences stemming from an eternity ago, and we even see debate that goes on between them. What is this new perspective you’re spouting today?” To that, we say that though this sort of sectarian differentiation is prominent among the bhāravāhī types and creates conflict, we see that it is resolved in the perspective of the sāragrāhī types. They insist that the four sampradāya differences that are being observed among Vaiṣṇavas are not differences originating from the core vastu-tattva, or elemental principles; rather, these differences represent the diversity of Vaiṣṇava-tattva. If one studies Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s life history, one will see that He brought the perspectives of the four sampradāyas together and demonstrated their ultimate culmination. Within His conclusions, there is a reconciliation of all the doctrines. He has preached the profound conclusions of śāstra and quelled all scriptural debate. Neither He nor His followers had any animosity toward the followers of other religions, but they never, in the name of dharma, condoned adharma [irreligion], chala-dharma [phony religion], or the upadharma, or dharma-destruction of māyāvādīs, and His followers neither are nor ever will condone such things either. The conclusions of sāragrāhī Vaiṣṇavas is that though there is a great diversity among human beings according to the regions they live in, the times they live in, their respective cultures, languages, attire, etc., the real fact of the matter is that as human beings, they are all one and the same. Mutual conflict, war, destruction of life, violence, enmity, etc., are results of the idea that they are different. Though all these human beings exist in a variety of states of being, those of a scientific bent divide the human condition into two classes: one is svarūpa-gata, or nature-dependent, and the other is sambandha-gata, or relation-dependent. Hence all human religion also exists in two main categories: sambandha-gata and svarūpa-gata. Svarūpa-gata-dharma is of one variety. Another name for svarūpa-gata-dharma is vaiṣṇava–dharma. Sambandha-gata-dharma is of four types: Śākta, Śaiva, Saura, and Gāṇapatya. It is best if svarūpa-gata-dharma is the focus of every human being, because that is the eternal dharma of the living entity. Sambandha-gata-dharma is temporary. Once our relation with matter is dispelled, we will not retain any connection to this dharma. Therefore, it is imperative that when we are at a sāmbandhika [materially interactive] level, we adopt this sambandha type dharma as a staircase to ascend toward svarūpa-gata-dharma and gradually, gradually strive to climb to higher steps. If we are so engrossed in what our adhikāra, or eligibility, dictates that we do not consider another person’s adhikāra and criticize their level of eligibility, then the only thing that will strengthen is our bhāravāhitva [the burden-bearer’s mentality]. This is the scientific discernment of sāragrāhīs in relation to dharma.
Dūradarśitā
“Foresight”
There is a kind of person in this world who just hears one part of the statement “aśvatthāmā hataḥ – Aśvatthāmā has been killed” and either becomes happy or sad, depending on whether they perceive that portion of the statement as favourable or unfavourable to their own self-interests, and so they do not wait to hear the last part of that statement, which is “iti gajaḥ – he was an elephant.” There is another kind of person who does not care what others are saying or want to say and are simply immersed in the sound of their own voice, like someone has started shouting at someone and the person being shouted is responding, but who is going to hear that response? How can someone who has put a lock on their ears with their own yelling hear someone else’s response? As a result of this, they are likely to become so overwhelmed with anger that they start hitting themselves in the head, or they might express their anger toward the person they are yelling at, inflicting the opposite of wellbeing upon them. There is no measure to how many examples of this kind of immaturity there are in the world. The fate of these nearsighted, unfortunate individuals ends up being “ito-bhraṣṭas tato naṣṭaḥ – ruining what is here and destroying what is there (in the next life).”
In śāstra, there are two divisions of any topic: a pūrva-pakṣa [proposition] and an uttara-pakṣa [refutation]. Those who want to arrive at the conclusions of scripture by one-sided reliance on only the pūrva-pakṣa end up with their discussion of scripture turning into nothing but a frog’s raucous croaking. In other words, just as the frog croaks and invites his own death in the form a snake, such persons also effect their own self-destruction. But those who hear the pūrva-pakṣa and have the patience to hear the uttara-pakṣa, or the conclusion of the mahājanas, have the fortune of realizing the true purport of scripture. Intelligent persons do not encourage those who are foolish and neglect the conclusions of the mahājanas.
Are those who have become compelled by their own contrived ideas and undertaken endeavours to establish their own perspective while neglecting the conclusions indicated in Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Śrī Caitanya-carita Mahā-kāvya, Śrī Bhakti-ratnākara, etc., not sinking in an ocean of great misfortune due to the offense of neglecting the words of the mahājanas? What competitive spirit has invigorated them so that they want to disregard the statements of the mahājanas? As servants of the servnts of the mahājanas, we are particularly keen on refuting them. People who mistake falsity for truth and become vivartta-vādīs [those believing in a delusion] will just keep shouting and put their own lock on their ears. As people who want their wellbeing, we cannot tolerate this situation anymore and are firmly resolved to remedy it. It is as if they think that clouds never have the audacity to cover the sun. The Dhāma is self-manifest, like the sun, and its extremely bright rays, which burn the eyes of its antagonists, are not something its owl-like opponents can ever endure, so the dark night is the only thing that gives them comfort, but it is not as if we have to believe their word that the dark of night is actully the day flooded with sun rays. If owls, blind in the day, think very highly of their need to live in their pitch-black holes, then let them think that, but the birds who want light, who follow the śukas [the parrots], will not do that. They will refer to day as day and night as night, maintaining the virtue of truth. They will follow the path of the mahājanas. There is a group of people trying very hard to leap over the path of truth revealed by the mahājanas and instead pass off the path of falsity forged by ignoble persons as truth. Even though it is the age of Kali and those efforts of theirs seem to be somewhat successful with those of their ilk, that is nothing but deception. This Kali is the age of the Śveta Varāha Kalpa. Although Kali-yuga is an age of adverse circumstances and dispute, the speciality of this age is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Svayaṁ Bhagavān Gaurasundara, incarnated in this age with all His aspects, expansions, weapons, and associates—therefore, though falsity may at first demonstrate some rivalry, it is only truth that is the self-manifest principle forever worshipped during this age. Therefore, O noble people who have heart, our humble plea is that you do not mistake anyone’s deceitful clingyness and restlessness for a Vaiṣṇava’s humility and accept the falsity they spout as the truth. A person who has spent all their life induling in illicit relations with women, who has not even by mistake associated with Vaiṣṇavas, who has not heard the word of scripture from bhāgavatas who know the truths of scripture, whose sole life vow has been to spread lies, remain engrossed in all that is unrelated to Kṛṣṇa and safeguard those objects of enjoyment—how can such a person grant you indication of the truth? Please consider both the pūrvapakṣa and the uttarapakṣa. Why would you allow yourselves to be brought to a faulty conclusion by becoming trapped by a one-sided view? Why would you be compelled by stubbornness and choose Vaiṣṇava aparādha? Duryodhana fell prey to such obstinacy and achieved his total ruin. At first you will imagine some delight, but it will cast you in an ocean of dejection for eternity. Try to think about that just once. A man’s humanity depends on his capacity to discern right from wrong. Engage in deliberation under the guidance of the mahājanas. Know the truth and you will gain supreme bliss.
śrī caitanya-candrera dayā karaha vicāra |
vicāra karile citte pābe camatkāra ||
[Consider the mercy of Śrī Caitanya-candra. If you do so, you will discover a profound sense of wonder in your heart.]
Ancient Navadvīpa
Śrī Māyāpura
Satya Mondal was a village farmer from a bygone age. He had never seen a city. He had heard from people that there were great big buildings and round potatoes in the city! One day an elephant from the city came past his house and stopped at the base of a nearby fig tree. Out in the villages, people rarely saw an elephant, so a crowd of people gathered to see. One person asked Satya, “Hey Sate, tell me, what is that?” From what Satya knew of the city, it had buildings and round potatoes, so he said, “It’s either a building or a round potato.”
Nowadays, many people who have never known anything about ancient Navadvīpa’s history or geography and never kept up to date with such topics have heard about various forged maps from Bābājī Vraja-mohana, who lives in Kā̃kuḍa-māṭha in Rāmacandrapura, and have listened to the things he says, and now they are trying to combine what he is saying with what they had heard before.
Was it not only right that upon hearing all those various illusive claims those who have been discussing ancient Navadvīpa for forty years now utilize the fruits of their knowledge?
How Vraja-mohana Dāsa circulated advertisements with forged signatures, how he has drawn maps and tried to mislead people’s minds, how he is obsessed with acquring fifty bighas of land in Rāmacandrapura and how it will be worth lakhs later (sleeping in a renunciate’s tattered quilt and dreaming of lakhs of taka), and how several stone tablets and copper plates were buried and turned into ancient plinths—we will once again reveal all these details and strive to convey the truth to the world.
Because this topic has been discussed extensively in the Gauḍīya and Sajjana-toṣaṇī for a long time, all educated people are aware that Prācīna Navadvīpa (Ancient Navadvīpa), or Śrī Māyāpura, which is on the eastern bank of the Gaṅgā, is Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s birthplace.
How is Auspiciousness Achieved?
How can maṅgala (auspiciousness) be achieved? This is all anyone ever asks. Because, from Brahmā to a blade of grass, every being wants auspiciousness. No one wants inauspiciousness. Countless souls have crafted countless means to obtain auspiciousness. And all these processes have been recorded as texts, producing countless scriptures. The sole goal of all scriptures is to eradicate inauspicousness and rouse auspiciousness. When we become anxious to obtain auspiciousness, then there are perhaps those among us who see the numerous doctrines of numerous sages and cannot understand which doctrine to adopt, so in the end they just adopt atheism. Some resort to karma, jñāna, or yoga to strive to achieve their own individual measures of auspiciousness for themselves. And then scholars start debating all of this among themselves. When we became anxious to obtain auspiciousness, having roamed here and there and ended up at the ultimate limit of inauspiciousness, when our hearts had thus became completed covered by bewilderment, then Bhagavān Śrī Gaurasundara, pained by our suffering, made Himself like us and came to us carrying the burden of auspiciousness on His head and said, “O jīvas! You are being endlessly tormented by suffering, like too much rain or not enough rain and therefore famine, floods, cholera, smallpox, and other types of epidemics. You are suffering emotional pain due to the various tragedies that separate you from your loved ones. Otherwise, there are always kings inflicting various miseries upon you. If just once you take shelter in the shade of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, all your torment will be eradicated for all time.
sakala maṅgala haite parama maṅgala
cit-svarūpa sanātana veda-vallī phala
kṛṣṇa-nāma ekabāra śraddhāya helāya
jā̃hāra vadane se mukta suniścaya
[More auspicious than all auspiciousness. Personified conscious transcendence, everlasting, the fruit of the vine of the Vedas. One who utters the name of Kṛṣṇa just once, either in faith or jest, is surely liberated.]
One day, for the sake of us jīvas who long for auspiciousness, Bhagavān Gaurasundara’s eternal associate, Prabhu Sanātana, who is eternally liberated from all threefold miseries, asked:
ke āmi keno more jāre tāpa-traya
ihā nāhi jāni kemone hita haya
Who are we? If we cannot understand our relationship with this world, then we, the jīvas, cannot produce our auspiciousness in any way, by our own efforts or by those of others.
Bhikṣā
(received)
[One most exalted devotee, who is seen to be “blind” by our indulgent mundane vision but is in fact endowed with transcendental eyes, has sent in this essay entitled “Bhikṣā”, which is full of the profound longings and prayers of his heart. Though his poetry does not boast the styles of modern worldly poetry, since it expresses naturally profound moods saturated in personified simplicity and since it is desirable that this bhikṣā (alms) be the bhikṣā of every jīva who longs for the ultimate attainment, it has been published below. —Na. Pra. ed.]
By the mere touch of his merciful glance, which is boundless and unsolicited, even a person who is dumb because of being immersed in the ruckus of worldly gossip and having no interest in kṛṣṇa-kīrtana can very easily gain the capacity for kīrtana and perform kīrtana of the glories of Nityānanda’s lotus feet. By the strength of his mercy, a degraded householder who is trapped in materialistic worldly life and therefore crippled because he does not have the desire to circumambulate Bhagavān’s abode can gain the power to walk and cross over the huge, treacherous terrain of the mountain of Mahā-māyā, the kingdom of gross and subtle bodies endowed with fragmented consciousness, and thereafter gain the capacity to roam the eternal abode of indivisible pure spirit. First of all, I offer my soul like flowers, relinquishing all of my ego and bowing at the lotus feet of that Śrī Śrī Gurudeva, the embodiment of Nityānanda and the prakāśa-vigraha (manifest form) of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, who is nondifferent from Vrajendra-nandana, the one and only reservoir of ever-auspicious compassion and bhakti, so that I may beg for this generous gift—Gurudeva!
tava pade ei bhikṣā kari dayāmaya |
tomāte āmara citta yena sadā raya ||
At your feet, I beg these alms, O merciful
That my heart always remains fixed on you
sevā nāme bhoga-vāñchā nāhi kari bhūle |
saba kārya hoka mama tava prīti-mūle ||
May I not, even by mistake, long for indulgence in the name of service. May all my activities be based on pleasing you.
tava pada sevā chāḍi māyāra saṁsāre |
nānā yoni bhrami’ duḥkha pāi bāre bāre ||
Leaving the service of your feet, in illusion’s cycle of birth and death, I roam many species of life and meet with sorrow again and again.
saṁsārera dāruṇa jvālā nāśibāre mama |
ahaituka kṛpā-sindhu tava āgamana ||
You are the ocean of causeless mercy come to extinguish the ghastly blaze of material existence.
viṣaya-viṣṭhā-gartte more patita dekhiyā |
tava kāche āniyācho karuṇā kariyā ||
Seeing me fallen into the stoolpit of sense enjoyment, you have mercifully brought me close to you.
pāche āmi punaḥ chuṭi’ māyā-pāśe jāi |
sadā more tava kāche rakhiyācho tāi ||
You have kept me with you constantly so that I do not again stray and go near Māyā.
ei bhikṣā kari prabhu yena āja ha’te |
akapaṭe pāri tava mahimā gāhite ||
I beg this, master, that from today onwards I be able to sing your glories sincerely.
vidyā-buddhi-hīna ati dīna andha āmi
tava guṇa varṇibāre śakti dāo tumi ||
I am devoid of knowledge and intelligence. I am very fallen and blind. Give me the power to describe your virtues.
tomāra karuṇā-bale e adhama kaya |
tava pade paḍi’ yena gāhi tava jaya ||
By the strength of your mercy, this fallen soul falls at your feet so that he may sing of your victory.
——
A Vaiṣṇava’s Sense Objects
Getting lawfully married and having children, caring for and protecting your children, getting your children to be capable in the world, giving them spiritual knowledge, and other related tasks help the world flourish and yield pious merit. These are the duties of a gṛhastha defined in scripture. Vaiṣṇavas are not opposed to this. Gṛhastha–vaiṣṇavas engage in these four aforementioned duties like any other pious householder. In no way is it appropriate to allow the mistaken idea that Vaiṣṇavas are preaching the word of paramārtha (the supreme attainment) while telling everyone to give up worldly life.
In ancient times, Janaka, Prahlāda, Ambarīṣa, Parīkṣit and other exemplary parama-bhāgavatas were gṛhasthas. They do not say that devotion to Hari can only happen if you leave home. They say, “Your duty is to take refuge wherever you have the opportunity to be in saintly association and increase the joy of bhajana.” But if the home becomes opposed to hari-bhajana, then an intelligent person should surely strive to remedy that situation.
Now it is imperative to deliberate exclusively the matter of those striving to perform bhajana. Gṛhastha-vaiṣṇavas do all the same things that pious householders do, but is there any difference between their executions of these duties? If we simply compare several of their outer behaviours, we will not be able to uncover their real secrets. There is no outer difference between the activities of a pious householder and a Gṛhastha–vaiṣṇava like Janaka, Prahlāda, Ambarīṣa or, in this present age of Kali, like Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, and others. However, internally there is a difference of earth and sky. First we will express the difference in one statement, then we will try as best we can to have the readers take it to heart. The difference is this: though the activities of Janaka, Ambarīṣa, Śrīvāsa, and Puṇḍarīka are comparable to our own, their activities are transcendental and ours are mundane. Now let us examine the meanings of the two words aprākṛta (transcendental) and prākṛta (mundane). Aprākṛta refers to that which is full of service to Bhagavān, and prākṛta refers to that which is geared toward one’s own sense gratification. The devotees are always directing all their efforts for the sake of Kṛṣṇa, so they are always accepting or rejecting all objects of enjoyment based on whether they are favourable or unfavourable to bhakti, whereas we accept and reject all objects based on whether they are favourable or unfavourable to our own happiness. This is the difference.
Why Mahāprabhu’s Sannyāsa?
One day Mahāprabhu was sitting surrounded by His associates when He suddenly said,
“karile pippali-khaṇḍa kapha nivārite |
ulaṭiyā āra kapha bāḍila dehete ||”
[“I used some pippali (long pepper) to get rid of a cough, but instead the cough just got worse!”]
Saying this, He then also began laughing extremely loudly. The devotees could not understand why He was doing this and became disconcerted. Nityānanda, however, as Mahāprabhu’s nondifferent second self, completely understood what Mahāprabhu meant. Nityānanda understood that Śacīnandana had become anxious to deliver the sophists, the māyāvādīs, their students, and other pāṣaṇḍa miscreants, so He was going to manifest His pastime of sannyāsa. Though the son of Padmāvatī knows all of Gaurasundara’s pastimes, on this day it is as if he cannot maintain his composure. He is thinking, “The Lord of the fourteen worlds, the Supreme Lord of even the demigods, the source of all incarnations—and He is going to don the garb of a sannyāsī! Alas, alas! That beautiful hair that captivates the devotees will be no more! The devotees are going to weep in anguish! O those ever so tender lotus feet that Lakṣmī-devī herself holds to her chest and still cannot be satisfied [that her chest is soft enough]—now those feet are going to get injured by sharp stubs of grass. The expansion of the expansion of His expansion is Kāraṇābdhi-śāyī Viṣṇu, by whose glace millions and millions of brahmāṇḍas are created, maintained, and destroyed. My Lord, the Lord of all universes, the Master of all living entities, is going to wear the garb of a lowly beggar and wander from to door to door approaching these jīvas? How am I supposed to maintain my composure at this sight?” Nityānanda’s life airs became very agitated. Baladeva is acquainted with all the confidential secrets of Gaurasundara’s incarnation of separation; he knows Gaurasundara is Kṛṣṇa Himself absorbed in the mood of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and looking for Kṛṣṇa. But still, today Nityānanda is overwhelmed with sadness. Mahāprabhu took Nityānanda’s hand, pulled him aside and began saying:
“Brother Nityānanda, you know everything that is on My mind. I am here now to deliver the world, to have the jīvas see me and have their bondage break. But the results so far have been most disadvantageous for them. When they came to beat Me, I understood that I have not been able to deliver them. They have risen up in opposition of Me, like Kaṁsa, Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla, and others, and settled on their own self-annihilation. Alas, alas! In the name of delivering them, today I have come and destroyed them. Whatever may come to pass, tomorrow I will shave off My śikhā and take sannyāsa. I will become a beggar at the doors of those who wanted to attack Me. Then at least they will respect Me as a sannyāsī and offer obeisance to Me. They won’t be able to beat a sannyāsī, right? Even if they just greet me with folded hands, they will gain auspiciousness. Nityānanda, don’t let yourself be sad about this. Tell Me what the rules of sannyāsa are. If you want to deliver the world, which is why you came, then do not forbid Me from doing this.”
Nityānanda is the main assistant to Gaurasundara in His pastime of great magnanimity, which manifests as the bestowal of the treasure of prema; he knows everything, but still, when he heard Mahāprabhu’s words, he became restless with agitation. In a voice choked with love, he said, “Lord, You are the maintainer of all worlds—Lokanātha, the master of all rules and injunctions. What rules will I inform You of? You know best the pastime of delivering the world. Whatever you do is vidhi (scriptural injunction). But still, O Lord, tell Your devotees about this just once, and hear what they have to say just once.” Hearing Nityānanda’s words, Gaurahari began embracing Nityānanda again and again and, satisfied, rejoined the assembly of Vaiṣṇavas. Nityānanda was speechless; he could not move, and he was bereft of outer awareness. After some time, the outer world flashed back to him and he began thinking, “How will Āi (Śacī Mātā) maintain her life in Nimāi’s absence? She will not be able to live anymore.” Thinking about Śacī Mātā, Nityānanda began weeping and became overwhelmed.
What sweet pastimes Gaurāṅga has! “Gaurāṅgera madhura-līlā jāra karṇa praveśila, hṛdaya nirmala bhelo tā’ra | – Once Gaurāṅga’s sweet pastimes have entered a person’s ears, his heart has become purified.” On one hand, you have the elderly Śacī Devī; Nimāi is her life and soul. And on the other hand, you have the Lakṣmī of the all the worlds, Viṣṇupriyā Mātā. There is not a third person in the world who understands quite so well what it means to be an abandoned mother and wife. This was the situation in which Gaurahari decided to unveil His pastime of sannyāsa! Luckless, heartless, foolish mundane householders that we are, what fortune do we possess whereby we may fathom this mercy of Gaura’s pastimes? Gaurasundara took sannyāsa this day to deliver pāṣaṇḍas like us, to infuse us unconscious beings with consciousness, to teach us how to search for Kṛṣṇa, because I do not chant “Kṛṣṇa”—He came to get us to chant “Kṛṣṇa”. Miscreant that I am, how will I understand even once how much the Lord is weeping today just for my sake. How many thorn-filled jungles full of vicious wild animals has the Lord had to get through in order to get me to leave behind the māyā-mṛga (illusory deer) of I and mine? Will I be able to appreciate just once how the Lord is sending His very dear crown-jewel of avadhūtas, the ocean of compassion, the very deep Nityānanda, and with him, His dear associate Nāmācārya Ṭhākura Haridāsa, to my door in order to get me say “Kṛṣṇa”? Is it not for me that Nityānanda Rāya is without anger and full of supreme bliss, roaming throughout the town, putting straw in his mouth to beg from those who will not chant, and saying, “Buy me by worshipping Gaurahari!”? Is not for me that the connoisseur of pathos, Śrī Gaurasundara, is casting Śacī and Viṣṇupriyā into the ocean of separation? I salute my stone heart. I do not even have a chance of feeling all this. I am just burning in enviousness and turning into ash!
Nānā Kathā | Various Topics
After living here for 3 months and 25 days and prior to leaving back to their country, members of the British Parliament, Mr. Purcell and Mr. J. Holsworth, have conveyed their sympathies for the labourers of India and communicated a farewell message on this topic: “As your nation is wondrous, with its history and opulence, so is the plight of its poor. We will return to our country and tell our nation’s labour unions of your worrisome plight. If you can organize yourselves, you will be better able to take advantage of our assistance.”
Wafd Party leader Mustafa Nahas Pasha has assumed the role of Prime Minister and formed a cabinet of ministers in Miśara (Egypt).
In Dohad, Bombay, a municipal school collapsed, seriously injuring twenty teachers and four students. All are in hospital.
Governor of the Orange Free State has acknowledged there is a possibility that a huge deposit of oil has been discovered in the Orange kingdom.
The Afghan king’s European tour over the past three months is not altogether without purpose. In Naples, Sir Percival Phillips met with the Afghan king and asked him, “Can I not say Afghanistan is a friend to Great Britain?” In response to that, the honorable Emir said, “Let us go to London, talk to your foreign affairs secretary, and see.” Therein lies abundant truth, in this statement of the Emir. The Emir favours friendship with the British government and Great Britain also really needs the Emir’s friendship when it comes to protecting Bhārata-varṣa. What is known of the conditions of the alliance is: “Great Britain will no longer keep British soldiers along the borders of India, and all the soldiers that are stationed on the border will be removed. The Afghan king will also ensure that the mountain tribes will not cause any disturbances on the borders of India. If soldiers are to be posted at the borders of India, the British government cannot do anything without informing the Emir.” If these conditions are accepted by both sides, then steady peace can be hoped for. Hopes are that Afghanistan will soon establish economic ties with Egypt, Italy, and France. The Emir’s goal is to develop trade. The Emir’s meeting with the English and establishing friendship with them during his travels is greatly delightful news.
This upcoming 21 and 22 of April, the Faridpur Sammelana will convene. Dr. J. N. Maitra will be the chairperson. Śrīyuktā Saralā Devī, Śrīyukta Subhash Chandra Bose, Śrīyukta Kiraṇa Śaṅkara Rāya and other distinguished individuals will be in attendance.
A Muslim youth named Sheikh Qalan disguised himself as a Hindu, introducing himself as Mahaveer, and took a job in Calcutta’s Boro Bazar as a butler for one Marwari. One day, when the master of the house went somewhere, the Muslim youth took one of his boss’s boxes of jewelry and fled. The police received word and arrested the thief in Dalhousie Square.
Barisole attorney Śrīyukta Hemant Kumāra Rudra has been stabbed to death in the dark of night by some criminal.
Last March 17, around 11 a.m., a ninth grade 14-year-old student of Patuakhali school named Nripendra Nath Sena was arrested at his uncle’s house as per Section 307 of the Indian penal code in relation to a murder in Patuakhali.
Moscow’s Soviet administration has released two of the six German engineers who were caught on charges of conspiracy at Russia’s Donetsk Coal Mine.
Any chance of a trade agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany has been ruined. In talks with the German ambassador, Chicherin said that the arrest of the Germans at the Donetsk Coal Mine was executed entirely in accordance with Soviet laws. There was no result to pressing for justice.
The strike in Liluah involving 14 thousand workers has gone on for over a week. If railway administration would not be compelled by stubbornness and instead hear the complaints with steady hearts and quickly resolve the conflict, then everyone will benefit.
Three young Parsi men of unequalled courage named Jāla Vāpāsolā, Rostam Bhrimagari, and Adi Hafiz set out on October 15 1923 to travel the Earth by cycle and have travelled almost 45,000 miles in four and a half years. As of the morning of March 18, they have returned to Bombay. Mr. Horniman’s magazine, The Indian National Herald, published a special 40-page issue in honor of their return. All the inhabitants of the city are proud of their accomplishments.
The members of the Royal Commission have arrived in Gurudaspur from Firojpur as of the afternoon of March 18. Government employees and distinguished residents of the city greeted them at the town hall.
The Dhaka police office’s former accountant, Śrīyukta Yatīndra Nātha Rāya Chaudhurī, has been charged with embezzlement of office funds. The case is ongoing.
Farman Sardar, the leader of the gang that has orchestrated most of the dacoity that has occurred in various places in Barisole and Faridpur districts has been arrested in Charmugdia last Wednesday. Disguised a someone selling home-made remedies, he went to the home of a rich man to scope out the place. Police arrested him as he was returning from this house.
A terrible dacoity has occurred in a place called Pālaṁ. Almost 3000 taka worth of cash and jewelry has been stolen. Reports are that a gang of dacoits snuck into Śrīnātha Kavirāja’s house in Rajganj village and forced the lady of the house to give up the key to the safe and fled with almost 3000 taka worth of valuables. It seems police has received some information about the dacoit gang from a 14-year-old and are investigating.
On the night of March 16, in the city of Bombay, when a train stopped at Victoria Terminus Station, a sahib’s dead body was found in one of the first-class cabins. The were signs of a gunshot wound to the sahib’s face and he was clutching a pistol in his hand. All he had in his belongings were a first-class ticket from Bombay to Khana station and a hankerchief with the initials “R.P.” Investigation as to whether this was murder or suicide is ongoing.
Many Patuakhali youth have been arrested as per Section 55 in relation to the satyāgraha activism. Most of the youths are college students. Their parents are very worried about their sons after this arrest.
It was heard that this March 17, in the afternoon, Avtav Uddin, a member of the Sherkandi Palli-rakṣā Samiti, informed the Kushtia district magistrate that police have beaten several persons at Kumarkhali market and arrested them. Police from Kushtia arrived at the scene to investigate.