Title: Bathing of Lord Gauranga Transcript

User: Matus Date: 2006-04-22 18:17:22

Bathing of Lord Gauranga Transcript

Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata Madhya Khanda 9.20-45

Audio Commentary & Lecture by His Holiness

Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada.

Transcption service by Matus.

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Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

So we saw how the Lord who normally exhibits His mood as the Lord and His mood as a devotee. Both of His moods decided to exhibit His mood as the Lord for 21 continuous hours to fulfil all the innermost desires of His devotees by exhibiting the different forms, all the different forms of all the different incarnations. Devotees, they understood the desire of the Lord that He wanted to enjoy His Pastimes in this way and they stood before the Lord with folded hands.

Verse 20, chapter 9, Chaitanya Bhagavata, Mahaprakash-lila

yoda haste sammukhe sakala bhaktagana .

rahilena parama anandamukta mana

Their mind was full, full with happiness, because today they were going to see the Lord in His full opulences in the Mahaprakash-Pastimes. So in that way the Lord was ready to satisfy their desires.

Verse 21

ki adbhuta santoshera haila prakasha .

sabai vasena yena vaikuntha-vilasa

One can not imagine the feelings of satisfaction experienced by Lord Gauranga’s devotees. Every one of them was feeling that as if they were in Vaikuntha, because the Lord is going to exhibit His Transcendental Divine Opulences today.

Verse 22

prabhuo vasila yena vaikunthara natha .

tilarddheka maya-matra nahika kotha’ta

Lord Gauranga sat on the throne of the Lord as if on His own throne, as if He is, this is Vaikuntha and He began accepting all the prayers and devotion of His devotees directly. And when the Lord reveals Himself, at that time there can not be any Maya or there can not be any illusion: jahan Krishna tahanahi mayaradhikar. Wherever the Lord is there, there can not be any chance for the darkness to come. Just like when we turn our face to the sun, we see the sun face to face, we can not see our own shadow. But when we look on the opposite direction from the light, from the sun, we immediately see our own shadow. Similarly, the devotees were seeing the Lord face to face in His most opulent Forms in this Mahaprakash-lila, so there is no question of Maya. Even for a moment. Vrindavan dasa Thakur is saying: maya-matra nahika kotha’ta, Maya could not enter these Pastimes of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, because the Lord was fully exhibiting and revealing His Transcendental Forms.

Verse 23

ajna haila,—“bala mora abhisheka-gita .”

shuni’ gaya bhaktagana hai’ harashita

Lord Gauranga ordered that: “Please, recite the songs of My Abhisheka! Please, bathe me! “. And, you know, all the archana, vigraha, all the puja and the worship of the Lord should always be accompanied by kirtan, otherwise the worship of the Lord is incomplete. In Gaudya-Math, on day the Lord was being offered bhoga and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada came down from His quarters and He saw that there is no kirtan going on. He became very angry and He told the devotees that even the bhoga-worship, the pancharatriki-worship should be followed by the bhagavat-marg, or with the kirtan, always be accompanied by kirtan, or katha, or some nectar – hearing and chanting of the Lord’s Holy Names and Pastimes. In the Krishna-Balaram-Temple also in Vrindavan, Shrila Prabupada had called all the priests to perform the puja, but He told the devotees to do kirtan and He said that: “Because of your kirtan actually the Lord will come here, Krishna-Balaram will come here.” So the Lord told all the devotees to recite the songs of abhisheka, or the Transcendental Bathing of the Lord before the Bathing will begin.

Verse 24

abhisheka shuni’ prabhu mastaka dhulaya .

sabare karena kripadrishti amayaya

Very beautiful pastime is being exhibited here. By hearing the beautiful songs of abhisheka the Lord Himself is moving His Head too and throw in bliss and ecstasy and He is relishing the abhisheka-prayers, the bathing-prayers by the devotees. Normally, in a mood of a devotee Gauranga Mahaprabhu will not do this, but now when He is exhibiting His Form as the Lord Himself, He is moving His head too and throw and He is glancing at all the devotees very mercifully, those who are singing His prayers.

Verse 25

prabhura ingita vujhilena bhaktagana .

abhisheka karite sabara haila mana

And the Lord’s indication was understood by all the devotees and all the devotees started performing the… desired to bathe the Lord, perform His abhisheka, because seeing the Lord’s desire to be bathed, the devotees also desired to please the Lord in that way.

Verse 26

sarva-bhaktagane vahi’ ane gangajala .

age chankilena divya vasane sakala

All the devotees they filled pots and they brought Ganga-water from the Ganges, which is just opposite Shrivasangan, few metres away from Shrivasangan. They filled the pots and they brought it before the Lord. And before bathing the Lord they put the pots through a, put the water through a cloth. Chankilena, it is known as chanki, to filter the water, because they didn’t use to, they did not want to offer the Ganges water as it is. They filtered the Ganges-water with a very clean cloth, a divine cloth - divya vasane.

Verse 27

sheshe shrikarpura catuhsama-adi diya .

sajaja karilena sabe premayukta haiya

Then all the devotees they performed catuhsama, which is described in Hari-bhakti-vilasa, which means, that two portions of musk, four portions of sandalwood, three portions of cumcum and one portion of camphor. All these four kinds of ingredients are put into the abhisheka water ingredients. And karpura means camphor… So they put these four kinds of ingredients in their corresponding proportions and they prepared the abhisheka amrita, the water to bathe the Lord while being totally absorbed in pure love of God. They were totally overwhelmed with love for Gauranga Mahaprabhu when they were preparing the ingredients for bathing the Lord.

Verse 28

maha-jaya-jaya-dhvani shuni’ caribhite .

abhisheka-mantra sabe lagila padite

Then when the abhisheka water was ready, they heart “Jaya! Jaya! Jaya! Jaya!” great, you know, glories exclamations all over. Even the Demigods they were waiting in the sky to see this Mahaprakasha abhisheka of Lord Gauranga, who is Their Master. So there was “All glories! All glories!” the tumultuous vibration of glorification. This started in all the directions, all the four directions and everyone started reciting and reading abhisheka mantras like we recite Brahma Samhita for abhisheka. There are many different mantras for abhisheka, for Gauranga Mahaprabhu also. So…

Verse 29

sarvadye shrinityananda ‘jaya jaya’ vali’.

prabhura shrishire jala dila kutuhali

First and foremost Lord Gauranga’s dear brother and His dear associate, dear devotee, most beloved devotee Lord Nitai, Lord Nityananda, He said ”Jaya! Jaya!” and He poured the Transcendental Divine Water on the Head of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu, which was…that water was imbued with the devotion of Lord Nityananda and all the devotees. The Lord does not simply want some water, He has created so many oceans. He is not hungry for water, thirsty for water. He wants the devotion, the pure devotion of His devotees. They mixed their devotion with the water and Lord Nityananda offered it to the Lord first.

Verse 30

advaita-shrivasa-adi yateka pradhana .

padiya purushasukta karayena snana

So, exhaulted devotees like Advaita and Shrivasa Thakura and other devotees, they… and other prominent devotees, they started reading the verses of the Purusa Sukta from the Vedas and started bathing the Lord. Om sahastra sirsa purusa, sahastra aksha sahastra pada, sabhumim vysvatho vystravya, athisthad dasanu gulam. Om puruse vedam sarvamyat bhutamyat ca bhavyam, utamrita tat vashyeno yad anenat tiror hatti. In that way there are many, many prayers of the Purusa Sukta. It is said that the Supreme Lord’s Universal Form has thousands heads and thousand eyes and thousand feet, for He contains all living entities having pervaded this universe completely to give it existence. And being independent the Lord extended Himself beyond the universe by ten fingers. So all these beautiful glorifications of the Lord are there in the Purusa Sukta and the devotees recited.

Verse 31

gaurangera bhakta saba mahamantravit .

mantra padi’ jala dhale hai’ harashita

The devotees of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu are very expert in chanting various mantras, maha, mahamantravit. In this word the maha word is used for the word vit. Vit means expert and maha means greatly expert. So the devotees, Gauranga’s devotees were greatly expert in chanting these different abhisheka mantras for pleasing the Lord while this abhisheka was going on. And they were reciting mantras as other devotees joyfully being happy, ecstatic. They poured water on the Transcendental Body of the Lord.

Verse 32

mukundadi gaya abhisheka sumangala .

keha kande, keha nace anande vihvala

Devotees headed by Mukunda sang auspicious songs, abhisheka songs and some devotees started crying, seeing the beautiful, beauty of the Lord during the abhisheka. And keha nace, some started dancing, some became overwhelmed and agitated with bliss and pure love. You see this is the most auspicious abhisheka songs and nobody could control the bliss which they could feel by seeing this transcendental ceremony of the Lord. You know, there is one book written by Jiva Goswami which is known as Madhava Mahotsa where Krishna Himself comes to see the abhisheka of Shrimati Radhika and in Vrindavana, and it is so beautiful, so beautiful. Even the demigods and their pious cat captivated and they personally come and bathe Shrimati Radharani. Shrimati Radharani is there in the body of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, She is combined with Krishna. So, one can imagine the beauty of Gauranga’s abhisheka… It is the most exclusive thing in the whole creation. The water droplets appeared like pearls over the Lord’s Body, dripping on the Lord’s Body. And here we can also see that the Lord does not require very elaborate arrangements for abhisheka. The Lord is pleased with some Ganga water. Ganga is one of the greatest devotees of Lord Gauranga, that is why Gauranga Mahaprabhu accepted Ganga water simply and He was so happy to be bathed by the Ganges water.

Verse 33

pativratagana kare ‘jaya-jayakara’ .

anandasvarupa citta haila sabara

All the chaste ladies, the wifes of all the great associates were very chaste women and they were, you know, shouting: “Jaya! Jaya! Jaya!” all glories and seeing this beautiful abhisheka …inaudible part… Everyone’s heart became full with bliss, personified happiness.

Verse 34

vasiya achena vaikunthera adhishvara .

bhaktagane jala dhale shirera upara

In that way the Lord of Vaikuntha sat on the throne and all the devotees… Adhishvara, the presiding deity of Vaikuntha, Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu is the presiding deity of Vaikuntha. Even Goloka Vrindavana, Navadvipa, Puri, all these planets are part of Vaikuntha. They are the highest planets in Vaikuntha. But ultimately the whole Vaikuntha region is considered spiritual, fully spiritual and made up of innumerable spiritual indestructible planets. So Lord Gauranga is the Vaikuntha adhishvara the proprietor and the presiding deity of Vaikuntha Dhama. And the devotees, they worshiped Him with so much glee and so much happiness and they simply poured water, Ganges, Ganga water on His Head. What a great fortune these devotees are having to personally, you know, pour water on the Head of the Supreme Personality of Godhead! This kind of good fortune is not available to the conditioned souls.

Verse 35

namamatra ashtottarashata ghata jala .

sahasra ghateo anta na pai sakala

The abhisheka ceremony of the Lord was going to be of 108 pots, the devotees were going to offer 108 pots. But when the devotees started pouring water on the Lord, they became so blissful and they did not be satisfied with 108 pots, they kept on pouring, pouring. They simply desired to see the Lord being bathed and the Lord was also so happy and blissful to receive their offerings, simply water. The Lord was happy to receive simply water mixed with the four ingredients of catuhsama, catuhsama and the…you know… So the number of pots reached beyond thousands and thousands of pots were been brought from the Ganges and offered to the Lord and nobody had any count of how many pots of water were offered on the Transcendental Body of the Lord. According to the Hari-Bhakti-Vilasa one should bathe the Lord with gold, silver, copper, belt metal or clay pots of water numbering 1500, 250, 108, 64, 32, 16, or 4. In that way there are particular numbers fixed to offer the pots to the Lord, but here the devotees because of their spontaneous love, they could not count the numbers and started, they exceeding thousands of pots were being poured on the Body of the Lord.

Verse 36

devata-sakale dhari’ narera akriti .

gupte abhisheka kare, ye haya sukriti

Some very fortunate demigods they assumed the form of human beings and They secretly took part in the abhisheka ceremony. They grasped a pot and poured it on the Body of the Lord. So we see here in Vrindavana Krishna did not even give this opportunity of abhisheka, is not even available to, you know, many of His associates in Vrindavana. That great fortune of abhisheka was available in Navadvipa to even the demigods, who are on the other planetary systems. Even they could come in form of narera akriti they assumed the form of ordinary human beings and they secretly took part in the abhisheka ceremony.

Verse 37

yanra padapadme jalavindu dile matra .

seha dhyane, sakshate ke dite ache patra

If one offers jalavindu dile, if one offers a drop of any kind of water to the Lotus Feet of Lord Gauranga…

Verse 38

tathapiha tare nahi yamadanda haya .

hena prabhu sakshate sabara jala laya

Then he or she will never achieve the punishment of Yamaraja. Even if one offer a drop of water to the Feet of the Lord, then the Lord will, you know, that person will not ever achieve the subjugation of Yamaraja. So what to speak of those yei dhyane sakshate who are giving personally, who are, you know, throwing the pots of water, releasing the pot of water on the Transcendental Head of the Lord! They are the most fortunate of all the living entities. And here in this incarnation the Lord is accepting the water directly from everyone and they are able to pour the water on the Head without any restriction.

Verse 39

shrivasera dasadasige ane jala .

prabhu snana kare,—bhakta-sebara ei phala

So, Shrivasa’s servants and maidservants, dasas, dasis, they also brought water and they also bathed the Lord. Shrivasa Thakura’s servants and maidservants! And He accepted, He bathed, He was bathed by the water which has been poured by the servants and the maidservants of Shrivasa’s house! So, Vrindavana dasa Thakura is saying that this is the ultimate fruit of serving the bhaktas, the devotees, bhakta seva. When one does bhakta seva one gets Bhagavan seva. When one serves the devotees, one becomes qualified to directly serve Bhagavan. And the maidservants and the servants who served Shrivasa in His home menially, now they are getting an opportunity to serve Bhagavan directly. They are putting the pot of water directly on His Head. So, such a good fortune which is not even achieved by Brahma and Siva, these maidservants and servants of Shrivasa’s house they have achieved simply because they have strong faith in Shrivasa Thakura and they are serving Him humbly and menially. So, if you want to achieve the same qualification to pour water on the Head of the Lord and bathe Him then one should become the servant of the servant of His devotees.

Verse 40

jala ane kha bhagayavati ‘duhkhi’ nama .

apane thakura dekhi’ bale,—‘ana ana’

There was one very fortunate maidservant of Shrivasa, her name was Duhkhi. Duhkhi means said, little meaning of duhkhi is said. So her name was Duhkhi bhagayavati, very fortunate she was that she desired to bathe the Lord, but she was not pouring water due to her hesitation. So the Lord told her: „Come, come, come! Bring… Come, come, come here! Bring, bring, bring! Bring the water! Bathe me! Quickly! ”

Verse 41

apane thakura tara bhaktiyoga dekhi’ .

‘duhkhi’ nama ghucaiya thuilena ‘sukhi’

On seeing her devotional service, seeing her love and spontaneous love for Gauranga Mahaprabhu she came and she poured water on the Head and the Lord was so happy with her devotion that the Lord changed her name from duhkhi to sukhi. Her name became sukhi. Sukhi means happy, because she was absorbed in the bliss of directly bathing the Lord, so her name became sukhi.

Verse 42

nana vedamantra padi’ sarva-bhaktagana .

snana karaiya anga karila marjana

So chanting different kinds of mantras and appropriate mantras the devotees, you know, worshiped the Lord by the means of the vedic mantras and after the abhisheka the devotees, they dried the Body of the Lord with very soft fine cloth, they dried the Body of the Lord while the mantras were been chanted.

Verse 43

paridhana karaila nutana vasana .

shrianga lepila divya sugandhi-candana

After the performance of the abhisheka the Lord was dressed with new exquisite, new garlands and new garments and clothes, clothes and they applied the very, very fragrant and divine sandalwood paste on His Body with their own hands. One can imagine the good fortune of these devotees headed by Nityananda Prabhu and Advaita acharya and Gadadhara and Shrivasa that They got the good fortune of directly applying sandalwood paste on the Body of the Lord. If one touches the Body, Divine Body of the Lord, one will achieve the crest-jewel of all achievements in life, that is pure love of God. So these devotees already possessed that treasure that’s why They got this opportunity to worship the Lord in this way.

Verse 44

vishnukhatra patilena upaskara kari’ .

vasilena pravu nija khattara upari

So in that way…leaned the throne, they cleaned the throne where the Lord was sitting and after the abhisheka then the Lord sat down again on it and…

Verse 45

chatra dharilena shire nityananda raya .

kona bhagyavanta rahi’ camara dhulaya

And Lord Nityananda held an umbrella over the Lord’s Head, Divine Umbrella and some fortunate devotee fanned the Lord with the beautiful camara, whisk, whisk fan, he was fanning the Lord. Now we will see next, tomorrow that how the Lord is being worshiped after the abhisheka with many, many different ingredients, how the devotees will worship Him and how the Lord will exhibit His…yes…with different ingredients… and how the Lord will reciprocate. Shrivasa’s home has become even higher than Vaikuntha because of this transcendental Mahaprakash lila, this abhisheka. Some devotees say that Gauranga should not be worshiped as God, but Chaitanya Bhagavata says something else, says otherwise. Chaitanya Bhagavata describes how the Lord has accepted abhisheka Himself because He is Krishna Himself. He can not hide Himself. Even if He wants hide and the sun…just like a sun can not be covered by any kind of covering, is self-effulgent, self-manifest. Similarly the Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu is Krishna, Lord Krishna Himself and He is self-manifested. Even if He tries to hide, He can not hide because His Nature is all-pervading, is all-revealing. His opulences can not be constrained even by Him. So the devotees have identified their Lord and they are worshiping the Lord as the Lord with their full satisfaction during these Mahaprakash pastimes. Tomorrow we will see what kind of ingredients the devotees offer and what kind of prayers are offered and what kind of benedictions the Lord gives to His devotees.

Haribol!

Mahaprakash lila ki jay!

Chaitanya Bhagavata ki jay!

Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki jay!

Nityananda Prabhu ki jay!

Samasta gaura bhakta vrinda ki jay!

Shrila Prabhupada ki jay!

Nitai-Gaura Premanande!