Title: Mercy to Shrila Haridasa Thakura Transcript

User: Swami Gaurangapada Date: 2006-06-06 03:59:49

 

Mercy to Shrila Haridasa Thakura

 

Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata Madhya khanda

chapter 10 verses 35 - 112

 

Audio commentary & lecture by

His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada

 

Transcription service by Jagannatha Gauranga dasa

We thank Jagannatha Gauranga dasa as this was an especially long lecture and he has transcribed with lot of attention and patience for the benefit of all the devotees.

 

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Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

 

Chaitanya-mangala sune pasandi yavana, seha maha-vaishnava haya tataksana: Anyone who hears Chaitanya Bhagavata, he may be the greatest atheist, greatest offender, the greatest sinner, but he or she will become a Maha-Vaishnava that very moment. This is the verdict of Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami, who is Kustodi manjari in Radha-Krishna’s pastimes. So Chaitanya Bhagavata Madhya khanda chapter 10 verse number 35:

 

Text 35

 

haridasa prati prabhu sadaya haiya

“mora dekha haridasa”—bale daka diya

 

After giving his mercy to Shrila Murari Gupta, who is none other than Hanhuman in the lila of Lord Ramacandra. Lord Gauranga showed him his blackish green form of Lord Ramacandra and Murari could understand his constitutional position. Now the Lord is turning to one of his most beloved devotees, Shrila Haridasa Thakura. He looked at Haridasa, sadaya haiya, sadaya means being merciful at Haridasa. The Lord said, “mora dekha haridasa, please see my form, please see my transcendental form.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

This is the specific characteristic of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu; he is so bhakta vatsalya that he wants to show himself to his devotees. In all other incarnations the devotees want to see the Lord, but here Gauranga he’s calling his devotees and showing his forms, which are being meditated on by the devotees; tad-tad-vapuh pranayase sad-anugrahaya. Bhagavatam says that whatever a devotee thinks, whatever form at the time of sadhana bhakti, that same form is revealed at the time of siddha bhakti by the mercy of the Lord.  So here the Lord is calling all his siddha associates and as per their internal desires he’s revealing his form.

 

Text 36

 

“ei mora deha haite tumi mora bada

tomara ye jati, sei jati mora dadha

 

Any devotee, any person who criticizes devotees on the basis of caste, creed, bodily complexion and deformities in the body should actually always remember this verse which Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu has spoken to Haridasa. He’s saying here that ei mora deha haite tumi mora bada; your body is more dear and greater to me than my own body. Now Haridasa was externally born in a Muslim family and the orthodox Brahmanas rejected him, even the Muslims rejected him because he was constantly vibrating the holy names of Lord Krishna. But Gauranga Mahaprabhu fully knows the glories of his devotees and he’s saying that, “your body is more dear to me than my own body because your body is my playground of my pastimes. You are constantly chanting my holy names without any apathy, without any averseness, without any tiredness. So I am dancing on your tongue, I am dancing in your body.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

Haridasa Thakura also says the same thing to the Muslim governor, khanda khanda hai deha yaya yadi prana tabu ami vadane na chadi har—nama. The Muslim governor, he said, “you stop chanting these Hindu names of Krishna.” Haridasa said, “even if you cut my body into millions of pieces, khanda khanda hai deha yaya yadi prana, even if the soul leaves my body; still each particle of my body will vibrate the holy names Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Tabu ami vadane na chadi hari—nama; “ I will never give up the holy name of the Lord, come what may.”

Prabhodandi Sarasvati also says like that, he says that, “if my body is cut into millions of pieces and somebody in a basket tries to take out those pieces from Navadvipa, then those pieces will jump back into Navadvipa dhama. I do not want to leave Navadvipa even at the time of death. Even if Lord Krishna would appear in his three fold bending form outside of Godruma, I will roll in the dust of Godruma, I will not leave because I know that as long as I am in Navadvipa, Radha and Krishna are in the palm of my hand.”

 

If you don’t worship Navadvipa then Vrndavan is like a mirage, but if one worships Navadvipa and the places of Gauranga lila like Puri, if one has faith in Gauranga’s lila, studies, then one finds oneself in Vrndavan effortlessly. That is confirmed by Narrotama das Thakura, he states: Shri Gaura mandela bhumi ye bhajane cintamani sei praya vraja bhumi vatsalya. One who understands that Gauranga, Gaura mandela bhumi; Gauranga’s lila, places; cintamani, they are the touchstones for fulfilling the desire of the offensive conditioned souls, then instantly one gets residence in Vrndavan. That is experienced by Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Navadvipa Bhava Taranga; he saw in the Pulinagrama the rasa dance of Radha-Krishna in Navadvipa. He saw Vrndavan in Navadvipa, he found shelter of eternal Vrndavan by seeing the pastime places of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

 

So here Gauranga is saying that, “Haridas, your body is more dear to me than my own body, that’s why I suffered all the lashes in the 22 market places, they lashed you but I suffered them. I cannot let your body be harmed as long as I am there because you have sacrificed your whole life in chanting my holy names.” And then the Lord goes on to make a very revolutionary statement, very very merciful. The orthodox brahmanas did not accept this statement of the Lord showing his extraordinary affection for Haridas, he says, tomara ye jati, sei jati mora dadha. The Lord says, “I am not a brahmana, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaisya, I am not a sudra, I don’t have any caste…whatever is your caste is my caste,” he tells Haridas Thakura.

 

In one way if we see this pastime, then Haridas Thakura being born in a Muslim family, the lord is even giving mercy to the Muslim caste by saying that your caste is my caste. Because Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu is the eternal master of all souls whether they are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, he’s the Lord of every soul. So the caste of the devotees is the caste of the Lord, especially very dear devotees like Haridasa Thakura.

 

Bhaktisiddhanti Sarasvati is quoting the verse from Chaitanya Charitamrita, he says that diksa-kale bhakta kare atma samarpana sei-kale krishna tare kare atma sama. At the time of diksha Krishna makes the devotee, the disciple, just like him. Atma samarpana, one who surrenders, he becomes just like the Lord. So similarly the devotees caste becomes Krishna’s caste and actually the devotees body is no longer material. Haridas Thakura’s body in no longer material because the sound vibration of the holy names, it has totally spiritualized his body, his eternal associate.

Vaisnavera janma karma kabanoi: Vrndavan das Thakura says that a Vaishnava never takes birth, neither he dies, neither is he affected by karma; his activities are lila just like the Lord. The Lord is not bound to take birth it is his sweet will; similarly a Vaishnava appears in this world and disappears, apara kripa deha, his transcendental body. Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu is now very intelligent in increasing the bliss of his devotees in His Mahaprakasa lila, so he’s remembering some pastimes about Haridasa. He’s saying:

 

Text 37

 

papistha yavane toma yata dila duhkha

taha sanarite mora vidaraye buka

 

Lord Gauranga is saying that, “those sinful papistha people who gave you so much suffering, they tried to beat you, they tried to stop you, and I remember that…my heart breaks,” Buka means heart, “my heart breaks and I experience intense sorrow to know what you have suffered because of your attachment for my holy names.”

 

 

Text 38

 

suna suna haridasa tomare yakhane

nagare nagare mari vedaya yavane

 

Suna suna haridasa; “Please listen Haridasa, please see, I am telling you that when these yavanas, when these people they were lashing you, beating you in nagare nagare; so many towns and market places, they were roaming with you.”

 

Text 39

 

dekhiya tomara duhkha cakra dhari kare

namilun vaikuntha haite saba katibare

 

“Don’t think that I was silent at that time, I came down with the Sudarsana cakra in my hand, cakra dhari kare dekhiya tomara duhkha, seeing your unhappiness, your trouble you were going through,” namilun namilun, namilun means I descended, “I descended from Vaikuntha and I was just going to katibare, I was going to cut to pieces these demons who were hitting you, beating you.”

 

Text 40

 

prananta kariya toma mare ye-sakala

tumi mane cinta taha sabara kusala

 

“I was just about to release my Sudarsana cakra but I could read your mind and when I read your mind…they were going to take your life, these demons, and in your mind you were in so much anxiety about their welfare, sabara kusala, you were thinking welfare you were their well wisher, you had intense pain in your heart, you were thinking ‘My dear Lord please protect them, please let them not suffer because of hitting me. I know that they will suffer tremendously because of this act but please my dear Lord, please help them. Cinta, you were in anxiety because of their welfare.”

 

Text 41

 

apane marana khao, taha nahi dekha

takhana o ta-sabare bhala mane dekha

 

Lord Gauranga is so beautifully glorifying Haridas, he’s saying, “O Haridas, your mood is superexcellent, the beatings which they inflicted on you, that you don’t see. You didn’t see how much pain you were suffering, but you were continuously thinking about their welfare. You don’t even have any complaints for the pain that they are giving you, you don’t even feel that…they were severely beating you, you were interested in protecting them.”

 

Text 42

 

tumi bhala cintile na karon muni bala

mora cakra toma lagi haila viphala

 

This beautiful verse…The Sudarsana Cakra of the Lord, the power of the Sudarsana Cakra can never ever be stopped by any kind of power in this world.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

You saw Durvasa and Ambarisa; one of the greatest mystic yogi Durvasa, he produced a demon who was full of fire ready to engulf the whole earth but the Sudarsana Cakra destroyed that demon, and even Ambarisa could not do anything.

 

So the Sudarsana Cakra of the Lord is the most potent and powerful weapon, but that Sudarsana Cakra became viphala, viphala means without any effect. The Lord was trying to throw that but the cakra was becoming viphala, it is not able to act. Why? Because, tumi bhala cintile, “because you were thinking good about them, those executioners who were going to kill you, you were thinking good about them. I couldn’t release my cakra because I didn’t want to displease you in any way. When you have some desire how can I enforce something against that? Tumi bhala cintile na karon muni bala, I will not force you into doing something, you did not want them to be killed so how can I kill them?” The Lord becomes the servant of his devotees, even the cakra becomes the servant of Haridasa Thakura.

 

Text 43

 

katite na paron tora sankalpa lagiya

tora prsthe padon tora marana dekhiya

 

“Your sankalpa, your firm vow and determination to protect these executioners, to save them, I saw that and I could not kill them. I could not go against your wishes because I descended from Vaikuntha to please you, to help you, how could I kill them if it against your wishes? So I could not sever their heads. But then I started thinking how will I protect you? On one hand I cannot kill them, on the other hand they are beating you very heavily, so there was no other option for me,” tora prsthe padon, prsthe means the back and paron means I covered your back with my own body, my transcendental body, “I covered your own back and what did I do?”

 

 

Text 44

 

tohara marana nija ange kari lana

ei tara cihna ache, micha nahi kana

 

So Lord Gauranga said, “All of their beatings, I took it on my own body because I could not kill them, I took it on my own body, I covered your body, and Haridas you believe me, I am not just saying this; actually I took all your beatings, and see, see these signs, ‘cihna’ which are there on my back.” Micha micha, means I am not just saying or speaking like this, I am…I actually took all of your beatings on my back. Here are the marks; I am not speaking a lie.

 

Text 45

 

yeba gauna chila mora prakasa karate

sighra ailun tora duhkha na paron sahite

 

“There are many indirect reasons which I advented in this world in Kali-yuga as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, but one of the reasons was that I could not tolerate your distress, that is why I have quickly descended in Kali-yuga in this form of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or Lord Gauranga, I wanted to relieve your pain and suffering forever.

 

Text 46

 

tomare cinile mora nada bhala mate

sarva-bhave more bandi karila advaite”

 

“Your glories have only been understood by one great personality, his name is Nada or Advaita Acarya. The sada patra, the forefather offering Advaita offered to you first in spite of so many qualified brahmanas being present.” And Advaita said, “O Haridas, if you eat first million of brahmanas are fed already.”

 

“So he understood your glories fully and that is why he has bound me with his love for you. Advaita Acarya is a great devotee because he’s understood your glories in full.”

 

Text 47

 

bhakta badaite se thakura bhala jane

ki na bale, ki na kare bhaktera karane

 

Vrndavan das Thakura, as usual he is the connoisseur of all the poets glorifying Lord Gauranga so he’s saying, “bhakta badaite se thakura bhala jane.” That Thakura Lord Gauranga is very expert in badaite, badaite means to increase the glories of his devotees he’s glorifying them in a very unique way, every time: Ki na bale, ki na kare. What does he not speak and what does he not do for the sake of his devotees. There is nothing in this world that he does not speak, or doesn’t do for the sake of his devotees. He does everything, he’s ready to do everything; he’s even ready to sell himself, everything.

 

Text 48

 

jvalanta anala prabhu bhakta lagi khaya

bhaktera kinkara haya apana icchaya

 

The Lord drinks fire, just for the sake of his devotees, like in Vraja, the forest fire. The cowherd boys approached the Lord and the Lord just opened his mouth and he drank the forest fire for the sake of his devotees. Bhaktera kinkara haya, He becomes the servant of his devotees, not by force, apana icchaya, by his desire. By his own desire, voluntarily he becomes a servant of his own devotees.

 

Text 49

 

bhakta bai krishna ara kichui na jane

bhaktera samana nahi ananta bhuvane

 

Lord Krishna does not know anything except his pure devotees and pure devotees do not know anything except the Lord. It is a mutual reciprocation to perform the duties of this material world the Lord has deputed his Purusa avataras. The Lord is not directly entangled in this material world; his only business is, bhakta bai, always to engage in his eternal pastimes with his intimate associates. He does not know anything except them, he’s absorbed in serving them; he’s absorbed in playing with them. This is confirmed in the Bhagavatam, a verse…sādhavo hrdayam mahyam sadhunam hrdayam tv aham mad-anyat te na jananti naham tebhyo managapi. I am there in the core of the heart of the sadhus and that is why the sadhus are there in the core of my heart. I don’t know anyone except them because they don’t know anyone except me. Whatever they…they exclusively think about me so I am bound to only exclusively think about them. So bhaktera samana nahi ananta bhuvane; there is nobody equal to my devotees in these three worlds.

 

Verse 50

 

hena krishna-bhakta-name na paya santosa

sei saba papire lagila daiva-dosa

                                               

           Vrndavan das Thakura is chastising now, “Those sinful people who don’t feel blissful by hearing the names of the Lord’s devotees.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

           Vaishnava nandana, in our Vaishnava Gaudiya, Vaishnava culture, Gaudiya Math culture; Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati stressed to sing the holy names of the Lord’s devotees daily in the morning. So Vaishnava nandana, all the associates of the Lord one simply sings and remembers their names. One offers obeisances to all the devotees staying in Vraja dhama in the past present and future, I offer my dandavats to all the great devotees staying in Vraja dhama past present and future, I offer my obeisances to all the devotees staying in Shri Navadvipa dhama in the past present and future, I offer my dandavat obeisances.

 

           So Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya in Chaitanya Sataka said there is only one thing higher than Gauranga’s lila and Gauranga’s name and that is the name of his pure devotees, and the pastimes of his pure devotees. That is why there is a book known as Bhakti Ratnakari written by Shrila Narahari Cakravarti Thakura. That book it’s described it melts the heart of the maha maha bakapasandi’s, the most greatest sinful people because the lila of Gauranga’s associates is described. Even Chaitanya Bhagavata is full of Gauranga bhakta lila; Gauranga is not doing lila alone, always with his devotees.

 

So these pastimes are glorious because without his devotees Lord Gauranga is always hankering, he’s always hankering for the devotees, and the names of the devotees is the most satisfying thing for the conditioned souls, and those who are not satisfied, santosa, by chanting the names of Lord Krishna’s and Lord Gauranga’s pure associates… they will be cursed. Daiva dosa, they’ll be cursed by Providence into great suffering.

 

Text 51

 

bhaktera mahima bhai dekha caksu bhari

ki balila haridasa-prati gaurahari

 

            Vrndavan das Thakura is very expert, he’s saying that, “O my, O my brothers and sisters, please hear this bhaktera mahima bhai dekha caksu bhari, fill your eyes and fill your ears by hearing this glorification of the devotees which is performed by Lord Gauranga himself.” What Gauranga spoke to Haridasa, this is very very significant for every devotee because when a devotee hears it one’s heart becomes full with love.

 

 

Text 52

 

prabhu-mukhe suni maha-karunya-vacana

murchita padila haridasa tata-ksana

 

Haridasa Thakura when he heard the maha-karunya-vacana, the great compassionate words of Lord Gauranga about how Gauranga Mahaprabhu protected him, covered him with his own body. At that time murchita padila, Haridasa instantly fainted in trance, pratataksha, that instant.

 

Text 53

 

bahya dure gela bhumi-tale haridasa

anande dubila, tilardheka nahi svasa

 

His external consciousness became…disappeared, and he fell on the ground and drowned in the ocean of ananda, happiness, and he was not even breathing in trance, he was not even breathing.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

Because you know when the devotee hears from the Lord’s mouth how he was merciful to him, the devotee experiences a very particular kind of ecstasy which is very very rare because he experiences the direct affection of the Lord, how the Lord took care of him. We are performing bhakti yoga just to be recognized by the Lord. Ok Lord you give me a sidelong glance sometime, but here Haridas is directly protected and taken care of by the Lord just like a cat protects the kitten.

 

Text 54

 

prabhu bale, --“utha utha mora haridasa

manohara bhari dekha amara prakasa”

 

Lord Gauranga is saying, “My dear Haridasa I am showing myself to you then why are you fainting? Why are you unconscious? I am there I am displaying my opulences to you, see my prakasa, see my manifestations. Why are you falling unconscious?” Hearing the words of the Lord:

 

Text 55

 

bahya pai haridasa prabhura vacane

kotha rupa-darasana—karaye krandane

 

Then Haridasa got external consciousness hearing the words of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu and he saw the rupa darsana, the form, the beautiful form of Lord Gauranga and simply he was crying because he was not able to reciprocate, he was not even able to speak or thank the Lord for what he has done, he was so much absorbed in bliss.

 

Text 56

 

sakala angane padi gadagadi yaya

maha-svasa vahe ksane, ksane murcha paya

 

Haridasa Thakura would get up, walk some steps, again fall down, gadagadi yaya, and start rolling on the ground. Again after some distance, again get up, again fall down, again roll on the ground. And when he would get up he would breathe deeply in bliss and again faint, again collapse.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

Ksane, ksane; every second he would be unconscious. One can imagine the ecstatic transcendental experience… he was not even allowing him to remain conscious for even one moment. He would come to consciousness, again fall down. This trance is only possible because Gauranga reciprocated with Haridasa in this way, Mahaprabhu told him how he had given his mercy.

 

Text 57

 

mahavesa haila haridasera sarire

chaitanya karaye sthira—tabu nahe sthire

 

You see the mahavesa in Haridasa’s body, that scripture which is described as mahavesa, that scripture is purifying. One who hears this mahavesa gets pure love of Krishna without any doubt. Because Chaitanya Mahaprabu he was trying to calm down Haridasa, Supreme Lord but still Haridasa was not calming down… this is the level of his ecstasy. Chaitanya karaye sthira—tabu nahe sthire, still he was not pacified. Then Haridasa started speaking:

 

Text 58

 

“bapa visvambhara, prabhu, jagatera natha

patakire kara krpa, padila tomata

 

Now this is very instructive to the devotees, that after Gauranga showed his Prakasa to Haridasa, showed the marks on his body which he suffered for Haridasa, Haridasa did not feel very special. Haridasa did not raise his head in front of everyone, “see how special I am. The Lord is telling me that my caste is his caste.” Haridasa didn’t become puffed up, instead Haridasa is saying, patakire kara krpa, I am the most fallen, patakire, the fallen of the fallen.” And jagatera natha, Jagannatha, you are the Lord of the Universe, “please have mercy upon me.

 

Text 59

 

nirguna adhama sarva-jati bahiskrta

muni ki baliba prabhu tomara carita?

 

Nirguna, I have no qualities.” Nirguna means I have no good qualities in this context. Adhama means I am the most fallen, sarva-jati bahiskrta…”all kinds of people have ostracized me, rejected me from their association and my dear Lord how can I describe your carita, how can I describe your transcendental character and characteristics, it is not possible for me?”

 

Text 60

 

dekhile pataka, more parasile snana

muni ki baliba prabhu tomara akhyana?

 

Haridas says, “If somebody sees me, pataka, then that person falls down. And if somebody touches me they have to take bath in the Ganges. And O my dear Lord, muni ki baliba, what can I say, what can I tell you about your glories, what can I describe?”

 

Text 61-62

 

eka satya kariyacha apana-vadane

ye jana tomara kare carana-smarane

 

kita-tulya haya yadi—ta’re nahi chada

ihate anyatha haile narendrere pada

 

Haridas Thakura is saying, “but my dear Lord I am the most fallen but I know that there is one verse here spoken from your mouth: That if anyone who remembers your lotus feet, carane-smarane, the power of remembering,” Haridas Thakura is describing… because when one chants the holy name if there is no remembrance then that holy name is hollow, there is no substance in the holy name.

 

In Hari nama cintamani Bhaktivinoda Thakura said that namare smarana namare cintan… Namare smarane namare sankirtana. Nama Sankirtana should be followed by nama smarane, the remembrance of the name, the meanings of the name, the devotee should dive deep into the name. That smarane, that is the thing that pacifies the heart of the devotee, which soothes the heart. Simply vibrating the name has some benefit, but not the ultimate benefit which nama smarane has.

 

“So my dear Lord I have heard that even those who are like insects, still you never leave them, you give them your mercy…if they remember you, if they remember your lotus feet, your characteristics. But even if somebody is the greatest king, narendrere pada, narendrere means king, even if somebody is the greatest king, but if he doesn’t do smarane, if he doesn’t remember your lotus feet then you reject him, you don’t even care for him. You take care of him through your external energy.

 

Text 63

 

ei bala nahi mora—smarana-vihina

smarana karile matra rakha tumi dina

 

“But these words do not apply to me, however, because I do not remember you. I do not have that power of remembrance. You protect even a soul who remembers smarana karila matra rakha tumi dina. You protect the soul always who remembers you.

 

Text 64        

 

sabha-madhye draupadi karite vivasana

anila papistha duryodhana-duksasana

 

“The sinful brother, the sinful person, duryodhana, he wanted to disrobe Draupadi in the assembly, public assembly, and insult her and insult the Pandavas in the topmost way, that is why he brought duksasana there and instructed duksasana to make Draupadi naked, pull of her sari.

 

Text 65

 

sankate padiya krishna toma sanarila

smarana-prabhave tumi vastre pravesila

 

“And Draupadi being in this sankate, this great trial and tribulation, Draupadi remembered you intensely, the remembrance, the power of remembrance, because of that power of remembrance you entered into her garment, you personally entered into her garment.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

The chanting, the kirtana, the deity worship, the Bhagavata sravane, the dhama vasa, all the angas of bhakti, unless they’re accompanied by smarane, the remembrance, the powerful remembrance of the Lord…the Lord’s presence is not there.  The Lord will instantly come when there is smarane. Haridas Thakura he’s the greatest chanter of the holy name, nama acarya, but still he is describing the power of smarana here because he wants to stress to all the conditioned souls that sravane and kirtana should be accompanied by smarana.

 

Text 66

 

smarane-prabhave vastra haila ananta

tathapiha na janila se saba duranta

 

“By the power of the remembrance of Draupadi, the remembrance was so intense that the sari, the garment of Draupadi became unlimited, never it was ending, duksasane was pulling and pulling, he had the power of ten thousand elephants in his hands but he could not disrobe Draupadi, because the power of remembrance. The Lord became personally present in her garments and these foolish duranta, these demons did not realize that the Lord has already incarnated into her garments because of the power of her remembrance.

 

Text 67

 

kona-kale parvatire dakinira gane

vediya khaite kaila tomara smarane

 

“One time Parvati who is a great Vaisnavi, she was surrounded by witches, daki dakinira gane, so at that time, vediya khaite, they wanted to eat her and she remembered you instantly at that time, Parvati, she remembered you.

 

Text 68

 

smarana-prabhave tumi avirbhuta hana

karila sabara sasti vaisnavi tariya

 

“Instantly you incarnated there in the form of the sound vibration, avirbhuta hana, and you chastised all the dakinis, the witches, you killed them and you protected your great Vaisnavi Parvati by the power of smarane.

 

Text 69

 

hena toma-smarana-vihina-muni papa

more tora carane sarana deha, bapa

 

“O my dear Lord I am bereft of your smarana bhakti. My dear Lord I am bereft of your smarana bhakti that is why I am a papa, a sinner, so my only hope is please give me shelter under your lotus feet. Uma bapa, bapa means father literally, you are my almighty father, you are my only father, my maintainer.”

 

Text 70

 

visa, sarpa, agni, jale, pathare bandhiya

phelila prahlade dusta hiranya dhariya

 

Haridasa is not satisfied at glorifying the power of smarana, so Haridasa is continuing, Haridasa is saying that, “Your great devotee Prahlada, he is the acarya of smarana bhakti, continuous remembrance of your lotus feet.” Even Hanhuman and Narada are glorifying Prahlada…so visa means snakes, poison, sarpa means snakes, and agni means fire, and jale means water.

 

“Hiranyakasipu, the great demon, he tried to attack Prahlada through poison, through snakes, through fire, and through water. And he threw Prahlada in all of these, he tried to kill Prahlada with poison, he tried to put him in a pit of snakes, he tried to burn him with fire, he tried to drown him in water…” but what happened?

 

Text 71

 

prahlada karila tora carana-smarana

smarana-prabhave sarva duhkha-vimocana

 

“But Prahlada remembered your lotus feet, smarana bhakti, the intense remembrance of Prahlada of your smarana.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

You see one may simply vibrate the holy names with the tongue and the mouth but the realization of the Lord is not there, because smarana is not there, the remembrance of the Lord’s form is not there, his pastimes are not there, so the Lord does not actually come.

 

Nama malete rupa esa sange sange nama rupa bhinda naye nachina na range: Various colors, the holy name displays various varieties of blissful characteristics of nama, gives rupa, and the rupa dances with the nama in the heart of the devotee, nama range, beautiful ways one does not even know.

 

So that smarana has to be there, otherwise the protection from the Lord is not fully manifested, Prahlada he is smarana, carana-smarane, his potency of smarana, duhkha-vimocana, he did not feel the fire, he did not feel the poison, he did not feel the water and the snakes, because he became immune to these attacks by smarana.

 

Somebody may think that smarana is spiritual and the attacks are material, how do you become immune to this? It is because one rises above the bodily platform in one’s spiritual body, the spiritual body cannot be affected by snakes or poison or water, it cannot be. So by smarana of the Lord, one becomes situated in one’s spiritual body and that is why one becomes totally unaffected.

 

Text 72

 

ka’ro va bhangila danta, ka’ro tejo-nasa

smarana-prabhave tumi haila prakasa

 

“Some elephants would try to attack Prahlada, their teeth got broken, automatically, without Prahlada defending himself and some asuras tried to attack Prahlada, demons with sharp shafts their prowess was completely destroyed, they felt very very weak, and the weapons started attacking them who were trying to attack Prahlada.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

So this is the power of smarana, one can by smarana a devotee can change the surroundings; a devotee can feel direct protection from the Lord constantly.

 

In Bhagavad Gita the Lord confirms that, the Lord says that, “those who remember me constantly, those who chant my name constantly, remember me…I become very accessible to them. In Manu-Samhita he also says the same thing, he says that, “vedi sudulabam abdulabham atma bhakta.  I am very rare to the Vedas but I am very accessible to my atma bhakta…atma bhakta, those who remember me constantly, I am very accessible, always I am present in their heart.”

 

Text 73

 

pandu-putra sanarila durvasara bhaye

aranye pratyaksa haila haiya sadaye

 

“So when Duryodhana sent Durvasa to destroy the Pandavas in the forest, first he gave Durvasa a big feast, Duryodhana in Hastinapura, so Durvasa became very satisfied Durvasa asked what do you want, Duryodhana he said, ‘Please go and visit the Pandavas, hospitality and let them serve you and let me see how they feed your thousands of disciples, they are very poor and if they don’t give you hospitality, then you will curse them and destroy them.”

 

“So Duryodhana had this plan and Durvasa came and Yudhisthira got frightened, pandu-putra sanarila, by the fear of Durvasa, pandu-putra Yudhisthira, he remembered you intensely in the forest, aranye pratyaksa haila haiya, pratyaksa saksat; you manifested in the forest there. You were in Dvaraka so far away but you manifested instantly because of the power of remembrance. So by being merciful to Yudhisthira and the Pandavas you came there.

 

Text 74

 

cinta nahi yudhisthira, hera dekha ami

ami diba muni-bhiksa, vasi thaka tumi

         

          “Yudhisthira cinta nahi, don’t worry, why are you worrying, I am here I have come, hera dekha ami, I have come here to protect you. I will feed all these sadhus, the disciples of Durvasa; you’ll see how I will do it.

 

Text 75

 

avasesa eka saka achila handite

santose khaila nija sevake rakhite

 

“There is one piece of saka,” saka means vegetable, spinach, leafy vegetable, “one piece is sticking below the pot, inside the pot and I eat that very satisfactorily to protect you, to protect my devotees, I want to.

 

Text 76

 

snane saba rsira udara maha-phule

sei mata saba rsi palaila dare

 

“And when Durvasa muni decided to take bath, Bhima went to call come, come, time is ready for lunch, prasada, and then they were in the water, their udara, their stomach became so swollen, they thought they had such a heavy meal…totally full, they could not even breathe. When you eat full up to the neck you can’t even breathe, so they become so full, phule, their stomachs, their bellies swelled that they became so frightened of Bhima who came to call, they just ran away, they said if you don’t eat there Bhima will be angry”…so

 

Text 77

 

smarana-prabhave pandu-putrera mocana

e saba kautuka tora smarana-karana

 

Haridas Thakura is remembering all these pastimes, he’s saying that, “ smarana-prabhave, by this potency of smarana, remembrance, the pandu-putra’s were saved in the forest from Durvasa’s anger. And so these are the kautuka, wonderful incidents, characteristics of your smarana bhakti.”

 

Text 78

 

akhanda smarana-dharma, inha sabakara

teni citra nahe, iha sabara uddhara

 

Haridasa Thakura is saying, “The characteristic of all the devotees in all the scriptures who were delivered by you, the specific characteristic is akhanda smarana.” Akhanda means non-stop, khanda means to stop, akhanda, non-break, it doesn’t break, ceaseless, incessant, smarana, remembrance. “And that is why there is no surprise, citra nahe, there is no surprise that they have all been directly delivered and protected by you.”

 

Text 79

 

ajamila smaranera mahima apara

sarva-dharma-hina taha bai nahi ara

 

And the remembrance of Ajamila: ajamila smaranera mahima apara. Somebody may ask the question where did Ajamila remember the Lord, Ajamila just remembered his son…”Narayana, Narayana,” he said Narayana but he did not remember.          Visvanatha Thakura writes in his comments to Bhagavatam sixth canto; he says that  Ajamila did remember the Lord. Without nama aparadha, when he was chanting Narayana he was remembering his son in those final stages of his life by chanting the word Narayana he remembered the twenty years of devotion in which he worshiped Lord Narayana in his young age, by the instructions of his guru he worshiped Lord Narayana. That bhakti he remembered while chanting the name of Narayana…so that remembrance was there, Ajamila, by chanting the name of Narayana, his name of Narayana was sankirtana namapas, addressing some other thing and chanting the name but along with that there was remembrance, smarana, it was there. He was totally unrighteous, but still:

 

Text 80

 

duta-bhaye putra-snehe dekhi’ putra-mukha

sanarila putra-name narayana rupa

 

“So he looked at the face of his son affectionately and being fearful of the Yamadutas and when he looked at the face he chanted the name of Narayana and he remembered the form of Narayana which he has worshiped in his young age.” Even for a few moments, but he did remember, smarana, he did remember the form of Narayana.

 

Text 81

 

sei sanarane saba khandila apada

teni citra nahe bhakta-smarana-sampad

 

“So Instantly by that smarana Vishnu dutas came and protected him and destroyed his difficulty and took him back to Godhead, Vaikuntha, later when he went to Haridwar and performed more bhakti yoga and smarana, then Vaikuntha plane came and they took him."

 

So in spite of all his sins in his life, his qualification of smarana, remembrance of the name…you cannot do smarana without the name because the name is the seed of Krishna’s form, qualities, pastimes. So nama smarana has to be there, only simply meditation without the name is not recommended in Kali-yuga, mantra meditation and nama smarana. So smarana sampad, the smarana, remembrance is the greatest treasure of your devotees.

 

Text 82

 

hena tora carana-smarana hina muni

tathapiha prabhu more na chadibi tuni

 

“Na chadibi tuni, I am devoid of remembrance of your lotus feet, but still my dear Lord you have never forsaken me, you help me, when they were lashing me you protected me, you covered my body with your own body.”

 

Text 83

 

toma dekhibare mora kon adhikara?

eka bai prabhu kichu na cahiba ara

 

Haridasa, very humble, the height of humility, even after seeing the Lord he’s saying that, “O my Lord, what qualification do I have to see you, toma dekhibare mora kon adhikara? I don’t have adhikara, I don’t have the qualification to see you face to face, which I am doing now, but since I am seeing you now face to face and you have exhibited your opulence to me, I’ll take this opportunity my Lord, give me one benediction.” Maha Prakasa lila the Lord was giving benedictions the devotees are taking it. “Eka bai prabhu na cahiba ara, I don’t want anything else, only one thing.

 

Text 84

 

prabhu bale, --bala bala—sakala tomara

tomare adeya kichu nahika amara

 

The Lord said, “Please speak, say what you want, everything I have is yours, sakala tomara, I cannot hide anything from you, I cannot restrict anything from you.” Tomara adeya, deya means to give and adeya means something which I cannot give. So tomara adeya means there is nothing which I cannot give to you, everything is yours. Kichu nahika amara, I don’t have anything which is adeya, which cannot be given to you.

 

Text 85

 

kara-yoda kari bale prabhu haridasa

“muni alpa-bhagya prabhu karon bada asa

 

Even before asking this benediction Haridasa is holding his hands and saying, “My dear Lord, I am very less alpa-bhagya, I am very less fortunate, but I am taking this courage to ask you these benedictions which is for the most fortunate souls, but I want this benediction, bada asa, I’m a dwark and I’m trying to catch the moon, I’m asking you this benediction.”

 

Wow what benedictions…beautiful. He’s the nama acarya, constantly tasting the holy name but he’s asking this benediction, he’s saying:

 

Text 86

 

tomara carana bhaje ye-sakala dasa

ta’ra avesesa yena haya mora grasa

 

“Whichever devotees, they are worshiping your lotus feet, sakala dasa, all the das all the servants, I have only one desire and I want to always eat their remnants of their foodstuffs.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

In normal culture one doesn’t like to eat what somebody else has touched, he throws it off. But here Haridasa Thakura is revealing that the Vaishnava avesesa, Gauranga bhakta avesesa, the remnants of the food which are left by Gauranga’s devotees, they are the supremely aspired thing for by even Lord Brahma who has come in the form of Haridasa Thakura.

 

And That is confirmed in Chaitanya Charitamrita, vasistha, sistha, it is known as Maha-Maha prasada. In  Chaitanya Charitamrita Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami describes that Maha-Maha Prasada. When the Lord accepts personally it is know as Maha-prasada and when a devotee’s accept is it Maha-Maha prasada.

 

And there are three things that give Krishna prema very easily and that is confirmed by Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami: Bhakta-pada-dhuli ara bhakta-pada-jala  bhakta-bhukta-avasesa,---tina maha-bala. Three things, bhakta pada dhuli, the dust of the lotus feet of the devotees, one should just smear it all over one’s body; roll in that dust where the devotees have walked. Bhakta pada jala, that water that washes the feet of the devotees. The devotees drank the water which washed Nityananda Prabhu’s lotus feet in Chaitanya Bhagavata… Nityananda was laughing, he was totally in trance, Gauranga said, “this is the chance, take his water.” They washed his feet and took his water and Nityananda Prabhu was totally oblivious just Ha Ha Ha, laughing and smiling, absorbed in Gauranga prema. And he was so happy to be with Gauranga, and when the devotees drank that water some kind of very, very special taste came in their mouth, their mouth became sweet and that taste of Krishna nama, Krishna katha and Krishna rasa which they had never experienced or that they experienced in kirtana, sankirtana.  Although they were direct associates of Gauranga, they were dancing with Gauranga, Lord Nityananda’s padu daka, Nityananda’s water which washed his lotus feet was…verily it became their life and soul…and the devotees started dancing exuberantly.

 

So vaishnava pada jala… , Narrotama das Thakura  says that the water which has washed the feet of Vaishnavas that is my swimming pool, I would like to take bathe there and I would like to vaishnava padu dhuli sei mora mustakera abhushan.  Narrotam das Thakura says the dust of the lotus feet is my ornament of my head. Vaishnava sangita malas, my only happiness is in the association of the Vaishnavas, and bhakta bhukta avesesa, the remnants of the foodstuffs eaten by the devotees.

In the Padma-Purana, one of the Puranas, the Lord says one verse, I forget the exact Sanskrit, but the Lord says that, “I do not eat when my devotees offer to me, I do not eat… actually I don’t eat at that time.”

“So when do you eat my dear Lord?”

 

“I eat when my devotees put it in their mouth. I Actually eat at that time, I eat through the mouth of my devotees.” Mad bhakta puja adhika…“My bhakta when he eats that is the time when I actually eat, because I am always in his heart.”

 

Another verse states that there may be a doubt that somebody may achieve the Lord by worshiping the Lord directly but there is no doubt that someone will achieve the Lord if he worships the Lord’s devotees. There may be a doubt, it is very difficult if one worships the Lord directly, but if one becomes the devotee of the devotee of the devotee. King… he is very humble and he says in the Kundla Mala sutra, “I do not want to become the devotee of the devotee of the devotee,” what he says do you know? “I want to become,” he says…  “My dear Lokanatha I don’t want to become the servants of your servants, I don’t want to become the devotees of your devotees, I want to become the devotees of your devotee, I want to become the devotee of your devotees, I want to become the devotee of your devotee of your devotee of your devotee of your devotee of your devotee of your devotee of your devotee of your devotee.” Seven times down.

 

So… The more lower one goes, the more mercy is there, the devotee of the devotee; even Radharani, she enjoys more in putting the gopis with Krishna than she herself sitting in the swing with Krishna. She puts the gopis, pushes them, Radharani is the devotee of the devotees.

So this siddhanta… servant of the servant is very much prominent when one takes these three things, the dust…(question from audience) there is an instance of Kalidasa in Chaitanya Charitamrita who achieved the mercy of Lord Gauranga simply by eating the remnants of the Vaishnavas and Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami describes that he was not discriminating, he was eating the remnants of the most ordinary devotees to the most advanced devotees. Everyone, all the devotees in Bengal he ate the remnants. Except one devotee he missed; his name was Jada Thakura. So he was wondering how to take the remnants of Jada Thakura, but already by taking the remnants of all the, you know when the devotee takes the remnant of, when a person takes the remnants of another devotee, automatically one is taking a humble position, only someone who has no ego can do that.

 

So that display of humility is very dear to the Lord. The Lord already decided to give his full mercy to Kalidasa when Kalidasa came to Puri dhama. But still Kalidasa wanted to take, because Kalidasa never thought that, “I am more advanced, why should I take mercy, remnants of the lower Vaishnava."

 

Kalidasa said, “No I am the lowest, I need the mercy of even the lowest Vaishnava. He is chanting the name of the Lord, he has some affection so I will get that affection when I take his remnants.

 

It’s like tuberculosis, there was one Mary, one lady, typhoid story, she was in the USA or somewhere, that is where the typhoid disease started. It spread all over the country, and the scientists searched very hard and they gradually boiled it down to one waiter, she was a waitress in one hotel and her name was Mary and somehow it has begun from her. So then the whole typhoid Mary, so contagious, tuberculosis, if you drink the water and have tuberculosis then the water becomes contaminated by the tuberculosis germ, if anyone else drinks it instantly they get tuberculosis.

 

Similarly Krishna das Kaviraja describes the saliva of Lord Krishna is mixed in Lord Krishna’s Mahaprasada, it is transcendental saliva, that is why it is known as Mahaprasada. The Lord can impregnate that saliva with his eyes also, he doesn’t have to touch it with his mouth. He can eat through his eyes, he can perform all the functions through any of his transcendental organs and similarly a pure devotees saliva also is filled with love of God and the saliva of the devotee, it mixes with this, that is why it is known as Maha Mahaprasada and Kalidasa wanted to have it at all costs.

 

So Jada Thakura was very humble, he was not of a higher caste…  The outcastes are very dear to the Lord if they are devotees, if they are non-devotees one may be the scholar of the four Vedas but he not dear to the Lord.

 

So Jada Thakura said by quoting very nice verses but they do not apply to me, I am not a devotee so please. So Kalidasa said, “OK no problem, I have brought some very nice mangos for you, very choicest mangos so please accept them and I just had your darsana I will go.”

 

Jada Thakura said, “Thank you,” accepted the mangoes and Kalidasa left the place but did not leave actually; he was standing outside near the window looking at what is happening next.

 

So Jada Thakura being a Maha-bhagavata. A Maha-bhagavata does not have to have deities to offer boga. Normally a devotee, an advanced devotee can do mansik offering, mental offering. So Jada Thakura took the mangos in his hand and in his mind he offered it to the Lord, the Lord accepted it.

 

Like Murari Gupta one day, his wife had made rice and Murari Gupta was in such an ecstatic mood he was putting so much ghee and saying in the air, “Take this Gauranga, you eat Gauranga, you should eat.”

And the next day Gauranga came sick and Gauranga said, “I am very sick.”

Murari said, “Why?”

“Because you fed me so much ghee, so much rice.”

And Murari said, “Oh, I am sorry.”

Lord Gauranga said, “there is only one way to fix this,” and forcibly took one very jagged old water pot lying in the corner which was filled with the water of Murari’s, Maha water, and he drank it.

And Murari said, “No Lord! NO! NO!”

And the Lord said, “I took it, this is my medicine Murari don’t stop me, I have aspired for this so many incarnations.” Even the Lord is aspiring for maha maha prasada.

 

So Kalidasa was sitting outside and then his wife she removed the skins and brought the mangoes and Jada Thakura he sucked the pulp of the mangoes, and then after he ate his wife also ate and then his wife took it in a leaf and threw it in the ditch near to the house with canes and the pulp and…mango is a very good idea to take maha because there is so much remaining to take. Nobody is as intelligent as Kalidasa I have to say, very intelligent, because he really knew where to get Krishna prema.

So his wife threw it in a ditch and Kalidasa jumped in to the ditch, “Hari Bol, Hari Bol!” Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami describes that he had goose bumps, his hair standing all on end on his body and his tears coming from his eyes, and he had genuine faith in the Vaishnavas. He had faith in the Vaishnavas. That is the qualification which won him the mercy, Gauranga gave him something which he had not given to any devotee, even Ramanda Raya and Svarupa Damodara they did not get that thing in Puri which Kalidasa got…just because he has intense faith in the Vaishnavas.

He did not just eat, it is maha-maha of the Vaishnavas just because it is written in the scriptures that you get love of God, he ate it because he had genuine faith and he wanted to take the shelter of the Vaishnava’s mercy, and he relished sucking the seeds and the leaves and his mouth was full with mango pulp, and he was so happy, so happy that “I have got the mercy of Jada Thakura.” Because the Vaishnavas may try to hide themselves but their remnants they cannot hide, the mercy is there.

So after that Kalidasa came to Puri dhama and near the Jagannatha gate Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu before entering the Jagannatha temple, Gauranga Mahaprabhu washes his feet. Govinda takes a pot and washes the feet of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, there’s a ditch there. No devotee in this universe was able to get that water… the Supreme Personality of Godhead (his foot water) was going directly into the ditch, no devotee was getting it. And Kalidasa had developed such courage because of taking the remnants of the Vaishnavas he had developed a shamelessness, the kind of shamelessness and that kind of courage to get the maha-maha. So once Govinda started washing the feet of the Lord and Kalidasa was hiding, he appeared from somewhere, nobody knows, and suddenly he put his hand below the Lord’s feet and he drank the water of the Lord, once, twice, thrice.

The Lord said, “Stop it. Enough, that’s it, I have given this to no one; I have given this mercy to no one, I am just giving it to you, first and the last time.” So he drank it and then the Lord went inside the temple and he told Govinda: “Today my maha prasada, whatever I eat from my plate, balance give it to Kalidasa.”

So when he went back Kalidasa was waiting outside, Govinda gave him the leaves. So he got a direct maha-prasada, maha patajila of the Lord because he was habituated to taking the patajila, you know maha-prasada of the devotees, Vaishnavas.

So we will conclude today after Haridasa’s benediction is over. The last verse Haridasa is continuing his benediction, in the second verse he’s saying:

 

Text 87

 

sei se bhajana mora hau janma janma

sai avasesa mora—kriya kula dharma

 

What a benediction he’s asking. You know we have heard of so many kinds of bhajanas: nama bhajana, rupa bhajana, raganuga bhajana, and siddha bhajana, dham vas, one does bhajana in the footsteps of the dham vasis, but Haridasa Thakura is asking for a different kind of bhajana, he’s saying that my bhajana is the avasesa of the devotees, the avasesa, the remnants of the devotees is my bhajana and let that be my bhajana life after life. I don’t want anything higher than this: sei se bhajana mora hau janma janma sai avasesa mora—kriya kula dharma. Those remnants are my kriya, my goal of my life, my kula, my caste, my family that is those remants and my dharma the eternal nature of my soul that is to take the remnants, let this be my only focus life after life. Nobody has ever asked this kind of benediction to the Lord.

 

Text 88

 

tomara smarana-hina papa-janma mora

saphala karaha dasocchista diya tora

 

Beautiful. Haridasa Thakura is saying that, “My whole life has been spent without your smarana, remembrance, there is no hope for me except the remnants of your dasas, your devotees. Please saphala karaha, make it successful, please make my existence successful, please make my life successful by giving me these remnants. My dear Lord.”

 

Text 89

 

ei mora aparadha hena citte laya

mahapada cahon, ye mohara yogya naya

 

Haridasa Thakura is saying that, “The very fact that I have asked you this benediction of the remnants of the devotees, I have committed a maha aparadha, why? Because I am a dwarf and I am asking for the moon. Mahapada cahon, I am asking for the topmost pada, the topmost platform of bhakti, the remnants of the devotees which I am not qualified for so I am already committing an offense in asking for this benediction, but:

 

Text 90

 

prabhure, nathare mora bapa visvambhara

mrta muni, mora aparadha ksama kara

 

“But you are the natha, you are the master of all your devotees, you are the bapa you are the maintainer, mrta muni, I am like a dead person my dear Lord, please forgive this offense, forgive my audacity to ask for such a benediction which I don’t deserve.

 

Text 91

 

sacira nandana, bapa, krpa kara more

kukkura kariya more rakha bhakta-ghare”

 

“And my dear Lord if you feel that I’m not qualified to get the remnants of the devotees directly, then also I have a suggestion for that, make me a dog. Kukkura kariya more rakha bhakta-ghare, Keep me as a dog,” because a dog is famous for, everyone knows you have to feed the dog, when the dog is in the home you have to feed the dog.

“So them I’m guaranteed, at least make me a dog.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

A siddha, a perfectly liberated soul is asking make me a dog. And sometimes devotees become so puffed up, “Oh, Why should I take remnants of this devotee, he’s so low, he doesn’t even know how to chant. Why I should, I am such a great devotee, others should take my remnants.”

 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura is saying in one song, he’s saying that, “the very second one feels that other devotees should take my remnants, one goes to hell.” What is the use, Kalidasa never thought like that. Kalidasa thought  “I should take the remnants of all the devotees.”

Somebody asked Gaura Kisora dasa, “will you have mercy on me?” Gaura Kisora said, “I need more, I need your mercy more than you need mine.” So that should be the consciousness of the devotee. Kukkura kariya, make me a dog.

 

Narrotama das Thakura says and Prabhupada quoted very often: Vaisnavera kukkura bali ajanma, my identification is that I am a dog of a Vaishnava, that is why I am known as kunti mala, kunti mala means make me a dog, dogs of Vaishnavas, guru and the Vaishnavas. Some devotees think that they can directly become the dogs of God. No, you cannot become the dogs of God because God is very far from us. We need to become the dog of the devotee of the devotee of the devotees. So that supreme qualification is available to us in the material world, take the advantage, become proud to be a dog. Don’t think that I am better than any single devotee on this planet, that is what Chaitanya Bhagavata is teaching us through these pastimes, the real qualifications of the devotee is in the bottom of the heart, not just normally speaking, lip talk, in the bottom of the heart the devotee should feel that all other devotees in creation are much better than me. If one thinks then what is the problem then one will take the remnants of all the devotees, one will not be ashamed.

 

Text 92

 

prema bhakti maya haila prabhu haridasa

punah punah kare kaku,--na puraye asa

 

So Thakura Haridasa…Thakura Haridasa repeatedly with faltered voice he’s asking these benedictions: punah punah kare kaku, kaku means pleading, pleading to the Lord: na puraye asa, still his inner desires are not getting fulfilled even after asking such sublime and such rare and confidential benedictions. He’s intimate desires are not getting pleased. So we will continue tomorrow what the Lord is feeling in return, how the Lord fulfills all his benedictions and how he glorified Haridasa Thakura, we will read tomorrow. Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata ki jaya, nama acarya Haridasa Thakura ki jaya, Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki jaya, Nityananda Prabhu ki jaya.

 

Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

 

So Chaitanya Bhagavata Madhya Khanda chapter 10... Shrila Haridasa Thakura has asked for the supreme benediction that somehow or the other he wants the remnants of the Vaishnavas and he doesn’t even mind to become a dog in the house of the Vaishnava to get their remnants… of a pure devotee an adanced Vaishnava even though one is very very elevated still one thinks he is the most fallen. If one is already fallen and to think oneself as fallen that is a fact, but when one is very advanced and to think oneself fallen that is humility, that is real humility. So Haridasa Thakura the most advanced of all Vaishnavas, Maha Bhagavata, the specific acarya nominated by Lord Gauranga to show the glories of the holy name to this world. He’s asking, taking a very very humble position and asking for the remnants of the Vaishnavas and he wanted to become a dog in the house of the Vaishnavas. Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu is hearing his prayers and he has requested a benediction and he’s replying in verse number 93, Madhya khanda, Chaitanya Bhagavata:

 

Text 93

 

prabhu bale,--“suna suna mora haridasa

divaseko ye tomara sange kaila vasa

 

Gauranga is saying, “My dear Haridasa, please listen, please listen, you have asked me this benediction and I want to glorify you: divaseko ye tomara sange kaila vasa. That most fortunate person who resides near you for even one day, even one day, in your sanga, in your association.

 

Text 94

 

tilardheko tumi yara sange kaha katha

se avasya ama pabe, nahika anyatha

 

“One who stays with you for one day, or one whom you talk with for one second: tilardheko tumi yara sange kaha katha. If you do katha with that person even for one second, such a person is the most fortunate in this world, because you have recognized him. A person automatically I will recognize him because you are most dear to me, I cannot brush aside your recommendation. So any person who resides with you for one day or with whom you speak for even one moment: se avasya ama pabe, that person will surely achieve me, nahika anyatha, there is no doubt about this statement. It is a fact that you are so intimate to me.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

I remember after reading a pastime of Shrinivasa Acarya Thakura; when he came to Ksetra Mandala Puri dhama he went to see, have darsana of Haridasa Thakura’s samadhi. When he saw the samadhi from far he fell like a rod, he could not control his emotions, he was experiencing tremendous separation from Haridasa Thakura. Shrinivas was fully aware of the glories of Haridasa Thakura as described in Chaitanya Bhagavata, Chaitanya Charitamrita. His life is a totally unsuccessful waste because he has taken birth only after a few hundred, a few years after Haridasa Thakura disappeared from this earth, he was beating his chest, he was lamenting heavily; “Why did I take this birth now, you totally missed it. So even if for one second you had talked with me Haridasa then my life would have been successful. Lord Gauranga would have been mine, would have been bound by my love if you had talked to me.”

 

So the samadhi of Thakura Haridasa and the shore of the salt water ocean in Jagannatha Puri it is the eternal place of the presence of Haridasa Thakura. He’s always present in his samadhi, Haridasa Thakura came out of his samadhi and consoled Shrinivasa Acarya, gave his darsana to Shrinivasa Acarya Thakura. We can also see Haridasa in his samadhi but we have to approach like Shrinivasa Thakura Acarya did. We have to feel intense seperation from him and we have to feel highly unfortunate that we missed it, only five hunded years ago, the next time he’s going to appear will be after eight hundred and sixty four… 43 lakhs, 20,000 years… so next kalpa of Brahma, so Haridasa Thakura is going to come after such a long time again. Because such advanced associates of the

 

Lord like Haridasa Thakura, the Lord sends them sometimes at different times to spread his holy names and give his mercy to the poor orphaned conditioned souls but they really miss the Lord, they do not like to come when the Lord is not there. That is why Haridasa said that, “My body I want it to fall in front of you, you will leave before me, I cannot tolerate this world without you, I took birth before you because of your desire but I don’t want to die after you. I already suffered in separation before your advent, now I don’t want to do it for your disappearance so that is Haridasa Thakura… hundred percent the glories of Haridasa, one should not be in doubt, all the Vedas have come out from his mouth so that same Lord is glorifying Haridasa Thakura. The more glee the more happiness than what one finds in the Vedic mantras.

 

Text 95

 

tomare ye kare sraddha, se kare amare

nirantara thaki ami tomara sarire

 

Beautiful words by the Lord, if one wants to know what the Lord feels for his pure devotees, these are the verses to understand that, Chaitanya Bhagavate. Tomare ye kare sraddha: “One who has faith in you has got actual faith in me. Nirantara thaki ami tomara sarire: I am continuously present in your transcendental body, there is not even a moment when I am not there with you.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

         So sometimes kanistha adhikari devotees they have a lot of problems in developing sraddha for the devotees, they have some sraddha for the deities. So it is OK if they cannot develop sraddha for the devotees, they still have a chance; they should try to develop sraddha for the eternal associates of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu like Haridasa Thakura. They should read Chaitanya Bhagavata that is the greatest sanga of pure devotees, sraddha. If somebody has full faith in the liberated associates of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, nitya siddha, to that proportion one develops faith that Gauranga’s associates are nitya siddha, to that proportion, sei jaya, one approaches Lord Krishna in Vrndavan.

 

So Chaitanya Bhagavata is the topmost way to develop that faith in the Lord’s eternal associates. Those who are faithful to Thakura Haridasa are actually faithful to me; the Lord is saying like that, faithful. People who are proud and offensive and don’t have even a drop of faith in the devotees and the devotees of the Lord, for them it is very difficult, the Lord doesn’t even care for those people. He throws them perpetually in the cycle of birth and death. The next verse 96 is even more beautiful. The Lord’s ecstasy it looks like it is increasing verse after verse, the glorification of Haridasa Thakura. Next verse he’s saying:

 

Text 96

 

tumi-hena sevake amara thakurala

tumi more hrdaye bandhila sarva-kala

 

Thakurala is a very beautiful word, Vrndavan das Thakura is using in Bengali. Thakurala means my recognition, my prestige, the Lord is saying that my control over my devotees, my transcendental quality of being the master, Thakura, comes from thakura, thakurala. “When I am the master for my devotees, but when I get a servant like you…is even more elevated. Tumi-hena sevake amara thakurala: Because I am getting a sevake like you, a servant like you, that is why I feel like becoming a master because I am getting a servant like you, if I don’t have someone like you then…so my glories as master are increased by a servant like you.”

 

Anyone sees actually the Lord is atma rama, the Lord is not dependent on anyone for his own glories or his own position, he’s fully independent, but here the Lord voluntarily puts himself in a position where he wants to become dependent of the transcendental divine attributes of his associates, his devotees, and he’s saying that his own position as a master is determined and is expanded, magnified, by the qualities of Shrila Haridasa Thakura.

 

“Tumi more hrdaye bandhila sarva-kala: You have tied me in your heart every moment with the ropes of your love. My holy name, your extreme humility, you have bound me within your heart.”

Now the next verse is even more remarkable because Gauranga is speaking in this way, he says:

 

Text 97

 

mora sthane, mora sarva vaisnavera sthane

vina aparadhe bhakti dila tore dane

 

In spite of all these transcendental attributes which Haridasa Thakura is having and the Lord is glorifying, here the Lord is mentioning that: “Because you don’t have this kind of bad quality that’s why I am giving you my love of God.” Haridasa Thakura is full of divine qualities, but the Lord is specifically pointing out that you don’t have, you have never done this thing that is why I am giving you this love of God, and what is that thing? You do not have any kinds of offenses towards me or all the devotees. You have never committed any kind of offense, in thought, in word, in deed. You are totally free from any kind of offense you have never committed."

 

Anyone who reads this verse gets very fearful in the heart because even the greatest elevated devotees like Haridasa who do not commit any offense to my devotees, “I am giving you; vina aparadhe bhakti dila tore dane, I am giving you charity, dane, of my pure bhakti, pure devotion, pure love because of your extreme humility. You never even thought ill about any Vaishnava. You youself are thinking that you are not a Vaishnava so how could you think ill of other Vaishnavas; it’s not possible. So I’m bestowing you this propensity for pure devotional service.”

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

So these words of Chaitanya Bhagavata should become etched in our heart, that it is so difficult to get pure love of God if one commits offenses to the devotees, it’s not possible, it’s not possible. Lord Gauranga refused to give pure love to even his own mother Sacimata because of some slight unknowing offense to Shrila Advaita Acarya. She did not intend it as an offense, still the Lord refused.

 

So Chaitanya Bhagavata, Vrndavan das Thakura he’s very cautious, he’s very kind and he’s very very compassionate because he’s very cautious giving very strong hints in Chaitanya Bhagavata to guard us against Vaishnava aparadha. In fact 90% of the quotations against Vaishnava aparadha that we find from the scriptures they are from Chaitanya Bhagavata. Every chapter, every part of every chapter contains some warning against Vaishnava aparadha, so we offer our prostrated obeissances to Shrila Vrndavan das Thakura for his kind words…Yamagachi that used to be the jail of Gaudiya math did you know that? The jail, any devotees would commit any offense in the other centers of Gaudiya math would be sent to Yamagachi for rectification, the birthplace of Vrndavan das Thakura. To remove their offenses they would be sent there to work hard, and that’s a benediction to go to Navadvipa. (Question from audience) He stayed there his home is there, Narayani. Later Narayani came to Navadvipa, she is the niece of Shrivasa Thakura, the mother of Vrndavan das, so they came and that is the birthplace of Vrndavana das. 

So…"yes that is why I am giving you this benediction of pure love because you have not committed any offense."

 

Text 98

 

haridasa prati vara dilena yakhana

jaya jaya maha-dhvani uthila takhana

 

When the Lord gave this benediction to Shrila Haridasa Thakura all the devotees assembled there, they started shouting jaya, jaya. It shows us that when other devotees receive the mercy of the Lord one should be happy. One should not be envious.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

Prabhupada writes in Chaitanya Charitamrita that an advanced devotee is when one sees other devotees advancing more, getting the mercy of the Lord, he’s most happy and he appreciates, he acknowledges that. And if one is jealous of the advancement of other devotees then Prabhupada says he is kalichila, a victim of Kali Yuga, envious, jealous. And Prabhupada also gives us an instruction that one should avoid and reject the association, neglect, one should neglect the association of someone who is envious of the progress of other devotees. And one should be jaya jaya seeing the nice progress, one should say jaya jaya, glorify the Lord, because the Lord, the devotee sees the mercy of the Lord in that, in the instance where the devotees are seeing the mercy of the Lord. To see the mercy of the Lord coming upon someone is a great fortune, one should appreciate. That is what we learn from this pastime that all devotees are doing, jaya jaya, glorifying the mercy given to Shrila Haridasa Thakura. What is this proving, what is the conclusion of this pastime of Haridasa Thakura, and now Vrndavan das Thakura is explaining that:

 

Text 99

 

jati, kula, kriya, dhane kichu nahi kare

prema-dhana, arti vina na pai krsnere

 

That your noble family, kula, jati caste, very high caste, kriya, pious activities, you know a lot of accumulation of punya, and material wealth, dhane, they are not at all have any kind of consideration to get the love of Krishna though anything here required is prema-dhana, arti vina: without that greed, that intense anxiety to get love of Krishna, nobody will be able to get love of Krishna and this pastime shows because Haridasa is so adamant in asking the benedictin of eating the remnants of the Vaishnavas. He’s really adamant; he’s saying that even though I’m not worthy, he’s not leaving any scope for the Lord to say no. The Lord was never going to say no but he’s very much wanting this benediction and he has tremendous greed for achieving love of God that is why he is asking this benediction of taking the Maha Maha prasada of the Vaishnavas.

So the famous verse from the Padalavayi, which Prabhupada Siddhanta quoted very often… that the only price one has to pay for Krishna bhakti, not only devotion to Krishna but the pure mellows of consciousness if one wants then one should purchase that consciousness wherever it is available by the price of greed. Here Gauranga is personally giving that consciousness to Haridasa, and Haridasa with intense greed is asking this benedicition and getting it. So one has to purchase it anywhere one gets it but first one has to develop greed or arti, the Bengali word, arti, for getting it.

 

Text 100

 

ye te kule vaisnavera janma kene nahe

tathapiha sarvottama sarva-sastre kahe

 

So Vaishnavas can be born in any family or any place but the scriptures state that a Vaishnava is sarvottama, always in the topmost position of transendence, always situated very dear to the Lord so one should never ever consider a Vaishnava, regard a Vaishnava according to the birth or the body complexion, caste or some bad habit, apparent bad habit.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in Hari-Nama Cintamani that there is a period of transition when a sadhaka is becoming a siddha by the chanting of the holy names; there is a period of transition where the sadhaka is giving up the bad activities, but due to scrap, some tinge of previous contaminations sometimes one may see some kind of apparent unpalatable thing in the activities of a Vaishnava, but… otherwise one will lose a taste for the holy name. One should understand that since that Vaishnava is properly situated in nama bhajana, chanting and devotion, he will surely overcome that thing. Of course if that Vaishnava is doing it deliberately, deceitfully, then it is a different thing it’s not applicable. But if the Vaishnava is genuinely trying to control the senses and trying to give up, and sometimes he can’t do it. He should not be criticized for that fault. That is also Vaishnava aparadha.

 

Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakura gave a very long purport to this verse where he is quoting extensively from the Puranas and the Bhagavatam about how a Vaishnava should never be considered due to his birth or his caste, one doesn’t become a Vaishnava by taking birth in a very high family or even by taking birth in a Vaishnava family. One has to take the mercy of the Vaishnava family, then one can become a Vaishnava.

 

Text 101

 

ei tara pramana—yavana haridasa

brahmadira durlabha dekhila parakasa

 

This Haridasa Thakura who was born in a yavana family, Muslim family, he is the saksi mara, the proof that Vaishnavas are not to be considered because of their birth their families. Brahmadira durlabha dekhila parakasa: Haridasa Thakura externally born in a Muslim family but he saw that prakasa, that manifestation of the Lord which Lord Gauranga had not shown to anyone, that kind of mercy, he had never taken beatings for anyone. He took beatings for Haridasa on his own body.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

There is a pastime of why Haridasa Thakura was born in a Muslim family, there are two pastimes, one is in Gaura Gannodesa Dipika and one is in the Navadvipa dhama Mahatyma. That brahma matpa, there was one person called Brahma Matpa he was the son of a great rishi, Richika Muni, and Brahma Matpa he offered, he made an offering to the Lord, but without tulasi, he forgot tulasi. So his father became very angry, Richika Muni, and he cursed him to become a muslim, to become a muslim and take birth because he was the father…to take pastime of the Lord and become the nama acarya.

 

And the other pastime is in Navadvipa dhama Mahatyma, Lord Brahma he was highly restless after having the audacity to try to test Lord Krishna in the Vraja lila… Lord Brahma, he kidnapped cows, calves and the cowherd boys and he tried to test the Lord and he saw the opulence of the Lord and then after that he offered his heads, his four heads to the lotus feet of the Lord but still he was not satisfied within because a devotee should always be afraid of not repeating. He offended the Lord, it was a pastime but I mean from the pastime we can see that he disturbed the pastimes of the Lord. Of course the Lord wanted to exhibit his opulences for the whole world. Secondly he…the cows and calves and cowherd boys and associates in Vraja so he was very much fearful in his heart, very tense, he was thinking you know, “if I offend him again, if I become puffed up again and if I do something like this then I can’t expect the Lord to forgive me again.”

 

So he had a very strong desire to become very very humble, he said, “I want to become humble like dirt so that I will never commit this act of trying to test the Lord and trying to cause inconvienence to his devotees.” Also because Brahma is in such an elevated post that he is getting so much worship, he’s almost worshiped like the Lord, he’s a guna avatara, so he became very anxious, “I can’t repeat this again, I have to do something.” Then he decided to do austerities in order to get a benediction from the Lord to make him humble he didn’t want to repeat again and he went to Antardvipa in Navadvipa, he performed severe austerities because he knew in kali yuga Gauranga is pleased very easy to fulfill my desire. So Gauranga appeared to him and that place is known as Antardvipa, it became known Antardvipa after this pastime, and Mayapura is a part of Antardvipa.

 

There are two reasons why it is known as Antardvipa. First is because the Lord when he appeared to Brahma, the Lord described his own inner desires, inner anta, anta means inner desires that he wants to come in kali yuga to relish the love of Radhika and to spread his own names, that internal desire was revealed to Brahma in Antardvipa the first time. And secondly why it is known as Antardvipa is because Brahma’s internal desire was fulfilled by the Lord there of becoming humble the Lord appeared to him and said, “OK Brahma I already know why you are worshiping me and I ask as a benediction when I come as Gauranga, you will get ample opportunity to become humble, I will make you take birth in a muslim family. Haridasa Thakura’s smarana was so intense, chanting, nobody can chant 300,000 names without smarana.

 

So Antardvipa the internal desire, “I will put you in a humble position but you will make full use of that humble position and you will not even come to meet me when other devotees are present.” Haridasa was thinking himself as so abominable that in Jagannatha Puri dhama when the Lord was eating with all his associates in an assembly and he would be standing, he would not be standing he would be doing dandavats, he would be lying prostrate on the ground he would get some remnants of the Lord. So Gauranga was very merciful, Gauranga would try to call Haridasa but Haridasa said, “No my dear Lord I can’t.”

“So Brahma you will become humble but you will take full advantage of this humility and you will constantly chant my name, you will be the embodiment of this verse.”

 

Text 102

 

ye papistha vaisnavera jati-buddhi kare

janma janma adhama yonite dui’ mare

 

So jati buddhi, if that sinful person who does jati buddhi towards a Vaishnava, means considers a Vaishnava as per a caste or creed, life after life, adhama yonite dui mare, you will never even be elevated to the lakh species, 8.4 million species of life.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

So one should never consider a Vaishnava by caste or creed. Some people feel that western devotees are mlecchas because they are born across the ocean, the culture, meat eaters. So orthodox devotees they hold a kind of inferior feeling in their mind about western devotees and when some western devotees have difficulties and they give up devotional service for some time that feeling in their heart is even more increased but that is not right, jati buddhi kare. Actually one should appreciate the devotees more because even though coming from a culture where…even if they are trying to perform bhakti for a few years there is no loss. So one should appreciate them, their endeavor to perform devotion and one should not minimize their sincerity or give them a hard time. One should feel that if I was in their situation perhaps I never would have come to bhakti; one should think like that. One should take every opportunity to feel oneself humble and if one trys to see Vaishnavas because of their bodily designations then: janma janma adhama yonite dui’ mare, he will drown in their 8.4 million species of life, life after life.

 

It’s a beautiful verse where states in the Puranas… What kind of people go to hell? First, those who consider the deity of the Lord as stone; those who consider the guru as ordinary mortal; third, one who sees the Vaishnavas because of their caste or external bodily designations. Fourth, the fourth characteristic, the water that has washed the feet of Lord Vishnu or the Vaishnavas, kali male matane, it churns the bad qualities of kali yuga destroys because it has washed the feet of the Vaishnavas and Vishnu and if one considers it as ordinary water then one is doomed to hell. Fifth… very beautiful verse; Shri Vishnu namna mantre means the mantras of glorifying Lord Vishnu through the holy names of the Lord, they destroy all of the contamination of kali-yuga and if somebody has this consciousness that these names of the Lord or these mantras of the Lord are ordinary mundane sound vibrations; these are the five kind of people who go to hell. And the sixth kind of person is who feels that the demigods are the same level as Lord Krishna or Lord Vishnu, so they are destined to go to hell. All the demigods, if one equates Narayana on the same level then one will have to suffer for that.

 

Text 103

 

haridasa-stuti-vara sune yei jana

avasya milibe tare krishna-prema-dhana

 

So today we have achieved the perfection of our life because you will be most happy to hear this verse. This verse states that, Haridasa-stuti-vara sune yei jana, those who have heard this Haridasa stuti, this benediction asked by Haridasa, this benediction given by Gauranga to Haridasa, avasya milibe tare krishna-prema-dhana.  Certainly such a person will get the treasure of pure love of Lord Krishna. Certainly, no doubt about it, and we have very paka that we will get Krishna-prema because we have read the original Bengali verses also because sometimes when you read the translation only they may not be sure if this benediction is applicable or not because the original verses are the direct words of the Maha-Bhagavata, Vrndavan das Thakura. So when one hears Chaitanya Bhagavata’s original verses with the translations and explanations and we have tried to dive deep, not just touching the surface of these pastimes, surely we can hope because we are in the presence of Nityananda Gauranga we have heard this merciful pastime we will certainly achieve Krishna-prema-dhana and we don’t mind if it will come after a million lives we won’t mind.

 

In Mukunda tattva he was very, he started dancing when Lord Gauranga said; “I will see you after ten million births.” The Lord said that the guarantee is there because I don’t mind taking ten million births there should be some guarantee.

 

So that is what we are getting here in Chaitanya Bhagavata, every chapter, every verse we have this guarantee, money back guarantee, time back. If this pastime is read that is why my desire is to conduct Chaitanya Bhagavata Parana yajnas all over India where devotees get together and they simply read the 11,555 verses of Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata. Sorry 12,416 verses; Chaitanya Charitamrita has 11.555 verses.

So it may take maybe up to 3 or 4 days or 1 week if one reads for but it will be the most purificatory process for the souls of kali yuga because these sound vibrations, they are hearing this pastime and they will get love of God many times over. They may not understand the verses but the sound vibration of Vrndavan das Thakura is there. And Bengali is quite, the Bengali of Vrndavan das is quite simple and related to Hindi, quite a few words come from Hindi language. So Hindi is known by the majority of people in India so if they read then they will be able to understand at least 70 to 60% when they read, and they will get this benediction of pure love for Krishna which is even rare.

One who doesn’t hear these glories of Bhagavatam is a killer of the soul, but these Bhagavatam glories are appreciated by who, who, whom? Navitra means one who is free from material hankerings such a person can actually sings the glories of Bhagavatam, understand the glories of Bhagavatam…very high qualification of …but Chaitanya Bhagavata does not ask for any qualification…even the pakandi’s and yavanas and dog eaters and atheists and sinful people…they do not even say offenseless sune. He does not say that you hear without aparadha, no just sune, just hear.  Chaitanya Bhagavata one will simply get, maha Vaishnava, maha Vaishnava is not an ordinary vaishnava, he is an associate of Gauranga and Radha-Krishna so that person will become a maha Vaishnava; Avasya milibe tare krishna-prema-dhana.

 

Text 104

 

e vacana mora nahe, sarva-sastre kaya

bhaktakhyana sunile krsnete bhakti haya

 

Vrndavan das Thakura is saying that, “this benediction I am not offering that anyone will get love of Krishna by hearing this pastime. This benediction is the direct conclusion of the scriptures that anyone who hears the akhyana, the pastimes of the devotees, the pure associates of the Lord, they will get Krishna bhakti.”

 

Text 105

 

maha-bhakta haridasa thakura jaya jaya

haridasa sanarane sarva papa ksaya

 

Maha-bhakta haridasa; all glories, all glories, jaya jaya; Vrndavan das Thakura is saying all glories to this maha bhakta this great devotee Haridasa but haridasa sanarane. Simply by remembering Haridasa, sarva papa ksaya, all the sinful, all the sins are destroyed forever.

 

Text 106

 

keha bale, --“caturmukha yena haridasa”

keha bale, --“prahladera yena parakasa”

 

Someone said oh Haridasa Thakura is a four-headed Brahma himself what is the surprise he is getting so much from Lord Gauranga personally. Someone said…. expert in smarana, remembering the holy name of the Lord.

 

Text 107

 

sarva-mate maha-bhagavata haridasa

chaitanya gosthira sange yahara vilasa

 

Haridasa is a maha-bhagavata, sarva-mate, by all means Haridasa can not be minimized in any way, he’s perfect, he’s a maha-bhagavata. Chaitanya gosthira sange yahara vilasa: he enjoys many pastimes with all the intimate associates of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu. It is ironic on one hand it is said that Haridasa is an incarnation of Brahma, on the other hand Vrndavan das Thakura is speaking this next verse.

 

Text 108

 

brahma, siva haridasa-hena bhakta-sanga

niravadhi karate cittera bada ranga

 

Brahma and Siva, great elevated demigods like Brahma and Siva they also want to associate with Haridasa Thakura; Haridasa sanga, they also want Haridasa sanga.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

We don’t see but when we go to siddha bakula and Haridasa samadhi the demigods are showering flowers many times. Brahma is rolling on the ground there you know, Siva is dancing, glorifying Haridasa because they also want Hardisa sanga and Haridasa sanga is available in Puri dhama. He resided here on a steady basis, before he came to Puri he was traveling it was through the forest of Benapur, stayed in Navadvipa for some time. But in Puri he took his eternal residence because the Lord was residing here.

 

So constantly, continuously Brahma and Siva desired the association of Haridasa and not only desired, cittera bada ranga, this is not translated here, but cittera bada ranga means that they rejoiced. Ranga, ranga means they at that time in their hearts this association of Haridasa they very much hankered for that, ranga. So:

 

Text 109

 

haridasa-sparsa vancha kare deva-gana

ganga o vanchena haridasera majjana

 

Beautiful; these words should be read every day in siddha bakula and Haridasa samadhi, the glories of Haridasa Thakura. Vrndavan das is saying that they have one vancha, one touch of Haridasa. Haridasa-sparsa vanch kare deva-gana; the demigods want to do that, want to touch because they feel that their life is successful. Even though they are so much punya, they have gone to the heavenly planets but they aren’t satisfied, they want to touch the body of Haridasa Thakura.

Ganga o vanchena Haridasera majjana: Even Ganga is praying what to speak of the other demigods, the purest devotee of the Lord, Ganga, who got the direct good fortune of the Lord bathing in her, Gauranga as Nimai Pandita. That very same Ganga is vanchena vanchena, she’s desiring, she’s desiring Haridasera majjana that he immerse his body, his transcendental body in my waters, majjana for that. So that is described in the… Haridasa sanga is so intoxicating that more that one gets the more that one hankers for, that is the nature of the sanga. Unless there is a hankering one will not get it again, so hankering is there.

So Haridasera manjjana; Gauranga Mahaprabhu told Haridasa that, “without, if you disappear before me then all my happiness will end in all my pastimes, whom will I perform pastimes with? You are the crest jewel of my devotees who are participating in my pastimes.” (Question from audience) Jagannatha is always residing in Puri dhama, and Jagamana Bhagavan is Gauranga. Yes, so when Gauranga came here Haridasa, actually when Gauranga left Navadvipa there is a pastime in the Bhagavata when Gauranga left Navadvipa Haridasa was crying and Haridasa begged the Lord, Haridasa said, “My dear Lord you give me everything in the world I’m ready but don’t give me your seperation. I can tolerate anything and everything but not your seperation, I can’t live without you. (Question from audience)  You can taste it more but it is very painful for the devotee, one who has been with the Lord. If one sees Krishna and Gauranga once, one cannot stay without, they became a madman. Some people say I saw the Lord in a dream, he suddenly appeared and he hugged me and this and that and they get up in the morning and do again their same materialistic activites and go to their job. When Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada appeared in a dream of Prabhupada the effect was he took sannyasa, he gave up the whole world because his guru maharaja told him to take sannyasa. So that means that the dream is real, if there is a tangible change. Anyone who sees Krishna and Gauranga once they cannot see the face of maya again, so undikare and Krishna cannot stay in the same place, darkness and god. God is light. So:

 

Text 110

 

sparsera ki daya, dekhilei haridasa

chinde sarva-jivera anadi-karma-pasa

 

My dear brothers and sisters, what to speak of touching Haridasa, it is a very long way, great good fortune that somebody has when one may be able to touch Haridasa, very difficult, but even by seeing Haridasa: dekhilei haridasa chinde sarva-jivera anadi-karma-pasa, the souls they are anadi, I mean their journey, eternal journey in this material world cycle of birth is stopped, it is cut. The cycle of birth and death is cut simply by seeing Haridasa.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

It is very unfortunate, sometimes I cry that devotees come, not devotees the tourists come to Puri from such long far places from Calcutta and Delhi, Mumbai  and they have to be near the sea, beach and they don’t go to see Haridasa, dekhilei haridasa. Their journey from time immemorial in this material world would be destroyed but they don’t take this opportunity to see the Haridasa samadhi, the Haridasa bhajans dham which are non different from Haridasa Thakura . By seeing his person his samadhi his bhajans kurti you get the same result is there, but they don’t do it instead they prefer to go to picnic, disco, and other things in Puri. So what can God do for such people, the Lord can provide his pure devotees who make available to them so easily, even their samadhi is so accessible. To approach Haridasa personally is impossible for the pure devotees but the samadhi is there, his bhajans dham is there, the Lord is keeping it alive and if the conditioned souls don’t take advantage of it what can the Lord do, they curse the Lord, “why are you not helping us?” What more can the Lord do? He’s sending his pure devotees and they don’t take benefit.

 

Text 111

 

prahlada ye-hena daitya, kapi hanuman

ei-mata haridasa nica-jati nama

 

A beautiful verse, beautiful comparison by Vrndavan das Thakura, he’s saying that as Prahlada was born in a daitya family, asura family, but he was totally transcendental. As Hanhuman was born in a monkey family but he’s totally transcendental. Similarly Haridasa Thakura was born in a Muslim family, meat eater family but he was totally transcendental, low class family, nica-jati nama.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

This is the only hope, before that Gauranga appeared there was no hope for non brahmanas because the whole India was so orthodox, the brahmanas, they said that those people who are mlecchas, yavanas and they cannot…it was not possible, nobody understood. Even now there are some orthodox people like that, but Gauranga changed the whole, the incarnation of Gauranga revealed this whole treasure to the world; that the Lord doesn’t consider, Lord Nityananda, Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that Nityananda doesn’t consider… Nitai giving the nama, suddha nama, to even the candelas, the most fallen, a nahiko kale voya, a nahiko kale voya. Beautiful, Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s songs are like strung in the neck and he’s saying a nahiko kale voya. There is no more fear of Kali yuga my dear brothers and sisters, no more fear. Nitai has come to give the nama to everyone. Nitai doesn’t take any…all your desires will be fulfilled…and that faith to approach him, that much faith should be there, that much faith to approach him, that much faith that somebody has, that is the price Nityananda Prabhu wants, that’s all, no other faith is required.

And Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that, “you should come with me, you should not go alone, I will get my commission…if when I go, I take you to Nitai, then Nitai will give me his… very keen to bring the souls to Gauranga. So Nitai is very happy to give commission, because he knows that this holy name of Gauranga will not spread without network marketing, Nitai knows. Nityananda Prabhu is most intelligent, without… he’s fully aware how to spread name and fame of Gauranga mahaprabhu. The last verse today because the pastime of Haridasa Thakura is coming to an end now, the Lord is turning towards one of his greatest devotees, Advaita acarya in his maha-prakasa lila, so the last verse about Haridasa:

 

Text 112

 

haridasa kande, kande murari-shridhara

hasiya tambula khaya prabhu visvambhara

 

So first he gave mercy to Shridhara Kolavecha, then he gave mercy to Murari Gupta, and now he has inundated Haridasa in an ocean of mercy and an ocean of tears. The mercy during this maha-prakasa lila is so unprecedented that we can’t even stop crying, constantly they are crying, those who already got the mercy they were standing in the corner and crying, so now the Lord is turning towards other devotees because he is already given them pure love of God: hasiya tambula khaya prabhu visvambhara.

 

Commentary by His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada:

 

Prabhu Visvambhara Gauranga is always trying, after giving the mercy again he started chewing betel nuts given by Gadadhara, tambula hasiya, smiling. He’s happy for his devotees and actually anyone who doesn’t hear this maha-prakasa lila of Chaitanya Bhagavata cannot understand bhakta vatsalata, the devotion of the Lord for his devotees because these pastimes in Chaitanya Bhagavata in the maha-prakasa lila is even rare for the Bhagavatam, they’re not found in any other scripture.

Vrndavan das Thakura in one verse, he says that sentiment when Gauranga Mahaprabhu manifested in Navadvipa and during this maha-prakasa lila, and his pastimes, that kind of descriptions are even rarely touched by Bhagavatam, that is why the Vedavyasa, the Vyasadeva who wrote the Bhagavatam, the disciple of Narada Muni, he was not satisfied right after composing all the Vedas and the Upanisads he was not satisfied, so Narada Muni told him to directly glorify the Lord’s pastimes in the form of Shrimad Bhagavatam. But even after writing Shrimad Bhagavatam he was not fully satisfied because he understood that in kali-yuga that nobody knows Sanskrit, it is very difficult. And secondly the 18,00 verses it’s very difficult these are the pastimes of the avatari, the source of all incarnations, Lord Krishna is only in the tenth canto, so he really wanted to give the mercy out.

 

So he took birth again in the womb of Narayani…because Narayani when she was a girl she got the remnants of Gauranga Mahaprabhu and because Narayani took those remnants Vrndavan das Thakura was in the womb and by eating the remnants of Gauranga Vrndavan das Thakura had the spirit, the revelation for Gauranga’s lila even though he personally, it is very very surprising that Vrndavan das Thakura never personally met Gauranga Mahaprabhu...I will give you full mercy, and you will see the pastimes in your heart in more detail, even those pastimes which you have missed, you will see them in your heart. Because when Vrndavan das Thakura gave Haridasa the prabhoga, prasadam and then Nityananda Prabhu gave him his order and Vrndavan das took it to his heart and fulfilled that order and wrote such a…Krishna das Kaviraya says this scripture, by writing this scripture Vrndavan das Thakura delivered the three worlds. There is no comparison to this scripture and that is why Krishna das Kaviraja has left those pastimes which Vrndavan das Thakura has described in Chaitanya Bhagavata. Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami did not describe them again for the sake of not committing any offense to Vrndavan das Thakura. Pure devotees cannot commit and offense but just for the sake of… langan, not to, he said already they’re described; he just touched upon them. So in that way we conclude today the mercy given to Haridasa Thakura.