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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for ISKCON Punjabi Bagh,
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DTSTART:20230101T000000
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230303
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230304
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230207T082635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230306T113301Z
UID:26664-1677801600-1677887999@www.iskconpunjabibagh.com
SUMMARY:Amalaki Vrata Ekadashi 3rd March 2023
DESCRIPTION:This Ekadasi is described in the Brahmanda Purana in a conversation between King Mandhata and the great sage Vasistha. The mighty King known as Mandhata enquired from Vasistha Muni\, “O most fortunate sage\, please be merciful unto me and kindly describe unto me a vow\, by whose observance I may attain all auspiciousness.” \nThe famous sage replied\, “O King\, I will explain to you the glories of and history of Amalaki Ekadasi\, by following of which one receives all auspiciousness in their lives. The piety accumulated by observing this great Ekadasi undoubtedly destroys all sinful reactions and easily awards one liberation. It also gives the benefit of offering one thousand cows in charity. \n“A long time ago\, when the world was very ancient there was a magnificent city called Vaidisa. The city was home to many healthy\, prosperous brahmanas\, ksatriyas\, vaisyas and sudras. O lion-hearted King\, there were no atheists in this city at all and the citizens had not even heard of sin. The  air was always filled with the sound of Vedic mantras\, chanted by the expert priests\, and everyone was very contented by the religious atmosphere. \nIn this fabulous city there lived an honest and pious King named Caitraratha who was born the son of King Pasabinduka\, a lordly member of the dynasty of the moon. King Caitraratha had abounding strength\, beauty\, opulence and wealth; he was well in the scriptures and his citizens loved him. Because of the religious fervour of the people\, they would all always follow Ekadasi. Due to such devotional service unto Lord Visnu the people remained happy in their prosperous kingdom\, there were no poor or miserly people to be found anywhere! \nOne propitious year Amalaki Ekadasi mixed with Dvadasi during the waxing moon in the month of Phalguna (February/March). Realising this Ekadasi was very powerful the King and his subjects prepared to observe the vow with great and special care. Early in the morning they bathed in the river and went to offer puja at the temple of Lord Visnu who resided on the river bank. Within the temple there was an amalaki and the King offered due respect by placing a pitcher of water\, an umbrella\, cloth\, shoes\, and five kinds of precious jewels at the base of the tree. He went on to worship Lord Parasurama with a beautiful canopy\, gold\, diamonds\, rubies\, pearls\, sapphires and very fragrant incense. The sages prayed thus: “O great Lord Parasurama\, son of Renuka\, O you who takes shelter of this amalaki tree\, O bestower of liberation\, We offer our respectful obeisances unto you.” They further offered poetic prayers to the amalaki tree. “O Amalaki\, sustainer of the universe\, O offspring of Lord Brahma\, O destroyer of sins\, We offer our respectful obeisances unto you.” \nAfter offering these prayers the King and his subjects proceeded to remain awake throughout the night\, they stayed in that Visnu temple and sang songs of glorification to the Supreme Lord and the Amalaki tree. By providences will a hunter arrived on the scene. The hunter made is livelihood by killing animals and had never seen such a sight before. He was bewildered by the company sitting peacefully and chanting to the Lord. He decided to sit down as well and observe the sankirtan of the Lord. By way of great fortune he unknowingly took darshan of Lord Damodar who was seated atop the pitcher of water. He stayed awake all night and despite his hunger he did not eat anything\, nor did he kill any animals. \nIn the morning the King and his courtiers returned to their palace and the hunter also returned home. Many years later the hunter left his body\, but despite his sinful life he received liberation simply by the grace of Amalaki Ekadasi. In his next life the hunter became a King with many elephants\, horses\, chariots and a large army. He was known by the name of Vasurath\, son of a powerful King called Vidurath who ruled the famous city of Jayanti. King Vasurath ruled over one million villages\, was as effulgent as the sun and as powerful as Lord Visnu. He was truthful\, tolerant and fixed in his occupational duties. Thus he was a great devotee. \n“One day Vasurath lost his way while hunting in the forest. He was extremely fatigued and afflicted with hunger. Finding no alternative the King lay down to sleep in the dense forest\, with no pillow he slept on the bare earth. While sleeping in the way a band of nomadic mlecchas came across the King and thinking him their enemy proceeded to beat him with their various weapons. Strangely enough none of the weapons caused even a slight disturbance to the saintly King. Bemused by this magic the mlecchas turned to run away\, fearful for their lives. At that moment an effulgent goddess appeared before them holding a a disc in her hand. She was adorned with various shining ornaments and fragrant sandalwood paste. Raising her arm she flung the disc at the mlecchas and killed them outright. \nWhen the King woke up he was astonished by the gruesome scene and became frightened. Seeing that his fearsome enemies were all dead the King exclaimed: “Who is my protector who has slain these enemies for me? I offer my heartfelt gratitude to such a well wishing benefactor.” Just then a voice from sky thundered: “Who else but Lord Kesava is capable of protecting His surrendered souls? He alone is the maintainer of the surrendered devotees and the universe.” After hearing this voice in the sky the King’s heart melted in devotional ecstasy. Knowing that he had been saved by the Supreme Lord he considered himself very fortunate. With increased faith and determination he returned to his palace and ruled just like Indra\, without obstacle or hindrance. \nThe sage Vasistha concluded\, “My dear King Mandhata! Anyone who observes this sacred vow of Amalaki Ekadasi undoubtedly achieves liberation and returns the abode of Lord Visnu.”
URL:https://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/event/amalaki-vrata-ekadashi-3rd-march-2023/
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230304
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230305
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230207T082824Z
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SUMMARY:Disappearance of Sri Madhavendra Puri 4th March 2023
DESCRIPTION:Madhavendra Puri was the spiritual master of the spiritual master of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Madhavendra Puri established the worship of the Gopala Deity.
URL:https://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/event/disappearance-of-sri-madhavendra-puri-4th-march-2023/
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230307
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230308
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230207T083044Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230309T073335Z
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SUMMARY:Gaura Purnima 7th March 2023
DESCRIPTION:Gaura Purnima the appearance anniversary of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu\, who is Krsna Himself in the role of His own devotee. He appeared in 1486 in Mayapur\, West Bengal. \n“This account originally appeared in a short work by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura entitled\, ‘Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: His Life and Precepts.’ (dated 20th August 1896.)” This was taken from “Prologue” to “Teachings of Lord Caitanya” (A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. 1974. pages xiii-xxii.) \n“Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Mayapur in the town of Nadia just after sunset on the evening of the 23rd Phalguna (1407 Sakadba)\, answering to the 18th of February 1486 of the Christian Era. The moon was eclipsed at the time of His birth\, and the people of Nadia were then engaged\, as was usual on such occasions\, in bathing in the Bhagirathi with loud cheers of Haribol.  \nHis father\, Jagannatha Misra\, a poor ‘brahmana’ of the Vedic order\, and His mother\, Saci-devi\, a model good woman\, both descended from ‘brahmana’ stock originally residing in Sylhet. Mahaprabhu was a beautiful child\, and the ladies of the town came to see Him with presents. His mother’s father\, Pandita Nilambara Cakravarti\, a renowned astrologer\, foretold that the child would be a great personage in time; and he\, therefore\, gave him the name Visvambhara. The ladies of the neighbourhood styled him Gaurahari on account of His golden complexion\, and His mother called Him Nimai on account of the ‘nimba’ tree near which He was born. Beautiful as the lad was\, everyone heartily loved to see Him every day. As He grew up He became a whimsical and frolicsome lad. After His fifth year\, He was admitted into a pathasala where He picked up Bengali in a very short time. \n“Most of His contemporary biographers have mentioned certain anecdotes regarding Caitanya which are simple records of His early miracles. It is said that when He was an infant in His mother’s arms He wept continually\, and when the neighbouring ladies cried ‘Haribol’ He used to stop. Thus there was a continuation of utterance of ‘Haribol’ in the house\, foreshewing the future mission of the hero. It has also been stated that when His mother gave Him sweetmeats to eat\, He ate clay instead of the food. His mother\, asking for the reason\, He stated that as every sweetmeat was nothing but clay transformed\, He could eat clay as well. His mother\, who was also the consort of a ‘pandita’\, explained that every article in a special state was adapted to a special use. Earth\, while in the state of a jug\, could be used as a water pot\, but in the state of a brick such a use was not possible. Clay\, therefore in the form of sweetmeats was usable as food\, but clay in its other states was not. The lad was convinced and admitted His stupidity in eating clay and agreed to avoid the mistake in the future. Another miraculous act has been related. \nIt is said that a brahmana on pilgrimage became a guest in His house\, cooked food and read grace with meditation upon Krsna. In the meantime the lad came and ate up the cooked rice. The ‘brahmana’\, astonished at the lad’s act\, cooked again at the request of Jagannatha Misra. The lad again ate up the cooked rice while the ‘brahmana’ was offering the rice to Krsna with meditation. The ‘brahmana’ was persuaded to cook for the third time. This time all the inmates of the house had fallen asleep\, and so the lad showed Himself as Krsna to the traveller and blessed him. The ‘brahmana’ was then lost in ecstasy at the appearance of the object of his worship. \nIt has also been stated that two thieves stole away the lad from His father’s door with a view to purloin His jewels and gave Him sweetmeats on the way. The lad exercised His illusory energy and deceived the thieves back towards His own house. The thieves\, for fear of detection\, left the boy there and fled. Another miraculous act that has been described is the lad’s demanding and getting from Hiranya and Jagadisa all the offerings they had collected for worshiping Krsna on the day of Ekadasi. When only four years of age He sat on rejected cooking pots which were considered unholy by His mother. He explained to His mother that there was no question of holiness and unholiness as regards to earthen pots thrown away after the cooking was over. These anecdotes relate to His tender age up to the fifth year. \n“In His eighth year\, He was admitted into the tola of Gangadasa Pandita in Ganganagara close by the village of Mayapur. In two years He became well read in Sanskrit grammar and rhetoric. His readings after that were of the nature of self-study in His own house\, where He had found all-important books belonging to His father\, who was a ‘pandita’ himself. It appears that He read the ‘smrti’ in His own study\, and the ‘nyaya’ also\, in competition with His friends\, who were then studying under the celebrated ‘pandita’ Raghunatha Siromani. \n“Now\, after the tenth year of His age\, Caitanya became a passable scholar in grammar\, rhetoric\, the ‘smrti’ and the ‘nyaya’. It was after this that his elder brother Visvarupa left his house and accepted the ‘ashrama’ (status) of a ‘sannyasi’ (ascetic). Caitanya\, though a very young boy\, consoled His parents\, saying that He would serve them with a view to please God. Just after that\, His father left this world. His mother was exceedingly sorry\, and Mahaprabhu\, with His usual contented appearance\, consoled His widowed mother. \nIt was at the age of 14 or 15 that Mahaprabhu was married to Laksmidevi\, the daughter of Vallabhacarya\, also of Nadia. He was at this age considered one of the best scholars of Nadia\, then renowned seat of ‘nyaya’ philosophy and Sanskrit learning. Not to speak of the ‘smarta panditas’\, the ‘Naiyayikas’ were all afraid of confronting Him in literary discussions. Being a married man\, He went to Eastern Bengal on the banks of the Padma for acquirement of wealth. There He displayed His learning and obtained a good sum of money. It was at this time that He preached Vaisnavism at intervals. After teaching him the principles of Vaisnavism\, He ordered Tapanamisra to go to and live in Benares. During His residence in East Bengal\, His wife Laksmidevi left this world from the effects of snake bite. On returning home\, He found His mother in a mourning state. \nHe consoled her with a lecture on the uncertainty of human affairs. It was at His mother’s request that He married Visnupriya\, the daughter of Raja Pandita Sanatana Misra. His comrades joined Him on His return from pravasa or sojourn. He was now so renowned that He was considered to be the best pandita in Nadia. Kesava Misra of Kashmir\, who had called himself the Great Digvijayi\, came to Nadia with a view to discuss with the ‘pandita’ of that place. Afraid of the so-called conquering pandita\, the tola professors of Nadia left their town on pretence of invitation. Kesava met Mahaprabhu at the Barokona-ghata in Mayapur\, and after a very short discussion with Him he was defeated by the boy\, and mortification obliged him to decamp. Nimai Pandita was now the most important ‘pandita’ of His times. \n“It was at the age of 16 or 17 that He travelled to Gaya with a host of His students and there took His spiritual initiation from Isvara Puri\, a Vaisnava ‘sannyasi’ and a disciple of the renowned Madhavendra Puri. Upon His return to Nadia\, Nimai Pandita turned religious preacher\, and His religious nature became so strongly represented that Advaita Prabhu\, Srivasa and others who had before the birth of Caitanya already accepted the Vaisnava faith were astonished at the change of the young man. He was then no more a contending ‘naiyayika’\, a wrangling ‘smarta’ and a criticizing rhetorician. \nHe swooned at the name of Krsna and behaved as an inspired man under the influence of His religious sentiment. It has been described by Murari Gupta\, an eye-witness\, that He showed His heavenly powers in the house of Srivasa Pandita in the presence of hundreds of His followers\, who were mostly well-read scholars. It was at this time that He opened a nocturnal school of ‘kirtana’ in the compound of Srivasa Pandita with His sincere followers. There He preached\, there He sang\, there He danced\, and there He expressed all sorts of religious feelings. Nityananda Prabhu\, who was then a preacher of Vaisnavism and who had then completed His travels all over India\, joined Him at that time. In fact\, a host of ‘pandita’ preachers of Vaisnavism\, all sincere at heart\, came and joined Him from different parts of Bengal. Nadia now became the regular seat of a host of Vaisnava ‘acaryas’ whose mission it was to spiritualize mankind with the highest influence of the Vaisnava creed. \n“The first mandate that He issued to Prabhu Nityananda and Haridasa was this: ‘Go\, friends\, go through the streets of the town\, meet every man at his door and ask him to sing the name of Hari with a holy life\, and you then come and report to Me every evening the result of your preaching.’ Thus ordered\, the two preachers went on and met Jagai and Madhai\, two most abominable characters. They insulted the preachers on hearing Mahaprabhu’s mandate\, but were soon converted by the influence of ‘bhakti’ (devotion) inculcated by their Lord. The people of Nadia were now surprised. They said\, ‘Nimai Pandita is not only a gigantic genius\, but He is certainly a missionary from God Almighty.’ From this time to His twenty-third year\, Mahaprabhu preached His principles not only in Nadia but in all important towns and villages around His city. In the houses of \nTo his followers he showed miracles\, taught the esoteric principles of ‘bhakti’ and sang His ‘sankirtan’ with other bhaktas. His followers of the town of Nadia commenced to sing the holy name of Hari in the streets and bazaars. This created a sensation and roused different feelings in different quarters. The ‘bhaktas’ were highly pleased. The ‘smarta brahmanas’ became jealous of Nimai Pandita’s success and complained to Chand Kazi against the character of Caitanya as un-Hindu. The Kazi came to Srivasa Pandita’s house and broke a ‘mrdanga’ (‘khola’ drum) there and declared that unless Nimai Pandit ceased to make noise about His queer religion he would be obliged to enforce Mohammedanism on Him and His followers. This was brought to Mahaprabhu’s notice. \nHe ordered the townspeople to appear in the evening each with a torch in his hand. This they did\, and Nimai marched out with His ‘sankirtan’ divided in 14 groups\, and on His arrival in the Kazi’s house\, He held a long conversation with the Kazi and in the end communicated into his heart His Vaisnava influence by touching his body. The Kazi then wept and admitted that he had felt a keen spiritual influence which had cleared up his doubts and produced in him a religious sentiment which gave him the highest ecstasy. The Kazi then joined the sankirtan party. The world was astonished at the spiritual power of the Great Lord\, and hundreds and hundreds of heretics converted and joined the banner of Visvambhara after this affair. \n“It was after this that some of the jealous and low-minded ‘brahmanas’ of Kulia picked a quarrel with Mahaprabhu and collected a party to oppose Him. Nimai Pandita was naturally a soft-hearted person\, though strong in His principles. He declared that party feelings and sectarianism were the two great enemies of progress and that as long as He should continue to be an inhabitant of Nadia belonging to a certain family\, His mission would not meet with complete success. He then resolved to be a citizen of the world by cutting His connection with His particular family\, caste and creed\, and with this resolution He embraced the position of a ‘sannyasi’ at Katwa\, under the guidance of Keshava Bharati of that town\, on the 24th year of His age. His mother and wife wept bitterly for His separation\, but our hero\, though soft in heart\, was a strong person in principle. He left His little world in His house for the unlimited spiritual world of Krsna with man in general. \n“After His ‘sannyasa’\, He was induced to visit the house of Advaita Prabhu in Santipura. Advaita managed to invite all His friends and admirers from Nadia and brought Sacidevi to see her son. Both pleasure and pain invaded her heart when she saw her son in the attire of a ‘sannyasi’. As a ‘sannyasi’\, Krsna Caitanya put on nothing but a ‘kaupina’ (two pieces of cloth\, a loin cloth) and a ‘bahirvasa’ (outer covering). His head was without hair\, and His hands bore a ‘danda’ (stick) and a ‘kamandalu’ (hermit’s water pot). The Holy Son fell at the feet of His beloved mother and said\, “Mother! This body is yours\, and I must obey your orders. Permit me to go to Vrndavana for My spiritual attainments.” \nThe mother\, in consultation with Advaita and others\, asked her son to reside in Puri (the town of Jagannatha) so that she might obtain His information now and then. Mahaprabhu agreed to that proposition and in a few days left Santipura for Orissa. \nHis biographers have described the journey of Krsna Caitanya (that was the name He got after His ‘sannyasa’) from Santipura to Puri in great detail. He travelled along the side of the Bhagirathi as far as Chatrabhoga\, situated now in Thana Mathurapura\, Diamond Harbour\, 24 Parganas. There He took a boat and went as far as Prayaga-ghata in the Midnapura District. Thence He walked through Balasore and Cuttack to Puri\, seeing the temple of Bhuvanesvara on His way. Upon His arrival at Puri He saw Jagannatha in the temple and resided with Sarvabhauma at the request of the latter. \nSarvabhauma was a gigantic ‘pandita’ of the day. His readings knew no bounds. He was the best ‘naiyayika’ of the times and was known as the most erudite scholar in the Vedanta philosophy of the school of Sankaracarya. He was born in Nadia (Vidyanagara) and taught innumerable pupils in the ‘nyaya’ philosophy in his tola there. He had left for Puri some time before the birth of Nimai Pandita. His brother-in-law Gopinatha Misra introduced our new sannyasi to Sarvabhauma\, who was astonished at His personal beauty and feared that it would be difficult for the young man to maintain ‘sannyasa-dharma’ during the long run of His life. Gopinatha\, who had known Mahaprabhu from Nadia\, had a great reverence for Him and declared that the ‘sannyasi’ was not a common human being. On this point Gopinatha and Sarvabhauma had a hot discussion. \nSarvabhauma then requested Mahaprabhu to hear his recitation of the Vedanta-sutras\, and the latter tacitly submitted. Caitanya heard with silence what the great Sarvabhauma uttered with gravity for seven days\, at the end of which the latter said\, ‘Krsna-Caitanya! I think You do not understand the Vedanta\, for You do not say anything after hearing my recitation and explanations.’ The reply of Caitanya was that He understood the sutras very well\, but He could not make out what Sankaracarya meant by his commentaries. Astonished as this\, Sarvabhauma said\, ‘How is it that you understand the meanings of the ‘sutras’ and do not understand the commentaries which explain the ‘sutras’? All well! If You understand the ‘sutras’\, please let me have Your interpretations.’ Mahaprabhu thereon explained all the ‘sutras’ in His own way without touching the pantheistic commentary of Sankara. The keen understanding of Sarvabhauma saw the truth\, beauty and harmony of arguments in the explanations given by Caitanya and obliged Him to utter that it was the first time that he had found one who could explain the Brahma-sutras in such a simple manner. He admitted also that the commentaries of Sankara never gave such natural explanations of the Vedanta-sutras as he had obtained from Mahaprabhu. He then submitted himself as an advocate and follower. In a few days Sarvabhauma turned out to be one of the best Vaisnavas of the time. When reports of this came out\, the whole of Orissa sang the praise of Krsna Caitanya\, and hundred and hundreds came to Him and became His followers. In the meantime Mahaprabhu thought of visiting Southern India\, and He started with one Krsnadasa Brahmana for the journey. \n“His biographers have given us a detail of the journey. He went first to Kurmaksetra\, where He performed a miracle by curing a leper named Vasudeva. He met Ramananda Raya\, the Governor of Vidyanagara\, on the banks of the Godavari and had a philosophical conversation with him on the subject of ‘prema-bhakti’. He worked another miracle by touching (making them immediately disappear) the seven ‘tala-trees’ through which Ramacandra\, the son of Dasaratha\, had shot His arrow and killed the great Bali Raja. He preached Vaisnavism and ‘nama-sankirtana’ throughout the journey. At Rangaksetra He stayed for four months in the house of one Venkata Bhatta in order to spend the rainy season. There He converted the whole family of Venkata from Ramanuja Vaisnavism to Krsna-bhakti\, along with the son of Venkata\, a boy of ten years named Gopala\, who afterwards came to Vrndavana and became one of the six Goswamis or prophets serving under their leader Sri Krsna Caitanya. Trained up in Sanskrit by his uncle Prabodhananda Sarasvati\, Gopala wrote several books on Vaisnavism. \n“Sri Caitanya visited numerous places in Southern India as far as Cape Comorin and returned to Puri in two years by Pandepura on the Bhima. In this latter place He spiritualized one Tukarama\, who became from that time a religious preacher himself. This fact has been admitted in his ‘adhangas’\, which have been collected in a volume by Mr. Satyendra Nath Tagore of the Bombay Civil Service. During His journey He had several discussions with the Buddhists\, the Jains and the ‘mayavadis’ in several places and converted His opponents to Vaisnavism. \n“Upon His return to Puri\, Raja Prataparudra-deva and several ‘pandita brahmanas’ joined the banner of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He was now twenty-seven years of age. In His twenty-eighth year He went to Bengal as far as Gauda in Mald. There He picked up two great personages named Rupa and Sanatana. Though descended from the lines of Karnatic brahmanas\, these two brothers turned demi-Moslems by their continual contact with Hussain Shah\, the then Emperor of Gauda. Their names had been changed by the Emperor into Dabir Khas and Sakara Mallik\, and their master loved them heartily since they were both learned in Persian\, Arabic and Sanskrit and were loyal servants of the state. The two gentlemen had found no way to come back as regular Hindus and had written to Mahaprabhu for spiritual help while He was at Puri. Mahaprabhu had written in reply that He would come to them and extricate them from their spiritual difficulties. Now that He had come to Gauda\, both the brothers appeared before Him with their long-standing prayer. Mahaprabhu ordered them to go to Vrndavana and meet Him there. \n“Caitanya returned to Puri through Santipura\, where He again met His dear mother. After a short stay at Puri He left for Vrndavana. This time He was accompanied by one Balabhadra Bhattacarya. He visited Vrndavana and came down to Prayag (Allahabad)\, converting a large number of Mohammedans to Vaisnavism by argument from the Koran. The descendant of those converts are still known as Pathana Vaisnavas. Rupa Goswami met Him in Allahabad. Caitanya trained him up in spirituality in ten days and directed him to go to Vrndavana on missions. His first mission was to write theological works explaining scientifically pure ‘bhakti’ and ‘prema’. The second mission was to revive the places where Krsnacandra had in the end of ‘Dvapara-yuga’ exhibited His spiritual ‘lila’ (pastimes) for the benefit of the religious world. Rupa Goswami left Allahabad for Vrndavana\, and Mahaprabhu came down to Benares. There He resided in the house of Candrasekhara and accepted His daily ‘bhiksa’ (meal) in the house of Tapana Misra. Here it was that Sanatana Goswami joined him and took instruction for two months in spiritual matters. The biographers\, especially Krsnadasa Kaviraja\, have given us details of Caitanya’s teachings to Rupa and Sanatana. Krsnadasa was not a contemporary writer\, but he gathered his information from the Goswamis themselves\, the direct disciples of Mahaprabhu. Jiva Goswami\, who was the nephew of Sanatana and Rupa and who has left us his invaluable work of Sat-sandarbha\, has philosophized on the precept of his great leader. We have gathered and summarised the precepts of Caitanya from the books of those great writers. \n“While at Benares\, Caitanya had an interview with the learned ‘sannyasis’ of that town in the house of a Maratha ‘brahmana’ who had invited all the ‘sannyasis’ for entertainment. At this interview\, Caitanya shewed a miracle which attracted all the ‘sannyasis’ to Him. Then ensued reciprocal conversation. The ‘sannyasis’ were headed by their most learned leader Prakasananda Sarasvati. After a short controversy\, they submitted to Mahaprabhu and admitted that they had been misled by the commentaries of Sankaracarya.\nIt was impossible even for learned scholars to oppose Caitanya for a long time\, for there was some spell in Him which touched their hearts and made them weep for their spiritual improvement. The ‘sannyasis’ of Benares soon fell at the feet of Caitanya and asked for His grace (‘krpa’). Caitanya then preached pure ‘bhakti’ and instilled into their hearts spiritual love for Krsna which obliged them to give up sectarian feelings. The whole population of Benares\, on this wonderful conversion of the ‘sannyasis’\, turned Vaisnavas\, and they made a master ‘sankirtana’ with their new Lord. After sending Sanatana to Vrndavana\, Mahaprabhu went to Puri again through the jungles with His comrade Balabhadra. Balabhadra reported that Mahaprabhu had shown a good many miracles on His way to Puri\, such as making tigers and elephants dance on hearing the name of Krsna. \n“From this time\, that is\, from His 31st year\, Mahaprabhu continually lived in Puri the house of Kasi Misra until His disappearance in His forty-eighth year at the time of sankirtana in the temple of Tota-gopinatha. During these 18 years\, His life was one of settled love and piety. He was surrounded by numerous followers\, all of whom were of the highest order of Vaisnavas and who were distinguished from the common people by their purest character and learning\, firm religious principles and spiritual love of Radha-Krsna. Svarupa Damodara\, who had been known by the name of Purusottamacarya while Mahaprabhu was in Nadia\, joined Him from Benares and accepted service as His secretary. \nNo production of any poet or philosopher could be laid before Mahaprabhu unless Svarupa had passed it as pure and useful. Raya Ramananda was His second mate. Both he and Svarupa would sing while Mahaprabhu expressed His sentiments on a certain point of worship. Paramananda Puri was His minister in matters of religion. There are hundreds of anecdotes described by His biographers which we do not think it meet here to reproduce. Mahaprabhu slept short. \nHis sentiments carried Him far and wide in the firmament of spirituality every day and night\, and all His admirers and followers watched Him throughout. He worshipped\, communicated with His missionaries at Vrndavana\, and conversed with those religious men who newly came to visit Him. He sang and danced\, took no care of Himself and of-times lost Himself in religious beatitude. All who came to Him believed in Him as the all-beautiful God appearing in the nether world for the benefit of mankind. He loved His mother all along and sent her ‘mahaprasada’ now and then with those who went to Nadia. He was most amiable in nature. Humility was personified in Him. His sweet appearance gave cheer to all who came in contact with Him. He appointed Prabhu Nityananda as the missionary in charge of Bengal. He dispatched six disciples (Goswamis) to Vrndavana to preach love in the upcountry. This he markedly did in the case of Junior Haridasa. He never lacked in giving proper instructions in life to those who solicited them. This will be seen in His teachings to Raghunatha dasa Goswami. His treatment to Haridasa (senior) will show how He loved spiritual men and how He defied caste distinction in spiritual brotherhood.”\n(Thakura Bhaktivinoda. 20th August 1896.) \nReason for appearance \nLord Krishna thought in Goloka\, “I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age; nama-sankirtana\, the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord in the form of Lord Gauranga. By accepting the role of a devotee\, I shall make the whole world dance in ecstasy\, and thus realize the four mellows of loving devotional service. In this way\, I shall teach devotional service to others by personally practicing it\, for whatever a great personality does\, common people will follow. Of course\, My plenary portions can establish the religious principles for each age\, but only I can bestow the kind of loving devotional service which is performed by the residents of Vraja.” \nBesides this secondary reason for Lord Krishna to appear once more\, taking the form of a devotee\, there is another confidential purpose of a very personal nature. Even though Lord Krishna had tasted the essence of loving mellows by performing His conjugal pastimes in the company of the gopis\, He was not able to fulfill three desires. \nTherefore\, after His disappearance\, the Lord thought\, “Although I am the Absolute Truth\, and the reservoir of all rasas\, I cannot understand the strength of Radharani’s love\, with which She always overwhelms Me. Indeed\, the love of Radharani is My teacher\, and I am Her dancing pupil\, for Her love makes Me dance in various novel ways. Whatever pleasure I get from tasting My love for Srimati Radharani\, She relishes ten million times more\, by Her love. Although there is nothing greater than Radha’s love\, since it is all pervading\, it nonetheless expands constantly and is completely devoid of pride. There is nothing purer than Radha’s love\, and yet its behavior is always perverse and crooked.” \n“Sri Radhika is the highest abode of love\, and I am its only object. I taste the bliss to which the object is entitled\, but Radha’s pleasure is ten million times greater than Mine. Therefore\, My mind becomes mad to taste the pleasure that is experienced by the abode of love\, although I cannot do so. Only if I can somehow become the abode of that love\, will I be able to experience its joy.” \nThis was one desire that increasingly blazed in Lord Krishna’s heart. Then\, upon seeing His own beauty\, Lord Krishna began to consider as follows: “My sweetness is unlimitedly wonderful. Only Radhika can taste the complete nectar of My sweetness\, by the strength of Her love\, which acts just like a mirror whose clarity increases at every moment. Although My sweetness\, being without limit\, seemingly has no room for expansion\, it shines forth with newer and newer beauty\, and thus constantly competes with the mirror of Radharani’s love\, as they both go on increasing without admitting defeat.” “Devotees taste My sweetness according to their respective love\, and if I see that sweetness reflected in a mirror\, I also become tempted to taste it\, although I cannot. Upon deliberation\, I find that the only way I can relish My sweetness is to take the position of Srimati Radharani.” \nThis was Lord Krishna’s second desire\, and His third desire was expressed while thinking as follows: “Everyone says that I am the reservoir of all transcendental bliss\, and indeed\, all the world derives pleasure from Me alone. Who then could give Me pleasure? I think that only someone having a hundred times more qualities than Myself could give pleasure to My mind\, but such a person is impossible to find.” \n“And yet\, in spite of the fact that My beauty is unsurpassed\, and gives pleasure to all who perceive it\, the sight of Srimati Radharani gives pleasure to My eyes. Although the vibration of My flute attracts everyone within the three worlds\, My ears become enchanted by the sweet words spoken by Radharani. Although My body lends its fragrance to the entire creation\, the scent of Radharani’s limbs captivates My mind and heart. Although there are various tastes due to Me alone\, I become charmed by the nectarean taste of Radharani’s lips. Although My touch is cooler than ten million moons\, I become refreshed by the touch of Srimati Radharani. Thus\, in spite of the fact that I am the source of happiness for the entire world\, the beauty and attributes of Sri Radhika are My very life and soul.” \n“My eyes become fully satisfied by looking at Srimati Radharani\, and yet\, when She gazes at Me\, She feels even greater satisfaction. The whispering murmur of the bamboo trees that rub against one another steals away Radharani’s mind\, for She thinks it to be the sound of My flute. She embraces a tamala tree\, mistaking it for Me\, and thus She considers\, ‘I have gotten the embrace of Krishna\, and so now My life has become fulfilled.’ When the fragrance of My body is carried to Her by the wind\, Radharani becomes blinded by love and tries to fly into that breeze. When She tastes the betel nut that has been chewed by Me\, She merges into an ocean of joy\, and forgets everything else.” \n“Thus\, even with hundreds of mouths\, I could not express the pleasure which Radharani derives from My association. Indeed\, upon seeing the luster of Her complexion after Our pastimes together\, I consider My own happiness to be negligent. Expert sexologists say that the happiness of the lover and the beloved are equal\, but they do not know the nature of transcendental love in Vrindavana. Because of the indescribable pleasure which Radharani experiences\, I can understand that there is some unknown mellow within Me that controls Her entire existence.” \n“I am always very eager to taste the joy that Srimati Radharani derives from Me\, and yet\, in spite of endeavoring\, I have been unable to do so. Therefore\, in order to fulfill My three desires\, I shall assume Sri Radhika’s bodily complexion and ecstatic loving sentiment\, and then descend as an incarnation.” \nDesiring to understand the glory of Radharani’s love\, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love\, and the happiness that She feels upon realizing the sweetness of His love\, the Supreme Lord\, Gauranga-Krishna\, decided to appear in a form that was richly endowed with Her emotions. First of all\, the Lord had His respectable superiors incarnate on the earth\, such as His mother and father\, Sri Sachidevi and Jagannath Mishra. In addition\, there was Madhavendra Puri\, Keshava Bharati\, Ishvara Puri\, Advaita Acharya\, Srivas Pandita\, Thakur Haridas\, Acharyaratna and Vidyanidhi. \nBefore the appearance of Lord Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu\, all of the devotees in the Navadvip area used to gather at the house of Advaita Acharya. In these meetings\, Advaita Acharya preached on the basis of Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam\, decrying the paths of philosophical speculation and fruitive activity\, and firmly establishing the super excellence of devotional service. In the house of Advaita Acharya\, the devotees took pleasure in always talking about Krishna\, worshipping Krishna\, and chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. \nHowever\, Advaita Acharya felt very pained to see how practically all the people of the world were devoid of Krishna consciousness and completely merged into material sense enjoyment. Knowing that no one can gain relief from the cycle of repeated birth and death without taking an interest in the devotional service of the Lord\, Advaita Acharya compassionately pondered over the means whereby people could become delivered from the clutches of maya. \nAdvaita Acharya thought\, “Only if Lord Krishna personally appears and preaches the path of devotional service by His own example\, will liberation become possible for all people. Therefore\, I shall worship the Lord in a purified state of mind and constantly petition Him with all humility. Indeed\, my name Advaita will be fitting only if I am able to induce Lord Krishna to inaugurate the sankirtan movement of chanting the holy name\, which is the only religion for this age.” \nWhile Advaita Acharya thought about how to satisfy Krishna by His worship\, the following verse came to mind: “Sri Krishna\, who is very affectionate toward His devotees\, sells Himself to one who offers Him merely a tulasi leaf and a palmful of water.” (Gautamiya-tantra) \nAdvaita Acharya considered the meaning of this verse in the following way: “Lord Krishna cannot find any way to repay the debt which He owes to one who offers Him a tulasi leaf and water. Therefore\, the Lord concludes\, ‘Since there is nothing in My possession which is equal to a tulasi leaf and water\, I will liquidate the debt by offering Myself to the devotee.’ ” Thereafter\, while meditating upon the lotus feet of Sri Krishna\, Advaita Acharya constantly offered tulasi buds in water from the Ganga. While thus engaged in worship\, Advaita Acharya petitioned Krishna to appear by His loud cries\, and this repeated invitation attracted the attention of the Lord\, causing Him to descend. \nSri Upendra Mishra\, a brahmana who was formerly the gopala named Parjanya\, the grandfather of Lord Krishna\, was a great devotee and scholar. One of Upendra’s seven sons\, Jagannath Mishra\, moved from Srihatta to the banks of the Ganga at Nadia\, and then married Srimati Sachidevi\, the daughter of Nilambar Chakravarti\, who was formerly Gargamuni. \nBefore the appearance of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu\, Jagannath Mishra (who was formerly Nanda Maharaja) begot eight daughters in the womb of Sachidevi (who was formerly Yashoda)\, but just after birth\, they all died. Being very aggrieved at the loss of his children\, one after another\, Jagannath Mishra worshiped Lord Vishnu\, while desiring a son. Thereafter\, Sachimata gave birth to a baby boy named Vishvarup\, who was an incarnation of Lord Baladev. Being very pleased\, the mother and father began to serve the lotus feet of Lord Govinda even more devotedly\, because they realized that their happiness was by His mercy. \nThen\, in the month of Maagh (18th February 1486) of the year 1406\, Shaka era\, Lord Krishna entered the bodies of both Jagannath Mishra and Sachidevi. Thereafter\, Jagannath informed his wife\, “I see many wonderful things! Your body seems to be effulgent\, and it appears as if the goddess of fortune is personally residing in our house. Wherever I go\, everyone offers me respect\, and even without asking\, they give me money\, cloth and grains.” Sachimata replied\, “I also see wonderfully brilliant beings\, appearing in the sky\, as if offering prayers.” \nJagannath Mishra then said\, “In a dream I saw the effulgent abode of the Supreme Lord enter into my heart. Then\, from my heart it entered your heart\, and thus I can understand that a great personality will soon take birth.” \nAfter this conversation\, both husband and wife felt very jubilant\, and with great care and attention they rendered service unto the household Shalagrama-shila. \nHowever\, when Sachimata’s pregnancy approached the thirteenth month\, and still there was no sign of delivery\, Jagannath Mishra became very apprehensive. At that time\, Nilambara Chakravarti made an astrological calculation and predicted that the child would be born that very month\, taking advantage of an auspicious moment. \nThus it so happened that on the evening of the Phalguni purnima\, in the year 1407 Shaka era\, corresponding to the modern year 1486\, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made His appearance at Navadvip. At this time\, Rahu considered\, “When the spotless moon of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is about to become visible\, what need is there for a moon which is full of black marks?” Thinking in this way\, Rahu covered the full moon\, and so all of the Hindus went to the banks of the Ganga in order to bathe and chant the names “Krishna” and “Hari”. While the Hindus were thus vibrating the holy names of the Lord\, the Mohammedans jokingly imitated them. In this way\, at the time of Lord Chaitanya’s appearance\, everyone was engaged in chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. \nIn all directions and within everyone’s mind there was peacefulness and joy. In Shantipur\, Advaita Acharya and Haridas Thakur began chanting and dancing in a very pleasing mood\, although no one could understand why they did so. While laughing again and again\, they also went to the Ganga\, and at that time\, Advaita Acharya took advantage of the lunar eclipse to distribute all kinds of charity to the brahmanas. Upon seeing how the whole world had become jubilant\, Haridas Thakur addressed Advaita Acharya in great astonishment\, “Since Your dancing and distribution of charity appears very pleasing to me\, I can understand that You have some very special purpose.” \nIn Navadvip\, Srivas Thakur and Acharyaratna\, who was also called Chandrashekhar\, immediately went to bathe in the Ganga\, and while chanting the holy name of the Lord in great jubilation\, they also gave charity by dint of mental strength. Indeed\, wherever they were situated\, all of the devotees danced\, chanted and gave charity on the plea of the lunar eclipse\, their minds overwhelmed with joy. Even in the heavenly planets\, chanting and dancing was going on\, for the demigods were very eager to witness the transcendental appearance of the Lord.
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230308
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230309
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230207T083314Z
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SUMMARY:Festival of Jagannatha Misra 8th March 2023
DESCRIPTION:Jagannatha Misra appeared as the father of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. \nSRI CAITANYA BHAGAVATA\nAdi Lila Chapter 3. \n1. Even before He took his birth\, the Lord propagated the chanting of His holy name.\n2. Streams of people went for their bath in the Ganga at the time of the eclipse and all the way they chanted the Lord’s name.\n3. Some\, who from their birth never once uttered the Lord’s name\, now chanted that name on their way to the Ganga.\n4. The sound of chanting emanated from every direction and the Supreme Lord\, the best of the brahmins\, smiled to Himself as He made His appearance.\n5. Sri Jagannatha Misra and Srimati Sacidevi glanced at their child’s beautiful face and were over come with unbounded joy.\n6. Ladies stood around the child not knowing what to do; fussily they ululated in jubilation.\n7. Relatives and friends hurried to see the new born child; Sri Jagannatha Misra’s house was a scene of great exultation.\n8. Srimati Sacidevi’s father\, Sri Nilambara Cakravarti\, found esoteric and wonderful signs in every house of the child’s astrological chart.\n9. Sri Cakravarti was astounded by the baby’s beauty and saw all divine symbols on His person.\n10. A much accepted prophesy in Bengal was that someday a king would be born in Bengal as a brahmin’s son\, so Sri Cakravarti thought that only the future would prove whether this was the child.\n11. In the presence of all\, Sri Nilambara Cakravarti\, an expert astrologer\, began explaining the ramifications of different astrological signs in the Lord’s chart.\n12. The further he delved into the child’s exalted chart\, the more difficulty he found in describing the Lord’s position.\n13. The child will conquer Brhaspati (the sign for learning and education) and be a scholar; He will be a natural repository of all divine qualities.\n14. Present in that gathering was a great saint in the guise of a brahman who made predictions on the Lord’s future.\n15. The brahman said\, “This child is the Supreme Lord Narayana Himself. He will establish the essence of all religion.\n16. “He will initiate a wonderful preaching movement and deliver the whole world.\n17. “He will give everyone that which is forever desirable even by Lord Brahma\, Lord Siva or Srila Sukadeva Gosvami.\n18. “Upon seeing Him people will feel compassion for all living entities and become callous toward material pains and joys. This will be the great benediction for the whole world.\n19. “Not to mention ordinary men\, even hard-core atheists will worship the child’s lotus feet.\n20. “He will be glorified throughout the entire creation and people from all orders of life will come to worship Him.\n21. “He is the personification of pure Bhagavat religion (eternal religion)\, the benefactor of brahmanas\, cows and devotees and the affectionate\, devoted son of His parents.\n22. “This child has come to accomplish great works\, just as the Supreme Lord Narayana incarnated to re-establish religious principles.”\n23. “Who can explain the imports of this child’s exalted astrological and esoteric symptoms?\n24. “How fortunate you are\, Sri Jagannatha Misra\, a leader amongst men. I offer my obeisances to you\, the illustrious father of this child.\n25. “I feel greatly fortunate that I could calculate his astrological chart. His name accordingly will be Sri Visvambhara.\n26. “He will be known to all as Navadvipa-Chandra (the moon of Navadvipa). He is spiritual bliss personified.”\n27. The brahmin did not speak further about Lord Caitanya’s pastime of accepting the renounced order of sannyasa since that would disturb the loving emotion of His parents.\n28. Sri Jagannatha Misra was enthralled with ecstasy over the descriptions of his son. He immediately wanted to offer gifts to the brahmin.\n29. He was a poor man with few possessions\, yet feeling great jubilation Sri Misra fell at the brahmin’s feet and cried.\n30. The brahman also caught Sri Misra’s feet\, and everyone present\nshouted “Hari\, Hari” in great joy.\n31. The relatives and friends were all praise for the child\, and they blessed Him as they heard the super-natural predictions about His future.\n32. Soon the musicians arrived playing their respective instruments – clay drums\, flutes and shanhai (a reed instrument) – and filled the air with wonderful music.\n33. Ladies from the higher planets mingled freely yet unnoticed with the ladies from earth in this wonderful gathering.\n34. The mother of the demigods (Aditi) smiled and placed her right hand holding auspicious grass and paddy on the child’s head to bless him saying\, “Long life”.\n35. “Please remain eternally in this material world and manifest Your pastimes”. This explained the expression “Long life”.\n36. Srimati Sacidevi and the others noticed the extraordinary beauty of these ladies but they hesitated to inquire about their identity.\n37. The demigods respectfully took the dust from Sacidevi’s feet\, and she lost her speech in extreme exultation.\n38 & 39. Neither the Vedas nor Lord Ananta Sesa could describe the waves of jubilation that drowned Sri Jagannatha Misra’s house. Entire Nadia seemed to be present at Sacidevi’s house to experience that indescribable joy.\n40. Wherever the people were – in their houses\, or on the banks of the Ganga\, or on the streets\, – they all loudly chanted the Lord’s name.\n41. Everyone jubilantly celebrated the Lord’s birth\, unknowingly thinking the festivity was actually for the lunar eclipse.\n42. Lord Caitanya appeared on the full moon night of the month of Phalguna; this day is the most worshippable by Lord Brahma and other great personalities.\n43. This day of the Lord’s appearance is the holiest of holy occasions; this day is devotion personified.\n44 & 45. Lord Caitanya appeared on the full moon night of Phalguna and Lord Nityananda appeared on the 13th night of the waxing moon. Both these days are all auspicious and transcendental occasions.\n46. If one properly follows these two holy occasions he develops love of Godhead and cuts asunder the knots of material illusion.\n47. The appearance days of pure Vaishnava devotees like the appearance day of the Supreme Lord\, are also all auspicious and transcendental.\n48. Whosoever hears the narrations of Lord Caitanya’s birth is freed from all miseries in life and in death.\n49. Anyone who hears Lord Caitanya’s pastimes immediately gets love of God and becomes his eternal servitor; he comes with the Lord each time He advents in this material world.\n50. The Adi Khanda text is wonderful to hear because it contains descriptions of Lord Caitanya’s appearance.\n51. The Vedic literature describes these pastimes of the Lord as eternal\, although He sometimes appears and sometimes disappears.\n52. Lord Caitanya’s pastimes have no beginning and no end; I write them down by the mercy of the Lord.\n53. I offer my humble obeisances at the Lord’s feet and at the feet of all His devotees. I pray that I may be excused from all offenses.\n54. I\, Vrndavana dasa\, offer this song to the lotus feet of my life and soul\, Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya and Lord Sri Nityananda Prabhu. \nSRI CHAITANYA BHAGAVATA.\nAdi Lila Chapter 4. \n1. All glories\, all glories to the lotus feet-eyed\, moon-like Lord Caitanya; all glories\, all glories to all Your loving devotees.\n2. O Lord\, look upon me mercifully so that my delusion is dispelled and I may be able to serve and worship You day and night.\n3 & 4. The wonderful appearance of the Lord increased the happiness of everyone in Srimati Sacidevi’s house. Both Sri Jagannatha Misra’s and Srimati Sacidevi’s hearts heaved joyous waves while looking at the Lord’s beautiful face.\n5. Sri Visvarupa would pick up his brother in his arms and smile gleefully at the Supreme Lord\, the abode of all transcendental joys.\n6. Friends and relatives lingered\, surrounding the Lord affectionately all the time.\n7. Some chanted mantras of enchantments in the Lord’s room for His protection. The Vishnu Raksa mantra (invoking Lord Vishnu’s protection) or Devi mantra (invoking Durga devi’s protection) were chanted while some people circumambulated the Lord’ house.\n8. And when the Lord would cry\, shedding tears from His lotus eyes\, only the sound of the holy name of Krsna would pacify Him.\n9. Finally everyone understood the secret message and whenever the Lord cried\, they immediately chanted Lord Hari’s name.\n10. The demigods were in a jovial mood and decided to play some practical jokes on the people who always surrounded Nimai.\n11. A demigod in a spiritual body stole quietly about the house\, unseen by human eyes. When the peopled saw a shadowy figure slither past they exclaimed\, “There goes a thief!”\n12. Terror-stricken\, some of them loudly chanted “Nrsimha! Nrsimha!”\, while others murmured the Aparajita Stotra (prayers to Parvati devi\, wife of Lord Shiva) for protection.\n13. While many persons were going around the house chanting all different mantras and prayers\, a great commotion was heard from inside Srimati Sacidevi’s house.\n14. The demigods had assembled to see the Lord\, but the people outside thought that thieves were entering.\n15. Some shouted\, “Catch the thief! Thief!”\, while others continuously chanted\, “Nrsimha\, Nrsimha”.\n16. A brahmin priest endowed with powers of exorcising ghosts threatened the invisible demigods\, “You’re lucky you got away today\, but you do not know the tremendous power of Lord Nrsimha-deva.”\n17. Unseen by anyone\, the demigods laughed to themselves. In this way a month passed.\n18. Completing her one-month of confinement\, the period of contamination after childbirth\, Srimati Sacidevi went for a bath in the Ganga with the other ladies.\n19. Amongst singing and joyous clamor Sacidevi bathed in the Ganga. She worshipped Ganga devi and thereafter she worshipped a village goddess called Sasthi.\n20. After worshipping different demigods in accordance with proper rites Sacidevi returned with the satisfied ladies.\n21. According to the social custom\, Sacidevi respectfully offered all the ladies roasted paddy\, bananas\, oil\, vermilion powder\, betel nuts and betel leaf.\n22. The ladies in turn blessed the child and offered respects to Sacidevi before they returned to their respective homes.\n23. In this way the Supreme Lord Caitanya performed His childhood pastimes. Without the Lord’s mercy these pastimes are incomprehensible.\n24. The lord as a child cried frequently. His real intention in crying was to induce everyone to chant the Lord’s holy name.\n25. The ladies tried one way or another to pacify Him\, but He cried all the more.\n26. As soon as they chanted “Hari\, Hari”\, a beaming smile spread across the Lord’s exquisite moon-like face.\n27. Discovering that this pleased the Lord\, everyone got together and repeated Lord Hari’s name while clapping their hands.\n28. Happily everyone performed congregational chanting and Saci devi’s house resounded with the Lord’s name.\n29. Unknown to all\, Lord Caitanya’s childhood pastimes in Sri Jagannatha Misra’s house were a facsimile to Gopala Krsna’s childhood pastimes.\n30 & 31. When no one was present in a room\, He would intentionally scatter things around after pouring milk\, butter or oil on the floor.\n32. Forewarned that mother Saci devi was approaching\, He would quickly lay down and start crying.\n33. Mother Saci devi would pacify Him by repeating Lord Hari’s name until she noticed the different substances spread all over the floor.\n34. “Who has scattered the rice\, wheat and dahl? Why are these broken pots of curd and milk on the floor?\n35. No one could understand who had done this. There was only the four-month-old baby in the house.\n36. Curiosity drew everyone to that room\, but they could not find any trace of the culprit.\n37 & 38. Some conjectured\, “A demon or ghost must have come\, but due to the effect of the mantras it could not harm the baby. Angry that it could do nothing to the child\, it threw everything around and escaped”.\n39. This incident left Sri Jagannatha Misra quite perplexed\, but thinking it a providential interference\, he did not comment.\n40. In spite of the extensive damage\, both Sri Jagannatha Misra and Sacidevi felt their sorrows soothed by just looking at the child’s face.\n41. Days passed wrapped in mystery until the day of the name giving ceremony arrived.\n42. Sri Nilambara Cakravarti and other learned scholars and friends assembled there.\n43. Respectable\, chaste ladies who looked as fresh and glowing as Laksmi devi\, the goddess of fortune\, attended the ceremony in beautiful saris.\n44. Everyone discussed which name the child would have. Some ladies made one suggestion while other ladies made another.\n45. “This child will have no younger brother or sisters\, so being the last child of the family\, he should be named Nimai”\, said one lady.\n46. After considering all points the scholars said there was one name appropriate for the child.\n47. As soon as He was born\, famine ended in the land and the farmers were blessed with the long-awaited rain.\n48. Happy and healthy conditions returned to the land at His birth. It was similar to the ancient story of Lord Narayana protecting and upholding the universe during devastation.\n49. Hence\, His name should be Sri Visvambhara (sustainer of the world). This is confirmed in His horoscope\, for He is the brightest torchbearer of His family.\n50. The name Nimai that the respected ladies gave will be His second name.\n51. The name was given at an auspicious moment when all the planetary indications were right and amidst readings of ”Bhagavad Gita\, Srimad Bhagavatam\, and the Vedas\, etc. by the brahmins.\n52. The demigods and humans assembled together on this occasion and offered benedictions. They chanted Lord Hari’s all-auspicious holy names while blowing conch shells and ringing bells.\n53. Rice\, paddy\, books\, roasted paddy\, coins\, gold and silver were placed for the child to hold (testing the child’s tendency).\n54. Sri Jagannatha encouraged his son\, “My dear Visvambhara\, take whatever your heart desires”.\n55. Sacidevi’s son\, the Supreme Lord\, ignored all items and picked up the ”Srimad Bhagavatam and embraced it.\n56. The ladies loudly glorified the Lord. Everyone was impressed and said\, “He will be a great scholar”.\n57. Some commented that the child would turn out to be an elevated Vaishnava devotee with the extraordinary capacity to easily grasp the imports of the scriptures.\n58. Whoever saw Lord Visvambhara’s enchanting smile became drenched in showers of bliss.\n59. Once the ladies had the child on their laps\, they would not put Him down. This child\, the Supreme Lord\, is almost unapproachable even by demigods.\n60. And whenever the Lord started crying the ladies clapped their hands and chanted Lord Hari’s name.\n61. Hearing the chanting the Lord swayed blissfully as though he were dancing on their laps. This excited the ladies who in turn increased their chanting.\n62. The Supreme Lord\, by His desire\, had everyone constantly chanting the Lord’s name\, on any available pretext.\n63. The Vedas\, ”Srimad Bhagavatam and other scriptures conclude that no undertaking reaches success without the Supreme Lord’s desire.\n64. Sacidevi’s son\, the Supreme Lord Caitanya\, grew day by day\, motivating everyone to chant His own holy name.\n65. When the Lord began to crawl on His knees He looked most charming. The small ankle bells on His feet were pleasing to hear.\n66. The Lord fearlessly moved around everywhere\, catching anything he saw – fire\, snakes\, anything.\n67. One day a snake slithered through the courtyard and the Lord caught hold of him simply to enact another pastime.\n68. The Lord lay down on the coils of the snake.\n69. When the residents of the house saw Him they screamed in alarm\, but the Lord calmly smiled and remained in that relaxed position.\n70. The people shouted\, “Garuda! Garuda!” while Nimai’s parents waited in anxiety.\n71. The snake\, who was really Lord Ananta Sesa\, started to slither away when he heard all the crying and commotion\, but little Nimai tried to stop him.\n72. The ladies rushed over and grabbed up the Lord in their arms\, each one blessing Him that he might have a long life.\n73. Some relatives tied a talisman on Nimai for his protection\, while some chanted benediction hymns and others poured Ganga water on different parts of His body.\n74. Some of them thought that the child had got a new life while others realized that the snake was Ananta Sesa.\n75. The Supreme Lord Caitanya who was radiant like the moon\, tried repeatedly to go back to the snake\, but everyone stopped Him.\n76. These pastimes are not revealed even in the Vedas\, and anyone who hears them is free from the bite of the serpent of material illusion.\n77. Lord Caitanya\, the pleasure of Sacidevi soon toddled about the house.\n78. Lord Caitanya’s extraordinary beauty eclipsed the beauty of millions of cupids: even the radiant moon longed to behold the Lord’s beauty.\n79. Curly locks decorated His exquisitely formed head and with lotus-shaped eyes He looked like Gopala Krsna.\n80. His long arms stretched to His knees. He had an expansive chest and reddish pink lips. All His limbs were beautifully formed.\n81. His brilliant sun-red complexion was always attractive and His fingers\, hands and feet were like blooming lotuses.\n82. The Lord’s reddish complexion sometimes cause Sacimata anxiety; as the child ran about she kept thinking she could see red\, gaping wounds.\n83. Sacidevi and Sri Jagannatha Misra were always struck with great wonder at the Lord’s beauty. Although they were needy\, their son was a source of unending joy for them.\n84. Together in seclusion they whispered to each other\, “I wonder what great personality has come as our son.\n85. “An elevated and distinguished personality has taken birth in our house; perhaps this will terminate all our material miseries.\n86. “I have never heard of any other child as wonderful as ours. He smiles and dances without stopping when he hears the chanting of Lord Hari’s name.\n87. “When He cries no amount of consoling will calm Him\, but when He hears loud chanting of Lord Hari’s name He stops crying and listens.\n88 & 89. “From early morning the ladies surrounded the Lord and loudly sing Lord Hari’s name; they clap their hands in rhythm and the Lord dances gleefully.”\n90.The Lord playfully rolled in the dust\, then laughing he would jump into his mother’s lap.\n91.The Lord danced\, moving His body in such a manner that no one can contain his laughter.\n92. Nobody could understand how the Lord through his childish pranks motivated everyone to chant the holy name.\n93. The Lord was so vivacious and restless\, fleeting in and out of the house\, that no one could catch Him.\n94. Venturing out on His own\, Nimai wanted to taste whatever he saw – roasted rice\, banana\, sandesh\, etc.\n95. The Lord was so extremely attractive that strangers gave him whatever he requested.\n96 & 97. Strangers gave Him sandesh or banana\, and pleased with His gifts the Lord returned home. He then distributed the food to those ladies who sang Lord Hari’s name.\n98. Everyone merrily applauded the child’s ingenuity and continuously sang Lord Hari’s name.\n99. The Lord wandered freely in and out of the house\, whether morning\, noon\, evening or night.\n100. Daily He went to a friendly neighbor’s house and mysteriously stole from him.\n101. In some houses He drank all the milk and in others He ate all the rice. Wherever He found nothing to eat He was satisfied to break all the earthen pots.\n102. If He found a small child in any house He would tease him to tears\, but when He was observed He fled.\n103. But if by chance some one caught Him\, Nimai would catch the person’s feet and plead.\n104. “Please let me go this one last time; I shall never come back again. I will never steal anymore. Please be merciful.”\n105. Astounded by the boy’s sharp intelligence\, no one could remain angry with Him. Ultimately everyone was affectionate towards Him.\n106. People were naturally captivated just by seeing Him\, and parents loved Him more than they loved their own children.\n107. The Lord of Vaikuntha\, Lord Caitanya\, passed His childhood in this manner\, moving and mischievous.\n108 & 109. One day two thieves saw the Lord roaming about the streets alone. Seeing His fine ornaments\, they conspired to steal them.\n110. One of the thieves picked Him up saying “Oh dear! Oh dear!”\, while the other joined him saying\, “Where have you been for so long?”\n111. “Come quickly home\, dear”\, the thieves said. The lord smiled and replied\, “Yes\, let us go home.”\n112. Busily the two thieves sped away with the Lord in their arms while the street onlookers ignorantly thought that the rightful guardians had taken their child.\n113. Teeming thousands of people were on the streets\, but all were strangers to each other. The thieves were happy with themselves and with the ornaments on the child.\n114. Overtaken by greed the thieves were trying to eat the imaginary pie-in-the-sky thinking they would surely steal the golden bangles.\n115. They carried Him on their shoulders toward their hideout while the Lord rode along chuckling to Himself.\n116. One thief passed a sandesh into the Lord’s hand\, while the other said comfortingly\, “We have almost reached home”.\n117. The thieves had kidnapped the Lord and run far away when the Lord’s relatives began to search for Him.\n118. “Visvambhara! Come home\, Nimai!” they shouted .\n119. Everyone grew frantic and restless like fish out of water.\n120. In distress they remembered Lord Govinda while far away the thieves carried Nimai toward their house.\n121. Deluded by the Supreme Lord’s illusory potency “maya”\, the thieves mistook the way to their hideout; they arrived instead at the residence of Sri Jagannatha Misra.\n122. The bewildered thieves thought they were in their own house\, so they busied themselves trying to remove the Lord’s ornaments.\n123. “Get down now. We are home.” said the thieves\, and the Lord replied\, “Yes\, yes put me down.”\n124. Inside Sri Jagannatha Misra’s house everyone sat around with their heads in their hands in utter despair.\n125. The beguiled thieves took the Lord down from their shoulders\, thinking the house to be their own.\n126. As soon as Nimai was on the ground He ran straight to his father. A joyous uproar shook the house as the relatives loudly chanted\, “Hari\, Hari”.\n127. An understandable transformation overwhelmed the people as if life had returned to their bodies.\n128. The thieves realized that the house was not their own\, but they could not recognize where they were.\n129. Taking advantage of the commotion\, the fearful thieves stealthily left the place without being noticed by anyone.\n130. Reflecting on the strange and wonderful incident\, the thieves thought\, “Who is playing tricks with us?”\n131. “Candidevi (goddess Durga) certainly saved us today\,” they said after regaining their composure. Then they embrace each other.\n132. The thieves actually gained immeasurable piety and good fortune because they carried the Supreme Personality of Godhead on their shoulders.\n133. In Sri Jagannatha Misra’s house the happy relatives asked\, “Who brought the child back? We should offer him nice gifts and tie a turban on his head.”\n134. Some one said\, “I saw two persons come with the child\, put him down and leave\, but I do not know which direction they went after that.\n135. Everyone was surprised that whoever brought the child back did not stay to be acknowledged.\n136. They turned to Nimai and asked\, “Our dear child\, tell us who brought you back. We are puzzled.”\n137 & 138. The Lord replied\, “I went to the banks of the Ganga but I lost my way home and was roaming about in the town. Two persons took me in their arms and brought me home”.\n139. “The words of the scriptures are never wrong\, The unseen hand of God always protects children\, old persons and the helpless\, “they all said.\n140. Being bewildered by the Lord’s illusory energy “maya” the relatives conjectured in many ways.\n141. The Supreme Lord performed His wonderful pastimes in this manner; no one can understand them without the Lord’s direct mercy.\n142. Whoever hears these narrations – which are a mystery even in the Vedas – can easily get undeviating devotion at Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet.\n143. I\, Vrndavana dasa\, offer my humble song at the lotus feet of Sri Krsna Caitanya and Sri Nityananda Prabhu\, who are my life and soul.
URL:https://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/event/festival-of-jagannatha-misra-8th-march-2023/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230315
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230316
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230207T083609Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230316T102609Z
UID:26672-1678838400-1678924799@www.iskconpunjabibagh.com
SUMMARY:Appearance Day of Sri Srivasa Pandita 15th March 2023
DESCRIPTION:Srivasa Pandita\, or Srivasa Thakura\, was a member of the Panca- tattva\, consisting of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His four immediate expansions and energies.
URL:https://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/event/appearance-day-of-sri-srivasa-pandita-15th-march-2023/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230318
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230319
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230207T083831Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230324T054019Z
UID:26674-1679097600-1679183999@www.iskconpunjabibagh.com
SUMMARY:Papamochani Ekadashi 18th March 2023
DESCRIPTION:The venerable glories of Papamocani Ekadasi are given in the Bhavisyottara Purana\, during a conversation between Sri Krsna and Maharaja Yudhistira. \nThe eldest of the pandavas\, Yudhistira\, asked Lord Krsna. “O Lord\, You have kindly narrated the glories of Amalaki Ekadasi. Now please describe unto me the details of the Ekadasi which occurs during the waning Moon in the Chaitra month (March/April) What is this Ekadasi called\, and what is the procedure for observing it?” \nLord Krsna replied: “O unrivalled King\, this Ekadasi is known as Papamocani\, please listen carefully as I describe it’s glories unto you. In the dim recesses of the misty past this Ekadasi was discussed between the Sage Lomasa and King Mandata. This Papamocani Ekadasi falls during the waning Moon in the month of Chaitra. By carefully observing this Ekadasi day all one’s sinful reactions will be nullified\, one need never fear taking birth as a ghost; it can also award eight kinds of mystic perfection.” \n“The great Sage known as Lomasa said: ‘In an ancient time\, Kuvera\, the treasurer of the demigods\, boasted a heavenly forest known as Caitraratha. The weather was always pleasant there\, and exhibited an eternal springtime atmosphere. Many heavenly society girls such as the Gandharva’s and Kinnaras would come to that celestial forest to enjoy sporting in it’s blissful surroundings. King Indra and many other demigods would also come there to enjoy many varieties of exchanges. \n“There was also a sage known as Medhavi residing in the forest; he was a staunch devotee of Shiva and was engaged in performing great austerities. The Apsaras\, or heavenly dancing girls tried to disturb the sage in various ways. Of all the Apsaras one was most celebrated and famous\, her name was Manju Ghosh and she devised a cunning plan to captivate the mind of the sagacious saint. She built a house situated just near to the sage’s ashrama and began to sing sweetly whilst playing enchanting melodies on a Vina. Upon witnessing Manju Ghosh’s salubrious beauty\, adorned as she was with sandalwood pulp\, fragrant garlands and divine ornaments\, the cupid who is a forsworn enemy of Lord Shiva tried to conquer the sage by way of revenge against Lord Siva. The cupid had once been burnt to ashes by Lord Shiva and thus remembering this previous insult conspired to humiliate Shiva’s devotee. \n“He entered the body of the sage Medhavi just as Manju Ghosh approached him playing on her vina\, singing sweetly and casting seductively arrowed glances from the quiver of her eyes. The sage Medhavi became intoxicated with desire and enjoyed with the beautiful Apsara for many years. So absorbed he was in enjoying in this way he lost all sense of time\, even the ability to discriminate between day and night. \n“Henceforth\, when Manju Ghosh grew tired of the Medhavi sage\, she decided to return to her own abode. She said to Medhavi\, ‘O great sage please allow me to return to my home in the heavenly planets.’ \n“The sage replied: ‘O beauty incarnate\, you have only arrived here in the evening\, at least stay until morning and then depart.’ Upon hearing these words Manju Ghosh became frightened and stayed with Medhavi for a few more years. In this way although she stayed with the sage for fifty-seven years\, nine months and three days\, it still only appeared to the Sage to be half a night. Manju Ghosh asked again for permission to leave but the sage replied: “O attractive one\, This is only morning\, please wait until I have completed my morning rituals.” The beautiful Apsara then smiled and said: ‘O great sage\, how long will your rituals take? Have still not finished yet? You have been enjoying with me for many years\, please consider the actual value of time.’ On hearing these words the Sage came to his senses and realised the length of time that had passed. ‘Alas\, O beautiful lady\, I have simply wasted fifty-seven years of my valuable time. You have ruined my life\, spoiled all of my austerities and condemned me to madness!’ The eyes of the Medhavi Sage filled with tears and his body convulsed as he cried. Raising his head\, his eye’s turned red with anger\, and in a fearsome voice he cursed Manju Ghosh with the following words: “O evil one\, you have behaved with me exactly like a witch. Therefore you will immediately become a witch\, O sinful unchaste Lady! Shame on you.’ \n“After being cursed by the Sage\, Manju Ghosh humbly replied\, ‘O best of the brahmanas! Please withdraw your heavy-duty curse\, I have spent many years in your company\, bringing you pleasure beyond your wildest dreams! Surely for this reason you can forgive me. Please be kind to me.” \n“The sage replied: ‘O gentle one\, What will I do now? You have destroyed my wealth of austerity. Still\, I will give you a chance to free yourself from this curse. The Ekadasi that falls during the waning Moon of the Chaitra month is called Papamocani. If you observe this Ekadasi very strictly\, all your sinful reactions will destroyed and you will be free of this crippling curse.” \n“After speaking these words Medhavi returned to the ashrama of his father\, Cyavana Rsi. As soon as Cyavana Rsi saw his pathetic son he became extremely disappointed: “Alas\, alas my son\, O what have you done? You have are ruined you should not have spoiled yourself in this way.” \n“The young sage Medhavi replied: ‘O father\, I have committed great sins in the company of a beautiful Apsara\, please instruct me how I can be freed from the sinful reactions.’ \n“Cyavana Rsi replied: ‘O my son\, there is an Ekadasi that falls in the waning Moon of the month of Chaitra\, this Ekadasi will destroy all your sinful reactions. Therefore you should follow this Ekadasi but you should know that I am most disappointed in you!” \n“Thereafter\, the sage Medhavi observed Papamocani Ekadasi and regained his elevated status as a sage of great repute. At the same time Manju Ghosh carefully observed Papamocani Ekadasi and got liberated from her accursed form\, regained her bodily attractiveness and returned to the heavenly strata. \n“After narrating this story to King Mandata\, sage Lomasa concluded as follows: ‘My dear King\, anyone who observes this Ekadasi will have all his sinful reactions annihilated. Simply by reading or hearing of this glorious Ekadasi day one achieves the result of donating one thousand cows in charity. All kinds of sinful reactions arising from: killing a brahmana\, killing an embryo\, drinking wine\, and associating with one’s Guru’s wife are completely uprooted by observing Papamocani Ekadasi. Therefore everyone should take advantage of this most auspicious and magnanimous opportune day.
URL:https://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/event/papamochani-ekadashi-18th-march-2023/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230319
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230320
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230207T084004Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230324T054028Z
UID:26675-1679184000-1679270399@www.iskconpunjabibagh.com
SUMMARY:Disappearance Day of Sri Govinda Ghosh 19th March 2023
DESCRIPTION:Govinda Ghosh\, an intimate associate of Lord Caitanya\, was known for his sweet kirtanas at the annual Jagannatha Puri Ratha- yatra festival. Lord Caitanya would at once begin to dance whenever Govinda Ghosh would sing.
URL:https://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/event/disappearance-day-of-sri-govinda-ghosh-19th-march-2023/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230326
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230327
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230207T084124Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230329T091622Z
UID:26676-1679788800-1679875199@www.iskconpunjabibagh.com
SUMMARY:Appearance Day of Sri Ramanujacharya 26th March 2023
DESCRIPTION:Ramanujacharya was the principal acarya in the Sri sampradaya\, one of the four main lines of Vaisnava teachers and disciples. His Vedanta-sutra commentary Sri-bhasya establishes the doctrine known as Visistadvaita\, “qualified nondualism.”
URL:https://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/event/appearance-day-of-sri-ramanujacharya-26th-march-2023/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sri-Ramanujacharya.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230330
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230331
DTSTAMP:20260409T014828
CREATED:20230303T072157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230331T073828Z
UID:27190-1680134400-1680220799@www.iskconpunjabibagh.com
SUMMARY:Rama Navami 30th Mar 2023
DESCRIPTION:Lord Sri Ramacandra is a powerful incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an ideal king. He appeared in the Treta-yuga\, more than two million years ago. \nThis is a verse from Brahma-samhita in which the incarnation of Lord Ramacandra is described. Ramadi. Not only Rama\, but there are many other\, innumerable incarnations. They are compared with the waves of a river. As the waves of the river or the waves of the ocean cannot be counted\, similarly\, how many incarnations are there of the Supreme Lord it is not possible to count. But out of them\, the principal names are mentioned in the sastras. Therefore it is said ramadi. Ramadi means Rama and also other\, many incarnations. And they are existing. Not that one incarnation appeared and it is finished. No. Not like that. Just like Lord Ramacandra appeared on this planet\, say millions of years before. He appeared in the Treta-yuga. Treta-yuga means… We have passed only five thousand years of this age\, Kali-yuga. Before that\, there was Dvapara-yuga. Dvapara-yuga means 800\,000 years. And before that\, there was Treta-yuga\, which continued for twelve hundred thousands of years. That means at least two million years before Lord Ramacandra appeared on this planet.  \nramadi murtishu kala-niyamena tishthan\nnanavataram akarod bhuvaneshu kintu\nkrishnah svayam samabhavat paramah puman yo\ngovindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami \nSo now Lord Ramacandra appeared in Ayodhya. There is a place in Ayodhya\, in northern India. There He appeared. As Krishna appeared in Mathura… That is also northern India. And Mathura is about ninety miles down southward from New Delhi. You have heard the name of New Delhi\, the capital of India. So Ayodhya is also situated about five hundred miles northeast of New Delhi. So Lord Ramacandra appeared on this day. Today is called Sri Rama Naumi. On the ninth day of the moon Lord Ramacandra appeared. His father was the king of Ayodhya\, and he had three wives. So out of… No. He had two wives. So out of two wives he got four sons. Ramacandra is the eldest son. The life and activities of Lord Ramacandra is… [break] …in a book which is called Ramayana. You have heard the name of Ramayana. Ramayana is also accepted as history. Vedic literatures are histories also. \nThe Puranas\, the Srimad-Bhagavatam\, Mahabharata\, and Ramayana\, they are counted amongst the history. The history of Ramacandra is that His father wanted to retire. Dasaratha\, Maharaja Dasaratha. And he decided to enthrone Lord Ramacandra and retire. So everything was settled\, but just one day before\, his youngest wife turned the whole thing into different way. Sometimes Maharaja Dasaratha was suffering from what is called whitlow\, some trouble in the finger? And this queen served him very nicely\, and he was pleased. And he said\, “My dear Sarmishtha\, if you want some benediction from me\, I can give you.” And she replied that “I shall ask you for the benediction when I require it. Not now.” So just one day before Lord Ramacandra’s coronation\, she approached her husband Maharaja Dasaratha and reminded him\, “My dear husband\, you promised to give me some benediction\, and I told you that I shall ask you when I require it.” Maharaja Dasaratha said\, \n“Yes\, I remember. You want some benediction just now?” She said\, “Yes.” “And what is that?” She said that “Ramacandra cannot be seated on the throne. My son should be coronated\, Bharata.” He was surprised. It is a big demand. So he said\, “All right. That will be done. Your son.” Because formerly\, the kings… Not only formerly\, even up to date\, there are many kshatriya kings in India. They have more than one wife. And they are\, naturally\, there is rivalry between different wives. So the same thing. Human psychology is the same. Even two million years ago the same mentality was there\, and she asked that “My son should be the king\, not Ramacandra.” Ramacandra happened to be the son of Kausalya\, the elder queen. \nSo Maharaja Dasaratha agreed and called for Ramacandra. “My dear boy\, your…” She asked also that… She was very diplomatic. She wanted that Ramacandra go to forest for fourteen years. The idea was political\, that “The king may agree to install my son just now. Now\, after a few days\, this Ramacandra may come with His army\, and there may be some difficulty to continue the kingdom.” So she wanted that Ramacandra should go to the forest and He should not come back till the end of fourteen years from this day. So Maharaja Dasaratha agreed. Because he was kshatriya. Just see the promise. \nA kshatriya never goes back from the promise\, never refuses any challenge. If a kshatriya is challenged by somebody\, that “I want to fight with you\,” oh\, he cannot refuse. This is kshatriya spirit. He cannot say that “I am now busy.” Suppose somebody comes to you\, that “I want to fight with you.” You may say\, “What nonsense fight? I have no time. We are in the temple.” But a kshatriya cannot deny that. A kshatriya at once must accept. “Oh\, yes. Come on.” And the weapon should be\, if he has no sword or weapon\, he should be supplied weapon and fight. This is kshatriya spirit. They were highly charitable and chivalrous and keeping promise and with a great tendency for ruling over. They shall rule over. Administrators. Their business is… \nThere are different prescription for different classes of men for their livelihood. The brahmanas\, they can pull on their livelihood by six ways. Pathana pathana yajana yajana dana pratigraha. Six. And they must be qualified with twelve high qualities. We have many times discussed. Out of that qualification\, truthfulness is the first item for a brahmana. A kshatriya may speak lies. That is allowed\, because he has to be diplomat\, politician. But a brahmana\, oh\, he’s not allowed to speak lie. \n This is the system\, caste system or varnasrama system. Everyone was trained. Because these four classes of men are required in a society. For proper upkeep of society\, one class of men must be very intelligent\, highly qualified\, with all good qualities. They must be trained in that way\, ideal character so that people can see and follow them. Therefore brahmanas were taken to so much respect because they’re ideal character\, learned\, and godly\, knows the science\, spiritual science. Therefore they’re held in high estimation and topmost of the society. The next\, the administrator\, administrative class\, kshatriyas. \nThey are trained how to kill. The kshatriyas were allowed to hunt in the forest to learn the art of killing because that was necessity for the kshatriyas. Kshatriya\, if he… If the king\, if he finds somebody is doing wrong\, he can immediately chop off his head if he likes. The king was so powerful. And it is not that if there was some war\, it is not that the president or the king shall sit down comfortably at home and ordinary soldiers will go and lay down their life. No. Formerly\, the king or the head of the state\, he should first of all go there in the fight. You see in the picture\, the chief men of the fighting in the Kurukshetra\, both sides\, they were arrayed\, this side\, that side\, with their chariot. \nNot that the head man\, the chief man\, or the commander is taking shelter back side\, protecting himself\, and poor soldiers are (chuckles) thrown into the fighting. No. These were kshatriya spirit. And it is necessary that a class of men should be trained up in that way\, kshatriya\, fighting men. In India\, because this training was there since a very long time\, so there is no difficulty in recruiting soldiers there. \nThere is a class of men\, they are very much forward in fighting still. They are called… Just like the Gurkhas\, the Nepalese. You have heard the name of Nepal. Still a small state\, independent state. They are not within India. Between China and India. The whole Nepal population\, they are kshatriyas. Oh\, they are very good fighters. Similarly\, the Sikhs\, the Jatas. There are classes. So they’re always forward for fighting. And you’ll be surprised that the British Empire was voluntarily liquidated because they lost India. The Britishers\, they understood that because we are now losing India\, there is no more possibility to keep our eastern empire. Therefore they liquidated. Why? Actually\, the whole British Empire were being administered or managed by Indian soldiers\, these Sikhs and Gurkhas. They extended their empire. After taking their position with India\, they extended British Empire in the Middle East and Far East simply by these Sikhs and Gurkha soldiers. They got supremacy on the Burma and everywhere. \nSo there is necessity of a class of fighting men. You are finding in your country difficulty in recruiting because the recruiting process is wrong. You are recruiting from persons… You are training persons just like sudras\, and you want them to fight. How they can fight? It is not possible. So as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita\, that catur-varnyam maya srishtam guna karma vibhagasah… [Bg. 4.13]. Lord Krishna said that “The four classes or orders of the society\, brahmana\, kshatriya\, vaisya\, sudra\, is planned by Me according to work and quality.” So this kshatriya quality men is also required\, the brahmana quality of men is also required\, the mercantile community\, they are also required\, and the laborer class\, they are also required. Of course\, laborer class\, they do not require any training. Laborer class means one who cannot do anything\, neither become brahmana\, nor become kshatriya\, nor become vaisya. That means the last balance of the population\, they are called laborer class\, sudra. Sudra means one who has no training. Sudra has no samskara. Samskara means training. Everyone is accepted as sudra by birth. Janmana jayate sudra. Janmana means by birth. By birth\, everyone is born a sudra\, a fourth-class man. It is to be accepted\, and actually so. Just like a child\, innocent child\, what does he know? He has to be trained. Either you train him as a brahmana or train him as a kshatriya or train him as a vaisya. Or otherwise\, he is sudra already\, born sudra. Sudra has no training. Everyone\, the basic principle\, basic foreground\, everyone\, it is accepted sudra. Now\, if you train him as a brahmana\, then he becomes a brahmana. If you train him as a kshatriya\, then he becomes a kshatriya. If you train him as a vaisya… So I think this is\, this system is very scientific so that if you want help of a really intelligent man or God realized man\, it is ready\, the brahmana class. Just like if you require the help of a lawyer\, we have got so many lawyers. If you require the help of medical man… Because there are trained men. Similarly\, the society requires to train a certain class of men to become brahmanas. Just like we are training the Krishna conscious. The Krishna consciousness is meant for the brahmanas. \nThey are not meant for fighting because they are not being trained for fighting. They have been trained for becoming brahmanas. Who is brahmana? Brahma janati iti brahmana. The four divisions are described like this. Janmana jayate sudrah\, everyone is born sudra. That is accepted. Samskarad bhaved dvijah. Now if you train him\, never mind in which family he’s born\, you have to train him. Just like boys are sent to school for being trained. So everyone is accepted as sudra\, but you now train him. He goes to the guru-griha. \nGuru-griha means teacher’s house. Formerly\, for being trained\, there was no such big scale school and colleges. Every village… Still\, fifty years before in India\, in every village there was a small school conducted by the brahmana\, and the village children would be trained up there. So he was sent for training. And there was no school fee. The boys will go there\, and on behalf of the teacher or spiritual master\, they will go\, brahmacari\, door to door\, and beg and bring forth alms\, rice\, dahl\, grains\, and everything. That was the system. There was no school fee. There was no problem how to send a boy to the school. Samskara. Now he’s trained up. The teacher sees the psychology of the boy\, in which way he should be trained. Either he should be trained as a vaisya or he should be trained as a kshatriya. So everyone was trained like that\, but generally\, the son of a kshatriya… Just like Maharaja Ramacandra or Arjuna\, from the very beginning they were trained as kshatriya. \nNaturally\, if somebody is the son of a medical man his father trains him to become a medical man in future. That is the natural tendency. If the boy is different altogether that is another question\, but naturally\, that is the tendency. So a kshatriya’s son was trained as kshatriya. A brahmana’s son was trained as a brahmana and a vaisya’s son was trained as a vaisya\, and sudra had no training. So gradually this became a caste system. Brahmana’s son became brahmana. Because formerly\, the training was there. But when it is vitiated\, although a person born in the family of a brahmana\, he is doing the work of a sudra. So according to Vedic scripture\, one is classified according to his work and quality\, not by birth. That is the classification of sastra. Just like in the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says catur-varnyam maya srishtam guna-karma-vibhagasah [Bg. 4.13]. Guna means quality and karma means work. One must be qualified for the work and he must actually work. Then he is counted classified into that\, I mean to say\, category. Just like if you are simply trained or educated as a lawyer\, and if you are not practicing in the court\, nobody comes to you to consult as a lawyer. \nNobody cares for you. You must be practicing also. Similarly\, to become a brahmana means first of all\, he must know what is Brahman and he must be actually situated in the activities of Brahman. So devotional service are activities of Brahman. Activities in Krishna consciousness means activities in Brahman. Brahme carati iti brahma brahmacari. Carati means acts. Actually\, he acts in life\, applies the principles of brahmana in his life\, he is called brahmacari. So these were the trainings.\nSo just see how the training was\, that a kshatriya cannot refuse his promise. So Maharaja Dasaratha\, he fulfilled the promise of his youngest wife and asked his son\, eldest son Ramacandra\, “My dear boy\, You’ll have to go to forest for fourteen years. That is the desire of Your youngest mother. And I promised that I shall fulfill her promise\, uh\, request. So please accept.” Ramacandra said\, “Yes father\, I am ready.” Just see. This is the quality. Out of the six opulences of God\, this is one quality. \naisvaryasya samagrasya\nviryasya yasasah sriyah\njnana-vairagyayos caiva\nshannam bhagam itingana\n(Vishnu Purana 6.5.47) \nHow one becomes God? God is not manufactured by vote. There are definition who is God. God must be the proprietor of all the riches. Aisvaryasya samagrasya. Samagra means all. Nobody can compete with Him. Here\, in this world\, material world\, I am rich man\, and there is another rich man who can compete with me. There is another rich man who can compete with him. But nobody can compete with God in richness. That is one qualification of God. Nobody can say that “I am richer than God.” You can say “I am richer than Ford or Rockefeller” or this or that. You can say. But nobody can say that “I am richer than God.” Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is said mattah parataram nanyat asti kincid dhananjaya. Mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg. 7.7]. Dhananjaya is a name of Arjuna\, and Krishna said that\, “My dear Arjuna\, there is nobody greater than Me.” So if anyone claims that he is God\, he must prove by practical example that nobody is richer than him. That is the first. But unfortunately\, we are accepting so many Gods. A rascal in the street\, he also claims that “I am God.”  \nSo similarly\, the other qualification\, nobody can be stronger than God\, nobody can be wiser than God\, nobody can be more beautiful than God\, and nobody can be more renouncer than God. So here Ramacandra\, Lord Ramacandra exhibited the quality how He renounced the whole kingdom simply on the order of His father\, His obedience to father. He could have argued with His father\, “My dear father\, you\, simply for keeping your promise and actuated by the dictation of a woman\, you are doing this. Let us stop it. Everyone is expecting that tomorrow My coronation will be there\, and they love Me so much.” Because He… Just like Krishna was so much loved\, similarly\, Lord Ramacandra was the life of the people. They were very much expecting that Ramacandra was going to be enthroned tomorrow. So how they were celebrating\, how they were decorating the whole city. Everything. He never argued. He accepted immediately: “Yes\, father. I am ready.”  \n So then one of the brothers\, Lakshmana\, He also requested Ramacandra\, “My dear brother\, You also take Me. I am Your constant companion. I must go with You.” So He said\, “That’s Your wish. Voluntarily\, if You want to come\, You can come with Me.” Then Sita\, His wife\, young wife\, She also said\, “I’ll go with You.” Ramacandra requested His wife\, “Oh\, you cannot go with Me. It is very difficult. You are a king’s daughter\, and you are brought up in so nice way\, and you are so beautiful. You cannot go. You cannot take the trouble of living in the forest.” So she said\, “Oh\, I am Your wife. Married wife. So I must go even if You go to hell.” This is ideal wife. She could have refused: “Oh\, Your father has ordered to go to forest. You can go. I shall go to my father’s house or I shall remain here.” No. This is ideal wife. She must be prepared to accept any circumstances of the husband. Not that when the husband is rich the wife is very faithful\, and when he has come down to be poor or he’s going to forest the wife gives up his company. No. Wife means better half. She must abide. \nJust like\, it is said\, just like a shadow follows the reality\, similarly\, the wife is the shadow of the husband. Wherever the husband goes\, she must go. Whatever the husband wants\, she must carry out. Of course\, in this country this interpretation is taken differently\, that wife is made a slave. But actually\, it is not so. When Sita was kidnapped in the jungle\, Ramacandra expected that\, that she was beautiful\, she was young\, and “We shall be in open jungle. It may be some demons may come\,” and actually it so happened. So for Sita\, Lord Ramacandra massacred the whole family of Ravana. Only for Sita. So as the husband\, so the wife. The wife was so faithful that she could not remain alone. She must accompany the husband even in the forest. And the husband was so faithful that\, “Oh\, my wife has been kidnapped.” So He massacred the whole family of Ravana. \nSo these are ideal history how… Ramacandra\, Lord Ramacandra appeared on this world to educate or to place ideal example of a king. How the king should be. Therefore when there is good government… The example is given\, Rama-rajya. Rama- rajya. It is the kingdom of Lord Rama. Because everyone was happy\, everyone. There are so many instances in the life of Ramacandra. One brahmana… Not brahmana exactly. Somebody came to Ramacandra. Because at that time there was no court like this\, that you have to go to a court and apply with stamp fee. Then your judgment will be delivered after six years. It is not like that. Anyone who has got some complaint\, he should… The king used to sit in the open audience\, and the citizens were allowed to approach the king and place their complaints. Because there was no complaint practically. Everyone was happy. Very minor complaint. So somebody came to Ramacandra\, and he charged Ramacandra\, “My dear king\, my son has died. How is that\, in the presence of his father\, son can die? There must be something wrong in Your government.” Just see. The charge is “Why my son has died before my death? This is unnatural.” So there was nothing unnatural. The king was responsible even for severe cold\, severe heat. That we get from history of Srimad-Bhagavatam. That is stated. So the kings were so much responsible. They were always thinking of the happiness of the citizens\, and the citizens were also so nice. \nOne citizen approached Lord Ramacandra and His next assistant\, His brother\, Lakshmana\, informed Him that “He is a brahmana. You were absent on Your tour for\, I think for a fortnight or a month\, and this brahmana has not eaten even a drop of water during Your absence.” Why? “Because he comes here to see You\, darsana.” Just like we come here in the temple to see the Deity. So Lord Ramacandra was present personally. So he used to come. After seeing Ramacandra\, offering his obeisances\, then he would go home and take something\, his breakfast. That was his vow. And because he could not see for a fortnight or a month Lord Ramacandra because He was out on political tour\, he did not eat even. Just see. The citizens were similar to the king. So at that time\, there was a statue of Ramacandra which was being worshiped in the family from Maharaja Ikshvaku. Maharaja Ikshvaku\, the son of Manu\, happens to be the forefather of the family in which Ramacandra appeared. So he was devotee of Lord Rama\, and he was worshiping the statue of Lord Rama. So that statue was being worshiped by the family one after another. But when Ramacandra was actually present He kept that statue in the closet of the room\, and when this brahmana approached and Ramacandra was informed by Lakshmana that he is so steady and strong in his vow\, so Ramacandra ordered that he may be delivered that statue so that in My absence he can offer respect to the statue and do with this. That form\, I mean to say\, statue\, or arca of Ramacandra is still existing in South India. It is being worshiped from that time. \nSo these were the dealings of Ramacandra. Then He\, His younger brother Lakshmana and His wife went to the forest\, and His wife was kidnapped by the diplomacy of the demon Ravana\, and there was fight between Rama and Ravana. Ravana was very\, materialistically\, he was very strong. But the thing is for fighting with Ravana\, Ramacandra did not come back to His kingdom and take His army. No. He did not come back because He was ordered to live in the forest. So He organized army with the jungle animals\, the monkeys. The monkeys. He fought with Ravana\, an organized materialist\, with the monkeys. You have seen the picture. And He constructed a bridge between India’s last point to the other side. Ceylon is considered to be the kingdom of Ravana. So there was a bridge\, and the stones were floating.  \nSo there are so many historical incidences in the life of Ramacandra\, and we should remember\, because if we remember why we are observing today fasting for Ramacandra… There were many kings like Ramacandra. Because the kings were trained in that way. Maharaja Yudhishthira was also as good as Ramacandra\, and Maharaja Parikshit was as good. There were many such kings. But we are not concerned because He was a king. He is the King of all kings\, paramesvara. Because He is God\, therefore we are observing today. Ramadi-murtishu kala-niyamena tishthan [Bs. 5.39]. So He is not original form of God. The original form of God is Krishna\, and Krishna expands Himself in various other forms. Advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33]. Ananta-rupam means millions and millions. The Manu is also incarnation of Krishna. So in one day of Brahma there are fourteen Manus. So Brahma lives for one hundred years. Just see how many incarnation of Manus are there even for one Brahma\, and there are innumerable Brahmas also. So\, as stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam that nobody can count how many incarnations are there\, but some of the chief incarnations are mentioned\, and Lord Ramacandra is one of them. So Lord Ramacandra\, He killed Ravana and He installed his brother. \nHis brother was devotee\, Vibhishana. So He did not go to conquer Ceylon\, because He was emperor. He went to punish that culprit Ravana\, and He installed his younger brother Vibhishana in that… And He came back with Sita\, and again He was installed after fourteen years\, and His brother was so faithful that so long His eldest brother was away\, Ramacandra requested Him that “Your mother wants that You should be king\, and I also wish that in My absence You should be king.” Bharata\, He was so faithful brother\, He replied\, “No. You are king. So long You are living\, nobody can be king. So I cannot be king.” Then He requested\, “At least You administer.” Because after the departure of Lord Ramacandra\, Maharaja Dasaratha died out of the shock because Ramacandra was very pet son\, eldest son. He was going to be king\, and by his order He was sent to the forest. The father could not tolerate the shock. He died. \nSo Ramacandra’s life\, God’s activities\, pastimes\, if we hear\, that means we are associating with Ramacandra. There is no difference between His form\, His name\, His pastimes\, and Himself. He’s absolute. Therefore either you chant the holy name of Rama or you see the statue of Rama or you talk of His pastimes\, transcendental pastimes\, everything\, that means you are associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we take advantage of these days when the incarnation of God appears or disappears\, and we try to associate with Him. By His association we become purified. Our process is purification. Krishna consciousness means simply we are purifying our consciousness. From the birth\, as I have explained\, everyone is sudra. \nSudra means one who laments. That is called sudra. For a slight loss or slight inconvenience\, one who laments\, he is called sudra. And brahmana means one who tolerates. A sudra has no toleration. So kalau sudra sambhava. Kalau means… This age is called Kali. So it is the statement of the sastras that in this age the whole population is sudra. And formerly also\, by his birth\, everyone was considered sudra\, but there was training\, samskara. At the present moment\, there is no samskara\, there is no training. The training is only for earning livelihood. No other training. How one can earn money and enjoy senses that is the training at the present moment. But actually\, to make successful the human life or the mission of human life\, the Vedic culture is very nice. And by spreading Krishna consciousness\, by adopting the process of Krishna consciousness\, you can revive that cultural life\, sublime life. If not wholesale\, if there are a few people trained up in this line\, and they become ideal examples to the society\, immense benefit can be derived from their examples of life.
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