Nama Om…
Mukham karoti vacalam..
So today we are observing Ekadasi. This Ekadasi marks almost the half mark of the Damodar puja. This is the Ekadasi of the dark moon. So the whole of India was dark at that time and Lord Rama was taking Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman to Ayodhya from Sri Lanka. So how would they find Ayodhya in the dark moon night. DARK. So all the residents of Ayodhya were eager to receive the Lord. So they lighted up their houses with lamps and candles. Ayodhya was lit with fire and it could be seen from a long distance. In this way Sita, Rama, Lakshman, Hanuman could easily find out Ayodhya. We also observe Diwali in this spirit, welcoming the Lord so that He enters into our heart and we always remember Him at every step. So tomorrow many people observe Diwali. So I mentioned that sometime I used to go in kirtan and met some devotees. And how went to 25 houses per day and there are two Diwalis. Because some observe according to the smaartha tradition and in the vaishnava tradition it is often a one day difference. So in this particular year we arranged to visit the homes of people who are observing Diwali on that day. Each day we visited 25 houses with kirtan, with a Damodar picture and asked all the family members to offer lamp and then we gave prasadam. They gave us prasadam and then we went to the next house. So like this we visited 25 homes. So this was arranged in advance by phone calls. I hope that some of you people will use this Diwali to bring Krishna consciousness to new homes and encourage those who are already chanting and let them know that we do care about them. Hare Krishna!
So we are continuing with the Caitanya Book. Lord Caitanya is talking with Ishwara Puri maharaj. By the will of providence, Ishwara Puri arrived at Gaya at the same time Lord Caitanya was there. So Lord Caitanya glorified Ishwara Puri. How he was a mahabhaagavat and how he was very dear to Madhavendra Puri. Ishwara Puri was saying that You must be an expansion of the Supreme Person, otherwise how would You have so many divine qualities? And learn things so enthusiastically or quickly?
So Ishwara Puri maharaj revealed that he had an auspicious dream just the previous night and today he thought he had obtained the fruit of that dream because he was seeing Lord Caitanya directly.
I am telling You the truth, pandit. By having Your darshan, By having Your presence, I am experiencing transcendental happiness which is supreme and inexplicable. I am experiencing this every moment since I have seen You.
Since I have seen You in Nadia district, my heart and consciousness doesn’t think of anything else and it has had no other attraction.
I am speaking the truth, nothing but the truth, nothing else. When I see You, I feel the happiness of seeing Lord Krishna! He said that since he saw Lord Caitanya in Navadvip dham no other subject matter has occupied his heart. This is truth, There is no doubt about it. As soon as I see You, my eyes are smeared with the ointment of love, I have experienced this same experience when I see Krishna. So we can understand a great devotee, Ishwara Puri is that he would see Krishna and feel great ecstasy and love of Krishna. When he saw Lord Caitanya, he felt the same bliss and ecstasy. So very interesting.
Hearing the words of His beloved Ishwara Puri the Lord smiled and said, “it is My great fortune.”
So in this way the two exchanged many other pleasing, transcendental words, not all are explained in this book. But in the future they will be described by Veda Vyas, the incarnation of the Lord that wrote all these Vedic scriptures.
Murari Gupta Korcha:
So in this way Lord Gauranga demonstrated to everyone what is the the correct process is of devotional service unto the spiritual master. So with folded hands, He performed worship of His forefathers and the devatas in the waters of the Phalgu river and contemplated on the Supreme Lord. He placed the dust of His father’s remains in the water and He then offered the pinda in the form of Vishnu prasad to His father. At Pretha Shila he offered pindas. We heard that this Phalgu river for most of the time it was dry and just sand but you dig 2 or 3 feet of sand out and there is water flowing there. Apparently Sita wanted to find Rama and she went to the river and asked the river where Rama was? The river did not reply so then she cursed the river that she will become only dry sand. So what do the people do in the the dry riverbed. They take it as a big bathroom. That you dig a little bit and then you get water so that water they use for the worship of the devas and Lord for the benefit of the forefathers. So what the Lord did is explained here. He put the dust, solid dust of the remains of His father in this Phalgu river.
Then Lord took leave of Ishwara Puri maharaj then went to offer the ceremonies and oblations to His forefathers. In the Skanda purana there it is explained five types of sons. (break in broadcast) he is very responsible in his religious duties, therefore he can deliver his forefathers from a hellish situation. So that is a suputra. Su means auspicious and tra means deliverances. So an auspicious son will deliver his forefathers from hellish situations. Then the fifth kind is called udaaseen. He is rather detached from the family. He doesn’t care one way or the others. He is free. So that is not very useful. He may not very negative but may not be also positive. So that is called udaaseen. So Lord Caitanya was showing how to be a suputra offering oblations and ceremonies for His deceased forefathers. That is why we offer obeisances to our forefathers while visiting a holy place. But Gaura Hari, He doesn’t have to do such ceremonies but He enacted a pastime taking permission from Ishwara Puri paad then offering oblations at Gaya according to shaastric injunctions. So the path of pure devotional service and the path of fruitive activities based on smritis are not similar. Only when one who rejects fruitive activities can get into spiritual life. So one type of person does all these rituals but not with proper consciousness. In the sense, they don’t have a correct relationship with the Lord take to the fruitive activities such as offering oblations to their forefathers and the demigods, according to the external considerations and they don’t engage in devotional service for the pleasure of the Lord. Because they are not properly educated in bhakti yoga.
So the Lord went first to the Phalgu river. His eyes were reddish in colour, out of compassion for His forefathers. He offered tarpanas according to the shaastric rules. Tarpana means you put your brahman thread on the other side and with folded hands you offer water into the water. This benefits the forefathers. So at Prethashila He went and offered pindas. Pindas are small handfuls of rice. Usually they drop some rice from a height and form small hillocks. Rice forms like a small hill. That is called offering pindas. There is one place north of Mayapur, India, Agradvip. And Lord Caitanya had visited that place with His secretary. There were three brothers, Basu Ghosh, Madhava Gosh, Govinda Ghosh. It wasn’t Basu Ghosh for sure, it was one of the other two. He had stomach ache in the previous village so He asked for some hari thaki, a Vedic herb. So the secretary went to the village, got some hari thaki and went back to the Lord. Then the Lord started getting some indigestion. So he asked His secretary can you get Me some hari thaki? Then he reached his bag and gave the hari thaki to Him. The Lord said, you are so quick this time. He said, I keep some few extra hari thaki in my bag in case You need it. So this is a mood of a householder, you should get married, stay here. He was shocked, he was a brahmachari, travelling with the Lord but the Lord told him to get married and stay there. So he followed the order of the guru, he stayed there. He got married, he had a son and his wife got bitten by a snake and she died. Then he thought, at least I have my son. Then somehow the son also died. The Lord said I was unqualified to be a brahmachari but the Lord told me to be a grihastha, so I had a wife and son. But I lost my wife and I lost my son. So who will do the pindi and tarpana and shraadha for me? Being disturbed this way the worship of the Gopinath deity was also irregular. The Lord said why are you not giving the offerings on time and what is the matter? He said well You thought I was not qualified to be a brahmachari so I become a householder, I lost my wife and I lost my son, so what was the use? So Now I am in anxiety, but the stone deity said, I am your son. But you are not that kind of son that is going perform shraadha for me. So he called the village leaders and the stone deity spoke that on the death of Govinda Ghosh I will go to the Samadhi and offer shraadha and pinda, you make a note of it and see that it happens. So after 500 years even today they are still doing it about two weeks after Guara Purnima is his death anniversary, thiro bhaav. We don’t being people die, they live forever. But the body dies. They leave their body and they go on. So if they are not qualified they get a bad destination. So he was worried that somehow he was not qualified and will my son do the oblations and thus I will be delivered from the hellish conditions. But then he lost his son and he did not have anyone to perform this ritual. The deity said I will do it. You offer my offerings timely and properly. So one year we went to that place with our safari group about 120 devotees. We went to the tomb of Govinda Ghosh and then the pujari he pulled me in and carried the stone deity in a cloth. The deity came and they put on the Samadhi of Govinda Ghosh. They dropped some rice from His hands and put on a leaf and formed a small hillock. Thus they offered pinda. And thus they did shraadhas and yagnas and then they said that the black deity became very soft during the ceremony. So one side were men and other women. I was very fortunate to be inside. Everyone else was going by, tens and thousands of devotees. Then they stuck their head and watched. Sometimes some lady would stick her head in to see the deity. Some other lady came and grabbed her hair and pulled her out and stuck her head in! It was a real wild situation. Ha! So I saw what the pinda and shraadha were and how the Lord accepted the role of being a son! Haribol! Gauranga! Krishna!
So going to the place of pilgrimage known as Phalgu river the Lord, He offered pinda with sand and He went to the top of the hill, to the place known as Pretha Gaya. So in this way the Lord was observing the rituals for the forefathers. Apparently in the Phalgu river there is a system to offer pinda with the sand of the river. So the Lord is actually transcendental to these fruitive rituals. These rituals are considered good karma. So He performed this just to deceive the fruitive works and conditioned souls. Thus Guarahari offered obeisances to His forefathers. There at Phalgu river with sand. On the top of the hill at Pretha Gaya, there were 395 steps on the way to Pretha Gaya. It was built in 1775. The steps were built by Madan Mohan Dutta Mahaashay. Known among the people as Kuvera who was renowned black merchant who was famous among the people.
In Calcutta there is one famous temple which has an inscription, Sri Radha Krishnaaya namaha, Sri Caitanya Chadraaya namaha, Sri Shiva Durga Sharanam, Jai Radha, Jai Rama. Oh Lord Madanamohana I beg at Your lotus feet for the people and for the good fortune for Me and My entire family. I beg at Your lotus feet for the benediction of good to climb this high hill to reach Pretha Gaya. So a person named Madanamohan has built a beautiful wide staircase for the benefit of the pilgrims and for the pleasure of Lord Narayana, the husband of Lakshmi. So construction of the 395 staris was begun and completed in the year 1775.was began and completed in the year 1775. So I went to the Gaya but I did not go to Pretha Gaya. How many would like to go? So this visit of Lord Caitanya to that Gaya has got many details. So this pastime has been covered by various scriptures, Caitanya Mangal, Caitanya Bhaaagavath, Caitanya Caritamrita, Murari Gupta Korcha. We are taking all the quotes, sometimes the editor has to take out the duplications. In this way when the book will be completed we will have the most complete history of Lord Caitanya. Of course His pastimes are unlimited and He has shown, even described unlimited pastimes. You cannot show, you cannot describe the unlimited pastimes, we are only showing just a small portion. But that itself takes so much. Are there any questions?
For tomorrow we need sweets. Anyone comes to celebrate Diwali we can give sweets. This is the tradition. So we can arrange. Are there any questions? So thank you all. Hare Krishna!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari dd
4 November 2018