Nama Om…
Hari Haraaya Naama Krishna Yadavaya Naamahari, Gopal Govinda Ram Sri Madhusudhan
Jai Jagannath Jai Jagannath Jai Baladeva Jai Subhadra
Mukham karoti vaachalam…

Nice to see you all today! Today is the second day of Pongal here. Where I heard that they worship the cows. Of course because I am in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, but yesterday during Makar Sankranti there were different kinds of observations in different parts of India. In Bengal, they celebrated Poush Parban. They eat pithas. Little cakes. So yesterday our cook Prasanna Gauranga das, he gave us some doodh pithas. We heard that in Assam they observe it as Bihu and they also have cakes and they dance all night. I met some people from Punjab and they said that on Sankranti they have bonfires and they dance and sing around the bonfire. They eat popcorn and they throw popcorn in the fire and it pops. So each state in India, they have a different observation of Makar Sankranti. In Juhu, ISKCON’s national Head Quarters, they have a special observation. In Chennai they had Ratha Yatra on the Bhogi day, the day before the Makara Sankranti. And here after the Ratha Yatra, we had our question and answer program. So today we are starting the next chapter of the Caitanya Book.

I had my physiotherapist came by today. He made me stand up six times and also had our voice therapist also came, Dr. Prakash and Lakshmi Narayan. So for about an hour we had voice therapy. I went cycling this evening and here I am for the class! So the chapter is entitled, the Lord makes Srivas Thakur fearless.

So Gauranga Mahaprabhu smiling after hearing Srivas Thakur’s prayers, being compassionate to Him, He told to Srivas the following.

Your wife, son and others, all the members of your household, please let them come out and let them see My form!

Along with your wife, worship My lotus feet, ask a boon, a benediction, whatever you desire.

Srivas Pandit on receiving the order of the Lord, brought all his family members and came quickly.

Whatever flowers were there for the worship of Lord Vishnu, everyone offered at the Lord’s lotus feet.

In the company of his wife, the brahmana Srivas cried as he worshipped the lotus feet of the Lord, with sandalwood paste, flowers, incense and lamps.

Srivas bringing his brother, wife, servants, maid servants, everyone, he fell at the lotus feet of the Lord and offered His sincere prayers.

Lord Vishwambhar is the most dear Lord to Srivas Thakur. So he placed His lotus feet on the heads of everyone there to have the blessing of the Lord. When He puts His lotus feet on your head, the lotus feet that purified the water of the Ganges, that is the greatest benediction!

So the Lord, He wandered around unseen by all and He touched the heads with His lotus feet. Smiling, He said, may your minds all be fixed on Me!

Lord Vishwambhar roared loudly and He addressed Srivas Thakur as follows.

Oh Srivas! Are you afraid of something? Is there some rumor going around? That the king’s boat is coming to arrest you?

In the unlimited universes, whatever the living entities are, or whatever living entities exist in these universes, everyone, I am the director of all the living entities. So the Lord is referring to His existing in everyone’s heart as the Super Soul and therefore nobody can do anything without His permission. So without His inspiration, no one is able to act in any way. So if we have some desire, we want to enjoy this particular thing, still we need the Lord’s inspiration to remember that we have this desire and we can move forward to try to achieve it. So what the Lord is telling Srivas is that if I don’t permit, then nobody can do anything. So why do you worry about the king’s boat? He cannot act if I don’t permit it!

If I within the body of that king, if I tell him then he will tell to arrest someone. So in other words, unless the Supersoul inspires the king, to arrest Srivas, then only the king will order your arrest. So no worry!

If this was not the case and he was independent, and he said to arrest you, then in this case, I would do the following. So Lord Vishwambhar is explaining that, if against the Super soul’s inspiration by independent will, if the king independently orders your arrest, then I will do as follows.

I will be the first to board the boat and I would present Myself before the king!

If the king sees Me and if he stays seated on the king’s throne, will I not bewilder him and drag him down at that time?

So He is saying that since He is the controller of innumerable universes, or the Supreme Controller of all the controllers, the king will not be able to remain seated on his throne. I will certainly overwhelm him and control him!

If not in this way, if the king holds Me for questioning, then it is My desire, listen to what I will tell him.

Listen, listen oh king, what is true what is false, you know! Bring all the mullahs all the kaazis to ascertain the truth! A mullah is a great Mohammedan priest or a scholar or a judge. Kaazi refers to a judge or a guide who gives instructions on Muslim religion and morality. So He told the king that he should know what is true and what is false.

Oh king, whatever elephants, horses, animals and birds, whatever you have, bring them all, keep them by your side.

So now order your kaazis to recite your holy scriptures and make all these animals cry! He means to recite the Quran.

If they are not able to do this, then I will manifest Myself to the king!

So you dare to stop the sankirtan movement, on the advice of these people? So whatever power they actually have, you have seen it all. This reminds me of the song of Lochanadas. The third verse says dekho o re bhai tribhuvane noi eimono dayalu daata, pashu paakhi jure paashaana bidore, shuni jaara guna gaatha. Oh brothers, just see, there is no one in the three worlds as merciful as Nitai Gaur! They have made the animals dance, chant and cry! By Their chanting, They melt the stones, sing their glories! So let us see what happens!

Behold My power with your own eyes! After saying this one mad, intoxicated elephant will be brought before him.

I will gather elephants, horses, deer, birds all together, then I will make they cry by chanting the holy names of Krishna.

Ha! Ha!

I will induce everyone to chant the holy names of Krishna and make them cry – the king and his associates.

If you have doubt about this within your mind, then I will show you NOW BEFORE YOUR EYES! Dekho aapanaar noyone! Thus ends the chapter! Ha! Ha! The Lord makes Srivas Thakur fearless.

Even in the Jarikhanda forest, the jungle, the tigers and deer were embracing other and kissing each other and chanting the holy names of Krishna. Such is the unlimited mercy and power of Lord Caitanya! So we are very fortunate that we have by His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupad’s mercy, we have the service of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda and we are seeing the pastimes of Lord Caitanya unfolding before our eyes!! So we just got a news today that the East London Namahatta Bhakti Vriksha group, that they were the highest congregational book distributors in the month of December in the whole of the UK, and also the highest in the whole of Europe! In London, the first was Bhakti Vedanta Manor and second was Soho Street and third was the Bhakti Vriksha of East London. The other temples after them! Also there were around 150 devotees in the Bhakti Vriksha groups including 40 children and they went door to door distributing 21,000 books. We also heard that in Slovenia the congregational devotees, especially my disciples, shelter disciples, aspiring disciples, shiksha disciples and other well-wishers, they were also very active in the marathon and had a good result. So we want the Bhakti Vriksha groups, namahatta groups to work with the temples, and in this way to spread Lord Caitanya’s teachings, Prabhupad’s transcendental literature, and let the people understand, what is the real purpose of human life. So we thank all those devotees who have distributed books during this year’s marathon in December, and we give our best wishes and blessings to all of them. Hare Krishna!

Any question?

Devotees attending class were read by the repeater.

Any questions from the audience here?

Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
16 January 2019