Jagannath Misra's Festival:
Serving and Honouring Devotees (2)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
13 March 2017, Sri Nabadwip Dham
Jagannath Misra's ananda-mahotsav,
Vishva-Vaishnava-raja Sabha, part 2

We are making the festival of Sri Jagannath Misra today...

Jagannath Misra and Sachi Mata chastised Nimai when He played with a snake or sometimes He would take a discarded clay pot covered with black soot and eat the clay or put the soot on His face. One time when Sachi Mata beat Nimai, one old woman, a devotee, said to her, "You do not know who He is! You are beating the Lord Himself, it is not good!" But Sachi Mata replied, "Whether He is the Lord or not, I do not know it. I know that He is my son, that is sufficient for me."

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had so much love and affection for His mother. He stayed in Puri with the permission of Sachi Mata. Before that, when He took sannyas, He came to the house of Advaita Acharya. There, Sachi Mata asked Srivas Pandit, "You can always go and see Him, but I know He will not stay in Nabadwip... I will not be able to cook for Him anymore. Can you please ask Him if He will take prasadam from my hand now that He has taken sannyas?" At that time, Mahaprabhu gave His persmission, "Yes, My mother can cook and I will take that prasad." Sachi Mata cooked for Nimai every day and every day she cried—she always thought, "If He was here, He would eat this, that. He likes this very much, He likes that very much." Sachi Mata cooked and offered bhog every day, and every day the bhog was finished. She wondered, "Who eats it??" She suspected that maybe some animal or Vishnupriya ate it, but Mahaprabhu sent Damodar and asked him to tell His mother, "In winter, on sankranti day, My mother cooked some pitha, malpowa and other things for Me, tell her that I came and ate it. Tell her this, then she will believe it and will not blame Vishnupriya."

How greatly fortunate Sachi Mata and Jagannath Misra are to have got this kind of son—the Lord Himself came to them.

As Sripad Tyagi Maharaj was saying in the morning, some say Vaikuntha is the highest plane, but it is not so—Gaudiya Vaishnavs never say this. There is something higher than Vaikuntha—that is Goloka Vrindavan. Who is the father of Narayan? Narayan has no father, no mother, but who has a father and a mother? Krishna does. Gauranga Mahaprabhu does. This is called vatsalya rasa (service in parental mood).

That is why we must give honour, best honour to Jagannath Misra and Sachi Mata, then we can get the mercy of Mahaprabhu and mercy of the Lord. We must understand properly whom we must serve, that is the main thing in our spiritual life.

There are so many pastimes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He showed so many things—He showed love and affection and He also showed anger. If we get mercy of Sachi Mata and Jagannath Misra, then we will get the mercy of Gaura Hari. That is the main things in our spiritual life but if we do not give respect to them, if we not give respect to Gurudev's word properly, then it will bring disheartenment to everybody because you cannot fulfil your desires, you cannot fulfil your goals if you do not have Gurudev's mercy—if you have no anugatya (adherence, chastity), you have nothing.

So, I want to say this to everybody: we are going to celebrate, but this celebration is not for our own happiness, it is for the happiness of the devotees, for the happiness of the Vaishnav Thakur. This is the main thing. This is why we make every festival, and so many Vaishnavs come from Mayapur—they support Guru Maharaj, they support what Gurudev had said, and that is the main thing for me on this day of Jagannath Misra's ananda-mahotsav.

What more can I say? I am a tiny fallen soul, but I am trying to serve the devotees, trying to serve the Mission with whatever quality I have. So many obstacle come in this life, but I am tolerating everything, I am not the kind of person who will run away from this Mission.

So, I would like to finish my lecture here.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj.
Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.

বাঞ্ছাকল্পতরুভ্যশ্চ কৃপাসিন্ধুভ্য এব চ ।
পতিতানাং পাবনেভ্যো বৈষ্ণবেভ্যো নমো নমঃ ॥

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha krpa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

"Again and again I offer my obeisance unto the Supreme Lord's devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy, and wish-fulfilling trees."

— : ○ : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (2.4 Mb)