Gaudiya Siddhanta

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Chira-dahi danda-mahotsav in Sripat Panihati Dham
Kolkata-Worldwide, 4 June 2020, part 5

Question: We see that some devotees in Chaitanya-lila are more attracted to Nityananda Prabhu, they always stay with Nityananda Prabhu, but Srila Raghunath Das Goswami seems to be more attracted to Mahaprabhu because he prays even to Nityananda Prabhu, "I want to go to Mahaprabhu." We also see that Nityananda Prabhu is always happy to distribute Mahaprabhu and His message, but Mahaprabhu's nature seems to be a little different—He is more restrictive and strict. Could you please explain these two types of nature?

Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu, "Preach about Lord Krishna in Bengal," and Nityananda Prabhu knows who is Lord Krishna, who is Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu is a form of Krishna overwhelmed by the mood of Srimati Radharani (Radha-bhave vibhavita).

শ্রীরাধায়াঃ প্রণয়মহিমা কীদৃশো বানয়ৈবা-
স্বাদ্যো যেনাদ্ভুতমধুরিমা কীদৃশো বা মদীয়ঃ ।
সৌখ্যঞ্চাস্যা মদনুভবতঃ কীদৃশং বেতি লোভা-
ত্তদ্ভাবাঢ্যঃ সমজনি শচীগর্ভসিন্ধৌ হরীন্দুঃ ॥

sri-radhayah pranaya-mahima kidrso vanayaivasvadyo
yenadbhuta-madhurima kidrso va madiyah
saukhyam chasya mad-anubhavatah kidrsam veti lobhat
tad-bhavadhyah samajani sachigarbha-sindhau harinduh

"'What is that great glory of Sri Radha's love? What is My extraordinary loving sweetness and charm that Sri Radha enjoys? And what is the joy Sri Radha feels by experiencing My sweetness and charm?' Yearning to taste these three sentiments, the moon—Krishna-chandra—was born from the ocean of the womb of mother Sachi."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1.6)

Krishna thought one day, "Why does Radharani cry for Me? Why does She chant My name? What sort of taste is She getting? I want to taste that! I need to taste that!" Then, Krishna came as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to taste the mood of Radharani, and that is called separation. Mahaprabhu's pastimes in Puri, in Gambhira, with Raya Ramananda and Svarup Damodar are described in the last portion of Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita; it is fully separation (viraha-lila).

Knowing all this, Nityananda Prabhu thought, "If I tell people about Krishna, they will not be able to understand it." Here in Bengal, people always joke with Krishna's lila—they cannot understand, they do not know what is parakiya-prema, what is parakiya-bhava. "Parakiya-bhave jaha brajete prachara: the relationship with Krishna is manifest in Vraja as paramour love." Here in Bengal, there is too much sahajiya. People do not like parakiya-bhav, they think that Krishna does wrong things in these parakiya pastimes. That is why Nityananda Prabhu does not preach about Krishna, He preaches about Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu left His family, came to sannyas life; as a sannyasi, He gives proper guidance and follows proper practice and behaviour (acharan), He shows people what is a sannyasi's life; coming as a devotee, Mahaprabhu chants, dances, laughs, cries, etc.

And Nityananda Prabhu said,

ভজ গৌরাঙ্গ, কহ গৌরাঙ্গ, লহ গৌরাঙ্গের নাম রে
যে জন গৌরাঙ্গ ভজে, সেই আমার প্রাণ রে

bhaja gauranga, kaha gauranga, laha gaurangera nama re
ye jana gauranga bhaje, sei amara prana re

"Worship Gauranga! Say Gauranga! Take Gauranga's Name! Those who worship Gauranga are My heart and soul!"

"Those who worship Gauranga, who chant the glories of Gauranga, are My heart." In this way, Nityananda Prabhu is more involved with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

We also favour more Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu. You know that in his later days, Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not chant on his japa mala, instead he would only chant, "Doyal Nitai, Doyal Nitai. Nitai Gaura hari bol, Doyal Nitai." Our life is also like this. We cannot think of our life without our Gurudev. We are devotees of Nityananda Prabhu, devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Krishna Himself says, "Those who say they are My devotees, are not My devotees. My devotees are those who say they are devotees of My devotees." But some people say, "Oh, we worship Krishna." You were asking the other day about Baladev Vidyabhusan, and Srila Janardan Maharaj explained it very nicely. Some sampradayas worship only Krishna. Mirabai also thinks that she has already got Krishna, but even the Vraja gopis did not say, "I have got Krishna!" Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur—they all cry for Krishna. The Vraja gopis never say, "I have got Krishna-prema!" But Mirabai says, "I have got Krishna-prema." This is why we do not worship Mirabai. She says she worships only Krishna, but we are not like that. We worship Radha-Krishna, and Radha-Krishna's combined form is Gauranga Mahaprabhu; and if we are to worship Gauranga Mahaprabhu, we must follow Nityananda Prabhu. Those who worship Gauranga Mahaprabhu but do not worship Nityananda Prabhu, follow the half-hen logic (ardha-kukkuti-nyaya). This is what Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami says.

One time, Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami's brother invited Gunarnava Misra to their house, and he worshipped only Gauranga, he did not give any respect to Ramdas Minaketan only because he was a great devotee of Nityananda Prabhu. Ramdas Minaketan was shocked to hear that, and when Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami found out about this, he fought with his brother. That day, at night, Nityananda Prabhu came to Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami in a dream and called him, "O Krishnadas! Come! Come to Vrindavan. Do not stay here in Jhamatpur any longer. Come to Vrindavan!" And next day Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami went to Vrindavan, where he got everything—there he also composed his Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita...

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