(6/6) The Highest of the Highest

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Singur, noon programme
14 February 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

One day, referring to Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Mahaprabhu told Srivas Pandit, ‘Srivas! Whom have you given shelter in your house? He does not have anything, do you even know who He is? Why have you taken Him in? You have your wife and other family members at home – there are many young girls in your family, and you have taken Him in?…’

‘Prabhu, You are joking, right?’ Srivas Pandit replied. ‘You must be playing with me. You know how much I love Nityananda, so You have decided to test me!’

Even Mahaprabhu Himself said:

মদিরা যবনী যাদি নিত্যানন্দ ধরে ।
তথাপি ব্রহ্মার বন্দ্য কহিল তোমারে ॥

madira yavani yadi nityananda dhare
tathapi brahmara vandya kahila tomare

‘Even if Nityananda Prabhu comes drunk, with a Muslim lady by His side, He is always worshippable for Lord Brahma.’

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 3.6.123)

Such is Nityananda Prabhu’s glory! Nityananda Prabhu goes to this house, that house, He eats at random places, He sometimes wears earrings, sometimes bangles, sometimes orange clothes, sometimes white clothes, sometimes yellow clothes, sometimes blue clothes. He walks everywhere like a madman. He is an avadhut. Who can recognise who He is? But Mahaprabhu said, ‘Even if He comes drunk with a Muslim girl by His side, even Brahma will offer his obeisance to Him.’

Anyhow, much has been said today. Let us sing one–two kirtans more. [His Divine Grace is about to start ‘Yadi Gaura na haite.’]

Why did Vasu Ghosh write this kirtan? Why is Srimati Radharani’s glory not mentioned anywhere in Srimad Bhagavatam? Bhagavatam is a very big book dedicated to bhakti-yoga; it was composed by Vyasadev, but Her Name is not mentioned in it…

Actually, Vyasadev did not originally write any book – Srimad Bhagavatam is the instruction that came from the lotus mouth of sixteen-year-old Sukadev Goswami. Sukadev Goswami stayed in his mother’s womb for twelve years, and after that he roamed around for four years. At some point before that, Vyasadev came to Badarikashram to meet with his guru, Narad Goswami. We sing in the guru-parampara kirtan:

কৃষ্ণ হৈতে চতুর্ম্মুখ, হন কৃষ্ণসেবোন্মুখ,
ব্রহ্মা হৈতে নারদের মতি ।
নারদ হৈতে ব্যাস, মধ্ব কহে ব্যাস-দাস,
পূর্ণপ্রজ্ঞ পদ্মনাভ গতি ॥

krsna haite chatur-mukha, hana krsna-sevonmukha,
brahma haite naradera mati
narada haite vyasa, madhva kahe vyasa-dasa,
purnaprajna padmanabha gati

‘Through Lord Krishna, Lord Brahma became disposed towards Krishna’s service. Then, through Lord Brahma, Narad Goswami developed devotional mood. After Narad Goswami, the line continues through Srila Vyasadev and then through his servant Srila Madhvacharya, who is also known as Purnaprajna and who is the refuge of his disciple Sri Padmanabha Tirtha.’

(Sri Guru-Parampara kirtan)

Vyasadev came to Narad Goswami and said, ‘Gurudev, I do not feel peaceful inside. I have made so many scriptures – Agni Purana, Garuda Purana, Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Mahabharata and many other books. I have written so many things, but I still do not feel content…’

‘How will you feel happy?’ Narad replied. ‘You cook five dishes – dal, vegetables, labra, chutney, sweet rice, but when you distribute these dishes, you mix everything together and distribute them like that. Is it possible to get the taste? You have written Gita, but there you mixed karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, sankya-yoga, and only then, at the end, you gave bhakti-yoga. It will not do. Create such a scripture where there will be only bhakti-yoga.’

At first, Vyasadev was puzzled, ‘How shall I do it?…’ but then he remembered about his son Sukadev Goswami, who was in his mother’s womb at that time. He came to his wife and spoke to the child. Just think about it! Nobody believes these things, but these are the scriptures’ words, so you must believe it. When your mother tells you, ‘This is your father,’ she knows who the father is, so you do not challenge what your mother says – you do not go to make a DNA test to check if what she is saying is true or not. Your mother says, ‘This is your father,’ and you simply believe it. In the same way, it is necessary to believe what the scriptures say:

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

‘sraddha’-sabde visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

‘Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

So, Vyasadev told his child, ‘Sukadev, come out! Come out!’

‘No, I will not come out of my mother’s womb!’ Sukadev answered.

‘Why not?’

‘Because the illusory environment is there. If I come out, Maya will catch me.’

Then, many great sages, Parasara Muni and others (you have heard about the meeting of 60,000 sages in Naimisaranya, after which Bhagavatam was recorded), spoke to Vyasadev. Parasara Muni, who was Vyasadev’s father and the ultimate judge of all scriptures, said, ‘Vyasadev, you possess some power, so you can stop illusion for five minutes to let the boy come out.’

Vyasadev asked Sukadev, ‘Will you come out in those five minutes if I halt Maya?’

‘Yes,’ Sukadev replied, ‘five minutes will be enough for me.’

Then, Vyasadev stopped the activity of Maya (illusion) for five minutes, and Sukadev came out of his mother’s womb. As soon as he came out, he dashed into the forest! When our children are born, can they run? I thought to myself how it could be possible that Sukadev ran right after he had appeared, but then I remembered calves – when a cow gives birth to a calf, the calf starts running within two hours. So, given Vyasadev is a great sage, why cannot his son run right after birth?

Sukadev at once ran to the forest, and Vyasadev ran after him, calling out, ‘Listen! Listen! Wait!’ Sukadev did not notice anything – he had no sense of his father, relatives or anyone else. As if blind, he could see only the Lord! He did not see any buildings, objects or anybody around him.

In this way, he ran to the Himalayas. On the way, some girls were bathing naked in the river (it is cold in the mountains, so it is hard to dry clothes). When they saw Vyasadev passing by, they quickly covered themselves with some clothes, but when they saw Sukadev, they did not even reach for their clothes because they knew Sukadev did not even see anyone.

In the meantime, Pariksit Maharaj received a curse from a brahman, according to which he was to die from a snake bite within seven days. Pariksit Maharaj called the sages and acharyas from every sampradaya, and they started giving their advice to him. Pariksit Maharaj listened to their advice but did not feel satisfied. In the end, Sukadev, a sixteen-year-old boy, arrived at the assembly. Seeing him, all the rishis told Pariksit Maharaj, ‘We will follow whatever Sukadev says.’ When Sukadev came, he did not offer his obeisance to anyone, he did not even see anyone. He simply came in front of Pariksit Maharaj, and Maharaj gave him a place to sit on. Then, Sukadev sat down and asked him, ‘What is your question? What do you want to know?’

‘How can I get real benefit?’ Pariksit Maharaj enquired.

‘Yes, there can be only one question and only one answer.’

Sukadev began explaining the answer, and he spent seven days speaking Bhagavatam. Suta Goswami heard it at that assembly. He had a special gift – once he heard something, he could remember everything. So, when he later repeated Bhagavatam at the assembly of 60,000 sages in Naimisaranya, what he said was recorded as Bhagavatam. This is how Bhagavatam was first written (recorded).

This Srimad Bhagavatam contains the pure line of devotion (bhakti), but Sukadev never mentioned the name of Srimati Radharani in it. Why? Because it is a very high topic. He told about Prahlad Maharaj’s devotion, but he did not speak about Radharani’s devotion. He knew, ‘It has to be kept secret.’ Therefore, Her devotion is not openly revealed in the scriptures. Her devotion, as well as the devotion of Vraja gopis, is so high!

মাতল হরিজন কীর্ত্তন-রঙ্গে ।
পূজল রাগপথ গৌরব-ভঙ্গে ॥

matala hari-jana kirtana-range
pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange

‘We will worship the path of raga-marga (spontaneous loving service) from afar and live in adherence to the Vedic rules and regulations.’

(Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad)

Raga-patha (the path of spontaneous love and devotion) must be kept in one’s heart. What is the highest meditation? The meditation on the dust from the holy lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna. This must be always kept as the object of your meditation; you must not speak about it. Do not speak about such things. That is why Sukadev Goswami spoke about Prahlad Maharaj’s devotion but did not utter a word about Srimati Radharani’s devotion. He kept it secret as the highest of the highest topics. But in our country, people always keep Radha-Krishna’s Deities. They should be scared to do this – do they have the right, the qualification to keep such Deities? It is necessary to have qualification for such service. You cannot serve if you do not have the right for the service.

Sri Vallabha Acharya served Bala Gopal, and when he came to Mahaprabhu, he was proud that he had been serving Bala Gopal. He tried to teach Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu said, ‘My guru considered Me a fool, so he forbade Me to read Bhagavatam!’

কিবা মন্ত্র দিলা, গোসাঞি, কিবা তার বল ।
জপিতে জপিতে মন্ত্র করিল পাগল ॥

‘kiba mantra dila, gosani, kiba tara bala
japite japite mantra karila pagala’

[I asked My guru,] ’My lord, what kind of mantra have you given Me? What kind of power does it possess? Chanting this maha-mantra has driven Me mad!’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.7.81)

This was the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

হরের্নাম হরের্নাম হরের্নামৈব কেবলম্ ।
কলৌ নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব গতিরন্যথা ॥

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

‘Chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name – there is no other way, no other way, no other way.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.7.76)

Mahaprabhu said, ’My guru has given Me this mantra, and as I chanted and chanted it, I became crazy!’

You must chant this Harinama maha-mantra! Do you understand?

I will chant now one kirtan in glorification of Mahaprabhu and then finish. [His Divine Grace glances at the time.] The time has passed just by chanting kirtans, and we have not even finished yet.

[His Divine Grace then chants ‘Emana durmati samsara bhitare’, ‘Jaya Radha Madhava’ and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra before concluding the noon programme.]

On 25 February we will have a festival of Sri Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance. Please come to Ekachakra Dham. Come on 23 or 24 February. The festival will be in Ekachakra Dham, Birbhum. You are all invited. Also, everyone must try to come for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. We have many rooms now, so it is not necessary to stay outside, there are extra rooms for everyone. This year, Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama will be five days because we will go to Rudradwip. We did not go there before (we offered our obeisances from the outskirts and came back), that is why I have given one more day to be able to go there. I am giving you all invitation cards, please distribute them to everyone. Come to Ekachakra Dham also, the festival is in ten–eleven days, and we have rooms for everyone, there is no problem with accommodation. So, please get ready and come for the parikramas. I am inviting everyone, please tell everyone. The dates are written in the calendars also. It is a little hard to travel on ekadasi, but you can start out in the morning and come and take noon prasad at the temple. The festival adhivas is on dvadasi.

Please take care of yourselves.

I see that everyone is all right – nobody is wearing masks. Corona has fled in fear! By the wish of Mahaprabhu, all corona flees away. Do not worry about all this. Those who practise Krishna consciousness do not fear death. One day death must come. Once born, everyone has to die. Everyone has to leave their bodies. But for as long as we are alive, we must practise Krishna consciousness. We are given this time to practise Krishna consciousness. That is why is said:

হরে কৃষ্ণ নাম জপ অবিরাম
যে কই দিন আছে ত প্রাণ

hare krsna nama japa abhirama
ye kai dina dehe achhe ta prana

‘Incessantly chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra (the Lord’s Names) for as long as you have life in this body.’

You must chant the Holy Name. Keep good association and practise listening (sravan) and chanting (kirtan).

হরে কৃষ্ণ নাম জপ অবিরাম
যে কই দিন আছে ত প্রাণ

hare krsna nama japa abhirama
ye kai dina dehe achhe ta prana

‘Incessantly chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra (the Lord’s Names) for as long as you have life in this body.’

জীবে দয়া নামে রুচি বৈষ্ণব সেবা ।
ইহা বহি সনাতন নাহি আর ধর্ম্ম ॥

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva
iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

‘Be merciful to the souls, chant the Holy Name happily and serve Vaishnavs. Sanatan, except for this, there is no other religion.’

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Sincere Surrender
2) Deserve, Then Desire
3) Greatest Wealth, Ornament, and Aspiration
4) Remembering Nityananda Prabhu's Glory (1)
5) Remembering Nityananda Prabhu's Glory (2)
6) The Highest of the Highest