Praṇāma mantra
namas te tu halāgrama
namas te muṣalāyudha
namas te revatī-kānta
namas te bhakta-vatsala
namas te dharaṇī-dhara
namas te balināṁ śreṣṭha
pralambāre namaste tu
trāhi māṁ kṛṣṇa pūrvaja
[Translation: Obeisances to You, O holder of the plow. Obeisances to You, O wielder of the mace. Obeisances to You, O darling of Revati. Obeisances to You, O kind benefactor of Your devotees.
Obeisances to You, O upholder of the earth. Obeisances to You, O best of the strong. Obeisances to You, O enemy of Pralamba. Please deliver me, O older brother of Kṛṣṇa.]
Study Scriptures under the guidance of Vaisnavas
LORD’S PASTIMES ARE INCOMPREHENSIBLE
‘Janma karma ca me divyam’ – The subject of Bhagavān’s birth and activities are all divine and wonderful as well as incomprehensible to our mundane intellect. Those who haven’t studied Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā under the guidance of a Vaiṣṇava have various doubts.
In Purī, a group of devotees from abroad would daily approach me seeking answers to a host of questions. The nature of their queries went such as – “When did Mother Rohiṇī conceive Balarāma in her womb?” So what has been understood from the śloka from the Bhagavad-gītā – ‘janma karma ca me divyam’?
EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE BY THE LORD
Śrī Balarāma is the first expansion (prakāśa-vigraha) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and from Him expands Kāraṇodakaśāyī, Garbhodakaśāyī, Kṣīrodakaśāyī and Śeṣa. When Kṛṣṇa bewildered Brahmā, He showed how all the cowherd boys and calves had four-handed Nārāyaṇa forms. So did these [Nārāyaṇa] forms enter the womb and take birth? No. How can those who have not acquired any spiritual knowledge understand these topics?
Devakī’s seventh pregnancy, Balarāma, was attracted to the womb of Rohiṇī. Can we fathom such a phenomenon? All these things are possible because Bhagavān is sarva-śaktimān— the possessor of all-strength. As a mere child of six days Kṛṣṇa so effortlessly killed Pūtanā, whose body was six krośa long [approximately 18 kilometers], simply by the act of sucking her breast-milk. [As Pūtanā’s mammoth body lay lifeless, Kṛṣṇa was without fear playing on the upper portion of her breast] the Vrajavāsīs had to use a ladder to retrieve Him. Kṛṣṇa was smiling, entirely unscathed, while the gigantic Pūtanā lay slain; Kṛṣṇa didn’t even have to assume any huge form to kill her. Everything about Kṛṣṇa is transcendental.
Similarly, Balarāma sanctified Devakī’s womb by first appearing in it and then during the eighth [pregnancy] Kṛṣṇa appeared in Devakī’s womb in a splendid four-handed form holding a conch, disc, club and lotus. Is any baby born in this manner? So how was this possible? When Vasudeva chanted hymns, nothing happened, but when Devakī prayed, “Now that You have so mercifully accepted to appear as our child….” It hasn’t been mentioned that He was born as their child, it is mentioned that ‘He accepted to appear as their child’. Those who read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will see that the term aṅgikāra is clearly mentioned, which means to accept. Hence Devakī said, “Now that you have accepted to appear as our child then please assume the form just like an ordinary human child, because no one will accept You as Devakī’s child in this four-handed form holding a conch, disc, club and lotus.”
NECESSITY OF SADHU SANGA
Similar to this query, those devotees had many others. Why? Because they did not have sādhu-saṅga. Hence Svarūpa Dāmodara has said in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 5.131-132):
yāha, bhāgavata paḍavaiṣṇavera sthāne
ekānta āśraya kara caitanya-caraṇe
[If you want to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you must approach a self-realized Vaiṣṇava and hear from him. You can do this when you have completely taken shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.]
caitanyera bhakta-gaṇera nitya kara ‘saṅga’
tabeta jānibā siddhānta-samudra-taraṅga
[Associate regularly with the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, this is the only way to understand the waves of the ocean of devotional service.]
In this way we can come to know the waves of the ocean of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s divine teachings. It is not possible to know the entire ocean, but by associating with the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu we can absorb ourselves in some of the waves [of that ocean].
This is the reason why we have to repeatedly emphasize that Bhagavān’s appearance is divya (transcendental), it is not laukika (mundane).
Role of Baladeva Ji
BALADEVA APPEARS TO GIVE US KNOWLEDGE OF BHAGAVĀN
The appearance of Baladeva is also transcendental. Baladeva is prakāśa-vigraha – He appears to give us knowledge of Bhagavān and explain who Bhagavān is. Balarāma holds a plough and a mace in His hands. Just as a field is tilled with a plough to sow seeds for the crops to grow, Baladeva ploughs the field of our hearts to prepare it to receive the seed of bhakti, and by His mace He subdues the opposing tendencies to help us surrender unto Bhagavān. That is why He is guru-tattva.
Krsna Bhakti Appears by His Mercy
BEGGING FOR MERCY
Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura has said in his kīrtana:
‘gaurāńga’ bolite habe pulaka-śarīra
‘hari hari’ bolite nayane ba’be nīra
āra kabe nitāi-cānder karuṇā hoibe
saḿsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuccha ha’be
When I attain the mercy of Baladeva (Nityānanda) then the desire for material enjoyment will become very insignificant, otherwise it won’t go. ‘viṣaya chāḍiyā kabe śuddha habe mana. When the mind becomes freed from material desires, it becomes completely purified.
MEANING OF VISAYA
Viṣaya means material sound, touch, form, taste and fragrance – by giving up these things and turning to the Lord, the mind will be cleansed.
KRSNA BHAKTI PURIFIES INTELLIGENCE
In another place Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says:
jñānī jīvan-mukta-daśā pāinu kari’ māne
vastutaḥ buddhi ‘śuddha’ nahe kṛṣṇa-bhakti vine
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 22.29)
[“There are many philosophical speculators [jñānīs] belonging to the Māyāvāda school who consider themselves liberated and call themselves Nārāyaṇa. But their intelligence is not purified unless they engage in Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service.]
vastutaḥ buddhi ‘śuddha’ nahe kṛṣṇa-bhakti vine – without kṛṣṇa-bhakti the intelligence can never become purified.
And Kṛṣṇa-bhakti will appear when one attains the mercy of Lord Nityānanda [Balarāma]. Through association we will gain some knowledge about Baladeva Prabhu – only then will our hearts be cleansed and we be able to attain our ultimate auspiciousness. Until Baladeva Prabhu ploughs the field of our hearts, making us qualified to attain kṛṣṇa-bhakti, it is not possible.
Mercy in Disguise
Nityānanda Prabhu also used to wear a variety of ornaments and fine silken clothing of different shades. Upon seeing Him people would remark that such an appearance doesn’t suit Him.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NITYĀNANDA PRABHU’S OUTER APPEARANCE
Likewise, once a co-student of Caitanya-deva approached Him and complained about Nityānanda’s [unusual] appearance; Caitanya-deva replied, “The ornaments adorned by Nityānanda are [representative of] navadhā-bhakti [the nine-fold process of devotional service]. Please go and pray to Him for mercy, otherwise, inauspiciousness will prevail for you.”
Nityānanda takes so many forms for the eternal welfare of the conditioned souls. Is there anyone else in the history like Him? Without the mercy of Nityānanda, the heart will not transform.
No Entrance in Vrndavan without His Mercy
EXAMPLE FROM PRAYERS OF SRILA NAROTTAM THAKURA
Didn’t Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura come to Vṛndāvana? He received dīkṣā from Śrīla Lokanātha Gosvāmī in Vṛndāvana itself. He also performed parikramā of Vraja-maṇḍala, despite all this he says, kabe hāma herabo śrī-vṛndāvana’—when will I have darśana of Vṛndāvana? In this way Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura showed us the process of attaining [real] darśana of Vṛndāvana. Simply by residing in Vṛndāvana and continuing to engage in sense gratification, one will not get to see [the real] Vṛndāvana.
Only by the mercy of Balarāma can we get entrance into Vṛndāvana. When the mind is cleansed of all material desires then one will have darśana of Śrī Vṛndāvana.
How to Access His Mercy?
HUMBLE SUBMISSION IS THE PRE-REQUISITE
EXAMPLE OF SRILA RUPA GOSVAMI
We have to remember the utterances of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in humility:
adharo ‘py aparadhanaṁ
aviveka-hato ‘py aham
tvat-karuṇya-pratikṣo ‘smi
prasīda mayi madhava
Stava-mālā (Volume 1, Praṇāma-praṇaya-stava 14)
[Although I am a mine of offenses, and although I cannot tell right from wrong, I still hope for Your mercy. O Mādhava, please be merciful to me.]
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī addresses himself as a dustbin (kudā-dāna) of faults and defects. Is he really a dustbin?
EXAMPLE OF SRILA KRSNADAS KAVIRAJ GOSVAMI
Similarly, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī said:
jagāi mādhāi hôite muñi se pāpiṣṭha
purīṣera kīṭa hôite muñi se laghiṣṭha
mora nāma śune ĵei tāra puṇya kṣaya
mora nāma laya ĵei tāra pāpa haya
[I am more sinful than Jagāi and Mādhāi and even lower than a worm in stool. The pious activities of that person who hears my name are completely destroyed. Anyone who utters my name commits a sin. ]
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 5.205-206)
So should we not take his name because he has ordered us not to do so? It is very difficult to reconcile.
EXAMPLE OF SRILA SANATANA GOSVAMI
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī said, “There is no greater fool than I. I do not know myself. I am a multi-linguist, I know Urdu, Farsi, Sanskrit, Bangla – I know all these languages, yet I am such a fool that I don’t know myself. And that is why I posed the question – who am I?” It is very difficult to comprehend such profound expressions of humility.
Nityananda as Ananga Manjari
In mādhurya-rasa, Nityānanda follows in the footsteps of Rādhārāṇi as a mañjarī, Anaṅga-mañjarī. To sequentially guide us to that stage, Nityānanda behaves accordingly; everything is there.
Reference:-
A discourse by Śrīla Bhakti Vijñāna Bhāratī Gosvāmī Mahārāja on August 10, 2014
https://www.visuddhacaitanyavani.com/single-post/2018/08/25/sri-baladeva-purnima
