Lecture: DAY 2
As I am watching HH Jaypataka Swami Maharaj, I am meditating on how Srila Prabhupada invested within the hearts of those who genuinely gave their lives in his service, such unbelievable relentless compassion. Literally, we read about it, about how a devotee, no impediment can interfere his or her enthusiasm to serve. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur ordered Srila Prabhupada to bring Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message to the western world; and whatever impediments came – poverty, 38 days in a cargo ship, heart attacks, sea sickness, alone in a foreign country, death threats – he kept preaching. He kept sharing Lord Caitanya’s message, because that was the order.

In parampara, Srila Prabhupad gave that order to Jayapataka Swami Maharaj. He had a major serious stroke, the type of stroke that is most devastating for any human being. And literally, as soon as he got out of his coma, while on his hospital bed, with tubes and ventilators, he was ready to preach. As soon as he could, as soon as the doctors allowed him, even if they didn’t allow him! Parts of his body have paralyzed, also it is difficult. We can see now, how many physical difficulties – he cannot walk, he cannot blink his eyes, not able to speak so well. And he is so much better than he was months ago. But then and now – doesn’t matter! He is eager to share Prabhupad’s message with everyone and anyone that will come in the world. And he is willing to go anywhere to share this message. This is Prabhupada’s glory and the glory of those who loved Srila Prabhupada. Thank you for showing us this, Maharaj!
Yesterday in Mumbai was Diwali and today in Bengal is Deepavali. So, we get to speak about it twice. We saw in then drama that beautiful lila that demonstrates how Sri caitanya Mahaprabhu is Lord Krishna Himself. Brajendra nandana jei saci suta hoilo sei, balarama hoilo nitai. Prabhupada often quoted from Narottam das thakur that the son of Nanda came as the son of Saci and Balarama came as Nityananda Prabhu. So, today the two of us are going to take turns speaking Lord Caitanya’s childhood lilas in honour of Divali.
When Nimai was just 4 months old, we spoke yesterday how He would cry, and nothing would pacify Him, until all the devotees, relatives and friends clapped their hands and chanted the holy names (Audience clap and chant the holy names). Haribol! And He would smile. When He would cry, it break their hearts, because everyone loved Him more than their own lives, more than they loved their own family members, their own children, more than they loved all their property, He is the Supersoul, the all attractive, and He was revealing His sweet beauty to these devotees’ hearts. They were intoxicated by seeing little Nimai. Although he was a tiny baby, His moonlike face, His lotus like eyes, His ruby lips, when He smiled upon them, it was a shower of ecstatic nectar that left them drowning in uncontrollable ecstasy. To see Him cry was worse than death. To see Him smile is the ultimate joy of life. So, throughout the day, people would be ready to run to His side to have kirtan, to make Nimai happy by chanting the holy names.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
In this way, from His infancy He established the yuga dharma of the congregational chanting of the holy names.
Now, we come to this pastime of when He was 4 months old. Saci devi is thinking, her very very helpless son, completely depending upon her. At this time, He had not even stand up and walk. He would be lying down. One day Saci mata left the house and nobody was around.

NIMAI BREAKS EVERYTHING AT HOME
One day Sachi Mata left the house and nobody was around, so little Nimai in the spirit of Gopal, no one was looking, he stood up and no one could see him. Then he ran over to a pot of ghee, picked it up and smashed it on the floor. Then he went to a pot of butter, threw it against the wall. Then he went to a pot of rice and started throwing the rice on the ceiling, on the floor, on the walls, then he saw a pot of dhal and started scattering it out all over the place. He was throwing everything everywhere. He was running all over the house. And Saci devi was coming back and he heard her foot prints and immediately he laid down in a helpless condition and began to cry. Saci devi hearing her child crying she ran in and saw him laying there, exactly in the same place she left him. She looked around and saw, all the food in the house was thrown everywhere. She started talking to the neighboring ladies and started asking, “What happened, how can this be?” Then they all started talking about it. They came to the conclusion that a demon must have come to kill Nimai, but because Nimai is so pious, and because the family has chanted so many mantras for his protection, the demons could not harm him, so they were so angry that they threw and broke everything in the house. And as they were speaking, Nimai was smiling. They began to chant special mantras, pour ganges waters on his limbs to protect him from further dangers.
 
NIMAI RESTS ON ANANTA SESA
One day Nimai was crawling he didn’t know how to walk yet. Such a wonderful thing. In Bhagavad Gita, Krsna tells “I am strength of strong, the intelligence of the intelligent. He is source of everything.” But for the pleasure of his devotees he assumes a role where he cannot walk. He is crawling like a child.
One day a serpent came into the courtyard of Jagannath Misra’s house. Little Nimai was very enthusiastic to welcome him. He crawled very fast and grabbed the serpent by the tail. The serpent couldn’t move, so the serpent coiled up and little Nimai, laid on top of his coils.
And very happily rested. When one of the family members comes out looking for Nimai and they see that he is laying in the coils of a monstrous snake. They cried out, “Hai Hai!” Then the rest of the family and neighbours came and saw little Nimai was laying on the coils of the serpent smiling. Looking at them with a big smile on his face. Glistening lotus like eyes as he was lying on this gigantic snake. They practically died. It was so much anguish. They all were helpless, afraid that if they approach, the snake might become very angry and may suffocate by squeezing Nimai or bite Nimai. So they didn’t know what to do. They felt so absolutely helpless. In that state they were thinking that Garuda is very expert at protecting devotees from snakes, so they all cried out “Garuda Garuda” But Garuda didn’t come and Nimai was sleeping on this snake. They were weeping, crying, fainting, falling unconscious, wailing. Actually this serpent was Ananta Sesa who came to witness Nimai’s pastimes. When he saw how much anxiety he was causing to all the relatives the serpent Ananta not wanting to cause any more anxiety slithered away. And as he was slithering away little Nimai was crawling very fast after him, and trying to grab his tail again. At that point the ladies of the house ran and grabbed little Nimai and put him on their laps and started chanting special mantras for his protection and thanking Lord Narayana for saving their child from such a fate. And meanwhile Nimai kept trying to escape and kept crawling after the snake and kept bringing him back again and again. Vrindavan Das thakur gives the blessing, that anyone with a faithful heart who sincerely hears this narration will be forever liberated from the vicious serpent of birth and death in this material world.
Jaypataka Maharaj was speaking how Krishna could lift the Govardhan hill, He could kill Aghasura, Putana, Trinavarta, Bakasura and yet because of the nature of the devotee’s love for Him, Krishna manifested His yoga maya potency and they could not understand that He was the supreme Lord. They still thought Him to be their child, their friend and how He needed them. This is the Madhurya bhava of Vrindavan. In vaikuntha every one understand the supreme power and the majesty of absloute truth, but in Vrindavan the supreme personality of Godhead appears very ordinary and simple, so that people could love Him, the devotees could love Him, spontaneously and intimately. That same lila was performed here in Navadvip. Little Nimai would daily sneak secretly into the houses of neighbors and butter and some times steal the rice. And if he couldn’t find anything to eat he would break everything he could see inthe house. One day He was caught, somebody grabbed Him. And little Nimai, that person who’s mere plenary portion killed Hiranyakasipu, killed Hiranyaksa, killed Kamsa, that same person fell at the feet of this simple Brahman, simple lady fell at her feet and started to cry. Said, “Please, please don’t tell my mother. Please let me go. I promise this.” His lips were trembling, his limbs were quivering, He said, “I promise you, I’ll never do it again, just give me one more chance and please let me go. Please don’t tell my mother.” This is the all powerful God. In the western scriptures we fear this God, who created plagues, destroys universes, throws thunderbolts and punishes the  sinners. But in Navadip Nimai is begging forgiveness for his sins. “I have sinned please forgive Me.”  But actually it is mercy, because he gave the greatest pleasure to these people the residents of Navadip, by claiming what was His. The ultimate perfection of everything we have is that Krishna accepts it, our intelligence, our abilities, whatever wealth or things we may have. Our power to speak, to see, to hear, to taste, everything is perfect when Krishna accepts the devotion in which it was offered. In this way Nimai was giving every one the opportunity to obtain the supreme perfection.
 
NIMAI PURIFIED THE THIEVES
Even one time there were two thieves, who were walking through the streets of Navadvip, looking for something to steal. Thieves means, this is their profession, to rob people. So they happen to see little Nimai, just wandering about all alone and saci mata put valuable ankle bracelets and wrist bangles upon him,. They were very much attracted. This is easy, valuable jewellery on a little child who is roaming about. But it was a crowded market place, they were very expert thieves. They said, “Oh little boy...we see that you are lost, we will bring you home. Please come we will take you home.” And little Nimai smiled and they put him on their shoulders and gave him a piece of sandesh, and he happily ate it. And they kept saying we will bring you home, you are lost we know where your home is my dear child. So  nobody suspected anything, they were  roaming through tthe crows in navadvip. Their intention was to bring him to their own hide out, where they would just take away everything from him and then just leave him. om apvitra.....whether one is purified or not purified or even having passed through every situation in life, one who remembers the beautiful lotus eyed supreme personality of Godhead becomes purified both within and without. They are giving little Nimai a ride. Little children like to get rides. Yes! They like to get rides on their parents’ shoulders; they like to get rides in amusement parks, and everything like that. In Vrindavan, Trinavarta gave Krishna a very exciting ride. He took Him up, up, up, way up, high high in the sky, higher than any airplane, higher than rocket ships go. And little Gopal was watching seeing the scenery. But when He got so high, He couldn’t see so much anymore. And He increased His weight – Trinavarta fell down and all his limbs were broken to pieces. And Gopal innocently was crawling around, as if he was wondering what happened. Similarly, these two thieves, they had intention to rob Him. He was happily having a ride and getting one after another after another sandesh from them. They didn’t know. They were making wonderful offerings. For most of us, for Krishna to accept our offering, we have to take bath, we have to get the proper foods, we have to prepare it, we have to put it on the altar, and chant certain mantras, and we have to have roper devotion and do the acaman, and the Lord will accept our offerings. And here, live, in person, Nimai was accepting their offerings immediately. Their lives were becoming perfect.
They were running, running, very secretly to their hiding place. Little Nimai covered them by His Yogamaya potency. And they thought that they had attained their hideout. And they said to Nimai, “Okay, we have brought You to home now.” They put Him down. They didn’t what Him to cry. And they were putting down. But they didn’t understand that it wasn’t their hideout. They brought Him right to Jagannath Misra’s house. Previous to this, all His relatives are looking for Nimai everywhere. They couldn’t find Him. They were asking people. Nobody knew where He was. He was just a small child. They were in so much anguish of separation. Now if they had a trace of inclination to think that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, would they be fainting, roaring about their child? How many of you have parents who worried about you? How many of you parents worried about your children? The parents’ worry about the safety of the child is something very very serious. Multiply that by tens and hundreds and trillions of times, and you have the way Jagannath misra, Saci and their relatives worried about Nimai, because of the intensity of their love. They were helpless not knowing  where He was, we can’t imagine what was going on in their hearts and minds. There are some yogis that by following this yoga system, you will achieve peace. But we find higher than peace, millions of times is to be in complete anxiety. Vrindavan – everyday devotees were in anxiety – when they saw Krishna in the coils in Kaliya, and when they saw Nimai laying on the coils of a big black snake. But the nature of this anxiety is their love. The Lord puts His devotees in this anxiety to intensify their love. So, they were looking, they didn’t know where else to look. Suddenly the thieves come right in front of the house and put Nimai down, and Nimai runs right into Jagannath misra’s house. And all the relatives cheering – Haribol! Haribol! What a miracle, Nimai has returned. And they were so happy celebrating His return.
Haribol, Haribol! What a miracle Nimai has returned. And they were so happy celebrating his return. Union and sepration. Separation makes union so sweet. This is the dynamics of the spiritual world. The Lord puts his devotees in different types of separation and anxieties to make the meetings even more intimate and sweeter. Meanwhile the thieves they were absolutely bewildered, “where are we? This is not our home. And all the relatives, the child is with his relatives again”. They were really in anxiety and as fast as they could they ran away fearful that they would be punished for trying to kidnap a helpless child. When they got away the thieves were thinking that it is only by Durgadevi’s mercy that they were able to escape. And they embraced each other. In the meanwhile, in the celebration of Nimai’s home coming, they asked “How did he get here?” Somebody said, “We say 2 men coming here with the child to the door step”. And Jagannath Misra and others got gifts of fine silk turbans to give rewards to those men. But they couldn’t find them. Then they asked little Viswambhar what happened. He replied, “I went to the Ganga and I got lost and I could not find my way home. But then 2 nice gentlemen picked me up and brought me right home. The Lord saw the good in them even though there wasn’t any good. He transformed their evil propensities into offerings that liberated their lives. Those 2 thieves achieved the perfection because they offered service that made Nimai very happy. This was Srila Prabhupada’s method to somehow or other engage people in Krsna’s service. When devotees go for book or prasadam distribution or harinaam sankirtan or other such methods into the public, whether people know what’s happening or not. Srila Prabhupada said that if someone even touches this book, because this book is non-different than Krsna, they will get purified. If someone just touches Prasad what to speak if they taste it or they like it, their spiritual life is so much flourishing. Its begun. I remember in America sometimes when in was travelling and preaching. I would always have Prasad to give it to people and sometimes people would not accept it because I looked to be strange and they didn’t know what the food is, so sometimes I would trick them and say that my mother had personally made this for me and tell me to share it with my friends. Then how could they refuse when my mother made it everyone would take it when I said that. And actually we called all the lady devotees our mother and I would specifically have my god-sisters cook so that I could say my mother cooked it for me. Because we have to be honest also. Srila Prabhupada said that somehow or other we have to get them interested in Krishna Consciousness.
Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, he would calculate the effect of a particular article according to how many times the names of Krsna are mentioned. Preaching means to somehow or other engage people in appreciating Krsna. Somehow or other connecting people to Krsna. And we can transform even if somebody is eating for sense gratification, they get purified dif we give them Prasad.
Nimai liberated those 2 thieves and taught us His divine method of somehow or the other connecting them by engaging them in Krishna Consciousness.
I am scheduled to sing Damodarashtaka, today, so I must run away from you...tomorrow H.H.Jayapataka Swami Maharaj will be departing for Hyderabad. He has taken so much trouble, he the came all the way from Bombay just to give us his association. we are so deeply and moved by your kindness maharaj. We will  pray for you for your improved health. Let us all offer our gratitude to Srila Jayapataka Maharaj by saying Haribol. (Devotees loudly chant HARIBOL!!!). So while we are being given the blessed opportunity to offer the flame of our sincere desire to serve Sri Sri Radha Madhava with love and devotion. Whatever little spark may be there, “Krishna surya sama..” devotional service can illuminate darkness of ignorance with the desire to serve the supreme lord. Today is diwali is the festival, where the flame of our intention to serve the lord with love from within our hearts being nourished by the ghee of our sincerity to hear the glories of the lord, chant the names and the glories of the lord, associate with the devotees of the lord, worship the deity of the lord, serve the holy dham, it will make that light become brighter and brighter and brighter. And all the darkness of ignorance and ego will naturally be dispelled by the positive transcendental grace of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Thank you very much.