Chapter Two: On the Way to Śrī Purī Dhām

A lecture by
His Divine Grace
Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj

Tomorrow you are going to a special place of pilgrimage. There you will see that the servitors of the Jagannāth Temple, known as pāṇḍās, hold a very special position. There is a saying, “If you love me, love my dog.” It means, if you love me, you will also show your love to my dog, and then I will know that you really love me. Lord Jagannāth has given the pāṇḍās the position of controllers there, so whatever they do, we have no say in that.

Mahāprasād is available all over the world, but in Jagannāth Kṣetra it is different. There the pāṇḍās don’t let just anyone go inside the Temple. They especially do not let anyone enter the Temple whom they consider to be low-class or mlechchhas. But when mahāprasād comes out of that very same Temple, then they will eat it out of the hands of the most low-class people, the mlechchhas. This means that they follow some customs. They follow a custom that was introduced by Lord Jagannāth.

Rāmānuja Āchārya wanted to break that custom, but what was the result of that? Rāmānuja Āchārya wanted the worship of Lord Jagannāth to be done in the vidhi-mārg. There are some rules and regulations in the Vedas, and especially in the Manu-saṁhitā, and he wanted the worship to be done in a bona fide way following these rules and regulations. He thought the way the pāṇḍās were doing the worship was not the customary way, the mantras they were using were not the right ones, and he wanted that the worship be done in the right way. All the scholars there were defeated by him. The next day, the final meeting was supposed to take place, and the King would have been forced to introduce the Vedic way of worship. While Rāmānuja Āchārya was sleeping that night, his bed was thrown three hundred miles away to Kūrma Kṣetra. In the morning, he wondered where he was and found that it was Kūrma Kṣetra. In those days there were no aeroplanes. It was not possible that someone chloroformed him at night and carried him away by aeroplane. But Rāmānuja Āchārya really saw that he was in Kūrma Kṣetra, with his whole entourage; Lord Jagannāth had transported them Himself. Lord Jagannāth also gave him a dream in which He told him, “The way I am being served here will continue. Please do not interfere. Go from here.”

It is hard to find accommodation in a special place like this. But by the influence of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj and the mercy of Lord Jagannāth, we found some accommodation there, and now we have been able to acquire a bit more space. Now Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s desires are fulfilled, so we can see that Lord Jagannāth has some special goodwill towards us. Before, I could not go there in spite of a lot of effort, but now Lord Jagannāth is dragging me there every now and then.

I do not know if tomorrow I will be able to go with you. I am praying to Lord Jagannāth because I know I will only be able to go if He takes me there, not otherwise. But He has attracted all of you. That is why you have all come here, and joining with the sādhus and the devotees of this Ashram, you have found the opportunity to go there. You see, money is needed in every situation in life. To survive and go through our daily lives, money is always spent. Yet money is not everything. There is no guarantee that if I have money I will be able to go. This is a truth that has been proved many times in my life. You all pray to Lord Jagannāth that He will take us safely there, and then bring us all back safely to where we are doing our respective sevā. This is our only prayer today. We have nothing else for which to pray.

We are not going sightseeing but we are going to a place of pilgrimage, a holy place. Going there will purify us — body, mind, and soul. We are going to the shore of the sea. Mahāprabhu has said, “From today this ocean has become a mahā-tīrtha.” As it is, the ocean is a great place of pilgrimage because the waters of all the holy rivers merge there. In addition to that, at the disappearance of Śrīla Haridās Ṭhākur, Mahāprabhu danced with his body in His arms, and when He bathed his body in the ocean, Mahāprabhu said, “From today the ocean has really become a great place of pilgrimage.” Why?

It is said in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam:

bhavad-vidhā bhāgavatās tīrtha-bhūtāḥ svayaṁ vibho
tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni svāntaḥsthena gadābhṛtā

Those who always carry Gadādhar, the Supreme Lord, in their heart — if they cannot purify the places of pilgrimage, then who can? They are places of pilgrimage personified, and they have no need to go on pilgrimage.

Then why do they go to places of pilgrimage? The really sinful people contaminate the places of pilgrimage. Everyone and everything has a particular capacity. We also have a particular capacity, that is, the burden of our sin is so great that even a place of pilgrimage cannot digest it. This is how a place of pilgrimage automatically becomes contaminated. At that time, the great personalities who carry the Supreme Lord in their heart appear there. As soon as they bathe in the holy water, the water becomes clean, as if a purifying agent has cleansed it. That is their natural capacity. Mahāprabhu has demonstrated the supreme example of this. Mahāprabhu said that the ocean at Purī became the greatest place of pilgrimage when He bathed the body of Haridās Ṭhākur there. Haridās Ṭhākur used to chant three hundred thousand Names of the Lord every day. He even purified the animate and inanimate environment around him when he chanted aloud. His purity was beyond question.

The Western devotees who have come to India will not be allowed to enter the Jagannāth Temple, but still they go there again and again because they are attracted by Mahāprabhu’s Pastimes in Jagannāth Dhām.

Of all the places, Mahāprabhu chose Jagannāth Dhām, which is non-different from Kurukṣetra. Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur has said that Kurukṣetra is the highest place of worship for us. Why? Where the hankering is greatest, that is the highest place of fulfilment. If you do not have hunger, you will not be able to enjoy even a sumptuous feast. If on the other hand you are starving, even rice with salt or spinach will taste like ambrosia. In my childhood I had malaria, and my doctor recommended something called ‘poḍer bhāt’. Do you know how poḍer bhāt is made? A little bit of rice is boiled over a fire that is fuelled with a few cow dung patties, and it takes a very long time to boil. So the rice was boiling for hours, and I was looking at it, thinking when will I be able to eat it.

This demand that comes from inside is the highest thing for us. This is called hankering, and this is rāgānugā-bhakti.

kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā matiḥ
krīyatāṁ yadi kuto ‘pi labhyate
tatra laulyam api mūlyam ekalaṁ
janma-koṭi-sukṛtair na labhyate

The kind of devotion which is Kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā matiḥ, in which one’s entire consciousness is soaked in the nectar of loving devotion for Kṛṣṇa, is not ordinary devotion. The demand of such love is also not a small demand.

The Lord Himself says:

sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham
mad-anyat te na jānanti nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api

The Lord is telling Durvāsā Muni, “There is nothing I can do. My pure devotees have bound Me with their love, and I have also bound them with My love. Thus, we are indebted to each other. I cannot be impartial.”

In more recent times Śrīpād Keśav Mahārāj said this: “I cannot be impartial because I have taken sannyās from Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj.” Śrīpād Keśav Mahārāj was a godbrother to our most worshippable Śrīla Guru Mahārāj. Before he took sannyās, he was a very famous and influential brahmachārī called Vinod Brahmachārī. When some brahmachārīs wanted to take over our Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s Maṭh, there was need for a mediator. So, they decided to request Śrīpād Keśav Mahārāj to become a mediator. When they went to Śrīpād Keśav Mahārāj with that request, he told them, “You are all my godbrothers, and so is Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj. But I have done something: I have taken sannyās from him. I have offered my head at his lotus feet. Therefore, I cannot be impartial. So, how can I be a mediator?”

Then they said, “Then you should know there will be bloodshed there. We are ready to give our lives.”

Hearing this, Śrīpād Keśav Mahārāj said, “If you are ready to give your lives, then someone there will also be ready to take your lives because I won’t be able to be impartial, as I have already sold myself to Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj.”

Then they went to Śrīpād Goswāmī Mahārāj, but still their purpose was not served. Śrīpād Goswāmī Mahārāj told them directly, “If you bring two Nepalis, I will bring fifty Sikhs. I have taken sannyās from Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj. Therefore, I am indebted to him.”

The Supreme Lord is indebted to His devotees in the same way. He cannot be impartial.

mayi nirbaddha-hṛdayāḥ sādhavaḥ sama-darśanāḥ
vaśe kurvanti māṁ bhaktyā sat-striyaḥ sat-patiṁ yathā

Kṛṣṇa says, “My devotees charm Me with their sevā. Their only demand is to serve Me. They don’t want anything else.” If in the process of sevā, they feel some joy or happiness, then they think they have committed some offence; they feel they are probably in the mood of enjoyment. Just to see that, Kṛṣṇa gives them a lot of sevā. He gives them so much sevā that they become intoxicated with it. Kṛṣṇa thinks, “What is this? Rādhārāṇī becomes so ecstatic by seeing Me? What is the depth of that ecstasy? How can I measure it? I cannot measure it because I cannot become Rādhārāṇī.” Then,

śrī-rādhāyāḥ praṇaya-mahimā kīdṛśo vānayaivā-
svādyo yenādbhuta-madhurimā kīdṛśo vā madīyaḥ
saukhyañ chāsyā mad-anubhavataḥ kīdṛśaṁ veti lobhāt
tad-bhāvāḍhyaḥ samajani śachī-garbha-sindhau harīnduḥ

[“‘What is that great glory of Śrī Rādhā’s love? What is My extraordinary loving sweetness and charm that Śrī Rādhā enjoys? And what is the joy Śrī Rādhā feels by experiencing My sweetness and charm?’ Yearning to taste these three sentiments, the moon — Kṛṣṇachandra — was born from the ocean of the womb of mother Śachī.”]

In order to taste Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s highest rasa of vipralambha, Mahāprabhu went to Jagannāth Dhām, which is Kurukṣetra. Why? Because there Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is thinking, “My Lord is tearing My heart apart.” Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī knows that Kṛṣṇa is Her life and soul. But there She sees that He is surrounded by His children, friends, relatives, and queens, and they are all swarming over the whole place. She is just a simple milkmaid who would generally not be given any attention in such a royal gathering. But they gave Her attention, and in a very special way. They requested Her to show them the Rāsa Dance, which is performed only in Vṛndāvan. When they saw that, they were amazed. They said, “We have never experienced anything so wonderful.” Then Rādhārāṇī smiled. She said, “What have you seen? You have seen a headless body, a dead thing. You have not seen the real thing: that you can see only in Vṛndāvan. Where is that Yamunā? Where are the groves of kadamba trees? Where is the chirping of the peacocks and parrots? And where is the Lord of our hearts, Kṛṣṇa, who plays the flute and herds the cows? None of those things are here, so how can you see the Rāsa Dance here? What you have seen is the shadow. If you want to see the real thing, you have to go to Vṛndāvan.”

On another occasion Kṛṣṇa told Uddhava what the highest fulfilment of bhakti is:

na tathā me priyatama ātma-yonir na śaṅkaraḥ
na cha saṅkarṣaṇo na śrīr naivātmā cha yathā bhavān

[“My dear Uddhava, even Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Lord Saṅkarṣaṇ, the Goddess of Fortune Lakṣmī Devī, and indeed My own self are not as dear to Me as you are.”]

But Uddhava himself was thinking:

āsām aho charaṇa-reṇu-juṣām ahaṁ syāṁ
vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām
yā dustyajaṁ svajanam ārya-pathaṁ cha hitvā
bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām

When Uddhava went to Vṛndāvan, he was so charmed by seeing the gopīs’ love, their devotion, their attraction, and their affection for Kṛṣṇa, that he said, “For life after life, I only desire one thing: I want to become a speck of dust in Vṛndāvan. Not only that, I want to be one of those who are worthy of receiving that dust, the plants and creepers of Vṛndāvan, and live here for all eternity. Here in the land of Vṛndāvan, Kṛṣṇa has performed His Pastimes, and His companions, the gopīs, also roam around here. If I can be born as a small creeper so that I may get the dust of their lotus feet on my head, that will be my highest fortune.”

Such are the glories of Kṛṣṇa, and the intense feeling of separation from Him — vipralambha. Mahāprabhu has shown us the highest limit of that vipralambha in Śrī Nīlāchal Dhām.

Śrī Gadādhar Paṇḍit, who kept Mahāprabhu in the depths of his heart and performed the supreme sevā, also lived there. Mahāprabhu took sannyās and went to Jagannāth Purī, and by His desire Lord Gopīnāth became manifest. When you go to Purī, you will all see Lord Gopīnāth there. Both the feelings of Mahāprabhu and the feelings of Gadādhar Paṇḍit were described in a beautiful śloka by our Śrīla Guru Mahārāj:

nīlāmbhodhi-taṭe sadā sva-virahākṣepānvitaṁ bāndhavaṁ
śrīmad-bhāgavatī kathā madirayā sañjīvayan bhāti yaḥ
śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ sadā sva-nayanāśru-pāyanaiḥ pūjayan
gosvāmi-pravaro gadādhara-vibhūr bhūyāt mad-ekā-gatiḥ

The lotus feet of Gadādhar Paṇḍit are our sole treasure. He resided by the ocean of vipralambha which was manifest by his life and soul, Lord Gaurāṅga, who took everything from him. Mahāprabhu was suffering separation from Kṛṣṇa, and His feelings of separation were so intense that sometimes His body became elongated, sometimes He retracted His limbs like a tortoise, and sometimes His joints became separated.

So, Mahāprabhu, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, suffered intense separation from Kṛṣṇa, and He was enlivened by hearing topics about Lord Kṛṣṇa from Gadādhar Paṇḍit. When a person is in intense grief, what does he do? He becomes blinded by his grief, and he cannot decide how he will find some peace, so he drinks alcohol. Śrī Gadādhar Paṇḍit provided such intoxication for Mahāprabhu by enlivening Him with the intoxicating topics of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. This is how he served the Lord of his heart.

And how were Gadādhar Paṇḍit’s own feelings of separation? He is seeing that his beloved Lord is in front of him, and his Lord is suffering so intensely that He is becoming unconscious now and then. All the eight symptoms of separation can be seen in His body, such as perspiring, trembling, tears, becoming stunned, changing of bodily colour, etc., but there is nothing he can do about it. Lamenting this, continuous floods of tears flowed from his eyes.

Whenever Gadādhar Paṇḍit read the Bhāgavatam, he became so mad with feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa that his tears would wash away the letters on the page. The proof of this is, when Śrīnivās Āchārya came to him to study Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Gadādhar Paṇḍit told him, “My dear son, when I was reading Bhagavatam to Mahāprabhu, all the letters in my book were washed away. Therefore, I cannot now read to you from this book. Please find a book somewhere. Mahāprabhu instructed me in my dream, saying you were coming. But you need to have a book. I have memorised everything, but you need a book also.” Gadādhar Paṇḍit thus worshipped the Bhāgavatam with his tears. Is it necessary to have any ingredients to worship? One’s own tears are the best ingredients.

The lotus feet of this Gadādhar Paṇḍit are our ultimate destination. Our worshippable Deities are Gaura-Gadādhar, and the supreme demonstration of their vipralambha was seen in Nīlāchal Dhām.

In Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj has given such deep meanings of the ślokas of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and he has exposed such great inner wealth from them that it is beyond our imagination. When Mahāprabhu sees Lord Jagannāth in Ratha Yātrā, He prays like this:

āhuś cha te nalina-nābha padāravindaṁ
yogeśvarair hṛdi vichintyam agādha-bodhaiḥ
saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ
gehaṁ juṣaṁ api manasy udiyāt sadā naḥ

[“O lotus-navelled one, Your lotus feet, eternally held as the object of meditation within the hearts of the greatest yogīs of profound intellect, are the only resort for delivering those souls fallen into the well of material life. May those holy lotus feet graciously appear within the hearts of we ordinary household ladies.”]

And in Chaitanya-charitāmṛta we find these ślokas:

ānera hṛdaya — mana mora mana — vṛndāvana
‘mane’ ‘vane’ eka kari’ jāni
tāhā̐ tomāra pada-dvaya karāha yadi udaya
tabe tomāra pūrṇa kṛpā māni

[“Speaking in the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Chaitanya Mahāprabhu said, ‘For most people, the mind and heart are one, but because My mind is never separated from Vṛndāvan, I consider My mind and Vṛndāvan to be one. My mind is already Vṛndāvan, and since You like Vṛndāvan, will You please place Your lotus feet there? I would deem that Your full mercy.’”]

prāṇa-nātha, śuna mora satya nivedana
vraja — āmāra sadana tāhā̐ tomāra saṅgama
nā pāile nā rahe jīvana

[“My dear Lord, kindly hear My true submission. My home is Vṛndāvan, and I wish Your association there. But if I do not get it, then it will be very difficult for Me to keep My life.”]

pūrve uddhava-dvāre ebe sākṣāt āmāre
yoga-jñāne kahilā upāya
tumi — vidagdha, kṛpāmaya jānaha āmāra hṛdaya
more aichhe kahite nā yuyāya

[“My dear Kṛṣṇa, formerly, when You were staying in Mathurā, You sent Uddhava to teach Me knowledge and meditation. Now You Yourself are speaking the same thing, but My mind doesn’t accept it. There is no place in My mind for all these superficial things. You are artful and gracious, and You know well My heart — it does not befit You to speak to Me in this way.”]

nahe gopī yogeśvara pada-kamala tomāra
dhyāna kari’ pāibe santoṣa
tomāra vākya-paripāṭī tāra madhye kuṭināṭī
śuni’ gopīra āro bāḍhe roṣa

[“’The gopīs are not like the mystic yogīs. They will never be satisfied simply by meditating on Your lotus feet and imitating the so-called yogīs. Teaching the gopīs about so called meditation is another kind of duplicity. When they are instructed to undergo mystic yoga practices, they are not at all satisfied. On the contrary, they become more angry with You.’”] What intense feelings of separation the gopīs had! “What are You saying to whom?”

deha-smṛti nāhi yāra saṁsāra-kūpa kāhā̐ tāra
tāhā haite nā chāhe uddhāra

The gopīs are saying, “People worship You to be delivered from material existence, but that is not our kind of worship. We do not want to be delivered. We do not even remember our bodies. What do we care about material existence? And You are saying we will be delivered from material existence!”

“Āhuś cha Te Nalina-nābha padāravindaṁ yogeśvarair hṛdi vichintyam agādha-bodhaiḥ: those processes are only for people who want to be delivered. Your lotus feet are our only goal. Tāhā̐ Tomāra pada-dvaya, karāha yadi udaya, tabe Tomāra pūrṇa kṛpā māni.”

In Nīlāchal Dhām, there has been the utmost cultivation of such intense feelings of vipralambha.

chaṇḍīdāsa, vidyāpati rāyera nāṭaka-gīti
karṇāmṛta, śrī-gīta-govinda
svarūpa-rāmānanda-sane mahāprabhu rātri-dine
gāya, śune — parama ānanda

[“He also passed His time reading the books and singing the songs of Chaṇḍī Dās and Vidyāpati, and listening to quotations from the Jagannātha-vallabha-nāṭaka, Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta, and Gītā-govinda. Thus in the association of Svarūp Dāmodar and Rāmānanda Rāy, Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu passed His days and nights chanting and hearing with supreme ecstasy.”]

So tomorrow you are going to that place. Lord Jagannāth has attracted you by His mercy. We will all feel our goals fulfilled there, and if we can humbly offer ourselves, then we will become complete.

om pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udachyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

We may be very small, but He is infinite. If we can establish a relationship with the infinite, then just as when you subtract zero from zero, zero remains, similarly when you subtract infinity from infinity, infinity will remain. So, we can become complete. So, please go to Jagannāth Dhām with such feelings in your heart.

There is happiness and misery everywhere — at home and outside. I definitely know that you do not care too much about such things. But still, at times such feelings come to us because we have material bodies. This body is like a spoiled brat that does not like to tolerate any inconvenience. The more comfort it gets, the more comfort it wants. But comfort is our enemy. There is no need for such comforts in our life.

As elephants, we have eaten so many jungles, and our hunger was not satisfied. As pigs, we have eaten mountains of stool, and our hunger was not satisfied. For life after life we have searched for comfort, but we have not found it. So now, we must separate ourselves from such comforts and search for Lord Kṛṣṇa, the ocean of pleasure, the personification of all rasas. We can have Him in our vision by initiating ourselves in bhakti-yoga. This will fulfil our highest mission, and this should be the object of our greatest desire.

Please, you all go there with such desires in your heart. I am sure there will be some inconveniences. Our brahmachārī Prabhus are all very respectable and affectionate, and they will try their best to give you all facility, but still you may face some austerity.

Please go with such desires to Lord Jagannāth, that by His mercy He will appear in our vision, and He will give us the dust of His Holy Dhām, so that we can travel there. This is our only desire and prayer.

vañchha-kalpa-tarubhyaś cha kṛpā-sindhubhya eva cha
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ