Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!
Date: August 21st, 2010 - Dvadasi
Verse: Special class on Jhulan Yatra
Speaker: HH Jayapataka Swami
________________________________________
mukam karoti vacalam
pangum langhayate girim
yat-krpa tam aham vande
sri-gurum dina-taranam
paramananda madhava
sri caitanya isvaram
hari om tat sat
Special class on Jhulan Yatra
I don't know if I can speak for one hour on this but I will try.
Some appropriate verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam should be selected.
[Devotee: You want it know?]
So in India this Jhulan Yatra is a very important festival. It is done in
the rainy season. In India it is the rainy season. So here in the rainy
season it is a bit humid and sticky. At that time we like to have a little
breeze. So the idea is that swinging Radha Krishna will create a breeze. In
different parts of Vrindavan they observe the Jhulan Yatra. Some do for
thirteen days, some do for four days - all different. According to
Prabhupada's instruction we start yesyerday on Ekadasi and we go until the
Purnima. How many of you went the Jhulan Yatra at the Gurukul? So many
didn't go there. …You should go . It is a good opportunity to do some
personal seva for the Deities. There is lights all the way. You may think
it for some wedding or something. No. It is for the Jhulan Yatra. Radha
Madhava Ki Jai!
Raharani went to meet her parents. Her father is the King of the Varsana
Hill and Her mother as the Queen. So His name was Vrsabhanu and her name
was Kirtida. Vrsabhanu and Kirtida. Her brother was Sridama. She went to
her home to see her mother and father at the time of Jhulan Yatra. In the
lila when She is in parikiya rasa She externally has a mother-in-law and
sister-in-law. Jotila was the mother-in-law an she said, "No. No. You
shouldn't go." Then Radharani was crying, "I want to go and see My mother
and father." Some gifts were sent to here by Vrsabhanu Maharaja. So she
gave these gifts to Jotila. Jotila was happy to get all these gifts. So she
said, "Okay. You can go just for a short time. And watch out for that
black-faced boy of Nandagram, Krishna! He always creates some problems.
Watch out for him."
Then no one was coming to pick her up and She can't go alone. "Oh they
forgot Me, they forgot Me!" Then the news was given to Vrsabhanu Maharaj
and Kirtida. So they sent Sridama right away. "Bring your sister here." So
She was so happy to see Her father and mother. They embraced Her and were
very happy. So Krishna gave in some disguise. So Radharani was sitting on
the swing alone and He was pushing Her. So He began to push Her very
strongly. She was always taking shelter of Krishna in danger. So She
shouted, "Krishna! Krishna save Me!" Then Krishna came and sat by her side.
She embraced Krishna. So Krishna likes this festival because Radharani hugs
Him out of Her own desire. Otherwise He has to do so many tricks to get
Radharani to embrace Him. In this festival She does it naturally.
So this is the Jhulan festival. We get a chance to pull the Deity everyday.
Actually swing festival is observed in various temples around the world.
Iskcon observes, apart from Iskcon other temples also have a swing festival
but the tradition within Iskcon is that everybody gets a chance to swing
Radha and Krishna. So this great opportunity to do some personal seva to
the Deities. Although we see the Deity we may not be able to do some
service. Only the pujaris do. In Jhulan yatra we can pull the Deities, we
can swing Them. Aren't you happy to do this service? [Haribol] Whether you
are initiated or not initiated, whether you are man or woman, young or old,
everybody gets a chance to swing the Deities. [Haribol!] So this is a very
nice festival. You found the sloka? Tenth canto.
So one year I took the safari group and we went to Vrindavan. So I thought
it takes about one month to go by foot but in jeep it was covered in a
week. So when we got to Varsana then we couldn't proceed further. We felt
so blissful there that we spent two days there. There at the village of
Citra devi we lived there for one day. There the monkeys come in a queue
and they drink buttermilk. So the main person of the village he invited all
of the safari devotees and he personally gave them this buttermilk to
drink. There we hade darsan of Krishna kund. We saw the Madhumangal's
meeting place baithak (?) it is called, sitting place. We also went to the
temple of Radha and Krishna doing the peacock dance. They say the picture
was painted four hundred years ago by a blind artist. You may wonder how
can a blind man make such a beautiful painting. They don't allow anyone to
take a photo. So we heard the pastime how Radharani and the gopis They
watched a peacock dance. So Krishna said, "You are not watching Me? Will
you watch Me? You are watching a peacock!" "The peacock is dancing. You are
not dancing." So He went and started dancing with the peacock. So how is
that Radharani said, "All right you are dancing but the peacock is better."
So then Krishna danced again. He said, "How is that?" So Radharani said,
"Well You did better but still the peacock is better than You." Then He
really danced so nice that Radharani also danced with Him. So She took the
role of peahen and He danced like a peacock.
Radheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Syam!
So we heard to many pastimes. We went to the forest. So they say that those
who build a house they will live eternally on this. So we all built a
little house there. [Question: Where they live eternally?]
There was a house and they say that Radharani used to stay in that house
sometimes. So there one poor brahamana came. He said, "I want to marry my
daughter but I have no money to give as dowry." So Krishna said, "I am a
poor cowherd boy. I don't have anything. I only have Radharani. So you can
have Her." So all the gopis said, "Oh no!!!" How can you give Radharani?"
So He said, "Well you can buy Her back in Her weight in gold." So they put
Radharani on one side of the scale and all the gopis they started taking
out all their golden bangles and so much gold appeared. They put all the
gold until Radharani became lighter. Then Krishna told the poor brahamana,
"You can take all this gold." Like that so many pastimes are there.
Then we went to the temple in Varsana, the temple of Radha and Krishna.
There is Varsana Hill and across, some distance is Nandagram…so much to
see, so much to hear. I can tell you al the pastimes. Just a few!
So this Jhulan Yatra is a festival that Krishna personally observes. And He
enjoys it very much. So we get a chance to swing the Lord and Radharani
every year. Actually we get three chances here in Mayapur. We get five days
now and when the Deity goes in the Prabhupada lake for chandan yatra. At
that time They sit and again we can swing Them there also. And again during
the last five days of the Gaura Purnima festival we also for one or two
days we do the swing festival. So like this we get extra chances.
Maharaj Prataparudra was a great king but he swept the road in front of
Lord Jagannath. So when Lord Jagannath saw he was doing some seva then He
was very pleased with the Maharaj. So although He said He would not meet
any Maharaj as they were in the mode of passion. But He gives special mercy
to Prataparuda Maharaj because he did service. So we all have a chance. We
can do some service and by doing a little service we get such mercy. So we
should be eager to take up any opportunity to do service.
In the Brahma-samhita it says the goddesses of fortune they are busy
cleaning the stones, the roads, the streets in Vaikuntha. There is not much
dirt in Vaikuntha but the Laxmis want to show the Lord that they are
serving Him.
In our Krishna consciousness movement we get a chance to do some personal
service for the Lord. This is called bhakti-yoga. We do japa, making flower
garlands, we cook for the Lord, we dress the Lord. We do all kinds of
service. So one of our services is to do the Jhulan. You see in bhakti yoga
there are different chances to do service - snan yatra, we bathe the Lord
Jagannath. Many people come to bathe the Lord. On the appearance day of
Radha and Krishna we do some bathing. On Janmastami we bathe the Lord. On
Radhastami we bathe the divine couple, on Ratha yatra we pull the Lord.
[Guru Maharaj we found some descriptions of the rainy season. We couldn't
find in particular jhulan yatra.] So in the system of bhakti yoga we use
our senses to serve the Lord.
hrsikena hrsikesa-
sevanam bhaktir ucyate
[Madhya 19.170]
We use our sense to serve the master of the senses.
sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hrsikena hrsikesa-
sevanam bhaktir ucyate
[Madhya 19.170]
So we like to use our senses to serve the Lord. We should take prasad with
that in mind. We should not take it thinking that it is ordinary food. We
should take it that this was tasted by Krishna. If you want to advise the
cook you should not do it in front of the prasad. Maybe he put too much
salt or no salt or something - whatever. We tell that separate away. In
front of prasad we should offer respect. We should think that this is holy
food. So like that there are a lot of rules we should observe. Seva
aparadhas or service offences. I just told Gauridas and Rupa Goswami's
disappearance day, tirubhava mahotsava.
Gauridas was a friend of Krishna from Krsnalila. He had come down to this
earth to participate with Lord Krishna as Gauranga. So he had an asrama in
Ambika Kalna. There he asked Gaura Nitai to please stay. But They said,
"How can we stay here. We have to go. We have to see various devotees." He
said, "You are my friends. You should stay." "But We cannot stay. We have
to go." "So give me a deity of Yourselves." So They said, "Well We never
gave any Deities before." He said, "Don't cheat me. I want a deity or You
stay here." "I will give to him." So the brought a carpenter and he carved
two Deities. So when the deities were finished he said, "So these deities
are non different from You?" "Yes." "Let Them go and You stay." But Lord
Nitai Gaura, They raised their hands. [Haribol] They became the deity and
They began moving and started to leave. Gauridasa said, "No you please
stay. Let Them go." "Okay and They became the Deities. And the deities
began moving. He said to the deities, you stay, "Okay." So they raised
Their hands and became Them and the other started to leave. And Gauridasa
could not keep up. So he said, "Okay okay!" So still you can see the Gaura
Nitai deities in Kalna about forty or so kilometers south of Navadvip.
There is another pastime with Rupa Goswami. Rupa is ninth gopi, navam gopi.
We worship asta sakhi. So he is the ninth. So he is a very advanced devotee
and he was in charge of the whole sampradaya after Lord Caitanya He
gave...So it was a big loss when he left the world. So there in the Radha
Govinda temple they have a ...puja. So it says Srinivasa acarya he was
there about this time. He got in time just to see the festival of Rupa
Goswami's departure. That is another story. Rupa Goswami, he wrote many
books for us. He gave us Bhakti-rasmrta-sindhu that has been translated by
Srila Prabhupada as the Nectar of Devotion. Lord Caitanya instructed Rupa
Goswami for about eleven days at Prayag ghat - Dasasvamedha ghat. So we
pray at the lotus feet of Rupa Goswami for his mercy -
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau;
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
[Haribol] So everybody who hasn't already taken some grain should take some
grain by 9.30am. [Dvadasi] So I will take some questions.
Question: Guru Maharaj. As Gaudiyas we know that jhulan means Srimati
Radharani but especially in Bengal there are maximum grhastas they do with
Gopal and somethings there. In many, many houses they do. Even some of our
namahatta devotees they do. So can you instruct us a little bit?
HH Jayapataka Swami: As I said in different temples around India they
observe swing festival. Even in Tirupati they swing Balaji but especially
these days are for Radha and Krishna. Krishna is more pleased that you
swing Him with Radharani. So we should take the chance, take the
opportunity to observe Jhulan yatra at this time with Radha and Krishna.
But if some namahatta only has Gopal deity they swing Gopal. But where we
have Radha and Krishna we always like to observe with Radha and Krishna.
Sri Radheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Syam.
Question: Dear Guru Maharaj I heard once that Srila Rupa Goswami was a
nitya siddha and Sanatan was sadhana siddha. Is that true? Is there any
difference after becoming fully realized between a nitya siddha and a
sadhana siddha? Please explain.
HH Jayapataka Swami: I heard that Sanatan Goswami came from the spiritual
world and also Rupa Goswami. Sanatan Goswami joined the lila here. So we
have to join the lila somewhere in some universe. Then from this universe
we can go back to Godhead, can go to Goloka Vrindavan. Or we can go
directly to Vaikuntha. But if we want to go to Goloka we need to join the
lila somewhere. Anyway, where I heard this about Sanatan Goswami I don't
remember. That is in the research department to see if it is bona fide or
not.
Those who have come from the spiritual world like Swarup Damodar - Lalita,
they never fall. They are internal potency. Others get fallen but then they
get liberation. That is the difference. So the internal potency is much
greater but in the lila … see the difference. So thank you very much.
Haribol. See you tonight at the Jhulan yatra.
[I heard this beautiful class and was enlivened. So I transcribed it for
the pleasure of you all. Your servant, Madri dasi[GRS] - Johannesburg,
South Africa]
No comments:
Post a Comment