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Parikrama To Bhuvanesvara

BY SRILA BHAKTIVEDANTA NARAYAN GOSVAMI MAHARAJA

INDIA, Oct 28 (VNN) — Sri Jagannatha Puri, Purusottama-ksetra: October 6, 2001 (p.m.)

[On October 5th Srila Maharaja lead 600 pilgrims, who had come from various parts of India and around the world, on a parikrama throughout Bhuvanesvara.

Afterwards, in his class the next day, he discussed further the glories of Bhuvanesvara. Before beginning his class, however, Srila Maharaja gave an explanation of Srila Locana dasa Thakura's song, Elo Gaura Rasa-nidhi:]

This land is a barren land. The world is barren, and it is always hot like a desert. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy is like an ocean of rasa, and from that ocean many clouds have come in the persons of Sri Raya Ramananda, Sri Svarupa Damodara, and others. The mercy of Sri Nityananda Raya is like the favorable winds that help the clouds come nearer, and Sri Rupa Gosvami and his followers are showering the rain-water here and there.

Today [in Jagannatha Puri, during the parikrama festival] the sky is full of heavy clouds and there is no certainty when rain will come. For the past few days it has been continually raining, day and night, so much so that you could not take prasadam here [under the pandal, which had collapsed from the weight of the rainwater collected above it]. The devotees in the line of Sri Rupa Gosvami are like this, in the sense that they are showering Mahaprabhu's mercy.

Advaita Acarya called Mahaprabhu, "O, you should come at once and be merciful to the world." His calling is therefore compared with the thunder.

Locana dasa Thakura, the author of this song, concludes, "Mahaprabhu is very merciful, but I am very unfortunate. Not a single drop has fallen upon me."

[Srila Maharaja then gave his class, partly in Hindi and partly in Bengali, and then he called upon Sripad Ramacandra dasa Adhikari to translate:] Yesterday we went to Bhuvanesvara, and in Srimad Bhagavatam we have a katha regarding this place: There was a demonic king named Paundraka, and He was very envious of Krsna. He had heard that Krsna is Vasudeva Himself, and He often manifested four hands. This demon thus added two artificial hands to his body, became four-handed, and exclaimed, "I am the real four-handed Vasudeva, not this Krsna who lives in Dvaraka." He challenged Krsna, "I am the real Vasudeva. You should come and fight with me."

Paundraka Vasudeva was friends with the king of Kasi. In India the king of Kasi is called Kasi-Naresa. Kasi-Naresa was a very dedicated devotee of Lord Siva. When Krsna was coming to meet his challenge, 'Paundraka Vasudeva' invited his friend, "O Kasi-Naresa, please come and fight together with me against Krsna." During the battle, Krsna sent His Sudarsana cakra which cut off the head of Paundraka Vasudeva. It also cut off the head of Kasi-Naresa, and then it burnt the whole of Kasi. [The above narration is also given, in great detail, in Srila Prabhupada's Krsna book, chapter 66.] Kasi is the abode of Lord Siva, the worshipable deity of Kasi-Naresa, and after burning Kasi, Sudarsana cakra began chasing after Lord Siva.

Lord Siva became very perturbed and fearful. Of course, Lord Siva and Krsna can never be opposed to each other. Siva is a great devotee of Krsna, but he performs many pastimes for the glory of Krsna in which he apparently supports His enemies. In this way Siva now began running, leaving everything and forgetting everything. Where his trident went, he did not know. Where his deerskin went, he did not know. Where Parvati was, he did not know. He was simply running to save his life. He remembered those days when his manifestation Durvasa was similarly fearful when chased by Sudarsana cakra. Lord Siva came all the way from Kasi to this place, Bhuvanesvara, where Krsna was residing in the form of Ananta Vasudeva. Lord Siva took shelter of Ananta Vasudeva, and Ananta Vasudeva told him not to worry. After Sudarsana became calm, Lord Siva said, "I want to take your shelter. I want to serve you and I want to stay with you." The Deity of Ananta Vasudeva then gave him this place and told him, "All right. Stay near to me here in Bhuvanesvara."

This was one katha of Bhuvanesvara, and another is as follows: One day Lord Siva was glorifying the beauty and greatness of this place, and Parvati was hearing from him. There is a pond here called Rohini-sarovera, and a person once fell into it and apparently died. The moment he left his body, however, he assumed a four-handed form and Garuda came and took him on his shoulders to Vaikuntha. This is the strength and potency of this place in Bhuvanesvara, and it is presently called Kantil.

Somewhat far away from here is the abode of Nila-Madhava, where a similar incident took place. A crow fell down in the sarovara by the Deity's temple, and that crow instantly emerged with a four-handed form, and was also carried by Garuda to Vaikuntha. This whole area of at least forty miles radius is thus very potent.

After hearing this glorification, Parvati began roaming here, desiring to see the holy places, and she happened to learn of a very large Siva-linga.

We took darsana of that linga, whose name is Lingaraja. Lingaraja is not merely a Siva-linga. He is really a linga of Hari-hara, Visnu and Siva together. We see in Navadvipa, where they also live together, that Hari-hara has three divisions. On one side is Hari, who is white, on the other side is Lord Siva, who is black, and in between there are three cracks representing Ganga, Yamuna, and Sarasvati. In Navadvipa that beautiful place is called Hari-hara-ksetra. [Lord Siva and Lord Visnu, Hari are clearly separated by color and slightly by form, but at this place in Bhuvanesvara the Panda has to show you which side is Lord Siva and which is Lord Visnu because the entire linga is dark and has a nonspecific shape.]

Once Parvati found one thousand very beautiful white cows, and they began oozing milk from their udders onto this Lingaraja. Parvati was very satisfied with them because Krsna loves cows, and the cows were doing abhiseka of the linga, which is also Lord Visnu.] She started herding those cows and became like a gualini, cowherd girl. Gradually, she and the cows entered a very beautiful garden, which later became known as Ekamrakanana.

This is the place where Siva left his trident and deerskin, and where he didn't know where Parvati was, when he ran away from the Sudarsana cakra.

Ananta Vasudeva Mandira and other important places were not visible at that time as they are now. These places were simply in the form of forests, and Parvati was enjoying the beauty of those areas.

Meanwhile, two very cruel demons, called Krti and Vas, became attracted to Parvati. They approached and began disturbing her, proposing themselves to her. She had been absorbed in the glory of this place, but now she remembered her husband, Lord Siva. Lord Siva immediately appeared and asked, "What is the problem?"

Parvati replied, "I am fascinated by the beauty of this place, and I don't want to leave. But these two demons are disturbing me. What should I do?"

Lord Siva said, "These demons are very powerful because they have received many benedictions. They cannot be killed so easily, even by me. Yet, their time has come to be killed, and they will be killed by you. Now you should make an arrangement so that they can be killed."

Then, in the form of that cowherd girl, Parvati told the demons, "All right, I'm ready to accept your proposal, but I want to put a condition. You will have to fight each other, and whoever is victorious shall be me. He can put me on his shoulder and in this way help me to roam about this place." Hearing her words, both brothers began fighting with each other. This is what is happening in this world. Maya is making each and every person fight.

This is illusion. Maya, or in this case Parvati, is nothing but a death blow for both of them, but still they are fighting for her. When neither could defeat the other, Parvati said, "Stop fighting. It's enough. I will put my feet on both of your shoulders; so don't worry."

She then put her feet on both of their shoulders, increased her weight, and thus became Bhuvanesvari. She is Bhuvanesvari and Lord Siva is Bhuvanesvara.

When she increased her weight the demons were crushed down and killed. After this she was tired, because killing the demons had taken a lot of exertion.

She lay down and told Lord Siva, "I'm very thirsty. Can you please arrange some water for me?"

Lord Siva created a very beautiful pond by his trident, but there was no water in it. He then invited all the personified pilgrimage places to come, and when they came he told them, "You should each give one drop of water to this pond." In Hindi, 'drop' is called bindu, and thus this beautiful pond became known as Bindu-sarovara. Lord Siva and Parvati both took bath in that pond, and Parvati gave the benediction that whoever takes bath in it will have the darsana of Ananta Vasudeva. He will get the mercy of the Lord.

I don't think Vrndavana or Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda were among the pilgrimage places to have gone there. The pilgrimage places went there, but Vrndavana, Radha-kunda, and Syama-kunda are not pilgrimage places. They are the dhama of Krsna Himself.

In this way, this place has now become Bindu-sarovara. There is a very big mountain in India, called Himalaya. If we take the first part of the word Himalaya, 'hi', and the last part of the word bindu, 'indu', and combine them, it becomes 'Hindu'. Indians are called Hindus, which means those who live between the Himalaya mountains and Bindu-sarovara and are absorbed in the bhakti. This is the actual definition of 'Hindu'.

Lord Siva is the Dhamesvara here. He is protecting this place, and Ananta Vasudeva in Bhuvanesvara is the controller of Lord Siva. Wherever Krsna or one of His expansions have Their dhama, Siva is the protector. This is their relationship, and we should understand it.

[Srila Maharaja continued speaking, sometimes in Hindi, sometimes in Bengali, and sometimes in English. The following is a transcription of the English segments.]

[Srila Narayana Maharaja(now speaking about the holy place known as Cataka Parvata, which is very near by the Tota-Gopinatha mandira):] Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to see Cataka Parvata as Govardhana Hill.When Mahaprabhu saw this very beautiful place, He thought He was at Giriraja Govardhana, Vamsivata and Yamuna. He became overwhelmed and ran towards the parvat, calling, "Giriraja Govardhana! Giriraja Govardhana!"

hantayam adrir abala hari-dasa-varyo
yad rama-krsna-carana-sparasa-pramodah
manam tanoti saha-go-ganayos tayor yat
paniya-sunyavasa-kandra-kandamulaih

"O sakhis! This Giriraja Govardhana is the best of all the devotees of Sri Hari (Sri Harideva). How fortunate he is indeed! Have you not seen how elated he is to obtain the touch of the lotus feet of Sri Krsna, who is prana-vallabha, dearer to us than life, and those of Sri Baladeva who is nayanabhirama, the source of delight for the eyes? Who can adequately praise his fortune? Just see how graciously he receives all the cows and cowherd boyfriends of Krsna and Balarama. He supplies cool, clear and sweet water for bathing and drinking, soft green grass for the cows, caves for them to rest, and fruits and roots for them to eat. Truly, this Giriraja Govardhana is blessed." (Venu-gita, text 18)

Caitanya Mahaprabhu was singing this sloka in a beautiful way, absorbed in bhava.

In the next few days we will go to many places. We will again go to Gambhira, and we will also go to the well of Paramananda Puri, to Lokanatha, again to Haridasa Thakura's bhajana-kutira, and to other places as well. We may also go to take darsana of Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra, and everywhere our hari-katha will be done.

There is too much rain. This pandal is not sufficient for so much heavy rain. We never thought that this type of rain would come in this season.

This is not the rainy season, but somehow there was low pressure in the ocean and the season accidentally changed. I thought that we would sit on the sand, on the ocean beach, and that all our hari-katha would continue there. I never thought that any rain would come and disturb. I am sorry that today that you could not take mahaprasada here under the pandal. But don't be disturbed. Our purpose is served. Our purpose is to be in the land of Purusottama, in Purusottama month, and to hear hari-katha. Actually no one can be disturbed here. When there is any problem we will call Sankara or Jagannatha-deva.

A certain monkey is also here. Hanuman is here. Jagannatha has told Hanuman, "There is no difference between myself and Ramacandra. You should always remain here. And if the ocean advances, roaring with waves and sand, you should be situated here and stop the sea from coming towards Jagannatha Mandir." Jagannatha ordered Hanuman to stay because sand often came and covered all of Puri. The first time the sand came and covered the temple of Jagannatha was at the time of Maharaja Indradyumna.

Hanuman stayed, but after some time he began to thirst for the taste of something sweet because the local people only gave him rice and dahl. One day Hanuman thought, "Let the sands come. My mother may be making some lagdus." In one leap he went to Ayodya. Later, Jagannatha called Hanuman by remembering him, and Hanuman returned. Jagannatha promised him bananas and sweets and told him that he should not leave Puri again. He then handcuffed him, chaining his hands and legs. Hanuman is thus called Berhi-Hanuman: one who is handcuffed. Near the temple where Berhi-Hanuman resides is Bankim Mohan, the place where the three logs came to the shore and later took Their shapes as Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra.

[A few years ago a cyclone came towards the shores of Puri. Instead of destroying Puri, however, it split into two and destroyed two other places far from Puri.]

[After further talk in Hindi and Bengali, Srila Maharaja again spoke in English:]

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanu-silanam bhakti uttama

This is actually bhakti. However, merely quoting this sloka will not do.

You'll have to practice it. There are symptoms that reveal if you are actually practicing or not. If you are exercising bhakti with all of your senses and mind, and by all your moods, then vairagya must come. Detachment will come and your entire 'controlling mood' will go. Even the lady devotees want to control each other. How will bhakti come in such a situation? Bhakti comes when there is submissiveness and humility.

Jnana and vairagya will certainly come. Krsna-tattva-jnana, bhakti-rasa-jnana, and vaisnava-seva-jnana are all bound to come. However, you may be proud that, "I'm chanting Hare Krishna," and therefore worldly attachments are still present. Don't try to instruct others. Try to follow, yourself. Don't offend Vaisnavas. By practicing bhakti, automatically the qualities trnad api sunicena and so on will come.

If you are chanting and remembering under the guidance of a high class of guru, only having faith in guru but not in Vaisnavas, it will not do. One should not think, "For my guru I will cut off the heads of all the Vaisnavas. I don't care for any Vaisnavas."

vaco vegam manasah krodha-vegam
jihva-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etan vegan yo visaheta dhirah
sarvam apimam prthivim sa sisyat

"A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world." (Sri Upadesamrta, text 1)

atyaharah prayasas ca
prajalpo niyamagrahah
jana-sangas ca laulyam ca
sadbhir bhaktir vinasyati

"One's devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) over endeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) Practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Krsna consciousness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements." (Sri Upadesamrta, text 2)

utsahan niscayad dhairyat
tat-tat-karma-pravartanat
sanga-tyagat sato vrtteh
sadbhir bhaktih prasidhyati

"There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles [such as sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam [SB 7.5.23]�hearing, chanting and remembering Krsna], (5) abandoning the association of non-devotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service." (Sri Upadesamrta, text 3)

If, in spite of chanting your bad qualities are not going and good qualities are not coming, you have no utsaha (enthusiasm) for this hari-katha.

bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir
anyatra caisa trika eka-kalah
prapadyamanasya yathasnatah syus
tustih pustih ksud-apayo 'nu-ghasam

"Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things � these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating." (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.42)

This sloka has a very grave meaning.

You should accept this and the following verse as a barometer of bhakti.

Anyabhilasita-sunyam / jnana-karmady-anavrtam / anukulyena krsnanu-silanam / bhaktir uttama. Keep this verse in mind during all your activities, to see whether your bhakti is karma or jnana, or whether it is really bhakti or not. You will be able to see whether it is only karma-misra, jnana-misra, yoga-misra, or whether or not it is any kind of bhakti at all. You will see whether it is sanga-siddha, aropa-siddha, or svarupa-siddha-bhakti, and whether it is really vaidhi-bhakti or not. To be very proud that, "We are raganuga-bhaktas," will not do.

We have come to Purusottama-ksetra. We will have to give something up here, like being angry and chastising other Vaisnavas. Give up all bad habits.

Something should be given up so that bhakti may come.

Gaura premanande

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