The following is a transcription of a discourse delivered by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja in Malaysia on February 14, 2000 (Bhakta Bandhav Anthology Volume 53)

 

No one can touch Mahāprabhu or Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Conjugal. What you see as an ornament of Kṛṣṇa, Mahāprabhu, and all other incarnations, all of these things are Nityānanda Prabhu. He comes in so many various ways with His Prabhu and serves Him. First, He came as Lakṣmaṇa in Tretā-yuga, the younger brother of Rāma. He always wants to serve His Prabhu. He saw Rāma leave Sītā. He did not want this. Rāma was suffering so much. He could not bear to see Him suffer like this. Then, after Rāvaṇa took away Sītā, Rāma was always lamenting, lamenting, lamenting. Again, he could not bear to see this. Then, in His last pastime, Rāma left Sītā without any reason and ordered Lakṣmaṇa, “You should take Sītā and send her to live in the forest.”

Lakṣmaṇa went and did this, and he was thinking, “My heart is made of iron or thunderbolt, that is why my heart is not breaking.” Then he made up his mind, “I should be the elder brother so I can control Him. Then He will not do these things.” That is why He became Baladeva Prabhu. But again, there was something more, and He wanted to taste another thing, so He came as Nityānanda Prabhu. He came in this form. So Nityānanda Prabhu is the Guru, and He is always serving Mahāprabhu.

We know we should first perform the pūjā of Vyāsa on Vyāsa-pūjā, because he wrote and manifested all the Vedas. But Nityānanda Prabhu said, “Oh, you are all wrong. Vyāsadeva has not manifested all these things. Kṛṣṇa has manifested it, and He is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He manifested everything in the heart of Vyāsa, so He must be worshipped first. He is the Vyāsa of His own pastime.” So Nityānanda Prabhu was waiting and waiting to start the Vyāsa-pūjā. Everyone was requesting Nityānanda Prabhu, “You should do the Vyāsa-pūjā,” but Mahāprabhu was not there. He was somewhat late, so Nityānanda Prabhu responded evasively with “Hmm, hmm.”

The statue or anything that represented Vyāsa was there. Vyāsa had been called there. Everything was ready, but Nityānanda Prabhu was only waiting for Mahāprabhu, causing a holdup. Then, when Mahāprabhu arrived, everyone said, “Nityānanda Prabhu is not doing the Vyāsa-pūjā.”

Mahāprabhu said, “O My brother, why are You not doing the Vyāsa-pūjā?” Nityānanda Prabhu then took the garland and placed it around the neck of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This was the Vyāsa-pūjā. He thought, “Mahāprabhu is the real Vyāsa.” Everyone knew then, “Vyāsa cannot do anything.” Nārada told Vyāsa, “You should meditate.”

bhakti-yogena manasi
samyak praṇihite ’male
apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ
māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayām

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.7.4)

[“Thus he fixed his mind, perfectly engaging it by linking it in devotional service (bhakti-yoga) without any tinge of materialism, and thus he saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead along with His external energy, which was under full control.”]

yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyāṁ
kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe
bhaktir utpadyate puṁsaḥ
śoka-moha-bhayāpahā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.7.7)

[“Simply by giving aural reception to this Vedic literature, the feeling for loving devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, sprouts up at once to extinguish the fire of lamentation, illusion and fearfulness.”]

Everything came from Kṛṣṇa Himself. Kṛṣṇa is Mahāprabhu, so really Vyāsa-pūjā is the pūjā of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Everything is coming from Kṛṣṇa. Vande kṛṣṇam jagad-gurum (Śrī Garga-saṁhitā) — My obeisances to Kṛṣṇa, who is the Guru of the whole world. So Nityānanda Prabhu did like this.

Nityānanda Prabhu was always with Mahāprabhu. He appeared in the village of Ekacakrā, with Hāḍāi Paṇḍita as His father and Padmāvatī-devī as His mother. He had no brother or anyone else. In His boyhood, He used to play, so from the beginning He was absorbed in kṛṣṇa-līlā. He always enacted the pastimes of Rāma as Lakṣmaṇa.

One day He was playing with so many boys in the field. They became two parties: one party was Rāma’s and one party was Rāvaṇa’s, with so many demons. Some became monkeys and came to Rāma’s party, and Nityānanda Prabhu became Lakṣmaṇa. Then, on the other side, some became Kumbhakarṇa, Rāvaṇa, Meghanātha, and so on. Like this, they were playing. They played that Rāma was married, and Sītā was brought from Janaka-pura. The kingdom was to be given to Rāma, but Kaikeyī prevented it, and thus Rāma went into the forest for fourteen years with Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa. Then Rāvaṇa came and saw Sītā, who was very beautiful, and he wanted to marry her.

Then, anyhow, he kidnapped Sītā. Rāma became very anxious and felt very deep separation. He became mad. Sugrīva and Rāma became friends. Rāma promised He would help bring Sugrīva’s wife back, and Sugrīva promised he would help Rāma bring Sītā back from wherever she had been taken. At last, Hanumān went to Laṅkā and found Sītā there. Then, with the help of Sugrīva, so many monkey soldiers invaded Laṅkā. Lakṣmaṇa was the commander-in-chief on the side of Rāma, and Meghanātha was the commander-in-chief on the side of Rāvaṇa.

Like this, fighting was going on. But no one could kill Meghanātha. Only a person who had never slept for fourteen years and had taken nothing to eat, even water, and had never been with a woman, could kill Meghanātha. So they were fighting, and Meghanātha first aimed and struck Lakṣmaṇa. A trident or something then went into the heart of Lakṣmaṇa, and he became senseless. Rāma was weeping, weeping, weeping, weeping so much.

They were playing this play, and Nityānanda Prabhu told the boys, “When I am struck by the trident, then I will be senseless. At that time, you should go to Hanumān and send Hanumān to the Himālayas. When he brings the sanjīvāṇī plant, put it under my nostrils, then I will regain consciousness.” So when they were playing, Meghanātha had now struck Lakṣmaṇa, and now Nityānanda Prabhu had become senseless. But He became so senseless that His body also stopped totally, and it was like He was about to die.

All the boys became very worried, and they forgot what Nityānanda Prabhu had said to them, “You should go to Hanumān and Hanumān should go to the Himālayas and from there he will bring the sanjīvāṇī, and when the sanjīvāṇī will be given, then I will regain consciousness.” They forgot this, and so all the boys were only weeping. Some boys went to His parents and told them, “Nityānanda has become unconscious. He is about to die.” The villagers, His father and mother, and everyone came there, and all began to weep. Then an old person asked them, “How did He become senseless?” Then they told them they had been playing, and that Meghanātha had now struck Lakṣmaṇa.

“Then why are you not bringing Hanumān here? Who is Hanumān among you boys?”

They said, “Nityānanda Prabhu said that this boy is Hanumān.” So they told Hanumān, “You should go and bring sanjīvāṇī from a mountain.” At last, they did what Nityānanda Prabhu had taught them. Hanumān jumped and brought a root of a sanjīvāṇī that was put under the nostrils of Nityānanda Prabhu. At once, Nityānanda Prabhu jumped up and said, “Rāma Rāma Rāma.” He was revived. So Nityānanda was always absorbed in all these things. Sometimes He also used to enact other pastimes of Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, or Baladeva Prabhu.

When He was in childhood, He went to school. At that same time, a sādhu came to His house. A sannyāsī came and told his father, “I want you to give your son to me because I am alone. I am going to all the tīrthas of India, and it will take me so much time, so I cannot go alone. My daṇḍa, my kamaṇḍalū, my dor kaupīna and everything, who will carry these things?” Then His father began to weep.

But the sādhu told him, “You should not weep. There is something good in this. You should remember the history of Mahārāja Daśaratha and Viśvāmitra. Viśvāmitra also came to him in this way and asked, ‘You should give me Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa for some days because the demons of Rāvaṇa are disturbing the performance of my yajña. Please give me Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa.’

Mahārāja Daśaratha was weeping and told Viśvāmitra, ‘I am gіvіng you all my soldіers along with all my commanders. I wіll come myself to fight with these demons.’

But Viśvāmitra told him, ‘You cannot do so; you cannot kill these demons. If you are not giving me your sons, I will curse you.’ Then Vasiṣṭha came and told Mahārāja Daśaratha, ‘He is a very high-class devotee. I know him. You should at once give Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa to him.’ Then he gave his sons to Viśvāmitra, and thus all the pastimes of Rāma took place.

So this sannyāsī said to the father of Nityānanda Prabhu, “Viśvāmitra told Daśaratha, ‘You should give me your sons,’ and what happened? A very beautiful lady like Sītā married Rāma, and all His brothers married as well. So the result was so good and auspicious. Therefore, you should give your son to me.” He then gave him Nityānanda Prabhu. We think that this sādhu was perhaps Lakṣmīpati Tīrtha himself. So he took Nityānanda Prabhu and went to all the tīrthas of India. He went to Vṛndāvana, South India, West India, East India, Central India, everywhere. They travelled like this for more than twenty-five years.

By now, Nityānanda Prabhu had become about twenty-six or thirty years old, like this. They had done so many rounds of all these tīrthas. They dіd not do only one round. They dіd so many rounds. In the second or third round, perhaps He came to South India, where He met Lakṣmīpati Tīrtha and received initiation from him. First, Nityānanda Prabhu recited the gopāla-mantra into the ear of Lakṣmīpati, and thus he was initiated. Only then did he initiate Nityānanda Prabhu. From that point, He became mad in kṛṣṇa-prema, and He went to Vṛndāvana, searching, “Where is Kanhaiyā, Kanhaiyā, Kanhaiyā, Kanhaiyā, where are You?”

He used to ask the cows, “Where is Kanhaiyā?” He would also ask the cowherd boys this, and they would think, “Oh, He is a mad person.” Sometimes He would not be wearing any clothes, weeping and calling out, “Kanhaiyā, Kanhaiyā.” He used to roam everywhere throughout all of Vraja-maṇḍala searching for Kanhaiyā.

Then one day in Vṛndāvana, He heard an aerial voice, “Your Kanhaiyā is not here. He is in Navadvīpa, waiting for You. If You go there, You can meet Him.” Then Nityānanda Prabhu at once ran away, and in one or two months, somehow He came to Nadīyā. He saw Nadīyā was beautiful, and He remembered everything. He went to the bank of the Ganges, where another river flows into the Gaṅgā, at the āśrama of Nandanācārya. He was waiting and thinking, “If My Kanhaiyā is here, He must come here and find Me. He will find Me. Then I will know that My Kanhaiyā is here.” Then He began sіttіng and waіtіng іn trance.

Nimāi Paṇḍita had now left teaching school and had begun saṅkīrtana. All His associates were there, like Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita and everyone. He told them, “A mahā-puruṣa has come to Navadvīpa. You should go and search for him and bring him here.” Then everyone went searching. Some party went there, some party there, some party there, some party there, and some went here and there. They began to search in temples here and there on the bank of the Ganges, in this ghāṭa, that ghāṭa, and in the houses of so many devotees. They were searchіng everywhere untіl evenіng. When they returned, their search yielded no results. 

They told Mahāprabhu, “We went everywhere and searched, but no mahā-puruṣa was found.”

Mahāprabhu thought, “I must go and search.” Then He went Himself. Gadādhara Paṇḍita, Jagadānanda Paṇḍita, Svarūpa Dāmodara, Murāri Gupta, and so many others all came along with Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu walked in a straight line to the bank of the Ganges, towards Navadvīpa, and came to the confluence of the Ganges and that river. He saw a beautiful āśrama and entered. At once, He saw that a mahā-puruṣa, very tall, with long arms, was sitting there in trance. Only one golden earring was there, not two earrings. Mahāprabhu saw Him looking very beautiful. Mahāprabhu was also about twenty-three years old. He took sannyāsa when He was twenty-four, so this was one or two years before that.

Then Nityānanda Prabhu also saw Mahāprabhu. Now Their eyes were meeting, and They began to proceed towards each other. They embraced each other, “Kanhaiyā, Baladeva; Kanhaiyā, Rāma.” Then, after some time, when They came to their senses, Nityānanda Prabhu became very happy and said, “I was searching for You Kanhaiyā for such a long time.” Then Mahāprabhu took Him to Śacī-maiyā and Mālinī, the wife of Śrīvāsa, who became the mother of Nityānanda.

Mahāprabhu told Him, “Oh, Your mother is Mālinī.” Once Mālinī-devī kept some ghee in a silver bowl, and a crow came and took that bowl away. She was weeping, saying, “It has taken my ghee and my silver pot.” She was weeping so much. Then Nityānanda Prabhu asked her, “Why are you weeping?”

“Oh, a crow has taken my pot.”

Then Nityānanda said, “O crow, bring that pot, bring that pot, bring that pot,” and at once that crow came back with that pot and gave it back. Do you know Jagāi and Mādhāi? It was by the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu that they became high-class devotees. Do you know Haridāsa Ṭhākura? Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a very good friend of Nityānanda. They were always together.

śuna śuna nityānanda, śuna haridāsa
sarvatra āmāra ājñā karaha prakāśa

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata (Madhya-khaṇḍa 13.8)

[“Listen, Nityānanda! Listen, Haridāsa! Go out and preach My order everywhere.”]

Mahāprabhu told them, “O Nityānanda, O Haridāsa, you should go village to village and preach in each lane, in each house. You should go to all and bring some donations or alms. What alms?”

prabhura ājñāya, bhāi, māgi ei bhikṣā
bôlô kṛṣṇa, bhajô kṛṣṇa, karô kṛṣṇa śikṣā

Nadīyā-godrume (2)

[“On the order of Śrī Gaurāṅga, O brothers, I beg these alms from you: chant the names of Kṛṣṇa, worship Kṛṣṇa, and follow the instructions of Kṛṣṇa.”]

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā 7.128)

[“Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.”]

“ ‘You should chant the holy name. Worship Kṛṣṇa, follow His teachings.’ You should go and in the evening report back to Me who is following, who is not following, and who is creating an obstacle or causing a problem. If anyone does not follow, then I will cut them.” Thus Nityānanda Prabhu went to Jagāi and Mādhāi. He thought, “These are the most qualified persons for the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. From here, I will test, and I will see the potency of the mercy of Mahāprabhu.” You all know what became of them.

Nityānanda Prabhu also took the daṇḍa of Mahāprabhu on the way to Jagannātha Purī. Nityānanda broke it into three parts. He thought, “You are not only brahma, nirviśeṣa. Why not make it tri-daṇḍa? Tan-mana-vacana — body, mind, and words. Śakti, śaktimān, and jīva. This is tri-daṇḍa.” In this way, He broke the daṇḍa of Mahāprabhu. He thought, “Why will You carry a daṇḍa? Everyone is carrying out Your order, so why will You carry this daṇḍa?” That is why Nityānanda Prabhu broke the daṇḍa and threw it in a river near Purī at Daṇḍa–bhāṅgā–nadī (on the way to Purī).

Mahāprabhu asked, “Where is My daṇḍa?”

Śivānanda Sena told Him, “I gave it to Nityānanda. I went for bhikṣā, and when I returned, I asked Nityānanda, ‘O Nityānanda, return that daṇḍa to me.’ He told me, ‘To whom did you give this daṇḍa? I don’t know anything. I thought that it was broken.’ I asked Him, ‘Why did You break it?’ ”

Then Mahāprabhu was very angry. Mahāprabhu asked Him, “Why did You break My daṇḍa?”

“I never broke it. You were dancing, and You fell on the daṇḍa, and it broke. What can I do?”

“This daṇḍa was My life and soul.”

“You are weeping for this lifeless piece of bamboo? Why?”

“You are thinking this is only bamboo? It is like Nārāyaṇa. I don’t want to be with You. You should proceed forward alone. I will go forward alone. I will not be with You. You took My daṇḍa and broke it.” He became so angry. Nityānanda Prabhu was asking Mahāprabhu, “Why will You carry this daṇḍa?” Thus He broke it. Then Mahāprabhu went to Purī alone, saw Jagannātha, and became senseless. But really He did not see Jagannātha. Who did He see? Only Vrajendra-nandana; thus, He became unconscious. So Nityānanda Prabhu was always with Mahāprabhu.

Also, during the Ratha-yātrā festival, when Mahāprabhu would become senseless, Nityānanda Prabhu would pick Him up from the ground. But when Mahāprabhu was absorbed in the mood of Rādhā, He never even touched Mahāprabhu at that time, never, never.

So, from beginning to end, Nityānanda Prabhu always served Mahāprabhu in this way. He also used to always serve Kṛṣṇa as Baladeva Prabhu. He cut the head of Romaharṣaṇa. He thought, “You are not fit to speak hari-kathā because you cannot serve your Gurudeva. You cannot properly respect Me.” He also killed Dvivida, the gorilla who was somewhat envious of Lakṣmaṇa in rāma-līlā. He was very faithful to Rāma, always serving Rāma. But from the beginning, he was envious of Lakṣmaṇa.

So when Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva came into this world, he was also envious towards Baladeva. If anyone is so faithful and is serving Kṛṣṇa but is against Baladeva, Kṛṣṇa cannot save him, and he is like a demon. So Dvivida was envious of Baladeva Prabhu, and that is why Baladeva Prabhu killed him. Rāma could not save him. He had served in rāma-līlā and also kṛṣṇa-līlā. He was not against Kṛṣṇa. But still, Baladeva Prabhu killed him.

You also see that Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī left his brother, his house, that association, and everything only because his brother could not bear the glorification of Nityānanda Prabhu. His brother somewhat insulted Nityānanda Prabhu. He was not in favour of Nityānanda, but he was in favour of Gauracandra. He was not thinking that Nityānanda Prabhu is the same as Gauracandra. His brother was thinking, “Why did He marry Vasudhā and Jāhnavā?” He could not reconcile these things. At that tіme there were so many that could not reconcіle these thіngs and that іs why they went to hell.

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī left them, and seeing this, Nityānanda Prabhu thought, “For Me he has left his brother and everything.” Then He was merciful, and by His grace, he went to Vṛndāvana. By His grace, he took darśana of Govinda, Gopinātha, Madana-mohana, and was able to write Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. He became Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī and wrote the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta in this way. He became worshipable for all the Vaiṣṇavas only by the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu.

dhana mora nityānanda, pati mora gauracandra,
prāṇa mora ĵugala-kiśora

Dhana Mora Nityānanda (1)

[“Nityānanda Prabhu is my wealth, Śrī Gaura-candra is my master, and the youthful Divine Couple of Vraja are my very life.”]

You should try to always worship Nityānanda Prabhu. Always remember Nityānanda Prabhu. If Mahāprabhu is somewhat angry, no harm. If Nityānanda Prabhu is pleased, no harm.

yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo
yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ‘pi
dhyāyan stuvaṁs tasya yaśas tri-sandhyaṁ
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam

Śrī Gurvāṣṭakam (8)

[“Solely by the mercy of śrī guru one can receive the mercy of Bhagavān; without it one cannot make any advancement. Meditate on and sing śrī guru’s glories at the three sacred junctions of the day. I adore the lotus feet of that śrī gurudeva.”]

Nityānanda Prabhu is that Guru. If Mahāprabhu is angry, no harm. In a moment, we can please Him by pleasing Nityānanda Prabhu. Nityānanda Prabhu can please Mahāprabhu. He knows so many arts. So we should take shelter of Nityānanda Prabhu.

nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭī-candra-suśītala,
ĵe chāyāy jagat juḓāya
henô nitāi bine bhāi, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi,
dṛḓha kôri’ dharô nitāir pāya

Nitāi-pada-kamala (1)

[“The lotus feet of Nitāi are as cooling as millions of moons. Their shade gives solace to the entire universe. Without a personality such as Nitāi, O brother, it is not possible to attain Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, so firmly take hold of His lotus feet.”]

In the evening, you should be ready to speak about Nityānanda Prabhu, about Baladeva Prabhu.

Source(s): Purebhakti.com, Serve Love – Bhakta Bandhav (Bhakta Bandhav Anthology transcribed and edited by the Bhakta Bandhav Team)

Image(s) made possible by Pixabay.com, Krishnapath.org.in, Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo and / or Bhaktiart.net

Unless indicated otherwise, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)