Reflections on Sri Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance Day

These festival days in the Bhakti tradition come and go so quickly. Sri Nityananda Prabhu’s Appearance Day festival was this past Sunday. Even though I have drifted so far from any substantial daily sadhana I still find myself inspired to do something devotional on this very auspicious and special day.

Some devotees think of me as a “Nitai-bhakta”. I don’t agree with this label, as I have no idea who Sri Nityananda Prabhu is and I have not an ounce of devotion for Him. I simply have some inexplicable attraction to His holy name, form and pastimes. I remember mentioning this attraction to my Guru Maharaja in a letter many years ago and he replied that my attachment to Him was wonderful, because without His mercy no one can make spiritual advancement.

So I’ve always had this attraction to His lotus feet, most likely a carry over from my previous lives. When I lived in the temple I tried to imbibe His mood of magnanimity through Harinama-sankirtan and book distribution. I remember one time even going out alone on a solo Harinama to a BBQ festival in downtown Detroit. My enthusiasm and conviction were just that strong.

Over the years something happened though. I lost that enthusiasm, that fire, that spark. My faith began to waver. As Sri Nityananda Prabhu’s Appearance Day has come and gone I was reflecting on how and why I lost “the taste” that I once had for devotional service and devotional life. Why would I today not go out and distribute books or dance through the streets singing the Lord’s glories?

Each and every one of us that has come in contact with this Krishna Consciousness movement (Gaudiya-Vaishnavism) is unfathomably and inconceivably blessed. Srila Prabhupada, acting as the divine agent of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, brought Krishna to us (the lowly, sinful and fallen) in this modern day. What is it that makes us lose sight of this great fortune?

We know from the sastras that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His eternal associates do not always personally appear. In other words, sometimes they are Vishnu expansions. Yet in this particular kali-yuga that we are living in, Krishna Himself has appeared. In the world of astronomy seeing a planetary occurrence that happens only once every thousands or millions of years excites people. How more infinitely rare and wonderful is it that we are existing on this planet when Krishna was just recently here, delivering the universe through the Holy Name.

Yet we don’t see this as great fortune. We see winning the lottery as great fortune. If there was ever a definition of “being in the right place at the right time” it is NOW! In our delusional, conditioned state we see Krishna Consciousness as just another religion, just another belief system. The reality is that it is so far beyond these external considerations.

We are so fortunate to be here at this time and to be connected to this movement, but at the same time we are so unfortunate because we cannot understand or appreciate our great fortune!

Sri Nityananda Prabhu is acting at every moment from within us as Paramatma and from without as the physically manifest Guru. There is never a moment when Sri Nityananda Prabhu is not with us, not present. So what is it that makes us forget and makes us unable to appreciate our great fortune?

In the song “Nitai Guna Mani” Locana Dasa Thakur mentions that Sri Nityananda Prabhu inundated the devotees with the ocean of love of God (Krishna-prema), but that the non-devotees “floated” on the ocean. It is our selfish misdirection of energy that keeps us “floating” on the ocean of love of God and unable to experience any of the higher tastes in devotional service.

As long as we remain absorbed in bodily identification and materialistic concerns we will never truly experience our eternal relationship with Krishna. If 99% of my time is spent in making plans for and engaging in selfish pursuits and only 1% is given to devotional service then I will lose “taste”, lose enthusiasm, lose interest, lose faith in the process. We must put 100% into devotional service, which means no selfish, self-absorbed, self-centered pursuits.

I always come back to the struggle to be selfless. Even when I was my Guru Maharaja’s personal servant I was never truly selfless. There was no love, no affection. It was simply duty and often done in a grudging mood. That is not devotion and it yields no benefit or results.

I see my daughter as a manifestation of Sri Guru. Her appearance is an opportunity for me to develop genuine selflessness, to live for someone and something other than my self. Obviously this sort of consciousness should be had in dealing with EVERY living entity that we interact with. This was the consciousness of the Avanti brahmana who saw everyone and everything as his Guru. Unfortunately I am not that advanced and so I need to take “baby steps” towards such a level of equal vision.

I pray to Sri Nityananda Prabhu to please bless me that no matter how far I stray from the path of bhakti or how strong my doubts become, that I never forget His lotus feet. I pray that He forcibly brings me to a surrendered, selfless state at His lotus feet.

I’ll end this post with a wonderful reflection and meditation upon Sri Nityananda Prabhu, given to us by Locana Dasa Thakur:

Nitai Guna Mani

"Nityananda, the Jewel of Virtues"
from the Caitanya-mangala, by Locana Dasa Thakur


1.
nitai guna-mani amar nitai guna-mani
aniya premer vanya bhasailo avani

1. My Lord Nityananda, the jewel of all virtues,
my Lord Nityananda, the jewel of all virtues,
has brought the flood of ecstatic love of God that has drowned the entire world.


2.
premer vanya loiya nitai aila gauda-dese
dubilo bhakata-gana dina hina bhase

2. Bringing this overwhelming deluge of prema
when He returned to Bengal from Jagannatha Puri on Lord Caitanya's order,
Nitai has inundated the assembly of devotees.
The fallen non-devotees did not drown, however,
but remained floating on that ecstatic ocean.


3.
dina hina patita pamara nahi bache
brahmar durlabha prema sabakare jace

3. Lord Nityananda freely offered this exalted prema,
which is difficult for Lord Brahma to attain,
even to the fallen and wretched souls who did not desire it.


4.
abaddha karuna-sindhu nitai katiya muhan
ghare ghare bule prema-amiyar ban

4. The ocean of mercy had formerly been sealed tight,
but Nitai cut a channel in its boundary
to allow the great flooding waves of nectarean prema to splash from house to house.


5.
locan bole mor nitai jeba na bhajilo
janiya suniya sei atma-ghati hoilo

5. Locana dasa says,
"Whoever has not worshiped my Nitai
or taken advantage of this excellent opportunity offered by Him
knowingly commits suicide."

Purport by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

This is a song sung by Locana Dasa Thakura, almost a contemporary of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He has got many books on the life and precepts of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So he is saying that Lord Nityananda is full of good qualities, guna-mani. Guna-mani means the jewel of all qualities. So nitai guna-mani amar nitai guna-mani. He is repeatedly uttering that Lord Nityananda is the reservoir of all good qualities. Aniya premera vanya bhasailo avani. And on account of His spiritual qualities, he inundated the whole world by the flood of love of God. It is by His kindness people can feel what is love of God.

Premer vanya loiya nitai aila gauda-dese. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu left home and took sannyas, He made His headquarter at Jagannatha Puri. So after His accepting the sannyas order, when He left His home and country Lord Nityananda Prabhu also accompanied Him up to Jagannatha Puri. So after a few days, Lord Caitanya requested Him that "If both of us remain here, then who will preach in Bengal?" Bengal is known as gauda-dese. So under the order of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He brought from Him the flood of love of Godhead and He distributed in the whole of Bengal, gauda-dese. And in that flood of love of God, all devotees became drowned. Only those who were not devotees, they could not drown but they were floating, dina hina bache. But so far Nityananda Prabhu is concerned, He does not make any discrimination between devotees and nondevotees. Dina hina patita pamara nahi bache. Poor or rich or enlightened or foolish, everyone could take the instruction of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and become drowned in the ocean of love of Godhead.

Such love of Godhead is brahmar durlabha. Even Lord Brahma, who is the supreme teacher within this universe, he also cannot relish. But by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Mahaprabhu, this love of Godhead was distributed to everyone without any discrimination. So abaddha karuna-sindhu, it was just like a big ocean blocked all sides. Ocean of love of Godhead is a big ocean, but it was not inundated. So Nityananda Prabhu cut a canal from the ocean, and He brought the canal in every door. Ghare ghare bule prema-amiyara ban. The flood of the nectar of love of Godhead was thus distributed in each and every home in Bengal. Actually still Bengal is overwhelmed when there is talk of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. Locan bole, now the author is speaking on his behalf that anyone who does not take the advantage given by Lord Nityananda Prabhu, so in his opinion he thinks that such a person knowingly is committing suicide.