Friend of the Fallen
And what is the effect of Kṛṣṇa consciousness?
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante chāsya karmāṇi mayi dṛṣṭe ’khilātmani
“Our inner aspiration for rasa, ecstasy, is buried in the heart and the heart is tied down and sealed. But hearing and chanting the glories of Kṛṣṇa breaks the seal of the heart, and the heart awakens and opens to receive Kṛṣṇa: the reservoir of pleasure, ecstasy Himself (raso vai sah, akhila-rasāmṛta-murtiḥ).”
Our heart’s concern is with ecstasy, charm, and sweetness. And this is felt by the heart, not by the brain, so the heart has been given the most importance. The next effect is felt in the plane of knowledge. After getting a taste of divine sweetness, suspicion vanishes (rasa-varjaṁ raso ’py asya paraṁ dṛṣtvā nivartate). When we have a taste of real ecstasy (rasa), then all doubts are cleared. By getting a taste of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the heart is captured and when the heart is captured, the ecstasy of love of Godhead, prema, begins to flow. Being satisfied, the heart will say, “This is what I was searching for!” Then, the brain will follow, thinking, “Yes, there can be no doubt, this is the highest goal of our search. Dissolve everything else.” The heart will say, “I have attained prema, divine love—this is the highest thing! Stop all works from now on.” Then, karma will close all its workshops. After coming in touch with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the first result is that the heart awakens. When the heart is captured, the brain approves, and our karma, energizing in the wrong direction, stops. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the real wealth of the heart.
It is the nature of divine mercy to extend itself without caring for any law. The only consideration is our eagerness to accept it. Mercy is offered in this way: “Do you want this?” If we simply agree, “Yes, it is wonderful and most tasteful,” then we can have it. If our prayer is genuine, then nothing else is required. It is a simple transaction. If we want it, we will get it. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is most simple. Whether one is fit or unfit is unimportant. Anyone who simply wants it may have it.
And what of those who don’t want this divine gift? For them, Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu distributed special mercy though His most magnanimous canvassing agent, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. Nityānanda Prabhu won’t allow even those who want to avoid Kṛṣṇa consciousness to escape. If someone says, “I don’t want it,” Nityānanda Prabhu won’t allow it. He will say, “No! You must want it. I request you earnestly—take it! Use it and you will be able to feel the value of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
To capture the market, a clever merchant may distribute free samples of his product to his customers, saying, “Take one free! There is no question of paying any price now. I am giving this away. Use it, and if you feel the value, the utility of my product—buy it.” And then afterwards everyone will purchase.
In a similar way, Nityānanda Prabhu traveled throughout Bengal making His humble appeal. Nityānanda Prabhu would knock at the door and fall at the feet of His customers, crying, “Please accept this! Don’t dismiss Me. Don’t drive Me away. Please do what I say. Give all your attention to Gaurāṅga and you will be benefited beyond expectation. This is My request to you.” He would shed tears, roll at their door, and say, “You are reluctant to accept this, but have no doubts. I implore you—take it! Believe Me. Please accept Gaurāṅga!” In this way, Nityānanda Prabhu used to wander down both sides of the Ganges, roaming here and there and preaching about Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu.
Nityānanda Prabhu knows only Gaurāṅga. He is represented in Kṛṣṇa-līlā as Baladeva. Baladeva apparently performed the Rāsa-līlā, but at heart was only arranging Rāsa-līlā for Kṛṣṇa: His nature shows the experts of devotion that He is always dedicated to Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise He would not be Baladeva. He has no individual thoughts for His own enjoyment; every atom of His body is always eager to make arrangements for the enjoyment of Kṛṣṇa. In a similar way, every atom of the body of Nityānanda Prabhu is conscious transcendental substance. And every atom of His body is meant only for the service and satisfaction of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu.
One day, Mahāprabhu’s mother, Śachīdevī, had a dream that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were on a throne and Nityānanda Prabhu was addressing Baladeva, “Come down from Your throne! Your days are over. Now my Lord Gaurāṅga will be installed.” Baladeva refused: “No. I have My Lord—Kṛṣṇa.” There was a fight, but Nityānanda Prabhu was stronger and He took Baladeva down from the throne, saying, “Your day has gone. Now the time for My master, Gaurāṅga, has come. You are a trespasser, a usurper—You must come down.” And Baladeva could not defeat Nityānānda, who took Him down from the throne.
This is the nature of Nityānanda Prabhu’s relationship with Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. He has nothing of His own; His everything is Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. As Baladeva is to Kṛṣṇa, Nityānanda Prabhu is to Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. The aim of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s descent was to distribute the devotional service of Vṛndāvana most generously. On the other hand, Nityānanda Prabhu used to sing,
bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga laha gaurāṅger nāma,
yei jana gaurāṅga bhaje sei āmāra prāna
“Worship Gaurāṅga, speak of Gaurāṅga, chant Gaurāṅga’s name. Whoever worships Śrī Gaurāṅga is My life and soul.” Nityānanda Prabhu tried His best to make the people at large accept Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. What did He say? “Come straight to the campaign of Śrī Chaitanya and you will safely attain Vṛndāvana.”
Of course, Navadwīpa, the abode of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, is no less valuable than Vṛndāvana, the abode of Kṛṣṇa. The same rasa which is found in Vṛndāvana is present in another feature in Navadwīpa. Some devotees have a special attraction for Vṛndāvana-līlā, others have a special attraction for Navadwīpa-līlā, and a third group represents both camps, but Navadwīpa is the most generous. In Vṛndāvana, the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa are confined to a confidential circle, but in Navadwīpa, those pastimes are distributed. Gaura-līlā is more generous than Kṛṣṇa-līlā.
In the Chaitanya-charitāmṛta (Mad. 25.261), Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī explains his conception of the difference between Gaura-līlā and Kṛṣṇa-līlā:
kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sāra, tāra śata śata dhāra,
daśa-dike vahe yāhā haite
se chaitanya-līlā haya, sarovara akṣaya,
mano-haṁsa charāha’ tāhāte
He says, “There is no doubt that we find the highest nectarine taste of rasa in Kṛṣṇa-līlā. But what is Gaura-līlā? In Gaura-līlā, the nectar of Kṛṣṇa-līlā is not confined to a limited circle, but is being distributed on all sides. It is just as if from all ten sides of the nectarine lake of Kṛṣṇa-līlā hundreds of streams are flowing.”
Our highest aspiration is to achieve the service of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, but in the beginning, we must approach Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu through His manifest representation, the Guru. Nityānanda Prabhu consolidates the foundation which helps us progress further in devotion. Quick progress without a good foundation invites a negative reaction, so the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu is our primary necessity. This approach culminates in the service of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī (nitāiyer-karuṇā habe braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe).
To be reinstated as a servant of the servant to the extreme degree is the philosophy of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism. Our goal is not to become one with Kṛṣṇa—to receive service—we want to render service. The predominated moiety of the Absolute Truth is negative potency—the energy that serves—and the predominating moiety receives that service. Our best interest will be reached when, according to our constitutional nature, we attain our position in the line of servitors in the negative, predominated moiety; not by considering ourselves one with the positive, predominating moiety.
By the grace of Nityānanda Prabhu, we develop our attraction for Śrī Gaurāṅga. If we receive the grace of Śrī Gaurāṅga, we receive everything in the highest degree. And that is the safest way to approach Rādhā-Govinda. If we try to achieve Rādhā-Govinda in some other way, our attempt will naturally be artificial and defective; if we approach Rādhā-Govinda directly, avoiding Śrī Gaurāṅga, there will be great difficulty.
Therefore, we should invest all our energy in the service of Śrī Gaurāṅga. Then, we shall automatically find ourselves being lifted towards the highest level. Prabodhānanda Saraswati Ṭhākur prays:
yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde
vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāśiḥ
tathā tathot sarpati hṛdy akasmād
rādhā-padāmbhoja-sudhāmbhu-rāśiḥ
“As much as we devote ourselves to the lotus feet of Śrī Gaurāṅga, we will automatically achieve the nectarine service of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in Vṛndāvan.” An investment in Navadwīpa Dhāma will automatically take one to Vṛndāvana. How one has been carried there will be unknown to him. But those who have good fortune invest everything in the service of Gaurāṅga. If they do that, they will find that everything has automatically been offered to the Divine Feet of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. She will accept them in Her confidential service and give them engagement, saying, “Oh, you have a good recommendation from Navadwīpa; I immediately appoint you to this service.” Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is introduced in the form of Gaurāṅga with the added element of magnanimity. No selfish sensualism can enter our consideration of the pastimes of Śrī Gaurāṅga, for there He appears as a sannyāsī and a devotee.
Of course, if we are to analyze Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, we shall find Kṛṣṇa in the garb of Rādhārāṇī. According to the impersonal philosophers, when negative and positive combine, they become non-differentiated oneness, but Vaiṣṇava philosophy says that when both positive and negative aspects of Godhead are combined, personality is not lost. Rather, in the garb of the negative, the positive is converted and begins searching for Himself in the mood of the highest searcher. According to Vaiṣṇavism, when positive and negative combine, they do not create equilibrium; rather their dynamic character is always maintained. The combination of Rādhā and Govinda is Śrī Gaurāṅga, and by the grace of Nityānanda Prabhu, we may be attracted to Śrī Gaurāṅga.
Nityānanda Prabhu’s mercy sometimes exceeds the mercy of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. Because it may create a bad precedent, Mahāprabhu sometimes cannot accept certain fallen souls—He has to consider their status as well as other things.
Nityānanda Prabhu’s mercy, however, does not care for any unfavorable circumstances; His mercy is very lavish and almost blind. He does not discriminate between different degrees of sinners. His mercy is all-embracing. And Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu cannot dismiss His recommendation. Even those who Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu rejected, Nityānanda Prabhu sheltered, and gradually Mahāprabhu had to accept them. So the grace of Nityānanda is the greatest both in magnitude and circumference, and that is our solace, for by His mercy even the most fallen souls can attain the supreme goal.
Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu once told His followers, “Even if Nityānanda Prabhu is found with a fallen girl of the lowest kind, drinking wine in a wine shop, still you should know that He is above all these things. Although you may find Him apparently engaged in lower activities, He is never implicated. He may appear connected with so many fallen activities, but you should know that He is always revered by the creator of the universe, Lord Brahmā, and other exalted devotees. Nityānanda Prabhu’s mercy is so powerful that if one simply takes a piece of His loincloth and wears it respectfully on his body, he will be saved from all the disturbances of the mundane senses.” Therefore we pray, “May my mind always stick to His holy feet; I offer my obeisances to Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu.”
Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu took sannyāsa for the benefit of those souls swallowed by māyā. He ran and chased after the fallen souls to deliver them from illusion by giving them the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa, and Nityānanda Prabhu, like His shadow, ran after Him wherever He went. He fully surrendered and identified himself with Mahāprabhu’s cause. So we must bow down to Nityānanda Prabhu. Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu was merged in tasting the sweetness of Rādhā-Govinda līlā, and diving deep into that reality, however, at the same time, He wanted to deliver all souls whose hearts had not been devoured by the false notions of renunciation and exploitation, He ordered Nityānanda Prabhu, “Go to Bengal and try to deliver them—give them divine love for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”
He ordered Nityānanda Prabhu to distribute divine love for Rādhā-Govinda, but instead, Nityānanda began to preach about Śrī Gaurāṅga. He thought, “It will be better for them to worship Gaurāṅga; that will help free them from their offenses in their present condition, and by doing so, they will automatically achieve a position in Rādhā-Govinda līlā.” He was ordered to preach the name of Kṛṣṇa, but instead began to preach the name of Gaurāṅga. So, for our own welfare, we bow down to Nityānanda Prabhu with all our humility.
We pray, “O Nityānanda Prabhu, O Gurudeva, please give me a drop of firm faith in Śrī Gaurāṅga, who is Rādhā-Govinda combined, tasting the sweetness of the divine nectar of the pastimes of Vṛndāvana. Give me a drop of faith, so that one day I may attain divine love and enter into that domain.”
If we neglect Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, our aspiration to serve Rādhā-Govinda will be a dream, an abstract imagination without reality. Nityānanda Prabhu is the refuge of all fallen souls. He is the most generous-hearted aspect of Guru-tattva; we must bow down our head to Him, accept His holy feet, and surrender to Him.
In the spiritual realm of Vaikuṇṭha, Nityānanda Prabhu is represented as Saṅkarṣaṇa, the Supreme Lord who is considered to be the foundation of everything in existence. All possible existence is maintained by His energy. Nityānanda Prabhu is the original Baladeva, the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, we should view the pastimes of Nityānanda Prabhu with full consciousness of His dignified position, although He used to roam about here and there, rolling in the dust with tears in His eyes, saying, “Take the name of Gaurāṅga and I will be sold to you.” Although He posed in this lower position, still, He should be considered in light of His actual dignified position. We must surrender to Him with that attitude. Balarāma is represented in different parts of the spiritual world in different aspects. He came here as Nityānanda Prabhu with Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. The truth about Nityānanda Prabhu has been exhaustively explained in Chaitanya-charitāmṛta and Chaitanya-bhāgavata. There, He is described as enjoying His life and relishing His pastimes with His own younger brother. To that Nityānānda, we must bow our heads.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa prema, divine love, is an inconceivable substance which is very pleasing and ecstatic. Great saints who get a taste of that wonderful substance throw away all sorts of aspirations, including salvation, which is lavishly praised by the Vedas. So Nityānanda Prabhu, although one with Baladeva, is greater than Him? Why? He is distributing divine love.
What is divine love? It is so important and valuable, so much higher than all other sorts of achievements, that one who can give divine love is far superior to those who can give duty, wealth, pleasure, and even salvation (dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa). If we conceive that Kṛṣṇa is subordinate to Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, then of course Balārama is subordinate to Nityānanda Prabhu. In all other respects the two of Them are similar, but when magnanimity is added to Balārama, He becomes Nityānanda Prabhu.
First, the position of divine love must be established: the great saints discard salvation and other things after they get a slight scent of divine love. Once the position of divine love is established, we can understand that one who can give it must necessarily be superior to the givers of all other things.
So Nityānanda Balārama is superior to Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supersoul of the collective universes, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supersoul of this universe, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supersoul of all living beings. And that Balārama has come here as Nityānanda Prabhu—not with majesty, grandeur, or power, but in a human form—to distribute divine love. And He is the giver of Gaurāṅga. His greatness is proved by this fact. We can understand this by further examining the different aspects of His life, step by step.
Nityānanda Prabhu was born in Ekachakrā, and there He passed His early life. His parents, friends and neighbors were filled with ecstatic joy, being pleased with His sweet infant pastimes. From His birth, He was a pleasure to the whole atmosphere of Ekachakrā, and in this joyful atmosphere He passed His childhood years.
One day, while Nityānanda was still young, a sannyāsī came to His home and begged Him from His parents. The sannyāsī was roaming about to different holy places and he prayed for Nityānanda as his alms. He took Him in his company and Nityānanda Prabhu wandered about almost all the holy places, following that sannyāsī. It is said that the sannyāsī was Madhavendra Purī.
Then one day, from within, feeling ecstasy in His heart, Nityānanda Prabhu could understand that Śrī Gaurāṅga had begun His pastimes of saṅkīrtan in Navadwīpa. And with that inspiration, He came to Navadwīpa Dhāma.
That day, Mahāprabhu told His followers, “I had a dream that an extraordinarily great man, in a chariot marked with the palm tree flag of Balarāma, came to My door and said, ‘Where is the house of Nimāi Paṇḍita?’ Twice, thrice, four times—again and again—he keeps saying, ‘Where is the house of Nimāi Paṇḍita?’“ Mahāprabhu continued, “That great personage must have come last night to Navadwīpa. Try to search Him out.” They searched and searched, but could not find Him anywhere.
Then Mahāprabhu told them, “Let Me try.” He took them straight to the home of Nandanāchārya, and when Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu with His followers suddenly arrived there, they found Nityānanda Prabhu sitting on the veranda. After seeing Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu stared intently at Him for some time, became absorbed in Him, and fainted. In this way, in one day, He became the most intimate associate of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. When He was ordered by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu to give Kṛṣṇa consciousness to everyone, He began to distribute Gaurāṅga consciousness, divine love of Śrī Gaurāṅga. That Nityānanda Prabhu is the savior of all fallen souls, without any discrimination of the degree of their fallenness; so we bow down to His holy feet.
Once, Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu had a secret talk with Nityānanda Prabhu in Jagannātha Purī. When Nityānanda Prabhu went to Bengal and married, some say that Mahāprabhu asked Him to marry. It is our opinion that because the so-called “high class” people were so much surcharged with vanity, Nityānanda Prabhu was asked to approach the masses. Because He was ordered to mix with them very familiarly for His preaching purposes, it was found necessary for Him to marry. Otherwise, if He were to have mixed very familiarly with family men, accusations may have been leveled at His standard of renunciation. And to further that purpose, He married. He had to adopt that policy and accept that attitude. And He may have been told to do so by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu; it was not his own decision. Of course, marrying or not marrying was nothing to Him.
How He came in contact with His eternal consort, Jāhnavādevī is described in the Bhakti-ratnākara. It appears that when He was preaching all around Bengal, He preached at the house of Jāhnavādevī’s father, Sūryadāsa Paṇḍita, the brother of Gauridāsa Paṇḍita, who was already a follower of Gaura-Nityānānda. Sūryadāsa gave Him intimate help in His propaganda work, as his house was a good base. And Sūryadāsa, who had two daughters, offered Nityānanda Prabhu his daughter in marriage. Ultimately, Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrīmatī Jāhnavādevī are eternally associated, and although Their marriage apparently took place out of necessity, it was actually part of Their eternal līlā.
Of course, some so-called sannyāsīs take advantage of this to give up their vows of celibacy and marry. They give the marriage of Nityānanda as an excuse. But it is not a proven fact that Nityānanda Prabhu was a sannyāsī. Actually, the name “Nityānānda” is a brahmachārī name. “Ānanda” is a suffix added to the name of a brahmachārī. Ānanda, Svarūpa, Prakaśa, and Chaitanya are different types of brahmachārī names. The name Ānanda is also found in the sannyāsa order of life, but we find no sannyāsa title mentioned for Nityānanda Prabhu. There is also no mention anywhere of a sannyāsa Gurufor Nityānanda Prabhu, although we know that His dikṣa Guruwas Madhavendra Purī, the Guruof Advaita Prabhu and Īśvara Purī.
Nityānanda Prabhu is known as an avadhūta. Avadhūta does not mean a sannyāsī, but one who is not very particular about his external practices and sometimes does things which should not be done. When an exalted person is seen engaging in lower practices, he is considered an avadhūta. It is understood that he is above that, but his practices are of a lower nature. Ava means lower, and dhūta means that he can either remove or purify.
Nityānanda Prabhu broke the single sannyāsa staff (ekadaṇḍa) into three; that indicates that when taking sannyāsa, the renounced order of life, we should accept not one, but three daṇḍas, which symbolize the dedication of body, mind, and words in the service of the Lord. And Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur Prabhupāda was also inspired by this action of Nityānanda Prabhu’s to give tridaṇḍa sannyāsa to his followers, in contrast to ekadaṇḍa which was formerly current in Bengal. The system of tridaṇḍa sannyāsa as was the custom in Southeast India with the Vaiṣṇavas who follow Ramānujāchārya, and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta introduced it for the modern age.
Nityānanda Prabhu’s approach was somewhat peculiar. His strategy was to uplift the most fallen. Like Napoleon, whose policy was to attack the strongest position of the opposing army, Nityānanda Prabhu wanted to capture the most sinful. Generally, we think that a saint flies away from this world of māyā and goes to a solitary place where he can enter into a cave and engage himself in meditation. Indian saints generally preach, “Give up everything, go to a solitary place in the jungle, find a cave, and engage yourself fully in understanding Godhead.” But our GuruMahārājwas different. Like Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu, he wanted to attack māyā and, like a great general, he declared totalitarian war on illusion and even all other existing conceptions of religion. “Why is there this misunderstanding and misconception?” he thought. “Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa: īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. It is plain and simple and sweet. How can we think, ‘This is for me, that is for Him?’ Why should we let this misconception stand here at all? Attack it—and crush the whole thing!”
He told us, “Kīrtan means to preach against misconception. As soldiers, you must go door to door and preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness—Kṛṣṇa’s interest—the Kṛṣṇa conception. If they understand that everything is for Kṛṣṇa, they will be saved. This truth is plain and simple. Why should they not understand this? Try to capture them, to release them from the world of misconception and misunderstanding where they are now suffering from reaction.”
In this way, we are not afraid of anything. A Vaiṣṇava who loved solitary life once asked our GuruMahārāj, “Why do you stay at Calcutta? That is the place of Satan, where fighting for selfish interest is so acute. Leave that—come to the holy dhāma.” But Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur especially chose that place, saying, “I prefer to represent Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu’s creed in an extremely contaminated place.” For this reason, he wanted to send men to the West. “The East is captured by the glamour of Western civilization,” he said, “so Western civilization must first be crushed. Then, its glamour will vanish and the whole world will come to join the campaign of divine love of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu.” This was the same spirit with which Nityānanda Prabhu canvassed the fallen souls of this world, in his attempt to take them to the lotus feet of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu.
At the time of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu’s advent, Bengal had fallen far away from Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The people of the day had become so much degraded that they would pass their time spending money like water to see the marriage of cats. Deviating from the worship of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, they used to worship the serpent-goddess, Viṣaharī, or the controller of the demons, Kālī. Very rarely would the name of Kṛṣṇa be heard from their lips. Only a few of the Hindu gentleman, when bathing in the Ganges, would chant the holy name of Govinda, Hari, or Kṛṣṇa. And Navadwīpa Dhāma, place of the advent of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, was under Mohammedan rule in those days. The Kazi was in power in Navadwīpa, and the Hindu’s religious feelings were checked by the strong hand of his Islamic rule.
Advaita Āchārya was a great scholar and the most senior among Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu’s followers.
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