Introduction to chapter 5

This chapter describes the Adhivāsa kīrtana prior to the ceremony of Vyāsa-pūjā in the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, Mahāprabhu’s accepting the mood of Baladeva and revealing the cause of His appearance on the pretex of calling Advaita Ācārya, Nityānanda’s breaking His own sannyāsa-daṇḍa and waterpot, the pastimes of Nityānanda’s observance of Vyāsa-pūjā under the guidance of Śrīvāsa, Śrī Gaurasundara’s exhibiting His six-armed form to Nityānanda, Nityānanda’s falling unconscious to the ground, Nityānanda’s characteristics, the glories of Lord Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas, and the ecstatic chanting during the Vyāsa-pūjā ceremony.

One day during His Navadvīpa pastimes Śrīman Mahāprabhu proposed to Nityānanda to celebrate Vyāsa-pūjā. Understanding the intention of Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu expressed His desire to observe Vyāsa- pūjā at the house of Śrīvāsa. When Mahāprabhu asked Śrīvāsa to take responsibility of that important event, he happily agreed. Śrīman Mahāprabhu was pleased with the words of Śrīvāsa, and He led Nityānanda and others to Śrīvāsa’s house, where they locked the door from inside and began to perform the Adhivāsa kīrtana for the celebration of Vyāsa-pūjā. In order to manifest the Baladeva feature of Nityānanda Prabhu, the Lord became absorbed in the mood of Baladeva and suddenly sat down on the siṃhāsana. The Lord then demanded Baladeva’s plough and club from Nityānanda Prabhu, who immediately placed the plough and club in the Lord’s hands. As Nityānanda Prabhu placed His hand on the hand of Mahāprabhu, some persons directly saw a plough and club and some saw only Their hands. Then Mahāprabhu, in the mood of Balarāma, asked for Vāruṇī, or wine. All the devotees were initially perplexed, but then they gave the Lord some Ganges water, which Mahāprabhu accepted as wine and drank. In order to please Mahāprabhu in that particular mood, the devotees then began to glorify Baladeva. When Mahāprabhu then repeatedly called out, “Nāḍā, Nāḍā,” the devotees were unable to understand who the Lord was addressing, and therefore they asked Mahāprabhu, who replied, “Advaita Ācārya is Nāḍā. Because of Advaita’s loud calls, I have descended from Goloka to this world to preach the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names, which is the religion for this age. I will distribute love and devotion that is rare for even the demigods headed by Lord Brahmā to everyone except those who are intoxicated with education, wealth, fame, austerity, and high birth and who are offensive to Vaiṣṇavas.” On hearing these words of the Lord, all the devotees became very happy. Thereafter Mahāprabhu embraced the devotees with love, and when He begged pardon for His restlessness, the devotees could not control their smiling. When Nityānanda Prabhu became overwhelmed with the mellows of ecstatic love and began to exhibit restlessness, Mahāprabhu pacified Him and then returned to His home. The devotees also returned to their respective homes, but Nityānanda Prabhu remained at Śrīvāsa’s house, where that night He roared loudly and broke His sannyāsa-daṇḍa and waterpot.

When Rāmāi Paṇḍita saw this the next morning, he informed Śrīvāsa, who sent Rāmāi to inform Mahāprabhu. As soon as Mahāprabhu heard this news, He came there with His devotees, picked up the pieces of the broken daṇḍa, and went with Nityānanda to take bath in the Ganges. He then threw those pieces into the Ganges. When Nityānanda Prabhu began to manifest various restless behavior while taking bath, Mahāprabhu instructed Nityānanda to quickly complete His bath and prepare for celebrating Vyāsa-pūjā. Thereafter Nityānanda returned to Śrīvāsa’s house with Mahāprabhu. The devotees also gathered there and began to engage in chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, the priest of the Vyāsa-pūjā ceremony, duly performed all the required formalities and then gave Nityānanda a flower garland to offer to Vyāsadeva and also requested Nityānanda to offer His obeisances to Vyāsadeva while chanting mantras. Nityānanda Prabhu, however, held the garland in His hand and began to look all around. When Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita informed Mahāprabhu about Nityānanda’s behaviour, Mahāprabhu ordered Nityānanda Prabhu to worship Vyāsadeva. Nityānanda Prabhu then offered the garland to Mahāprabhu, who immediately manifested His six- armed form. As soon as Nityānanda Prabhu saw the conch, disc, and other weapons in the hands of the Lord’s six-armed form, He immediately fell unconscious to the ground. While trying to help Nityānanda regain conciousness, Mahāprabhu declared that without Nityānanda’s mercy no one can achieve love and devotion. One who is envious of Nityānanda cannot become dear to Mahāprabhu, even by worshiping Mahāprabhu. On hearing the words of Gaurasundara, Nityānanda regained consciousness and became very pleased by seeing the Lord’s six-armed form.

Nityānanda Prabhu is nondifferent from Balarāma, and as the eternal basis of everything He is the only cause of creation, maintenance, and annihilation. Yet in each of His incarnations it is His eternal nature to teach everyone to become the servant of Kṛṣṇa. Although in His incarnation as Balarāma He appeared as the elder brother of Kṛṣṇa, He did not give up the mood of servitorship from His heart. It is extremely foolish and offensive to discriminate between Balarāma and Nityānanda. If one shows disrespect to the servitor Personality of Godhead, then he commits an offense at the feet of Viṣṇu. Although goddess Lakṣmī is worshiped by the demigods headed by Brahmā and Śiva, she is attached to the service of the lotus feet of the Lord; similarly, the eternal characteristic of the omnipotent Baladeva is to serve the eternally worshipable Lord Kṛṣṇacandra. It is also the eternal nature of the served Personality of Godhead Lord Kṛṣṇa to sing the glories of the servitor Personality of Godhead. Although in the spiritual realm They constantly see each other, the pastimes They perform in Their various incarnations are all inconceivable. The pastimes of the Supreme Lord are the Vedas. One cannot understand them without engaging in the process of devotional service. The pastimes of the Lord are known only to the few followers of Gaurasundara, through His mercy. The Vaiṣṇavas are eternal servants of the Supreme Lord and are highly learned, therefore their pastimes of quarreling among themselves is simply a joke. If a person who sees such quarrels takes the side of one Vaiṣṇava and blasphemes the other Vaiṣṇava, he will certainly fall down. What to speak of becoming envious of Vaiṣṇavas, if anyone ignorant that Lord Viṣṇu is situated within the hearts of all living entities becomes envious of others and worships Viṣṇu with material conceptions, then his worship becomes useless and he attains unlimited miseries as a result of such enviousness. Yet the sin incurred by blaspheming a Vaiṣṇava is a hundred times worse than by tormenting other living entities. Therefore an offender at the feet of a Vaiṣṇava can never achieve any auspiciousness. Those who faithfully worship Viṣṇu in His Deity form but do not respect the devotees of Viṣṇu or do not show compassion towards the living entities are prākṛta- bhaktas, the lowest class of devotees. After the completion of Vyāsa- pūjā, Mahāprabhu instructed the devotees to perform kīrtana. Nityānanda Prabhu and Mahāprabhu became intoxicated by dancing in the kīrtana and displayed various transformations of ecstatic love. Mother Śacī watched this whole incident in great ecstasy. On seeing Nityānanda and Gaurasundara, she felt both of them were her own sons. When the Vyāsa- pūjā celebration was completed at the end of the day, Mahāprabhu asked Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita for the remnants of Vyāsadeva’s offering and personally distributed them to everyone. The devotees honored that prasāda with great happiness. Mahāprabhu also distributed mahā-prasāda to the servants and maidservants of Śrīvāsa.