ISKCON Arcana Journal -1- Gaurasundara's Special Mercy

The ISKCON Deity Worship Journal

Padayatra

®r… ®r… Gaurasundara's Special Mercy...

by Jaya Vijaya d€sa

THERE ABSOLUTELY ISN'T any other avat€ra of the Supreme Lord that is more merciful than ®r… Caitanya Mah€prabhu. Even when ®r…la R™pa Gosv€m… met Caitanya Mah€prabhu at Pray€g R€j, he said “You are the most munificent of all incarnations because you are distributing love of KŠa.” Mah€prabhu is freely giving kŠa-prema without any consideration or conditions whatsoever. His incarnation is just to re-claim the conditioned fallen souls, even though we are all extremely fallen and far away from any spiritual understanding. The Lord can easily see and understand our pitiful situation in this material world. He simply distributes His causeless mercy upon us all.

Mercy can be expressed as ‘giving relief’ or ‘being compassionate’. In this world there are so many temporary solutions to our daily problems by so many compassionate humanitarians, but how are they touching upon the ultimate solution, ending saˆs€ra-chakra or material existence? Not at all. The only true solution comes as that special compassionate relief which ®r… Caitanya Mah€prabhu has, is and will give to anyone, through so many different ways, shapes and forms in this age of Kali.

When ®r… Caitanya Mah€prabhu travelled and preached some 500 years ago, He swept the path clear of so many obstacles. He converted hundreds of thousands of souls to the chanting of the Holy Name; argued and defeated numerous other philosophers with their philosophies; had friendly spiritual discussions; visited all varieties of temples, t…rthas, holy rivers and kuŠas; rediscovered lost ancient scriptures; established the Supreme Absolute Truth as Lord KŠa, based on the teachings of Bh€gavad-g…t€ and ®r…mad Bh€gava-tam; instructed everyone to follow Lord KŠa’s order and become spiritual master, and even danced and chanted with the animals in the Jharkhanda forest!

Now, ®r… Caitanya Mah€prabhu has returned in His arca-vigrah€ form, along with ®r… Nity€nanda Prabhu, as ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara, the most merciful manifestations of the Lord found anywhere on this planet! Since Their inaugural installation in Dv€rak€-P™ri on 2nd Sept.’84, one cannot begin to estimate how many fortunate conditioned souls have had Their darana and blessings. Hundreds of thousands of people have directly or indirectly served Nitai-Gaurasundara in such numerous ways that it is incredible to see how Their Lordships are attracting so many and engaging them all! The extra special contribution of Their Lordships is how they are entering people’s lives, homes, villages and towns. ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara and Their r€tham are a temple and t…rtha complete in itself. Their Lordships travel by every kind of transport, visiting and purifying all the holy places and rivers of pilgrimage.

Day after day, month after month and year after year, countless conditioned souls have instantly stopped, dropped or simply left whatever they were doing, just to approach the p€day€tr€-r€tham and Nitai-Gaurasun-dara, as They slowly travel along the road. Whether farming in their fields, walking, or on a bus, car, motorcycle, rickshaw, bullock or camel cart, horse to‰ga, truck or tractor, they all ask “What is this?”, with astonishment.

One of the most amazing sights is when the farmers leave their work in the fields and come running long distances (up to 500 meters or more) to behold the beauty of ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara and ®r…la Prabhup€da. Initially from the distance, one is attracted to p€day€tr€ by our beautiful Guj€rat… bulls with their large bodies and tall towering horns. Even other animals stop their grazing when Their Lordships pass by! But as they approach nearer, the life like m™rti of ®r…la Prabhu-p€da and the all attracting beauty of ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara, totally captivates the living entities. Their mouths drop open, their eyes widen bright and full; their entire being is temporarily transported to the spiritual world!

Once in a village near Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh (near the God€var… River, where Caitanya Mah€prabhu met R€m€nanda R€ya), our br€hmaŠa-host was extremely busy arranging a reception for us. As we arrived, he yelled “VaikuŠ˜ha, VaikuŠ˜ha!” upon seeing ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundar’s r€tham, and then tightly hugged me crying “Oh Param€tma, Oh Param€tma!”

The beauty of ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara is completely overwhelming, especially with the local village-rs. They usually ask “Is it Lord R€macandra? Is it Lord KŠa? Who are they?”... “®r… Caitanya Mah€prabhu and Lord Nity€nanda (KŠa and Balar€ma)“... “Oh!” Even the cows, bulls, buffa-loes, goats and dogs usually stop their activities to gaze upon Nitai-Gaurasundara. Over the years, I have never understand why animals stop to look at Their Lordships r€tham as it passes by. Everyday, hundreds of vehicles pass through every town and village in the country, and the animals just continue their eating, working or resting activities without any botheration. But when ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara approach, they all stop what they are doing and stare with full attention!!! The potency of Nitai-Gaurasundara and ®r…la Prabhup€da is beyond belief, but experiencing the p€day€tr€’s daily activities, makes that “beyond belief” practical, believable and realised!

The p™ja standard of ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara has improved considerably, since the beginning days on p€day€tr€. Due to the time, circumstance and place, we try our best to serve Their Lordships with whatever small amount of bhakti we may have. Five years ago, ®vetadvip D€sa (Mauritius) joined us, rendering services whenever and wherever needed. Ever since we left Dwaraka in Jan’92, he has been our main p™j€r…, raising the standard to a first class level. Then some six months ago, Adi R€j D€sa joined us (also from Mauritius) and is now assisting with the Deity worship. With his special talent of dressing Their Lordships, ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara have never looked more beautiful and captivating! Each and every morning at ma‰gala-€rat…, we are all anxious to behold Their Lordships’ new dress for the day. I am completely spellbound, how nicely Adi R€j D€sa is able to present Their Lordships - something I haven’t seen all these earlier years on p€day€tr€. Most amazingly, he has never done any p™j€r… service before! Surely the special mercy of ®r… ®r… Nitai- Gaurasundara!

Upon receiving some beautiful newly taken photos of Their Lordships, ®r…la Lokan€tha Sv€m… Mah€r€ja returned a letter saying “The photos you sent are the best ever! They also have been dressed very meticulously. May the beauty of Their Lordships, ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasundara attract all the conditioned souls.”

During the daily evening programs, hundreds to thousands of simple folk gather around ®r… ®r… Nitai-Garasundara’s r€tham to have darana during the auspicious gaura-€rat…, which attracts their minds and transcends them to another world. Their simple everyday life style and nature doesn’t usually allow them to enter deep into the Lord’s pastimes like this, where His intimate associates, Lord Brahm€, Narahari Sarakara, Sañjaya PaŠdita, Mukunda Datta, Vasu Ghoa, Lord ®iva, ®ukadeva Gosv€m… and even N€rada Muni have all gathered to participate in the beautiful €rat… ceremony.

Everything and anything is possible by the mercy of ®r… ®r… Nitai-Gaurasun-dara.