The True Connection

I have written about and contemplated connection and re-connection in the past but today I was thinking about it from a different angle. The rise of social media has made it easy to ‘connect’ with each other, but on some level it feels like more of an impersonal connection. Through social media people learn about people, places, and things that they don’t really know about or could never imagine knowing. Some of it is good content but largely it is pointless information overload. People have started to realize that they need to limit their screen time as it can cause a lot of harm or even addiction. This use or overuse of social media brings me to the conclusion that we are all driven for connection, and that too meaningful connection. Why is there such a need for connection? What is the true connection that we seek? Are we looking in the right places for connection? With the right people? About the right things?

I have come to realize that our true connection is with Lord Nityananda who is our super-soul. He so mercifully appears in front of us as Sri Gurudev. In every mortal body we assume here in the material world the super-soul always accompanies the soul. The super-soul waits indefinitely for the soul to turn towards Him. Once the soul starts searching for that connection to the Lord, the super-soul being non-different from the Lord, steps up and takes charge. He guides us from within on how to reach His lotus feet and guides us in person in a non-threatening way as Sri Gurudev, our dearest well-wishing friend.

Lord Nityananda is in each and every living being as the super-soul. When we seek connection in this material world we are actually seeking that connection that has been severed from time immemorial but we don’t realize it. That intense desire to feel connected is because we are suffering here in this material world and when we connect to another living being, be it a person or an animal, we connect to the super-soul within. We come across certain people and think that we have found our soulmate, but it’s really the super-soul that we are connecting with on a deeper level. When we say namaste to someone with folded hands it means I bow down to that supreme within your heart. Our previous life karma also brings us certain connections in life. We have some give and take with these people which needs to finish. But in spite of that, the super-soul sanctions all of our activities.

My Gurudev explains that we actually are seeking Love. Love that acts as a balm for soothing the heart of all the misgivings and pain of separation from the Lord here in this material world. This Love in the material world is, but a reflection of the Love in the spiritual world. This love from the spiritual world, Goloka was brought to us by Lord Nityananda in the form of Harinaam. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nama-sankirtana. Without the mercy of Lord Nityananda we cannot experience this spiritual love.

In this evolutionary cycle we finally get a human birth to realize God, but we still cannot find our super-soul within and our real, true connection with Sri Gurudev. After many births one may come to meet Him by the will of providence. But when we do, we can realize who is our true well-wishing friend, who is going to take us face to face with the Lord, who is going to take us to our eternal home and engage us in our eternal service to the Lord.

I am grateful for the connection I have to my Gurudev, to Vrindavan Dham, and to the Vaishnavas. When I did not have any knowledge of Sri Gurudev, and realized I wasn’t getting any younger, I prayed and cried intensely to Lord Nityananda to reveal Himself to me. I wanted Him to speak through Guru so that I would know for sure. On the auspicious day of Bahulashtami I was in Radhakund, Mathura, India and after bathing in the holy waters of Radhakund and praying to Radharani, I met for the first time my Gurudev. He spoke and I listened. I immediately knew it was Lord Nityananda speaking directly to me. I had never before met my Gurudev and did not know him, but here he was revealing himself to me.

With Nityananda Trayodashi this week I was inspired to write about Him. Understand that with each soul we connect with, we are connecting on a deeper level to the super-soul within them. If someone yells at you, know that it’s meant to teach you something as their super-soul is controlling them from within. If they lovingly speak to you, know that the Lord is sending you love through that person. Try to make those connections that can enhance your connection to Sri Guru and Sri Nityananda Prabhu.

Happy Nityananda Trayodashi!!

Sriman Nityananda Dvadasakam

Twelve Prayers Glorifying Sriman Nityananda Prabhu
by Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj

yo ’nanto ’nanta-vaktrair niravadhi hari-samkirtanam samvidhatte
yo va dhatte dharitrim sirasi niravadhi ksudra-dhuli-kaneva
yah sesas chhatra-sayyasana-vasana-vidhaih sevate te yad arthah
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [1]

(1) O my heart! Please eternally serve the lotus feet of that beautiful Sri Nityanandachandra, who gives us Gaura Krishna. It is He—Nityananda Prabhu—who in the form of Anantadev perpetually performs Hari-nam-kirtan with infinite mouths; He perpetually holds on His head the earth planet like an insignificant speck of dust; and He performs the divine service of His all-in-all, Krishna, as Sesadev Ananta, taking the forms of the Lord’s paraphernalia such as umbrella, bed, seat, and clothing.

amsair yah ksirasayi sakala bhuvanapah sarva jivantarastho
yo va garbhodasayi dasa-sata-vadano veda-suktair vigitah
bramandasesa garbha prakrti-pati-patir jiva-sanghasrayangah
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [2]

(2) O my heart! You please eternally serve Sri Nityanandachandra, who gives us Gaura Krishna. He maintains the entire universe in His expansion of Ksirodakasayi Visnu, residing in the hearts of all living beings; His glories are sung by the Vedic hymns as the Garbhodakasayi Visnu of thousands and thousands of heads—Sahasra-sirsa Purusah; within His womb (garbha) unlimited universes are situated; He is the Master of the Lord of material nature—Karanodakasayi Visnu—in whose womb unlimited universes are situated and by whom the entire multitude of souls are sheltered.

yasyamso vyuha-madhye vilasati paramavyomni samkarsanakhya
atanvan suddha-sattvam nikhila-hari-sukham chetanam lilaya cha
jivahankara-bhavaspada iti kathitah kutrachij jivavad yah
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [3]

(3) O my heart, please eternally render divine service to that gracious giver of Gaura Krishna—Sri Nityanandachandra. In the great transcendental kingdom Paravyoma Vaikuntha He expands into the form of Sankarsan of the first quadruple expansion, in which form He ever expands the ecstasy of the divine Pastimes of Sri Hari in the conscious plane of pure existence (suddha-sattva); within the jivas He presides as the ego, and sometimes He shows His divine Pastimes just like an ordinary jiva.

yas chadi vyuha-madhye prabhavati sagano mula-sankarsanakhyo
dvaravatyam tad-urddhe madhupuri vasati prabhavakhyo vilasah
sarvamsi rama-nama vrajapuri ramate sanujo yah svarupe
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [4]

(4) O heart, please constantly serve the dust of the lotus feet of the gracious bestower of Gaura Krishna—Sri Nityanandachandra. It is He who presides in all His glory in Dvaraka with His transcendental associates, as the original all-attractive personality, Mul Sankarsan; above that plane, in Mathura He enjoys His Pastimes in the form known as prabhava-vilas; and in Vraja Puri, He is known as Balaram, the ultimate source of all incarnations, and He sportively plays with His younger brother, His all-in-all—Sri Krishna.

sri-krsna-premanama parama-sukhamayah ko ’py achintyah padartho
yad gandhat sajjanaugha nigama-bahumatam moksam apy aksipanti
kaivalyaisvarya-seva-prada-gana iti yasyangatah prema-datuh
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [5]

(5) My dear heart, please eternally worship that gracious giver of Gaura Krishna—Sri Nityanandachandra. It is He who bestows upon us pure unalloyed divine love for the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna (Sri Krishna-prema), composed of the most supreme and intense ecstasy. The love that He distributes carries an inconceivable import—it is of such ecstasy that the sadhus who may experience only a hint of its fragrance, hatefully cast away all thought of liberation in the ‘One’ as propounded in the Vedas. Furthermore, His Avatars, who bestow the divine love of service in the transcendental majesty of Vaikuntha, are but expansions of His expansion.

yo balye lilayaikah parama-madhuraya chaikachakranagaryam
mata-pitror janana matha nija-suhrdam hladayams chita-chakram
tirthan vabhrama sarvanupahrta-janako nyasina prarthitas cha
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [6]

(6) O my dear heart! Please serve forever the lotus feet of that glorious giver of Gaura Krishna, who is known as Sri Nityanandachandra. When Lord Nityananda Prabhu was a small boy, He performed supremely sweet and charming Pastimes in the village of Ekachakra invoking the deepest heartfelt happiness in His mother, father, relatives, and close friends; and later after a sannyasi arrived at the house of young Nityananda and prayed to Hadai Pandit for his son, Lord Nityananda was placed in the hands of the travelling sadhu and wandered throughout the length and breadth of India visiting sacred places of pilgrimage.

bhramam bhraman cha tirthan yati-mukuta-mani madhavendra prasangat
labdhollasah pratiksya prakatita-charitam gaura-dhamajagama
sri-gaurah srinivasadibhir api yamavapalaye nandanasya
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [7]

(7) Dear heart, please eternally serve the lotus feet of that wonderful Sri Nityanandachandra, who is the giver of Gaura Krishna! While wandering throughout the holy places, His heart was taken over with ecstasy by the association of the crown jewel of sannyasis Srila Madhavendra Puri, and He came to Gaura Dham, the holy abode of Sri Gauranga. There He waited at the house of Nandan Acharya for the self-revelation of the golden Lord Gaurasundar’s divine Pastimes with His associates headed by Srivas Thakur.

praptajno gaura-chandrad akhila-jana-ganoddhara-nama-pradane
yah prapya dvau surapau kali-kalusa-hatau bhratarau brahma-daityau
gadha-prema prakasaih krta-rudhira-vapus chapi tav ujjahara
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [8]

(8) My heart, please constantly give thyself to the divine service of that gracious bestower of Gaura Krishna, Sri Nityanandachandra! It was He who received the divine instruction from Gaurachandra to deliver all souls by bestowing divine love through the Holy Name. Showing the extremity of His divine love, He delivered those two fallen wine-drinking brahmans (Jagai and Madhai) ruined by the degraded inauspicious nature of Kali-yuga even after they had attacked Him and blood was oozing from His body.

saksad gauro gananam sirasi yad avadhutasya kaupina-khandam
samdhartun chadidesasava-yavana-vadhu-sprsta-drsto ’pi vandyah
brahmadyanam apiti prabhu-parihrta-kanam api svesta-pitah
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [9]

(9) Please worship eternally, dear heart, that gracious bestower of Gaura Krishna, Sri Nityanandachandra. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu ordered all His beloved followers to accept with worshipful reverence any small piece of the kaupin (loincloth) of Nityananda Prabhu, the topmost of personalities above all social norms and strictures (avadhut). Even if He is seen to touch an immoral drunken woman or yavani, He is nonetheless worshippable by all the gods headed by Brahma. And He is the beloved leader among those exalted devotees who lovingly captivate the heart of Sri Chaitanyadev.

uddhartum jnana-karmady-apahata-charitan gaura-chandro yad asau
nyasam krtva tu maya mrga-manusrtavan grahayan krsna-nama
tach chayevanvadhavat sthala-jala-gahane yo ’pi tasyesta-chestah
sri-nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [10]

(10) O my heart, please eternally render divine service unto that bestower of Gaura Krishna, Sri Nityanandachandra. Sri Gaurachandra manifested His sannyas-lila for the purpose of delivering the persons of warped logic deviated by exploitation and renunciation (karma and jnan). He delivered them by making them all chant the Holy Name of Krishna. After Mahaprabhu’s acceptance of sannyas, Nityananda Prabhu followed Him faithfully like a shadow wherever He went—over land, jungle, and swamp. Nityananda Prabhu is the fulfiller of the heart’s wishes of Sri Gaurachandra.

sri-radha-prema-lubdho divasa-nisi-tada svada-mattaika-lilo
gauro yan chadidesa svaparikara-vrtam krsna-nama pradatum
gaude ’badham dadau yah subhaga-gana-dhanam gaura-nama-prakamam
sri nityananda-chandram bhaja bhaja satatam gaura-krsna-pradam tam [11]

(11) Day and night Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was intoxicated, tasting the sweetest love divine in the deep heart of Srimati Radharani. In that condition, He instructed Nityananda Prabhu and His associates to distribute the Holy Name of Krishna, Sri Krishna-nam. But Sri Nityananda Prabhu then went to Gauda Des and profusely distributed the priceless treasure of the true devotees: the Holy Name of Sri Gaura, Sri Gaura-nam. O my dear heart, please give yourself in service forever unto that gracious bestower of Gaura Krishna—Sri Nityanandachandra.

sri-radha-krsna-lila-rasa-madhura-sudhasvada-suddhaika-murtau
gaure sraddham drdham bho prabhu-parikara-samrat prayachchhadhame ’smin
ullanghyanghrim hi yasyakhila-bhajana-katha svapnavach chaiva mithya
sri-nityananda-chandram patita-sarana-dam gaura-dam tam bhaje ’ham [12]

(12) Dear Lord, O Nityananda Prabhu, emperor of the associates of Sriman Mahaprabhu! Graciously grant this fallen soul firm and faithful devotion for Sri Gauranga, the supreme embodiment of the taste of the sweet nectar of the ecstasy of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna’s Pastimes. By neglecting the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu all sadhana or bhajan—spiritual practices, services, or worship—become an illusion, just like a dream. I worship and adore with all my heart that gracious giver of Sri Gaura, the benevolent bestower of His shelter to the fallen souls—Sri Nityanandachandra.