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| Sri Nitai bestowing ecstatic love |
If only I could
be there to reach out
for a piece of
Nitai’s kaupina,
to wear on
my head
as the Golden
Lord said1,
if my hand
could be
one of the many,
stretching out
to receive it from His hand,
such
unthinkable fortune I would have!
And among the many,
countless times my lips
countless times my lips
would drink
that water
after washing
Gosani's Lotus Feet,
and when around the feet
of the many dancing,
in their dust I
would roll
nothing higher
to extol!
And if my voice
could be there
among the many
chanting Hari
Hari,
for a
moment, a recipient of a drop
of Nityananda's
mercy,
I would be one
of the many
crying, embracing and laughing,
at whom Sri
Chaitanya, pleased,
and radiating
love, is glancing.
The Lords roar
and dance
among many,
falling,
singing and trembling
in an ecstasy
out of control,
and the earth
shakes
under the whirling steps
of the
Sustainer of all worlds.
That kirtan is
still going on,
but I am here,
at this silent
desk,
lost in the thought
of that
precious shred
of kaupina,
of kaupina,
which, by bestowing
bhakti,
dimmed the
fortune
and defeated the pride
of the kaupina
wearers
praised
in Shankara's ode2
praised
in Shankara's ode2
1) CB MK Ch12.23 : "After speaking the Lord
took Nityananda's kaupina and tore it into many small pieces." Ch12.25 :"The Lord said 'Tie this
piece of cloth on your head."
2)Sri
Kaupina-pancaka-stotra by Sripad Sankaracharya :" Fortunate are the
kaupina wearers ! They are always situated in transcendental bliss and their
senses are peaceful. Day and night they
delight in brahman." (Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu Issue 102) - see page bottom for the whole Ode.
Sri Caitanya Bhagavata MK 12.30-47
Tie the piece of His kaupina on your head with devotion. Go home and worship it with great care.
Being ordered by the Lord all the devotees respectfully tied those pieces of kaupina on their heads.
The Lord said : “Listen devotees, drink the water that has washed the feet of Nityananda.”
As soon as one drinks that water one will develop fixed devotional service to Krishna. There is no doubt about it.”
Being ordered by the Lord, all the devotees immediately washed the feet of Nityananda with water and drank it.
Some of the devotees drank five times and some drank ten times. Nityananda laughed constantly and did not know what was going on.
Sitting where He was, Gauranga Mahaprabhu in great jubilation personally distributed the water that had washed the feet of Nityananda.
After drinking the water from Nityananda’s feet everyone became intoxicated and loudly chanted the name of Hari.
[…] What wonderful influence the water that washed the feet of Nityananda has, for just by drinking that water everyone became agitated.
After drinking that water, someone danced, someone sang and someone rolled on the ground. Others roared loudly all the time.
A tumultuous ecstatic kirtan was begun, and all the devotees were completely overwhelmed as they danced.
Soon Sri Gaurachandra roared loudly and began to dance profusely.
Nityananda Svarupa immediately got up and joined the Lord and both Lords danced in the midst of the devotees.
No one knew who fell on whom, who caught whom and who took whose feet dust on their heads.
~~~~~~~~~
From the Navadvip Mahatmya - Mahaprabhu said :
"Later, when I begin the sankirtana movement, I Myself will preach the essence of the four Vaisnava philosophies. From Madhva I will receive two essential items : his complete defeat of the Mayavada philosophy......" pg73
Sripad Sankaracharya wrote an ode to glorify the "wearers of kaupinas".*(see bottom page) In every sloka he depicts the various qualities of the wearers of kaupinas such as their renunciation because they live under a tree and because they delight in Brahman. But Lord Gourachandra,who has defeated every single line of Mayavadi philosophy, did not neglect even this apparently innocuous sonnet.
One day in the assembly of His devotees presenting the glorious personality of Lord Sripad Nityananda Ram, He requested Him to give Him His kaupina. Then he had it torn into many pieces which were distributed to all the devotees and everyone was asked to wear a piece on their head.
Millions of times more fortunate, worshipable and blissful are these devotees wearing only one fragment of Lord Nityananda's kaupina over their head in comparison to the kaupina wearers of Sripad Shankaracharya's ode !!
The benediction from Lord Caitanyachandra is that every one who accepts the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda in their heart will be wearing a piece of this kaupina on their head and will obtain ecstatic love for Krishna. No yogi, sannyasi brahmanandi, scholar or whatever will be able to even dream of such mercy!
~ ~ ~
ODE to the Wearers of Kaupina by Sripad Shankaracharya
Fortunate are the kaupina wearers! They always take pleasure in the words of Vedanta and are satisfied with whatever food can be obtained by begging. They are never unhappy and the are merciful.
Fortunate are the kaupina wearers! They live under trees and they eat whatever they can hold in their two hands. They revile even the goddess of fortune as if she were a useless rag.
Fortunate are the kaupina wearers! They have removed all false identification with the body and they see the supersoul within the self. They meditate on that which has no middle, end or outside.
Fortunate are the kaupina wearers! They are always situated in transcendental bliss and their senses are peaceful. Day and night, they delight in brahman.
Fortunate are the kaupina wearers! They recite the purifying five-syllable mantra [om namo sivaya] meditating on lord Siva in their hearts as they wander in all directions begging alms.
- Translated by Sri Kusakratha Das and Sri Matsya Avatar Das.
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