Ganga puja, Baladeva Vidyabhusana, Gangamata Goswamini

Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Sh Namani Hari Priya Mancha Kalpatarubyaśca Kripāsindūbya eva ca Patita nāpānebhyo Vaiṣṇavibhyo namo namah Shri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nita nanda Shri Advaita Gadādhāra Shri Vasadhi Gauravakta Vrilla Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Ajanu Vamvitabujyokanakavadhatu Sankirtanayikapitaro Kamalaya Daksa Vishvambarodvijavaro Yugadharna Pala Vandeijagadriyakaro Karunatayam Nantakhpravishimamavacimamprasuttam Samjivayatakilashaktidharaksvadhamnanyamshchahaskacayana Shravanath Vabha, Pranam Namam Bhadarak, Uruṣṭhāda Pūdhya, Svasyastha Vishvāsa Kalā Prasīdhatam, Vyayanta Bhutanī Śrīvām Mi Thvodīya, Manascha Vabram Vajatav Pradhakṣit, Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So, today is an important day in our Paisnavagonia calendar, and therefore I was asked to speak on three personalities who are celebrated today on this very day. The first significance of this day is that it is Ganga Puja or Ganga Dasera. It's Dashami of the Sukhla Paksha of Jashta, months and on this day, Maraj Bhagiratha, due to his austerities, due to his purity of heart, his sincere desire to save people of this world from their sins, made goddess Ganga to descend from the spiritual world, from heavenly planets and ultimately from the spiritual world. And therefore this day is called Ganga Dasara. Dasa means ten. Today is Dasani. And another meaning of dasa means that Ganga can purify dasahara from these two Sanskrit words combined together the Hindi or dasara comes, dasahara. It basically means that Ganga can purify you from the sins accumulated within ten births. Very simple. You go to Ganga, you pray to Mother Ganga, or just take deep in Mother Ganga and all the sins disappear. And all the people take advantage of this. Millions of people gather together on this day on the banks of Ganga to take Holy Deep, inspired by all the statements of the Shastras that just by taking this Holy Deep everything will be accomplished. Little do they know that there is some secret behind this. So many people live on the banks of Ganga, but we don't see the results, the magic results of purificatory activities. And we have to very clearly understand what's going on and how to achieve the results which are promised by the Shaskaras. promise these results and therefore they will come. There is no doubt about it. We don't have to have any shadow of a doubt that the holy deep in Ganga will bring about these miraculous results. But Bhaktivinoda Takur Hirota special essay on this topic explaining that, yes, first of all we have to understand what are the results which have to come. If we only do it for purification of our sins, ten births, you know, what is the use? We purify the sins of the ten births but we have millions of births. So there is still enough sins to bring about in other births. Bhaktivya Nautakur explains very beautifully that those people who are focused on the material promises of the Shastras, on the promises of material results of the Shastras, they can only get material results. This in itself is a fault. If you only go to a holy place or if you circumambulate Toulouse because you killed a few Brahmanas and you want to get rid of this Brahma-hatya sin, it's not going to work. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says that it doesn't work like this. You have to know the science behind it and the science, he says, there is no doubt about it that the result will come but you have to have proper consciousness. He says, in the same way as the electricity is the certain energy. So Ganga Devi or Tuvasi Devi, they also are carrier of spiritual energy. And it is spiritual energy which purifies us. When we come in contact with the carrier of spiritual energy, whether it is Ganga or Holy Name or Tuvasi Devi or Holy Dam, and there are plenty of this, we have to understand that this result only takes place if there is no offenses involved. He gives this example of the electricity. He says, yes, electricity, the energy of electricity can be transferred from the object which is the carrier of this energy into other objects, provided the other object doesn't have resistance. If the other object has the resistance, you know, you may put a huge power bank into this table. Nothing will happen with the table. The table will remain sinful as it was before. The spiritual energy will not go into this object just because there is no conductive power. just because there is a resistance in this particular object in a similar way if we have the resistance against this spiritual power or spiritual energy then the result will not take place and the resistance which comes within us is the resistance which is a result of our offenses And the offensive mentality is exactly this. You go to the holy place or you go to Ganga or you go to Tuvasi Devi because you want to get rid of the sins to facilitate sinning again. Bhaktivinoda Takur says, if you have this mentality, let me be purified from my sins so that I would live happily in this world, then it will not take place. Exactly the opposite what you expect. But he says that therefore when we hear the results of the holy deep in Ganga or in Yamuna, in fact in this day it is also recommended to take the holy deep in Yamuna. It's equally as powerful as going to Haridwar or Dev Prayak or whatever, Gomuk, and take Basin Ganga on this day. But it is said that on this day we also should do Yamuna Puja and take the Holy Dip in Yamuna. But he explains that to get the result of this, we have to understand the whole scope of the results. Purification of the sins is just a little tiny fraction of what Mother Ganga can give to us. The real result of taking deep in Ganga is that we get devotion to the Lord. We get bhakti to the Lord. The purification of the sins is just side effect. And if we go, and if we do something for the sake of side effect, the result will be opposite. We have to really understand what is the main result which is expected from certain action which we do, and in this particular case taking holy deep in Ganga. If we understand that the main result which should be expected from this is devotion to the Lord and we go with this purpose, then the side effect will take place automatically. If we come for the side effect, then we will become sinful. It's a very simple example which we can understand. You know, like for example, the side effect of sex relationship is pleasure. But the main result of sex relationship is to beget beautiful children. If you do sexual relationship for the sake of the main result, that the side effect will take place automatically. But if you do the sexual relationship for the sake of side effect, it will become sinful. So, the same principle works here. If you do some activity for the side effect, not for the main effect, then you will not get nothing, you will become sinful. Even the side effect will not come ultimately. Those people who are engaged in illicit sex, they ultimately, they are desperate because even the pleasure which they get reduces drastically and ultimately doesn't come. So in the same way, when we do something for the sake of side effect, we make a great mistake. So when we do this holy deep in Ganga or in Yamuna, we really have to purify our consciousness preliminarily to make it conducive, to receive, to make it receptive to receive this spiritual energy which is there in Ganga, which is there in Yamuna, which is there in the Holy Name, which is there in the Holy Dham. So that's the main effect. And therefore Bhaktivinoda Kuru says when the Holy Scriptures describe the glories of Ganga, they speak so many different things. But people are focused only on the material results and therefore they get Nasa. And therefore the result is so minimal. So it's very interesting if we try to understand the connection between these three events. One is the holy appearance of Ganga Devi in this world by the mercy of King Bhagiratha. Another one is the appearance of Ganga Mata Goswami, who is a great devotee in our line. And another one is the disappearance of Pala Devi Diyapurusha. we can see the thread which connects these three events. And if you understand the subtle connection between these three seemingly unrelated events, we will take the full advantage of this very holy day. Indeed, this day is very madhava-titi bhakti-janani. Bhakti Vinod Thakur explains that what is the meaning of Madhava Titi, of special titis on Vaishnava calendar, is that they create bhakti in our heart. If we celebrate them properly, if we try to absorb the energy of this day. So this is a very holy day, the Ganga Dasera, and we should do certain rituals. we should go to Yamuna and Ganga, do Ganga Puja or Yamuna Puja and do, Shastras say, at least 10 dips in Yamuna or in Ganga. But with the idea that ultimately gives us devotion. How? Let's try to understand the subtle connection between these three events which took place on this particular day of our calendar. It's very interesting that Ganga Devi being pleased by the purity of heart and purity of intention. Again, the same topic is there. Why Ganga Devi didn't come on the request of Maharaja Bilip, who was the father of Maharaja Bhagirath? Why Ganga Devi didn't come on the request of Maharaja Amshuman? This whole sequence or dynasty of great kings, Maharaja Dilip was such a great king, his glory is amazing. Still, Ganga Devi didn't come. She only came on the request of Maharaja Bhagirath. Why? Because the purity of his intent was more. That's the conclusion which we should make. He was deprived of even a shadow of some sort of selfishness. Yes, he wanted to purify his ancestors, but ultimately he was driven by the desire to purify everyone. And touched and moved by the purity of this intent, Gandhadevi came, But when she appeared in front of Maharaja Bhagirata, due to his total absolute purity, she said, yeah, I have two doubts. The first doubt which I have is that if I come here to Earth, the power of my descent will be so great that I will just penetrate this Earth and go to Patalalok, and I do not want to go to Patala Loka. There is nobody who is praying in Patala Loka for me to come. So why should I go to Patala Loka? But it's practically inevitable if I will just, you know, gush from such a huge height to earth, then I will not stay in the middle planets, I will go down. So what shall I do? Tell me. should hold me so that I will not go down. This is the first doubt. And the second doubt, of course, she knew what was going to happen. People will be inspired to sin more because they have such an easy way to get rid of sins. Instead of purifying the humanity, I will create horrible stuff. Besides that all the sinners, they will come to me and they will dump all the sins into me and what will happen to me? Then I will go to Pataloloko on my own because that will be my destination. So what am I supposed to do? So please first dissipate these two doubts of mine and then I will agree to your request. I am ready to do it. And Maharaja Bhagiratha, of course, he said that, yeah, no problem. Lord Shiva anyway holds the whole universe, so it's not difficult for him to hold you. Because he is penetrating the whole universe, so he is the only one who can really maintain you in a proper position. So I would request Lord Shiva to do it and he started performing his austerity to Lord Shiva and Lord Shiva of course mercifully agreed to hold Ganga and therefore Ganga, she is intimately connected with both Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. But then the second request, hearing the second request, Maharaj Pagirata gave a very clever answer, which is actually the key to understand the subtle connection between these three events which took place on this day. He said that, yes, I will promise to you that you will be purified of all the sins dumped in you by the sinners who come to you, because the devotees will also come to you. And not only low-class devotees, Kaniṣṭhādhikārīs, middle-class devotees, Madhima-dhikārīs, but even Uttama-dhikārīs will come to you. Because the devotees are very obedient to the Shāstra. And when the Shāstra says you should do it, the devotees in bare humility will come to your place. And when the devotees will come to you, they will purify you from all the sins which you accumulated. And Vishwama Chakravar Takur explains, you know, why the devotees should purify Ganga from all the sins? Because when devotees come to Ganga and Ganga accumulated all the sins, then the sins will come to the devotees and the Supreme Lord cannot tolerate, then the sins come to the devotees so he will be in a hurry to take away all their sins. It's a very interesting point which we should understand very clearly that the Supreme Lord could have taken and Vishnana Chakravartyatakur says it's only the Supreme Lord who can take away the sins. Otherwise to maintain the balance in this world the sins has to remain you know if somebody committed sins then the proportionate reaction has to be there so you may transfer it to somebody and then transfer it to somebody else and then ultimately transfer it to Ganga but then you know what happens then only the Lord has the power to take away the sin completely only the Lord himself has the power to completely eradicate all the sins but the Lord can take away the sins from Ganga but he doesn't because of his compassion and because of his intimate connection with the devotees because of this completely unbroken connection with great devotees not the great devotees who are middle class devotees and not the great devotees who sometimes chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. But the great devotees who are really pure in their heart, when these devotees go to the holy place, when these devotees go to the holy river, then the Lord, being so compassionate and so intimately connected, He takes all the sins and ultimately this whole story and this whole glorification of Ganga and this whole glorification of everything else which is there in Shema Bhagavatam and in other Shastras is to make a very simple point. The most purifying agents in this world are pure devotees. Because they can even purify the Holy Dham. They can even purify Ganga. Nobody else can purify Ganga. Because Ganga is pure anyway. But still Ganga is concerned about all the sins and therefore the pure devotees are there because the Lord himself fulfills all the desires of pure devotees. And what is the secret of purity of pure devotees? That's again we have to understand and that's the thread which will connect these three events. So from the first event, from Ganga Puja, we can learn that Marajapagiratha actually by saying this is glorifying Sadhu Sangha. People are so eager to perform all these ritualistic activities, forgetting that the most purifying is the association of devotees. Because when you associate properly, again, without offense in your heart, with the proper intention, I'm coming here just to get a little fraction of bhakti which is there in the heart of this particular process. If we come and hear with this intention, with this idea that here is the golden opportunity for me to get a little fraction, a little atomic particle of bhakti which is there, let me serve him. him and it's very easy to serve the devotee. The devotee likes when somebody hears him. Devotees usually very talkative because they like to talk Krishna. They can talk on and on and on. So when they see that somebody is eager to hear, when somebody is sitting there, yes, yes, I know, I know, yeah, yeah. Very good, very good. Then it's not service. But if you come with the intention to serve pure devotee, and to serve pure devotee again is very simple, just to hear him with a good intention in the heart. Yes, I want to hear what he has to say, because what he says is coming from his heart, and his heart must be pure. This is a pure place in which he serves the Supreme Lord. Then the bhakti comes and then the effect comes and again, Maraja Bhagiratha is performing this pastime, not to, of course, to glorify Ganga and her purifying power, but first and foremost to glorify Sadhusam. Because this is the real Ganga. This is the real Ganga which comes to this world. Because Ganga being neutral, being somewhat indifferent, of course, Ganga is not indifferent. She is a personality. She is mother. She is taking care of us. She is Janani. She is our mother. But still, she is somewhat neutral. but she purifies externally. But when we hear the devotee, the intention of the devotee is to purify your heart. When the devotee speaks, he speaks with this intention, may those who hear me attentively be purified within their heart. And therefore, the words of the devotee, they penetrate deeper than the waters of Ganga. They penetrate deeper because the Shakti, the energy which is there in the heart of the devotee has a particular address, the heart of his or her hearers. And this is how the purification of Sadhu Sangha takes place. Sadhu Sangha does not purify by just, you know, give me a shirvat, a shirvat, a shirvat, maraj, a shirvat, or just by touching their feet. The purification takes place if with proper intention, hear what they have to say and try to understand the emotion behind their words. And the emotion is this, may people be purified, may people have bhakti, May bhakti be established in their heart and flourish in their heart and give them the complete pleasure and bliss of being established in their heart. So in this connection we can study the next event which took place on this day. On this day Ganga Dasera, Ganga Matagaswamini was born somewhere in Bangladesh, in modern day Bangladesh in Kuntia district. And her father was a very wealthy landlord. He was a small king of a small area. He was very, very wealthy. And she was the only daughter. And her father, Naras Raja, loved her daughter very much. But she loved Krishna. Actually yesterday I attended one class, one Harikatha by one devotee here in Vendava, Achyuta Lava Mbatha Goswami. And he explained that there are different parakiras. He explained that there are different kinds of parakiras. He said that Shastras, they describe three kinds of parakiras. And two kinds of parakiras they glorify and one kind of parakiras they condemn very much. So I think everyone is very much intrigued, you know, what kind of Parakyeras is glorified in the Shastras. So he said, amazingly, he said that Shastras glorify Parakyeras when the unmarried girl falls in love with Yogyakarta, with a good boy who is deserving when she gives the heart to the good boy and they fall in love with each other. She has to glorify this. Because this is a natural attraction between male and female and if it is done in the parameters of proper Shastric rules, like Dushyanta and Damayanti, which is glorified in the Shastras, then this kind of Parakyeras is glorified. And then it is very interestingly that the second kind of Parakyeras, which is being glorified in Shastra, when the married woman has her husband, but she couldn't care less about her husband and she wants to marry Krishna. So this Paratyeras is also good. These two kinds of good and other kind we will not mention, not to contaminate the hearers. But this Sachi Devi, who was the daughter of Naresh Raja, she had the first kind of Parakyeras. Her father and her mother very much wanted to see her indifference into this material world. They very much wanted to marry her with somebody. and when she found out, and they wanted to marry her when she was very young, and when she found out, she said, no, no, I'm not going to marry anyone, my husband is Krishna. And they told her, you're crazy. And she said, no, you are crazy. I'm not crazy. I do not want to have any other husband. My only husband is Krishna, and she was so adamant that ultimately Her parents, who were very insistent, had to give up. And when her mother passed away, it's also very interesting and very instructive, her whole life story is very instructive, because she teaches us how this internal renunciation or internal sparkle bhakti, which is there in everyone's heart, has to develop. Even in case of Gopis of Vrindavan, it starts with Purvaraka. In case of Ganga Matagoswamini, it also starts with Purvaraka. In her childhood she had this Purvaraka, she heard about Krishna and she fell in love with Krishna and she became very adamant and determined that I will only marry with this beautiful Krishna Krishna who is the Lord of the Universe. But then the next stage has to take place also. You have to prove that your Purvaraga is, that you are serious in your Purvaraga. Initially when we start our bhakti, yes some initial inclination, some initial attraction is there, But still we have to prove that we are serious and we want to come to the end on this path. And therefore she left home. The first thing that she did when her mother passed away, she left home and she went on pilgrimage. And from Bangladesh she came to Navadvip first. From Navadvip she came to Jagannath Puri. And from Jagannath Puri she came here in Brindal. So this is the first thing. Initially some initial attraction should be there, is there. But then you have to endeavor to purify yourself. You have to perform certain austerities. You have to perform to prove that you want to do this and for that you have to perform certain vairaiki. So she left home. She went from one holy place to another holy place. And when she came here, she came to Govindaji Temple. And the pujari of Govindaji Temple was one Haridasa Pandit, who was the disciple of Anantacharya, who was a disciple of Gadadhar Pandit. So it was third generation from Gadadhar Pandit, the great associate of the Supreme Lord Chaitanya and Shimatiratharani. And his disciple Anantacharya was Sudheli Goti. And Haridasa Pandit was the main pujari in Govindaji Temple. And when she saw Haridas Pandit, she understood that her pilgrimage bore fruit. We have to again understand this dynamic or this thing. You know, we go, we get the initial attraction, we go for purification, we go to Tirkayatra. But again, the result of purification is that we have to appreciate some devotee. Appreciate deeply in the heart. If this doesn't take place, if this does not happen, then all our purification is waste of time, it's useless. It doesn't really bear any fruit. So, Krishna from the heart of Ganga Mata, who was not Ganga Mata Shachidevi at that time still, he told her, this is your preliminary destination. This is the place, the foot, the lotus feet of this great devotee is the place where you find what you are looking for. But the Haridasa Pandit was very hesitant to give initiation to her. It is said very clearly in Hari Bhakti Vila that the Guru should not be in a hurry to give initiation. Of course nowadays Gurus are very merciful, sometimes too merciful. But it is very clearly said that he has to give a test. And especially, you know, she's a Rajakanya, she's the daughter of a king, she's born in a very opulent family. So he was not in a hurry, he was looking at her and testing her again and again and again. But she was adamant and she was so insistent and determined. She would come to him again and again and again and she said, I don't want anything else. Actually, the real initiation only takes place within the heart of a devotee or disciple. If he has this desire, I don't want any other desire. I don't want, I do not want anything else. This is what I want. This connection I want. only because of this connection I can go further in my spiritual life. And ultimately, seeing her sincerity, he gave her initiation, gave her Ashtaksharam mantra, Gopal mantra, 18-syllable Gopal mantra, which we also chant. And she started chanting and she started studying under him. She was already a great scholar. And that's another very important point because ultimately, hopefully we will come to Baladevi Devotion, who was the greatest scholar in our Sampradaya. So to spoil the whole Katha, I want to say that ultimately what is purifying within the heart of a devotee? Initially I said this, that we have to understand that we have to come to the pure devotee. But what is so purifying within the heart of a pure devotee? The spiritual knowledge which is there in the heart of a pure devotee is the purifying agent. The spiritual knowledge which lives in the heart of a pure devotee. The knowledge and his realization, of course, not just theoretical knowledge of the Shastras, but his realization, his knowledge of the Shastras, which is coupled by his sincerity and his sadhana and his austerities, this is what is purifying, what is the purifying factor. And even Krishna himself, he glorifies the knowledge, he says, there is nothing more purifying than the spiritual knowledge. So when we come to a pure devotee, we have to come with this intention, I am coming to his lotus feet to get the spiritual knowledge which is there within the heart." And Gangamata Vaswamini, who was still Shachideri at that time, she came to Haridas Pandit and she studied under him for one year. And during this one year he gave her another test. He said to her, Now you have to maintain yourself by Madhukhari, which is very difficult. And actually Srila Prabhupada followed this tradition and he also said to his disciples whom he gave initiation, if you really want to prove that you are a real disciple, you have to go on the street and do Madhukhari. And of course, you know, in New York nobody will appreciate if you knock on the door and ask for some hamburger or whatever they have in the home. So his Madhukhari was to distribute books. But that's the same tradition. Go out and do Madhukhari. Go out and beg. Why? Why it is so important? Because the most important quality of a disciple is humility. And how you get the humility? Only if you go to distribute books nowadays. Only if you go and humble yourself by begging others. That's a very important part of our discipline being Shishyas. We have to go for Madhukhari, basically means we have to get rid of our false sigur. We all have false sigur. You know, we have big false sigur. Shachidevi had very small false sigur. She was a daughter of a king, she was very rich, but still she had very small false sigur. Nevertheless, her guru told her, go do Madhukhari. We are not born in a high family, we are not really rich, but we have big faults in it. More important for us it is to understand the key of our success on the spiritual path is the humility. Therefore, this is the second test. The first test, he sees her determination. She knows exactly how to ignite the poor Varaga which is there in the heart. She goes to purify herself. She finds the Guru. He tests her determination and then sends her out for Madhukhari. For one year she was maintaining herself only on the food which she begged from the local villagers. And then he calls her again. And then he says to her, now you go to Radha Kunt. Only after that you go to Radha Kunt. Sometimes devotees are so inspired, they go to Radha Kunt immediately. Oh yeah, I have to, this is the highest place, I have to get Parakyeras immediately. Yes, they get Parakyeras, no problem. But another kind of Parakyeras, which is not mentioned in the Shastras, in a good way. You know, to go to Radha Kunt and to get the full benefit of going to Radha Kunt, you really have to first humble yourself, get rid of your false ego. If you go to Radha Kunt equipped with your false ego, you know, once a disciple came to Srila Prabhupada and said, Srila Prabhupada, I want to live on Radha Kunt. He said, why? He said, I want to chat there. I want to live there. He said, so many monkeys live in Radha Kunt, and you will be one of them. That's Srila Prabhupada's blessing. Go to Radha Kunt and become one of the monkeys in Radha Kunt. If you do it prematurely, if you go there with your false ego, with your false identity, then what will you get there? You will only commit offenses in this most holiest of the holiest place. Therefore, first, the discipline should be there. And my discipline is to finish this class within five minutes. And I don't know how I will do it, but I will try. So, he sends her to Radha Kunt. And he says, there in Radha Kunt, your aunt lives there. and she is a great devotee. Be there under the guidance of a pure devotee and chant there Sri Laks every day. So Sachi Devi goes there to Radha Kund and she stays there for several years by chanting every day Sri Laks of Harina and going Govardhan Parikram every day. We sometimes do Govardhan Parikram. and because Govardhan is very merciful, we do half of Govardhan Parikram. Sometimes we say just a few steps is also good. She was doing every day Govardhan Parikram. At the same time chanting three lakhs. This is the qualification to live on Radha Kond. If you are ready for this, no problem. Go straight there. So for several years she was living there, again under the guidance of Lakshmi Priya, her aunt, and was chanting the holy name. And then Haridas Pandit calls her back to Brindava and gives her another test. And another test is even more severe. He tells you, leave Radha Kut, leave Raj, leave Rindhava, go to Jagannath Puri and repair the place of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya which is completely demolished and destroyed. Do some practical activities. You chanted the Laugh Haringam, now do something practical. So, which is even more severe. You know, you're here, you're attached to this holy place. This is the holiest of the holy place. But Guru says, you go from here, there, without even tweaking her eye. She goes directly there to get her full glory. She's one of the Acharyas of Aosampradaya. The whole branch of Aosampradaya, the whole Parivar is Ganga Mata Goswami Parivar. Somebody says that women cannot be guru. Yeah, women cannot be guru, but pure devotees can be guru and women can become pure devotees. There's no doubt about that. So Ganga Mata Goswami goes there directly from here by food. She goes to Puri from this holiest of the holiest places and she starts preaching. by showing again by her example that to purify yourself you have to chant a lot of Harinam being in the holy place but then the full manifestation of the purity of Harinam is to distribute it to others and she preaches so powerfully in Jagannath Puri that all the local Dhammasis are so impressed by her They just, they trunked hundreds and thousands to hear her speak from Srimad Bhagavatam, from Gaudi Vaishnava philosophy. And even the king of Jagannath Puri Mukundadeva at that time, he comes to her and listens to her discourses. So to make the long story short, it's very important to bring it to conclusion and to speak at least a few words about Palladeva Devushin. To make the long story short, she gives her some land near Shvetaganga. Shvetaganga is a very holy place. This is the place where in ancient time Maharaja Shveta was living. He was the Maharaja of Puri and I'll tell a little story of this Maharaja Shveta. On his name Shveta Ganga Sarova is called. This Maharaja Shveta was a very opulent king and he was serving Lord Jagannath in a very opulent way. he improved the standard of serving Lord Jagannath, he was offering him so much boga and everything else. And then one day he came to Jagannath Mandir, and he saw in Jagannath Mandir that demigoths came before him and gave much more opulent offerings to Lord Jagannath. And he became so morose, he said, what my tiny, puny, little insignificant offerings are in front of these offerings, which even demigods are offering to Lord Jagannath. And he was standing there with his heart completely demolished, basically, by this scene of opulence, of proper opulence to Lord Jagannath. And in this moment, Lord Jagannath shows him the vision. He gives him the darshan. And he sees Mother Lakshmi, who is herself there on the altar. And Mother Lakshmi is taking offerings which are offered by Maharaja Shveta by her hand and gives to Lord Jagannath, to Baladev, to Suvadradevi from her hand. And she neglects all the offerings given by the demigods. And he became so happy and so pleased with this. And Lord Jagannath gave him the benediction that you will leave this body on your desire. So this Maharaja Shveta, he gave up his body on his desire when he finished his life on this place, Shveta Ganga, Sarovar. And on behalf of him, this Shveta Ganga Sarovara was called Shveta Ganga. And so Ganga Mata Goswami, who is still Shachidevi, was given the land near Sarvabhambhattacharya house, Sarvabhambhattacharya Bhavan, in the bank of Shveta Ganga. And there she gives the discourses and she took Kshetra Sannyas. She said, my Guru Maharaj gave me this mission to take care of this holy place and therefore I will not leave this holy place I will stay in this holy place and I will do his mission till the last day of my life I will do I will bring the glory to this house of Sarvabha Mbatacharya Bhavan and I will serve here so she gave Kshetra Sannyas and then the day of Varuni Ganga came and all her friends went to Ganga and they were calling her, let's go to Ganga, it's very important, it's such an important day, let's make this pilgrimage in the Holy Ganga. She said, no, I cannot. But at the same time, a desire to take pass in Ganga was strong in her heart. And she went to sleep in her little kutir on the bank of Shvetoganga. And in the first part of the night, Lord Jagannath appeared in her. And she asked her, why are you summer rose? She said, oh, you know, all my friends are there and the Ganga river is so purifying. Lord Jagannath asked her, from where you think Ganga takes place, from where it emanates? She said, oh, from your lotus feet. She said, so why are you so worried? Come to my place and the Ganga will come from my feet, no problem. So he said to her, you go at midnight. on this day, Baruni Ganga, and take bath in this Shveta Ganga Sarova. And then I will arrange everything else. The Ganga herself will come from my lotus feet to you. So she goes what she was said, she does what she was said, she wakes up, she goes to Shveta Ganga, she takes bath, And at this moment she hears the tumultuous sound. She sees so many people are taking bus and she really understands, I am on the bank of Ganga. And all these people, they are making all this sound and they're taking Holy Deep and she is there and she is happy. She sees all her friends and she goes into this Ganga, which Shveta Ganga Saror became the river Ganga. She goes and all of a sudden she feels that the current of Ganga takes her. And it's such a strong current and the current of Ganga takes her and she finds herself within Jagannath Mandir. Lord Jagannath brings her miraculously into Jagannath Mandir and she is still there and she hears all this, you know, all the people who are making sound, you know, And there are so many, when the festival is there, there is a lot of sound people are making, whether it is Kumbhamele or whatever. So, Kumbhamele is going on in Chaganath Mandir at night. And she is taking bars and she is also making sounds and being so happy about this. And the guards of Chaganath Mandir, they hear these sounds from inside the door. And they wonder what's going on there. what the heck is going on there and they got the permission from the head priest and they opened the doors of Jagannath Mandir and lo and behold they see Shachidevi who is standing there alone and she is all wet in her wet sari and she is looking and the whole scene disappears there is no Ganga there is no people only she and Jagannath and Jagannath is smiling so so the guards they got suspicious because she was still a beggar and they thought maybe she's a beggar and the beggars they tend to steal because this is what the beggar's profession is so they bring her to King Mukunda there and they say she's alone, she's at night somehow or other she stayed there somehow or other she's wet we don't know how and she probably wanted to steal some decorations or some ornaments of Lord Chavana and the priests were also suspicious and they put her in prison so here you are it's another obstacle on your spiritual path you end up in prison you're very sincere, you do all austerities, you purify yourself you chant Sri Lakhofwarina and then you end up in prison. And then all the priests, including Mukundadev, they got some terrible disease and Lord Jagannath comes to Mukundadev and says, because of your offense to Shachidevi, you have all this disease. And if you want to get rid of the disease, you go to her, not to Ganga, not to Shveta Ganga Sarova, not to myself. You go to her and you surrender to her. You took initiation from her, you take the holy knowledge, divine knowledge, transcendental knowledge which is there in your play, in her heart, in the form of holy mantra, take initiation, only then everything will be restored. So this is the holy end, the happy end of the whole story, how she got the name of Ganga from this day on she was called Ganga Mata Goswami. And we celebrate this day again to understand this. And just to say one sentence about Baladev Vidi Bhushan, if we study his life, which is also very intimately connected with Jagannath Puri, Somehow or other there is this internal connection, Ganga Matagaswamy, Baladevi Dibhusen, who was born near Jagannath Puri in Rimuna in Balasur district and ultimately came here. Then again, what is His glory? His glory is the transcendental knowledge which He gave and which is till this day as the Holy Ganga purifies people who come in contact with us. We still can come in contact with the great devotees. The sadhu sangha is again not only to externally have sadhu sangha, to be in the place where the pure devotee speaks, that's very important, but also to study his words and try to understand the intention behind these words. The glory of Baladev Vidyabushan is that he brought up the glory of Gaudiya Sampradaya into the context of the glorious Vedic culture. Before Baladev Vidyabushan, Gaudiya Sampradaya was kind of an isolated sect which was prominent in a few places like Navadvipa and Vrindavan and Manipur. But it is because of Baladev Iyabushan and his transcendental knowledge and his desire to bring this to a wider audience, to the greater audience, to the people of the world, he made this transcendental knowledge, this school accessible. He translated basically the teachings of Lord Chaitanya, made it accessible to everyone who belongs to Vedic culture and brought the bridges between other people and people from other Sampradayas for them to come to Gordia Sampradaya. Just a little anecdote and I will finish this class. which is already today. I have my friend who is an Acharya in Madhava Sampradaya. He is a great Sanskrit scholar and he is a great scholar of Madhava Vedanta. He knows Madhava Vedanta Nyaya Sudha through and through. He knows by heart all the commentaries which are done by Madhava Siddhanta. And I asked him, why don't you teach this Gaudiya Bhashya, or Govinda Bhashya, which is written by Baladevide Bush. And he said, I don't know what is this Govinda Bhashya, what is this? And we gave him the Sanskrit book of Govinda Bhashya, and he started reading, and he couldn't stop reading. And he said, it's such a beautiful book. I know all the explanations. I know all the commentaries of Madhvas and Pradaya. It's such a, he didn't say it's better, but he said, it's such a beautiful, it's such a simple, simply explained such difficult and complex ideas of Vedanta explained here. He was glorifying it. He said, oh this Baladev, I never heard about this Baladev. Who is he? Tell me more about Baladev. So that's a completely impartial testimony of somebody who is from outside Sankradaya. And that's exactly what Baladev Vidyavushin did. He brought the teachings of Lord Chaitanya to everyone. And then of course Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati and ultimately Silla Prabhupada, they completed this mission. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came, Rupa Goswami came and explained this most esoteric and most subtle teachings of Lord Chaitanya for us to practice. But then the great Acharyas, what is their job? Their job is to bring this to our hearts. And if we are grateful to them, and if we understand this principle, the most important principle of this day, that the most purifying in this world is the transcendental knowledge, we have to serve them with all humility, fulfilling their desires, fulfilling their missions, and trying to come in contact with their knowledge and with their bhakti within their heart, which they express through their words. So, thank you very much. That's my little explanation of the glory of this day. Thank you. Hare Krishna. Śrīla Prabhupāda, Jāna.