TO REMEMBER: ALWAYS PREPARING AND SPEAKING WITH ABSOLUTE REVERANCE…

Hare Krishna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Sri
Guru and Sri Gauranga. Thank you all so much for the opportunity to serve by trying to speak on this
most wonderful topic today: the glories of Srimati Jahnava devi, whose appearance day was a few
days ago. She is the wife of Lord Nityananda and a powerful preacher in the Gaudiya Vaisnava
sampradaya. I pray for all your blessings to do justice to this class.

om namo bhagavate vasudevaya x 3

BG 4.3

sa evāyaṁ mayā te ’dya

yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ
bhakto ’si me sakhā ceti
rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam

Translation

That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because
you are My devotee as well as My friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery
of this science.

Purport

There are two classes of men, namely the devotee and the demon. The Lord selected Arjuna as the
recipient of this great science owing to his being a devotee of the Lord, but for the demon it is not
possible to understand this great mysterious science. There are a number of editions of this great
book of knowledge. Some of them have commentaries by the devotees, and some of them have
commentaries by the demons. Commentation by the devotees is real, whereas that of the demons is
useless. Arjuna accepts Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and any commentary on
the Gītā following in the footsteps of Arjuna is real devotional service to the cause of this great
science. The demonic, however, do not accept Lord Kṛṣṇa as He is. Instead they concoct something
about Kṛṣṇa and mislead general readers from the path of Kṛṣṇa’s instructions. Here is a warning
about such misleading paths. One should try to follow the disciplic succession from Arjuna, and thus
be benefited by this great science of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā.

om ajnana…
sri caitanya…
namo om…
namaste…
So this 4th chapter of BG emphasises so much that we receive BG and all TK from authorised sources.
Krishna says that only one who has actually seen the truth can impart that knowledge to others, and
no one else. There’s an essential understanding behind this. SP says in the purport that
commentaries or knowledge that comes in the line of Arjuna of in disciplic succession, is devotional
service, meaning that this knowledge is bhakti. So what or who is bhakti? Bhakti is a living, dynamic,
powerful, spiritual force, a conscious being that is existing within this knowledge so it simply cannot
be taken to be the same as ordinary material knowledge. When we study material subjects, a certain
amount of teaching, concentration, understanding, remembering and application is enough to grant
one a level of proficiency in that topic, but spiritual knowledge is a personality, and simply can’t be
approached in the same way.
So to get Krishna from scripture in the conventional way of gaining material knowledge, is
completely impossible. One can read, study, apply, do anything, but bhakti alone is the way to
extract Krishna from all of that knowledge. We may have some difficulty adjusting to this concept,
that we are approaching personalities here and not material objects and subjects like we would in
the ordinary world: the books we are holding are Krishna Himself, and the actual ability to
understanding Him is coming from bhakti Herself, not our ability and these Persons are real. So the
way to approach them is with conscious love, respect and humility, through their devotees, and this
will grant us the desired result. SP says in the purport of SB 1.15.8: “in devotional service the mercy
of a devotee is more valuable than the mercy of the Lord.” So we have 3 personalities: we get
Krishna through bhakti, but we get bhakti from a devotee, and that is the systematic way of
advancing in spiritual life.
Thus Krishna is saying to Arjuna that he can understand this knowledge of spiritual life because of
being a devotee and friend to Krishna. Spiritual life doesn’t have to be difficult to understand but its
only like that because generally people don’t follow the formula above: we get Krishna through
bhakti, and we get bhakti from a devotee. So we see Krishna and everything else as material objects,
not real, dynamic and reciprocal. However, being a devotee and a friend to Krishna is as literal as it
gets, and is definitely not in a fantasy sense: it means being physically loving and friendly to an actual
Person, but because it’s so difficult to imagine and even harder to develop, our loving Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu and His associates appeared to demonstrate all of this to us: what is means to have
bhakti, who is a devotee and what does it mean to be a friend of Krishna.

So in the TLC, SP says, “Other pure devotees, who are more or less attached to Śrī Nityānanda
Prabhu and Advaita Prabhu, are attracted by other transcendental relationships, such as parental
affection, friendship and servitorship. When such devotees are very much attached to the activities
of Lord Caitanya, they at once become confidential devotees in conjugal love with the Supreme
Lord.” So if we take this statement apart, we can understand that Lord Nityananda being Lord
Balarama is situated in the mood of friendship, He looks after Krishna as His dearest little brother
and Advaita Acarya is Maha Vishnu, who is eternally worshipped in the dasya rasa, or servitude, by
His devotees. Both, of course, are served with neutrality or santa rasa also. But if one wants to serve
Krishna in madhurya rasa, the love of the gopis, one becomes attached to Lord Caitanya. Lord
Caitanya is in Srimati Radharani’s mood as the foremost of the gopis, which is different from Lord
Nityananda’s mood as a cowherd boy, and so we understand how devotees reach their different
rasas through the Lords.

However, we must always bear in mind, that to get Lord Caitanya’s mercy means to get Lord
Nityananda’s mercy first. Therefore, Narottam das Thakur prays:

“When will that day come when Lord Nityananda's causeless mercy is bestowed upon me so that my
desire for material enjoyment becomes very insignificant?
When my mind is completely purified, being freed from material anxieties and desires, then I shall
be able to understand Vrndavan and the conjugal love of Radha and Krishna, and then my spiritual
life will be successful.”

So even if Lord Nityananda is not directly in that madhurya rasa, but without His mercy to overcome
the painful material condition, we can’t hope to attain that most exalted of relationships with
Krishna. And how can we get Lord Nityananda’s mercy? Through His energy, Srimati Jahnava devi.
She is known as Nityananda-svarupini, the other self of Nityananda Prabhu. Her mercy can grant us
the ultimate goal of Krishna prema, in all it’s different rasas, from santa, dasya, friendship, parental
love through Lord Nityananda, and by getting His mercy, we get the mercy of Lord Caitanya, if our
ultimate desire is to love Krishna in conjugal love. Again we see, the mercy of the Lord, obtained
through His devotee. The formula is always the same and it always works. So now we’ll discuss some
of the wonderful pastimes and qualities of Jahnava devi.

Jahnava Devi is believed to have appeared on the 8 th day of the full moon of the Vaishaka month in
the year 1409 or 1410. Lord Nityananda is Lord Balarama, so Lord Balarama’s wives Varuni and
Revati, became Vasudha and Jahnava, the two wives of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, in Caitanya-lila.
Both Vasudha and Jahnava were the daughters of Surya das Sarakhel, who was a dear associate of
Lord Caitanya. In Gaur-ganoddesh-dipika it is stated that they are the expansions of Varuni and
Revati in Vrndavan and Surya das Sarakhela, whose body effulgence is like the sun, is an expansion
of Kakudman, the king of Raivat, who was the father of Revati, in his previous birth. According to
another opinion, Jahnava was the incarnation of Ananga manjari, and some say that Vasudha was an
incarnation of Ananga manjari also. Jahnava’s mother’s name was Bhadravati and her father’s home
is the village of Shaligrama, near Navadvip.

Surya Das was the third son of Kamsari Mishra, and his mother was Kamala devi. He had
five brothers - Damodar, Jagannath, Gauri das, Krsna das and Nrsimha Caitanya. He held an
important post in the service of the king of Gauda, as a result of which he was given the title
Sarakhela (‘commander’) and earned a large amount of money. The Bhakti-ratnakara (written by
Narahari Cakravarti) 12.3875-8 says: Surya Das and his brothers were all very pure in their character
and they had a spotless reputation. His virtues are innumerable. Caitanya Caritamrita says
(1.11.25): Surya Das and Krishna Das were brothers who both had great faith in Nityananda and
were filled with love for Krishna.

Bhakti-ratnakara 12.3908-10 continues:  In a dream, Surya Das also saw Nityananda as Balarama
with Vasudha and Jahnava standing to his left and right in their forms as Revati and Varuni. Surya
Das offered the two girls to Nityananda’s lotus feet, Nityananda Prabhu mercifully gave him the
same vision directly. Surya Das fainted in ecstasy. So after having this dream, Surya das sent a
brahman friend to the house of Srivas Pandit in Navadvip, where Nityananda Prabhu was living. Lord
Nityananda assured the brahmana that he would fulfill the desire of Surya das, and sent him back to
Shaligrama to delivered the auspicious news to Surya das who was overjoyed that his dream would
now come true.

In the village of Borgachi lived the son of Raja Hari Hora, Sri Krsna das, who was a very dear devotee
of Nityananda Prabhu. He offered to bear all of the expenses for the wedding and to have it
conducted at his house, thus he made the necessary arrangements. Many devotees arrived and
began harinam sankirtan. Surya das Pandit's brother, Sri Krsna das soon arrived at Bordachi and then
Nityananda Prabhu and the other devotees accompanied Him to Shaligrama. When Suryadas saw
that the devotees along with Nityananda Prabhu had arrived, in great happiness he came out to
greet them and then ushered them into his house where he offered his respects to Lord Nityananda.

“Surya das fell down at the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, his eyes brimming with tears of ecstatic
love. He caught hold of His two lotus feet and wanted to offer some prayers but he could not
express anything due to being overcome by ecstatic emotions. Lord Nityananda smiled sweetly and
embraced him in great love. Surya das was always absorbed in intense happiness. Who can
understand his inner self? Seeing these loving pastimes of his brother, Gauri das lost his patience
and felt great bliss within himself. Then, after worshipping the two lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, he
offered his two daughters in marriage to him. Thus the marriage ceremony was very auspiciously
performed.”

Jahnava Devi herself had no sons, but Vasudha devi gave birth to Virabhadra (or Viracandra)
Goswami and Ganga Devi, who are the incarnations of Kshirodakashayi Vishnu and the river Ganges,
respectively. Virabhadra became the disciple of Jahnava devi. It is said that she was once serving at
home, and her sari fell off her head. She immediately manifested 2 more arms to cover her head
with, such was her power and culture. After witnessing this wonderful feat, Virabhadra Goswami
became her disciple. About her niece, Ganga devi, the Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika says that her
husband Madhavacharya is an incarnation of King Shantanu. So this is the glorious, transcendental
family of Lord Nityananda.

After the disappearance of the associates of LC, the three especially empowered manifestations of
the compassion of the Lord, Srinivas Acarya, Narottama Thakur and Syamananda Prabhu continued
to spread the sankirtan movement across the east of India. Narottam das Thakur had great success
in Kheturi, which is in present day Bangladesh, and prepared a glorious festival, under the patronage
of Narottama das Thakur's cousin, King Santosh Datta, for the appearance day of LC. Jahnava mata,
was especially requested by the three acaryas to be present at the glorious festival, as she was the
most senior Vaisnava of the time. Present with her were many dear associates of Nityananda
Prabhu.

The great importance of this festival was it united the Vaisnava community of the time. Because of
the absence of LC, many devotees were heart broken and found it difficult to continue the sankirtan
movement with fervour, so the compassionate Srimati Jahnava Devi desired to enthuse them all
again and re-establish the glory of the sankirtan movement as it had flourished under LC.

On her way to Kheturi, she passed through Ambika kalna first, to the temple of her uncle Gauri das
Pandit where she was nicely received by Hrdaya Caitanya Prabhu. Here she cooked for the two
deities, Sri Sri Nitai-Gauranga, and in the evening they had a festival of sankirtan. After passing
through Navadvip and other holy places, they reached Kheturi. Wonderful arrangements were made
to receive them with great respect and love, and they were taken to specially built quarters for the
festival.

The following day was the appearance day of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Within the newly constructed
mandir, six deities were to be installed. In the evening, the devotees began performing sankirtana.
All the people of Kheturi gram turned out for the occasion. Within the midst of that great assembly,
Nityananda's shakti, Shri Jahnava mata looked very beautiful. It is said that just by seeing her, the
devotees gathered there, and hearing the divine kirtan, all the atheists and sinners were supremely
purified. Everyone had left their homes and hurried out to see the devotees and to drown
themselves in the nectar of the kirtan.  Everyone dived and surfaced in the ocean of ecstasy, and in
this way were drowned in the bliss of Vaikuntha. In this way, the kirtan continued until midnight.

The following day, with great pomp, and before a huge crowd, Srinivas acarya performed the
abhishek ceremony for the installation of the six deities. On the order of Jahnava mata and the
devotees, Narottama das Thakur began to perform kirtan, and in the midst of that kirtan, Gauranga
Mahaprabhu Himself, accompanied Nityananda Prabhu and all His eternal associates, made His
divine appearance.  Who can describe the overflowing of ecstasy felt by the assembled devotees
there in Kheturi gram on that day?  Those who could remember that festival all attained eternal
fame.

On the third day of the festival, Jahnava mata herself cooked the bhoga for the deities.  "Sri Jahnava
devi was extremely delighted by the sankirtan festival. After purifying herself by bathing in the
Ganges at midday, with great enthusiasm, she cooked wonderful preparations of rice, vegetables
and other things. Her cooking was unprecedented." (BR 10th Taranga). Jahnava mata herself
distributed prasada by her own hand to the great souls present there at that grand festival.
So this is the wonderful example of a perfect Vaisnava: she was the most senior respected guest of
this festival, and she performed the cooking herself and distributed the prasadam to all. We ordinary
conditioned souls are always expecting respect from others, wanting things to be done as we want,
but here the wife of God is cooking and serving others. It is said that Laksmi devi is found to be
cleaning Vaikuntha also: it’s perfectly clean so why is she cleaning it again? It is because it pleases
the Lord. So in our own homes, temples, festivals, there’s no service too menial or unimportant to
do. If we are truly KC, we will be aware that the Lord is watching every action, including washing
pots or cleaning vegetables: this is what pleases Him the most.

After the grand festival, Jahnava devi visited Vrndavan: she went first to Visrama ghat and took bath,
then she was met by many great Vaisnavas in Mathura and went on to Vrndavan. Here, she saw the
samadhi of Gauri das Pandit, her uncle. The leaders of the Vaishnava community such as Jiva
Goswami, Gopal Bhatta Goswami, Lokanatha Goswami, Bhugarbha Goswami, Madhu Pandit, etc., all
came to offer her their respectful greetings. With all of them, she visited the principle temples of
Vrndavan- Madana Mohana, Govinda and Gopinath- before going to Radha Kund. There she met
Raghunath das Goswami, who was engaged in constant chanting of the Holy Names, and whose
body was emaciated by his austerities. Jahnava remained in Radha Kund for three days engaged in
bhajana.

She heard the sound of Krishna’s flute while sitting on the banks of the tank and had a vision of Sri
Krishna which overwhelmed her with waves of divine love. The ghat where Jahnava bathed and had
this vision is today known as Sri Jahnava Ghat. She then took the company of Vaisnavas on a
parikrama of Vraja-mandala. During this parikrama she heard Jiva Goswami discourse on Brhad-
Bhagavatamrta. One day when she was bathing in the Yamuna, a small black hand grabbed the end
of her cloth as she was getting out of the water. When she looked, however, there was no one there.
Then Gopinath spoke to her, "I want to come and stay with you. When you're taking bath in
the Ganga one day I'll come and join you." When she returned to Navadvip, and was bathing in the
Ganges one day, something touched her body in the water. Then she lifted that object out of the
water and beheld the enchanting form of Sri Gopinathji, while tears of love streamed from her eyes.
This Deity is at present being worshipped by the descendant of Ganga devi, the daughter of
Nityananda Prabhu, at a place called Jirat, Hugli.

HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj says: “After Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda departed from this
world, Jahnava Devi, the consort of Nityananda Prabhu, was honoured as the senior most acarya of
Gaudiya sampradaya. Even the great goswamis worshipped her. On her trip to Vrndavan, she was
put through many challenges. The smarta brahmanas considered her to be a threat and wanted her
to die. But in incredible ways, all these opposing parties surrendered unto her and became her
disciples. Although she was honoured by the great renunciates she would serve all the devotees by
cooking for them and personally serving them.”

After her visit to Braj, Jahnava returned to Gauda-desha where she visited numerous important
places of pilgrimage. She went to Kheturi Gram again, where she met Narottama das Thakur,
Ramchandra Kaviraja and other great Vaisnavas.  After staying there a few days, she went to a place
called Budhari Gram, then on to the birthplace of Shri Nityananda Prabhu in the village of Ekachakra.
As she took darshan there, she heard about the father and mother of Lord Nityananda, Hadai Pandit
and Padmavati. In the company of a local brahman, she saw the different places of Nityananda
Prabhu's childhood pastimes. She stayed at the empty house which had once been Nityananda's
home and passed the night in kirtan.

From here, she to Kanthak Nagara, near Katwa, which was the place of Lord Caitanya’s sannyasa.
From there, she went to Jajigram, to the house of Srinivasa Acharya, and welcomed her with great
devotion. After staying in Jajigram for a few days, she again returned to Navadvipa. At that time,
Ishan, the family servant of Mahaprabhu was very old. Upon entering the house of Lord Caitanya,
Jahanva mata fainted in ecstasy. She had kirtan in the home of Srivas Thakur, where Mahaprabhu
began his sankirtan pastimes and that night, she had a dream in which she saw Lord Caitanya and His
devotees performing different pastimes.

The following day, she went to Ambika Kalna, where her uncle, Gauridasa Pandita, lived. Sri Jahnava
Mata wept again and again remembering him. She offered her prayers there, at the lotus feet of the
deities of Gauranga and Nityananda.  There the devotees began a kirtan, and in their midst,
Gauranga and Nityananda personally appeared. That night, she cooked many preparations for the
pleasure of Gaura-Nityananda and offered it to them distributed that prasada herself to the
devotees there. That night, as she slept, in her dreams she saw Gauridasa Pandita with Gaura and
Nityananda. They all offered Jahnava mata their blessings.

Jahnava mata then went to the home of Uddharana Datta Thakura.  There, after staying for a one-
night sankirtan festival, she got in a boat and returned to her own home in Khorodoha Gram, where
she met Lord Nityananda's son, Virchandra, his daughter Shri Ganga, and Shri Vasudha devi, her
sister. Parameshvari Thakura stayed on as a servant to her. Thus Jahnava mata travelled throughout
the Vaisnava community, enthusing them all with prema-bhakti, over and over. This is very
important because for us to remember because as we discussed in the beginning, we get bhakti
from the devotees. Without that association, the age of Kali deteriorates everything: that’s just the
way of the world. Even in those special days, the Vaisnava community was scattered after Lord
Caitanya’s disappearance and Jahnava devi with her love and purity was needed to bring them all
together again with her powerful association.

Srimati Jahnava Devi disappeared on the 9 th day of the bright half of the Vaishaka month which is
April-May of the calender year.

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur says in his Kalyankalpatru:

"Having fallen into the ocean of material existence I am completely distraught and filled with
anxiety. Floating in this ocean, without any refuge, I am trying to find a shore; but without any
success, I am losing all hope of ever finding it. What activity will bring me there? or what knowledge
will bring me there? Conducting some fruitive sacrifices, engaging in some mystic yoga process or
conducting austerities - none of these have any power or effect. I am getting very weak and I cannot
swim much longer. Now in this extremely dangerous situation, will no one come to save me? Alas!
To make matters worse, having caught sight of the crocodile of worldly affairs, I am petrified with
fear and the current of lust is always churning the water. I can barely keep my head above the water,
the winds carrying the results of activities performed in previous lives, is blowing and making the
water so choppy. I am losing my mind and now I am simply crying frantically. I can't see anyone who
can get me out of this ocean of woes. O my dear Sri Jahnava devi, please have compassion on your
servant and bless me with some of your divine qualities. Please extend me the rope of your mercy
and alleviate this intense pain that I am experiencing.

"I have taken shelter of the boat of your lotus feet and I have full faith that you can carry me across
this ocean. You are the divine energy of Lord Nityananda and the bestower of Krsna bhakti. Please
bless me at your feet, which can bestow all one's desires. You have already delivered so many
despicable creatures, now today here is one more destitute and hateful wretch, come to your lotus
feet."

“O Jahnava Devi! Be merciful today to your servant and deliver me from my pain. Give me a place in
the boat of your lotus feet so that I can be sure to cross over the ocean of birth and death. You are
Nityananda’s energy. You are devotion to Krishna and my guru. Please give this servant the desire
tree of your lotus feet. How numerous are the fallen souls that you have saved? So this fallen beggar
seeks a place at your feet.”