Srila Prabhupada confirmed that Jayananda went Back Home, Back to Godhead
compiled by Yasoda nandana dasa

In the middle of May 1977, Srila Prabhupada was speaking with His godbrother, `OBL Kapoor. in his room at the Krsna Balarama temple in Vrindavana. Srila Prabhupada had recently received news that his dear disciple, Jayananda Prabhu, had departed his body in Los Angeles while hearing the chanting of Hare Krsna maha mantra in the beginning of May 1977. As Srila Prabhupada was explaining to Dr. Kapoor that Jayananda was one of his first disciples and had contributed towards the first printing of The Teachings of Lord Caitanya, he related that Jayananda was hearing the maha-mantra when he died. Srila Prabhupada then told Dr. Kapoor that he went back home, back to Krsna. He then quoted the verse from Bhagavad-Gita (4.9) janma karma ca me divyam . Tears dropped from his eyes and Srila Prabhupada was very pleased to hear the auspicious news of Jayananda’s departure.

Srila Prabhupada: Jayānanda looks like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu

Srila Prabhupāda: …worship prevents snake biting. That is a village worship. So, in every demigod worship there are drum beaters. So, a party of drum beaters were engaged, and when the fees, bill, of the drum beaters was to be paid, the demigod Mansa(?) was sold. They could not pay the bills. Similarly, we may print our books, but the binding charges are so high, then it will cost more than getting it from Japan. (chuckles) Jayānanda looks like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (laughter) Yes. He was tall and stout and strong, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (laughing) Yes. Very good. And in Vṛndāvana, when Kīrtanānanda was given sannyāsa, he was looking so nice with this dress and daṇḍa, oh, practically all the devotees of Vṛndāvana came to offer him respect. Yes. On Janmāṣṭamī day I offered him sannyāsa. So many devotees came to see in the temple. So, there was a big crowd. He was looking very nice. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also very fair-complexioned. So, with this dress, persons with fair complexion looks very nice, very attractive. People are not attracted with this dress in kīrtana party? (laughs) This bare head with tilaka and this dress, they will know that they are coming from, directly from the kingdom of God. (laughs) Actually it is so. They have forgotten God; otherwise they would have received these brahmacārīs so nicely. In India, oh, you’ll be received just like gods with this dress. Hundreds and thousands of people will come to receive you. Yes. That is sufficient. (kīrtana) So how Bīrabhadra is feeling? (Bīrabhadra answers?) He has got pains in the body? https://prabhupadabooks.com/classes/initiations/talk_initiation_lecture_and_ten_offenses_lecture/los_angeles/december/01/1968

Srila Prabhupada: Now you give me ten thousand
(sounds of devotees entering, offering obeisances, chanting japa)
Srila Prabhupāda: Jayānanda, how are you? So, you are married now? Eh? So where is your marriage presentation?
Jayānanda: Pardon?
Srila Prabhupāda: When you are not married, you gave me five thousand dollars. Now you are married, you must give me now ten thousand, double. Come on. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/conversations/1971/jun/darsana/san_francisco/june/28/1971

Srila Prabhupada: Jayananda haws paid me five thousand dollars
Srila Prabhupāda: So, if we invite them to see it, that how they are helping efficiently with latest machine…. Therefore, it has been possible. Otherwise while in India with great hardship I could publish three books only.
Reporter (1): They are very beautifully printed.
Reporter (5): Where did the money come from to print such lavish editions of your books?
Srila Prabhupāda: The money comes…. We are selling books daily.
Reporter (5): No, but initially you do require a…
Srila Prabhupāda: Eh?
Reporter (5): Initially it requires some money to print such a lavish book.
Srila Prabhupāda: Initially I took some books from here. They are not so nicely printed, but still, I sold them. Then gradually increased. They paid the money and then…. They made contributions. One of my student, he first, Jayānanda…. He…. No, first paid me…. He, he has first paid me five thousand dollars. Then Brahmānanda paid me five thousand dollars. In this way gradually, money came.
Reporter (1): Swamiji, you write originally in English or these books are being translated from some other language into English…
Srila Prabhupāda: No, translated, but I give my purport. That is…. They like very much. Present the purport in such a way they can understand it. The original verse is there, but they are explained by me.
Reporter (1): Give some critical comments and explanations.
Srila Prabhupāda: Yes. That they like. Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/conversations/1976/mar/conversation_with_news_reporters/delhi/march/25/1976

Srila Prabhupada: Our Jayānanda was driving taxi and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and one day (laughter) he brought to me five thousand dollars

This taxi driver is saying Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Srila Prabhupāda: Our Jayānanda was driving taxi and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and one day (laughter) he brought to me five thousand dollars.
Devotee: And you used it to print Teachings of Lord Caitanya.
Srila Prabhupāda: Huh?
Devotee: Was that the time?
Srila Prabhupāda: I think, yes.
Devotee: You kept it then.
Srila Prabhupāda: It was given for publishing Bhagavad-gītā, but I think Macmillan took it. So, I spent it for…
Devotee: Then you put him in charge to sell all the Teachings of Lord Caitanya, I remember. (Prabhupāda laughs)
Jayānanda: (indistinct) Didn’t sell too many books, though.
Devotee: I thought he was the best, most appropriate person to drive you.
Srila Prabhupāda: He was chanting and driving. Very good boy. Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/conversations/1976/jul/arrival_comments_in_car_to_temple/new_york/july/09/1976

Srila Prabhupāda: And Jayānanda should be congratulated

Srila Prabhupāda: Palanquin; no, the siṁhāsana as it is. Just like this is siṁhāsana, two big poles down, and tie it with…, cut it with legs and carry, four men or eight men change. Change the soldiers.
Devotee; But not on carts, not on big chariots.
Srila Prabhupāda: No. Chariot, only Ratha-yātrā.
Devotee: We’ll make a big advertisement. We’ll call it “Fall Festival.” This festival, we called it “Summer Festival.” People respond to that. If you say Ratha-yātrā, they can’t even pronounce the word. So, we call it “Summer Festival,” and they came.
Hari-śauri: “Summer Festival” sounds very attractive.
Devotee: Everyone was saying, “Oh, that means for me, Summer Festival.”
Hari-śauri: “Ecstasy Outdoors.”
Srila Prabhupāda: And Jayānanda should be congratulated. Yes. Give one letter, written. I…
Devotee: The carts looked magnificent.
Devotee: Two people worked the hardest Prabhupāda, Jayānanda and all of his assistants, and Toṣaṇa Kṛṣṇa. He did all of the publicity and advertisement.
Srila Prabhupāda: They should be congratulated.
Devotee: These two men, they worked the hardest.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee: They worked for two months in a row, solid. The carts were very good, I think.
Srila Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, very nice, very strong.
Devotee: Because you gave him that warning. When he heard that, oh, he became very… “I must do it right.” We told him, “Now you will have to be replaced. Prabhupāda has said that ‘Jayānanda’s wheels will never hold up.’ So, we have to find a replacement for you.” So, he took no chances.
Srila Prabhupāda: San Francisco it also happened.
Devotee: Seems to me that he must be a great devotee of Lord Jagannātha.
Srila Prabhupāda: Same thing happened in London also. Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/conversations/1976/jul/new_york/july/18/1976

Letter to: Brahmananda
Stinson Beach, Calif
11 July, 1967
67-07-11

My Dear Brahmananda,
Please accept my blessings. I hope things are going on in New York very nicely, but I have not heard from you since coming here. On the plane I had no inconvenience, and I ate all the puris brought by Kirtanananda. Sometimes on the way there was little jerking (air pockets) and I got little nervous. Anyway, I got down safely and was received by the anxious devotees here. Jayananda in a nice car brought me to the house, which is situated in an exceptionally nice spot, and the house itself is aristocratic. So, there is nothing to complain about the house and place. The only difficulty is that I cannot go to the temple on account of the zig-zag course of the road in crossing the mountains. Anyway, the devotees are coming here, and the Rathayatra Festival was performed with great pomp. More than 500 people followed the procession to the beach, and there were about two dozen cars. They distributed thousands of capatis, and at last Sri Jagannatha, Subhadra, and Baladeva. kindly came here in our house and will stay here for one week and then return.

So, for my health is concerned, on the whole it is nice, but sometimes I feel not so good. Everything depends on Krishna, and as He desires it will happen.

Dvarakadhisa has informed me you have received one letter from the Japanese printers. I am very anxious to see the letters. You can direct my mail to:
ACB
Bodes Paradisio”
Alameda Patio
Stinson Beach, Calif.
I shall be glad to hear from you. Hope you are all well.

Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swam https://prabhupadabooks.com/letters/stinson_beach/july/01/1967/brahmananda

Srila Prabhupada : Jayananda is unique devotee

Letter to: Krsna Devi
San Francisco
16 December, 1967
67-12-16

My Dear Daughter Krishna devi,
Please accept my blessings. I am so glad to know that Krishna did not allow you to do something that was not His plan. Krishna wanted that both you and your husband must be engaged in organizing nice center. Jayananda is unique devotee. He paid you sincerely and therefore as soon as you reached Santa Fe you found out a good place better than the former place. Please utilize your energy in this good task as I am sure success is awaiting you.

If there is labor cheap you can organize there some incense manufacturing concern. I wish that in every center we shall now manufacture incense very good quality. The only thing you have to assured to get the splinters or the thin sticks. If you think it will be possible to get, then immediately start the work. The ingredients are the splinters, charcoal, starch or gum and essential oils. It will be very lucrative business and the profits will be sufficient to maintain the center once you begin the work. I will give you many business ideas by which you can accumulate nice profits. For business four things are required. Namely place, labor, capital and organization. For incense we have already organization. Little capital you are gathering. The poverty place means you can get cheap labor and the place you have already in your possession. Guidance, I am present. So, do it immediately and there will be no scarcity of money. I hope you understand me right.

Be an ideal couple of husband and wife in your country. Be Krishna Consciousness by full cooperation of husband and wife and you be happy both in this and the next life also. Hope you are well.

Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/letters/san_francisco/december/16/1967/krsna_devi

Srila Prabhupada; Jayananda is a very sincere and intelligent boy and I think his decision should be accepted as final in the matter

Letter to: Gargamuni
Los Angeles
11 January, 1968
68-01-11

My Dear Gargamuni,

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your statement regarding Jivanuga, and it is clear that he is crazy. I have already advised Jayananda in this connection that we cannot make the society an asylum for crazy people. It is not our business.

Jayananda is a very sincere and intelligent boy and I think his decision should be accepted as final in the matter. Not only in this case, but in every other complicated case. The elected authorities in the management of the temple should be the final authority in these matters. Otherwise, the society cannot be managed. Our main principle should be to advance the cause of K.C.

I am glad to learn that your co-operation for this society is appreciated by the authorities, We should learn to forget and forgive minor incidents because whenever there are two men in a place, there is always some misunderstanding. Such misunderstanding happens even between husband and wife—what to speak of others. But we have to adjust things on the basis of Krishna Consciousness. We should always remember that K.C. is a challenge to the modern misguided human society, and we have to meet many unfavorable incidents.

But if we are sincere to Krishna and the Spiritual Master, combinedly, then everything will be favorable settled. We should always remember that K. C. can only remain on two parallel lines of Krishna and Spiritual Master. Chant Hare Krishna sincerely and all good intelligence consultation shall come from within. Krishna says that those who are engaged in My service, I give intelligence for his progressive march.

Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami https://prabhupadabooks.com/letters/los_angeles/january/11/1968/gargamuni

Srila Prabhupada’s last letter to Jayananda
Letter to: Jayananda
Bombay
5 May, 1977
77-05-05

My Dear Jayananda,

Please accept my blessings.
I am feeling very intensely your separation. In 1967 you joined me in San Francisco. You were driving my car and chanting Hare Krsna. You were the first man to give me some contribution ($5000) for printing my Bhagavad-gita. After that, you have rendered very favorable service to Krsna in different ways. I so hope at the time of your death you were remembering Krsna and as such, you have been promoted to the eternal association of Krsna. If not, if you had any tinge of material desire, you have gone to the celestial kingdom to live with the demigods for many thousands of years and enjoy the most opulent life of material existence. From there you can promote yourself to the spiritual world. But even if one fails to promote himself to the spiritual world, at that time he comes down again on the surface of this globe and takes birth in a big family like a yogis’ or a brahmanas’ or an aristocratic family, where there is again chance of reviving Krsna Consciousness. But as you were hearing Krsna-kirtana, I am sure that you were directly promoted to Krsna-loka.

janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti man eti so’ rjuna
[Bg. 4.9]

Krsna has done a great favor to you, not to continue your diseased body, and has given you a suitable place for your service. Thank you very much.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/tkg https://prabhupadabooks.com/letters/bombay/may/05/1977/jayananda

Srila Prabhupada’s instruction to place his picture on the Ratha-Yatra cart and to hold a festival in honor of Jayananda
Jayananda’s death is glorious. It is very good that he had stated, what is the use of such a useless body, better to give it up. He has left his body very wonderfully, and he has been transferred to Vaikuntha. I have already sent a condolence letter for publication in Back to Godhead. Everyone should follow the example of Jayananda. I am very proud that I had such a nice disciple. If possible Jayananda’s picture should be hung in the ratha of Lord Jagannatha, and in all of our temples a day may be set aside for holding a festival in his honor, just as we do on the disappearance day of the other great Vaisnavas. https://prabhupadabooks.com/letters/new_delhi/may/11/1977/ramesvara

Sacred appearance day of Srimati Jahnava devi [Sri Nityananda Prabhu’s consort]
Srimati Sita devi (Sri Ramacandra’s consort)
Sri Madhu Pandita tirobhava tithi (disappearance day)
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
compiled by Yasoda nandana dasa  

Srila Prabhupada explains the glories of Srimati Jahnava devi

śrī-vīrabhadra gosāñi–skandha-mahāśākhā
tāṅra upaśākhā yata, asaṅkhya tāra lekhā

SYNONYMS

śrī-vīrabhadra gosāñi—of the name Śrī Vīrabhadra Gosāñi; skandha—of the trunk; mahā-śākhā—the biggest branch; tāṅra—his; upaśākhā—subbranches; yata—all; asaṅkhya—innumerable; tāra—of that; lekhā—the description.

TRANSLATION

After Nityānanda Prabhu, the greatest branch is Vīrabhadra Gosāñi, who also has innumerable branches and subbranches. It is not possible to describe them all.

PURPORT

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura describes Vīrabhadra Gosāñi as the direct son of Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu and a disciple of Jāhnavā-devī. His real mother was Vasudhā. In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, verse 67, he is mentioned as an incarnation of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Therefore Vīrabhadra Gosāñi is nondifferent from Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In a village of the name Jhāmaṭapura, in the district of Hugali, Vīrabhadra Gosāñi had a disciple named Yadunāthācārya, who had two daughters-a real daughter named Śrīmatī and a foster daughter named Nārāyaṇī. Both these daughters married, and they are mentioned in Bhakti-ratnākara (Thirteenth Wave). Vīrabhadra Gosāñi had three disciples who are celebrated as his sons-Gopījana-vallabha, Rāmakṛṣṇa and Rāmacandra. The youngest, Rāmacandra, belonged to the Śāṇḍilya dynasty and had the surname Vaṭavyāla. He established his family at Khaḍadaha, and its members are known as the gosvāmīs of Khaḍadaha. The eldest disciple, Gopījana-vallabha, was a resident of a village known as Latā, near the Mānakara railway station in the district of Burdwan. The second, Rāmakṛṣṇa, lived near Māladaha, in a village named Gayeśapura. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura notes that since these three disciples belonged to different gotras, or dynasties, and also had different surnames and lived in different places, it is not possible to accept them as real sons of Vīrabhadra Gosāñi. Rāmacandra had four sons, of whom the eldest was Rādhāmādhava, whose third son was named Yādavendra. Yādavendra’s son was Nandakiśora, his son was Nidhikṛṣṇa, his son was Caitanyacāṇḍa, his son was Kṛṣṇamohana, his son was Jaganmohana, his son was Vrajanātha, and his son was Śyāmalāla Gosvāmī. This is the genealogical table given by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura for the descendants of Vīrabhadra Gosāñi.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – The Expansions of Lord Nityananda : Adi 11.8

Srila Prabhupada citing Kavi Karnapura’s Gaura-Ganoddesa-Dipika re: the divine position of Jahnava devi

nityānandera gaṇa yata–saba vraja-sakhā
śṛṅga-vetra-gopaveśa, śire śikhi-pākhā

SYNONYMS

nityānandera—of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu; gaṇa—followers; yata—all; saba—all; vraja-sakhā—residents of Vṛndāvana; śṛṅga—horn; vetra—cane stick; gopa-veśa—dressed like a cowherd boy; śire—on the head; śikhi-pākhā—the plume of a peacock.

TRANSLATION

All the associates of Lord Nityānanda were formerly cowherd boys in Vrajabhūmi. Their symbolic representations were the horns and sticks they carried, their cowherd dress and the peacock plumes on their heads.

PURPORT

Jāhnavā-mātā is also within the list of Lord Nityānanda’s followers. She is described in the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, verse 66, as Anaṅga-mañjarī of Vṛndāvana. All the devotees who are followers of Jāhnavā-mātā are counted within the list of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu’s devotees.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition The Expansions of Lord Nityananda: Adi 11.21 Continue reading →