19821209 Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya Lila.11.41-46 Boston

19821209_Caitanya_Caritamrita_Madhya_Lila.11.41-46_Boston_Literal_Version

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on December 9th, 1982 in Boston, Massachusetts. The class begins with a reading from the Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter 11, Verse 41-46

Jayapataka Swami: …tanya jaya nityananda

jayadvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrnda

With Devotees: jaya jaya sri-caitanya jaya nityananda

jayadvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrnda

Jayapataka Swami: All glories to Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityananda Prabhu! All glories to Sri Advaita Prabhu! All glories to the devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

ksetre asi’ raja sarvabhauma bolaila

sarvabhaume namaskari’ tanhare puchila

mukam karoti vacalam

pangum langhayate girim

yat-krpa tam aham vande

sri-gurum dina-tarinam

Translation:

“When King Prataparudra returned to Jagannatha Puri, he called for Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. When Bhattacarya went to see the King, the King offered him respects and made the following inquiries.”

mora lagi’ prabhu-pade kaile nivedana?

sarvabhauma kahe, — kainu aneka yatana

“The King asked, ‘Have you submitted my petition to the Lord?’

Sarvabhauma replied, ‘Yes, with much endeavor I have tried my best.’”

tathapi na kare tenha raja-darasana

ksetra chadi’ yabena punah yadi kari nivedana

“Yet despite my great endeavor, the Lord would not agree to see a king. Indeed, He said that if He were asked again, He would quit Jagannatha Puri and go elsewhere.”

suniya rajara mane duhkha upajila

visada kariya kichu kahite lagila

“Hearing this, the King became very unhappy and, greatly lamenting, began to speak as follows.”

papi nica uddharite tanra avatara

jagai madhai tenha karila uddhara

“The King said, ‘Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has descended just to deliver all kinds of sinful, lowborn persons. Consequently He has delivered sinners like Jagai and Madhai.’”

prataparudra chadi’ karibe jagat nistara

ei pratijña kari’ kariyachena avatara?

ei pratijña kari’ kariyachena avatara?

Translation:

“‘Alas, has Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu incarnated to deliver all kinds of sinf… sinners with the exception of a king called Maharaja Pra… Prataparudra?’”

Purport:

“Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission is thus described by Narottama dasa Thakura: patita-pavana-hetu tava avatara/ mo-sama patita prabhu na paibe ara. If Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu descended to reclaim sinners, then one who is the most sinful and lowborn is the first candidate for the Lord’s consideration. Maharaja Prataparudra considered himself a most fallen soul because he had to deal with material things constantly and enjoy material profits. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s business was the deliverance of the most fallen. How, then, could He reject the King? The more fallen a person is, the more he has the right to be delivered by the Lord — provided, of course, he surrenders unto the Lord. Maharaja Prataparudra was a fully surrendered soul; therefore the Lord could not refuse him on the grounds that he was a worldly pounds-shillings man.”

Maharaja Prataparudra has now become completely dedicated to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The first time that Maharaja Prataparudra saw Lord Caitanya… of course he was very attracted, but when he saw that Lord Caitanya was in such ecstasy that there was drool coming from His mouth, and that He was rolling in the dust, and His body had become covered with dust, and at that time, there was a little confusion in his mind as to what was the real position of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and he didn’t know exactly what to make of the symptoms that he was seeing.

As you may know... that, at that time he had a dream of Lord Jagannatha, and in that dream he saw the deity of Lord Jagannatha and the deity was drooling, just like Lord Caitanya, and the deity was covered with dust, and then, Lord Jagannatha told him that, “You are doubting Caitanya Mahaprabhu but your body which is uh, as a king, anointed with camphor, with scented oils, with sandalwood pulp, is never qualified to touch the dust-covered uh saliva-soaked, drool uh, drooling transcendental form of Lord Caitanya, which is completely transcendental.”, and then Lord Jagannatha suddenly turned into Lord Caitanya in the dream, and then again back into Jagannatha, and then Prataparudra Maharaja, awoke.

So, then, this was the first indication that Maharaja Prataparudra had that actually Lord Caitanya, Himself was uh, Krishna coming down for this particular pastime, but even then, when Maharaja Prataparudra wanted, and became completely devoted after this association, and other association with Lord Caitanya, and after he wanted to have His audience, we see that he was not given that opportunity to have the audience with Lord Caitanya.

Lord Caitanya was showing the example that a sannyasi, especially in those days would never intimately associate with some king. This is significant because someone in the renounced order of life, if they intimately associate with politicians, with uh, worldly-minded people, then there’s every chance that they can become polluted.

We know from the history of the Christian Church that when the Popes and the kings were very intimately connected that the Popes became completely entwined in various kind of political intrigues, and in this way, the whole Church uh, you know, became like a political hotbed and there was a lot of distraction from any real spiritual purpose, except for a few isolated uh, monestaries that didn’t have anything to do with these things.

So, in the Vedic culture, there is a separation between sannyasis, who are supposed to be the spiritual master for all the uh, sections of society, and the uh, worldly-minded kings. That the worldly-minded kings, they would have to come off of their pedestals and come down and meet the sannyasis as ordinary people, and only in that way would they be able to get an audience, that they were supposed to respect a sannyasi as spiritual master, and the sannyasi was not supposed to intimately be attached with uh, the affairs of the court, like that, and uh, so Mahaprabhu, He was maintaining those standards. Of course, we know that uh, Mahaprabhu came to Jagannatha Puri to deliver, principally, three people. Anyone knows who those three people are?

Devotee: Sarvabhauma

Jayapataka Swami: One.

Devotee(2): Maharaja Prataparudra

Jayapataka Swami: Two.

Devotee(3): Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya

Jayapataka Swami: She already said Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya.

Devotee(4): Ramananda Raya

Jayapataka Swami: Ramananda Raya. To deliver Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, Ramananda Raya and Prataparudra Maharaja, Lord Caitanya… this is one of His reasons for coming to Jagannatha Puri, to deliver these three devotees, and Lord Caitanya however, His way of delivering Maharaja Prataparudra was also that He never compromised the principles.

He followed the strict principle that a preacher cannot preach unless his character is spotless. Little spot on the preacher’s character… the example’s given. It’s a like a piece of… a drop of ink on a white sheet. Everyone will see it, immediately. Unless that’s why Prabhupada repeatedly advised us that for us to preach anywhere in the world, we have to have a good respect in those areas. If we act in such a way that people uh, distrust us, then it’s very difficult to preach, because preaching is all a matter of faith. To some degree.

Of course, our… Krishna consciousness has the maximum amount of uh, scientific understanding, systematic presentation, even uh, logical and beyond logical understandings, but nonetheless, if a person has already got it in his mind that, “Well, this person is not to be trusted, then no matter what you say, even if it makes sense, it’s very hard to convince someone of something because they won’t really listen. So, for a preacher, it’s essential that his character should be held in great esteem. Maharaja… Prabhupada, rather, he advises that his id… his… his uh, desire was that everyone should understand IS… and see ISKCON devotees as the most honest, that they shouldn’t do anything dishonest, which would uh, hamper the uh, good respect of the people.

So, in those days, for a sannyasi to go and see kings would be considered uh, a type of uh, inappropriate action, although nowadays, there’s not that amount of strict understanding. Also, there’s not any kings anymore, either, accept for a few isolated places, but nonetheless, the uh, so there… and that’s the reason Lord Caitanya, He… superficially, He wouldn’t come down to the platform of just go… uh, associating with the king. The same thing happened in Mayapura. Jayadeva, the great writer of the uh, ten avatara, and other… Jagannatha storams, and everything, he uh,… Jaya Jagadisa hari, he was originally born and living in Navadvipa-dham, in Rudra-dvip. Antar-dvip side, just there. Uh, this year, during the festival, we took the devotees to the house of uh, Jayadeva, and from there, later on, of course he went to Jagannatha Puri.

So, when Jayadeva was there, that was about 1,000 years ago, during the rule of the uh, that time, the Mohammadans had not attacked Bengal, it was uh, during the time of uh, Bala Laksmana Sena Dynasty. The Sena Dynasty had come up from South India, and uh, conquered over uh, Bengal, and they were ruling, there from Bengal, itself, and they’d established their capitol in Navadvipa, in Mayapura Dham. Also their palace is still there in Mayapura Dhama. It has been covered by dirt, and one can still see part of the house, showing under this massive hill. That I can tell you, later about that.

So, anyway, at the time when the kingdom was in full swing, that’s why Navadvipa became known as the greatest place for the scholars, because during this… this time of the Bala Sena Dynasty, they were promoting the scholars and that continued on, even through the Mohammadan rule. They had two capitols. One was in Gauda, near Ramakeli, and the other was in uh, Navadvipa. So, the principle one, they shifted to Navadvipa, because it was so beautiful. Even, 400 years before Lord Caitanya appeared. So, at that time, the king, he went down to see Jayadeva, so when he saw Jaya… and he bowed… offered his obeisances, and then he requested that Jayadeva would become uh, one of… would become one of his ministers, or something like that, because he was such a great poet, but uh, Jayadeva became completely insulted that a king had entered into his courtyard, because he was a Brahmana, and uh he didn’t want that his good name would be uh, you see, disgraced by associating with such a materialistic person as a king.

So he threatened that he was going to leave Navadvipa forever, because of this insult. Now, what did he have to do to associate with a worldly person like a king, who’d… didn’t have any Krishna consciousness in his life? So, the king fell down on his knees and he said that, “Please don’t leave my kingdom.” That, “I need the association of the Vaisnavas, the devotees.” And uh, “I know that uh, it’s my great uh, misfortune that I have this worldly assignment of being a king and being involved in politics, but uh, I simply want the association of the Vaisnavas, and therefore, I beg you to please, don’t leave my kingdom. That uh, I won’t come to you as a king. I can come in any way. So, then Jayadeva, he considered that this king is actually a Vaisnava, in spite of my insulting him to his face, instead he just kneeled down and he begged that I don’t leave his kingdom.

It was actually like a test. Then, Jayadeva said, “Well I’ve already said I’m going to leave Navadvipa, but I won’t leave your (crashing sound), I wont leave your kingdom. I’ll go across the river, and I’ll stay in the uh, campaka-hati, and uh, you can come and see me there, but you have to come incognito. You can’t come as a king. So, then, that was agreed, and Jayadeva, he moved across the river.

Campa-hati got the name that during Krishna… Radha-Krishna pastimes, you know how… Vrndavana, there was sometimes such a need for garlands, you know, with rasa-lila and everything going on, there was a lot of garlands required, so the gopis had their private campaka tree forests in Navadvipa, and by their transcendental skill, they would go there, and every day they would pick these campa flowers which is specially blow… grow very nicely in Bengal, and they would get all of the flowers for their garlands and then take them back to Vrndavana. This is the gupta-vrndavana, and now Bhavananda Gosvami’s also recreating that uh, forest uh, transcendental orchard garden aspect at Mayapura Dhama.

Even today, the campa-hati got the name because after the dvapara-yuga was over, and the gopis were no longer coming to get the campa flowers, with all those campa trees, campa… goloka-campa, I don’t know what they… those are what they make the garlands out of in uh, Hawaii, the type they make… the yellow ones are called the goloka-campa, but there are 5 types of campa. They have a name that they call it… those flowers, here in America in a leigh.

Lady Devotee: Frangipani

Jayapataka Swami: Frangipanis. Frangipani are goloka-campas, the yellow ones, and the other type of campas are there. There’s five different main kinds. Bhavananda Gosvami has in Mayapura the special kind that’s green… the flower itself is green and its so aromatic that it even hypnotizes uh, cobra snakes, so you have to be careful, sometimes the cobras, they go by and they get intoxicated by the flower and they just get kind of dazed there, and if you’re not careful you can step on one while they’re completely, uh, intoxicated by the smell of the flower. They just lay around the tree. It’s so sweet. So, uh, in any case, Jayadeva Gosvami, then he uh, was living over there in that forest, or as I was explaining that after the Dvapara-yuga’s over, because they had all these flower trees, so naturally as Kali-yuga progresses, people, they want to utilize the material thing more profitably, so they started to sell all those flowers and hata means, you know, marketplace, so campa-hati became a marketplace for campa flowers (laughing), and they were selling it to all the people around after Krishna’s pastimes had wound up, so even today, it’s known as campa-hati. It’s on the farthest extreme of Navadvipa-dhama. Navadvipa-dhama is 16 krosas, or 32 miles in circumference.

So this is one side in a place known as Ritudvipa. So there, Jayadeva, he had set up his house and uh, there he was writing some uh, poetry about Radha and Krishna. At that time, he had some uh, he… that… I forget the exact… there was a long… there was some pastime in his writing where he got… he couldn’t really finish it, or something, and uh, he was very desirous of seeing Radha-Krishna in Navadvipa. He knew that this was going to be the future uh, coming of Lord Caitanya, but he wanted to see the Lord Caitanya as Radha-Krishna, in Navadvipa Dhama. So, then the Lord appeared to him as Radha-Krishna, and then came as Lord Caitanya, and then He told him, “You have to go to Jagannatha Puri. Lord Jagannatha wants you to go there. You have service to do.” He fell at His feet and prayed that, “Please allow me to stay here. I want to stay with You, and You’re so kind that You’ve revealed Your form even before Your coming here.” But he said, “No. Jagannatha has called you. You have to go there.”, and uh, then He disappeared. So, like this, then Jayadeva, he went down to Jagannatha Puri. Of course, after that, it’s history.

So, in the same way as Jayadeva didn’t want to associate with the king, even the great astrologist uh, Khanar… Khana. Khanar was, you see, the daughter-in-law of Vikramaditya uh, uhm, Bihamir. Uhm, the astrologer of Vikramaditya, he had nine jewels, and so one jewel was uh, physician, one was a politician, one was a astrologer, one was a… Kalidas, a poet, like that, he had uh, one uh, the ninth jewel was his astrologer, who was able to predict the future and do so many things, but his daughter-in-law was his Khanar, so she, although she was a woman, she was the greatest astrologer in terms of… even excelled her husband and her father-in-law, and she put the astrology and signs into a very simple language for the common people.

In India most of the farmers know the “Khonar says”. Just like she says “aus cas lage tin masa.” This, “to grow early rice takes three months.” Then she… she had all these sayings that Prabhupada would quote, that, “If it rains in the month of Magha, then it means that the king is pious, and things like that. So there are may type of signs like that. At different time of the year, if there were these things that happened, it meant the king was impious or pious. If you leave and you see full water pots, or you see uh, uh, a jackal on the left side of the road or, so on and so forth, they’re all so many signs and drstis, that… astrological omens. So, she has a lot of works. It’s mentioned in the Krishna Book, when Krishna was leaving, He saw a lot of bad signs… or was it Arjuna, Krishna… I forget. In Krishna Book, it mentions, and Prabhupada says that there’s a book called Khanara-vacana, and these different signs are mentioned, there.

So, because she was so famous like that, and she put things in such a nice simple way that the common people were all, first time, they were that astrology was really brought within their reach, so then the father-in-law, he was… the king said that, “I want to make her my tenth jewel, in the court.”, but in those days, women would not go in the court, because there were all these politics and dancing girls, and any respectable woman would never go in a king’s court. So, because… but the king was… you know, insisting that, “Well, she should become, you know the tenth jewel because she had attained so much prominence, even though she was in the court, but being without the court… outside of it, still she was writing and in other ways, influencing the whole society.

So, then she decided that, to save the honor of her family, because they’re… she… her chastity otherwise would be kind of just brought into criticism by the very strict Vedic society if she accepted that, and yet the same time, the king wouldn’t uh,… he was infatuated with the idea because she was… she would still speak, but it would be like, behind closed doors, it would be in a secluded way, so she decided she was going to cut out her tongue. If she cut her tongue off, then she could no longer go to the court room, because she couldn’t speak. But, she did her chart and found that she was going to die by bleeding of the tongue, so she… it worked out the same. She cut out her tongue, and bled to death, to save the chastity and honor of her family. They couldn’t stop the bleeding. So, that was… She’s the greatest known woman astrologer in history of Vedic astrology. She had many works.

So, like this, the king’s court was considered to be materialistic, and the king’s, generally, they wouldn’t go to the courtroom unless it was absolutely necessary, but if a king was actually very humble and devoted, he would go incognito, whatever and meet these devotees. So, here, Maharaja Prataparudra, being a surrendered soul, and he, knowing that Lord Caitanya was actually there to deliver the most fallen, he was feeling that, “Since I’m so fallen, then how is it that I… that everyone’s going to be delivered except for me?” So, this is truly the most fallen, and unfortunate. Adarsaniyana…

adarsaniyan api nica-jatin

samviksate hanta tathapi ho… tathapi no mam

mad-eka-varjam krpayisyatiti

nir… nirniya kim so havatata devah

Prabhupada’s translation:

“ ‘Alas, has Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu made His advent deciding that He will deliver all others with the exception of me? He bestows His merciful glance upon many lower-class men who are usually not even to be seen.’ ”

Purport: This verse is found in the Sri Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka (8.28).

Text 48:

tanra pratijña — more na karibe darasana

mora pratijña — tanha vina chadiba jivana

“Maharaja Prataparudra continued, “If Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is determined not to see me, then I am determined to give up my life if I do not see Him.”

Purport:

“A devotee with Maharaja Prataparudra’s determination will certainly be… be victorious in advancing in Krsna consciousness. Sri Krsna confirms this in the Bhagavad-gita (9.14):

satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah

namasyantas ca mam bhaktya nitya-yukta upasate

“Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.”

These are the symptoms of a mahatma engaged in the Lord’s service in full Krsna consciousness. Thus Maharaja Prataparudra’s determination is very exalted and is called drdha-vrata. Because of this determination, he was finally able to receive Lord Caitanya’s direct mercy.”

You see. One should be completely single-pointed for getting Lord Caitanya’s mercy. Even if one is the most fallen soul, but if one is single-pointedly determined to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya, then even if otherwise, one is completely unqualified, uh, by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, that person can be delivered. Simply by surrendering unto His lotus feet.

yadi sei mahaprabhura na pai krpa-dhana

kiba rajya, kiba deha, — saba akarana

“If I do not receive Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy, my body and my kingdom are certainly useless.” Purport:

“This is an excellent example of drdha-vrata, determination. If one does not receive the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s mercy, one’s life is defeated. In Srimad-Bhagavatam (5.5.5) it is said: parabhavas tavad abodha-jato yavan na jijñasata atma-tattvam. Unless one inquires into spiritual life, everything is useless. Without spiritual inquiry, our labor and the object of our labor are simply a waste of time.”

So, it’s already 7:00. Do we still go on, for…

Devotee: Yes.

Jayapataka Swami:

eta suni’ sarvabhauma ha-ila cintita

rajara anuraga dekhi’ ha-ila vismita

“Hearing King Prataparudra’s determination, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya became thoughtful. Indeed, he was very much astonished to see the King’s determination.”

Purport:

“Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya was astonished because such determination is not possible for a worldly man attached to material enjoyment. The King certainly had ample opportunity for material enjoyment, but he was thinking that his kingdom and everything else was useless if he could not see Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This is certainly sufficient cause for astonishment. In Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that bhakti, devotional service, must be unconditional. No material impediments can actually check the advancement of devotional service, be it executed by a common man or a king. In any case, devotional service rendered to the Lord is always complete, despite the devotee’s material position. Devotional service is so exalted that it can be executed by anyone in any position. One simply must be drdha… drdha-vrata, firmly determined.”

We can see here how Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement is actually taking the mood of Vrndavana. How the followers of His sankirtana movement, are actually following in the footsteps of the gopis and of the residents of Vrndavana. Just as Rad… Laksmi-devi was doing tapasya, to get into Vrndavana pastimes for a long time, she was doing tapasya to try to join the rasa-lila, but she was not allowed. She was refused. Even she was the chief goddess of fortune, who could always sit in the ch… on the chest, just uh, just uh, be on… embraced on the chest of Lord Narayana, she was not allowed to enter into the rasa-lila because she had this queenly attitude. She had this uh, enjoy… not enjoying of course, service attitude, but in a service of uh, respect and uh, and reverential attitude. Therefore, she was not allowed to come.

So, in the same way… in a slightly different way, of course, not exactly the same, Lord Caitanya, if anyone wanted to approach Him, they could not approach with any spiritual or material type of false ego, or type of uh, pride, you see… of any sort. They can’t come with uh, any preconceived uh, uh, esteem of themselves. They have to come in in a very humble attitude, thinking themselves lower than a straw in the street, more humble than a uh, piece of straw in the street, and more tolerant than the tree. In this way, the king, he might think, “Well, I’m a great king. I should come in, and I should be immediately accepted. What a great opportunity for Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The king of Orissa is coming to see Him. He should be very honored and so on and so forth.” No. Lord Caitanya completely put him down. “I don’t want to see him. In fact if he tries to force Me to see him, I’ll leave. I don’t have to stay here. I’m a sannyasi. I can go anywhere.”

The same thing, we see in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s life, where he just had a little idea that, “Well I’m a great scholar, that uh, Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji will be very happy to accept me as a disciple.”, but when he went there, Gaura Kisora refused him, that, “No. I will not give you initiation. You’re a great scholar. I am just a humble uh, illiterate sadhu. How can I become you’re guru? You should rather, go somewhere else. I cannot accept you as a disciple.”, and he was completely shocked. In fact, three times, he uh, he asked and only on the third time when he was so determined that, “If you don’t give me initiation, then I’m throwing myself in the Ganges, and taking… what is the use of living, if I can’t get the uh, shelter of a bona fide spiritual master?”

That’s drdha-vrata, determined to get the shelter. That, no one can approach the Lord and think that, “I will be able to enter in the Lord’s pastimes because I am PhD, or I am king, or congressman, or I am a king…” whatever, or that, “I am very intelligent, or I am very rich.”, or somehow buy off the guru. Something like that. No. Actual… of course, one may be engaged in devotional service, but to actually get into the pastimes, to get into the intimate service of the Lord, one has to give up all kinds of false ego, all kinds of false designations:

sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam

tat-paratvena nirmalam

hrsikena hrsikesa-

sevanam bhaktir ucyate

sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam: to give up all upadhis, sarva upadhis. All the upadhis, all the superficial designations, all the different coverings that a person is uh, identifying oneself with that, “I’m a scholar, or I’m a great tennis player, or I’m the best uh, chess player, or whatever it may be. Everyone has got some different type of false identities that they associate with… themselves with. Ultimately to get into the intimate eternal pastimes of the Lord, which are fully spiritual, which have nothing to do with any designation of this material world, which are all temporary, whether from king, or to pauper, unless one simply is going in as a humble servitor of the Lord, without any material uh, superficial designation, one cannot be accepted in that highest intimate association with the Lord, as His confidential servitor. One has to go in completely without false egos, just with the ego that, “I’m the servant of the servant of the Lord.”

So, just as a test, we can see how Lord Caitanya is putting Maharaja Prataparudra through these various tests, to show that he is not coming to Him as a king, but as a humble devotee, and for that reason, because he’s determined to go to the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya… nothing else is mattering to him, he’s actually showing that uh, he is qualified, and ready to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. No one should take this mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, cheaply. He gives His mercy to the most fallen of souls, but if someone thinks that they have any other qualification, apart from being the most fallen to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya, then they may be left without that mercy. It’s simply sheer mercy. There’s no qualification one can have which is great enough that one can have which will qualify one to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya.

What He’s giving, you couldn’t buy it for anything. You couldn’t exchange it for anything. It’s so great, it’s so invaluable that it’s simply given as a sheer mercy. There’s… there’s no other way. It’s… simply if a person has got this determination and approaches in the proper attitude, then the Lord, He’s inclined to give that person His mercy, but actually, it is so valuable that there’s no price anyone could pay. It’s simply that it’s His mercy. It’s His wish to give out this transcendental treasure to those who are eager for it, who want it, who are determined to get it, and who approach Him in that humble and surrendered mood. He give it to them. So, knowing that, all the great devotees of the Lord, and all the aspiring transcendentalists, they give up their false attachment to thinking of themselves as most important in the material world, and they just approach the Lord as humble servitors and they get that invaluable mercy, just as in the future, Maharaja Prataparudra also gets that mercy from the Lord, and he’s able to personally come. He goes in a white dress, incognito, and he massages the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In this way, he gets the mercy of the Lord. Of course, that was after quite a bit of trials and tribulation, but of course, he felt it was completely worth it, and his life at that time was fulfilled.

Jaya Sri-krishna-caitanya

prabhu-nityananda,

sri-advaita gadadhara

srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

Any Questions?

Maharaja Prataparudra ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, ki

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Prabhupada ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Srota gana ki,

Devotees: Jaya.

Jayapataka Swami: Glories to the listeners.

Any question? Yes?

Lady: You mentioned about spiritual and material false egos, what’s the difference?

Jayapataka Swami: I don’t believe I said spir… uh, spiritual false ego, but you can… if one has uh… it’s not a false ego. I don’t think I said exactly that, but if one has even in the spiritual life, there’s two categories. There’s approaching the Lord in awe and reverence, and… just like if you read the story about Laksmi and uh, the uh, was it the panca… the uh, what do they call it, where they have Laksmi goes in…

Devotee: Pancaherami

Jayapataka Swami: Pancaherami festival, how Laksmi has got a specific uh, relationship with the Lord, so that relationship is that uh, she thinks that Krishna is almost like her hen-pecked husband, or something, and uh, but in Narayana worship, even that’s actually like a higher stage, but in Narayana… Laksmi-devi has got all kinds of awe and reverence for the Lord, and this is a higher in the spiritual world.

At that same time, she’s got an opinion of herself as being Laksmi, the goddess of fortune, the like uh, Queen of Lord Narayana, so she has that type of uh, motherly disposition towards all the uh, living entities and she has got a particular uhm, mood which is more like that of a queen or of someone who… it’s very hard to explain… type of uh, her own type of transcendental pride, which fits in very nicely in Vaikuntha, and is appropriate there, but for the intimate relations in Vrindavana, where the devotees all associate with the Lord, simply on the platform of pure love, and there’s no formality at all in it, it’s all spontaneous, loving exchange, well her mood doesn’t fit in there. So, she wasn’t allowed to go into the rasa-lila.

In that context, I was saying that Lord Caitanya’s mood, where one has to co… to approach him, just come completely in a humble state of mind, that there was… you could see a type of relation in that as uh, just as even in the spiritual world the Laksmis can’t go into the rasa-lila, because they have already some preconceived uhm, different type of relationship uh, within their own characters that uh, doesn’t allow them to enter into the spontaneous loving pastimes in Vrndavana, while Lord Caitanya, His were all spontaneous loving pastimes, and no one could go in with any kind of uh, uh, formal attitude, but had to come in completely informally, and simply surrender unto the Lord. It’s not a false ego in the spiritual sky. But… It’s a real ego, but it’s not the ego that is uh, accepted in Vrndavana pastimes. So, Lord Caitanya and uh, His pastimes are very much uh, linked with the pastimes of Lord Krishna in Vrndavana. He’s feeling separation from the Lord. His chanting of Hare Krishna, there’s a part in Navadvipa-dhama, where Lord Caitanya would do kirtana with all of His associates, and that kirtana was accepted by great acaryas as being completely non-different from the rasa-lila, and that place in Navadvipa where they would perform the kirtana and be dancing in ecstasy, chanting Hare Krishna is accepted as being non-different from the uh rasa-lila place of Vrndavana. This chanting of Hare Krishna, and feeling separation for Krishna and dancing ecst… in ecstasy has got links with uh, Lord Krishna’s intimate pastimes in Vrndavana.

We’re following in the footsteps of the great devotees in Vrndavana, therefore, one has to approach Lord Caitanya completely in a humble state of mind. If one thinks that, “Well spiritually, I am very advanced. I can perform tapasyas or this or that.” Or materially, if one thinks that they are qualified because they have some good looks, money, fame or education, those are not qualifications to enter into the pastimes of the Lord, or to enter into His movement. His movement is a continuing pastime in relation with Lord Krishna.

It’s purely… this process of sankirtana is not at all on the material platform. It’s completely on the spiritual platform, therefore, for persons to actually perform it, they have to give up all the different types of material conceptions of life, and they have to enter into the spiritual conception of life, known as Krishna consciousness, anointing their eyes with the salve of love. Bhakt-vilocanena, then they’ll be able to see the Lord, not otherwise. We have other people outside who chant and still have material ideas, but they’ll not be able to enter into the real ecstasies of devotional service. They’ll simply be able to scratch the surface, get the scent.

[end of recording]

Transcribed by Jagannatha dasa April 29th, 2015 Sri Mayapura Dhama


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