19860930 Srimad Bhagavatam.4.22.8 & Caitanya Caritamrita Antya Lila 11.12-25 Atlanta

19860930_Srimad_Bhagavatam.4.22.8_&_Caitanya_Caritamrita_Antya_Lila_11.12-25_Atlanta.mp3

First we’ll read one verse from the Bhagavatam then we’ll read Chaitanya Caritamrita. Canto 4, Chapter 22, Text 8: SB 4.22.8 kiṁ tasya durlabhataram iha loke paratra ca yasya viprāḥ prasīdanti śivo viṣṇuś ca sānugaḥ TRANSLATION BY HIS DIVINE GRAVE, SRILA ABHAY CHARAN BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA: Any person upon whom the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are pleased can achieve anything which is very rare to obtain in this world as well as after death. Not only that, but one also receives the favor of the auspicious Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu, who accompany the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. PURPORT: The brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are the bearers of Lord Viṣṇu, the all-auspicious. As confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38): premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi The devotees, out of their extreme love for Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, always carry the Lord within their hearts. The Lord is already in the heart of everyone, but the Vaiṣṇavas and the brāhmaṇas actually perceive and see Him always in ecstasy. Therefore brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are carriers of Viṣṇu. Wherever they go, Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Śiva or the devotees of Lord Viṣṇu are all carried. The four Kumāras are brāhmaṇas, and they visited the place of Mahārāja Pṛthu. Naturally Lord Viṣṇu and His devotees were also present. Under the circumstances, the conclusion is that when the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are pleased with a person, Lord Viṣṇu is also pleased. This is confirmed by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in his eight stanzas on the spiritual master:yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. By pleasing the spiritual master, who is both brāhmaṇa and Vaiṣṇava, one pleases the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased, then one has nothing more to achieve either in this world or after death.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport to Text 8, Chapter 22, Canto 4. One is able to please the spiritual master who is both Brahmana and Vaishnava and one pleases the Supreme Personality of Godhead … One pleases the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then after that, what is the next thing he has to achieve? Who can say? So, one can achieve anything which is very rare to obtain in this world as well as after death, if one achieves the, if one pleases the Brahmanas or Vaishnavas. Only that, by pleasing the brahmanas vaishnavas, the Lord is pleased. … Sri Chaitanya caritamrita: CC Antya 11.12 dine nṛtya-kīrtana, īśvara-daraśana rātrye rāya-svarūpa-sane rasa-āsvādana TRANSLATION: In the daytime Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu engaged in dancing and chanting and in seeing the temple of Lord Jagannātha. At night, in the company of His most confidential devotees, such as Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, He tasted the nectar of the transcendental mellows of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.

CC Antya 11.13 ei-mata mahāprabhura sukhe kāla yāya kṛṣṇera viraha-vikāra aṅge nānā haya TRANSLATION: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu very happily passed His days in this way at Nīlācala, Jagannātha Purī. Feeling separation from Kṛṣṇa, He exhibited many transcendental symptoms all over His body.

CC Antya 11.14 dine dine bāḍe vikāra, rātrye atiśaya cintā, udvega, pralāpādi yata śāstre kaya TRANSLATION: Day after day the symptoms increased, and at night they increased even more. All these symptoms, such as transcendental anxiety, agitation and talking like a madman, were present, just as they are described in the śāstras. CC Antya 11.15 svarūpa gosāñi, āra rāmānanda-rāya rātri-dine kare doṅhe prabhura sahāya WORD FOR WORD: svarūpa gosāñi — Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī; āra — and; rāmānanda-rāya — Rāmānanda Rāya; rātri-dine — day and night; kare — do; doṅhe — both of them; prabhura — of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; sahāya — help. TRANSLATION: Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī and Rāmānanda Rāya, the chief assistants in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes, remained with Him both day and night. CC Antya 11.16 eka-dina govinda mahā-prasāda lañā haridāse dite gelā ānandita hañā WORD FOR WORD: eka-dina — one day; govinda — the personal servant of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu; mahā-prasāda lañā — taking mahā-prasādam; haridāse dite — to deliver to Haridāsa; gelā — went; ānandita hañā — in great jubilation. TRANSLATION: One day Govinda, the personal servant of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, went in great jubilation to deliver the remnants of Lord Jagannātha’s food to Haridāsa Ṭhākura. CC Antya 11.17 dekhe, — haridāsa ṭhākura kariyāche śayana manda manda kariteche saṅkhyā-saṅkīrtana WORD FOR WORD: dekhe — he saw; haridāsa ṭhākura — Haridāsa Ṭhākura; kariyāche śayana — was lying down; manda manda — very slowly; kariteche — he was doing; saṅkhyā saṅkīrtana — chanting the fixed number of rounds. TRANSLATION: When Govinda came to Haridāsa, he saw that Haridāsa Ṭhākura was lying on his back and chanting his rounds very slowly. CC Antya 11.18 govinda kahe, — ‘uṭha āsi’ karaha bhojana’ haridāsa kahe, — āji karimu laṅghana WORD FOR WORD: govinda kahe — Govinda said; uṭha — please get up; āsi’ — coming; karaha bhojana — take your prasādam;haridāsa kahe — Haridāsa replied; āji — today; karimu laṅghana — I shall observe fasting. TRANSLATION: “Please rise and take your mahā-prasādam,” Govinda said. PURPORT: Haridāsa Ṭhākura replied, “Today I shall observe fasting.” CC Antya 11.19 saṅkhyā-kīrtana pūre nāhi, ke-mate khāiba? mahā-prasāda āniyācha, ke-mate upekṣiba? WORD FOR WORD: saṅkhyā-kīrtana — the fixed amount of chanting; pūre nāhi — is not complete; ke-mate khāiba — how shall I eat;mahā-prasāda āniyācha — you have brought the mahā-prasādam; ke-mate upekṣiba — how shall I neglect. TRANSLATION: “I have not finished chanting my regular number of rounds. How, then, can I eat? But you have brought mahā-prasādam, and how can I neglect it?” CC Antya 11.20 eta bali’ mahā-prasāda karilā vandana eka rañca lañā tāra karilā bhakṣaṇa WORD FOR WORD: eta bali’ — saying this; mahā-prasāda — to the mahā-prasādam; karilā vandana — he offered respect; eka rañca— one fractional part; lañā — taking; tāra karilā bhakṣaṇa — ate it. TRANSLATION: Saying this, he offered prayers to the mahā-prasādam, took a little portion, and ate it. PURPORT: Mahā-prasādam is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, instead of eating mahā-prasādam, one should honor it. It is said here, karilā vandana, “he offered prayers.” When taking mahā-prasādam, one should not consider the food ordinary preparations. Prasāda means favor. One should consider mahā-prasādam a favor of Kṛṣṇa. As stated by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, kṛṣṇa baḍa dayāmaya karibāre jihvā jaya svaprasāda-anna dilā bhāi. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. In this material world we are all very much attached to tasting various types of food. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa eats many nice varieties of food and offers the food back to the devotees, so that not only are one’s demands for various tastes satisfied, but by eating prasādam one makes advancement in spiritual life. Therefore, we should never consider ordinary food on an equal level with mahā-prasādam.

That’s why, when one takes maha-prasad on the plate, they’re supposed to finish, all of the Prasad, not leave any. One has to be very careful not to take more than one can eat. Exception is the guru, he is supposed to leave something of each preparation, for the disciples. The … Prabhupad, he was very careful even if something was burnt generally he wouldn’t mention it till later, after the Prasad was gone, and he’d call the cook in say, “why that ______(11.02), that preparation was burned, you should be more conscious.” System is that in the presence of prasadam we don’t offer criticism. We can take it that this is Krishna’s mercy. It’s not different from Krishna. So when in front of the deities we don’t discuss other topics. Nor do we give critical observations in front of the deity, we simply chant the holy name. These are all important aspects of Vaishnava etiquette. Actually Bhaktivinod Thakur and the acaryas, they have written various songs for us to sing while we take Prasad. At the beginning of the meal we say, “Sarira abidhya jal jotendriyaya tahe kal, jivay phale vishaya sagare taramadye jivayati, lobhamaya sudurmati, takejeta Katina samsara, Krishna bare doya moy kore baro jiva joy, sva prasada anna adilo bay, sreyannamrita pao radha Krishna guna gao, premedako sri Chaitanya nitai” But Also, throughout the entire meal there are various prayers that have been written, but we are not always chanting those. There’s a prayer to, when you eat the vegetables, There’s a prayer to chant. Ek Dina san tipure prabhu advaita ghore Sag… The rest I forget. But there’s a prayer for that time that you’re supposed to say. So then someone could be there, just remind us, we all say it in the beginning but this is the time when the devotees are taking the vegetable. Ek Dina san tipure prabhu advaita ghore And you read out the prayer. Then there’s another prayer, when you get to the sweet preparations. There’s three four prayers like that. SO that throughout the meal, you never forget that this is Krishna Prasadam … _____(13.09) of Krishna. If you think that it IS ORDINARY FOOD, it’s an offense. So while sometimes we are invited to big uh, feasts, we’re all Vaishnavas tent, we are also there. Even though not worthy of being called a Vaishnav, then at that time, _____ found that while taking prasadam, inbetween the prayers, the few minutes in between the prayers, because prayers are coming, it only takes 10 minutes to eat, one prayer every 3-4 minutes, fifteen minutes take parasadam, honour prasadam. Then at that time, sometimes someone ______ yell out, “SADHU SABDAN!!! SADHU SABDAN!!! HARI HARI BOOOOL” (Devotees all also chant Haribol!!, Haribol!!) Be careful, O devotees, be careful. In other words, don’t forget, this is Prasad you’re honouring. Don’t think it’s ordinary food. Chant the name of Hari Hari Bol Haribol. (Devotees all also chant Haribol!!, Haribol!!) Prabhupad also told me that one of our practises of devotion is to take prasadam together, to sit down and take Prasad together. This is, where we associate. We don’t have to associate, it may not be possible to associate every time … with all of devotees but one of the times we gather together is to take prasadam. It is also important, even Krishna, … we find in his Kirtan, [Singing:] Bhaja Bakata Vatsala Sri Gaura Hari Sri Gaura Hari In one of the songs there, is that he is sitting , sari sari bhose, he’s sitting in a line with his friends and they’re all taking Prasad. Even we find in panihati, Lord Nityananda, he took Prasad along with all of his associates and put ap lace there for Lord Chaitanya. This is the, system is to take prasadam in the association of all the devotees. The American way of fast food, Drive in!, Get in the car! Deliver to the car! Eat! Run! Move! Walk! Standing! Even you can get place where you can take food standing there, just standing, no time to sit.

Next thing they’ll have is you can eat while running on those machines, doing workout and eating at the same time. But this is not the actual system for honouring Prasad. Actually One takes sitting down, until one’s finished normally one doesn’t get up, unless there’s some urgency. It’s a detail but it’s an important thing to honor the Prasad and not forget that it’s Krishna. And it’s good that if one has the opportunity, if the devotees are there that they take Prasad together. And serving Prasad is not the job of the Bhaktas, it’s the job of the more advanced devotees. Normally the brahmanas do the

CC Antya 11.21 āra dina mahāprabhu tāṅra ṭhāñi āilā sustha hao, haridāsa — bali’ tāṅre puchilā WORD FOR WORD: āra dina — the next day; mahāprabhu — Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; tāṅra ṭhāñi — to his place; āilā — came;sustha hao — are you all right; haridāsa — O Haridāsa; bali’ — saying; tāṅre — unto him; puchilā — inquired. TRANSLATION: The next day, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Haridāsa’s place and inquired from him, “Haridāsa, are you well?” CC Antya 11.22 namaskāra kari’ teṅho kailā nivedana śarīra sustha haya mora, asustha buddhi-mana WORD FOR WORD: namaskāra kari’ — after offering obeisances; teṅho — he, Haridāsa Ṭhākura; kailā nivedana — submitted; śarīra— body; sustha — all right; haya — is; mora — my; asustha — not in a healthy condition; buddhi-mana — my mind and intelligence. TRANSLATION: Haridāsa offered his obeisances to the Lord and replied, “My body is all right, but my mind and intelligence are not well.” CC Antya 11.23 prabhu kahe, — ‘kon vyādhi, kaha ta’ nirṇaya?’ teṅho kahe, — ‘saṅkhyā-kīrtana nā pūraya’ WORD FOR WORD: prabhu kahe — Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said; kon vyādhi — what disease; kaha ta’ nirṇaya — can you ascertain;teṅho kahe — he said; saṅkhyā-kīrtana — fixed amount of chanting; nā pūraya — has not become complete. TRANSLATION: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu further inquired from Haridāsa, “Can you ascertain what your disease is?” Haridāsa Ṭhākura replied, “My disease is that I cannot complete my rounds.” PURPORT: If one cannot complete the fixed number of rounds he is assigned, he should be considered to be in a diseased condition of spiritual life. Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura is called nāmācārya. Of course, we cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura, but everyone must chant a prescribed number of rounds. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we have fixed sixteen rounds as the minimum so that the Westerners will not feel burdened. These sixteen rounds must be chanted, and chanted loudly, so that one can hear himself and others. CC Antya 11.24 prabhu kahe, — “vṛddha ha-ilā ‘saṅkhyā’ alpa kara siddha-deha tumi, sādhane āgraha kene kara? WORD FOR WORD: prabhu kahe — Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said; vṛddha ha-ilā — you have become old; saṅkhyā alpa kara — reduce your number; siddha-deha tumi — you are already liberated; sādhane — in the regulative principles;āgraha kene kara — why are you eager. TRANSLATION: “Now that you have become old,” the Lord said, “you may reduce the number of rounds you chant daily. You are already liberated, and therefore you need not follow the regulative principles very strictly. PURPORT: Unless one has come to the platform of spontaneous love of God, he must follow the regulative principles. Ṭhākura Haridāsa was the living example of how to follow the regulative principles. Similarly, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was also such a living example. In the Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka it is stated, saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-kṛtau. The Gosvāmīs, especially Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, strictly followed all the regulative principles. The first regulative principle is that one must chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra loudly enough so that he can hear himself, and one must vow to chant a fixed number of rounds. Not only was Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī chanting a fixed number of rounds, but he had also taken a vow to bow down many times and offer obeisances to the Lord. CC Antya 11.25 loka nistārite ei tomāra ‘avatāra’ nāmera mahimā loke karilā pracāra WORD FOR WORD: loka nistārite — to deliver the people in general; ei — this; tomāra avatāra — your incarnation; nāmera mahimā— the glories of the holy name; loke — in this world; karilā pracāra — you have preached. TRANSLATION: “Your role in this incarnation is to deliver the people in general. You have sufficiently preached the glories of the holy name in this world.” PURPORT: Haridāsa Ṭhākura is known as nāmācārya because it is he who preached the glories of chanting hari-nāma, the holy name of God. By using the words tomāra avatāra (“your incarnation”), Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirms that Haridāsa Ṭhākura is the incarnation of Lord Brahmā. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that advanced devotees help the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His mission and that such devotees or personal associates incarnate by the will of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord incarnates by His own will, and, by His will, competent devotees also incarnate to help Him in His mission. Haridāsa Ṭhākura is thus the incarnation of Lord Brahmā, and other devotees are likewise incarnations who help in the prosecution of the Lord’s mission.


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