19801220-Srimad-Bhagavatam.1.7.5-Bombay-India-Literal-Version

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on December 20th, 1980 in Mumbai, India. The class begins with a reading from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 7, Text 5.

Jayapataka Swami: sammohitaḥ

Devotees: sammohitaḥ

Jayapataka Swami: illusioned

Devotees: Illusioned

Jayapataka Swami: jīvaḥ

Devotees: jīvaḥ

Jayapataka Swami: the living entities

Devotees: the living entities

Jayapataka Swami: ātmānam

Devotees: ātmānam

Jayapataka Swami: self

Devotees: self

Jayapataka Swami: tri-guṇa

Devotees: tri-guṇa

Jayapataka Swami: ātmakam

Devotees: ātmakam

Jayapataka Swami: conditioned by the three modes

Devotees: conditioned by the three modes

Jayapataka Swami: of nature,

Devotees: of nature

Jayapataka Swami: or a product of nature… of matter;

Devotees: or a product of nature, matter

Jayapataka Swami: paraḥ

Devotees: paraḥ

Jayapataka Swami: transcendental

Devotees: transcendental

Jayapataka Swami: api

Devotees: api

Jayapataka Swami: in spite of

Devotees: in spite of

Jayapataka Swami: manute

Devotees: manute

Jayapataka Swami: takes it for granted

Devotees: takes it for granted

Jayapataka Swami: anartham

Devotees: anartham

Jayapataka Swami: things not wanted

Devotees: things not wanted

Jayapataka Swami: tat

Devotees: tat

Jayapataka Swami: by that

Devotees: by that

Jayapataka Swami: kṛtam ca

Devotees: kṛtam ca

Jayapataka Swami: reaction

Devotees: reaction

Jayapataka Swami: abhipadyate

Devotees: abhipadyate

Jayapataka Swami: undergoes thereof

Devotees: undergoes thereof

Jayapataka Swami: Translation by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada:

“Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries.”

Translation: Due to this external energy… [break]

The root cause of suffering by the materialistic living beings is pointed out with remedial measures which are to be undertaken and also the ultimate perfection to be a… to be gained. All this is mentioned in this particular verse. The living being is by constitution transcendental to material encagement, but he is now imprisoned by the external energy, and therefore he thinks himself one of the material products. And due to the unholy contact, the pure spiritual entity suffers material miseries under the modes of material nature.

The living entity misunderstands himself to be a material product. This means that the present perverted way of thinking, feeling and willing, under material conditions, is not natural for him. But he has his normal way of thinking, feeling and willing. The living being in his original state is not without thinking, willing and feeling power. It is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that the actual knowledge of the conditioned soul is now covered by nescience.

Thus the theory that a living being is absolute impersonal Brahman is refuted herein. This cannot be, because the living entity has his own way of thinking in his original unconditional state also, which means that the illusory energy takes the initiative while the Supreme Lord is aloof. The Lord does not desire that a living being be illusioned by external energy. The external energy is aware of this fact, but still she accepts a thankless task of keeping the forgotten soul under illusion by her bewildering influence.

The Lord does not interfere with the task of the illusory energy because such performances of the illusory energy are also necessary for reformation of the conditioned soul. An affectionate father does not like his children to be chastised by another agent, yet he puts his disobedient children under the custody of a severe man just to bring them to order. But the all-affectionate Almighty Father at the same time desires relief for the conditioned soul, relief from the clutches of the illusory energy. The king puts the disobedient citizens within the walls of the jail, but sometimes the king, desiring the prisoners’ relief, personally goes there and pleads for reformation, and on his doing so the prisoners are set free.

Similarly, the Supreme Lord descends from His kingdom and personally gives relief in the form of the Bhagavad-gītā, wherein He personally suggests that although the ways of the illusory energy are stiff to overcome, one who surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Lord is set free by the order of the Supreme.

This means that the conditioned souls are being reclaimed by the Lord both ways, namely by the process of punishment by the external energy of the Lord, and by Himself as the spiritual master within and without. Within the heart of every living being the Lord Himself as the Supersoul (Paramātmā) becomes the spiritual master, and from without He becomes the spiritual master in the shape of scriptures, saints and the initiator spiritual master. This is still more explicitly explained in the next śloka.

[break]

He is Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. He is by nature blissful, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ: eternal, filled with blissful knowledge, but due to influence of material nature, he thinks himself to be a product of this material nature. Therefore, he identifies instead with his own internal blissful knowledge, he identifies with his material misery, with his material trans… transient happiness, you see. This is the unfortunate condition of the living entities.

So we wander in this material world through so many species of life. eita brahmāṇḍa bhari' ananta jīva-gaṇa caurāśī-lakṣa yonite karaye bhramaṇa 84 lakh species of life. Different kinds of species of life. Aquatic, uh, lizards, animals, human being. But who are we?

Who is wandering? We are a small particle of Godhead.

keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatāṁśaḥ sādṛśātmakaḥ jīvaḥ sūkṣma-svarūpo ’yaṁ saṅkhyātīto hi cit-kaṇaḥ

1,000… 1/100th of a tip of a hair, divided again 100 times, in other words 1/10,000 the tip of a hair, is the svarupa, is the size or nature of the individual spirit soul, the jiva. But that jiva is a cit-kanah. What is cit-kanah? It is spark of light. It is a small particle of spiritual energy. Bhagavad-gita describes that that spiritual energy cannot be destroyed, acchedyam- cannot be cut, cannot be burnt, acyuta it’s also an inconceivable thing to understand.

So we are this small particle of spiritual energy, just like a spark comes from the fire, you see. Out of the fire , out of the mercy of Krsna, we go out, we lose our spiritual energy. When we are under the shelter of Krsna. Then we are with our full spiritual potency. So this small particle is wandering through so many species of life.

tāra madhye ‘sthāvara’, ‘jaṅgama’—dui bheda, tāra madhye… jaṅgame tiryak-jala-sthalacara-vibheda you see.
tāra madhye manuṣya-jāti ati alpatara tāra madhye mleccha, pulinda, bauddha, śabara Amongst all these living creatures Caitanya Mahaprabhu has divided them according to the Vedic division, that there are moving and non moving.

Like a tree and a plant: they are not moving. Then there are moving creatures. These are birds, fish and animals, including human beings. Then beyond that there are human beings who are very few. A small percentage of living beings are human, you see. Out of 84 lakh only 4 lakh. So these human beings, you see, most of the human beings are not considered to be civilized. They are mleccha, those who do not follow the Vedic principles.

Kulinda: those who are meat eaters and unclean. Bodha: those who are impersonalist and atheist. Sabore: those who are envious and hunters, you see. In Nepal next to our temple, there is one ashram next to our temple called arogya ashram. It’s a natural path uh, centre. So, every morning the grhastha incharge of the ashram, he put his saffron shirt and white Nepali baggy pants and sits on his lawn chair and then talks to people. So one time he wanted to come up and meet the acarya of Hare Krsna movement. So he came up and paid his obeisences. Then we had a discussion. He said, “The main thing in life is good health. If you have good health then you can do everything. Without good health you cannot make spiritual advancement.” This was his point, “Everything depends on good health.”

So I asked him what is his philosophy for success in life. He said success in life depends on one’s hard work. You come into this world you use your brain and make out a path someway or the other. Said “What about next life?” “Next life, same thing. You take birth, then you figure out what to do and make a program, you see.” It’s a kind of a spontaneous program he had. So I said “That’s very nice. Now you are fortunately born in India, Nepal, you see; you may know something about gita. But what if next life you get born in the jungles, you see, and there you are a hunter, and you are eating rats and things, you see? Then how are you going to make your path? You are only going to have a few choices before you because you’ll be very conditioned.” He said “This is something I never thought about before.” I said, “You now you have nice health, but next life automatically you can get nice health if you take birth in a healthy species of tiger, lion, gorilla, you see. They are always eating fresh fruit, organic food only, you see. This is what you are aiming for?” He said, “I would like to discuss with you some more. Hare Krsna.” So in this way people have so many ideas but they do not think what the future holds for them. Now we may be human beings. Somehow or another, we’re getting mercy of Guru and Krsna, but if we do not act properly then what will be our next life?

Bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana-abhaya caraṇāravinda re durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge, taroho e bhava-sindhu re. durlabha mānava-janama How rare this human birth is? Even more rare is sat-sanga to have association with devotees. So we should be very careful not to waste our human life and simply engage in materialistic activities, you see. Not to ever give up the association of devotees of sat-sanga, of devotees.

’sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’—sarva-śāstra kaya lava-mātra sādhu-saṅga sarva-siddhi haya

We should be very careful to keep that mercy. What is the position of a devotee? That we should understand how rare is a devotee, and how fortunate is one who is associating with devotees, you see. (Inaudible) explained what is the position of a devotee. So first of all we can understand in relation to human species. Of all the living entities, human are few. Most of them are mleccha, kulinda, bodha sabore, you see. Then we get what? You get the civilized people who follow the vedas

veda-niṣṭha-madhye ardheka veda ‘mukhe’ māne veda-niṣiddha pāpa kare, dharma nāhi gaṇe

Most of the people, they accept Vedas by mouth only. Mukhe mane. “Yes I am Hindu I believe in sanatana-dharma.” But what do they do? Caitanyadeva said, veda-niṣṭha papa kore. They do all the forbidden acts of the Vedas. Vedas say you should be a vegetarian, one should eat krsna-prasada but do they do that no they do any nonsense. Vedas say you should do so many things like chant Hare Krsna mantra, you should get up early in the morning, but they are doing the opposite.

They are taking intoxication, they are engaging in extra marital relations with the opposite sex. These things go on. Although they claim that, “Yes, we are followers of Veda.” So, Mahaprabhu said, veda-niṣṭha-madhye. Those who say they are followers of Veda, ardheka veda ‘mukhe’ māne, most of them simply say it by mouth alone, but in actual activities, they are not showing. They are doing the forbidden acts which are not authorized by Vedas, you see. Of course, there are a few who are following. There are many who are following… are trying to follow the Vedas. They are known as dharmacari: those who are actually accepting religion and religious principles.

dharmācāri-madhye bahuta ‘karma-niṣṭha’, koṭi They’re called karma-nistha. Karma-nistha means those who those who follow the karma kanda for elevation: good next birth, svarga-loka, birth. These are the goals of karma-nistha. They want to enjoy happy material life and follow principles of dharm. Compared to them, a jnani is far superior. koṭi-karma-niṣṭha-madhye eka ‘jñānī’ śreṣṭha out of millions and millions of these karmis, karma-nistha, one jnani, one person who knows, “I am eternal. This life is temporary.” he is far superior. koṭi-jñāni-madhye haya eka-jana ‘mukta’

And out of million such jnanis who know, “I am eternal, who are shooting for the spiritual emancipation or liberation, one who has actually achieved such liberation, he is considered to be far superior, you see. So, out of millions of such jnanis one, he actually achieves the goal of liberation.

koṭi-mukta-madhye ‘durlabha’ eka kṛṣṇa-bhakta

And out of millions of such jnanis it is hard, rare to find to one Krsna devotee.

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ

How rare is a devotee, you see?

muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ su-durlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

Out of all the liberated souls, muktanam, out of all the siddhanam, the best of the siddha-purusa. Those who are possessing mystic power like anima, prapta… lagima, mahima-siddhi. Those who can produce rasagullas and watches from the air. Those are called siddha. Just sitting from here, siddha, who has prapti siddhi can take one, you see, Seiko watch from Hong Kong and give it to Giriraja Maharaja. “Here, have one Seiko watch.” You see. (Laughter). And you can say “Oh very nice”. You see. And he can give one Mercedes car to Jagat-guru Swami for his preaching. “Here.” This is siddhi. (Laughing.)

But compared to this siddhi far superior is considered to be Narayana parayana, devotee of the Lord. Why? That also Lord Caitanya explains:

kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’ bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī—sakali ‘aśānta’

That Krsna devotee is desireless. He’s not desiring anything for himself, therefore he is peaceful. But those who are desiring material happiness, liberation and mystic power, their desires are always, you see, disturbing their mind. Therefore sakali ‘aśānta’, they’re always disturbed in mind. This is the situation. So,

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

We are wandering, and we’re wandering throughout this material world. Somehow by mercy of guru and krsna we get the seed of bhakti, you see. That is the most rare opportunity that anyone can have. By mercy of Krsna who is situated in the heart as Paramatma, He brings one to the lotus feet of guru, who is His representative. By mercy of guru, by following the instructions of the spiritual master, one satisfies Krsna, and he goes back to the lotus feet of Krsna.

This a rare mercy of Lord Krsna. So someone who is so fortunate, you see… someone who is so fortunate as to get this seed of devotion, he should become a gardener and water it.

mālī hañā kare sei bīja āropaṇa śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana

He should become a gardener and water the seed of devotion. Water that plant with the hearing and chanting of the holy name. So, this is… the basic difficulty is that we forget who we are. We think that we are this material body and we make our plan and program, so what is satisfying to our mind, what is satisfying to our body.

We do not think what is satisfying to Krsna which is the basic disease. Why we are in this world? We are part and parcel of Krsna we should be simply thinking how to satisfy Krsna. If we do that, then everything is solved. All the problems are cast away. The mercy of Krsna is easily available, you see. Especially by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who has sent His preachers all over the world. Huh? On the order of superior authority the preacher becomes the spiritual master and delivers people, giving them the mercy of Krsna. So this is the special opportunity that we have, you see.

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He had many devotees, many energies. He, Himself is Krsna. So some of His energies perform some task, and others perform other tasks. As Narottama Thakura… Narottama dasa Thakura prayed to Lord Caitanya that, “My dear Lord, you are having varieties of energies, and of these energies I see two principle divisions. I see that some of Your devotees, they are engaging in writing transcendental literatures, such as Rupa and Sanatana, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. Others I see are engaged in distributing those transcendental literatures to the fallen souls, such as Srinivasa Acarya, and others.

So in Caitanya pastimes, He ordered many of His associates to write literatures. And after the literatures were written, He also empowered other of His associates in the disciplic succession to distribute those literatures, you see. Srinivasa Acarya was the first book distributor, you could say, in our sampradaya you can say, because he was entrusted by Radha Govindaji and all the associates still remaining on Earth with the task of taking Caitanya-caritamrta, Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, all the gosvamis works back to the devotees waiting in the eastern states, in Bengal and Orissa and to distribute to them.

Srinivasa Acarya is a disciple of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. He was the son of Caitanya dasa and Laksmi Priya devi from village of Chakunti, Bardaman district of Bengal, you see. His character was unique, you see.

He was born on the order of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He ordered both husband and wife, “You must go back to your village.” They came to visit Him in Jagannatha Puri, “and you must have a child, and that child will be a great devotee. He’ll be a preacher of Mine. He will do great works for Me. His name will be Srinvasa. And then, when they had their child, they trained him up in such a wonderful way.

Mother was always taking the baby on the lap saying, “Chant Hari, chant Govinda. Chant Nityananda prana, the life of Nityananda. Chant Advaita-isvara, the Lord of Advaita.” In so many ways she would get her son to chant the name of Krsna and Caitanya, and that would be… his whole childhood pastime was to to chant Hare Krsna, to revel in the discourses of Krsna Consciousness. When he was about ten, twelve years old, his father was telling him how he first met Caitanya Mahaprabhu. How he was going to Navadvipa to see Lord Caitanya, because he was feeling very much the separation of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

So on his way to Navadvipa, he stopped in the town of Katwa, and there he saw huge crowds of people. He said, “What is this? What is this?”

They said, “You don’t know? Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu has come to Katwa!”

Said, “Why? Why has Caitanya Mahaprabhu left navadvipa and come to Katwa?”

Said, “You don’t know? He going to take Sannyasa. He has come here to take sannyasa from Kesava Bharati. Just now he is at the asrama of Kesava Bharati.” So Caitanya dasa, he thought that… actually at that time, he was known as Pusta dasa Bhattacarya, or something. He got the name Caitanya das later.

But he felt that, “I just got the moon in my hand. I was going to see Lord Caitanya, and Caitanya was just here in Katwa. So, then he immediately went over to the asrama of Keshava Bharati. There he saw huge, huge crowds of people, and there in the center, he saw Caitanya Mahaprabhu dancing in kirtan, dancing with His associates Nityananda, Mukunda, Candrasekhara, four, five, His associates were there, and they were chanting, and Lord Caitanya was dancing in the center, and He started to spin around and around and around, and He started crying and soaked everyone in the crowd with the tears from His eyes. Jumping, and the people were going mad, “Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga!” and He was dancing and then suddenly he got ahold of Himself and everybody was just standing there amazed, seeing this display, and He said, “Alright. Call the barber. Now it is time to take sannyasa.” And the people started to… started… the women started to cry. The men started to feel tremendous anxiety. The barber came. He bowed down. He said, “How can I cut your hair? I cannot do it.”

Lord Caitanya said, ordered him, “You must do it. Just do your business. Don’t procrastinate. It is My order.” So he touched His feet, and then he started to cut the hair of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When he started to cut the hair, the devotees, they were going mad. They were going mad, “No! No! Not those beautiful golden… those beautiful hairs of the golden Lord Caitanya! No! No!” And they’re beating their head and their falling.

And as Caitanya dasa was telling this to his son, he couldn’t take it. The mood of all devotees was so intense, just to think of it, he fell unconscious then and he started… just fell in the same mood. Just at that time, the same mood as when he was in Katwa. He became immersed and he just started saying “Caitanya. Caitanya. Caitanya.” And he was just lying on the ground crying, “Caitanya. Caitanya.” Srinivasa Acarya grabbed the feet of his father, put on his head and he’s saying, “Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga!” and then his mother came in to see what was happening and saw the father and the son, they’re unconscious on the ground, just crying and saying the names of Caitanya.

This was the family life of Srinivasa Acarya in his childhood days, you see. That was the way they were living: always engaged in the transcendental glorification of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. That Srinivasa Acarya, when he went, after great endeavor and finally his spiritual master, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami in Vrindavana, he did not want to leave Vrndavana. There was Narottama Thakura and Syamananda Pandita, his intimate associates, his dear friends. Although Narottama das Thakura was the disciple of Loknatha Gosvami, and Syamananda Pandita was the disciple of Hridyananda das, Hrdaya Caitanya das, you see. Then at that time, it was one happy family. It didn’t matter who was one’s spiritual master. Everyone was in the family of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They were all one brotherhood, you see.

So they were enjoying such wonderful pastimes, that he did not want to leave, but Govindaji ordered, “You must go Srinivasa Acarya. You take Narottama and Shyam… and take the books. You must take the books, the grantha, to the eastern states.” And then Gopala Bhatta, Jiva Gosvami, they also ordered that, “You must take these books. Narottama and Syamananda, you will accompany.” He was feeling such separation. Who would want to leave the company of the spiritual master? Who would want to leave the association of the great souls like Jiva Gosvami, Bhugarbha, Loknath, Dvija Haridasa Thakura, Krsna das Kaviraja, Raghunath das Goswami? All of these great devotees: who would want to leave? They were feeling great separation, when they may see them again?

But order of guru, they received, they must go. They must take, on the order of guru and Krsna, they must take these… the books. And when they went out to take these books on an auspicious day, all of those great saints, they came. From Radha-kunda, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Krsnadasa Kaviraja came, from Govardhana, Dvija Haridasa. From the different places, all the different great saints came, and they accompanied the book distributors. They went out to the border of Vrndavana, and they all blessed them that, “Your distribution, your taking these books to the devotees will be successful.” Even as they left Vrndavana, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Jiva Gosvami and a few other devotees accompanied them all the way to Mathura, and then finally from there Srinivasa Acarya and Syamananda Pandita and Narottama dasa, they continued with their bullock cart, and their guards and the big box, trunk of books and went on to the eastern states, you see. And that’s another story. A great lesson in their determination, how they took those books. But there is no time today.

So, this distribution of books is considered one of the transcendental pastimes. One who is writing books, one who is printing books, one who is distributing books, one who is explaining the books, all these are all the intimate services to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana By this hearing and chanting one waters his tree, waters that plant of bhakti, you see. Even if one plant reaches the spiritual kingdom. tāhāṅ vistārita hañā phale prema-phala ihāṅ mālī kore… sece nitya śravaṇādi jala Even when one gets, you see, the flowers and fruits, coming on the tree of devotion, still you… the mali, the devotee is watering daily this hearing and chanting.

So by the mercy of Srinivasa Acarya we have Caitanya-Caritamrta and other literatures. He has brought them, you see. So this is our great mercy. So we request everyone to water their devotional creeper with the hearing and chanting and to distribute the literatures. To expand the preaching to all the conditioned souls, following in the footsteps of our great previous acaryas.

Srila Prabhupada, he has shown, by both writing and distributing and explaining: Everything he did single-handedly. So we can pray to Srila Prabhupada for his special mercy that we may be empowered to distribute and to preach these transcendental granthas or books amd make our lives sublime, make our life perfect.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya! Haribol!

Tags: Book distribution, Devotional creeper, Bhakti, Bhagavad-gita

Transcribed by

Biswarup Sarkar Date of Completion: 8/1/2014

Revised by

Jagannatha dasa Brahmacari