The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on October 12, 1982 in Honolulu Hawaii. The class begins with a reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 2, Chapter 10, Verse 43.

Jayapataka Swami: “Thereafter, at the end of the millennium, the Lord Himself in the form of Rudra, the destroyer, will annihilate the complete re… creation as the wind displaces the clouds.”

“This creation is very appropriately compared to clouds. Clouds are created or situated in the sky, and when they are displaced they remain in the same sky without manifestation. Similarly, the whole creation is made by the Supreme Personality of God in His form of Brahma, it is maintained by Him in the form of Visnu, and it is destroyed by Him in the form of Rudra, or Siva, in all… all in due course. This creation, maintenance and destruction are nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gita (8.19-20) as follows:

bhuta-gramah sa evayam

 bhutva bhutva praliyate

ratry-agame ’vasah partha

 prabhavaty ahar-agame

paras tasmat tu bhavo ’nyo

 ’vyakto ’vyaktat sanatanah

yah sa sarvesu bhutesu

 nasyatsu na vinasyati

The nature of the material world is that it is first created very nicely, then it develops very nicely and stays for a great number of years (even beyond the calculation of the greatest mathematician), but after that it is again destroyed during the night of Brahma, without any resistance, and at the end of the night of Brahma it is again manifested as a creation to follow the same principles of maintenance and destruction.

The foolish conditioned soul who has taken this temporary world as a permanent settlement has to learn intelligently why such creation and destruction take place. The fruitive actors in the material world are very enthusiastic in the creation of big enterprises, big houses, big empires, big industries and so many big, big things out of the energy and ingredients supplied by the material agent of the Supreme Lord. With such resources, and at the cost of valuable energy, the conditioned soul creates, satisfies his whims, but unwillingly has to depart from all his creations and enter into another phase of life to create again and again. To give hope to such foolish conditioned souls who waste their energy in this temporary material world, the Lord gives information that there is another nature, which is eternally existent without being occasionally created or destroyed, and that the conditioned soul can understand what he should do and how his valuable energy may be utilized. Instead of wasting his energy in matter, which is sure to be destroyed in due course by the supreme will, the conditioned soul should utilize his energy in the devotional service of the Lord so that he can be transferred to the other, eternal nature, where there is no birth, no death, no creation, no destruction, but permanent life instead, full of knowledge and unlimited bliss. The temporary creation is thus exhibited and destroyed just to give information to the conditioned soul who is attached to temporary things. It is also meant to give him a chance for self-realization, and not for sense gratification, which is the prime aim of all fruitive actors.”

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purport of Text 43, Chapter 10, Canto 2, Srimad-Bhagavatam in the matter of Bhagavatam is the Answer to All Questions.

Everyone in this material world is after fruitive activities. They want the fruitive results. For what? For sense gratification. They want sense gratification. That sense gratification is in different categories in different types, you see. All the sense gratification in this material world is but a dim reflection of the spiritual world.

You see, here a person in mode of ignorance, a sudra is interested in one kind of happiness, a vaisya another, a ksatriya another, a brahmana yet another. So the sudra, of course if they have the opportunity, they prefer drinking uh, wine and becoming intoxicated and gambling and uh, having illicit or uh, unregulated sex life and engaging in uh, the other type of uh, gross pursuits. If the sudra has a chance he will try… like to engage in those activities. But, therefore it is recommended that the sudra should always be engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lord and this will help to put out this fire of the material… uh, burning in the heart, you see.

A Vaisya… that they should also render some service whenever possible, to the Lord. That the vaisya of course, Krishna exhibited how a vaisya can enjoy playing with the cows, having butter fights, so many other wonderful pastimes. Those who are vaisyas, who are on the rural scene. Otherwise, the vaisya, they’re very eager to make money… the modern day world. Sudra may also be eager to make money but doesn’t know how. So he ends up getting a job and like that. But the vaisya actually knows how to make money. And he… and this becomes practically like a religion to them. Simply trying to amass more and more money. So there it’s recommended that a vaisya should use that money for spreading Krishna consciousness and thus they can become purified . If they simply use the money for their own sense gratification which is going to finish with this body then everything is lost.
Ksatriya, we are seeing in the pastime of Ramacandra, how a Ksatriya as well as in other incarnations in the later life, but especially Lord Ramacandra showed how a king or a Ksatriya is uh, living. They are enjoying in martial arts, they are enjoying in various type of education in charity and uh, culture. This is, they especially uh, promote the uh, spiritual culture, but all types of culture are promoted under that. And uh, in this way they are supposed to lead the people to home, back to godhead in terms of organizing society in such a way that preachers are protected and that religion… religious principles are uh, protected also, promoted.

Then the Brahmanas, the brahmanas of course are the intellectuals. They’re more interested in the academic pursuits. That we find in the pastime of Caitanya mahaprabu, that how a brahmana is enjoying. That in Lord Caitanya’s early life He showed by appearing in a family of the brahmanas. He was relishing these brahminical pursuits.
Of course, for Lord Caitanya in no time at all He memorized all of the Vedas. Practically by the age of eleven or twelve He already knew all the Vedas which is impossible for ordinary persons. And He would challenge people… say that, I think… I don’t know if I mentioned before but, sometimes He will be walking down the street and He would see ah…say Mukunda. At that time Lord Caitanya had already started to take His own uh… uh, students. And He would see Mukunda and He’d say “Hey Mukunda! Where are you going?”. He calls from a distance. He would call and then Mukunda would be coming. So, I mean, Mukunda would see Him and he want to run away. “Oh no! This Nimai Pandit! Why He is calling me? He’s so proud. I’m going to smash his pride today!” So when Lord Caitanya called him over and say, “Why you are not…”, very friendly, “Why you are not staying with us? Why you are not, Why you are trying to avoid?” You see. “You don’t want to study anymore Sanskrit?” Because one time he was a student for a short time and then he went away from Lord Caitanya. This was before Lord Caitanya manifests His devotional aspect, fully.

Just as Krishna was playing with the cowherd boys, Lord Caitanya in His childhood was playing with the Brahmanas. Brahmanas, their… their main thing is knowledge. Knowledge is very important to them. So this pursuit of knowledge much as we find today in the academic institutions, is especially relished by Brahmanas. You see, of course, some people they cannot understand, why? who could relish school, but there are some who actually like to accumulate knowledge, you see. May be they are known as book worms, or other derogatory, I don’t know different type of things. But there are certain class of people who actually like intellectual discussions and like to understand philosophical points and uh, various types of logic and academic pursuits. So, especially this is the, one of the characteristics of, a type of superficial characteristic of brahmanas in terms of the activities, not in terms of their qualities, necessarily.

So He was telling Mukunda “Why you are ah.. running away? Why you’re not staying with us?”. Mukunda said “Now I am gonna just tell..I am gonna show you..”, he said, “Now, I am not interested in your Grammar study Nimai pandit! Now I am studying poetry. Now I know Sanskrit poetry, I don’t need your grammar classes!”. So Nimai, “Well, Of course we do know something about poetry. (Laughs) Are you sure that uh, you wouldn’t like to give us some lesson in poetry? What type of poetry are you learning that uh, is uh, so much greater than what we can teach?”. So then Mukunda started to recite some poetry in which Lord Caitanya promptly tore apart and crushed Mukunda. All with a very smiling gentle mannerism. And then Mukunda, he said, “How does he know every scripture? How does he know every grammar? How does he know every poetry? What is this person Nimai Pandit? But he is so proud! Just don’t want to be with someone so proud, If only he was more of a devotee, then I would be with him.”, then he… he walked off and Nimai Pandit said, “We will see you tomorrow. Come and learn some poetry.” (Laugh).

In this way, Lord Caitanya, He walked through the town and everyone would love him. You see, even at the age of thirteen or twelve or so, He had already defeated the Kesava Kashmiri, the greatest pandit of India, Digvijay who would go from village to village and town to town and uh, defeat the gurus of all the kings. So, the uh… as He would go through the town though, everyone in the whole town which was centered around this brahmanical culture, people coming from all over India to learn the Sanskrit, to learn the Vedas, to learn poetry, to learn all the different types of culture. Navadvipa was the seat of culture. Actually now Bhavananda Goswami and uh, and uh, the mayapur chandrodaya temple and also the humble self, we are trying to make the Mayapur Chandrodaya mandir in to again the seat of uh, culture connected with Lord Caitanya mahaprabhu’s movement, to uh, recreate some of the original mood of Navadvipa dham, the more uh, spiritually uh, usable aspects of the culture, at least.

So when Lord Caitanya would be going to the town, everyone would come out to see him. Just as in Vrindavana they would come out to see Krishna going with the cows, all the residents of Navadvipa will come to see Nimai pandit going with His students. He was so beautiful with His lotus eyes and His beautiful form.

And then, He would go and everyone would say, “Nimai pandit! Nimai pandit. You are not coming?” and He would come in. He would give Him a seat. He would respect Him. He would offer incense and different uh, cool drinks. Of course generally Lord Caitanya wouldn’t take outside but he would offer anyway. All type of hospitality. Then Nimai pandit would say, “So, this set is getting old. Where are My new cloth? Where is the new cloth? What do you have today?” Prabhupada says He was a very flashy dresser. They would bring out all the new coloured various types of clothes. Lord Caitanya said, ”Oh this one is very nice. That one is very nice. But of course I am a poor Brahmana. Where will I get all the money for these things?”. And He would just capture everybody’s heart. They say, “For you, there is no question of cost. (Laugh) If you want to you can give something, or its ok.”

Then Lord Caitanya would go out again down the street and then He would walk in to the Ghosa’s place where all the milkmen work. They would give Him a seat, ”Please sit down. Sit down”. He’ll say “Where’s the Rasagulla? Where’s the yoghurt? Where’s the milk? Where’s the buttermilk? Where’s the ghee? Why you’re making Me sit here for nothing?” (Laugh) Then they will come out, bring out offerings of ghee and buttermilk. He says, “Of course I am a poor Brahmana. Where will I afford all these things? Where is the money?” (Laugh) “No money, you know”.

But everyone was completely , He was just the Lord of the whole city. Where He went, people they would willingly, give Him “Take ghee for your diety. You can do the abishek and take some milk for the abhishek”, then they give that. Willingly give all the milk products. He would give to one student and go on. It’s like His own Digvijay. Then He’d go, and He went to one astrologer. He would go different days different places. Not that every day go to the same place, but he would be going all around the town at a certain time in the day. And if He see any… if He would see any scholars, He would say, “Oh! hey Bhattacharya, Bhattacharya! One minute please! Sir! Sir!” and then He would see Him and run. “Oh no!” If Lord Caitanya would see them, they knew that they were finished. (Laugh). He would call them over, ask some very polite question and then proceed to completely destroy any self-respect that they had in their own learning and then establish His own learning far above them. So they didn’t want to have to suffer that humiliation. They would willingly run away. Just kind of, like all the smaller animals in the jungle will run from the lion. They don’t get in the way. And if any pandita, any scholar would dare to walk in front, then Nimai immediately would engage him in discussion and establish His supremacy.

And so, In this way the Vaisnavas, ”What is going on with this Nimai Pandit? He is wasting his life. Why doesn’t he engage in pure bhakti, devotional service? He is just arguing. Something about him!” They, all the devotees were completely attracted at this person. “He has got some… we can’t stop thinking about him. When you see… so so attractive! But why he is always arguing and he is engaging in all these different type of activities? We are not normally attracted to these things, but in him, there is something about it, very attractive.” But then, their mentality of course is, pure devotees was always like, “Well, he should engage in pure devotional service.”

One time He met Srivasa who is much older. Srivasa said “Why you are wasting your life like this? Why you don’t simply engage in pure devotional service? Why don’t you simply worship Krishna in bhakti? Why all this argumentation? Why all this scholastic pursuit?”. Lord Caitanya replied “My… My dear Vaisnava Thakura! I offer you all my respect. Certainly I want to simply engage in pure devotional service. This is My goal in life. But now in My youth, I am enjoying the pursuit of education, scholarship..scholarship. But I’m looking for a guru. When I meet My guru, then I will uh, start, definitely I will render pure devotional service. You bless Me that I can get a pure vaisnava for a guru. Without a pure devotee for a guru how will I be able to fulfill your desire? You must bless Me. Put your hand on My head that I may achieve the shelter of a pure vaisnava in the future.” This way He would encourage them. And get their blessing and then He would go off and continue with His own sport.

Then after little time He will take all the students, ”Alright, Lets go!” On the way of course, He decided, “Ok let’s just stop in today, here is an astrologer.” So He came in and sat down to the astrologer and He told the astrologer, “You are sarvanja. You know all . You can see the past, present and future through your astrological calculation and understanding. Tell me sarvanja, we hear you are very famous that you actually have..” Well, of course in English I think they call it clairvoyant vision but, but “You have the special vision where you can see what is the past, the present and the future. So tell Me, who was I in the past? In My previous birth who was I?”. So then he started chanting his Gopala mantras for..for his uh, astrological vision. When he chanted the mantras he was looking. Suddenly he saw “It’s Ramachandra.” Raghupati Rama fighting against Ravana. He saw the whole pastime before his eyes. ‘What’s going on here? This brahmana has done some mis-magic on me.’ Then again he saw “There is Varaha, and Vamana and then there is Narashinga.” Then he saw this Krishna playing on His flute, Muralivadana. Then again he saw Lord Caitanya.“What’s going on, ah?” (Laugh). “I can’t tell you anything. I don’t know who you are. This is very bewildering to me (Laugh) and then you got some.. some magic you have done on me.” Or something.. He didn’t know because of Yogamaya, even he saw, he couldn’t uh, understand that how, in fact, “Yes this was Rama, this was Krishna, Narasimha, Vishnu had come.” So then Lord Caitanya left and that person, he was completely bewildered that, “How did I see all these?” and then he offered his respect to Lord Caitanya but he was completely bewildered.

And then Lord Caitanya took His students and they all went to the Ganges and then started playing in the water, splashing each other. And uh, in this way Lord Caitanya then after taking His bath in the Ganges, He went home, did His worship of the Saligram sila. Bathing the Saligram sila and worshipping. Then His mother Saci mata and His wife, they prepared the prasadam. He offered to the Deity and He would sit down and His wife would personally serve Him the prasadam. After He finished she would take the remnants of His prasada also. And then mother Saci would be very happy seeing how the wife was serving the husband. How his uh, her son was well situated. Then He would take a little rest. And then after resting, uh again in the evening He’d go out and meet His friends. In this way He would have His daily activities.

So, in this way He was in the early life leading a life like a brahmana. And uh, each of the different uh, categories of Vaisya, Brahmana, Ksatriya, Sudra etc. they all have their specific uh, specific uh, attraction. And just as the different incarnations, they also appear in different uh, species, also in different uh, varnas, uh, ashramas, to show the people uh, to actually benedict the different people. Even also to enjoy transcendental pastimes. Of course the actual purpose of life is to become Krishna conscious, but when Krishna Himself comes He has some internal, some pastimes.

And when He would be surrounded by His students like that, it was described that how transcendental it was. That actually those students were all very great great souls who had come just to participate in His pastimes. May be some of you will also be going to Navadvipa in your next birth in you… in some universe and you will be participating in these pastimes with Lord Caitanya either in his early life or either in His sankirtan movement. Most of the students they all joined later His sankirtan.. ahh.. pastimes. So actually this is the purpose of life, is to return back to home, back to Godhead. To be with the Lord to assist Him in His pastimes. The happiness and the relationships in this universe, in this material world they are all very temporary.

And yesterday we read how the frog in the well .. the frog in the well, he is uh, thinking that how big the sea is by expanding the, uh, his own knowledge of the well. In this way people try to understand God and they think ”Well, God is the creator. He is the destroyer.” Nowadays, its very big, well published, which we came out recently in the back to godhead which I just saw. The day I came here it was in the ‘New York’… no, excuse me, in the ‘Los Angeles Times’ about how so many people are thinking that God, God is alive. He is there. But He just creates and destroys and He wants us to do good but He is not very powerful. He is ineffectual actually. All He can do is hope the best but there is nothing really He can do. It’s truly out of His control. Just that, the best they He can do is wind up the whole show at one point and He can create it. But in the middle, He is not really able to do anything. Therefore God is, ah.. you know, because He is ineffectual people are born blind and uh, people are suffering, even though they really don’t deserve it but well, it is out of His control anyway. So it is accidental happening, something like that. And this type of idea of a ineffectual God, they say, “Well its better to have an ineffectual God who is very kind. I can relate with that, than to have an all-powerful God who is... who is very cruel on us” This is their idea and their speculation.
So people, they want to limit God, or they try to understand God with their own limited experience. They want to know who is Krishna. Who is the supreme person in terms of a very limited type of understanding. It is very offensive. That there is karma, there is reincarnation, these things, of course, because they don’t know, they can’t understand why a child is born blind. Why a person gets run over by a car when they’re only five years old, playing on the street, or something like that. They can’t understand that how these things can happen. Because they understand that this life is only one life and a series of so many lives. And they don’t understand also, anything about the real nature of God. Actually Krishna is all powerful. But even the great say, the more orthodox uh, religionists who believe that, “Well, God is a creator. He is all powerful. He is destroyer as well . He is the maintainer.”…
But actually Krishna is much more than that. So today, we are actually.. tomorrow the verse that mentions how Krishna is actually, His special feature is ananda. That the real quality that Krishna also has, more than just being a type of, you can say, functionary for creation and annihilation is actually He is ananda, happiness. That He has… He is a reservoir of all spiritual happiness. So how we can know about those spiritual happiness is, is through when He comes down here and manifests His pastimes. You can start to experience some of the bliss in those pastimes. This way, when Krishna comes down and He benedicts the residents of Vrindavan, playing with them as a ordinary cowherd boy or Lord Caitanya plays with the Brahmanas as a Brahmana or how they come down and of course then later, they manifest after their childhood proclivities, then they actually show their uh, form in different aspects that people can really understand that… a lot of their potencies. It doesn’t mean that their childhood activities were less, even though they appear to be materialistic. It is not materialstic but it’s a type of benediction on so many devotees who are anxious to serve the Lord in that way. And they don’t experience material happiness when these things are happening, but many devotees are experiencing spiritual ecstasies.

Of course Krishna manifested Himself as Supreme Personality of Godhead right from birth but Lord Caitanya came in disguise. So therefore many people couldn’t understand that He is supreme Lord. That’s also yoga maya and His maha maya both acting on them. While Krishna, He was immediately understood by great souls as the supreme person. In that way certain souls could recognize Lord Caitanya but not all when He manifested His sankirtana movement, then the devotees they realized He was Krishna in due course that’s a separate issue.

So today in this sloka we are seeing how the foolish condition souls takes the material world as the permanent set up and then unfortunately that person is so enthusiastic to create big enterprises big organizations big buildings and so on, they don’t realize how all these big kingdoms and big dominions and enterprises, etc. are all finished. A person’s life is soon going to be finished. All the big dynasties, all the big uh, creations, they’re not going to be around for very long. So, the whole point is that what we do something, if we just do it to create something material, it’s like building a sand castle,by the sea. It may look very nice but it… one wave comes and it’s wiped out. The waves of time are relentless.

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…amazing how they go through histories. In uh… in some of the exhibits uh, promoted by the big compnies in America, and by the government they go through the history of the world. And they keep showing, “Egyptian civilization Indian civilization, Roman civilization. Then there was Napolean. He was wiped out. There were so many civilizations in all.” But then they say like “Now this time we’re going to make it.” You see history repeats itself. America’s also heading right now, along the same path of destruction you see. We actually… the Vedic civilization has been existing… now that may be dormant but actually that’s the oldest civilization for which we have histories going back thousands and millions of years back. What was only one civilization running as so many. Demoniac civilizations are created by different people who were trying to ..ah…try to reach the top and are destroyed in time. So we have the real solution… that in the short life time and especially in this kali yuga not in hundreds or thousands but you can see all governments and whole things this over hundred years or fifteen years or even a few months of times, sometimes. In Bolivia they have an average of two governments a year. You can see the temporary nature. But every president when he comes in power he thinks “I am going to be the president that lasts. I am going to be in office next ten years”. But it never lasts. Anyway, the different places have different karmas but whether its ten years or hundred years we’re not gonna last more than a hundred years in this body. There’s only a handful of people living over hundred years in the whole planet that are known to the people. So, what is the use of... [aside] Is it a quarter of six, or a quarter after six, (inaudible)… over there?

So the real point is that during this life we should actually render devotional service to Krishna. So this is… was of course revealed by Lord Caitanya in His later life. We can do anything for Krishna that we never lose. But whatever we do materially it is not going to last. Of course we will be swept away in the whirlpool when the whole thing becomes successful in a life to achieve fame, power, things like money and sense gratification and then before long our life is finished and then we are cast in to another birth and another situation. And whatever we have done was for… all finished. So the real thing is whatever we do for Krishna whatever time the person chants hare Krishna every service they do that they don’t lose. That stays with them. This is to their benefit. If you read Krishna or Prabupad’s books, people by simply reading those books they will become so benefitted that we cannot imagine. That is the eternal benefit. Like that, Srila Prabupada wants us to give out one’s mercy let people be eternally benefited. Of course people are so focused on the temporary sense gratification and its… and it’s related activities that they may not wish to appreciate what is the value of this spiritual activity. They don’t realize what is the value of your temporary sense gratification like going up on the Ferris wheel, you will be spending a buck for ten minutes and come down. You’re not going to be there long. This is the real value. This you’ll never lose, you see. They are almost like children. They don’t have any vision of the whole spectrum of life. Therefore they are just playing with their very limited vision like children. Very sophisticated no doubt. Very expert in their own way. But, for what?
Of course Lord Caitanya mahaprabu when His father left the world and He came back and found that His father had gone, He took this as an opportunity to start, to end His childhood proclivities. He was only 14 years old. He wasn’t that. He wasn’t playing around very long. Before that age how would anyone uh, listen to Him anyway for preaching God consciousness? He would get away with some scholastic understanding but anyway that was His entire past life. At the age of 14 He went to Gaya which has a very big temple of Vishnu there. Everyone in India goes to Gaya more or less practically everyone to do a pindi or sacred worship for the deceased soul the departed soul of father or some relative. They worship ah… the lotus feet of Vishnu in the name of that person so that they can be delivered. So at that point when Lord Caitanya when He met with Isvara Puri who He had some association with in the past. But here this time He requested to be initiated. And when He was initiated in devotional love unto the holy name of Krishna, then He went and did the worship of Vishnu’s lotus feet there in Gaya at the Visnupada temple. And at that pace He started to manifest His first ecstasies.

Here at this point tear flowed down His eyes. And the moment He received initiation, He was just chanting Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna. So when He came back to Navadvipa all the way chanting Krishna, when He came back with His students, all He could speak about was Krishna. Every… everything now was brought in relation to Krishna. Every Vedic sloka, every uh discussion, every grammar, every letter, every syllable, everything was connected with Krishna.

The students were completely bewildered. “What’s happened to Nimai pandit? Everything he says he brings it around to Krishna.” They went to His teacher who had taught Him grammar many years before and said “Your student Nimai pandit I think he has gone bananas. Something has happened to him. He is he is chanting only Krishna Krishna and everything he is teaching is Krishna. He is telling we should simply do pure devotional service. May be something has happened to him. You could just probably uh, direct him.” So then Gangadas pandit, he went over to see Lord Caitanya and Lord Caitanya seeing His old teacher He offered respect. He bowed down and offered Him a seat and said “How could I serve you?” he would respect Gangadas pandit and he defeated everyone else. That because he was… actually he was an incarnation of Sandipani muni. So anyway He respected Him as His teacher and… although not His guru, He had His guru, Ishvarapuri has instructed… anyone who teaches something we should respect him. So then uh, he said, “Well, You are a Brahmana, vaisnava. Your duty to worship the deities and should know the scripture. Now the students are saying that you have given up logic, you have given up uh, everything. You’re just engaged in bhakti.”

“Who said? I am Nimai pandita, I know all the scriptures. I know all the logic, I know all the arguments, I know everything, grammar, poetry, I know all. Who is there that they can challenge me?”. His students, “Awh! Here’s the old Nimai pandita we knew.”(Laugh). They were pakka intellectuals, you know. They didn’t… they didn’t want to be distracted. Sometimes you get these type of professional, intellectual, they don’t… they don’t understand. Too much spiritual, they think, you know somehow it’ll impede in their natural flow of whatever they are in to. Means that a little bit’s all right you know, not too much. If it gets too much then they don’t like it. So they thought “This is too much, chanting and crying all the time Krishna it’s too much.” So they they work behind His back and ah what do you call it, finked on Him? They called His teacher. And then so this way Gangadas pandit thought”please tell. You should know a Brahamna could do all the Vaisnava thing but maintain this thing we need very strong ahh philosophical people to able to defend the Vedic culture against the others and also to earn a living like that. So Lord Caitanya said, “No! Who is there that they can challenge me? Come on.” He walked over the street. He stood up. “Where is there anyone who can challenge I? I Nimai pandit ? Anyone, give a sloka, give a verse, give any argument. You see who can explain it better. Who is there that can…” like this He was challenging. All His students were in bliss. This is the same old Nimai Pandit. We’re back where we started. We are going great. Gangadas pandit he left.

Meanwhile one old friend of the grandfather of Caitanya, Nilambar Cakravati Thakur he just was walking by and then he saw that Nimai pandit in this way and so he just came and started to chant a sloka in Bhagavatam. A couple of slokas which were glorifying the intimate pastimes of Lord Krishna, how He would deliver

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all the demons and give their special liberation even when they are coming to kill Him. And so when started to glorify Krishna in this way, as soon as the slokas hit Lord Caitanya’s ears, the students were looking. “Whats happening with Lord Caitanya?” He was stunned.

Suddenly Lord Caitanya “Oh Krishna! Krishna! I am so fallen. Krishna! I have neglected You for so many years”. He just came in ecstacy “Krishna!” He is rolling on the ground. “Krishna!” and He was shaking and trying to hold down. “Krihsna Krishna when will I again have your shelter?”. And He was just immersed in separation calling out “Krihsna Krishna” and they were trying to hold Him down and He was shaking. Even ten students were thrown this way that way and they couldn’t. Lord Caitanya was rolling and He was shaking in such a way they couldn’t even hold Him down. So thought, “Oh no! Lord Caitanya’s not the same. Nimai Pandita’s not the same. What to do? What to do?” They tried to hold Him and finally Lord Caitanya, He came back to His external consciousness out of His ecstasy. So then He told the boys, “All right take your books today and uh, we’ll call it a day.”(Laugh).

So, the next day all the students came… the next day Lord Caitanya informed some of uh…informed one uh, Sriman das… anyway there is no time for all these pastimes I guess. How He first met the devotees and told them about His change of heart. That’s a whole intimate pastime with them. He actually reestablished uh, His relation that only I can explain that sometime when there’s… I guess there’s more time. So then after uh, meeting with the devotees, and all those intimate pastimes for the first time then He again went back to His students that after… the next afternoon. And they all brought their books and everything. He said, “So, what have you have understood I have been teaching you? I’ve…”. They said, “Sir..” and one boy stood up and said, “whatever you say, its all… all we can understand is one thing Krishna Krishna Krishna. Whatever you say from A to Z, everything somehow is… comes out Krishna. So frankly all we… all we can un… follow is that you just were telling us about Krishna but ultimately ,you never taught us like this before. Were a bit confused. We really don’t know how to understand this sudden explanations on Krishna, this sudden change”.

So then Lord Caitanya told them, “Well, I have trained you. I’ve taught you Sanskrit. I’ve read all the Vedas and I have given you all the education that I could give. The thing is now after studying everything and knowing everything I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s nothing outside of Krishna. That Krishna is inside everything outside everything He is everything and He is above everything. That there’s simply Krishna, and so now I can no longer just go on with the ordinary… in the ordinary way. I have to tell people about Krishna. And this is now going to be the way I am. That I am going to be instructing everyone about Krishna and about worshipping Krishna and about chanting Krishna’s holy names. So, there’s no hard feeling. I’ve come to this conclusion. If you’d like to know why, I can explain to you. You know that I am the greatest scholar. It’s not out of blind sentiment. It’s not out of some illusion. It’s a fact. Krishna is everything and serving Him is the only ultimate purpose of life. But I know that you come to me to learn grammar and learn so many things. So you can pack up your books, and you can go to another student… to another teacher who can teach you those things . But now, this is not my uh… it’s not possible for Me to go back to those uh, mere academics anymore. But there is no hard feeling. I won’t resent it if anyone leaves. You can go on, because this is of course… for you is an unexpected situation.

So one of the students stood up and said, “Sir, you have been training us from the A,B,Cs to all the grammar, all the Vedas, all the subtle understanding of… of Sanskrit, how to uh, uh, interpret Vedas. Of course you have taught us about devotion, you taught us about so many different things. But now that You have come to this conclusion that simply pure devotional service to Krishna is the only goal in life, when we’d already understood that you are the greatest scholar. You are in fact the greatest teacher. You are the most intelligent person. The most learned person. Uh, we don’t want to go somewhere else. If this is Your conclusion, it must be correct. We want to follow You. At least I speak for myself and so many others.

So, then everybody, “No no. We want to follow You”. Every… all the students… all the students they all said, “No no we want to… We don’t… we’re are not going to leave you. Whatever you say, alright”. Then Lord Caitanya, “simply you chant, Hari kirtan”.

One student said, “what is hari kirtan? You never taught us Hari kirtan before.”.(Laugh) that’s one thing you never taught us. We don’t know where you learnt. But you never taught us, you see. They were saying, “What is sankirtan? Where to..we’ll learn. We’ll do whatever you say. We’re accepting your guidance, but how to do it? We… we’ve never done it before”. So then Lord Caitanya asked some of the devotees uh…the full time devotees come over and teach all His students to chant, you see. By teaching them to chant, He got all the students to chant and then the team… and then He took the students and they were going down kirtan through the town. People were saying, “Oh my God! Such a person, Nimai Pandita. He was so proud. He was so… He was so… how do you say? More than naughty. I mean not naughty… it is like naughty, mischief… There’s a certain word when a youth is just a terror. And He was like a but… you know what I mean? I can’t think of what the exact word is.

Devotee: (inaudible)

Jayapataka Swami: Not… that’s.. it’s not that. It’s a combination of all those things

Devotee: Boisterous?

Jayapataka Swami: Like boisterous is close to it, but there is a special word for that like a child progeny who kind of tears up the whole town,

Devotee: Rambunctious

Jayapataka Swami: Very rambunctions, but more sophisticated.

Devotee: Rowdy?

Jayapataka Swami: Yeah, it’s like a rowdy, but at the same time He was in a very cultural way. He was a very… I guess there’s no word for that. Lord Caitanya. There’s another word… anyway. Someone who is so, so uh, intense, so uh, a combination of all of those words, He uh, how did He become… now He is uh, just chanting Krishna and He’s just doing sankirtan. What does this mean? That He’s uh, been uh, tamed, you see. So wild, practically, but at the same time, wild at the same time is uh, very… in His own way, was very tense person such a intensely… it’s more like the description, you have some great sportsmen or some great politician or someone like that who is very uh, very uh…

Devotee: Charismatic

Jayapataka Swami: …charismatic person, who is uh, completely absorbed in some material activity and then who com… turns around to spiritual life that’s a very shocking thing for ordinary people then they saw Lord Caitanya with all of His students chanting kirtan they were completely astonished. In this way Lord Caitanya, He began to show His real form. What was the real purpose of His coming? It was actually to spread this Harinam sankirtan. So, at the age of 14 He’s already established as the greatest scholar. Already established… He has already… in society He established himself. Completely, He was famous in the material society He was the most famous scholar. In His field He was top of the line. He was the number one person. And then as soon as He reached whatever He could reach on that material platform then He completely manifested His spiritual activity, and all of His followers came right after Him because He had already won them over the whole time by… by… by His activity, He had actually… already ah was able to go deep in their heart. Of course He was their eternal associate, many of them. And they all followed Him which is very hard for students. Students don’t want to follow. They don’t want to leave their education. Once…they want to keep on in that type of career, but because of Lord Caitanya’s uh, mercy upon them and because He was able to actually bring them with Him and after that He used His erudite scholarship He used His ability to actually implant Krishna consciousness so deeply in society.

Because He is already in the top of the line, already there in the top of the uh, whole social ladder. That even at the very young age that uh, it could do nothing but deeply impress everyone and created a tremendous faith in the chanting of Hare Krishna, which uh, would have been difficult to achieve that level of faith, had not Lord Caitanya first of all established Himself as the greatest scholar in the whole of the uh, India, basically. So in this way, then Lord Caitanya manifested His original purpose coming, the chanting of Hare Krishna, and He engaged everyone in that sankirtan movement

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

So everything we create in this material world is going to be destroyed, you see. But whatever amount of Krishna consciousness we can create, we can uncover, we can resurrect, you see. That is forever. That never dies. So, that is the real wealth that we can gain. That is what this Krishna conscious movement brought by Srila Prabhupada is giving to all the uh, materialists who are trying to create their own empires which are going to be washed away like sand castles He’s giving them the opportunity to really reap some permanent benefit. This is all by the mercy of Caitanya mahaprabu.

Jaya Sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda
Hare Krishna

Devotees: Hare Krishna

Jayapataka Swami: Thank you very much

Devotee: Srila Acaryapada, ki, jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

[End of Recording]

Tags: Nimai pandit, Navadwipa, Varnas

Transcribed by Sripati Acyuta Das

Revised by Jagannatha dasa Brahmacari

January 23d, 2015