19821022_Srimad_Bhagavatam2.10.44_Caitanya_Lila_Literal_Version

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The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on October 22nd, 1982, the class begins with a reading from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, 2d Canto, Chapter 10, Verse 44.

Jayapataka Swami: ittham-bhavena kathito

Devotees: ittham-bhavena kathito

Jayapataka Swami: bhagavan bhagavattamah

Devotees: bhagavan bhagavattamah

Jayapataka Swami: nettham-bhavena hi param

Devotees: nettham-bhavena hi param

Jayapataka Swami: drastum arhanti surayah

Devotees: drastum arhanti surayah

Jayapataka Swami: [break] Hare Krishna [break]…A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

“The great transcendentalists thus describe the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the pure devotees deserve to see more glorious things in transcendence, beyond these features.”

Translation by Srila Prabhupada:

“The Lord is not only the creator and destroyer of the material manifestations of His different energies. He is more than a simple creator and destroyer, for there is His feature of änanda, or His pleasure feature. This pleasure feature of the Lord is understood by the pure devotees only, and not by others. The impersonalist is satisfied simply by understanding the all-pervasive influence of the Lord. This is called Brahman realization. Greater than the impersonalist is the mystic who sees the Lord situated in his heart as Paramatma, the partial representation of the Lord. But there are pure devotees who take part in the direct pleasure (ananda) potency of the Lord by factual reciprocation of loving service. The Lord in His abode called the Vaikuntha planets, which are eternal manifestations, always remains with His associates and enjoys transcendental loving services by His pure devotees in different transcendental humors. The pure devotees of the Lord thus undergo a practice of that devotional service to the Lord during the manifestation of the creation and take full advantage of the manifestation by qualifying themselves to enter into the kingdom of God.

The Bhagavad-gita (18.55) confirms this:

bhaktya mam abhijanati

yavan yas casmi tattvatah

tato mam tattvato jnatva

visate tad-anantaram

By development of pure devotional service one can factually know the Lord as He is and thus be trained in the bona fide service of the Lord and be allowed to enter into the direct association of the Lord in so many capacities. The highest glorious association with the Lord is made possible in the planet of Goloka Vrndavana, where Lord Krsna enjoys Himself with the gopis and His favorite animals, the surabhi cows. A description of this transcendental land of Krsna is given in the Brahma-samhita, which is considered by Lord Sri Caitanya to be the most authentic literature in this connection.”

Thus end the Purport to Text… the Bhaktivedanta Purport of Text 44, Canto 2, Chapter 10, in the matter of Bhagavatam is the Answer to All Questions.

So, here the qualification of different devotees, or different transcendentalists is indicated. We’ve been discussing in the 2d Canto how Krishna creates this material world, how He annihilates it… Different vedas, it describes. But, actually the Lord is doing this all automatically. It’s not that He’s personally engineering the whole thing in some type of uh, laborious way, but simply by His desire, and that desire is the prime moval force. Then, step by step, everything happens, you see.

Even the greatest living entity in the universe, Lord Brahma, he is not independent to simply do his own creation of this material world. He doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know how to control the material nature, nor how to create it. Therefore, he’s… he doesn’t even know who he is. He’s completely bewildered when he appears, so finally, the divine word tapa came out of the akasa, or out of the… out of the uh, silence, and then he understood he had to do austerities to realize the sou… his source, and then Krishna revealed to him how to create the material worlds, how to create the living entities, etc.

So, there’s nobody in this material world who is completely independent. That there… everyone, they’re gaining their idea how to do whatever they want to do from Krishna. The Bhagavad-gita describes smrtir jnanam apohanam ca, that intelligence how to do something, even if it’s a nefarious action, or a good action, ultimately how is that ability to remember or to conceive, that is all given by Krishna. The living entity has the desire, so then Krishna said, “Alright.”. In due course, if the person is deserving, He allows the person to fulfill that desire.
Even the desire is uh, not a proper desire in terms of morality or something, but still, the desirings of Krishna helps them in due course, but they have to suffer the karma. He’s not responsible. He’s not inspiring to do these things. Rather, they want to do, so since they’re desiring repeatedly, so finally He gives them the intelligence how to do what they want to do.

So, this whole function of Krishna as the Paramatma, where basically He’s ju… near an order supplier, He’s very closely connected with the creation and maintanence of the world, this is of course probably the maximum kind of a conception that people have about God, that they think God is simply the creator, or He’s some pow… He’s simply concerned with this material world, and therefore they’re thinking that well, “What’s wrong with God? Why the material world is such a mess, so on and so forth.” They don’t realize that this is not at all His preoccupation, that the real form of the Lord is always enjoying ananda, bliss in the spiritual sky, and that for maintaining the material world, He simply… as a very… as a partial, partial expansion of an expansion that comes in the material world, and He supervises and maintains things that are going on, periodically coming down to reestablish religious principles which are the only thing that He creates any semblance of order in this material world.

Whatever laws that they are regarding morality, regarding honesty, regarding uh, even the crimes, you’ll find that any law which has got any sense at all, they’re all coming from the manu-samhita. They’re all coming from the Vedas. They’re all given by Krishna, and because now you separate it in the modern world, religion, scripture and state, so now the laws are actually becoming more and more ridulous, more and more liberal.

Some County in California passed a law that there should be no nude dancing in their city and they tell us in the Supreme Court that to do nude dancing the tavern is a form of art and to do a freedom of expression, it should not be hampered, and fannie Annie uh, Dunlap uh, she uh, challenged this, said this is uh, her right of personal expression, and uh, somehow she uh, won the case and it was squashed in the Supreme Court of the State of California that, “Yes, of course. Nude dancing is definitely an art expression in some forums, so you can’t stop it.” Of course, it’s being done in the taverns and other places… they don’t… nobody considered… nobody’s looking at it for art.
Anyway, this is the whole thing is that when you have a man-made laws, everything becomes completely ridiculous, because they don’t understand what is right to do, what’s not. They have no standard. They don’t know what is the law of karma. They don’t know that, what’s going to happen as a result for the different activities they’re doing, you see.

Why Krishna says there should be marriage? Why Krishna says in the Vedas, there should be so many institutions? Now, in America, maybe they’ll get a glimpse, with the epidemic level of uh, herpes disease going around, you see. So, this is the whole problem, is that actually whatever Krishna has given us, is actually perfect, but now because, “No no. Because that’s a religion, we can’t go into that.” What’s the question of religion? It’s a question of practicality.

What is this material world? What is the univer… what are the laws governing it? If we do something in the future we have to suffer for, we should know about it, and if the only place you can know what is the reaction to what you do are the Vedas, are the scriptures, and if we can’t read those because it’s a scripture, it’s ridiculous. There’s a science of this material world.

Because the material scientists have not discovered with their microscopes means that you can’t accept it. This is a great plot by the materialists, that, now the only authorized State Religion is Scientific Mental Speculation. It’s a very big plot by big demons how they have put science which is completely speculative and based on so many dogmas, that you can raise… that you can base your whole economic, social, cultural, everything on that, national. But then if something is said in the scripture, that’s against the law. You can’t bring that up.

So, Prabhupada challenged that. He said that when the Bhagavad-gita says dehino ‘smin yatha dehe, kaumaram yauvanam jara, that we go from the childhood to youth to old age, is this only for the Krishna devotees, only for the Hindus? Only they are going from childhood to youth to old age? What about the Christians, the Muslims? What about the atheists? The dogs. They don’t go from childhood to youth to old age. Bhagavad-gita’s not a sectarian book. This is the science of the self. This is the science of spiritual realization. Everyone is going from childhood to youth to old age. It’s not a sectarian instruction. This is telling what is the spirit, what is the soul, in very definitive, systematic, scientific, exacting words, you see.

So, of course, the devotees, they go far beyond this, this is all kindergarten and grade school… high school things for the devotees, and they go ultimately up to the intimate pastimes of the Lord. How can the ordinary people understand intimate pastime, unless they understand they’re not the body. Unless they understand they’re pure spirit soul. Unless they understand what is the almighty position of Krishna, how He’s created everything just by a fraction of His glance, just by His slightest desire, everything happens, unless you understand the immense power and potential of Krishna, then you won’t appreciate the beauty and the intimate uh, loving uh, wonder that Krishna takes a humble position as His own devotee, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu, or He takes the position as the servant of His devotee, uh, Partha Sarathi, when He drove Arjuna’s chariot. You won’t appreciate. How can we appreciate?
Unless… If we hear that the President of the United States has come down, and he’s uh, doing some kind of uh, simple work for the common man, then everybody applauds. Because he’s the President, he doesn’t have to do such things. He’s coming down to the common level. That’s something unusual. Great. Right? But if we hear that uh, an ordinary person is doing an ordinary thing, what’s great? What’s the big deal? Ordinary people doing ordinary things, every day. They’re serving eachother, they’re doing this and that. So, unless you can understand Krishna’s position, it’s very hard to appreciate how wonderful are His intimate pastimes, you see.

So, we were describing Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that how, of course nobody could understand His position because He came in disguise. When Krishna came, He gradually revealed His own nature. When He was killing so many demons, when He lifted Govardhana Hill, but by yogamaya, He would keep the residents of Vrndavana out of that consciousness simply to love Him as He was, not that because He was so great, He was so powerful, but the other objectively situated devotees, they could see what was going on, they could pick out that Lord Cait… that Lord Krishna was actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead, while the residents of Vrndavana, even they would get a glimpse of understanding, again by yogamaya they would be put into spiritual illusion to forget that, and they would simply see Krishna as their loved one, as their friend, as their lover, as their son, etc.

So, in the same way, Caitanya Mahaprabhu when He came, He kept Himself covered. You see, actually there are literally dozens and dozens of Vedic references that in the Kali-yuga Krishna comes, but hardly anyone could find those, or pick them up before He came because Krishna kept them covered by yoga-maya. Just like if you say that, “Today the governer of Honolulu is going to make a surprise visit of the Hare Krishna temple and see what’s going on.” Right? If you know about it, it’s not a surprise. Everyone is going to be here with garlands, this that. The whole temple will be completely spotlessly clean. Or, if you say that President Reagan’s going to make a surprise visit on 5th avenue today, the whole place would be lined with people to see him. The only way that it can be incognito is if nobody knows about it. But, He put it… He actually put it in the Vedas, otherwise how will it be proven later on that He is, so He put it there, but by yoga-maya, people couldn’t really understand what it meant, so, they just kind of gleaned over it.

You know how we read the Bhagavad-gita, and next time you read it, you say, “My goodness, did I read that before?” There was something there, and it seems as if you’ve read it for the first time. Or even if you’ve read it before, you remember, but the second time you’ve read it, a whole different meaning and a whole different depth comes out. So, like that, people would read it, and they would get some superficial, “Yes the holy name will be in the kali-yuga, and He will come.” But, somehow, people didn’t really pick up on it, exactly. They weren’t looking out at that particular time.

This was a special feature so that Lord Caitanya could come down and uh, perform His pastime without being disturbed, you see. So, he was coming to show what it’s like to be a pure devotee of the Lord. Although He’s Krishna, Himself, He’s coming down to show that.

The thing is that, how did Lord Caitanya come down? Why does Krishna come down to this earth? He doesn’t come down because paramatma’s coming to maintain things, exactly the same way. Actually Paramatma’s directly non-different than Krishna and He’s powerful enough to be able to uh, be able to take care of so many miscreants, we saw that in Hiranyaksa, Hiranyakasipu and others. Just as different incarnations, They’re most powerful. So, Krishna comes down, Prabhupada describes, because He’s the only one who will be satisfying His devotees.

Just like when the gopis were running, looking, “Where’s Krishna? Where is Krishna?” And they’d go running and then Krishna would hide Himself as the four-armed Visnu. Then, they’d go and ask Him, “Oh, Visnu.” And they’d offer obeisances, and say, “Have you seen Krishna? Where is Krishna?” Even if they were seeing God, right there, standing, they weren’t interested. They were looking, “Where’s Krishna?”, you see. That is the nature of the pure devotee, is that even Visnu appears before them, they’ll ask Him for direction, “Where is Krishna?”, you see.
So then, Krishna was of course taking His Visnu form, He said, “Well, He’s that way.” (devotees laughing) So, then they all kept running, but then when Radharani came and said, “Where is Krishna?” Her love was so intense that Krishna couldn’t keep four arms. His two arms kept coming out and she could spot that, “This is Krishna.”, and caught Him. So, actually, only the pleasure potency of Krishna can actually fully captivate. He can be renounced with everyone else, that’s His nature, His opulence, but because she’s directly non-different from Him in terms of being His internal spiritual potency, she’s got some special, unique position.

So this Radharani and Krishna combined together to… in the form of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Radha and Krishna… sri-krsna-caitanya, radha-krsna nahi anya. Radha and Krishna together have come as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So, but why they came, of course there were two devotees who were crying out. Haridasa Thakura was crying out in the cave in Kuliya. When the Lord will come, people are so materialistic. And of course the most famous and prominent caller for Lord Caitanya’s coming… for Krishna to come was the incarnation of the Maha-Visnu, Himself, Sri Adavaita Gosai.

Actually, by… written by some of the associates of Lord Caitanya, there’s a pray… there’s a prayer called the Gaura-candrika. The Gaura-candrika. I’d like to translate that sometime in the future, but it’s such a beautiful song, where it accounts the… first of all, it gives the whole account of all the devotees of Lord Caitanya, then it relives in song Advaita Gosai calling down Lord Caitanya. How, he was weeping, how he was crying, how he was offering uh, tulasi-manjari to the saligram-sila.

Actually, he was crying, why? Because he saw that, “I can deliver people, give them liberation. I can do so many things, but how I can give them love for Krishna? Only Krishna can do that. Only Krishna is so attractive that He can steal their minds away completely, because He’s the original form.” You see, Maha-visnu is a partial expansion.
He was praying that, “You, Yourself, must come down. You have to come down and give love of Yourself, to these fallen souls. Otherwise, there’s no hope.” And he was crying like that, fasting, praying, worshipping, and he was waiting for a long time. “The Lord, did he really hear my prayer? He said that uh, He was coming. Did He really hear it? Is He really going to come?” That doubt… there was no… Up to that point, there wasn’t any symptoms.
So when Lord Caitanya… we were discussing how, yesterday, as Nimai-pandita, how He was uh, living in Navadvipa. He wasn’t manifesting the symptoms of pure devotional service till He came back from Gaya. We mentioned, when He came back from Gaya, He called over srini… Sriman pandita and told him that, “You tell all the devotees that I want to see them. I’ll meet them at the house…” I believe, “…of Vakresvara Pandita.” So, then, as soon as Lord Caitanya came back with all the ecstasies, with all the… always chanting Krishna, there was a special tree in Srivasa’s house. You know about that tree?

Does he know about it? Is there anybody who knows about the tree of Srivasa? He had a kalpa-vrksa. (aside:) Prabhupada said the walls of the temple are actually Ananta-sesa. One shouldn’t rest on the Ananta-sesa. The uh, house of Srivasa, he had a special kalpa-vrksa, as many flowers as you would pick, more would come, so that the devotees might go all over the city looking for flowers, you have one tree, as many as you pick, more come. They were all going to his tree, and pick.

So every morning there would be, before… just like after mangala-arati, they’ll all be picking flowers, that would be the center of communication. The latest in the Vaisnava community, naturally would… while they were chanting and picking… you know how things get around in Vaisnava society. “Someone said that. Do you know that Nimai Pandita has come back from Gaya, completely ecstasy. He’s chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

at every moment, and He’s simply telling everyone to love Krishna. He wants to meet all the devotees at Vakresvara Pandita’s house.

“What? Hari bol, Hari bol! Nimai Pandita has become a pure Vaisnava!” They were all yelling and scream… jumping up and do… before you… jus… Western Union could franchise this system of communication, you see, and when.. within seconds it was throughout the whole Navadvipa. Every Vaisnava knew. (Whispers) “Have you heard?” Just like that. Faster than the word-of-mouth, this is transcendental sound vibration.

So, then everybody came to the house of Vakresvara Pandita: Mukunda, Madhava and Govinda-ghosa and all the different devotees came. Then, Lord Caitanya, you se… even Gadadhara he wouldn’t… he hid in the house. He was still a little bit… so he was hiding in the… inside the house. He didn’t want to exactly expose himself, because he had so many experiences with Lord… Nimai Pandita before, and Nimai, when He came in, then He came in that place, devotees were there chanting japa, and reading, and Lord Caitanya, He came, and He uh, He saw the devotees and He saw this pillar, and He… lets se… actually the mood of Lord Caitanya at this moment is something, you can’t actually express it in words. His mood is so intense that when He manifests His pure love for Krishna, it melts even stone. There is no, no one had experience of this intensity of love of Krishna. It was so intense.

One example is practical… in real life, several occasions, He actually melted stone by His love for Krishna. So, none of the devotees of course had ever had this experience, or they knew Nimai Pandita was the greatest scholar, or he was very prominent in the city, but they never had any association of Lord Caitanya as more than a type of devotee who was a little materialistic. A karmi, like, very learned, but in that level, you see. They’re all seeing Him… for the first time, He’s coming to them… in this new mood. They’ve never seen this before.

Just like, when Jagannatha was closed, Lord Caitanya in Puri became so anxious to see the Lord, that He couldn’t see Him, He ran 11 miles to Alalanatha, which was far away, I mean, 11 miles. He ran the whole way before this Visnu deity. Beautiful deity, slender waist, broad chest. Beautiful, beautiful deity. There’s special pastime with that deity, how little child was able to get the deity to personally uh, eat prasada. It’s a whole other story. So, then, when Lord Caitanya ran and paid obeisances to that deity, His body was so hot in separation from Krishna, He melted His form, right into the rock, and that rock is still at that Alalanatha temple. In fact, when the Gaur… Gambhira temple does the daily puja to that rock, they have offered that if you wanted to do the puja of that rock, they would give it to us. It’s in Puri. It’s near Puri, 11 miles away in a city called Alalanatha, Alalanatha. Seven feet: A full form of Lord Caitanya and His arm, His chest, everything. That, the separation that Lord Caitanya feels for Krishna is beyond… is beyond… it’s the full… it’s the separation that Radharani feels, which is enough to even stop Krishna, cold, you see.

That is the level of uh, separation that Lord Caitanya mani… because He’s a combination of Krishna and Radha. We can’t understand. It’s beyond anything material. It’s very… one may try to explain it. Someone may think, “Well, what’s going on? What is it?” We’re just giving with words, just some indication. Just a type of ide… some of the superficial symptoms, but of course, if we even have a drop of uh, experience of Kr… ecstasy in Krishna conscisouness, then we can start imaginining, or multiplying that billions of times, and then get close to a shadow of what the real intensity of Lord Caitanya’s love for Krishna is. Just like having a slight experience of chanting and feeling something for Krishna, feeling something in the chanting, we get a… we get more than the experience in any amount of simple discussion. That’s why its recommended everyone should chant:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

Otherwise, they won’t be able to really understand what Krishna consciousness is really all about, you see. It’s a very deep personal experience when one starts to develop these spontaneous realizations of Krishna and it’s not possible just on the mental platform, you see. So, although we present the… the pastimes with words, actually because of being devotees, or trying to be devotees of a devotee, by that mercy of previous acarya, we’re able to experience some uh, minute drops of spiritual uh, realization and all… and ecstasies and all these words, so the words actually are more than words, but for someone who has no spiritual action, and just hears the word without experiencing the ecstasies, of course, they won’t really be able to delve into what are Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. Until they start the surrendering process, chanting Hare Krishna, becoming purified, finding a bona fide spiritual master, surrendering unto the bona fide spiritual master, being furtherly… rather being further guided, purified, in this way, one is gradually in… allowed into this intimate circle, you see.

It’s not a superficial thing. You don’t have to go to this place or that place. It’s on the spiritual platform. The entrance card is surrender to pure devotees, and the mercy of pure devotees, performing sankirtana, chanting, these things are the entrance card. One’s spiritual desire.

So, of course Lord Caitanya, He came into that courtyard. He saw the devotees, and one devotee came out and received Him, and He just grabbed the devotee’s hand and said “Oh Krishna Krishna, so long I’ve wasted my life! Why I’ve not worshipped Krishna? Where is My Lord Krishna? I want to tell all of you that I’ve simply wasted My life, arguing, and in scholastic pursuits, and academic pursuits. What is the use? Now, I simply want to preach, Krishna. I want to ser… I want to serve Krishna. I want Krishna only, nothing else. Oh Krishna!”, then He went, and there was a big, big column in the house that was very dark colored, and He went and He just embraced it, “Krishna! Krishna!”, and then, when He embraced that, He would… felt such separation. He became stunned, and He fainted.

And when He fainted, it was so intense, the vibration and the whole association of Lord Caitanya, that all the devotees, they became stunned in separation. Tear were pouring from their eyes, and they all fall, plop, plop, plop, they started just falling down. Even Gadadhara, in the house, his heart was completely… “Caitanya, Krishna.” And He also fainted, in the house. Then, one devotee was late. He came and looked, and everybody was lying all over… “What’s going on?” (devotees laughing)

So, this was… that all began, then from there, Lord… they all… when they came conscious, out then the Lord, Caitany… says, “Let us simply chant the name of Krishna.” , and they all started to chant, you see. So, then from this beginning, then Lord Caitanya, He’d regularly meet with these devotees, and they would chant Hare Krishna together. Of course, I told you how He got the students into it. But, then of course, the students were more externally situated. He knew that these devotees, they knew who Krishna was, they were more intimately already situated in Krishna-bhakti. So, He would have private kirtanas in the house of Srinivasa.

When, He wouldn’t allow all the students, and all the other people, or outsiders to come in, because they wouldn’t understand all the tears, and the crying, sometimes fainting and different symptoms of ecstasy. They would just… you know, they would just put a whole downer on the whole thing. (devotees laughing), so He kept it as a very intimate thing.

In India, sometimes with devotees having an ecstatic kirtan, I don’t know if you have the same thing here, I know you have ecstatic kirtans, but this particular thing here, you have in India ecstatic kirtan, devotees are jumping and suddenly some… you get sahajiyas there. Some sahajiya guy will come in, start jumping up and down, he’s not even moving his lips. He’s not chanting. He’s just doing it as some kind of a show, and it puts, like a whole thing, a vibration in the kirtan, like (devotees laughing), its frus… “What’s…”, “Where’s this guy coming from?”
So, like that… of course even in the… our humble level of devotional service, we can experience things like that, what to speak of Lord Caitanya. He’s completely absorbed in love of Krishna. Someone comes in there trying to light some kind of a profile or something, it would just ruin the whole thing, even if someone’s just peeking in there, and trying to get in without other qualification.

You have to get in there, by the mercy of the guru, by the mercy of Lord Caitanya. It’s not that everybody can come. He can allow anyone, but they have to have a little spiritual desire. Some pure desire, then He allows them in. The people would stand outside the door sometimes, listening to Lord Caitanya’s kirtan, “What’s going on in there?” All the envious kind of, you know, caste brahmans, “Ah, I think they’re having some kind of party. Look at how they’re yelling and laughing. What’s going on?” So then, there’d be laughing… And then one would say, “Maybe they’re doing some black rites. Tantra.” Someone would say, “Come on. They don’t do tantra. They’re all vaisnavas.” “Well, you can never tell, you know, what goes on.”

Then, like this, they’d be speculating, and criticizing, and then, one kind of devotee came and he said, “Why do you think they don’t let us in there? What do you think goes on in there. I think we don’t go in there because we are most unfortunate. The most unfortunate. We’re so unfortunate that we are lacking some quality of uh, pure devotion that we’re not allowed in there, and those who are allowed in there, they’re very fortunate.” , you see. “Naw. Come on! They must be doing something.” “Ah, they’re not doing anything except chanting Hare Krishna, and doing the purest activity.” “So, you’re one of them, are you?” Then they would come with some critizism. “Ah, you’re one of them.”

Of course, Krishnadasa… rather, Vrindavandasa Thakura, he describes that even those people are disqualified in terms of being a little envious, still we can appreciate that they’re very glorious because they were able to at least stand out the door, and hear the kirtan, you see, which is a lot more than you see, many a lot more than a lot of souls can say, you see. We didn’t have that opportunity of uh, standing outside even the door, what to speak of going in. So, at least they’re able to walk by and hear, sometimes, the kirtans of Lord Caitanya.

Of course, in Mayapura, I’m sure when all the devotees go by Srivasa’s house, they’re all listening, hoping for the, you know, glimpse. Prabhupada said the kirtana is still going on. Sometimes, fortunate devotees, they’re able to hear that kirtana.

Adyapi lalila kare gaura-raya,

kona kona bhagyavan dekhibare paya

Those pastimes are still going on, even today, you see. In fact, in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes are mani… even in different parts of the world, He sometimes appears. Sometimes visibly and sometimes invisibly, and the devotees feel spiritual inspiration by His presence, but then, Lord Caitanya… How He was discovered as actually Krishna, Himself by the devotees.

After they were huddling and doing kirtan, they knew that He was… He’s a great devotee, and He was inspiration at everyone, and they could see that His love and devotion was so intense that it far outstretched anyones, so then immediately… in all humility, they immediately were coming around Him and they were even though they were an older position, and He would treat them very respectfully, but they knew that He was the one who could actually lead the whole sankirtana movement, you see. But they didn’t exactly understand that He was Krishna. That idea, few had, that He must… He can’t be some oridinary person.

Nobody has this intense a love, and all these qualities, and be an ordinary person, but exactly whether He was a demigod, came down, or whether He was some incarnation, or what, that of course was always a bit of a mystery, or He was some eternal associate of the Lord. They knew that He was something very special, but no one can of course pinpoint, you see.
Well, one day, Lord Caitanya, when He came into the house of Srivasa, He was in a different position. You see, Lord Caitanya was always in the devotional mood, and if som… anybody said, even somebody realized that He was Krishna, and said, “You are Visnu.” He would… “You are Krishna.” He would cover His ears, and say, “Visnu! Visnu! Visnu! No. Never call a devotee, God. It’s a great offense.”, you see. And no… if anyone disturbed His mood as a devotee, it was a great offense. He would never tolerate.

So, then one time Lord Caitanya came, and just like there were times when Lord Caitanya, He would fall and… He was acting as a devotee. Actually, His original form is Krishna, and He is assuming this role as a devotee, but sometimes, there would be some certain thing, which would put Him in a particular ecstasy, where He would simply be absorbed as the Lord.

Just like He heard the name Nrsinghadev, He became ecstatic, and He just took the form of Nrsingha. There was also a pastime where He took the form of Varaha and lifted up something in the house of uh,… of uh, Murari Gupta. Like that, so there were rare occasions where He took a form of Visnu, or like when He revealed His form to that Brahmana who o… tried to offer the prasada, so many times, but this time, Lord Caitanya came and He was in a different mood, and He sat right down on the bed of the deity. Now nobody sits on the bed of the deity. You don’t sit on the bed of the deity. No devotee ever sits on the bed of the deity, only person that ever sits on the bed of the deity is the deity.

So, this was… Lord Caitanya, that time He was completely in ecstasy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and everyone can understand that there’s something very special and different, and immediately, He called the younger brother of Srivasa, and said, “You go, now and you tell Advaita that that Lord he was doing austerity for, that Lord who he was fasting to bring that Lord who he was worshipping to bring, that Lord who he was loudly shouting for to descend in the material world, is here in Nadia. You bring him now, and you tell his wife to come along with all the uh, articles of worship.”

So, then uh, Ramai Pandit was… he ran. He ran the whole way. Out of the house, he was running toward Advaita’s house, but as he was going, he remembered he didn’t know where Advaita lived. He forgot to ask, and he’d never been there before (devotees laughing), you see. But, uh, he had been running… He was… When he got the order, he was so excited, he ran out, chanting Hare Krishna, and then suddenly, uh, he realized that he never asked anybody where he lived, and then he asked someone “Where is Advaita’s house”, “Oh, he lives right here.” It was right in front of him. (devotees laugh)

So, he went to Advaita’s house, and as soon as he came, before he could even offer his obeisances, before he could say anything, Advaita was sitting there, he jumped up. He looked at him, and he starts shouting at him, just spontaneously. “How is it possible that the Lord can come in this kali-yuga. God never comes in kali-yuga. He’s known as Tri-yuga, and why will He pick Nadia to come?” So, Ramai Pandita, “I didn’t say anything.” He knew, well Advaita Gosai is very eccentric and there’s always something about him that nobody can ever really understand. So, he just paid his obeisances and sat down, didn’t say anything.

Meanwhile Advaita was running here and there, didn’t say anything else, he was doing different activities and getting ready his puja, and this, that, then he became quiet, and said, “So what do you want, why did you come?” So Ramai’s, “Now I got my chance.”, so then, he stood up and said, “That Lord for who you were loudly shouting, He has come. That Lord who you were worshiping… for who you were worshiping, He has come. That Lord who you were fasting for to descend from the spiritual world, He is here. That Lord who you were crying for is come. He’s here in Nadia. He’s waiting for you. You please come with your instruments of worship and your wife.

When Advaita heard that, he jumped up, “Haribol, Haribol, Haribol! The Lord is come! He’s come. He’s come! Haribol, Haribol! He’s come! He’s come!”, and he was chanting he was so happy. “He’s come! He’s come! He’s heard my call.” Then after just you know, a few minutes of jumping and shouting and… in complete ecstasy, joy, became very sober. “How do I know that He’s the same one? How do I know He’s the Supreme Lord, He’s not an imposter? What is the proof? I won’t go. You tell him I’m not coming.”

“You’re not… How did I get into this? What am I supposed to do now?”

He just sat there, realized that everything was out of his control, so then, Advaita Gosai, he was just very silent, and he said, “Alright. You tell Him, I’m not coming. You go tell Him, I’m not coming, but I’m going to… I’m going to go and hide nearby. I’m going to see what He does. If He knows that I’m hiding, then I know He’s the Supersoul. If he calls and if He knows that I’m hiding, and then if He calls me out, and if He reveals to me, without my asking, His spiritual form of truth, knowledge and eternal bliss, and if then, He touches me with His lotus feet on my head, then I’ll know He’s the Lord of my heart. He knows everything. Otherwise, I’m not… How… why should I leave. You go tell Him I’m not coming.”

Meanwhile, Sita devi had already made up the arati tray. She wasn’t wasting any time, just in case. So, she… she was a very expert wife. Wife means that she a… very expert at knowing how to serve Krishna. So, she was immediately ready with all the instruments for worshiping Krishna, to assist her husband. So he was gonna just tell her, “Well, get the arati… Alright. Let’s go.” zipping sound

So, they ran and hid in one house near Srivasa’s house, without telling anybody. When Ramai Pandit came back, offered his obeisances to Lord Caitanya, before he could say anything, Lord Caitanya started to shout at him. “So, what are these tricks being played by Advaita? So He’s trying to hide from Me? He wants to hide from Me? Narai, Narai!”, he used to call his nickname, Narai, you see, means a very clean Vaisnava, so He would call out, “Hey, Advait… Advaita come out come out! I know you’re hiding. What are you trying to do? Come here, now!” You see. So Advaita, “pshew”, found out, so he came forward, and at some distance from Lord Caitanya, he paid his obeisances, and when he looked up, there was no longer the form of Nimai Pandit, there was the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu with effulgence more brilliant than millions of suns, and around Him, all the whole material world became blinded out by that effulgence, then Lord Nityananda prabhu came and He held… just as the Ananta-sesa, He held the umbrella over the head of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and the other devotee was there, fanning, and these devotees were the only visible objects amidst the effulgence that was coming, everywhere. A whole material world had become blinded by the brahmajyoti, and there Advaita Gosai, as he was looking there, different demigods, they were coming, Siva, Brahma, Narada, and they were offering their prayers, you see.

They were all offering their prayers to the ser… the descent, the appearance, the… the uh, manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In fact, even the mother Ganges and they all were present, offering their respectful obeisances, and then Lord Caitanya, He called him, “You called me, so I’ve come. You come here.” And Lord Advaita, when He said that uh, he just fell… fl… fell down at the feet of Lord Caitanya, Lord Caitanya put His lotus feet on the head of Advaita. He said, “You have called me, so I have come down. It is your loud shouting that has brought Me here.”, and when He said that, Advaita jumped up and became ecstatic, “I have brought the Supreme Lord down! My shouting, my crying has brought Him down. He’s come, and I have brought Him down! Haribol, Haribol, Haribol!” He was jumping up and down that, “I have brought Him! I have brought Him down!” He was feeling a little transcendental pride that somehow or another, the Lord came on his call, and he was jumping up and down.

You see, sometimes external… ecstatic… and all the devotees, they were start chanting:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

, you see, and then, Advaita Gosai, he performed, then the worship of Lord Caitanya. His wife brought him the arati paraphernalia and he started to do worship of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He did a worship putting tulasi on His lotus feet, you see, which is only… tulasi is put on the lotus feet of the Lord, not on any devotee. Devotee… put on the hand and chants, or on the head, but only on the feet… lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is tulasi placed.

So, this was significant, that Advaita Gosai was accepting Lord Caitanya as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then other devotees who were still having some doubts, you see, they’re… because they hadn’t been given that spiritual vision. They weren’t seeing what Advaita was seeing. Everyone is not allowed to see… necessarily, you see. Then, they were all able to see the form of Lord Caitanya, and all the demigods who were present and everything. They were given that vision, this intimate circle. So, then, uh, Advaita performed the whole worship after its over, he paid his obeisances, then Lord Caitanya offered him… of course this is the main thing. Of course, there was also the special blessing on Advaita, but maybe… that’s some more time, and there’s no time for that.

Devotee: Finish. (laughing)

Jayaptaka Swami: Huh?

Devotee: There’s a little more time. (devotees laughing)

Jayapataka Swami: So, then, Lord Caitanya, He offered Advaita that, “Now you must take a boon from Me.” , you see. “You must take one boon. One wish, you take from Me.”, and then, Advaita says,

“No. No. There’s nothing that I want. You come here. You come here to give out Your mercy. You’ve answered my call. I have no other desire. I’m fully satisfied. Nothing, I don’t want.”

“No. You must take. One thing, you must take.”

“Nothing, I don’t want anything.”

“One boon you must take!”

“I don’t need anything. You’ve given me everything. There’s nothing more I need.”

“No… No. One thing you must take. One thing. You want liberation, you want…”

“Nothing. Don’t need anything. You’ve come. That’s enough.”

“One thing! You must take it!”

So Advaita, he was a bit hard-pressed, so he had to take one thing, and he kept saying, “No, no. I don’t want anything. I don’t any business deal. You’ve come here. That’s enough. I don’t want anything in excha… I didn’t come to call you that I wanted something.”, you see.

“No, you must take. You’ve called me, I’ve come. You have to take one boon. One wish.”

So, finally, after a lot of pressing, Advaita Gosai agreed. “Alright, if I must, this is my one desire. This is my one uh, appeal to You, that in Your uh, descent that You’ve now come here, in this avatara, my humble desire, my request is that in every other descent You would always give Your mercy to very highly qualified brahmanas, highly qualified ksatriyas, highly qualified persons who were very uh, you see, highly situated but uh, my special request is that in this avatara, You simply give Your mercy to the most fallen of the fallen. You give Your mercy to even the simple people, even to those persons who otherwise, wouldn’t get the opportunity. Let this out… this descent be available… Your mercy be available to those who would otherwise not have any hope for it. This is my special request, that not only the highly qualified, but even those who have no qualification, let them have a chance. Let them also be delivered.”, you see “let them have that opportunity.”

So, Lord Caitanya said, “Tathastha. So be it.” But that wasn’t all.

“No, that wasn’t all. You didn’t let me finish. I have one other part.”

“What’s that?”

So, then he said, “The one other thing is that those persons who are arrogant, who are puffed up, who are proud of whatever qualification they have, and they think that they’re qualification is going to be the reason for them to get Your mercy, those falsely proud persons, who don’t respect Your devotees, who don’t s… uh, have humility within them, who are…”, you see “…deluded by their false ego, let them not get Your mercy, even they be highly qualified.”

Lord Caitanya, He agreed. “Alright. This is your wish. Tathasta. So be it. This will be My mood.” And then, because Lord Caitanya was always giving out His mercy freely to everyone who wanted it, then all the devotees, they started chanting,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

, you see, and Lord Caitanya, at that moment, He was revealing His original spiritual form, in His mood as Supreme Personality of Godhead, of course subsequently, again He returned back to His devotee mood, then everything was different. Then, Advaita couldn’t bow down to Him, even. He would respect Him just as a elder. It was a rare moment, when Lord Caitanya wanted to come in that mood, then He would come. Otherwise… Only a few times in His whole pastimes, did He come. There… one famous time was after this particular episode.

There was a time very… not too far after, where there was a twenty-one hour arati performed, and kirtana, and then so many devotees were brought and Lord Caitanya revealed to each devotee, what was their original spiritual relationship with Him in previous incarnations, and in Krishna-lila. That’s a wonderful pastime, also.
So, of course, ah, Advaita Gosai’s desire to let everyone get the opportunity, but at the same time, that those who were very falsely proud, who were envious of other devotees, who were uh, arrogant, that they thought that, “Well, now I’ve done so much, I can get the mercy of Lord Caitanya.”, that they get cut off. This is something that often devotees don’t realize.

Just like great, great souls, like Rupa and Sanatana, they were Prime Ministers. They were powerful ministers in the government. They were fully knowledgeable in the sastra. They would daily hear Bhagavatam, they were so learned. They would go to Lord Caitanya with a straw in their mouth. Lord Caitanya was crying, that… that, “These people are so humble, that… they’re the top people in the whole society. There’s no one more Vaisnava quality, or higher material position than them, but they’re coming just like dogs with the straw, with a piece of grass in their mouths.” He said, “Your humility is making Me cry. It’s crushing Me.”

That is the way… want to get Lord Caitanya’s mercy, you sca… that, “Well, I deserve the mercy of Lord Caitanya, because I’ve done sankirtana for so many years, because I’ve washed so many pots…” this or that. It’s not that we deserve the mercy. We can’t even buy it. You couldn’t… there’s nothing you could do. It’s so valuable. “All we can do… we’re doing service is to please You. There’s no qual… We don’t deserve Your mercy. The only way we can say we deserve it is that, ‘No. We’re the fallen… more fallen than the fallen.’ That is the only avenue that a person takes humility, that ‘I need Your mercy, because You’re more merciful than anyone, and there’s no one who needs it more than me.’”

If we always taking the humble position, then Lord Caitanya’s mercy is given without any doubt. But, if we ever think in our mind that actually we deserve it, and we become self-conceitful, we become non-chalant, we become, what blasé fair, that, “Now I’ve captured Lord Caitanya. Now He has to because…” for any other reason than being the most fallen, you see, then the danger is there that uh, He may not give us that mercy, because He doesn’t want… You can’t go so fast, so far, so fast and be puffed up. A person has to take a humble attitude, then He can lift one right up, you see. That’s important to understand. Lord Caitanya said, “You just tie this sloka around your neck.”

trnad api su-nicena

taror iva sahisnuna

amanina mana-dena

kirtaniyah sada harih

Being more humble than a straw in the street, more tolerant than a tree, always offering… ready to offer respect unto all others, and not desiring respect for oneself, in this way one can constantly chant the holy name of

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

, you see. So we should try to appreciate how great is the mercy Lord Caitanya’s given, and how unqualified anyone in this material world is, and especially someone born in the modern world where spiritual life is practically nil. And this specifically His dispensation, and if we take that humble attitude, almost immediately, you can experience drops of pure ecstasy which will flood out your existence in pure love for Krishna, or ecstatic devotion for Krishna.

This is all possible because one pure devotee Srila Prabhupada brought this message to the West, and he was able to, you see, give us that mercy and give that mercy to so many other devotees that now those devotees are also going on preaching.

In this way, the movement of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu spreads. It only spreads by this transfer of mercy from devotee to devotee. In this way, Lord Caitanya, He said that, “I am the gardener. I am the tree. I am the fruit. I am everything. So as the gardener, I want to eat the fruit. How many fruits can I eat. So, I’m eating to my full, but I can’t finish them all. How many I can give out? So, he called everyone, you all come and eat. Eat this fruit of love for Godhead. You give it out to everyone. You eat to your hearts content, and give it out to others.

This is our sankirtana movement. You fully become satisfied in love for Krishna and ecstatic devotional service, then don’t just keep it to yourself. Give it to others. Make everyone happy. Hari Bol! Hari Bol! Nitai Gaurapremanande, Hari Hari Bol! Glories to Srila Prabhupada, ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Glories to Prabhupada’s followers, ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

Devotee: Jayapataka Maharaja, ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

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Transcribed by Jagannatha dasa April 23d, 2015 Sri Mayapura Dhama