19801220 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.5

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 20, 1980 in Mumbai, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 7, Text 5.

yāya — by whom; sammohitaḥ — illusioned; jīvaḥ — the living entities; ātmānam — self; tri-guṇa-ātmakam — conditioned by the three modes of nature, or a product of matter; paraḥ — transcendental; api — in spite of; manute — takes it for granted; anartham — things not wanted; tat — by that; kṛtam ca — reaction; abhipadyate — undergoes thereof.

Translation by His Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda: Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries.

Purport: The root cause of suffering by the materialistic living beings is pointed out with remedial measures which are to be undertaken and also the ultimate perfection to be gained. All this is mentioned in this particular verse. The living being is by constitution transcendental to material encagement, but he is now imprisoned by the external energy, and therefore he thinks himself one of the material products. And due to this unholy contact, the pure spiritual entity suffers material miseries under the modes of material nature. The living entity misunderstands himself to be a material product. This means that the present perverted way of thinking, feeling and willing, under material conditions, is not natural for him. But he has his normal way of thinking, feeling and willing. The living being in his original state is not without thinking, willing and feeling power. It is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that the actual knowledge of the conditioned soul is now covered by nescience. Thus the theory that a living being is absolute impersonal Brahman is refuted herein. This cannot be, because the living entity has his own way of thinking in his original unconditional state also. Which means that the illusory energy takes the initiative while the Supreme Lord is aloof. The Lord does not desire that a living being be illusioned by external energy. The external energy is aware of this fact, but still she accepts a thankless task of keeping the forgotten soul under illusion by her bewildering influence. The Lord does not interfere with the task of the illusory energy because such performances of the illusory energy are also necessary for reformation of the conditioned soul. An affectionate father does not like his children to be chastised by another agent, yet he puts his disobedient children under the custody of a severe man just to bring them to order. But the all-affectionate Almighty Father at the same time desires relief for the conditioned soul, relief from the clutches of the illusory energy. The king puts the disobedient citizens within the walls of the jail, but sometimes the king, desiring the prisoners’ relief, personally goes there and pleads for reformation, and on his doing so the prisoners are set free. Similarly, the Supreme Lord descends from His kingdom upon the kingdom of the illusory energy and personally gives relief in the form of the Bhagavad-gītā, wherein He personally suggests that although the ways of the illusory energy are very stiff to overcome, one who surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Lord is set free by the order of the Supreme. This means that the conditioned souls are being reclaimed by the Lord both ways, namely by the process of punishment by the external energy of the Lord, and by Himself as the spiritual master within and without. Within the heart of every living being the Lord Himself as the Supersoul (Paramātmā) becomes the spiritual master, and from without He becomes the spiritual master in the shape of scriptures, saints and the initiator spiritual master. This is still more explicitly explained in the next śloka. 

He is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt - he is by nature blissful. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ - eternal, filled with blissful knowledge. But, due to the influence of material nature, he thinks himself to be a product of this material nature. Therefore, he identifies instead with his own internal blissful knowledge, he identifies with his material misery, with his material trans… transient happiness. You see.

This is the unfortunate condition of the living entities. So, we wander in this material world through so many species of life.

eita brahmāṇḍa bhari' ananta jīva-gaṇa
caurāśī-lakṣa yonite karaye bhramaṇa,
[Cc Madhya 19.138]

84 lakh species of life. Different kinds of species of life. Aquatic, uh, lizards, animals, human being. But who are we? Who is wandering? We are a small particle of Godhead.

keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatāṁśa-sadṛśātmakaḥ jīvaḥ
sūkṣma-svarūpo ’yam saṅkhyātīto hi cit-kaṇaḥ
[Cc Madhya 19.140]

1,000… 1/100th of a tip of a hair, divided again 100 times, in other words 1/10,000 of the tip of a hair, is the svarūpa, is the size or nature of the individual spirit soul, the jīva. But that jīva is a cit-kaṇaḥ. What is cit-kaṇaḥ? It is the spark of light. It is the small particle of spiritual energy. Bhagavad-gītā describes that spiritual energy as that which cannot be destroyed, acchedyo ’yam - cannot be cut, cannot be burned, cannot be destroyed, acquired, you see, acyuta, it’s also an inconceivable thing to understand.

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

tāra madhye ‘sthāvarā’, ‘jaṅgama’ — dui bheda
jaṅgame tiryak-jala-sthalacara-vibheda,
[Cc Madhya 19.144]

tāra madhye manuṣya-jāti ati alpatara tāra
madhye mleccha, pulinda, bauddha, sabāra,
[Cc Madhya 19.145]

Amongst all these living creatures Caitanya Mahāprabhu has divided them according to the Vedic division, that there are moving and non-moving. Like a tree and a plant, they are not moving. Then there are moving creatures. These are birds, fish and animals, including human beings. Then beyond that there are human beings who are very few. A small percentage of living beings are human, you see. Out of 84 lakhs, only 4 lakhs. So, these human beings, you see, most of the human beings are not considered to be civilized. They are mleccha - those who do not follow the Vedic principles; pulinda - those who are meat eaters and unclean; bauddha - those who are impersonalists and atheists; sabāra - those who are envious and hunters.

You see. In Nepal next to our temple, there is one āśrama next to our temple called arogya āśrama. It is a natural path, centre. So, every morning the gṛhastha incharge of the āśrama, he puts on his saffron shirt and white Nepali baggy pant and sits on his lawn chair and then talks to people. So, one time he wanted to come up and meet the ācārya of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. So, he came up and paid his obeisances. Then we had a discussion.

He said, “The main thing in life is good health. If you have good health, then you can do everything. Without good health you cannot make spiritual advancement.”

This was his point, “Everything depends on good health.” 

So, I asked him, “What is his philosophy for success in life?” 

He said, “Success in life depends on one’s hard work. You come into this world, you use your brain and you make out a path somehow or another.”

I said, “What about next life?”

“Next life, same thing. You take birth, then you figure out what to do, and then you make a program.” You see. It’s a kind of a spontaneous program he had.

So, I said, “That’s very nice. Now you are fortunate, you born in India, Nepal, you see, you may know something about Gītā. But what if next life you get born in the jungles, you see, and there you are a hunter, and you are eating rats and things?! you see? Then how are you going to make your path? You are only going to have a few choices before you because you’ll be very conditioned.”

He said, “This is something I never thought about before.”

I said, “You now you have nice health, but next life automatically you can get nice health, if you take birth in a healthy species of tiger, lion, gorilla, you see. They are always eating fresh food, organic food only. you see. This is what you are aiming for?”

He said, “I would like to discuss with you some more. Hare Kṛṣṇa.”

So, in this way people have so many ideas, but they do not think what the future holds for them. Now we may be human beings, somehow or another, we’re getting mercy of Guru and Kṛṣṇa. But if we do not act properly, what will be our next life? 

bhajahū re mana, śrī-nanda-nandana
abhaya caraṇāravinda re
durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge, 
taroho e bhava-sindhu re

Durlabha mānava-janama - How rare this human birth is? Even more rare is sat-saṅga to have association with devotees. So, we should be very careful not to waste our human life and simply engage in materialistic activities, you see, not to ever give up the association of devotees of sat-saṅga, of devotees.

‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ — sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya,
[Cc Madhya 22.54]

We should be very careful to keep that mercy. What is the position of a devotee, that we should understand. How rare is a devotee? And how fortunate is one who is associating with devotees? You see.

Mahāprabhu, He explained, what is the position of a devotee? So first of all, we can understand in relation to the human species. Of all the living entities, humans are few. Most of them are mleccha, pulinda, bauddha, sabāra, you see. Then we get what? We get the civilized people those who follow the Vedas.

veda-niṣṭha-madhye ardheka veda ‘mukhe’ mane,
veda-niṣiddha pāpa kare, dharma nāhi gane
[Cc Madhya 19.146]

Most of the people, they accept Vedas by mouth only - ‘mukhe’ mane. “Yes, I am Hindu. I believe in sanātana-dharma.” But what do they do? Caitanyadeva said, “veda-niṣiddha pāpa kare - They do all the forbidden acts of the Vedas.”

Vedas say, “You should be a vegetarian or you should eat kṛṣṇa-prasāda.” But do they eat prasāda? No, they eat any nonsense. You see.

Vedas say that, “You should do so many things like chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, you should get up early in the morning, you should do…”

No, instead they are doing the opposite. They are taking intoxication, they are engaging in extra marital relations with the opposite sex. These things go on. Although they claim that, “Yes, we are followers of Veda.”

So, Mahāprabhu said, “veda-niṣṭha-madhye - Those who say they are followers of Veda, ardheka veda ‘mukhe’ mane - most of them simply say it by mouth alone, but in actual activities, they are not showing. They are doing the forbidden acts which are not authorized by Vedas.” You see.

Of course, there are a few who are following. There are many who are following are trying to follow the Vedas. They are known as dharmācāri - those who are actually accepting religion and religious principles.

dharmācāri-madhye bahuta ‘karma-niṣṭha’
[Cc Madhya 19.147]

They are called karma-niṣṭha’. karma-niṣṭha’ means those who follow the karma-kāṇḍa for elevation, good next birth, svarga-loka, birth. These are the goals of karma-niṣṭha’. They want to enjoy happy material life and follow principles of dharma. Compared to them, a jñānī ’is far superior.

koṭi-karma-niṣṭha-madhye eka ‘jñānī’ śreṣṭha,
[Cc Madhya 19.147]

Out of millions and millions of these karmīs, karma-niṣṭha’, one jñānī’, one person who knows, “I am eternal. This life is temporary.” he is far superior.

koṭi-jñāni-madhye haya eka-jana ‘mukta’
[Cc Madhya 19.148]

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

koṭi-mukta-madhye ‘durlabha’ eka kṛṣṇa-bhakta
[Cc Madhya 19.148]

And out of millions of such jñānī’s, it is hard, rare to find to one Kṛṣṇa devotee. 

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin mām vetti tattvataḥ
[Bg 7.3]

How rare is a devotee, you see?

muktānām api siddhānāṁ
nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇāḥ
su-durlabhaḥ praśāntātmā
koṭiṣv api mahā-mune
[SB 6.14.5 / Cc Madhya 19.150]

Out of all the liberated souls, muktānām, out of all the siddhānāṁ, the best of the siddha-puruṣa - those who are possessing mystic power like aṇimā, prāpti, laghimā, mahimā siddhis. Those who had can produce rasagullās and watches from the air. You see. Those are called siddha. Just sitting from here, siddha, who has prāpti-siddhi he can take one, you see.

Seiko watch from Hong Kong and give it to Girirāja Mahārāja. “Here, have one Seiko watch.” You see. (Laughter). And you can say, “Oh very nice”. You see. And he can give one Mercedes car to Jagat-guru Swami for his preaching. “Here.” This is siddhi. (Laughing.) But compared to the siddhi far superior is considered to be nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇāḥ, devotee of the Lord. Why? That also Lord Caitanya explains:

kṛṣṇa-bhakta — niṣkāma, ataeva ‘santa’
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī — sakali ‘aśānta’
[Cc Madhya 19.149]

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

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
[Cc Madhya 19.151]

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

So, someone who is so fortunate, someone who is so fortunate as to get this seed of devotion, he should become a gardener and water it.

mālī hañā kare sei bīja āropaṇa
śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana
[Cc Madhya 19.152]

He should become a (water) gardener and water his seed of devotion, water that plant with the hearing and chanting of the holy name. So, this is the basic difficulty is that, we forget who we are. We think that we are this material body and we make our plan and program, so what is satisfying to our mind, what is satisfying to our body. We do not think what is satisfying to Kṛṣṇa, which is the basic disease. Why we are in this world? Is that we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa we should be simply thinking how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. If we do that, then everything is solved. All the problems are cast away. The mercy of Kṛṣṇa is easily available. You see. Especially by the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu who have sent His preachers all over the world. On the order of superior authority, the preacher he becomes his spiritual master and delivers people, giving them the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. So, this is the special opportunity that we have. You see. 

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He had many devotees, many energies. He, Himself is Kṛṣṇa. So, some of His energies perform some task, and others perform other tasks. As Narottama Ṭhākura, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura prayed to Lord Caitanya that, “My dear Lord, you are having varieties of energies, and of these energies I see two principle divisions. I see that some of Your devotees, they are engaging in writing transcendental literatures, such as Rūpa and Sanātana, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. Others I see, they are engaged in distributing those transcendental literatures to the fallen souls, such as Śrīnivāsa Ācārya and others.”

So, in Caitanya pastimes, He ordered many of His immediate associates to write literatures. And after the literatures were written, He also empowered other of His associates in the disciplic succession to distribute those literatures. Śrīnivāsa Ācārya was the first book distributor, you can say, in our sampradāya. Because he was entrusted by Rādhā-Govindajī and all the associates still remaining on earth with the task of taking Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, all the Gosvāmīs’ works back to the devotees waiting in the eastern states, in Bengal and Orissa and to distribute to them.

Śrīnivāsa Ācārya is a disciple of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. You see. He was the son of Caitanya dāsa and Lakṣmī-priya devī from village of Chakunti, in Bardaman district of Bengal. His character was unique, you see. He was born on the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He ordered both husband and wife, “You must go back to your village. [They came to visit Him in Jagannātha Purī.] And you must have a child, and that child will be a great devotee. He’ll be a preacher of Mine. He will do great works for Me. His name will be Śrīnivāsa.”

And then, when they had their child, they trained him up in such a wonderful way. Mother was always taking the baby on the lap saying, “Chant Hari! Chant Govinda! Chant Nityānanda prāṇa - the life of Nityānanda! Chant Advaita-īśvara - the Lord of Advaita!” In so many ways she would, she would get her son to chant the names of Kṛṣṇa and Caitanya. And that would be, his whole childhood pastime was, to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, to revel in the discourses of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. When he was about ten, twelve years old, his father was telling him how he first met Caitanya Mahāprabhu, how he was going to Navadvīpa to see Lord Caitanya, because he was feeling very much the separation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. 

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

They said, “You don’t know? Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu has come to Katwa!”

Said, “Why? Why has Caitanya Mahāprabhu left Navadvīpa and come to Katwa?”

Said, “You don’t know? He is going to take sannyāsa. He is come here to take sannyāsa from Keśava Bhāratī. Just now He is at the āśrama of Keśava Bhāratī.”

So Caitanya dāsa, he thought that I got… [Actually at that time, he was known as Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bhaṭṭācārya or something. He got the name Caitanya dāsa later.] What he thought, “I just got the moon in my hand. I am going to see Lord Caitanya, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu just here in Katwa.”

So then, he immediately went over to the āśrama of Keśava Bhāratī. There he saw huge, huge crowds of people, and there in the center, he saw Caitanya Mahāprabhu dancing in kīrtana, dancing with His associates Nityānanda, Mukunda, Candraśekhara, four, five His associates were there. And they were chanting, and Lord Caitanya was dancing in the center, and He started to spin around and around and around, and He started to cry and soaked everyone in the crowd with the tears from His eyes. Jumping, and the people were going mad, “Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!” and He was dancing and then suddenly, He got hold of Himself.

And He saw everybody was standing there just amazed seeing this display. And He said, “Alright. Call the barber. Now it is time to take sannyāsa.”

And the people started to… started… the women started to cry. The men started to feel tremendous anxiety. The barber came. He bowed down. He said, “How can I cut Your hair? I cannot do it.”

Lord Caitanya said, ordered him, “You must do it. Just do your business. Don’t procrastinate. It is My order.”

So, he touched His feet, and then he started to cut the hair of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When he started to cut the hair, the devotees, they were going mad. They were going mad, “No! No! Not those beautiful golden… those beautiful hairs of the golden Lord Caitanya! No! No!”

And they are beating their head and their falling. And as Caitanya dāsa was telling this to his son, he couldn’t take it. The mood of all the devotees was so intense, just to think of it, he fell unconscious there. And he started, just fell in the same mood, just at that time, the same mood as when he was in Katwa. He became immersed and he just started saying, “Caitanya. Caitanya. Caitanya.”

And he was just lying on the ground crying, “Caitanya. Caitanya.”

Śrīnivāsa Ācārya grabbed the feet of his father, put on his head and he was saying, “Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!” And then the mother came in to see what was happening and saw that the father and the son they are unconscious on the ground, just crying, and saying the names of Caitanya. This was the family life of Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, his childhood days, you see. That was the way they were living - always engaged in the transcendental glorification of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

That Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, when he went, after great endeavor and finally met his spiritual master, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī in Vṛndāvana, he did not want to leave Vṛndāvana. There was Narottama Ṭhākura and Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita, his intimate associates, his dear friends. Although Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura was the disciple of Lokanātha Gosvāmī, and Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita was the disciple of Hṛdayānanda dāsa, Hṛdaya Caitanya dāsa, still you see, then at that time, it was one happy family. It didn’t matter who was one’s spiritual master, everyone was in the family of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they were all one brotherhood, you see. So, they were enjoying such wonderful pastimes that he did not want to leave, but Govindajī ordered, “You must go Śrīnivāsa Ācārya. You take Narottama and Śyāma… and take the books. you must take the books, the grantha, to the eastern states.”

And then Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, Jīva Gosvāmī, they also ordered, “You must take these books. Narottama, Śyāmānanda, you accompany.”

They were feeling such separation. Who would want to leave the company of the spiritual master? Who would want to leave the association of the great souls like Jīva Gosvāmī, Bhūgarbha, Lokanātha, Dvija Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, all of the great devotees? Who would want to leave? They were feeling great separation, when they may see them again? But order of guru they received, they must go. They must take the order of guru and Kṛṣṇa, they must take these books. And when they went out to take these books on special auspicious day, all of those great saints, they came.

From Rādhā-kuṇḍa, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja came. From Govardhana, Dvija Haridāsa. From the different places, all the different great saints came, and they accompanied the book distributors. They went out to the border of Vṛndāvana, and they all blessed them that, “Your distribution, your taking these books to the devotees will be successful.”

Even as they left Vṛndāvana, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī they accompanied, and few other devotees accompanied all the way to Mathurā, and then finally from there Śrīnivāsa Ācārya and Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita and Narottama dāsa, they continued on with their bullock cart, and their guards and the big box, trunk of books and went on to the eastern states. And that’s another story.

A great lesson in their determination, how they took those books. But there is no time today. So, this distribution of books is considered one of the transcendental pastimes. One who is writing books, one who is printing books, one who is distributing books, one who is explaining the books, all these are intimate services to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana - by this hearing and chanting one waters his tree, waters that plant of bhakti, you see.

Even when one’s plant reaches the spiritual kingdom, tāhāṅ vistārita hañā phale prema-phala ihāṅ mālī kore… sece nitya śravaṇādi jala, even when one gets to see the flowers and fruits of love of god coming on his plant, still the down here the mālī, the devotee is watering daily, this hearing and chanting.

So, by the mercy of Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, today we have Caitanya-caritāmṛta and other literatures. He had brought them, you see. So, this is our great mercy. So, we request everyone to water their devotional creeper with the hearing and chanting and to distribute the literatures, to expand the preaching to all the conditioned souls, following in the footsteps of our great previous ācāryas.

Śrīla Prabhupāda, he has shown, by both writing and distributing and explaining, everything he did single-handedly. So, we can pray to Śrīla Prabhupāda for his special mercy that we may be empowered to distribute and to preach these transcendental granthas or books and make our life sublime, make our life perfect. Thank you very much.