19811003 Lord Caitanya's Saṅkīrtana and Confidential Pastimes

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja with Spanish Translation on October 3rd, 1981 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine 
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe 
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ 

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate 
gopeśa gopīkā-kāntarādhā-kānta namo ‘stu te

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari 
vṛṣabhānu-sute devī praṇamāmi hari-priye

jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare 

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim 
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam 
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Today is a very auspicious day. We took Śrī Jagannātha Subhadrā Balarāma from the holy temple to the garden in Vṛndāvana. Beautiful garden in Vṛndāvana. And there They joined with all of Their devotees. Joining devotees, union with devotees, is most wonderful. It is the perfection of the fulfilment of the devotee. And it is a source of great happiness for the Lord. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was also feeling separation from his devotees. And They were practically like stones in separation of Him. They were so eager to have His association. But for many years He had been gone. This is the mood of the devotee. To try to give pleasure to the Lord.

When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu visited Haridāsa Ṭhākura, He asked Haridāsa Ṭhākura, “How are you?” Then He said to Haridāsa Ṭhākura, “Actually, I’m thinking that there are so many people who are not getting the mercy. So, many students and other classes of people who are not getting delivered. So I’m thinking how they are also be delivered, how all the yavanas will be delivered.” And Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, “Don’t worry, my Lord! By your mercy, they are already delivered. Even by accidentally chanting the holy name or even by chanting the nāmābhāsa, nāmābhāsa means unintentionally chanting of a name of Kṛṣṇa; within some words, there may be a syllable of the name of Kṛṣṇa. Within a word, there may be a name of Kṛṣṇa. Just like the Muslims say Ha rāma. Ha rāma is a very offensive term. But [with] ‘ha-rāma,’ Rāma is spoken then. It’s a part of that word. Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, “Even by saying that, (unclear) just by accident saying the of name of Kṛṣṇa, they get delivered. Therefore your mercy is so great.”

In Spanish also, there are many words which are also nāmābhāsa. Sometimes you see just like in America, they have quinnarāma. I saw one Rāma in Chile, something ‘O Rāma’, so like that, somehow or other, if one chants the name of Kṛṣṇa, that is the beginning of the spiritual life. That is a permanent asset and one does not lose that. So, that gradually brings one again and again to Kṛṣṇa. You know the Halley’s comet? Every 76-years, Halley’s comet comes in orbit near the earth. The orbit may be very long, but it still has to come again and again in the same orbit. So, like that, once we are in the orbit around Kṛṣṇa, even if in the beginning there is a very wide gap between us and Kṛṣṇa, gradually, by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy and contact, he comes closer and closer. And if one gets in contact with the pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa and surrenders, then he is firmly fixed under the shelter of Kṛṣṇa. One should be very careful not to lose that shelter.

In the Teachings of Lord Caitanya gave to Sanātana Gosvāmī, He warned Sanātana Gosvāmī or instructed Him for the sake of all of us. This was a warning to all of us. He said that, “Watch out for the offense against the Vaiṣṇavas.” “vaiṣṇava-aparādha uṭhe hātī mātā upāḍe vā chiṇḍe, tāra śukh iyāya pātā’; (Cc. Madhya 19.156) - The offense to a Vaiṣṇava is a mad elephant offense. And by performing this offense, Just as an elephant picks out a tree from the garden and throws it out by the root then that uprooted tree all the leaves dry and die. Like that if one commits an offense to the great devotees of the Lord who have dedicated their lives to preaching His message, it’s very dangerous and this can uproot one’s spiritual sprout/creeper/plant.

Elephants are very voracious eaters. We are contemplating on getting an elephant for Māyāpur, because Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura had a couple of elephants. And Even a baby elephant eats several hundred kilos a day. So they are very voracious. They said that if you want to have an elephant then you should have a big banana garden. Then you can always give a few hundred kilos of plantain trees, banana trees. Nice twelve-foot banana tree, nice four-meter banana tree. And they just pick it up. So, they [the elephants] like to go to the banana garden and pull up the tree. That’s ordinary elephant, but mad elephant means RIP! TEAR! DESTROY! Pull up and just throw here and there. So It’s a very dangerous thing. We should be very careful. In spiritual life, if we are offensive to Vaiṣṇavas, pull up our spiritual life. Once you pull the plant’s root out and put it in the sun, it is finished. Nothing else can actually take us out of the orbit of Kṛṣṇa. Even sinful activity doesn’t disqualify us completely. By performing sinful activities it stunts our growth or slows our growth, stops it temporarily. But it doesn’t completely finish it. Offending a Vaiṣṇava pulls the root out of our spiritual life. You can see those devotees who are very weak, who do not have any determination who were once strong before in many cases it’s because they heard criticism of Vaiṣṇavas or they engaged in prajalpa against Vaiṣṇavas. And gradually this has sapped away [their bhakti plant] and thus pulls out the root or cut the root of their spiritual life. 

In Māyāpur, sometimes we transplant the trees. Have you ever transplanted trees? So you know that you have to make a wide cut and keep all the roots intact. But there is a tap root or main big root that goes straight down. And when that root is cut, the whole tree goes into a shock. And when you transplant it, immediately, because of the roots being cut, they loose their leaves. Even when you are partially cutting the roots, it makes the tree weak. But if the root is good, even if you cut a tree, again it will come out. Therefore, we have to keep our roots very strong in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Even if some obstacles comes, it (the plant) will go up to Kṛṣṇa Just like a plant always going out to the sun, our devotion will always find its way to Kṛṣṇa. This is a natural thing. But we have to protect our roots, this is by avoiding all type of offenses to the pure Vaiṣṇavas. This is very important.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that all his followers are Vaiṣṇavas. Ofcourse, one should never offend a guru or senior Vaiṣṇavas. But even one’s god brothers one should be respectful. Sometimes one offers constructive criticism to one’s peers or subordinates – to the equals, and to those who one is responsible for. So that is a not with any envy or with any hatred, but it’s with a desire for helping. In this respect, the spiritual master has a thankless task, because He has to always find out the defect in his disciple. Naturally, no one likes to have their defects pointed out to them, revealed to them. But, this is the duty of a spiritual master. When your spiritual master advises you to improve yourself in any area, you should take it as His mercy. This is necessary for you to advance. Otherwise, what is the need of having a spiritual master, if a spiritual master does not purify one of his defects?

Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu,He was always training his devotees. And some things are meant to be spoken amongst devotees and some things are all right for the public. So, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He had His special kīrtana party in Śrīvāsa house, and that time there would be only very confidential devotees. Others wouldn’t be present. And, He would be manifesting great, transcendental pastimes. As I mentioned this morning, sometimes Lord Caitanya would become as heavy as the universe and His every step would be like an earthquake. And sometimes He would become so light like a feather, like a cotton ball. They’d lift Him over their heads. Sometimes Lord Caitanya would suddenly faint! And just fall just like so heavy, you see, in ecstasy for love of Kṛṣṇa. Nityānanda would run to grab Him and catch Him before He hit the ground. And if Lord Caitanya would just fall without anyone catching Him, this would cause great anxiety to the devotees. They’d think, “Maybe all his bones have broken. Boom! He fell so hard.” That His devotees’ heart would shatter. Mother Śacī was completely disturbed when she saw Lord Caitanya do this. It was a tremendous shock for Her. It shook Her right to the soul. Whenever Lord Caitanya would just fall in ecstasy and unconscious like that, She used to pray to Kṛṣṇa that, “Either somehow that my son may not fall so hard just like that or atleast that I will not be conscious when He does this, because it is so painful to me.” So, Lord Caitanya, answering her prayer, gave her a special blessing. That, whenever His kīrtana party was going on, at that time He put Mother Śacī in such great ecstasy. So, at that time she was simply completely absorbed in kṛṣṇa-prema. She didn’t know what Caitanya Mahāprabhu is doing. So if He fell down and she was just. [in ecstacy]. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa... Otherwise, it would be too great an anxiety for Her.

And when Lord Caitanya became conscious, He would feel very bad, because She would be in such anxiety. So, Lord Caitanya used to teach His devotees. One time Lord Caitanya started to chant with all of His devotees. And outside, there were so many people, listening. And they were trying to hear [and find out] what was happening. But they were not allowed to go inside. Because they were [a crowd of] karmīs, speculators, atheists, and different types of non gratis personalities. So, they were trying to speculate what’s going on inside.” Sounds like they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa,” some of them said. “No, no, no. This is just a show. May be they are drinking some wine in there”, some others said. “It doesn’t sound like it. It sounds like Hare Kṛṣṇa.” “No, no, no, no. Nobody can just be happy just by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. They must be having some women there (laughter). They must be enjoying some illicit activities.” “None of our…I didn’t see any women go in there. They say, “But, you don’t know. You can’t say. [There] might be something,” one of them suggested.

Like this, so many demoniac type of people always criticize even Caitanya Māhāprabhu! Even for no reason… All these things are completely bogus. But, they have nothing better to do. They were just sitting out there, speculating and criticizing. So, today, there’s still the same thing is going on. Nobody, they don’t know what this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement stands for. So many speculative ideas you hear people say. “No, nobody can be just chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That’s not enough. There must be something else, must be something.” This is the materialists. They always have this crazy ideas, because they have no faith in Kṛṣṇa.

Then sometimes, one person would come by and hear them talking and they’d say, “What do you think? What do you think is going on inside? He said, “I don’t know. Those who are able to go there are very fortunate.” He said, “They are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa inside. And those people who are inside, are very fortunate. And they are so fortunate that we cannot imagine. We are unfortunate. Therefore we are not able to go in. So what is the use of standing out here, criticizing? We are unfortunate, that’s enough.” Then, they say, “Oh, so you’re one of them! [devotees laugh] Now we understood. You’re one of them, against us.”

In this way, these critical people are always there in the world. And everyone was very curious to know what Caitanya Māhāprabhu was doing inside then. Caitanya Māhāprabhu sometimes would do a special pastime. That was called “koṭi-siṁha-huṅkāra”. Koṭi means 10 million, siṁha means lion, huṅkāra means roar. He would roar with a force and a vibration of 10 million lions. Whoever would hear that their ear drum would be shattered. Piff… finished! It’s so powerful! It’s more powerful than so many sonic bombs, thousands of sonic bombs. But, Lord Caitanya would protect the ear drums of his devotees. But, sometimes, He would feel such an ecstasy that they’d be chanting the whole night, right till the morning. At two in the morning, He’d roar with that koṭi-siṁha-huṅkāra. And people would jump out of bed, “What was that?! They would think that the whole world was ending through the whole town. They don’t know what it was, where it came from… that sound. But it was Caitanya Māhāprabhu roaring in the ecstasy of love for Kṛṣṇa.

One time, Śrīnivāsa’s mother-in-law wanted to find out what was happening. She was the mother of His wife. So She hid under a basket inside the compound of Śrīnivāsa. And Lord Caitanya started the kīrtana with his devotees and they were dancing. He said, “I’m not feeling any ecstasy. Somehow, the chanting is not producing any spiritual bliss. What is the meaning of this? And All the devotees started feeling very afraid, thinking, “Maybe we committed some offense.” Of course, Caitanya Māhāprabhu is the Supersoul; He knows everything. He knew that someone was there. And that was Śrīnivāsa’s mother-in-law. So He said, “There must be someone outsider here. Some outsider, some non-devotee who is hiding here.” So, Śrīnivāsa started to search His house. He started searching everywhere. Where, where? Where is this person? He looked everywhere. No one was found. Then again Lord Caitanya began the kīrtana. All right. No one there. Let’s go on. They started dancing. “No ecstasy! I have no good fortune. No love for Kṛṣṇa is entering my heart. How unfortunate I am. Why is this happening?” The devotees were getting very worried, thinking, “What offense have we done to Lord Caitanya?

Lord Caitanya said, “Who is responsible for this?” All the devotees just completely in anxiety. “Why is this happening?” Again Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura started looking, “Who is here?” Then He saw… “My mother-in-law!” (laughter). But nobody know that was Śrīvāsa’s mother-in-law except Śrīvasa and Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In those days the culture was very strong. The mother-in-law is just like one’s mother. One has to be very respectful. And Śrīnivāsa was very humble. He would never offend anyone. But He was like a lion when it came to defending Caitanya Mahāprabhu and in doing his devotional service. So Śrīnivāsa immediately said “Here is an outsider. She should be immediately taken out. Grab her by the hair! Take her out!” So, someone else took her by the hair and dragged her out. Śrīvasa didn’t personally do it. But He didn’t say, “This is my mother. He just said, “She is an outsider. Get her out.” Because He knows this was an unauthorized person here. So He said, “Get her out. And even if it is my mother-in-law or my mother or someone, if undesired by Lord Caitanya, OUT!” And when she went out, then the kīrtana started and Lord Caitanya was feeling ecstasy. Then He went and embraced Śrīvasa. And He laughed very loudly. No one knew why, except Śrī Caitanya Māhāprabhu and Śrīnivāsa (laughter).

Jayapatākā Swami: Nitāi Gaura premānande…..

Devotees: Hari bol!! Hari bol!! 

Jayapatākā Swami: Hari Hari bol…Nitāi Gaura premānande….

Devotees: Haribol!! 

Jayapatākā Swami: Nitāi Gaura premānande 

Devotees: Hari Hari bol!! 

Jayapatākā Swami: So, in this way, the Lord tests his devotee and when the devotee passes the test, [the Lord] embraces him. We should take the mercy of Lord Caitanya on our heads. He is an ocean of mercy. Even more merciful than Lord Caitanya is Lord Nityānanda. And, Nityānanda’s representative is the spiritual master. Great devotees of Lord Caitanya like Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīnivāsa and others are like oceans of mercy. We should take shelter of the great Vaiṣṇavas. Chant always Hare Kṛṣṇa very carefully and stay far away from any type of offensive activities. We would be able to always swim in the ocean of nectar of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

So everybody is very tired today from all the hard engagements. I have to leave more for tomorrow.

Question: Would Lord Caitanya take rest on any day (or night) of the week when He wasn’t preaching? 

Jayapatākā Swami: He would chant every night. He said, “What is the use of sleeping at night? It is ignorance.” So, they used to chant the whole night. I can’t say when They took rest. They would chant the whole night, deep into the night. He’d also preach during they’d go out on saṅkīrtana outside. That was public. That time They wouldn’t always show so many ecstasies, because you can’t show intimate feelings before non-devotees. That’s not proper. But amongst a very intimate group many pastimes were possible.

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Question: [Voice is not audible]

Jayapatākā Swami: Includes three stages. Sambhanda, abhidheya, prayojana are the three names. Sambhanda abhidheya prayojana. Sambhanda means to understand the relationship with Lord; to understand that we are his eternal servants. The next stage abhidheya, to serve the Lord, to practice devotion. And the third stage, prayojana, is pure love. So, devotion is the preliminary manifestation of love and during love also it is manifested. In the preliminary stages of love, devotion is there. And when one is has got pure love also, devotion is there. The love, pure prema, is the goal. Devotion is the way, the means, and the end also. And the difference is simply in the purity. Pure devotion means pure love. And devotion which is not completely pure, is not yet love.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Question: How can someone feel a lot of devotion to Kṛṣṇa?

Jayapatākā Swami: In one of three ways. If one is born with pure love for God, he is called a nitya-siddha. Then one can feel it. If one is given special mercy by the guru or by Kṛṣṇa or by a devotee, then one can feel it. That’s called kṛpā-siddha. Or if one is practicing devotional service very carefully, following all the regulative principles, then also one can achieve [love of God] and that is called sādhana-siddha. So, we try by practicing the devotion. But we are always hoping for the mercy of guru, Kṛṣṇa and Vaiṣṇavas, so that we can get it even quicker. So offences, as well as other materialistic desires and attachments are impediments. Therefore, the guru and the advanced Vaiṣṇavas always try to take out one’s defect (other desires, other attachments), so that pure love of Kṛṣṇa can come, because they are sucking our energy, all of which should be going [utilized] for the love of Kṛṣṇa. Instead, it’s going here and there for different mental concoctions. Therefore we are not getting the full taste. So one thing is to give all our energy and next thing is that our energy should be perfectly directed. Hare Kṛṣṇa.