19821012 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.10.43

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 12, 1982 in Honolulu Hawaii. The class begins with a reading from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Canto 2, Chapter 10, Verse 43.

Translation: Thereafter, at the end of the millennium, the Lord Himself in the form of Rudra, the destroyer, will annihilate the complete creation as the wind displaces the clouds.

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

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātry-āgame ’vaśaḥ pārtha
prabhavaty ahar-āgame
paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo
’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ
yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu
naśyatsu na vinaśyati

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

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

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purport of Text 43, Chapter 10, Canto 2, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in the matter of “Bhāgavatam is the Answer to All Questions”.

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

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

A vaiśya that they should also render some service whenever possible to the Lord. That the vaiśya of course, Kṛṣṇa exhibited how a vaiśya can enjoy playing with the cows, having butter fights, so many other wonderful pastimes. Those who are vaiśyas, who are on the rural scene.

Otherwise, the vaiśya, they’re very eager to make money in the modern-day world. Śūdra may also be eager to make money but doesn’t know how. So, he ends up getting a job and like that. But the vaiśya actually knows how to make money. And he… and this becomes practically like a religion for them. Simply trying to amass more and more money. So, there it’s recommended that a vaiśya should use that money for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and thus they can become purified. If they simply use the money for their own sense gratification, which is going to finish with this body, then everything is lost.

Kṣatriya, we are seeing in the pastime of Rāmacandra, how a kṣatriya as well as in other incarnations in the later life, but especially Lord Rāmacandra showed how a king or a kṣatriya is living. They are enjoying in martial arts, they are enjoying in various type of education, in charity, and culture. This is, they especially promote the spiritual culture, but all types of culture are promoted under that. And in this way, they are supposed to lead the people to home, back to godhead in terms of organizing society in such a way that preachers are protected, and that religion, religious principles are protected also and promoted.

Then the brāhmaṇas, the brāhmaṇas of course are the intellectuals. They’re more interested in the academic pursuits. That we find in the pastime of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that how a brāhmaṇa is enjoying. That in Lord Caitanya’s early life He showed by appearing in a family of the brāhmaṇas. He was relishing these brahminical pursuits. Of course, for Lord Caitanya in no time at all He memorized all of the Vedas. Practically by the age of eleven or twelve He already knew all the Vedas, which is impossible for ordinary persons.

And He would challenge people… say that, I think… I don’t know if I mentioned before but, sometimes He will be walking down the street and He would see ah…say Mukunda. At that time Lord Caitanya would already, was started to take His own  students.

And He would see Mukunda and He’d say, “Hey Mukunda! Where are you going?”. He calls from a distance. He would call and then Mukunda would be coming. So, I mean, Mukunda would see Him and he want to run away. “Oh no! This Nimai Paṇḍita! Why He is calling me? He’s so proud. I’m going to smash His pride today!”

So, when Lord Caitanya called him over and say, “Why you are not…”, very friendly, “Why you are not staying with us? Why you are not, why you are trying to avoid?” You see. “You don’t want to study anymore Sanskrit?”

Because one time he was a student for a short time and then he went away from Lord Caitanya. This was before Lord Caitanya manifests His devotional aspect fully.

Just as Kṛṣṇa was playing with the cowherd boys, Lord Caitanya in His childhood was playing with the brāhmaṇas.

Brāhmaṇas, their, their main thing is knowledge. Knowledge is very important for them. So, this pursuit of knowledge much as we find today in the academic institutions, is especially relished by brāhmaṇas. You see, of course, some people they cannot understand, why? who could relish school, but there are some who actually like to accumulate knowledge, you see. Maybe they are known as book worms, or other derogatory, I don’t know different type of things. But there are certain class of people who actually like intellectual discussions and like to understand philosophical points and various type of logic and academic pursuits. So, especially this is the, one of the characteristics of, a type of superficial characteristic of brāhmaṇas in terms of the activities, not in terms of their qualities, necessarily.

So He was telling Mukunda “Why you are ah.. running away? Why you’re not staying with us?”

Mukunda said, “Now I am gonna just tell… I am gonna show You...” He said that, “Now, I am not interested in Your Grammar study Nimāi paṇḍita! Now I am studying poetry. Now I know Sanskrit poetry, I don’t need Your grammar classes!”.

So Nimai, “Well, Of course we do know something about poetry. (Laughs) Are you sure that you wouldn’t like to give us some lesson in poetry? What type of poetry are you learning that is so much greater than what we can teach?”

So, then Mukunda started to recite some poetry and which Lord Caitanya promptly tore apart and crushed Mukunda, all with a very smiling gentle mannerism.

And then Mukunda, he said, “How does He know every scripture? How does He know every grammar? How does He know every poetry? What is this person Nimai Paṇḍita? But He is so proud! Just don’t want to be with someone so proud. If only He was more of a devotee, then I would be with Him.” Then he, he walked off.

And Nimai Paṇḍita said, “We will see you tomorrow. Come and learn some poetry.” (Laughter)

In this way, Lord Caitanya, He walked through the town, and everyone would love Him. You see, even at the age of about thirteen or twelve or so, He had already defeated the Keśava Kāśmīrī, the greatest paṇḍita of India, Digvijay who would go from village to village and town to town and defeat the gurus of all the kings. So, the… as He would go through the town though, everyone in the whole town which was centered around this brahmanical culture, people coming from all over India to learn the Sanskrit, to learn the Vedas, to learn poetry, to learn all the different types of culture. Navadvīpa was the seat of culture.

[Aside: Actually, now Bhavānanda Gosvāmī and uh, and uh, the Māyāpur Candrodaya temple and also the humble self, we are trying to make the Māyāpur Candrodaya mandir into again the seat of culture connected with Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s movement, to recreate some of the original mood of Navadvīpa dhāma, the more spiritually usable aspects of the culture, at least.]

So when Lord Caitanya would be going to the town, everyone would come out to see Him. Just as in Vṛndāvana they would come out to see Kṛṣṇa going with the cows, all the residents of Navadvīpa will come to see Nimai paṇḍita going with His students. He was so beautiful with His lotus eyes and beautiful form.

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

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

But everyone was completely, He was just the Lord of the whole city. Where He went, people they would willingly give Him, “Take ghee for Your Deity. You can do the abhishek and take some milk for the abhishek”, then they give that. Willingly give all the milk products. He would give to one student and go on. It’s like His own digvijay.

Then He’d go, and He went to one astrologer. He would go different days different places. Not that every day go to the same place, but He would be going all around the town at a certain time in the day.

And if He see any, if He would see any scholars, He would say, “Oh! hey Bhaṭṭācārya, Bhaṭṭācārya! One minute please! Sir! Sir!” and then they would see Him and run. “Oh no!” If Lord Caitanya would see them, they knew that they were finished. (Laugh). He would call them over, ask some very polite question and then proceed to completely destroy any self-respect that they had in their own learning and establishes His own learning far above them. So, they didn’t want to have to suffer that humiliation. They would willingly run away. Just kind of, like all the smaller animals in the jungle will run from the lion. They don’t get in the way. And if any paṇḍita, any scholar would dare to walk in front, then Nimai immediately would engage him in discussion and establish His supremacy.

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

One time He met Śrīvāsa who is much older. Śrīvāsa said, “Why You are wasting Your life like this? Why You don’t simply engage in pure devotional service? Why don’t You simply worship Kṛṣṇa in bhakti? Why all this argumentation? Why all this scholastic pursuit?”

Lord Caitanya replied, “My, My dear Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura! I offer you all My respect. Certainly, I want to simply engage in pure devotional service. This is My goal in life. But now in My youth, I am enjoying the pursuit of education, scholarship, scholarship. But I’m looking for a guru. When I meet My guru, then I will start definitely I will render pure devotional service. You bless Me that I can get a pure Vaiṣṇava for a guru. Without a pure devotee for a guru how will I be able to fulfill your desire? You must bless Me. Put your hand on My head that I may achieve the shelter of a pure Vaiṣṇava in the future.” This way He would encourage them. And get their blessing and then He would go off and continue with His own sport.

Then after little time He will take all the students, ”Alright, Lets go!” On the way of course, He decided, “Well, let’s just stop in today, here is an astrologer.” So, He came in and sat down to the astrologer. And He told the astrologer, “You are sarvajña. You know all. You can see the past, present and future through your astrological calculation and understanding. Tell me sarvanja, we hear you are very famous that you actually have, [Aside: Well, of course in English I think they call it clairvoyant vision but, but you have the special vision, where you can see what is the past, the present and the future. So, tell Me, who was I in the past? In My previous birth who was I?”

So, then he started chanting his Gopāla mantras for, for his astrological vision. When he chanted the mantras he was looking. Suddenly he saw, “It’s Rāmacandra. Raghupati Rāmā fighting against Rāvaṇa.” He saw the whole pastime before his eyes. “What’s going on here? This brāhmaṇa has done some mis-magic on me.” Then again, he saw, “There is Varāha, and Vāmana and then there is Nṛsiṁha.” Then he saw this, Kṛṣṇa playing on His flute, Muralī-vadana. Then again, he saw Lord Caitanya, “What’s going on, ah? (Laugh). I can’t tell You anything. I don’t know who You are. This is very bewildering to me (Laugh) and then, You got some, some magic You have done on me or something.”

He didn’t know, because of Yogamāyā, even he saw, he couldn’t understand that how in fact, “Yes this was Rāmā, this was Kṛṣṇa, Nṛsiṁha, Viṣṇu had come.” So, then Lord Caitanya left and that person, he was completely bewildered that, “How did I see all these things?” And then he offered his respect to Lord Caitanya, but he was completely bewildered.

And then Lord Caitanya took His students and they all went to the Ganges and then started to play in the water, splashing each other. And uh, in this way Lord Caitanya then after taking His bath in the Ganges, He went home, did His worship of the śālagrāma-śilā, bathing the śālagrāma-śilā and worshipping. Then His mother Śacī mata and His wife, they prepared the prasādam. He offered to the Deity, then He would sit down and His wife would personally serve Him the prasādam. After He finished she would take the remnants of His prasādam also. And then mother Śacī would be very happy seeing how the wife was serving the husband. How his, her son was so well situated. Then He would take a little rest. And then after resting, again in the evening He would go out and meet His friends. In this way He would have His daily activities. So, in this way He was in the early life leading a life like a brāhmaṇa.

And each of the different categories of vaiśya, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, śūdra etc. they all have their specific, specific, attraction. And just as a different incarnation, they also appear in different species, also in different varṇas, āśramas, to show the people, to actually benedict the different people. Even also to enjoy transcendental pastimes. Of course, the actual purpose of life is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, but when Kṛṣṇa Himself comes He has some internal, some pastimes.

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

The happiness and the relationships in this universe, in this material world they are all very temporary. And yesterday we read how the frog in the well, the frog in the well, he is thinking that how big the sea is by expanding the, his own knowledge of the well. In this way people try to understand God, and they think, ”Well, God is the creator. He is the destroyer.” Nowadays, it’s a very big well published which we came out recently in the back to godhead which I just saw. The day I came here it was in the ‘New York’… no, excuse me, in the ‘Los Angeles Times’ about how so many people now are thinking about God, God is alive. He is there. But He just creates and destroys, and He wants us to do good but He is not very powerful. He is ineffectual actually. All He can do is hope the best but there is nothing really, He can do. It’s truly out of His control. Just that, the best they He can do is wind up the whole show at one point and He can create it. But in the middle, He is not really able to do anything. Therefore, God is, ah... you know, because He is ineffectual people are born blind and uh, people are suffering, even though they really don’t deserve it but well, it is out of His control anyway. So, it is accidental happening, something like that. And this type of idea of an ineffectual God, they say, “Well it’s better to have an ineffectual God who is very kind. I can relate with that than to have an all-powerful God who is, who is very cruel on us.” This is their idea and their speculation.

So, people, they want to limit God, or they try to understand God with their own limited experience. They want to know who is Kṛṣṇa, who is the supreme person in terms of a very limited type of understanding. It is very offensive. That there is karma, that there is reincarnation, these things, of course, because they don’t know, they can’t understand why a child is born blind. Why a person gets run over by a car when they’re only five years old playing on the street, or something like that. They can’t understand that how these things can happen. Because they don't understand that this life is only one life and a series of so many lives. And they don’t understand also, anything about the real nature of God. Actually, Kṛṣṇa is all powerful. But even the great say, the more orthodox religionists who believe that, “Well, God is a creator. He is all powerful. He is destroyer as well. He is the maintainer.”

But actually, Kṛṣṇa is much more than that. So today, we are actually... tomorrow the verse that mentions how Kṛṣṇa is actually, His special feature is ānanda. That the real quality that Kṛṣṇa also has, more than just being a type of, you can say, functionary for creation and annihilation is actually He is ānanda, happiness. That He has… He is a reservoir of all spiritual happiness. So how we can know about those spiritual happiness is, is through when He comes down here and manifests His pastimes. You can start to experience some of the bliss in those pastimes.

This way, when Kṛṣṇa comes down and He benedicts the residents of Vṛndāvana, playing with them as an ordinary cowherd boy or Lord Caitanya plays with the brāhmaṇas as a brāhmaṇa or how They come down and of course then later,They manifest after Their childhood proclivities, then They actually show Their form in different aspects that people can really understand that… a lot of Their potencies. It doesn’t mean that Their childhood activities were less, even though They appear to be materialistic. It is not materialistic but it’s a type of benediction on so many devotees who are anxious to serve the Lord in that way. And they don’t experience material happiness when these things are happening, but many devotees are experiencing spiritual ecstasies.

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

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

The waves of time are relentless, amazing how they go through histories. In, in some of the exhibits promoted by the big companies in America by the government, they go through the history of the world. And they keep showing, “Egyptian civilization at its peak was destroyed, Roman civilization was destroyed. Then there was Napoleon. He was wiped out. There were so many civilizations and all.” But then they say like, “Now this time we’re going to make it.” You see history repeats itself. America is also heading right now, along the same path of destruction you see.

We actually, the Vedic civilization has been existing, now that may be dormant, but actually that’s the oldest civilization. Therefore, we have histories going back thousands and millions of years. But was, not only one civilization going under but so many demoniac civilizations that were created by different people who were try to... ah… try to reach the top, and they all were destroyed in time.

So here we have the real solution is that in this short life time, and especially in this Kali-yuga, you can see not in hundred or thousand, but you can see all governments and whole things are just couple of hundred years, or even ten, fifteen years, or even a few months sometimes. In Bolivia, they have an average of two governments a year. You can see the temporary nature. But every president when he comes in power he thinks, “I am going to be the president that lasts. I am going to be in office for next ten years”. But it never lasts. Anyway, the different places have different karmas but whether its ten years or hundred years, we’re not going to last more than a hundred years in this body. There’s only a handful of people living over hundred years in the whole planet that are known to the people. So, what is the use of …? 

So, the real point is that during this life we should actually render devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. So, this is, was of course revealed by Lord Caitanya in His later life. We can do anything for Kṛṣṇa that we can become God conscious and that we never lose. But whatever we do materially it is not going to last. Of course, we get swept away in the whirlpool and the whole thing becomes successful material life to achieve fame, power, distinction, money and sense gratification, and then before we know it our life is finished, and then again, we are cast in to another birth and another situation. And whatever we have done was, all finished. So, the real thing is whatever we do for Kṛṣṇa, every time that a person chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, every service they do, that they don’t lose. That stays with them. This is to their best benefit.

If you get anyone to read Kṛṣṇa’s or Prabhupāda’s books, people by simply reading those books they will become so benefitted that you cannot imagine. That is the eternal benefit. Like that, Śrīla Prabhupāda wants us to give out this mercy, let people be eternally benefited. Of course, people are so focused on the temporary sense gratification and its, and its related activities that they may not always appreciate what is the value of this spiritual activity. They don’t realize what is the value of your temporary sense gratification like going up on the Ferris wheel, you will be spending a buck for ten minutes and come down. You’re not going to be there long. This is the real value. This you’ll never lose, you see. They are almost like children. They don’t have any vision of the whole spectrum of life. Therefore, they are just playing with their very limited vision like children. Very sophisticated no doubt. Very expert in their own way. But, for what?

Of course, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu when His father left the world and He came back and found that His father had gone, He took this as an opportunity to start, to end His childhood proclivities. He was only 14 years old. He wasn’t that, He wasn’t playing around very long. Before that age how would anyone listen to Him anyway for preaching God consciousness? He would get away with some scholastic understanding but anyway that was His desire and pastime.

At the age of 14, He went to Gaya which has a very big temple of Viṣṇu there. Everyone in India goes to Gaya more or less practically everyone to do a pinḍa or sacred worship for the deceased soul, of the departed soul of a father or some relative. They worship the lotus feet of Viṣṇu in the name of that person so that they can be delivered. So, at that point, when Lord Caitanya went there, He met with Īśvara Purī who He had some association with in the past. But here this time He requested to be initiated.

And when He was initiated into kṛṣṇa-nāma, into the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, then He went and did the worship of Viṣṇu’s lotus feet there in Gaya in the Viṣṇupāda temple. And at that place He started to manifest His first ecstasies. Tears were just pouring down from His eyes. From the moment He received initiation, He was just chanting Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa. So, when He came back to Navadvīpa, the whole way He was chanting Kṛṣṇa. When He came back, with His students all He could speak about was Kṛṣṇa. Every, everything now was brought in relation to Kṛṣṇa. Every Vedic śloka, every discussion, every grammar, every letter, every syllable, everything was connected with Kṛṣṇa.

The students were completely bewildered, “What’s happened to Nimāi paṇḍita? Everything He says, He brings it around to Kṛṣṇa.” They went to His teacher who had taught Him grammar many years before and said, “Your student Nimāi paṇḍita, I think He has gone bananas. Something has happened to Him. He is, He is chanting only Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, and everything He is teaching is Kṛṣṇa. He is telling us, we should simply do pure devotional service. May be something has happened to Him. You could just probably direct Him.”

So, then Gaṅgādāsa paṇḍita, he went over to see Lord Caitanya, and Lord Caitanya seeing His old teacher, He offered respect. He bowed down, and offered him a seat and said, “How could I serve you?” He would respect Gaṅgādāsa paṇḍita, yet He defeated everyone else. That because he was the, actually he was reincarnation of Sāndīpani muni. So anyway, He respected Him as His teacher and, although not His guru, He had His guru Īśvara Purī, as a teacher He respected. Anyone who teaches you something, you should respect them.

So, then he said, “Well You are a brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava. Your duty is to worship the Deity, and You should know the scripture. Now the students are saying that You have given up logic, You have given up uh, everything. You’re just engaged in bhakti.”

“Who said? I am Nimāi paṇḍita, I know all the scriptures. I know all the logic, I know all the arguments, I know everything, grammar, poetry, I know all. Who is there that they can challenge me?”

His students, “Ah! Here’s the old Nimai paṇḍita we knew.” (laughter)

They were pakka intellectuals. They didn’t, they didn’t want to be distracted. Sometimes you get these types of professional, intellectual, they don’t, they don’t understand. Too much spiritual, they think somehow, it’ll impede in their natural flow of whatever they are into. Means that a little bit is all right, you know, not too much. If it gets too much, then they don’t like it.

So they told, “Listen, too much now, chanting and crying all the time Kṛṣṇa it’s too much.” So they went behind His back and ah what do you call it, finked on Him? They told His teacher. (laughter)

And then, in this way Gaṅgādāsa paṇḍita, ”Oh! But He is alright. You should know that as a brāhmaṇa of course You should do all the Vaiṣṇava thing, but maintain thing is we need very strong philosophical people to be able to defend the Vedic culture against others, and also to earn a living and so on.”

Lord Caitanya said, “No, No! Who is there that they can challenge me? Come on.” He walked over the street. He stood up. “Where is there anyone who can challenge I? I Nimai paṇḍita? Anyone, give a śloka, give a verse, give any argument. You see who can explain it better. Who is there that can…” like this He was challenging. All His students were in bliss. This is the same old Nimai Paṇḍita. We’re back where we started. We are going great. Gaṅgādāsa paṇḍita he left.

Meanwhile one old friend of the grandfather of Lord Caitanya, Nīlāmbara Cakravartī Ṭhākura he just was walking by and then he saw that Nimāi paṇḍita in this way and so he just came, and he started to chant a śloka from the Bhāgavatam. A couple of ślokas, which were glorifying the intimate pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa, how He would deliver all the demons, and give them special liberation even when they are coming to kill Him. And so, when he started to glorify Kṛṣṇa in this way, as soon as the ślokas hit Lord Caitanya’s ears, the students were looking, “What is happening with Lord Caitanya?!” He was stunned.

Suddenly Lord Caitanya, “Oh Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! I am so fallen. Kṛṣṇa! I have neglected You for so many years.” Then He would just become, in ecstasy “Kṛṣṇa!” He is rolling on the ground. “Ah Kṛṣṇa!” and He was shaking and trying to hold them down. “Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa when will I again have Your shelter? When will…” And He was just immersed in separation, crying out, “Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa” and they were trying to hold Him down and He was shaking. Even ten students were being thrown this way that way and they couldn’t. Lord Caitanya was rolling and He was shaking in such a way they couldn’t even hold Him down. They said, “Oh no! Lord Caitanya is not the same. Nimāi Paṇḍita is not the same. What to do? What to do?” They tried to hold Him and finally after some time Lord Caitanya, He came back to His external consciousness, out of His ecstasy. So, then He told the boys, “All right take your books today and we’ll call it a day.” (Laugh).

So, the next day all the students came… the next day Lord Caitanya informed some of uh…informed one uh, Sriman das… anyway there is no time for all these pastimes, I guess. How He first met the devotees and told them about His change of heart. That’s a whole intimate pastime with them. He actually reestablished His relationship with them. I can explain that sometime when there is more time.

So then after uh, meeting with the devotees, and all those intimate pastimes for the first time then He again went back to His students that after… the next afternoon. And they all brought their books and everything. He said, “So, what have you have understood I have been teaching you? I’ve…”. They said, “Sir...” and one boy stood up and said, “Whatever You say, it’s all… all we can understand is one thing Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa. Whatever You say from A to Z, everything somehow comes out Kṛṣṇa. So frankly all we… all we can un… follow is that You just were telling us about Kṛṣṇa, but ultimately You never taught us like this before. We were a bit confused. We don’t really know how to understand these sudden explanations on Kṛṣṇa, sudden change”.

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

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

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

One student said, “What is hari-kīrtana?! You never taught us hari-kīrtana before. (Laugh) That’s the one thing you never taught us. We don’t know where You learnt. But You never taught us, you see. What is saṅkīrtana? You have to... We’ll learn. We’ll do whatever you say. We’re accepting Your guidance, but how to do it? We… we’ve never done it before”.

So then Lord Caitanya asked some of the devotees uh…the full time devotees come over and teach all His students to chant, you see. By teaching them to chant, He got all the students to chant and then the team… and then He took the students and they were going down kīrtana through the town. People were saying, “Oh my God! Such a person, Nimai Paṇḍita. He was so proud. He was so… He was so… how do you say? More than naughty. I mean not naughty… it is like naughty, mischief… There’s a certain word when a youth is just like a terror. And He was like a but… you know what I mean? I can’t think of what the exact word is.

Devotee: (inaudible)

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

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

Devotee: Rambunctious

Jayapatākā Swami: Very rambunctious, but more sophisticated.

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

Devotee: Charismatic

Jayapatākā Swami: …charismatic person, who is uh, completely absorbed in some material activity and then who com… turns around to spiritual life that’s a very shocking thing for ordinary people. So then they saw here Lord Caitanya with all of His students chanting kīrtana, they were completely astonished. In this way, Lord Caitanya, He began to show His real form. What was the real purpose of His coming? It was actually to spread this harināma-saṅkīrtana.

So, at the age of 14, He is already established as the greatest scholar. Already established… He has already… in society He established himself. Completely, He was famous in the material society He was the most famous scholar. In His field He was top of the line. He was the number one person. And then as soon as He had reached whatever He could reach on that material platform then He completely manifested His spiritual activity, and all of His followers came right after Him because He had already won them over the whole time by… by… by His activity, He had actually… already ah was able to go deep in their heart. Of course, He was their eternal associate, many of them. And they all followed Him which is very hard for students. Students don’t want to follow. They don’t want to leave their education. Once…they want to keep on in that type of career, but because of Lord Caitanya’s uh, mercy upon them and because He was able to actually bring them with Him, and then, after that He used His erudite scholarship, He used all His ability, to actually implant Kṛṣṇa consciousness so deeply in society.

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

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare

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

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

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa

Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you very much

Devotee: Śrīla Ācāryapāda, kī, jaya!