19821022 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.10.44

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on October 22, 1982. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 2nd Canto, Chapter 10, Verse 44.

ittham-bhāvena kathito bhagavān bhagavattamaḥ 
nettham-bhāvena hi paraṁ draṣṭum arhanti sūrayaḥ
(ŚB 2.10.44)

Jayapatākā Swami: [break]

Hare Kṛṣṇa [break]…A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svāmī Prabhupāda.

Translation by Śrīla Prabhupāda: 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 Purport: 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 ānanda, 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 Paramātmā, the partial representation of the Lord. But there are pure devotees who take part in the direct pleasure (ānanda) potency of the Lord by factual reciprocation of loving service. The Lord in His abode called the Vaikuṇṭha 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-gītā (18.55) confirms this:

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā
viśate 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 Vṛndāvana, where Lord Kṛṣṇa enjoys Himself with the gopīs and His favorite animals, the surabhī cows. A description of this transcendental land of Kṛṣṇa is given in the Brahmā-saṁhitā, which is considered by Lord Śrī 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 “Bhāgavatam is the Answer to All Questions”.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here the qualification of different devotees, or different transcendentalists is indicated. We’ve been discussing in the 2nd Canto how Kṛṣṇa 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 is 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, Brahmā, 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 is completely bewildered when he appears, so finally, the divine word tapa came out of the ākāśa, 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 Kṛṣṇa revealed to him how to create the material worlds, how to create the living entities, etc.

So, there is nobody in this material world who is completely independent. That there… everyone, they’re getting their idea how to do whatever they want to do from Kṛṣṇa. The Bhagavad-gītā describes smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ 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 Kṛṣṇa. The living entity has the desire, so then Kṛṣṇa says, “Alright.” In due course, if the person is deserving, He allows the person to fulfill that desire.

Even the desire is not a proper desire in terms of morality or something, but still, the desirings of Kṛṣṇa helps them in due course, but they have to suffer the karma. He is not responsible. He is not inspiring them 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 Kṛṣṇa as the Paramātmā, where basically He is ju… near an order supplier. He is very closely connected with the creation and maintenance 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 is somehow, He is 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 ānanda, 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 the human civilization.

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-saṁhitā. They’re all coming from the Vedas. They’re all given by Kṛṣṇa, and because now you separate it in the modern world, religion, scripture and state, so now the laws are gradually becoming more and more ridiculous, more and more liberal.

Some County in California passed a law that there should be no nude dancing in their city. And they challenged that in the Supreme Court that to do nude dancing in the tavern is a form of art, and for freedom of expression, it should not be hampered. And Fannie Annie uh, Dunlap uh, she uh, challenged this, said this is her right of personal expression, and uh, somehow, she 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 forms, so you can’t stop it.” Of course, it’s being done in the taverns and other places that nobody considered… nobody is 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 Kṛṣṇa says there should be marriage? Why Kṛṣṇa says in the Vedas, there should be so many institutions? Now, in America, maybe they’ll get a glimpse, with the epidemic level of herpes disease going around, you see. So, this is the whole problem, is that actually whatever Kṛṣṇa 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 is 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, Prabhupāda challenged that. He said that, “When the Bhagavad-gītā says dehino ’smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā - that we go from the childhood to youth to old age, is this only for the Kṛṣṇa devotees, only for the Hindus? Only they are going from childhood to youth to old age? What about the Christians and the Muslims? What about the atheists? The dogs? They don’t go from childhood to youth to old age?! Bhagavad-gītā is 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 Kṛṣṇa, how He is 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 Kṛṣṇa, then you won’t appreciate the beauty and the intimate uh, loving uh, wonder that Kṛṣṇa takes a humble position as His own devotee, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, or He takes the position as the servant of His devotee, uh, Pārtha-sārathi, 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 is uh, doing some kind of uh, simple work for the common man, then everybody applauds. Because he is the President, he doesn’t have to do such things. He is coming down to the common level. That’s something unusual and 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 each other, they’re doing this and that. So, unless you can understand Kṛṣṇa’s position, it’s very hard to appreciate how wonderful are His intimate pastimes, you see.

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

So, in the same way, Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He came, He kept Himself covered. You see, actually there are literally dozens and dozens of Vedic references that in the Kali-yuga Kṛṣṇa comes, but hardly anyone could find those, or pick them up before He came because Kṛṣṇa kept it covered by yoga-māyā. Just like if you say that, “Today the governor of Honolulu is going to make a surprise visit of the Hare Kṛṣṇa 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 is going to make a surprise visit on 5th avenue today, you know, incognito, 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-māyā, people couldn’t really understand what it meant, so, they just kind of gleaned over it.

You know how we read the Bhagavad-gītā one time, 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 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 is Kṛṣṇa Himself, He is coming down to show that.

The thing is that, how did Lord Caitanya come down? Why does Kṛṣṇa come down to this earth? He doesn’t come down like this Paramātmā is coming to maintain things, exactly in the same way. Actually, Paramātmā is directly non-different from Kṛṣṇa and He is powerful enough to be able to uh, be able to take care of so many miscreants, we saw that in Hiraṇyākṣa, Hiraṇyakaśipu and others. That different incarnations, They’re most powerful. So, Kṛṣṇa comes down, Prabhupāda describes, “Because He is the only one who would be satisfying His devotees.”

Just like when the gopīs were running, looking, “Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa?” And they’d go running and then Kṛṣṇa would hide Himself as the four-armed Viṣṇu. Then, they’d go and ask Him, “Oh, Viṣṇu.” And they’d offer obeisances, and say, “Have you seen Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa?” Even if they were seeing God, right there, standing, they weren’t interested. They were looking, “Where’s Kṛṣṇa?”, you see. That is the nature of the pure devotee is that even Viṣṇu appears before them, they’ll ask Him for direction, “Where is Kṛṣṇa?”, you see.

So then, Kṛṣṇa was of course taking His Viṣṇu form, He said, “Well, He is that way.” (devotees laughing) So, then they all kept running, but then when Rādhārāṇī came and said, “Where is Kṛṣṇa?” Her love was so intense that Kṛṣṇa couldn’t keep four arms. His two arms kept coming out and she could spot that, “This is Kṛṣṇa.”, and caught Him. So, actually only the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa can actually fully captivate Him. 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 is got some special, unique position.

So, this Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa combined together to… in the form of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You see. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa - śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nahe anya. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa together have come as Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So, but why they came?

Of course, there were two devotees who were crying out. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was crying out in the cave in Phulia. When the Lord will come, people are so materialistic. And of course, the most famous and prominent caller for Lord Caitanya’s coming, for Kṛṣṇa to come was the incarnation of the Mahā-Viṣṇu Himself, Śrī Advaita Gosāñī.

Actually, by… written by some of the associates of Lord Caitanya, there is a pray… there is 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 Gosāñī calling down Lord Caitanya. How, he was weeping, how he was crying, how he was offering uh, tulasī-mañjarī to the śālagrāma-śilā.

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 Kṛṣṇa? Only Kṛṣṇa can do that. Only Kṛṣṇa is so attractive that He can steal their minds away completely, He is the original form.” You see, Mahā-Viṣṇu is the 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 is 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 He was coming. Did He really hear it? Is He really going to come?” That doubt He was… there was no… Up to that point, there wasn’t any symptoms.

So when Lord Caitanya… we were discussing how, yesterday, as Nimāi-paṇḍita how He was living in Navadvīpa. He wasn’t manifesting the symptoms of pure devotional service till He came back from Gaya. It mentioned, when He came back from Gaya, He called over Śrīni… Śrīmān paṇḍita 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 Vakreśvara Paṇḍita.” So, then, as soon as Lord Caitanya came back with all the ecstasies, with all the… always chanting Kṛṣṇa, there was a special tree in Śrīvāsa’s house. You know about that tree?

Does he know about it? Is there anybody who knows about the tree of Śrīvāsa? He had a kalpa-vṛkṣa. [Aside: Prabhupāda said the walls of the temple are actually Ananta-Śeṣa. One shouldn’t rest on the Ananta-Śeṣa.] The uh, house of Śrīvāsa, he had a special kalpa-vṛkṣa, 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-ārati, they’ll all be picking flowers, that would be the center of communication. The latest in the Vaiṣṇava community, naturally would… while they were chanting and picking… you know how things get around in Vaiṣṇava society. “Someone said that. Do you know that Nimāi Paṇḍita has come back from Gaya, completely ecstasy. He is chanting

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

at every moment, and He is simply telling everyone to love Kṛṣṇa. He wants to meet all the devotees tomorrow at Vakreśvara Paṇḍita’s house.”

“What? Hari bol, Hari bol! Nimāi Paṇḍita, He has become a pure Vaiṣṇava!” They were all yelling and scream… jumping up and do… before you… jus… even Western Union could franchise this system of communication, you see, and when.. within seconds it was throughout the whole Navadvīpa. Every Vaiṣṇava 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 Vakreśvara Paṇḍita: Mukunda, Mādhava, Govinda-ghoṣa and all the different devotees they all came. Then, Lord Caitanya, you se… even Gadādhara 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… Nimāi Paṇḍita before. And Nimāi, 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… 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 Kṛṣṇa, it melts even stone. There is no, no one had experience of this intensity of love of Kṛṣṇa. It was so intense.

One example is practical… in real life, several occasions, He actually melted stone by His love for Kṛṣṇa. So, none of the devotees of course had ever had this experience, or they knew Nimāi Paṇḍita 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 is coming to them… in this new mood. They’ve never seen this before.

Just like, when Jagannātha was closed, Lord Caitanya in Purī became so anxious to see the Lord that He couldn’t see Him, He ran 11 miles to Ālālanātha, which was far away, I mean, 11 miles. He ran the whole way before this Viṣṇu 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 prasāda. It’s a whole other story. So, then, when Lord Caitanya ran and paid obeisances before to that deity, His body was so hot from separation of Kṛṣṇa, He melted His form, right into the rock. And that rock is still at that Ālālanātha temple. In fact, when the Gaura Gambhira temple does the daily pūjā to that rock, they have offered that if you wanted to do the pūjā of that rock, they would give it to us. It’s in Purī. It’s near Purī, 11 miles away in a city called Ālālanātha, Ālālanātha. Seven feet: A full form of Lord Caitanya and His arms, His hands and chest, everything, they just melted in the rock. That, the separation that Lord Caitanya feels for Kṛṣṇa is beyond… is beyond… it’s the full… it’s the separation that Rādhārāṇī feels, which is enough to even stop Kṛṣṇa cold, you see.

That is the level of separation that Lord Caitanya mani… because He is a combination of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā. 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 idea some of the superficial symptoms, but of course, if we even have a drop of uh, experience of Kr… ecstasy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we can start imagining, or multiplying that billions of times, and then get close to a shadow of what the real intensity of Lord Caitanya’s love for Kṛṣṇa is. Just like having a slight experience of chanting and feeling something for Kṛṣṇa, 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 kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare

Otherwise, they won’t be able to really understand what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is all about, you see. It’s a very deep personal experience when one starts to develop these spontaneous realizations of Kṛṣṇa 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 ācārya, 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 Kṛṣṇa, 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 physically 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 saṅkīrtana, 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 Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, so long I’ve wasted my life! Why I’ve not worshipped Kṛṣṇa? Where is My Lord Kṛṣṇa? 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, Kṛṣṇa. I want to ser… I want to serve Kṛṣṇa. I want Kṛṣṇa only, nothing else. Oh Kṛṣṇa!”, 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, “Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!”, 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 Gadādhara, in the house, his heart was completely… “Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa.” 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 Kṛṣṇa.”, 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 Kṛṣṇa 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 Kṛṣṇa was, they were more intimately already situated in kṛṣṇa-bhakti. So, He would have private kīrtanas in the house of Śrīvāsa.

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 kīrtana, I don’t know if you have the same thing here, I know you have ecstatic kīrtanas, but this particular thing here, you have in India ecstatic kīrtana, devotees are jumping and suddenly some… you get sahajiyās there. Some sahajiyā 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 kīrtana, 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 Kṛṣṇa. Someone comes in there trying to light some kind of a profile or something, it would just ruin the whole thing, even if someone is 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 kīrtana, “What’s going on in there?” All the envious kind of, you know, caste brāhmaṇas, “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 Vaiṣṇavas.” “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. “Nah. Come on! They must be doing something.” “Ah, they’re not doing anything except chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and doing the purest activity.” “So, you’re one of them, are you?” Then they would come with some criticism. “Ah, you’re one of them.”

Of course, Kṛṣṇadāsa… rather, Vṛndāvanadāsa Ṭhākura, 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 kīrtana, 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 kīrtanas of Lord Caitanya.

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

adyapi sei lila 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 Kṛṣṇa Himself by the devotees.

After they coming and doing kīrtana, they knew that He was… He is 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 anyone’s, 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 saṅkīrtana movement, you see. But they didn’t exactly understand that He was Kṛṣṇa. That idea, few had, that He must… He can’t be some ordinary 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 it. You see.

Well, one day, Lord Caitanya, when He came into the house of Śrīvāsa, 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 Kṛṣṇa, and said, “You are Viṣṇu.” He would… “You are Kṛṣṇa.” He would cover His ears and say, “Viṣṇu! Viṣṇu! Viṣṇu! 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 Kṛṣṇa, 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 when He heard the name Narasiṁhadev, He became ecstatic, and He just took the form of Narasiṁha. There was also a pastime where He took the form of Varaha and lifted up something in the house of uh… of uh, Murāri Gupta. Like that, so there were rare occasions where He took a form of Viṣṇu, or like when He revealed His form to that brahmāṇa who o… tried to offer the prasāda 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. 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 is something very special and different. And immediately He called the younger brother of Śrīvāsa 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 into material world, is here in Nadia. You bring him now, and you tell his wife to come along with all the uh, articles for worship.”

So, then uh, Rāmāi Paṇḍita was his name. 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 Kṛṣṇa, 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. (laughter)

So then he came into 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 is known as Tri-yuga, and why will He pick Nadia to come?” So, Rāmāi Paṇḍita, “I didn’t say anything.” He knew, well Advaita Gosāñī is very eccentric and there is 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 pūjā, and this, that. Then he became quiet, and said, “what do you want, why have you come?” So Rāmāi said, “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 is here in Nadia. He is 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 jumping, 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, he 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 Gosāñi, 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 is the Lord of my heart. He knows everything. Otherwise, I’m not. How should I believe? You go tell Him, I’m not coming.”

Meanwhile, Sītā Devī had already made up the ārati 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 Kṛṣṇa. So, she was immediately ready with all the instruments for worshiping Kṛṣṇa, to assist her husband. So he was going to just tell her, “Well, get the ārati… Alright. Let’s go.” zipping sound

So, they ran and hid in one house near Śrīvāsa’s house, without telling anybody. When Rāmāi Paṇḍita 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 is trying to hide from Me? He wants to hide from Me? Nāḍā, Nāḍā!” He used to call his nickname, Nāḍā. You see, means a very clean Vaiṣṇava. So He would call out, “Hey, Advaita, 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 Nimāi Paṇḍita. There was the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu with effulgence more brilliant than millions of suns, and around Him everything, all the whole material world became blinded out by that effulgence, then Lord Nityānanda prabhu came and He held… just as the Ananta-Śeṣa, He held the umbrella over the head of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and the other devotee was there, fanning, and these devotees were the only visible objects amidst that effulgence that was coming everywhere. A whole material world had become blinded by the brahma-jyoti, and there Advaita Gosāñi, as he was looking there, different demigods, they were coming, Śiva, Brahmā, Nārada, and they were offering their prayers, you see.

They were all offering their prayers to the ser… the descend, 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 down! 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 stunned, ecstatic… and all the devotees, they were start chanting:

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

You see. And then, Advaita Gosāñi, he performed then the worship of Lord Caitanya. His wife brought over the ārati paraphernalia and he started to do worship of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He did a worship putting tulasī on His lotus feet, you see, which is only… tulasī 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 tulasī placed.

So, this was significant that Advaita Gosāñi 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 it’s 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 of Caitanya on Advaita. But maybe… that’s some more time, and there’s no time for that.

Devotee: Finish. (laughter)

Jayaptaka Swami: Huh?

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

Jayaptaka 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. I have nothing like that. 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. What do you want? You want liberation, you want this, 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. He kept saying, “No, no. I don’t want anything. I am not any business deal. You’ve come here. That’s enough. I don’t want anything in exchange. 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 Gosāñi 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 avatāra, my humble desire, my request is that, “In every other descent You would always give Your mercy to very highly qualified brāhmaṇas, highly qualified kṣatriyas, highly qualified persons who were very, you see, highly situated. But, my special request is that in this avatāra, 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, “Taṭasthā. So be it.”

“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… 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. Taṭasthā. 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 kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma 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. He would respect Him just as an 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 ārati performed, and kīrtana. 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 kṛṣṇa-līlā. That’s a wonderful pastime, also.

So, of course, ah, Advaita Gosāñi’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 Rūpa and Sanātana, they were Prime Ministers. They were powerful ministers in the government. They were fully knowledgeable in the śāstra. They would daily hear Bhāgavatam, 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 is no one more Vaiṣṇava 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 scam that, “Well, I deserve the mercy of Lord Caitanya, because I’ve done saṅkīrtana 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.” But the only way we can say we deserve that is, ‘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 I got.. Now He has to because…” for any other reason than being the most fallen, you see. Then the danger is there that, 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 śloka around your neck.”

tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā
amāninā māna-dena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

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

You see. So we should try to appreciate how great is the mercy Lord Caitanya is 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 Kṛṣṇa, or ecstatic devotion for Kṛṣṇa.

This is all possible because one pure devotee Śrīla Prabhupāda 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 Mahāprabhu 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 I can 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 saṅkīrtana movement. You fully become satisfied in love for Kṛṣṇa and ecstatic devotional service, then don’t just keep it to yourself. Give it to others. Make everyone happy. Hari Bol! Hari Bol! Nitai Gaurapremānande, Hari Hari Bol! Glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda, kī…

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayaptaka Swami: Glories to Prabhupāda’s followers, kī…

Devotees: Jaya!

Devotee: Jayapatākā Maharaja, ki….

Devotees: Jaya!