19850507 Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 2.28-31 (Part 2)

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jaya Pataka Swami on May 7th 1985 at New Panihati Dham in Atlanta, Georgia. The class begins with a reading from the Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya lila Chapter 2, Text 28-31.

His Holiness Jayapataka Swami: Arjuna asked the same thing of Krishna that why is it that after hearing so many good instructions why is that knowingly we do abominable actions. Krishna said because of your lust. Spiritual master gives Krishna, naturally Krishna is all attractive. Prabhupada explains that because we are like jaundiced people - either we taste sugar when we have jaundice, we think its bitter. The Bhagavad Gita says that for a person in materialistic consciousness the things in the mode of goodness appear bitter at first, but in the end they are sweet. Those things which are in the mode of ignorance and passion they appear very...... rather in the mode of passion, they appear very sweet at first, but in the end they become bitter like poison. So we are addicted to, like children we want to take the sweet first, we want to immediately have, a sense gratification and then in the end we suffer for that. So Shreyas and Preyas, we have to see the short range and the long range.

Just like a person goes to university, struggles, gets an education so he can get a good job, so he can get some good income that means he has got some plan. He has a plan extending over several years. He endures sitting through classes and cramming for exams, for some material situation, for some material higher purpose. So, similarly we have to also have that type of you know determination at least to understand that to get eternal happiness, to achieve Krishna consciousness which is an ending, we have to expect in the beginning we may have to be a bit determined, enthusiastic, even though we may not initially because of our diseased condition,get a complete taste. Spiritual master is giving everything, but unfortunately we are so impure that when we taste it we are thinking that sugar is bitter. And therefore we are following our lust rather than following our higher intelligence. So we have to take the intelligence of the spiritual master. We have to guide ourselves by that intelligence of sadhu, shastra and guru. And once we get over it--the grossest level of our material contamination--then we can taste the sweet nectar. The person expects to get cured from the disease without taking the medicine, without seeing the doctor, without following the treatment - just by what, just by some imagination? No, there is a treatment, there is a medicine, there is a diet - you should eat Krishna prasadam, you have to chant Hare Krishna is the medicine. You have to follow the treatment given - getting up for mangala arati, associating with devotees, doing devotional service. You have to take advice and from the doctor and the other assistant doctors and nurses who are there - Guru and vaishnavas. And if the person is so rebellious - he goes into the hospital, he doesn't have the patience even.......to take even the first treatment, and then runs out and then says why I am diseased? What has the doctor given me? What have you taken!? Guru is giving, but the disciple if he doesn't take? And who's fault is it?

May be Rupanuga Prabhu could further enlighten us on this subject.

Rupanuga Prabhu: One can pray to Lord Nityananda Prabhu who so mercifully come before us that never mind in my heart that I am actually so attached. I am only making this a sporadic duty, but I am praying to you please take away my material attachments, take away this material attachments so I can follow my spiritual master and please him. Never mind my free will I now sign it away, I give permission, take it, my free will belongs to you, it causes me nothing but trouble. Because of my free will I'll walk out, and my free will..... I won't understand your mercy, so its this free will, you can't escape it, its always going to be there. We have to pray to Nityananda Prabhu to control it, to take it, offer it to him as our service--our devotional service--because one of my god brother's mother ___________[5:31] Prabhu asked Srila prabhupada the same question as Gaura Prema. Srila Prabhupada, why are we in here, why are we here before you, why, how are we so fortunate? Srila Prabhupada answered why aren't you out on the street, why aren't you out on the street passing this store front? Why aren't you walking by with the other people? and mother ___________[5:48] couldn't answer. Srila Prabhupada said free will. You choose to be here, and they choose to be out there. That is the only difference. You can't escape it. You can't ask why I had to misuse it or why can't you take my free will for me. You have to give it--voluntarily give it up. Because basically you only use it twice. To come in this material world and to go out. That's the only times we need it. Now we have chosen to go out. Don't use it again if you chose to stay in. It takes a lot of prayer and commitment to keep from choosing to go out again. So, you only need it twice.

HH Jayapataka Swami: ____________[6:30] When you have a 100% in Maya, you have 0% spiritual, what you are doing is you are transferring so the initial transfer may seem difficult but the more you put on the other side your side is lighter and when you are over the 50% mark then it starts to get really nice. And as it comes up to 99% then you are in ecstasy and that is the example of Bhakti Vinoda Thakur. At 99% you are in bhava, you are in ecstasy. Then its upto Krishna when he makes it 100%. Hare Krishna.

Translation: “ ‘My dear friends, unless I serve the transcendental form, qualities and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, all My days and all My senses will become entirely useless. Now I am uselessly bearing the burden of My senses, which are like stone blocks and dried wood. I do not know how long I will be able to continue without shame.’ (CC Madhya 2.28)

vaṁśī-gānāmṛta-dhāma, lāvaṇyāmṛta-janma-sthāna, ye nā dekhe se cāṅda vadana se nayane kibā kāja, paḍuka tāra muṇḍe vāja, se nayana rahe ki kāraṇa

(CC Madhya 2.29) Translation: “Of what use are the eyes of one who does not see the face of Kṛṣṇa, which resembles the moon and is the birthplace of all beauty and the reservoir of the nectarean songs of His flute? Oh, let a thunderbolt strike his head! Why does he keep such eyes?"

Purport: The moon like face of Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of nectarean songs and the abode of His flute. It is also the root of all bodily beauty. The gopīs think that if their eyes are not engaged in seeing the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa, it is better for them to be struck by a thunderbolt. For the gopīs, to see anything but Kṛṣṇa is uninteresting and, indeed, detestable. The gopīs are never pleased to see anything but Kṛṣṇa. The only solace for their eyes is the beautiful moonlike face of Kṛṣṇa, the worshipful object of all senses. When they cannot see the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa, they actually see everything as vacant, and they desire to be struck by a thunderbolt. They do not find any reason to maintain their eyes when they are bereft of the beauty of Kṛṣṇa.

kṛṣṇera madhura vāṇī, amṛtera taraṅgiṇī, tāra praveśa nāhi ye śravaṇe kāṇākaḍi-chidra sama, jāniha se śravaṇa, tāra janma haila akāraṇe (CC Madhya 2.31)

Translation: “Topics about Kṛṣṇa are like waves of nectar. If such nectar does not enter one’s ear, the ear is no better than the hole of a damaged conchshell. (Devotees Laughing) Such an ear is created for no purpose."

Purport: In this connection, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura quotes the following verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.3.17-24):

āyur harati vai puṁsām udyann astaṁ ca yann asau tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta uttama-śloka-vārtayā

taravaḥ kiṁ na jīvanti bhastrāḥ kiṁ na śvasanty uta na khādanti na mehanti kiṁ grāme paśavo ’pare

śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ na yat-karṇa-pathopeto jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ

bile batorukrama-vikramān ye na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ

bhāraḥ paraṁ paṭṭa-kirīṭa-juṣṭam apy uttamāṅgaṁ na namen mukundam śāvau karau no kurute saparyāṁ harer lasat-kāñcana-kaṅkaṇau vā

barhāyite te nayane narāṇāṁ liṅgāni viṣṇor na nirīkṣato ye pādau nṛṇāṁ tau druma-janma-bhājau kṣetrāṇi nānuvrajato harer yau

jīvañ-chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ na jātu martyo ’bhilabheta yas tu śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ śvasañ-chavo yas tu na veda gandham

tad aśma-sāraṁ hṛdayaṁ batedaṁ yad gṛhyamāṇair hari-nāmadheyaiḥ na vikriyetātha yadā vikāro netre jalaṁ gātra-ruheṣu harṣaḥ

Anyone understood....

Audience: No

Jayapataka Swami: So translation here “Both by rising and setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.

Do the trees not live? Do the bellows of the blacksmith not breathe? All around us, do the beasts not eat and discharge semen? Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from evils. One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord should be considered to possess ears like the holes of snakes and a tongue like that of a frog. The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, is only a heavy burden if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead, who can award mukti [freedom]. And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, are like those of a dead man if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead Hari. The eyes which do not look at the symbolic representations of the Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu [His forms, names, qualities, pastimes etc.] are like those printed on the plumes of a peacock, and the legs which do not move to the holy places [where the Lord is remembered] are considered to be like tree trunks. The person who has not at any time received upon his head the dust from the feet of a pure devotee of the Lord is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the flavor of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing. Certainly that heart is steel-framed which, in spite of one’s chanting the holy name of the Lord with concentration, does not change and feel ecstasy, at which time tears fill the eyes and the hairs stand on end.” End of the translation.

He quotes from the Srimad Bhagavatham. He revealed how dynamic, revolutionary the Srimad Bhagavatam is. This is the second canto. In the first canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam states that those literatures which are glorifying the transcendental qualities of the Lord, they create a revolution in the sinful lives--materialistic lives--of the conditioned souls. So, these are all very, of course, revolutionary kind of statements. But each of them has got their truth. If we look from the transcendental point of view, one day we are walking on the roof of our building in Mayapur - first International guest house and temple, and Srila Prabhupada was looking up at the stars. We were having some discussion about what the moon was made of and so on. And then Srila Prabhupada pointed out just as we look down on the little ants who are crawling on the ground and we think that how insignificant they are with their minute civilizations. He said similarly there are entities on other planets looking down on the human civilization from the same perspective as we look down on the ants. And they are thinking what funny things they are doing--building these horrible cities, running here and there. So, there is one thing which a human being can do which can elevate the human being even above those higher planetary systems' residents. That is to realize the transcendental reality. To realize Krishna, to know Krishna, then one becomes a vaishnava, which is if you are a devotee of the Lord, that is a position far beyond anything material. There is after all a difference between a human being and an ant, even though there may be other entities who have such a long life in such power that they can look down upon us, that we don't doubt. But we do have the free will to be able to hear and develop our natural understanding and love for Krishna. Someone who neglects to do that is really missing the point. Not only that, they are missing the nectar according to the Srimad Bhagavatam. Is there any questions? Yes?

Question: [indistinct] Jayapataka Swami: But not every life you get a choice. The choice is only possible in human form of birth. One can also take birth in the animal species and they don't have, their consciousness is not developed enough to see beyond eating and sleeping and mating and fighting and so on. So first thing is we have to be in a human birth. There are many human births which are also like if one's born in Russia, Vietnam or some other places you might not get such a choice also. Or if you are born in some kind of uncivilized situation then you might not get that type of.. choice you may have the ability to chose but you need also that type of an association, that information to chose from. The scriptures, the shatras--the vedic shastras--says that we are nitya badha. Nitya means eternally, badha means conditioned or bound in the material world. You can say we have like a life imprisonment. But we can get parole when ever we want it. But we only know that there is such a thing as parole or some where else to go to in human form of species or up. Animals don't have much intuition on these matters. And as a human being therefore it is said that "athatho Brahma jijnasa" This is the time to inquire what are the alternatives? Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going to? What is the purpose of life? What existed before the material world? What exists after? How, what are the laws that make the material world run? Or is there life on other planets? So many questions like this human beings can ask and find the answers also. If one after getting information finds out that there is an eternal spiritual world where there is no birth, no death, no old age, no disease and if one decides that at the end of life or sooner or later he'd like to go there rather than continually take this risk of repeated birth and death in this material world sometimes as an animal sometimes as a human, sometimes as some other creature. Of course generally if someone chants, if they practice spiritual life, they get a chance to get human birth again. The human being if he goes back into the animal kingdom it is a symptom of being in gross ignorance. Once a person, the same soul once he decides that he wants to get liberation and then surrenders to bonafide spiritual master, follows the system of Bhakti yoga, then he can very easily end this cycle of birth and death and achieve realization of Krishna. Once you achieve complete realization then that soul is known as a nitya mukta. Mukta means liberated, nitya again means eternal. That means that even when we are in this material world in eternity, for billions and billions of years, once we come above the material world to the plane of eternal time it seems like nothing. Because there was a beginning to our coming, there is ultimately an end. Even though it practically is like an eternity. Maybe billions of years even. Once you leave the material world, that scale of time in the spiritual world is such that, that it appears to be quite insignificant. And one, in any case, no longer wants to come back again to the material world. First time, someone can fall down. The second time they don't come back. So, once a person is freed, there is no more stigma. "Oh...he was fallen, now he is free. He may again fall." there is nothing like that, no. Unlike someone who goes to prison, after that forever he is a marked man. When you are freed, you are eternally free--clean slate.

Question: [indistinct]

Jayapataka Swami: Technically, until one achieves pure love for Krishna one isn't 100% free. Just like, kind of like a fire in the house. Say there is a fire in the house. You put water, you isolate it, take it down and finally there is just one little corner it is just burning, few coals are still there. Everything else has been put out, but still you have to go on trying to put that out. If you just leave it again it can flare up and start burning. So even though a person he maybe 90% put the fire out, or 95, or some greater amount. But even at an advanced stage, if they become careless again until it is 100% out, it can again flare up. Once it is down to the very small percentage, it is not difficult to keep it down. But when it expands then it is difficult. So, we have to always keep the fire reduced. Don't add any more fuel on to the fire. A person may have been quite pure but if they become careless also, then again that can flare up. Doesn't mean that necessarily a person may have been quite pure, but by offenses, by carelessness, by bad association, by accepting the offenses of other devotees...like so many causes a person could again become spiritually polluted--I mean materially polluted. So therefore, we have to, until.......just like in a marathon, if you are just 10 feet from the end then you decide to lay down......you have to finish the race.....or you turn around and go the other direction. You get disease, you turn around....just finish the race to the end. Somehow if a person chants the 16 rounds, follows the principles, just to the end of this body, they go back to godhead. Somehow by different reasons one may become careless, that puts one in difficulty.

Question: [indistinct]

Jayapataka Swami: Jada bharatha had achieved the stage of Bhava. Bhava is a 99% stage of ecstatic devotion--ecstatic love. But he didn't consult his guru. Whimsically, he started to develop an affection for a deer. So, until..although he had come up to the 99th percent point, he slipped back a little bit. Some of that affection went towards the deer, which shouldn't have been placed in the deer. So therefore this is also the way Krishna made him more determined because although he took birth as a deer, he did remember--he didn't forget--his previous birth as a great king and a yogi. So that just was like more of an impetus, in one sense. Due to his own mistake.......even if someone may have reached the stage of ecstatic devotion, he shouldn't think that he doesn't have to follow the instruction of his spiritual master or he doesn't have to consult--he is already advanced enough--he can figure it out. If he would have consulted with his spiritual master is this alright to have this deer, then he would have got the information. Don't go out of your way keeping pets and all those things. You develop attachment.

Question: [indistinct]

Jayapataka Swami: Well, to safeguard against them........... Of course, the cows are very dear to Krishna. Thats why when we worship, we worship the cows once a year, remembering their pastimes with Krishna. Then we learn to see everything in connection with Krishna. And cows are for producing Krishna's milk, so by properly dovetailing one's thoughts and connecting them with Krishna, then one can be freed from that danger. There was no Krishna conscious.....a cat has some function, sometime I think they tend to.... cats and dogs they have some function in certain communities. So do the cows, they produce milk. As such, deer and others they don't have that much practical function. In Mayapur, we have deer, elephants, so many....... but Bharath maharaja had become very affectionate. That deer died while giving birth to the calf. So the calf didn't know any other mother than Bharath. I don't know if the cat loves you that much. [33:04] __________, when I grew up. Anyway, one should never see something except how it is in relation with Krishna.