19880830 Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya-līlā 6.221-241

The following is the class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on August 30th 1988 in Trivandrum India. The class begins with a reading from Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Anthya Līlā chapter 6, text 221 to 241.

 

vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun Vaiṣṇavams ca

                       sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam

sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devam

sri-radha-Kṛṣṇa-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

 

 

prabhure govinda kahe,--"raghunātha 'prasāda' nā laya

rātrye siṁha-dvāre khāḍā hañā māgi' khāya"

 

Translation:

Govinda said to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "Raghunātha dāsa no longer takes prasāda here. Now he stands at the Siṁha-dvāra, where he begs some alms to eat."

 śuni' tuṣṭa hañā prabhu kahite lāgila

"bhāla kaila, vairāgīra dharma ācarila

 

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard this, He was greatly satisfied. "Raghunātha Dāsa has done well," He said. "He has acted suitably for a person in the renounced order.

vairāgī karibe sadā nāma-saṅkīrtana

māgiyā khāñā kare jīvana rakṣaṇa

 

"A person in the renounced order should always chant the holy name of the Lord. He should beg some alms to eat, and he should sustain his life in this way.

Purport:

As stated in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa at the end of the twentieth Vilāsa (366, 379, 382) Its states:

kṛtyānyetāni tu prāyo

gṛhiṇāṁ dhanināṁ satām

likhitāni na tu tyakta-

parigraha-mahātmanām

 

prabhāte cārdha-rātre ca

madhyāhne divasa-kṣaye

kīrtayanti hariṁ ye vai

te taranti bhavārṇavam

 

evam ekāntināṁ prāyaḥ

kīrtanaṁ smaraṇaṁ prabhoḥ

kurvatāṁ parama-prītyā

kṛtyam anyan na rocate

 

A well-to-do householder Vaiṣṇava cannot live like a person in the renounced order who completely takes shelter of the holy name. Such a householder should chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa in the morning, at midday and in the evening. Then he will be able to cross beyond nescience. Pure devotees in the renounced order, however, who fully surrender to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, should chant the holy name of the Lord with great love and faith, always thinking of the lord’s Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet. They should have no other occupation than chanting the holy name of the Lord. In the Bhakti-sandarbha, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says:

yadyapi śrī-bhāgavata-mate pañca-rātrādivad-arcana-mārgasyāvaśyakatvaṁ nāsti, tad vināpi śaraṇāpattyādīnām ekatareṇāpi puruṣārtha-siddher abhihitatvāt.

 

vairāgī hañā yebā kare parāpeksā

kārya-siddhi nahe, kṛṣṇa karena upekṣā

 

"A vairāgī [a person in the renounced order] should not depend on others. 'If he does so, he will be unsuccessful, and he will be neglected by Kṛṣṇa.

vairāgī hañā kare jihvāra lālasa

paramārtha yāya, āra haya rasera vaśa

 

"If a renunciant is eager for his tongue to taste different foods, his spiritual life will be lost, and he will be subservient to the tastes of his tongue.

vairāgīra kṛtya--sadā nāma-saṅkīrtana

śāka-patra-phala-mūle udara-bharaṇa

 

"The duty of a person in the renounced order is to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra always. He should satisfy his belly with whatever vegetables, leaves, fruits and roots are available.

jihvāra lālase yei iti-uti dhāya

śiśnodara-parāyaṇa kṛṣṇa nāhi pāya"

 

"One who is subservient to the tongue and who thus goes here and there, devoted to the genitals and the belly, cannot attain Krsna"

āra dina raghunātha svarūpa-caraṇe

āpanāra kṛtya lāgi' kailā nivedane

 

The next day, Raghunātha dāsa inquired at the lotus feet of Svarūpa Dāmodara about his duty.

 

"ki lāgi' chāḍāilā ghara, nā jāni uddeśa

ki mora kartavya, prabhu kara upadeśa"

 

"I do not know why I have given up household life," he said. "What is my duty? Kindly give me instructions."

rabhura āge kathā-mātra nā kahe raghunātha

svarūpa-govinda-dvārā kahā ya nija-vāt

 

Raghunātha dāsa never even spoke a word before the Lord Caitanya. Instead, he informed the Lord of his desires through Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī and Govinda.

prabhura āge svarūpa nivedilā āra dine

raghunātha nivedaya prabhura caraṇe

 

The next day, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī submitted to Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,"Raghunātha dāsa has this to say at Your lotus feet.

"ki mora kartavya, muñi nā jāni uddeśa

āpani śrī-mukhe more kara upadeśa"

 

"I do not know my duty or the goal of my life. Therefore, please personally give me instructions from Your transcendental mouth.' "

hāsi' mahāprabhu raghunāthere kahila

"tomāra upadeṣṭā kari' svarūpere dila

 

Smiling, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu told Raghunātha dāsa" I have already appointed Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī as your instructor.

 

'sādhya'-'sādhana'-tattva śikha iṅhāra sthāne

āmi tata nāhi jāni, iṅho yata jāne

 

"You may learn from him what your duty is and how to discharge it. I do not know as much as he.

tathāpi āmāra ājñā ya śraddhā yadi haya

āmāra ei vākye tabe kariha niścaya

 

"Nevertheless, if you want to take instructions from Me with faith and love, you may ascertain your duties from the following words.

grāmya-kathā nā śunibe, grāmya-vārtā nā kahibe

bhāla nā khāibe āra bhāla nā paribe

 

"Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. You should not eat very palatable food, nor should you dress very nicely.

 

amānī mānada hañā kṛṣṇa-nāma sadā la'be

vraje rādhā-kṛṣṇa-sevā mānase karibe

 

"Do not expect honor, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and within your mind render service to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana.

 

Purport:

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya that when a man and woman are married, they beget children and are thus entangled in family life. Talk concerning such family life is called gramya katha.  A person in the renounced order never indulges in either hearing or talking about such subjects. He should not eat palatable dishes, since that is unfit for a person in the renounced order. He should show all respect to others, but should not expect respect for himself. In this way, one should chant the holy name of the Lord and think of how to serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvan.

 

His Holiness Jyapataka Swami: So RagunnathDas was given instructions by Śrī Chaityna Mahāprabhu.

Jai Nitāi Gaur ki ….

Devotees: Jai [Bell rings]

 

Raghunnath Das is each of the associate of Mahāprabhu, has got different qualities which are outstanding.

Rāmānanda Rāya had a great quality that he was never disturbed by sense gratification of any kind, never the slightest desire for sense gratification ever touched him.

Swaroop Damodar, Rūpa and Sanātana Goswamis they were the most humble of all the devotees, they were very very humble, and everything they did.

Raghunātha Das his quality, he was the most renounced.

 

Actually, Raghunātha Das was the richest family, one of the very richest family of the Bengal.

His father and uncle had to pay taxes every year one million two hundred gold coins.  That was tax they paid.  What actually they kept for themselves, that was the annual tax.

Sometimes they cheated the Government and paid only eight hundred thousand and got caught and Raghunātha Das had to go and get his uncle and father out of the prison for only paying eight hundred thousand gold coins.

Today cold coin is worth three thousand rupees.  So, one million gold coins today is more than three billion rupees.  That make them one of the richest people of that time.  That was that time, now what money was then and now is much more buying power.  That puts them similar to the some of the richest people on the earth, that’s how rich they were.

They were always devoted to Lord Caitanya in one way or another.

Ragunnath Das came from that background. He did chida dahi mahotsav, he could feed hundred and thousands of people without slightest strain. He did not find any afford in giving two pots of condensed milk and yogurt. They could eat as much as they want. Hundreds and thousands of people, he did not feel any strain. He enjoyed it, giving such a feast.

But that Raghunātha Das, he showed most austere position. First when he joined Caitanya Movement as a sanayasi, leaving his family and house and his parents sent him some money. He thought what shall I do with this money.

So, he would invite Lord Caitanya every day and he would feed Lord Caitanya, buy mahaprasad with the money. He would not use it for himself then after a while he thought I am taking someone else money and feeding Lord Caitanya and this is actually not good. So, then he stops doing that. He start taking mahā prasādam himself and then he decided let me beg, in front of the temple. I will take whatever someone gives me and I will take a little then he thought that was also too opulent.

So, then he saw to take they were throwing Jagannath prasad sometimes it could be little extra and they throw it but it was old. so, he would take that and eat that prasādam but then he saw dogs and animals are coming and eat it. So, he felt that they are being deprived so he will wait till they finish eating and then there is some chunk of rice rotten they would not eat. He would break it open and take the good part out from the center and eat. like this he became so austere. Nobody could imitate what his austerity was.

One time he was taking prasad like this. He went from the family of richest people of the world to the most austere detached people. But always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and absorbed in serving Lord Caitanya. He wasn’t just depriving artificially he was actually so absorbed in love of Kṛṣṇa; he can reduce everything to such a minimum that was inconceivable.

One-time Lord Caitanya saw him taking like that. He said what prasad are you taking in, let me try some.

He said “No, no, no, no”.

How can I give this to you?

Lord Caitanya said “Its prasad give me”.

So then he hid it behind. He said this is not suitable for you.

Then Lord Caitanya ran after him, he was running away. He grabbed him and took the prasad from his hand and ate it. Oh this was the best prasad I had.

See when Lord Caitanya did something like this, in Navadip when he was a householder there was a one bramacari called Shukhlamber Bramacari. He was also like that. He would go every day with little bag, just four five grihasthas house and he gets some rice some chida, something like that. Then he would later he would just take that, go to some Brahmin house.

One time he had just chida, flat rice in his bag and Lord Caitanya saw him walking down the street chanting

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare,

Hare Rāma hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Bramcari with his begging bag then Lord Caitanya asked what you have there.

He said “No Nothing”.

 No no you got some prasāda. I want some prasādam from you.

He said “No no I don’t have nothing suitable to give you”.

 No, what you mean this is all prasad, Give me some prasādam.

No no I can’t give you that, then Lord Caitanya also grabbed him and took the bag and forcefully took some prasad.

Second time Lord Caitanya, he approved when his renounced disciples were very austere.  He liked them to be very austere at the same time for the grihasthas he did not expect they would be so austere. Rather Morning, noon and night they should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and they should in this way beginning of the day, middle of the day and end of the day they should be chanting holy name of the Lord. They should engage in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities.

So, for the gṛhastha they could discuss how was the son, how was the daughter.  Are they doing their studies, are they going there, all the things they have to discuss, you have to clean this, this news that news, paying the tax with the house, they have to discuss all these things. But for the vairāgīs, they should not have to discuss all  this family affairs or hear about this. Those days the situation was that for renounced order they didn’t have temple like that.

In this period of Mahāprabhu’s movement they were living like this very simply, under the tree wandering about and they lived in a very simple way, just taking some alms or some mahaprasad left over from some temple. This way they existed, later six Goswamis they were living like that, also in Vṛndāvan. Then some rich man came and offered some money so they built temples.

Although for themselves they lived under the tree, they also built the temple for the Lord, very big temples. Nice temples in Vṛndāvan.

Temple is so big that the Mugal Emperor from Delhi could see the light from the top of the temple. He said what is that. He said it’s a Hindu temple. He said break it, I don’t want Hindu temple higher than my palace.

So, they knocked off the top storeys of the temple, the Madan Mohan temple. Now the top two storey are knocked off, the others are still there.

For this they moved Rādhā Govind to Jaipur where they were more safe, under the protection of Rajasthani Rajput kings.  So, the very big temples they constructed, even in those days.

Ans subsequently, we found that the other generations of renounced orders, they were set up some asrams somewhere and often they were called sripads. They will lecturer from the Bhāgavatam. Some of them will travel and preach. someone would set up some Śrīpād and they would give lecturers. Many times, even grihastha preachers will do like that in Śrīpād.

Ramchandra Kavirāj or Srinivas ācārya, Srinivas Ācārya was at least grihasthas for sure. But like Narottam Das Thakur was a lifelong brahmacārī According to the different situation, they will travel and preach or they will set up a temple and preach.

So of course, our situation is bit difficult.

Prabhupāda told us if we go begging, now the so many false sādhus are going for begging from door to door.  And people will have wrong idea that these sādhus are not doing anything constructive for the society. They are just parasites, only begging, like this.

And those days’ people were very happy to give some alms to a sādhus.  They knew that this person by doing some austerities, always chanting he is doing the welfare for the whole society and people will go to them and naturally ask about the spiritual life. But now people are not going to all the sādhus rather sādhu has to go out to people.

If they put sign here Bhagavad Gītā for sale how many people look up?

You go to their office, their home and well! to some extend people may consider.

So Therefore, prabhupāda advised not to just beg something without giving something.  We should always give something so that people feel immediately that they are getting something in return. So, like that, they can become life member, we give them so many facilities also, books and other facilities so that they feel they are getting something directly or people give donation we give them some book or some prasādam. You give them something always not just taking empty handed.  Although it’s quite alright for vairāgī to take empty handed but because people, they are not that advanced and they need spiritual benefit therefore give them something like a transcendental literature.

So from the time of Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswati Thakur, when he actually started, vairāgīs devotees of Lord Caitanya became very few in quantity in the past two centuries. And many of them were not properly situated. Most of the people became grihastha devotes.

Of course, even Lord Caitanya’s time majority were grihasthas house holder devotees also there were good number of renounced aslo. Those days renounced order were very strict and lord Caitanya wanted to maintain his member of renounced order should not be less strict. They should also follow properly.

But Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswati Thakur saw the situation so he made many maṭhas where sādhus use to stay, we even find in the history that Rāmānuja or Madhvācārya, they established various temples and piṭhā sthal. And they had adipatis, the sadus use to stay in these religious places. His one of the instructions is that one should always live in the holy place like Mathurā. So, sādhus use to stay in some ashram or holy place and from there they go out travel and preach. So, this became the later system which was the more prominent.

So, Bhakti Siddhānta Thakur established the same thing that renounced people should live in the temples and they should preach in the temple or they should travel and preach and they should not stay in grihastha’s house more than two or three days maximum. If they are travelling preaching and say sometimes, they are staying in some grihastha’s house should not stay too long.  should stay one or two days maximum three days then gone. This is the system for the vairāgī. No one is there for burden by the presence of any preacher. So, this kind of basically following the system, having the temples, devotees staying is difficult to go before.

You see Raghunāth could get from Jagannath purī temple or he could beg out of temple and People would give or the other sādhus they could go to brāhmaṇas and get some food like Shuklambar bramhacari but now there are very few Brāhmaṇas are even vegetarian. May be especially outside of south India is very hard to find even vegetarian brāhmaṇas. So, called brahmanis they are not even vegetarian. You can’t even take their food although their name may be Mukharji or this ji or that ji or something but still they are eating so many things. So just because they are brahman you can’t depend that I can eat their food being a sādhu. They may give me anything, which is just unmentionable.

So now we take Kṛṣṇa prasad from the temples, so by taking Kṛṣṇa prasad from the temple, automatically one is regulated. Taking only at the regulated times. Whatever Kṛṣṇa is taking, some remnants we are getting, this way we people are.

So Śrīla Prabhupāda said better to take Kṛṣṇa prasādam that is actually transcendental. Going out eating in restaurant is not recommended for the devotees. Or seeking out rich people and eating at their homes, sometimes for preaching they insist you have to take prasādam, you have to take food.  When are you travelling and preaching sometimes we make some adjustments but for the renounced order they can do but actually for grihasthas it is more strict in this regard.

Grihastha’s should not take any charity from others in terms of food.  Actually, it is more strict for grihastha but for sanyasis in emergency they are travelling, they can take from some life member or something.

Although Lord Caitanya recommended don’t eat the food from the materialistic people.  Vishaya ann khāibe visakht hoilo mann, duost hoilo mann,

if you eat the food of materialistic people your mind get effected.  This will hamper your spiritual progress.

So, the best thing is to take Kṛṣṇa prasādam. We found travelling and preaching, even if we go to someone’s house, if we have our own deities, then we say alright we only take a.., we have cook food and offer to our deities, you can help.

So, I need, if we just went there. Although If we just went there ourselves to buy the food to offer, they won’t let. No no whatever you need we provide. Then they get all the things we need then we prepare and offer to the deities. That way find every one stay very nice. Then we invite house holder to come and take prasādam. We are their guest and he is our guest. We give him prasad.  So that’s way they find it very nice and we give them Kṛṣṇa Prasādam. Rather than just going there and eating from them.

So according to time and place some adjustment may be there for the preaching because it’s very hard to find Vaiṣṇavas may be in Kerala I don’t know in south somewhere there but in other places it’s difficult to find Vaiṣṇavas, you can actually rely on eating his food.

So, the standard is that we should not go out of way to get good food. We shouldn’t think where I should go to get some good meal.

Sometimes whenever Kṛṣṇa give, also the vairāgī people take it that this is the Lord’s mercy.  The grihasthas should offer nice food according to their capacity to the Kṛṣṇa’s deity in their house and take the remnants.  So, like that for each person some difference is there.

So just one or two more instructions given to Raghunātha Das then we will close it today.

Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā

amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

 

“One who thinks himself lower than a grass, one who is more tolerant then a tree, one who does not expect personal honor but who is prepared to give respect to others, can very easily chant the holy names of the Lord.”

Eta śuni Raghunātha vandilā charana

Mahāprabhu kaila tāṅre kripa alingan

“Having heard this Raghunatha Das offered his prayers at the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord out of great mercy embraced him”.

Punaḥ samarpilatanresvarupera sthāne

Antaraṅga sevā kare svarūpera sane

 

“Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu again entrusted him to Svarūpa Damoda. Thus Raghunātha Das rendered very confidential service with svarūpa Damodar Goswami”.

Purport:

Antaranga- sevā refres to service performed in one’s spiritual body.  Svarūpa Domdar Goswami was formerly Lalitā Devī. Raghunātha Das Goswami, who was among his assistants, now also began to serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa within his mind.

Raghunātha Das Goswami even in his body became a liberated soul.  He was totally absorbed in the past times of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he was totally detached from the material world.

Someone asked this question from Prabhupāda.

Raghunātha was taking this prasad which was thrown out. So, we should also take remnant from people’s plate. We give feast and people don’t finish their prasad so we should eat their remnants, what should we do, all these things?

Prabhupāda said “Raghunātha Das was already a liberated soul. He was seeing Rādhā Kṛṣṇa in his mind. He was worshipping Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in his heart always. He saw thrown out prasad, he could actually see Kṛṣṇa there.”

 

But if we artificially try to imitate Raghunātha Das not having that level of realization and faith then for the offence of trying to imitate such a great soul we may have to take.  Say some one eat the prasad and they don’t finish it. They may be sick person you may get the disease. You may think in your mind that this is a food eaten by someone else but I am taking it to show I am very renounced person so actually your purpose is something else. You are not actually seeing it as a Kṛṣṇa’s prasādam, this is transcendental, this is not affected by anything. In your mind you know it is eaten by someone else and that thing is still there. Artificially we should not take food from people who are on lower position normally.  Of course sometimes there is a rare circumstance.

One time there was in the temple in Calcutta, there was a big feast Anna Kuta.

Anna Kuta, they make a big mountain of rice, that Govardhana Pūjā. They made a huge mountain of rice and they made the offering to the lord. Then after the offering all of sudden, out of nowhere a dog came and ate up a piece of the rice. They chased the dog out. They all standing there what to do. The dog ate from that prasad.

So, nobody knew just standing there. So, they called Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswati Thakur, they told him what happened, the dog ate from Gowardhan hill.

He said ‘really’, he really came down and they showed ‘here’.

There was one piece was missing.

He said ‘right there’, he said ‘yes’.

He took from right there and ate it….

[Everybody laughs]

Now you can take. So, like that sometimes you see that the great souls have realization. This way every one entered into Anna kuta festival. Artificially we should not imitate without actually the realization, basic teaching is there.

So, Lord Caitanya instructed Raghunātha Das very strictly on renounced order but actually its wasn’t that he was going to join to be renounced. He was actually absorbed in Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s service. He was already on the transcendental platform.  And Renunciation was very natural thing.

So, this, now a days, we are not having that much standard Raghunātha Das has. If we try to force that artificially, most people couldn’t follow also.

Prabhpada, he said our austerity if we could follow the four regulative principles no meat eating, no fish, no onion garlic, no gambling, no intoxication  and no illicit sex and to engage always in Kṛṣṇa’s service, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and preaching, distributing books and this way stay always absorbed in hearing about Kṛṣṇa, chanting the glories of Kṛṣṇa. This is the best austerity we can do.

We pray for the blessings of Raghunātha Das and other such eternal associates of Lord Caitanya to give us the mood of complete dedication, realization and transcendental vairāgī vidyā, bhakti yoga so that we can do the maximum and give the maximum for the Lord Caitanya at every moment.

By this particular time and place, it’s difficult for us to do exactly what they did nor it is possible for us. So, we follow the instructions of the Guru, by following these four principles, chanting sixteen rounds and preaching all of the time. And this way Prabhupāda assured we can achieve the success but our mood should be like that and the basic instructions of course stand. we should not go seeking for just eating nice things, we should actually try to eat only Kṛṣṇa prasādam, try to do everything as service for Kṛṣṇa, all these things are there.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

[Bell rings]

Any questions?

Devotee: If we follow one Ekādaśī…

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: Which Ekādaśī?

Devotee - any Ekādaśī…. [Not Clear – 00:29:25]

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: On Ekādaśī all of the sinful activities are inside the grains. So, if we eat grains on Ekādaśī then we get sin.  So, on every Ekādaśī we don’t eat grains and we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is the basic system that we follow. Say One Ekādaśī we get benefit and next Ekādaśī we eat grains we don’t get up, is it?

Of Course, Bhīma he asked for some special, because he couldn’t keep track all the time this Ekādaśī or… he wanted one time, let me do extra for whole year so then he was given the Bhīma Ekādaśī, pandav nirjal Ekādaśī.

One time he has got fast without water, staying up the whole night, completely on the hottest day of the year, just do a very strict Ekādaśī, that was the good for whole year. But still, we do every time. Even someone does that still they go on following because Lord Caitanya recommended to mother Śacī also that you should do Ekādaśī. Ekādaśī anyway is good for spiritual advancement, it’s good for health, its good in all respects, good for national economy. Main thing is it is for the pleasure of the Lord. It’s not necessary to do the full fast and stay up all night but one should not eat grains on Ekādaśī. Grains and pulses this is the main thing.

Any other question.

We are not interested also in seeing the book of Ekādaśī from purāṇas which says you can become a king, you can go to swarga, you can get moksha different things are there. We are not concerned about these kinds of fruits of Ekādaśī, these are side benefits but we want from Ekādaśī, following is to get spontaneous devotion for Kṛṣṇa.

So, we do Ekādaśī every time to get more devotion. Someone by doing one Ekādaśī they may have got swarga, but for even swarga we are not interested. For devotees swarga is very insignificant.

Devotee: Is it imperative to become brāhmaṇa to worship the deities

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: To worship the installed deities according to pancaratic system. One is suppose to have a pancaratic mantra. Pancaratic mantra are given to brāhmaṇas, previously sometimes Vaiṣṇava were given pancaratic mantra without upanayanam but since Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswati Thakur said vaishanava who is qualified to worship the deity also as good as Brāhmaṇa. In some case they are not already Brahman by birth, he would give them upanayanam and pancaratic mantra at the same time.

But the system of deity worship is detailed in the Vedas and as well as in the pañcarātra. In kali yuga pañcarātric vidhi is recommended. So, if one wants to do the authorized deity worship that has to follow pañca ratric system. In pañca ratric system you need certain mantras, those are received through Guru Paramparā, so that second initiation gives this mantra otherwise picture or informal worship one may do by chanting…

Transcribed By: Maharani Bhadra DD

Transcribed On: 24-Aug-2020

 

Proof Reading By: Amrita Padma Devi Dasi

On 16/10/2020