19910629 Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya līlā.6.1-37

Lecture Code: 19910629

Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta Anthya Līlā 6.1—37 Lecture By

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja

In New Panihati Dham Atlanta Georgia

 

vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams 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

 

kṛpā-guṇair yaḥ kugṛhāndha-kūpād

uddhṛtya bhaṅgyā raghunātha-dāsam

nyasya svarūpe vidadhe ’ntar-aṅgaṁ

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanyam amuṁ prapadye

 

 

Translation

With the ropes of His causeless mercy, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu employed a trick to deliver Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī from the blind well of contemptible family life. He made Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī one of His personal associates, placing him under the charge of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī. I offer my obeisances unto Him.

 

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

All glories to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityānanda! All glories to Śrī Advaita Ācārya! And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu!

 

ei-mata gauracandra bhakta-gaṇa-saṅge

nīlācale nānā līlā kare nānā-raṅge

Thus Lord Gauracandra performed various pastimes with His associates at Jagannātha Purī in varieties of transcendental pleasure.

 

yadyapi antare kṛṣṇa-viyoga bādhaye

bāhire nā prakāśaya bhakta-duḥkha-bhaye

Although Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt pangs of separation from Kṛṣṇa, He did not manifest His feelings externally, for He feared the unhappiness of His devotees.

 

utkaṭa viraha-duḥkha yabe bāhirāya

tabe ye vaikalya prabhura varṇana nā yāya

The transformations undergone by the Lord when He manifested severe unhappiness due to separation from Kṛṣṇa cannot be described.

 

rāmānandera kṛṣṇa-kathā, svarūpera gāna

viraha-vedanāya prabhura rākhaye parāṇa

When the Lord acutely felt pangs of separation from Kṛṣṇa, only Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya’s talks about Kṛṣṇa and the sweet songs of Svarūpa Dāmodara kept Him alive.

 

dine prabhu nānā-saṅge haya anya mana

rātri-kāle bāḍe prabhura viraha-vedana

Because the Lord associated with various devotees during the day, His mind was somewhat diverted, but at night the pangs of separation from Kṛṣṇa increased very rapidly.

tāṅra sukha-hetu saṅge rahe dui janā

kṛṣṇa-rasa-śloka-gīte karena sāntvanā

Two people — Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī — stayed with the Lord to pacify Him by reciting various verses about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes and by singing appropriate songs for His satisfaction.

 

subala yaiche pūrve kṛṣṇa-sukhera sahāya

gaura-sukha-dāna-hetu taiche rāma-rāya

Previously, when Lord Kṛṣṇa was personally present, Subala, one of His cowherd boyfriends, gave Him happiness when He felt separation from Rādhārāṇī. Similarly, Rāmānanda Rāya helped give happiness to Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

 

pūrve yaiche rādhāra lalitā sahāya-pradhāna

taiche svarūpa-gosāñi rākhe mahāprabhura prāṇa

Previously, when Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī felt the pangs of separation from Kṛṣṇa, Her constant companion Lalitā kept Her alive by helping Her in many ways. Similarly, when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt Rādhārāṇī’s emotions, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī helped Him maintain His life.

 

ei dui janāra saubhāgya kahana nā yāya

prabhura ‘antaraṅga’ bali’ yāṅre loke gāya

To describe the fortunate position of Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī is extremely difficult. They were renowned as intimately confidential friends of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

 

ei-mata vihare gaura lañā bhakta-gaṇa

raghunātha-milana ebe śuna, bhakta-gaṇa

The Lord thus enjoyed His life with His devotees. O devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, now hear how Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī met the Lord.

 

For the first introduction explaining them, intimate services Ramananda Raya and Swarup damodar were performing to Lord Caitanya established how inconceivably elevated, confidential incomparably confidential servitors of the Lord they are. Raghunatha das will become the assistant to Swarup damodar, will be, after them very intimately associated with Lord Caitanya mahaprabhu.

 

Now that we can appreciate the greatness of Swarup damodar and Ramanandaraya, now we can see that Raghunatha dasa is going to become their assistant. He must also be pretty exceptional, pretty great. So, how Raghunatha das joining Swarup damodar in Jagannatha Puri, this is explained now.

 

pūrve śāntipure raghunātha yabe āilā

mahāprabhu kṛpā kari’ tāṅre śikhāilā

When Raghunātha dāsa, during his family life, went to meet Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Śāntipura, the Lord gave him worthy instructions by His causeless mercy.

 

prabhura śikṣāte teṅho nija-ghare yāya

markaṭa-vairāgya chāḍi’ hailā ‘viṣayi-prāya’

Instead of becoming a so-called renunciate, Raghunātha dāsa, following the instructions of the Lord, returned home and played exactly like a pound-and-shillings man.

 

bhitare vairāgya, bāhire kare sarva-karma

dekhiyā ta’ mātā-pitāra ānandita mana

Raghunātha dāsa was inwardly completely renounced, even in family life, but he did not express his renunciation externally. Instead, he acted just like an ordinary businessman. Seeing this, his father and mother were satisfied.

Previously Raghunatha dasa, he decided he wanted to go and join Caitanya mahaprabhu although his father and uncle living in a joint village family where at that time, the land lord's under the feudal system of the Empire of the Hussein Shah, they were like small kings and they wanted a feudal system they had to collect the taxes from the peasants and give it to the Emperor. The share of tax they had to provide every year was 1 million two hundred thousand gold coins. How much is 1 million two hundred thousand today? 

 

So in those days, even hundred years ago, Prabhupada said his father with a few rupees would purchase enough food to feed the family for the whole year. They would buy one time all the grains for the year. It would cost several rupees. How many people didn't even use money they use koncha at this time. So that was their money, koncha.

 

To get something for rupee , you have to buy something very big and so many rupees were equal to a gold coin that Sanatana Goswami’s servant Ishan, with one gold coin, he lived his whole life opulently. So, if you have to pay that much tax, obviously making more than you pay tax. S they were very rich but Raghunatha dasa was totally just disinterested. But he was trying to just artificially renounce everything and leave abruptly.

 

So Lord Chiatanya said the sudden abrupt leaving one’s material situation is not recommended. You should use everything in the service of Kṛṣṇa. So the Panihati Chida dahi mahotsav or Danda mahotsava, he is also showing to the world how a vaishnava can engage his wealth, his energy, his devotion in the service of the Lord. It is one of the countless instructions to be gained in the example of Raghunatha dasa.

 

Raghunatha dasa was very sincere. He followed Lord Caitanya's instructions. Lord Chaitanya told him, why do you keep trying to run away? So just be like a wife, if she has a paramour, she does her household work very carefully, so she's not discovered. But her heart is always, her mind is always with her lover and that way you do your material activities externally. No one will see that you are not interested in it, but actually you keep your mind always on Kṛṣṇa. This is the way that we should perform our devotional service.

 

Throughout the scriptures that says that we should be detached and perhaps there should be detached from family. That doesn't mean they should neglect their responsibilities but that while they're doing their activities, they should see the temporary nature of all these arrangements and keep their heart, keep their mind at the Lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. If somebody thinks that by some material arrangement I'll be happy then that person is considered fallen into the dark well.

 

But the Vaishnava devotees know that by no material arrangement can we ever achieve ultimate peace or happiness. These are flickering happiness and then suffering, flickering happiness then suffering, so they keep their mind always at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. They look for their spiritual inspiration by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. So this is called Yukta vairagya, markata vairagya is imitating a monkey, just give up everything and run away into the forest, appear very renounced and then do all type of nonsense. So Mayadevi wanted to test Raghunatha whether he was following Lord Caitanya's instructions or not.

 

hena-kāle mulukera eka mleccha adhikārī

saptagrāma-mulukera se haya ‘caudhurī’

At that time there was a Mohamadan official collecting the taxes of Saptagrāma.

Purport

Formerly, when the Muslim government was in power, the person appointed tax collector would collect the taxes of the local zamindars, or landholders. He would keep one fourth of the collection for himself as a profit, and the balance he would deliver to the treasury of the government.

 

hiraṇya-dāsa muluka nila ‘makrari’ kariyā

tāra adhikāra gela, mare se dekhiyā

When Hiraṇya dāsa, Raghunātha dāsa’s uncle, made an agreement with the government to collect taxes, the Mohamadan caudhurī, or tax collector, having lost his position, became extremely envious of him.

 

bāra lakṣa deya rājāya, sādhe biśa lakṣa

se ‘turuk’ kichu nā pāñā haila pratipakṣa

Hiraṇya dāsa was collecting 2,000,000 coins and therefore should have delivered 1,500,000 to the government. Instead, he was giving only 1,200,000, thus making an extra profit of 300,000 coins. Seeing this, the Mohamadan caudhurī, who was a Turk, became his rival.

 

rāja-ghare kaiphiyat diyā ujīre ānila

hiraṇya-dāsa palāila, raghunāthere bāndhila

After sending a confidential account to the government treasury, the caudhurī brought the minister in charge. The caudhurī came, wanting to arrest Hiraṇya dāsa, but Hiraṇya dāsa had left home. Therefore the caudhurī arrested Raghunātha dāsa.

 

prati-dina raghunāthe karaye bhartsanā

‘bāpa-jyeṭhāre āna’, nahe pāibā yātanā

Every day, the Mohamadan would chastise Raghunātha dāsa and tell him, “Bring your father and his elder brother. Otherwise you will be punished.”

 

mārite ānaye yadi dekhe raghunāthe

mana phiri’ yāya, tabe nā pāre mārite

The caudhurī wanted to beat him, but as soon as he saw Raghunātha’s face, his mind changed, and he could not beat him.

 

viśeṣe kāyastha-buddhye antare kare ḍara

mukhe tarje garje, mārite sabhaya antara

Indeed, the caudhurī was afraid of Raghunātha dāsa because Raghunātha dāsa belonged to the kāyastha community. Although the caudhurī would chastise him with oral vibrations, he was afraid to beat him.

Purport

Raghunātha dāsa belonged to a very aristocratic family of the kāyastha community. He had substantial influence with the local people, and therefore the caudhurī, or minister, was afraid to beat him. Superficially he would chastise Raghunātha dāsa with threatening vibrations, but he did not beat him. The members of the kāyastha community in India are generally very intelligent and expert in business management. Formerly they were mostly government officers. They were mentioned even by Yājñavalkya, as quoted by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya:

 

mahā-sāhasikādibhiḥ cāṭa-taskara-durvṛttair

kāyasthaiś ca viśeṣataḥ pīḍyamānā prajā rakṣet

From this verse it appears that the governmental officials of the kāyastha community would sometimes chastise the citizens, and thus it was the duty of the king to protect the people in general from the atrocities of the kāyasthas. In Bengal the kāyastha community is honored almost as much as the brāhmaṇa community, but in the up-country of India the kāyasthas are considered śūdras because they generally eat meat and drink wine. In any case, from history the kāyasthas appear very intelligent. Thus the Mohamadan caudhurī was afraid of Raghunātha dāsa because he belonged to the kāyastha community.

 

tabe raghunātha kichu

In other words, the government in India that due to the varnasrama system, kāyasthas were kind of combination of Brahmanas and Kshatriyas, they were doing the work of Kshatriyas to dissuade that they were had some connection with brahmana in the past so they were very expert administrators. They were a kind of a special caste in themselves. But they were ruthless to get the job done. So the King had to protect the people, if the government administrators were too ruthless.

 

So according to the varnasrama system with traditions, because they were trained in that way,the families were also following basic rules and regulations of a particular type. So, hereditarily these trades were handed down more predictably, gradually they started to fall down from their status in the age of Kali and they also became slightly more degraded and lost some of their edge. Still today, these caste kāyasthas are present but may be they don't have as much potency as they did in the past and many kinds exist even today in the government.

 

Raghunatha of course, he is transcendental to the varnasrama system. This is generally what is understood hereditarily, Raghunatha dasa of course is very exceptional.

 

tabe raghunātha kichu cintilā upāya

vinati kariyā kahe sei mleccha-pāya

 

While this was going on, Raghunātha dāsa thought of a tricky method of escape. Thus he humbly submitted this plea at the feet of the Mohamadan caudhurī.

 

Actually he started to pray to the Mohamadan, My dear sir, my father and his elder brother are both your brothers. So always brothers are fighting about something, sometimes brothers have fights amongst each other, sometimes they're friendly. These changes are always taking place. So I'm sure, today, although you're fighting, tomorrow you all three will be brothers sitting together in peace. Just as I am my father's son, so I'm also yours. I'm your dependent. You are my maintainer. For maintainer to punish the person he maintains is not good. You are an expert in all the scriptures. Indeed you are like a living saint.

 

eta śuni’ sei mlecchera mana ārdra haila

dāḍi vāhi’ aśru paḍe, kāṅdite lāgila

When the Muslim heard Raghunātha dāsa’s appealing voice, his heart softened. He began to cry, and tears glided down his beard.

 

mleccha bale, — “āji haite tumi — mora ‘putra’

āji chāḍāimu tomā’ kari’ eka sūtra”

The Mohamadan caudhurī told Raghunātha dāsa, “You are my son from this day on. Today, by some means, I shall have you released.”

 

After informing the minister, the caudhurī  released Raghunātha dāsa and then began to speak to him with great affection. The elder brother, your father is less intelligen. He  enjoys eight hundred thousand coins but since I am also a shareholder, he should give some portion of it to me. Now you go arrange a meeting between me and your uncle. Let him do whatever he thinks best. I shall be dependent on his decision. So Raghunātha dāsa  arranged a meeting between his uncle the children, settled the matter and everything was peaceful. Otherwise Raghunātha dāsa had to deal with so many different matters, just like any other business man. The tax collector got his share, government got their share, Raghunātha dāsa’s uncle got his share. Everything was settled, but all the time, Raghunātha dāsa, he was feeling extreme separation from Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So after a year, doing all this according to Lord Caitanya's instruction, but he was still determined that he wanted to meet Lord Caitanya. Again he wanted to leave home. He  ran away again and again and he was caught. He ran again and again and caught by his father. Raghunātha dāsa’s mother spoke to his father.

 

“putra ‘bātula’ ha-ila, ihāya rākhaha bāndhiyā”

tāṅra pitā kahe tāre nirviṇṇa hañā

“Our son has become mad,” she said. “Just keep him by binding him with ropes.” His father, being very unhappy, replied to her as follows.

 

Actually Lord Caitanya, when He was in Navadwip, He first came back from Gaya, He was so ecstatic with spiritual love of Kṛṣṇa that He would laugh loudly in Kirtan, He would be crying in their separation. Sometimes He would be stunned, sometime He'd be jumping and dancing in ecstasy. But non one had seen Him do this before. They thought that He  ate some kind of plant, He got some displaced air, He had gone mad or something.

 

So the people also were recommending to mother Saci, you should have your son tied up. Tie Him up, tie His legs. Feed Him green coconuts, put soothing wails on His head He is brain numb, He is overheated. This was their idea. So then Lord Caitanya went to see Srivas pandit. Why people are saying that I have gone mad? So please tell me what is my disease. Srivas said yes. You are having some disease, but I also want to have that disease, you are having the disease of love of Kṛṣṇa.

 

 Lord Caitanya was so happy to hear this that He embraced Srivas and said that if you had told me that I was mad, if I heard it from you, I would have jumped into the ocean, the Ganges river and taken my life. You have given me a new lease on life, a new desire to live, otherwise what is the use of living. Srivas explained to Him that You are feeling spontaneous attraction for Kṛṣṇa and separation of Kṛṣṇa. This is causing all of these emotions. This pure love of Kṛṣṇa is desired even by Brahma Deva and Lord Shiva. It is very rare. All the devotees want to chant and kirtan with you and associate with you. In this way the whole sankirtan movement started.

 

So many times people think that devotees are crazy and Prabhupada wrote a title, who is crazy? So Raghunatha dasa mother also thought that our son has gone crazy. Who would want to leave a big palatial palace, 800,000 gold coins a year income, who would want to leave beautiful family life, all opulence? 

 

When Srinivas acharya was looking for the stolen books he brought from Vrindavan and he went here and there, he finally ended up in the court of Biran vikram Mahadev shah the Emperor, excuse me, the king of Bona Vishnupur. So this king, after seeing Srinivas defeat his guru, took Srinivas in the back and asked him who he was and Srinivas started to explain how there were the two brothers Rupa and Sanatana, Dabir khas and Sakara mallik who were the finance minister and the Prime Minister of the Hussein Shah.

 

Then that king interjected and said, yes, I had to go and pay my taxes to the Emperor. Kings have to pay one-third to the Emperor we see, I guess landlords have to pay 3/4th, Kings have to pay one-third, they could keep two thirds. That was the advantage of being a king. When Emperor would attack different kingdoms, if the King would surrender without a fight or make a truce after some fight, then the Emperor would keep that king as a sub king. He would have to pay one-third of all of his taxes to the emperor.

 

So they said I had to go every year to pay my taxes to the Emperor.  I had to give it to these two brothers, they are so powerful. They are more powerful than I was. They had so much for the whole entire empire was under their hand, I thought that how crazy they were when they left everything and went on, really cracked. He thought they were all so crazy. Then Srinivas explained how they had gone off to join Caitanya Mahaprabhu and they got the full mercy of Caitanya mahaprabhu, they had love for God head. So the history of all these great personalities is given in the Caitanya caritamrita

 

Swarup, Ramananda Raya, Rupa, Sanatana goswami now Raghunatha dasa highly qualified, highly qualified, intelligent. Every material facility was at their command. But  they gave up attachments. Ultimately they joined us on kirtan movement of Caitanya mahaprabhu fully. Under certain rare circumstances Lord Caitanya would accept that someone fully give up for common people. If they give up the material situation abruptly thinking all this is too much heavy, my wife is arguing with me, the bills are there, the  taxes are there, this is there, that is there, let me give up, but they are not actually so attached to Kṛṣṇa.

 

They are just frustrated, then like separation makes the heart grow dear, once they will separate from the family, from the difficult they start to forget all the troubles and they say oh here in the ashram there's also troubles. People steal my gamcha, they steal my socks, the president didn't smile at me today, this thing is wrong. That may be my parents weren't that bad after all, may be my husband wife, this or that wasn’t that bad.

 

Then because we didn't develop a positive attraction to Kṛṣṇa, they just start picking up on other little difficulties in their maya starts attacking their mind. So Lord Caitanya didn't want people to separate themselves from their material situation. Unless they were actually very attached to Kṛṣṇa, unless their attachment had reached a certain degree of maturity so that their motive for entering that temple or for entering into  full devotional service in a renounced or a more renounced way, their motive was also because of their intense satisfied intense attraction and devotion for Kṛṣṇa, not just just a negative reaction which is not very long-lasting.

 

Transcripted by : Pundarika Mahajana Das

Transcripted on : 30-05-2020

 

Proof Reading By: Amrita Padma Devi Dasi

On 16/10/2020

 

Proof Reading by Medhavini Sakhi Devi Dasi

Completed on 17th December 2020