19911003 Caitanya-caritamrita Madhya-līlā 1.260-287 (ŚB. 7.10.4)

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on October 3^rd 1991 in Atlanta Georgia. The class begins with a reading from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter one, verse 260-287 and continues with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7^th canto, chapter 10, verse 4.

jaya jaya śrī caitanya jaya nityānanda
jaya advaita candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

TEXT 260

tabe sanātana-gosāñira punar-āgamana
jyaiṣṭha-māse prabhu tāṅre kaila parīkṣaṇa

Translation: Thereafter Sanātana Gosvāmī met the Lord again, and the Lord tested him in scorching heat during the month of Jyaiṣṭha.

TEXT 261
tuṣṭa hañā prabhu tāṅre pāṭhāilā vṛndāvana
advaitera haste prabhura adbhuta bhojana

Translation: Being pleased, the Lord sent Sanātana Gosvāmī back to Vṛndāvana. After that, He was fed wonderfully by the hands of Śrī Advaita Ācārya.

TEXT 262
nityānanda-saṅge yukti kariyā nibhṛte
tāṅre pāṭhāilā gauḍe prema pracārite

Translation: After sending Sanātana Gosvāmī back to Vṛndāvana, the Lord privately consulted with Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. He then sent Him to Bengal to preach love of Godhead.

TEXT 263
tabe ta' vallabha bhaṭṭa prabhure mililā
kṛṣṇa-nāmera artha prabhu tāṅhāre kahilā

Translation: Soon afterward, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa met the Lord at Jagannātha Purī, and the Lord explained to him the import of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.

Purport: Vallabha Bhaṭṭa is the head of the Vaiṣṇava sampradāya known as the Vallabhācārya-sampradāya in western India. There is a long story about Vallabha Ācārya narrated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, specifically in the seventh chapter of the Antya-līlā and the nineteenth chapter of the Madhya-līlā. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu visited the house of Vallabhācārya on the other side of Prayāga, in a place known as Āḍāila-grāma. Later, Vallabhācārya saw Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī to explain his commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He was very proud of his writings, but Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu corrected him, telling him that a Vaiṣṇava should be humble and follow in the footsteps of his predecessors. The Lord told him that his pride in being superior to Śrīdhara Svāmī was not at all befitting a Vaiṣṇava.

TEXT 264
pradyumna miśrere prabhu rāmānanda-sthāne
kṛṣṇa-kathā śunāila kahi' tāṅra guṇe

Translation: After explaining the transcendental qualities of Rāmānanda Rāya, the Lord sent Pradyumna Miśra to the residence of Rāmānanda Rāya, and Pradyumna Miśra learned kṛṣṇa-kathā from him.

TEXT 265
gopīnātha paṭṭanāyaka--rāmānanda-bhrātā
rājā māritechila, prabhu haila trātā

Translation: After this, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu saved Gopīnātha Paṭṭanāyaka, the younger brother of Rāmānanda Rāya, from being condemned to death by the King.

TEXT 266
rāmacandra-purī-bhaye bhikṣā ghāṭāilā
vaiṣṇavera duḥkha dekhi' ardheka rākhilā

Translation: Rāmacandra Purī criticized Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's eating; therefore the Lord reduced His eating to a minimum. However, when all the Vaiṣṇavas became very sorry, the Lord increased His portion to half as much as usual.

TEXT 267
brahmāṇḍa-bhitare haya caudda bhuvana
caudda-bhuvane vaise yata jīva-gaṇa

Translation: There are fourteen planetary systems within the universe, and all living entities reside in those planetary systems.

TEXT 268

manuṣyera veśa dhari' yātrikera chale
prabhura darśana kare āsi' nīlācale

Translation: Dressing like human beings on pilgrimage, they all used to come to Jagannātha Purī to visit Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Jayapatākā Swami: According to the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, there were visitors from other planets, extraterrestrials, who would regularly come and visit Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Jagannātha Purī.  So that they wouldn’t be discovered, they’d disguise themselves as ordinary pilgrims coming to Jagannātha Purī. And in disguise they would see the lord. So 500 years ago this was the concern for the people, extraterrestrials. Nowadays people are interested in UFOS and visitors from other planets. But what did visitors from other planets see? What was their worth seeing? At that time they would go to see Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Supreme Lord of everyone who has come as a devotee. In the higher planetary systems and even in some of the lower, they knew the predictions about the Lord’s coming. So, they wanted to take advantage of the Lord’s presence. So, they also came to see the Lord.   

TEXT 269

eka-dina śrīvāsādi yata bhakta-gaṇa
mahāprabhura guṇa gāñā karena kīrtana

Translation: One day all the devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, were chanting the transcendental qualities of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

TEXT 270

śuni' bhakta-gaṇe kahe sa-krodha vacane
kṛṣṇa-nāma-guṇa chāḍi, ki kara kīrtana

Translation: Not liking the chanting of His transcendental qualities, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu chastised them as if He were angry. "What kind of chanting is this?" He asked. "Are you leaving aside the chanting of the holy name of the Lord?"

TEXT 271

auddhatya karite haila sabākāra mana
svatantra ha-iyā sabe nāśā 'be bhuvana

Translation: Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu chastised all the devotees, telling them not to show impudence and spoil the entire world by becoming independent.

Purport: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu warned all His followers not to become independent or impudent. Unfortunately, after the disappearance of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, many apa-sampradāyas (so-called followers) invented many ways not approved by the ācāryas. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has described them as the āula, bāula, kartābhajā, neḍā, daraveśa, sāni, sahajiyā, sakhībhekī, smārta, jāta-gosāñi, ativāḍī, cūḍādhārī and gaurāṅga-nāgarī.

The āula-sampradāya, bāula-sampradāya and others invented their own ways of understanding Lord Caitanya’s philosophy, without following in the footsteps of the ācāryas. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself indicates herein that all such attempts would simply spoil the spirit of His cult.

Jayapatākā Swami: The apasampradāyas mentioned here are all introducing some material concepts in the name of following the Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The baulas say that everything is part of Kṛṣṇa, everything is the energy of Kṛṣṇa. So this body is also the microcosm of Kṛṣṇa. So everything that the body produces is pure. Everything that the body does is pure. So to prove their point, they put tilaka on with their human stool, and they do every conceivable activity with the body including breaking the four regulative principles, all with the idea that it’s all pure because its done with this body which is microcosm of Kṛṣṇa. By philosophical speculation, they are able to concot anything. They are called prākṛta-sahajīya because they introduce material concepts in the name of following Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Apparently they were chanting here the names of Lord Caitanya again and again, Jaya Gaura, Nitāi-Gaurāṅga or something and Lord Caitanya was objecting, “Why you are chanting again and again? You’re giving up chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa.”

Also Śrīla Prabhupāda did not like it if people would go on chanting ‘Prabhupāda! Prabhupāda’ unlimited times. He’d get impatient and want to hear holy names of Kṛṣṇa. Two three times didn’t matter but sometimes devotees get carried away chanting the names of their guru again and again and again and again which is going on and on and on. And in the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, we want to follow what Lord Caitanya wanted. Little bit of chanting the names of the guru is alright but shouldn’t be so much that it replaces the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Generally, a few times is adequate to get the point across, offering the glories to the guru. Here Lord Caitanya is getting angry, and he is telling, “Don’t just go on chanting my name and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. While he said that, a very amazing thing happened.

TEXT 272
daśa-dike koṭī koṭī loka hena kale
jaya kṛṣṇa-caitanya' bali' kare kolāhale

Jayapatākā Swami: So while Lord Caitanya was chastising his devotees, from all different planetary systems and from all over, thousands and millions of people were outside and this is the description of what happened.

Translation: When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was apparently in a angry mood and chastising His devotees, many thousands of people outside loudly cried in a tumultuous voice, "All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu!"

TEXT 273
jaya jaya mahāprabhu--vrajendra-kumāra
jagat tārite prabhu, tomāra avatāra

Translation: All the people began to call very loudly, "All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is the son of Mahārāja Nanda! Now You have appeared to deliver the whole world!

TEXT 274

bahu-dūra haite āinu hañā baḍa ārta
daraśana diyā prabhu karaha kṛtārtha

Translation: "O Lord, we are very unhappy. We have come from a long distance to see You. Please be merciful and show us Your favor."

TEXT 275

śuniyā lokera dainya dravilā hṛdaya
bāhire āsi' daraśana dilā dayā-maya

Translation: When the Lord heard the humble petition made by the people, his heart softened. Being very merciful, He immediately came out and gave audience to all of them.

TEXT 276

bāhu tuli' bale prabhu bala' 'hari' 'hari'
uṭhila--śrī-hari-dhvani catur-dik bhari'

Translation: Raising His arms, the Lord asked everyone to chant loudly the vibration of the holy name of Lord Hari. There immediately arose a great stir, and the vibration of "Hari!" filled all directions.

Jayapatākā Swami: Nitāi Gaura premānande Hari Hari Hari bol!!!!

Can’t hear anything! (laughter)

Hari bol!! Hari Hari Hari bol!!!!!!!

TEXT 277

prabhu dekhi' preme loka ānandita mana
prabhuke īśvara bali' karaye stavana

Translation: Seeing the Lord, everyone became joyful out of love. Everyone accepted the Lord as the Supreme, and thus they offered their prayers.

TEXT 278

stava śuni' prabhuke kahena śrīnivāsa
ghare gupta hao, kene bāhire prakāśa

Translation: While the people were offering their prayers unto the Lord, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura sarcastically said to the Lord, "At home, You wanted to be covered. Why have You exposed Yourself outside?"

TEXT 279
ke śikhāla ei loke, kahe kon bāta
ihā-sabāra mukha ḍhāka diyā nija hāta

Translation: Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura continued, "Who has taught these people? What are they saying? Now You can cover their mouths with Your own hand.

TEXT 280

sūrya yaiche udaya kari' cāhe lukāite
bujhite nā pāri taiche tomāra carite

Translation: "It is as if the sun, after rising, wanted to hide itself. We cannot understand such characteristics in Your behavior."

TEXT 281

prabhu kahena,--śrīnivāsa, chāḍa viḍambanā
sabe meli' kara mora kateka lāñcanā

Translation: The Lord replied, "My dear Śrīnivāsa, please stop joking. You have all combined together to humiliate Me in this way."

TEXT 282

eta bali' loke kari' śubha-dṛṣṭi dāna
abhyantare gelā, lokera pūrṇa haila kāma

Translation: Thus speaking, the Lord entered His room after glancing auspiciously upon the people out of charity. In this way the desires of the people were completely fulfilled.

TEXT 283

raghunātha-dāsa nityānanda-pāśe gelā
ciḍā-dadhi-mahotsava tāhāṅi karilā

Translation: At this time, Raghunātha dāsa approached Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and, according to His order, prepared a feast and distributed prasāda composed of chipped rice and curd.

Purport: There is a special preparation in Bengal wherein chipped rice is mixed with curd and sometimes with sandeśa and mango. (a new prep!) It is a very palatable food offered to the Deity and then distributed to the public. Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, who was a householder at this time, met Nityānanda Prabhu. According to His advice, he executed this festival of dadhi-ciḍā-prasāda.

Jayapatākā Swami: Who knows where this festival was held? Pānihāṭi-dhāma kī jaya! New Pānihāṭi-dhāma kī jaya! So this was special prasādam, very palatable food offered to the deity, distributed to the public. So here this festival was performed in Pānihāṭi and still being relived in Pānihāṭi and in New Pānihāṭi. 

TEXT 284

tāṅra ājñā lañā gelā prabhura caraṇe
tāṅra prabhu tāṅre samarpilā svarūpera sthāne

Translation: Later, Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī left home and took shelter of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī. At that time, the Lord received him and placed him under the care of Svarūpa Dāmodara for spiritual enlightenment.

Purport: In this regard, Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī writes in Vilāpa-kusumāñjali (5):

yo māṁ dustara-geha-nirjala-mahā-kūpād apāra-klamāt
sadyaḥ sāndra-dayāmbudhiḥ prakṛtitaḥ svairīkṛpā-rajjubhiḥ
uddhṛtyātma-saroja-hindi-caraṇa-prāntaṁ prapadya svayaṁ
śrī-dāmodara-sac cakāra tam ahaṁ caitanya-candraṁ bhaje

"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who, by His unreserved mercy, kindly saved me from household life, which is exactly like a blind well without water, and placed me in the ocean of transcendental joy under the care of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī."

Jayapatākā Swami: So Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja explains how Raghunātha Dāsa finally achieved the mercy of Lord Caitanya and was placed under the care of Svarūpa Dāmodara, the personal secretary of Lord Caitanya. You can imagine the great transcendental joy Raghunātha Dāsa was experiencing, feeling so much separation from the Lord. This is the special mercy.

TEXT 285

brahmānanda-bhāratīra ghucāila carmāmbara
ei mata līlā kaila chaya vatsara

Translation: Later, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stopped Brahmānanda Bhāratī's habit of wearing deerskin. The Lord thus enjoyed His pastimes continuously for six years, experiencing varieties of transcendental bliss.

TEXT 286
ei ta' kahila madhya-līlāra sūtra-gaṇa
śeṣa dvādaśa vatsarera śuna vivaraṇa

Translation: I have thus given a synopsis of the madhya-līlā. Now please hear the pastimes the Lord performed during the last twelve years.

Purport: Thus Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī, strictly following in the footsteps of Śrī Vyāsadeva, gives a synopsis of the līlās of Caitanya-caritāmṛta. He has given such a description at the end of each canto. In the Ādi-līlā he outlined the pastimes of the Lord in the five stages of boyhood, leaving the details of the description to Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. Now in this chapter the pastimes that took place at the end of the Lord's life are summarized. These are described in the Madhya-līlā and Antya-līlā. The rest of the pastimes have been described in a synopsis in the Second Chapter of the Madhya-līlā. In this way the author has gradually described both the madhya-līlā and the Antya-līlā.

TEXT 287
śrī-rūpa-raghunātha-pade yāra āśa
caitanya-caritāmṛta kahe kṛṣṇadāsa

Translation: Praying at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, always desiring their mercy, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-īlā chapter one summarized the later pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Oṁ tat sat.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam - 7.10.4

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!

nānyathā te ’khila-guro
ghaṭeta karuṇātmanaḥ
yas ta āśiṣa āśāste
na sa bhṛtyaḥ sa vai vaṇik

Translation: Otherwise, O my Lord, O supreme instructor of the entire world, You are so kind to Your devotee that You could not induce him to do something unbeneficial for him. On the other hand, one who desires some material benefit in exchange for devotional service cannot be Your pure devotee. Indeed, he is no better than a merchant who wants profit in exchange for service.

Purport: It is sometimes found that one comes to a devotee or a temple of the Lord just to get some material benefit. Such a person is described here as a mercantile man. Bhagavad-gītā speaks of ārto jijñāsur arthārthī. The word ārta refers to one who is physically distressed, and arthārthī refers to one in need of money. Such persons are forced to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead for mitigation of their distress or to get some money by the benediction of the Lord. They have been described as sukṛtī, pious, because in their distress or need for money they have approached the Supreme Lord. Unless one is pious, one cannot approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, although a pious man may receive some material benefit, one who is concerned with material benefits cannot be a pure devotee. When a pure devotee receives material opulences, this is not because of his pious activity but for the service of the Lord. When one engages in devotional service, one is automatically pious. Therefore, a pure devotee is anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam. He has no desire for material profit, nor does the Lord induce him to try to profit materially. When a devotee needs something, the Supreme Personality of Godhead supplies it (yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham).

Sometimes materialists go to a temple to offer flowers and fruit to the Lord because they have learned from Bhagavad-gītā that if a devotee offers some flowers and fruits, the Lord accepts them. In Bhagavad-gītā (9.26) the Lord says:

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” Thus a man with a mercantile mentality thinks that if he can get some material benefit, like a large amount of money, simply by offering a little fruit and flower, this is good business. Such persons are not accepted as pure devotees. Because their desires are not purified, they are still mercantile men, even though they go to temples to make a show of being devotees. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam: only when one is fully freed from material desires can one be purified, and only in that purified state can one serve the Lord. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. This is the pure devotional platform.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport to text 4, chapter 10, canto 7 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in the matter of ‘Prahlāda, the best among exalted devotees.’

Jayapatākā Swami: This verse is very important. After Nṛsimhadeva offered the benediction to Prahlāda that you can have anything in this material world you want, anything you want. But Prahlāda refused saying that if I ask for something material, then it reduces me to a businessman. I’m serving you with a desire for achieving something. The pure devotee simply wants to please the Lord, there is no personal material interest. It is the impure devotee, the mixed devotees, they are desiring various material benedictions.

So, here the process of pure devotional service is very clearly explained. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur gives an example and Śrīla Prabhupāda also uses the same example about a person trying to stand with his feet in two different boats in the river. Eventually the boats will split apart. So what happens is obviously when the two boats split apart, the person will fall into the water. So this is the situation we’re faced with. We are trying to accommodate our material desires and our spiritual desires.

There is a saying in the west, in English: ‘To have your cake and eat it too’. You want to have the cake on the table, at the same time you to eat it! If you eat it, then there is no cake left. If you want to just look at the cake, then you cannot eat it. So someone wants the material sense gratification, wants the material comforts, wants the material facilities and at the same time they also want ecstasy of pure love of Kṛṣṇa or ecstasy of pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is a contradiction. If someone is really Kṛṣṇa conscious, then they’ll become detached from material activities.

In this regard, the example is given that sometimes people enter into the gṛhastha-āśrama thinking that, “Here is a good alternative. I can enjoy sense gratification and at the same time I can be a pure devotee.” The ācāryas explain that it is not the proper attitude to become a gṛhastha. That for the devotees, they decide which āśrama is more appropriate for them to serve Kṛṣṇa. The purpose is to please Kṛṣṇa. They know that ultimately no happiness in material life. With that firm conviction, the pure devotee is simply serving Kṛṣṇa.

So a gṛhastha devotee has got more activities that they do, but they also do that as a sacrifice with a purpose of pleasing Kṛṣṇa. As soon as the increasing the complexities of material situation becomes a predominant desire, you will find a conflict with pure devotional service. So there is a difference between pure devotees who are either sannyāsīs or gṛhasthas, and other devotees who are mixed devotees. They are not purely engaging in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Normally you see these materialists, they don’t understand what pure devotional service is at all. They don’t have the slightest clue, incomprehensible. So while we are preaching they say, “Can we get married?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

And they think as long as they can have sense gratification, it’s gonna be alright. But a devotee is always struggling; or maybe he is not struggling in higher levels, but he is always engaging his senses in Kṛṣṇa’s service in whatever āśrama a devotee finds.

So this is a very essential point to understand because we have seen so many devotees have watered down their Kṛṣṇa consciousness, diluted it, and a little dilution in pure devotional service is no longer pure. Pure devotion means PURE devotion. As soon as it becomes impure devotion, then it no longer is pure devotion.  If we are trying simultaneously enjoy sense gratification and have all kinds of material comforts and facilities which are not necessary for devotional service, we want them because we want to enjoy. Because of material desire. And we’re not actually able to dovetail those things in Kṛṣṇa’s service. We just want them because it is our lust, it is our greed, it is our desire. We find ourselves in this precarious situation standing in the river, one foot in the boat of material desires and the other in the boat of devotional service. Then the two boats are going in different directions. The problem is that we tend to fall into the water. In order to substantiate our material desires for added material facilities, if it is not a very clear Kṛṣṇa conscious reason, if does not come by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, if we had to leave our devotional service in order to expand our material situation, then we have to find some excuse. ‘Nobody likes me. Everybody is against me. Everybody is doing politics against me. The whole world is into politics.’ The mind will come up with so many different excuses. And what is the conclusion? Do sense gratification. Leave devotional service and go to another situation which is more compromised materially. So we have to be very careful. We have to be completely sincere not to unnecessarily increase our material situation simply for the sake of sense gratification at the expense of our devotional service. We have to keep our devotional service as the priority in our life, and everything else is adjusted accordingly.

So some circumstances are there. For gṛhasthas, they have to deal with many different situations for children and family and money. They have a responsibility to always keep their attachment with Kṛṣṇa, to not unnecessarily complicate the situation. Always trying to engage everything in Kṛṣṇa’s service. So they are given more scope to engage their different senses in Kṛṣṇa’s service. But that doesn’t mean that it’s has a license for sense gratification unlimitedly. It is a sacrifice, it is a yajña. There’s also limitations on what a person can do even in the gṛhastha-āśrama. If we lose sight of the goal in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we’ll be in difficulty. So for devotees in any āśrama, the pure devotees have the same desire, which is to please Kṛṣṇa. To please Kṛṣṇa’s devotee. Prahlāda is exhibiting this very clearly. He is offered, “You can have anything you want.” But it doesn’t attract him an inch, a millimeter, not a bit. Rather he says, ‘Why are you offering me these things? Being a materialistic person, born in a materialistic family, I could be allured by all these things. But I don’t want anything except your pure devotional service. So Kṛṣṇa told him, Nṛsiṁhadeva said ‘You have to become the king. ‘Now after your father, you have to rule these demons as a devotee king. You have to rule the demons.’ So see the situation, being a king he also has to get married and he also has to do so many different things. But Prahlāda never lost the sight or never lost the vision on what is the purpose of life. He always remained continually chanting the holy names. He was not attached, he was actually detached. He never gave up devotional service to Kṛṣṇa for a moment. Prahlāda was very careful. When he’s offered material facility, he does not jump on it, “Oh I can use it all for Kṛṣṇa.” From his side, he simply wants to serve the Lord. If the Lord wants to give him something, why he has to ask? He does not even accept it. “From my side all I want is pure devotional service.”

If the Lord gives some facility to the devotee, the devotee can use that in Kṛṣṇa’s service. But the devotee does not desire anything separate from devotional service. Sometimes the devotee desires that the Lord could be more nicely served, just like Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmi was thinking that how he can nicely do service to the Lord if he had that deity but he was only having Śālagrāma-śilās. He slept every night under a different tree, hanging up his Śālagrāma-śilās in a wooden box tied with a silken cloth. He would tie itfrom a branch of a tree and sleep under the Śālagrāma-śilās. When he woke up in the morning after taking rest, he opened up his box to take the Śālagrāma-śilās to do the pūjā. There he found that one of the Śālagrāma-śilā was missing. Instead, there was a small deity of Kṛṣṇa, which is the Rādhā-Ramaṇa deity. So Kṛṣṇa spontaneously manifested Himself in the deity form so that His devotee can serve Him. So in this way the Lord gave Himself to His devotee in different ways so the devotee can serve the Lord. But we have to be very careful like Prahlāda is not to get distracted. The idea that you can enjoy all kinds of sense gratification and at the same time still be Kṛṣṇa conscious is not accepted.

People think, “Well I can leave the temple, I can do materialistic activities and I can still be Kṛṣṇa conscious.” It is a very difficult situation. Someone can be outside in the material world but nobody can do materialistic activity. Everyone has to do devotional service. You have to do yukta-vairāgya. You cannot do bhoga and vairagya at the same time. It has to be yukta-vairāgya. You have to engage whatever we are doing in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Unless we are very meticulous about that point, māyā will delude our devotion and we will miss the whole point of pure devotional service. So those people who are devotees, who are very eager to accumulate mone, to have lot of distinction in the society of devotees, who neglect to chant the round simply out of lethargy or preoccupation in materialistic activities... many other qualities are there, those devotees are actually being robbed of their jewel of pure devotional service. They had it and then they’re being robbed of it by māyā. If they did not have it, well, they are being robbed ‘cuz they could get it. It is like waiting for them to have. Instead, its being stolen so they won’t get it. It is just like an inheritance that someone should get, but before it is received, it is stolen by someone. So it is a very interesting point.

Today we have read Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes, visited by people from all over the universe and how He was glorified by devotees in Jagannātha Purī. Also, how Prahlāda prayed to the Lord simply to give him pure devotional service. Not to be like a businessman. You should be very careful not to let our devotion degenerate to business deal with Kṛṣṇa. All over India many people go to the deity and pray for something materialistic. “If I get this, I will give you that.” So Prahlāda is criticizing that it is something like business with you. He does not want to ask anything from Kṛṣṇa in return for His service. If you give your service to Kṛṣṇa without any condition, then in reciprocation Kṛṣṇa also gives Himself and you can actually purchase Kṛṣṇa with pure devotion. But with mixed devotion, then Kṛṣṇa will pay you. You want money, you want this, you want that, then take it. So Kṛṣṇa gets off easy. But for pure devotion, then Kṛṣṇa thinks ‘What can I give? This devotee is completely giving himself to me. So I have to reciprocate. Because he promises ‘ye yathā mām prapadyante, tāms tathaiva bhajāmy aham.' I reciprocate with the devotion of My devotee. According to how they approach me, I also reciprocate with them. (Bg. 4.11)’ So when the devotee is fully giving himself to Kṛṣṇa, then the only way that Kṛṣṇa thinks that it is possible for him to repay is to give himself to the devotee.

So if you want Kṛṣṇa, then you have to give yourself to Kṛṣṇa. The price to get Kṛṣṇa is yourself. If you don’t give your full self to Kṛṣṇa, you will not get Kṛṣṇa. If you want something else other than Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will give that first, but that it is cheap. Kṛṣṇa is everything. To get Kṛṣṇa, then you give yourself to Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will reciprocate. That is his causeless mercy.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja, he doesn’t want anything. He already saw what happened. His father had the kingdom of the entire universe, he had unimpeded health, a long life, unlimited sense gratification and power. Still his father was never satisfied. He had everything that he wanted, more than what anybody could have. He had the entire universe just in his hand. But still he wasn’t satisfied. So this should be enough to prove to anyone, it was more than enough to prove to Prahlāda that there is no satisfaction in the material pursuit of happiness. America, one of the rights guaranteed in the constitution is the pursuit of happiness. But pursuit of happiness by material means guarantees frustration. People will be guaranteed to be frustrated if they pursue their happiness through material means. If we pursue our happiness through devotional service, by giving Kṛṣṇa our devotion, by trying to preach Kṛṣṇa, then we will become happy. But if we pursue our happiness through material means, the first half of the Bhagavad-gītā clearly mentions that the cause of our suffering is desiring sense gratification. That is the beginning of our suffering. As soon as we desire to enjoy material gratification. And the end of suffering is when we no longer desire sense gratification. When we desire to serve Kṛṣṇa then we will be satisfied. That is the mystery! That is the sublime reality and it is being revealed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Great souls like Prahlāda, they have realized it. Otherwise, it is very difficult to come to that understanding. But by Lord Caitanya’s mercy, by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, we can quickly come to understand the sublime point that we should simply be offering our service to Kṛṣṇa, we should simply be practicing pure devotional service in whatever condition of life, whatever āśrama of life, whatever situation we’re in, we should always be offering our devotion to Kṛṣṇa in a way prescribed by our previous ācāryas. We cannot concoct something. We have to follow in an authorized way. It’s a concoction if we think that we’ll enjoy sense gratification without engaging in Kṛṣṇa’s service and we will do a little devotion also. Little sense gratification and a little devotion. And we get pure devotional response from Kṛṣṇa. It does not work that way. We have to do pure devotional service. You can do it as a gṛhastha, you can do it as a sannyāsī, you can do it as a brahmacārī but we have to do pure devotional service. In the beginning that is a yajña, in the end it is complete nectar.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare