20160726 Caitanya Book

20160726 Caitanya Book

Mukam karoti vacalam

Pangum langhyate girim

Yat kripa tamaham vande sri gurum dina tarinam

Paramananda madhavan

Sri Chaitanya ishvaram

Hari om tat sat

(Original text)

So the pious astrologer went to his meditation again and he saw the following vision. He saw Lord Balaram. The intoxicated Balaram holding the club and the divine club appeared before the pious astrologer.

(Original text)

Then the pious astrologer again went going into his meditation saw the divine form of Lord Jagannath and in the middle was Subhadra, very beautiful and to her right situated Balaram.

(Original text)

So in this way the pious astrologer he saw so many incarnations of the Lord but he didn’t understand anything what was actually the identity of the Lord. That’s how the illusory energy of the Lord works.

(Original text)

So the astrologer he was thinking in his mind astonished by what he had seen. “Now I understand that this brahman, he is very expert in chanting Vedic mantras.

(Original text)

Otherwise he is some demigod who has come down. Just to test me out of his sweet will he has come disguised as a brahman to test me.

(Original text)

I see some sort of transcendental light from him, coming from this brahmanas body. Has he come to discredit me?

(Original text)

So while the astrologer was thinking like that, the Lord smiling he said the following, “Who am I? What do you see? Why don’t you tell me in detail what ou saw?”

(Original text)

So the astrologer replied, “I think now it’s a good time for you to go. In the afternoon I will chant my mantras peacefully and chant the mantras very nicely concentrating.”

(Original text)

Smiling the Lord agreed to the astrologers suggestion. He said, “Good, Good !”, then he went to the house of his dear Sridhar. Sridhar lived near the Saradanga village. At one side of Mayapur about one mile from the Chand Kazi’s Samadhi to the east in the raised land he had his hostel. Near to house there was a small manmade lake- Puskarini.

(Original text)

Sridhar satisfied the Lord very much internally and for different reasons, excuses, the Lord would come to his house to visit him on various pretexts.

(Original text)

The Lord would have his discussions with Sridhar, joking with him and speaking in a humorous way. They talked for two to four dandas. A danda is about 22 minutes. So 45 minutes to hour and a half.

So the Lord would go on discussing with Sridhar. He would tease him in various ways.

(Original text)

When Sridhar saw the Lord, he immediately offered his obeisance’s. With great faith and respect. He offered a seat for Nimai to sit down.

(Original text)

Sri Sridhar he was by nature very peaceful and reserved but the Lord he played like a mischievous person, an agitated young man. Actually Lord Caitanya was acting in this way in order to give blessings to Sridhar by engaging him in devotional service.

(Original text)

So  the Lord said, “Sridhar ! You always chant the holy names- Hari Hari… Hari Hari… Hari Hari…. But why are you always so poor; The Lord is the husband of the fortune Laxmi, then why does he keep you poverty stricken?”

(Original text)

Lord Chaitanya said, “Can you please tell me        why after serving Lord of Laxmi you do not get sufficient food and clothes?”

You see Lord Caitanya was taking the position of a sakta, the worshipper of devi like Parvati or the material illusory energy and such people doing a little worship for the Lord Narayan watering Tulasi they get so much material sense gratification- nice clothes, good food and so on.

But the unalloyed devotees of the Lord, they don’t want to accept anything in exchange for their worship of the Lord. So they remain in the apparently poverty stricken position but they never suffer because of that. Rather they are always in spiritual bliss but the materialists think, “Well, the devotees of Krishna, they are poverty stricken. They don’t have sufficient food to eat, they don’t have nice arrangement to enjoy the senses. So because they are doing their services to get some material results from Krishna but the devotees they only want the pure devotion and pure love for Krishna. They don’t ask for anything material. If Krishna gives them it’s alright but they don’t ask.

(Original text)

So Sridhar humbly said the following, “I don’t fast. I get something to eat, a big piece or a small piece. I see a cloth and I wear it. I am still wearing something.

(Original text)

The Lord said, “When I see your cloth it’s mended in many places, in fact there are ten mends. In your house, what to speak, I can see that in some places there is no straw.”

(Original text)

Sridhar! Look at other people, they worship Chandi or Visvahari, they have no scarcity for food or clothe. Those who worship Chandi, they get wealth, followers, they are free of enemies, victory, they get all kinds of sense gratification. Worshipping Viswahari they are protected from snake bites. But you have chosen to worship Narayana. By worshipping Krishna you are getting none of these benefits. Instead you are suffering in poverty.

So actually Lord Gaura Sundar was showing the mentality of the materialists that they are desirous of these material benefits but they lose out on the real goal of life. The devotees of Narayana or Krishna, they get the spiritual blessings of the Lord. So they are the …42.30… of all the opulence’s of Narayana. They go back to the spiritual world. The materialist, they take birth again and again in the material world.

(Original text)

Sridhar respectfully replied, “Oh Brahmana, what you said is indeed correct but the time goes for everyone in the same way and we all have to live out our destined time.

(Original text)

The king stays in a house decorated with jewels and he eats opulent foodstuffs. Meanwhile the birds, look they stay on the tree.

(Original text)

Vipra Sridhar, he said although we can consider mundane calculations the worshippers of the devas    they do not worship the supreme Lord Visnu they may appear superior and that they have all the opulence’s of the materialists but whether they are vaisnavas or non-vaisnava’s they pass time in the same way.

In fact the non-vaisnavas are busy making their arrangements for comfortable life for material happiness and they want material advancement and they remain indifferent to the service of Lord Hari.

The vaisnavas are always busy serving the Lord while remaining indifferent to materialism, material advancement. They don’t take the opportunity to act as sense enjoyers as a king lives in a palace which is full of unlimited wealth and jewels receiving unlimited care and attention, respect from his many order-carriers, servants and associates, passes his time accumulating many valuable food stuffs and clothes.

In a similar way the birds are nourished without endeavour by mother nature, also build their nests with straw and grasses.

In the high branches of the trees they accumulate their food by their own hard labour without the help of anyone else. Everyone passes their life in the same way.

So everyone lives in this material world and enjoys according to their karma.

As a result of my karma I am passing my time as a servant of the Lord according to my own intelligence and taste without desiring any material advancement.

According to the material calculations, I don’t have any material necessities. Those who have equal vision do not discriminate between sense gratifications.

To say that this is nice and this thing is bad, just simply shows your own like and dislike.

So in the old time people had shortage of food, there were so called suffering. Now with the advancement of science and technology they are getting more food. So they think that this is the goal of life but if we study we see that there is no much difference between the people's happiness and distress.

In the two time periods what is interesting is that some years ago they made a study, “which country was the most satisfied, most happy?”, and America and rich countries were down on the list. The number one country in the world was Bangladesh (laughter), which is one of the poor countries.

So one may be spoiled that they don’t have everything the way that they want actually. They feel very frustrated and unhappy, whereas like Sridhar he had very little material opulence but he was very happy worshipping the Lord.    

So the devotees of the Lord, they enjoy the service of the Lord and so they enjoy unalloyed happiness and they don’t consider the so called external miseries as anything else but happiness.

Those who are engaged in material happiness which are not related to the Lord, pass their time with adulterated happiness and distress.

So that’s the end of discussion between Lord Caitanya and Sridhar.

It’s very important for us to understand how the material pursuit of happiness without connecting to the Lord is actually a futile attempt and doesn’t give unadulterated happiness. So there is lot of distress, whereas if you develop the taste of chanting the holy name, a taste of chanting the holy name of the Lord, that will give you real happiness.

Hare Krishna.

Transcribed by: Sadananda Krishnaprem Das

In Train from Mayapur to Mumbai.