20160803 Caitanya Book

20160803 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 continuing with the Krishna Caitanya book and we are now in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya as Nimai Pandit. He is showing how to be an ideal householder.

(Original text)

If one doesn’t have the good karma to have material prosperity due to his previous sinful activities, he can still offer a grass mat, water and in this way he can satisfy his guests.

So Bhaktisiddhantha Saraswati Thakur, he describes some greedy prakrita sahajiyas who are cruel and expert in satisfying their tongues and bellies. They like to tell people that they are the preachers of the Caitanya movement but actually they cheat the Vaisnava sanyasis from their rightful share of straw mats and etc. In order to expose their opposition to him, Sri Caitanya Candra has exhibited this ideal householder pastimes.

So Lord Caitanya showed the proper dealings of a grihastha. He showed proper respect to guests and sanyasis.

So Bhaktisiddhantha Saraswati Thakur, he gave an example that in Dhaka there was a person who was a caste goswami. He lived by earning his livelihood by selling the holy name and mantras. Outside of the front gate there was someone who was going with a cart and he claimed to be a ritwik. He said, “diksha- 5 rupees, diksha- 5 rupees.”, so that’s how he made his living. That was a long time ago. I don’t know what rate they charge now. So this caste goswami, he dealt very crude and rude with tridandi sanyasis and brahmacharis who had arrived there as guests. That was before Dhaka was part of Bangladesh, it was part of the British Raj, part of India.

So in this way by treating the visiting sanyasis and Brahmacharis very rudely he avoided giving any of the noon offerings to the deities.

So in order to warn people not to be greedy and selfish like this, the Lord personally exhibited magnanimity and generosity and personally took care of the guests and all the sanyasis.

Another example was given how the Lord gave out mercy without decimating. He gave out his affection and care, gave everybody prasadam and mercy.

So the persons who claim to be the followers of Lord Caitanya if they harass the sanyasis and guests then we can understand that they are not actually the followers of Lord Caitanya.

Also in Nabadwip, when Srila Bhaktisiddhantha Saraswati Thakur was taking his parikrama party to the modern city of Nabadwip, by the paramatala some of the caste goswamis and their agents threw stones on the heads of innocent pilgrims, sanyasis and brahmacharis who wanted to circumambulate the dham.

So all these shows examples of activities against the teachings of Lord Caitanya.

(original text)

So translated from the Sanskrit, “in the houses of pious people there may be a scarcity of rice or staples due to poverty but a straw mat, water resting place and sweet words should always be available for serving guests.

Udaka- watering used for cleansing one’s hands, legs and mouth or for performing achaman.

Sunrita vak means truth or sweet words.

(original text)

If one doesn’t have any rice or anything due to poverty and if he apologises without duplicity and he is not guilty of neglecting his guest.

We may tell a person, “I am sorry, I don’t have any rice, please accept this mats and drinking water. If you really don’t have rice then it is alright.”

What it means  that one should not say, “I don’t have but when you do have.”, but you don’t have and you apologize it’s not an offence.

(original text)

If one serves his guests according to his capacity or ability and he is not duplicitous, then that’s considered to be devotion to the guest.

(original text)

Therefore the Lord would enquire to his guests with great supreme affection, whether they had enough, whether they needed more, he was trying to satisfy his guests and sanyasis who were visiting.

(original text)

Prabhupada was very upset if anybody sat on the ledge. One pujari was sitting on the ledge, fell asleep, he fell down, broke a bone, luckily he didn’t die.

So please don’t sit on the ledge, don’t let any kid sit on the ledge especially here it is about 30 feet down. Pujari fell off about 15 feet.

So Laxmipriya and Gauranarayan, they were serving their guests. 

Who can talk about the great fortune of those who got prasadam directly from the hand of Laxmi and Narayan…Laxmipriya and Gaur Narayan. That prasadam was millions of times more auspicious than any other food you receive from an ordinary householder.

How many here would like to have some prasadam directly from the hands of Lord Caitanya?

(original text)

That food stuff which was desired by brahma and other great atmas, devas and demigods now was received by one and all, foodstuffs which were so wonderful.

In the street corners in India sometimes there are beggar kids who come to the window and ask for money but we heard that sometimes they are captured by mafia people and they are sent out to collect money from the cars. Some of them are maimed just so that they can get more mercy and more money. But our grihasthas should give them prasadam. At first they didn’t want. They said, “money, money”, and when they realized that we are not going to give them money, we are going to give them prasadam and they took the Prasad happily so that prasadam… in fact that they come and say Prasad, Prasad, they knew that we were the one’s that gave out Prasad.

(original text)

Some of the people said something else that to receive this auspicious foodstuff is not possible for everyone.

(original text)

Brahma, Siva, Sukhdev, Vyasadev, Naradamuni etc, the devas, the angels, the siddhas etc they are, who can travel by their mystic powers wherever they want.

(original text)

They knew that Laxmi Narayan had descendent to Nabadwip. All these great souls knew this. So they came in the form of beggars.

(original text)

Otherwise how is it in the power of any ordinary person to go that place, except for someone like Brahma and other great souls. Who will get such foodstuffs?

(original text)

Someone else said, “The Lord has incarnated, he has descendent from the spiritual world to deliver the distressed.”

So he uses various methods to deliver the unfortunate.

So you had different opinions.

Some thought the great mystics and liberated souls they came in disguise to get this offerings. Others thought that this is just one of the countless methods that the Lord uses to deliver the fallen souls.

So Laxmi and Gaura Narayna appeared in the Kali Yuga to deliver the fallen souls, the distressed persons from the miserable conditions of Kali Yuga. So the Lord gave out prasadam and a resting place without considering who was worthy of it and who wasn’t.

(original text)

The devas or the demigods, headed by Brahma are born from the limbs of the supreme Lord. They  are always eternal associates with the Lord at all places.

(original text)

However he promised that in this avatar he would give what is even rarely obtained by Lord Brahma to all the conditioned souls freely.

(original text)

So in other words to deliver the distressed from his own house, he gave out prasadam simply to be merciful, simply to deliver the fallen souls.

Even though Brahma and the devas are parts of the limbs of the Lord, where Lord Brahma comes from the lotus which comes from the navel of the Lord and different devas are part of the universal form, therefore they are very dear servants but the special quality of Lord Gaurasundar is his compassion. He is most compassionate, parama karuna.

In order to deliver the living entities from this Kali Yuga he distributes to everyone the Lord’s prasadam which is rarely obtained by even greatest of the devas and highest authority like Lord Brahma and he would not consider whether they are qualified or not.

In the Jiv Jago song by Bhakti Vinod Thakur, Lord Caitanya says, “Anechi Ausadhi Maya Nasibara lagi, hari nama mahamantra lao tumi magi- I brought the medicine to cure the disease of Kali Yuga, is this Hare Krishna mahamantra, you can have it, ask for it, beg for it, it’s yours.”

Bhakti Vinod is saying, “Bhakti vinoda prabhu charane pariya, sei hari nama mantra lailo magiya.”

So Bhakivinod is saying that, “I feel at the feet of the Lord and I begged for that Harinam mahanmantra and I got it, I got it, I got it, hari bol, hari bol, hari bol, gauranga….”

(original text)

So in this pastimes Laxmipriya Devi, who was the incarnation of Bhudevi Laxmi, she would play the ideal role of a wife serving her husband. She would together, although alone, she would cook all the things for the guests and serving her husband Gaura Narayana she was filled with transcendental bliss.

(original text)

Seeing the wonderful character of her daughter-in-law Sachi who was very fortunate. Every hour her special transcendental bliss increased more and more.

(original text)

From the early morning, all the long Laxmidevi did all the household chores. She would do everything. This was dharma, her duty, her religious duty.

So in order of her happiness of her husband and to satisfy her mother-in-law, the caste Laxmidevi performed all the household duties. While considering herself the maid-servant of the Lord, as the ideal house-wife, Laxmipriya devi personally performed all of the Lord’s household duties, beginning from early morning till late at night.

(original text)

So in the room where they would keep the deities, this was their house temple, she would decorate the floor of the temple, drawings of auspicious symbols knows as swastikas.

She would put the conch shell, the sudarshana chakra and she would paint this symbols with great joy.

The swastika mandili means… it’s a phrase referring to drawing the circles or pictures on the Visnu temple floor where the Lord is worshipped.

In in the Hari Bhakti Vilas which is written by Sanatan Goswami, the drawing of their symbols in the Visnu temple by the house-wife who are worshipper, is referred to, “A worshppir of Visnu should draw square but then in each of the four corners, north-east, south-east, north-west, south-west of the Lord’s temple divide each square into 16 squares, then fill each square with white, yellow, red and black coloured powder. This is called swastika.

Swastika- the drawing of circles and their glories are described in the Visnu dharmotttara as follows, “one who is intelligent should draw various mandal’s such as sarvato bhadras and padmas and various wonderful swastikas in the temple of Hari”

In the Narasimha Purana it is stated “one should joyfully cleanse and decorate the temple of Visnu like drawing various mandalas like padmas and swasikas with different attractive colours”

In the skanda Purana concerning the month of Kartika it is stated “one who draws various shapes like sarvato bhadras with clay or other minerals in front of Kesav resides in heaven for 100 kalpas. One who draws auspicious swastikas in front of saligram specially in the month of kartik purifies seven generations of his family.

A woman who regularly draws mandalas before Kesava doesn’t become a widow for the next seven births.

A woman who draws mandala’s with cowdung before Lord Kesava is never separated from her husband, children or wealth.

One who decorated the courtyard of Visnu temple with various colourful swastikas and pictures enjoys the highest happiness within the three worlds.”

It is stated in the Naradia Purana, “ A person who draws mandalas in the temple of Visnu with either clay, various minerals or various colours or cow-dung attains the form of a demi-god who flies in an airplane.”

No fuel…no need for fuel. (laughter)

In the Hari Bhakti Sudodhaya it is stated that, “One who smears cow-dung in the temple of Visnu and draws colourful pictures on it happily resides in the abode of Visnu where the residents look on him with welcoming glances.”

So the Lord had a Visnu temple in his house and at the temple he had a Sri-Narayana forms, of saligram silas, gomati chakra shila- that’s a dwaraka shila, they were situated as the family deities and in order to draw auspicious signs within the temple, Laxmidevi drew shapes like conch shells and chakra such as on the foundations in the walls.

So these are some quotes from the Hari Bhakti Vilas.

In all seriousness just a little… a little service to Krishna, he is showing all mandalas.

By a little drawing you get so much. I was thinking that we should have in the month of kartik and leading upto that on every ekadasi have the raised platform before Radha Madhav and the astha sakhis and the panchatattva, may be before Narasimhadev, have ladies or artistic devotees… he is showing all kinds of mandalas.

What do you think, good idea?

Hari Bol (everyone)

So imagine, Laxmi is cooking the offerings, Lord Narayana is distributing them and all the fortunate souls they get the prasadam.

Hari Bol (everyone)

Would you like to take Krishna prasadam?

Hari Bol (everyone)

Transcribed by : Sadananda Krishnaprem Das

Mumbai.