20181109 Śrī Gaurāṅga's acceptance of Initiation from Śrī Īśvara Purī

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book compilation class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 9, 2018, in Chennai, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: So during this sacred month of Dāmodara we have now commenced again compilation of the Caitanya Book. Lord Caitanya had gone to Gayā and there He met Īśvara Purī the favorite disciple of Mādhavendra Purī. So we will start there in a few minutes. First, I would like to say that I am feeling very good, but I have been through lot of physiotherapy, and the physiotherapist says that, I have to increase the muscle tone because during the time I was in the ICU my muscles lost the tone. Similarly, they had me on tracheostomy, and I could not speak, for one and a half months I was speechless. So now I have a voice therapist who is reawakening my vocal cords. So everything is starting afresh. As I mentioned yesterday that the Facebook has instituted a Top Fan category that those who are active on the page, listen to the classes, like the things on Facebook, share the messages with others, basically very active on the page, I don’t know the exact criteria but it is not done by me, it is done by Facebook. There are like 427 top fans. One third are top fans for three months, one third are top fans for two months and one third top fan for one month. So I can see who all the loyal, top fans are. Some are very well known, and some do not have so much interaction with me. So this is a very nice thing that we have top fans, and we would like that more people take advantage of this Facebook, and we should have thousands of top fans. Similarly, I have a Twitter account but only a thousand people are members of the Twitter account. So we have sent information to the Twitter, they only allow short message. So sometimes I just send some short messages on Twitter, which does not go to Facebook. Recently I put up a dream I had and we are not putting that on Facebook. If you want to see it go to Twitter. Haribol!

Now reading from different authors.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 17.9

dīkṣā-anantare haila, premera prakāśa
deśe argaman punaḥ premera vilāsa

So the translation and purport are from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which was translated and purport written by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda. So I don’t want to retranslate that work. So I will just have my secretary to read it.

Translation: “In Gayā Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was initiated by Īśvara Purī and immediately afterward He exhibited some signs of love of Godhead. He again displayed such symptoms after returning home.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Gayā accompanied by many of His disciples, He became sick on the way. He had such a high fever that He asked His students to bring water that had washed the feet of brāhmaṇas and when they brought it, the Lord drank it and was cured. Therefore, everyone should respect the position of a brāhmaṇa as indicated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Neither the Lord nor His followers displayed any disrespect to the brāhmaṇas. The followers of the Lord must be prepared to offer brāhmaṇas all due respect. But preachers of Lord Caitanya’s cult object if someone presents himself as a brāhmaṇa without having the necessary qualifications. The followers of Lord Caitanya cannot blindly accept that everyone born in a brāhmaṇa family is a brāhmaṇa. Therefore, one should not indiscriminately follow the Lord’s example by showing respect to brāhmaṇas by drinking water that has washed their feet. Gradually the brāhmaṇa families have become degraded because of the contamination of Kali-yuga. Thus, they misguide people by exploiting their sentiments.”

Śrī Caitanya-Bhāgavata Ādi 17.104

bhagavānera bhakta-māhātma-kīrtana; guru vaiṣṇava-darśana-lābhei śiṣyera tīrthabhramaṇa sārthaka—

prabhu bale,—“gayā karite ye āilāṅa
satya haila, īśvarapurīre dekhilāṅa”

Jayapatākā Swami: So Lord Caitanya, He declared the real benefit of His coming to Gayā in truth was that He had seen and contacted with Īśvara Purī Mahārāja.

So the Lord wanted to teach His sādhaka disciples and the Lord as the spiritual master of the world and teacher of all, spoke the following words. “On the occasion of My visit to Gayā I was fortunate enough to see the lotus feet of My spiritual master who is the personification of all the holy places and as a result I have attained the fruits of visiting all the holy places.” See most people like to visit holy dhāma, cār-dhāma, or some divya-deśa, they go, they see and come back but there is no change in their consciousness. So that is why it is said that one should seek out the learned brāhmaṇas, paṇḍitas, sages, devotees in that holy place and hear from them about the glories of the holy place. In this way one can achieve all the success of visiting the holy places. It is not just going to some holy place; it is to associate with the pure devotees. So Lord Caitanya, He said that His association with Īśvara Purī Mahārāja is what made His pilgrimage to Gayā a success. So this He is teaching us by His personal example that we should judge a pure devotee not by his appearance but how he speaks. If he is always glorifying and speaks according to sādhu, śāstra and guru, he is considered as bona fide. Someone who speculates and takes advantage of people’s sentiments, presenting himself as something which he is not, such people should be avoided. In Bengal some of the kula-gurus, the spiritual masters they say that you have to offer the guru nice fish! One devotee was going to the Nāma-haṭṭa of ISKCON and he heard that the devotees only takes kṛṣṇa-prasāda which is sāttvic, no fish, meat, onion, garlic. So they offered a nice vegetarian feast to the visiting family guru. He said, “What is this? This is all vegetables, they are cheap. I am guru, expensive I should have some nice fish, meat. I won’t take this, what are these vegetables? Why you are not offering proper respect?” These kind of people are spoiling the whole spiritual path and are taking advantage of people’s sentiment.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Ādi 17.105

prabhura viṣṇumantra-dīkṣā-grahaṇa-līlābhinaya dvārā nitya-maṅgala paramārtha-lipsu pratyekake sadguru-samīpe mantra-dīkṣā-grahaṇa-vidhi-śikṣā-dāna—

āra dine nibhṛte īśvara-purī-sthāne
mantra-dīkṣā cāhilena madhura vacane

Jayapatākā Swami: One day, Lord Caitanya went privately to Īśvara Purī and in sweet words, madhura-vacana, He requested for initiation.

So this verse says the Lord asked for mantra-dīkṣā, which means getting initiation, according to the Bhakti-sandarbha of Jīva Gosvāmī. Mantra is two words. Man and tra. Put together, so mantra means – the tra is short for deliverance and man means the mind or prestige or manana. Which means absorption in the temporary objects of this material world. So mantra is something that delivers one from this attachment to the temporary, external material energy. So dīkṣā is a process by which one awakens one’s transcendental knowledge and relinquishes all the sinful reactions or vikarmas which one has accrued by acting in a sinful way. So there are five factors in initiation. So by having second initiation or pāñcarātrika-dīkṣā one can perform worship to the arcā-vigraha. One is also freed from the bondage of the material world. By perfection of chanting his mantra, he will be able to learn more about the Lord, how his body is transcendental. Thus, he is given the adhikāra or permission to see the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. This is especially for the madhyama-adhikārīs or the intermediate devotees. But for the neophyte devotees, they are kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs, they are engaged in the worship of the Deities but lack the scientific knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So four principles are to be achieved by the devotees: love for the Lord, friendship with those who are attached to the Lord or His servants, they display mercy by instructing the innocent who are ignorant of the Absolute Truth. In the advanced stage of uttama-adhikārī, the principle of neglecting those who are averse to the Lord and their faith is never shaken. So they engage everyone in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Thus, one always continuously remembers Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Caitanya-Bhāgavata Ādi 17.106

prabhu-prati purīra sugabhīra prema-nidarśanokti, sevyera nimitta sevakera deha-prāṇādi sarvasva-dāne tatparatā—
purī bale,-“mantra vā baliyā kon kathā?
prāṇa āmi dite pāri tomāre sarvathā”

Jayapatākā Swami: So Īśvara Purī replied to Lord Caitanya’s request, “What to speak of giving You initiation, giving You a mantra, I can give my whole live to You.”

Śrī Caitanya-Bhāgavata Ādi 17.107

loka-śikṣā-pradānārtha harijanera nikaṭa prabhura mantra-grahaṇa līlābhinaya dvārā tatprati svīya akṛtrima kṛpā-pradarśana—

tabe tāna sthāne śikṣāguru nārāyaṇa
karilena daśākṣara-mantrera grahaṇa

Jayapatākā Swami: Since Lord Nārāyaṇa is everybody’s śikṣā-guru, the Lord in order to instruct everyone, He accepted the ten-syllable mantra from Īśvara Purī Mahārāja.

So Lord Caitanya, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself and He is showing by His example that it is essential when one wants to advance in spiritual path to have the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. That in Īśvara Purī’s heart He is the caitya-guru or the Supersoul, Lord Viṣṇu. So one may not be able to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead right away. So we can get instructions from the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the spiritual master. Lord Caitanya showed that it is essential for everyone to have a personal spiritual master. So Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally accepted Īśvara Purī Mahārāja as His guru and enacted the pastime of His receiving the ten-syllable mantra from Him.

Śrī Caitanya-Bhāgavata Ādi 17.108

prabhu-kartṛka śiṣyera guru-pradakṣiṇa, ātmanivedana o kṛṣṇapremarūpa guru-prasādā –yācñā-vidhi-śikṣā-dāna —

tabe prabhu pradakṣiṇa kariyā purīre
prabhu bale,—“deha āmi dilāṅa tomāre

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya circumambulated Īśvara Purī and He said, that I have given Myself in full surrender unto you.

Śrī Caitanya-Bhāgavata Ādi 17.109

hena śubhadṛṣṭi tumi karaha āmāre
yena āmi bhāsi kṛṣṇa-premera sāgare”

Jayapatākā Swami: “Please glance mercifully on Me, so that I may float in the ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa.”

Lord Caitanya asked, “Could you please glance mercifully on Me so that I may float in the ocean of kṛṣṇa-prema or pure love of Kṛṣṇa.” So most people who are following the Vedic tradition, they want to achieve the tri-varga as their goal of life. Religiosity, economic development and sense-gratification. Some people want to merge in impersonal truth and achieve liberation, but Lord Caitanya taught that the real goal of life is to have pure love for Kṛṣṇa. Not religiosity, economic development, sense-gratification and impersonal liberation. So after glorifying Lord Kṛṣṇa, He also glorified this before Īśvara Purī Mahārāja. He wanted to achieve blessing from guru for pure love of Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Caitanya-Bhāgavata Ādi 17.110

prabhura dainyavinayokti-śravaṇe prabhuke purīra premāliṅgana-dāna—

śuniyā prabhura vākya śrī-īśvara-purī
‘prabhure dilena āliṅgana bakṣe dhari

Jayapatākā Swami: So hearing the Lord’s nectarean words Śrī Īśvara Purī Mahārāja embraced Lord Caitanya holding Him close to his chest.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Ādi 17.111

ubhayei ubhayera premāśru sikta o prema-vihvala —

doṅhāra nayanajale doṅhāra śarīra
siñcita hailā preme, keha nahe sthira

Jayapatākā Swami: Both of Their eyes were filled with tears, and the tears soaked Their bodies. The tears were ecstatic manifestation of pure love for Kṛṣṇa. And both were agitated due to the awakening of the ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa.

So we will end here. We see how Lord Caitanya, He took initiation. As soon as He was initiated, He started to manifest symptoms of love of Godhead. Of course, for most people it is a gradual process, and it may take decades before one awakens that ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa. How long it will take will depend on the enthusiasm of each individual. For some people it could take few seconds, for others it may take many births. So Prabhupāda said he achieve perfection after twenty years. So how long will it take us? Some disciple from Bangladesh was writing to me that he has been initiated for two years and he doesn’t feel love for Kṛṣṇa yet, so he wants to be free from this initiation. But how long it will take to reach that ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa is not particularly guaranteed, how long it will take. But one can achieve pure love of Kṛṣṇa if one follows the process. We cannot say it will be in so many months or so many years. Because it depends how one is performing their devotional service. If they have avoided offenses or they are very offensive. Many factors are there. But through this process one can achieve perfection quicker than any other process. Locana dāsa Ṭhākura says, saba avatāra sāra śiromaṇi kevala ānanda-kāṇḍa – that Gaura Nitāi of all al the incarnations are the crown jewels and They have given a process which is purely blissful – chanting, dancing, studying the history of Kṛṣṇa and His devotees. This is very blissful process, taking kṛṣṇa-prasāda. So one would be quite foolish not to accept such a sublime process. So we will read more tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I have to go to the hospital for checkup, but I hope to be back in time to give the class. Any questions? No questions? While on live broadcast, you can make questions. Once we leave the live broadcast, can make any more comments on the Facebook page. Hare Kṛṣṇa!