20181128 The Lord's Pastimes with Students after His Gayā Yātrā

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book work 28^th November 2018 in Chennai, India by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Guru Mahārāja. Reading from Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 1.171-184.

Under the section: The Lord's Pastimes with Students after His Gayā Yātrā

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Jayapatākā Swami: So today we are continuing with the compilation of the Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya book and we are now in the second book where the Lord He went to Gayā to perform the rituals for His deceased father. There He saw the actual footprint of Lord Viṣṇu but He didn’t feel ecstasy. So He wondered why I don’t feel love of Kṛṣṇa? Then He got initiation from Īśvara Purī Mahārāja. Then when He went to see the lotus footprint of Lord Viṣṇu He felt ecstasy and then He started to dance and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. So many things happened but eventually he went back to Navadvīpa. On the way at Kānāi-nāṭaśālā which is along the Ganges, He had darśana of Kṛṣṇa. In fact, Kṛṣṇa came and embraced Him and then He ran off. So since that time Lord Caitanya is feeling great separation. His ecstasy was categorized as mahābhāva, the ecstasy that Rādhārāṇī and Mādhavendra Purī felt for Kṛṣṇa. So now that He has come back to Navadvīpa, He first revealed His situation to the Vaiṣṇavas, and now He was talking to His students. So we will start from there when He had completed His talks and description of philosophy to the students. So the students, they were absorbed and amazed as they heard the Lord’s explanation with undivided attention, eka-mane. Prabhu Caitanya, He firstly became overwhelmed explaining the Absolute Truth. So both the students and Lord Caitanya were fully focused on what the Lord was speaking.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.171

pratyeka-śabdera cinmaya sahaja athai kṛṣṇa-tātparyapara, tadupari prabhura vyākhyā—

sahajei śabda-mātre ‘kṛṣṇa satya’ kahe
īśvara ye vākhānibe,—kichu citra nahe

Translation: Every word inherently establishes Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Truth, so there is no wonder that the Lord should explain in this way.

Commentary: Any word manifested from the pure spiritual sky and received by the eternally pure sense of hearing smeared with the ointment of love is certainly nondifferent from the eternal primeval Absolute Truth, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is not very wonderful or astonishing that the Supreme Lord Śrī Viśvambhara, who is devoid of the four defects of mistakes, illusion, cheating, and imperfection that are found in living entities, will explain the meaning of every word through the eternal, pure, complete, eternally liberated, spiritual, and most important vidvad-rūḍhi.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya, He established the transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa of every word He spoke. And He said Kṛṣṇa and Satya. That the Lord should explain in this way is nothing wonderful because the Lord would naturally explain in this way.

Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself but in the mood of a devotee. So when He talks about Kṛṣṇa He does so in a very authoritative way. So any teaching manifested from the spiritual world and received by the eternally pure saints of hearing, which is anointed with the ointment of love, is certainly non-different from the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, the primeval Absolute Truth. So therefore, it is not very wonderful that the Supreme Lord Śrī Viśvambhara who is devoid of the four defects which the conditioned souls have namely, mistakes, illusion, cheating and imperfection. So He would explain the meaning of each word in the śāstra through the eternal, pure, complete, eternally liberated, spiritual and most important vidvad-rūḍhi. Remember, there are three ways of understanding the Absolute Truth. vidvad-rūḍhi, sādhāraṇa-rūḍhi and ajīa-rūḍhi. Vidvad-rūḍhi is based on the śāstras and the liberated souls. And the sādhāraṇa-rūḍhi is something in between. And the ajīa-rūḍhi is the mistaken, illusory energy’s deception understanding of the Absolute Truth which is wrong and incomplete and bewildering to the living entities.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.172

prabhura bahirdaśā-lābhānte chātragaṇake svīya vyākhyārīti-jijñāsā—

kṣaṇeke hailā bāhya-dṛṣṭi viśvambhara
lajjita haiyā kichu kahaye uttara

Translation: After a while, Viśvambhara regained His external consciousness. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, He began to inquire.

Jayapatākā Swami: So for a moment Lord Viśvambhara He regained His external consciousness, and He was embarrassed, so He gave some response.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.173

chātragaṇera prabhū-samīpe tatkṛta-vyākhyā-bodha sāmābhāva-jñāpana—

“āji āmi kemata se sūtra vākhāniluṅ?”
paḍuyā-sakala bale—“kichu nā bujhiluṅ

Translation: “How was My explanation of the sūtras today?” The students replied, “We have not understood anything.

Jayapatākā Swami: “How is My explanation of the sūtras today?” His students they all said, “we have not understood anything.”

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.174

yata kichu śabde vākhānaha ‘kṛṣṇa’ mātra
bujhite tomāra vyākhyā ke vā āche pātra?”

Translation: “You explained every word simply in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, so who is the proper candidate for understanding Your explanations?”

Jayapatākā Swami: “You have explained every word in relationship to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Who is the proper recipient to understand Your explanations?”

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.175

prabhu-saha chātragaṇera gaṅgāsnāne gamana—

hāsi’ bale viśvambhara,—“śuna saba bhāi!
puṅthi bāndha’ āji, cala gaṅgā-snāne yāi”

Translation: Viśvambhara smiled and said, “Listen, brothers! Pack up your books for today and let us go take bath in the Ganges.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Viśvambhara smiled and said “listen, you all brothers, tie up your books today and let us go to take bath in the Ganges.”

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.176

bāndhilā pustaka sabe prabhura vacane
gaṅgā-snāne calilena viśvambhara-sane

Translation: Being instructed by the Lord, the students packed up their books and went with Him to take bath in the Ganges.

Jayapatākā Swami: According to the Lord’s instructions, they tied up their books and went with Lord Viśvambhara to take Ganges bath.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.177

prabhura alaukika rūpa-varṇana—

gaṅgā-jale keli kare prabhu viśvambhara
samudrera mājhe yena pūrṇa-śaśadhara

Translation: As Lord Viśvambhara sported in the Ganges, it appeared that the full moon was rising from the middle of the ocean.

Commentary: The analogies and descriptions attributed to the Lord in this verse and in the following verses 182-184 reveal the poetic genius of the author.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Viśvambhara, He played and sported in the Ganges water. It was as if the full moon has risen from the middle of the ocean.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.178

gaṅgā-jale keli kare viśvabhara-rāya
parama-sukṛti-saba dekhe nadīyāya

Translation: Viśvambhara’s sporting in the waters of the Ganges was seen by the most pious inhabitants of Nadia.

Jayapatākā Swami: So the Lord Viśvambhara sported in the waters of the Ganges and was witnessed by the supremely pious residents of Nadia.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.179

brahmādira abhilāṣa ye rūpa dekhite
hena prabhu vipra-rūpe khele se jalete

Translation: The same Lord that personalities such as Brahmā desire to see was now sporting in the water in the form of a brāhmaṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: The demigods, like Lord Brahmā and others, they desired to see that form of the Lord, that Lord in the form of a brāhmaṇa, He was playing in the Ganges.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.180

gaṅgā-ghāṭe snāna kare yata saba jana
sabāi cāhena gauracandrera vadana

Translation: All those persons who were taking bath at the bathing ghāṭas of the Ganges gazed at the face of Gauracandra.

Jayapatākā Swami: All the people who were bathing in the Ganges at those particular main ghāṭas, were all looking at the lotus face of Lord Gauracandra. They were gazing at His lotus face. The ghāṭa is the stairway to reach from the bank to the water and it facilitates the bathers as otherwise where there is no ghāṭa the Ganges earth bank becomes muddy and soft. So these ghāṭas or stairways erected across the Ganges. So that would facilitate people to enter into the Ganges and leave. So all those people who were using the ghāṭas, they gazed at lotus face of Lord Caitanya or Viśvambhara as He bathed in the Ganges.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.181

anyo ’nye sarva-jane kahaye vacana
“dhanya mātā pitā,—yāṅra e-hena nandana”

Translation: They all remarked to one another, “Glorious are the father and mother of such a son.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Remarking to each other all the people said the following words, “glorious is the mother and father of such a son.”

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.182

prabhura pādasparśe gaṅgāra ānanda o prabhu-sevā—

gaṅgāra bāḍila prabhu-paraśe ullāsa
ānande karena devī taraṅga-prakāśa

Translation: Being touched by the Lord, goddess Gaṅgā became joyful, and out of delight, she manifested her agitation in waves.

Jayapatākā Swami: So the Ganges became more and more jubilant as the Lord’s lotus feet touched her. Extreme delight, she manifested waves.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.183

taraṅgera chale nṛtya karena jāhnavī
ananta-brahmāṇḍa yāṅra pada-yuge-sevī

Translation: Jāhnavī thus danced in the form of waves to worship the Lord, whose feet are served by innumerable universes.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the Ganges danced to worship… the unlimited universes… the Lord whose lotus feet are served by the unlimited universes. So, in the form of waves the Ganges was dancing as an offering to Him.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.184

catur-dike prabhure beḍiyā jahnu-sutā
taraṅgera chale jala dei alakṣitā

Translation: The daughter of Jahnu encircled the Lord on all sides and showered Him with her waters while remaining unseen.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the Ganges who is known as the daughter of Jahnu Muni, encircled the Lord on all sides and in the form of waves she showered Him with her water while remaining unseen.

So we will stop here and in this beautiful poetry given in the next verses, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says, this reveals the poetic genius of the author, Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. So this part of the Caitanya book has some verses from the Caitanya-bhāgavata. Prabhupāda said that eventually to read the books on Lord Caitanya in the original text, people from around the world will learn Bengali language. Certainly, the sweetness in Bengali is incomparable. We are trying to give English rendition, but just so that it’s accessible to people from a wider audience. But the poetry of the original Bengali, it’s very beautiful. But those who know Bengali can appreciate it.

Any questions?