20181130 Śrī Krishna Caitanya Book

Nama Om…

Mukham karoti vaachalam…

So today we will continue with the compilation of the Krishna Caitanya book. We are now starting the Madhya Lila. The Adi Lila was before Lord Caitanya started the sankirtan movement. It was very sweet but this section is even more sweet than sweet!! So now Lord Caitanya is acting as a pure devotee, as a maha Bhaagavat and He is expressing ecstasy on the level of maha bhaava. We heard that Radharani and Madhavendra Puri are the only ones to have manifested this maha bhaava. So Lord Caitanya taking the mood of Radharani is also experimenting in the maha bhaava. So this ecstasy in separation is the method which has the highest ecstasy. Sometimes Radharani falls in such ecstasy that She falls unconscious. And when She goes unconscious then Krishna goes unconscious then the whole world stops. 

When Krishna is unconscious, just everything stops, everything is suspended. The only one who is conscious is Balaram. He has the duty is to wake up Lord Krishna. So Krishna has empowered Balaram to do this. So Krishna, He can reciprocate fully as much as He wants with Radharani. 

So now we are reading that He came back from Gaya. He is now manifesting His extreme devotion to Krishna and gradually the vaishnava community but they could not understand anything because everything He was explaining was in relation to Krishna. So they were not used to this kind of explanation. So then He said, pack up your books and let us go to take bath in the Ganges. There after the Ganges bath everybody went to their homes. So now He is explaining some truths to His mother.

That scripture from purana which doesn’t explain Hari bhakti in a prominent way, even if Chaturmukh Brahma comes to explain that scripture, in that case no one by any means they should not listen to them. 

To give in the purport, words which Prabhupad said many times: muchi hoi suchi hoi odhi Hari bhoje, suchi hoi muchi hai jadi Hari tyaje – one who is a shoe repairing man, if he is worshiping Hari he can be accepted as a pure  brahmana and someone who is a brahmana becomes an impure muchi if he gives up the worship of Hari. 

A chandal is not a chandal if he chants Hare Krishna. A vipra brahmana is not a brahmana if he goes on a sinful path. So if a devotee of Krishna is born in a family of dog eaters, he is actually the topmost brahmana. According to shaastra an atheist who is sinful and devoid of devotion to Krishna and born in a brahmana family is certainly a dog eater. So seeing them by their ordinary caste consideration is prohibited. Like Jagai and Madhai, they were very fallen but once they took initiation Lord Caitanya said that it was a great offence if anyone brought their previous sinful activities because now they are vaishnavas and they should be accepted as vaishnavas. So all scriptures beginning with shrutis, smriti, itihaas, puranas and Pancharaatras, give these conclusions. One boy came up to Gautama muni and he wanted to take initiation So Gautama said, what is your family? Are you a brahmana or what? He said I don’t know; I don’t know who my father was. My mother had some relationship and I was born. I don’t know my father. So Gautama rishi said, I will give you second initiation. So he initiated him as a first class brahmana because he was not crooked, he was straightforward. 

Similarly, king Poutrayana, he was criticized by someone and he lamented that. So because he lamented over getting some mundane criticism he was considered a shudra. So one who is affected by lamentation is called a shudra. So the king Poutrayana was a Kshatriya but because of his lamentation, Raikva muni called him a shudra. And that king then attained the supreme goal of life after learning the confidential meditation from Raikva muni. So in the scriptures it is told that one who is endowed with the qualities of a brahmana can be called a brahmana otherwise he is a shudra. So certain qualities are there in brahmanas like truthfulness, peacefulness, but these are not present in a shudra. But if someone even if he is born as a shudra if they have peacefulness, truthfulness and other qualities of a brahmana then he is a brahmana and if someone is born as a brahmana and has qualities like lust, then he is a shudra, there is no doubt about it. This is from the Mahabharata. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that He made the varnashrama system and He said guna karma vibhaagashaha, by the qualities and nature of work. He did not say janma karma, by one’s birth, He said by one’s qualities, there are many verses recited here how symptoms of brahmana are found in shudras and symptoms of shudra are found in the brahmana. Then the shudra should not be called as shudra and the brahmana should not be called as a brahmana. So all the verses say the same thing. So the criteria for being a brahmana is to possess pure behavior in the form of worshipping Lord Hari. Verse after verse. Purificatory processes, study of the Vedas and good birth are not the criteria for being a brahmana, the only criteria is one’s occupation and his qualities. If one is having the quality of devotion to Hari, even if he is born in a shudra family, he should not be considered a shudra, they are all first class bhagavatas. But if one is not a devotee of Krishna, he should be considered a shudra even if he is born in a brahmana, kshatriya or vaishya family. This is from the Padma Purana. Atri Samhita. From the Padma Purana it is stated that one who is related to Vishnu thru devotion is known as a vaishnava, genuine vaishnava is superior to all the varnas and is the best of all.  Srimad Bhagavatam 3rd canto 33rd chapter and 7th verse “oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in a family of dog eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Aryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required”. 

I remember how at the ardha Kumbha mela in 1971 Prabhupad was giving a class on this topic. How one has chanting the holy names, they have done all the pious activities. So one of the devotees raised his hand and asked Prabhupad, Prabhupad, you said that one who chants Hare Krishna must have done all these pious activities, but when I see back my life I don’t think I have done anything pious, so then how is it I am able to chant Hare Krishna. Srila Prabhupad said that I have made your good fortune for you. Haribol! Srila Prabhupad ki jai!

So just by Prabhupad’s mercy people have got the holy name which was only available after doing many, many pious activities. But Prabhupad simply by his mercy gave this opportunity to us.  So how grateful we should be to Srila Prabhupad. It is said that out of thousands of brahmanas one is glorified to perform sacrifices and out of many thousands of such qualified brahmanas experience sacrificial offerings, one learned brahmana may have passed beyond Vedic knowledge, he is considered the best manas. Yet out of thousands of such brahmanas who have surpassed the Vedic knowledge one person may be a Vishnu bhakta and he is the most famous, and out of thousands of such vaishnavas, one who is really fixed in his service to Lord Krishna is the most famous. 

Vaishnava naam sahasrebhya ekanti eko vishishyate

So they are translating vishishyate as famous. I don’t know Sanskrit but I think that vishishyate means special. This is from the Garuda purana quoted by Jiva Goswami quoted in his Bhakti Sandarbha. 

Whatever Kapiladev instructed to His mother Devahuti, Gaurahari Mahaprabhu in that way instructed His mother. Whatever was spoken by Kapila muni the Lord spoke that in Navadvip to His mother. Lord Vishwambhar in the same mood as Kapila muni, He was teaching His mother. He would talk to Mother Sachi in the same mood. So if someone wants to refer to Kapila muni’s talks to Devahuti they should see Srimad Bhagavatam 3 canto chapter 25 verses 7 to 44 as well as chapters 26 to 32. So Lord Caitanya coming back as a vaishnava, even His mother was not understanding the changes in her Son. She was worshipping deities for His well-being but generally people could not understand the change in Nimai Pandit. Even His mother, His students and the general population. So Lord Gaurahari, He revealed to some of the special vaishnavas what He was going thru and then He tried to teach His students, but they could not understand. Now He is teaching His mother vaishnava the positon of a pure vaishnava. So these are very interesting and Lord Gaurahari He played His first leelas as Nimai Pandit and now He has suddenly changed after taking initiation, so people are not understanding. But soon they will understand. Hare Krishna!