20181210 Śrī Krishna Caitanya Book

Nama Om…

Mukham karoti vaachalam…

So today we are very late for the class, so we can have a question answer session for half an hour. Today I went to the hospital for an ultrasound and the radiologist said that everything looks alright. The liver and the kidney seem to be ok. So that is good news!! But it put us behind one hour today! So tonight I had a meeting from 6 to 7 but unfortunately the meeting extended up to 8. So after I took my dinner it became 9 o clock. So that is why we will have a short class, just questions and answers. I had physiotherapy in the morning. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, I have sweet breakfast. (What is with the voice therapist!!) But we had to cancel the voice therapist because it was at the same time as ultrasound. Are there any questions?

Question: Mahapremada devi dasi: We know Mahaprabhu’s purpose of performing the sankirtan leela and other very intimate pastimes. Could you please explain what was His purpose for His scholastic pastimes?

Guru maharaj: Since He was coming as a covered incarnation, He was coming as a devotee although He was the Supreme Lord. So in His childhood He acted like a child. As a young man, he married and taught Sanskrit. So He was enjoying scholastic pursuits. The Lord comes sometimes as a brahmana, sometimes as a kshatriya, sometimes as a vaishya. In Navadvip He came as a brahmana and He was studying as the brahmanas do. Until He went to Gaya, where He met Ishwara Puri again, and took initiation, He was not acting like a bhakta. He was acting as an orthodox brahmana, as an ideal householder, so He was showing by His example how to be an ideal householder. He would invite people over and give them prasadam, He would give charity and He would teach the younger students Sanskrit grammar, He would argue with the other pandits and defeat them. So like this it seemed that He was an exceptional brahmana. When He came back as a devotee, it was a surprise to everyone. His students taught that maybe He got affected by some disturbed air in His journey. And that this would pass and He would become a normal pandit. So that is the part we were reading now. Lord Caitanya never came back to be a mundane arguer. He remained a devotee until His last breath, last vision. 

Question: Shanti V Sharma: In Navadvip parikrama we hear Lord Caitanya appeared for many acharyas before His manifested appearance. Similarly, after His disappearance did He appear to anyone?

Guru maharaj: It is hard to say because Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote what He saw and what he acquired in the shaastra in the 1800s. So since then there are some pastimes of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and also Srila Prabhupad, in 1969 when he attended the San Francisco Ratha Yatra, through the Golden Gate Park to the beach. Then when he entered the car which was taking him to his residence, he asked the driver with tears in his eyes, did you see Lord Caitanya, Nityananda? Dancing amongst the devotees? Did you see Them, how beautiful they were? The driver, what can he say? (Guru maharaj shrugged his shoulders the way the driver would have reacted) He did not see anybody; he saw Prabhupad! So there have been many sightings of Lord Caitanya but who is there to report them? Prabhupad, He said that He saw Nitai Gaur dancing with the devotees in San Francisco. 

Question: Rumkini: Bhakti or devotion can it surpass karma kanda or vaidhi bhakti rules?

Guru maharaj: Of course. Karma kanda as Lord Caitanya said, karma kanda is a pot of poison. It is our doing good karma for good sense gratification, whereas bhakti yoga is just the opposite. We want to please Krishna, we want to serve His senses with our senses. Hrishikena Hrishikesha sevanam. So bhakti is much, much, higher that karma kanda. Hari bol! Gauuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrannnnga! 

Question: Gauranga Karunasindhu das: Is the systematic teaching of Srila Prabhupad’s books to devotees after one has carefully studied them under a bona fide teacher, is as pleasing to Lord Caitanya as preaching to new people?

Guru maharaj: We don’t want to just accumulate knowledge, just to know more. We learn and then we go out and distribute, what we have learnt. This way we can remember for a long time and we put our knowledge to use. 

Question: Sevapadma devi dasi : So bhakti reduces karma also?

Guru maharaj: Krishna says in 18th chapter of Bhagavad Gita sarva dharmaan parityagya, maam ekam sharanam vraja, aham tvaam SARVA paapebhyo, mokshaishyaam maa suchaha. So by surrendering to Krishna He says that He will protect us from alllllll the karmas. So why just some, bhakti will eradicate allllll the karmas. Unfortunately, in order to expand the preaching, we also need to initiate candidates and they promise to chant 16 rounds and follow the four regulative principles but some of them don’t follow the four principles. And the guru has to suffer because of that. Some brahmachari said that he fell down multiple times with married ladies and he said he doesn’t know what ashram he should be in. So there are some people that are very fallen, and I am just giving one example, I can give dozens. And we don’t expect this from devotees. Unfortunately, some devotees take their vows very lightly. So if you see some god brother or god sister who is not doing well in devotional service, please request them chant and do devotional service and follow the principles. Hare Krishna!

The names of the devotees attending online today: The repeater read out quite a few names of the 134 numbers.

One last question from the internet and one last question live.

Live question: Tapta Kaanchana Nimai prabhu: Why do we chant Pancha tattva mantra before chanting the Hare Krishna mantra?

Guru maharaj: Chanting Pancha tattva mantra is one thousand times more powerful than chanting Hare Krishna but you get that result when you chant Hare Krishna. So therefore we chant Pancha tattva mantra first to say that we are chanting under the order of Lord Caitanyaa and then we chant Hare Krishna.

One last question from internet: Rukmini: If we don’t chant shuddha naam can we still make it back to Godhead?

Guru maharaj: Even by chanting offensively the holy name, one gets spiritual benefits. By continuing chanting even with offenses, one gradually can reach the clearing stage which gets rid of the offenses. And then one can chant shuddha naam or offenseless chanting. So when one chants offenselessly, obviously one goes back to Godhead. Other types of chanting, we read in the Caitanya Bhagavat that if one chants Hare Krishna, they go back to Godhead, even though they have so many faults. Haribol! But we should try to get rid of our offenses. Hare Krishna!