20190129 Advaita Ācārya’s Vision of The Lord’s Universal Form (Part 2)

Come join us as His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja reads from the new Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book on January 29th, 2019 in Chennai, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

So I am sorry that I am late today. We had till 7.30, a group from Iskcon Sheshadripuram, Bengaluru, then I had my dinner which was calzones, which are a type of Italian baked samosas!! And they were very hot, so I couldn’t eat them too fast! Because I already have my mouth burnt. So that was finished at 8.35 pm. Then they prepared things here. But in Malaysia they are doing report in one of the temples, so I was asked to address them for 5 minutes, that became 15 minutes So like this I am a little late. Ha! Today we had physical therapy and then we went cycling. Then in the evening I did some stretching and ball exercise. Any way we will read a few verses and we will have some questions and answers. Remember, Advaita prabhu asked Lord Viśvambhara who was Kṛṣṇa Himself to show the universal form, that He showed to Arjuna. So that is what we are describing now. So we now give it to Devagauranga Dāsa. Haribol! Haribol!

So Advaita saw millions and millions of eyes, arms, and mouths, faces, He is seeing them repeatedly, punah punah. And He also saw Arjuna offering his prayers before the Lord.

Great fires came out of the mouths of all the faces, burning to ashes the atheists, the miscreants, who entered those fires like flying insects!

Any sinful person who blasphemes others, or the people who torture others, are burnt to ashes, by the fire emanating from the mouth of Lord Caitanya. So the universal form of the Supreme Lord is not eternal. It is the way of all material concepts and things, it is not equal to the incarnations of the Lord, not equal to His names, forms, qualities, associates, characteristics and pastimes of the incarnation of the Lord. So this is a manifestation of the material opulences of the Lord. And as fire is capable of destroying, burning and melting all objects, mental weakness, bodily contamination and the wild dancing of sinful people, who are averse to serving the Lord, out of envy and they blaspheme the exalted devotees, they are burnt to ashes by the lively and fully cognizant kīrtanas performed by devotees who have received the mercy of Shri Caitanya Mahāprabhu!! So in Kṛṣṇa-līlā this universal form was burning all the demons but in Caitanya-līlā, the universal form, Lord Caitanya burns the envy and the material contamination of the sinful people, and lets them attain to Krishna’s service. Therefore, He is considered to be the most merciful of all the avatars. He kills the demonic nature, but He saves the demons and makes them devotees. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Others don’t have the power to see this form of the Lord. Advaita Gosāñī was able to see this form by the mercy of the Lord!

In the happiness, bliss and ecstasy of pure love of Kṛṣṇa, Advaita was crying with great, intense, enthusiasm and attachment. Taking a straw in His teeth, He repeatedly begged for the Lord’s devotional service.

We will end here as the next verse introduces Nityānanda Prabhu, which is something new for us. So we will start here, paramanande prabhu nityānanda rāya, paryaṭana sukhe bhrame sarva nadiyāya! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Nitai! Nitāirai! Nitāicānd!

The deities of Ajita Gopinath and his family are called, Nitāicānd Śacīnandana or Nitāicandra Śacīnandana. So we will take two questions from internet and then if you have any question here! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Rohit Singh: What kind of spiritual declination one goes through if a devotee criticizes or blasphemes another devotee? Does it impact devotional services? 

Jayapatākā Swami: The devotional service becomes very dry. The ecstasy of pure love is obstructed. There was a pastime of the six gosvāmīs, when one of the gosvāmīs was reading the Bhāgavataṁ, and he felt great ecstasy. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! He started laughing! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! and then one devotee was walking by, and he was handicapped. So he thought that this, I forget who, Rūpa Gosvāmī or whoever, he is laughing at me. So he thought he was offended. I never expected that one of the ācāryas will laugh at me because I am physically handicapped! I feel so bad! So then all of a sudden that gosvāmi lost his ecstasy, and then he was finding devotional service very dry, no taste! So then he consulted with another gosvāmī, I think it was Sanatan Gosvāmī, and he said invite everyone to come to a feast, and whoever you had offended, he won’t come - one who thinks he is offended. So then he noticed that this one devotee did not come. So he went to his house and he asked him, they started talking out and the devotee said, you laughed at me! I was not laughing at you, you are a Vaiṣṇava, I was reading Bhāgavataṁ and was feeling bliss and I started to laugh. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaa! I was not laughing at you! I did not know you were there even! He said, I have committed an offence to you as I thought you had offended me. So please forgive me and then the two bowed down and then the Gosvāmī got his ecstasy back! So even a thing like this when one feels accidentally offended, and it was not intended at all, but the Gosvāmī lost his ecstasy! So what to speak of us! If we offend a devotee, and when don’t have a taste for devotional service, then we know why. So we should be very careful not to offend any devotee.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: In the case of Lord Kṛṣṇa showing His universal form to Arjuna, only some devotees can see His universal form. Now with Lord Caitanya, did other devotees, other than Advaita Prabhu see the universal form?

Jayapatākā Swami: In the Caitanya-Bhāgavata it didn’t say who else were there. Lord Caitanya took Advaita Gosāñī inside the Viṣṇu mandir and asked Advaita what He wanted. There may have been someone there but it is not mentioned. Somehow Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura found out that Lord Caitanya showed His universal form to Advaita.

So we have about 250 online viewers. Thank you for being present today. Haribol!