20200223 Viśvambhara Eats Raw Rice From Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī (Part 2)

20200223 JAYAPATAKA SWAMI GURU MAHARAJ, SRI CAITANYA LILA BOOK COMPILATION, SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA

Mukham karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim

Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinam

Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram

The servant of the husband of the goddess Laksmi, he begs from door to door. Who can understand the mellow of this confidential pastime? What fortunate soul can understand the Lord’s mysterious pastimes?

Whenever the vipra, Suklambara begged from ten houses, whatever he collected by bringing from ten houses was eaten by Gauracandra, the husband of Laksmi. By forcibly taking and eating! Suklambara Brahmacari tried to offer very opulent things to the Lord, the husband of Laksmi, but he was not able and he begged from house to house and got broken rice. Lord Caitanya approved of His devotees humble behaviour and forcibly ate his collected rice. In this way, Lord Caitanya is the worshipable Lord of the tridandi biksus, the tridandi sannyasis. He is their worshipable Lord. So, the tridandi biksus collect alms, not for their personal, filling their stomach, but for service to Lord Krsna. Staying away from material enjoyment the brahmacaris and sannyasis engage in begging or book distribution and try to help the fallen souls and accept whatever is given, without complaining. So the devotees, especially the brahmacaris and sannyasis, they take whatever they receive to utilize in the service of Krsna. Thus they don’t get entangled in the complexities of material life. So Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Prabhupada Thakur, he approved of this activity for the Gaudiya Matt vasis, the brahmacaris and sannyasi who lived in the Gaudiya Matt.  He wanted them to be good examples of yukta vairagya. Srila Prabhupada did not make a Matt, Matt is simply for sannyasis, brahmacaris, maybe widows and he made mandirs which would help brahmacaris and sannyasis, and also grihastas and single people. So Srila Prabhupada, he was trying to engage everyone in the service of Krsna, because he did not want devotees to be mistaken for ordinary beggars. He had the principle that you should not accept anything without giving something in return. So the devotees would distribute prasadam or books, or something, in exchange for whatever they would receive. Whatever they received, they would return and give it to the temple. In this way, they took their prasadam from the temple, and they lived a life of type of renunciation. The grihastas would follow the ideal family life and they would take some maintenance. They would work outside and support the temple in different ways, either contributing energy or finance. In this way, everyone was engage in Krsna’s service, according to their situation and ashram. So, here it mentions that Lord Viswambar, Gaurahari, He actually stole the food from Suklambara Brahmacari, He took it by force and He ate it! So this would be a prohibited activity, ordinarily, but because the Lord took His devotee’s broken rice, it was considered an act of extreme mercy! So the grihastas, knowing that Lord Caitanya, the different offerings they give to the temple residents are offered to the Lord, so they should give nice things to be offered to the Lord! The culture of the grihamedis, very selfish grihastas, householders, is to give the rice, other grains which are substandard, and which are not of much use in their house. But this in turn is offered to the Lord and that is not a good thing for the grihasta. It is a good thing for the devotee because whatever he gets, he offers to the Lord. So we should try to give nice things to Krsna’s devotees, so that Krsna will get nice things offered to Him. Now we are having the Kirtan Mela, they should also aspire for Krsna Prema or pure love of Krsna, they should chant the holy names and they should understand the great activities of the pure devotees. Some of the residents of the temples want to preach to the householders who are fortunate by their wanting Krsna Prema, they are chanting Hare Krsna, they like to preach to these householders and help them in their spiritual life so that they can achieve love of God. Hare Krsna!

So, Lord Gauranga, the ocean of good qualities, He explained the rules of offering food to the Lord. Showing the mudras, the hand positions and all the Vedic mantras. So in this way, He taught all His followers the rules for offering food. One should offer the food by chanting ASTRAYA PHAT and sprinkling water over, ASTRAYA PHAT! PHAT! It protects the Lord with the offering. And one executes the chakra mudra. And then on a different finger and water and chants the vayu beads, ten times. And sprinkles that water on the offering. Then puts in the palm of his hand a vani bija and with the left hand on the right hand, display the fourth offering. With the fire rising from this, one should mentally burn the dryness of the offering. Thereafter, one should mentally place an amrtya bija within his left palm. Then with his right hand below the left, display this before the offering. One should then sprinkle the nectar arising from this mudra, on the offering. After that, one should sprinkle the previously purified water on the offering after chanting the mula mantra and consider that the entire offering is nectar. And then touching the right hand, one should touch the offering with one’s right hand. One should chant the mula mantra eight times. After that, after executing the denu mudra, one should consider that the offering is complete. And, one should worship that offering along with Sri Hari with ingredients such as water and sandalwood paste. Thereafter, taking a handful of flowers, one should worship Sri Hari and beg in prayer, oh, Lord let fire emanate from Your lotus mouth to accept this offering.  Therefore, one should mentally consider that fire as emanating from the Lord’s mouth and contact the offering. Then touching the offering with one’s left hand and taking water with sandalwood pulp and flowers in one’s right hand, and after chanting the mula mantra, ending in SWAHAA! One should chant, Sri Krsnaya idam naivedyam kalpayami, and throw the water over the sandalwood pulp and flowers from his right hand to the ground! Ah! After that one should offer the food stuff with Tulasi to the Lord with your mula mantras. This is very complicated. Srila Prabhupada told us to offer three times guru, three times Gauranga, three times Krsna and we can chant our mula mantra, ten times.

So Srila Prabhupada has given us a very simplified system. To do all these things – it is one thing for the pujaris – but for the ordinary people, it is very complicated. So, it goes on and on! So this is all mentioned in the Hari Bhakti Vilas, 8^th Vilas. So we have been given a very simplified system. Otherwise what is explained here is very complicated, very intricate. Mudras, we know the chakra mudra, but denu mudra showing the cow, so all these things, are traditional vaisnava way. But we do a very simplified version.

See normally, the Lord does not accept anything if you are not following all these rules. But all these rules are forgotten by the Lord if the devotee is offering. He accepts the offering of His devotees, even if it not exactly according to the rules. Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! So we follow the system that Srila Prabhupada gave us because he knew that what we could do, what we couldn’t do.

Lord Gauranga, taking the broken rice from Suklambara is approved of this. Therefore, all the rules are subordinate to bhakti. In other words, bhakti is the life and soul of the rules. So Lord Caitanya He took the broken rice from Suklambara Brahmacari, may not have been offered by any rules, because Suklambara was such a nice devotee, He took it. So the Lord takes the offerings of His pure devotees, without considering these rules and regulations.

So all the rules and regulations and prohibitions, they are all subordinate to bhakti. They are all servants of devotional service! If someone is sad or distressed because of this, if they think this is improper then they are vanquished!

Veda Vyas had said that bhakti, devotion, is the root of all rules. And Gauranga has directly demonstrated this. In the Padma Purana it is stated, smartavyah satatam visnur vismartavyo na jaticit, sarve vidhi nisedhah syru etayor eva kinkarah - Krsna is the origin of Lord Visnu, He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the sastras, should be the servants of these two principles.

So in Sri Gauranga’s pastimes of accepting Suklambara’s broken rice, out of love, without considering whether the rice was parboiled or raw or whether he was offering it following the proper rules, He ignored all that and simply because he was a pure devotee, He accepted all his offering. You see the rules and regulations are just to guide us to eventually have actual bhakti or devotional service to the Lord. The devotees who have Anurag, who have spontaneous devotion to the Lord, are not subject to these rules. Rather, the rules are subject to the pure mood, of the pure service attitude of the devotees!  So the materialistic people are unable to understand this point. They think that the rules and regulations are all important and they don’t realize that bhakti, pure devotion is much higher than all these rules. That is why the verse of api cet su duracaro bhajate mam ananya bhak, sadhur eva sa mantavyah, samyag vayavasiot hi sah, is mentioned that even if one has performed some wild activity, if they are situated in pure devotional service, they are to be considered as saintly. This is a verse in the Bhagavad-gita As It Is. It doesn’t mean that we should accept perverseness or selfishness as pure devotion. So the prakrita sahajiyas misuse this verse because they are very attached to material enjoyment. So, we should understand that if someone is actually dedicated to serving Krsna, even if he makes a mistake sometime, he is forgiven. But if one consciously makes a mistake, thinking that he will be automatically forgiven, that is an offense – sinning on the strength of chanting or strength of devotional service.

So the brahmana, Suklambara, he didn’t offer the rice with mudras, hand positions. In fact, he didn’t even offer it! Ha! Ha! Still the Lord, He took it and ate it eagerly!!

Those persons who are blinded by the pride of material enjoyment, they don’t know this mystery. They are intoxicated by the opulence of having children, wealth, aristocratic family, they don’t recognize actual vaisnava!

Lord Krsna never accepts the offerings of or worship of one who laughs at or ridicules a vaisnava. Considering him as a fool or poor! Lord Caitanya considered that the goal of regulative devotional service as raaganuga or spontaneous love of Krsna. So, this mellow or taste of Anurag is far beyond the regulated activities of devotional service. So if someone thinks that their mundane education or something is useful, they are actually inviting their own destruction, because they analyze vaisnavas from a materialist point of view. Sometimes devotees are distributing books and people drive by and say GET A JOB! GET A JOB! They think that the vaisnavas are lazy people, begging or something. They don’t actually understand that the devotees are helping people, spiritually by giving them an opportunity to take a book and read about the real purpose of life, who they are, etc. The mundane people are very proud of their wealth or family, they don’t consider the vaisnavas very beneficial to society. The Srimad Bhagavatam 4^th Canto, 31^st chapter, 21^st verse:

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes very dear to those devotees who have no material possessions but are fully happy in possessing the devotional service of the Lord. Indeed, the Lord relishes the devotional activities of such devotees. Those who are puffed up with material education, wealth, aristocracy and fruitive activity are very proud of possessing material things, and they often deride the devotees. Even if such people offer the Lord worship, the Lord never accepts them.” Sri Hari is controlled only by His devotees and does not even accept the worship of non-devotees is explained here in the Srimad Bhagavatam 4.31.21.

So this very from the Bhagavatam explains how the Lord actually appreciates a devotee and doesn’t accept offerings from the non-devotees, even if they have various material achievements and possessions. He appreciates and loves the devotees who love Him.

So, it says that Krsna is the life and soul of the persons who have no material possession. So Lord Caitanya, Lord Gauranga, He personally demonstrated this. Once Srila Prabhupada was sitting in the train in Howrah station and I was sitting with him. He was seeing some very poor people carrying the half burnt – in those day they had trains with coal wagons and to light the coal they would use some wood. So these people had collected some half burnt firewood that was used to ignite the coal, and they had tied it in a big bundle and were carrying it on their heads. And Srila Prabhupada was saying that this half-burnt firewood has no commercial value! But, if you try to take it from them, they will fight! They are not akincana, they have something, half burnt firewood! Ha! Ha! Someone like Yudhistira maharaj, he was the emperor of the whole world, but he was akincana because he thought everything is actually the property of Lord Krsna! So those who have nothing or think they have nothing, Krsna is their life and soul. So this fact is given in all the scriptures. Many of our gurus here, some have name akincana, niskincana, meaning having nothing. Having nothing material, but having Krsna! So those who hear the pastimes of Suklambara and Gaurasundar have gone through the samskara of piercing their ears, their spiritual ears! So, when they are rendering their devotional service, they are known as Gaudiyas or beggars of devotional service in the temple of Lord Gauranga and Lord Krsna. They don’t try to commit suicide by remaining away from the service of Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet, and by being averse to serving the lotus feet of Goooovinda!

Whoever hears the pastime of Lord Gauranga eating the broken rice of Suklambara Brahmacari, he receives the benediction of pure ecstatic love, Prema Bhakti, for Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet! Haribol! 9.09 pm! So I will take a vacation for a few minutes. We will get the questions.

Message from guru maharaj:

“I especially thank those devotees who sponsor the Bhagavat-gita in my name”. So either you can buy books and guru maharaj will sign on the books or you can sponsor books because you can see what Srila Prabhupada has told guru maharaj. This guru maharaj has expressed, in a lecture in Russia, 27 September 2007: “I don’t know if any of you have any instructions from Srila Prabhupada. Of course, he told all of us to be Krsna conscious. To help others to be Krsna conscious and chant Hare Krsna. But he told me that I should also see that every month, ten thousand maha big books are distributed and 100,000 small books are also distributed. So I have this big debt that I have to pay every month. So I need a lot of help. I don’t know how much that is now with interest, because that was told in 1970s. So with interest, maybe that is much more now! So Mayapur Sankirtan party helps by distributing books but anyone here wants to help me pay my debts?” So this is guru maharaj’s question. So this book distribution will be done on behalf of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami guru maharaj. So therefore all the book scores will be sent to the International World Sankirtan Newsletter in guru maharaj’s name. So Vyasa Puja distribution committee is announcing the all Gita daan punya will go towards guru maharaj’s health recovery. So kindly help in two ways – buying the book, getting signature and also you can sponsor for Bhagavad-gitas or any books. And of course , you are doing it in the dham. You know, by your generous contribution, one may – 1. Fulfill the desire of Srila Prabhupada to distribute more books and 2. Help guru maharaj to fulfill the order of Srila Prabhupada to him, 3. Guru maharaj’s name will be published in the World Sankirtan Newsletter and seva in dham gives a thousand times benefit and BBT will become stronger and stronger and stronger.

Venudhari prabhu has these forms, those who can want can get this from him.

Guru maharaj: You can also get some books from him and distribute it during the day. We want to promote book distribution in Mayapur.

Question: In Srimad Bhagavatam I found that grihastas should give 50% to temple. Srila Prabhupada mentioned about rich people. So, how serious is that? Because in our personal life, prabhu is working, but also not full time. And he is giving to our temple and also he gave TOVP. But if we give 50% then we will be unable to take care of our kids according to how we want. They are home schooling kids. American government has no facility for home school. We buy curriculum and test paper. I am doing this because I want to finish with them Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrita, before they step into the outside world. We are giving to the temple according to our capacity – not 50%. With that can we go back to Godhead? Kalindi Sundari devi dasi, Ohio, USA

Guru maharaj: You see, what you spend on prasadam and house rent, it counts in the 50%. Anything you do to worship Krsna counts. So if you are offering your food, that counts in your 50% above the basic expenses toward maintaining your house, etc, after that, what is the profit? That is considered.

Question: Hare Krsna dear Srila Jayapataka Swami guru maharaj: PAMHO. How to get rid of familiarity if it arisen in a relationship with seniors? Amrita Ganga devi dasi

Guru maharaj: If you are realizing that you have become too familiar, be more respectful. That will naturally get rid of the familiarity.

Question: Dear guru maharaj, PAMRO. AGTSP. If a disciple does not have the opportunity for adequate personal association with the guru, what are the various way by which he or she can understand the mood of his or her guru? Your insignificant fallen servant, Prema Gaurasundara das.

Guru maharaj: Well, what is the word he said? Sufficient? Attending the class of the guru live, or by Facebook or Youtube. Also, by serving the spiritual master directly or indirectly. Now there is the classes of the guru are taped, recorded and they are available bott audio and video, so there are many ways to get association of the guru. Even the Chinese devotees are seeing me giving class!

Question: Hare Krsna! Guru maharaj, PAMRO. Is the option better for grihastas working outside earning enough money to support the temple, or depending on the temple for maintenance, by serving the mission but would not be able to contribute much. We can see that devotees who have dedicated their lives is not valued and sometimes neglected. Rather, devotees who have contributed money for the mission are more likely to be of more importance.

Guru maharaj: We see from the pastime today of Suklambara Brahmacari and Lord Caitanya, maybe a donor is gratified. But Lord Caitanya accepted the gift of Suklambara Brahmacari, even he didn’t offer it, it was taken by force! Because Suklambara was a pure devotee. So we shouldn’t be, is that your motive, are you doing service to be gratified? Or you want to encourage people who give donation, oh, all glories, all glories, we chant. That doesn’t mean that we think that their service is better than the devotee who is day and night chanting 16 rounds and doing dedicated service. If you want to be glorified, Lord Caitanya in the third verse of the Siksatstakam said, we should offer respect to others and not expect respect for ourselves. But if you want respect, all glories to the devotees! Haribol! Ha! I hope you are satisfied! Ha!

Question: Hare Krsna guru maharaj: (Guru maharaj: Hare Krsna! ) PAMHO. I have a question about what am I supposed to do? I finished my class 12 standard and I want to go to Indian Army but I am confused and my family wants me to serve and help in Srila Prabhupada’s mission. I am not so strong with my devotional service. Please, please, please, guide me, what should I do? Hare Krsna! From a most fallen soul, Sumitra Ravidas.

Guru maharaj: I asked Srila Prabhupada if I should serve in the American army, he said, it was better to serve in Krsna’s army. So I have been serving in Krsna’s army since 1968 and haven’t retired yet!! So, you might consider serving in Krsna’s army!

Chinese devotees online: Bhaktin Gau Ying, Bhaktin Zing Yu! Sucitra devi dasi! Madhavi Priya devi dasi! Caitaya Guru, Bhaktin Gaun Yu! Navina Visaka devi dasi, Syama Acyuta das! Lila Gopi devi dasi! Jamuna Priya devi dasi, Olivia! Varsana Lila dd, Hari Priya Ganga dd, Shyamala dd, Krsna Sarma, Bhaktin Lulu.

Question: My dear guru deva, PAMRO. I always have a lot of questions which I want to ask you you but I don’t know English, so I need someone to translate for me. My question is you mentioned earlier that going to Mayapur is same as going to Vrndavana. If I commit any offence in Vrndavana I will be punished 1000 times, I am really afraid. I never went to Vrndavana. Shall I go to Vrndavana for pilgrimage or not? And I want to know that every time I want to go to Vrndavana, I should get your blessings or not? Or after the first blessing, I don’t need to ask for more permissions or blessings if I want to go to Vrndavana from time to time? Your fallen daughter, Caru Madhavi devi dasi, China.

Guru maharaj: Yes, no, very good! In Mayapur, there is not a 1000 times the effect of an offence. It is recommended in sastra that one should go to Mayapur, Navadvip dham, and then go to Vrndavana. How many times, I cannot say but at least one time in Mayapur and then Vrndavana.