20200720 Recitation of Prayers to the Form of the Lord as Goddess Durgā and Lakṣmī.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 20th July 2020 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, 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!

Introduction: Here in Māyāpur is slightly raining so we are giving the class here so that translators can be protected from the rain. We see in the news that there is storm Delhi and Assam we were told that may there would be a flood in Bengal later. But we can save us from the flood, how? Lord Caitanya wants, if he floods Māyāpur its sign from Śrīla Prabhupāda said that Lord Caitanya wants to flood the world with love of Kṛṣṇa. So, we request everyone to flood the world everyone so we don’t have to experience flooded Māyāpur. 

So, we are continuing with the drama, description of Lord Caitanya in Navadvīpa. This is a special, unique drama, where the actors, the audience, everyone is mad in ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya, He is taking the role of different consorts, different śaktis So now He is taking the role, sometime of the material energy, sometime of Lakṣmī. You see, the Supreme energy of the material world, she executes the Lord’s desire, of creation, maintenance and destruction.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.174

sarvāśrayā tumi, sarva-jīvera vasati
tumi ādyā, avikārā paramā prakṛti

Jayapatākā Swami: You are the shelter of everyone, and the abode of all conditioned souls. You are the primeval goddess, and the unchanging supreme consort.

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): The difference between brahmāṇḍa, the material universe, and Vaikuṇṭha, the spiritual world, is that Vaikuṇṭha is a self-manifested object while brahmāṇḍa is a created object. The creation, maintenance, and annihilation of the brahmāṇḍas are under the jurisdiction of the material time factor, and the eternal existence of Vaikuṇṭha is beyond the jurisdiction of time. There is no mother of Vaikuṇṭha, but there is a mother of the brahmāṇḍas. Although by nature she is the spiritual energy of the Lord, she is the creator of the material world, consisting of the three modes of nature. “As the spiritual energy, You alone are the cause of the three worlds. Although You are beyond the three modes of material nature, people become illusioned by considering You from the material point of view as consisting of three modes of material nature. The materialists are never able to describe Your actual nature.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Kṛṣṇa is beyond time and beyond the three modes. By His will, the material world creates, maintains and destroys But the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭha is ever existing. It is never created, and it is never destroyed. So that’s the place, we actually belong Somehow, we have fallen into this material world. Therefore, we are suffering and enjoying the results of our activities, and not aware of the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This information is available in the revealed scriptures. Lord Caitanya is disseminating this confidential information of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His energies.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.175

jagata jananī tumi dvitīya-rahitā
mahī-rūpe tumi sarva-jīva pāla' mātā

Jayapatākā Swami: You are the mother of the universe, You are without a second. O mother, in the form of the earth, You maintain all the living entities.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.176

jala-rūpe tumi sarva-jīvera jīvana
tomā' saṅarile khaṇḍe aśeṣa bandhana

Jayapatākā Swami: In the form of water, You are the life of all living entities. Remembrance of You destroys the perpetual bondage. These are the prayers to the material energy of the Lord:

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): “Although You are the unrivaled spiritual energy, in Your specific manifestation You are the mother of this material universe. Another manifestation of You, this earth, is seen as the mother of the conditioned souls. You, in the form of water, are like the life of all living entities. By remembering Your spiritual potencies, the living entities become freed from the unlimited material conceptions created by māyā and are thus able to give up illusion.”

Jayapatākā Swami: This material energy is sometimes called bhadrā, and the spiritual energy, Yogamāyā is called Subhadrā. So ultimately, the material energy is under the control of Yogamāyā. So, if one remembers Yogamāyā, they can become freed from this material bondage. As mentioned, there is some prediction that in the future, the world may undergo a great shortage of water, and as a result, who has water, has life. No water, it is very difficult to live. So even now, in some parts of the world, there is no water. And people suffer and find it very hard to exist. So, people may think they are independent, but without the earth, without water, how they can live? So, we are fully dependent on the energies of the Lord.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.177

sādhu-jana-gṛhe tumi lakṣmī-mūrti
matīasādhura ghare tumi kāla-rūpākṛti

Jayapatākā Swami: In the houses of devotees, You are the form of Lakṣmī, goddess of fortune. In the houses of non-devotees, You appear in the form of Time, the destroyer of everything.

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): “In the houses of Vaiṣṇavas attached to the service of the Lord, You are present as the personification of Lakṣmī, and in the houses of materialists who are devoid of service to Viṣṇu You entangle them in unlimited varieties of bondage, bewilder them with Your covering and throwing potencies, and destroy them by placing them under the control of the material time factor.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the devotees of the Lord see the Supreme material energy as Lakṣmī-devī, the goddess of fortune, the consort of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But the materialists who do not believe in the Lord, they are kept under the control of the material energy, and thus they are bewildered and forced to suffer the effects of Time.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.178

tumi se karāha trijagatera sṛṣṭi-sthiti
tomā’ nā bhajile pāya trividha durgati

Jayapatākā Swami: You perform the creation and maintenance of the three worlds. If one does not worship You they suffer the three-fold miseries of material life.

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): “Although Your spiritual energy is eternally present in Vaikuṇṭha, it creates transience by arranging the creating, maintenance, and annihilation of the heavenly, earthly, and lower planets. If one does not engage in service under the shelter of Your spiritual energy, one will attain the threefold miseries beginning with those arising from the body and mind.”

Jayapatākā Swami: The three-fold miseries are adhyātmika, ādhibhautika and ādhidaivika – Adhyātmika are those arising from one’s body or mind. Ādhibhautika are those arising from other living entitites – could be mosquitos, mad dogs, could be robbers, other living entitites. Could be corona virus. Ādhidaivika are those created by nature. Whether corona virus is ādhibhautika or ādhidaivika? If we consider pandemics, pestilences created by forces beyond the control of the human beings, the living entities, then it is ādhidaivika. But if we consider that they are living entities, then they are ādhibhautika. Now the cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons, floods, earthquakes, these are definitely ādhidaivika. So, in the material world, one has to suffer these three-fold miseries, in the spiritual world these three-fold miseries do not exist.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.179

tumi śraddhā vaiṣṇavera sarvatra-udayā
rākhaha jananī diyā caraṇera chāyā

Jayapatākā Swami: You are the Vaiṣṇavas’ ever rising faith. O mother, please protect us, give us the shade of Your lotus feet. 

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): Appearing as the faith of those who are inclined towards the devotional service of Viṣṇu, You increase their devotion. You make those who are bereft of Your compassion maddened with desires for material enjoyment by diverting them from the service of Kṛṣṇa. They then know You only as the provider of their sense gratification. But You become the well-wisher of those who are favored by You, and, rather than becoming the object of their enjoyment, You become the object of their service.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this shows how the material energy, acts differently with materialists and Vaiṣṇavas. For the Vaiṣṇavas, she helps them in their devotional service, for the materialists, she bewilders them with material sense gratification. 

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.180

tomāra māyāya magna sakala saṁsāra
tumi na rākhile mātā ke rākhibe āra

Jayapatākā Swami: The entire world is bewildered by your illusory energy. O mother, if you don’t protect us, then who will?

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): “Being entangled by your illusory energy, godless people of the world wander in the cycle of birth and death and suffer miseries. If you, as the object of their worship, do not protect them, then those foolish children cannot consider you worshipable. As a result, being entangled in tight ropes, they cannot surrender to the Supreme Lord.”

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.181

sabāra uddhāra lāgi’ tomāra prakāśa
duḥkhita jīvere mātā kara nija-dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: You manifest in order to deliver all the conditioned souls. O mother, suffering of the conditioned souls, please deliver the suffering living entities, o mother, by making them Your servants. 

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): “Being tortured by your covering and throwing potencies, persons desirous of liberation from this material world wish to be delivered by becoming free from material desires. With a desire to benefit such living entities who are inclined towards your service, you remove their threefold miseries and instruct them to become inclined towards the service of Kṛṣṇa.”

Jayapatākā Swami: We see how the Ādyāśakti of Kṛṣṇa, helps people to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. At the same time, people who are not inclined to serving Kṛṣṇa, they are forced by the material energy to suffer repeated birth and death.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.182

brahmādira vandya tumi sarva-bhūta-buddhi
tomā' saṅarile sarva-mantrādira śuddhi”

Jayapatākā Swami: You are worshipped by great souls, great personalities, like Lord Brahmā. You are the intelligence of all living entities. By remembering you, our mantras become purified.

Purport (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): “All demigods worship You. Gāyatrī-devī delivers the human beings from the concepts of acceptance and rejection and awards them pure intelligence. By remembering You, the restlessness of mental speculators is clarified.”

Jayapatākā Swami: The material conditioning causes one to accept something on the basis of sense gratification or reject something on the same basis. The materialists accept something on the basis of sense gratification or reject something on the same basis. as not being beneficial for sense gratification. So, this is the conditioned intelligence. Pure intelligence leads us to serve Kṛṣṇa. 

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.183

ei mata stuti kare sakala mahānta
vara-mukha mahāprabhu śunaye nitānta

Jayapatākā Swami: All the advanced devotees, they offered prayers in this way. Lord Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, in His form as Ādyāśakti, listened to their prayers attentively and was inclined to offer them blessings or benedictions.

Murāri Gupta Kaḍaca, 2.16.17-18: The devotees again prayed, “O goddess, just bestow on us loving devotion to Your lotus feet. With a laughing face, Mahāprabhu replied, "If love should awaken in your hearts for Me, then all the people will say of you, `These are devotees of goddess Caṇḍī." Then the brāhmaṇas bowed down on the earth before Him as the sun of Gaura embraced the moon of Haridāsa. 

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the devotees see the material energy as a product of Lord Kṛṣṇa. She is the energy of Kṛṣṇa. And therefore, they want to serve Kṛṣṇa. So, they are praying to the goddess to give them devotion to Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 2.9.121

tabe stava kaila sabhe, surakṛta mahāstave,
tuṣṭa hañā bole ādyāśakti

Jayapatākā Swami: Everyone offered their prayers that were recited by the demigods, the Ādyāśakti was satisfied by their prayers. 

devatā āsane basi, kahe lahu lahu hāsi,
dekhibāre āilu premabhakti

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Gaurāṅga, in His form as the potency, sat on the deity throne. He gently smiled and said, I come to see your prema-bhakti, your love and devotion.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 2.9.222

to-sabhāra nṛtyagīte, āiluṁ dekhibāra cite,
kahilu āpana abhilāṣa

Jayapatākā Swami: I have come to satisfy to see your dancing and singing. Please speak your own desires, in your hearts. 

e bola śuniyā punaḥ, kahe sei saba jana,
nijabhakti kara parakāśa

Jayapatākā Swami: So, hearing these words, again the devotees all said, give us devotion to You.

Caitanya Maṅgala, Madhya-khaṇḍa 2.9.223

e vara māṅgila yabe, ādyāśakti bole tabe,
śuna śuna śuna sabajane

Jayapatākā Swami: When they prayed for this benediction, the Ādyāśakti said listen, listen, listen, everyone. 

āmi caṇḍi paracaṇḍa, tomārao habe daṇḍa,
ei vara dila sarvajane

Jayapatākā Swami: I am the powerful goddess Caṇḍi, I will fulfill your desires, I give all of you My blessings, to fulfill your boons.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.184

punaḥ punaḥ sabe daṇḍa-praṇāma kariyā
punaḥ stuti kare śloka paḍiyā paḍiyā

Jayapatākā Swami: Again and again, the devotees offered their prostrate obeisances, again they offered prayers, reciting selected verses.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.185

“sabei laila mātā tomāra śaraṇa
śubha dṛṣṭi kara tora pade bahu mana”

Jayapatākā Swami: We all take shelter, O mother, at Your lotus feet, please glance mercifully on us, so that our minds remain fixed on Your lotus feet.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 18.186

ei mata sabei karena nivedana
ūrddhva-bāhu kari' sabe karena krandana

Jayapatākā Swami: In this way, everyone offered prayers to the Lord, raising their hands in the air, everyone cried. All the Vaiṣṇavas were praying to Lord Caitanya, to give them devotion to Himself. And they showed that, the whole purpose of their existence was to take shelter of Lord Gaurāṅga. Although He was appearing in the form as His spiritual energy.

Thus, ends the chapter, Recitation of Prayers to the Form of the Lord as Goddess Durgā and Lakṣmī.

Alright, thank you very much!