20200803 The Lord Reveals to Nityānanda His Decision to Take Sannyāsa to Deliver the Offenders

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 3^rd August 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: So first, we would like to wish all of you a happy Balarāma-Pūrṇimā! Since we are participating in the Eid holiday, Bangladesh organized Śravaṇa-utsava at 8 O’clock, therefore we are having this Caitanya class a bit early. So that we can attend the Śravaṇa-utsava, and we will be speaking in Bengali then, today’s chapter is:

The Lord Reveals to Nityānanda His Decision to Take Sannyāsa to Deliver the Offenders

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.123

prabhuvākya-śravaṇe nityānandera viṣāda—

nityānanda bujhilena prabhura antara
jānilena—‘prabhu śīghra chāḍibena ghara’

Jayapatākā Swami: Nityānanda Prabhu understood Lord Gaurāṅga’s internal mood, and His plan. He understood that the Lord Gaurāṅga, will quickly leave home.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.124

viṣāde hailā magna nityānanda-rāya
‘haiba sannyāsi-rūpa prabhu sarvathāya

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, He became absorbed in lamentation, as He realized that Lord Gaurāṅga would soon take sannyāsa.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.125

e sundara keśera haiba antardhāna’
duḥkhe nityānandera vikala haila prāṇa

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda became agitated with distress, thinking that the beautiful hair of Lord Gaurāṅga, would soon disappear, by being shaved off. So, Lord Nityānanda’s life air became distressed.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.126

prabhura nityānanda-saha nibhṛte kathopakathana—

kṣaṇeke ṭhākura nityānanda-haste dhari’
nibhṛte vasilā giyā gaurāṅga-śrī-hari

Jayapatākā Swami: After a while, Lord Gaurāṅga Hari, took the hand of Lord Nityānanda and sat down with Him, in a solitary place.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.127

prabhu bale,—“śuna nityānanda mahāśaya!
tomāre kahiye nija hṛdaya niścaya

Jayapatākā Swami: So Lord Gaurāṅga said, listen, Nityānanda mahāśaya, I am telling you confidentially, I will reveal My heart to You.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.128

bhāla se āilāṅa āmi jagata tārite
tāraṇa nahila, āmi āiluṅ saṁhārite

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, I came to deliver the living entities of the universe. I was not able to deliver them and it looks like I came to destroy them.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.129

āmā’ dekhi’ kothā pāibeka bandha-nāśa
eka guṇa baddha chila—haila koṭi-pāśa

Jayapatākā Swami: They were supposed to be freed from all material bondage, they were bound by one rope, now they are bound by millions.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: Śrī Gaurasundara said to Śrī Nityānanda, “I began to glorify Lord Hari and His devotees to benefit the residents of Navadvīpa. But the result was the opposite—they became more and more entangled in offense. They could not understand the practice of pure devotional service, and they ruined themselves by totally misunderstanding devotional service to Hari. In this way they tightened the knots of their bondage to material existence. Their such degradation resulted from envy of the Supreme Lord and the absence of a service attitude for the devotees of the Supreme Lord.”

When according to the desire of Śrī Gaurasundara the expert devotees of the Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rāja-sabhā engaged in preaching pure devotional service, a group of prākṛta-sahajiyās under the guidance of an arrogant karmī resident of Kālanā created various disturbances. Those prākṛta-sahajiyā, so-called preachers of devotional service to Viṣṇu tried their best to oppose the preaching of pure devotional service by resorting to the use of harsh language in various medias like one fortnightly newspaper. They plunged into the well of material existence to destroy themselves by accepting sinful activities, deviations from religious principles, nondevotional activities in the form of envying Kṛṣṇa and His devotees, and association with women as the standards of pure devotional service preached by Śrī Gaurasundara. Some of them tried to oppose the system of daiva-varṇāśrama on the pretext of following varṇāśrama-dharma, and some without understanding the process of devotional service tried to preserve their beards and moustaches to keep their enjoying propensity intact. The foolish prākṛta-sahajiyās cannot understand the intentions of the Lord's devotees. Therefore how will they understand the transcendental behavior and endeavors of Gaurasundara? They did not hesitate to create the new doctrine that even the distribution of kṛṣṇa-prema—the ultimate aim of Gaura's supremely pure pastimes—is the perverted mentality of immoral people. In every yuga one finds the purport of the statement: kālena naṣṭā pralaye vāṇīyaṁ veda-saṁjñitā—“By the influence of time, the transcendental sound of Vedic knowledge is lost at the time of annihilation.” Yet the Supreme Lord and His devotees always endeavor to check the decline in religious principles. Sinful-minded people, however, are not able to understand undisclosed mysteries.

Jayapatākā Swami: Here Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is explaining how the pure movement of Gaurasundara was deviated by the prākṛta-sahajiyās. His movement stayed for about 200 years in purity. But it became gradually affected by the prākṛta-sahajiyās. That the movement of Lord Caitanya was reestablished by His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and that has come down and spread now all over the world. So, it’s very important that we see that the message given by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, is not changed. And that that pure devotional service is propagated all over the world. Now this is the ultimate objective of Lord Caitanya.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.130

āmāre mārite yabe karileka mane
takhanei paḍi' gela aśeṣa bandhane

Jayapatākā Swami: When they had decided to beat Me, then certainly they fell into unlimited entanglements of bondage.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.131

bhāla loka tārite kariluṅ avatāra
āpane kariluṅ saba jīvera saṁhāra

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, I descended from the spiritual world, to deliver the people of the world. But it appears that the conditioned souls are being destroyed by Me.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.132

dekha kāli śikhā-sūtra saba muḍāi
yābhikṣā kari’ veḍāimu sannyāsa kariyā

Jayapatākā Swami: Soon, you will see Me shave My head and take out My brāhmaṇa thread. I will wander about begging as a sannyāsī.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.133

ye ye jane cāhiyāche more māribāre
bhikṣuka haimu kāli tāhāra duyāre

Jayapatākā Swami: Those people who wanted to beat Me, I will soon become a beggar and go to their door.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.134

tabe more dekhi’ se-i dharibe caraṇa
ei mate uddhāriba sakala bhuvana

Jayapatākā Swami: And when they will see Me, they will fall at My feet and in this way, I will deliver all of the worlds.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.135

sannyāsīre sarva loka kare namaskāra
sannyāsīre keha āra nā kare prahāra

Jayapatākā Swami: Everyone offers their obeisances to a sannyāsī, and no one dares to beat a sannyāsī.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: The brahmacārīs, gṛhasthas, and vānaprasthas engage in activities of contradictory nature to achieve their respective aims in life. To completely renounce everything is called sannyāsa. When one gives up the fruits of one's karma, it is called karma-sannyāsa. When one gives up all forms of material knowledge, it is called jñāna-sannyāsa. When one gives up the propensity for enjoying material objects and becomes inclined towards the service of the Supreme Lord, then one's sannyāsa on the path of devotional service is successful. The goals of a karma-sannyāsī are religiosity, economic development, and sense gratification, the goal of a jñāna-sannyāsī is liberation, and the goal of a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī is kṛṣṇa-prema. Accepting sannyāsa does not disturb anyone, because the desired object of a sannyāsī is not cherished by others. Nobody attacks a sannyāsī. People consider sannyāsīs “beggars,” and therefore accept them as candidates for compassion.

When Kṛṣṇacandra Siṁha entered into litigation in many court cases and became the object of hatred for many people in Vraja-maṇḍala, he accepted sannyāsa on the path of anurāga, or attachment for the Supreme Lord. As a result, all the Vrajavāsīs gave up attacking him. Yet because of not understanding the purport of accepting sannyāsa on the path of devotional service, many ignorant people have attacked the tridaṇḍi-sannyāsīs of the Śrī Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rāja-sabhā. We do not blame those who attack, but their foolishness and ignorance are to be blamed.

Since the influence of Kali was not very prominent during the time of Śrī Gaurasundara, most people did attack sannyāsīs. But envious persons devoid of good character and morality have always attacked the tridaṇḍi-sannyāsīs. What to speak of this, they have even found faults in the worship of Hari, the abode of Hari, and in the principles of pure varṇāśrama-dharma. Many people become angry when they are told that consuming intoxicants is not included among religious principles. They become angry when they are told that immorality is not included among religious principles. They become angry when they are told that one should not accumulate wealth for oneself even through proper means and what to speak of accumulating wealth by cheating and stealing. And they become angry when they are told that duplicity is not included among religious principles. Envious people who claim to be “religious” become more envious on hearing that material advancement is not the goal of life, that one should not become envious, and that one should discuss religious principles without partiality. They consider that those who wear the dress of religious people are irreligious like themselves, and they quarrel with them and induce others to unjustly quarrel with them. Those greedy to attain the fame of religious people and who are unable to control themselves hypocritically dress as religious people, and on the pretext of worshiping many gods and accepting the preaching of unauthorized principles as “the preaching of religious principles,” they present immoral activities as religious principles while trying to negate the existence of the Supreme Lord, His abode, and the activities of devotional service. The tridaṇḍi-sannyāsīs do not pay any attention to their words but offenselessly chant the names of the Lord, serve the abode of the Lord without desire for material enjoyment, and pursue kṛṣṇa-prema while giving up sense gratification and engaging in the service of Kṛṣṇa, the transcendental Cupid. Hypocrites try to attract the sympathy of ordinary people by accumulating wealth in the name of cultivating religious principles, by screaming in the name of delivering religious discourses at assemblies and meetings, and by accumulating their livelihood through professional recitation of the scriptures.

[..] The day that these envious people actually disassociate themselves from their pride in the form of aversion to Hari, they will learn to respect the sannyāsīs on the path of devotional service and they will see that none of the members of the Śrī Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rāja-sabhā welcome sense gratification and the spirit of enjoyment like they do; rather, they purely follow in the footsteps of Caitanyacandra. Every living entity will benefit by the attainment of devotional service to the Lord. That is why it is the nature of those devotees to transform all enjoyment-prone propensities into service-inclined propensities. The preachers of Śrī Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rāja-sabhā do not use accumulated wealth or followers for their own purposes; they use everything for the service of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's devotees. Unless one is initiated into the devotional service of Viṣṇu, one cannot understand these topics.

Jayapatākā Swami: The Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rāja-sabhā as explained by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, was the preaching movement of Śrī Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So, after Lord Caitanya, Rūpa Gosvāmī was the preaching head of the Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rāja-sabhā. After Rūpa Gosvāmī, was Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī . So like that in the guru-paramparā, different preachers took the prominent positions. So His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was the head of the Viśva-vaiṣṇava-rāja-sabhā. So it would seem that after him, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda would spread the movement of Lord Caitanya all over the world. So this activity is free of personal motivation. It is done in a pure service attitude. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said that he had palatial temples around the world, but he could only stay in each one for a few days. Because he was trying to establish the movement of Lord Caitanya, all over the world.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.136

sannyāsī haiyā kāli prati-ghare ghare
bhikṣā kari’ buloṅ-dekhoṅ ke vā more māre

Jayapatākā Swami: Soon I will wander as a sannyāsī, from house to house, begging. Let Me see, who at that time will want to beat Me.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.137

tomāre kahiluṅ ei āpana hṛdaya
gārihasta vāsa muñi chāḍiba niścaya

Jayapatākā Swami: I revealed My heart to You. I will certainly give up My gṛhastha life, or my household life.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.138

ithe kichu duḥkha tumi nā bhāviha mane
vidhi deha' tumi more sannyāsa-kāraṇe

Jayapatākā Swami: Do not feel distressed because of this, give Me Your permission that I can take sannyāsa.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.139

ye-rūpa karāha tumi, se-i haiba āmi
eteke vidhāna deha' avatāra jāni'

Jayapatākā Swami: Whatever You say, I will do, but You know the purpose for which I have descended.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.140

jagat uddhāra yadi cāha karibāre
ihāte niṣedha nāhi karibe āmāre

Jayapatākā Swami: If You want the world to be delivered, I hope You will not forbid Me from taking sannyāsa.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.141

ithe tumi duḥkha nā bhāviha kona kṣaṇa
tumi ta’ jānaha avatārera kāraṇa”

Jayapatākā Swami: For this, You should not feel sad, even for a moment. For you know the purpose of My incarnation.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.142

śuni’ nityānanda śrī-śikhāra antardhāna
antare vidīrṇa haila mana-deha-prāṇa

Jayapatākā Swami: The mind, body and life airs of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu were shattered when He heard the Lord would shave His head.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.143

kon vidhi diba hena nā āise vadane
‘avaśya karibe prabhu’ jānilena mane

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda had no advice to offer and nothing came from His mouth, because He knew for certain that Lord Gaurāṅga would certainly take sannyāsa.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.144

nityānanda bale,—“prabhu, tumi icchā-maya
ye tomāra icchā prabhu sei se niścaya

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda said, “O Lord Gaura, you are supremely independent. Whatever You desire O Lord, that will certainly take place.” So, everyone is dependent on someone else. Except, Krsna. He is independent. So, He can decide anything and do whatever He wants. So, Lord Nityānanda knows that if He has decided to take sannyāsa, then nothing can be done.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.145

vidhi vā niṣedha ke tomāre dete pare
sei satya, ye tomāra āchaye antare

Jayapatākā Swami: Who can give You advice or forbid You? Who can tell You what to do and what not to do? It is true whatever is in Your heart, is going to happen.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.145

vidhi vā niṣedha ke tomāre dete pare
sei satya, ye tomāra āchaye antare

Jayapatākā Swami: You are the maintainer and the Lord of all the planets. What is appropriate for You, You know well.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.147

ye-rūpe karibā prabhu jagata-uddhāra
tumi se jānaye tāhā ke jānaye āra

Jayapatākā Swami: O Lord Gaurāṅga, how You will deliver the universe, You know well. And You know the best in this matter and no one else knows.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.148

svatantra paramānanda tomāra carita
tumi ye karibe, se-i haibe niścita

Jayapatākā Swami: You are fully independent, full of transcendental ecstasy and that is Your nature. Whatever you decide to do, that will certainly be done.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.149

tathāpiha kaha saba sevakera sthāne
ke vā ki balaye tāhāśunaha āpane

Jayapatākā Swami: Still, You may ask Your servants to see what they say, and You can listen.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.150

tabe ye tomāra icchā karibe tāhāre
ke tomāra icchā prabhu, virodhite pāre”

Jayapatākā Swami: Then whatever is Your desire, You will do. Who can change Your wish, My dear Lord?

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.151

nityānanda-vākye prabhu santoṣa hailā
punaḥ punaḥāliṅgana karite lāgilā

Jayapatākā Swami: Hearing Lord Nityānanda’s words, Lord Gaurāṅga was satisfied. Repeatedly, He embraced Lord Nityānanda.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.152

ei mata nityānanda-saṅge yukti kari'

calilena vaiṣṇava-samāje gaurāṅga-śrī-hari

Jayapatākā Swami: After discussing with Lord Nityānanda in this way, Lord Gaurāṅga Hari went to the assembly of the vaisnavas.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.153

‘gṛha chāḍibena prabhu’ jāni’ nityānanda
bāhya nāhi sphure, deha haila nispanda

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Nityānanda Prabhu realized that the Lord would leave home. And He lost His external consciousness. His body became stunned.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.154

sthira hai’ nityānanda mane mane gaṇe
“prabhu gele āi prāṇa dhariba kemane

Jayapatākā Swami: After He was becoming pacified, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was thinking, Lord Gaurāṅga leaving home, how will mother Śacī survive? So, Lord Nityānanda was worried about mother Śacī, how would she survive, without Lord Caitanya, who was dearer to her than her life, how would see survive? so He was considering this.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.155

ke-mate vañciba āi kāla—diva-rāti”
eteka cintite mūrcchā pāya mahāmati

Jayapatākā Swami: How will mother Śacī pass her days and nights? Thinking like this, the exalted Lord Nityānanda, He lost His consciousness.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 26.156

bhāviyā āira duḥkha nityānanda-rāya
nibhṛte vasiyā prabhu kāndaye sadāya

Jayapatākā Swami: Realizing how mother Śacī would suffer, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, He went to a solitary place and sat down and He continuously cried. So, Lord Nityānanda was thinking how mother Śacī and the associates of Navadvīpa, how they would survive the loss of Lord Caitanya’s association? This is a very heart wrecking pastime, from the point of view of the Navadvīpa-vāsis.

Thus ends the chapter, The Lord Reveals to Nityānanda His decision to Take Sannyāsa, to Deliver the Offenders.

Time for one question.

So, Lord Caitanya was thinking how to deliver the world. At the same time, Lord Nityānanda was thinking how the associates, how mother Śacī, how will they survive? This is a very interesting situation. We see that Lord Caitanya taking sannyāsa may be good for the conditioned souls, but very hard for His associates. So, we can learn from this, because in our situation, we will be put into this separation in various ways. Śrīla Prabhupāda left, putting his disciples in great lamentation. When the spiritual masters leave, that also puts the disciples in great lamentation. But at the same time, we have to carry on with the devotional service. We have to be engaged in serving guru and Kṛṣṇa, at that time we do the vāṇī-sevā.

Question: Guru Mahārāja, the Lord acts independently, as He as Paramātmā in our hearts knows our desires and necessities. So, when we have problems in material life, should we offer prayers for that or just keep chanting and depending on the Lord, that He will give the intelligence to act.

Your servant,
Padmāsakhī devī dāsī

Jayapatākā Swami: We don’t want to ask the Lord for something material. We don’t want to reduce our devotional service to some kind of business deal. “I served You, You give me what I want!” If there is something that we think is useful for our devotional service, we can pray that to the Lord, if He desires, please give us this thing. We put a condition, that if You desire. And in this way, we can depend on the Lord, and at the same express our desire. But in some material things, as He is the Supersoul, He knows what we want and what we need. So for material things, we shouldn’t bother the Lord. But for spiritual thing, we can pray to the Lord. If it is something material, but may affect our devotional service, then we offer, with a condition, that if you so please. Like when Śrīla Prabhupāda was sick, we used to pray to Narasiṁhadeva, to help him recover, if He so desires.

Question: In Bengali. Dear Guru Mahārāja! Please accept my respectful obeisances. When there is a devotee in the vyāsāsana, who is a senior devotee or a sannyāsī, but not Gurudeva, then what should we do when they enter?

Your spiritual son,
Śacīputra Avatāra dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: When in doubt, we can get up, but generally, if one is not a guru or not a sannyāsī, then we don’t get up! But we may glorify that devotee, or bring attention to his entrance. If the person is a sannyāsī or is on the level of your guru, or the guru, then you may stand up.

Thank you very much!