20210704 The Situation of the People Before the Advent of Lord Caitanya (Part 2)

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 4th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma 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!

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Dear Devotees! Today we will continue with the compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book, Today's chapter is entitled as:

Mādhavendra Purī Observes the Situation of the People Before the Advent of Lord Caitanya
Under the Section: The Lord’s Attempt to Go to Vṛndāvana

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.409

kakhana hāsena athi aṭṭa aṭṭa hāsa
parānanda-rase kṣaṇe haya dig-vāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes Mādhavendra Purī would laugh very very loudly, and sometimes in the mellows of ecstatic love he would forget to dress. So, Śrī Mādhavendra Purī was experiencing such ecstatic levels of divine love that he was not conscious of the external world, so as a result he would sometimes very profoundly intensely laugh, and sometimes he forget to dress himself. He wasn’t conscious of the material activities or material situations. Actually we all desire such ecstasy in spiritual love but Śrī Mādhavendra Purī had these symptoms to the most extreme extent, and it is said that he would sometimes feel the emotions of Rādhārānī in māhā-bhāva which is very very rare. So, we should appreciate that he was not suffering from dementia, he was actually absorbed in love of Godhead therefore he forgot external formalities.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.410

śrīman-mahāprabhura prakaṭa-līlāra pūrve deśe kṛṣṇa-bahirmukhatāra bhayāvaha avasthā-darśane śrīla mādhavendrera kṛṣṇāvatāraṇera janya prabala icchā— 
ei mata kṛṣṇa-sukhe mādhavendra sukhī
sabe bhakti-śūnya loka dekhi' baḍa duḥkhī

Jayapatākā Swami: In this way Mādhavendra Purī enjoyed the happiness of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, yet he was most unhappy to see that the world was devoid of devotional service. One of the qualities of the Vaiṣṇava is para duhkha dukhī, usually people consider happiness on the basis of having regular sense gratification. But this sense gratification is just one side of the coin, enjoying material sense gratification means we also have to suffer material distress, and instead of identifying ourselves as eternal spirt souls, as the servant of Kṛṣṇa, we are identifying ourselves as the body. So, therefore the body is sometimes happy and sometimes distressed, right now in the world we are seeing the pandemic of the Corona virus and our dear ones are sometimes suffering with this disease. So, the real solution is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we should transfer ourselves to the spiritual world. All the suffering is due to our false identification with the body.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.411

tāra hita cintite bhāvena niti niti
kṛṣṇa prakaṭa hayena ei tāṅra mat

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrī Mādhavendra Purī would daily think about people's welfare. His desire was that Lord Kṛṣṇa would advent. So, Śrī Mādhavendra Purī was always thinking the welfare of the conditioned souls. He is a true goṣṭhy-ānandī and wants to see the number of devotees increase.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.412

mahāprabhura prakaṭera pūrve deśera avasthā-varṇana— 
kṛṣṇa-yātrā, ahorātri kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana
ihāra uddeśa nāhi jāne kona jana

Jayapatākā Swami: No one knew anything about the festivals related to Lord Kṛṣṇa or the all-night chanting of Lord Kṛṣṇa's names and glories. These observances of all night kīrtanas and festivals dedicated to Lord Kṛṣṇa since the advent of Lord Caitanya are very common in Bengal and East India may be in Odisha and other states. So, these programs should be expanded throughout India and the world.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.413

dharma karma' loka saba ei mātra jāne
maṅgala-caṇḍīra gīte kare jāgaraṇe

Jayapatākā Swami: The only religious principle and pious activity that people knew was to sing the glories of Maṅgala-caṇḍī, staying awake throughout the night. So Maṅgala-Caṇḍī is one of the forms of the illusory energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and she is the form of Durgā, and they would just stay awake in the night and sing her glories. But their desire would be for material benefits and so this was causing Śrī Mādhavendra Purī some anxiety that no one knew about Kṛṣṇa bhakti.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.414

devatā jānena sabe ‘ṣaṣṭhī’ ‘viṣahari’
tāhāre sevena sabe mahā-dambha kari’

Jayapatākā Swami: So, some of the minor demigod of snakes and other things were worshipped by people. They became very proud that they were doing very religious activities, but they did not have any idea about the spiritual purpose of life. So all the demigods are put in charge of different areas of the universe by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so they are devotees and because of their connection with Lord Viṣṇu, they are respected, but people forgot about Lord Viṣṇu. So in this way they are missing the whole point of spiritual life.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.415

‘dhana-vaṁśa bāḍuka’ kariyā kāmya mane
madya-māṁse dānava pūjaye kona jane

Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes people worship different personalities with wine and meat for the purpose of increasing their wealth and family.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.416

yogīpāla, bhogīpāla, mahīpālera gīta
ihāśunibāre sarva-loka ānandita

Jayapatākā Swami: Everyone was happy and eager to hear the glories of the best of the yogis, the best of the sense enjoyers, and the best of the rulers. So, these are the symptoms of the materialist, even five hundred years ago they were thinking in this way. Now it’s a way of life. People appreciate all the material acquisitions, persons who are rich are considered to be the best. Recently some billionaires were going into outer space so that they can enjoy seeing the Earth from outer space. But they don’t understand that the real purpose of life is to transcend this material world.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.417

ati baḍa sukṛti ye snānera samaya
‘govinda-puṇḍarīkākṣa’ nāma uccāraya

Jayapatākā Swami: Only the most pious persons would recite the names of Lord Puṇḍarīkākṣa and Lord Govinda at the time of taking bath in a sacred river like the Ganges.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Antya-khaṇḍa 4.418-419

kāre vā ‘vaiṣṇava’ bali, kibā saṅkīrtana
kene vā kṛṣṇera nṛtya, kene vā krandana

viṣṇu-māyā-vaśe loka kichui nā jāne
sakala jagat baddha mahā-tamo-guṇe

Jayapatākā Swami: By the influence of Lord Viṣṇu's illusory energy, people did not know who was a Vaiṣṇava, what was saṅkīrtana, or what was dancing and crying for Kṛṣṇa. The entire world was entangled in the mode of ignorance.

So, this simple aspect of life is that people should be conscious about God, about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and unfortunately no one appreciates the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nobody understood the special position of His devotees and no one knew of the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra congregationally, so they wer engaged in dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa. So, for that reason Śrī Mādhavendra Purī was feeling very sad to see how people were suffering in this world. His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in the West, in order to deliver people from this kind of material illusion and gave them access to the spiritual world. So, it is very important, and we can see the great mercy of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. So we want to satisfy the desires the Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, take the message of Lord Caitanya throughout the world.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Mādhavendra Purī Observes the Situation of the People Before the Advent of Lord Caitanya. 
Under the Section: The Lord’s Attempt to Go to Vṛndāvana