20220112 Hearing the Glories of Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa from His Guru Īśvara Purī Mahārāja, Nimāi Paṇḍita Practices and is Amazed by the Effect, Part 1

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 12th,2022 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

So today's class going to be about Compilation of Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book:

Hearing the Glories of Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa from His Guru Īśvara Purī Mahārāja, Nimāi Paṇḍita Practices and is Amazed by the Effect, Part 1

Under the section: How All the Residents of Vārāṇasī Became Vaiṣṇavas

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.71

prabhura śrī-nāma-māhātma-varṇana –

prabhu kahe—śuna, śrīpāda, ihāra kāraṇa 
guru more mūrkha dekhi’ karila śāsana

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied to Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, “My dear sir, kindly hear the reason. My spiritual master considered Me a fool, and therefore he chastised Me.

Purport: When Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī inquired from Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu why He neither studied Vedānta nor performed meditation, Lord Caitanya presented Himself as a number one fool in order to indicate that the present age, Kali-yuga, is an age of fools and rascals in which it is not possible to obtain perfection simply by reading Vedānta philosophy and meditating.

The śāstras strongly recommend:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam 
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā

“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.” People in general in Kali-yuga are so fallen that it is not possible for them to obtain perfection simply by studying the Vedānta-sūtra. One should therefore seriously take to the constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya, He is showing how one should practice the nāma-saṅkīrtana process by His personal example.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.72

mūrkha tumi, tomāra nāhika vedāntādhikāra 
‘kṛṣṇa-mantra’ japa sadā,—ei mantra-sāra

Translation: “You are a fool,’ he said. ‘You are not qualified to study Vedānta philosophy, and therefore You must always chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. This is the essence of all mantras, or Vedic hymns.

Purport: Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja comments in this connection, “One can become perfectly successful in the mission of his life if he acts exactly according to the words he hears from the mouth of his spiritual master.” This acceptance of the words of the spiritual master is called śrauta-vākya, which indicates that the disciple must carry out the spiritual master’s instructions without deviation. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that a disciple must accept the words of his spiritual master as his life and soul. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu here confirms this by saying that since His spiritual master ordered Him only to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, He always chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra according to this direction (‘kṛṣṇa-mantra’ japa sadā, — ei mantra-sāra).

Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything. Therefore when a person is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious it is to be understood that his relationship with Kṛṣṇa has been fully confirmed. Lacking Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one is only partially related with Kṛṣṇa and is therefore not in his constitutional position. Although Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, the spiritual master of the entire universe, He nevertheless took the position of a disciple in order to teach by example how a devotee should strictly follow the orders of a spiritual master in executing the duty of always chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. One who is very much attracted to the study of Vedānta philosophy must take lessons from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In this age, no one is actually competent to study Vedānta, and therefore it is better that one chant the holy name of the Lord, which is the essence of all Vedic knowledge,

as Kṛṣṇa Himself confirms in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15):

vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo 
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham

“By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.”

Only fools give up the service of the spiritual master and think themselves advanced in spiritual knowledge. In order to check such fools, Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself presented the perfect example of how to be a disciple. A spiritual master knows very well how to engage each disciple in a particular duty, but if a disciple, thinking himself more advanced than his spiritual master, gives up his orders and acts independently, he checks his own spiritual progress. Every disciple must consider himself completely unaware of the science of Kṛṣṇa and must always be ready to carry out the orders of the spiritual master to become competent in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A disciple should always remain a fool before his spiritual master. Therefore sometimes pseudo spiritualists accept a spiritual master who is not even fit to become a disciple because they want to keep him under their control. This is useless for spiritual realization.

One who imperfectly knows Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot know Vedānta philosophy. A showy display of Vedānta study without Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a feature of the external energy, māyā, and as long as one is attracted by the inebrieties of this ever-changing material energy, he deviates from devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. An actual follower of Vedānta philosophy is a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu, who is the greatest of the great and the maintainer of the entire universe. Unless one surpasses the field of activities in service to the limited, one cannot reach the unlimited. Knowledge of the unlimited is actual brahma-jñāna, or knowledge of the Supreme. Those who are addicted to fruitive activities and speculative knowledge cannot understand the value of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which is always completely pure, eternally liberated and full of spiritual bliss. One who has taken shelter of the holy name of the Lord, which is identical with the Lord, does not have to study Vedānta philosophy, for he has already completed all such study.

One who is unfit to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa but thinks that the holy name is different from Kṛṣṇa and thus takes shelter of Vedānta study in order to understand Him must be considered a number one fool, as confirmed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu by His personal behavior, and philosophical speculators who want to make Vedānta philosophy an academic career are also considered to be within the material energy. A person who always chants the holy name of the Lord, however, is already beyond the ocean of nescience, and thus even a person born in a low family who engages in chanting the holy name of the Lord is considered to be beyond the study of Vedānta philosophy.

In this connection Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.33.7) states:

aho bata śva-paco ’to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre vartate nāma tubhyam 
tepus tapas te juhuvuḥ sasnur āryā brahmānūcur nāma gṛṇanti ye te

“If a person born in a family of dog-eaters takes to the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, it is to be understood that in his previous life he must have executed all kinds of austerities and penances and performed all the Vedic yajñas.”

Another quotation states:

ṛg-vedo ’tha yajur-vedaḥ/ sāma-vedo ’py atharvaṇaḥ 
adhītās tena yenoktaṁ/ harir ity akṣara-dvayam

“A person who chants the two syllables ha-ri has already studied the four Vedas — Sāma, Ṛg, Yajur and Atharva.”

Taking advantage of these verses, there are some sahajiyās who, taking everything very cheaply, consider themselves elevated Vaiṣṇavas but do not care even to touch the Vedānta-sūtra or Vedānta philosophy. A real Vaiṣṇava should, however, study Vedānta philosophy, but if after studying Vedānta one does not adopt the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, he is no better than a Māyāvādī. Therefore, one should not be a Māyāvādī, yet one should not be unaware of the subject matter of Vedānta philosophy. Indeed, Caitanya Mahāprabhu exhibited His knowledge of Vedānta in His discourses with Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. Thus it is to be understood that a Vaiṣṇava should be completely conversant with Vedānta philosophy, yet he should not think that studying Vedānta is all in all and therefore be unattached to the chanting of the holy name. A devotee must know the importance of simultaneously understanding Vedānta philosophy and chanting the holy names. If by studying Vedānta one becomes an impersonalist, he has not been able to understand Vedānta. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15). Vedānta means “the end of knowledge.” The ultimate end of knowledge is knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, who is identical with His holy name. Cheap Vaiṣṇavas (sahajiyās) do not care to study the Vedānta philosophy as commented upon by the four ācāryas. In the Gauḍīya-sampradāya there is a Vedānta commentary called the Govinda-bhāṣya, but the sahajiyās consider such commentaries to be untouchable philosophical speculation, and they consider the ācāryas to be mixed devotees. Thus they clear their way to hell.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya was teaching by example how important it is to follow the instructions of one's spiritual master and how the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is non-different from Kṛṣṇa, so if one chants the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, he is directly getting the association of Kṛṣṇa. He gets purified and by that he is naturally advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But one should not be envious against Vaiṣṇavas. If by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and thinking that they are very advanced, they don’t have to follow the ācāryas or gurus, that makes them sahajiyās.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.73

mantra o mahā-mantra-śrī-nāme līlā-vaicitrya o

kṛṣṇa-mantra haite habe saṁsāra-mocana 
kṛṣṇa-nāma haite pābe kṛṣṇera caraṇa

Translation: “Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa one can obtain freedom from material existence. Indeed, simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra one will be able to see the lotus feet of the Lord.

Purport: In his Anubhāṣya, Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī says that the actual effect that will be visible as soon as one achieves transcendental knowledge is that he will immediately become free from the clutches of māyā and fully engage in the service of the Lord. Unless one serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead Mukunda, one cannot become free from fruitive activities under the external energy. However, when one chants the holy name of the Lord offenselessly, one can realize a transcendental position that is completely aloof from the material conception of life. Rendering service to the Lord, a devotee relates to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in one of five relationships — namely, śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya or mādhurya — and thus he relishes transcendental bliss in that relationship. Such a relationship certainly transcends the body and mind. When one realizes that the holy name of the Lord is identical with the Supreme Person, he becomes completely eligible to chant the holy name of the Lord. Such an ecstatic chanter and dancer must be considered to have a direct relationship with the Lord.

According to the Vedic principles, there are three stages of spiritual advancement, namely, sambandha-jñāna, abhidheya and prayojana. Sambandha-jñāna refers to establishing one’s original relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, abhidheya refers to acting according to that constitutional relationship, and prayojana is the ultimate goal of life, which is to develop love of Godhead (premā pum-artho mahān). If one adheres to the regulative principles under the order of the spiritual master, he very easily achieves the ultimate goal of his life. A person who is addicted to the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra very easily gets the opportunity to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. There is no need for such a person to understand the grammatical jugglery in which Māyāvādī sannyāsīs generally indulge. Śrī Śaṅkarācārya also stressed this point: na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ karaṇe. “Simply by juggling grammatical suffixes and prefixes one cannot save himself from the clutches of death.” The grammatical word jugglers cannot bewilder a devotee who engages in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Simply addressing the energy of the Supreme Lord as Hare and the Lord Himself as Kṛṣṇa very soon situates the Lord within the heart of the devotee. By thus addressing Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, one directly engages in His Lordship’s service. The essence of all revealed scriptures and all knowledge is present when one addresses the Lord and His energy by the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, for this transcendental vibration can completely liberate a conditioned soul and directly engage him in the service of the Lord.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu presented Himself as a grand fool, yet He maintained that all the words that He had heard from His spiritual master strictly followed the principles stated by Vyāsadeva in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.7.6).

anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje 
lokasyājānato vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām

“The material miseries of a living entity, which are superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the linking process of devotional service. But the mass of people do not know this, and therefore the learned Vyāsadeva compiled this Vedic literature [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam], which is in relation to the Supreme Truth.”

One can overcome all misconceptions and entanglement in the material world by practicing bhakti-yoga, and therefore Vyāsadeva, acting on the instruction of Śrī Nārada, has very kindly introduced Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to relieve the conditioned souls from the clutches of māyā. Lord Caitanya’s spiritual master instructed Him, therefore, that one must read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam regularly and with scrutiny to gradually become attached to the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

The holy name and the Lord are identical. One who is completely free from the clutches of māyā can understand this fact. This knowledge, which is achieved by the mercy of the spiritual master, places one on the supreme transcendental platform. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu presented Himself as a fool because prior to accepting the shelter of a spiritual master He could not understand that simply by chanting one can be relieved from all material conditions. But as soon as He became a faithful servant of His spiritual master and followed his instructions, He very easily saw the path of liberation. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra must be understood to be devoid of all offenses.

The ten offenses against the holy name are as follows:

(1) to blaspheme a devotee of the Lord,

(2) to consider the Lord and the demigods to be on the same level or to think that there are many gods,

(3) to neglect the orders of the spiritual master,

(4) to minimize the authority of scriptures (Vedas),

(5) to interpret the holy name of God,

(6) to commit sins on the strength of chanting,

(7) to instruct the glories of the Lord’s name to the unfaithful,

(8) to compare the chanting of the holy name with material piety,

(9) to be inattentive while chanting the holy name, and

(10) to be attached to material things in spite of chanting the holy name.

Jayapatākā Swami: If one chants the holy name avoiding the ten offenses, they can achieve the full realization. Lord Caitanya was saying how His guru Śrīla Īśvara Purī had given this instruction to Him. So, in this way indirectly, He was telling all the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs of Banaras, how they could chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and achieve all success.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.74

kali-yuge kṛṣṇanāmai ekamātra upāsya

nāma vinu kali-kāle nāhi āra dharma 
sarva-mantra-sāra nāma, ei śāstra-marma

Translation: “In this Age of Kali there is no religious principle other than the chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all Vedic hymns. This is the purport of all scriptures.’

Purport: The principles of the paramparā system were strictly honored in previous ages — Satya-yuga, Tretā-yuga and Dvāpara-yuga — but in the present age, Kali-yuga, people neglect the importance of this system of śrauta-paramparā, or receiving knowledge by disciplic succession. In this age, people are prepared to argue that they can understand that which is beyond their limited knowledge and perception through so-called scientific observations and experiments, not knowing that actual truth comes down to man from authorities. This argumentative attitude is against the Vedic principles, and it is very difficult for one who adopts it to understand that the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is as good as Kṛṣṇa Himself. Since Kṛṣṇa and His holy name are identical, the holy name is eternally pure and beyond material contamination. It is the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a transcendental vibration. The holy name is completely different from material sound, as confirmed by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura: golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. The transcendental vibration of hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana is imported from the spiritual world. Thus although materialists who are addicted to experimental knowledge and the so-called “scientific method” cannot place their faith in the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, it is a fact that simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra offenselessly one can be freed from all subtle and gross material conditions. The spiritual world is called Vaikuṇṭha, which means “without anxiety.” In the material world everything is full of anxiety (kuṇṭha), whereas in the spiritual world (Vaikuṇṭha) everything is free from anxiety. Therefore those who are afflicted by a combination of anxieties cannot understand the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, which is free from all anxiety. In the present age the vibration of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is the only process that is in a transcendental position, beyond material contamination. Since the holy name can deliver a conditioned soul, it is explained here to be sarva-mantra-sāra, the essence of all Vedic hymns.

A name that represents an object of this material world may be subjected to arguments and experimental knowledge, but in the absolute world a name and its owner, the fame and the famous, are identical, and similarly the qualities, pastimes and everything else pertaining to the Absolute are also absolute. Although Māyāvādīs profess monism, they differentiate between the holy name of the Supreme Lord and the Lord Himself. For this offense of nāmāparādha they gradually glide down from their exalted position of brahma-jñāna,

as confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32):

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ 
patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ

Although by severe austerities they rise to the exalted position of brahma-jñāna, they nevertheless fall down due to imperfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth. Although they profess to understand the Vedic mantra sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma (Chāndogya Up. 3.14.1), which means “Everything is Brahman,” they are unable to understand that the holy name is also Brahman. If they regularly chant the mahā-mantra, however, they can be relieved from this misconception. Unless one properly takes shelter of the holy name, he cannot be relieved from the offensive stage in chanting the holy name.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, if we follow the guru-paramparā and follow the śāstras, the śāstras say that in every age there is a different process of austerity and self-realization.

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ
dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt

In Kali-yuga the process is chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. But they don’t follow this, they do all kinds of speculation. Material scientific observation can only give one limited information and obviously there are unlimited millions of universes, they can hardly see what is there in just this one universe, and beyond this material world is the spiritual world, which is three-fourths of the energy of the Lord and they have no access to this. But what they can see in this universe is also quite limited and this is a slight information which they speculate and what actually means. So, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and by attaining pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can realize the whole Absolute Truth. So, this is what His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda was encouraging, that one accepts the shelter of Guru paramparā and thus practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness as it is.

So, we will end here,