20220114 The Nature of The Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra – The Loving Ecstasy for Kṛṣṇa

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation

By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 14^th January 2021 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: Toady we are continuing reading for the compilation of Caitanya līlā book, the chapter entitled is:

The Nature of The Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra – The Loving Ecstasy for Kṛṣṇa

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

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.83

prabhur śrīnāma-mahā-mantra-varṇana:—

kṛṣṇa-nāma-mahā-mantrera ei ta’ svabhāva
yei jape, tāra kṛṣṇe upajaye bhāva

Translation: “It is the nature of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra that anyone who chants it immediately develops his loving ecstasy for Kṛṣṇa.

Purport: In this verse it is explained that one who chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra develops bhāva, ecstasy, which is the point at which revelation begins. It is the preliminary stage in developing one’s original love for God.

Lord Kṛṣṇa mentions this bhāva stage in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.8):

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māṁ
budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.” A neophyte disciple begins by hearing and chanting, associating with devotees and practicing the regulative principles, and thus he vanquishes all of his unwanted bad habits. In this way he develops attachment for Kṛṣṇa and cannot forget Kṛṣṇa even for a moment. Bhāva is the almost successful stage of spiritual life.

A sincere student aurally receives the holy name from the spiritual master, and after being initiated he follows the regulative principles given by the spiritual master. When the holy name is properly served in this way, automatically the spiritual nature of the holy name spreads; in other words, the devotee becomes qualified in offenselessly chanting the holy name. When one is completely fit to chant the holy name in this way, he is eligible to make disciples all over the world, and he actually becomes jagad-guru. Then the entire world, under his influence, begins to chant the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Thus all the disciples of such a spiritual master increase in attachment for Kṛṣṇa, and therefore he sometimes cries, sometimes laughs, sometimes dances and sometimes chants. These symptoms are very prominently manifest in the body of a pure devotee. Sometimes when our students of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement chant and dance, even in India people are astonished to see how these foreigners have learned to chant and dance in this ecstatic fashion. As explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, however, actually this is not due to practice, for without extra endeavor these symptoms become manifest in anyone who sincerely chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

Many fools, not knowing the transcendental nature of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, sometimes impede our loudly chanting this mantra, yet one who is actually advanced in the fulfillment of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra induces others to chant also. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī explains, kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana: unless one receives special power of attorney from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he cannot preach the glories of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. As devotees propagate the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, the general population of the entire world gets the opportunity to understand the glories of the holy name. While chanting and dancing or hearing the holy name of the Lord, one automatically remembers the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and because there is no difference between the holy name and Kṛṣṇa, the chanter is immediately linked with Kṛṣṇa. Thus connected, a devotee develops his original attitude of service to the Lord. In this attitude of constantly serving Kṛṣṇa, which is called bhāva, he always thinks of Kṛṣṇa in many different ways. One who has attained this bhāva stage is no longer under the clutches of the illusory energy. When other spiritual ingredients, such as trembling, perspiration and tears, are added to this bhāva stage, the devotee gradually attains love of Kṛṣṇa.

The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is called the mahā-mantra. Other mantras mentioned in the Nārada-pañcarātra are known simply as mantras, but the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is called the mahā-mantra.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions the glories of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa māhā-mantra. The devotees all over the world by chanting these holy names, they naturally can awaken the ecstatic symptoms, and so this is being taught to the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, so they can appreciate this is not an ordinary thing, and then they may also be interested in chanting. They were criticizing Lord Caitanya, that He was a sentimentalist, Lord Caitanya is explaining how He is carrying out the order of His spiritual master.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.84

kṛṣṇa-viṣayaka premā—parama puruṣārtha
yāra āge tṛṇa-tulya cāri puruṣārtha

Translation: “Religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation are known as the four goals of life, but before love of Godhead, the fifth and highest goal, these appear as insignificant as straw in the street.

Purport: While chanting the holy name of the Lord, one should not desire the material advancements represented by religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and ultimately liberation from the material world. As stated by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the highest perfection in life is to develop one’s love for Kṛṣṇa (premā pum-artho mahān śrī-caitanya-mahāprabhor matam idam). When we compare love of Godhead with religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation, we can understand that these achievements may be desirable objectives for bubhukṣus, or those who desire to enjoy this material world, and mumukṣus, or those who desire liberation from it, but they are very insignificant in the eyes of a pure devotee who has developed bhāva, the preliminary stage of love of Godhead.

Dharma (religiosity), artha (economic development), kāma (sense gratification) and mokṣa (liberation) are the four principles of religion that pertain to the material world. Therefore in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is declared, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra: cheating religious systems in terms of these four material principles are completely discarded from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, for Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teaches only how to develop one’s dormant love of God.

The Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and therefore it ends with the words

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja:

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.” (Bg. 18.66)

To adopt this means, one should reject all ideas of religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation and fully engage in the service of the Lord, which is transcendental to these four principles. Love of Godhead is the original function of the spirit soul, and it is as eternal as the soul and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This eternity is called sanātana. When a devotee revives his loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it should be understood that he has been successful in achieving the desired goal of his life. At that time everything is automatically done by the mercy of the holy name, and the devotee automatically advances in his spiritual progress.

Jayapatākā Swami: Normally people perform dharma to get economic development and economic development gets one to get sense gratification. When they are frustrated with sense gratification, they want liberation. But actually, love of godhead is beyond all these things, it is actually called according to Lord Caitanya, pañcama-puruṣārtha, the fifth goal of life, and this is the actual goal which the pure devotees aim for.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.85

pañcama puruṣārtha—premānandāmṛta-sindhu
mokṣādi ānanda yāra nahe eka bindu

Translation: “For a devotee who has actually developed bhāva, the pleasure derived from dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa appears like a drop in the presence of the sea.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here it is explained that compared to the pleasure obtained by mahā-bhāva, ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, makes the other four insignificant. So, that’s why we try to achieve the fifth objective of life and actually this is Lord Caitanya’s present teachings that we should just aim for love for Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.86

kṛṣṇa-nāmera phala—‘premā’, sarva-śāstre kaya
bhāgye sei premā tomāya karila udaya

Translation: “The conclusion of all revealed scriptures is that one should awaken his dormant love of Godhead. You are greatly fortunate to have already done so.

Jayapatākā Swami: This is the spiritual master talking to Lord Caitanya and he was so happy that Lord Caitanya had awakened His dormant love for Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādī sannyāsīs maybe hearing this for the first time.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.87

kṛṣṇa premera dharma-----

premāra svabhāve kare citta-tanu kṣobha
kṛṣṇera caraṇa-prāptye upajāya lobha

Translation: “It is a characteristic of love of Godhead that by nature it induces transcendental symptoms in one’s body and makes one more and more greedy to achieve the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya is instructing the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs of Benares, Vārāṇasī and as a result they could appreciate that what He is doing is not an activity of a sentimentalist. Actually it is very scientific, that by chanting the holy name, the Hare Kṛṣṇa māhā-mantra one can naturally awaken the spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.88

premāra svabhāve bhakta hāse, kānde, gāya
unmatta ha-iyā nāce, iti-uti dhāya

Translation: “When one actually develops love of Godhead, he naturally sometimes cries, sometimes laughs, sometimes chants and sometimes runs here and there just like a madman.

Purport: In this connection Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī says that sometimes persons who have no love of Godhead at all display ecstatic bodily symptoms. Artificially they sometimes laugh, cry and dance just like madmen, but this cannot help one progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Rather, such artificial agitation of the body is to be given up when one naturally develops the necessary bodily symptoms. Actual blissful life, manifested in genuine spiritual laughing, crying and dancing, is the symptom of real advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which can be achieved by a person who always voluntarily engages in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. If one who is not yet developed imitates such symptoms artificially, he creates chaos in the spiritual life of human society.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, it is important that we naturally develop these symptoms, and some people don’t have these symptoms, but they imitate the symptoms. Just to try to show everyone that they are very advanced, and we went to one house, and the house owner suddenly in front of everybody he started crying  'Kṛṣṇa, You have come, You have come! There was a whole drama but the devotees realized that he was faking so they stood up and walked out. Then suddenly when he saw, no audience, he lost his ecstasy. It was for the audience, otherwise no ecstasy. So, these things should not be imitated otherwise it will create chaos, when it actually awakens, it is a sign of real advancement.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.89-90

sveda, kampa, romāñcāśru, gadgada, vaivarṇya
unmāda, viṣāda, dhairya, garva, harṣa, dainya

eta bhāve premā bhakta-gaṇere nācāya
kṛṣṇera ānandāmṛta-sāgare bhāsāya

Translation: “Perspiration, trembling, standing on end of one’s bodily hairs, tears, faltering voice, fading complexion, madness, melancholy, patience, pride, joy and humility — these are various natural symptoms of ecstatic love of Godhead, which causes a devotee to dance and float in an ocean of transcendental bliss while chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

Purport: Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, in his Prīti-sandarbha (66), explains this stage of love of Godhead:

bhagavat-prīti-rūpā vṛttir māyādi-mayī na bhavati. kiṁ tarhi, svarūpa-śakty-ānanda-rūpā, yad-ānanda-parādhīnaḥ śrī-bhagavān apīti.

Similarly, in the 69th text he offers further explanation:

tad evaṁ prīter lakṣaṇaṁ citta-dravas tasya ca roma-harṣādikam. kathañcij jāte ’pi citta-drave roma-harṣādike vā na ced āśaya-śuddhis tadāpi na bhakteḥ samyag-āvirbhāva iti jñāpitam. āśaya-śuddhir nāma cānya-tātparya-parityāgaḥ prīti-tātparyaṁ ca. ata evānimittā svābhāvikī ceti tad viśeṣaṇam.

Transcendental love of Godhead is not under the jurisdiction of the material energy, for it is the transcendental bliss and pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Since the Supreme Lord is also under the influence of transcendental bliss, when one comes in touch with such bliss in love of Godhead, one’s heart melts, and the symptoms of this are standing of the hairs on end, etc. Sometimes a person thus melts and manifests these transcendental symptoms yet at the same time is not well behaved in his personal transactions. This indicates that he has not yet reached complete perfection in devotional life. In other words, a devotee who dances in ecstasy but after dancing and crying appears to be attracted to material affairs has not yet reached the perfection of devotional service, which is called āśaya-śuddhi, or the perfection of existence. One who attains the perfection of existence is completely averse to material enjoyment and engrossed in transcendental love of Godhead. It is therefore to be concluded that the ecstatic symptoms of āśaya-śuddhi are visible when a devotee’s service has no material cause and is purely spiritual in nature.

These are characteristics of transcendental love of Godhead, as stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.6):

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati

“That religion is best which causes its followers to become ecstatic in love of God that is unmotivated and free from material impediments, for this alone can completely satisfy the self.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Jesus Christ he gave the ten commandments, one of the commandments is that one should love God and unfortunately many people don’t achieve this. Lord Caitanya and our Founder Acarya gave us a step by step process to awaken this dormant love of Kṛṣṇa. So, we should take advantage of the great mercy given in this process to awaken our dormant love of Kṛṣṇa. So, Lord Caitanya was explaining all this to the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs in Benares and hopefully they will be impressed by this explanation. This chapter is put in the Ādī-līlā of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta because it is so important for us to understand difference between Māyāvāda and pure-bhakti, it is stated that Māyāvāda is also an obstacle for bhakti.

Thus Ends the Chapter Entitled, The Nature of The Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra – The Loving Ecstasy for Kṛṣṇa

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

Today we are going to visit Middle East., first we will see the birthday devotees. I am still convalescing from my Covid, I am supposed to spend a long time resting, that’s why I can’ t much time as usual on the visits. I am on my bed, and I watch the devotees.

Transcribed and Verified by JPS Archives 14^th January 2022