20220420 Disciple of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī Glorifies the Explanations of Lord Caitanya, Part 2

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 20th,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!

Continuing the Caitanya līlā class chapter Disciple of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī Glorifies the Explanations of Lord Caitanya, Part 2

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.34

śruti o purāṇe avaroha-panthāya aprākṛta cid-vilāsa-darśana, tarkamūlaka ārohapanthāya māyātīta cid-vilāsake māyika jaḍa vilāsa-jñānai pāṣaṇḍatā vā mahāparādha :—

śruti-purāṇa kahe-kṛṣṇera cic-chakti-vilāsa
tāhā nāhi māni, paṇḍita kare upahāsa

Translation: The Vedas, the Upaniṣads, the Brahma-sūtra and the Purāṇas all describe the activities of the spiritual potency of the Lord. If one cannot accept the personal activities of the Lord, he jokes foolishly and gives an impersonal description.

Purport: In the Vedic literatures, including the Purāṇas, there are full descriptions of the spiritual potency of Kṛṣṇa. All the pastimes of the Lord are eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, just as the form of Kṛṣṇa Himself is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha). Unintelligent people with a poor fund of knowledge compare their temporary bodies to the spiritual body of Kṛṣṇa, and by such foolishness they try to understand Kṛṣṇa as one of them. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam. The Bhagavad-gītā (9.11) points out that foolish people think of Kṛṣṇa as one of them. Not understanding His spiritual potency, they simply decry the personal form of the Absolute Truth, foolishly thinking of themselves as jñānīs cognizant of the complete truth. They cannot understand that just as the material energy of the Lord has a variety of activities, the spiritual energy has variety also. They consider activities in devotional service the same as activities in material consciousness. Under such a wrong impression, they sometimes dare joke about the spiritual activities of the Lord and His devotional service.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Kṛṣṇa has various spiritual energies, and each energy has a multitude of activities, so the Personality of Godhead does unlimited activities that can never be compared to ordinary living beings. The Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself as Paramātmā and resides in the heart of every living entity as Supersoul. He expands into His impersonal brahma-jyoti and expands everywhere. Simultaneously, as a person He sees what is going on in all universes, both material and spiritual. So, His capacity is almost unlimited and people don’t understand His unlimited aspect and they try to compare Him with themselves.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.35

cid-ānanda kṛṣṇa-vigraha ‘māyika’ kari’ māni
ei baḍa ‘pāpa’, -satya caitanyera vāṇī

Translation: The Māyāvādīs do not recognize the personal form of the Lord as spiritual and full of bliss. This is a great sin. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s statements are actually factual.

Purport: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s movement especially aims at defeating the Māyāvāda conclusion about the Absolute Truth. Since the members of the Māyāvāda school cannot understand the spiritual form of the Lord, they incorrectly think the Lord’s form is also made of material energy. They think that He is covered by a material body just like other living beings. Due to this offensive understanding, they cannot recognize that Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s personal form is transcendental, not material. Their conclusion is a great offense at the lotus feet of the Lord. As explained by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrī Kṛṣṇa has His eternal, blissful form that is full of knowledge, and all Vaiṣṇava ācāryas accept this. That is the proper understanding of the Absolute Truth.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śaṅkarācārya who had appeared in Kerala and he preached all over India. There were a lot of Māyāvādī sannyāsīs in Benares and we were reading how Lord Caitanya had discussed with them and how Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained the Vedānta-sūtra according to Vaiṣṇava siddhānta. So, this is the greatest disciple of the Māyāvādī guru Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī and he realized Lord Caitanya has explained the personal form of Kṛṣṇa, and so He stood up and he is expressing this. So most of the followers of Prakāśānanda Sarasvati have been convinced and everyone has become a Vaiṣṇava.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.36

nirviśeṣa rūpa apekṣā vā cid-vilāsamaya rūpera paramatva :—

Śrīmad-Bhāgavate (3.9.3)—

Translation: “O supreme one, the transcendental form I am now seeing is full of transcendental bliss. It is not contaminated by the external energy. It is full of effulgence. My Lord, there is no better understanding of You than this. You are the Supreme Soul and the creator of this material world, but You are not connected with this material world. You are completely different from created form and variety. I sincerely take shelter of that form of Yours which I am now seeing. This form is the original source of all living beings and their senses.’

Purport: This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.9.3). This verse was spoken by Lord Brahmā, who perfectly realized the Supreme Personality of Godhead after meditating upon the Lord within the water of the Garbhodaka Ocean. Brahmā realized that the form of the Lord is completely spiritual. This is certainly a better understanding of the Absolute Truth than the impersonal understanding.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Brahmā he understood that the Suprme Personality of Godhead is spiritual and personal. He is actually sac-cid-anandā.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.37

Śrīmad-Bhāgavate (10.46.43)—

Translation: “Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the cause of all causes. He is past, present and future, and He is the movable and immovable. He is the greatest and the smallest, and He is visible and directly experienced. He is celebrated in the Vedic literature. Everything is Kṛṣṇa, and without Him there is no existence. He is the root of all understanding, and He is that which is understood by all words.’

Purport: This verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.46.43) was spoken by Uddhava when he came to pacify all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana during Kṛṣṇa’s absence.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Uddhava as a friend of Kṛṣṇa tried to pacify the Vraja-vāsis by this philosophy but actually the Vraja-vāsis have a very deep relationship with Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.38

nirviśeṣavādīra ‘māyādhīśa’ bhagavad-vigrahake ‘māyika’ baliyā jñāna nirayajanaka :—

Śrīmad-Bhāgavate (3.9.4)—

Translation: O most auspicious one! For our benefit, You enable our worship of You by manifesting Your transcendental form, which You show to us in our meditation. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You, the Supreme Person, and we worship You, whom impersonalists do not accept due to their poor fund of knowledge. Thus they are liable to descend into a hellish condition.

Purport: This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.9.4).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, in the Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṇa in His spiritual form is glorified in every canto and the readers of the Bhāgavatam are enjoying this.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.39

aprākṛta kṛṣṇake narākṛti dekhiyāi pāṣaṇḍagaṇera prākṛta marttyabuddhi :—

Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītāya (9.11)—

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
mama bhūta-maheśvaram

Translation: Fools disrespect Me because I appear like a human being. They do not know My supreme position as the cause of all causes, the creator of the material energy.

Purport: This is a quotation from the Bhagavad-gītā (9.11).

Jayapatākā Swami: We see here that Kṛṣṇa can appear in different forms. So it is said that human beings are made as an image of Kṛṣṇa, and sometimes Kṛṣṇa descends as a human like form because that form is natural for Him. But like our body is different from our soul, we have heart, liver, spleen and so many other organs. But Kṛṣṇa's body is transcendental, His body is fully spiritual. But people who just seeing the external think that He is material like them. So they should realise that He is actually transcendental.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.40

pāṣaṇḍigaṇera gati :—
Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītāya (16.19)—

Translation: Those who are envious of My form, who are cruel and mischievous and the lowest among men, are perpetually cast by Me into hellish existence in various demoniac species of life.

Purport: This is also a quotation from the Bhagavad-gītā (16.19).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, while Kṛṣṇa takes His form which is sac-cid-ananda, but internally he doesn’t not above any limitations of the human form and people who envy Him are cast into different demoniac species.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.41

guru-avajñā vā guru-virodhamūle tarkapanthāya śrautapanthā śakti pariṇāmera asvīkāra-hetu vivarttavāda :—

sūtrera pariṇāma-vāda, tāhā nā māniyā
‘vivarta-vāda’ sthāpe, ‘vyāsa bhrānta’ baliyā

Translation: Not accepting the transformation of energy, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has tried to establish the theory of illusion under the plea that Vyāsadeva has made a mistake.

Purport: For an explanation of this verse, one may refer to Ādi-līlā, chapter seven, verses 121-126.

Jayapatākā Swami: Vyāsadevā is everyone’ s guru and he is the avatāra of Kṛṣṇa, who specifically writes the Vedic literatures, those who have criticized him are very offensive.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.42

vivarttavādāśraye lakṣaṇā-vṛttite vedāntopaniṣadera kalpita arthadvārā asura-pāṣaṇḍa-mohana :—

ei ta’ kalpita artha mane nāhi bhāya
śāstra chāḍi’ kukalpanā pāṣaṇḍe bujhāya

Translation: “Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has given his interpretation and imaginary meaning. It does not actually appeal to the mind of any sane man. He has done this to convince the atheists and bring them under his control.

Purport: Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya’s propaganda opposed the atheistic philosophy of Buddha. Lord Buddha’s intention was to stop atheists from committing the sin of killing animals. Atheists cannot understand God; therefore Lord Buddha appeared and spread the philosophy of nonviolence to keep the atheists from killing animals. Unless one is free from the sin of animal-killing, he cannot understand religion or God. Although Lord Buddha was an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, he did not speak about God, for the people were unable to understand. He simply wanted to stop animal-killing. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya wanted to establish the predominance of one’s spiritual identity; therefore he wanted to convert the atheists through an imaginary interpretation of the Vedic literatures. These are the secrets of the ācāryas. Sometimes they conceal the real purport of the Vedas and explain the Vedas in a different way. Sometimes they enunciate a different theory just to bring the atheists under their control. Thus it is said that Śaṅkara’s philosophy is for pāṣaṇḍas, atheists.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śaṅkarācārya is an incarnation of Lord Śiva and he was requested by Lord Viṣṇu to spread the philosophy to bring the Buddhists back to the Vedas, to accept the presence of soul, so he was successful. But in doing so, he had to speculate and twist the Vedic teachings. Lord Caitanya and different Vaiṣṇava ācāryas brought the Māyāvādīs back to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.43

paramārtha bhagavatkṛpā chāḍiyā vandhyā vitaṇḍāra āśraya :—

paramārtha-vicāra gela, kari mātra ‘vāda’
kāhāṅ mukti pāba, kāhāṅ kṛṣṇera prasāda

Translation: The atheists, headed by the Māyāvādī philosophers, do not care for liberation or Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. They simply continue to put forward false arguments and counter theories to atheistic philosophy, not considering or engaging in spiritual matters.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since Śaṅkarācārya was simply trying to bring back the atheists to the Vedas, that’s what he did.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.44

śāṅkarabhāṣya-meghakarttṛka vedānta-sūryācchādana :—

vyāsa-sūtrera artha ācārya kariyāche ācchādana
ei haya satya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-vacana

Translation: The conclusion is that the import of the Vedānta-sūtra is covered by the imaginary explanation of Śaṅkarācārya. Whatever Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said is perfectly true.

Jayapatākā Swami: Hari bol! So, this senior most disciple of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, he completely understood the philosophy of Lord Caitanya and declared this is in the public assembly.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.45

caitanya-matai ‘sāra’; advaitera mata, sabai ‘asāra’ :—

caitanya-gosāñi yei kahe, sei mata sāra
āra yata mata, sei saba chārakhāra

Translation: Whatever meaning Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu gives is perfect. Any other interpretation is only a distortion.

Jayapatākā Swami: Hari bol! So, in this way Lord Caitanya showed how to preach, He was very humble, and He was very determined, and He spread the philosophy of the Vedānta-sutrā very correctly and He converted all the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. So, this is very important because many people are Māyāvādī, they should read this section of the Caitanya Book and the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, 7th chapter of Ādī-līlā and 25th Chapter of Madhya-līlā.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Disciple of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī Glorifies the Explanations of Lord Caitanya, Part 2

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