20220626 Caitanya-caritāmṛta Malayalam Book Release Address

The following is a book release address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 26th, 2022 at ISKCON Guruvāyūr, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So the Honorable Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs Muralidharan, he had to go to other programs. Our Guruvāyūr Temple Head Priest had to go to attend to some duties. His Holiness Bhakti Vinoda Swami and the Honorable Advocate Ānanda Kṛṣṇa Swami and all the assembled devotees, today the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in Malayalam has been released. You heard how Bhaktivedanta Swami had carried the message of Lord Caitanya around the world.

Lord Caitanya appeared in Navadvīpa, of West Bengal. For 24 years He stayed in Bengal, He was a gṛhastha. And at the age of 24 He took sannyāsa, went to Jagannātha Purī. He travelled around South India for six years. He all the holy places also of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, Mathurā and Vṛndāvana. And He had taken His initiation in the Brahma-sampradāya but He took sannyāsa from a Bhāratī in the Ādi Śaṅkarācārya line. So when He visited Benaras a sampradāya sannyāsī said, “Why are You chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, why not study the Brahma-sūtra?” But He said that His guru had told Him that He was a fool! And he said chant the holy names.

The Purāṇa states harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam… chanting the holy name is the only way, the only way, the only way in this Kali-yuga. When He was Navadvīpa He was known as Nimāi Paṇḍita. Kṛṣṇa had given the Bhagavad-gītā but people did not follow it. But Kṛṣṇa decided to come again as a devotee. Kṛṣṇa took the mood, the heart and color of Rādhārāṇī. Thus, He came as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He would not let anyone call Him Kṛṣṇa. But He was. So He told the sannyāsīs in Benaras what the direct meaning of the Brahma-sūtra was. He said that Śaṅkarācārya was actually an incarnation of Lord Śiva. Viṣṇu had asked Śiva to bring back the Buddhists to the Vedas. So Lord Śiva as Śaṅkarācārya, he established the Māyāvāda philosophy. Lord Caitanya, He preached to the sannyāsīs, whether you are a sannyāsī or a gṛhastha by chanting the holy names you can get purified.

In the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa all the holy rivers headed by Gaṅgā came to see Kṛṣṇa. And they said, “You will leave very soon and all the sinful people will bathe in us and leave their sinful reactions. So please take us with You.”

Lord Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, He smiled. He smiled and said, “Tolerate for 5000 years sinful people bathing in your waters. I will send a devotee who will spread the chanting of the holy name around the world. And for ten thousand years there will be golden period when most of the people will become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. When they bathe in your waters they will be chanting My holy names. After the ten-thousand-year period it will become very intense Kali. And you can go underground like the Sarasvatī river.”

In the Caitanya-maṅgala it is written about 500 years ago, how Lord Caitanya in the spiritual world He declared I will preach all over India. I will establish the saṅkīrtana-yajña. And after 500 years I will send My senāpati-bhakta to spread this chanting of the holy names around the world! His predictions were written one was 5000 years old and one was 500 years old. His Holiness Bhakti Vinoda Swami said it seemed he was predicting the arrival of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.

Lord Caitanya taught that being born in India as a human being is a very special birth.

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra
(Cc.Ādi 9.41)

So, being born as a human being in India means you perfect your life and help others. In the Indian continent and then the rest of the world.

In India we have a vision what is the ātmā, what is spiritual existence. Rest of the world, they think they are the body. Śrīla Prabhupāda spread the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta around the world. So he himself established 108 temples. And now we have about 800 temples. Thousands of thousands of Nāmahaṭṭas and Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups. Śrīla Prabhupāda established bhakti-yoga as the supreme process of yoga. This is already said by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā. Lord Brahmā, he said about Kṛṣṇa, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam - that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He has a form of sat-cit-ānanda. And He is the cause of all causes. And He has no cause other than Himself. Lord Caitanya showed that everyone can approach Kṛṣṇa. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta is considered like the post graduate studies of the Vedas. And Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are like the graduate studies.

Lord Caitanya He also preached to the Muslims that Allah is a person. He told them cited, many verses from the Koran. Śrīla Prabhupāda went all over the world and established Lord Caitanya’s teachings. In this way, he got thousands and thousands of devotees to practice sanātana-dharma. And whether they are Christians or Muslims, everyone can understand the process of bhakti-yoga, relationship with the Supreme. This is the way to actually unite the whole world. We hope all of you will read the Caitanya-caritāmṛta and be inspired how this process is so easy for everyone. I am very glad that this is being released here in Guruvāyūr city.

And we hope that Guruvāyūr will give us blessings to spread this message.

We are very grateful for all your presence.

Lord Caitanya since He spent six years in South India, He must have spent significant portion in Kerala too!

Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying how India has vision and the rest of the world is blind.

In the 1970s he said that India will be economically weak.

He said that the West is strong economically but blind spiritually.

He said that if the West could take India on its shoulder then together, they can go ahead.Lame man and blind man.

Since then, India has progressed a little economically.

But they should not lose their spiritual vision.

Rather Lord Caitanya’s message to the world is to have love of God and have peace. 

There are nine processes of bhakti-yoga.

Hearing, chanting are the most important in this age.

All glories to Guruvāyūrappan, All glories to Lord Caitanya!