20220721 Becoming a Gandharva, Choṭa Haridāsa Serves Lord Caitanya

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 21th, 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!

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

Becoming a Gandharva, Choṭa Haridāsa Serves Lord Caitanya
Under the section: The Chastisement of Junior Haridāsa

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.128

haridāsera nimitta paramānanda purī-gosvāmīra prabhusamīpe āvedana :—

āra dina sabe paramānanda-purī-sthāne
‘prabhuke prasanna kara’—kailā nivedane

Translation: The next day, all the devotees went to Śrī Paramānanda Purī and requested him to pacify the Lord.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since Paramānanda Purī is equal with his spiritual master therefore he had more influence over Lord Caitanya.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.129

tabe purī-gosāñi ekā prabhu-sthāne āilā
namaskari’ prabhu tāṅre sambhrame vasāilā

Translation: Paramānanda Purī thereupon went alone to the residence of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The Lord, after offering him obeisances, seated him by His side with great respect.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya was observing the protocol.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.130

puchilā,—ki ājñā, kene haila āgamana?
‘haridāse prasāda lāgi’ kailā nivedana

Translation: The Lord inquired, “What is your order? For what purpose have you come here?” Paramānanda Purī then submitted his prayer that the Lord show favor to Junior Haridāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Paramānanda Purī was requesting Lord Caitanya to have mercy of Junior Haridāsa because the other devotees were afraid to bring up the subject again

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.131

mahā-gambhīra prabhura asantuṣṭacitte govindasaha purītyāga kariyā ālālanāthe gamana-bhaya pradarśanaḥ—

śuniyā kahena prabhu,—“śunaha, gosāñi
saba vaiṣṇava lañā tumi raha ei ṭhāñi

Translation: Hearing this request, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “My dear lord, please hear Me. It is better for you to stay here with all the Vaiṣṇavas.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.132

more ājñā haya, muñi yāṅa ālālanātha
ekale rahiba tāhāṅ, govinda-mātra sātha

Translation: “Please give Me permission to go to Ālālanātha. I shall remain there alone; only Govinda will go with Me.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya had warned His disciples, His devotees that if they asked Him again to give favor to Junior Haridāsa, He will leave the place.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.133

eta bali’ prabhu yadi govinde bolāilā
purīre namaskāra kari’ uṭhiyā calilā

Translation: After saying this, the Lord called for Govinda. Offering obeisances to Paramānanda Purī, He got up and began to leave.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.134

purī-gosvāmīra lajjā o bhaya evaṁ sadainye prabhuke gṛhe pratyānayanaḥ—

āste-vyaste purī-gosāñi prabhu āge gelā
anunaya kari’ prabhure ghare vasāilā

Translation: In great haste Paramānanda Purī Gosāñi went before Him and with great humility persuaded Him to sit down in His room.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Paramānanda Purī didn’t want the Lord to leave, so with great difficulty he convinced the Lord to sit down in His room

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.135

purīra prabhustuti o svasthāne prasthānaḥ—

“tomāra ye icchā, kara, svatantra īśvara
kebā ki balite pāre tomāra upara?

Translation: Paramānanda Purī said, “My dear Lord Caitanya, You are the independent Personality of Godhead. You can do whatever You like. Who can say anything above You?

Jayapatākā Swami: Paramānanda Purī was admitting that the Lord was the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that He was independent to do whatever He wanted.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.136

loka-hita lāgi’ tomāra saba vyavahāra
āmi saba nā jāni gambhīra hṛdaya tomāra”

Translation: “All Your activities are for the benefit of people in general. We cannot understand them, for Your intentions are deep and grave.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śrī Caitanya would know what will help the people and therefore Paramānanda Purī was admitting that he could not know the intentions of the Lord, they were very deep and profound.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.137

viphala manoratha haiyā bhaktagaṇera haridāsa-samīpe gamanaḥ—

eta bali’ purī-gosāñi gelā nija-sthāne
haridāsa-sthāne gelā saba bhakta-gaṇe

Translation: After saying this, Paramānanda Purī Gosāñi left for his own home. Then all the devotees went to see Junior Haridāsa.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.138

svarūpa-gosvāmīra haridāsake āśā o sāntvanā-dāna :—

svarūpa-gosāñi kahe,—“śuna, haridāsa
sabe tomāra hita vāñchi, karaha viśvāsa

Translation: Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosāñi said, “Please hear us, Haridāsa, for we all wish you well. Please believe this.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Svarūpa Dāmodara dāsa and all the devotees were ensuring Junior Haridāsa that they wished his well being.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.139

prabhu haṭhe paḍiyāche svatantra īśvara
kabhu kṛpā karibena yāte dayālu antara

Translation: “At present Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is persisting in His mood of anger because He is the independent Supreme Personality of Godhead. At some time, however, He will surely be merciful, for at heart He is very kind.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, in this Svarūpa Dāmodara was comforting Junior Haridāsa and there was nothing that anyone could do, since the Lord is completely independent.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.140

tumi haṭha kaile tāṅra haṭha se bāḍibe
snāna bhojana kara, āpane krodha yābe”

Translation: “The Lord is persisting, and if you also persist, His persistence will increase. It is better for you to bathe and take prasādam. In due course, His anger will automatically subside.”

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.141

eta bali tāre snāna bhojana karāñā
āpana bhavana āilā tāre āśvāsiyā

Translation: Having said this, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī induced Haridāsa to bathe and take prasādam. After thus reassuring him, he returned home.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this shows how Vaiṣṇavas have mercy on the devotees and in this way Svarūpa Dāmodara induced Junior Haridāsa to end his fasting.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.142

dūre thākiyā haridāsera prabhu-darśanaḥ—

prabhu yadi yāna jagannātha-daraśane
dūre rahi’ haridāsa karena darśane

Translation: When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to see Lord Jagannātha in the temple, Haridāsa would stay a long distance away and see Him.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we can’t take Lord Caitanya's mercy for granted, if we break regulative principles He may become angry with us. So we have to be very repentful and very humble.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.143

dharmasetu dharmavarma prabhura parama kāruṇyaḥ—

mahāprabhu—kṛpā-sindhu, ke pāre bujhite?
priya bhakte daṇḍa karena dharma bujhāite

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the ocean of mercy. Who can understand Him? When He chastises His dear devotees, He certainly does so to reestablish the principles of religion or duty.

Purport: By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupāda Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says in this connection that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the ocean of mercy, chastised Junior Haridāsa, although Junior Haridāsa was His dear devotee, to establish that one in the devotional line, engaged in pure devotional service, should not be a hypocrite. For a person engaged in devotional service in the renounced order, having intimate relationships with women is certainly hypocrisy. This chastisement was given to Junior Haridāsa as an example to future sahajiyās who might adopt the dress of the renounced order to imitate Rūpa Gosvāmī and other bona fide sannyāsīs but secretly have illicit connections with women. To teach such men, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu chastised His dear devotee Haridāsa for a slight deviation from the regulative principles. Śrīmatī Mādhavī-devī was a highly elevated devotee; therefore approaching her to ask for some rice to serve Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was certainly not very offensive. Nevertheless, just to preserve the regulative principles for the future, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu enforced the hard-and-fast rule that no one in the renounced order should intimately mix with women. Had Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu not chastised Junior Haridāsa for this slight deviation, so-called devotees of the Lord would have exploited the example of Junior Haridāsa to continue their habit of illicit connections with women unrestrictedly. Indeed, they still preach that such behavior is allowed for a Vaiṣṇava. But it is strictly not allowed. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the teacher of the entire world, and therefore He enforced this exemplary punishment to establish that illicit sexual connections are never allowed by Vaiṣṇava philosophy. This was His purpose in chastising Junior Haridāsa. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is in fact the most magnanimous incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He strictly prohibited illicit sex.

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda he had his disciples promise to follow the four regulative principles, one of which is no illicit sex. So the idea is that in some countries of the world people don’t bother to get married, man and woman stay together and that’s considered to be a kind of marriage. In India of course that’s not the practice, as far as I know. But like if you stay together for two years in Argentina, they are considered like man and wife, I mean wife will inherit the property of the husband even though they are not married. But Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted people to be married and that was the system. So Lord Caitanya was establishing the system forbidding illicit sex. But the sahajiyā, there were 13 types of sahajiyās at the time of Srila Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, I don’t know how many types are there now, but some of these sahajiyā they wear saffron cloth, and they associate with ladies. There is a poetry by Srila Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura, galai mala mathe tilaka, piche āche sundara bāla, he has tilaka on his noses and kanṭhī mālā on his neck but behind him is a beautiful lady so Lord Caitanya and Śrīla Prabhupāda were encouraging marriage but not other type of informal connection.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.144

choṭa haridāsera daṇḍa-darśane sādhakagaṇera puruṣa vā bhoktṛ-abhimāne indriyatarpaṇoddeśe bhogamaya-netre bhogya-strī-darśana-tyāgaḥ—

dekhi’ trāsa upajila saba bhakta-gaṇe
svapne-ha chāḍila sabe strī-sambhāṣaṇe

Translation: After all the devotees saw this example, a mentality of fear grew among them. Therefore they all stopped talking with women, even in dreams.

Purport: In connection with strī-sambhāsaṇa, talking with women, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that talking with women for the purpose of mingling with them for sense gratification, subtle or gross, is strictly prohibited. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, the great moral instructor, says, mātṛ-vat para-dāreṣu. Thus not only a person in the renounced order or one engaged in devotional service but everyone should avoid mingling with women. One should consider another’s wife his mother.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that you can consider your own wife as wife, but other men’s wife, consider them as mother. That means you don’t have any informal dealings with them and Lord Caitanya by establishing this policy He was establishing the standard He wanted His devotees to follow.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.145

eka vatsara pareo prabhura aṭala nairapekṣyaḥ—

ei-mate haridāsera eka vatsara gela
tabu mahāprabhura mane prasāda nahila

Translation: In this way a complete year passed for Junior Haridāsa, but still there was not a sign of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mercy toward him.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was hoping that the Lord would be merciful but even after one year there was no apparent change.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.146

taddarśane choṭa-haridāsera prabhusevā-prāpti-saṅkalpa-pūrvaka prayāge āsiyā triveṇīte dehatyāgaḥ—

rātri avaśeṣe prabhure daṇḍavat hañā
prayāgete gela kāreha kichu nā baliyā

Translation: Thus at the end of one night, Junior Haridāsa, after offering Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu his respectful obeisances, departed for Prayāga without saying anything to anyone.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.147

prabhu-pada-prāpti lāgi’ saṅkalpa karila
triveṇī praveśa kari’ prāṇa chāḍila

Translation: Junior Haridāsa had conclusively decided to attain shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Thus he entered deep into the water at Triveṇī, the confluence of the Ganges and Yamunā at Prayāga, and in this way gave up his life.

Jayapatākā Swami: Actually, there was a rumor that one disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda had taken his life in this way, but then Śrīla Prabhupāda in the eighth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the Gajendra mokṣa-līlā in one of the purports he said that if a sannyāsī finds that they are more stronger in gṛhastha-āśrama, they should take whatever āśrama they are stronger and continue their devotional service. Because Gajendra was an animal of the land, he was weakening with the crocodile who is an animal of the water. So in that purport Śrīla Prabhupāda says that we should all be strong in our devotional service and accordingly we should take position but continue with our devotional service. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda was a bit merciful in this regard. These are very strong examples by Lord Caitanya but Śrīla Prabhupāda was a bit more merciful although he definitely wanted people to follow the strict standards.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.148

choṭa haridāsera divyadehe alakṣye prabhusamīpe kīrtana-gāna-sevāḥ—

sei-kṣaṇe divya-dehe prabhu-sthāne āilā
prabhu-kṛpā pāñā antardhānei rahilā

Translation: Immediately after committing suicide in this way, he went in his spiritual body to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and received the mercy of the Lord. However, he still remained invisible.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Junior Haridāsa he came and sang for Lord Caitanya and he had achieved his spiritual body.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 2.149

gandharva-dehe gāna karena antardhāne
rātrye prabhure śunāya gīta, anye nāhi jāne

Translation: In a spiritual body resembling that of a Gandharva, Junior Haridāsa, although invisible, would sing at night for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to hear. No one but the Lord, however, knew of this.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since Junior Haridāsa was thinking of Lord Caitanya when he left his body he achieved the siddha-svarūpa and offered his devotional service to Lord Caitanya and Lord Caitanya was aware of this. 

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Becoming a Gandharva, Choṭa Haridāsa Serves Lord Caitanya
Under The Section: The Chastisement of Junior Haridāsa

NOTE: Actually, it is said that he achieved a spiritual body resembling a Gandharva.