20221030 By loudly chanting, Haridāsa Ṭhākura serves the Holy Name until the appearance of Lord Caitanya, Part 2

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 30th,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: 

By loudly chanting, Haridāsa Ṭhākura serves the Holy Name until the appearance of Lord Caitanya [Part-2]

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.259

ucca-hari-nāma-kīrtana-phale viparītabuddhi mūḍhagaṇera bhagavadroṣa o anarthapātāśaṅkā — 

nidrā bhaṅga haile kruddha haibe gosāñi 
durbhikṣa karibe deśe,—ithe dvidhā nāi”

Translation: “If the Lord’s sleep is disturbed, He’ll become angry and create a famine in this country.

There’s no doubt about it.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the atheists are speculating that devotees' chanting will anger the Lord, but He is always happy when the devotees chant His holy names.

The devas chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa during the sleeping time of the Lord, He woke up and He blessed them, on that tithi, that month, that will give a hundred times benefit for any devotional service performed.

So, there are 1800 degrees wrong.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.260

ucca-hari-nāma-kīrtanānte annakaṣṭa-sambhāvanā-mātra bhaktagaṇaprati pāṣaṇḍigaṇera droha-saṅkalpa—

keha bale,—“yadi dhānya kichu mūlya caḍe
tabe e-gulāre dhari’ kilāimu ghāḍe”

Translation: Someone said, “If the price of rice increases, then I’ll catch them and give them a punch.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Someone said that if the price of the rice increases a little then I will catch them and hit them in the neck.

So, these atheists are doing their imaginations by thinking of hitting the Vaiṣṇavas.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.261

bhāravāhī nāstikagaṇera deśakālapātra-nirapekṣa harināma-kīrtanake kāla-sāpekṣa-jñāna—

keha bale,—“ekādaśī-niśi-jāgāraṇe
karibe govinda-nāma kari’ uccāraṇe

Translation: Someone else said, “On Ekādaśī, these devotees stay up all night and chant loudly the name of Govinda.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the faithless persons were criticizing how the devotees would stay up all night during Ekadasi and chant the holy name of the Lord.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.262

prati-dina uccāraṇa kariyā ki kāya?”
ei-rūpe bale yata madhyastha-samāja

Translation: “What is the need for chanting the Lord’s name every day?” In this way, the atheists condemned the devotees in various ways.

Purport (By His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Śrīla Prabhupāda): On the pre of being indifferent, some fruitive workers used to say, “There is no benefit in loudly and repeatedly chanting the names of the Lord every day.

Since the living entities are bound by the fruits of their karma, and since the Supreme Lord is also under the subordination of karma, the living entities who are forced to enjoy the fruits of their karma simply increase their bile secretion by chanting the names of the Lord.” In this way, middle class people, who were neither devotees nor non-devotees, put forth such arguments and useless talk.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, they are not understanding how chanting the holy name is all auspicious and was benefitting everyone, all the non-moving and living entities.

These people were influenced by the prevalent speculations and kept on offending as such.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.263

tādṛśa marmantuda-ukti śravaṇe duḥkha sattveo bhaktagaṇera harināma-kīrtane acalā-niṣṭhā —

duḥkha pāya śuniyā sakala bhakta-gaṇa
tathāpi nā chāḍe keha hari-saṅkīrtana

Translation: The devotees all felt aggrieved on hearing these things, yet none of them gave up congregational chanting the names of Lord Hari.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the chanting of the holy names of the lord is recommended as the ideal process of this age.

We see, although the process is so easy, people are not inclined towards it.

Lord Caitanya and His representatives chanted loudly the holy names and encouraged everyone to join.

So this way, gradually spreading of Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting throughout the country.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.264

sarvatra viṣṇu-bhakti-vimukhagaṇera durdaśā-darśane haridāsera duḥkha —

bhakti-yoge lokera dekhiyā anādara
haridāsa o duḥkha baḍa pāyena antara

Translation: Haridāsa Ṭhākura was especially aggrieved internally to see how the people lacked interest in the process of devotional service.

Purport (By His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Śrīla Prabhupāda): Attempts to serve the Supreme Lord on the pre of ulterior desires, karma, yoga, or jñāna or to act contrary to the service of the Supreme Lord can never be called devotional service.

But people of the world at that time were all overwhelmed by such nondevotional considerations.

Physical and mental propensities kept the conditioned souls away from the path of devotional service and concealed the shining glories of pure devotional service.

Seeing such detrimental propensities in the materialists, Ṭhākura Haridāsa felt great distress at heart.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this shows the condition of the world prior to the advent of Lord Caitanya.

People were not considering bhakti-yoga at all, and were lost in the illusory energy of the Lord.

When Lord Caitanya came, everything changed.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.265

haridāsera nirantara uccaḥsvare hari-nāma-kīrtana —

tathāpiha haridāsa uccaiḥsvara kari’
balena prabhura saṅkīrtana mukha bhari’

Translation: In spite of this, Haridāsa Ṭhākura continued to loudly chant the holy names of the Lord as loud as he could.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.266

ati-śocya hatabhāgya pāṣaṇḍigaṇerai haridāsa-mukhe ucca-nāma-kīrtana-śravaṇe amarṣa o asahiṣṇutā—

ihāte o atyanta duṣkṛti pāpi-gaṇa
nā pāre śunite ucca-hari-saṅkīrtana

Translation: The most sinful miscreants were even unable to hear this loud saṅkīrtana.

Purport (By His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Śrīla Prabhupāda): Due to their sinful propensities, people did not wish to hear the uninterrupted and unmotivated chanting of the names of Hari from the mouth of Haridāsa Ṭhākura.

Actually, only unfortunate people develop such sinful and inauspicious propensities.

But Haridāsa Ṭhākura is a nonduplicitous servant of the Absolute Truth, Lord Kṛṣṇa, and devoid of all fear born of material absorption.

Even after facing various impediments and obstacles from the sinful people, he did not desist from hari-saṅkīrtana.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this example of Haridāsa Ṭhākura who in spite of obstacles and difficulties, he continued to practice nāma-saṅkīrtana.

Even though he had no association and he was the only one, he still kept on chanting and thus he got special recognition from Lord Caitanya.

So we should all follow the good example of Haridāsa Ṭhākura.

Haribol!

Thus ends the chapter entitled,
By loudly chanting, Haridāsa Ṭhākura serves the Holy Name until the appearance of Lord Caitanya, Part 2
Under the section: The Glories of Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura