20230525 Glories of the Nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s Lips [Part 1]

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 25th, 2023 in Dallas, Texas, USA.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Continuation of the compilation of

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya book, Today's chapter is entitled as: Glories of the Nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s Lips [Part 1]
Under the section: Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Tastes Nectar from the Lips of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.116

prabhura ājñāya rāyera śloka-pāṭha:—

premāveśe mahāprabhu yabe ājñā dilā
rāmānanda-rāya śloka paḍite lāgilā

Translation: In ecstatic love, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ordered Rāmānanda Rāya to recite some verses. Thus Rāmānanda Rāya spoke as follows.

Jayapatākā Swami: Following the order of Lord Caitanya, Rāmānanda Rāya quoted some verses.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.117

gopīgaṇera kṛṣṇadharāmṛta-yācñā (citrajalpa):—
śrīmad-bhāgavate (10/31/15):—

Translation: “‘O hero of charity, please deliver unto us the nectar of Your lips. That nectar increases lusty desires for enjoyment and diminishes lamentation in the material world. Kindly give us the nectar of Your lips, which are touched by Your transcendentally vibrating flute, for that nectar makes all human beings forget all other attachments.’ ”

Purport: This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.31.14).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the gopīs are expressing their desire to taste the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips. In the previous chapter, the nectar from the lips of Lord Kṛṣṇa was tasted in the prasāda of the Lord. How Lord Caitanya expressed that although all the ingredients are experienced by the people, the prasāda had some outstanding, wonderful taste! This was because the nectar of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s lips had been mixed with the prasāda.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.118

svayaṁ prabhura tatsūcaka ślokapāṭha:—

śloka śuni’ mahāprabhu mahā-tuṣṭa hailā
rādhāra utkaṇṭhā-śloka paḍite lāgilā

Translation: Upon hearing Rāmānanda Rāya quote this verse, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very satisfied. Then He recited the following verse, which had been spoken by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in great anxiety.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Rāmānanda Rāya Prabhu would read ślokas and Svarūpa Dāmodara would sing songs to increase the satisfaction and ecstasy of Lord Caitanya.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.119

kṛṣṇasevanonmukha cidjihvāra lobhavarddhaka kṛṣṇa-phelā-lavāmṛta —
govindalīlāmṛte (8.8) viśākhāra prati śrī-rādhā-vākya—

Translation: “My dear friend, the all-surpassing nectar from the lips of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, can be obtained only after many, many pious activities. For the beautiful gopīs of Vṛndāvana, that nectar vanquishes the desire for all other tastes. Madana-mohana always chews pan that surpasses the nectar of heaven. He is certainly increasing the desires of My tongue.”

Purport: This verse is found in the Govinda-līlāmṛta (8.8).

Jayapatākā Swami: Rādhārāṇī is attracted to the wonderful qualities of Lord Kṛṣṇa and She is expressing Her heart’s desires to Her friend Viśākhā.

Srī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.120

prabhukarttṛka ślokadvaya- vyākhyā:—

eta kahi’ gaura-prabhu bhāvāviṣṭa hañā
dui ślokera artha kare pralāpa kariyā

Translation: After saying this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was overwhelmed by ecstatic loving emotions. Talking like a madman, He began to explain the meaning of the two verses.

Jayapatākā Swami: As I mentioned before, Rukmiṇī told Kṛṣṇa that although He knew everything, there was one thing He didn’t know, She knew, Rādhārāṇī knew, but He didn’t know. Therefore, He said He would come in Kali-yuga as His devotee to research, and He had three purposes – one was to start the saṅkīrtana movement, and one was to experience what the devotees felt for Him and in what way they loved Him. So Lord Caitanya in these final pastimes is now realizing this mood of Rādhārāṇī, the mood of the devotees.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.121-122

prathama śloka vyākhyā; kṛṣṇādharāmṛtera cidbala-varṇana yathā rāga—

tanu-mana karāya kṣobha, bāḍāya surata-lobha,
harṣa-śokādi-bhāra vināśaya

pāsarāya anya rasa, jagat kare ātma-vaśa,
lajjā, dharma, dhairya kare kṣaya

nāgara, śuna tomāra adhara-carita
mātāya nārīra mana, jihvā kare ākarṣaṇa,
vicārite saba viparīta

Translation: “My dear lover,” Lord Caitanya said in the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, “let Me describe some of the characteristics of Your transcendental lips. They agitate the mind and body of everyone, they increase lusty desires for enjoyment, they destroy the burden of material happiness and lamentation, and they make one forget all material tastes. The whole world falls under their control. They vanquish shame, religion and patience, especially in women. Indeed, they inspire madness in the minds of all women. Your lips increase the greed of the tongue and thus attract it. Considering all this, We see that the activities of Your transcendental lips are always paradoxical.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, since there are five rasas – śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and mādhurya and Rādhārāṇī is in the mādhurya-rasa. So, She is very much attracted by the lips of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The other rasas, they have other things that they like. But the mādhurya-rasa is very attracted to certain features of Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.123

āchuka nārīra kāya, kahite vāsiye lāja,
tomāra adhara baḍa dhṛṣṭa-rāya

puruṣe kare ākarṣaṇa, āpanā piyāite mana,
anya-rasa saba pāsarāya

Translation: “My dear Kṛṣṇa, since You are a male, it is not very extraordinary that the attraction of Your lips can disturb the minds of women. But I am ashamed to say that Your impudent lips sometimes attract even Your flute, which is also considered a male. It likes to drink the nectar of Your lips, and thus it also forgets all other tastes.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya is describing the mood of Rādhārāṇī. That She is glorifying Kṛṣṇa’s lotus lips. That being a male, it is natural that He attracts women. But even then, He also attracts males, by His transcendental features!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.124

kṛṣṇera veṇura prati śrī-rādhāra īrṣā:—

sacetana rahu dūre, acetana sacetana kare,
tomāra adhara—baḍa vājikara

tomāra veṇu śuṣkendhana, tāra janmāya indriya-mana,
tāre āpanā piyāya nirantara

Translation: “Aside from conscious living beings, even unconscious matter is sometimes made conscious by Your lips. Therefore, Your lips are great magicians. Paradoxically, although Your flute is nothing but dry wood, Your lips constantly make it drink their nectar. They create a mind and senses in the dry wooden flute and give it transcendental bliss.

Jayapatākā Swami: Actually, everything that Kṛṣṇa does is transcendental and the effect that He has on the flute, the flute is also transcendental and He comes to this material world to demonstrate His spiritual activities. The material world has certain activities, but they are temporary, and a perverted reflection of what exists in the spiritual world. The devotees are appreciating the transcendental qualities of Kṛṣṇa, and so they are not particularly attracted by His position as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They are attracted by His qualities which are all-attractive.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.125

veṇu dhṛṣṭa-puruṣa hañā, puruṣādhara piyā piyā,
gopī-gaṇe jānāya nija-pāna

aho śuna, gopī-gaṇa, bale piṅo tomāra dhana,
tomāra yadi thāke abhimāna

Translation: “That flute is a very cunning male who drinks again and again the taste of another male’s lips. It advertises its qualities and says to the gopīs, ‘O gopīs, if you are so proud of being women, come forward and enjoy your property — the nectar of the lips of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’

Jayapatākā Swami: The mood of Rādhārāṇī is of complete absorption in Kṛṣṇa and even among the various qualities of Kṛṣṇa – now She is focused on His lips. In Varṣāṇā, there is a temple called the mayūra-līlā and there Rādhārāṇī and Her sakhis are watching a peacock dancing and Kṛṣṇa came and said, why are You watching a peacock dance, normally You watch Me! They said, “He is dancing, You are not!” Then He went to the side of the peacock and He began to dance. So He asked, “How is that?” Rādhārāṇī said, “Well, ah, your dancing was nice, but the peacock was better!” Then He danced more intensely and the peacock was dancing. Then He asked Rādhārāṇī, “How was My dancing?” “Huh, Your dancing was better, but still the peacock was better than You!” Then Lord Kṛṣṇa - No Holds Barred - He danced very, very ecstatically. Rādhārāṇī, She was so attracted, She got up and began dancing with Him. So He was dancing like a peacock and She was dancing like a peahen. So, She was having these pastimes with Lord Kṛṣṇa and so, She was very hard to get and She made Kṛṣṇa put out extra!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.126

tabe more krodha kari’, lajjā bhaya, dharma, chāḍi’,
chāḍi’ dimu, kara āsi’ pāna

nahe pimu nirantara, tomāya mora nāhika ḍara,
anye dekhoṅ tṛṇera samāna

Translation: “Thereupon, the flute said angrily to Me, ‘Give up Your shame, fear and religion and come drink the lips of Kṛṣṇa. On that condition, I shall give up my attachment for them. If You do not give up Your shame and fear, however, I shall continuously drink the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips. I am slightly fearful because You also have the right to drink that nectar, but as for the others, I consider them like straw.’

Jayapatākā Swami: The flute was commenting, how he didn’t consider the other sakhis as much, he understood that amongst all the devotees, Rādhārāṇī was the best and She had the right to Kṛṣṇa’s lips. Like this, Lord Caitanya, there’s a third reason why He came, it is very confidential, but you all know that, right? I told once. That Rādhārāṇī would feel more ecstasy than Kṛṣṇa. So why is that? He is supposed to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but why She experiences more ecstasy than He does? So to research that, that’s the very confidential reason of Lord Caitanya’s appearance. The early life of Lord Caitanya was described by Caitanya-bhāgavata, the middle life was described by various scriptures and the final pastimes, a little bit by the Caitanya-bhāgavata and the rest by Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Of course, in between, there were other books also. Lord Caitanya, when He saw a garden, He would immediately think it was a garden of Vṛndāvana, and He would start to ask the trees, in the mood of gopīs searching for Kṛṣṇa. Like when Kṛṣṇa left the rasa-līlā with Rādhārāṇī and He went into the forest. The gopīs were practically mad looking for Kṛṣṇa. I mean no one talks to trees and expects them to answer! I don’t know, do any of you know the tree language! They would go up to a tree or bush and would ask, “have you seen our beloved Kṛṣṇa go by?” And in their madness they would say, “oh! all these trees are males and they are not telling us out of friendship of Kṛṣṇa. So let us talk to the female creepers and others.” Like this, Lord Caitanya was in the ecstasy of the gopīs, ecstasy of Rādhārāṇī. That is the last part of the Antya-līlā.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 16.127

veṇu o adharāmṛtera sammilita balaprayoga-phala:—

adharāmṛta nija-svare, sañcāriyā sei bale,
ākarṣaya trijagat-jana

āmarā dharma-bhaya kari’, rahi’ yadi dhairya dhari’,
tabe āmāya kare viḍambana

Translation: “The nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips, combined with the vibration of His flute, attracts all the people of the three worlds. But if we gopīs remain patient out of respect for religious principles, the flute then criticizes us.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we are seeing that there is some kind of rasa between the flute and the gopīs. If the gopīs don’t become very impatient and approach Kṛṣṇa, then the flute criticizes them, taunts them! We heard how some yogī was meditating in some mountain and he heard the flute. He became so affected that he started to like, hit their head on the ground and become completely ecstatic. So, Kṛṣṇa attracts everybody. Some devotees, they have taken birth as gopīs so that they could reciprocate with Kṛṣṇa’s all-attractiveness. The ṛṣis had approached Lord Rāma because they wanted to be His maid servants. But He said that He had taken a vow of eka-patnī-vrata, only one wife. Although the Lord and even kṣatriyas in Tretā-yuga, they can have more than one wife. But Lord Rāma He advised them to approach Kṛṣṇa since He had not taken such a vow and He had 16,108 queens in Dvārakā and millions of gopīs in Vṛndāvana. So some of the gopīs were actually the sages who had taken birth as gopīs in Vṛndāvana.