20230707 Only a few persons can fully know what Lord Caitanya tastes in His love for Kṛṣṇa (Part 2)

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 7th,2023 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!

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!

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

Only a few persons can fully know what Lord Caitanya tastes
in His love for Kṛṣṇa (Part 2)
Under the Section: Rescuing the Lord from the Sea

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.10

granthibāhulya-bhaye tadvarṇanā-virati :—

se saba ślokera artha, se saba ‘vikāra’
se saba varṇite grantha haya ati-vistāra

Translation: To explain fully all those verses and all the transformations that took place in the Lord’s body would require a very large volume.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya’s transformations in ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, is so great that it would require additional volumes of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So therefore, the author, he is apologizing and writing a resumate because he doesn’t know how long it will take if he tries to write all these things in detail.

He is a very old man and just by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, he is writing.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.11

dvādaśa vatsare ye ye līlā kṣaṇe-kṣaṇe
ati-bāhulya-bhaye grantha nā kailuṅ likhane

Translation: So as not to increase the size of this book, I have not written about all the Lord’s pastimes, for He performed them every moment of every day for twelve years.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Kṛṣṇadasa Kavirāja, he obviously knew what Lord Caitanya had performed for twelve years, day and night in Jagannātha Purī. So, he has just given a short form based on what he heard from Raghunātha dāsa and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī. Now what we have heard is already so overwhelming that how Lord Caitanya was in such ecstasy, that simply by hearing about it one feels some ecstasy! So we are very grateful to Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī Mahārāja for writing whatever he did, even if did so in brief.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.12

pūrve kevala diṅmātra nirdiṣṭa :—

pūrve yei dekhāñāchi dig-daraśana
taiche jāniha ’vikāra’ ’pralāpa’ varṇana

Translation: As I have previously indicated, I am describing the mad speeches and bodily transformations of the Lord only in brief.

Jayapatākā Swami: Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja is describing Lord Caitanya’s pastimes in Jagannātha Purī in brief.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.13

bhagavān śeṣerao prabhura līlā-parimāṇe asāmarthya

sahasra-vadane yabe kahaye ‘ananta’
eka-dinera līlāra tabu nāhi pāya anta

Translation: If Ananta, with His one thousand hoods, tried to describe even one day’s pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He would find them impossible to describe fully.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya’s transcendental pastimes, His transcendental transformations in pure ecstatic love are so varied and so extensive that even if Anantadeva tried to describe one such day, with His thousand mouths speaking simultaneously, He could not find the end.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.14

svargera lekhakaśreṣṭha gaṇeśera pakṣe uhā nitāntai asambhava :—

koṭi-yuga paryanta yadi likhaye gaṇeśa
eka-dinera līlāra tabu nāhi pāya śeṣa

Translation: If Gaṇeśa, Lord Śiva’s son and the expert scribe of the demigods, tried for millions of millenniums to fully describe one day of the Lord’s pastimes, he would be unable to find their limit.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, Śrī Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja is mentioning that the Lord’s transformations in ecstatic love are so great, that even Gaṇeśa who is considered the best of the devas, for writing, he could not do justice and describe even one day’s activities fully, even in millions of millenniums. In other words, Lord Caitanya’s activities are so variegated that it’s not possible to fully explain what He did, what He was experiencing.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.15

gopīra premadarśane svayaṁ kṛṣṇerao vismaya :—

bhaktera prema-vikāra dekhi’ kṛṣṇera camatkāra!
kṛṣṇa yāra nā pāya anta, kebā chāra āra?

Translation: Even Lord Kṛṣṇa is struck with wonder at seeing the transformations of ecstasy in His devotees. If Kṛṣṇa Himself cannot estimate the limits of such emotions, how could others?

Jayapatākā Swami: Some people question, is bhakti a sentiment? Yes, bhakti is a transcendental emotion, and actually, that’s what Artificial Intelligence will never understand, because even human beings cannot understand! It’s something which is very special! It is said that Kṛṣṇa, He would be struck with wonder seeing the loving emotions of His gopī friends. If Kṛṣṇa would find it difficult, what to speak of others who are insignificant. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja is explaining a lot of verses discussing these points. We should understand that this is a very important aspect of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, that the emotions devotees experience, are truly unlimited.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.16-17

gopīprema-nirddhāra o āsvādana-parimāṇārtha kṛṣṇera gopībhāva-svīkāra :—

bhakta-premāra yata daśā, ye gati prakāra
yata duḥkha, yata sukha, yateka vikāra

kṛṣṇa tāhā samyak nā pāre jānite
bhakta-bhāva aṅgīkare tāhā āsvādite

Translation: Kṛṣṇa Himself cannot fully understand the conditions, the mode of progress, the happiness and unhappiness, and the moods of ecstatic love of His devotees. He therefore accepts the role of a devotee to taste these emotions fully.

Jayapatākā Swami: This verse explains the confidential reason of Lord Caitanya’s avatāra. Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa who accepted the mood of Rādhārāṇī and He took Her color also. So therefore, He is known as Gaurāṅga! So, the confidential reason of His appearance was to experience and understand these emotions of ecstatic transcendental transformations. Because, as Rukmiṇī had told Him, “There is one thing You don’t know. You know everything, but there is one thing You don’t know. I know, Rādhārāṇī knows, but You don’t know!” So He asked, “What is that? You don’t know how much Your devotees love You and in what way we love You!” So, then Kṛṣṇa said, “Alright, I will come as My devotee and I will research it.” So He came as Lord Caitanya and His pastimes are out of this world! He is experiencing these confidential ecstatic emotions. This confidential ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, thus He is realizing that which Kṛṣṇa couldn’t realize. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.18

kṛṣṇa-premāra adbhuta vikrama :—

kṛṣṇere nācāya premā, bhaktere nācāya
āpane nācaye,—tine nāce eka-ṭhāñi

Translation: Ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa makes Kṛṣṇa and His devotees dance, and it also dances personally. In this way, all three dance together in one place.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Kṛṣṇa dances, His devotees dance and ecstatic love personified also dances. Actually, devotees, by following Lord Caitanya,and His associates, can taste this ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa which is otherwise not accessible, even in Vaikuṇṭha. This special ecstatic love is only available in Goloka Vṛndāvana, and Māyāpur dhāma is non-different from Goloka Vṛndāvana! Haribol!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.19

kṛṣṇa-mādhuryāsvādanarūpa premā—svayaṁ bhagavānerao varṇana-kṣamatātīta :—

premāra vikāra varṇite cāhe yei jana
cānda dharite cāhe, yena hañā ‘vāmana’

Translation: One who wants to describe the transformations of ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa is like a dwarf trying to catch the moon in the sky.

Jayapatākā Swami: Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja is explaining that it is not possible to explain these transformations of ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. But the actual thing is if you practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if you practice bhakti-yoga you can realize these things. This is indescribable, but it is realizable!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.20

citparamāṇu-kaṇajīvera aprākṛta kṛṣṇaprema-sindhura bindumātra-sparśei adhikāra :—

vāyu yaiche sindhu-jalera hare eka ‘kaṇa’
kṛṣṇa-prema-kaṇa taiche jīvera sparśana

Translation: As the wind can carry away but a drop of the water in the ocean, a living entity can touch only a particle of the ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: As living entities we are very small, and therefore we can only taste a drop of the ocean of ecstatic love. But it has been described by Lord Caitanya, by one drop of the sweetness of Lord Kṛṣṇa, it can flood the whole universe.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.21

kṣaṇe kṣaṇe uṭhe premāra taraṅga ananta
jīva chāra kāhāṅ tāra pāibeka anta?

Translation: Endless waves arise moment after moment in that ocean of love. How could an insignificant living entity estimate their limits?

Jayapatākā Swami: Rādhārāṇī and the śakti-tattvas that serve Lord Kṛṣṇa, They can experience kṛṣṇa-prema at a higher level. Lord Caitanya is so merciful that He is awarding us this opportunity of experiencing love of Kṛṣṇa, and even though it may be just a drop, but for us that drop is unlimited. Even though at present, the devotees feel that other people are not able to understand what the devotees are experiencing. I was chanting japa on my beads and naturally the hand moves the bead jumps a bit, one of the sisters of the Mother Teresa’s sisters, she asked me if she could ask me a question. I said, “Why not?” She said, “Do you have a chicken in your bag?” Because she saw the bag jumping! I don’t say that there is anything near or comparable, but naturally the devotees, they feel very happy chanting the Lord’s name, but she thought it was a chicken dancing in my bag! So these non-devotees, they can’t understand how much happiness there is in love of Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 18.23

jīva hañā kare yei tāhāra varṇana
āpanā śodhite tāra choṅye eka ‘kaṇa’

Translation: When an ordinary living entity describes the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he purifies himself by touching one drop of that great ocean.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, as this verse declares by describing the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, one purifies himself by touching the ocean of ecstatic love, touching one drop. So, in this way, we can’t actually understand fully, the limits of the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya. We can understand that He is experiencing ecstasy and to some degree, we share some of that ecstasy. But our realization is very limited. The transcendental pleasure of pure love is so unlimited, and that is what Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja is trying to explain to us. So, we are so fortunate that we are able to discuss this topic and get purified!

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Only a Few Persons Can Fully Know What Lord Caitanya Tastes in His Love for Kṛṣṇa (Part 2)
Under the section: Rescuing the Lord from the Sea

Hare Kṛṣṇa!