20230723 Two Verses of Advanced Devotion – Love in Separation And Union

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 23rd,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!

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

Prayer to Kṛṣṇa for Bhakti and Be Able to Chant the Mahā-Mantra in Ecstatic Love
Under the section: The meaning of the Śikṣāṣṭaka and how the Lord tasted it Himself

So, remember the name of this chapter, prayer to Kṛṣṇa for bhakti and to be able to chant the māhā-mantra in ecstatic love So I get questions like this – how to chant the māhā-mantra in ecstatic love? Does anyone want to know? 

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.27

śuddhā adhokṣaja-kṛṣṇa-bhakti-kāmanā —

kahite kahite prabhura dainya bāḍilā
‘śuddha-bhakti’ kṛṣṇa-ṭhāñi māgite lāgilā

Translation: As Lord Caitanya spoke in this way, His humility increased, and He began praying to Kṛṣṇa that He could discharge pure devotional service.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we should offer to Krsna to discharge, to offer pure devotional service.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.28

premabhaktera lakṣaṇa vā svabhāva :—

premera svabhāva—yāhāṅ premera sambandha
sei māne,—‘kṛṣṇe mora nāhi prema-gandha’

Translation: Wherever there is a relationship of love of Godhead, its natural symptom is that the devotee does not think himself a devotee. Instead, he always thinks that he has not even a drop of love for Kṛṣṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is number two. One is that we should desire, we should pray for it. Two, we should think we don’t have it, We should be humble, That’s how we should think I don’t have even a drop of love! How many here have a drop of love? So that’s the second point. That we should think that we don’t have bhakti and we need it!

Purport: Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments that persons who are actually very poor because they possess not even a drop of love of Godhead or pure devotional service falsely advertise themselves as great devotees, although they cannot at any time relish the transcendental bliss of devotional service. A class of so-called devotees known as prākṛta-sahajiyās sometimes display devotional symptoms to exhibit their good fortune. They are pretending, however, because these devotional features are only external. The prākṛta-sahajiyās exhibit these symptoms to advertise their so-called advancement in love of Kṛṣṇa, but instead of praising the prākṛta-sahajiyās for their symptoms of transcendental ecstasy, pure devotees do not like to associate with them. It is not advisable to equate the prākṛta-sahajiyās with pure devotees. When one is actually advanced in ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa, he does not try to advertise himself. Instead, he endeavors more and more to render service to the Lord.

The prākṛta-sahajiyās sometimes criticize pure devotees by calling them philosophers, learned scholars, knowers of the truth, or minute observers, but not devotees. On the other hand, they depict themselves as the most advanced, transcendentally blissful devotees, deeply absorbed in devotional service and mad to taste transcendental mellows. They also describe themselves as the most advanced devotees in spontaneous love, as knowers of transcendental mellows, as the topmost devotees in conjugal love of Kṛṣṇa, and so on. Not actually knowing the transcendental nature of love of God, they accept their material emotions to be indicative of advancement. In this way they pollute the process of devotional service. To try to become writers of Vaiṣṇava literature, they introduce their material conceptions of life into pure devotional service. Because of their material conceptions, they advertise themselves as knowers of transcendental mellows, but they do not understand the transcendental nature of devotional service.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is describing the qualities of the prākṛta-sahajiyās who think they are very advanced. At the same time, he is glorifying the actual pure devotees. So, we want to be actually situated in pure devotional service. We don’t want to be prākṛta-sahajiyās, people who are imitating pure devotional service, but they are not actually pure devotees.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.29

niṣkapaṭa sādhakera ekamātra nitya o śuddha kāmya ‘śuddha-bhaktira svarūpa’—

padyāvalīte (85) dhṛta śikṣāṣṭakera 4rtha śloka—

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi

Translation: ‘O Lord of the universe, I do not desire material wealth, materialistic followers, a beautiful wife or fruitive activities described in flowery language. All I want, life after life, is unmotivated devotional service to You.’

Jayapatākā Swami: So, these are the symptoms of a pure devotee.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.30

ślokārtha-vyākhyā—

“dhana, jana nāhi māgoṅ, kavitā sundarī
‘śuddha-bhakti’ deha’ more, kṛṣṇa kṛpā kari’”

Translation: “My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, I do not want material wealth from You, nor do I want followers, a beautiful wife or the results of fruitive activities. I only pray that by Your causeless mercy You give Me pure devotional service to You, life after life.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, a śuddha-bhakta or pure devotee wants to receive pure devotion. Other things are not important. This is the opposite of most of the people, they want, what is Kṛṣṇa giving me? and they are praying give me a beautiful wife, give me money, give me a house, give me this, give me that. But they don’t ask for pure bhakti. Sometimes devotees ask me, we have been married for 12 years but we still don’t have a child, so give me a child, give me blessings so that I can have a child. But they don’t ask for a Kṛṣṇa conscious child. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that every devotee should have an ācārya as a child, because my guru was an ācārya, we need many such ācāryas in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.31

dīnatā o kṛṣṇasevā-pravṛttira abicchedya saṁyoga

ati-dainye punaḥ māge dāsya-bhakti-dāna
āpanāre kare saṁsārī jīva-abhimāna

Translation: In great humility, considering Himself a conditioned soul of the material world, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu again expressed His desire to be endowed with service to the Lord.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, as a conditioned soul, Lord Caitanya was asking how can I have service attitude to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.32

sādhakera sva-svarūpe cidvilāsī adhokṣaja-samīpe kṛpā-yācña :—

padyāvalīte (13) dhṛta śikṣāṣṭakera 5ma śloka—

ayi nanda-tanūja kiṅkaraṁ
patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau
kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-
sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

Translation: ‘O My Lord, O Kṛṣṇa, son of Mahārāja Nanda, I am Your eternal servant, but because of My own fruitive acts I have fallen into this horrible ocean of nescience. Now please be causelessly merciful to Me. Consider Me a particle of dust at Your lotus feet.’

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the prayer of a pure devotee. Somehow or another I have fallen into the material attractions and I have taken birth after birth after birth, and I want to have Your pure devotional service. Please accept me as a particle of dust at Your lotus feet. So, this prayer, this desire, is what a devotee should pray for.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.33

ślokārtha vyākhyā—

“tomāra nitya-dāsa mui, tomā pāsariyā
paḍiyāchoṅ bhavārṇave māyā-baddha hañā

Translation: “I am Your eternal servant, but I forgot Your Lordship. Now I have fallen into the ocean of nescience and have been conditioned by the external energy.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is our unfortunate situation.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.34

kṛpā kari’ kara more pada-dhūli-sama
tomāra sevaka karoṅ tomāra sevana”

Translation: “Be causelessly merciful to Me by giving Me a place with the particles of dust at Your lotus feet so that I may engage in the service of Your Lordship as Your eternal servant.”

Jayapatākā Swami: A devotee tries to be humble and prays to beg to be fixed as a particle of dust, so he can engage in pure devotional service to the Lord.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.35

nāma-saṅkīrttanera siddhi-prārthanā–

punaḥ ati-utkaṇṭhā, dainya ha-ila udgama
kṛṣṇa-ṭhāñi māge prema-nāma-saṅkīrtana

Translation: Natural humility and eagerness then awoke in Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He prayed to Kṛṣṇa to be able to chant the mahā-mantra in ecstatic love.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, how Lord Caitanya in reciting the Śikṣāṣṭakam is inspired to attain, pray to attain different elements of bhakti. Here He is praying that He wants pure love for chanting His Holy Names.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.36

siddhi vā sādhyabhaktira bāhyalakṣaṇa—
padyāvalīte (84) dhṛta śikṣāṣṭakera 6ṣṭha śloka—

nayanaṁ galad-aśru-dhārayā
vadanaṁ gadgada-ruddhayā girā
pulakair nicitaṁ vapuḥ kadā
tava nāma-grahaṇe bhaviṣyati

Translation: “My dear Lord, when will My eyes be beautified by filling with tears that constantly glide down as I chant Your holy name? When will My voice falter and all the hairs on My body stand erect in transcendental happiness as I chant Your holy name?’

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the prayer of Lord Caitanya that He is hoping, desiring when His eyes will be filled with tears of love, when His voice will falter, and when all the hairs on His body would stand erect. All He wants are these symptoms of transcendental love.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.37

ślokārtha-vyākhyā—

“prema-dhana vinā vyartha daridra jīvana
‘dāsa’ kari’ vetana more deha prema-dhana”

Translation: “Without love of Godhead, My life is useless. Therefore I pray that You accept Me as Your servant and give Me the salary of ecstatic love of God.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya, He understood that without love of Godhead His life was useless.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Prayer to Kṛṣṇa for Bhakti and Be Able to Chant the Mahā-mantra in Ecstatic Love
Under the section: The meaning of the Śikṣāṣṭaka and how the Lord tasted it Himself