20230725 Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛtam Verses 1 and 2

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 25th,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!

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we are reading, we are starting a new project – Prabhodānanda Sarasvatī has written the Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛtam. So, it is 143 verses and we will read that. He wrote it in Sanskrit and translation is given by His Holiness Bhānu Swami and there is a Bengali translation by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and no purport. So we are trying to give purports and we pray for the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the previous ācāryas. This is a wonderful book on Lord Caitanya nectar. So, we are trying to meditate on that and we pray to get the Lord’s mercy.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛtam 1

nija-mādhurya-āsvādana o prema-vitaraṇārtha āsvādyera bhāva-kānti-grahaṇa-pūrvaka navadvīpe avatīrṇa gauraharira stava—

stumas taṁ caitanyākṛtim ativimaryāda-paramādbhutaudāryaṁ
varyaṁ vraja-pati-kumāraṁ rasayitum
viśuddha-sva-premonmada-madhura-pīyuṣa-laharīṁ
pradātuṁ cānyebhyaḥ para-pada-navadvīpa-prakaṭam

Anuvāda by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: Vrajendra-nandanābhinna-āpanāke svīya suvimala prema-sindhu-samutthita harṣādi-madhura-amṛtalaharī āsvādana karāibāra evaṁ aparake vitaraṇa karibāra janya, yini navadhā bhaktira pīṭha-svarūpa “śrī-navadvīpa” nāmaka parama-dhāme avatīrṇa haiyāchena, sei sarvāvatāra-śreṣṭha, aparisīma o atyadbhūta kāruṇyera vigraha śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmadheya puruṣake āmarā stava kari.

Translation by His Holiness Bhānu Swami: We praise the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, unlimitedly, astonishingly compassionate who appeared in the supreme abode of Navadvīpa in order to give a taste of the son of Nanda and in order to give to others a wave of His pure sweet nectar mad with prema.

Commentary by Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya is Himself the avatāra of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja. But He has come in a golden form and He is swimming in the ocean of Kṛṣṇa-prema, and various emotions are being tasted by Him. He is also distributing them in the holy dhāma of Navadvīpa which is non-different from the nine processes of bhakti-yoga. So, He entered into this holy dhāma directly. Of all the avatāras of the Lord, He is the greatest and we do not know of any avatāra which is manifesting as many good qualities and has such wonderful mercy as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So, I glorify Him at this time. So, we have seen in the first 24 years of His pastimes, Lord Caitanya spent His time mainly in Navadvīpa and He went for a short time to teach academic knowledge which was done at the time by the brāhmaṇas. And He went to East Bengal and He saw Sylhet, the birthplace of His mother and father and at the same time He was teaching, the system then was that the disciples or students, they would reciprocate and give some donations for the education they received. So since Nimāi Paṇḍita was considered the best of all the paṇḍitas, many people were grateful that they could get their education directly from Nimai Paṇḍita and so He was very successful in these activities of teaching, and many students gave Him various gifts of silver, gold, silk, etc. But while He was in East Bengal teaching, and inside, He was also telling people about the glories of the holy name. But Lakṣmī Priyā was feeling so much separation from the Lord that she decided to go back to the spiritual world. She couldn’t take the absence of the Lord for so long. So, she left and went to Hari Dhāma, that is non-different from Vaikuṇṭha, that’s where she went – to the original Vaikuṇṭha. So, when Lord Caitanya returned, she had already gone! and Mother Śacī had promised to take care of her but since she had gone, she felt very responsible and so she didn’t want to talk to Lord Caitanya. Because she felt she was responsible. So, all these things were happening in Navadvīpa Dhāma, while Lord Caitanya was in East Bengal. So, when Lord Caitanya came back, His mother wouldn’t talk to Him and His wife was no longer there, so this was the situation.

Then Lord Caitanya settled everything and told His mother that she is not responsible and He agreed to get married again. This time He got married to Śrīmatī Viṣṇu-priyā. He was introducing this special wave of nectar of pure kṛṣṇa-prema for Nanda Mahārāja’s son, so He made popular the saṅkīrtana process.

I think we will read two verses a day.

Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛtam 2

atyadharmī, dharma-tyāgīkeo ahaituka-kṛpā-varṣaṇe premonmāda-pradātā gauraharira stuti—

dharmāspṛṣṭaḥ satata-paramāviṣṭa evātyadharme
dṛṣṭiṁ prāpto na hi khalu satāṁ sṛṣṭiṣu kvāpi no san
yad-datta-śrī-hari-rasa-sudhāsvāda-mattaḥ pranṛtyaty
uccair gāyaty atha viluṭhati staumi taṁ kañcid īśam

Anuvāda by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: Dharma yāhāke kakhanao sparśa kare nāi arthāt puṇyera leśamātrao yāhāte vidyamāna nāi, ye sarvadā mahāpāpe nimagna, ye kakhanao sādhugaṇera rūpā-kaṭākṣa lābha kare nāi, athavā sajjana pratiṣṭhita pāpa-praveśaśūnya kona pavitrasthale kadāpi avasthāna kare nāi, sei pāpīyān vyaktio yāṅhāra pradatta rādhā-kṛṣṇa-prema-rasa-pīyūṣāsvādane pramatta haiyā uddāma-nṛtya, ucca-kīrtana evaṁ bhūtale viluṇṭhana kare, tādṛśa śaktimāna kona anirvacanīya puruṣake āmi stava kari.

Translation by His Holiness Bhānu Swami: I praise that Lord who bestows His sweet rasa so that a person who has not touched dharma, who is overwhelmed by adharma, who has not obtained the glance of a devotee who has resided in places purified by devotees becomes mad, dances and signs loudly and rolls on the ground.

Commentary by Jayapatākā Swami: Here Lord Caitanya is praised that He gives His mercy to people who don’t know about dharma, who haven’t visited holy places. This is explained how in Caitanya-bhāgavata, Lord Caitanya called Prabhu Nityānanda, and how “We come down from the spiritual world and We promised We would deliver the fallen souls, who had these four qualities. These were people normally who do not get Kṛṣṇa, but We will deliver them.” So He was telling this to Lord Nityānanda because He wanted Him to go back and preach in Bengal and take up where He had left off. So, He said that We want to deliver the (I don’t know if I have the right order) –

the patita – those who are fallen, breaking the regulative principles;

the nīca – the people who are born in a family which doesn’t have spiritual culture;

the mūrkhas – people who think they are the material body, the foolish people; and the duḥkhīs – those who are suffering material pains.

So, these were the four kinds of people that Lord Caitanya told Lord Nityānanda Prabhu that We should deliver and people who try to enjoy the material world, they naturally become dukhis, they become sad. Because material world is designed in such a way that if we start to hanker for material sense gratification, we start to feel sad. Now this material world is filled with frustrated people who think that by material happiness, they will become happy. But the more they try, the more they become sad or duḥkhī. So, people are identifying with the body in such a way that they are trying to be happy to create a better bodily situation. In America they say, ‘Pursuit to Happiness’. But their idea of happiness is mainly physical and they are very attached to material situation and think that if my material situation is improved, I will be very happy. But as a result, they are not satisfied because material life is very superficial and real happiness we get by serving Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Naturally because we are part of Kṛṣṇa, if we try to please Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, we become happy! and if we are trying to please our senses then naturally the senses will never be fully satisfied. And then we take life after life thinking that if we get a better material situation, we will be happy. But actually by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa māhā-mantra very loudly, we feel so much transcendental bliss. Then naturally the person dances, laughs and chants loudly, and even they become so ecstatic that they roll on the ground and express their ecstasy. So, this is the real happiness that we are looking for, so that’s what Lord Caitanya was giving us this ecstasy. By chanting the holy names congregationally and feeling all these transcendental ecstasies. So, Lord Caitanya was giving us the opportunity to enjoy transcendental bliss, by serving Kṛṣṇa so, this is the real perfection of human life.

Thus ends, the Commentaries on Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛtam Verses 1 and 2 by Guru Mahārāja, Śrīla Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja.

Haribol!