20231117 Chapter 5 Śrī Caitanya-abhakta-nindā (Part 1)

The following is a Sri Chaitanya Chandrāmṛtam Class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 17th,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 be continuing with comentation of the Śrī Caitanya Candrāmṛtam. Continuing the commentary on the Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛtam.

Chapter 5 - Śrī-caitanyābhakta-nindā - Criticism of the Non-devotees of Lord Caitanya

Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛtam 5.31:

śrī-caitanye bhaktihīna ananya-hari-bhaktao adhanya

apy agaṇya-mahā-puṇyam ananya-śaraṇaṁ hareḥ
anupāsita-caitanyam adhanyaṁ manyate matiḥ

Anuvāda: Kāhārao agaṇita mahāpuṇyai thākuk, āra tini śrī-viṣṇura prati ekānta śaraṇāgatai hauna, tini yadi śrī-caitanyacandrera ārādhanā nā kariyā thākena, tabe tāṅhāke āmāra buddhi ‘adhanya’ arthāt parama-puruṣārtha-lābhera ayogya baliyāi dhāraṇā kare.

Translation: Let anyone have innumerable great piety and he be exclusively surrendered to Hari, but if he does not worship Śrī Caitanyacandra, then my intelligence considers him to be unfortunate, i.e., unfit to obtain the supreme goal of life.

Commentary (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura): Anupāsita-caitanyam—a person who has not worshiped Śrī Caitanya; adhanyaṁ—unfortunate - dhana is prema, the fifth goal of life, and one who is qualified for this wealth is fortunate and who is not fortunate is not qualified for this wealth because without worshiping Lord Caitanya no one is qualified to obtain the wealth of prema).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is an interesting point that someone may be an unalloyed devotee, may have a lot of piety, but if they not have the mercy of Lord Caitanya, then it is very hard for them to achieve prema. So, Lord Caitanya gave out kṛṣṇa-prema very easily and therefore if we are really fortunate, one should have the mercy of Lord Caitanya. So, here we have the experience of someone, he has all good qualities, but no association or knowledge of Lord Caitanya. So therefore, he is not considered fortunate. But having devotion to Lord Caitanya assures everything, to reach kṛṣṇa-prema very easily. Therefore, it is very important that devotees have devotion for Lord Caitanya.

Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛtam 5.32

jñāni-karmi-tapasvi-yogīgaṇera vṛthā ceṣṭāra prati dhikkāra

Condemnation of the fruitless endeavor of the Jñānīs, karmīs and yogīs

Commentary (by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura) vikaṭa-tapasḥ — to those who perform very difficult austerity by tolerating the hot sun in the summer, always tolerating showers of rain in rainy season, by submerging within cold water in the winter season, by not cutting the nails hair, mustache and beard or by being with bent head and upraised arms without eating and sleeping; ca—also; yaminaḥ—to those who attempt to subdue the mind and senses by the practice of aṣṭāṅga-yoga, which comprises of eight different practices, namely yama, niyama and so on; jaḍa-matīn—to those who are devoid of intelligence to search for the true ultimate benefit, but are busy searching for the illusory and temporary drop of happiness; viṣaya-rasa-mattān—without the relationship with the Lord, those who are proud of the intoxication of enjoyment of sense pleasure, the phalgu-tyāgī who thinks himself to be liberated searching after the undifferentiated Brahman. Because of the indifference, rejection, and turning away from the Lord, they are maddened in their abominable objects of sense gratification. Those desiring material enjoyment and attached to material activity and busy to enjoy the fruits in this world and the next; nara-paśūn—for those who are animals in the form of humans, i.e., those who are without the relationship to Gaura and thus who simply eat and recreate etc., like animals;

Jayapatākā Swami: By taking shelter of Lord Caitanya and thus awakening one’s dormant love for Kṛṣṇa, one actually transcends everything and very easily achieve love of Kṛṣṇa. Instead, if people are trying to serve their senses and they are attached to their material bondage. So, in this way people are being bewildered. If they take shelter of Lord Caitanya then everything becomes very easy for them. As long as they don’t know Lord Caitanya, they may be interested in enjoying the senses. So therefore, one should take the shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya in order to achieve the mercy of the Lord very quickly. I had experience that one person was doing aṣṭāṅga-yoga for many years and after coming to Māyāpur and doing bhakti-yoga for a short time, then the person felt completely different. She was thinking how is it that she was getting so much taste so easily? She thought something must be wrong because for many years she did the aṣṭāṅga-yoga and did not feel happiness like this. Chanting Hare Krsna, coming in contact with Lord Caitanya, completely changes one’s viewpoint. So, we cannot imagine how much mercy we get from Lord Caitanya’s shelter.

You see that many of the Gauḍīya Maṭha, in the rainy season they don’t cut their nails, their hair, mustache or beard. So like this they consider that they are very austere. But even if they do these things if they are not connected to Lord Caitanya, they are not able to achieve kṛṣṇa-prema, no matter how long their finger nails are! So tomorrow there is supposed to be a Bhāgavatam class.