20240225 Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta | First Stream — the beginning

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Today we will continue reading from the Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta by Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. It is translated as the Nectar of the Teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta

The Nectar of the teachings of Śrī Caitanya

Respectful obeisances unto Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

Topic: Five Types of Differences in Different Religions

1. Different teachers or prophets (Ācāryas)

Because of the different teachers (ācārya), it is seen that many learned personalities are given special respect, for instance in some countries sages (ṛṣis), in some countries preachers like Mohammad, in some countries religious souls like Jesus, and in many countries and in various native and foreign countries. It is the absolute duty of those particular country to give due respect to that teachers (ācāryas). But, for the sake of gaining steady practice, even if one believes that what the ācārya of his own country has taught is better than the teaching of the ācārya of all countries, such controversial dedication should not be propagated in other countries. There is no auspiciousness to the world in that.

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Jayapatākā Swami: As Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has mentioned, that people are different. Each country, each place has its own language, habits, culture and different things. So in that way, in some countries a particular religion or a particular faith or a particular ācārya is more prominent. If we are trying to preach that all over the world, that is not proper. Anyway, this kind of particular situation is kind of natural. So we should not be so astonished or anything, but they are having some local ācārya as their prophet. In Russia they have the Russian Veda. What do they have in China? Confucius. Some people are Buddhists. We will see how Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura goes.

2, 3. Different ways of worship due to different mentality and realization

Depending on the different mentality and the feeling of the worshiper, in some country, the worship is performed by sitting on a seat and performing nyāsa (touching various parts and chanting appropriate mantras while meditating on the corresponding forms of the Supreme Lord), prāṇāyāma (yogic system of controlling the breath) etc. Somewhere else, wearing muktakaccha luṅgi (a garment similar to a “dhoti” without the cloth tucked behind going through the legs), a person stands and falls-down to offer worship, five times during the day and evening, facing the direction (qibla) of the main place of worship (Kaaba in Mecca). In a different place, worship of praising the glories of the Lord is sung in church or house, by kneeling-down with folded hands and expressing one’s humility. It is seen in these, various types of local considerations during bhajana, such as special clothing, food, habits, purity, impurity etc. By looking at worship in different religions, the differences in the way of worship is seen.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he was describing like, what you call what Śrī Śrī Ravishankar of Art of Living, Baba Ramdeva who teaches prāṇāyāma and yoga postures. Then, he describes the Muslims bow down five times a day to the holy place, Kaaba in Mecca. In Christianity they sing the glories of the Lord, they sing hymns, they go to the church. But actually, we are seeing in some parts of the world, people are becoming less constant in their devotional service. Some places, they buy empty churches because people are not going to the church anymore. Here Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is explaining why there are differences.

4. Different mood and action in relation to the object of worship

Differences of mood and action are observed in relation to the object of worship in different religions. Some people are filled with devotion in their consciousness and establish a deity (śrī mūrti) as the image of the Supreme Lord within the soul, within the mind and in the external world. They perform arcana (a mode of worship) to this form with the understanding that this form is nondifferent from the Lord. In some religions, because of being very fond of reason and logic, forming a conception of God within the mind, they worship it. They do not accept an image (deity) of the Lord. But, in reality all are images.

Note:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.27.9

arcāyāṁ sthaṇḍile ’gnau vā
sūrye vāpsu hṛdi dvijaḥ
dravyeṇa bhakti-yukto ’rcet
sva-guruṁ mām amāyayā

“A twice-born person should worship Me, his worshipable Lord, without duplicity, offering appropriate paraphernalia in loving devotion to My Deity form or to a form of Me appearing upon the ground, in fire, in the sun, in water or within the worshiper’s own heart.”

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.27.12

śailī dāru-mayī lauhī
lepyā lekhyā ca saikatī
mano-mayī maṇi-mayī
pratimāṣṭa-vidhā smṛtā

“The Deity form of the Lord is said to appear in eight varieties — stone, wood, metal, earth, paint, sand, the mind or jewels.”

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: He explains how some people establish a Deity and do arcana or Deity worship. Other people they say God has no form. They imagine something in their mind. But that is also an image. All are images. In their mind, their concoction is also an image, but it is a mental image. One of the forms of the Lord is in the mind. Anyway, there may be many different kinds of Deity forms.

5. Different definitions of God in different languages —

Depending on the language, some call the Supreme Lord by some special name. Religions are also given different names. The hymns during the worship are also different.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: In Malaysia they told that, all literatures must be in the local language. So the Christians published the Bible in Bahasa, Malaysia. Naturally they published the word God as Allah. In the parliament someone objected, they said what is this the Christians are calling God, Allah! Someone said, we should be like the Hindus, they say God has many names! Anyway, somehow, they think if you call God Allah it is alright, if you call Allah anything else it is not bona fide. Here, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said religions are also given different names. What they call Allah in the Quran, what they call God in the Bible, what they call Parameśvara in the Vedas, all are the same person, right? It is not that the Catholics are worshiping one person and the Jews are worshiping someone else. There is only one God and in different places He is called by different names, but He is the same person. It is not that two or more Gods are there, fighting with each other – there is one God who has unlimited forms.