Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Madhya 1.57-63
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · London · 2019
Chapters
Jaya Sri Chaitanya, Nityananda, Sri Advaita Chandraya, Gurubhakta Vrinda.
Jaya Nityananda, Jaya Advaita Chandraya, Gurubhakta Vrinda. Jaya Sri Chaitanya, Jaya Nityananda, Jaya Advaita Chandra, Jaya Gurubhakta Vrinda, Jaya Bhaktivinoda, Gora Bhakta Vrindam. Hare Krishna, Krishna.
Reading Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita Madhya-lila
So today we are reading Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila, Chapter 2, The Later Pastimes of Lord Chaitanya, starting with the verse number 57. Then I'll
read all these verses and then we will chant the verse on the board. Oh, no, we'll chant the verse on the board, and then Srila Prabhupadananda ki jaya! Sita-Rama-Lakshmana-Hanuman ki jaya! Haridasa Thakura-ki jaya!
Haridasa Thakura, Rupa, Sanatana, Jagannatha Mandir-inay nati na jan, ya mandira janatha mandira-inay nati na jana, mandir-inay Haridasa Thakura, Rupa, Sanatana, Haridasa Thakura, Rupa, Sanatana, Jagannatha
Mandir-inay Nati na Jan, Jagan Haridasa Thakura, Rupa, Sanatana, Haridasa Thakura, Jagannatha Mandirena ayana, nati na janatina janatina janidasa, Sila Halidasa Thakura, Sila Halidasa Thakura, Rupa and Rupa
Sanatana, Rupa Sanatana, Sila Rupa Goswami and Sila Sanatana Goswami. Jagannatha Mandir-inay, in the temple of Lord Jagannath, jana go. Tina jana-jan, three persons. So I will read from the beginning.
Verse number fifty-seven: ei-mata rati-madi pade eka-sloka slokera artha keha nahi buje. In that ecstasy Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recited a verse when dancing in front of Lord Jagannath.
Almost no one could understand the meaning of that verse.
yau kaumaraharah sa eva hi varas ta eva cai-tra-ksha-pas te con milita-malati-surabhayah praudha-kadambanila sa caivasmi tathapi-tatra surat-vyapara-lila-vidhor reva-rodasi vetasi-taru-tale cetaḥ samutkanthate. Translation:
that very personality who stole away my heart during my youth is now again my master.
These are the same moonlit lights of the months of Chaitra, the same fragrance of Malati flowers as there, and the same sweet breezes are blowing from the Kadamba forest.
In our intimate relationship, I am also the same lover. Yet still my mind is not happy here. I am eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Reva River under the vetasi tree. That is my desire.
Purpur, this verse appears in Padyavali, an anthology of verses compiled by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Eshloker Arta Jani Ekaliswarup Daivi Se Vatsarathan Gahinarup.
This verse appears to be the hankering between some ordinary boy and girl, but its actual deep meaning was known only to Swarupadamadara. By chance, one year Rupa Gaswami was also present there.
Prabhumuki Loka Shuni Shri Rupa Goshai Sejlakera Arta Sloka Kori Latathai Although the meaning
of the verse was known only to Svarūpa Dāmodara, Rūpa Gosvāmī after hearing it from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu immediately composed another verse that described the meaning of the original verse.
Sloka Kore Ekat Tal Patreiti Likaya Apana After composing this verse, Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote it on a palm leaf and put it on the roof of the Tachid House in which she was living.
Shloka Raki Gela, Samudrasnan, Korite, Hena Kali, Ayla Prabhu, Tonhari Militi.
After composing this verse and putting it on the roof of his house, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī went to bathe in the sea. In the meantime, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to his hut to meet with him.
Humility of Haridasa and the Goswamis
Haridastakura Rupa Sanatan Jagannatamandirinaya Natina Jan to avoid turmoil three great personalities
Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī did not enter the temple of Jagannātha. Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda ki jaya.
It is still the practice at the Jagannātha temple not to allow those to enter who do not strictly follow the Vedic culture known as Hinduism.
Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī had had previous intimate connections with Muslims.
Haridāsa Ṭhākura had been born in a Muslim family, and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, having given up their social status in Hindu society, had been appointed ministers in the Muslim government.
They had even changed their names to Dabīra Khāna and Sākara Mālik. Thus, they had supposedly been expelled from brāhmaṇa society. Consequently, out of humility, they did not enter the temple of Jagannath.
Although the Personality of Godhead Jagannātha and His form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally came to see them every day.
Similarly, the members of this Krishna conscious society are sometimes refused entrance into some of the temples in India.
We should not feel sorry about this as long as we engage in chanting the Mahā-mantra. Krishna himself associates with devotees who are chanting his holy name.
And there is no need to be unhappy over not being able to enter a certain temple. Such dogmatic prohibitions when not approved by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Those who were thought unfit to enter the Jagannath temple were daily visited by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And this indicates that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not approve the prohibitions.
To avoid unnecessary turmoil, however, these great personalities would not enter the Jagannath Temple.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, namo viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī- प्रचारिणे निर्विशेष-शून्यवाद-पाश्चात्य-देश-ταāriṇe vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ.
Jaya Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Caitanya Prabhur Nityānandā Śrī-Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Primary reasons for Lord Chaitanya's appearance
Ajnātimira- andhaś ca jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ. śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale svayaṁ rūpā kadā mahyaṁ dadāti svā-padāntikam, vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuga-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca śrī-rūpāṁ sagātanaṁ sāgrajātṁ saha-gaṇāṁ sānujāṁ saha-dhūvaiḥ.
Bhagavat, so Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī before describing in detail the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya and his sannyāsa āśrama in Madhya-līlā, he gives a brief description of this whole Madhya- līlā.
And very amazingly, he starts this description briefly mentioning Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taking sannyāsa and Jagannātha Purī, he starts speaking about Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī and Jīva Gosvāmī.
He mentioned Nityānanda Prabhu who was preaching and then immediately starts describing the glories of Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī in the very beginning of this chapter.
And then he comes to the description of Ratha-yātrā. He says for 20 years, being in Jagannāthapurī every year, Śrī Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would take part in the Ratha-yātrā of Lord Jagannath together with all the other devotees who were coming to see him from Bengal.
And this is the description, and these two events,
the description of Rūpa Gosvāmī and Ratha-yātrā, they meet in this pastime, which Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī deems to describe the first in this chapter. So we had to ask why.
Why all of a sudden his thought process is bringing us to this particular pastime which he thinks the most necessary or most important to understand the whole Madhya-līlā.
And of course, in the next chapter, Śrīla Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī will go even further and he will start describing the Antya-līlā in the beginning of Madhya-līlā because he's in a hurry. He wants to say something most important.
So what is most important he wants to convey to us. Basically what he wants to convey to us is that Lord Chaitanya came for two reasons and he described this elaborately in Ādi Līlā of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
But now Madhya-līlā starts where this is happening. So the two reasons of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu coming to this world is first is to premā-rasa-niryāsa-svādana, to taste the amazing emotional taste
of love, premā-rasa-niryāsa, to the highest extent. Not just love. Everyone has some love, you know. Everyone loves some cats and dogs and some flowers or whatever. Some attachment everyone has.
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to this world not to experience love of cat or dog. He came to experience the highest love of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in this world.
And therefore, Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says, premā-rasa-niryāsa-karite svādana, that's the first and the foremost reason, the main reason for himself to experience this love, to get this taste, which he couldn't experience previously.
As Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī explains, Kṛṣṇa felt cheated after displaying all this wonderful pastimes in Vṛndāvana and engaging in love, he somehow or other he got the second thought and thought, something is wrong going on.
I'm not getting as much bliss and ecstasy as all these devotees who are playing with me, they get more. So he wanted to make up for it. And therefore he came as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
But then also his second reason was not less important. ā, rāga-mārgi bhakti loke karite pracāraṇa. His second reason to come here was to spread this particular form of love.
Because again, you know, everyone says God is love and you know the it's it it's nothing special in it.
There is nothing special in in in loving God, you know, everyone not only loves cats, but also sometimes loves God. That's how it goes.
On Sunday you go to church, you pray to God, and you get some feelings, some feelings is there, and then you go home and you love your cat. No problem.
But what Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to give is this rāḍhā-mārga-bhakti loka-kartṛtāḥ kartṛtā-pracāraṇa. He came to give this overwhelming love. When there is no place in your heart left for loving anyone else.
Or in reality you love everyone because you love God. It's such an overwhelming feeling when your heart blossoms completely.
And in this condition, when your heart is completely blossomed, when it's fully blossomed. You love everyone, you love the whole world. But your primary object of love is God, is Krishna.
So, and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, why Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī is starting this Madhya-līlā from describing these pastimes? Because first of all, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu here, especially during Rādhā-yātrā's time, is experiencing this love to the highest possible extent.
And then of course why Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī starts this description from Rūpa Gosvāmī, because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself, even though that's the reason for his appearance in this world to preach Bhakti Marga, but he himself hardly preached this. He engaged others to preach this.
And therefore, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī first mentions Nityānanda Prabhu and then Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī. So in these two events he is describing both most important reasons of Lord Chaitanya's appearance in this world.
First, he describes his rādhā-yātrā's time, and then he describes how these feelings of Lord Chaitanya were reflected in the heart of Rupa Goswami.
And how, because they were reflected in the heart of Rupa Goswami, all these emotions which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself was experiencing, how they were reflected in the heart of Rupa Goswami, how Rupa Goswami gave us the chance to reflect the same emotions.
And in this way, the goal or the purpose of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was fulfilled because he did want to share these feelings with us.
And if it was only for him to experience it, we would never be able to understand what he is experiencing.
And even during the Lord Chaitanya's time, people were watching it from a distance and they couldn't understand what's going on.
It is described in Chaitanya Bhagavatam when Maharaja Prataparudra for the first time saw the display of Lord Chaitanya's ecstasy. He was confused. He was embarrassed almost. He couldn't relate to it. It was too unusual.
When Chaitanya was crying and dancing and rolling on the floor in front of Lord Jagannath. Maharaja Prataparudra felt uneasy. He couldn't understand what's going on. Only later he could appreciate it.
And so many people were witnesses of the display of Lord Chaitanya's emotions, but hardly anyone could understand this. It's very clearly said, Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami said Lord Chaitanya was reciting this shloka.
Nobody could understand why he's reciting this strange shloka. This shloka is from Kavya Prakash, from some mundane Alankarshastra.
Inner meaning of Lord Chaitanya's verse
And moreover, in this mundane alaṅkāra-śāstra, this shloka is an illustration of rasābhāsa, which is most paradoxically, because in this shloka, yaḥ kaumāra-haraḥ sa eva hi — and the shloka one lady is telling to her friend.
During my youth, my innocence was stolen by my husband. I mean, later he became he became my husband. But initially their relationship started in a not a very commendable way. Not a not a very I mean not a very proper way.
It was some sort of illicit relationship. So and therefore this shloka is an illustration of rasābhāsa because a poetry is not supposed to promote something which is against dharma.
If poetry is expressing some illegal or illicit feelings, someone you know of course nowadays it's it's very common, you know, this all this mundane literature only glorifying all these adharmic activities.
But in Vedic culture, uh you know, to express openly, oh, I remember how nice it was. And it's not so nice now when he's my husband.
I still want to reenact the same experience which was there when I was very young and innocent, and he has forcibly stolen my innocence. That's what she says. And nobody could figure out why, what is going on.
It is said that only Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī could relate to it. But Rupa Gosvāmī in this particular pastime he reveals to us what is going on.
The inner feelings. Why he reveals to us? Because it's the purpose of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's advent to give access to us, which was not accessible. It was not accessible during Lord Krishna's past times. It was not widely accessible.
Few people could appreciate it, few people could enter it, but hardly anyone could understand it. Practically it was closed, the doors were closed.
And then Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself came and still even if it was only for him, yes, he would fulfill his purpose of his advent of enjoying these feelings. But what about us?
And of course, you know, we're still not enjoying these feelings. But at least we have a chance.
Because of Rūpa Gosvāmī. Rūpa Gosvāmī himself says, anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam, tadā gura-kaṭambakam.
He came to give something which was not given before. And to give means to give. To give means that He made it for us and He made it accessible for us. And it was Rūpa Gosvāmī who actually on his inspiration,
śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ stāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale, svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam, it was Rūpa Gosvāmī on the inspiration of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu revealed it to us and made it accessible Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed it to us and made it accessible for us.
Therefore this pastime is so crucial. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa-dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī starts the whole Madhya Leela from this particular pastime to drive this point home to us. This is most important.
This is what again and again we should meditate upon, we should think about and try to also understand this feeling or emulate this feeling. We can even say imitate this feeling in a in a good way, not in a bad way imitate this feeling.
Which were revealed by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is experiencing these feelings in Ratha-yātrā, very rare feelings. And Rūpa Gosvāmī is explaining to us what he is experiencing. Why?
To give access, to help us to experience the same. It's very important for us to understand that you know sometimes we're very eager to preach.
But before preaching, you know, we can only preach something if we have something. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to spread love of God because he had love of God.
And we are spreading Krishna consciousness, to spread Krishna consciousness, we have to have Krishna consciousness. You cannot spread something which you don't have.
Even though we sometimes try to do it without much success. But the point here is that Lord Chaitanya came to experience this love only then to spread this love.
And we are here to receive this love from him, to receive these amazing feelings from him. And therefore, as I said, how do we receive these feelings from Him?
We can only receive these feelings from Him if these feelings become reflected in our heart. As much as they were reflected in the heart of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.
And a little later I will tell what is the secret, how to get this glimpse or reflection of these emotions. Ultimately, to have the access to this emotion means to experience the same emotions.
When Rūpa Gosvāmī says that Lord Chaitanya came to give, it means that we are supposed to ultimately get the glimpse of the same emotions in our heart.
Experience at least something maybe remotely similar to what Lord Chaitanya is experiencing. We will never be able to experience the same. It's not possible even in this material body.
The material body is not capable of holding these emotions.
Purifying the heart through proper sadhana
But at least some glimpse we are supposed to experience. And the method for this is of course to deliberate on these pastimes. Because this is sadhana, this is the definition, this is the dictionary definition of sadhana.
According to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, what is sadhana?
Sadhana is kri-ti-sādhya bhavet sādhya-bhāva sādhana-bhidā. Sādhana-bhidā means dictionary definition of sadhana is that when you uh kri-ti-sādhya, when you engage your senses with the goal of experiencing bhāva. We're not just engaging
the senses. Every sadhana has sadhya. Sadhya means goal. You know, we're engaging our senses with a particular goal to experience this bhāva.
This is this is the definition of sadhana and uh nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā. So what will happen during this, what is the what is the process of sadhana, we engage our
senses in the process of sadhana, but what is supposed to happen, nitya- siddhasya bhāvasya, the bhāva of nitya-siddhas, the emotions of nitya-siddhas, prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā is supposed to be reflected in our heart. When we chant Hare Krishna, when we hear about these pastimes, when we hear about the pastime of Lord Chaitanya, this is what is supposed to take place.
If our heart is transparent enough, if the reflective power of our heart is restored through the process of chanting, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. marjana.
If the ability to reflect all these emotions is restored, then we will be able to experience the same emotions. Why we're not experiencing it? Only because the dirt is still there.
So the point is that again, but still how to purify the heart. Again and again chant Hare Krishna and chant the same verses which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chanted. And do it in humility.
Why, in particular, Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī mentions this, that they will never, Rūpa Sanātana and Haridāsa Ṭhākura would never enter the temple of Lord Jagannath.
Because of this reason, because it is humility which makes our heart transparent. It is humility which purifies our heart. When we are proud we tend to experience all these mundane emotions and when the mundane
emotions are experienced by us, all the stressful emotions, emotions of grief, emotions of anger, emotions of greed, emotions of pride, emotions of envy, when all these emotions are there
in our heart, Krishna will never be reflected in our heart. Krishna will never reveal himself in our heart. It is very clearly said in Padma Purāṇa, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, he quotes this verse in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.
Śoka-harṣādi-bhīr-bhāvair-ākrāntaṁ-yasya-mānasaṁ / tasya kathaṁ mukundasya sphūrtiḥ sambhāvanā bhavet. bhavet. It's it's a very important verse for us to understand.
Śoka, marṣa, ākāra, bhī-bhāvair, when all these bhāvas starting with śoka which means grief and amarṣa which means anger and greed and envy and illusion, when all this and come, of course, the most important emotion.
When all these emotions are there, ākrāntaṁ yasya mānasaṁ. Ākrāntaṁ means when our mind is attacked by these emotions. We all know this, we all experience this. Sometimes you know all these emotions just attack our mind.
And we cannot do anything. We are completely overwhelmed by these mundane emotions. Śoka-harṣādi-bhīr-bhāvair-ākrāntaṁ-yasya-mānasaṁ / kathaṁ tasya mukundasya sphūrtiḥ sambhāvanā bhavet.
How uh in this case, in this heart, the sphūrti of Mukunda, of the Supreme Lord, will possible to appear because the heart is already occupied. There is no place for Krishna there.
Of course we we say Krishna is there in the heart of all living entities. There is one exception that's us. He's not in our heart because there is no place for him there. If he was in the heart, we would remember about him.
He is not in the heart because the you know it's it's no room there.
Role of humility in spiritual reflection
You know, all these emotions, but this emotions is a result of pride. And ultimately, the cause of all these emotions is ahaṅkāra, false ego.
Because there's so much self-centered, we experience all these emotions and we cannot reflect other emotions, elevated emotions which are expressed there. Therefore, the first condition for this is humility.
If humility is there, humility means you become less self-centered, you become not so egocentric. Humility means you consciously diminish your false understanding of who you are.
As Srila Radhanat Maharaj says, humility doesn't mean to think less about yourself. Humility means to think less about yourself.
You're not think about yourself smaller than you are because it's impossible to think about us smaller than we are because we are smaller than the smallest. We are very small.
So the humility doesn't mean artificially thinking we're small because we are anyway small. Humility means we think less about ourselves. We are not so much concerned about ourselves, that's humility.
And that's exactly what is being explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda here.
Śrīla Prabhupāda is explaining here that these three persons, Haridasa Thakura, Sanātana Gosvāmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī, were so humble that they didn't think themselves deserving to enter Jagannātha Mandir.
Very often I you know we visit sometimes Jagannātha Purī and Western devotees say all this they they condemn all these smartā brāhmaṇas of Jagannātha Mandir who doesn't allow us to enter Jagannātha Temple.
Rūpa Gosvāmī didn't do it. Sanātana Gosvāmī didn't do it. He didn't come to the Jagannātha temple. He was not, you know, I'm a pure devotee, let me enter the temple. No, I'm nobody. Who we think we are? We are nobody.
And if this understanding enters into our heart, that's the preliminary, that's actually how other emotions can enter into our heart. Because when the humility enters into our heart, all these negative emotions, material emotions, are driven away.
When the humility is there, the humility is more or less pushes away these bad emotions. And you will be able to empathize.
What is being described here and it's actually the method of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, this reflection of emotion, this this process of reflecting emotions. It is called Sadharani Karan. Sadharani Karan in.
Natya Shastra in the commentaries of Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni by Abhinava Gupta. He introduces this understanding Sadharani Karan, the process of reflecting the same emotions as the hero and the stage is displaying.
But he also explains that this reflection is only possible when the heart is pure. He explains the concept of Sahridae. Sahridae is basically the viewer or spectator who has heart.
Literally, Sahriday means somebody who has heart. It's a very interesting concept because you know we think we have heart and sometimes we make sure we do this angiography and it shows the heart is there.
But according to to the authors of Drama Natya Shastra, the only those who have heart who are capable of reflecting emotions of others in their heart.
If the heart is not capable of reflecting others' emotions, it's as if you don't have heart. When we come to somebody else and we cannot really feel what he is feeling, it means we don't have heart.
It means it's the same. It's the same. So when the heart becomes clear, when the heart becomes clean, it means that the heart comes back to us. It means that the ability to feel what others feel is coming back to us.
And when this ability is coming back, then we will be able ultimately to reflect all these feelings which Lord Caitanya came to give to us. Then all these feelings will come to us.
But what is the preliminary condition for this? Preliminary condition for this is humility. Not to think always about ourselves. How I am how I am feeling. What I am feeling. Is it good for me or not?
You know, it's always that's the script which we have in our mind. How I'm feeling. You know, oh, this is not good. This is not according to my liking. You know, this is what stress means.
We always compare the environment with the ideal situation which we have in our mind, and because environment is always different from the ideal situation which is there in our mind, we are always in stress.
Something is wrong. I'm God. Don't you know this? The world is supposed to, you know, dance around my desires. It doesn't do it. Something is wrong here. You know, something is wrong. This is what pride means.
This is what false ego means. And you will never be able to experience love if you have this. So this particular pastime is explaining this.
Rūpa Gosvāmī was able to feel what Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt during Khelā-yātrā only because he was humble. You know, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja very briefly describes this, still
he is describing this uh you know this this particular point that Rūpa Gosvāmī and Haridāsa Ṭhākura and Sanātana Gosvāmī were so humble they didn't go uh to Lord Jagannātha.
And therefore, Lord Jagannātha in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself would come to see them. So it means that if you're humble, Kṛṣṇa will make sure that you experience this. You don't have to worry about this.
You don't have to demand, you don't have to, you know, beat your fist and say, you know, I deserve it. No. Just be humble. Krishna will make sure that you will get whatever you need.
Therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. We should chant the holy name.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. In this state of mind, because when this state of mind is there, the flood of our other emotions will overwhelm our heart.
All these amazing emotions which are described in this and other verses of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was chanting again and again, they will reveal to us the emotions which are contained in these verses.
Now we read these verses and yeah okay right yeah very nice. Very nice. Very nice. Nothing is changing in our heart. We remain completely aloof from this. The purpose for which Caitanya Mahāprabhu has come is not happening.
He came to give it to us. We are not ready to take. Why we're not ready to take? The secret is revealed here because we don't want to give up our false ego.
Like yesterday, Prabhu asked this question, Candramāli Mahārāja, he asked this question.
It seems like the thing, that other offences we can somehow rather deal with, but what to do with the thing offense? How we can you know deal with the thing offense. But actually it's not so difficult to deal with the thing offense because thing offense basically means that you maintain your false ego, false identity.
Because all attachments is only the consequence of our false identity. If we consciously try to dismantle our false identity. Identification with the mind and with the body, at least on a theoretical level,
therefore Śrīla Prabhupāda he always was stressing this point. You're not this body, you're not this body, you're not this body. And we sometimes think we know we're not this body. It's a big illusion.
We don't know we're not this body.
So, but as soon as at least little reflection of this understanding, I'm not this body and I'm not this mind, I'm not so important, when it comes to us, then the third the the thing offense is not there anymore.
And that's basically what we're supposed to do. This is what sadhana means. Again, sadhana means the particular practice with the goal to experience bhāva. But bhāva emotions will only be experienced if we do it properly.
And that means tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ we chant with this uh with this uh feelings in mind.
Four types of meetings and separation
And uh uh in particularly I I still wanted if you allow me to say a few words because my time is over.
But if you allow me, I still want to say a few words about the emotions which are there in this verse which Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is experiencing and with Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is explaining in the verse which is to come. The verse which will be quoted a little later, a few verses after that, by Krishna Daska Viraj and Swami.
So basically, what Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is experienced. This is what is called samṛddhi-mān-sambhoga. Samṛddhi-mān-sambhoga is the highest experience which is there.
In Rūpa Gosvāmī's Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi it is explained that there are four types of sambhoga or four types of meetings. One meeting is called saṁkṣipta-sambhoga. Saṁkṣipta-sambhoga means very brief meeting.
Another one is saṁkīrṇa-sambhoga. Saṁkīrṇa-sambhoga means very uneasy sort of meeting. When the feelings are restrained.
And then he says, then there is sampanna-sambhoga, the meeting which is enriched when the feelings are fully blossomed.
But then he says that the highest experience of meeting between the lover and his beloved, between two lovers, is samṛddhi-mān-sambhoga.
So in particular during this Ratha-yātrā's time when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu again and again repeats this verse in front of Lord Jagannātha: yaḥ kaumāra-haraḥ sa eva hi varas tā éva caitra-kṣapās te conmīlita-mālatī-surabhayaḥ prauḍhāḥ kadambānilāḥ sā caivāsmi tathāpi tatra surata-vyāpāra-līlā-vidhau revā-rodhasi vetasī-tara-tāle cet-samutkaṇṭhate.
So when Caitanya Mahāprabhu again and again chants this verse, he experiencing this the highest possible experience of love which is called samṛddhi-mān-sambhoga.
Samṛddhi-mān-sambhoga means perfect meeting, which is only possible after the long separation. Bharata Muni in his Nāṭya-śāstra he explains na vinā vipralambhād na sambhoga-puṣṭir mācnute.
Without vipralamba, without separation, sambhoga the meeting cannot be nourished. The experience of meeting is not uh is not deep enough uh when there is no separation.
Śrīla Bharata Muni, he gives an example. You know, some people they don't understand this. Most people, from other sampradāyas, like Nimbārka Sampradāya or others, they say about nitya-vihāra.
If you go to Vṛndāvana the people, they say that our goal is nitya-vihāra. Nitya-vihāra means eternal meeting with God, eternal enjoyment with God. Our goal is separation with God as longer as possible.
Because only if you experience this separation in real sense of the world if you experience separation really then the meeting can take place and the experience of meeting will take place and Bharata Muni he gives an example, he says: if you put white clothes in a dye, then the white clothes may take some color from this dye.
But this color will not be so intense. And if you take these white clothes from the dye and dry it up and then put it again in the dye. And again dry it up and then put it again.
Then the color will become more and more intense every time you put it. It's the same dye, but due to process of this separation, so to speak, the intensity of color will become more and more and more.
This is the way or this is the mechanism, this is the process by which sambhogam puṣṭi māśnute. Without separation, sambhoga the meeting cannot become enriched.
And samṛddhimān sambhoga is sambhoga when the meeting which you experience after long separation. These four types of meetings which are described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. First is saṅkṣipta, saṅkṣipta sambhoga.
This is after pūrva-rāga. Pūrva-rāga means the feeling when we heard about somebody on when we saw somebody and we fall in love, fell in love with somebody. And then there is the first meeting.
The first meeting is is very... It's very pleasurable, but it's very uneasy. There is a lot of embarrassment.
You know, the boy and girl for the first time they they had laughed for some time in the separation and then they meet each other one-to-one. And they will feel very uneasy.
So this first meeting is it's pleasurable, but it's very brief. And then there is this after this uh pūrva-rāga there's māna. Māna means the some loving anger.
And it's saṅkīrṇa, saṅkīrṇa means still this feeling of something is wrong is still there during the meeting. You come together, yes, you come in terms with each other, but still there is, you know, this meeting is somewhat congested, so to speak.
Then then you know after some separation which is not connected with this, if you come together, if it's not for a long time, then sampanna it's enriched. But if it's for a long time, and that's exactly what is
being described by Caitanya Mahāprabhu in this past time. This is the meeting of gopis with Krishna in Kurukṣetra. You know the gopis they were you know they were cursing Lord Brahmā pakṣma-kṛd, because he created this pakṣma. Pakshma means the eyelids.
When they saw Krishna, even the split second of separation was intolerable for them. So can you imagine? No, you cannot imagine. Nobody can imagine what they felt after years and years of separation.
It's impossible to even start imagining this. Can you imagine what they felt when they met with Krishna after years and years of separation?
It's not possible to imagine, but it's possible to a certain extent to reflect these feelings. If we are humble enough and if we read about this, then the reflection of these feelings on its own will come to our heart.
That's the process.
The process of experiencing it is to read about this and some or and to tell about this, and somehow or other, by the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is experiencing this, these feelings or the glimpse of these feelings, the very little reflection can somehow or other come to our heart and illuminate our heart, our dull and completely dark heart with all these feelings.
So what I want to say is that you know this is something really crucial. And Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, he starts explaining this Madhya-līlā from the very essence of what Madhya-līlā is.
Madhya-līlā means this meeting which is similar to the meetings of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and Kurukṣetra after so many years, which in one sense is the pinnacle of the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, of the whole tenth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the pinnacle of all the pastimes which are there is in this chapter, closer to the end of the 10th chapter, of the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So and that's exactly why Caitanya Mahāprabhu came and started living in Jagannātha Purī. He didn't initially when he took sannyāsī he wanted to live in Vṛndāvana. He wanted to go to Vṛndāvana.
But no, Vṛndāvana he didn't want to be there in reality. He went to Vṛndāvana. He stayed in Vṛndāvana for you know short two weeks only. Not even the whole month. Less than a month he was there in Vṛndāvana.
The rest of the time he was in Jagannātha Purī. Why?
Significance of Lord Jagannatha and Puri
Because again, his purpose is to experience the highest summit of emotions which is possible during long separation and during meeting which is taking place after long separation.
And that's Jagannātha Purī, that's Lord Jagannātha, who is Mahābhāva-prakāśa. Lord Jagannātha himself is Krishna who is experienced this emotion and he just he takes very strange forms. This is Lord Jagannath.
Sometimes some foolish people say why Lord Jagannath has such strange form because you know because Krishna was burnt and his body didn't burn enough so there was only a trunk of his body.
And this trunk of the body was thrown in the ocean and from Dvārakā it came to Puri and became Lord Jagannath. That's some of the explanation.
But our explanation, Lord Jagannath is Krishna in separation with Rādhā, with the inhabitants of Vrindavan, therefore he's so strange. He is inside experiencing this, and Lord Caitanya came to Jagannātha Purī to
experience his Radha Bhava Deutis of Volitam Nomi Krishna Svarupum. Krishna Svarūpa Krishna himself came to Jagannātha Purī to experience the counterpart feelings.
Krishna in Jagannātha Purī is experiencing separation from the inhabitants of Vrindavan. And Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to experience the feelings of inhabitants of Vrindavan and separation was Krishna.
And then during Ratha-yātrā they would meet. And what will happen there? Nobody can understand unless you're very humble, unless your heart is very clean.
But if your heart is clean, if you're fortunate enough, then some of these feelings will be reflected in your heart. And that is what we are supposed to do when we chant the Hare Krishna mantra.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. I'm really sorry for this long word. Thank you very much. I don't know if I have time for questions or not. Yes, project.
Uh thank you well, I don't think it's a very amazing question. Uh uh I I I was thinking about the last Mask long time, but uh this this lecture uh seems like perfect place.
Uh I don't have a problem to understand what's hard because uh we know that the soul is in the heart and sometimes we hear that the mind is also in the heart and Krishna is also in the heart.
But uh we can also understand from some comments of yours that the heart is not actually this pump, which is pumping the blood around. Uh it like like uh so is mind and heart made the higyo synonym is because you you you are mentioned a few times that the feelings uh uh which attack they attack our mind and the unique place then it's hard to do that.
Anyatrahridayaman Moraman Brindavan Lord Caitanya was chanting this verse during Ratha-yātrā. And yet Rarahri Dayaman. For other people, the mind and heart is the same.
So, yes, when we say mind and heart, it's more or less synonyms.
And the heart, when we say when we call mind as a heart, we mean to say that the mind is the seat of emotions. Because sometimes, you know, when we say mind, we may have this understanding that this is the you know the place where intellectual processes are going on.
When we say about the heart, we mean to say that the mind as an emotional adhisthana, as the as the seat of emotions. So it's basically the same. Sometimes it's called chitta.
Chitta means subconscious mind because all the intellectual processes are taking place in the conscious mind. But there is a deeper dimension of the mind, which is subconscious mind.
And the conscious mind is just the tip of an iceberg. Most of our mind of our consciousness is underneath. It's beyond even our reach.
So emotions take place there in subconscious mind. Therefore, it's so difficult to deal with them. Therefore, it's so difficult to purify these emotions.
But when we speak about the mind, usually what is meant is this place where the subconscious emotions are originating and you know overwhelming our conscious mind.
Hello Krishna Bharat. Thank you for the very wonderful class. You were speaking about how when we have expectations and they're not being aligned with reality, it causes stress.
And naturally one would think then that means to tolerate the situation.
I know this is going to be a very complex question and the answer might be very simple, but I was hoping if you could explain the principle as to when a situation should be tolerated and when one should take action to um rectify the situation.
Well that means intelligence. If you have intelligence, you understand what you should tolerate, what you shouldn't tolerate. You know, that basically means wisdom.
You know, usually people, they don't have this discriminating power, and sometimes they waste their energy with, you know, fighting with somebody which is inevitable.
And sometimes they don't even try to improve something which they can improve.
So there is no set-in-stone formula by which you can discriminate. It's just basically your ability to discriminate between one and another. And for that, you have to be in tune more or less with at least with Paramātmā in your heart.
This whole process which I was trying to explain is, you know, and the whole process of bhakti is how to come in tune with God. This is what is happening in his heart.
So and Krishna himself says, uh Tisham Satata Yuktanam Bhajatam Priti Purvakam Dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ yena mām upayānti te. I'm giving the intelligence. So where this discrimination is coming from, it's coming from God.
Why, through which process? Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām. If we are constantly engaged, if we're always engaged with prīti, prīti-pūrvakaṁ, if engaged with with love in the service, then we will understand.
This is the situation where we just have to say, okay, that's fine. Krishna, I'm yours, I surrender to you whatever you want. Uh do with me.
And in another situation you say, okay, I know, Krishna, you're testing me. I will I will fight with this situation. Ultimately this is the process. ultimately this is the process.
Um sorry, I probably might have missed the point, but you know, when um you mentioned about that rasābhāsa verse about forcefully taking away the innocence.
Um so what is what was what he was trying to convey through that verse in terms of his purpose? Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to convey the parakīya feelings of the inhabitants of Vrindavan.
He was trying to convey the feelings of Śrīmatī Rādhārānī, who was who was basically it will be explained in the later verses of Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
But his his meaning was that you know, I am the same Rādhā, you are the same Kṛṣṇa, the same happiness of meeting is there. I do feel joy of meeting after a long time, but still something is wrong. Why something is wrong?
Because we are not in Vṛndāvana, because we're still constrained. The freedom of our meeting is not there. All these you know horses and elephants and you are in a royal dress
and I you know, basically he wants to say that when Rādhā saw Krishna, she was not very impressed. After a long time,
She saw him in the royal attire with all those jewels and everything and she said, something is wrong, you know. I don't know who dressed you today. It's not a very good dress. I liked your other style better.
So the meaning which she wanted to convey is that you know even though you are the same and I'm the same and our meeting is the same and our love is the same or even stronger because after such a long time still something is wrong. Let's go to bring down. Let's let's go to bring down. That's that's the amazing emotions which are there which we if we are lucky, we may experience it sometime.
It may be the last the last moment of our life if if we are lucky. Because this feelings the heart is not capable of containing these feelings. But theoretically we can explain this. Thank you so much Maharaj.
I just had one question. You speak about humility and it's through that humility that the bhāva of sādhana comes about.
My question is, does humility come as a byproduct of the sādhana, or is it something that needs to be active in addition? It's both. Humility is a by-product of sadhana, there's no doubt about it.
But if it's performed sadhana only it comes as a byproduct of sadhana, if it's performed with the proper frame of mind.
So it is explained by Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī in Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta. He says that he speaks in particular, about humility and love, he says that humility is the cause of love and love is the cause of more humility. So the same is applicable to this sort of situation.
The sādhana is the cause of humility and humility is the cause of sādhana. So they both serve as the cause and effect for each other. You cannot really properly execute sādhana if you don't adopt the humble state of mind.
And when you adopt the humble state of mind and in this state of mind you chant Hare Krishna, then the genuine humility will come. So they both are there. The both are cause and effect of each other.
When you're explaining about the reflections in the heart, we we have certain positive emotions in our heart as well. Sometimes like compassion or charity or something. Is that a some reflection or is just our own?
Uh no, there is positive material emotions which are purifying. Therefore, in scriptures it is said that certain things which evoke these emotions are beneficial.
You know, therefore serving others, compassion to others, it's all very beneficial emotions which purify the heart. There are emotions which contaminate the heart and they are counterproductive
and there are emotions, even material emotions, which are purifying. Therefore, we have to be in the association of people who experience the similar emotions so that all our positive emotions will also be reinforced and in this way the heart will be purified.
So it's like this we have negative emotions, we have elevated material emotions, then we have zero point humility, and then we have the realm of spiritual emotions.
So, and the way from negative emotions to spiritual emotions goes through the positive emotions, material emotions. So this is the road towards the spiritual emotions. Before experiencing real, genuine spiritual emotions.
You definitely have to purify your heart, and the heart will be prone to experience and to feel these positive emotions, material emotions. Okay, thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!