Chaitanya-charitamrita Adi-lila.17.37-38
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Vrindavan · 2014
Chapters
Introduction and preliminary prayers
Śrīvāsa Paṇḍitāvir bhakti-tī kī jaya! Gaura-premānande!
Samavā bhaktavṛnda-kī, all glories to the assembled devotees, all glories to the devotees, all glories to the assembled devotees, all glories to Śrī Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga, all glories to Śrī Guru. Hare Krishna.
So today is Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita's appearance day and I was asked to give a class on this topic from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Jaya Śrī Caitanya, jaya Nityānanda, jaya Śrī Caitanya, jaya Advaita-candra, jaya Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, Gaura-bhakta- jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya advaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda.
jaya śrī-caitanya, jaya nityānanda, jaya advaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, gaura-bhakta- vṛnda. So we're reading today Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā,
chapter 17, the pastimes of Lord Caitanya and His youth, texts thirty-seven and thirty-eight.
vipranāma gopāla-capalo ekadina vipra-nāma pāṣaṇḍī-pradhāna sei durmukha vācala, pāṣaṇḍī bhagavatī-pūjāra sabhā, sāmagrī, rātri-veśe śrīvāsa-dvāre sthānā-lepaya, ekadina
vipranāma gopāla-capala, ekadina vipranāma, pā- ṣaṇḍī-pradhāna sei durmukha vācāla. bhagavatī-pūjāra sabhā, sāmagrī, rātri- Śrīvāsa-mandira-dvāre sthāna lepāila. Rātri Śrīvāsa-dvāre. Next.
Durmukha vācala ekadina viprāṇām Gopāla Cāpala. Bhavānī-pūjāra saba sāmagrī lañā, rātri Śrīvāsa-mandira-dvāre sthāna lepāila. What did he do? Ekadina, one day, vipra, vipra, one brāhmaṇa named Gopāla-capala,
Gopāla-capala, pāṣaṇḍī-pradhāna, the chief of the non-believers, sei, durmukha, ferocious, using strong words, vācāla, talkative, bhagavatī-pūjāra, for worshiping the goddess Bhagavatī, Bhagavatī. saba, all, sāmagrī, paraphernalia, laya, taking, rātre, at night, śrīvāsa-ṭhākura,
dvāre, on the door, sthānā, place, lepaya, smearing.
Purport on Gopala Chapala offense
Translation.
One night while kīrtana was going on inside Srivasa Ṭhākura's house, a brāhmaṇa named Gopāla Chapal, the chief of the non-believers, who was talkative and very rough in his speech, placed all the paraphernalia for worshiping the goddess Durga outside Srivasa Ṭhākura's door.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
This brāhmaṇa, Gopāla Chapal, wanted to defame Srivasa Ṭhākura by proving that he was actually a Shakta or a worshipper of Bhavani, the goddess Durga, but was externally posing as a Vaishnava.
In Bengal, there is perpetual competition between the devotees of Goddess Kali and devotees of Lord Krishna.
Generally, Bengalis, especially those who are meat-eaters and drunkards, are very much attracted to worshipping the goddess Durga, Kali, Sitala and Chandi.
Such devotees who are known as Shaktas or worshippers of shakti-tattva are always envious of Vaishnavas.
Since Srivasa Ṭhākura was a well-known and respected Vaishnava in Navadvipa, Gopāla Chapal wanted to reduce his prestige by bringing him down to the platform of the Shaktas.
Therefore, outside Srivasa Ṭhākura's door he placed various paraphernalia for worshiping Bhavani, the wife of Lord Shiva, such as red flowers, a plantain leaf, a pot of wine, and reddish sandalwood paste.
In the morning, when Srivasa Ṭhākura saw all this paraphernalia in front of his door, he called for the respectable gentlemen of the neighborhood and showed them that at night he was worshipping Bhavani.
Very sorry, this gentleman called for a sweeper to cleanse the place and purify it by sprinkling water of cow and cow dung there. This incident concerning Gopāla Chapal is not mentioned in the Chaitanya-bhāgavata.
Srila Prabhupāda ki jaya. Sandipradhana say Durmukavachal Bavani Pujar Sap, Samak Krilaya, Ratri Shriva Sara Dwari, Stanalipaya.
One night while kīrtana was going on inside Srivasa Ṭhākura's house, a brāhmaṇa named Gopāla Chapal, the chief of non-believers who was talkative and very rough in his speech, placed all the paraphernalia for worshiping the goddess Durga outside of Srivasa Ṭhākura's door.
oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ | oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine |
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda Śrī-advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Ājānulambita-bhujau kanakāvadātau
saṅkīrtanaika-pitarau kamalāyatākṣau. Viśvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-pālau, vande jagat-priya-karau karuṇāvatārau. Yan-nāmadheya-mānam. Vācaṃ me mām aprasuptāṃ sañjīvayaty akhila-śakti-dharaḥ sva-dhāmnā. Anyāṃś ca hasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvag-ādīn prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam.
Hare Krishna. I need blessings of all of you to be able to say something, please give me some blessings. Thank you. I already asked from Bhakti Bhava.
Understanding love between God and devotees
So I feel a little more secure now. When we speak about the Lord, devotees, the most essential part of our understanding should be the particular relationship with God.
Because by understanding the relationship, the love which is there between the Supreme Lord and the devotee, we can also get the shadow of the same love within our heart. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says, in Gopāla-campū,
that when I heard about Krishna, my heart remained a stone like always. Didn't melt. When I heard about Mother Yaśodā, well nothing changed.
But when I heard about the relationship between Krishna and Mother Yaśodā, my heart completely melted.
So this is the way for us to understand how this process of hearing about the devotees of the Lord and the Lord Himself works within our heart.
By trying to understand the love, the extent of sacrifice, the extent of purity in their relationship, we will be able to a certain extent to reproduce the same bhāva, the same feeling within our heart.
And the most important part of our practice is to get this bhāva. Krishna Himself says, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram.
He says that whatever bhāva you have at the end of your life, which is the result of your practice, this bhāva will become your next destination.
The most important part of our practice is to obtain a bhāva, a certain mood, in relationship to the Supreme Lord.
So while speaking about Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, who is the glorious associate of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, a personal associate, we have to understand this point, which is the most important.
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu on many, many occasions would say that I came to this world because of two reasons. Because of the prayers of Advaita Ācārya and because of loud kīrtana of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura.
It is loud kīrtanas of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, whom he was performing in his house long before the appearance of Lord Caitanya, was one of the causes why Lord Caitanya felt that he is that he has to come to this world to do something.
And the loud kīrtanas of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura they create a very unpleasant situation for himself, and part of this unpleasant situation is described in the verses which we read today.
Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura was originally from Sylhet region, from the same region in Bangladesh and East Bengal, from the same region where Jagannātha Miśra and Śacī Mātā originally are.
And as we know, all the closest associates of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, somehow or other by the inspiration from within, from the heart, moved from East Bengal. Most of them are from East Bengal; they moved to Navadvīpa.
This year I was fortunate enough to visit Bangladesh, East Bengal, and I was really impressed by the devotion of the local people, and Devakī she explained to me the secret reason why Bangladesh is a Muslim country and why all the associates of Caitanya Mahāprabhu moved to Navadvīpa.
Of course, that's her understanding, but I found it quite interesting.
She said that you know they all moved to Navadvīpa because in Navadvīpa Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared and there ISKCON can build the big temple and we can start the movement and everything is fine and nice.
But you know, because India is a free country, it's not a Muslim country, it's a Hindu country, so we can have a freedom to preach and be in Navadvīpa and the birthplace of Lord Caitanya.
But she said, because Bangladesh is a Muslim country, actually the mood, the original mood of the vaiṣṇavas is much better preserved there because of the closeness of the culture, because there is not so much Western influence in Bangladesh.
And the people are as simple as they were probably 500 years ago. This influence of Kali-yuga is not so prominent in these places. And we know at least from the history.
Whether it's true or not, well nobody knows, but she said this is the secret plan of the Lord to keep Bangladesh little separate and little protected from these Western influences.
Complete reliance on Krishna for maintenance
But as we know from Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Caitanya-bhāgavata, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura was the natural devotee of the Lord.
He was from quite wealthy background, although he never did anything in his life besides reciting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He was quite and he was quite proud about it.
Once there is a nice and famous story about Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, when he moved to Kumārahata, Caitanya Mahāprabhu once went to him and said, "Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, you're never doing anything for your maintenance. And you're a gṛhastha, what are you going to do? Are you going to take sannyāsī? Did you fill out the application to Prahladananda Swami to get sannyāsa, so what's the story?"
He said, "No, no, no, I'm a gṛhastha, but I'm not going to do anything for my maintenance." He said, "How come?"
And Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura said, "Oh, it's very simple. You know, I say one, two, three. And that's it. If nothing happens, then I go to the Ganges and drown myself."
Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "What does it mean one, two, three?" He said, "Oh well, I can fast one day. I can fast two days. I can fast three days.
But if after three days the fast will still go on, then I will go to the Ganges and drown myself. But so far it never happened. Somehow or other everything is coming to me on its own accord."
And Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu at that day he said that, "I'm giving you blessings. Even if the goddess Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, will have to beg for food, even at that time, you will never have any lack of anything. You will be well-protected."
So, and Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura—that was his motto, that was his more or less modus operandi throughout his whole life.
Of course, I know it's very pleasing news for most of the devotees who are sitting here who tend to be a little lazy about their material maintenance. But anyway, that's true.
I know that the general mood in ISKCON nowadays is not the same as in the beginning. In the beginning it was like this: don't work, just chant Hare Krishna. Nowadays, just do your duty, do your duty.
But in general, that is the truth.
If somebody is on the level of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, if somebody's devotion is as pure and somebody's surrender is as complete as Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura's, he doesn't have to worry about his maintenance. No problem.
Krishna will provide somehow or other by some arrangement, Krishna will give everything which he needs, not only him, all his, you know, big household.
And Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura had a big household; he had five brothers, three brothers who were younger than him and one brother who was... they were four brothers and they didn't have any lack in their household.
Challenges faced by Srivasa in Navadvipa
But and it's very interesting. When he moved to Navadvīpa, it was a very proud city. In Navadvīpa there were many, many proud people because Navadvīpa was so opulent.
When the opulence comes to any place, the people in this place become very proud. They become actually intolerant.
I'm from Moscow, I know what I'm talking about; people in Moscow are horrible people because it's a rich city. And generally speaking there are few devotees there but most of the people are quite proud.
So when Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura moved from Sylhet, from this East Bengal to Navadvīpa, he found that actually his hopes were totally frustrated because he heard the fame of Navadvīpa,
that all the people here in Navadvīpa they're completely absorbed in studying the scriptures, but instead he found totally, completely materialistic people who, under pretext of studying scriptures, were selling scriptures, basically selling this Vedic knowledge to people without really imbibing the qualities which are described in the Vedas.
Without really following the Vedas, they were selling all this cheap mental knowledge and word jugglery which was known as the scholarship in Navadvīpa.
And very soon when Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita moved to Navadvīpa and he was a paṇḍita. His whole life he was studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was his favorite scripture.
In fact, he knew the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by heart.
And while reciting and studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he was feeling the wonderful rasas described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but he became the object of ridicule in Navadvīpa. Why?
Because again, because of the same reason, because he never did anything for his own maintenance. All the proud and rich paṇḍitas of Navadvīpa, they were ridiculing him.
And he, instead of selling his knowledge, instead of trying to sell his knowledge and exchange his knowledge for some monetary gain, he was just doing loud kīrtanas.
All nights he was performing kīrtanas in his house, and a few vaiṣṇavas who were there in Navadvīpa, they were coming to his kīrtanas and joining him in his kīrtanas.
And all the proud people in Navadvīpa they became really haters of Śrīvāsa. They really hated him.
There were widespread rumors, you know, all the people, all the paṇḍitas of Navadvīpa they were saying that you know he's just howling, howling, howling every night and this is not good because the Muslim ruler very soon will find out that he is loudly chanting Krishna's name, and what will happen to us?
Our whole city will be doomed because of this loud kīrtana of Śrīvāsa.
And every now and then they would, uh, they would talk between each other and they would say that probably it's better if we would just push the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita into the Ganges.
You can imagine how, you know, what kind of house Śrīvāsa had if it can be easily pushed into the Ganges. Probably not a very solid place.
So probably some straw hut or whatever, but it was a persistent talk in the city that it's probably the best way to get rid of this strange creature which moved to our city, you know, let's do something to him.
Let's drive him away. And you can imagine, probably it was not so pleasant for Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura to live in this city, feeling this, uh, hatred which was coming to him.
Because again, the majority of people in Navadvīpa was totally, completely atheistic.
Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura in his Caitanya Bhāgavata, he devotes many, many pages describing how fallen the condition of Navadvīpa was at that time.
How fallen Bengali people was because of the opulence, because of their brain. Bengali people in India, they're famous for their brains.
They say that, you know, and this is the most, the most clever and crooked people in the whole of India. Well, some say that in Kerala they're more crooked. You know, there is some competition between the two.
Whatever it is. But definitely Bengali people are famous for being intelligent, and they were very, you know, opulent; the state was very opulent and uh, but there was not much simplicity in the heart.
When Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī explains this particular līlā and, uh, no, sorry. Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura explains the other līlā which I will, uh, tell now about Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura.
Early interaction between Nimai and Srivasa
He says that Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, his main quality, the quality of his heart was simplicity.
And simplicity basically means that, uh, simplicity definitely means the lack of pride, uh, total absence of pride, but simplicity also means very simple faith.
In the līlā, uh, which I am about to describe, this pastime, that the this quality of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura is fully manifested.
It's described very beautifully in Caitanya Bhāgavata, and it is said that, uh, when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu started his saṅkīrtana pastimes.
And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was transformed in Gayā after receiving the initiation from Ishwarapuri. And when all of a sudden he became a devotee of the Lord and manifested unusual behavior.
Begging everyone, "Can you show me Krishna?" "Please show me Krishna." "Where is Krishna?" "Where is Krishna?" He said, "I lost the treasure of my heart." "Just for a short moment."
"I've seen the treasure of my heart, Lord Krishna, somewhere, but then he disappeared." "Where is Krishna?" "Can you give me Krishna?" He was begging everyone.
He was falling at the feet of everyone whom he met, and he would beg them, "Please give me Krishna, show me where is Krishna."
And when he came to Navadvīpa, and in fact, uh there is a little other story which I wanted to uh tell before this story, uh which is also connected with Śrīvāsa Pandit.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu before this transformation which took place in Gaya, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very famous in Navadvīpa as Nimai Pandit and everyone was practically worshipping him for his genius.
Being very young, he composed the whole book on Vyakaran and logic. He composed the whole book on logic. And Navadvīpa was the place of logic.
And his book was so brilliant that people of Navadvīpa, they were completely envious of him.
For, mm, being the writer of such a brilliant book, and ultimately one of his schoolmates told him, "You know, can you please do something about it?"
"Because my book will be totally overshadowed by the fame of your book," and Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "No problem," and he just threw it in the Ganges, no problem.
So we don't have this book of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but that was his early composition, which he wrote when he was just a young boy in Navadvīpa in the place of logic.
So everyone was worshipping Caitanya Mahāprabhu and uh including Vaishnavas. Because Vaishnavas, being non-envious in the heart, they really can appreciate the good qualities of others.
Even if these good qualities are misapplied, misused. And once there is a little story described in Caitanya Bhāgavata, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was entering uh the academy, the school, the tola of uh Gangadas Pandit.
And he was, Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura explains that he was very beautiful. His dhoti was, you know, he put on dhoti in a very special way.
His dhoti was silken and yellowish, and his hairs were very beautiful, big elongated eyes, and his gait was like that of a lion, uh sorry, not a lion, elephant.
So he was entering uh this school and he had a lot of books with himself and he had a lot of followers behind him because he was so popular, the followers were following him and they were just practically praying to him, please give us some of your brilliance.
And at that time Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura saw him entering the school. And he stopped for a moment and he said to him, "O crest jewel of arrogant people." That was his address to Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Because it was so visibly manifested the pride of learning, which is one of the most dangerous kinds of pride. When we become proud of our own learning and become arrogant.
So Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita addressed Caitanya Mahāprabhu in such a way, he said, "O crest jewel of arrogant people." What is the use of your learning? What is the use of your scholarship?
The scholarship, the studying of the Vedas is needed. It's very important. But the point of studying the Vedas is to become the devotee of the Lord.
What is the use of all your scholarship if you are not becoming a devotee of the Lord? And at that moment, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu smiled.
And he said, "Please pray for me." And because you are a devotee, if you pray for me, one day I will become a devotee too."
So since that day, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura was ardently praying that Nimai Paṇḍita would become a devotee ultimately.
Lord Caitanya reassures Srivasa of protection
And as we know, that miracle happened in Gaya when he received initiation from Īśvara Purī.
So in this particular pastime, when Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu came back to Navadvīpa from Gaya and he started his saṅkīrtana movement, at that time under the closed doors of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, devotees didn't really know that he is the Supreme Lord Himself.
And uh the līlā which I am about to describe is actually his first manifestation of his divinity, first open manifestation of his divine nature. He was.
Everyone was totally amazed by the symptoms of love which he was manifesting,
but they just saw that this is the influence of Īśvara Purī because Īśvara Purī is such a great devotee and because he is the favorite disciple of Mādhavendra Purī, he invested so much love in the heart of Nimai Paṇḍita that now we can see this miracle taking place because Caitanya Mahāprabhu was shedding incessant tears of love day and night, day and night, day and night.
And when he was dancing in kīrtana and chanting the kīrtana everyone was overflooded by the love which was coming from his heart.
So and he started the kīrtanas and all the people in Navadvīpa they said this is because of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita that this happened, this happened with Nimai Pandit. Nimai Pandit was a nice boy before.
But under this influence of this vicious, wicked Vaishnavas, he became mad. He became crazy. You know what happened? That this is all because of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita. And they started talking between each other.
And somebody said, I told you we should have thrown his house long ago into Ganges. You didn't believe me. Now see his influence. This is what happened. Better we do it now, unless his influence spreads even more.
And then they said and they started spreading the rumors just to instigate the hatred among the people in Navadvīpa against Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita.
They were saying between each others, we heard that because of this Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, he's behind this whole thing. He is the plotter behind this whole you know ruin which is our city is doomed because of him.
And we heard that now the you know the whole fleet of boats is coming to Navadvīpa with soldiers which is sent by the Muslim ruler and the soldiers they will come to Navadvīpa and they will plunder the whole city.
They will basically level the whole city because of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita. So they spread these rumors that but we know we know what we will do.
When the soldiers of the Muslim king will come to Navadvīpa, we will just say he is the culprit.
We will submit Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita and his whole family, his whole brothers to the Muslim ruler and we will tell just punish them and don't do anything to us, we're innocent brāhmaṇas.
We're just teaching some Vedas, don't do anything to us. So when Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita heard about it, that the Muslim king has sent so many soldiers because of being so simple, he immediately believed it.
Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura specifically, he says, he was so simple-hearted, so he basically believed everything which was spoken. If somebody would say something, he would believe it, he would take it at the face value.
And this is one of the characteristics, one of the qualities of a devotee, because devotee, as Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thakur used to say, that the main characteristic of devotee is simple.
Somebody says, believe it, you know, Krishna is God, yeah. He says yes, right, Krishna is God.
You know, otherwise how you can how you can believe in Krishna is so, you know, Krishna is you know you can only believe in Krishna if you're simple-hearted. Otherwise you will have all sorts of doubts in your mind.
So Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita was. He had this quality being so simple. And he went to his Mandir, to the place of his worship within his house, and he actually felt great fear in his heart.
Because the rumors was very persistent, now they are coming. Very soon they are coming and they will just smash and they will kill and they will start killing from the uh you know from the family of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita.
So he came to his house and he started worshiping Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva and he was ardently praying to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva for protection. Please protect, please protect, please protect. He was basically trembling.
He was perspiring because of the fear.
And he felt little pacified, but at that time, uh Nimai Paṇḍita, who was uh you know who uh who is all-knowledgeable, all-knowing Supreme Lord, he felt within his heart that my dear devotee is in crisis.
The fear entered his heart. And he was walking along the uh shore of Ganga and he saw some cows and some you know cowherd boys and the vesh, the mood of the Supreme Lord Krishna appeared within his heart.
Normally he was in the mood of devotee of the Lord, but at that moment when he saw the cows and the cowherd boys, he remembered that I am the Lord myself.
This mood of being the Supreme Lord entered very strongly in his heart, and at this very moment, the energy, the Shakti of the omniscience, all knowing Shakti entered into his heart and he felt my dear devotee Śrīvāsa is in crisis.
He's praying to me. And the form of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva for protection and I must protect him. How I can protect him? So he ran towards the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita.
And by running on the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, he started banging when he ran to the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, he started banging at his door.
And he said Śrīvāsa and Śrīvāsa at that time he was in complete samādhi in complete meditation.
He was meditating on Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva praying for protection and he was totally completely absorbed all of a sudden through his samādhi through his mystical trance
He heard boom boom boom boom and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was basically you know he was yelling from behind the door, "Open the door! Whom you are praying to, the one whom you are praying to is here," and actually he already opened the door himself and he sat on the altar.
Well, Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita was completely in samādhi with his closed eyes;
he was meditating and when he opened the door all of a sudden he saw Caitanya Mahāprabhu in vīrāsana, in the posture of a hero sitting on the altar and saying, you know, just worship me. Why you're worshiping him?
Just pray to me, I will give you protection. I'm the Supreme Lord. If you pray to me, you don't have to fear anything. And he started saying at that moment of time that why you afraid of this king?
This king which is about to send his soldiers, first of all you know nobody knows whether he will send his soldiers or not. But you know, he is not independent.
Ultimately he is my servant and if I tell him from within the heart he will send the soldiers. If I don't tell him from within the heart, he will not send the soldiers.
But then Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Let's suppose that he will manifest his independence. Because he is ultimately an independent jīva.
So maybe he will manifest his independence and send the soldiers anyway, even if I don't inspire him from within the heart. Then what will happen?
I myself will go to the soldiers and I will tell these soldiers, 'Take me to the king.' And they will take me to the king, and I will stand in front of the king, and the king will be sitting on his throne.
And at that moment, when king will see me, he will feel such a humility in his heart, then he will come down from his throne and bow down to my feet.
And he said, "Even if this doesn't happen by some chance, at this moment, at this moment I will tell the king that you know call all your mullahs, all your Kazis, all your spiritual people, and call all your animals and you do some miracle, do something through your spiritual power, then these animals will start praying to Allah, Allah Akbar or something like this.
And they will not be able to do something. And then at that moment I will tell him, 'Now call the mad elephant to this court.' And I will tell this mad elephant to be completely calm.
And then I will tell him, 'Chant Hare Krishna.' And this elephant in front of everyone starts chanting: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.
Deliverance of Narayani Devi and tailor
anyway so this uh this pastime took place and uh Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita at this moment uh Caitanya Mahāprabhu said at this moment hey he actually showed his mercy.
He said, if you don't believe me, then I will show it to you and he touched the head of Nārāyaṇī Devī, uh little four years old, completely innocent girl, which is not really, you know, totally intellectual, and uh sh sh she was not understanding anything was happening, so he touched her head and all of a sudden Nārāyaṇī Devī started crying and dancing and chanting very loudly Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare And uh in fact it is said that
all those people who are uh somehow rather who were somehow rather connected with Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, they were all under the influence because Caitanya Mahāprabhu was so pleased with the uh devotion of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, they all became devotees.
It is said that uh in the household of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita was one uh Muslim tailor, and this Muslim tailor was a meat eater and he was a drunkard. He liked to drink wine.
And once Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in his mood of the Supreme Lord, saw this drunkard, drunkard had red eyes and he was completely drunk and he was doing something, teaching something.
I don't know why Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita kept this Muslim drunkard as his tailor and what kind of dress he would stitch in his drunken state.
But Caitanya Mahāprabhu being so pleased with Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura saw this drunk person, drunk Muslim who was a meat eater and he showed him the form of the Supreme Lord.
And all of a sudden the transformation took place in the heart of this Muslim tailor and he started dancing like anything and he started saying, I have seen, I have seen, I have seen, I have seen, I have seen.
This is the Lord. This tailor has become a sannyāsī.
He gave up his family, he gave up his drinking and and uh and eating meat and he became a beggar and sannyāsī and all of s all the time he was just chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.
Just because of the connection with Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. That was the love which was between Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and to finish this little story that Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked.
Śrīvāsa, are you still afraid? Are you still fearful of this Muslim king?
And uh Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura said that at the time of devastation, when the pralaya will take place, if I chant the holy name of the Lord, the fear will disappear from my heart. And now you personally are present in my house.
How I can remain fearful? From now on, I have no fear in my life whatsoever. I know who Nimai Pandit is really. So from that moment, Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita has become the most ardent preacher of the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
And Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Don't tell anyone that I am the Supreme Lord."
But this and our time is over, I can't say anything more, but Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura by far, by far was the most ardent preacher and the most ardent follower of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the sense that he had complete absolute faith that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nimai Paṇḍita, whom we knew from before, is not an ordinary human being. He is the Supreme Lord Himself who came to this world to preach bhakti cult and to preach the chanting of the holy name.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. So Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura
Recognizing Lord Caitanya as Supreme Lord
kī jaya! Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu kī jaya! That's it. So, I'm not sure... Mahārāja kī... Śrīla Prabhupāda kī... So, what should we have? Janārdana Prabhu is saying that I should take questions.
I don't know if there is any questions because it was not a very philosophical class. So I guess thank you very much for that.
Regarding the last point, regarding the class, although still, the last point for the realization that he's not a thing was two personalities for it, like many stalwarts, uh, in the world are very important.
They are amazed actually to hear amazing pastimes of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Still, the conviction that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead is still missing. The conviction is still what?
The conviction is still the conviction that He is the person called Krishna Himself; He is evading them. So how they can be helped, because Caitanya Mahāprabhu was His vow was to cover everyone from His mercy.
So if this is so, how they can be helped? Does they maybe even decide? Thank you very much for this question. They cannot be helped from the scholarly levels, that's for sure.
The only way to help them is if they somehow or other get in contact with a pure devotee of the Lord and do some little sevā to the pure devotee of the Lord.
This understanding that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Lord Himself is a special mercy of a devotee of the Lord. You cannot, either Lord Himself or devotee of the Lord.
Otherwise you will never be able to understand that He is the Lord Himself.
They are trying to analyze the life of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu from the scholarly point of view, but ultimately they will never believe that He is the Supreme Lord because their heart is not pure or simple.
As I said, that the most important quality of a devotee of the Lord is simplicity of the heart. If you are simple in the heart, it's not difficult to believe it. And simplicity is not an easy quality.
It's very difficult to get the simplicity in this world, especially in our complicated world which we live in today. Everyone is very complicated in the mind.
The modern education makes everyone very complicated, very doubtful, very you know, atheistic, very rational, and they say, "Oh, this is just mythology, this is just..." this is just this is for old ladies to believe.
We are scholars. Yeah, he was a nice pandit, yes, right. So the only way to get this faith is to render the service to a devotee of the Lord.
There is a nice story about Radha Govinda Mahārāja, how he first met with Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he didn't know that this Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was very appreciative, and Śrīla Prabhupāda asked him—he was speaking with him directly, but he didn't understand that this Prabhupāda—he said, "Why do you want to accept Bhaktivedanta Swami as your guru?" and Radha Govinda Mahārāja said, "Because he's a devotee of Caitanya Mahāprabhu." And Śrīla Prabhupāda said, "Who is Caitanya Mahāprabhu?"
He said, "He's the Supreme Lord Himself." How do you know that He's the Supreme Lord Himself? Because I read in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. "No, no, He's not the Supreme Lord." He's just a nice devotee.
He's a nice saint, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying. And Radha Govinda Mahārāja said, "Just shut up. You don't understand anything. Just shut up."
And Prabhupāda, he became so pleased when all the devotees came, and Radha Govinda Mahārāja's
young boy at that time realized that he's speaking with Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda showed to everyone to him and he said, "He knows that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Lord Himself." That was his special quality.
So anyway, thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya! Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura kī jaya! Gaura-premanande hari-haribol!