CONTENTS:
- CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU CAME AS A DEVOTEE
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU CAME AS A DEVOTEE
Ramachandra came and pious people could recognize Him but it was not so easy to recognize Him as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not come as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came as a devotee. 
Krishna came as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu covering His identity. In the age of Kali, the Supreme Personality of Godhead will appear covering his identity, He came as a devotee. Why? In order to teach people that serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna is the ultimate goal of life.
When Krishna came, He announced that He is God but when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came, He said Krishna is God. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu never said that He is God. Whichever way you go the demons will always take advantage. Although, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not claim to be God but people recognized that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A group of demons appeared after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu disappeared and their logic was if Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God, we can also be God. One such personality is RamaKrishna of Bengal.
He came few hundred years after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, about a little more than hundred years ago. His followers started to present him as God and already people have become acquainted with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The simple people do not have the understanding and were thinking, yes, he must be God. His followers did not deny that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God; they said that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God and he is also God.
The other day someone came and told me that he also displayed the pastimes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so I said what is proof and he said it’s written in the book. I said they simply copied it from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. All the pastimes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu have been presented to him so this is how the demons actually get the people but if somebody comes to us then although it will sound very shocking, we say the guy is a demon and an agent of Kali. How does one recognize whether one is in line with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught that Krishna is God. Now all these people are they saying Krishna is God? They say Krishna and Kali are the same. Unfortunately, for many years there was no one to oppose them. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Prabhupada opposed them.
To give the example once Radharani met Krishna in the forest of Vrindavan and the news was reported to Kutila and Jatila so Jatila and Kutila went to catch her daughter in law and they knew that some affair was going on. Their daughter in law was having an affair with Krishna and she could not catch her red handed but today they got fired up and went to the forest of Vrindavan to catch Srimati Radharani and at that time, Krishna transformed Himself into Kali and Radharani was worshipping Her. They became very pleased. First of all, this form of Kali will not be present in Vrindavan. In Vrindavan Yogamaya manifests herself as Katyayani devi that is eight-armed form of the devi and is not the devastating form of Kali. Kali will never be present in Vrindavan and our point is even if she was there, yes Krishna can become Kali but Kali can never become Krishna. The superior can transform himself into the inferior like the chairman can become the branch manager but the branch manager can never become the chairman.
An example has been given in Brahma-samhita, just as milk turns into yogurt, although it is milk it is transformed into yogurt, similarly, Krishna transforms Himself into Sambu, Lord Shiva, in order to perform certain business. Now milk can turn into yogurt but can yogurt turn into milk? Never. Krishna can become Sambu, Durga or Kali or Brahma if He wants but they cannot become Krishna. These people are so unscrupulous they themselves say they are Krishna. When they said he is Krishna he will smile as if it is a smile of approval. Actually, their days are numbered as Krishna Consciousness movement spreads all over the world they will run for their lives. In the early days, that was the case, when the Vedic kings were so powerful like when anybody spoke anything or pretended anything outside of scripture, the king would punish them and that is the business of the king to see that the dharma is protected but in the age of Kali adharma is present.
What are these so-called spiritualists propagating? Eat meat, drink alcohol, take drugs, have illicit sex, gamble and do everything. A true spiritualist will say abstain from these things, no meat eating, no intoxication, and no gambling and no illicit sex. That is the sign of a true spiritualist. In India we very boldly announce this that you can understand if a person’s teaching is bona fide see whether he allows these activities or not. If he allows them, you can close your eyes and call him a bogus person. A true spiritualist will compel you to abstain from these activities otherwise what is the value of this teaching? This is the sign of a gentleman in the Vedic society; he would not eat meat, take intoxication, not indulge in illicit sex and would not gamble. If a spiritualist cannot make his followers into a gentleman so, what kind of spiritualist is he? That is very basic; one has to be a gentleman to be practicing spiritual life.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted two wives in His household life: First were Laksmi Priya and then Vishnu Priya. Who is this, Laksmi Priya? Laksmi Priya is maha Laksmi, who was Sitadevi in Ramchandra’s pastimes and Rukmini in Krishna’s pastimes? Mahaprabhu’s encounter was Laksmidevi.
Mahaprabhu was very naughty and mischievous in his boyhood and would do all kinds of funny things but all those funny activities had some significance. For example, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would go to the Ganges and at that time the Brahmanas would chant their Gayatri standing on the Ganges and sometimes Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would duck under the water and pull them by their legs and would disturb their meditation. Sometimes, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to splash water with His feet, standing on the shore and the Brahmanas would get very disturbed and would complain to Jaganatha Misra but we can understand why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was behaving like that? The purpose of meditating on Gayatri mantra is to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Now that Supreme Personality of Godhead is just in front of them so what is the use of wasting their time in chanting Gayatri so Mahaprabhu used to disturb them. He would splash the water with His feet in a form of blessings like they all are hankering for the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord and this is how Mahaprabhu was blessing them. The unmarried girls in India would worship Lord Shiva to get a good husband. Lord Shiva is an ideal husband. A girl’s greatest ambition at least in those days used to be to get a good husband. If a girl got a good husband, she considered that her life has been successful. Therefore, they would worship Lord Shiva to get a good husband and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would go there and take away their offerings and sit in front of them and tell them, “Worship Me, actually Shiva is my servant.” The girls would get very angry.
CC Adi 14.49: When the girls engaged in worshiping the different demigods after bathing in the Ganges, the young Lord would come there and sit down among them.
CC Adi 14.50: Addressing the girls, the Lord would say, “Worship Me, and I shall give you good husbands or good benedictions. The Ganges and goddess Durga are My maidservants. What to speak of other demigods, even Lord Siva is My servant.”
CC Adi 14.51: Without the permission of the girls, the Lord would take the sandalwood pulp and smear it on His own body, put the flower garlands on His neck, and snatch and eat all the offerings of sweetmeats, rice and bananas.
CC Adi 14.52: All the girls became very angry at the Lord for this behaviour. “Dear Nimai,” they told Him, “You are just like our brother in our village relationship.
CC Adi 14.53: “Therefore it does not behove You to act like this. Don’t take our paraphernalia for worship of the demigods. Don’t create a disturbance in this way.”
CC Adi 14.54: The Lord replied, “My dear sisters, I give you the benediction that your husbands will be very handsome.
CC Adi 14.55: “They will be learned, clever and young and possess abundant wealth and rice. Not only that, but you will each have seven sons, who will all live long lives and be very intelligent.”
CC Adi 14.56: Hearing this benediction from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, all the girls were inwardly very happy, but externally, as is natural for girls, they rebuked the Lord under the pretence of anger.
CC Adi 14.57: When some of the girls fled, the Lord called them in anger and advised them as follows:
CC Adi 14.58: “If you are miserly and do not give Me the offerings, every one of you will have an old husband with at least four co-wives.”
CC Adi 14.59: Hearing this supposed curse by Lord Chaitanya, the girls, considering that He might know something uncommon or be empowered by demigods, were afraid that His curse might be effective.
CC Adi 14.60: The girls then brought the offerings before the Lord, who ate them all and blessed the girls to their satisfaction.
CC Adi 14.63: Seeing Laksmidevi, the Lord became attached to her, and Laksmi, upon seeing the Lord, felt great satisfaction within her mind.
CC Adi 14.64: Their natural love for each other awakened, and although it was covered by childhood emotions, it became apparent that they were mutually attracted.
PURPORT
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Laksmidevi are eternal husband and wife. Therefore, it was quite natural for their dormant love to awaken when they saw each other. Their natural feelings were immediately awakened by their meeting
CC Adi 14.65: They both enjoyed natural pleasure in seeing each other, and under the pretext of demigod worship they manifested their feelings.
CC Adi 14.66: The Lord told Laksmi, “Just worship Me, for I am the Supreme Lord. If you worship Me, certainly you will get the benediction you desire.”
PURPORT
This is the same philosophy declared by Lord Krishna Himself: “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” (Bg. 18.66) People do not understand this. They are accustomed to flattering or worshiping many demigods, human beings, or even cats and dogs, but when requested to worship the Supreme Lord, they refuse. This is called illusion. Factually, if one worships the Supreme Lord there is no need to worship anyone else. For example, in a village of a limited area one may use different wells for different purposes, but when one goes to a river where there is water constantly flowing in waves, that water can serve all his purposes. When there is a river, one can take drinking water, wash his clothes, bathe and so on, for that water will serve all purposes. Similarly, if one worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, all his goals will be achieved.
(Bg. 7.20) Kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah prapadyante nya-devatah: only men who have lost their intelligence worship the various demigods to fulfill their desires .
CC Adi 14.67: On hearing the order of the Supreme Lord, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Laksmi immediately worshiped Him, offering sandalwood pulp and flowers for His body, garlanding Him with mallika flowers, and offering prayers.
CC Adi 14.68: Being worshiped by Laksmi, the Lord began to smile. He recited a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam and thus accepted the emotion she expressed.
PURPORT
The verse quoted in this connection is the twenty-fifth verse of the Twenty-second Chapter, Tenth Canto, of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The gopis worshiped goddess Durga, or Katyayani, but their inner desire was to get Lord Krishna as their husband. Krishna, as Paramatma, could realize the ardent desire of the gopis, and therefore He enjoyed the pastime of vastra-harana. When the gopis went to bathe in the river Yamuna, they left their garments on the land and dipped into the water completely naked. Taking this opportunity, Krishna stole all their garments and sat down in the top of a tree with them, desiring to see the girls naked just to become their husband. The gopis desired to have Krishna as their husband, and since it is only before her husband that a woman can be naked, to fulfill their desire Lord Krishna accepted their prayers by this pastime of stealing their garments. When the gopis received their garments back from Krishna, Krishna recited this verse.
CC Adi 14.69: “‘My dear gopis, I accept your desire to have Me as your husband and thus worship Me. I wish your desire to be fulfilled because it deserves to be so.’”
PURPORT
The gopis, the girlfriends of Krishna, were almost of the same age as He. Within their minds they desired that Krishna be their husband, but because of feminine bashfulness they could not express their desire.
Therefore, later on, after stealing their garments, Krishna informed them, “I immediately understood your desire and approved of it. Because I have now stolen your garments, you have presented yourselves before Me completely naked, which means that I have accepted all of you as My wives.” Sometimes foolish rascals, not knowing the purpose of the Lord or the purpose of the gopis, unnecessarily criticize from their own angle of vision, but the real purpose of vastra-harana is expressed by the Lord in this verse.
CC Adi 14.70: After thus expressing their feelings to each other, Lord Chaitanya and Laksmi returned home. Who can understand the grave pastimes of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?
CC Adi 14.71: When the neighbouring people saw the naughty behaviour of Lord Chaitanya, out of love for Him they lodged complaints with Sacimata and Jagannatha Misra.
CC Adi 14.72: One day mother Saci went to catch her son, wanting to rebuke Him, but He fled from the spot.
CC Adi 14.73: Although He is the maintainer of the entire universe, once the Lord sat upon some rejected pots in the pit where the remnants of food were thrown, after the pots had been used for cooking.
PURPORT
Formerly it was the custom of brahmanas to worship Lord Vishnu daily at home and cook food in new pots. This system is still going on in Jagannatha Puri. The food would be cooked in earthen pots, all fresh and new, and after cooking, the pots would be thrown away. By the side of the house there was generally a big pit where such pots were thrown. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sat down on the pots very pleasingly, just to give His mother a lesson.
CC Adi 14.74: When mother Saci saw her boy sitting on the rejected pots, she protested, “Why have You touched these untouchable pots? You have now become impure. Go and bathe in the Ganges.”
CC Adi 14.75: Hearing this, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught His mother about absolute knowledge. Although amazed by this, His mother forced Him to take a bath.
PURPORT
The absolute knowledge explained by the Lord to His mother is described by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Amrta-pravaha-bhasya as follows: “The Lord said, ‘Mother, that this is pure and that is impure is surely a worldly sentiment with no basis in fact. You have cooked food for Lord Vishnu within these pots and offered the food to Him. How then can these pots be untouchable? Everything in relationship with Vishnu is to be considered an expansion of Vishnu’s energy. Vishnu, the Supersoul, is eternal and uncontaminated. How then may these pots be considered pure or impure?’ Hearing this discourse on absolute knowledge, His mother was very much astonished and forced Him to take a bath.”
CC Adi 14.76: Sometimes, taking her son with her, mother Saci would lie down on her bed, and she would see that denizens of the celestial world had come there, filling the entire house.
CC Adi 14.77: Once mother Saci told the Lord, “Please go call Your father.” Receiving this order from His mother, the Lord went out to call him.
CC Adi 14.78: When the child was going out, there was a tinkling of ankle bells from His lotus feet. Hearing this, His father and mother were struck with wonder.
CC Adi 14.79: Jagannatha Misra said, “This is a very wonderful incident. Why is there a sound of ankle bells from the bare feet of my child?”
CC Adi 14.80: Mother Saci said, “I also saw another wonder. People were coming down from the celestial kingdom and crowding the entire courtyard.
CC Adi 14.81: “They made noisy sounds I could not understand. I guess they were offering prayers to someone.”
CC Adi 14.82: Jagannatha Misra replied, “Never mind what it is. There is no need to worry. Let there always be good fortune for Visvambhara. This is all I want.”
CC Adi 14.83: On another occasion, Jagannatha Misra, seeing the mischievous acts of his son, gave Him lessons in morality after rebuking Him greatly.
CC Adi 14.84: On that very night, Jagannatha Misra dreamt that a brahmana had come before him speaking these words in great anger:
CC Adi 14.85: “My dear Misra, you do not know anything about your son. You think Him your son, and therefore you rebuke and chastise Him.”
CC Adi 14.86: Jagannatha Misra replied, “This boy may be a demigod, a mystic yogi or a great saintly person. It doesn’t matter what He is, for I think He is only my son.
CC Adi 14.87: “It is the duty of a father to educate his son in both religion and morality. If I do not give Him this education, how will He know of it?”
CC Adi 14.88: The brahmana replied, “If your son is a transcendental mystic boy with self-effulgent perfect knowledge, what is the use of your education?”
CC Adi 14.89: Jagannatha Misra replied, “Even if my son is not a common man but Narayana, still it is the duty of a father to instruct his son.”
CC Adi 14.90: In this way Jagannatha Misra and the brahmana discussed the principles of religion in the dream, yet Jagannatha Misra was absorbed in unalloyed parental mellow and did not want to know anything else.
PURPORT
In Srimad Bhagavatam (10.8.45) it is said, “Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is worshiped with exalted hymns by all the Vedas and Upanishads and by great personalities through sankhya-yoga in the mode of goodness, was considered by Mother Yasoda and Nanda to be their own little son.” Similarly, Jagannatha Misra also considered Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu his beloved little boy, although He is worshiped with all veneration by learned brahmanas and saintly persons.
CC Adi 14.91: Being very pleased, the brahmana left after talking with Jagannatha Misra, and when Jagannatha Misra awakened from his dream, he was very much astonished. This Is how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would tease them and this how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught everyone that there is no need for anyone to worship demigods. If we only worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, then there is no need to worship demigods. Just like watering the root we are watering the whole tree. Like if you know the chairman of the company you do not have to flatter the clerk. If you go buttering the clerk you get the chairman but you walk straight up to the chairman and the chairman makes all the arrangements. Similarly, those who approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead they don’t need to approach anyone else.
This is how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu performed His pastimes. Jagannatha Misra, even when he was told that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was not an ordinary person, still then Jagannatha Misra, admitted that even if this Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself still, he will chastise Him when He is wrong because it is a duty of a father to educate his son. So, this is called the madhurya-bhava. There are two mellows one is sweetness and the other is opulence. In Vaikuntha, they know Narayan, Krishna is God and they deal with Him in that way but In Vrindavan they don’t care who Krishna is, even if Krishna is God, still Krishna is either their friend, so or lover. They simply want to relate to Krishna in that way, they do not want any other relationship.
The father thinks that Krishna is my son, the friend thinks that Krishna is my friend and Gopis think that Krishna is their lover. Krishna’s friends actually fight with Him, they say, “Who are you? You pretending to be a great personality?” Sometimes, Madhumangal would tell Krishna, “Krishna you are not behaving properly, you are committing great offense, you know? Although you are a Vaisya, you are always a junior to me but you are not giving enough respect to me, a good Brahmana.” So, this is how Krishna’s friends would deal with Krishna. They would wrestle with Krishna but they would do all these out of their intense love for Krishna. Their love for Krishna is so great, that Krishna allows them to become His friends, parents or lovers.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA’S APPRECIATION
“Nimai was very naughty…So if your child is naughty, don’t be upset with them. Being naughty is the business of a child. Prabhupada said that being naughty is the sign of intelligence!”
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
This how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught everyone that there is no need for anyone to worship demigods. If we only worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, then there is no need to worship demigods. Just like watering the root we are watering the whole tree. Like if you know the chairman of the company you do not have to flatter the clerk. If you go buttering the clerk you get the chairman but you walk straight up to the chairman and the chairman makes all the arrangements. Similarly, those who approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead they don’t need to approach anyone else.
(The content of this E-magazine was based on a lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami on 21 April 1991 in Johannesburg)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)