CONTENTS:
- SRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU’S TRANSCENDENTAL SANYAS PASTIMES
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. SRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU’S TRANSCENDENTAL SANYAS PASTIMES
LYRICS
(1)
gora-guna ga-o suni
bahu punya phale so pahum milala
prema parasamani
(2)
akhila jibera e soka sayara
nayana nimese sese
o-i prema lesa parasa na pa-ile
parana judabe kise
(3)
aruna nayane baruna alaya
karunaya nirikhane
madhura alape akhare akhare
sudha-dhara barisane
(4)
preme dhala dhala pulake purala
apada mastaka tanu
basudeba kahe sata dhara bahe
sumeru sincita tanu
TRANSLATION
1) I hear and sing of Lord Gaura's glories. After many pious deeds a soul may meet Lord Gaura, who is a parsamani jewel of spiritual love.
2) In an eye blink He dries up the sufferings of all fallen souls. How can a person who has not even a small fragment of love for Him bring cooling happiness to his own life
3) The glances from His reddish eyes are all oceans of mercy. Syllable by syllable, His sweet words are flooding monsoon showers of nectar.
4) He sheds tears of ecstatic spiritual love. From head to foot the hairs of His body stand erect in bliss. Vasudeva Ghosa says: He is like a golden Mount Meru where hundreds of flooding rivers flow.
akhila jibera e soka sayara nayana nimese sese, Just by His momentary glance He dries out the ocean of suffering of all the living entities of the entire world. o-i prema lesa parasa na pa-ile parana judabe kise If I do not get the touch of that love then how will my heart become satisfied. runa nayane baruna alaya karunaya nirikhane. Aruna is the brother of Garuda who became the chariot driver of Suryadeva, Sun God, therefore before the sun rises Aruna appears and his colour is red. As the sky becomes red before sunrise his eyes resembling that colour due to his ecstasy.
With that glance he is mercifully looking at everyone. madhura alape akhare akhare sudhadhara barisane as he speaks every single word is showering nectar. preme dhala dhala pulake purala apada mastaka tanu Due to his loving ecstasy his whole body’s hair is standing from his head to toe. basudeba kahe sata dhara bahe sumeru sincita tanu In seeing him it seems that the golden Sumeru mountain is being based with hundreds of streams. This was composed by Vasu Ghosh. When you sing in the aarti, saïjaya-mukunda-bäsu-ghoñ-ädi gäya. Vasu Gosh, he was a beautiful poet and amazing singer, he used to sing and Sri Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to dance.
(Guru Maharaja sings this song followed by the devotees.)
THE UNIQUENESS OF SRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU’S ARRANGEMENT
After establishing the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha mantra congregationally which was the purpose of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu decided to take sanyas. There is a long history about that which I won’t get into now but the main understanding is that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to distribute Krishna Consciousness. He established Krishna Consciousness in Navadwip and now He wants to spread it all over India and that is why He decided to take sanyas. He had to go out of His household situation. In order to preach sanyas becomes essential because when one is in household situation his activities become limited because of various responsibilities he has to stay at one place but as a sanyasi one becomes free to travel and preach. Prabhupada also did that Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami so this becomes a solemn responsibility for a devotee in order to preach this mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
This is a unique thing for this world; this kind of mass involvement in spiritual activity was not so prevalent in India before. In India, the early days when one takes to spiritual life he left home and cultivated his spiritual activity. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came and gave something which was for everybody it was not for some particular class or section. Vedic culture previously was exclusively meant for the Brahmanas no one other than the Brahmana could even touch the scriptures, it was considered to be an offence; Brahmana of course, not by birth but by qualification. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu actually came to deliver everyone and the uniqueness of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s arrangement was that the more fallen one was the more allegeable he became. Generally, more qualified ones become allegeable but His condition was the more fallen one is the more allegeable he is. It has been described that patita-pävana-hetu tava avatära, You have come to deliver the fallen souls and mo sama patita prabhu nä päibe ära you won’t get anyone as fallen as I therefore I am the most allegeable to receive Your mercy.
Literally that is the fact, like we saw Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu went out of Their way to deliver Jagai and Madai. Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakur being ordered by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went door to door and we also notice Srila Prabhupada went to America and obviously that was not the land of spiritual culture most materialist place and who received the mercy of Srila Prabhupada? Those who apparently became very very fallen. Mahaprabhu came to deliver the fallen souls and that is why those who are fallen, the age of Kali is the age of fallen souls, most fallen living entities take birth in the age of Kali and Mahaprabhu came to deliver them because they were hopeless, no hope for them but Mahaprabhu came to deliver them because they themselves could make spiritual advancement therefore He came.
MAHAPRABHU DECIDED TO TAKE SANYAS RATÉ
Mahaprabhu decided to take sanyas and He takes sanyas from Keshava Bhäraté. In those days sanyas order was also in the category of Sankaracharya’s school. Das nami ten categories and one of the categories is Bharati. They are (1) Tirtha, (2) Ashrama, (3) Bona (4) Giri (5) Parbat, (6) Sagara (7) Saraswati (8) Bharati (9) Aranya and (10) Puri. One morning He left home and went to Katowa not that far from Navadwip maybe 30 -40km. He begged Keshava Bhäraté to give him sanyas and Keshava Bhäraté agreed. Mahaprabhu had beautiful long hair shaved His head. It has been described that the barber when he was shaving Mahaprabhu’s head he soaked His head with the tears from his eyes he was crying that such a beautiful young man only 24 is taking sanyas.
SRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU WANTED TO GO TO VRINDAVAN
After taking sanyas Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to go to Vrindavan so He ran and Nityananda prabhu followed Him but Nityananda Prabhu made Him loose His way. Nityananda Prabhu is the controller of Yoga Maya. For three days and three nights Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was running and running. He would have reached Vrindavan but He was going round and round in Radhadesh, North Bengal and there He heard some cowherd boys tending the cows and He was very happy when these boys also chanted Hare Krishna and He was so pleased and told them they are very fortunate to be chanting the holy name of the Lord. Nityananda Prabhu was considering the way Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left He knew what would be the condition of the people of Navadwip because they were so fond of Sri Chaitanya Mahaparabhu. Now that He left home never to come back in those days when one took sanyas it was the end of it. Visvarupa took sanyas same thing could have happened with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but Nityananda Prabhu made some other plan considering the condition of the residents of Navadwip He decided to bring Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu back.
Nityananda Prabhu told some cowherd boys if this person comes and asks you which is the direction of Vrindavan you show Him the direction of the Ganges and they did that. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked which is the way to Vrindavan and they said Vrindavan is this way but it was the other way. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ran towards that way and He asked Nityananda Prabhu “how far is Vrindavan?” Nityananda Prabhu said, “This is Yamuna, You have arrived” and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu considering Ganga to be Yamuna He started to offer prayers to Yamuna. In the meantime, Nityananda Prabhu sent a message to Chandrasekar Acharya to tell Advaita Acharya to come with some dry clothes and a boat. At that time Advaita Acharya arrived in a boat and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very happy to see him, “Advaita you are also here.” He said, “Yes, I got the news from Nityananda and He asked me to come.” Advaita Acharya gave the Lord some dry clothes but he just came to the other side of the river.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu realised what happened and he was very upset. “I was going to Vrindavan and He made Me lose my direction and tricked Me to come here.” Advaita Acharya said, “No He didn’t lie because wherever You are that is Vrindavan. When Ganga and Yamuna meet at Prayag the western side Yamuna is flowing and on the eastern side Ganga is flowing. You took Your bath on western side so it is Yamuna.” Advaita Acharya took them to his house and for three days Lord didn’t eat anything so Advaita Acharya arranged a feast and the description of that feast is in Chaitanya Charitamrita and it was an amazing arrangement so many delicious preparations. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s response was, “You can’t feed a sanyasi like this.” Advaita Acharya said, “Come on in Jagannatha Puri, we know you eat 56 times so this is nothing compared to that. “Nityananda’s response was different, “Look for three days I didn’t eat and what you are giving? You should have had some consideration. This old man has no consideration of the hungry ones.” In this way Nityananda Prabhu and Advaita Acharya had a very wonderful and loving relationship, a very sweet exchange takes place. It’s a loving quarrel prema kandha.
THE WHOLE OF NAVADWIP COME TO SEE SRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU
In the meantime, Chandrasekar Acharya reported that Nityananda Prabhu brought Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to Advaita Acharya’s house so the whole of Navadwip come to see Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu because they were feeling such separation from Him. The only one who didn’t come was Visnhu Priya devi because according to the Vedic culture when one takes sanyas he never meets his wife again that is why She stayed back. Saci mata came and was crying its very unique the way Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu performed His pastimes, Prabhupada actually mentioned that He took sanyas in a situation when there was no male member in the family his mother was elderly and He was young and leaving His young wife and elderly mother unprotected. Prabhupada mentioned He did that to show and teach everyone that when you leave your family for the sake of serving Krishna you do not have to worry about your family Krishna will take care and He Himself demonstrated that. In those days for a woman to be left like that was very unusual because women were at home and the men did all work.
Every single act of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is so exemplary. When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met his mother He told her, “I should have not left you like this I will give up my sanyas and go home.” Saci mata was the ideal mother and felt what would people say and she said, “Now that You have taken sanyas You must stick to your vow.” An ordinary mother would be happy to hear that her son will come back but Saci Mata didn’t want to disgrace her son to become the laughing stock if he took sanyas and come back home. Saci Mata made one condition, “Please stay close by so I can hear your news.” She suggested that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stay in Jagannatha Puri because people would come to Bengal to the Ganges and from Bengal they would go to Puri, see Lord Jagannatha and take part in the chariot festival so in that way the news of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu could be conveyed. That is why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu decided to stay in Puri.
CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU WENT TO JAGANNATHA PURI
After that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Jagannatha Puri and stopped at various places of pilgrimage. He visited Khirchora Gopinath and Saksi Gopal. Nityananda Prabhu left home at the age of 12 and for 20 years He travelled around all the different places of pilgrimage and when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started His sankirtan He came to Navadwip and joined. Nityananda Prabhu used to tell the story of Khirchora Gopinath when they were there and also the story of Saksi Gopal, I will not go into those details. Sri Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to a place called Bhargi river there was a temple there and when Sri Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to take His bath, He gave His danda to Nityananda Prabhu to keep. At that time Nityananda Prabhu had a dialogue with the danda. Danda means a stick but it also means punishment. Sanyas danda accepting a punishment of rejecting Krishna therefore the punishment is rejecting this material world in order to become completely absorbed in Krishna’s service. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sanyas according to the Sankar sampradaya which is actually the Mayavadi sanyasi, they don’t believe in serving Krishna their sanyasi is to become Narayana and merge into Brahmajyoti.
HOW RAMANUJACHARYA DEFEATED SANKARACHARYA
How many of you know the Mayavadi philosophy? It’s important to know, its impersonalism but a special impersonalism. Generally, impersonalism is to merge in Brahman effulgence and in that understanding there is room for making spiritual advancement and becoming a devotee. An example; the four Kumaras they were initially impersonalists then they became devotees, Sukadeva Goswami initially He was an impersonalist and he became a devotee so in this way we can see impersonalists can possibly become a devotee but for a Mayavadi there is no hope for becoming a devotee. Why? The reason is the Vedic understanding Brahman is transformed into Jagat, this material nature is a transformation of the spiritual energy. The spiritual energy maybe impersonal without variety but this material nature is a transformation and that is the Vedic understanding. What did Sankaracharya do? Sankaracharya made a new theory vivarta-vada the theory of illusion. What is the meaning of illusion? It appears to be what it is not. Sankaracharya gave these examples: a mirage, it appears to be water but it’s hot sand; a rope appears to be a snake but it is not so you see the theory of illusion.
This world appears to be but it is not, there is no variety, no quality, no potency but it appears to be and that is illusion this is vivarta-vada. This is how Sankaracharya deviated from the Vedic conclusion. The point is Brahma becomes affected by the modes of material nature. Brahman in the mode of goodness becomes God, Narayana; Brahman in the mode of passion becomes jivas. When a living entity transcends mode of passion and comes to the mode of goodness he becomes Narayana. Sankaracharya sampradaya’s Sanyasis are considered to be Narayana and they address each other as Narayana. To understand this point more clearly let us consider how Ramanujacharya defeated Sankaracharya. Vivarta-vada or kevala advaita-vada absolute monism and because it is a theory of illusion it is also called Mayavadi. Do you know how Ramanujacharya defeated Sankaracharya? He defeated him with 64 analogies; one of them he is saying, “fine there is no water in the mirage but somewhere the water is existing therefore you are mistaking the mirage to be water; fine there is no snake in the rope somewhere the snake is existing that is why you mistaking the rope to be a snake; fine this variety is not real but somewhere the real variety is existing that is why this appears to be the way it is.” This is how he defeated. Ramanujacharya used viçiñöadvaita-vada and defeated Sankaracharya’s vivarta-vada or kevala advaita-vada.
NITYANANDA PRABHU BROKE THE DANDA AND THREW IT AWAY
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sanyas so you can see what the mayavadi’s sanyas consideration is when you come to the mode of goodness you become Narayana. Another consideration was that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is accepting punishment, so Nityananda Prabhu told this danda. “My dear Sir who do you think you are? The Supreme Personality of Godhead would carry you considering He has done something wrong and that He is accepting punishment?” Nityananda Prabhu broke the danda and threw it away. Chaitanya-caritämåta is saying that there is a great mystery about breaking the danda and the mystery is that. Nityananda Prabhu proved that the sanyas that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took was not ekadanda sanyas but tridanda sanyas, Vaishnava sanyas by breaking the danda. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very upset He was telling, “What’s the matter with You? Do you think my sanyas is a joke? I wanted to go to Vrindavan and You misdirected Me and now my only possession was my danda and You took that also away and broke it. How will I stay with You?” Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu just ran to Jagannatha Puri. Thank you all very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakur being ordered by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went door to door and we also notice Srila Prabhupada went to America and obviously that was not the land of spiritual culture most materialist place and who received the mercy of Srila Prabhupada? Those who apparently became very very fallen.
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTION
Line up with Srila Prabhupada, dedicate yourself to Srila Prabhupada, surrender yourself to Srila Prabhupada and commit yourself to the mission of Srila Prabhupada, I can guarantee you spiritual life will become a success. (12 September 2010 Ujjain)
(The content of this E-Magazine was based on a Lecture given by HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja on given at Drakensburg Retreat, South Africa on 21 January 2017.)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)