20181218 The Beginning of Mahāprabhu’s Manifestations

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book work 18^th December 2018 in Chennai

By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Guru Mahārāja

Reading from Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 1.403

Under the section: The beginning of Mahāprabhu’s manifestations

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Jayapatākā Swami: Now we will continue with the Kṛṣṇa Caitanya book compilation. Lord Caitanya, Nimāi Paṇḍita, He went to Gayā, got initiated and then now He is back in Navadvīpa. He is very much in devotional ecstasy so the people are amazed and many don’t understand what happened.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.403

ei-mate paripūrṇa vidyāra vilāsa
saṅkīrtana-ārambhera haila prakāśa

Translation: In this way the Lord’s scholastic pastimes came to an end and the congregational chanting of the holy names was begun.

Commentary: Upon the inauguration of the congregational chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, the Lord’s scholastic pastimes were completed. The word saṅkīrtana refers to congregational glorification of the names, forms, qualities, associates, and pastimes of Śrī Hari, as well as the hearing of such topics by service-inclined persons. This is the special characteristic of saṅkīrtana. Unless the names, forms, qualities, associates, and pastimes of Kṛṣṇa are properly glorified, or unless they are glorified without offense, there is no possibility for materialistic people forgetful of and averse to Kṛṣṇa from time immemorial to give up their absorption in material objects. If topics of the spiritual abode, or transcendental topics of Kṛṣṇa, do not reach materialistic persons attached to sense gratification, then various concocted ideas or attempts for sense gratification will become prominent in the name of religion and thus create chaos in this world. Under the influence of His all-auspicious, causeless mercy, the all-auspicious ocean of mercy and most magnanimous Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanyadeva protected the inhabitants of this world, who were acaitanya, devoid of spiritual conscious, from their absorption in matter resulting from ignorance; in other words, He awakened the pure spiritual propensity for serving Kṛṣṇa in the hearts of the animate and inanimate entities who were devoid of spiritual consciousness by preaching that the ultimate result of cultivating spiritual knowledge is to achieve the perfectional platform of serving Kṛṣṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: So in this way, the Lord’s scholastic pastimes came to an end and completion. And He began the saṅkīrtana-yajña. The congregational chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa was begun.

So with the inauguration of the saṅkīrtana movement, the congregational chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, the scholastic pastimes were completed. What does saṅkīrtana mean? It refers to congregational glorification of the names, forms, qualities, associates, pastimes of Śrī Hari. As well saṅkīrtana also refers to the hearing service oriented. There is a special characteristic of saṅkīrtana. Unless Kṛṣṇa in those things connected to Him, namely names, form, qualities and pastimes are properly glorified, unless they are glorified without offence there is no possibility for materialistic people or those who are averse to Kṛṣṇa, forgetful or averse to Kṛṣṇa.

So the glories of Kṛṣṇa and those things connected to Him don’t reach materialistic people. For their deliverance the Lord comes as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and He gave His mercy and protected all the inhabitants of this world from ignorance. He awakened the pure spiritual propensity for serving Kṛṣṇa. By preaching the ultimate result of cultivating spiritual knowledge is to achieve the perfectional platform of serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. One normally thinks that serving the senses and being very efficient in that is the goal of life. But one does not achieve satisfaction as a popular rock group sing “I can get no satisfaction”. Lord Caitanya by His preaching could give the people transcendental satisfaction. By nature, we are the living force in the body and when the body becomes broken, we leave the body and take another birth. But we never die but the body dies. In fact the body is never alive – it seems alive because of the presence of the soul. When the soul leaves the body then its natural state of dead matter is visible. So Lord Caitanya He came down to show how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

Someone asked yesterday, how long it takes to become Kṛṣṇa conscious? And we said Prabhupāda said depends how intensely one wants it. And we showed like crying of a baby how one attracts the mother, similarly by crying out to Kṛṣṇa you can attract Kṛṣṇa. Gauuuuurāṅga! I SURRENDER TO YOU! Who surrenders? Even if one once surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, he remains eternally in His orbit and if you cultivate that desire, you come closer and closer to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.404

catur-dike aśru-kaṇṭhe kānde śiṣya-gaṇa
sadaya haiyā prabhu balena vacana

Translation: The students surrounding the Lord were choked with tears as He mercifully spoke to them.

Jayapatākā Swami: In the four directions all around Him, the students with tears in their eyes and their throats choked up, cried. So the Lord became mercifully disposed and spoke the following words to them.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.405

“paḍilāṅa śunilāṅa yata-dina dhari’
kṛṣṇera kīrtana kara’ paripūrṇa kari’”

Translation: “You have studied and listened for many days; now let us chant the names of Kṛṣṇa together to make everything complete.”

Commentary: The Lord said, “As a result of studying and hearing linguistic literatures for so long, I have understood that chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa is the only essence and fruit of such studying and teaching. It is the only purport of the Vedas. Therefore, O students, you should constantly engage in śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years, which extinguishes the fire of the conditional life of repeated birth and death, which is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon, and which is the life of all transcendental knowledge.”

Jayapatākā Swami: You have studied and have listened for many days, now let us chant the names of Kṛṣṇa together and make everything complete!

So the Lord said as a result of My studying and hearing linguistic literatures for so long, I understood that chanting of the names of Kṛṣṇa is the only essence and fruit of such studying and teaching. This is the only purport of the Vedas, Therefore, students, now… in this He is saying the first verse of His Śikṣaṣtaka.

“Therefore, O students, you should constantly engage in śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years, which extinguishes the fire of the conditional life of repeated birth and death, which is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon, and which is the life of all transcendental knowledge.”

So sometime people say oh just by chanting, it is not just, there is no difference between the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself. We chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, we are getting association with Kṛṣṇa and all these results are there, and more. So chanting is actually the most potent. In all of the yugas somebody chanted and got deliverance but, in this Kali-yuga, it is the only recommended practice.

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

“Chant the Holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name of Hari. It is the only recommended process. In this age of kali there is no other way, no other way, no other way to achieve success in this lifetime.” Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.406

śiṣya-gaṇa balena,—“kemana saṅkīrtana?”
āpane śikhāyena prabhu śrī-śacīnandana

Translation: The students asked, “How shall we perform saṅkīrtana?” The son of Śacī then personally taught them to chant as follows.

Commentary: While describing kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana in reply to His students’ inquiries about the Absolute Truth and devotional service to Viṣṇu, Śrī Viśvambhara, who is the husband of Sarasvatī, the transcendental goddess of learning, taught those students about the descending process of accepting knowledge. Since the path of argument was not respected in His teachings, the uselessness of the ascending process has been revealed. The chanting of viṣṇu-mantras is recommended to check sinful attempts for temporary fruitive activities and impersonal knowledge on the useless ascending path described in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (6.3.25 and 10.14.3) verses prāyeṇa veda tad idaṁand jïāne prayāsam udapāsya. But the concocted artificial doggerel verses chanted by so-called Vaiṣṇavas who maintain current misconceptions; who are averse to the descending path; and who are envious of Hari, Guru, Vaiṣṇava were not instructed to anyone by either Mahāprabhu or His nonduplicitous liberated servants, the jagad-guru ācārya preachers. Rather they gave instructions on chanting mantras and holy names received through disciplic succession. Mahāprabhu exhibited the pastime of receiving such mantras and holy names through disciplic succession and gave instructions on the same.

Jayapatākā Swami: The students asked how shall we perform saṅkīrtan? Lord Śrī Śacīnandan the son of mother Śacī, personally taught the students to chant as follows.

See, Lord Viśvambhara while He answered His students’ enquiry about saṅkīrtan, He taught the Absolute Truth and devotional service to Lord Vishnu. Lord Viśvambhara is the husband of Sarasvatī, the transcendental goddess of learning, taught the students about the descending process of receiving knowledge. The ascending process was not respected in His teaching. So this was revealed. So the descending process means receiving from Kṛṣṇa and the disciplic succession, and the ascending process means I know so much and we try to argue and [35:18 unclear] try to increase our knowledge. In our experience we are only seeing white swans so you can say in our ascending knowledge we can say that all swans are white. But in some countries there are black swans. So then the whole ascending process is changed by one black swan. So like that the knowledge that modern science promotes is ascending process that is why all this knowledge changes as they get more and more understanding. But the understanding will never be complete. Now the descending process means that people who already know the truth, they give this knowledge to the next generation that wants to serve the Lord Hari. But those who are in the ascending process tend to be envious of Lord Hari and many of them are atheist or what they say, agnostic. So Lord Caitanya recommended receiving the holy names and the knowledge from the disciplic succession. Lord Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu exhibited the pastimes of receiving such mantras and holy names through the disciplic succession. He gave instructions on the same.

Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 1.407

“(hare) haraye namaḥ kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥ
gopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana”

Translation: “O Lord Hari, O Lord Kṛṣṇa, I offer my obeisances to You, who are known as Hari, Yādava, Gopāla, Govinda, Rāma, Śrī Madhusūdana.”

Commentary: In this instance, the fourth case of the names Hari and Yādava is used to indicate śaraṇāgati or ātma-samarpana (surrender). In other words, a person who is desirous of chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa should first receive transcendental knowledge by fully surrendering at the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master whose only resolution is to chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa; he should constantly engage in hearing the topics and holy names of Kṛṣṇa from the mouths of the spiritual master and the Vaiṣṇavas; and he should loudly call out and always chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa without offense.

If one wants to chant with full surrender and without duplicity by using the fourth, or dative, case of the holy names of the Lord, then he is chanting mantra; and if one chants the holy names of the Lord as an address, by using the vocative case [as in the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra], then he is engaged in bhajana, or worship, of the holy names. Chanting the holy names in their fourth case indicates full surrender, whereas chanting the holy names in the form of an address indicates a desire for eternal service. An initiated person is liberated from the bondage of material existence by chanting mantra, and a liberated soul exhibits his eternal bhajana by chanting the holy names as an address. By accepting kṛṣṇa-mantra as sādhana and kṛṣṇa-nāma as sādhana and sādhya, both sādhya and sādhana are accepted as nondifferent from one another and as adjacent categories of devotional service. Both mantra and nāma are nondifferent from Viṣṇu Himself. The practice of chanting mantra is meant to achieve knowledge of one’s relationship with the Lord, and when one achieves perfection in chanting mantras, then the bhajana of such a liberated soul begins. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 7.73) it is stated:

kṛṣṇa-mantra haite habe saṁsāra-mocana
kṛṣṇa-nāma haite pābe kṛṣṇera caraṇa

“Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa [in the form of mantra] one can obtain freedom from material existence. Indeed, simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra [in the form of address] one will be able to see the lotus feet of the Lord.”

Jayapatākā Swami: This means Oh Lord Hari, Oh Lord Kṛṣṇa, I offer my obeisances to You. Who is also known as Hari, Yādava, Gopāla, Govinda, Rāma and Śrī Madhusūdana.

So this is a bit technical that if one chants the holy names of the Lord as an address by using vocative case as in Hare Kṛṣṇa mahāmantra, then he is engaged in bhajana or worship of the holy names. Chanting the holy names in the fourth case indicates full surrender. Whereas chanting the holy names in the form of address indicates a desire for eternal service. Normally we don’t understand whether we are chanting as an address or in some other sense, but in this chanting of the holy names, there is sign to the chanting of the mantras. But even if one doesn’t know whether he is chanting in the vocative sense or in some other sense, they all get the benefit. The whole idea of chanting the mantra is to gain an idea or to achieve knowledge of one’s eternal relationship with the Lord and one achieves perfection in chanting the mantras, then worship by such liberated souls begins. In the Caitanya Caritāmṛta Adi 7.73 it is stated that by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa in the form of mantra one can attain freedom from material existence. Indeed, simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, one will be able to see the lotus feet of the Lord. So this mantra was a mantra very dear to Lord Caitanya. Hari Haraya naama Kṛṣṇa Yadava namaha Gopal Govinda Ram Śrī Madhusudhan. So Prabhupad said that in Mayapur we should also chant this mantra because it is very dear to Lord Caitanya. So everywhere we chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, so that we are mainly known as the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement but sometimes in some places we also chant this mantra. “(hare) haraye namaḥ kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥgopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana.” And in the use of fourth case of the names of Hari and Yadava means complete surrender. So we can receive transcendental knowledge by fully surrendering at the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master whose only resolution is to chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. One should hear the topics and holy names of Kṛṣṇa from the mouth of the spiritual master and the Vaiṣṇavas. And he should loudly call out and always chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa without offence. HARE KṚṢṆA! GAUUUUURĀṄGA!

So this teaching of the chanting to His students will go on for some time and so we will continue reading tomorrow. And you can also learn to chant. Lord Nimai Pandit is personally teaching how to chant.

Any questions?