20190129 Advaita Ācārya’s Vision of The Lord’s Universal Form (Part 2)

mūkhaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī gurum dina tarinam
paramānanda mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya īśvaram
hari oṁ tat sat

Introduction: So I am sorry that I am late today. We had till 7.30, a group from ISKCON Śeśadripuram, Bengaluru, then I had my dinner which was calzones, which are a type of Italian baked samosas!! And they were very hot, so I couldn’t eat them too fast! Because I already have my mouth burnt. So that was finished at 8.35 pm. Then they prepared things here. But in Malaysia they are doing report in one of the temples, so I was asked to address them for 5 minutes, that became 15 minutes So like this I am a little late.

Today we had physical therapy and then we went cycling. Then in the evening I did some stretching and ball exercise. Any way we will read a few verses and we will have some questions and answers. Remember, Advaita Prabhu asked Lord Viśvambhara who was Kṛṣṇa Himself to show the universal form, that He showed to Arjuna. So that is what we are describing now. So we now give it to Deva Gaurāṅga dāsa. Haribol! Haribol!

Advaita Ācārya’s Vision of The Lord’s Universal Form (Part-2)

Caitanya-Bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa 24.51

koṭi cakṣu, bāhu, mukha dekhe punaḥ punaḥ
sanmukhe dekhaye stuti karaye arjuna

Jayapatākā Swami: So Advaita saw millions and millions of eyes, arms, and mouths, faces, He is seeing them repeatedly, punaḥ punaḥ, and He also saw Arjuna offering his prayers before the Lord.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa 24.52

mahā-agni yena jvale sakala vadana

poḍaye pāṣaṇḍa-pataṅga-duṣṭa-gaṇa

Jayapatākā Swami: Great fires came out of the mouths of all the faces, burning to ashes the atheists, the miscreants, who entered those fires like flying insects!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa 24.53

ye pāpiṣṭha para ninde, para-droha kare
caitanyera mukhāgnite sei puḍi' mare

Jayapatākā Swami: Any sinful person who blasphemes others, or the people who torture others, are burnt to ashes, by the fire emanating from the mouth of Lord Caitanya. So, the universal form of the Supreme Lord is not eternal. It is the way of all material concepts and things, it is not equal to the incarnations of the Lord, not equal to His names, forms, qualities, associates, characteristics and pastimes of the incarnation of the Lord. This is a manifestation of the material opulences of the Lord, and as fire is capable of destroying, burning and melting all objects, mental weakness, bodily contamination and the wild dancing of sinful people, who are averse to serving the Lord, out of envy and they blaspheme the exalted devotees, they are burnt to ashes by the lively and fully cognizant kīrtanas performed by devotees who have received the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Māhaprabhu!! In kṛṣṇa-līlā this universal form was burning all the demons but in caitanya-līlā, the universal form, Lord Caitanya burns the envy and the material contamination of the sinful people, and lets them attain to Kṛṣṇa’s service. Therefore, He is considered to be the most merciful of all the avatāras. He kills the demonic nature, but He saves the demons and makes them devotees. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa 24.54

ei rūpa dekhite anyera śakti nāi
prabhura kṛpāte dekhe ācārya-gosāñi

Jayapatākā Swami: Others don’t have the power to see this form of the Lord. Advaita Gosāi was able to see this form by the mercy of the Lord!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa 24.55

prema-sukhe advaita kāndena anurāge
dante tṛṇa kari' punaḥ punaḥ dāsya māge

Jayapatākā Swami: In the happiness, bliss and ecstasy of pure love of Kṛṣṇa, Advaita was crying with great, intense, enthusiasm and attachment. Taking a straw in His teeth, He repeatedly begged for the Lord’s devotional service.

We will end here as the next verse introduces Nityānanda Prabhu, which is something new for us. So we will start here, parama ānande prabhu nityānanda rāya paryaṭana sukhe bhrame sarva nadīyāya! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Nitāi! Nitāirāya! Nitāicānda!

The Deities of Ajita Gopīnātha and his family are called, Nitāicānda Śacīnandana or Nitāicandra Śacīnandana. So we will take two questions from internet and then if you have any question here! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: What kind of spiritual declination one goes through if a devotee criticizes or blasphemes another devotee? Does it impact devotional services? Rohit Singh.

Jayapatākā Swami: The devotional service becomes very dry. The ecstasy of pure love is obstructed. There was a pastime of the Six Gosvāmīs, when one of the Gosvāmī was reading the Bhāgavatam, and he felt great ecstasy. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! He started laughing! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! and then one devotee was walking by, and he was handicapped. So, he thought that this, I forget who, Rupa Gosvāmīs or whoever, he is laughing at me. So he thought he was offended. I never expected that one of the ācāryas will laugh at me because I am physically handicapped! I feel so bad! So, then all of a sudden that Gosvāmīs lost his ecstasy, and then he was finding devotional service very dry, no taste! So, then he consulted with another Gosvāmīs, I think it was Sanātana Gosvāmīs, and he said invite everyone to come to a feast, and whoever you offended, he won’t come - one who thinks he is offended. So, then he noticed that this one devotee didn’t come. So he went to his house and he asked him, why do you? they started talking out and the devotee said, you laughed at me! I was not laughing at you, you are a Vaiṣṇava, I was reading Bhāgavatam and was feeling bliss and I started to laugh. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaa! I was not laughing at you! I did not know you were there even! He said, I have committed an offence to you as I thought you had offended me. So please forgive me and then the two bowed down and then the Gosvāmīs got his ecstasy back! So even a thing like this when one feels accidentally offended, and it was not intended at all, but the Gosvāmīs lost his ecstasy! So, what to speak of us! If we offend a devotee, and when don’t have any taste for devotional service, then we know why. So, we should be very careful not to offend any devotee. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: In the case of Lord Kṛṣṇa showing His universal form to Arjuna, only some devotees can see His universal form. Now with Lord Caitanya, did other devotees, other than Advaita prabhu see the universal form?

Jayapatākā Swami: In the Caitanya-bhāgavata it didn’t say who else were there. It says that Lord Caitanya took Advaita Gosāñī inside the Viṣṇu mandir and asked Advaita what He wanted. There may have been someone there, but it is not mentioned. Somehow Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura found out that Lord Caitanya showed His universal form to Advaita.

So we have about 250 online viewers. Thank you for being present today. Haribol!