20220912 The Yavanas who beat Haridāsa are destroyed [Part 2]

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 12th,2022 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Continuation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book compilation,

The Yavanas who had beaten Haridāsa, were all destroyed along with their families,
(Part 2)

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.159

uccanāma-kīrtanamukhe viprasabhāya upasthiti —

ucca kari’ hari-nāma laite laite
āilena haridāsa brāhmaṇa-sabhāte

Translation: As He loudly chanted the names of Hari, he arrived before an assembly of brāhmaṇas.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.160

haridāsa-darśane vipragaṇera harṣa—

haridāse dekhi’ phuliyāra vipra-gaṇa
sabei hailā ati parānanda-mana

Translation: Seeing Haridāsa, the brāhmaṇas of Phuliyā were greatly filled with happiness.

Jayapatākā Swami: Seeing Haridāsa Ṭhākura the brāhmaṇas of Phuliyā were naturally happy and they welcomed Haridāsa Ṭhākura who was a pure devotee, with full enthusiasm.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.161

vipragaṇera haridhvanira madhye haridāsera saharṣe nṛtya—

hari-dhvani vipra-gaṇa lāgilā karite
haridāsa lāgilena ānande nācite

Translation: The brāhmaṇas then began to chant the names of Hari, and Haridāsa began to dance in ecstasy.

Purport: Being relieved from the torture and repression of the king and the Kazi and in order to benefit the brāhmaṇa community of Phuliyā, Ṭhākura Haridāsa arrived there while loudly chanting the names of Hari. Due to narrow-minded sectarianism and social aversion towards devotional service, some so-called brāhmaṇas did not previously consider it proper to accept Haridāsa as the spiritual master for awarding the holy names. But now after hearing about his extraordinary unlimited prowess, all the prestigious brāhmaṇas accepted him as the giver of the holy names, which are nondifferent from the Lord Himself. All of them happily began to respect Haridāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Haridāsa Ṭhākura having survived the beating in twenty-two market places while declaring that even while one piece of his body lives, he would chant the Holy Names. So, this impressed all the brāhmaṇas and without hesitation they accepted him .

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.162

harināma prabhāve haridāsera aṣṭasāttvika bhāvavikāra—

adbhuta ananta haridāsera vikāra
āśru, kampa, hāsya, mūrcchā, pulaka, huṅkāra

Translation: Haridāsa displayed endless ecstatic transformations like crying, shivering, laughing, falling unconscious, hairs standing on end, and roaring.

Jayapatākā Swami: In the time of Lord Caitanya and Haridāsa Ṭhākura it was allowed to display these ecstatic symptoms, subsequently some of the apa-sampradāya sahajiyās started to imitate these ecstatic symptoms even while they were not feeling these ecstasies. So then, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura advised us that as far possible we should not display these ecstatic symptoms. But sometimes it was not possible to suppress these ecstatic symptoms and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda and Śrīla Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda sometimes displayed these ecstatic symptoms.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.163

haridāsera premāveśe bhūpatana, vipragaṇera vismaya —

āchāḍa khāyena haridāsa prema-rase
dekhiyā brāhmaṇa-gaṇa mahānande bhāse

Translation: Then, in ecstatic love, Haridāsa Ṭhākura crashed to the ground. Seeing this, the brāhmaṇas began to float in ecstasy.

Jayapatākā Swami: Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s ecstatic symptoms spread to all the brāhmaṇas.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.164

haridāsera sthairya o vipragaṇa-veṣṭita haiyā upaveśana—

sthira hai’ kṣaṇeke vasilā haridāsa
vipra-gaṇa vasilena beḍi’ cāripāśa

Translation: After a while, when Haridāsa Ṭhākura became pacified, the brāhmaṇas sat around him.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the brāhmaṇas were ready to hear from Haridāsa Ṭhākura.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.165

nijadroha śravaṇe duḥkhita vipragaṇake āśvasana o bahirdaṣṭa vyavahāra-duḥkhake bhagavatkṛpā-sampadjñāna—

haridāsa balena,—“śunaha vipra-gaṇa!
duḥkha nā bhāviha kichu āmāra kāraṇa

Translation: Haridāsa then said, “O brāhmaṇas, please listen. Don’t feel sorry for me.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.166

svayaṃ sampūrṇa doṣātīta haiyāo dainya o prapatti vaśe anya kṛta viṣṇunindā-śravaṇābhinayakāle āpanāke doṣī daṇḍya jñānadvārā jagate dainya o prapatti-śikṣā-dāna—

prabhu-nindā āmi ye śuniluṅ apāra
tā’ra śāsti karilena īśvara āmāra

Translation: “I’ve heard so much blasphemy of the Lord. That is why He has punished me.

Purport: While considering himself an ordinary conditioned soul, forced to enjoy the fruits of karma, Haridāsa humbly said, “I had to hear topics that were averse to the Lord as punishment for my previous misdeeds and aversion to the Lord. Due to my tolerance I did not adequately protest the harsh statements of persons who were averse to the Lord. That is why the Lord has awarded this punishment to me.” The Lord awards severe punishment to those who even after hearing blasphemy against the Lord and His devotees do not protest in order to make a show of tolerance. Even after hearing blasphemous words against Hari, Guru, and Vaiṣṇava, the prākṛta-sahajiyās’ attempt to justify their abominable, mean, duplicitous nature as ‘Vaiṣṇava etiquette,’ guarantees their frightful degradation.

Ṭhākura Haridāsa was truly the highest ideal of tolerance, and because the deceitful prākṛta-sahajiyā sampradāya tries to artificially imitate the quality of his tolerance, they ultimately achieve various miseries in life. Since the mahā-bhāgavata paramahaṁsa Vaiṣṇava is personally free from the blasphemy of others, he does not possess the external mundane urges to blaspheme or praise, talk unnecessarily or gossip. But since the prākṛta-sahajiyās are not situated on such an exalted platform, their endeavors to imitate result in abominable duplicity. Therefore they inevitably suffer miseries. In order to preach this topic to the deceitful prākṛta-sahajiyā sampradāyas, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, like an ordinary human being, invoked the philosophy of enjoying fruitive results.

The prākṛta-sahajiyās are forced to enjoy the fruits of their activities, but Haridāsa Ṭhākura, the crest-jewel among liberated souls and a chanter of the holy names of Hari, is certainly not forced to enjoy the fruits of his activities.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda has described this topic in his Śrī Nāmāṣṭaka (4) as follows:

“The seeds of sinful activities that cause rebirth for their fruition are not totally destroyed despite realization of oneness with Brahman through constant meditation. But, O Lord, as soon as Your holy names manifest on the tongue (even in the form of nāmābhāsa) all seeds of sinful activities are totally uprooted. This is elaborately glorified in the Vedas.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Therefore, Haridāsa Ṭhākura by his constant chanting of the holy name was protected from having the fruit of enjoying the karmic activities. When we say enjoying the fruits, good karma means material pleasure and bad karma means to suffer material distress.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.167

dainya o prapatti vaśe viṣṇunindā-śravaṇābhinaya-phala-svarūpa nijaprati vidharmikṛta mahā-droha o hiṃsākeo bhagavānera alpa daṇḍa vā kṛpā-prasāda-kṣamā-jñāna—

bhāla haila, ithe baḍa pāiluṅ santoṣa
alpa śāsti kari’ kṣamilena baḍa-doṣa

Translation: “I’m satisfied, for whatever happened to me was for my benefit. The Lord has relieved me of my great offense by awarding me a token punishment.

Purport: Those who even after hearing the blasphemy of Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas display their ’cleverness’ by posing as advanced and liberal (?) on the pre of artificial gentleness or tolerance without understanding the real purport of taror api sahiṣṇu— “more tolerant than a tree” are understood to be enjoying the results of their grave offenses. One should not consider such grave offenses as trivial and advertise sense gratification aimed at accumulating mundane fame as worship of Hari. For this reason, in order to instruct the people of the world, jagad-guru Ṭhākura Haridāsa pointed out the great faults of the foolish prākṛta-sahajiyās, who display artificial humility, by humbly saying: “I have heard blasphemy of Hari, Guru, and Vaiṣṇava without hesitation; therefore I am a great offender. Since I did not protest, it would have been proper if Hari, Guru, and Vaiṣṇava had awarded me more severe punishment; but the Lord is most merciful. He awarded me only the token punishment of being inhumanly tortured by the servants of the king and thus freed me from the offenses born from blasphemy of Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas. In this way He has proved Himself as causelessly merciful, by which my happiness and satisfaction is increased.

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.14.8) Lord Brahmā prays to the Lord as follows:

“’My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.’ In order to distort and change the meaning and purport of this Bhāgavatam verse, I failed to protest; that was my greatest mistake.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Haridāsa Ṭhākura he was stating that due to his tolerating blasphemy against the Lord, guru and the Vaiṣṇavas, he had to suffer this token punishment. Actually, being beaten in twenty-two market places is enough to kill anyone, even after three or four marketplaces, any person would die. But Haridāsa Ṭhākura was instructing us how we should be intolerant of hearing any blasphemy of the Lord, guru and the Vaiṣṇavas. That the prākṛta sahajiyās do not protest is a sign of their spiritual impropriety.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.168

svayaṃ puṇyapāpātīta mukta mahābhāgabata haiyāo āpanāke yamadaṇḍya martyajīva durbhāgya jīvera viṣṇunindā śravaṇa-janita mahāpāpa-phale kumbhīpāka-naraka lābha varṇana—

kumbhipāka haya viṣṇu-nindana-śravaṇe
tāhā āmi vistara śuniluṅ pāpa-kāṇe

Translation: “One who hears blasphemy of Lord Viṣṇu is sent to the hell known as Kumbhīpāka, and with my sinful ears I heard so much blasphemy of the Lord.

Purport: It is stated in the scriptures that an atheist who hears blasphemy of the Supreme Lord but does not protest attains the most painful hell known as Kumbhīpāka after death.

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (4.4.17) Satī spoke to Prajāpati Dakṣa as follows:

“If one hears an irresponsible person blaspheme the master and controller of religion, one should block his ears and go away if unable to punish him. But if one is able to kill, then one should by force cut out the blasphemer’s tongue and kill the offender, and after that one should give up his own life.” This is the devotees’ only remedy.

In the Bhakti-sandarbha (265) it is stated: “If one hears blasphemy of Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas, he incurs great sin:

“’Anyone who fails to immediately leave a place where criticism of the Supreme Lord or His faithful devotee is heard will certainly fall down, bereft of his pious credit.’ Only an incapable person should leave that place, otherwise a capable person must cut out the tongue of one who blasphemes Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas. If one is incapable of doing either, then he should give up his body.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, when I was a bhakta in Montreal, I went distributing books in a University Hostel and when I knocked at one door and he opened and the person started blaspheming Kṛṣṇa, he said all kinds of horrible things. I immediately turned around and walked away and I felt very good. I don’t think it would be appropriate to cut out his tongue!

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.169

viṣṇunindā-śravaṇābhinaya-phala-svarūpa nijaprati bhīṣaṇa-droha o hiṁsāke yathāyogya bhagavatkṛpā-daṇḍa-jñāna evaṁ duḥsaṅgajanita nāmāparādha haite nirmukti-prārthanā-dvārā śikṣādāna—

yogya śāsti karilena īśvara tāhāra
hena pāpa āra yena nahe punar-bāra

Translation: “Therefore the Lord has given me an appropriate punishment for my offense so that I may not commit such sins in the future.”

Purport: With the imitative prākṛta-sahajiyā sampradāyas in mind, Haridāsa spoke the following words of instruction: “As a Vaiṣṇava, I will never again hear blasphemy against Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas under the shelter of tṛṇād api sunīcatā or on the plea of taror api sahiṣṇutā. I have had a sufficient lesson this time. The Lord is most merciful; He taught me by awarding a token punishment for a grave offense.” Due to misfortune, the prākṛta-sahajiyā sampradāyas, who are offenders of the holy names, cannot understand the actual purport and substance of these statements of Ṭhākura Haridāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Haridāsa Ṭhākura is, by his statements, explaining how hearing any blasphemy of Viṣṇu or Vaiṣṇavas is a great offense and should not be tolerated but we have to do as expalined above.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.170

sajjana bhūsuragaṇa-saha haridāsera kṛṣṇa-kīrtana —

hena-mate haridāsa vipra-gaṇa-saṅge
nirbhaye karena saṅkīrtana mahāraṅge

Translation: Thereafter Haridāsa and the brāhmaṇas fearlessly enjoyed congregationally chanting the holy names of the Lord.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since Haridāsa Ṭhākura had received the permission of the King to chant the Holy names of Kṛṣṇa without impediment, therefore he fearlessly chanted.

Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa 16.171

vaikuṇṭhaśrautasatya-pracāraka nirdoṣa jagadguru vaiṣṇavācārya-prati drohajanita mahāparādhera phala—

tāhāne o duḥkha dila ye-saba yavane
savaṁśe ucchanna tā’rā haila kata-dine

Translation: The Yavanas who had beaten Haridāsa, as well as their families, were all destroyed within a few days.

Purport: The sinful atheist Yavanas soon achieved the miserable results obtained by persons who torture and envy Vaiṣṇavas. In the Skanda Purāṇa it is stated:

“Whoever kills or blasphemes a Vaiṣṇava, whoever is envious of or angry with a Vaiṣṇava, and whoever does not offer obeisances or feel joy upon seeing a Vaiṣṇava certainly falls into a hellish condition.” According to this infallible scriptural decree, the Yavanas along with their families were soon destroyed by severe diseases like cholera or smallpox.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the executioners who had beaten Haridāsa Ṭhākura in twenty-two market places and requested Haridāsa Ṭhākura to die so that they would not be beaten to death themselves, they were destroyed along with their families.

Thus ends the chapter titled: The Yavanas who had beaten Haridāsa, were all destroyed along with their families, Part 2.
Under the section: The Glories of Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura