19821019 Arrival Address

(Disclaimer: The following is a machine-generated transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. It will be reviewed and verified against the original audio soon.)

The following is an arrival address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 19, 1982 – in Honolulu, USA. The lecture begins with a reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.12.11.

That is, regarding the position, especially in the Age of Kali, the people who are taken to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, those people who are chanting Kṛṣṇa’s name I either regularly or even irregularly. It’s stated in the scriptures that generally if someone. In order for someone to chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, it’s understood that he’s already undergone all types of prerequisite activities, processes of purification such as taking bath in the holy rivers, performing fire sacrifices and all types of austerities, etc. So are we to understand that in this age that Lord Caitanya primarily has come to give the mercy to those souls who have already undergone the prerequisite activities? Or is Lord Caitanya just distributing to anyone, regardless of previous position, loving Kṛṣṇa for those who  will simply take.

Some people are thinking that the mercy of Bo Chittanya is that Bo Chittanya has come in the age of Kali primarily to deliver those who are qualified, who have qualified themselves due to the prerequisite activities that we mentioned. To be understood someone who says Hare Kṛṣṇa even once, that’s as good as having performed all the previous activities. How would you. How can we better understand? Did I present that fairly.

Lord? No. It’s not just those people that Lord Chaitanu’s mercy is available to everyone but Prabhupāda. He says here that certain things are performed by someone who does take to the chanting of the holy Name, that he has already done certain material purifying processes.

Generally most people that shan Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Let me read what he says. If I can do that. You have to read all Quran.

But.

Well, this is just as a. Just as a student in a law class is to be understood to have already graduated from general education. So anyone who is engaged in the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa.

Hare.

Must have already passed all lower stages. It is said that those who simply chant the Holy Name with the tip of the tongue are glorious. One does not have to chant the holy name of the Lord and understand the whole procedure to eradicate such doubts in the minds of unbelievers. This verse affirms that the stage of chanting of the holy name of the Lord is not sudden, but that the chanters have already performed all kinds of Vedic rituals and sacrifices. It is not very astounding because no one in this life can chant the holy name of the Lord unless he has passed all lower stages such as performing the Vedic ritualistic sacrifices, studying the Vedas and practicing good behavior like that of the Aryans. All this must first have been done.

So therefore we would understand that we distribute. Anyone who’s taken has already done all those things. Or Lor Chaitanya is this. I mean, how is Lor Chaitanya more magnificent than Ka? What is the meaning of Mahavana?

When discussing these philosophical points, then there’s always the danger of looking at something only from one particular angle. Because the scripture describes the truth from many different angles. And that’s why, just like the scripture says that you shouldn’t touch any bones, another place it says if you do, you should take a bath. Yet we use the bone in our pūjā in the form of a quan shell, and that’s considered to be pure. In fact, we bathe the deity with a quan shell. Similarly, we’re not supposed touch any animal stool, but we use the cow dung to obey the deity. It’s so pure we use it to purify our house. So like that, in the scripture you will find different examples given at different places.

And the problem is that if a person does not take the proper instruction to combine those apparently contradictory instructions, or if one doesn’t follow the scriptures clearly, then it creates a whole confusion. Actually, this was described by Rla Prabhupāda in his books that the basic thing is that we have to become spiritually qualified. We have to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. And so there are different ways that can happen. For instance, I remember there was one devotee at the Kumbh Mela who kept asking Rla Prabhupāda that it says that we all performed all these different activities in our previous lives. But from my very birth, all I have only been interested in is sense gratification, breaking principles. I don’t see any reason why I should have been chosen to be Kṛṣṇa conscious or why I have had this good fortune. I don’t see any good qualities in me.

And then Prasuda Prabhupāda, he just very emphatically spoke that, yes, I am the cause of your good fortune. I have given your good fortune. And then there were some other devotees. One time india, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that, oh, these devotees are all been devotees before they were india before they were born as devotees before, and they were sent to me just to help me. And then one life member came in the room and he said that your disciples are so wonderful. They’re greater than so many Indian sadhus I have seen. They must have been born as sadhus in their previous life. And then Prabhupāda called all those people at him and said, just see what did I tell you this morning. Now he is confirming same thing he is saying.

So then one devotee said that Bachela Prabhupāda, so sinful, so many desires, how can this be something question like that? And Prabhupāda yelled out angry, why you are doubting? That is all superficial. So even in Śrīla Prabhupāda, destruction to different disciples, there are different situations. Of course, the devotee who said that you’re simply here by my mercy at this time is blooped. I don’t know if that means anything. But the person who he said was the devotees, who he said were devotees in their previous life, they’re all still in the movement and two of them are Acharyas and one other is a Sannyāsī. So in this regard I think that the only proper answer would be to say that from different angles both of the propositions are correct.

That definitely there are souls who were devotees in their previous life and have come to the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement. @ the same time there are also souls who are elevated by special mercy. So Prabhupāda explained this that just like a person becomes a millionaire, some people become millionaires by their hard work. Just like a person who practices devotional service rules and regulations gradually elevates Sadhana Siddhi, he becomes perfected by Sadhana and then finally gets the mercy of the Lord. Others are born with already some kind of special qualities. And there are others who don’t have any apparent quality but they also get their mercy. So without having any equality but still getting the mercy, then that’s called Kripacity. The Prabhupāda said all three are there. So how can we say that there’s no creepacity when scripture is saying there’s also creeposity?

Meaning a person doesn’t have any qualification but just by the mercy of the Lord or His great devotee, that person gets the special upliftment. Of course, if you want to say, well, they have all performed this bathing before, well, the answer is right here on. I think it’s the other side, the English side of this prayer that simply by seeing the devotees of Lord Chaitanya according to number three, merely by the touch of the waters of the sacred Ganges, one becomes liberated. But even he is the lowest of mankind. But just by seeing you, the same effect is achieved such as equality that just by having the association with Lord Caitanya’s devotees, they have already bathed in the Ganges because Their association also contains the essence of the Ganges of the Holy Dhamma.

So the point is, the example is that just like getting a million dollars, the people get million dollars in different ways. Once you have a million dollars, that means you already had one thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, five hundred thousand automatically, you see? But some people went through the gradual way of getting it, and someone else, they may have just been handed it. Didn’t there used to be a television show?

But isn’t that the special feature of Lord Caitanya?

So the point is that the special feature of Lord Caitanya, Mahprabhu and Nityānanda is that they don’t consider who’s qualified and who’s unqualified. They don’t actually make that consideration that what is this person’s qualification? Even if a person is qualified but very proud, rather they may neglect that person. And if a person is very unqualified materially, then still Lord Caitanya, without considering that if the person just comes forward for getting the mercy or somehow is introduced by some devotee, then Lord Caitanya gives that mercy. So this way you can argue this point ad infinitum that what came first, was there any mercy that came before this or that? But if you take it that there must in the material world, since they fell down, they came with no credit. So somewhere along the line they had to build up some credit.

They had to meet a devotee or build up some sukriti. So how can someone say that this wasn’t the first time that somebody built up sukriti? There are people who are completely no interest at all in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even offensive. And just by a concerted effort by a devotee feeding them prasadam and different ways, cultivating them, that they’re completely turned around. And there are people that walk in the door. Just like I gave a lecture in the National Library in Peru, in Lima. And there were two people who came to go to the library for studying for their final exams. In the auditorium and another part of the building, the program was going on. So they came over to listen. They listened to the lecture. And just in that one day, that one lecture, they came and joined the temple the next day.

They never heard of Kṛṣṇa Kandja movement before. So of course we can only say that, well, it was that powerful lecture. If some would come so easily, it would seem to indicate that they had this previous some assets. And there are some who come with great difficulty, even come and go, or they come for a long time, or they just, you know they’re known, I think, as they have different names for them who come for a long time and just don’t ever seem to surrender, even though they’re not offensive, but they just don’t have any desire very much for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. But somehow, of course, those that we know, they come and go a little bit.

So in that regard, the real point is that once the person is qualified enchanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, then it’s to be understood that he’s a millionaire, for example. And so therefore he’s already has all the qualities. He’s already technically, therefore you can consider that, well, he’s gone through everything. And even the question of being abrupt in the eternal sense, even if the whole transition takes a very short amount of time because of the power of the Holy Name, that effect is also perfect. It’s not that the effect is imperfect, that a person who gets the mercy of Lord Caitanya and becomes fully purified is only partially purified because it happened in a shorter amount of time by some superficial vision.

So Prabhupāda expressed this point that whether one is born perfect, or whether one has become perfect by practicing devotional service for a long time, or whether without any apparent qualification, they just got the mercy that once they get to that level of pure devotional service, they’re supposed to be considered as perfect. We don’t say that he is American Vaiava, or he was this Vaishnava Prabhupāda objected when they call Haridas, talk with Javan Haridas. Once you’re Haridas, once you’re a devotee, then there’s no question about what you were before. So here you have a situation where you will find purports which some of them stress the previous qualification, while others  will stress the mercy of Lord Caitanya to deliver everyone. You see, then you can, if you want to go on in this way, you see, am I mentally trying to understand?

Then you well, if the souls have been in the material world for so many millions of births, then is there anyone that. That even as animal or as a fish or something, never swam in the Ganges, or never saw sacrifices, then this way then you can go out and it becomes the whole mental, you know, what became first the seed or the tree type of situation. So in that way there’s always a limit to our ability to understand these things by our mental power. The Prabhupāda gave us this extra example in different places about these three different ways of becoming perfect. So Kripaas Hiddhi means that without any cause, the person just gets to cause this mercy. So that means that there are some that don’t have any qualification, but they got special mercy.

And so that definitely is the unique feature of Lord Caitanya. But there’s another thing which is more unique in that Caitanya Maharabha’s movement which sometimes devotees fail to understand that Kṛṣṇa, he delivered all these even demons, he gave them mukti. And he delivered so many souls, gave them all liberation. And some of them he elevated to places in the spiritual world. But there are many souls who are present here who did not develop love for Kṛṣṇa even when Kṛṣṇa was present. In fact, it also says that you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa even for a million births if you’re committing offenses and you won’t get love for Kṛṣṇa. But yet Lord Caitanya’s mercy is such that we know that in this material world everyone is liable to commit so many offenses yet and so many sinful activities.

Yet he gives them love for Kṛṣṇa very quickly that he is giving out Kṛṣṇa Prema for Diety Kṛṣṇa Prema means love for Kṛṣṇa. Because Lord Caitanya’s nature is to forgive offenses. Even if we’re in this material world, even if we have bathed and done all these things. So it doesn’t mean we will get liberation or we will get even or to speak of love for God. Because if we have committed offenses and if we’re still committing offenses, those offenses, you see, are enough to delay our whole progress. This is the special mercy of Lord Caitanya that He eradicates all of these offenses. That he eradicates these offenses by his causeless mercy. Thus the real Prema, the real love for Kṛṣṇa which is dormant within us, becomes manifested.

You see, Kṛṣṇa Prema Nitya Siddha Sadhdu Kabono Savannah Nitya Siddha Kṛṣṇa Prema Sadhdu Kabunoi Savonadi Sutta Citta Koraye Udoy that the Kṛṣṇa Prema is within all of us. It’s not that we haven’t been pure. We all were pure at one time. Kṛṣṇa Prema is a natural nature of all of us. But we have been covered up. So when the covering is removed by either that it was we moved before and we have come just appearing to be in a conditional world. But that’s called Nityasiddha. Or whether by our practice or whether by some special mercy, once the covering is removed, then where’s the question of how it was removed or what were before. You see, once that illusion is taken away, then one is already automatically qualified. So this illusion is covered. Even one has some spiritual asset.

But by offenses that asset is being hampered, it’s being blocked. You see, the example is given that look at so many demons. They went to Vrindavan to kill Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa, I mean Kṛṣṇa killed them and gave them liberation. So Kṛṣṇa glorified how kind he was. But Jagai Madai, they went also to practically kill Nithyananda. But by the mercy of Nithyananda, Lord Caitanya gave them love for Kṛṣṇa. So this is the difference that Lord Kṛṣṇa, he gave Mukti very easily. Sarva Dharman, Prithya, Jamame Kang Saranang Baja Hangtang, Sarvapi Bhyomukhi, Sami Masuchan. I will liberate you from all these sinful reactions. And also he gave, just like he gave the position of his mother to Putana. But how many actually got love for Kṛṣṇa? Those were some very rare and some very special devotees.

But Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave love for Kṛṣṇa to everyone, to all the devotees and those who came forward, those who somehow or another got that mercy. And he gave love for Kṛṣṇa. This love for Kṛṣṇa is the real jewel, that is the real diamond that everyone is hankering for. Because by that love for Kṛṣṇa doesn’t matter anymore. Whether you’re born in the material world, spiritual where you are, if you have love for Kṛṣṇa, then you automatically achieve more than liberation. All the liberations are already achieved. Therefore, what difference does it make as long as we have love for Kṛṣṇa. Whether Kṛṣṇa wants us in the material world or in the spiritual, it’s all spiritual. Because with Premanjana, Churito, Vilo, Chanena, with the eyes anointed with the Sabha of love, you’re seeing Kṛṣṇa always. Everything is connected with Kṛṣṇa.

So in that sense that Lord Caitanya, not only did he give quantitative mercy, but he also gave qualitatively more mercy. Now the subject here we’re discussing is the in the quantity of devotees that he gave the mercy to. Or you can say that in terms of the quality, but the different number of devotees that he gave the mercy to. So actually he said he didn’t give the very big people, big Brahmanas who bathed in the Ganges, who did all those things. He didn’t give them mercy if they were proud, those who are very proud and who are very arrogant and they didn’t want to really bow down before Kṛṣṇa, bow down before God. He didn’t give them the mercy but he gave those who came forward humbly with a straw in their mouth or were somehow another humbled by the instructions of other devotee.

And what he gave, that is what’s priced qualitatively. There’s no comparison. Because he gave pure love for Kṛṣṇa which even Kṛṣṇa himself does not give so easily. Hare Kṛṣṇa, wasn’t it also a fact.

That Lord Chaitani gave the chanting process of Hare Kṛṣṇa sage which to be the most sublime, most simple method. Previously people had to bathe in the gaṅgā, perform sacrifices, etc. Etc. Very difficult which can’t be done in a sage for all he cannot perform those jagas. He cannot perform those austere sacrifices. So Lord Chikarna said, just take the chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, anyone who  will chant then by that chanting chantil dark and marshmallow, then they become purified and they become humble. Etc and then Lord Chandani kids grows from the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa simultaneously the end and the means.

This is a but on top of his.

No, it’s not a but. It’s perfectly correct. I disagree. Is it? It seems as though Prabhupāda is saying generally. I am not saying that Lord Satan, you can’t deliver anyone even without any qualifications at all. But is it that generally someone that does Chandary Kṛṣṇa has done these things previously. I am not saying absolute, I never said that ever. I never said it was an absolute.

You can study the symptom. In other words, india I imagine everywhere. But of course, because I have been living india, we always study the characteristics of people when they come. Just like in astrology, there’s a science called Prashna. You walk in a room. When you walk in the room at that time where you scratch what you do, the person sitting there, just by seeing your movements and by other certain signs and other sounds and feelings that are going on, he can already tell you before you speak what you’re going to ask him. You see. So we’re of course not really that much interested in all these astrological things. But I am just using this as an example that we study how people come naturally when we see how people come.

You can see that when someone walks in the door and you can practically see written on his forehead devotee. And then you see some people where, I mean you can’t even drag them to the temple. But somehow over a period of time, by some association with the devotee, they get the mercy. And once they get that mercy, they actually become very nice devotees. So in that sense Even within our limited vision, we can see various types of categories of people that are coming. I’d like to just answer his question which is given first because again, this point I was trying to make is that about the difference between Lord Caitanya’s mercy and the mercy of previous incarnations is that it’s not that the Holy Name wasn’t present in this universe before this Kali Yuga.

In the Bhāgavatam, if you refer Ajāmila chanted the name of Nārāyaṇa and he was delivered. And Vālmīki only could speak the Rāmāyaṇa by chanting, the name of Ram. Of course he chanted as a Nama vas, mara, mara, kill, kill. And I came out Ram, Ram. But because of chanting he became purified from Dasuratnikar to Vāmīki the great Sage, from an armed robber, thief, murderer to a great self-realized sage by chanting. And that was in The Tretā Yuga 10,000 years before Rāma appeared. Then of course Prahlāda Maharaj, he was always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa at the same time. He was always remembering Kṛṣṇa. So sometimes he’s given credit for smaraṇam for always remembering Kṛṣṇa without any deviation at the same time he was chanting. So that way both the Holy Name and Mary are both claiming their share of credit.

Then you can go in the Dvāpara-yuga you find that Draupadī when she was being attacked by those Kurus who wanted to strip her naked, ultimately she started crying out on the name of Kṛṣṇa and by chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa, she was delivered.