20200222 Viśvambhara Eats Raw Rice From Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī (Part 1)

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

Viśvambhara Eats Raw Rice from Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī (Part 1)

Introduction: So, the GBC meetings are over, but I am tired! Ha! Ha!  Next year I am going to buy cold pressed oil from her and give the GBC! (Gesturing to a devotee sitting outside on the terrace.)

It is not so crowded here tonight because most of the devotees are downstairs for the Kīrtana-melā adhivāsa.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.119

śuklāmbarera bhikṣājhuli-skandhe praveśa o nṛtya; taddarśane mahāprabhura hāsya evaṃ tadīya guṇa-varṇana—

jhuli kāndhe lai’ vipra nāce mahāraṅge
dekhi’ hāse prabhu saba-vaiṣṇavera saṅge

Jayapatākā Swami: So, with the begging bag on his shoulder, the vipra, brāhmaṇa Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī danced in ecstasy, seeing this the Lord and all the Vaiṣṇavas with Him, laughed!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.120

vasiyā āchaye prabhu īśvara āveśe
jhuli kāndhe śuklāmbara nāce kānde hāse

Jayapatākā Swami: So Viśvambhara was treated in the mood of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī, with a bag on his shoulder was dancing, crying and laughing.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.121

śuklāmbara dekhiyā gaurāṅga kṛpāmaya
`āisa, āisa’ kari’ prabhu balaye sadaya

Jayapatākā Swami: So Lord Gaurāṅga, the all merciful Gaurāṅga, seeing Śuklāmbara, He called out to him, āisa, āisa’, come here! Come here! Saying this, He called out in mercy!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.122-123

“daridra sevaka mora tumi janma janma
āmāre sakala diyā tumi bhikṣu-dharma

Jayapatākā Swami: You are My poor servant, birth after birth. You give everything to Me and you remain a beggar, you practice the duty of being a beggar.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16. 123

āmiha tomāra dravya anukṣaṇa cāi
tumi nā dile o āmi bala kari’ khāi

Jayapatākā Swami: I want your foodstuffs. I always desire your foodstuffs. But even if you don’t give to Me, I forcibly take and eat them! So Lord Caitanya said to Śuklāmbara, you are my impoverished devotee, birth after birth. You have no desire to enter family life and become a householder. You beg alms door to door as a brahmacārī and offer Me whatever you collect. You are a naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī or a lifelong servant. You are free from even mundane false ego, of all the gṛhasthas and vānaprasthas. Being situated in the paramahaṁsa-dharma, you have accepted occupational duties of the renounced, akiñcana means ‘having nothing’. Therefore, you are actually a fully surrendered tridaṇḍi-bhikṣu or vaiṣṇava sannyāsī. You have been able to offer Me your mind, your speech and your body. I always long for your offering! You have no preoccupation and do not enjoy anything, other than offering Me everything! Therefore, I personally took everything away from you, and as a result you are poor. So, him being poor is a special mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa. But he didn’t care. He wanted to offer everything to Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa took away any opulence, and still whatever he got by begging, he would offer to the Lord.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.124

dvārakāra mājhe khuda kāḍi’ khāiluṅ tora
pāsarilā? kamalā dharila hasta mora”

Jayapatākā Swami: Did you forget that I personally took your broken rice in Dvārakā? Have you forgotten? Kamalā, Rukmiṇī, goddess of fortune, She held My hand.

So this is described in the Śrīmad-bhāgavatam10^th Canto in the 81^st chapter, 10^th verse. So, Kṛṣṇa took one handful and was about to take another. When Rukmiṇī the goddess of fortune, took hold of His hand, because She said, that if by taking one morsel, He had to give him opulence like Kṛṣṇa’s, but if He took two then He would have to give more than Kṛṣṇa! Since he begged rice, it was not his rice, and there is nothing that is not Kṛṣṇa’s, therefore she stopped Kṛṣṇa from eating again because She couldn’t repay Sudāma Viprā appropriately if He took two bites!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.125

eta bali’ hasta diyā jhulira bhitara
muṣṭi muṣṭi taṇḍula civāya viśvambhara

Jayapatākā Swami: Saying this, Viśvambhara, put His hand inside the bag and taking fistfuls and fistfuls of the broken rice, or the raw rice, He began to chew it.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.126

śuklāmbara bale,—“prabhu kailā sarva-nāśa
e taṇḍule khuda-kaṇa bahuta prakāśa”

Jayapatākā Swami: Śuklāmbara exclaimed, Prabhu, My Lord, You have ruined me. This rice is full of broken particles!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.127

prabhu-kartṛka bhaktera nikṛṣṭa dravyao sbecchāya bhakṣaṇa evaṃ abhaktera amṛteo upekṣā—

prabhu bale,—“tora khuda-kaṇa muñi khāṅa

abhaktera amṛta ulaṭi’ nāhi cāṅa”

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lord replied, I ate your broken rice and I turned My head away from the nectar offered by non-devotees.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.81.3) it is stated:

aṇv apy upāhṛtaṁ bhaktaiḥ
premṇā bhury eva me bhavet
bhūry apy abhaktopahṛtaṁ
na me toṣāya kalpate

Translation: “I regard as great even the smallest gift offered by My devotees in pure love, but even great offerings presented by non-devotees do not please Me.”

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.128

prabhura acintya caritre bhaktagaṇera harṣāśru evaṃ kṛṣṇakīrtana

svatantra paramānanda bhaktera jīvana
civāya taṇḍula, ke karibe nivāraṇa

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lord who is the life of the devotees and who is completely independent and is always in spiritual ecstasy. If He chews that uncooked rice, who could stop Him?

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.129

prabhura kāruṇya dekhi’ sarva-bhakta-gaṇa
śire hāta diyā sabe karena krandana

Jayapatākā Swami: Seeing the Lord’s compassion, all the assembled devotees put their hands on their heads and they began to cry!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.130

nā jāni, ke kon dige paḍaye kāndiyāsa
bei vihvala hailā kāruṇya dekhiyā

Jayapatākā Swami: Seeing that compassion, no one could say where the devotees fell in ecstasy crying. They all became overwhelmed on seeing such compassion.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.131

uṭhila paramānanda—kṛṣṇera kīrtana
śiśu vṛddha ādi kari’ kānde sarva-jana

Jayapatākā Swami: So, everyone began to chant the glories of Kṛṣṇa and performed kṛṣṇa-kīrtana. And there rose great ecstasy amongst everyone. Whether children or elderly, everyone was crying!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.132

dante tṛṇa kare keha, keha namaskare
keha bale,—“prabhu kabhu nā chāḍibā more”

Jayapatākā Swami: Someone put a straw in their teeth and someone offered obeisances, and someone said, oh Lord, never, never, leave Me! Haribol! Gaurāṅga!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.133

gaḍāgaḍi yāyena sukṛti śuklāmbara
taṇḍula khāyena sukhe vaikuṇṭha īśvara

Jayapatākā Swami: The pious Śuklāmbara rolled on the ground as the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha happily ate the rice!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.134

aikāntika bhaktera kāryāvalī kṛṣṇecchājanita—

prabhu bale,—“śuna śuklāmbara brahmacāri!
tomāra hṛdaye āmi sarvadā vihari

Jayapatākā Swami: The Lord said, listen, Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī, I constantly enjoy pastimes in your heart! So, the Lord is in the heart of His pure devotee and the pure devotee is always thinking of the Lord. So, in that way the Lord is performing pastimes in the heart of His pure devotees! Gauuuuuuurāṅga!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.135

tomāra bhojane haya āmāra bhojana
tumi bhikṣāya calile āmāra paryaṭana

Jayapatākā Swami: When you eat, I eat. When you are walking around begging, that is My travelling. So, the Lord, Viśvambhara, He distributes the holy names through His Vaiṣṇavas tridaṇḍi-sannyāsīs and pure devotees. Under the shelter of Śrī Caitanya, they wander about on the pretext of begging alms. But, they may distribute books or they may engage in other activities, people think that they are parasites. But actually, they are doing a confidential service for the Lord!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.136

prema-bhakti vilāite mora avatāra
janma janma tumi prema-sevaka āmāra

Jayapatākā Swami: I incarnated to distribute pure love of Kṛṣṇa, prema-bhakti, and you have come as My loving, beloved servant, birth after birth!

How many more verses? 34.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.137

prabhura śuklāmbarake premabhakti varadāna, tāhāte bhaktagaṇera jayadhvani—

tomāre dilāma āmi prema-bhakti dāna
niścaya jāniha `prema-bhakti mora prāṇa’

Jayapatākā Swami: I give you prema-bhakti, pure love for Kṛṣṇa. Know for certain that prema-bhakti, pure love for Kṛṣṇa is My life and soul!

So, who would like prema-bhakti? (Haribol!) Lord Caitanya incarnated and wanted to give this!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.138

śuklāmbarera vara śuni’ vaiṣṇava-maṇḍala
jaya jaya hari-dhvani karila sakala

Jayapatākā Swami: And hearing the benediction of Gaurāṅga Mahaprabhu, Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī received, all the Vaiṣṇavas chanted hari-dhvani, Jaya! Jaya! Hari Hari Haribol! Haribol! All ladies did the ulu-dhvani. All the men did the hari-dhvani! Hari! Hari! Hariii! Hariii! Hariii! Harii Hariii! Haribol!

I will continue tomorrow. Anyone who wants a book which I will sign, there is a book table there somewhere. Get the book and bring it here and I will sign. Meanwhile, if anyone has a question? A question from last night, you know that person is here?

Question (from last night): While chanting, if we see some picture of Kṛṣṇa, Prabhupāda, while the lips uttered the holy name, would that be considered as inattentive chanting? - Sujitendriya dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Seeing a picture of Kṛṣṇa or Prabhupāda or chanting in front of the deity of Prabhupāda is considered attentive chanting. In fact, if we chant in front of the deities, we are using our eyes to see Kṛṣṇa, we are using our tongue and lips to say Kṛṣṇa and our ears to hear Kṛṣṇa. We are using all our senses. If we have incense, you can be smelling the prasāda of Kṛṣṇa, and when we use our beads, all our senses are absorbed in mantra meditation.

Question: Dear Gurudeva. Please accept my respectful obeisances. Honestly speaking, I am getting disturbed by lusty desires opposite gender attracts me seriously. I don’t want this. Please give me a medicine and blessings.

Jayapatākā Swami: Being in this material world, the possibility is there. Either one has to see which āśrama they are best suited for. If they can completely renounce, then the renounced order. If they cannot renounce, then have responsible, regulated activities in the family life and engage fully in Kṛṣṇa’s service, in Kṛṣṇa’s chanting. Gradually, one can cross over this situation.

Question: Please accept my respectful obeisances, All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Gurudeva! How to know the if the service a disciple is doing is pleasing to the guru? Or he/she has to always be trying to expand this service?  This is in relation with the teaching of giving the guru milk, instead of water that the guru wants. - Ikśavāku dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: What the guru is asking for, one should give that. If the guru wants water and he gives milk, that is not fulfilling his desire. So, if you are doing a service which the guru has told you to, then there is no problem. If you have a doubt, if the guru is in this world, you can ask him. If your guru is not then, you can see whether you are following his instruction, or talk to some senior devotee, and see what you are doing is alright.

Question: Śrīla Prabhupāda and you and others say, chant and be happy! But you also said that we should cry and cry and cry because we are not crying and crying and crying while chanting the holy name. - Your insignificant devotee. Audārya dhāma devī dāsī from Māyāpur.

Jayapatākā Swami: Yes! Next question! We should develop - by chanting purely then naturally we should be crying. Just like we see in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya that devotees when they saw the great qualities of compassion and mercy of Lord Caitanya, they naturally started to cry. So why we are not crying when we hear these wonderful pastimes, when we hear how merciful the Lord is! If we are not crying, we should be crying that we are not crying! and if we are not crying that we are not crying, we should cry that we are not crying that we are not crying! So, this comes naturally when we appreciate the Lord’s quality of compassion and mercy! That crying is happiness, that’s the highest happiness, to be crying in ecstasy! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: Please accept my respectful obeisances, you said the glories of the holy name a while ago. Can an initiated devotee after his leaving the body, can any other devotee chant on his beads? If that is not allowed, then, what do we do with his beads? - Your eternal servant, Iśvara Viśvamabhara dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Question was, if someone dies, can we use his japa-māla to chant on? I saw the japa beads alleged to be the japa of Jagāi Mādhāi in Katwa. So they were on the samādhi. Similarly, on the samādhi of Haridāsa Ṭhākura there are beads on top of his samādhi. I don’t know if it actually means that they stay there. Generally, we don’t chant on the beads of great devotees. One time I was give beads by a secretary of Śrīla Prabhupāda. At that time, I chanted, and I felt great ecstasy. I came back from the park after I chanted 32 rounds, nonstop! I was feeling more ecstasy. That secretary told me, oh! You have the beads, they are Śrīla Prabhupāda’s beads, I shouldn’t be giving them to anybody! I gave you by accident! so I had to give back. So it was not quite the same. So, maybe some deceased devotee’s beads may be very powerful, but maybe not be meant to be glorious, and generally we don’t chant. We give those in the devotees’ in their samādhi or something. But I didn’t see anything particularly for or against it in the śāstra, so I cannot really say.