20200223 Viśvambhara Eats Raw Rice From Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī (Part 2)

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

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.139

sākṣāt lakṣmīpatira sevakera bhikṣā-tātparya sādhāraṇera agamya—

kamalā-nāthera bhṛtya ghare ghare māge
e rasera marma jāne kon mahābhāge

Jayapatākā Swami: The servant of the husband of the goddess Lakṣmī, he begs from door to door. Who can understand the mellow of this confidential pastime? What fortunate soul can understand the Lord’s mysterious pastimes?

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.140

aikāntika bhakta śuklāmbarera mādhukarī balapūrvaka grahaṇa-dvārā gaurasundarera svayam bhikṣudharmera āvāhana—

daśa ghare māgiyā taṇḍula vipra pāya

lakṣmī-pati gauracandra tāhā kāḍi’ khāya

Jayapatākā Swami: Whatever the vipra, Śuklāmbara begged from ten houses, whatever he collected by bringing from ten houses was eaten by Gauracandra, the husband of Lakṣmī, by forcibly taking and eating! Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī liked to offer very opulent things to the Lord, the husband of Lakṣmī, but he was not able and he begged from house to house and he got broken rice. Lord Caitanya approved of His devotees humble behavior and forcibly ate his collected rice. In this way, Lord Caitanya is the worshipable Lord of the tridaṇḍi-bhikṣus, the tridaṇḍi sannyāsīs, He is their worshipable Lord. So, the tridaṇḍi-bhikṣus collect alms, not for their personal, filling their stomach, but for service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Staying away from material enjoyment the brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs engage in begging or book distribution and try to help the fallen souls and accept whatever is given, without complaining. So, the devotees, especially the brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs, they take whatever they receive to utilize in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Thus, they don’t get entangled in the complexities of material life. So Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he approved of this activity for the Gauḍīya Maṭha vasis, the brahmacārīs and sannyāsī who lived in the Gauḍīya Maṭha.  He wanted them to be good examples of yukta-vairāgya. Śrīla Prabhupāda did not make a Maṭha, Maṭha is simply for sannyāsīs, brahmacārīs, maybe widows and he made mandirs which would help brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs, and also gṛhasthās and single people. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was trying to engage everyone in the service of Kṛṣṇa, because he did not want devotees to be mistaken for ordinary beggars. He had the principle that you should not accept anything without giving something in return. So, the devotees would distribute prasāda or books, or something, in exchange whatever they would receive. Whatever they received, they would return and give it to the temple. In this way, they took their prasāda from the temple, and they lived a life of type of renunciation. The gṛhasthas would follow the ideal family life and they would take some maintenance. They would work outside and support the temple in different ways, either contributing energy or finance. In this way, everyone was engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service, according to their situation and āśrama. So, here it mentions that Lord Viśvambhara, Gaurahari, He actually stole the food from Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī, He took it by force and He ate it! So, this would be a prohibited activity ordinarily, but because the Lord took His devotee’s broken rice, it was considered an act of extreme mercy! So, the gṛhasthas, knowing that Lord Caitanya, the different offerings they give to the temple residents are offered to the Lord, so they should give nice things to be offered to the Lord! The culture of the gṛhamedhīs, very selfish gṛhasthas (householders) is to give the rice, other grains which are substandard, and which are not of much use in their house. But this in turn is offered to the Lord and that is not a good thing for the gṛhastha. It is a good thing for the devotee, because whatever he gets, he offers to the Lord. So, we should try to give nice things to Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, so that Kṛṣṇa will get nice things offered to Him. Now we are having the Kīrtana-melā, those who aspire for kṛṣṇa-prema or pure love of Kṛṣṇa, they should chant the holy names, and they should understand the great activities of the pure devotees. Some of the residents of the temples want to preach to the householders who are fortunate by their wanting kṛṣṇa-prema, they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, they like to preach to these householders and help them in their spiritual life so that they can achieve love of God. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.141

vaidika naivedya-dānavidhi atikramapūrvaka mahāprabhura śuklāmbara taṇḍula-grahaṇera tātparya-arcana-pathāpekṣā anurāgapathera mahimā pradarśana o kṛṣṇabhaktira sarvaśreṣṭhatva-sthāpana—

mudrāra sahita naivedyera yata vidhi
veda-rūpe āpane balena guṇa-nidhi

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Gaurāṅga, the ocean of good qualities, He explained the rules of offering food to the Lord. Showing the mudrās, the hand positions and all the Vedic mantras. So in this way, He taught all His followers the rules for offering food. One should offer the food by chanting astrāya phaṭ and sprinkling water over, astrāya phaṭ! phaṭ! It protects the Lord with the offering, and one executes the cakra-mudrā. And then on a different finger and water and chants the vāyu-bīja, ten times, and sprinkles that water on the offering. Then puts in the palm of his hand a vāni-bīja and with the left hand on the right hand, display the fourth offering. With the fire rising from this, one should mentally burn the dryness of the offering. Thereafter, one should mentally place an amṛta-bīja within his left palm. Then with his right hand below the left, display this before the offering. One should then sprinkle the nectar arising from this mudrā, on the offering. After that, one should sprinkle the previously purified water on the offering after chanting the mūla-mantra and consider that the entire offering is nectar, then touching the right hand, one should touch the offering with one’s right hand. One should chant the mūla-mantra eight times. After that, after executing the dhenu-mudrā, one should consider that the offering is complete. And, one should worship that offering along with Śrī Hari with ingredients such as water and sandalwood paste. Thereafter, taking a handful of flowers, one should worship Śrī Hari and beg in prayer, oh, Lord let fire emanate from Your lotus mouth to accept this offering.  Therefore, one should mentally consider that fire as emanating from the Lord’s mouth and contact the offering. Then touching the offering with one’s left hand and taking water with sandalwood pulp and flowers in one’s right hand, and after chanting the mūla-mantra, ending in svāhā! One should chant, śrī-kṛṣṇāya idaṁ naivedyaṁ kalpayāmi, and throw the water over the sandalwood pulp and flowers from his right hand to the ground! Ah! After that one should offer the food stuff with Tulasī to the Lord with your mūla-mantras. This is very complicated. Śrīla Prabhupāda told us to offer three times guru, three times Gaurāṅga, three times Kṛṣṇa and we can chant our mūla-mantra, ten times. So Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us a very simplified system. To do all these things – it is one thing for the pujāris – but for the ordinary people, it is very complicated. So, it goes on and on! So this is all mentioned in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, Eighth Vilāsa. So we have been given a very simplified system. Otherwise, what is explained here is very complicated, very intricate. Mudrās, we know the cakra-mudrā, but dhenu-mudrā showing the cow, so all these things, are in a traditional Vaiṣṇava way, but we do a very simplified version.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.142

vine sei vidhi kichu svīkāra nā kare
sakala pratijñā cūrṇa bhaktera duyāre

Jayapatākā Swami: See normally, the Lord does not accept anything if you are not following all these rules, but all these rules are forgotten by the Lord if devotee is offering. He accepts the offering of His devotees, even if it not exactly according to the rules. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! So we follow the system that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us because he knew that what we could do, what we couldn’t do.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.143

śuklāmbara-taṇḍula tāhāra paramāṇa
ataeva sakala-vidhira bhakti prāṇa

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Gaurāṅga, taking the broken rice from Śuklāmbara is approved of this, therefore, all the rules are subordinate to bhakti. In other words, bhakti is the life and soul of the rules. So Lord Caitanya He took the broken rice from Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī, may not have been offered by any rules, because Śuklāmbara was such a nice devotee, He took it. So, the Lord takes the offerings of His pure devotees, without considering these rules and regulations.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.144-145

yābatīya vaidiki-bidhi-niṣedha, sakalai bhaktira anugata, ihāte aviśvāsīra kṛṣṇasevā-vaimukhyahetu durgati-lābha

yata vidhi-niṣedha—sakali bhakti-dāsa
ihāte yāhāra duḥkha, sei yāya nāśa

Jayapatākā Swami: So all the rules and regulations and prohibitions, they are all subordinate to bhakti, they are all servants of devotional service! If someone is sad or distressed because of this, if they think this is improper then they are vanquished!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.145

vedavyāsokta bhaktira vaiśiṣṭya mahāprabhu o tadanuga janagaṇera caritre parisphuṭa—

bhakti—vidhi-mūla, kahilena vedavyāsa
sākṣāte gaurāṅga tāhā karilā prakāśa

Jayapatākā Swami: Vedavyāsa had said that bhakti, devotion, is the root of all rules. And Gaurāṅga has directly demonstrated this.

In the Padma Purāṇa it is stated:

smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur vismartavyo na jātucit
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ

Translation: “Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Lord Viṣṇu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of these two principles.”.

Jayapatākā Swami: So in Śrī Gaurāṅga’s pastimes of accepting Śuklāmbara’s broken rice, out of love, without considering whether the rice was parboiled or raw or whether he was offering it following the proper rules, He ignored all that and simply because he was a pure devotee, He accepted all his offering. You see the rules and regulations are just to guide us to eventually have actual bhakti or devotional service to the Lord. The devotees who have anurāga, who have spontaneous devotion to the Lord, are not subject to these rules, rather, the rules are subject to the pure mood, of the pure service attitude of the devotees!  So the materialistic people are unable to understand this point, they think that the rules and regulations are all important and they don’t realize that bhakti, pure devotion is much higher than all these rules. That is why the verse of api cet su-durācāro, is mentioned that even if one has performed some wild activity, if they are situated in pure devotional service, then they are to be considered as saintly, this is a verse in the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. It doesn’t mean that we should accept perverseness or selfishness as pure devotion. So the prākṛta-sahajiyās misuse this verse because they are very attached to material enjoyment. So, we should understand that if someone is actually dedicated to serving Kṛṣṇa, even if he makes a mistake sometime, that’s forgiven. But if one consciously makes a mistake, thinking that he will be automatically forgiven, that is an offense – sinning on the strength of chanting or strength of devotional service.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.146

mudrā nāhi kare vipra, nā dila āpane
tathāpi taṇḍula prabhu khāila yatane

Jayapatākā Swami: So the brāhmaṇa Śuklāmbara, he didn’t offer the rice with mudrās, hand positions, in fact, he didn’t even offer it! Still the Lord, He took it and ate it eagerly!!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.147

mahāprabhu o tadīya janagaṇera caritra viṣayamāndha ādhyakṣika vicārapara janagaṇera akṣatra-jñānagamya vastu nahena—

viṣaya-madāndha saba e marma nā jāne
suta-dhana-kula-made vaiṣṇava nā cine

Jayapatākā Swami: Those persons who are blinded by the pride of material enjoyment, they don’t know this mystery. They are intoxicated by the opulence of having children, wealth, aristocratic family, they don’t recognize actual Vaiṣṇava!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.148

vaiṣṇavake mūrkha, daridra-jñāne avajñākārīra viṣṇupūjā bhaktajana-priya kṛṣṇera agrāhya—

dekhi’ mūrkha daridra ye vaiṣṇavere hāse
tāra pūjā-vitta kabhu kṛṣṇere nā vāse

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Kṛṣṇa never accepts the offerings of or worship of one who laughs at or ridicules a Vaiṣṇava considering him as a fool or poor! Lord Caitanya considered that the goal of regulative devotional service as rāgānuga or spontaneous love of Kṛṣṇa. So, this mellow or taste of anurāga is far beyond the regulated activities of devotional service. So if someone thinks that their mundane education or something is very useful, they are actually inviting their own destruction, because they analyze Vaiṣṇavas from a materialist point of view. Sometimes devotees are distributing books and people drive by and say Get a job! Get a job! They think that the Vaiṣṇavas are lazy people, begging or something. They don’t actually understand that the devotees are helping people, spiritually by giving them an opportunity to take a book and read about the real purpose of life, who they are, etc. The mundane people are very proud of their wealth or family, they don’t consider the Vaiṣṇavas very beneficial to society.

The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4^th Canto, 31^st chapter, 21^st verse:

yeṣāṁ sa eṣa bhagavān dayayed anantaḥ
sarvātmanāśrita-pado yadi nirvyalīkam
te dustarām atitaranti ca deva-māyāṁ
naiṣāṁ mamāham iti dhīḥ śva-śṛgāla-bhakṣye

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes very dear to those devotees who have no material possessions but are fully happy in possessing the devotional service of the Lord. Indeed, the Lord relishes the devotional activities of such devotees. Those who are puffed up with material education, wealth, aristocracy and fruitive activity are very proud of possessing material things, and they often deride the devotees. Even if such people offer the Lord worship, the Lord never accepts them.” Śrī Hari is controlled only by His devotees and does not even accept the worship of non-devotees is explained here in the Śrīmad-Bhagavatam 4.31.21.

Jayapatākā Swami: So this very from the Bhāgavatam explains how the Lord actually appreciates a devotee and doesn’t accept offerings from the non-devotees, even if they have various material achievements and possessions. He appreciates and loves the devotees who love Him.

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.150

kṛṣṇa-niṣkiñcanera prāṇa-sadṛśa; ihāi sarvavedavāṇī evaṃ gaurasundara ei vaidika-satyera ācārya o pracāraka—

‘akiñcana-prāṇa kṛṣṇa’—sarva vede gāya
sākṣāte gaurāṅga ei tāhāre dekhāya

Jayapatākā Swami: So, it says that Kṛṣṇa is the life and soul of the persons who have no material possession. So Lord Caitanya, Lord Gaurāṅga, He personally demonstrated this. Once Śrīla Prabhupāda was sitting in the train in Howrah station and I was sitting with him. He was seeing some very poor people carrying the half burnt – in those day they had trains with coal wagons and to light the coal they would use some wood. So these people had collected some half burnt firewood that was used to ignite the coal, and they had tied it in a big bundle and were carrying it on their heads, and Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that this half-burnt firewood has no commercial value! but if you try to take it from them, they will fight! they are not akiñcana, they have something, half burnt firewood! Ha! Ha! Someone like Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, he was the emperor of the whole world, but he was akiñcana because he thought everything is actually the property of Lord Kṛṣṇa! So those who have nothing or think they have nothing, Kṛṣṇa is their life and soul. So this fact is given in all the scriptures, many of our gurus here, some have name akiñcana, niṣkiñcana, meaning having nothing, having nothing material, but having Kṛṣṇa! So those who hear the pastimes of Śuklāmbara and Gaurasundara have gone through the samskara of piercing their ears, their spiritual ears! So, when they are rendering their devotional service, they are known as Gauḍīyas or beggars of devotional service in the temple of Lord Gaurāṅga and Lord Kṛṣṇa. They don’t try to commit suicide by remaining away from the service of Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet, and by being averse to serving the lotus feet of Govinda!

Caitanya-Bhāgavata Madhya-khaṇḍa 16.151

prabhura śuklāmbara-taṇḍula-bhakṣaṇakathā-śravaṇakārīra premabhaktilābha—

śuklāmbara-taṇḍula-bhojana yei śune
sei prema-bhakti pāya caitanya-caraṇe

Jayapatākā Swami: Whoever hears the pastime of Lord Gaurāṅga eating the broken rice of Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī, he receives the benediction of pure ecstatic love, Prema Bhakti, for Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet! Haribol! 9.09 pm!

So I will take a vacation for a few minutes. We will get the questions.

READ BY PRABHUJĪ: Message from Guru Mahārāja:

“I especially thank those devotees who sponsor the Bhagavad-gita in my name”. So either you can buy books and Guru Mahārāja will sign on the books or you can sponsor books because you can see what Śrīla Prabhupāda has told Guru Mahārāja. This Guru Mahārāja has expressed, in a lecture in Russia, 27 September 2007: “I don’t know if any of you have any instructions from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Of course, he told all of us to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. To help others to be Kṛṣṇa conscious and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But he told me that I should also see that every month, ten thousand Mahā-big books are distributed and 100,000 small books are also distributed. So I have this big debt that I have to pay every month. So I need a lot of help. I don’t know how much that is now with interest, because that was told in 1970s. So with interest, maybe that is much more now! So Māyāpur Saṅkīrtana party helps by distributing books but anyone here wants to help me pay my debts?” So this is Guru Mahārāja’s question. So this book distribution will be done on behalf of His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Guru Mahārāja. So therefore, all the book scores will be sent to the International World Saṅkīrtana Newsletter in Guru Mahārāja’s name. So Vyāsa-pūjā distribution committee is announcing the all Gītā-dāna puṇya will go towards Guru Mahārāja’s health recovery. So kindly help in two ways – buying the book, getting signature and also you can sponsor for Bhagavad-gītās or any books. And of course, you are doing it in the dhāma. You know, by your generous contribution, one may – 1. Fulfill the desire of Śrīla Prabhupāda to distribute more books and 2. Help Guru Mahārāja to fulfill the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda to him, 3. Guru Mahārāja’s name will be published in the World Saṅkīrtana Newsletter and sevā in dhāma gives a thousand times benefit and BBT will become stronger and stronger and stronger.

Veṇudhārī Prabhu has these forms, those who can want can get this from him.

Jayapatākā Swami: You can also get some books from him and distribute it during the day. We want to promote book distribution in Māyāpur.

Question: In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam I found that gṛhasthās should give 50% to temple. Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned about rich people. So, how serious is that? Because in our personal life, Prabhu is working, but also not full time, and he is giving to our temple and also he gave TOVP. But if we give 50% then we will be unable to take care of our kids according to how we want. They are home schooling kids. American government has no facility for home school. We buy curriculum and test paper. I am doing this because I want to finish with them Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta, before they step into the outside world. We are giving to the temple according to our capacity – not 50%. With that can we go back to Godhead? - Kālindī Sundarī devī dāsī, Ohio, USA

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, what you spend on prasāda and house rent, it counts in the 50%, anything you do to worship Kṛṣṇa counts. So if you are offering your food, that counts in your 50% above the basic expenses toward maintaining your house, etc, after that, what is the profit, that is considered.

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa dear Śrīla Jayapataka Swami Mahārāja: Please accept my humble obeisances. How to get rid of familiarity if it arisen in a relationship with seniors? – Amṛtā Gaṅgā devī dāsī

Jayapatākā Swami: If you are realizing that you have become too familiar, be more respectful, that will naturally get rid of the familiarity.

Question: Dear Guru Mahārāja! Please accept my respectful obeisances on your lotus feet. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. If a disciple does not have the opportunity for adequate personal association with the guru, what are the various way by which he or she can understand the mood of his or her guru? - Your insignificant fallen servant, Prema Gaurasundara dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, what is the word he said? Sufficient? Attending the class of the guru live, or by Facebook or YouTube, also, by serving the spiritual master directly or indirectly. Now there is the classes of the guru are taped, recorded and those are available both audio and video, so there are many ways to get association of the guru. Even the Chinese devotees are seeing me giving class!

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa! Guru Mahārāja! Please accept my respectful obeisances. Is the option better for gṛhasthas working outside earning enough money to support the temple, or depending on the temple for maintenance, by serving the mission but would not be able to contribute much. We can see that devotees who have dedicated their lives is not valued and sometimes neglected. Rather, devotees who have contributed money for the mission are more likely to be of more importance.

Jayapatākā Swami: We see in from the pastime today of Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī and Lord Caitanya, maybe a donor is gratified. But Lord Caitanya accepted the gift of Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī, even he didn’t offer it, it was taken by force! Because Śuklāmbara was a pure devotee. So, we shouldn’t be, is that your motive? are you doing service to be gratified? Or you want to encourage people who give donation, oh, all glories, all glories, everyone chant, that doesn’t mean that we think that their service is better than the devotee who is day and night chanting 16 rounds and doing dedicated service. If you want to be glorified, Lord Caitanya in the third verse of the Śīkṣāṣtakam said, we should offer respect to others and not expect respect for ourselves, but if you want respect, all glories to the devotees! Haribol! I hope you are satisfied!

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja: (Guru Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa!) Please accept my humble obeisances at your humble lotus feet. I have a question about what am I supposed to do? I finished my class 12 standard, and I want to go to Indian Army, but I am confused, and my family wants me to serve and help in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission. I am not so strong with my devotional service. Please, please, please, guide me, what should I do? Hare Kṛṣṇa!  - From a most fallen soul, Sumitra Ravi dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda if I should serve in the American army, he said, it was better to serve in Kṛṣṇa’s army. So, I have been serving in Kṛṣṇa’s army since 1968 and haven’t retired yet!! So, you might consider serving in Kṛṣṇa’s army!

Chinese devotees online: Bhaktin Gau Ying, Bhaktin Zing Yu: Sucitrā devī dāsī! Mādhavī Priyā devī dāsī! Caitaya Guru, Bhaktin Gaun Yu! Navīna Viśakhā devī dāsī, Śyāma Acyuta dāsa! Līlā Gopī devī dāsī! Jamunā Priyā devī dāsī, Olivia! Varṣāṇā Līlā devī dāsī, Hari Priya Gaṅgā devī dāsī, Śyāmalā devī dāsī, Kṛṣṇa Sarma, Bhaktin Lulu.

Question: My dear Gurudeva! Please accept my respectful obeisances. I always have a lot of questions which I want to ask you you but I don’t know English, so I need someone to translate for me. My question is you mentioned earlier that going to Māyāpur is same as going to Vṛndāvana. If I commit any offence in Vṛndāvana I will be punished 1000 times, I am really afraid. I never went to Vṛndāvana. Shall I go to Vṛndāvana for pilgrimage or not? And I want to know that every time I want to go to Vṛndāvana, I should get your blessings or not? Or after the first blessing, I don’t need to ask for more permissions or blessings if I want to go to Vṛndāvana from time to time? - Your fallen daughter, Cāru Madhavī devī dāsī, China.

Jayapatākā Swami: Yes, no, very good! In Māyāpur, there is not a 1000-times the effect of an offence. It is recommended in śāstra that one should go to Māyāpur, Navadvīpa dhāma, and then go to Vṛndāvana. How many times, I cannot say but at least one time in Māyāpur and then Vṛndāvana.