20240303 Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta | First Stream — the beginning

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta

The Nectar of the teachings of Śrī Caitanya

Today’s chapter is: First Shower — General description of determining the religion of highest goal.

First Stream — the beginning.

Respectful obeisances unto Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Pañca-tattva! Haribol!

Devotees: Patita-pāvana Śrīla Gurudeva ki! Jaya! Jagat-guru Śrīla Prabhupāda ki! Jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: How do you like the abhiṣeka this morning? (Haribol!)

Gopati Kṛṣṇa dāsa: It was ecstatic.

Jayapatākā Swami: The Deities, They like you. I had some realizations, but I don’t want to bore you. See, I realized how Kṛṣṇa enjoying and He wanted the people of Kali-yuga also to enjoy. Then, I told you that how Rukmiṇī challenged Him that You do not know how much Your devotees loved Him. So then He said He would come as a devotee in Kali-yuga. Then I realized that Kṛṣṇa as Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda and others, They have come as devotees! I mean, this is a rare thing!  He is showing us that as devotees, we can be really happy. He showed it by being very happy. Did you notice His smile this morning? Okay, we will continue with the reading.

Kṛṣṇa, who is full of all sweetness, is the object (viṣaya) of love —

The people who acknowledge unadulterated and complete love as the goal (prayojana), who else might they at any point acknowledge as the object (viṣaya) of that love with the exception of Kṛṣṇa? Although because of the difference in the language, the terms Kṛṣṇa, Vṛndāvana, gopa, gopī, godhana (cows which are the wealth), Yamunā, kadamba, etc., are not mentioned anywhere in that language in some places, yet the practitioners of pure unalloyed love, must accept in some other way or words, the names, names, forms, places, substances, and pastimes corresponding to the indications of those (Kṛṣṇa, Vṛndāvana, gopa, etc.). Consequently, there could be no other object (viṣaya) of pure love other than Kṛṣṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, people who follow other religions, they may not know or rec-ognize the name of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has unlimited names. But still His name of Kṛṣṇa is very special. Some of the expansions of Kṛṣṇa are there, but Kṛṣṇa is the only one who can give out love, other expansions they give out liberation, but they cannot give out love, they cannot!  They don’t have the adhikārī, they are Personality of Godhead, but they are small or subordinate. So, Kṛṣṇa came to give out love. He came to give everybody kṛṣṇa- bhāva. Kṛṣṇa, is giving out kṛṣṇa-prema. So, Kṛṣṇa likes the situation in Vraja, because there, people love Him, they may or may not know He is God. They love Him for His beauty, sweetness, charming nature. They accept Him as their object of love. Everybody in this material world wants to be happy. They are trying to be rich, they are trying to have a nice spouse, whatever it is, they want to be happy. But actually, the secret to be happy is to have pure love of Kṛṣṇa. And after He enjoyed that kind of love in Vṛndāvana, He wanted the people in Kali-yuga to enjoy the same. So Lord Caitanya, He wanted the people of Kali-yuga to be happy, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, they could be happy. Actually, His one mission was to propagate the saṅkīrtana-yajña. And you could get pure love of Kṛṣṇa without any restriction from Lord Caitanya. And He is giving everybody He met, pure love for Kṛṣṇa. In fact, when He went to South India, people He saw on the road, He would embrace them, and He gave them kṛṣṇa-prema. He was not so open or so merciful in Navadvīpa. But here there were so many of the brāhmaṇas who were smārtas. He would not hug them. Let us read what Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says.

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The regulative principles (vidhi) before the rāga (attraction) arises —

The practitioner (sādhaka) must continue to practice devotional service to Kṛṣṇa in accordance with the primary and secondary regulative principles (vidhi) as long as pure rāga (attraction) does not arise. (Look at the second shower).

Kṛṣṇa-bhajana in vidhi-mārga (regulative devotional principles) and rāga-mārga (the path of spontaneous attraction) —

If considered deeply, it can be seen that there are only two ways of achieving love for Kṛṣṇa, viz. vidhi and rāga. Rāga is rare. When rāga arises, then vidhi no longer has power. As long as rāga does not arise, the main duty of human beings is to take shelter of the vidhi. Therefore, two paths are mentioned in the scriptures, viz. vidhi-mārga and rāga-marga. Rāga-mārga is completely independent and therefore has no specific system. Only those who are very fortunate and highly qualified are able to follow that path. Consequently, only the system of vidhi-mārga is written in a systematic manner.

Jayapatākā Swami: So in the Nectar of Devotion, the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, in the beginning it says how you can practice devotional service following rules and regulations. That is called vidhi-mārga. While doing that, then our practice of vidhi-mārga becomes a bit automatic, and then vidhi-mārga, when you actually become very enthusiastic and naturally become attracted to Kṛṣṇa, then your practice is considered rāga. So rāga means one would do devotional service spontaneously, and so by doing vidhi-mārga one naturally comes to rāga-mārga. So in this way, you become very attached, very attracted to Lord Kṛṣṇa. I was seeing on the TV sometimes there is some sports match. Football, rugby, cricket, something and the fans, they are very attracted, very addicted. Someone makes a goal, or hits a ball high, they call out! Unfortunately, they are being attracted to the wrong viṣaya. Rather than being attracted to Kṛṣṇa, they are attracted to some sport. One morning Śrīla Prabhupāda was walking by a golf course, so he stopped and asked what is this sport? Someone was trying to explain. You hit a little while ball and you try to knock it and how many times you hit the ball before it goes into a hole. Śrīla Prabhupāda shook his head, he said, they would do anything to avoid thinking about Kṛṣṇa! Actually, we were hearing a class a few of days ago by Revati Ramaṇa dāsa, he was saying kīrtanam, śravaṇam, smaraṇam actually comes in three steps. Śravaṇam and then you should do mananam, thinking about what you heard, and then you should apply it. If you hear something from the Bhagavad-gītā, then you are preaching to someone you may quote that example. This is hearing, thinking and applying it. Interesting! So that way, when I was in Montreal, the parents were talking to the son and smiling to him. When they got near the door, they said, “Now you come home!” They grabbed him and tried to take him out of the door. Mother and father were pulling, he was holding the door handle. He was saying, “No! I am not going!” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “That is a symptom of āsakti,” he was attached. Similarly, parents came here, and the mother started rolling on the ground and, “I want to take Subhaga home.” Subhaga is a local guru here. She is rolling on the ground, Bengali mothers, they are very heavy! They love their children. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Oh! You want to take him, he can go. We are not holding him back. He is free to go. You can ask him if he wants to go.” Śrīla Prabhupāda was so sure of Subhaga that he would speak like this. Anyway, when she said, “You come home!” He said, “I am very happy you came, but I am here with my guru, and I am going to stay here.” Apparently his previous āśrama uncle is a famous cricket player in India, what is the name, Pankaj Roy. I know some of the recent players but there are many. Anyway, like this you practice the rules and regulations, you gradually become more and more attached to Kṛṣṇa.

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Who is in vidhi-mārga, raise your hands!

Kṛṣṇe matir astu!