20240310 Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta | Second Stream — the teaching method of Śrī Caitanya

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

Jayapatākā Swami: I went to the drama and from there I came here.  I went before that for a wedding at Kīrtana Priya’s house. My disciple is marrying a disciple of HH Guruprasad Mahārāja. So we are an International Society and we have international marriages. Hare Kṛṣṇa! In the drama we had Kali, various actors who were playing illusion, lust and also anger, envy, various, it was very scary! You have to go and see how it ends. The end is very nice. Today His Holiness Bhakti-mārga Swami was asking who had been given some order by Śrīla Prabhupāda. I was seeing, the class on Māyāpur TV. So I could not communicate with them. But I have received many, many, many instructions. Like he told me to become an Indian citizen. So I renounced my American citizenship and became an Indian. He told me to come to Māyāpur and develop it. He told me to do many things. He told me to reunite the Sārasvata family, to develop all the Śrīpats in Gaura Mandala Bhumi. To develop the Māyāpur Navadvīpa parikramā. At the same time, he told me to preach unlimitedly. So, like this he told me many things. But I wasn’t present there and I could not tell His Holiness Bhakti-mārga Swami. We are reading from the Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura:

Śrī Caitanya-Śikṣāmṛta

The Nectar of the teachings of Śrī Caitanya

Today’s chapter is: Second Stream — the teaching method of Śrī Caitanya –

A person who has developed (1) faith,

Note:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.20.8

yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau
jāta-śraddhas tu yaḥ pumān
na nirviṇṇo nāti-sakto
bhakti-yogo ’sya siddhi-daḥ

“If somehow or other by good fortune one develops faith in hearing and chanting My glories, such a person, being neither disgusted with nor very much attached to ma-terial life, should achieve perfection through the path of loving devotion to Me.” (2) associates with suitable saintly persons (sādhu-saṅga) and adopts the (3) process of bhajana (bhajana-kriyā) and gradually (4) all of one’s unwanted habits are destroyed (anartha-nivṛtti), and then becomes (5) fixed in devotional service (niṣṭhā), then develops (6) taste and (7) attachment, reaching till (8) ecstasy (bhāva).

The path of spontaneous devotional service is not dependent on reason and logic —

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami:  First there is faith and then there is association with devotees, sādhu saṅga. Then one practices devotional service. Takes initiation and then gradually gets rid of the unwanted habits, anartha-nivṛtti. Then once he is fixed, he would get the taste and from taste comes asakti then ecstasy, that is the stage of bhāva. So there are eight stages up to bhāva. Then we get prema and there are eight levels of prema.

When the perfection of natural faith intensely raises, then one travels on the path of spontaneous devotional service.

Note:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.20.9

tāvat karmāṇi kurvīta
na nirvidyeta yāvatā
mat-kathā-śravaṇādau vā
śraddhā yāvan na jāyate

As long as one is not satiated by fruitive activity and has not awakened his taste for devotional service by śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, one has to act according to the regulative principles of the Vedic injunctions.

And without depending on the scriptural reason and logic etc., one is able to fearlessly progress personally in his practice on the path of bhāva in the form of attraction to Kṛṣṇa.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: […] If we are engaged in devotional service then even in the material world it is spiritualized. Dāmodara Mahārāja, he told me that he was initiated when he was like 12 years old or something. He is one of the youngest disciples of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. He said, one-time Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was looking at the moon and looking and looking and looking! Everyone wondered, what is he looking? Then he turned to the devotees and said, “The residents of the moon have become materialistic, we have to go there and preach.” So we don’t know in which planets our different ācāryas are there. They go back to Goloka Vṛndāvana or they are working, they are still delivering different planets for Lord Caitanya. So this is a mystery we don’t know!

One whose faith is soft and pliable, must strictly follow the scriptural injunctions –

But if this faith is in the preliminary state of being soft and pliable, it progresses (to firm faith) by getting the considerate help from a bona fide guru (studying the scriptures with careful attention). When faith in the instructions of scriptures and guru is the sign of faith, then generally śāstra-vicāra (studying the scriptures with careful attention) is absolutely necessary.

(Ref. VedaBase Lecture – June 28, 1971, San Francisco)

Jayapatākā Swami: Someone may have faith or some preliminary faith. When they read more scriptures, have faith in the spiritual master, then they are a little more advanced. Like this Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he is giving us some idea how to advance. This is Kali-yuga and here there are so many faults.

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
(SB 12.3.51)

The Age of Kali is like an ocean of defects but there is one good quality, that is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, that liber-ates one and sends one back to the spiritual world. So we need to get the people to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. People, they are enjoying their senses, they try to make some plans, how to enjoy their senses. When they want to actually please Kṛṣṇa, that is devotional service. And that is when you realize the real happiness is unlimited bliss. In Kali-yuga there are so many defects, so many obstacles. The personality of Kali is trying to get everybody absorbed in sense gratification. Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, He tells us some ways to have sense gratifications. But the principle is that we should offer every-thing to Kṛṣṇa. We should be focused in trying to make Kṛṣṇa happy. Although He is self-satisfied, He also can be happy. I mean, like the tech here he is trying to use the equipment to please Kṛṣṇa. Because he is playing Kṛṣṇa’s śikṣā. We try to do things to please Kṛṣṇa. Just like a family which tries to have Kṛṣṇa conscious children. So everything we do, we tie it in somehow in pleasing Kṛṣṇa. When we eat we cook prasāda. Any activity we do is made in such a way that it is pleasing to Kṛṣṇa.

* * *

Have 25 devotees come from Tripura?  Everyone give them a Hare Kṛṣṇa welcome!

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Who is from Nashik? Raise your hand! Susvāgatam. We welcome all the devotees from Nashik!

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare /
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

Anyone else? We have some devotees here from Russia I see.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

And all the other devotees who are present here:

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Haribol!