20240719 Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta 1.3. Kṛṣṇa — Energy of Kṛṣṇa and Mellow

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—Third stream

Determining the transcendence —

The trouble of material science is that it wants to know all truths that are beyond its own qualification. Material science has no qualification in the transcendental truth, yet shamelessly rushing towards it and bounds oneself in the most insignificant conclusion and in the end is personally distorted and diminished. Kṛṣṇa’s mercy arises when the living entity develops humility from the association of the saintly personalities. Only in this way, the living entity’s qualification in the transcendental truth is born. Merely by the strength of material consideration, transcendental knowledge is never gained.* (*māyāśakti—kṛṣṇaśakti)

Note: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.29:

athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-
prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi
jānāti tattvaṁ bhagavān-mahimno
na cānya eko ’pi ciraṁ vicinvan

My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they continue to study the Vedas for many years.

Jayapatākā Swami: This is something very interesting for the West Wing of the TOVP that in material science, we would like to know everything. But they are not qualified that to understand everything, you have to do some devotional service. Then some of the truths can be revealed to you. So, the material truths, to be able to understand one needs some qualifications. And that qualification is humility and devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because some scientists do not have these qualifications, they cannot realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead and all His different potencies. So, Kṛṣṇa has unlimited potencies. And He is able to create the material world using His multifarious potencies. So, it is not a simple thing that we can realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those things are revealed to the devotees. So that is our assignment for today.

The energy of Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-śakti) is unlimited. We living entities in the tiny knowledge cannot know the various energies that are manifested in the unlimited world in various places. In the spiritual world, i.e. on the other side of the Virajā is Vaikuṇṭha and above that exists Goloka Vraja. In Vaikuṇṭha all the opulence are manifest in the form of four-handed Nārāyaṇa. In Goloka, wherein mādhurya is predominantly manifest, all the opulence exists.

Note: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.21:

ko vetti bhūman bhagavān parātman
yogeśvarotīr bhavatas tri-lokyām
kva vā kathaṁ vā kati vā kadeti
vistārayan krīḍasi yoga-māyām

O supreme great one! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! O Supersoul, master of all mystic power! Your pastimes are taking place continuously in these three worlds, but who can estimate where, how and when You are employing Your spiritual energy and performing these innumerable pastimes? No one can understand the mystery of how Your spiritual energy acts.

Kṛṣṇa is personally the possessor of energy. His form has one inconceivable great energy. Many places in the scriptures that energy is termed as ‘māyā’. In the meaning, ‘mīyate anayā iti māyā’ (that by which one can measure is māyā), māyā can be called as the external identity of Kṛṣṇa. Without māyā, there is no identity of Kṛṣṇa.

The Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth, call māyā as Kṛṣṇa’s personal energy (svarūpa-śakti), defining separately as spiritual energy (cit-śakti) and illusory energy (māyā-śakti), dividing into superior (parā) and inferior (aparā). Factually, superior energy (parā-śakti) is Kṛṣṇa’s only inconceivable energy. Its shadow is called as inferior energy (aparā-śakti).

That māyā is the superintendent of the material universe in the form of shadow.

Note: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.34:

ṛte ’rthaṁ yat pratīyeta
na pratīyeta cātmani
tad vidyād ātmano māyāṁ
yathābhāso yathā tamaḥ

O Brahmā, whatever appears to be of any value, if it is without relation to Me, has no reality. Know it as My illusory energy, that reflection which appears to be in darkness.*

[*In spiritual subject, the māyā-śakti is criticized for being contaminated, that māyā-śakti is this shadow form, not the form of personal energy (svarūpa-śakti). Therefore, the Lord had told Sanātana Gosvāmī — Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.111.]

Jayapatākā Swami: You see Kṛṣṇa possesses unlimited potencies. But Māyāvādīs they don’t understand that Kṛṣṇa has unlimited potencies. He creates the material world using His different potencies. But the Māyāvādīs, they think that Kṛṣṇa Himself is changing. And therefore, they come up with an impersonal concept. Actually, Kṛṣṇa is always the same. But He has different potencies. So, these potencies change but Kṛṣṇa doesn’t change. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

kṛṣṇera svābhāvika tina-śakti-pariṇati
cic-chakti, jīva-śakti, āra māyā-śakti

Lord Kṛṣṇa naturally has three energetic transformations, and these are known as the spiritual potency, the living entity potency and the illusory potency.*

[*Again, He had told — Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.252]

ananta-śakti-madhye kṛṣṇera tina śakti pradhāna
‘icchā-śakti’, ‘jñāna-śakti’, ‘kriyā-śakti’ nāma

“Kṛṣṇa has unlimited potencies, out of which three are chief — willpower, the power of knowledge and the creative energy.

The Lord had told Sārbabhauma — Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 6.158-160:

sac-cid-ānanda-māyā haya īśvara-svarūpa
tina aṁśe cic-chakti haya tina rūpa

ānandāṁśe ‘hlādinī,’ sad-aṁśe ‘sandhinī’
cid-aṁśe ‘samvit’, yāre jñāna kari māni

antaraṅgā — cic-chakti, taṭasthā — jīva-śakti
bahiraṅgā — māyā, — tine kare prema-bhakti

The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His original form is full of eternity, knowledge and bliss. The spiritual potency in these three portions [sat, cit and ānanda] assumes three different forms. The three portions of the spiritual potency are called hlādinī [the bliss portion], sandhinī [the eternity portion] and samvit [the knowledge portion]. We accept knowledge of these as full knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The spiritual potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead also appears in three phases — internal, marginal and external. These are all engaged in His devotional service in love.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we want to realize Kṛṣṇa. And we can understand that He is eternal. But He only reveals Himself to the devotees who are engaged in nine types of bhakti-yoga. So, we hope you will go deeper and deeper in kṛṣṇa-bhakti, and you will have unlimited realizations. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Thank you very much!

We are having a special three-day function glorifying His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami on his disappearance anniversary, and we hope everyone will go in the morning to His Holiness  Bhakti Cāru Swami Mahārāja’s samādhi and participate in the program.

Kṛṣṇe matir ruhu!